I forgot to mention that if the pick riles John Boehner, then I think that means Obama is onto something.

I don't feel all that invested in this year's Oscars--I haven't seen most of the films, and I'm just not wiling to pay $10 to see most of them. However, I have seen The Visitor and Frozen River, and Richard Jenkins' and Melisssa Leo's performances are so effective because, as character actors, both are able to be subtle and unglamorous. Jenkins in particular--his character doesn't have any grand, emotional scene (even the scene at the detention center is understated compared to other "Oscar moments"), but it is such a delicate, nuanced depiction of a man jolted out of stasis that it lingers for a long time. And Leo's performance is dignified and natural as well.

but I've found Netflix's Instant Queue, which I watch via the BF's XBox Live subscription, pretty great. The films might not be in the latest transfer, but I still can watch lots of great film noir films, many films in the Hitchcock and the Kubrick libraries, and some independent films that have been out of theatres for a while. Oh, and the selection of documentaries is pretty darn good. And for those who complain that Netflix streams only older movies, Pineapple Express will be available online next month. My only (minor) complaint is that the foreign films available in the IQ are sometimes dubbed, so I often double-check the language before I delete it from the "mail queue."

We're currently watching Season 2 of Dexter via XBox Live, which was in our mail queue anyway, so the timing works out perfectly for us. (Oh, and Nina, we discovered while trying to watch an ep last night that XBox Live was unavailable due to system upgrades. Hopefully it will be up and running for us--and for you--tonight.)