All This and Superpowers Too: Reading, Watching, Listening..... September/October in Review

What I Was Reading in September/October
Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks
The Tent by Margaret Atwood
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Not the End of the World by Kate Atkinson
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

I've actually managed to finish nearly all of these books except Never Let Me Go and I just started that on the 31st.. so it hardly counts as an October book. I completely disliked Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks. It immediately went into the discard pile. Running with Scissors wasn't a favorite either. I had heard him compared to David Sedaris and I'm sorry but it's no comparison. I found myself stuck in the horror zone without any humor there to trigger a smile. It was absurd and awful, but not amusing at all. The Tent is an unusual read. It's a collection of short stories, prose poems, satirical snippets... I really don't know

how to describe it. Some of it I loved, other bits simply mystified me. Included are illustrations by the author. I wrote down a list of my favorite parts and now I can't find it. Sorry. Not the End of the World by Kate Atkinson started out promising but was a letdown by the finish. The best story in this short story collection may have been the very first one: "Charlene and Trudi go Shopping." Her tales were all sort of depressing and not in a good way. I guess combining Atwood and Atkinson in such a confined space of time may have been a bad move. Fast Food Nation is one I am reading with some students at school andI've not made it very far, even though it's a reread for me.

The book I liked best was Wicked. I talk about it more here. I'd recommend it but it appears to be daunting to some. I am now VERY eager to see the musical and I've got a copy of Son of a Witch here for November!

What I was watching in September/October

On TV
Grey's Anatomy
Dancing with the Stars
Project Runway
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Two and a Half Men
The New Adventures of Old Christine
Six Degrees
The Office
Desperate Housewives
Brothers and Sisters
Lost Seasons 1-3
PBS Documentary on Andy Warhol

The new fall schedule for TV has put a serious crimp on my TV viewing... that combined with the need to watch all of seasons one and two of LOST. Project Runway is done now and I was glad Jeremy won, even though I didn't like him all that much I thought his collection was great. I did love Uli and it really was a toss up for me. Michael was very disappointing in that I liked almost everything he did during the season but then his collection was terrible. Sigh. Dancing with the Stars is heating up and I've already talked about that show a bit too much.

I am still watching The Office, Grey's Anatomy, and Desperate Housewives this season but I've added The New Adventures of Old Christine (terrible name for a show) and Two and a Half Men. I find that I really am enjoying BOTH of those new Monday night shows. Christine is a bit like Elaine but her relationship with her brother is great. I get a big kick out of him. The Office continues to amaze me with the depths to which Michael manages to sink.

New shows I have started watching are Studio 60, Brothers and Sisters, and Six Degrees and I like all of them so far or

I'd have given up on them. I am a fan of Matthew Perry in his role on Studio 60, and though I don't care for Calista Flockhart, I do find myself enjoying Brothers and Sisters. Six Degrees might be the show I discard if I'm gonna ditch any.

LOST consumes me if I think about it too much. It's best if I don't. I have theories. They aren't well thought out. I do love this show.

The documentary on Andy Warhol was another one of those American Masters specials on PBS and I really liked getting to know this artist that way.

On DVD
Ultraviolet
Friends With Money
The Libertine
The New World
A Good Woman
The Good Thief
The Cooler
Match Point
Connie and Carla
The Three Musketeers
An Unfinished Life
Thank You For Smoking
The Cat's Meow
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
Curious George
Hoot

Many of these titles I watched back in September and I watched few

films in October for the same reason I couldn't get around to writing this post--life was out of control. Of these titles I liked nearly all of them except Ultraviolet, which was a little too cheesy. I reminded me of that Final Fantasy movie and I guess a bit like Aeon Flux. It wasn't terrible but not just not great. Friends with Money had promise because of the cast, but I was unsatisfied with it. I wanted some more laughs or a warm feeling and instead I was left with a similar feeling as I had with watching Jennifer Aniston in The Good Girl. The Libertine was also one that I didn't like much at a

ll. I love Johnny Depp but this one wasn't a favorite. I wouldn't recommend it.

On the other hand, The New World left me eager to know more about the true story of what happened with John Smith and Pocahantas. The actress who played her was wonderful and I found myself really liking this remarkably "silent" film for its beauty and depiction of a historical time. And lest you get confused A Good Woman is nothing like A Good Girl. Based on an Oscar Wilde play, A Good Woman ,stars Helen Hunt and Scarlett Johansson and is set in Italy. I won't say too much and give away the plot, but if you enjoy Wilde's wit and his clever plot lines you'll like this film too.

While we are talking about all things "good" let me say I also enjoyed The Good Thief. This is a remake of Bob Le Flambeur, the french film I watched in August about a gambler. This version is also set in France but the gambler is an American, played by Nick Nolte. I loved

the way it compared to the original and how they updated it, though I did feel that the original Bob had a bit more style and class. I should probably have written an entire post just on those films. If you watch Bob Le Flambeur, I'd recommed The Good Thief as a way to extend the experience.

The Cooler is set in Las Vegas and it's a bit dreary. William H. Macy, Maria Bello, and Alec Baldwin star in this film about Macy's job as a "cooler" a person who has an aura of "bad luck" about him that uses that "power" to make people lose... things are going well for him until he finds his "lady luck." This one was pretty good and if you like casino, mob type films I'd recommend

it. Woody Allen's film Match Point was different from most of his and though it got rave reviews over at Midwestern Position I am not sure I'd rank it that highly. I did like it better than Closer, though. This entire film made me uneasy, but I was sucked in desperate to know if Jonathan Rhys Meyers was going to get caught. In this movie too, luck was of utmost importance. And for that I enjoyed the film more... Scarlett Johansson's temper tantrum on the street outside his work place was particularly unsettling in that fatal attraction vein.

