Moviehead

Quick post, as I'm at lunch:

Giving credit where credit's due: Fellow blogger James says he wrote the very funny "Five Stages of Grief," which I posted last week after the door swung definitively shut for Democrats for the next four years.

Two great movies: The other night, I saw "Sideways," a hilarious road/buddy/oenophile film from "Election" and "About Schmidt" director Alexandar Payne. It's terrific. One sentence description: Two 40-something guys (Paul Giamatti of "American Splendor" and Thomas Haden Church of the TV series "Wings") drink and drive through California's other wine country (Santa Ynez, for all you Los Angelenos). A memorable line: "I refuse to drink any fucking Merlot!"

The other movie was "Ray," about the late, great Ray Charles. The reviews are right: Jamie Foxx did channel the singer, and it looks like an Oscar-winner for him. The scene where he first sang "Georgia On My Mind" brought tears to my eyes. The only caveat: The movie was about 20 minutes too long, and the ending was a bit rushed.

Kinda easy money: I just filed my invoice for a freelance story I wrote for a media industry publication. It took about 2 1/2 days of work, and I'm getting $2,000 for it. That's about four times more than USA Today paid me for a longer piece. (The editor hasn't given me the final edit, but the story is fewer than 1,500 words.) Newspapers, even some of the largest in the country, pay beans for freelance work. So I'm a happy camper right now.

Should I pay off the last of my effing grad school loans or use the money to double-down at the blackjack tables when I'm in Vegas for the half-marathon?

You know, I'm kidding, right?!