Fifty/Fifty . . . Really?

The Debutante, John Carter, How to Hook a Hottie

2012-03-12T18:47:00.000-04:00

In my "candy reading" phase I picked up The Debutante by Kathryn Williams. It was just a light, fish out of water story of a Connecticut teen who is plunked down in her father's hometown of Alabama for her senior year of high school and none too happy about the fact that her Southern Lady grandmother is insisting she make her "debut" in local society. While it's just light reading, there's a really nice character arc, and I liked reading about what might be required of a modern debutante, even if she'd rather be playing field hockey. The romance was light and believable. Even if there was way too much underage drinking for my preference, the story was a good escape.

For date night on Saturday, we hit the late show of John Carter. I'd seen the previews. Sigh. I was not impressed. But then on Saturday afternoon we were trying to decide what movie to see so I looked up the reviews, and what I read convinced me this would be a really cool movie. And it was! Keep in mind, I'm fairly easily entertained. There were CGI green creatures without noses (not my favorite element of any film.) But the screenplay was adapted from an Edgar Rice Burroughs story (yes, that Edgar Rice Burroughs, of Tarzan fame). A Civil War vet is accidentally transported to another planet, where he falls in love with a Princess of Mars (original title of the story.) On Mars (called Barsoom), the gravitational pull on his body is different, making him able to jump high and have super strength. He must decide whether to choose sides in a global conflict there, something he is highly reluctant to do. Some of the plot devices seem familiar in movies like Star Wars, but since George Lucas used this story as part of his source material, it's pretty cool to see the origin of much sci-fi. All in all, it was a great popcorn flick. I'm going to let my boys see it.

Rounding out my entertainment weekend, I finished reading another fun YA novel, this one (unfortunately) titled How to Hook a Hottie, by Tina Ferraro. The book was far better than the title would suggest. In it, Kate DelVecchio is a high school senior bent on making a million dollars before she's twenty--without going to college. She's bright, ambitious, and suddenly to her shock the object of amorous attention of the most popular guy in school, Brandon. Brandon is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and she keeps telling him to get lost. However, all the attention from Brandon suddenly makes her popular by association (despite her denials that they are a couple.) Suddenly, girls from all over school (and guys) are offering her money for her "secret formula" for how to get the popular guy/girl to fall for them. The story has good family relationships, a realistic building of a friendship into a romance, real heart when it comes to Kate's final decisions, and a sweetly satisfying ending. Despite the title that made me embarrassed to take it with me to the waiting room at the doctor's office.

Candy for my Head

2012-03-09T16:44:00.000-05:00

Since I've been trying to not eat candy, and I had a stressful week a couple of weeks back, I decided I'd read it instead. At the library I came out with an armload of YA deliciousness.

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White was a fun read. Evie, a 16 year old girl, has no memories before being picked up by an agency at age 3. She wants to live a normal life, but she can see through people, er, paranormal beings, to their true selves. For instance, she can see through a vampire's attractive outer shell into its icky, withered soul. This makes her valuable for tracking down paranormals and tagging them. Soon she meets a handsome stranger named Lend who has a watery soul, and together they have to stop the rogue killing of paranormals by a dangerous fiery monster--who looks just like Evie. Paranormalcy isn't my usual reading material, as I pretty much avoid vampire and werewolf books, but I knew someone who knew the author, and decided to pick it up. It was a light, fun way to pass the day. Nothing gross, nothing otherwise offensive, just a good story. Candy.

Hugo

2012-03-07T21:36:00.001-05:00

This weekend, I watched the movie Hugo based on Brian Selznick's book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I have not read the book, but I will since I loved the movie and Selznick is the illustrator of one of my favorite picture books, The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins.

Hugo is an orphan who lives in the walls of a Paris train station and keeps the clocks working. His only friend is a broken automaton that he and his father were trying to repair before his father's death. Soon Hugo, caught stealing, runs afoul of an angry man who runs a toy booth at the station. He also meets a girl and together they bring healing to their own and others' lives.

I'm not sure what to say, other than it was a beautiful film. It was joyful (by the end) without being sappy. It was wonderful.

WICKED is good

2012-03-07T21:23:00.002-05:00

I just finished reading The Maze Runner by James Dashner. By the end of the book, I wasn't sure that WICKED was good at all, but fortunately, there are two more books in the trilogy and this year there will also be a prequel, so I'll have multiple opportunities to find out.

The book begins when a teenager named Thomas, that's all he knows about himself, wakes to find himself trapped in a maze with dozens of other boys. The boys have been trying to escape the maze for two years with no luck when Thomas and a comatose girl arrive and they all learn this is the beginning of the end. They need to escape the maze or die.

This is a young adult novel, and I found it very enjoyable. The pacing and tension were good and the characters well developed, especially for a bunch of characters who had no memories of their lives before the maze.

The author is a fan of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, and this book is similar in that a group of adults have decided to test a group of children to see if they are suitable for some unknown, but very dangerous, purpose. A theme I think will be explored in the remaining books is whether the end justifies the means. The Creators, who sent the boys to the maze and have done horrible things to them, seem to think (or at least say) that they are doing this for the good of the world. I don't generally think that the end justifies the means, so I'll be interested to see where this goes.

It's well worth the read. You can learn more about James Dashner and his books at: http://www.jamesdashner.com/.

The Help, The Dark Tower

2012-03-07T18:26:00.001-05:00

I just finished the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett and loved it! It is set in Mississippi in the early 1960s where three woman work together to write, "in secret, a tell-all book about what it's really like to work as a black maid in the white homes of the South." (I got part of this off of the back of the book :). It's a good book. I like how the author writes from the point-of-view of the three main characters. I like seeing the same events from the different perspectives. The book makes you laugh. It makes you cry. It makes you mad. It makes you want to stay up really late reading it. I would highly recommend this book!

I also read The Dark Tower and Other Stories by C.S. Lewis. The Dark Tower was an unfinished manuscript Lewis' old secretary saved from a fire. I think there was a reason it was unfinished. It was a little odd and the notes at the end of the story say that Lewis probably did not know where he was going with it. At the beginning the characters talk in technical terms about how time travel is not possible because our bodies wouldn't exist in whatever time or place we would go to, but that there might be a way to view the future or past without actually going there. One of the professors has created a screen where they can watch the past or future without interfering, (at least that is what they think). The Dark Tower and the other stories are a little disturbing at times and I would think twice before reading this one.

