I know Tom mentioned last week that I might be blogging and I thought I’d try my hand at this today…here goes!

Tom and I saw Last Chance Harvey on Monday. Since we had a day off, and a “films we haven’t seen yet” list a mile long, we chose to see a great character piece. Although Dustin Hoffman is fantastic as Harvey Shine, a washed up advertising jingle writer who visits London for his daughter’s wedding and ends up losing his job and what’s left of his broken family; it’s Emma Thompson as Kate Walter who stole the movie for me. Like her performance in Love Actually, Thompson delivers a nuanced portrayal of a real woman. Someone whose hair doesn’t always look perfect, whose mom is slightly annoying and who shows real emotion—you really believe it when Thompson breaks down in tears a couple of times. You wonder whether her job as a Public Statistics Official is really satisfying or if it just pays the bills. Although Last Chance Harveyis probably not going to generate Oscar nominations for either Hoffman or Thompson, it’s an enjoyable movie that I highly recommend!

Yesterday at work we watched Barack Obama take the oath of office. Although we’ve been and will be completely saturated with media coverage of this historical event, and everything that can be said about this moment has been or will be written, I wanted to comment on one thing. This is one of the rare times, where I’ve been with a large group of people, and they’ve applauded at the TV. I always think it’s weird when people clap after a movie. It’s not like the actors can hear you. Most likely, the kids picking up trash pretend the applause is for them. In this case, I was clapping right along with my coworkers after Aretha sang, Yo-Yo Ma performed and especially when Barack Obama took the oath and then gave his fantastic speech. I actually felt like I was part of something bigger and better today and that’s an awesome feeling.