Like/Don't Like

Super 8

2012-01-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

Movie: Super 8
Like/Don't Like: Like - despite all the times I had to a cover my eyes

How did I not know that this is a scary alien movie? I'm usually really up on these sorts of things, but I started watching this and was all, "Oh, early teen boys are so hilarious. Elle Fanning has princess hair," which then turned to, "EEEEEKKKKKK!!!!! Scary alien!!!!!!" You all know what a delicate flower I am when it comes to scary things like aliens and guns and explosions. I was tense through the last hour of the movie.

But it was still a really cool flick. And I give that all to the kids. Movie aliens have no problem eating adults. But kids are generally safe in a PG-13 film. I felt confident that none of them would have their guts sucked out. Plus, I meant it about teen boys. They're a riot. It was a nice story with funny characters and cool effects. It felt exactly like what a JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg movie should be. Complete with too many lens flares (oh, JJ Abrams, enough! with those lens flares. I nearly had an epileptic fit during Star Trek.) And it had heart. I liked that the alien other reasons for being so destructive other than just wanting to destroy Earth. I suppose I'm grateful I didn't know it would freak me out so much because I never would have watched it.

Captain America

2012-01-05T21:47:00.000-08:00

Movie: Captain America
Like/Don't Like: Liked. Truly.

This is the kind of action movie I can get behind - the kind where the weapons vaporize people instead of leaving bloody messes all over the place. That way, I can imagine them being transported into a field of daisies and ice cream trucks.

Anyway, I actually did like it for more than just that. There were some funny bits and the action wasn't too gratuitous (I get so bored with things blowing up) and it was packed with great actors (I love both Stanley Tucci and Tommy Lee Jones) and surprise cameos like that one guy who played Henry Tilney in that one version of Northanger Abbey I like, and that other guy who plays Willoughby in that one version of Sense & Sensibility that I like, and "IS THAT RICHARD ARMITAGE!!!???" Which is what Katie shouted while I was busy looking down at my knitting and I had to rewind to verify. Yes it was. In a suit with retro glasses. Sigh.

The ending leaves a little to be desired because they're setting up for the Avengers, which I'm surprisingly looking forward to. But it was action packed and fun to watch. And all those people who were vaporized are now enjoying a refreshing Choco Taco in that field of daisies.

Thornfield Hall

2012-01-05T00:57:00.000-08:00

Book: Thornfield Hall
Author: Emma Tennant
Like/Don't Like: Wretched

Someone must have given this to me because in general if I'm going to pick up a knock-off of a classic (particularly of one I know so well as I do Jane Eyre) it has to come highly recommended. But this has been sitting in my stack of to-be-read books for a very long time and I thought, oh, why not, and dove in.

I'll tell you why not. It was rubbish.

I love Jane Eyre. If I believed in such things it would easily find a spot in my top 10. So I'm a little biased. But I think even people who haven't read the book would find this unbearable. In it we get the point of view of Adele, along with a bit of Mr. Rochester and Mrs. Fairfax. There were some serious flaws in the writing. Continuity, for one. I am a stickler for these sorts of things so I noticed right away when it says it is "nearly full dark outside" and then what is supposed to be a few hours later "turning dusk." There were things like this riddled throughout. Then there was the constant saying of names. Does this bother anyone else? Adele was always saying, "My mother, the celebrated actress, Celine Varens." like on every other page, even deep into the story, when we KNOW that she was her mother. And Mrs. Fairfax was always saying, "While working at that magnificent estate, Thornfield Hall under the watchful eye of my master, Mr. Edward Fairfax Rochester." Yes, we know all of this! And there was too much use of the old bait and switch. A revelation would nearly be made but first you have to read through two pages of a flashback before getting to it. It was frustrating.

But I suppose all of those can be chalked up to my own pet peeves. So how about I give you some highlights of the story since I know you're not going to read it (because you trust me, right)(warning: these may come as a shock to those who know Jane Eyre): Adele becomes best friends with Bertha, Mr. Rochester's mad wife up in the attic; she hates Jane; she has a twin brother who was born just minutes before her but who has a different father (they were conceived on the same day but by two different men) but who is only briefly mentioned at the end of the book as an "oh, and by the way"; her mother (the celebrated actress Celine Varens, in case you have forgotten) didn't die but went off to Italy with a musician; and how about this one - Bertha didn't fall from the rooftop in the fire, that was Grace Poole. Mrs. Fairfax killed her much earlier, slipped Adele a mickey in order to convince her that she was the one who killed her, and later told all as she dangled a very pregnant Jane out of a window like she was some sort of Scooby-doo villain. Then, realizing that the jig was up she lights the place on fire and throws herself out the window. What the H?!

To top it all off, just three short paragraphs after all of this goes down, the phrase "and they lived happily ever after" is actually used and the book ends with a brief explanation of how Adele went on to become a celebrated actress, like her mother, Celine Varens.

I once caught a glimpse of a show about Anne of Green Gables the Much Later Years where Gilbert had died and Anne was hooking up with some guy named Gene. It was blaspheme. This felt the same way. I could not shake the sour look off of my face for a good half hour after finishing.

Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows

2012-01-03T00:16:00.000-08:00

Movie: Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows
Like/Don't Like: Like. Yes, I remember that I liked it.

Who's with me that the world has been given a gift in a clean and sober Robert Downey Jr.? I feel like ever since he's cleaned up his act he's become a national treasure. Okay, so that's a stretch, but I really like him in everything he does. It's not like he's blessed with much of a range (he basically plays the same character in all of his movies) but he's fun to watch. And I've grown accustomed to Jude Law. And I like Sherlock Holmes in general, so this movie was a no brainer. The perfect Christmas break movie.

That being said, it's been a week since I've seen it and it has almost completely left my brain and the only thing that remains of it is the vague sense that I liked it. I liked that Moriarty was there and I thought their meet ups were clever. There were some very funny moments. And it moved along nicely. And while I'm not that much of a fan of gratuitous special effects, the slow motion stuff was pretty cool, even though I was over it long before it finished. I did have to cover my eyes a number of times because I'm a delicate flower and don't go in much for punching and shooting and stuff like that. But overall, it was fun.

Anansi Boys

2012-01-03T00:04:00.000-08:00

Book: Anansi Boys
Author: Neil Gaiman
Like/Don't Like: It's Neil Gaiman. Of course I'm going to like it.

Whenever I read Neil Gaiman I am reminded that there are people who tell good stories and then there are people who are good storytellers. He fits into both categories but it's the second that I really care about. I can't tell you how many times I have finished a book and said, "That was a good story but it was written by the wrong person." Mostly, I want every story to be told by Neil Gaiman. I saw him on a show a little while ago and he was asked to describe his genre and he said, "I like to think I'm just a writer," which made me love him even more. He gets what a lot of writers today don't, that the point isn't just to tell an interesting story, it's to tell an interesting story well, and when it's done well there is no need to categorize it into a specific genre.

Once again this has turned into a Neil Gaiman love-fest. On to the gist.

Fat Charlie Nancy has just found out that 1.) his father has died in karaoke bar, and 2.) his father was a god, and 3.) he has a brother he didn't know about. He finally meets his brother and trouble abounds. The story had a great rhythm to it. It flowed very nicely from one scene to the next and weaved in bits of old myths into a modern story with ease. I got sucked right in and felt completely satisfied when it was done. Yay.

La Cabanita

2011-12-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

Restaurant: La Cabanita
Location: 3445 N Verdugo Rd, Glendale, CA 91208
Like/Don't Like: How do you say "I loved it so much I wanted to marry it" in Spanish?

Quick, everyone, get in my car! I'm going to take you to La Cabanita and then you'll throw a parade in my honor. You can walk down any street in town and find good Mexican food. This was GREAT Mexican food.

Bronwyn was in town (yay!) and she requested Mexican for lunch so I got on Yelp and was directed here. Thanks Yelp!

The chips and salsa were fresh and really, really delicious. Particularly the brown salsa. It was very peppery - which is just how I like it.

We told the server it was our first time and asked for recommendations and ended up with the pork chops, which were fall-off-the-bone tender, enchiladas with mole (amazing) and rancheras (equally amazing), and a taco norteno (I could have had ten). Everything tasted so fresh and their sauces were killer. If I didn't already have plans I would have stayed for dinner and then camped out for breakfast.

It's out of the way for most of you who read this but if you're in the area you're going to want to stop in.

Matched

2011-11-30T21:51:00.000-08:00

Book: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Like/Don't Like: I had a hard time putting it down

I have once again found myself in a reading slump, where nothing holds my interest. It's a horrible place to be. So it was very refreshing to read a book that I didn't want to put down.

This is a love triangle set in a dystopian society that is not the Hunger Games. (It is also not as nuanced or action packed as the HG but still worthwhile). Cassia is seventeen and lives in a world where every decision is made for her. From the clothes she wears to the food she eats to the city she lives in to the job she will have for the rest of her life and the person she will marry. She happily goes along with the system because it has always worked for her but on the day of her match, when she finds out whom she will marry, an error occurs that makes her question what the Society has been up to all along. Drama ensues.

It is primarily a love story and if the world that they live in weren't so detailed and defined and the problem they're up against so interesting I would not have been able to tolerate it. There were a lot of longing gazes followed by averted eyes, and at times I felt like it was holding the more intriguing part of the story back - that being the system that they have been living in. But I loved how thought out the world she lived in was. And I did not question how a character could live in such a society because Cassia was very believable. She goes from trusting in the Society to slowing and methodically seeing it for what it really was. It was not a sudden change in her and I liked that, because it wouldn't be for most people.

It needs to be said though about the two love interests: It was hard to not root for the one she will not end up with because he was so good. I would have liked him to be a little bit less perfect for her.

Dystopian love stories seem to be the new teenage vampire love stories so I don't know how long this trend will be able to sustain itself. But this was a good one.

The Muppets

2011-11-26T21:49:00.000-08:00

Movie: The Muppets
Like/Don't Like: Would you trust someone who didn't like this movie? Me neither.

I think it's impossible to not love the Muppets. Especially if you're my age and you grew up watching the Muppet Show and Sesame Street. If you combine them with Mickey Mouse Disco, Thrify's ice cream cones, and a Big Wheel it would pretty much encapsulate all the glorious parts of my childhood. (When, WHEN, I ask you, will they create a grown-up sized Big Wheel? I want one more than I want a Slurpee machine.)

So this movie was a no-brainer. It was bound to be great. It was nostalgic (I got chills when they did the intro to the old Muppet Show and welled up when they sang Rainbow Connection) and still riffed on modern pop culture, as they have always excelled at doing. And it was corny and funny and not a bit ironic or snarky. Miss Piggy looked glamorous even as she karate chopped someone, Fozzie wore fart shoes, there were subtitles for the Swedish chef, celebrities made cameos, and Kermit played the banjo. Basically it was everything you want from a Muppet movie.

Modelland

2011-10-14T22:58:00.000-07:00

Book: Modelland
Author: Tyra Banks
Like/Don't Like: Um, well, that's complicated

Where do I begin? Oh, how about THIS IS THE CRAZIEST, CRAPPIEST BOOK I'VE EVER READ. And I mean that in the best possible way. You know how sometimes you watch really horrible movies for the laughs? Like Spice World? Well, this was the book version of that. And let me just tell you, if you don't appreciate Tyra's brand of crazy, this book will be UNREADABLE. If you don't think that Tyra's funny accents and zany antics and wackadoo jumpsuits and weaves and gimmicks are a special type of hilarious than you would be miserable reading this book. Because it is baaaaaaaaaaad.

For the plot: we have Tookie de la Creme (for real) as our heroine. She is overlooked by everyone around her but she somehow makes it into Modelland, a school for would-be models (think Harry Potter meets ANTM) and goes through the rigorous training. Or at least I think she does. For a book that is over 500 pages (and, according to the acknowledgements, was originally over 1000) there was very little action. Everything is description, description, description. I got the feeling that Tyra's golden rule for writing was More Is More. If it can be said in 10 words it would be better in 100. Why just use 1 adjective when the thesaurus is giving 20. There were so many crazy characters and activities and places that about 100 pages into it I started just skimming through all the descriptions. I could not help but compare it to Twilight. Although, to Tyra's credit, Twilight is WAY more insufferable. We all know that Tyra is crazy. Stephanie Meyer has no excuse.

So Tyra is a lot of things, but a good writer is not one of them. Fortunately for all of us she has other talents.

Talents like: the excessive use of adjectives and adverbs; the ability to say something in 100 words that a normal person would only say in 5; making up cutesy names for things that already have names; taking those cutesy names and giving them cutesy nicknames, abbreviations or acronyms; creating the most elaborate description of every single item, action, place, person, outfit, food, dance move and modeling technique found in the book; making me simultaneously laugh out loud and pray for death.

Oh, Tyra, what would I do without you.

The Adjustment Bureau

2011-09-28T22:59:00.000-07:00

Movie: The Adjustment Bureau
Like/Don't Like: Liked

This had all the right elements - an interesting story, good acting (I like that Emily Blunt. I think she has spunk.), and a fast pace without being too fast that it confuses you.

Matt Damon plays a political hopeful who's life takes a turn he did not expect. He later finds out the source of that unexpected turn in the form of men in suits and fedoras who call themselves the Adjustment Bureau. They've been making slight alterations to his life course and he's fighting against it in order to stay with Emily Blunt. It was way more romantic than I expected (I was anticipating a straight action flick), but when do I complain about romance? I thought it was sweet.

Now lets, just for a moment, give three cheers for suits and fedoras! I'm going to sound 80 here but don't you wish men wore suits more often? They just look so sharp. And you cannot go wrong with a gray fedora. It's a class act all the way.

The House at Riverton

2011-09-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

Book: The House at Riverton
Author: Kate Morton
Like/Don't Like: If only I had known I would be so bored with it I would have quit reading

Let's talk about foreshadowing for a sec. I feel it is a device bested used in small, subtle amounts. If it's going to be used it needs to be just enough to give the reader an inkling that something is coming without making them try to guess what that something is through the entire story. One of my least favorite phrases to read in a novel is, "If only we had known what we know now." It gives the entire book away. Suddenly, I know that there's going to be a twist so I miss out on it because I'm anticipating it. When a twist comes I want to be so surprised that I go back and reread it to catch any hints that might have been there. What I don't want to do is shrug. There was a lot of shrugging going on while I was reading.

So there was a lot of foreshadowing in this book. And absolutely zero surprises. Which made reading it a bit of a drag. But I'm getting ahead of myself. You don't even know what it's about. This 98 year old woman Grace is recounting her time as a maid in a big fancy English house during and just after World War I. She is intrigued by and mysteriously drawn to the family she is serving and the story really becomes more about them than her. There are quite a number of subplots and characters, none of them adding anything to the actual story. There is a lot of telling and not a lot of doing. All that foreshadowing felt like a weak substitute for what was happening in the moment - which was very little. There just wasn't a whole lot of action. And I could barely muster any feelings for the characters. They were so underdeveloped, I felt like they were just there to move the story along and get to the big climactic ending - which wasn't nearly as climactic as it could have been. The whole thing felt really contrived and a lot was sacrificed for an ending that was a let down.

Bombay Bistro

2011-09-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

Restaurant: Bombay Bistro
Location: 8851 Central Ave., Montclair CA 91763
Like/Don't Like: Delicious

This is another Restaurant Club pick. And like all that came before it, there were a lot of things to love. Specifically their ginger garlic coconut sauce that we had in two of the dishes. So tasty! We ordered garlic naan, lamb kabab, chicken tikka masala, chicken shaquidi, aloo gobi, and malai kofta. The naan was not as garlicky as I like it, and the lamb kabab was a little overcooked although the flavor was terrific. Everything else was fantastic. The sauces were so good, really balanced and you can have as much or as little spice as you like. We asked for something between mild and medium and all agreed it was just right. The service was great and the prices weren't that bad. They have a lunch buffet for $9 which could be a real bargain and a great way to sample everything.

