Reading, Watching, Listening..... March & April in Review

What I Was Reading in March & April
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Teaching with the Brain in Mind by Eric Jensen
Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler
Childhood and Other Neighborhoods by Stuart Dybek
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

Books completed:
The Great Gatsby, a book I love, is one I was reading aloud to a student at school. Farewell My Lovely is a hard boiled detective novel featuring Philip Marlowe as the detective. I love this genre of books and this one was no disappointment. Instead, it was a refreshing read. It had very little sex, the violence wasn't graphic, and the writing and language made it a treat to read.

Books I started but still need to finish--thank goodness the month of May is "catch-up" month for my book club: Childhood and Other Neighborhoods is a collection of short stories I read because Stuart Dybek, the author was coming to a Writer's Conference at the university. He met with our group and I instantly liked all his writing better after meeting him. I AM eager to finish this book. Teaching with the Brain in Mind is a book I (mostly) read for our professional book group. The Memory Keeper's Daughter is one our book club read in April but I've only read about 50 pages. Since everyone was less than enthusiastic about it, I am more hesitant to pick it up... but I still plan to.

What I was watching in March & April

On TV
I decided to stop recording this list of TV watched programs because it never seemed to change but lately I find myself wanting to watch a LOT of TV. I am now sucked in to that stupid Bachelor show, once again. This time I am cheering for Tessa. She's really the only one I like. I absolutely adore The New Adventures of Old Christine and Two and a Half Men. I wish these shows weren't all on Mondays because I want to spread the joy out over the week. I am back to watching Dancing with the Stars and Apolo has to be my favorite. I am trying out Notes from the Underbelly, mainly because I like Rachael Harris who plays Cooper. So far, so good. Lost is killing me with suspense. LOVE it! The Office never ceases to amaze me, yet Grey's Anatomy is getting a little old... and still I keep on watching. Dang. I tried October Road but I don't love it like my little sister does. I am still apathetic about Brothers and Sisters... apathetic verging on annoyed. But I still enjoy Desperate Housewives. I have a DVR. I can record these programs and watch them when I"ve had time... or as it turns out forgo sleep in order to watch one episode of something I can't resist.

On DVD
For Your Consideration
Tideland
Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Fast Food Nation
Hollywoodland
Sherrybaby
The Science of Sleep
The Illusionist
Quinceanera
Happy Feet
A Good Year
The Prestige
Casino Royale
Stranger Than Fiction
Blood Diamond
Charlotte's Web
The Pursuit of Happyness
Man of the Year
The Last Kiss
The Good Shepherd
Crossing Delancey
Addams Family Values
What a Girl Wants
An Ideal Husband

Classic
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Do Not Disturb (1965)
400 Blows (1959)
Bell, Book, and Candle (1958)
Duck Soup (1933)
A Night at the Opera (1935)

Foreign
Water
The Science of Sleep
The Curse of the Golden Flower
Volver

Documentary
The U.S. vs. John Lennon

At the Theatre
The Lives of Others

I feel like it's been ages since I've watched a movie with all this yearbook stuff taking over my life, but it's only been three weeks. So technically these films were watched in March and the first half of April. Some I loved and some I could do without. Let me try to sum them up. From the bottom up.... I loved The Lives of Others which I saw in Minneapolis with my friend Rebecca. This one is a foreign film, which one the Oscar this year, and it's about life in former East Germany in the early 80's before the fall of the Berlin wall. A documentary I watched this past March is another one that focuses on secrets and surveilance. The U.S. versus John Lennon blew me away to think that the US Govt cared so much about the doings of one influential musician. I was impressed with the way Lennon used the media to convey his message and ultimately I thought it was a nice tribute to his life. The other foreign films I watched recently are The Curse of the Golden Flower--which wasn't all that great--Volver, The Science of Sleep, and Water. I loved Volver. I thought that Penelope Cruz, who typically annoys me, was terrific in this role and I'd highly recommend the film. It's set in modern day Spain and it is ultimately a family story of mother and daughters and sisters and it features the return of their dead mother. It's colorful, entertaining, and all around well done. The Science of Sleep was a strange French film that was mostly in English but it features Charlotte Gainsbourg as the neighbor the main character falls in love with. He is apparently emotionally disturbed and she seems to get him and so he begins to try to show her his world. His dream world. Bizarre. Water is a moving story set in the 1930s in India and it follows a young girl as she is widowed and placed in a community of widows to live for the rest of her life. Their position in society becomes clear and is challenged when one of the widows who refuses to shave her head falls in love with a young man willing to marry her, despite her widowed past. I thought it was eye opening and heartbreaking and beautiful. Watch it.

