Read, Watch, Listen ...... January in Review

What I Was Reading in January

Expletive Deleted a good look at bad language by Ruth Wajnryb
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathon Safron Foer
The Resilient Self by Steven J. Wolin, M.D., and Sybil Wolin, Ph.D
Zen and the Art of Knitting by Bernadette Murphy
Lady Chatterly's Lover by D.H. Lawrence


The only book I completed in January

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathon Safron Foer

Truthfully, I am drowning in books. I abandoned Lady Chatterly after chapter three and loaned it to a friend who needed a copy for her book club. The book on language is getting finished one chapter at a time... The Resilient Self is a rather interesting book that our staff at work is
using as a book study. But the book I read and finished was a delight. Not only does Jonathon Safron Foer capture the voice of nine-year-old Oskar, but he weaves the story of the boy's grandfather and grandmother into the novel though letters written but never read by anyone but us. These letters/flashbacks are confusing AND enlightening. The story is set in modern day and a young boy grieves the loss of his father and in the midst of this grief discovers a key in an envelope with a single word "Black." This discovery is indicative of the sort of games Oskar once played with his father and he begins to long journey searching for the answer to this puzzle convinced he will learn one last message about his father who perished in the World Trade Center on 9/11. I will certainly read his other book Everything is Illuminated.

What I Was Watching in January

On TV
Project Runway
Grey's Anatomy
The Bachelor in Paris
Dancing with the Stars

Of these shows, the only one I am truly embarrased to acknowledge is The Bachelor in Paris.... Perhaps it's because this season seemed to go so quickly and because I actually LIKED this bachelor (not feeling like he was annoying or fake or not a catch anyway..), but I couldn't seem to pull myself away. I think the DVR had a lot to do with it frankly. I started using a Digital Video Recorder in the first week of January and since then my TV viewing has picked up. I now tend to actually set the darn thing to save all the shows I might have watched in the past if I happened to catch them but usually didn't. Grey's Anatomy continues to be a favorite and I have even caught myself watching Desperate Housewives even though I am less of a fan... having missed the bandwagon when it passed a year ago. Project Runway and Dancing with the Stars are less about the competition and more about the love of the art of fashion and dance. I am amazed at what the participants on these shows create and it's just a joy for me to watch.

On DVD (owned and rented)

The Wedding Crashers
King Kong (1933)
Darling Lili
The Wheeler Dealers
The Constant Gardener
THe IPCRESS File
Diamonds are Forever
March of the Penguins
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
The Producers (1968)
The Brothers' Grimm

Theatre
King Kong (2005)


My movie viewing for this month takes on a few categories... I guess. I started off with an Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn film I had been eager to see, The Wedding Crashers. However, I was rather disappointed. I am not sure why, but something about this film just did not do it for me... my friend Susan says it's a "guy film." Though, I am not sure. The Brothers Grimm was much better than I expected and Matt Damon did such a good job that I forgot he was Matt Damon and that says a lot. Overall it's a delight for those who love fairy tales and allusions to them.

In an effort to see some films nominated at the Golden Globes and sure to make the nominations for Oscars I watched the March of the Penguins and The Constant Gardener. March of the Penguins was like a documentary I might have watched in school as a kid. It was fun to see and their lives are fascinating but that's about as far as it goes for me. The Gardener film left a lot to be desired. It was a hopeless tale that suggested drug testing conspiracy in Africa and the efforts to thwart that or unveil it were poor at best. The movie's biggest flaw was in the marriage of Tessa (Rachel Weisz) and Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) whose supposed deep love seemed preposterous at best. Perhaps I am being harsh but I don't think so.

Believe it or not, the bad experience with Gardener didn't stop me from watching another film based on a book by John Le Carre.... The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. This was in the midst of a sort of unofficial study of spy films... we'd been watching the Bonds (most recently Diamonds are Forever) ... then had to watch The IPCRESS File and see Michael Caine's terrific performance as Harry Palmer, a British secret agent with a little more grit and a lot less glam. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold stars Richard Burton and shows a side of the cold war some of us tend to forget in recent history with so much fear directed toward an oil drenched region. This movie was frightfully depressing but raised good discussion and THAT is worth a lot to me too.



Darling Lili (1970) is a Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson WWI war picture in which Andrews plays a spy posing as a musical celebrity. It was a film I'd never heard of before but enjoyed. Wheeler Dealers (1963) was a birthday gift that I just watched this month. I have no idea why because this show was a delight. I'd heard it compared to Pillow Talk, a favorite of mine, and that was a fair comparison for sure. This one stars James Garner and Lee Remick and is set in New York. Remick is determined to make it in the business world in an era where women were not so welcome on Wall Street and she is given one chance to prove herself on a stock that is a known flop and she makes every effort to turn that around with the help of Garner's character who has taken a liking to her and has designs of his own. In Pillow Talk, Rock Hudson has a tricked out apartment perfect for the art of seduction. In this film, Garner's car does the trick. Don't try this at home, kids.

I watched a couple movies this month hoping to prep for films in the theatre. The Producers (1968) was a riotously funny film. Gene Wilder takes the cake and I wonder how the 2005 version can even compare. There were so many great lines and such comic timing that I don't really know where to begin. Hmmmmmm.... Well, maybe I'll leave it at that and say I don't know how it compares because before I was able to see it in the theate here it was gone... that's the story of our crappy theatre system. Death to Carmike! (there is a reason people drive 70 miles to see movies in Fargo) However King Kong (1933) and King Kong (2005) rounded out my King Kong experience. Read my blog entry about it. I loved all three.

What I Was Listening to in January

With all those movies I watched who had time to really listen to music. I listed Bruce Springsteen as one I was listening to but I really haven't even given my new cds of his a good going through... Perhaps in February when I am less movie obsessed.