1. "Rob Lowe/Snow White": Happy Oscar Night!

["Ooooooooo! Just follow the Hollywood stars!"]

["This was strictly a courtesy sit*, since I don't much groove on pristine views of nature even when plonked down in front of actual real-world splendor. (For those unfamiliar with the film, it consists entirely of fixed-camera shots of various lakes, each one lasting ten minutes.) And so I carefully staked out an aisle seat, announced my walk-out plans to various people, pre-composed the snarky fake title for my main page (4 Lakes), and settled in to be stupefied by 40 minutes of Ansel Adams tedium before bolting out the door and grabbing some lunch. Over two hours later, however, there I still was, sitting contentedly in my seat...looking at lakes. I don't understand it, but it happened."]

["Tsai Ming Liang's The Wayward Cloud, if not one of the best undistributed films from 2005, is arguably one of the most provocative. The quasi-fantastic premise, relayed to us by TV news reports, immediately sets an off-kilter tone: Taiwan is in the midst of a stultifying drought while the price of watermelons has dropped drastically. Yes, watermelons. And they're selling like hotcakes! Yet in the Tsai universe, watermelons as substitute for the most vital of fluids become not only a deeply embedded symbol of emotional deficiency, but also a metonym for the female sexual organ."]

["This year seems pretty cut and dry, with a head-to-head best picture battle between critical front-runner Death of Mr. Lazarescu (can unanimous acclaim work against it?!?) and audience favorite The Black Dahlia (which would give Brian De Palma his record fourth Best Picture Oscar). While there's no obvious lead for best actor like last year's Banlop Lomnoi (Tropical Malady), it looks like it's come down to a neck and neck battle between Broken Sky leads Miguel Angel Hoppe and Fernando Arroyo. Best Actress, of course, will go to The Queen's Helen Mirren."]

["AHHHHHHHHHHGggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhAAAAa!"]
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"Links for the Day": Each morning, the House editors post a series of weblinks that we think will spark discussion. Comments encouraged.