Reading, Watching, Listening..... December in Review

What I Was Reading in December
This Land Was Made for You and Me by Elizabeth Partridge
The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdez-Rodriguez
Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

I only finished one of these titles--the Woody Guthrie biography and I loved it. I've had this one out for months from our local library and so I was finally being billed for a "replacement cost" and I figured I'd better finish this one off before I got going on any of the others.

What I was watching in December
On TV
Two and a Half Men
The New Adventures of Old Christine
The Office

On DVR
The Bourne Identity
Easter Parade
Miracle on 34th Street
That Touch of Mink

This month was a lot of reruns and holiday films and specials. I didn't watch much TV except for the ones listed... mostly because I'd not seen previous episodes of Two and a Half Men and The New Adventures of Old Christine. However, The Office is good fun no matter how many times I've seen the episodes. I simply loved Easter Parade when I watched it again. I have a recollection of watching that once when I was in high school but never since. Miracle on 34th Street is an annual favorite (both versions and I watched both too!) and who can resist Doris Day as Cathy Timberlake in That Touch of Mink?


On DVD
Scoop
Little Miss Sunshine
Superman Returns
Art School Confidential
An Inconvenient Truth
You, Me and Dupree
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Nacho Libre

Though at first I felt it was a little "flat.... I have to admit that Scoop was pretty funny. I was looking forward to this Woody Allen film ever since I saw the preview last summer. I thought Scarlett Johansson did a terrific job, though it's not as good as Match Point in my estimation. I did like An Inconvenient Truth but it's not like it was a film with a riveting story line. It WAS chilling... despite the EVIDENT reality that we are rapidly WARMING up as a world. I was promised to LOVE Little Miss Sunshine and I am afraid I didn't. I thought it was good... entertaining but I didn't feel the passion for this flick that I did a year ago for Me and You and Everyone We Know. Though, I have to admit that I did really enjoy the performance of the little girl in the film. It's odd but she actually reminds me of Carlie Westerman who was in Me and You and Everyone We Know. Superman Returns was my Christmas Eve film and it was decent. I do love Parker Posey. What I didn't realize was that it was a new episode in the Superman saga. For some reason I thought it was just the first Christopher Reeve film all over again with a new cast. Art School Confidential was decent but I am not rushing to recommend it or to sing its praises. I rather liked Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle simply for the historical perspective it provided. I love her witticisms and it was interesting to understand more about the woman of Dorothy Parker. I thought Jennifer Jason Leigh did a great job and truly this film had an all-star cast. Talladega Nights was pretty iffy but it did have a few funny quotes in it:

*****

Ricky Bobby: Well, I'm the best there is. Plain and simple, when I wake up in the morning I piss excellence.

Ricky Bobby: Dear Lord baby Jesus, we thank you so much for this bountiful harvest....
Carley Bobby: Hey, um... you know sweetie, Jesus did grow up. You don't always have to call him baby. It's a bit odd and off puttin' to pray to a baby.
Ricky Bobby: Well look, I like the Christmas Jesus best, and I'm sayin grace. When you say grace, you can say it to grown up Jesus, or teenage Jesus, or bearded Jesus, or whatever you want.

Cal Naughton, Jr.: I like to think of Jesus as a mischievous badger.

Cal Naughton, Jr.: I like to think of Jesus as an Ice Dancer, dressed in an all-white jumpsuit, and doing an interpretive dance of my life.

*****

The two biggest disappointments were Nacho Libre and You, Me and Dupree. Dupree had some actors I typically enjoy but the story was just not very good. Nacho Libre was pure shit.


At the Theatre
The Holiday

I saw this film with my friend Pam and it was one that caught out attention last summer. It was typical romantic comedy feel good fun. Jack Black was a honey in it (MUCH more than he was in Nacho Libre.. ugh) and the most unrealistic part of it all was how we were somehow supposed to believe that Jude Law had trouble finding dates.


What I was listening to in December

Christmas music, of course. I got two new cds to add to my Christmas collection.
Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong
Baby, it's Cold Outside (a compilation cd)













Here are my MP3 shuffles of the month of December

-------------------
Dec. 02

River God by Nichole Nordeman
Ain't That Peculiar by Marvin Gaye
All Our of Love by Air Supply
The Worst is Yet to Come by Lynn Anderson
Is She Really Going Out With Him by Joe Jackson

-------------------
Dec. 15


Save the Last Dance for Me by The Drifters
Kid Fears by Indigo Girls
House of Tom Bombadil by Nickel Creek
California by Joni Mitchell
Ain't No Sunshine by Eva Cassidy

-------------------
Dec. 29


I Need a Man to Love by Janis Joplin
Got My Mojo Working by Muddy Waters
Mammia Mia by ABBA
The Long Way Home by Norah Jones
That's What They All Say by Graham Parker