Currently out from Zip: Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011) (documentary) Limitless (2011) Vanity Fair (2004)
What about YOU? Seen anything good lately? Anything you recommend?
2013: Homicide, The American, The Adventures of Tintin, Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Eagle, Over the Hedge, 36 quai des orfevres, The Help, Herb & Dorothy, Adventureland, The Pillars of the Earth, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, Holy Motors, Muppet Treasure Island, Midnight in Paris, 21 Jump Street, The Hour Series 1, Inside Job, The Special Relationship, Magic Mike
Reading Now or in the 'To Read' Pile -1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann -Death on the Dun by Paul Knowles (mystery book by a friend) -Marking Time (Cazalets #2) by Elizabeth Jane Howard
What are you reading lately? What do you recommend? Are you on GoodReads? If so, please feel free to add me there!
3. Please take my optional details as suggestions, not orders. For example, the 30 Rock story doesn't HAVE to include cheese-shopping. (Though it is totally in character.)
Reading Now or in the 'To Read' Pile -At Home by Bill Bryson (still rereading) -The Paris Wife by Paula McLain -The Given Day by Dennis Lehane -Into Great Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest by Wade Davis (skimming) -Regeneration (Regeneration, #1) by Pat Barker -Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed -Out of My League: A Rookie's Survival in the Bigs by Dirk Hayhurst -Above All Things by Tanis Rideout -The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway -The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
What are you reading lately? What do you recommend? Are you on GoodReads? If so, please feel free to add me there!
Reading Now or Up Next: -At Home by Bill Bryson (still rereading) -The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking: How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy, and Sane by Matthew Hutson -The Explosionist by Jenny Davidson
What are you reading lately? What do you recommend? Are you on GoodReads? If so, please feel free to add me there!
Reading Now, Up Next, or In Transit At the Library: -Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (if the library ever gets around to getting it!) -The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean (though I have started this and it might be too advanced for me - or rather I am not advanced enough for it!!) -The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
What are you reading lately? What do you recommend? Are you on GoodReads? If so, please feel free to add me there!
Source Code (2011) A soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of a stranger and with a voice in his head telling him that he is re-living the last 8 minutes of that man's life as he tries to figure out who bombed a commuter train - and stop another even more deadly attack. We both liked this a lot - it was better than the trailer made it look. A bit like 'Groundhog Day' but with explosions and guns, but if you like the 'infinite possibilities branching out from our choices' thing, you will like this. We did not see the ending coming, but it's not unbelievable. With Michelle Monaghan as the love interest and Vera Farmiga as the soldier's contact in the military. Recommended.
Spartan (2004) Great cast - Val Kilmer, William H. Macy, Ed O'Neill, Veronica Mars Kristen Bell, Derek Luke - and written and directed by David Mamet, this is the story of a special ops officer who are assigned to find the missing daughter of a high-ranking government official and things get more complicated than expected. A smart movie, it doesn't spell things out heavy-handedly, there are moments you have no idea what is going on (like, the first 15 minutes) but it's compelling and keeps you watching until you have a grasp of what is happening. We had seen it before but couldn't remember all the details - we knew one major thing that made one twist known to us but it in no way ruined the movie. Tense and compelling, the violence is present but not over the top. Recommended.
The Expendables (2010) Does what it says on the box. Written and directed by Sylvester Stallone, starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. This was ridiculous but entertaining - lots of stuff blows up real good. If that's your thing, you'll like this movie. I read a book during some of the fighting sequences but I watched enough to know they were well-choreographed and well-executed.
Mesrine: Partie 1 - L'instinct de mort (Part 1 - Killer Instinct) (2008) Bio-pic starring Vincent Cassel as the French gangster Jacques Mesrine. He was a soldier in Algeria in the 1950s and embarked on a life of crime in the 60s. Bank robberies, kidnapping, escapes from prison ... this is only part one; I can't imagine what he'll do in part 2! Great performance by Cassel.
