WA

Presently in sunny Perth for some meetings and some relaxation.

M and I spent the weekend in the Margaret River region - had a fantastically relaxing couple of days (well, except for the early-morning Saturday 3 1/2 hour flight followed by the 3 1/2 hour drive, and then the 3 hour drive back to Perth yesterday afternoon).  Awesome dinner on Saturday night at Wise's winery, then a hike at Cape Naturaliste yesterday morning, breakfast in Dunsborough and a great picnic lunch yesterday at Cape Mentelle.  Real estate is far from cheap out Margaret River way - and it's easy to see why.  So beautiful and so much to see and do.

Now looking forward to sun and relaxing and reading Statements of Claim and hanging out in my incredibly small and dated room at the Parmelia Hilton and various other stuff. 
Have decided I really like Lederville - great cafes and a good feel.

No Country For Old Men

Have been meaning for a while to blog about this film.   The best thing I've seen in at least a year.

The pacing was perfect and the film was beautiful and extremely well-acted (despite the graphic and disturbing violence).  Javier Bardem was incredibly menacing and basically every cast member's acting was praiseworthy.  It was fairly measured in its pace - but perfectly so for the story it was telling - and it evoked emotions and built characters and created a perfect self-contained world.  Basically it was good.  And it had some almost Lynchian moments: a scene when Javier Bardem speaks with an elderly clerk in a gas station conveys an amazing level of menace, reminiscent of the scene in Lost Highway when the dwarf confronts Bill Pullman and tells him that he is at Pullman's house right now.

The Coen Brothers nailed it as they have before (Miller's Crossing, The Man Who Wasn't There) and as I look forward to them doing again.  They are much, much better when they keep away from the comedy.