boot log help in Ubuntu

[James Kramer]

Please help me with this little problem so I can try to solve a much
bigger problem.  I loaded the latest version of Ubuntu (hooray) and
now I am seeing some boot messages flash by on the screen telling me
that I have a problem with /etc/resolvconf.

The messages flash by too fast for me to speed read, and transfer to paper.

Stupid me thought that I could go to /var/log and look at a the boot messages.

Two hours later I have yet to locate the boot messages.

I searched the internet to find solutions. I tried the following:
I  edited /etc/default/bootlogd and set it to yes
I also had to
sudo update-rc.d -f bootlogd defaults

This did not work. Here is a listing of file
sudo less  /var/log/boot

(Nothing has been logged yet.)
/var/log/boot (END)

I would appreciate any help.  I would also appreciate an explanation
of why I need to jump through hoops to get a look at my boot logs.