Inspiring Movies

2012-03-03T22:17:00.002-05:00

The Shunning is a drama based on the book by Beverly Lewis, best-selling author of Amish fiction. (I really enjoy her books). This Hallmark movie is about Katie Lapp, a young Amish woman, who discovers a secret about her life on the eve of her Amish wedding to the local bishop. The ending is a bit abrupt, but if you want to find out what happens to Katie read the last two books in the Heritage of Lancaster County Trilogy: The Confession (#2) The Reckoning (#3). The movie was touching and true to the book and Amish culture and religion.

Dolphin Tale, is a drama based on the true story of the rescued dolphin Winter and the people who worked so hard to save her life. An inspiring story. I liked that real Winter played her own character. After the movie I went to the website SeeWinter.com to see her for myself.

My first four flicks

2012-02-22T19:51:00.002-05:00

It has taken a while to write this post even though I have now watched four new movies this year. Once I watch more or read any books all the way through it will probably take me a while to write about those. Here they are, the first four movies I have watched this year that I have never seen before.

Movie #1: That Thing You Do

The story of a one hit wonder musical group. I had never been extremely excited about seeing this movie, Alexis had it in our Netflix queue and we decided to watch it. I was pleasantly surprised. The best known actor in this movie is Tom Hanks, but he does not have the largest role. There really isn't one person that I would identify as the lead, rather it is an ensemble cast whose characters each play a significant role in the development of the story.

I expected a goofy comedy, but there was definitely a dramatic story line to go along with the upbeat music and lighthearted elements. One of the many things that makes a good movie is how we connect with the characters and I connected with these characters in such a way that I really cared about what happened to them. This made the ending all the more satisfying when they gave a summary of where the characters each ended up, as if they were real people.

Movie #2: Man on a Ledge

The title of the movie makes the plot some what obvious. I suppose the question is, why is the man on a ledge. Well, I won't ruin it for you. Sam Worthington of Clash of the Titans and Avatar fame is the Man on a Ledge. I like him as an actor but he seemed to struggle a little with the American accent, or maybe I was just imagining that.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie but I am glad I only paid matinee price to see it. Granted, I hate paying prime time prices on any movie if I can avoid it. Bottom line, you don't need to see it on the big screen. The actual story had a good resolution but they threw in a bit at the end that was related to the story arc of some supporting characters, but seemed so random that I didn't think it belonged in the movie.

Movie #3: Chaos Theory

Frank Allen is an efficiency expert. He likes order. Something his life lacks when his wife sets the clock back ten minutes. The time change sends Frank on an unexpected journey with discoveries both tragic and life saving. Through all the chaos, he learns what choices are most important in life.

I really liked this movie. I watched it because I saw it on Netflix and I like Ryan Reynolds, but I didn't know what to expect. Ryan Reynolds is known for his dry sense of humor and this role was a perfect showcase for it. Funny and heartwarming, this movie was a pleasant surprise.

Movie #4: Scorched

Of the movies I have watched so far this is the most random. It is about three bank employees who all make plans to rob their bank on the same weekend unbeknownst to the others. The main stars are Alicia Silverstone, Rachael Leigh Cook, Woody Harrelson, and John Cleese. I watched it for three reasons, It was on Netflix, it was only about 90 minutes which is about the amount of time I wanted to spend watching a movie at that time, and I like the main people in the movie.

I found the movie entertaining. That is something I love about Netflix. It is easy to watch movies you would likely never rent at the video store. As a result you can find some great flicks. This was by no means a great flick, but it was enjoyable for the 90 minutes I spent. It was funny and slightly odd, but if you want to kill 90 minutes on Netflix, give it a go.

Eat, Pray, Love, Contagion, The Vow, How to Be a Pirate

2012-02-21T21:59:00.001-05:00

I am definitely doing much better with the movie aspect of this goal than the books, but it's all right. I am still trying :)

I watched Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts. I really liked it. It's about a lady (Julia Roberts) who is unhappy in her marriage and gets a divorce. She has a hard time with the divorce and decides to travel around the world to find out who she is and find balance in her life. (She travels to Italy, India, and Indonesia) It's based on a true story and there is a book with the same title written by the lady that the movie is based on. I liked this movie because there are some really good characters in it and I think we all go through times in our life of needing to find out who we are, but we all have different ways of doing it.

I also saw Contagion. I did not like this movie. The beginning was scary to me. And it didn't get much better after that. It's about a deadly disease that starts to show up all over the world. It moves quickly and kills fast. The Center for Disease Control strives to find a vaccination for it as it continues to spread. After much research they find out where the disease started.

I saw The Vow. I really liked it. It was a sad movie, but overall it was good. I liked that the husband fought for the wife even though he had to deal with his wife's family trying to keep her away from him and her memory loss.

I read the second book of the How to Train Your Dragon series, How to Be a Pirate. It was good. I really like these books. They are an easy read, but they are entertaining.

The Lucky One, The Braid, The Vow, This Means War, The Woodlanders

2012-02-21T13:23:00.000-05:00

I'm still way ahead on movies over books! Yeah, lazy.

The Vow was the Valentine's Day date movie. I expected it to be more like a Nicholas Sparks movie, but somehow it lacked heart, somehow. And there were not a lot of men in the theater. That ought to have told me something. The plot is a guy falls in love with a girl who has left her wealthy upbringing behind and they're massively in love. They are in a car accident and she can't remember him, or anything about the new life she forged before meeting him. It's purportedly based on true events and even shows a picture of the couple at the end of the film. There are some good surprises, but the overall effect left me glad mostly about the jumbo popcorn we shared. (Note: I didn't pick the movie.)

The Woodlanders was a Netflix streaming movie I watched while folding an enormous mountain of kids' clothes. It starred Rufus Sewell, who has been a favorite actor of mine since I saw him in Uncorked about 12 years ago. The story, based on a Thomas Hardy novel, surrounds a girl who returns to her native woodlands after leaving to receive an education. Her father believes her education (and his wealth) now make her too good for the life she'd previously expected to have: to marry Rufus Sewell. Instead she is introduced to the local doctor. Things complicate, and regrets are incurred. It was a little sadder than Return of the Native and The Mayor of Casterbridge, two of my preferred Hardy stories. Meh. (But the cinematography was great!)

This Means War. Two spies who are work partners both accidentally fall for the same darling Reese Witherspoon girl. Who will ultimately win her heart? The dashing Brit separated from his wife (who saw her first), or the dashing American playboy? Ugh. It had a fun premise, yeah, but there were a LOT of jokes in it that crossed the line for me. Plus, you'd think there would be chemistry! Not so much. I wish I could rewind my life and give this one a miss.

