When Paul Thomas Anderson began thinking up a new movie project, he wanted to do something completely different from all his previous work. After reading Upton Sinclair's Oil! he found his material. The first part of the 1927 book inspired the movie, which in its most impressive feat managed to get all sorts of people to sit through two epic and intense hours charting a mad oil man's rise and fall–two hours that begin with a half hour sans dialogue. That is impressive.

Equally impressive is how engaging the whole thing is. Oil drilling isn't a subject I'm usually drawn to, but the trailers had me all excited. The glowing reviews (“BETTER THAN CITIZEN KANE!“) only added to the film's mystique. And everything you've heard is true. Daniel Day-Lewis gives the performance of his–and really, anybody else's–life. The music (by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead), which I expected to be modern, is instead timeless, powerful, disquieting, and affecting. Surprisingly, only about 35 minutes of it were specifically written for the film, a fact that (sadly) made the score ineligible for an Oscar.

The supporting cast is great including Paul Dano, who's perfect with his thin mouth and untrustworthy eyes as a “false prophet” and who knew? Kevin O'Connor (who played the poet in Peggy Sue Got Married) as an unexpected visitor.

I felt these actors often got less credit from viewers and critics than they deserved mainly due to unfair comparisons to the dynamic and other wordly performance given by Day-Lewis.

It's a film that wows you and I had a hard time formulating an entry to sum up the particular way I felt about it. Generally, it's as good as everyone says; but only you can decide how awesome it makes you feel to hear Day-Lewis deliver these stunning monologues (“There's a competition in me…” is my favorite) and how mesmerizing it is to watch him shoot up a mansion and get crazy in a cardigan on a bowling alley.

The Exciters was a great and appropriate name for this band. While there hit “Tell Him” gets lumped into the broad category of “oldies” and is probably all too familiar to the world because of it's inclusion in the Big Chill, Ally McBeal and My Best Friend's Wedding, but if you take that all away, it's is in fact an exciting song,

The vocals are aggressive, and commanding. It's the song that made Dusty Springfield take up R&B so let's all give big thanks to these Queens born super singers: Brenda Reid, Lillian Walker, and Carol Johnson.

Any article about Bert Jansch is usually limited to boy-speak about technical aspects of guitar playing: “unusual chord voicings” and “arpeggiated finger-picking”. I don't know what those phrases mean, but I've heard what they sound like and it's beautiful. Listen to last week's album pick Cruel Sister, if you haven't already.

Jansch certainly deserves his status as a musical genius, but he also should be duly noted for that princely casualness, that floppy hair, that Scottish voice and intense gaze of a young handsome folk man.

Of all the familiar supermodel faces that have been reemerging lately, I think I am most happy to see the kick ass Stephanie Seymour. She was once the rebellious teen who dated the much older modeling agency magnet John Casablancas and Warren Beatty.

Rumors of her romances reached my sister and my young ears and a fascination was born. A fascination that of course only grew when we saw her with her beau Axl Rose, beating up chicks in jealous bar fights and getting married looking like a sugar plum fairy amidst a bunch of Riki Rachtmans. She always had an almost scary edge with a regal face.

Now that she's older, more established and settled in her eccentric life as the wife of a millionaire I find her even more fabulous. She's a collector of eccentric art, including a gigantic duplicate of?Jeff Koons' floral puppy in her back yard, an enviable collector of vintage clothing and generally has the kind of life that amazes. She dated Axl Rose, she had a part in a Law and Order(!), and now she struts around her manicured massive garden with her horse in nothing but heals and a full length fur coat? Brilliant.

Little wonder that Juergen Teller has called her one of his muses. The photos he's taken of her are the best.

Are you like me? Constantly disappointed by so called “spicy” chocolate that barely registers on your taste buds? Well, Cha Cha Chocolate, the 5 Boroughs brand South Bronx flavor ( I thought Cha Cha Divas came from Humbolt Park).?It's actually spicy. Not burn your tongue, can't eat spicy, but the kind of surprise after taste that tickles your whole mouth and leaves you kind of shocked.

The local company, which got into hot water by naming it's Staten Island flavor “Land Fill”, will eventually have an ice cream for every neighborhood in the city.?The Astoria flavor, which is discontinued, has bits of baklava, Jackson Heights is Mango and Cardamom, and that controversial landfill flavor has brownies and cherries.?I haven't tried these other options, but if they're as good as Cha Cha Chocolate, I am in love.

What would the ideal flavor for your neighborhood be?

If you weren't at New York Magazine's Indie Rock Trivia Night Hosted by Zach Galifianakis last night, you'll have to wait a year for the next opportunity. Should you await the occasion with baited breath? Well, not exactly. Go, but go knowing my two qualms.