84 Charing Cross Road

2011-09-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

Book: 84 Charing Cross Road
Author: Helene Hanff
Like/Don't Like: Loved. So loved.

Katie, remembering my love for the movie, found a copy of the book at the going-out-of-business sale at Borders this afternoon and brought it home to me. Within an hour it was read and wept over.

This slim volume of a decades long correspondence between an American writer and a British bookseller is in every way a charmer. Helene is spunky and sassy and loves books. And Frank has that dry British wit that kills me. It is so sweet to see their friendship develop over the years. It made me wish I had a long running correspondence with someone. Any takers?

Angels and Demons

2011-09-02T23:21:00.000-07:00

Movie: Angels and Demons
Like/Don't Like: Rome - like. History lesson and icky things - don't like.

Wait, didn't this movie come out like a gajillion years ago? Right. It did. But it takes me a while to get around to things. I'm the late bloomer of movie watching.

Anyway, this movie would have been a little unbearable for me had it not been set in Rome. I love Rome. Have I told you that? I've been to so few places in the world but Rome is one of them and, I don't know, maybe it was all the gelato and pasta I ate, but I think it's a magical place. Nearly every scene was set somewhere I'd strolled through and at the end I called up my traveling companion Cynde and screamed, "Have you seen Angels and Demons? That scene where the priest gets burned alive? It's in the chapel we were nearly killed in front of by a speeding yellow Ferrari being chased by the police!"

But that, my friends, was its only redeeming quality for me. Fond memories of gelato and near death experiences. It also stirred up other memories - the ones from when I read the Davinci Code and said out loud on multiple occasions, "ENOUGH, you enormous wind bag!" Because if Robert Langdon isn't the most insufferable character out there, I don't know who is. Nobody likes a no-it-all. It was one thing in a book to expound upon everything, because information needs to be given and there's plenty of time and space to give it in. But it's a joke in a movie. When the only dialogue there is consists entirely of information to catch you up on the Illuminati, arcane Catholic protocol, and ancient religious shenanigans, the movie is going to struggle. Plus, it was predictable. I guessed the bad guy from the start. And many of the plot points in between.

But oh, those memories of gelato. Let's all go to Rome!

The Help

2011-09-02T23:00:00.000-07:00

Movie: The Help
Like/Don't Like: As with the book - Liked (ish)

I completely forgot that I saw this movie last week (which, I suppose isn't much of a recommendation). I felt about it pretty much the same way as I did about the book - it could have been cut down. And it solidified a feeling I had about the book that I didn't recognize when I read it - it could have gone deeper. Maybe I would have been fine with the length if hadn't painted everyone so ... (oh, heavens, I just about typed "black and white." how about...) one dimensional. This is such a complex issue and everyone seemed to be clearly on one side of the fence or the other. It could have used a little depth.

But that being said, it was still a decent film. I laughed, I cried (because when don't I cry, and also, racism - gar! It makes me want to spit.) There were some legitimate moments in it that made it worthwhile.

True Grit

2011-08-16T23:33:00.000-07:00

Movie: True Grit
Like/Don't Like: Liked very much

I hesitated watching this movie because I am a delicate flower. I don't like violence, particularly gun violence, the kind that is often found in westerns. But several people have said that I could handle it and that I would like it in the end. I am happy to report that they were right on both counts, although I had to avert my eyes several times.

Thinking back, I really loved everything about it (ok, except for the shooting). It's definitely a whole package film. The acting was sensational (I'm a little upset now that Hailee Steinfeld isn't playing Katniss - as originally rumored) the score was perfect, and I loved the stylized dialogue. Everyone, even the drunks, spoke with crisp drawn out sentences. No contractions. It somehow added a sense of importance to the story. As soon as it was over I wanted to watch it again.

The City of Ember

2011-08-16T01:16:00.000-07:00

Book: The City of Ember
Author: Jeanne DuPrau
Like/Don't Like: It could have been better

This book would have been significantly improved with better writing. The story was gripping - an underground city whose inhabitants don't know anything more than the fading light bulbs and dwindling supplies left centuries ago by the people who built it - but the storytelling was lacking. There just wasn't any spark or magic. There were plenty of times when I found myself getting caught up in the story, I would imagine what it must be like to live in such a place, the constant fear of black-outs, only breathing stale cold air, a food supply that was quickly running out. There was a wealth of emotions and feelings to pull from but most of them were just alluded to without any kind of depth or understanding. Which made the characters seem very flat and dull and made a really great story a bit disappointing.

When You Reach Me

2011-08-08T00:34:00.000-07:00

Book: When You Reach Me
Author: Rebecca Stead
Like/Don't Like: Really liked.

There was something about this book that made me feel nostalgic. It's set in the last 70s, a time I vaguely remember, but that's not why. It sort of had a feel of an after-school special, or a Judy Blume novel. Maybe that's it. Warm feelings aside, it's a pretty great book.

Miranda is in the sixth grade and is tackling the usual 11 year old stuff like losing a best friend to outside forces, trying to make new friends, a mom who is trying to figure how to raise an independent kid in a dangerous world. Pretty familiar story. Except for a twist: Miranda is receiving letters that appear to be from someone in the future. I would hardly call this a sci-fi book. The letters are vague and not often referred to, the story mostly focuses on the daily problems Miranda is dealing with. But they gave the story a bit of a mysterious edge that was unexpected and appealing.

Withering Tights

2011-08-01T22:41:00.000-07:00

Book: Withering Tights
Author: Louise Rennison
Like/Don't Like: Duh. Like.

Lovers of Georgia Nicholson - REJOICE!!! We saw the end of her diaries with her snogging Dave the Laugh on the Cake Rack of Lurve and sighed that it was all over. But the good news is that she has a cousin, Tallulah, who is off to the rugged moors of Yorkshire attending theater school. Comedy ensues. There's plenty of Irish jig dancing and marauding bands of local youth and attack owls and fretting about bouncy hair - basically everything we love about Louise Rennison is in here. I think this calls for a Viking Hornpipe Disco Inferno.

Okay For Now

2011-08-01T22:33:00.000-07:00

Book: Okay For Now
Author: Gary D. Schmidt
Like/Don't Like: Loved so much

When I finished this book I thought, "This is the type of stuff I want to read all the time." It is sweet and funny and clever and thoughtful. I loved it.

It is a follow-up to The Wednesday Wars, which I also loved. One of the characters from the book, Doug Sweitek, moves to a new town and his family instantly becomes that family, the one with the alcoholic father and hooligan brother all living in a dump of a house. He struggles with these things and more as he begins a new school and tries to fit in. What I love about it is that the voices are so clear. I love it when a character is so well written that you know what he's going to say and think. So the twists and turns of the story surprise you just as much as they surprise him because you're right there with him. It is such simple and lovely writing that when the powerful stuff comes it sometimes took my breath away. I love being surprised by books.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

2011-07-15T23:27:00.000-07:00

Movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II
Like/Don't Like: Profoundly Loved

So here's my conundrum: how do I express how much I loved this movie without sounding like a total lunatic? Because it is well documented what an enormous fan I am of the whole franchise. Love the books, love the movies, feel like I could be the first true muggle ever allowed into Hogwarts. So you see the problem. You all know that I'm a Super Fan and if you're not I don't want you to think, "Well, of course she loves this movie." So, setting my fandom aside, I will say that this movie is thrilling. There is loads of action, some pretty good laughs, some very sweet moments, great acting, great special effects and quite possibly the best movie villain you will ever lay eyes on. I actually believe that anyone could walk into this movie, not knowing the difference between a horcrux and a blast-ended skrewt, and still really, really enjoy it.

But I didn't actually go into this movie looking for any kind of cinematic credibility. I went in as a Super Fan. We (me, Katie & Lindsay - who hasn't read the books but has seen all the movies so didn't know what was going to happen. Can you imagine?!) got there 2 hours ahead of time, just to make sure we got good seats. We were bouncy and giddy with excitement through the entire wait. When the movie started we cheered. When it ended we cheered and wiped the tears and snot off our faces. As a fan it was one of the best movie experiences I've ever had. They got everything right. I didn't feel like anything was short-changed. In fact, the big battle at the end seemed even more real and devastating than in the book because you're witnessing these characters that you love struggle and fight and die. It was not easy. I'm still not at the point yet where I can delve too deeply into it. (Someone today described it as a mind explosion. Agreed.) but I will just say this: it was magical.

Larry Crowne

2011-07-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

Movie: Larry Crown
Like/Don't Like: Pass

Due to some miscommunication we were under the impression that this movie was 2 hours and 45 minutes. Which, in my book, is 45 minutes too long for any movie, an hour too long for a a romantic comedy, and an hour and a half too long for a romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts. There is only so much I can handle of her toothy grin. (Does anyone else get the feeling she hates you?) So around 1:30 I was feeling like it should be ending and was practically in the depths of despair when I realized we were only halfway through. You can imagine my elation when it actually came in at under two hours. We weren't clapping because it was any good. We were clapping because it was over.

It's not really bad, there just isn't anything there. It's basically a pretty long set up about this guy Larry Crown losing his job and going back to school and...that's it. He takes a public speaking class and an economics class (with George Takei as his teacher, hereafter known as The Guy Who Saved the Movie.) and falls in with a scooter gang (?) made up of young college kids who hang out at yard sales (Double ?). There is no real conflict, no real plot, and nothing really to keep your interested. There were, however, several instances of Tom Hanks wearing one of those ridiculous pocket chains. I hope the whole point of that was to feel embarrassed for the poor guy, because I did.

Theo's Greek Cafe

2011-06-23T21:55:00.000-07:00

Restaurant: Theo's Greek Cafe
Location: 9197 Central Ave, Ste J, Montclair, CA 91763
Like/Don't Like: Two words: Greek Salad

I'm just going to give you the heads up right now. You need to order the greek salad. It is just iceberg lettuce, a couple tomatoes, a few slivers of bell peppers, cucumbers, loads of feta, and one kalamata olive. But the dressing is made with one part olive oil and two parts magic. It's sweet and tangy and I was tempted to slurp up what was left in the bottom of the plate.

Okay, now that I've done that service, on to the rest of the food. Which was all great. We split a lamb gyro and a chicken souvlaki. Both were delicious. The rice they came with was the only mediocre thing we had. It was super colorful but it didn't have much flavor. We also got some fries covered in feta, which is genius.

The service was great - maybe because we were the only ones in there. The new owner, Johnny, took care of us, told us about the history of the place and all of his plans. There's a lot of American food on the menu and he's planning on making it more Greek, which I think it wise. I'd like to try their sandwiches the next time because they sound pretty good. As long as there is room after my salad.

A Northern Light

2011-06-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

Book: A Northern Light
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Like/Don't Like: Yeah, it was pretty good

I wish I didn't have such a pet peeve for stories that go back and forth between past and present. I find that unless it's done exceptionally well it disrupts the flow for me. But I know that that is just me. So I'm giving this a good recommendation because it really was well written. I just have issues.

Mattie is a 16 year old girl living in upstate New York in the early 1900s. Her mother has just died and she is left to deal with all that entails: a grieving father, 3 younger sisters to care for and a farm and household to run, all while trying to decide between her dream of being taken care of and having stability and her dream of going off to school. Plus, she has the added misfortune of being involved in the mysterious death of a guest of the hotel she is working for. The story goes back and forth between the night the day the guest died and the months leading up to it. I had a hard time seeing the connection between the girl who died and Mattie other than they were both poor and young. I mean, I got it, I just thought it was a little bit of a stretch.

But all of that can be overlooked because the voice was so strong. You believe Mattie completely. She is a great heroine. Strong but flawed. Compassionate but capable of a little selfishness. A teenage girl all the way. It was easy to follow along with her and it left me wanting to know more about her life at the end.

Below Zero

2011-06-21T21:49:00.000-07:00

Restaurant: Below Zero
Place: 583 E. Foothill Blvd, Upland, CA
Like/Don't Like: Do penguins like snow?

Long ago, when Katie, Liz, Heather & I were pursuing our dreams of becoming nun chuck masters we would pass by this place when it was just a dream of its own. There was a sign on top that said, "Shaved Ice" and one below it that said, "Coming Soon!" We would pass by every Monday night and wish that it were open because, well, that dojo was a hot and smelly place, and we could have used a little icy refreshment.

Well, two years later, it's finally open, and I've been a few times now and I'm hooked. My love of slushy beverages is well documented, so it's a given that I would love this place. Shaved ice is a fave. But here's the awesome twist: you can get your shaved ice on top of ice cream. Magic!!! They have a list of combo suggestions or you can make your own. And they don't skimp. And on Tuesdays you get a dollar off. I predict my punch card will be full by the end of the month.

The Wednesday Wars

2011-05-28T22:50:00.000-07:00

Book: The Wednesday Wars
Author: Gary D. Schmidt
Like/Don't Like: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Holling Hoodhood is a seventh grader on Long Island and the only Presbyterian in a class full of Catholics and Jews. All of his classmates leave on Wednesday afternoons for their different religious classes, leaving Holling alone with his teacher, Mrs. Baker. To pass the time she makes him read Shakespeare plays, which at first he hates, naturally. But over the course of the year he learns to love them and finds them very applicable to everyday life.

So, that's it in a nutshell. But it is an incredibly nuanced story. The writing is magnificent. It is sweet and very funny and I laughed and cried my way through it. I loved Holling. His voice was so distinct, as are all the characters in it. Everything wove together beautifully and bonus, Shakespeare!

Inception

2011-05-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

Movie: Inception
Like/Don't Like: Like!

This movie is the capitol of Crazytown. I finally got around to watching it and by finally I don't just mean that it's been out forever but that it has been sitting in the Netflix envelope on top of the DVD player for about 2 months now. Why? Because everyone told me that I needed to pay close attention because it's a little hard to follow and I just haven't had patience for those types of movies lately so I kept putting it off until last night when I had the time and attention span it needed.

I don't usually go in for action movies. I don't like guns and punching and stuff like that - so my senses were a little jarred by the end of it. And my mind was spinning because, Knights of Columbus, that was confusing. All those layers of dreaming were tough to keep track of. And I got a little tired of all the dialogue sounding like a dream technician's textbook. But on the whole it was a really cool movie. The premise was cool, the music was cool, the stunts were cool (and I never notice stunts). I thought it was so fascinating and I was on the edge of my seat through most of it. I wish I had watched it with someone so at the end of it all I could have turned to them and said, "What the...?" and then had an in depth convo about the whole thing.

Tanya's Lebanese Kabab

2011-05-19T22:02:00.000-07:00

Restaurant: Tanya's Lebanese Kabab
Location: 915 W. Foothill Blvd, Upland, CA
Like/Don't Like: Mmmmmmmm...shawarma.

This place opened up just down the street about 2 months ago and at the previous meeting of the restaurant club it was suggested as our next stop. Great call, Heather! And also, you're coming with me the next time I go, which will be soon.

It's a tiny little place in a strip mall, sparsely decorated but clean. We ordered the chicken kebab, beef shawarma, falafel, kuftah, and mutabel. All standard Mediterranean food and all super delicious. The seasoning on everything was great. The tahini was mild, which I liked, and their garlic sauce was not, which I REALLY liked.

The price was terrific. We paid $30 for all of that food and it was more than enough. And best of all, the service was wonderful. The owner/cook came out several times to see how everything was going and to chat and when I asked what a certain drink on the menu was he brought it out for us to try for free. It's called jalab, by the way, and it tastes like a bouquet of flowers steeped in syrup. Very, veeeeery sweet. But it smelled like a garden.

Overall - awesome.

The Thirteenth Tale

2011-05-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

Book: The Thirteenth Tale
Author: Diane Setterfield
Like/Don't Like: It was exasperating. Don't.