The Lucky One. I read this Nicholas Sparks romance for Valentine's week. News flash! No one in the story dies of cancer! (I've only read a couple of Sparks' novels, but I kind of thought someone dies of cancer in every book. Not so!) It was a straightforward love story between a soldier come home from Iraq and a single mom in North Carolina whom he seeks out because he found a photo of her in a sand dune while he was serving. She has a son, and he has a faithful dog. There's a villainous, conniving ex-husband to contend with. The end scene is quite exciting. Overall, a good, fluffy read.

The Braid. Okay, I'm mad at everyone I know for not telling me about this excellent book before now. It's so wonderful! The author had an ancestor who immigrated from the islands of Scotland to the Canadian coast, and that is the topic of this YA story written all in verse. Yes, verse! It's poetry, but the story is so accessible! I love it! Two sisters learn they must leave their impoverished island. One will go with her family to Canada, the other sneaks off to stay behind. They braid their hair together into one braid, snip it and each takes half. They expect (with good reason) to never see one another again. The sisters' journeys are treacherous. Hunger and danger and death ensue. The topic of teen pregnancy is handled gently but with realism. It's a touching, ingenious book. I wish my mom were still teaching high school English. I know she could use this as a marvelous text. It's only about 90 pages, but the depth of the characters the author achieves is wondrous. I love this book.

From one of our own

2012-02-15T09:07:00.002-05:00

I just thought I'd share this article by our very own Jennifer Griffith. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.ldsmag.com/family/moms-parenting/article/9350?ac=1

The Newport Ladies Book Club: Olivia

2012-02-13T22:11:00.002-05:00

By Julie Wright, Published by Covenant Communications, 2012, 206 pages

As the debut novel for The Newport Ladies Book Club series, Olivia launches the series with the sincere passion of a woman whose only goal to is make her husband and children happy. But everyone is not happy and all in not well in Livvy’s family. So the plot thickens as Livvy draws us into her troubled marriage and into her “sticky” life. In an attempt to cope with her increasing family turmoil, Livvy joins a book club despite her husband’s jibe that she’s hasn’t had friends for years. At the book club, Livvy meets Daisy, Paige, and Athena, 3 strangers, 3 different lives, 3 novels to come.

I expected an interesting story, what I didn’t expect was Livvy to win my friendship too. I went from being an interested observer of Livvy, with her annoying Pollyanna creed, to being her #1 cheerleader when she finally let out the agonizing scream that filled her empty house. I laughed at Livvy’s humorous judgments of the other book club women. I felt the compassion the women shared with each other, guardedly and insecurely at first, and openly later as they understood each other better.

I would describe Olivia as compelling: compelling in it painful events, compelling in its sincerity, compelling in its underlying plea for women to lift and encourage each other when it is easier to ignore or judge each other. Through Olivia, Wright shows us how much it means when we care for each when life is hard, and we’d rather cry alone. Olivia was not a feel good novel in a fairy tale sense. In fact, it wasn’t even relaxing. I won’t get back the sleep I lost while reading this novel, but I enthusiastically recommend it. And I’m looking forward to joining the book club again with Daisy in June.

thenewportladiesbookclub.blogspot.com

Competitive birding

2012-02-12T14:22:00.004-05:00

Last night I watched The Big Year, a movie that revolved around the world of competitive bird watching, or birding. Given that the movie starred Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson, you might have expected a zany comedy. It had funny parts, and the lengths characters would go to spot a bird led to some funny scenes.

All three men are birders who have decided to do a "big year" in which they try to spot as many birds in the United States as possible during the calendar year. On their journeys to find birds, the characters also have to find out about themselves, what is important in their lives, and what they are willing to sacrifice to be the best birder in the world.

I enjoyed the film, much more than I think I expected to. It was well worth watching.

Superman, schools and kids

2012-02-11T20:02:00.005-05:00

At the beginning of the documentary, Waiting for Superman, educator Geoffrey Canada said that finding out Superman wasn't real was worse than finding out Santa Claus wasn't real. Superman swooped in and saved everyone just in time. If there was no Superman, than no one was coming to save them in the South Bronx with all of its poverty, violence and drugs. Canada knew that education was his way out of poverty, and as an educator he wants to give that same opportunity to his students.

Waiting for Superman is an excellent, if depressing, documentary on the United States public school system. I was really distressed by the end of it, and it reminded me that I was supposed to be a teacher. The film looks at public schools around the country through the eyes of students who are trying to get a better education, their parents who are trying to give it to them, and the educators who want them to succeed. There is also a fair dose of statistics to complement the stories. Some of the more disturbing parts of the film showed teachers (I'm sure these make up a minority of teachers) who not only were bad teachers but didn't care that they were bad teachers because they couldn't be fired. It was disgusting. Even worse, was when the featured students were waiting to know if they had won, by lottery, positions in the schools that would help them get a decent education. Most of them lost. Worst of all, for each of those kids there are hundreds more just like them.

Most of the time when we think of failing schools, we think of inner-city, poor schools in bad neighborhoods. There are a lot of those. But many of our schools, that aren't considered failing, are not preparing students for the real world. Evidence for this is the increase in university-offered remedial classes, because students cannot do college-level work. Students who choose not to go to college are often not qualified for well-paying jobs.

One of the featured students lived in a wealthy family in a rich neighborhood. Most kids would love to be able to go to her neighborhood school. But her test scores weren't that great, and her neighborhood school practiced tracking. She wanted to go a school without tracking. In tracking students, schools decide if they be in the classes that will prepare them (in a nutshell) for college, or the factory, or the fast food restaurant. This student was at risk of being tracked in the middle, and there is growing evidence that these students do not receive the education they deserve. I don't like tracking; I never have. I believe in teaching a student at her level, but she must have the opportunity to move up to a higher level. When I teach, I have high expectations for all my students, and I do what I can to help them succeed. I do have a master of education degree, and tracking is foreign to everything I know about good teaching.

Before this gets anymore long-winded, the point of the film is that the public school system is not doing it's job, but there are educators and citizens trying to fix the system. It's up to each of us to be the Superman that these children are waiting for.

For more information visit: http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/action/

Courageous: drama (recenlty released on dvd)

2012-02-11T17:24:00.002-05:00

The movie Courageous was intense, touching, humorous, thought provoking, and clean.