The classic films I watched this time around were varied in form. One was 400 Blows, on my Roger Ebert Great Films list and that's also a foreign film. I enjoyed it and hope to see the films that follow the young boy as he grows up. Unfortunately Netflix doesn't seem to carry them. I had high hopes for Dr. Strangelove. Perhaps too high. I thought it was funny and ironic but I didn't fall in love. How strange! A handful of Doris Day films were released to DVD in March and I think I'll have to watch all of them soon. One I'd not seen before was Do Not Disturb. It was typical wacky Doris Day fare, but not her best. Jack Lemmon, Kim Novak and more star in Bell, Book, and Candle and I really got a kick out of this one. It's totally different from others because of the witchcraft focus but it was entertaining and romantic. Who knew witches couldn't cry or fall in love? I'm not sure how I ever managed to miss out on the Marx Brothers films. One day a few months back I watched the end of one of theirs and then I decided I needed more. So I watched both Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera. Both had very funny bits and though I think I prefered the plot of A Night at the Opera a bit more, they were both QUITE good. I had no idea how much of it is alluded to in other films.

Three of these films were re-watchings and on TV, but I count those too. I love An Ideal Husband (Oscar Wilde rocks!) and Addams Family Values is just as funny the second time. What a Girl Wants is nothing special.. it was just on TV while I was doing some housework, correcting and whatnot and somehow I managed to watch the entire film! The two kids films I saw these past couple months were not what I expected. I thought I would love Happy Feet and think Charlotte's Web couldn't even come close to the reading experience. I was wrong on both counts. I thought Happy Feet fell a little flat. If you want to watch a penguin story, watch the documentary March of the Penguins. I actually thought that was more entertaining. Charlotte's Web is a live action version of the story and it reminded me of Babe at times (another film about a pig I love, love, love). However, this film was terrific. Just like the pig. I would highly recommend it. Read the book first, or after... it doesn't even matter. Just celebrate this wonderful story.

Five films I didn't enjoy at all were Tideland, For Your Consideration, Fast Food Nation, The Last Kiss, and Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Fast Food Nation was NOT a documentary about the book as some might think; it was a dramatization of some of the ideas in the book. It was brutal and disgusting and not very interesting in the end. I think Eric Schlosser's book does it much, much better. For Your Consideration is another Christopher Guest film and for some reason this one didn't resonate like Best in Show did for me, though it featured nearly the same cast as all his other films. Tideland is one I was warned about. I heard Terry Gilliam speak on the film on NPR and THAT is what drew me in. Big Mistake. I like other films by him, but this one crossed the line. Seriously, not my kind of show. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada could have been okay, but it was far from a refreshing and relaxing movie experience and yet I didn't really feel changed after watching it. It was a bit gross at times (the body IS dead and decomposing, after all). While the Last Kiss didn't feature any decomposing bodies, as did most of the other ones I just mentioned, it still stunk. It was a romance story about a cheating man. I hate those kinds of films. It would have had to work hard to redeem itself.

