Light at the end of the tunnel

I've been plodding through the work that needs to be done for the special shows I'll be taping Monday night. My co-host and I are doing our annual Academy Awards preview and revealing our picks for the best and worst films of the previous year. These programs require a lot of preparation, and I'm so very glad to be nearly finished. By the time I take my seat stage left, the shows are practically an afterthought.

So that's what's been eating my time in recent weeks and why my knitting has been almost nonexistent. Even if I haven't been chipping away at the pre-production stuff, it's been in the background draining my energy. The end is in sight. Thank God for that.

If you're curious, my best of 2007 list and honorable mentions are posted at my other site. Think of those films as the top 10% of what I saw last year.

If I made an allowance for short films, then one would have invaded my top ten. Alexander Payne's "14th arrondissement" (from the omnibus pic Paris, je t'aime) is a beautiful piece of cinema that I want to share with you. I found it on YouTube this week and have rewatched it twice.

Payne can be perceived as being contemptuous of his characters, and initially it might seem that way in the short. The American tourist's over-enunciated French and cultural ignorance would appear to make her the butt of the jokes, but that glorious final scene in the park erases any doubts about how the director sees the character. The ending turns me into a puddle every time. I hope you love it too.