I took the following from a Christian movie website:

“Four men, one calling: To serve and protect: As law enforcement officers, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, David Thomson and Shane Fuller are confident and focused. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood. . . .

Filled with action-packed police drama, Courageous is the fourth film from Sherwood Pictures, the moving making ministry of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. Riveted moviegoers will once again find themselves laughing, crying, and cheering as they are challenged and inspired by everyday heroes who long to be the kinds of dads that make a lifelong impact on their children.”

Fireproof was another Christian movie drama produced by Sherwood Pictures that I watched after seeing Courageous. The main theme of Fireproof was about caring enough to make your marriage work. I watched this movie on YouTube and enjoyed it as well.

Adventures, Fashion, Mystery, and Shame

2012-02-11T10:32:00.001-05:00

Watched:

The Peacemaker – This is an older movie about terrorists getting their hands on nuclear weapons, with Nicole Kidman and George Clooney chasing them. Lots of cliché action scenes, you know, the car exploding in the background as they run away (jump!), the inevitable fist fight with the bad guy at the edge of a cliff, and of course, attempting to disarm the bomb while the time runs down. I’m married to someone who studies and works with issues of weapons of mass distruction, so when he finds another movie about nukes, we generally watch it. I didn’t love the movie, but it wasn’t terrible, and other than the F word several times, there wasn’t anything inappropriate.

Bill Cunningham New York – This is a nice documentary about Bill Cunningham, a fashion photographer for the “On the Street” column of the New York Times. I’ve seen people recommend this, people who are into clothes, and I figured that I would not watch it because I figured it would make me depressed about my whole sense of style and fashion, but I had a cold this week and while resting and watching endless TV, this came up on my Netflix, so I watched it, and it had quite the opposite effect on me. The thing about Bill Cunningham is that he seems very authentic, true to himself, and very respectful to people of all walks of life, and he would never make fun of anyone for what they were wearing, he just wanted to document it all. It was overall enjoyable, and not depressing. In fact, it made me feel even less like being a slave to fashion than I already do, but in a happy way, not in a rebellious, angry at the industry way, just like: well, I can wear whatever I want and if someone is judging me for it, it’s their problem, and I’m fine even if Bill Cunningham wouldn’t take my picture.

Read:

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage (Alfred Lansing) – Pretty amazing story about an attempted Antarctic expedition, Shackleton and his crew were going to do the first transcontinental exploration. This is right around WWI, so they have no particularly advanced technological gear for dealing with the extreme conditions they would encounter. They didn’t make it across the continent, they didn’t even make a landing on Antarctica, but they all survived, sometimes because of luck, sometimes because of skill, sometimes because of sheer determination. There were a lot of things that I didn’t understand when the author talks about navigation and maneuvering through the sea, because I’ve never sailed on a ship and I don’t know anything about these things, but that doesn't detract from it, and it was a riveting story.

How to Be a Pirate (Cressida Cowell) – The second book from the "How to Train Your Dragon" series. Hiccup has a grand adventure looking for pirate treasure, he's learning bit by bit how to be a hero, because it doesn't come easy for him. Another fun, quick read, and no techno-babble about how to actually sail and navigate a ship.

The Red House Mystery (AA Milne) – This was a fluffy, fun mystery from the author of Winnie the Pooh. It had lots of Sherlock Holmes references and a secret passage. I’m a sucker for secret passages. I actually listened to this book, I found a website where you can download free podcasts of books, they are mostly older and not under copyright. The ones I’ve listened to so far are all very well done. If there’s a book you want to read but you don’t want to spend money on it and the library doesn’t have it, and it’s a classic, I recommend looking on this website.

I Thought It Was Just Me: Women reclaiming power and courage in a culture of shame (Brene Brown) – This book is so, so good. Brene Brown researches shame and its effects on women and this book is all about how to build resilience to shame. Here is a good video of here explaining some of her research and it is a good introduction to the book. The book goes into more detail about how to identify when what you feel is shame instead of something else, like embarrassment or anger or guilt, and how empathy is the opposite of shame. She shares a lot of stories from the women that she interviewed, as well as some from her own life. Some of these stories hit me right in the gut, and some of them didn’t seem as applicable to me, but I could definitely understand why they were painful experiences. I would recommend this book to everyone that I know. If you have ever felt in some way that you are not enough, and it worries you because you think you're the only one (I’m raising my hand over here), read this book! I would be interested to see what my husband thinks of all of the topics in it, but he probably won’t read it because of the title, he seems to be under the impression that it is weird feminist stuff, and it isn’t.

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever

2012-02-08T23:08:00.006-05:00

By Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard; Published: Sep 27, 2011; 288 pages

Killing Lincoln begins with this sentence: “The man with six weeks to live is anxious.” This book, written like a thriller novel counting down the days in present tense, is supposed to build suspense as readers follow what happens each day to Lincoln and his family, Generals Grant and Lee and the Civil War, and John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators as they count down the final days of Lincoln’s life. While this approach captivated me initially, as the book continued the approach became somewhat tedious, mainly regarding Booth and his buddies. I admit to skimming the last section of the book to catch the important details.

Still, I would highly recommend this book. I learned so much about Lincoln’s assassination and the surrounding events that perpetuated that his sad death. I won’t share details because that will spoil the plot. The book was a fast read despite the historical details. Unfortunately, some key aspects of the conspiracy theory, which I thought should have been more centrally placed in the book, were tucked away in the epilogue. I really liked the brief synopses at the end of the book explaining what happened to key people after the President’s death.

Agatha Christie,The Help, War Horse etc.

2012-02-08T17:34:00.002-05:00

I've been meaning to blog for a while now and here I am finally writing about what I've read and seen so far this year.

I read Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. I've never read any of her books before and I really liked it. It was a page turner and the end was not what I expected, but it was good. I will be reading more Agatha Christie books this year.

I also read How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell, which pricklypear talked about in an earlier post. It was an easy book and I found it quite enjoyable.

The last book I've read so far is The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox. I really liked this book. I liked how the author told stories to go along with the principles he was talking about. It helped me remember and understand what he was talking about.

Now onto the new movies I've seen this year. Well I saw The Help, which I enjoyed! And it really got me thinking about American history and racism and slavery and servitude. I would recommend this movie.

I watched Just My Luck with Chris Pine and Lindsay Lohan. It was okay. It is a chick flick but it was a little too cheesy for me. (Although I must say that Chris Pine has really beautiful blue eyes:)

The last new movie I've seen so far is War Horse. It was also only okay for me. Some of my friends really liked it, but it was a little too much for me. Too much of what, I'm not sure. Just something.

