Tangled up in Hong, Zonca, and McNulty

For over a week now I've been wrestling with two posts, neither of which I've been able to complete. One is a defense of Erick Zonca's misunderstood and much maligned Julia, and the other is an appreciation of Hong Sang-soo's latest, Night and Day, two of the best films I saw at this year's Berlinale. In the case of the latter, the key problem is trying to decipher the chicken scratch that makes up the twenty (yes) pages of notes I took during the screening. All these years and I still haven't learned how to write in the dark. Then again, my handwriting is atrocious even by the light of a thousand suns. I had intended to work on both this morning, but an invitation to see the final episode of The Wire has laid waste to those plans. Procrastination? Sure, but how could I pass up the chance to bid an early adieu to Jimmy McNulty and the rest of the Baltimore gang? Hopefully I'll be able to finish at least one of the posts by Thursday. . .