This is a 400 page book, which is not much of a challenge. I mean, it's not Dickens or Atlas Shrugged. Yet it took me one month to read the first 200 pages (ONE MONTH! Did I somehow end up in Remedial Reading?) It zapped my will to read. So this morning, at only halfway through, I made the decision to stop reading. I even made an announcement, "I'm not going to finish that book." Because I just didn't care. I didn't care about the characters, the mystery was too slowly revealed, the pacing was laborious. I could not justify spending another minute on the book. So how did I get to this point - a mere 12 hours after making the proclamation that I quit? Spite. I was a little peeved that I had wasted an entire month of reading on a book that I wouldn't even finish. So I postponed cleaning my room and dug in. And I have to say the second half was decidedly better than the first. But not enough to make me want to recommend it to you.

The concept is an interesting one and, on a personal level, a familiar one. A woman whose twin sister died at birth (I thought that would give me some kind of connection to the story because I have a twin sister who died at 4 months. It didn't.) is brought in to write the biography of a famous but reclusive writer who is also a twin. There are a lot of mysteries and all of them are solved nice and neat and the end. But the problem is that I felt very little satisfaction in any of the answers because getting there was so exasperating. The story really suffers from a lack of good editing. What could have easily been said in 1 paragraph was often said in 1 chapter. Characters who should be important to you seem to have no personality beyond what is necessary to keep the mystery alive. It was hard to care about anyone in this book. Once I made the resolve to finish the book it went really fast. The pacing was still dragging but more things were revealed, enough so to keep my interest. But once the big reveal came - the point at which I should have been yelling, "No way!!" because I didn't actually see it coming - I just shrugged and said, "It figures."

Tango Baires Cafe

2011-04-21T22:43:00.000-07:00

Restaurant: Tango Baires Cafe
Where: Upland, CA
Like/Don't Like: YUM

My friends and I have started up a restaurant club to try out some of the little places around town. Tango Baires Cafe was our first stop tonight and it was a hit. We each ordered different meals so we could sample a variety of entrees. Wise choice. Everything was delicious. It's Argentinean food so there was a lot of beef, but also pasta, sandwiches, empanadas and pizza. I think their sauces are what really put them over the top. Especially their pesto. Everything was fresh and yummy. The menu is VAST, which is a slight negative for me because I am easily overwhelmed by too many choices, but I do love that I can try something different the next 50 times I go.

Jane Eyre

2011-04-09T23:10:00.000-07:00

Movie: Jane Eyre
Like/Don't Like: A solid adaptation

It's hard to be objective with a story that I know so well as Jane Eyre. I have read the book countless times and have seen every film adaptation. I am always hesitant when a new one comes out because I wonder what more it could possible add to what has already been said. But I'm pleased to say that this one held its own. And if all it added was more fuel to my already enormous desire to run reckless across the Yorkshire moors then job well done.

It was beautifully gothic and moody. Most scenes were shot nice and tight so it added to that trapped and mysterious feeling you should get with this story. It was quite faithful to the book. Obviously, considering the time, several elements had to be edited or cut out completely but what was left held true to the heart of the story. And any liberties that were taken added rather than distracted.

Sitting across the aisle from us was a group of girls who must have come into it without any prior knowledge of the story. This seems shocking to me. But it ended up being adorable because they gasped at every revelation. One of them even shouted out "NO WAY!" when the big mystery was revealed. (Now that I know that there are actually people out there who don't know what happens, I wouldn't dream of telling you.) It reminded me of the first time I read the book oh, 20 or so years ago, and had no idea of what was coming and just being completely enthralled with the whole thing. There is a reason why they keep making new movies of it. It's just that awesome.

Eat, Pray, Love

2011-03-30T12:44:00.000-07:00

Movie: Eat, Pray, Love
Like/Don't Like: don't

It wasn't that this movie was particularly bad. It just didn't resonate at all. It seemed to be a collection of self-help aphorisms and pretty pictures. Very pretty, really. I silently wept into my pillow as they showed scenes from Rome because I miss my gelato guy. Julia Roberts' character was difficult to relate to, and sometimes difficult to like, and the side characters, Richard Jenkins especially, seemed a lot more real and compelling but were only on for about 20 minutes each. It didn't motivate and it wasn't particularly entertaining. But Jarvier Bardem in nice to look at and it inspired me to eat more pasta just for the joy of it.

Princess Academy

2011-03-22T23:37:00.000-07:00

Book: Princess Academy
Author: Shannon Hale
Like/Don't Like: Like

Hey, who's taking the day off of work to watch the royal wedding? Who will be throwing a party complete with tiaras and crumpets in honor of it? Yeah, it's me. Because I love royalty. The pomp, the jewels, the scepters, the delusional sense of entitlement - it's all just so grand! And you just know the Queen is going to be wearing a marvelous hat. In my heart I know that the Queen and I would be best friends if she would ever accept my invitation to join my book club.

So, the Queen - yes. But princesses? No. I blame the marketing department of Disney for their ubiquity, and therefore my distaste for them. Why does every girl want to be the princess when the queen is where all the real fun is? It was this distaste which led me to putting off reading this book, even though several friends and the Newberry people have all recommended it. The title gave me a false impression that it would be all about tulle and etiquette. But it actually had a lot more depth to it.

It's set in a mining village deep within the mountains. Miri is 14 and not allowed to work in the mines with everyone else and because of this feels like she is not accepted by her community. A royal proclamation arrives saying that all the teenage girls must attend a princess academy because it has been prophesied that the prince would marry a girl from their village. This is where the tulle and etiquette come in, but only as minor scenes and mainly as jumping off points to touch on classic YA themes of acceptance and relationships. It was not what I expected at all and I was quite pleased with it.

Side note: This was fantasy-lite - which is just my type. I have no problem suspending reality but one of the reasons why I don't read too much fantasy is because the worlds that are created are more often than not over-created and lose any sense of familiarity. This actually felt like a place that could exist, even though they could talk to each other over great distances by singing to rocks.

Ella Minnow Pea

2011-03-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

Book: Ella Minnow Pea
Author: Mark Dunn
Like/Don't Like: Liked. Clever.

Most of the time it's the story that carries a book. Sometimes it's the characters. This book is carried almost entirely by the style. Normally I would roll my eyes at this but it was so well done that I didn't mind it at all.

The story is told through letters about a fictional island nation off the southeastern coast of America that was founded by the (made up) originator of the sentence, "The quick red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog." In the center of town is a monument to the man with the sentence underneath, each letter having it's own tile. When one tile falls off the island council determines it's a sign from the man that they should stop using that letter, and attache punishments for people who use it. This proceeds until nearly all the letters have fallen.

Since the story is told through letters between several people, all under the restriction of not using certain letters, the writing becomes pretty creative. You'll need a dictionary.

While it was clever and pretty fun to read there were some drawbacks. The story and characters are lacking. Most of the emphasis is put on the language so you miss out on back story, character development, important things that generally make a book worth reading. Which is why I found it so successful. Once I got into it those usually essential items became secondary to the fun of just reading along.

Utah Blaine

2011-03-14T22:09:00.000-07:00

Book: Utah Blaine
Author: Louis L'Amour
Like/Don't Like: Like. Mostly for circumstantial reasons, but enjoyable all the same.

My grandpa loves Louis L'Amour and has a vast collection of his books. So a few months ago when he moved and had to get rid of his books I made sure to snag one - for sentimental reasons. I've never had any interest in the genre. But I've been in a reading funk and when I get this way I will pick anything up in the hopes of finding something worth my time. This did the trick.

The plot is just like any western movie you've ever seen. There are bad guys and good guys and one really good guy and some ladies who are mostly just lips and hips. And there are shoot outs and saloons and horses and fist fights. There's lychin' and fightin' and ridin' and shootin' - because everyone drops the g, ya' cityslicker. There are men described as, "short and blocky with a beefy red face." Is there a better description than beefy? I doubt it. How about this one, "He was a hatchet-faced cowhand." And it even teaches you how to challenge someone to a fight, "Come on, you big lug, stack your duds and grease your skids. I'm goin' to tear down your meat house!"

Pretty fun stuff. As I was reading I could feel the funk liftin'.

A Flaw in the Blood

2011-03-14T21:57:00.000-07:00

Book: A Flaw in the Blood
Author: Stephanie Barron
Like/Don't Like: Nah. Not much. Sigh.

Is it me? Or is it Winter? Is it my reading ennui that has tainted everything I pick up? Or is it just plain mediocre writing? Because it's been ages since I've enjoyed a book. And I specifically picked this one up because I love Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen Mystery series. They're fantastic reads. But this one? It was like hearing a sad trombone while eating unbuttered toast.

The plot centers around Patrick Somebody (it's been a few weeks since I've finished. It's all pretty hazy.), an Irish barrister living in London, and Some Girl Whose Name I Can't Remember Because She Was So Underdeveloped Even Though She Was a Central Character, and Queen Victoria, of all people. Prince Albert has just died and the Queen is a wreck, and Patrick and the Girl have some clues to Albert's death that Victoria doesn't want the public to know of so she sends some German henchman out to kill them. They must unravel the mystery before that happens.

The plot sounded interesting and I've always thought that Barron was a gifted writer when it comes to pacing a mystery. But this was was pretty weak all around. It switched between several POVs (a pet peeve, as you well know) and it just didn't go anywhere. Sure, it traveled all over London and the Alps but the story just dragged without any real revelations until the very end and by that point it didn't seem so revelatory or earth shattering as it should have.

There's supposed to be a new Jane Austen Mystery (and I really do recommend them, which is rare because I don't normally sign on for knock-offs of classics) and I'll have to give that a try to get this one out of my head.

The Graveyard Book

2011-01-02T22:44:00.000-08:00

Book: The Graveyard Book
Author: Neil Gaiman
Like/Don't Like: I wanted to reread it as soon as I finished

I would like to state for the record that it is a great comfort to me that Neil Gaiman exists. More to the point, that he exists and writes. Everything I've read of his has been an absolute delight. I could stop right here by saying he wrote Good Omens and be done with it. Because my love of that book is fairly well documented. But that wouldn't be very fair to The Graveyard Book - which is masterful.

No, I mean it. Masterful. It felt like a master class in writing. It is a solidly crafted book. He has such a handle on giving you characters and stories that feel like they've been around forever - that feel like they've already been formed and written and he just plucked them out for you and gives them shape and form. Which is saying something because this story is composed mostly of ghosts and ghouls and other things that aren't alive.

It opens with a baby, later named Nobody Owens, who barely escapes being murdered by toddling into a graveyard and gaining the protection of the ghosts who live there. He is taken in by a ghostly couple and given a guardian, Silas, who is neither dead nor alive and who teaches him the ways of the world as best he can despite all the dead people wandering around. The story goes along in several vignettes over the first 14 or so years of Bod's life that all wind together in the end that is both a little sad but also very hopeful and exciting. Which is such a satisfying way to end a book.

Cairo Time

2010-11-30T22:58:00.000-08:00

Movie: Cairo Time
Like/Don't Like: Like

I watched this on my way home from Tunisia and it reflected my own experience in an arab country that I was bound to like it. I don't know how I would feel if it didn't seem so familiar but we all judge movies by what we know.

Patricia Clarkson plays a magazine editor who is in Egypt to meet her husband, a UN official who is stuck fixing a problem in the Gaza Strip. He sends his Egyptian friend to pick her up from the airport and show her around the city until he gets there. I was a little nervous that this would turn into an adulterous tale, which I hate, but it just skims the surface. It's really about how these two people connect in and through the city. It's a very quiet movie, and at times a bit slow but worth watching.

Get Low

2010-11-30T22:47:00.000-08:00

Movie: Get Low
Like/Don't Like: Like

I watched this on the flight from Rome to New York, which, for the record, is a very long flight, so I don't know if it was a lack of sleep of my giddiness on returning home, but this one really got to me.

It's based on the true story of a recluse who staged his own funeral so he could be there to hear the stories people told of him. Which is a genius idea, by the way. Wouldn't we all love to do that?

I love Robert Duvall in this. Really, I love him in anything, but he played this guy with so much humanity. I loved it. Bill Murray was a little wrong for the part. He seemed from another time period all together. But I have a hard time not adoring Bill Murray so we'll just drop it. There were some really beautiful moments to this story and I was really touched by how it unfolded. So much so that I started to cry and my seat mates, Maureen and Al, were a little concerned. But Al ended up watching it a few hours later and loved it too.

Tangled

2010-11-30T22:35:00.000-08:00

Movie: Tangled
Like/Don't Like: Cute. And clever in some parts.

I went with the Blessed Nephews to see this so I was distracted by their cuteness through a lot of it. But this was a pretty good flick. I didn't know it was Mandy Moore doing the voice of Rapunzel until the credits, which was a blessing because I normally find her to be really annoying. But if that was her doing the singing, she has lovely voice. The story was clever and a few of the songs were pretty funny. It had some of the old school Disney charm, which I appreciate.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I

2010-11-30T22:31:00.000-08:00

Movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I
Like/Don't Like: Knights of Columbus, I LOVED IT!!!!!

Here are a few complaints I've heard about this movie: It's too long. It's too truncated. It just feels like a build up for the final one. It's slow in the middle.

And to all of this I say: BALONEY. And not just any baloney but old baloney that has been sitting in the fridge for months and has turned green. Truth be told, I haven't actually eaten baloney in years but it was a staple of my childhood so I know baloney and all that whining about this movie is baloney. Because have you seen it? It's rad.

(Side note: the only criticism I will allow is on that bit with Harry and Hermoine making out when Ron is trying to kill the horcrux. On that they are all right to whine. And also, give me a break.)

The whole thing just felt right. All the technical aspects clicked, from the music to the locations to the direction and angles of the camera. They all just worked. And the kids have improved leaps and bounds with their acting. It was true to the book without being a copy of it and it captured the dark tone perfectly. And that animated part in the middle was genius. As was the casting of Rhys Ifans at Xenophilius Lovegood. I felt like it paced itself really well. There is a whole lot of story to get in and a lot of that is spent wandering the forest but it did a good job at keeping the action moving. And in defense of cutting it in half - let's get real, it had to be done. They cut it in the perfect place and give you a little resolution to tied you over until July.

July! I'm so relieved that I loved it this much. Except that now I have to start on my paper chain until the next one.

The Help

2010-10-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

Book: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Like/Don't Like: Liked (ish)

This is one of those books that I probably wouldn't have gotten around to reading. I do this with books that are everywhere.  And this book is everywhere. I see it and think, I'll get around to it eventually - when it's in paperback, but then never do because I get annoyed with seeing its cover in every display and that puts a bad connotation in my head and suddenly I have convinced myself that it's a horrible book and I'd be so dumb to waste my time on it. I wasn't too that point with this book but it was inevitable.

But I did a preemptive strike and saved myself the trouble of hating it without reading it and just read Bronwyn's copy. And I liked it, mostly.

It's set in Jackson, Miss. in the 1960s so obviously it's about racism and civil rights and all those things. When I read about that time period I start feeling really punchy. I have a hard time with people being dumb. And I can't think of anything dumber than saying a person of a different color has to use a different drinking fountain because they have germs.  It makes me cringe. It follows the stories of 3 women - two black maids, Aibileen and Minny, and one white woman, Miss Skeeter. Skeeter grew up in Jackson and was raised by a black maid, whom she loved. When she returns from college and finds that her maid is no longer working at her house she starts to question the racial system she was brought up in. This gets her talking to Aibileen and Minny - who are her friends' maids - and they start to write a tell-all book about what it's like for a black woman to work for a white family.

I felt it did a good job at conveying the very real fear black people lived in.  There were ample examples told in the book of beatins, lynchings, firings, and abuse. And the story kept me going for quite a while. Not having grown up in an age of rampant racial discrimination the whole thing is so foreign to me. I felt like it was well told and thoughtful.