Well those are all of my reviews for now.

Happy Birthday, Charles Dickens!

2012-02-07T09:08:00.005-05:00

Today, were he still alive, Charles Dickens would be 200 years old. Happy Birthday!

In honor of Mr. Dickens, here are a few photos from a walking tour I took in London.

This is a bust near the building where Dickens lived.

A close-up of the text underneath the bust.

This was at the location of the residence, sort of across the courtyard (if I remember correctly) from the bust.

To celebrate Dickens' birthday, it might be a good time to revisit some of his novels. Although if you want manage 50 books this year, you might begin with a short one. Here is a list works by Charles Dickens, courtesy of Wikipedia. Some of my favorites, include Little Dorrit, David Copperfield and, of course, A Christmas Carol. Do you have any favorites?

Flavia de Luce

2012-02-06T20:02:00.005-05:00

If you haven't met Flavia de Luce yet, I hope you have the opportunity soon. Although visitors to Bishop's Lacey seem to get attacked or killed a lot. I just finished reading A Red Herring Without Mustard, by Alan Bradley. It is the third book in a series that will consist of at least ten (four have been published, so far).

Flavia is eleven years old. It's 1950, and she lives in her ancestral home Buckshaw outside the English village of Bishop's Lacey. Her mother died when she was a baby, and now she lives with her sad father, the former colonel and current philatelist, and her older sisters Ophelia and Daphne. Flavia is smart, independent and has a fondness for chemistry and poisons. She is a wonderful character.

This book begins when Flavia accidentally sets a gypsy's tent on fire then invites the gypsy to stay at the family estate for as long as she needs. After the gypsy is attacked and someone else is murdered, Flavia sets about solving the mystery. I wonder when she goes to school?

I don't think this is my favorite of the three Flavia books I've read so far, but it is still a lot of fun. It gives a little more insight into Flavia's character, such as her need for a friend and her relationship to her parents than the previous books. It's fun to follow her as she solves the crime. Alan Bradley writes beautifully and the characters are distinctive and well fleshed-out.

A fabulous book. http://www.flaviadeluce.com/

Man on a Ledge

2012-02-06T00:07:00.000-05:00

7) Man on a Ledge. We hit the jackpot two weekends in a row on our date night movies. This Friday we hit Man on a Ledge. When I first heard the title, I revolted a bit. No way was I sitting through a "talk him down" movie for two hours. Not a chance. Then I saw it was made by the people who made Red, and I instantly perked up. Red was probably my favorite movie of last year. (That or The Adjustment Bureau.) So, I mentioned it to my brother in law, who said, yeah, there's a guy on a ledge, but he's a distraction for a separate heist going on across the street. That's exactly what it was--and great suspense as well as funny lines and explosions and a guy throwing money and a brazen homeless guy with heroic moves. Thoroughly enjoyable. Held my breath--since the tension was so high, and the characters in the show were acting like it was no big deal. Almost screamed at them. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Theodore Roosevelt

2012-02-04T14:36:00.003-05:00

I find Theodore Roosevelt to be a fascinating character, so I decided to learn a little more about him. I began with a relatively short biography (265 pages) to get my toes wet. It was Lion in the White House: A Life of Theodore Roosevelt, by Aida D. Donald.

This is a fairly easy read, although I did have to make several trips to the dictionary. That's more of a comment about my lack of vocabulary than about the author. I did find Donald to have an easy style of writing that flowed well and didn't become bogged down or heavy. She clearly liked her subject, although I'm not sure she liked the Republican party, at least of that era. This book is mostly a study of Roosevelt's public life with less focus on his private life. I would have liked to read more about the details of his childhood and about his family life, but that will have to wait for a longer biography.

I certainly don't agree with everything that Theodore Roosevelt did, but this book gave me a little bit more of an appreciation for why he's on Mount Rushmore. I wish I could be as smart and confident as he was or have his boundless energy. I don't particularly care for the fact that killing man or beast didn't seem to have much of an effect on him.

One thing that particularly stood out for me was that he was raised in a rich household that was always giving money to charitable causes. But Theodore's father never took him to see who it was that needed this charity. It wasn't until he was older when he visited a squalid tenement in which a family lived and worked that he understood the difference between their lives and his. It shaped his future work. By the time I got to the end of the book, I was sad to read about Roosevelt's death.

It was an enjoyable work about an amazing individual and well worth the read.

Peaches and Shakespeare and Dickens and stuff

2012-01-30T23:35:00.000-05:00

First the books.

2) James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. We did this as a read-aloud on a family camping trip last weekend. It was perfect for all five kids--as well as parents. This is a classic, but it's one I'd never read. My all-time favorite kids' book is The Twits, so I don't know what took me so long to read this. I love the magic, but when it began, I'll have to admit I was a bit dismayed. "You could go any direction with this, Mr. Dahl, and you go with giant talking insects," I sighed. However, the end product was a lot of fun, and the humor kept the masses laughing out loud all the way to the mountains and back.

3) Juliet by Anne Fortier. Have I ever loved a book this much? Possibly not. I sighed, laughed, squealed, gasped (at least ten times at the shocking twists), worried, and just marveled at the sheer genius of this book. It's a double plot, one in modern day Siena and another in 1340 Siena. I won't spoil anything, but it involves two Juliets, one now and the other Shakespeare's source-Juliet. It's woven with grace and incredible tension in both the plot elements and the relationships. I've never been a huge Romeo & Juliet devotee, but by the end of this I was in love with Romeo. And I almost never fall in love with heroes of books. Seriously. The. Best. Many thanks to my friend Colleen for telling me about this book.

And now for the movies:

2) Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer. This was a family movie night. Judy wants to have the best summer with her friends, but they have to leave town, so she's bummed. Her aunt comes to stay, and things liven up. There's a Bigfoot sighting and some tightrope walking. I haven't read the books, but the script wasn't cliche, and it was great for the kids. I'm easily entertained, and this one wasn't hard to enjoy.

3) One For the Money. Oh, my, how I loved this movie. Janet Evanovich created these characters, and it's easy to see why Stephanie Plum is so popular. The ditzy, desperate bounty hunter and her cocky, desperate quarry? I loved them. I loved the seedy setting, the cars, the side characters, the costumes, all of it. I'd watch this again. In the theater. For $18.