Hustle: Season 1 Disc 2 (2004) We finished up Season 1 of this BBC show about a group of con artists running "long cons"- confidence schemes with long and complicated procedures but great financial returns. Their theory is that you can't con an honest man person; if you put the bait out and they bite, they'll try to reel you in, but if you ignore it they won't go after you. They see themselves as Robin Hood-esque, a bit, but teh poor they give to are themselves. If you like heists and similar schemes, give it a try.
Currently Out from Zip Eat Pray Love (2010) Lost in Austen (2008) Bottle Shock (2008) What Just Happened (2008) Army of Shadows (L'armée des ombres) (1969)
[2012: The Road, Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Big Night, Pirate Radio (a.k.a. The Boat That Rocked), Return to Cranford, Fair Game, Buried, 10 Items or Less, Megamind, Le deuxième souffle, Source Code, Spartan, The Expendables, Mesrine Part 1, Hustle: Season 1 Disc 2]
Reading Now, Up Next, or In Transit At the Library: -Gillespie and I by Jane Harris -Seen Reading by Julie Wilson -Who Do You Think You Are?: The Essential Guide to Tracing Your Family History
What are you reading lately? What do you recommend? Are you on GoodReads? If so, please feel free to add me there!
Reading Now, Up Next, or In Transit At the Library: -Crucible of Gold by Naomi Novik -Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection by A.J. Jacobs -The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie -The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon -Our Queen by Robert Hardman
What are you reading lately? What do you recommend? Are you on GoodReads? If so, please feel free to add me there!
Buried (2010) Ryan Reynolds plays a truck driver in Iraq who has been kidnapped and buried alive with a cell phone and a lighter; the whole movie is shot in the box - it's incredibly claustrophobic but really powerful. Recommended if you like tense, problem-solving, action movies. (Though this is not an 'action' movie exactly, it has that feel.)
10 Items or Less (2006) Morgan Freeman is an un-named movie star (presumably playing some version of himself) researching a role as a grocery store clerk. He ends up spending the day with a grocery store clerk (played by Spanish actress Paz Vega) and sees what her reality is like. This didn't take any of the turns we expected, and we liked it a lot. Recommended if you like quirky, quiet movies.
Megamind (2010) This was fun, but not fantastic. Voices of Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, and Brad Pitt. Will Ferrell is the evil genius, Tina Fey is the reporter he likes, Jonah Hill is her cameraman with a crush, and Brad Pitt is the superhero (and MegaMind's nemesis MetroMan). I think our favourite parts were the way MegaMind mispronounced things. Favourite one: Metro City as Metrocity (rhyming with atrocity). Recommended if you like animation, Will Ferrell, or superheroes.
Le deuxième souffle (1966) - SFD only
Currently Out from Zip Eat Pray Love (2010) Lost in Austen (2008) Source Code (2011) Spartan (2004)
[2012: The Road, Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Big Night, Pirate Radio (a.k.a. The Boat That Rocked), Return to Cranford, Fair Game, Buried, 10 Items or Less, Megamind, Le deuxième souffle]
Pirate Radio (a.k.a. The Boat That Rocked) (2009) Directed by Richard Curtis. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Rhys Ifans, and a bunch of British people (mostly guys) who live aboard an illegal (pirate) radio ship broadcasting rock and pop music from the North Sea in the 1960s. Kenneth Branagh is the bureaucrat who wants to shut them down. (Jack Davenport is his assistant.) Great soundtrack - no Beatles, though, due to licensing I guess - and pretty entertaining on the whole. It took a while to get into this, and there are some excrutiatingly embarrasing slapstick-y sex scenes, but on the whole we liked it!
Return to Cranford (2009) Bad Things Keep Happening in Cranford, I really did not need it to be so depressing, but then, that is the reality of the time period. The ending was uplifting and there were some moments of true comedy in this series (IMELDA STAUNTON AND THE BIRDCAGE OMG) and all in all I liked this a lot. Judi Dench is fabulous as always. I was disappointed not to see Baby Paul Bettany a.k.a. Simon Woods in this installment, though.