But I did have a few issues: 1.) It could have been cut down. I was really into at the beginning. But the format - which switched between the points of view of 3 characters - is a pet peeve of mine unless done exceptionally well. This was not. It got a little long about 2/3 of the way through and I found myself wishing it would just end. 2.) The author seemed to be on a mission to make sure we knew it was set in the sixties. It was like there was a check list she was working off of, trying to get as mean signs of the decade in. Tab - check. Space race - check. Pucci mini dresses, Kennedy assasination, hippies, freedome-riders, Rosa Parks - all of them checked off the list. I know that they are meant to give an sense of the time but it just seemed labored and distracting. Especially when I was already getting tired of the book.

Great Expectations

2010-10-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

Book: Great Expectations
Author: Charles Dickens
Like/Don't Like: I think Dickens and I would be BFF

I have said it before and I will say it until I die: teenagers shouldn't read Dickens. What a horrible way to treat both the kids and the author. Great Expectations was the first Dickens book I ever read and it completely turned me off to him for years and years. I was a freshman in high school and all I can remember of it is Miss Havisham in her wedding dress and the cake full of critters. And also that I was bored out of my mind. Because I was 14 and dumb. 14 year olds don't get Dickens. How can they? He's so subtle and dry and his stories weave in and out of dozens of characters' lives. What 14 year old has that sort of attention span? I wish that I had been introduced to him in college. All it would have taken for me to be completely smitten was a few more years under my belt. But instead I spent almost 20 years thinking he was the biggest bore.

Well, I love him now. I think we would be the best of friends if we were ever in the same neighborhood, or century. He's just so funny. So because I love him I thought I'd go back to the book that started it all and see if my impression of it had evolved beyond, "Ugh, lame." It has. I thought it was clever and, proving that my memory for books is non-existent, everything was a surprise. I remembered that Miss Havisham went up in flames, but other than that I kept gasping and saying, "Really?!" I love that he ties everything up in a nice bow at the end. Everyone gets what they deserve. Good people learn lessons and end up happier and wiser than before. I never worry that his stories will end poorly, which is a relief sometimes in reading.

Plus, there are always a one or two characters that are just so endearing. Wemmick was the one this time. He lives in a teeny castle, complete with a moat and tends to his old father, whom he calls The Aged Parent, sometimes shortened just to Aged or Aged P. My Dad can consider himself warned that I will be calling him this in the near future.

What is the What

2010-09-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

Book: What is the What
Author: Dave Eggers
Like/Don't Like: It's tough to like a book like this, but I have to say I did.

Unless you've been living under a rock you have probably heard of all the horrible things that have gone on in Sudan for the last 30 years of civil war. It's miserable over there and whenever I read about it the whole thing seems too gruesome to be true. And yet reading this book not only makes it all too real, it also puts a name and a face to it. It is not a picnic, reading this book.

While technically a novel (it is explained in the beginning why they had to call it one) the book is the real life story of Valentino Achak Deng, a southern Sudanese refuge who is now living in the states. Around the age of 9 his village was attacked by the Arab run government from the north and he had to flee without knowing the fate of his home or family. He ended up walking to Ethiopia and eventually Kenya, from one refugee camp to another over 9 years until he was relocated to the US. He tells of such attrocities that it seems impossible for one human to suffer so much and live, let alone the millions who have such similar stories.

At the beginning of his story he mentions how in the early part of his walk with thousands of other young boys two of them were taken off by lions - just snatched up in the night as they walked single file through the desert. At that point I didn't think I would be able to read any more because I was sure that worse things were to come. And they do. Far worse. I won't go into it. But you wouldn't be able to imagine it if you tried.

So it's a rough read, topic-wise. But the style is effortless. There is so much suffering and yet there is a good amount of humor. And it flows beautifully from present day to flashbacks. Even the present day accounts are hard to read - they start off with Achak being beaten and robbed in his own home (seriously, the kid can't catch a break) - but the pacing of it is manageable. I'm glad I didn't stop reading.

Wuthering Heights

2010-09-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

Book: Wuthering Heights

Author: Emily Bronte

Like/Don't Like: Liked. It was inevitable that I would.

So, it's true. I've never read Wuthering Heights. I give you leave to be shocked. Here's the thing, I've started it like seven times and I would normally get to the scenes with Heathcliff and put it down because he got on me nerves. And then I wouldn't pick it back up until about a year later when I'd give it another try, only to stop in the same place for the same reason. It has been my one literary shame that I haven't read this book.

Well, I suddenly found myself in Tunisia. I didn't bring any books for my three month stay because 1.) I didn't have room in my luggage and 2.) I trusted Bronwyn's taste in books. So on the first night I was perusing her library and came across Wurthering Heights and thought, oh why not. These are extraordinary circumstances. Maybe this is what it will take to get me through the book.

And apparently it was because I finished it. Rejoice!

And I really liked it. How could I not. Once I became to terms with hating Heathcliff and not really liking Catherine I was fine. He's just so detestable. But the story was fantastic and the writing was wonderful and, as with all the Bronte books, it made me want to march across the moors, preferably in a swoon.

So here's my biggest concern with it. I've always heard that this was one of the great romantic novels. I hope that I've always just missed the Big R in Romantic because if they're just talking about small r romantic then we have a problem. Heathcliff and Cathy's relationship was twisted and weird. And his passion for her later on was even weirder. And I fear for people who think that's romantic. It made me want to punch him in the face a little.

Mockingjay

2010-08-28T01:14:00.000-07:00

Book: Mockingjay
Author: Suzanne Collins
Like/Don't Like: I can't think of anything to adequately describe how I felt about it so I'll just do the injustice of saying yes, I liked it.

After several debriefings with a number of people via email, phone and in person, and several days distance to compose myself and gather my thoughts, I think I'm finally able to write about this book. Sort of. Oh, gee whiz, could I be more dramatic? But seriously, this book had a strange grasp on me that I was wholly unprepared for.

Before I start I should tell you that Camille just finished it and we spend 30 minutes breaking it down and she asked why I was so emotional about the ending. To explain here is something Hannah said during our discussion of the book that I completely agree with. She said that some people are just talented readers. That for some, reading is a God-given gift. So for example, I can play the piano, but I've never considered myself to be a talented pianist. There is a vast difference between the notes I play and the notes that a truly talented musician plays. They can take the skill of playing the piano and infuse it with all the emotion it deserves. I can't do that on the piano, but I can do that with a book. When I read I pour every single emotion into it. It comes without any thought and it's been that way since I was a kid. You should have seen me when Johnny died in The Outsiders. I was 10 and devastated. When a story is this good and the characters are this real I can't help but put everything into it. It can be exhausting. (It's a shame I can't make money off of loving books. There are times when I'll say I wish I had a talent for accounting or auto repair (you know, something marketable) but in all honesty I'm pretty stoked that I got reading.)

So yes, reading this book was a really powerful experience. On many levels. But I'm not going to go into all the reasons why. People who have read the first two books and are looking for some kind of hint as to how the book was, all I can tell you is that it wasn't easy. You already know that they're at war and Katniss has to fight and with war comes some gruesome stuff. But it wasn't the violence that got me. It was the human cruelty. And it was also the human frailty. Both meanness and kindness do me in.

I won't tell you all the thoughts I had on it but I will tell you that the writing is masterful. Suzanne Collins has a gift. She paces the story at a breakneck speed and she doesn't let superfluous description slow it down. She describes things in a way that with just a few short phrases you have a clear image in your head of the setting and mood. She does not waste words, which I consider to be one of the greatest talents a writer can have. And she had a very light touch with the themes. It could very easily have gone over board in any number of directions with the environment and war and equality. But she let the story do the talking without being preachy at all.

I can't say too much about the plot without giving things away but I will tell you that it was so much more than I expected. I was genuinely surprised at plot twists. And the ending was solid. When I finished I really had no idea what to say about it. People have asked if I loved it. And I wanted to say that I loved it but I say things like, "I love the Sound of Music," or, "I love chocolate ice cream." It was a little bit more complex than that. What I did love was the experience of it. It tore me up but in such a good way. Oy, again with the drama.

These is my Words

2010-08-04T22:57:00.000-07:00

Book: These is my Words
Author: Nancy E. Turner
Like/Don't Like: LOVED. A lot. Even though the title hurt my heart.

You're asking how I can read a book with such a title. And I'm with you on that. Every time I say the name of this book I die a little on the inside.

Except that it is AMAZING. And I can certainly forgive a gimmicky title in exchange for an incredible story.

Emma lent it out to Teresa who then passed it on to me on Sunday and both of them said I had to start it right away. I was in between books and had some free time in the afternoon so why not. Here's why not. I could not put it down. From that time until I finished it this evening every spare minute I had was spent reading this book. Things like work and already scheduled activities got in the way but things that did not get in the way were sleep, meals and other responsibilities that could be procrastinated. It is the type of book that makes you put life on hold and you don't feel guilty at all about it.

Which completely surprised me. I'm not naturally drawn to those types of stories - those being stories of pioneers living the hard life in the West. Mostly because tales of hardship exhaust me. And oh, are there hardships in this book. So many hardships. So many that I regularly found myself saying prayers of gratitude that I was born in a time with running water and cars and hospitals and roads and food aplenty and no threats of Indian attacks or scarlet fever or blood poisoning or snake bites or train robberies or your horse rolling over you after it's been shot by and arrow. And worse things too. Like rape. Egads! It's a good thing there are good, strong male characters in this story because because every other man in it had leering eyes and grabby hands. The main character, Sarah Prine, always carried a pistol in her apron pocket, and for good reason.

All of those things and more happened to either Sarah or her loved ones and looking back on them it's a miracle I kept reading. But the writing was so straightforward and honest that it just sucked me right in. I loved her voice. It felt true. There wasn't a single moment when I thought that a pioneer woman wouldn't say that. I also loved all the other characters, both those on the side who come in and out as the years go along and those who stick around through the whole thing. (You will fall in love with Jack. Even you who are married. You will find yourself wishing your husband would grow a mustache and join the army. That's how great he is!)

There isn't much of a plot, it's just her journal spanning two decades so it's mostly just chronically her life and the joys and struggles that come with it. So it's high praise when I say that you don't even notice the lack of one. When I finished it tonight I immediately headed over to our stitching group where Emma and Teresa were and the first thing I said to them was that I finished it but couldn't really talk about the ending because I hadn't had time to process it all. I love it when a book fills you up like that.

Departures

2010-08-03T22:54:00.001-07:00

Movie: Departures
Like/Don't Like: Like.

Once upon a time at BYU a cute guy in one of my classes asked if I wanted to go see a Japanese film at the International Cinema. Um, duh. Cute guy + movie = yes please. We agreed to meet and I showed up and he didn't. As I am 80 it should not surprise you that this was back in the days when not everyone had a cell phone. So I saw him in class the next day and he was apologetic and gave me some line about homework and weather and whatever. And all of that would have been a fine excuse and I could have gotten over it except that the movie was a huge drag. It was two hours of nothing but this old couple sitting in their home waiting for their family to come visit them before they die. So the whole time I'm watching it I was bored out of my mind and peeved that the cute guy stood me up.

This naturally left a bad taste in my mouth for Japanese film. Which is ridiculous, I know. But I'm a girl. I can be like that. I've seen a few Japanese films since and have begrudgingly enjoyed them but I'm still never very thrilled at the prospect.

So you can imagine how I felt tonight when I showed up at my friends house for a movie night (on a school night, no less) and found that the movie she had selected was Japanese. (The sad truth is that this movie has been recommended to me on Netflix several times and has been in my queue for a while and had I ever found out that it was Japanese it would never has seen the inside of my mailbox.) I instantly prepared my mind to be bored and got comfy just in case I found it more interesting to sleep instead of watch.

But it was actually pretty good. Not boring at all, really. It's about a man who has lost his job as a cellist when the orchestra he played in is dissolved. He moves back to his home town and the first job he lands is performing the ceremonial preparations for cremation. (I should tell you that if you watch it, it is helpful to know that the Japanese are a little squeamish when it comes to dead people. We didn't figure that out until halfway through when people started shunning him because of his work.)

The music is lovely (full of the cello, which I love) and the scenes where he's preparing the bodies are actually quite beautiful. There are some funny moments, which kept things light and I thought it had a pretty good message about how death softens the living and puts important things into focus.

The Brothers Bloom

2010-07-26T00:00:00.001-07:00

Movie: The Brothers Bloom
Like/Don't Like: Eh, not so much

I am a sucker for highly stylized films. I love all the attention to detail, the clothes, the music, the lighting, the settings, and the generally quirkiness that goes into them. I am pretty susceptible to being carried away by them. I guess I just really appreciate it when film maker has a vision and goes for it whole hog.

This was about 3/4 hog. It had the vision, but it just didn't carry it through to the end.

It follows the capers of two con artist brothers, one the mastermind and the other his faithful front man. They're trying to scam a rich woman out of her fortune by convincing her to go on a decoy con with them. I actually loved her character, played by Rachel Weisz. Mostly because were I a woman of independent means I would be very much like her. She has spent her time and money learning new hobbies like karate and the tuba and DJing. Basically she's living my dream.

The story was a little hard to follow, which I was okay with because I always assume that mysteries will work themselves out in the end and I shouldn't get caught up in the details. And this one did. But it also had a heavier ending than I was expecting and the stylized form with it's retro gothic feel had petered out a little by then and that left the emotional ending a little flat. There were some clever and funny moments throughout but they weren't enough to make it feel like a whole film.

Catching Fire

2010-07-25T23:41:00.001-07:00

Book: Catching Fire
Author: Suzane Collins
Like/Don't Like: Gah! Cliff Hanger!!!!!

This is the sequel to The Hunger Games which I started as soon as I finished the first. And just like the first I couldn't put it down. One of these days my Wealthy Benefactor will show up and I won't have to ever worry about my dumb job interfering with my desire to read all day long.

This time we're still following Katniss and Peeta and they're still in peril and fighting the good fight and the bad guys just seem to be getting worse and worse and oooh, I just can't wait for the 3rd and final book to come out.

I am still incredibly impressed with the author's ability to convey horrific scenes in such sparse words. I think it actually makes it even more powerful. Even when I had an issue with a plot twist (I won't tell you. It would ruin things.) and felt like maybe it was a bit of a cop-out, she still managed to win me over with it because it just felt so raw and real. It's as if you're reading a newspaper account of a terrible accident where the impact of what happened hits you hard because there's no flowery language to soften the blow.

I will now admit that I lifted my Book Buying Moratorium and pre-ordered Mockingjay. And even though it will be my last weekend at home before I flit off to Tunis for three months and will no doubt have a bajillion things to accomplish I fully plan to finish it before I leave. Do you really think I can wait until November to find out what happens? Um...no.

The Hunger Games

2010-07-14T23:39:00.000-07:00

Book: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Like/Don't Like: Ooh, liked!

Tell me if this doesn't turn you stomach a bit: a post-apocalyptic society that each year makes 24 teenagers fight each other to the death on live television.

That's what this story is about. And when I realized it I almost stopped reading. Because I don't like reading about people killing each other. I especially don't like reading about teenagers killing each other. But oh so many people recommended this book to me. And one even went so far as to bring it by my house, wherein I started reading and could not stop. Sure, sleep and work got in the way but everything else fell by the side because this just sucked me right in.

Right off the bat we learn that the United States is no more. There aren't many details as to what caused it but what is left are 12 districts. There used to be 13 but there was a rebellion and the 13th was destroyed in it. In its aftermath the leaders decide that the only way to keep the people under control is to starve them and then have a competition where 2 teens are randomly chosen from each district to fight it out in a vast landscape live on TV. The last person alive gets glory and food for their district. Katniss and Peeta (biggest complaint: lame names) are the representatives from district 12, the poorest and most looked down upon district. They recognize what winning can mean to their family and friends back home but they also recognize that in order to win they will have to kill the other. The complexity of their relationship is an interesting side story.