4) Oliver! Okay. I have a vague recollection of seeing this movie in about 1977, but I don't think I'll count it since I was five. Is that legal for this 50/50 thing? I'm saying yes. But I'm saying NO to Oliver! What a dreary mess. How can they put so many excellent songs into such a grim story? I don't think Dickens's tale was this much of a downer. Again, we did this for family movie night, but I have to echo my 7 yo daughter's assessment: "Ugh! This started out as a great movie, but it ended up as a killing movie!" Pretty much. And worse, I went on imdb and read up on the lives of the child stars. Never do that. It's grimmer than Dickens.

5) Something Borrowed This was a chick-lit book turned into a movie. As such, it doesn't fit a genre. It's not a comedy (too much relationship drama for that). It's not a romance, really. The characters are all so flawed that there's almost no one to root for. The basic plot is Girl A falls for Guy B during law school, but doesn't think he could like her back. Her BFF (self-absorbed snot) accidentally steals guy B, and now it's 6 years down the road and BFF and B are engaged and Girl A is the maid of honor, and all that. But Girl A spends a lot of time figuring out that she's still in love with Guy B and he might be in love back, and they spend a hot, lovey night together, which creates all kinds of tension. By the end there's been so much betrayal that no one deserves a happily ever after. My husband despised this movie. Haha, I thought it was quite chicky, but again, I'm easily entertained and found it interesting, as the BFF reminded me of someone I knew and it was fascinating to see her on screen portrayal.

Pretty much, yeah. I watch twice as many movies as I read books. I'll be done with 50 movies by March.

Dolphin Tale

2012-01-30T19:12:00.007-05:00

Should I be embarrassed that I watched Dolphin Tale? It's a "feel-good, family movie." I think this kind of film is called a three-generation picture, one that kids, parents and grandparents can watch together.

The film was inspired by the true story of a dolphin, later named Winter, who was found injured and washed up on the beach. She later had her tail amputated. Of course, right from the beginning we knew it would have a happy ending, because Winter played herself. It was predictable and a little sappy at times, but still, it was a story about creativity, teamwork, and ingenuity in overcoming great odds. Really, what's wrong with that? I like watching the animals. It reminds me that I missed my calling to work with wildlife.

It's a fun movie. The kids, in particular, did a great job. It was a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. For more on the Clearwater Marine Aquarium or to see Winter's webcam, visit http://seewinter.com/

How to Train Your Dragon and Real Steel

2012-01-29T21:05:00.001-05:00

Book: How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

Recommended to me by Annalisa, and I LOVE the movie. I liked the book a lot, and it was different than the movie, and since it is a kid’s book it’s an easy read. Looking forward to more of the series. Whenever I read a book about dragons, I compare it to my longtime favorite dragon book, Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C Wrede. What do you think dragons would be like? Are they ferocious creatures that will destroy anything in their path? Are they nice, misunderstood creatures that just need to eat a lot? Are they intelligent? Can they talk to people? Another dragon book that I’ve liked is Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley, and I know there are others and I just can’t remember all of them. Do you like dragon stories? What are your favorites?

Movie: Real Steel

My husband figured I would watch this movie with him because it has Hugh Jackman and he might take off his shirt. So I did, and he did, and that was all good. As for the rest of the movie: Futuristic boxing robots, Human trafficking, Typical sports movie plot template, Special father-son and robot bonding. It was okay.

Zero Day

2012-01-28T13:05:00.002-05:00

This is a suspense/msytery/nuclear terrorist novel, written by David Baldacci. Our hero, John Puller, is an investigator for the Army's Criminal Investigative Division. He earned a chest full of medals for combat duty in various parts of the world before becoming more of a detective. But he can still handle himself in the field - dispatching bad guys right and left. This isn't great literature, of course, but it's well written and I love this kind of book. He is sent to West Virginia to investigate the murder of an Army officer and his family and becomes involved in a much more sinister plot involving nuclear materials. The rural town where the murder took place is in a region where coal is king and there is a lot of discussion about coal extraction methods and the environment. It's always seemed wrong to me that beautiful places like West Virginia have to be destroyed - along with the health of the people who live and work there - in order for the rest of us to have electricity, heat, etc. Should be a better way!

Most literate city is . . .

2012-01-26T09:29:00.002-05:00

As encouragement to all my DC metro area friends, I thought I'd let you know that Washington, DC is at the top of the list that ranks America's most literate cities. WooHoo! CNN has the story.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/26/us/most-literate-cities/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Jane Eyre

2012-01-23T15:35:00.000-05:00

Jane Eyre was one of my favorite books I've read in high school. I loved the tone and storyline of it. If you haven't read this classic already, do it!!

Impassable Wilderness

2012-01-21T13:13:00.003-05:00

Prue lives outside Portland with her family. Since she was a baby she's been warned not to go near the Impassable Wilderness. One day, she is at the park with her Sibley Guide and her baby brother, Mac, when suddenly Mac is abducted by a murder of crows. This is the beginning of Wildwood, written by Colin Meloy (singer/songwriter for the band the Decemberists) and illustrated by his wife Carson Ellis. Despite being over 500 pages long, this book is written at about a 5th to 6th grade reading level.

On the whole, it was an enjoyable book. I'm pretty good at willing suspension of disbelief, so I had no problem with the abduction by crows, oblivious parents, or a forest full of bandits, talking animals and mystics who talk to trees, just outside of Portland. It's Meloy's first novel, which accounts for some of the times during my reading when I was a little dissatisfied with how things were going (novel writing is difficult work, at least for most of us). I also had trouble with the two main characters, Prue and her friend Curtis always believing evil people who were lying to them. But that wasn't a problem with the book so much as it was a problem with me and my recognition that I would probably be too trusting and gullible myself.

The novel has a clear environmentalist bent that I find appealing, especially since it acknowledged, figuratively and literally, the evilness of invasive ivy. I also liked that the readers, who are probably mostly kids, are not talked down to. They will probably learn a few new vocabulary words while reading. I have no problem with a writer using "smart" words that his readers might not know provided that those words are the "right" ones for the situation. If you've ever written something, you'll know what I mean by that. I think Meloy employed the occasional "smart" word very well.

There were a few small plot annoyances and I didn't care for how Curtis's story ended. But, I think that was just a setup for the sequel. Yes, there will be a sequel, and I will read it.

This would probably be a fun book for families to read together. For more information, you can visit the book's very pleasant website at: www.wildwoodchronicles.com.

Reading quote

2012-01-20T14:53:00.002-05:00

Here is a quote about reading to inspire you.

