You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

Yesterday, I saw what has to be the best movie I've seen so far this year - The Magdalene Sisters. It reminds me a lot of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . . . except, you know, with nuns. Sister Bridget rivals Nurse Ratched in sadistic dominance. It's really heartbreaking, and the cruelty of the nuns toward their wards, girls who have all committed sins of lust (most of them having children out of wedlock), is relentless. There is one scene where two of the nuns force the girls to strip naked and run in place, while they make fun of who has the smallest breasts and who is the hairiest. *shudder* The thing that struck me from the beginning, though, is the crimes the three main girls are sent away for. Rose's crime is what you would expect - having a child out of wedlock. Margaret is raped, and makes the "mistake" of telling someone about it. And Bernadette, who has never been with a boy, is sent away for mere flirting.

This movie has come out a little early to stand a good chance against other serious Oscar contenders that will come out later this year (it's very sad that studios feel they have to release a film between Christmas and New Year's for it to stand a chance for an Oscar). However, it makes such a strong impression that I will be surprised if it doesn't get at least a few nods this spring, particularly in the acting categories. Geraldine McEwan (as Sister Bridget) and Eileen Walsh (who plays Crispina, a girl the main characters befriend, who ends up being sent to an insane asylum for publicly confronting a bishop for sexually abusing her) seem like shoo-ins for nominations. But I'm rarely right about things like that.

Daily Dose of Debate Discontent:
Well, I've disabled the e-mail notification for FAP forums, but it keeps sending me e-mails every time someone responds. Maybe it takes a while to take effect, but I wish I could stop getting the e-mails. It just makes it that much harder to resist looking at what other people have said. Anyway, I am becoming more and more convinced that H/Hers truly are ignoring our arguments when they can't disagree, or they completely twist our words around so that they can offer their viewpoint in opposition to what they claim we've said. (I know . . . that's a real newsflash.) I spent at least an hour (maybe two) on a post about Ron's and Hermione's disagreements, and the fact that apart from the cat/rat fight and the Yule Brawl, what they do cannot actually be considered fighting. It was totally dismissed in one sentence, by someone who had apparently only read my first paragraph. *throws hands up in the air*

Oh well - I'm off to more "forced fellowship" at our monthly Support Staff Lunch.