The central idea is pretty gruesome but the writing is not. There are some horrible things that happen but the writing is so sparse that it's almost like reading about it in a newspaper. This actually was a huge bonus for me. It allowed the story to be the star. I can not tell you how exhausted I am of books dripping with adjectives and metaphors and foreshadowing. A story should be able to stand up on it's own. I don't like to be tricked into reading by hints as to what will happen in the future. I should keep reading because I legitimately care about the characters and their story. This book makes you care. The characters are strong and well written and the pacing is dead on. I didn't want to put it down.

Thanks for the recommendaition, Everyone!

The Book Thief

2010-07-01T22:52:00.000-07:00

Book: The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
Like/Don't Like: Like. Even though there are Nazis in it.

When I finished this book I had a hard time believing that my friend Amanda actually sent it to me. For two very good reasons.

1.) It is a book, albeit peripherally, about Nazis and the Holocaust. And Amanda hates books about those topics.

2.) I literally cried through the last 60 pages of it and I can not fathom why Amanda, who is also a big time cry baby, would send me such a tear jerker and NOT WARN ME ABOUT IT.

It follows Liesel, a 10 year old girl who has just been essentially orphaned and given to foster parents in Munich at the start of World War II. She quickly makes friends with the neighborhood kids and adjusts to living with her new family. But she feels restless and helpless because of the war and all the trials it brings. Through the course of the story she learns to love to read, especially from books she has stolen, and how to navigate both adolescence and the war.

Death is the narrator. As in the Grim Reaper. I thought it was a bit gimmicky at first but with death being such a real presence during wartime it became fitting and beautiful in a way. He admits to being both confused and frightened by humans - how a single moment can show the worst and the best in us. You see a lot of examples in the story of this.

The writing style was a little different. Lately in books I've been noticing the way information is given out. Some authors dump it on you and others let it drip out. This was given in bits and pieces with no regard to time line or story line. And I have to say that I liked it. You find out important information - like people dying - way in advance, long before it even happens. And not just hinting at it but outright telling you that this is what's going to happen. It was kind of fun to read something different like that.

Although fun is a relative term here. There were some funny moments and some sweet ones too. But people do die. A lot of them. And you love them all. There were a few times when I had to stop myself from wailing out loud. Even over the ones I knew were coming because Death said it would happen.

I finished the last 100 pages tonight on the couch while Katie sat at the table and finished the last 100 pages of Emma and I had a bit of reader envy - that she was reading something that didn't make her sob. But it was a fleeting envy because this is a really beautiful book. Even through all the agony of so many people suffering and dying - it was still beautifully written and a wonderful story.

I will mention one pet peeve though, and it is not exclusive to this book, it was just done often in it. It bothers me when an author will use a foreign word and then put the translation in. For example:

"Danke," I said. "Thanks."

This was done a lot and it was distracting. I know it's nitpicking, and maybe it wouldn't have bothered me so much if I didn't know a little German (although not nearly as much as I should considering how many years I studied it in school) but I feel that, if used properly, most foreign words can be understood in context. Particularly because most of the German that was used was slang. I think we all can guess the dirty words in any language. And all you have to do is watch Indian Jones to know that schnell means fast. And further more, we all know they're speaking German. Does it even need to be written?

Of course, this had no baring on the quality of the story and really it's just me being cranky. We'll blame the Nazis for that. It's a wonderful book.

Toy Story III

2010-06-24T00:11:00.000-07:00

Movie: Toy Story III
Like/Don't Like: Loved. No, really.

Camille has been Without Gall and cooped up in the house since Friday and felt like it was time to get out. So we picked up some ice cream in honor of Grandma and went to the movies. Neither of us was particularly excited to see this movie because we're both hard hearted curmudgeons. Or, you know, we're just not that excited about animated movies. But it was either that or the A-Team and I'm still not sold on that movie. Why mess with a classic?

Well, let me tell you, I was wrong to not be excited. So wrong. Because this movie was great. I laughed, I cried, I laughed again, and then again. The story was fresh and there were enough new characters and a good plot line to keep it interesting the whole way through. It was suspenseful and heart warming and funny. And kind of scary in parts. The kids in the audience didn't really seem scared but there is a droopy eyed baby doll in it that FREAKED ME OUT. Oh, the nightmares I will have over it. But that's just me. It probably won't even faze you when you see it. Which you should. Soon. Because it's that good. And this coming from a hard hearted curmudgeon.

How the Earth Changed History

2010-06-21T22:03:00.000-07:00

Show: How the Earth Changed History
Channel: National Geographic
Time: What, Like I'm your TV Guide? Look it up.
Like/Don't Like: I'm putting in my pocket protector and pushing up my glasses. It brings out the geek in me big time.

You may not know this about me but I'm a huge geek when it comes to geology. Nothing sucks me in faster than a good show on how lakes or mountains or islands are formed. I can spend hours reading about plate tectonics and erosion and rock formations. You may have to give me a wedgie and shove me in a locker to shut me up about it but I make no apologies.

This is a week long miniseries about how the geologic changes on the planet have affected the course of human history. How China has become so fertile and rich and how, conversely, Australia has suffered from decades of drought because of the exact same winds. How people continually live on major fault lines (Hi!) because they're rich in natural resources. It's hosted by a Scottish geologist, so his accent is entertaining - especially when he gets excited about rock formations. And it focuses on one specific geological condition - say wind or fire - and shows how they have created not just the earth but also the societies that live on it. It's fascinating.

It's showing this week but I'm sure there will be reruns of it. And the next time I see you I promise not to rumble on too much about volcanoes.

The Dante Club

2010-06-09T23:01:00.000-07:00

Book: The Dante Club
Author: Matthew Pearl
Like/Don't Like: Once I got passed the ickiness I liked it a lot.

Several years ago a friend recommended this book to me. I got it, started reading and then stopped about 30 pages in. Details are fuzzy as to why.

Fast-forward to last year. I read and loved The Last Dickens. It wasn't until the end when I realized that the same guy wrote The Dante Club. So I vowed to give it another shot.

And now the fuzzy details have cleared up. The beginning is gruesome. It is not for the weak-stomached or faint-hearted. There are bugs. Lots of them. Particularly maggots. And Matthew Pearl is a very skilled writer in making you squirm.

He is also a very smart writer. Smart as in he knows a lot of stuff. And he spends the first third of the book dumping that stuff on you. To the point where it can drag a bit and confuse you as to who's who. Every man in the story has outrageous facial hair and is or at one point was married to women named Fanny. It took me quite some time to get everyone straight in my head.

This is historical fiction taking place in Boston at the end of the Civil War. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is translating Dante's Divine Comedy into English with the help of his friends, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, and JT Fields. This is the historical part. The fiction part is that a mad man is on the loose and is killing people in very Dantean fashions. Hence, the maggots. The four men recognize the patterns and set out to figure the whole thing out.

Once I got over the ickiness at the beginning and got used to his style of information overload I could hardly put it down. It moved along at a pretty good pace. The majority of the information he dumps on you was pretty interesting. And the mystery was great. I love it when I'm completely surprised by the killer. I mean, I was shocked! I gasped rather loudly.

I should put it out there that you don't have to know anything about the four main characters or Dante to enjoy it. I didn't know anything about him or the Divine Comedy other then that there are various circles of Hell. But you should probably have an appreciation for literature in general. The mystery can stand alone but you're going to get a lot of literary critique with it.

Letters to Juliet

2010-06-07T22:46:00.000-07:00

Movie: Letters to Juliet
Like/Don't Like: Let's all take a vacation to Italy. We'll eat gelatto!

I suppose as far as romantic comedies go this one was harmless. It didn't have any of the ridiculous slapsticks that seem to be peppering the genre lately - for which I was incredibly grateful. And the premise of helping an old lady find love was sweet (We all agreed later that Vanessa Redgrave is one classy broad.) The leading man was awkward and jittery through the entire first half of the movie and that made me feel slightly awkward and jittery. But then there were all those scenes of them driving through the Italian countryside. Rows of twirling cypress trees have a very calming effect on me.

Just Wright

2010-05-29T23:34:00.000-07:00

Movie: Just Wright
Like/Don't Like: Just Wrong

You know how people who go through traumatic events together share a special lifelong bond? War buddies and survivors of plane crashes - those types. So no matter how far apart they are or how many years separate them from the event they still can call each other up and say, "Hey, remember that time we were marooned on an island?"

Well, I had my Band of Brothers experience tonight with 8 other girls watching this movie. We all went out to celebrate Camille's birthday and had a grand time at dinner before hand. We were giggly and full and relieved we weren't in line for Sex and the City II, where there appeared to be a skanky dress and laughably inappropriate-for-a-movie-theater high heel shoes dress code going on. And it's a Queen Latifah movie, and well, I think she's great. I mean, she doesn't really have a wide range or anything but she plays sassy really well, and we all know how much I love the sass.

It all seemed so promising.

And then Common came on. He played the man who's suppose to fall in love with her - and that would have been fine and believable except that a.) they had sub-zero chemistry and b.) he has sub-zero acting skills. I know that Common is a rapper but I've never heard any of his music. But based strictly on his acting abilities, he had better stick with his day job. Knights of Columbus, he was BAD! Painfully bad. Awkwardly bad. There were moments when I had to avert my eyes because I was so embarrassed that he was so bad. And it was slow. And long. And Paula Patton had freaky teeth, like her dentist just laid a set of veneers over her original teeth, thus making them too big for her mouth. It was distracting. But also a relief because then I could focus on them instead of how crappy the movie was.

At the end of it we all gathered in the lobby and stood in stunned silence over what we had experienced - knowing that this would be the day that forged our friendship forever.

Sherlock Holmes

2010-05-24T23:48:00.000-07:00

Movie: Sherlock Holmes

Like/Don't Like: A solid Like.

By sheer coincidence I read a few of the Sherlock Holmes stories just before this movie came out. I'm very glad I didn't see it in the theater because I think I would have been a little annoyed with the liberties that were taken. But as I have no memory for things I read I only had a vague discomfort about it and then got over the whole thing and enjoyed the movie.

The story sort of gave me the creeps (secret society practicing the dark arts), and also, was a little dull, and I have a hard time watching fighting sequences with all those realistic sound effects. I can close my eyes through the rough parts but I can still hear the bones snapping. Eek. But Sherlock Holmes is one of the best literary characters of all times and Robert Downey Jr. played him expertly. Well, for a pumped up action hero - which is a bit ridiculous - he played him expertly. I also think he would have done a great job with the traditional more cerebral/less punchy Holmes with the deerstalker cap. He got the essence of him - making him the smartest guy in the room and knowing it. Jude Law was surprisingly good as well. I say surprisingly because I'm always surprised when I like him in something. The mustache helped - as it always does.

Gentlemen Broncos

2010-05-11T17:35:00.000-07:00

Movie: Gentlemen Broncos
Like/Don't Like: Um. Well. Okay, yes, I'm on board with this.

As a general rule I'm not much for movies with excessive vomiting or other gross-out humor. I'm a sensitive soul. And I usually max out with a Jared Hess movie about an hour into them.

But there were several times during this movie when I laughed loud and hard. So yes, I liked it. I liked it mostly because of Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords, who played a sci-fi writer. And Sam Rockwell, who plays essentially the same character he played in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - which is not a bad thing.

The story is sparse, and also irrelevant because the whole point of these types of movies is to have a succession of random scenes that show off funny characters and non-sequiturs. If you know this going in you'll love it. Especially the scene where we learn how to make up sci-fi names. It is hilarious and also dead-on.

The Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series

2010-04-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

Books: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Series! (The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, and The Last Olympian)
Author: Rick Riordan
Like/Don't Like: Really liked

First, I need to thank two people: 1.) Valerie, who lent me the first book, which may not seem like such a big deal but really is when you consider that she lives in New York and mailed it to me, and 2.) Teresa, who bought the whole series and then let me read it before she did, which, if you're a book lender-outer, is a sacrifice. May the gods of Olympus shower peanut M&Ms upon you girls.

Okay, on to the review. I'm going to say this upfront because when you read the first book you're going to get the feeling that you've read this all before. Perhaps in a really epic series about a wizard. Percy Jackson is a kid who finds out he's the son of Poseidon and he ends up at this magical camp for half-bloods. He has two best friends, a fumbling satyr named Grover and smarty-pants Annabeth. He finds out that there is a prophecy about him that he will need to save the world. So yes, there are some similarities. Just like there are similarities in Harry Potter to Star Wars. It's a classic tale. And after the first book you don't even notice them anymore.

The books involve a lot of Greek mythology - something I know very little about - and they're presented in a way that doesn't make you feel like you're sitting in a classroom listening to a lecture. The major and minor gods are all presented as well as the recounting of a lot of the heros' tales. But it's all done through the action - which is fast paced and fun. That's my biggest praise for the books actually. There isn't a lot of downtime. The story just keeps on moving. Perfect for kids as well as adults (ahem) with short attention spans. The characters are great. The monsters are scary but not too scary for kids. The melding of reality and mythology was seamless. And they were just really fun to read.

If I had one complaint it would be this: the headquarters for the evil Titans is in San Fransisco and the entrance to the underworld is in Los Angeles. Why at the hate for the west coast, Riordan? Do you have something against sunshine?

The Young Victoria

2010-04-26T19:44:00.001-07:00

Movie: The Young Victoria

Like/Don't Like: Um...sure, I liked it.

I'm a bit on the fence on this one. I liked it. And I liked it better the second time around. But I didn't like that I had to watch it a second time to catch everything. It had a great potential for being a spectacular story but it was lacking. There were gaping holes in the narrative that made it hard to follow at times. And everyone was dressed alike and had the same hair styles and there were times when certain characters were referred to and I wouldn't have a single idea of who they were talking about. Somethings became clearer when I watched the deleted scenes - which, um, shouldn't those scenes have been kept in?

Maybe that was it's problem. It didn't have a clear focus so it got out of control and then hacked up in the editing process.

But for all its flaws I still enjoyed it. Maybe I saw the potential. It chronicles Queen Victoria's years just before her coronation at 18 through the first years of her marriage to Albert and it shows the difficulty she faced as a young queen with all the different people pulling at her for favors and power. All of that was pretty interesting. Emily Blunt was great and Rupert Friend was better than I anticipated. I didn't like him much in Pride and Prejudice but I thought he was good here. The mustache may have won me over.

Running the Sahara

2010-04-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

Documentary: Running the Sahara
Like/Don't Like: If you like watching crazy people, sure

I've never really understood runners (she types as she puts another Sour Patch Watermelon in her mouth). Even casual joggers seem slightly off balanced. Unless you're being chased by a bear, or possibly zombies, I don't really see the point in running. I also don't see the point in pushing yourself to the ultimate physical and mental limits to achieve some sort of enlightenment. Couldn't you just read The Secret?

So you can imagine my confusion when I came across this documentary of three men who decided to run across the Sahara Desert. Let me state that again - in caps, because I'm screaming it - RUN ACROSS THE SAHARA DESERT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you have any idea how big the Sahara is? It's BIG. It's more than 4000 miles across. They ran from the Atlantic Ocean in Senegal across the desert to the Red Sea in Egypt. It took them 111 days to run the equivalent of 170 marathons. They did not take a day off. In fact, once they reached the pyramids which were about 120 miles from their final destination, they decided to not take any more breaks and just jog to the end. CRAZY TOWN! There isn't much to the story but it was pretty interesting seeing the mental toll waking up every morning and running 40-60 miles through the desert every single day takes on a man. It caused them to have some jerky moments and there were a few break-downs. But there were some really legitimate moments of camaraderie and the old team spirit. And I was really impressed by the lack of whining. I can guarantee you that were I to be on a similar expedition I would be an enormous baby even riding in the support jeep and the team would be looking for the nearest oasis to dump me at.

