Read, Watch, Listen -- August in Review

Read in August

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Carumba! by Nina Marie Martinez
The Only Bush I Trust is My Own by Periel Aschenbrand
The Chill by Ross MacDonald

Carumba! and the Dahl book I mentioned before. The Aschenbrand one wasn't nearly as funny as I thought it might be. I am not sure I have EVER read a book with worse language. Periel goes out of her way to be crude, rude, and over the top. She makes some interesting points and at times flirts with funny but overall I felt the book was disappointing. I thought she could have done more with her material and perhaps she would need to be a different person to do so. In the realm of personality and writing ability. I am not saying I could do better but I am pretty sure there are all sorts of people who could. I wanted to love it. The title was hilarious. But I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. In fact, I'd be glad to sell my copy if anyone was interested.

On the other hand, The Chill was terrific. Typically, I am not much for the hardboiled detective genre. Still this book is one of the famous Lew Archer mysteries written by Ross MacDonald, an author who ranks among the most prominent of this type of writing. He shares company with Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler from what I've been told, and soon I plan to read something by each of them. Not so much as to determine whether I deem them worthy but to see what I've been missing.


Watched in August

Turner Classic Movies
Muppet Show Season 1

This month I recorded a number of movies on the Turner Classic Movies channel as TCM ran their annual "Summer Under the Stars" series. I only watched a handful here and there since I tend to prefer my movies viewed from beginning to end. One of those was The Thrill of it All starring James Garner and Doris Day. I don't like to view a film for the first time if it's already started. However HBO runs enough of their films enough times in a row it's almost certain if you miss part of a movie you can catch the bit you missed the next day. I watched Something's Got to Give with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson.... in this case it wasn't a first time viewing and I actually watched it over three separate occasions just by happening upon it. I purchased The Muppet Show Season One and watched the first disc of the set and loved every minute of it... (Permit me one observation. It was more violent than I remembered.) In addition, I watched the two Charlie and the Chocolate Factory films and The Wedding Date, as previously mentioned. However I also was disappointed by The Upside of Anger. I watched Million Dollar Baby for the first time on DVD. I did see it last winter in the theatre. I have never been a Clint Eastwood fan but that film changed that for me. Loved it. It deserved every Academy Award it received. In fact, I suspect the phrase "Mo cuishle" will become an icon like "rosebud." Perhaps that's stretching it, but the thought did occur to me. Finally, I started watching the Bond Films again.


Played in August

Eva Cassidy
Joni Mitchell
Langhorne Slim
Alison Krauss and Union Station

Eva Cassidy (a woman with as pure of voice as any I've heard) is always a good choice when I long for beautiful songs and to satisfy that mellow mood, Joni too. I organized my classroom and decorated bulletin boards to Alison Krauss and Union Station's Live CD.

The only new musician I absorbed is Langhorne Slim. I discovered him on a blog. Listened to his song "In the Midnight" in an MP3 format and decided I needed to hear more. When I was in Minneapolis I had a fun time at Barnes and Noble pulled up to the headphones with a stack of cds. They didn't stock Langhorne Slim but I was able to hear every song of his on their system. It works much the same way online, so I've learned since! I special ordered his cd, When the Sun's Gone Down, back home so I could keep at least some of my business local. His genre is the sort that is difficult for me to define. I can't quite put my finger on it. Here's how he's described elsewhere:

"The production sounds like an old blues record that finds beauty in the ragged worn history of American culture....Supposedly Slim is the bastard son of Hasil Adkins...Much like Daddy(?) and at times Rolling Stones circa "Exile On Main Street," Langhorne's one man road show relies on witty lyrics and a fucked up backwoods feel. Slim's stories are all that much more compelling due to the strength of his commanding voice. Slim sits a good three feet away from the microphone. His voice grabs a hold and sends the listener to wherever the story is flowing."

On that same trip to Minneapolis, I was still on a bluegrass high and listened to some old country (Patsy Cline and Connie Smith) and I picked up the RENT Broadway Soundtrack and listened to it on that drive but I haven't really played it over and over (which is what it takes to warrant a "feature" on the sidebar). I also listened to Jeff Buckley's Grace and The Who's Who's Next. ABBA was the group that accompanied me on the drive to Winnipeg to see Mamma Mia and Air Supply aided in the return trip. Then that led to Meat Loaf the next day and a The White Stripes album Elephant and Martin Sexton's album Wonder Bar. Music trends for me are very mood based and a rather fluid thing.