Reading makes me feel I've accomplished something, learned something, become a better person . . . Reading is bliss. -- Nora Ephron

The Puppy Diaries

2012-01-19T17:12:00.001-05:00

The Puppy Diaries’ Raising a dog named Scout, by Jill Abramson
Abramson is a New York Times editor and her writing reflects this. It isn’t overblown and sentimental, so when I tell you that I teared up several times, you’ll know that she really gets to the heart of what it means to love a dog! I didn’t want to read a book about someone who had lost a dog, because I can’t really enjoy it if I know the dog is going to die in the end. (Marley and Me – great book, but so sad!) This one seemed safe because it was about Scout’s first year of life – not her last! However, if you don’t want to know about Jill’s previous dog, skip that chapter! Scout is a pure bred golden retriever, but so many of the things you learn about dogs and their behavior apply to any dog – even my pug/terrier mix shelter dog. Abramson shares her research on food, training, exercise, grooming, socialization and offers her opinions on the best methods and systems…..everything from puppy treats to leashes. Scout isn’t a perfect dog, but she is loved and loving. You forgive her faults, and she forgives yours! Recommended for dog lovers and for people who are considering adding a puppy to their household. Abramson really tells it like it is!

Double Feature

2012-01-19T16:55:00.001-05:00

It was double feature night at our house Saturday. The first movie was The Guard. I hadn’t read anything about it, so I didn’t have any idea what to expect. Brendan Gleeson is a policeman in a small Irish village and Don Cheadle is an FBI agent who has come over from the states to investigate and foil a huge drug operation. The Irish accents were really thick and I know I missed some dialogue. I love mysteries set in England, Ireland, Scotland, etc. so that’s probably why I liked it. Even drug smuggling and corrupt officials seem more interesting when they’re not in the U.S. As a retired school librarian, I must point out that some of the language used by Sergeant Boyle is very clear and not at all suitable for young ears! And much of the humor is not “politically correct” or tasteful. Doesn’t bother me, but I’m sure some of you are more conservative, so I’m just warning you. Gleeson was nominated for a Golden Globe and while he didn’t win, he certainly deserves kudos for a great performance. Seeing Don Cheadle, in his FBI suit and tie, going door to door in the pouring rain and finding that the inhabitants only spoke Gaelic was priceless.

Moneyball was the second feature. This one I had read too much about! Yes, it was good, well acted and an inspirational story , but it is all about managing a baseball team, start to finish. You get small glimpses that there is life outside the sport, but you have to look for them. The parts I enjoyed most were the scenes with Brad Pitt (Billy Beane)and his daughter, played by Kerris Dorsey, and the flashbacks to Billy’s childhood and rise and fall as a player. I liked it, but not as much as the critics.

Oceans

2012-01-18T21:08:00.002-05:00

I used part of the long weekend to watch DisneyNature's film Oceans. Before watching it, I wondered if, being a Disney film, it would skip some of the less warm and fuzzy aspects of nature, such as animals eating each other. While the film did not linger too long on these, it did show some hunting and eating scenes.

I had already seem some of the footage used in making the film, such as five minutes of an orca hunting sea lions (or were they seals?), and I was glad the scene didn't last too long in the film. The most difficult part for me to watch was the scene with the fishing nets full of blood and water and a fisherman's boot as he works in the net.

If you like nature, the ocean, fish, or just beautiful photography then you'll enjoy this movie.

Cross and Joyful?

2012-01-14T20:52:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading Crossed, the second book in Ally Condie's Matched series. It is a young adult dystopian novel. Condie's writing is sparing and thoughtful and clean. The story itself was engrossing in the first novel--a teenage girl in a warped future world is given the identity of her assigned "match," who turns out to be her best guy friend. She's ecstatic--until the identity suddenly changes. She then begins to open her eyes to the sinister nature of a society where things are too perfect and beginning to unravel. This second novel kept me reading, but the intensity didn't grab me until about 2/3 of the way through. I love Condie's writing and look forward to the next book.

Last night for date night my husband and I went to see Joyful Noise, a gospel-music themed movie starring Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton. I thought with Dolly on board, it would have a bit more of the HeeHaw slapstick and cornpone humor. There was only a tiny dash of it. What it did have in abundance was fantastic music. Possibly a few too many verses in a few songs, but for the most part I didn't notice. The plot was a little heavy on family drama for my husband's taste; as for me, I found myself tearing up in about 10 places (due to the conflicts between parents and children, and also because the music was SO pretty.) It's not for all tastes, but it wasn't just popcorn (as Pam said so eloquently earlier.) Probably 3/5 stars. Or 3 1/2. Yeah.

From Paris to Shangri La

2012-01-13T13:12:00.001-05:00

MOVIES
Midnight in Paris. Wonderful movie! The opening is like a city tour of Paris and all the writers and artists that you meet in the midnight hours should give you a great list of classics and biographies to explore! It’s a love story, but not a “chick flick.” Highly recommended!

Cowboys and Aliens. We have a saying in our house when we’ve watched a not-especially-good movie but we didn’t turn it off and we didn’t really get bored: “Well, it was popcorn!” This was one of those flicks! Over-acted and unbelievable, but since it wasn’t rated very highly, not that much of a disappointment.

Bridesmaids. My hubby rented this because it kept showing up on the “best movies of the year” list. He didn’t make it very far, so it wasn’t even popcorn to him. I enjoyed it more than I expected to. It was a little hard to believe that our star thought she was ugly and that no man would want her and I did think that today’s women had gotten past the “have to have a partner…husband…whatever” to be happy. My favorite character was the overweight sister of the groom! I know she was over compensating for all the cruelty she must have experienced from her peers, but she was truly a beautiful person.

BOOKS
Just finished Clive Cussler’s, The Kingdom; A Fargo Adventure (written with Grant Blackwood). It’s a typical Cussler book, which is not a criticism in my opinion! The Fargoes are a husband and wife team who travel the world looking for ancient treasures. They don’t do it for themselves, of course, but to turn the artifacts over to the government of the country where they rightfully belong. Remi and Sam are extremely smart and athletic and have influential friends everywhere who can cut through red tape for them. That really helps when you are searching for an ancient “Golden Man” in Shangri La. The fun in these books is trying to discover what is true and what Cussler has made up. I used to have to take notes and then do research. Thanks to the iPhone, now I can just sit in my easy chair and find out if an island really exists and even find it on a map. Good adventure book with a little history included for free!