There was one point in the middle of the run when they were in Niger and their view was literally nothing but hundreds of miles of sand dunes and one of the guys (who had lost 40 pounds by that point) wanted to quit and the team leader said to him, "Alright, if you want to quit then quit. If you want to live your life with no excitement just go run a marathon where they hand you the water and give you a medal at the end." Pansy.

Bright Star

2010-04-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

Movie: Bright Star
Like/Don't Like: Arrow to the Heart

Oh, this is a Romantic movie. I mean poetry by firelight, picnics in fields of bluebells, doomed love, death by consumption Romantic. And it's good. Beautifully shot, well acted, amazing costumes, and lots and lots of poetry. I loved it.

It follows the three year relationship of John Keats and Fanny Brawne. She was his muse and later his fiance (sort of). He was too poor for them to marry and it was broken off when his friends convinced him to travel to Italy for his health. And we all know what happened to him in Italy (consumption!). I cried and cried. And then I pulled out my Keats and started memorizing poems.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

2010-04-01T12:43:00.001-07:00

Movie: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Like/Don't Like: Fantastic!

This movie is kind of awesome. It's quirky. It's funny. It has great music. And Bill Murray. And it has a real home-made feel to it. It's 100% Wes Anderson, which means that even puppet animals wear skinny short pants and talk into Dictaphones. (Side note: I watched this movie last night. And this morning I happened to catch the last 15 minutes of The Life Aquatic and I have to say that stop action animation seems to be the perfect fit for Wes Anderson. It's as if his live action films could only take him so far in creating the world that's in his head.)

There is also an immense attention to detail that I thought was brilliant. Every scene was filled with little tiny items that could easily have been looked over but added a very complete, homey, warm feel to it. Like the corduroy jacket on Foxy, or Mrs. Fox's pair of scissors she always had on her. It made me wish I could reach my hand in and touch everything. Years ago I watched a documentary on doll house enthusiasts. It showed them scouring the country for months to find just the right wee sized chair or picture frame and, frankly, it freaked me out. But here it made sense. Had I been on the design team I can completely see myself staying up all night to hand stitch a track suit or make a teeny chair cushion because it all just seemed so magical.

Emma

2010-02-08T16:38:00.001-08:00

Movie: Emma (The newest miniseries on Masterpiece. I'm 80)
Like/Don't Like: Coming around to it.

It's seems about time for a new Emma adaptation, right? The Gwyneth Paltrow one is old enough now to warrant it. And for the most part I liked it. It was faithful enough to the book to please any purest but added just enough imagined scenes to make it its own. The side characters were well played. Michael Gabon plays her dad and I am of the belief that you cannot go wrong by casting Dumbledore. And Johnny Lee Miller was Mr. Knightley and I have to say he has aged well. He always struck me as an uncomfortable actor in his younger days but he seems to have found his groove. Anyway, yes, all side characters well played.

My biggest gripe, and it's not that big but needs to be mentioned, was with Romola Garai, who played Emma. I thought she played her too modern, too over the top. I know that Emma is suppose to be bratty and immature, but she seemed closer to a college co-ed then a proper English lady, which, bratty aside, she also was. It could just be a personal preference on my part but I found it kind of distracting. I will say that I liked her better in the second half, which may be the whole point. Even Jane Austen said we probably wouldn't like her too much.

It Might Get Loud

2010-02-08T16:34:00.000-08:00

Documentary: It Might Get Loud

Like/Don’t Like: It was pretty loud

What is there to say about this documentary except that it’s Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge getting together to talk about electric guitars and jam. Kind of awesome. Especially because all three are such different guitarists. They talk about their first guitars, how they got to their signature sounds, how their bands were formed. It’s pretty cool hearing the perspective of the guitarists in iconic bands. It’s usually the vocalist who does all the talking (Just try to ignore Bono. You can’t. He won’t let you.) but it’s the guitarist you hear first. You can always tell a U2 or Led Zepplin song from the first few notes on the guitar. Which brings me to Jack White. There’s no denying the guy is talented but I like him so much more in this film because he was talking more than he was singing. His voice doesn’t just drive me to the loony bin, it checks me in and laces up the straight jacket

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

2010-01-20T13:48:00.000-08:00

Book: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Author: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Like/Don't Like: Loved

Let's just get this out of the way: this is a ridiculous title for a book. It's just way too precious and it made me think of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood or the Jane Austen Bookclub and does the world really need any more books about women who get together to talk about their man troubles and the enduring spirit of womanhood. No. It doesn't. And that title is the only reason why it took me ages to get around to reading it. Despite it being highly recommended by several trusted friends.

So I am happy to report that it is nothing like those books. It is a lovely little story. It is written entirely in letters (which I thought would drive me nuts but didn't) primarily between a writer in London, Juliet, and a group of people in Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, who formed a literary society during the German Occupation of World War II. They write about their love of books and the troubles they've had during the war and the whole thing is utterly wonderful. It's funny and clever and was much deeper than the title would suggest. It will make you 1.) want to study up on Guernsey and 2.) want to find a pen pal.

Run

2010-01-15T09:44:00.000-08:00

Book: Run
Author: Ann Patchett
Like/Don't Like: Really liked

Blast. I've gone too long. I finished this book a week ago and now all I can remember is that I liked it a lot. It was centered around a rich Irish Catholic family in Boston consisting of a father and his three sons, two of whom are adopted and black. And there's a car accident that changes their lives. And that is about it. I am clearly pathetic.

Oh, wait! I can remember that it was beautifully written. I mean, seriously. Ann Patchett has a gift for writing from different perspectives. You feel like you're sitting in a room with a bunch of interesting people and they're all telling their version of a story all at once but one voice will carry over the others, then it will subside and another will rise up, then another, then another until the whole story comes out.

Is that enough to make you want to read it?

Adam

2010-01-14T13:59:00.000-08:00

Movie: Adam
Like/Don't Like: It was very sweet.

So Aspergers Syndrome is so common now that there's a movie about a guy who has it. I'm still waiting for a movie about Restless Leg Syndrome.

Adam is a 29 year old guy with Aspergers whose father has just died, leaving him alone in the world. He has a job and an apartment and his father's best friend, but other then that he's on his own. A school teacher, Beth, moves into the apartment upstairs and starts up a relationship with him. It's sweet and awkward and has the looming question of whether or not this could actually work out. She helps him become more independent and he teachers her to be more compassionate and also more specific in the things she wants. It's a lovely little film.

Young at Heart

2010-01-14T13:40:00.001-08:00

Documentary: Young at Heart
Like/Don't Like: Pensioners singing Sonic Youth - Love

You MUST see this documentary. Must. Here's why:

1.) There is nothing more wonderful/beautiful/hilarious then a group of old people doing something fun. This documents a singing group called Young at Heart that is made up of elderly folk singing non-standards. You would expect them to sing In the Good Old Summertime or Stardust or something, but they've moved on from those. They sing Golden Years by David Bowie, and I Wanna Be Sedated by the Ramones. Their version of Fix You by Coldplay will have you in tears.

2.) It makes you want to LIVE. It seems like the biggest challenge of the choir is keeping its members alive - the choir director asked who has ever had last rites said for them and more then a few hands shot up - and yet all of these people participate because they love to it. They've hit on the secret of life and if makes you want to join in.

3.) My black grandma is in it. Katie saw it first so when I was watching it she said, "There's a black woman who looks exactly like Grandma Knecht in this" and she was right. I picked her out just from the profile. And then she smiled and she had the gap in her teeth and it was uncanny. Had she been wearing a muumuu and watching the People's Court I would not have been able to tell the difference.

Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging. The movie!

2010-01-11T12:46:00.000-08:00

Movie: Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging.
Like/Don't Like: Double Cool with Knobs.

By now you must know my love for the Georgia Nicholson books, those embarrassingly hilarious novels by Louise Rennison about a teenage British girl that make you snort-laugh in public. I have lent them out to so many people I'm thinking about getting a second set just to have around for emergencies.

So awhile ago I got an urgent text from a friend whom I introduced them to saying: "They're making Georgia into a movie!!!!!!!!!" It was released in England but not here. And then it was released on DVD in England but not here, which is an important distinction because while you can buy ye olde English DVDs online, if you don't have ye olde English DVD player you can't watch it. Fortunately I have a friend who has a magical DVD player that can plays DVDs from all around the world and she bought the movie and we had a fab viewing party about a year ago, wherein we wore boy entrancers and ate cheesy whats-its and jammie dodgers and midget gems. None of this will make sense to you unless you have read the books, so READ THE BOOKS!

I didn't write about it then because it wasn't widely released. But it is now - Katie just got it through Netflix - so I can tell you it is pretty funny and you should watch it. If only to justify wearing fake eyelashes with your ace gang. It lacks a bit of the charm that the books have but it has enough of it to make you want to re-read the entire series and laugh like a loon on loon pills. All the awkward moments are there, including Georgia showing up to a party dressed as a stuffed olive. Classic.

Leap Year

2010-01-11T11:21:00.000-08:00

Movie: Leap Year
Like/Don't Like: Um...

You know the premise to the movie: Amy Adams wants to propose to her boyfriend and flies to Ireland to do it because in Ireland a woman can propose to man on leap day. I neither liked nor disliked this movie so I'm just going to give you the facts:

1.) Amy Adams has magical hair. On several occasions her character gets doused by rain and mud and her hair still comes out looking like a Pantene ad.
2.) I couldn't completely buy into her character because she didn't bring a single pair of sensible shoes on her trip to Ireland. It's difficult to like a girl who travels across the Irish countryside in 4 inch heels.
3.) Matthew Goode is adorable.
4.) Matthew Goode should always have facial hair.
5.) My obsession with facial hair is reaching epic heights.
6.) I want to go to Ireland.
7.) For a romantic comedy it wasn't very funny.
8.) It had a romantic ending and I'm a sucker for that. Almost as big of a sucker as I am for facial hair.

I was going to give you a rant about how much it annoys me when romantic comedies ask you to believe that two people who have spent the whole movie annoying each other can magically fall in love without actually showing you any reason why they should be, but I realize that that is the nature of the genre and I should stop being a grump.

I'm giving this an "um..." because while I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to anyone I can see myself wasting a few hours on a Saturday afternoon watching in when it inevitably turns up on Lifetime. It could be my new "Lakehouse".

The Class

2010-01-11T10:50:00.000-08:00

Movie: The Class
Like/Don't Like: Loved

I'm going to give you a heads up on this one because I was slightly confused until I finished the movie and watched the special features. It looks like a documentary about a middle school French class in a rough Paris neighborhood. It is not. It's a fictitious movie about a middle school French class in a rough Paris neighborhood. But it's not a traditional movie either. It doesn't use professional actors and most of it is improvised. Which gives it an eerily real vibe.

Francois Begaudeau wrote a novel about his time teaching at a middle school and then made it into a movie using real students who had gone through an improve class. There was a script but a big chunk of the action was made up by the kids. Which was fascinating because you really see that teenagers are exactly the same no matter where in the world they are. When I worked for a school district I had to go to a few middle school and high school classes and the only difference between those classes and the class in the movie was the language. But even that wasn't much of a difference because teenagers speak the same way too. There are the mumblers who are trying to make excuses for not doing their work, and the girls who can't control their volume when they're excited, and the shy smart kids who speak clearly and directly when spoken too.

You also get to see teachers who face problems like cultural and generational differences, and social and moral issues such as how much should a teacher interfere in a student's home life and where is the line between loving educator and strict disciplinarian. It makes you realize that teaching young minds is a universally tricky business.

Helvetica

2010-01-07T13:51:00.000-08:00

Documentary: Helvetica
Like/Don't Like: Like. But I like this sort of stuff.

Who knew there was so much to say about a font. And not just any font. The most straight forward font there is - Helvetica.

And who knew that they could make such a fascinating documentary about this font. Or, excuse me, typeface (I don't want to offend the typeface designers who - I'm not kidding - are PASSIONATE about it.) It basically draws a line from its creation in Switzerland in the 50s when Modernism was all the rage, to a backlash against it in the 70s and 80s when we were all down with the Establishment, to today with the hipsters going crazy for it. Case in point - American Apparel uses it. One typeface designer - a product of the 70s graphic design theory actually blames Helvetica for both the Vietnam war and the current war in Iraq.

You would either love it or be totally confused as to why it was even made. And I bet you know what side you're on. But I'll end with brief exchange I had with a friend a few days after seeing it.

Teresa: I love that at the end of the Harry Potter books there is a page telling you about the typeface.

Me: I have a movie I think you'll love.

The Princess and the Frog

2009-12-30T17:00:00.000-08:00

Movie: The Princess and the Frog
Like/Don't Like: Like

This was old school Disney and I liked it. Sometimes I get bored with Pixar - it just looks too real and I think it takes some of the fun out of animation. But this was hand drawn with catchy songs and talking animals and a prince and a princess and it just felt right.

Special Occasion Orange French Toast

2009-12-21T10:07:00.000-08:00

Recipe: Special Occasion Orange French Toast
Like/Don't Like: Yum.

I make something called Special Occasion French Toast. I call it that because you should only make it if you have something spectacular to celebrate or you're about to run a marathon. It's a bit on the decadent side. It involves layering slices of french bread and a cream cheese mixture and then pouring eggs and heavy cream all over it and then letting it sit over night and then before baking the whole thing you dump butter and brown sugar and nuts over the top. Better make that two marathons.

But it was a special occasion on Saturday and I needed something to feed a lot of people so I decided to make it. Only I wanted to do it a little differently so I found a recipe and behold: Special Occasion Orange French Toast.

It was divine. And it actually baked up nicer than the original Special Occasion French Toast. I made a few changes to the recipe though. They are:

1.) I only put in half the sugar it asked for in the egg mixture. I thought 1 cup sounded excessive.
2.) Instead of the mandarin oranges I used the zest and juice of two oranges because chunks of baked oranges sounded gross.
3.) It says to mix equal parts of the orange butter sauce with maple syrup to serve on top but that just sounded like a diabetic coma waiting to happen. I served both on the side and some people mixed and others didn't. I didn't and I thought the sauce alone was heavenly. Those who did mix said it was great too.
4.) I added a dash of salt with the dash of nutmeg.

Changes I'm planning on making:

1.) I'm going to try it with one less egg in both the egg mixture and the filling. It didn't taste eggy but the texture was a little too custardy for my taste.
2.) It was a subtle orange flavor and I want it to be a little more pronounced so I may throw in some marmalade to the filling.

I hope you like jogging because you're going to need to after you eat this.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

2009-12-18T15:14:00.000-08:00

Book: The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Author: Muriel Barbery
Like/Don't Like: Lovely

My friend Teresa said to me one day last week, "Have you read The Elegance of the Hedgehog? It's like The Solace of Leaving Early only slightly less philosophical." And that got me hooked because The Solace of Leaving Early was, hands-down, my favorite read of 2009, even with all that Christian philosophy that I only barely grasped and all those really big words that I couldn't find in my dictionary. The next night I was over at her house and she lent it to me and by the next day I didn't want to put it down. Dear Teresa, I owe you cookies. Or would you rather a skein of yarn? Love, Rachel.

The story is set in a swanky Paris apartment building and the narration switches between Renee, the landlady, and Paloma, a 12 year old resident. Renee is a self-taught intellectual who loves Tolstoy and Japanese films. She hides behind the stereotype of her humble position, never letting on to the ultra-rich residents of the building that she is more than what she seems. Paloma is a smart kid who has decided to light the building on fire and then commit suicide on her 13 birthday because she has yet to find a good enough reason to live. She's not depressed, but every example of adulthood that she seems only reinforces her idea that growing up is pointless.

Their stories don't join up until about halfway through when a Japanese business man moves into the building and recognizes that both of them are hiding their true selves from everyone around them. It is beautiful how these three people find each other, despite their cultural and social differences.

