Realizing just how good you have it: priceless.

I was literally itching to get out of my apartment this afternoon (PTO = YAY!) but didn't want to spend too much money. So I figured I'd catch up on Oscar flicks by catching a matinee. It wasn't until I got there that I learned "matinee" now means $8.25. I mean, Jesus Christ already. And then I was hungry, so there went another almost-ten dollars on stale popcorn and watery diet coke. So much for the latter half of the plan.

Anyway.

The day Idi Amin died, my friend said something about how she remembered the day he was ousted from power and what a horrifying, genocidal disgrace his realm had been. Being several years younger than her, and having been brought up in the suburban white middle American public school system learning nothing but European history, I didn't recall anything about him. But I didn't tell her that at the time. Instead, I read a little bit about it, got disgusted (that was during the Carter years, right? Jimmy, COME ON!) ... and that was the extent of my Amin education, until this afternoon when I noticed that The Last King of Scotland was still at a local theater.

In the rare instances where I could let go of the cold, hard, brutal facts, I was able to appreciate the way in which the story was told. We see Amin from the doctor's perspective - at first a quirky, sometimes scary, but usually just "odd" man who loves Scotland and Uganda and wants to take care of his country. Eventually, of course, his true nature hits us over the head and we wonder how we never saw it from the beginning. That the plot is fictional is cemented in the last scene... Yeah, THAT would've happened.

I haven't seen any of the other films which have actors up for Oscars. But from what I know of those other films, the only one who might even come close to Forest Whitaker's performance in this film is Ryan Gosling, and if Gosling wins it will just be a crying shame heard 'round the world.

Oh and speaking of Oscars - cast your votes! He or she who guesses the most correct winners (and who includes their name on their entry, and who I actually know personally) will win a gift certificate to everyone's favorite local picture pub pizza joint!