WinterSong

2012-01-12T20:02:00.002-05:00

I finally finished a book. Yea, me! At Christmas, I decided I should celebrate the twelve days of Christmas by reading Christmas-themed books all the way to Twelfth Night. It took me a lot longer to finish my Christmas reading than I'd planned, but that's fine.

One of the books I chose was WinterSong by Madeleine L'Engle and Luci Shaw. Madeleine L'Engle is one of my favorite authors (she wrote, among many other things, A Wrinkle in Time), but I'm not really familiar with Luci Shaw. The book is a collection of "Christmas readings," poems, journal entries, essays, short passages, and a short story. Most of them are religious in nature. I'm of a different religious denomination than both the authors, so it was interesting to me to read about Christmas from a different perspective.

There were a couple of parts I particularly enjoyed. In "Miracle on 10th Street" L'Engle talks about a time when she worried that her daughter had leukemia. In this context she talks about the biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. I like that she pointed out that the Lord did not remove them from the furnace but went into the flames with them and protected them.

There is also a wonderful poem by L'Engle called, "Making Worlds: A Child's Prayer." Here it is:

Lord God,
you took great big handfuls of
chaos and made galaxies
and stars and solar systems
and night and day and sun and rain and snow
and me.
I take paint and crayon and paper
and make worlds, too,
along with you.

The book ends on a hopeful and happy note with "Prayers for Peace." On the whole, an enjoyable book, and a good way to close out the Christmas season.

6 movies down, 50 books to go!

2012-01-11T21:43:00.000-05:00

This 50/50 idea is a really good one, thanks to Heather for inviting so many of us to participate! I would like to think that I’ll read 50 books this year, but don’t count on it. There are quite a few books that I have in mind that I do want to read, so I am hopeful. However, I can be pretty sure that I will watch 50 new-to-me movies after the tremendous head start I got by watching 6 in the first 2 weeks of the year. That’s why this post is so long, my apologies.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Deals with racism and needing to overcome our prejudices even when we don’t think we have any. I definitely recommend it.

Crazy Stupid Love. It had some really funny parts where I laughed out loud, but ultimately it was about sex. The parts that made me laugh out loud did not revolve around sex, so I wish there was more of that, with Steve Carell’s goofiness.

Taken: I was surprised to be so impressed with this movie, kind of intense and a little improbable, but very exciting.

Slumdog Millionaire: Definitely not my favorite, especially the part where people get set on fire toward the beginning. And the happy ending was just not enough to make up for the overall depressing idea that there are probably lots of kids growing up in similarly awful situations.

Morning Glory: Meh. Well, I did like the frittata thing.

Cowboys and Aliens: Meh. Lots of gratuitous violence, not much of a story. Plus, why were there only 2 women, one of them absent the whole time, and the other (SPOILER!) is actually an alien? Oh, wait there was another woman whose face we see, but she was dead the whole time and we don’t know anything about her except that she was a prostitute. What’s that about? Ahem, getting off my soap box now….

Now I also have some recommendations of movies that I’ve seen very recently, but not this year, so if you need some more ideas to get you moving, expanding your horizons, here are some.

All about Steve: I liked it because (SPOILER!) they don’t get together in the end, kind of like my very favorite romantic drama “Roman Holiday”. But be warned, it is also very silly, with lots of plot devices to make it sillier, but at least the whole story doesn’t revolve around sex.

Another plug for Contagion: Superb movie, but I was watching it on a plane, which was not reassuring. It had so many interesting elements about the spread of the disease and the way individuals tried to deal with it. I have a lot more I want to say about this one, but this post is already too long...

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, as well as the first Sherlock Holmes movie from Guy Ritchie. We’re big into Sherlock Holmes in our house. We’ve also been watching the BBC TV production Sherlock, which we love. These are all great adaptations of the stories. and I think they both have very fitting music; I’m very impressed. Too bad I’ve already read all the books - I could eat those up for this challenge.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

2012-01-11T21:33:00.000-05:00

I saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes the other night. It was pretty good. James Franco was good looking, and John Lithgow was great. About part way through the movie, I kept saying, "The apes better escape soon; I can't take much more of this." I was struggling with seeing the animals in cages, experimented on and abused. I really don't like it.

A movie like this forces me to confront my own beliefs. Or at the very least examine my behavior. I wouldn't buy cosmetics that are tested on animals, but what about drugs. I mostly only take the occasional pain reliever or cold medicine. But those were probably tested on animals. I would never deny anyone life-saving medicine because it's tested on animals.

How about food? I only buy organic eggs because producing conventional eggs amounts to chicken torture. But I still eat meat, and most of the time it's not organic meat. It was probably raised in a CAFO, or concentrated animal feeding operation. Those places are bad for the animals, the earth and any people who live nearby.

So I sit and watch this movie and cringe at the suffering of animals, but then I have to realize that I share some guilt in causing it.

Perhaps I was thinking too much, and should have just paid attention to the entertainment value of the movie?

Two movies

2012-01-08T16:42:00.000-05:00

I'll get things started. Normally, I think I'd do better on the reading than on the movie watching. But here it is, the beginning of the second week of the year and I've watched two movies but I haven't read a single book (I'm part way through two of them though).

Last week I watched Captain America. With apologies to patriots and fans alike, it was my least favorite of the superhero movies. But it was still an enjoyable enough movie. Who doesn't like seeing the good guy win?

The other movie I saw was Contagion. I was interested in this because, for one of my jobs, I read about infectious diseases. I read a review that said the movie was like watching a dramatic episode of NOVA. That's what I liked about it. It didn't feel over the top. It seemed realistic. And it made me want to wash my hands. Over and over and over.

What do you think?

Fifty/Fifty challenge 2012

2012-01-08T16:30:00.000-05:00

This is the blog I set up to facilitate participation among my friends and me in the fiftyfifty me challenge. The challenge can be found here at fiftyfifty.me. In a nutshell, the challenge is this: during 2012, read 50 books you've never read and watch 50 movies you've never seen. They can be high quality or low quality. It can be twinkie reading (as my children's lit teacher called it) or educational and enlightening. The goal is to expand your horizons.

I set up this blog so we can share/review the movies we're watching and the books we're reading. I hope you will join me, even if you don't think you can read 50 books or look at 50 movies, I'd still like you to contribute to this blog. If you want to be an author on this blog (please, please, please), send me a message or an email so I can add you.

I'm looking forward to a fun year of reading and movie watching. I hope you'll join me!