I'm too friendly for my own good...

"The Proposition": if you're in the mood for a violent western, this would be the one to see.

"The Proposition" -- directed by John Hillcoat, screenplay by Nick Cave (of The Bad Seeds and who wrote the goddamn thing in just 3 weeks), and starring Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Emily Watson, and John Hurt. This is the second time Hillcoat and Cave have joined forces for a film, the first being 1988's "Ghosts ... of the Civil Dead." 2006's "Proposition" carries on the dynamo duo's disturbing and masterful storytelling.

Set in the arid Australian outback, "Proposition" has a picturesque and almost painful look. It's lip-cracking dry and swarming with flies. The cast is perfectly set. Pearce is calculated and deliberate. Winstone manages to keep himself hovering on the edge, always seeming like he's about to erupt and lose his mind. Huston is able to lend reason and intelligence to a brutal and maniacal character. Watson plays fragility and denial perfectly, never seeming to reconcile her fantasies with reality. And John Hurt is John Hurt. He's always good in whatever character he plays, as in this one where he is a fucking lunatic bounty hunter.

Cave's script is concise and clean. He doesn't let the characters become too sympathetic or cheddar, making each one super-flawed and beyond rescue. Not to say you can't connect with the story and specific people in the story; just the writing makes you realize this isn't a self-pitying sob-fest. It portrays what I think those times must have been like -- unyielding, tough, and perilous.

Things to Accomplish:

1) Ambidexterity, which is actually improving

2) Learn new language (thinking Polish or Croatian just for ancestry's sake, but am open to suggestions)

3) Score that bartending job I'm interviewing for tomorrow

4) Get my ESL certificate

5) Finish scarf started last X-mas

6) Replace reading glasses with less grandma-style specs that are also more durable since I'm a clumsy fucker

7) Find and obtain The Chills' "Kaleidoscope World" which seems like it's only available through Amazon

8) Pay off CC
9) Find a girl (not in a friend sense)