Fair Game (2010) This is the movie version of the Valerie Plame situation, when a CIA operative has her identity leaked by the government as payback for an anti-Bush-administration op-ed article her husband wrote. Naomi Watts and Sean Penn star, and are good - believable in the parts and Penn is not over the top. (GOOD.) This movie was based on books by the real Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson, and so of course it shows their side and them being in the right. (Which I think they were, so that doesn't hurt the movie for me.) Roger Ebert points out that it's interesting that they used real names in this 'fictionalized' account - Scooter Libby and Dick Cheney are played right there on the screen with their real names. Recommended.
And not from Zip: The Trip (2010) (6-part series) This felt almost like a documentary. A sad, moving documentary of a lonely and sad man who may or may not be Steve Coogan in the middle of a mid-life crisis and his kind-of friend who go on a restaurant tour of the North of England for a magazine feature. (Steve was supposed to take his girlfriend but they are on a break.) Some of it is hilarious (I still love Gentlemen, To Bed) but some of it is heartbreaking. Really good stuff. (We watched it one episode at a time - there is a movie version but I think that might have been too much all at once.)
Watched in March or Currently Out From Zip: -Eat Pray Love (2010) -Buried (2010) -10 Items or Less (2006) -Megamind (2010)
Anything you've watched lately that you recommend - or don't recommend?
[2012: The Road, Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Big Night, Pirate Radio (a.k.a. The Boat That Rocked), Return to Cranford, Fair Game]
Last night I went with listersgirl and SFD to see Potted Potter, an unauthorized parody of the Harry Potter books, seven books in 70 minutes. It's a two-man show, and honestly it was more MANIC than I expected (having seen One Man Lord of the Rings I suppose I was expecting something more like that?) but it was really funny - the two guys did well, and were (mostly) able to hold it together when they needed to ad-lib. The best part was when they got two people from the audience up on stage to be the Seekers (for the game of Quidditch we played in the middle of the show, naturally) and one was this tiny kid who clearly KNEW THE BOOKS and was READY TO PLAY QUIDDITCH and was TOTALLY INTO IT. She stole the show! The worst part was the girl across the aisle from us who was TEXTING ON HER FUCKING PHONE THROUGHOUT THE SHOW. I went over to her after to say that it had been very disturbing to me and that perhaps next time she might want to reconsider doing that DURING A LIVE SHOW. If there had been an intermission I would have called the ushers on her but since there was no break I didn't know what else to do. SOMETHING HAD TO BE SAID!!)
And then I got home at a reasonable time and spent the rest of the evening typing up my February books post! So here it is!!
Up Next or In Transit At the Library: -Judi Dench: With a Crack in her Voice by John Miller (started this morning!) -The Tudor Throne by Brandy Purdy -Gold Diggers: Striking it Rich in the Klondike by Charlotte Gray -The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt
What are you reading lately? What do you recommend? Are you on GoodReads? If so, please feel free to add me there!
Hello! I spent the morning at a library conference* so this is my quick break of posting (I cleverly typed it last night, saving the LJ formatting for actual LJ posting) before I work late (to make up the hours) and then go out to dinner with shaes_shire who is in town for the same conference!
*Where I met Guy Gavriel Kay and Nancy Pearl!! (The former spoke very well but was kind of rude in person, Nancy Pearl did not speak much but was very sweet in person.)
Up Next or In Transit At the Library: -Allegiance by Heather Domin (started this morning!) -Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons -The Last Season by Eric Blehm -The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest For Power by Geoffrey Dunn
What are you reading lately? What do you recommend? Are you on GoodReads? If so, please feel free to add me there!
Excuse me, what?
anglaisepaon.
hopeful
okay
excited
sick
busy