I've been watching so many movies of late. In fact, i think my film-to-comics ratio is pretty out of whack. Not that that's a bad thing, really.

•Â Just last night i headed to the Laurelhurst Theater, grabbed a pint of Bridgeport IPA, and settled into a late-night screening of Little Miss Sunshine. I'd heard very mixed reviews, and frankly, i loved this flick! The characters were fabulous, and the actors across the board were amazing. The little girl who played Olive was unbelievably excellent. Films like this that can capture little tiny moments of the infinite, through subtle emotional dramas really float my boat. Kudos to Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris on a wonderful first effort.

•Â Requiem for a Dream, directed by Darren Aronofsky.

Whoa. I'd heard about this film for years. And now i can say that it's one of the darkest yet most beautiful and humanistic films i've ever seen. The story launches with all the well-meaning in the world, then slowly crescendos towards a nightmarishly horrific ending; masterful filmmaking, especially in the way in the stories of all four main characters were interwoven. I've never seen the actor Jared Leto (who is a dead ringer for Jesse Recklaw), but he and the rest of the cast were superb. Incredible haunting music, featuring the Kronos Quartet. The cinematography, by Matthew Libatique is breathtaking. If you have a strong stomach and can handle dark films, this examination of addiction, in all its forms, is highly recommended. Many thanks to Alexa for tipping me off to this incredible film.

•Â Double Indemnity, directed by Billy Wilder.

Yet another fabulous film noir classic and, according to the short film in the extras, one that really helped set the table for the wave of noir that followed its release in 1944. At first i wasn't as taken by Fred MacMurray or Barbara Stanwyck as i was by Michum and Greer in Out of the Past. But that was really just the brilliant set-up, throwing me off base. Needless to say, not 30 minutes into the film the leads start their spiral out of control, and the performances knocked my socks off. I really don't know how i can gush much more about the greatness of film noir. How the villains aren't even really villains, but just everyday people who make a bad decision, followed by another and another, overtaken by greed and lust. You know, tapping into the darkside we all have buried within us.

•Â On the political front, Greg Palaste explains in chilling detail something Bush made passing reference to in his State of the Union; the totally unconstitutional desire to create a federal citizen profile database. More Orwellian freakiness by the commander-in-chief.

• Nifty show in Vermont, news item courtesy of James Kochalka

• Here's a large version of Craig Thompson's amazing art for the new Menomena record, and a link to hear the entire record as streaming audio. What's hard to tell here, is that those red areas are actually die-cuts. This is a mindbending illustration job by Craig. Seriously. I mean, the album is a wonderful slice indy brainy indy pop, but the cd case alone is worth the $10 price tag i saw this going for.

•Â Finally, how cool is this cover for Matt Kindt's forthcoming Super Spy.