Hollywoodland, Sherrybaby, Blood Diamond, and The Good Shepherd are films I was merely so-so about. Hollywoodland was pretty decent and I like that sort of movie but.... it's hard to put my finger on. I guess it could have been more. The Good Shepherd promised a lot in its previews and all it seemed to deliver was nearly three hours of a somewhat boring story. I learned a bit from The Good Shepherd, but when it comes to special agents, I'd rather watch Alias. Sherrybaby was just the opposite of The Pursuit of Happyness. This is what happens when you can't get your shit together. It was a bit depressing. As if Blood Diamond wasn't? That's right. Here's another film that will throw you a ton of guilt for sporting a diamond of any kind. Sigh. If only I already owned a nice juicy rock then there'd be little I could do about it now. well, it's a better film than I expected. I'll say that much. It reveals a sad situation happening in our world.

I enjoyed all the other films I saw in March and April. Some more than others. The one I loved and adored was Stranger than Fiction. Will Ferrell plays Harold Crick, an IRS adjuster, who begins to hear voices... not just any old voices but a voice over narration of his life. It turns out someone is writing a novel about him (though she doesn't know he is real) and from there the fun begins. The cast includes Maggie Gylenhaal, Emma Thompson, and Dustin Hoffman. Every one of them delivers a kick ass performance. This is my favorite film of 2007 so far.

Other surprisingly good films were The Prestige and The Pursuit of Happyness, Crossing Delancey, and A Good Year. I would recommend any one of these. The Prestige has a wonderful surprise in this film and why shouldn't it? After all, it's about illusions and magic. The Illusionist, similar in theme, was another I watched and enjoyed, but it lacked the punch that The Prestige offers. Russell Crowe stars in A Good Year and it's about the property he inherits in France and how it transforms his life. The Pursuit of Happyness is a true story and Will Smith plays the lead role with his son playing the role of his son. It's a family story. It's a story of determination against impossible odds. It's a story that encourages you to never give up. Very American. Very heartwarming. The surprise with Crossing Delancey is that I've not seen it before or never discovered its charm until now. It's a love story from 1988 which features a grandmother and a matchmaker trying hard to pair up the local pickle man (Peter Riegert) and the independent granddaughter (Amy Irving) who is kind to her grandma but has little else to do with the old neighborhood.

Casino Royale was the long awaited unveiling of a new Bond. I had mixed feelings on the film. I liked it. Yet, I wasn't sure they had it quite right. It was great to watch. Everything a Bond should be. Yet, this Bond seemed to have some issues. He seemed to be fallible. He seemed to be crude and make mistakes. I'm not sure that's in line with the other films and the history of the character. But it was a great film and I'm excited to see what is next. The story of Quincenera is one that explores the tradition for young girls turning 15 and it is a story about social mores and family. I liked it and would recommend it. Man of the Year is a comedy starring Robin Williams as a late night talk show host who ends up running for president and winning. I watched it with my family and we all enjoyed it. It's worth a rent.

What I was listening to in March & April
I know I was devouring my new Elizabeth Mitchell CD and loving it. I also listened to a little My Chemical Romance and some more of the Magic Numbers. Mostly my life is made up of MP3 randomized music.

Here are my MP3 shuffles:

March 1

Got to Be Real by Cheryl Lynn
I'm Lonely by The White Stripes
Diggin' Me by Martin Sexton
Honeycomb by Jimmie Rodgers
The Power of Love by Celine Dion

----------------------------------March 23

Diamonds on the Inside by Ben Harper
Flashdance by Irene Cara
19th Nervous Breakdown by The Rolling Stones
Stay by Alison Krauss
Sister Golden Hair by America

-----------------------------------April 11

18 Wheeler by Pink
I Can't Help Myself by The Four Tops
If You Love Me (Let me Know) by Olivia Newton John
I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett
Like Lovers Do by Heather Nova

--------------------------------
April 15

Shake the Sugar Tree by Pam Tillis
The Long Run by The Eagles
Traveling Soldier by Dixie Chicks
I Will by The Beatles
Falling for You by Jem

----------------------------------April 22

Reflections by Diana Ross and the Supremes
One Good Man by Janis Joplin
Where is the Love by the Black Eyed Peas
Mother by Pink Floyd
The End of the World by Skeeter Davis