Julie Powell went to Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. She is the Julie in the pair Julie & Julia, the author of the book by that title, and the person Amy Adams plays in the movie by Nora Ephron.

Powell is the young woman who cooked all of the recipes in Julia Child's French Cookbook, one recipe every evening after work at her dead-end office job, and blogged about it. Then she re-wrote the blog into a best selling book.

Powell still keeps a blog. Last week she wrote about the movie premiere in LA, a "screening" she modestly calls it, in a post titled Tales from The Red Carpet. Many of the comments on her blog are readers of her book who took inspiration from it.

Powell also recently wrote this article for The Atlantic's food blog, Being Julie, Not "Julie".

21 is out on DVD. The film is based on the nonfiction best-seller Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions.

Recently, at the Coolidge Theatre, I saw Michael Moore's new documentary film, SiCKO.

"It's a grubby, violent, dangerous world. But it's the only world they know. And they're the only friends Eddie has."

1973's The Friends of Eddie Coyle starring Robert Mitchum and a young Peter Boyle is the lost gem of Boston movies. Based on Rockland native and Boston-based federal prosecutor George V. Higgins's novel, this contemporary of Scorsese's Mean Streets features solid performances and a calculated plot involving Irish criminals and betrayal, making Eddie Coyle a fine precursor to 2006's Best Picture, The Departed.

I walked into Loews Boston Common yesterday afternoon, hoping to find a program booklet, a brochure, or at the very least a displayed advertising poster for the Boston Film Festival, which starts in five days.

The first few employees I talked to knew nothing about any upcoming festival. After about 10 minutes, I found a manager, who said they had received no printed material. He did offer to print out a schedule for me, however. The four-page printout lists the names and showtimes of films, but contains no descriptions. It does not match the schedule on the web site, so I have no idea which one is correct.

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A movie theatre which shows these many Samurai flicks in one month is worth saving. That and the fact that without places like this Harvard Square is going to become one big generic outdoor mall.