I’m back from Tax Hell and the movies, so now it’s time for me to get my blog on (imagine me flashing fake gang signs while saying that). The tax situation was actually worse than expected. I owe about $3300 dollars and I had about $2900 worth of deductions. If all goes well (and when does all really go well?) I’ll probably end up having to pay about $2200 in back taxes this year. I have no idea how I’ll get my mitts on that kind of money, so I’ve been contemplating changing my name to J-Fo and entering a line of work that’ll include me saying either “Stick ‘em up, punk!” or “Everybody be cool! This is a robbery!” on a regular basis, but nothing’s set in stone yet. But at least I’ve sent in the forms and the deductions today, so now all there is to do is play The Waiting Game.
I actually got to see both 24 and The Practice with my Dad last night. 24 was cool and they’ve added a new element, which will take the excitement up another notch. The Practice was a bit of a disappointment though. The Jimmy Berluti high roller story that’s been playing out over the last couple of episodes is pretty stupid, and in last nights' episode Jimmy messed up again. Jimbo breaks attorney-client privilege by telling a little boy that he has a brain tumour (the boy, not Jimbo although there’s room for a handful of tumours in his huge noggin), which in turn saves the boy’s life. He then threatens the client (an insurance company) with making a big scene thus creating a lot of bad press, which makes them decide not to turn Jimmy in to the bar association (I think that’s what it’s called). However, Eugene has had it with Jimmy screwing up, and turns him in himself. This leads to the Jimster using every opportunity to preach about ethics and how sometimes you have to break the law to do the right thing. The climax is the court hearing, where Jimmy bangs on about not being sorry and says that he’d do the same thing in a heartbeat if he had to even though he knows this might cost him his license.

Well, since we can’t have lawyers break attorney-client privilege when they feel like it Jimmy obviously got disbarred and since he already quit the company, he’ll be serving burgers at McDonald’s in the next episode. Wrong! They made up some wussy slap-on-the-wrist judgment, where he was banned from the court rooms for three whole weeks. I guess the writers needed to believe that there’s room in the American judicial system for people, who break the law because their morale tells them it is okay. That might be so, but it sure makes for lousy television. Jimmy and Rebecca are already my least favourite characters on the show, so having to listen to him lecturing three judges for half an hour didn’t exactly make me like him more.

I saw Things Behind the Sun this afternoon with two of my friends and it’s a pretty rough movie. I have to leave in an hour and I haven’t eaten yet now, so I’ll make this brief. The movie is about a singer (Kim Dickens of Zero Effect fame with the worst haircut you ever saw) with a drinking problem and a troubled background and a reporter (Gabriel Mann), who knows what happened to her and why she has problems. The movie is a lot heavier than Anders’ other movies and it’s shot in a gritty style that suits it well. Dickens and Mann are good in it and so are Don Cheadle and Eric Stoltz. Since it’s the story about a singer and a rock journalist music is pretty important in this movie. The score is by Sonic Youth and the soundtrack features Lefte Bank (Walk Away Renee), Nick Drake (Things Behind the Sun), Shocking Blue (Love Buzz), and Charlie Rich (Most Beautiful Girl). This might not be your bag, but I thought the music all through the movie was great and it fit the movie perfectly. I’m not completely sure what I though of the ending. I’m glad that they didn’t go for the obvious happy ending bolony, but still I felt they focused too hard on getting the singer's demons worked out and left the writer with a lot of unresolved problems when the movie ended. But it was still an above average movie and I’m glad I went to see it.