One film I had never heard of but watched upon recommendation was Connie and Carla and I loved it. Toni Colette and Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) play lounge singers on the run. It's reminiscent of Billy Wilder's Some Like it Hot only in reverse when they hide out as drag queens. I thought this film was loads of fun with great song and dance numbers.

The Cat's Meow is a Peter Bogdanovich film I've rented many times and never gotten around to. This time I did and I am glad. It's based on a scrap of Hollywood legend. "In November 1924, a party of showbiz A-listers—including Charlie Chaplin, British novelist Elinor Glyn, gossip maven Louella Parsons, and silent-film star Marion Davies—gathered aboard the yacht of media magnate William Randolph Hearst to celebrate the birthday of studio mogul Thomas Ince. According to the story, one of the partiers ended up with a bullet in their brain. Writer Peros's dialogue is catty and incisive in the way that only beautiful, flawed people talk; and the performances, especially Eddie Izzard (as Chaplin) and Kirsten Dunst (as the vastly under-appreciated Davies) are excellent. "Works as a reminder that Bogdanovich, who hasn't made a feature film since 1993, is still very much a force as a director—and as another signal of Dunst's astonishing talent" (Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times). She said it so well, I decided to go with her description!

An Unfinished Life is a family drama featuring an all-star cast of Morgan Freeman, who plays the injured-by-bear friend and ranch worker, Robert Redford, as the angry, embittered father who lost a son and didn't even know he had a grand daughter, and Jennifer Lopez, as a battered daughter-in-law on the run with nowhere to go but the one place she's least welcome. It's a nice story. Thank You for Smoking had such a build-up that I sort of expected more. I did like it though. I thought the circle of friends who represent alcohol, gun rights, and big tobacco were entertaining. IMDB describes it this way "a satirical comedy which follows the machinations of Big Tobacco's chief spokesman, Nick Naylor, who spins on behalf of cigarettes while trying to remain a role model for his twelve-year-old son."

Finally, my children's movies of the month: Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Hoot, and Curious George. Hoot was okay, cute and all, but I'd recommend reading the book. I enjoyed that so much more. I think I was annoyed by the soundtrack of this film and mullet fingers didn't look the way I'd imagined him. Ultimately, it's a great book and the movie is a "fair" representation that many kids would probably enjoy. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is a Terry Jones film put out in 1996 and it's a live-action version of The Wind in the Willows. They change things and while it cannot really compare to the greatness of the book, it was entertaining and I felt that the actors who played Rat, Mole, and Toad nailed their parts. You may need to be a fan of Kenneth Grahame's book The Wind in the Willows to be so enthusiastic though. Curious George, I've already gone on about in this post. I love him. He's precious and adorable and I'm buying that film even though it is "G" rated and aimed at the under age 5 audience. They did a terrific job with this film. I was so in love with that little monkey that I didn't even notice it was Will Ferrell providing the voice for the man with the yellow hat.

Foreign Films
Le Professionnel
Le Cercle Rouge
Touchez Pas Au Grisbi

Le Professionnel stars the same actor as in A bout de Souffle, Jean-Paul Belmondo, only 20 years later. It's a rather sad story about a hitman. Le Cercle Rouge stars Alain Delon, the same actor as in Le Samourai. Both were directed by Jean-Pierre Melville I liked this one quite a bit. I thought it was an interesting story and had great style. It's a heist story, essentially. Touchez Pas Au Grisbi also features Daniel Cauchy from in Bob Le Flambeur, but he's not the main character.

Classic Films
North by Northwest
Charade
Father Goose

Every time I get a good dose of classic films I am AMAZED that I have lived this long and somehow managed to miss these fantastic films. I loved, loved, loved Charade. It was this terrific blend of suspense, comedy, romance, and adventure. Audrey Hepburn was terrific and Cary Grant wa

s at his best. I loved the shower scene, for those of you who have scene it. I thought North by Northwest was great and I'd almost felt as though I HAD seen it because of how familiar so many stills from the film are to me. Father Goose was sweet and funny. The "scavenger hunt" for rum was entertaining and I liked the marriage scene. I'm a sap.

At the Theatre
Pirates of the Carribean--Dead Man's Chest

I actually saw this one at the drive-in theatre in the very beginning of September. We loaded up on buttery popcorn and diet coke and had a great time of it. Movie-wise I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the first one. Johnny Depp is still great, though.

What I was listening to in September/October

I really fell behind in all blog related posting but that doesn't mean I didn't actually listen to music because I did. On the road to Rolla for both trips to see Grandma I listened to Dwight Yoakam, Connie Smith, Patsy Cline, Wanda Jackson and sang at the top of my lungs. On one trip I listened to my Midwestern Mix CD and another mix CD I made for myself. I also listened to soundtracks to Hair, RENT, and Mamma Mia....

On vinyl I've been listening to Joni Mitchell's Blue. Thanks to Sara at The Midwestern Position's suggestion. At school I've been playing ABBA, Blondie, Neil Diamond, and more.

Here are my MP3 shuffles of the month of Sept. (I didn't update it even ONCE in Oct.)