It is translated from French, which means that there are some phrases, especially the slang that Paloma uses, that get a bit lost. And I recommended this book to a friend who then told me that she started reading it but stopped because she couldn't get past all the philosophy and the back and forth narration in the beginning but to that I say, "KEEP GOING!" because it mellows out pretty quickly. You start to see the parallel lives that Renee and Paloma are leading and the similar thoughts that they are having and you just hope that they'll meet up. It's lovely when they finally do.

Invictus

2009-12-14T10:56:00.000-08:00

Movie: Invictus
Like/Don't Like: Liked

So this is the year for Rugby movies. And I still don't understand the purpose of the scrum.

But no worries because this isn't a movie about rugby. I know that the ads make you think that it is but it's not. It's a movie about Nelson Mandela trying to get South Africa to come together after the end of apartheid. The Rugby World Cup was a means of doing that. The South African team was revered by the whites and hated by the blacks and everyone assumed that when Mandela came into power he would at the very least change their name and colors to reflect the new democracy. Instead he made it a priority during his first year in office to get the whole country, blacks and whites, to rally behind them rather than rally against each other. The rugby matches come near the end and by that point you're so caught up in the story that you don't really care that you have no idea how the game is played.

I think the biggest compliment I can give this movie is that it had tremendous restraint. Movies that deal with these sorts of themes (underdog sports teams, racism, great leaders) tend to be played with a heavy hand. You know, lots of tears and heart wrenching moments with violins in the background. But there wasn't too much of that in this film. In times when it could have justifiably gone over the top it pulled back and let the story speak for itself. And I can't tell you how much I appreciated that. I'm a HUGE crier (Here I will confess, once again, that I cried during Encino Man, which should illustrate just how low my crying point is.) and considering the last Clint Eastwood film I saw (Million Dollar Baby, where I cried even more then I did during Steel Magnolias. You didn't think that was possible, right?) I was afraid that I would shrivel up like a prune from extreme dehydration. But I didn't cry once. Nor did I feel cheated out of any emotions. It was just right.

The Blind Side

2009-12-01T13:31:00.000-08:00

Movie: The Blind Side
Like/Don't Like: Like

I like sports movies. And I like Sandra Bullock. And I was practically in a turkey-induced coma when I saw it. These were all contributing factors to me liking this film about a homeless black kid being taken in by a rich white family and eventually making it into the NFL. Everything is heartwarming and predictable but enjoyable to watch.

What was not so enjoyable was Tim McGraw's hair. I'm not sure what he had on top of his head - toupee? hair plugs? heaven forbid his actual hair?- but I think we can all agree that he should never be without a hat.

America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

2009-11-24T08:21:00.000-08:00

Cookbook: America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
Like/Don't Like: It has never failed me.

If you have been to my apartment you may have noticed the bookcase next to the kitchen. It is four shelves worth of cookbooks. I admit that we may need an intervention. The majority of those cookbooks remain on the shelves. In fact, I would say that most of the recipes we use come from the binder full of Mom's recipes that she gave us years ago and from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. Because you can't go wrong with either. In fact, you may actually have more success with the ATKFC because, as you know, you can never replicate your mom's food. Your chocolate chip cookies will come close but they will never taste just like hers. You suspect that she may use a little extra butter, and possibly witch craft.

You may have seen the show America's Test Kitchen on PBS. It's my favorite cooking show because 1.) the cooks on it are cooks and not TV personalities which means that they're considerably less annoying and 2.) they make food you would normally eat and they show you how to make it better.

Which is exactly what this cookbook does. It's filled with recipes of everyday food that you would serve your family but each recipe is tested dozens of times to get the best flavor and texture and also the easiest way to get there. Then, instead of just telling what to do, they show you how to do it with lots of pictures and explain why you're doing it. For example, I needed to make a pie crust last night. I've always had trouble with crust, it is either too moist or too dry and never pretty. So I thought that I would give theirs a try. The recipe suggested using a food processor to blend everything together because you don't want to overwork the butter. But I don't have a food processor and it's kind of a pain cutting in cold butter to get the texture you need for the dough. So the helpful tip, as if the cookbook was reading my mind, was to freeze the butter and grate it in. GENIUS!!!!! It worked like a champ. I've never had dough come together so nicely.

I've used their recipe for bread and rolls (first time I have EVER been successful making yeasty breads)(The word yeasty gives me the heebs.), for soup and pot roast and several desserts and they've always turned out terrific. I've seen it at Barnes and Noble but I think it's cheaper at Costco. I think you should get it and then invite me over for dinner. I'll bring a pie.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

2009-11-13T14:45:00.000-08:00

Movie: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Like/Don't Like: Liked

I'm not sure why I completely forgot that this was a French film and therefore, they would be speaking in French. When this happened my friend Krii and I both looked at each other and said, "huh?" We were tired, okay? Also, the subtitles didn't automatically come on.

So, oui, it is French. Which is irrelevant in regards to the gist of the film but explains a lot when you find yourself thinking, "Boy, that was odd," or "Was that a naked woman I just saw?"

It's a true story about Jean-Dominique Bauby who was the editor-in-chief for Elle and lived a fancy jet-setting French kind of life until one day he had a stroke and was completely paralyzed except for his left eye. He woke up from his coma aware and alert but unable to move or communicate. His therapist discovered that his mind was still functioning and thinking and set out to help him communicate by having him blink his one good eye. Once for yes and twice for no. Eventually he was able to spell out words and sentences by having someone read through the alphabet and he would blink when the letter he wanted would come up.

He wrote a book this way. I just checked on Amazon, it's 144 pages long. He blinked out 144 pages. Which basically makes everyone who has ever wanted to write a book but has gotten hung up on something look like pansies.

The film is partially seen from his point of view, so basically, his one good eye. People come in and out of view and you can hear his thoughts and responses to their questions. You don't actually see him until he starts seeing himself - in reflexions in windows or TV screens. And there are flashbacks to before the stroke which give you some details on how his life was with his job and his kids. It was both sad and beautiful to hear his thoughts (I'm assuming most of it was taken from his book) about what it means to be bed-ridden and paralysed and at the mercy of everyone around you - the person who bathes you, the nurse who turns you tv on or off, the long Sundays when it's a light staff and no one comes to visit. It's amazing to me that instead of falling into some deep despair he managed to not only rally but live the best that he could.

Srida Thai Cuisine

2009-11-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

Restaurant: Srida Thai Cuisine
Location: 924 N. Central Ave.Upland, CA 91786
Like/Don't Like: Loved!

Liz (winner of the second Mr. T bookmark) and I get together for dinner every so often to catch up. It is a gab fest. We are both talkers and we generally end up sitting at our table talking for hours while the staff patiently wait for us to shut up and leave.

So it is high praise that at one point in the meal we were both speechless over how yummy the food was.

I've been wanting to try this place for a while. It's right around the corner from my place and it's in that magical shopping center that has the Bra Lady, the moose lodge, the British Emporium and Jouni's cafe. But I'd been kind of turned off by Thai food thanks to the Doc. Anytime she would take us out to lunch she insisted that we go to this Thai place around the corner from the office. It was disgusting. Everything was greasy and tasted about 3 days old. And they used so much lemon grass that you left feeling like you chugged a gallon of Pine-sol.

But I felt like I could go back to Thai and I've been trying to be a good citizen and spend my money locally so Srida was the winner.

We had the green curry and the Crying Tiger - which is a phenomenal name for a dish, right? What I love about Thai food is that there are so many distinct flavors and when it's good Thai you should be able to get all of them without being over-powered by one. The green curry was perfect. You could taste everything individually but they mixed together so well. And it all tasted fresh. The Crying Tiger was a marinated steak with a spicy sauce you could drizzle over it. I wanted to drink it straight from the bowl.

It was cheap - our dinner with tax was under $20, the service was great and the place was clean and nicely decorated. And I can attest that it all tastes great the next day for lunch.

The Avocado House

2009-11-12T09:34:00.000-08:00

Restaurant: The Avocado House
Location: 11618 Central Ave., Chino, CA 91710
Like/Don't Like: They give you cookies with your yummy sandwich. Like!

Full disclosure: I know the owners. And I knew every single person who was working there. And half the people in the dining area. It was an old Chino Second Ward reunion practically. So the experience of seeing all these people that I've known for my entire life, including friends that I grew up with whom I haven't seen in probably a decade, may have warmed my heart a bit.

But, as the food is the main reason for going to any restaurant, I'm here to tell you that this food is GOOD. I had the Thanksgiving sandwich (turkey, cranberry sauce, lettuce and cream cheese) and it came with a side of fruit, and a cookie and a pumpkin bar. My sisters and mom all had salads that they loved. Everything tastes fresh and homemade. They do breakfast and lunch and have boxed dinners you can pick up. It's located in a converted home so it has a cozy feel to it. There's a fire place and a large porch you can eat out on. It's just a really cute small-towny kind of place with really good food.

84 Charing Cross Road

2009-11-12T09:18:00.000-08:00

Movie: 84 Charing Cross Road
Like/Don't Like: Netflix was right. I loved it.

I think from the moment I first signed up for Netflix years ago this has been on my recommended list. I eventually put it on my queue but even then it barely cracked the top 5 because I kept putting other movies ahead of it. No one but Netflix has recommended it to me and I'm not much for trusting the opinions of a computer. But now I owe Netflix an apology, and possibly some brownies, because it was right. I liked it a lot.

Anne Bancroft is a writer who loves old, obscure, British non-fiction and she can't find cheap copies in New York so she gets the address of a used book store in London (at 84 Charing Cross Road) and asks them to send her specific titles. Anthony Hopkins is the clerk who answers her first request and they start up a correspondence that lasts for a few decades. Most of the movie is told through their letters and it is a very genuine and sweet friendship.

I was kind of destined to like this movie though. It contains all sorts of things I love: books, used book stores, letter writing, Anthony Hopkins, Judy Dench. At one point Anne Bancroft describes the smell as she opened up the first shipment of books and I knew exactly the smell she was talking about. That dust and old glue smell that almost makes me weep.

Doubt

2009-10-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

Movie: Doubt
Like/Don't Like: Very interesting.

I wish I hadn't returned this movie so quickly. Having had some time to think about it I would have liked to watch it again, preferably with friends so that we could talk about it later because it's one of those movies that needs talking about.

It's set in the early 1960s at a Catholic school that has admitted its first black student. He is taken under the wing of the priest and their relationship causes some suspicion on the parts of two nuns - one who wants to believe he is innocent of anything inappropriate and one determined to prove his guilt.

The fascinating part of the story is that we never learn what actually happened. The priest's guilt or innocence is never proven but throughout the movie we gets new bits of information that can change your whole perception of it. And that's what I want to talk to people about. Did you think he was guilty from the beginning or not? What changed your mind? Did it change at all?

The acting was great - naturally, it's Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Amy Adams held her own too, but I'd like to see her do something other than doe-eyed innocence. I would love to see this on stage, where it originated. The film did a good job of translating it but it's a lot of talking and there were a few moments when I felt like the action going on around the dialogue was out of place. But over all, a very intriguing film. Invite me over to watch it with you and we can discuss. I'll bring cookies.

The Glass Castle

2009-09-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

Book: The Glass Castle
Author: Jeannette Walls
Like/Don't Like: Very good. I liked it a lot.

Have I told you how great my parents are? They never once made us live in a house with no plumbing. They never made us leave our home in the middle of the night to escape from bill collectors or the police. They bought us food on a regular basis so we wouldn't have to dig through the trash cans in the school bathrooms for something to eat. These are things I never even considered as attributes, but I also never had Jeannette Walls' parents, who did all of these things and more.

Jeannette Walls was a gossip columnist living in New York City when she was on her way to a fancy party and saw her mom digging in a dumpster. Up until that point she had hidden the fact that her parents were living on the streets from just about everyone because she was afraid that people would think she was a monster for allowing that to happen. The next time she saw her mom she asked her what she should tell people and her mom said to just tell the truth. So she wrote her memoirs about growing up in poverty with a genius father who was also a raging alcoholic and a mother who would rather be an artist than look after her 4 kids. The book is filled with really horrible stories about neglect. Her parents loved her but seemed to be incapable of caring for her. They moved from town to town, always staying in places that were barely inhabitable. Her parents seemed oblivious to their kids' suffering, which was incredibly frustrating to read about. And when they did see what they were doing to their family it was heartbreaking to read about their shame. Particularly her dad.

The impressive part about this memoir is that there is very little blame placed. She doesn't seem bitter or angry. She has a very light style and writes about horrific experiences like they happen to everyone, which, considering the subject, was a blessing to read. I can't imagine being able to finish a book like this if it had taken a more dramatic tone. She doesn't seem to want any sympathy - although you can't help but feel it - she just seems to want to explain how it all happened. And because of that you don't see her or her parents as monsters, just people with problems who are doing the best they know how.

David Copperfield

2009-09-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

Book: David Copperfield
Author: Charles Dickens
Like/Don't Like: I think I'm making Dickens my literary boyfriend.

Once I decided that I loved Dickens I felt it only fair that I read more of his stuff. So I happened to be in the library last month and they didn't have the book that I wanted so I grabbed David Copperfield off of the shelf. I could have maybe planned it a little better because this is a fatty book - 1000 pages - and it always takes me a long time to get through fatty books. I've been reading it for a month now. It's not that I don't like big books, it's just that I get to a point where I forget what happened earlier in the book. I forget that characters existed or that certainly plot lines even happened. And I feel like it eats away at my book reading time, like I've devoted enough time and that I should be done, when I still have 300 pages, or essentially another book, left to read.

But I don't regret reading this at all because I really loved it. All 1000 pages of it. I really love his subtlety and wit. It carried the book for me. The story is about David Copperfield (a fairly typical Dickens ragamuffin) and his rise from obscure orphan to prominent author. Along the way we meet relatives and villains, servants and sailors, and his great aunt Besty Trotwood, who holds a personal vendetta against all local donkeys who trample upon her lawn. It's filled with hilarious characters and interesting stories.

In the introduction Dickens wrote that he felt truly sorry at the end of writing it because he would miss them all so much. And, while I'm glad to move on to a new book, I kind of feel the same way.

The Duhks - Fast Paced World

2009-08-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

Album: Fast Paced World
Group: The Duhks
Like/Don't Like: Awesome! Like!

Lindsay gave me this album for my birthday with the intention of me falling in love with them so that I would go to their show with her.

Mission accomplished, Linds!

I think you should check them out. I really think you'll like them. Yes, you! You'll like them.

They're exactly the type of music that I love. Which is to say, they're all over the place. Folk, blue grass, jazz, rock, gospel. On the album they have a Brazilian samba, a French ballad, an Irish jig and a cover of Whole Lot of Love. The musicianship on it is incredible and the lead singer has pipes. She sounds like a less screechy and more sober Janis Joplin.

Their show last night was a free concert in the park in Pasadena. Don't you think all concerts should be free and outdoors? It just makes for a really fun night. People are more apt to get up and move. And there are always really adorable children dancing in front of the stage. And the area smells like picnic food and blooming flowers. And, as was the case last night, forest fire. (Ah, late summer in California. 100+ degree weather and fire in the mountains.)

They were incredible live. They had a very easy presence on stage which I think comes from being really good and having great music to play. And they played a lot of zydeco. Zydeco = fun.

They're not the type of band to hit it big and get air time on the radio, and they probably won't be coming to a city near you. But you can certainly get their album. Did I mention that I think you'll like it?

Shop Class as Soulcraft

2009-08-20T16:30:00.000-07:00

Book: Shop Class as Soulcraft
Author: Matthew B. Crawford
Like/Don't Like: Not enough to sustain me. I made it about 20 pages from the end and decided I was done.