Awesomeness certainly ensued in the form of Zach Galifianakis, who was very funny and very charming. But the hour and a half long wait for the thing to get started was a tiring bummer. And I really have to take issue with the last round of questioning. Seriously? At Indie Rock trivia night we were to subjected to a final round consisting of nothing but Kanye West song lyrics? I understand he's buddies with Galifianakis, but I really would have preferred he were friends with either Trey from Phish, Lindsay Buckingham, a member of the band Noel, or an Icelandic composer–because then Jim, myself, Laura and Shaun would have swept the competition. I was also surprised in general by the level of difficulty of the questions. There were several that even I knew.

After the questions were asked, Les Savy Fav, who I crushed on in college, played an energetic set. Tim Harrington was his usual, shirt ripping, blustery endearing self, but I am old, and the wait mixed with a few Guinnesses really sent me to sleepy town, so we ducked out a little early. I'm fairly certain, though, that we didn't win. But in a way we did, because we got to spend part of the evening with one of today's funniest men.

Last week I told you about our hike in Los Angeles up to the Hollywood Sign (or at least as close as one can get to the sign). This week I bring you Arroyo Sequit, a wholly different California hiking experience. While Griffith Park is situated right next to the urban sprawl of the city, Arroyo Sequit takes you deep into the middle of nowhere, along winding mountain roads, inland from the beauty of Malibu. You might see a few houses on your journey and you'll maybe pass a car or two, but the general feeling is isolation.

Same too once you get to the hike itself. We saw no one all day, but a boarded up building on the road leading to the loop hike gave us a distinctly eerie feeling of the possibility of us not being alone. The park is home to an astronomy observatory area, which consists of great end of the world over grown benches and tables.

The loop itself was created by an Eagle scout named Hodges and he didn't make the path the easiest in the world if you're a city mouse like me. You cross a near dry stream a few times, sometimes with climbing obstacles like hills and drain pipes in your path.

The surroundings are amazing. Views of green mountains unlike anything I have had a chance to see in a while. You can also, at several lookout points along the walk, view the large satellites set up in a valley to reach extraterrestrials. A back drop that, along with a misty gray sky,?only adds to the hard to describe spookiness of the area.

NOTE: the trail loops ends, but not at the same place you entered it. Go right at the fork in the trail and it will eventually lead you back to the safety of your car. We didn't know this and ended up in a silent panic about being lost on the last leg of the 1.5 mile trail. Once we did make it back we found out we were in mountain lion territory the whole time.

Like many television shows airing in Britain, The IT Crowd boasts a great cast, creator and writers, and you will probably never get to see it. I can never underplay the wasted opportunity BBC America is. With so many great comedies in particular being produced over there, they will still never air them here.

The IT Crowd is so popular in its home country that they even attempted an “Office” like American remake, which was to star Joel McHale. Sadly it feel through the writer strike cracks. NBC will instead be bringing you new episodes of Lipstick Jungle! Yaaaaechh.

You can find this show occasionally format for our region DVDs (season one only) and both season on region 2. Once again,?I encourage all to get an all region DVD player to enjoy the fruits of other countries comedy labors. In this case Graham Lineham, who created the most excellent Father Ted, tackles the world of nerds.

Roy and Moss are the IT department for a corporation, sequestered to the basement and generally ignored, feared, or ostracized by the regular workers above. Their regimented world is thrown for a loop when a frantic woman who knows absolutely nothing about computers becomes head of their department. It's a brilliant concept, and the show nearly lives up to the premise.

The supporting cast is particularly strong. Real geniuses like Chris Morris and Noel Fielding (playing a goth!) are superb. Richard Ayoade, who you might have already fallen for like I have in Garth Marenghi and AD/BC a Rock Opera is also pitch perfect as the nervous IT guy, NAME. Jim and I both had some problems totally enjoying the other main characters Roy and Jen, however, which makes this a show that had to grow on us over the six episodes.

It's also a show whose hilarity you appreciate even more when you think back on it. Still, for it's flaws I think you'll agree that The IT Crowd is the kind of comedy there should be more of.

This recipe for Scallops in Saffron and Tarragon Broth contains some of my favorite flavors. Saffron, one of the world's rarest spice due to the amount of land need to cultivate small amounts, adds both color and a strong unique flavor and aroma. So strong that only a pinch is necessary. The tarragon, which is my favorite herb, thanks to it's starring role in b?arnaise sauce, is a most welcome touch.

Even Jim, who is not a major scallop fan, enjoyed this rich but still light dish. It is also a healthy dinner option.