There are times when I'm sitting at my desk and working on the computer that I wish I had gone to trade school to learn a marketable skill, like flower arranging or hair cutting or basket weaving. Because there is something so much more rewarding about physical work then desk work. There's a process to it and problems to fix and a product at the end and you're usually supplying a need for people. This is why I have the World's Largest Felt Collection. Because you can't just sit and think about felt, you have to actually do something with it. Same with the skeins and skeins of yarn and the mountains of fabric and the ribbon drawer that barely closes anymore. When my mind gets too full of thoughts that don't get me anywhere I head to the felt collection and make something with my hands.

This is also why I like recipes and patterns. It's satisfying to follow the instructions, step by step, and come up with the intended product. And if it's not right I don't mind at all going back and figuring out if it was me or the pattern. I love that feeling of being able to find the problem and work on it until it's fixed.

What I'm saying is that I like work. I like making things and fixing things with my hands. I think a lot of people are like this.

This book explores that desire to work and societies push to get people out of jobs that require them to work. How many of us were told in high school to skip college and become a welder? None of us, right? Because somewhere along the lines manual labor lost its honor and cubicle labor became the way to earn a living. But the problem is that some people are just better suited for manual labor - that's how their minds work - and most people actually find joy in doing some form of it, and everyone requires that labor to be done in order for our world to move smoothly. Imagine if your plumber had taken his guidance counselors advice to go on to a 4 year college and study liberal arts?

Crawford actually did go to a university and studied physics, and then ended up getting his PhD in political something or other. But before he went to school he was an electrician, and that's the work that supported him through all of his schooling. He also worked on cars and motorcycles on the side. But after he got his degree he decided that he need a job that reflected his education and he got one working at a think tank. Which made him miss physically working. So he quit and opened up a bike shop.

The premise was great. But it seems as if it was written for academics to explain how one of their own could up and leave the field for a greasy shop. He has some truly fascinating takes on it but in the end it felt ironic to be sitting on a chair, reading about working. It made me want to get up and actually do something instead of thinking about the philosophical reasons of why I wanted to.

So I just stopped reading it. Not because of what he was saying, it all made perfect sense. I just think I was the wrong audience. I went into it not needing to be convinced.

Arranged

2009-08-20T11:50:00.000-07:00

Movie: Arranged
Like/Don't Like: It was lovely

It's been weeks since I watched this movie and somehow I have forgot to post about it until now. This may be brief.

Emily (whom I've never actually met, she's a friend of a friend of a friend, but hi to her anyways, and thanks!) reviewed this on her blog and it sounded intriguing. Two teachers in a NY public school -- one a Jew, one a Muslim -- end up becoming friends and discover they are both going through the process of having marriages arranged for them.

In short (because that's about all I can remember): I loved the way the women and their cultures where portrayed. Not as weird or mysterious or unapproachable, but as faithful and loving people who struggle sometimes with their faith but ultimately choose it because they want to. Not because they're forced to, as so many people believe. It was nice to see religious people portrayed as rational human beings instead of fanatics or brain-washed simpletons. It was refreshing.

Forever Strong

2009-08-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Movie: Forever Strong
Like/Don't Like: Feel-good sports movie. Like.

I get the gist of most sports, but rugby stumps me. As does cricket and Australian rules football. Basically sports that are popular primarily in the former British Empire are a complete mystery to me.

I was hoping that since this movie was about a high school rugby team I would get a handle but I finished it still not understanding the purpose of the scrum. Or why they all lift one guy up to catch the ball. And why they can't pass forward.

But not knowing these things didn't actually hinder enjoying the movie. It wasn't anything revolutionary, just your standard feel-good sports movie. I think we're hard-wired to like them. Who can resist Rudy (who is actually in this movie) or Hoosiers or Remember the Titans? You can't! You can't resist the power of the final seconds ticking down in slow motion. Don't even try.

As a funny side note: Gary Cole is in this as the coach of the team and most of his lines are made up of Important Life Lessons. And all I could think of while watching him was when he played Mike Brady in the Brady Bunch Movie and spouted off Important Life Lessons. That was played for laughs. This was not. But I laughed anyway.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

2009-08-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

Book: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Authors: Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Like/Don't Like: Clever

You know how in Anne of Green Gables Diana submits Anne's story, Avril's Atonement, to the Rolling's Reliable Baking Power contest by inserting that Avril uses Rolling's Reliable to make the cake? This is what Seth Grahame-Smith has done with Pride and Prejudice. Same story, just with zombies thrown in. It's pretty clever.

England has been plagued with the undead for decades when the story opens and the Bennett sisters have to do more than just take long walks and find husbands. They have to kill zombies too. They have studied extensively with Shaolin monks and never travel anywhere without their knives and shot guns.

I never get tired of reading Pride and Prejudice but after a while the zombie talk got a little old. It's not overbearing, but it lost its originality over time. There were a few funny twists that made the book hilarious. I won't give them away but I will tell you that Charlotte Lucas doesn't marry Mr. Collins out of a desire to be mistress of her own home. There are darker reasons for it.

Julie & Julia

2009-08-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

Movie: Julie & Julia
Like/Don't Like: I'm seeing it again tomorrow. It's that good!

You know I'm sensitive to mouth noises, right? I mean, abnormally so. Chewing -- sometimes even my own -- makes my heart race with anxiety. It's horrible.

This movie is FULL OF LOUD CHEWING. And slurping and sipping and crunching. Just typing those words makes me want to crawl under my desk and cry.

And yet the movie just charmed the anxiety right out of me. I loved it. There was one scene at the beginning when I thought that Amy Adam's husband was chewing loudly enough to warrant a punch in the face, but after that I completely fell in love with everyone on the screen and forgot all about the squishy sounding food.

Most of that love was centered on Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci. What's not to love about them? They're amazing. It would have been easy enough for them to play the characters as the zany chef and the straight-man husband but they didn't. One of the best parts about the film is how sweet and real their relationship is. It was very refreshing to see a happily married couple in a movie. Two, actually, because Amy Adam's character and her husband had a great relationship too. Despite his disgusting chewing habits.

So the acting was great, the story moved along nicely, which is a feat considering how it jumps back and forth between Julie and Julia, and the food looked delicious. Don't go hungry.

Addendum: I saw this a second time and I remembered something I wanted to comment on. Both Julie and Julia wear fabulous brooches and pins in the movie. FABULOUS! Julia had on a sparkly monogram brooch that, were it mine, I would put on the pillow beside me and snuggle with at night.

Sabriel

2009-07-30T15:57:00.000-07:00

Book: Sabriel
Author: Garth Nix
Like/Don't Like: I managed to like it, even without a glossary.

I'm going to admit that I'm not that big of a fantasy fan and I generally stay away from it. But there were several circumstances that led me to this book: 1.) a lot of reliable people have recommended it, 2.) in the last month I have started and stopped 4 books because either the writing was bad, the story was not to my taste, excess smuttiness, or combinations of the three, 3.) it was at the library and I was desperate.

But even desperation cannot take away my initial problem with fantasy, which is this: Fantasy fiction doesn't do such a hot job of explaining itself. It just dumps you in the middle of a made-up world without any kind of context and you have to do all this work to figure it out. I personally find this distracting. I lose all interest in the story because I can't get passed not understanding the details of the world the story is set in. I spend a large chunk of the book with the feeling that I missed a page, or I didn't read closely enough because half the time I have no idea what the characters are talking about.

I suppose if I had read a lot of fantasy when I was a kid I wouldn't have such a problem with it now. But I never did. I didn't read the Narnia books until I was in college. Lord of the Rings - not until after college. Same with A Wrinkle in Time. All those classics you probably read as kids weren't even on my radar.

I'm not sad about this at all. I had a great time reading as a kid. I'm just saying that reading fantasy now as an adult is like trying to learn Finnish as an adult.

And I'm also just saying that this book could have used a glossary. Or a 2 page appendix giving me a little hint as to what free magic was, and how there came to be two worlds, and who are the Clayr, and what's the difference between a necromancer and an Abhorsen, and who was Sabriel's mom, and what's with all the dead, and not just all the dead but all the different levels of dead including, but not limited to, Sendings, Hands, and Shadow Hands, and how does one become a Charter Mage and why are some of them outside of the Old Kingdom.

You probably read that last paragraph and thought, "I don't even know what you're talking about!" Which is exactly how I felt through most of this book.

The only thing that kept me going was that it was a pretty interesting story about this young girl named Sabriel who has to travel into the Old Kingdom to find her dead father. Only he's just mostly dead. (Thinking of Miracle Max in the Princess Bride also helped.) And about halfway through I started to get my bearings and decided to just ignore all references to magic or dead things or charter-whatevers that I didn't get and enjoy the story. Which I did.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

2009-07-27T16:08:00.000-07:00

Movie: Confessions of a Shopaholic
Like/Don't Like: It was okay

I never know what to say about movies like this. Because you know what you're getting when you watch it. It was cute, and there were crazy clothes, and life lessons learned. And isn't Hugh Dancy just so charming? But it wasn't mind blowing or anything. There were some moments when I was feeling like I may have a heart attack because nothing makes me stress more than money issues. So those scenes when she was spending way too much I wanted to scream, "Don't Do It!!!!" But that's about as riled up as a gal can get with this sort of movie.

I guess the best I can say is that I didn't feel like it was a waste of time to watch.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2009-07-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

Movie: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Like/Don't Like: Eh, liked

I feel like maybe I should watch this movie again. Because I think I should have liked it more. I mean, it was alright. I guess. But it was long...and long...and kind of slow at times. It didn't have anything to jump start it like the other ones. It just kind of gradually started and didn't pick up steam until the last 45 minutes or so. They spent the bulk of the time playing up the romance between Harry & Ginny and Ron & Hermoine. I vaguely remember that taking up a lot of the book (it's been a while since I've read it so I basically remember that Dumbledore dies) so I get it. Maybe they were trying to be faithful. But maybe they could have been faithful to the parts that didn't involve love-sick glances and longing sighs. What is this, Twilight?

I really hate saying that because I wanted to love this movie. I really did. I love Harry and his gang. I love the books. I love the movies. But I didn't love this one. Neither did the guy sitting a few rows behind me who loudly yawned about every 10 minutes or so. And then I think I heard him snore a few times.

Although the girls behind me were dying...DYING...over it. They loved it. They squealed and kicked my chair and at the funny parts one girl laughed so hard that she spit what felt like crushed up pieces of ice on the back of my head. Ah, youth. (Side note: She also had a very wet and snotty laugh. She sounded like a pug. Weird.)

So I didn't love it but there were plenty of things to like about it. For one thing, there's Alan Rickman. I love him as Snape. Love him! His words just sort of seep out of him. And I thought they did the whole scary part at the lake in the cave bit brilliantly. I was sufficiently scared. Ron and the love potions was pretty funny. Plus, it's just nice to be with them again. Like a family reunion with your fun relatives. Not the relatives who bug you.

Let me know if you've seen it and what you thought.

Up

2009-06-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

Movie: Up
Like/Don't Like: LOVE.

It was an exhausting day at work yesterday. Not really bad, just non-stop. The phones didn't stop ringing, the people didn't stop coming in, and by the end of the day I was looking into monastic retreats in Tibet - just so I wouldn't have to talk to anyone.

But I opted for the cheaper retreat of a dark movie theater. Best $8 I've spent in my life. Because I LOVED this movie. LOVED. IT.

Maybe it was because I was so tired, but I was a wreck by the end of it. In a good way. I cry at a lot of things but I wept through this movie. Almost Shadowlands kind of weeping. Within the first 10 minutes. Because they are heartbreaking - both sad and sweet.

The movie follows Carl, an old man whose wife has just died. He decides to go on the adventure he always promised her they would take. This is how he ends up floating down to South America in his house, with a chubby boy scout named Russell tagging along. They end up on an island with talking dogs, Carl's childhood hero, and an exotic bird named Kevin.

It was all just so sweet and funny and lovely and beautiful and I can't say enough good things about it.

Australia

2009-06-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

Movie: Australia
Like/Don't Like: I would have liked it more if it were just one movie

It is a good thing I knew that this movie was 6 days long. Because at the half-way mark, when the movie essentially comes to a climactic ending - complete with a barely beaten deadline involving a large herd of cattle, and a big kiss involving Hugh Jackman - I knew, and was prepared for, another 3 days of movie. Maybe I'm exaggerating here, and that's unfair. It was more like 5 days. Okay, really it was 2 hrs and 45 mins. Which may as well be 5 days in my book. I was talking to Cynde and she casually mentioned this movie and then I casually mentioned that I just got it from Netflix that day and I was planning on watching it. That was two weeks ago! Because when I got off the phone with her and took a look at the movie and noticed that the run time was 6 days long it took me two weeks do decide that it was worth giving up that much time when I could be doing really important things...like reading, or doing my correspondence, or sewing elegant caftans for leisure wear. Or, you know, watching other stuff on tv.

But I decided that it was worth it because 1.) Cynde recommended it; 2.) It has Hugh Jackman. Truth be told, I would watch Hugh Jackman folding origami. 2 hours and 45 minutes is not asking much when you get to see him without his shirt; and 3.) It's a Baz Luhrman film and I love Baz Luhrman films. I just really appreciate the cheesy, epic, lush vibe he tries so desperately to create. I know that it's not for everyone, but I get it. It's like he was born in the wrong era. He could have given Cecil B. DeMille a run.

But I think this is where people will run into problems with it. Because it is trying really hard to be grand and you know that he wants you the feel it. But it doesn't always work. The gist of the story, which is pretty good, gets lost in the length and scope of it. It truly could have been two movies, the first about Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman doing this cattle drive, the second about them trying to save this aboriginal kid.

In the end I enjoyed it. But I think that had a lot to do with being able to watch it at 1.4 speed.

Last Chance Harvey

2009-05-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

Movie: Last Chance Harvey
Like/Don't Like: Like. Despite the awkward moments.

You can't go wrong with a movie with Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman. A movie, which was, according to the special features, specifically written for them to star in. They had such a good time working together on Stranger than Fiction that Emma Thompson practically commissioned someone to write them a movie. You would do it, right? If Emma Thompson asked. Because she just seems like a lovely person and you're sure you would be fast friends.

Dustin Hoffman plays an unhappy musician who does commercial jingles for a living. He's in London for his daughter's wedding and he meets Emma Thompson and starts up a friendship. That's pretty much it. But I liked the simplicity of it. It had a very authentic feel. Especially in the awkward moments. I hate awkward moments in movies. They make me want to hit the fast-forward button. And this movie had a few of them. But they were very real moments that usually happen to people and that somehow made them more bearable. Definitely more believable.

The Last Dickens

2009-05-28T08:24:00.000-07:00

Book: The Last Dickens
Author: Matthew Pearl
Like/Don't Like: Liked very much

This was a ridiculously fun book for me to read. Wait, I mean it was fun reading experience. The book itself wasn't exactly a disco party but it had such a good story that I couldn't help but smile like a loon whenever I picked it up.

The gist: when Charles Dickens died he was 6 parts into a 12 part serial called The Mystery of Edwin Drood. He was a bit of a superstar writer and people were devastated at his death and agitated over the fact that he had only made it through half of the story. There was a lot of speculation as to whether or not he had finished the novel but no proof has ever come up that he did. The story is a take on what could have happened. It sets his real-life publisher, James Osgood, on a fictional adventure around Boston and London looking for the rest of the manuscript before the rival publishing houses get their hands on it or make up the rest of the story, which, apparently, was common practice back in the day. There are Chinese pirates and opium dens and spies and slick business men and it's all centered around some fairly interesting historical facts.

I am usually pretty critical of historical fiction, mostly because people who write them tend to be big fat bores. The story generally suffers at the expense of too much information. There were some times in the story when I had had enough lecturing. Particularly the sections that flashbacked to Dicken's last tour of America. But those parts were rare and on the whole it was a nice blend of scholarly research and really good writing and I enjoyed the whole thing.