Books & Movies

I watched "Amadeus" this weekend. Not my first time seeing it by any stretch, but it never gets old as far as I'm concerned. It's such a fantastic movie and the music! Ah, the music! Mozart was such a talent. As a result, I'm now downloading a variety of his music, including the entire opera The Magic Flute. Can't wait.

I saw two other movies this weekend, which makes me want to do something I haven't done since this. Without further ado, here is a long overdue:

Sugar & Gravy Movie Mania #5
I watch movies often enough, so there's no point in writing about them every time I watch them, BUT I don't go to the theatre to see movies that often, so perhaps that will be what warrants an S&G Movie Mania. Aaaanyway...

Out of character, I actually saw 2 movies this weekend. (Say what?) Here are my thoughts:

#1 "No Strings Attached"

I loved it! I knew I'd like it, but I really didn't expect to like it so much. The acting was quite good, both the leads (Ashton Kutcher & Natalie Portman) were charming, and the writing was surprisingly fabulous! Lots of funny jokes, some great repartee, and just a good story. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't particularly cutting-edge, and it certainly wasn't sophisticated or anything, but it was plain fun! Plus, I went with my GF, and she was the perfect person to see it with.
Rating = 4.2/5.0

#2 "Somewhere"
This is the latest film from Sofia Coppola. I don't think I realized I had already seen two of her films ("Lost in Translation" and "The Virgin Suicides"), but I can now confidently say that I really like her work. "Somewhere" was interesting... not so much a story as a collection of drawn-out moments, all beautiful in their own way, and certainly connected, but not exactly forming a narrative. The movie is more of a snapshot of a certain type of life, and a very beautiful and interesting snapshot. The acting was fantastic (namely Stephen Dorff) and Elle Fanning (who I now see has been in other movies) was a delight!
Rating = 4.5/5.0

Now that my totally irrelevant and arbitrary rating is over with, "Somewhere" made me think about something... as you know, I watch a lot of "Entourage". For the most part, the show looks at the celebrity life in a very positive light, aside from maybe season 7. It's all fun, cars, weed, money, indulgence, mansions, etc. The audience sees some of the negative side of being in the limelight, and the pressure of being an actor, but mostly it's fluffy and fun!

In "Somewhere" we see famous actor Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) as totally miserable. On top of that, we see L.A. To me L.A. seems like such a sad place to live. For all of the lights and celebrities and beaches, it seems dirty and scary and sad and dark. Forgive me, I'm basing this on a few television shows and movies, but that's my opinion.


Moving on... I also read a bit this weekend, trying to keep my beloved RC-3 going. I finished my 2nd (of 20) book of 2011, and it was the previously mentioned The Girls by Canadian author Lori Lansens. I don't cry much when reading, but Lansens moved me to tears on more than one occasion in this book. It was fabulous! I forgot to bring my next book home with me, so I scanned my sister's bookshelf for a read and found Eat, Pray, Love. This has been on my reading list for a while, so I thought, why not? It's surprisingly good! And by surprisingly, I mean better than I expected. I'm really enjoying Elizabeth Gilbert's writing voice, and it makes me laugh a lot. Looking forward to the rest...

And that, I believe, is it for today! Until next time...

A girl who I will never be...

I'm reading a book called The Girls by a Canadian author, Lori Lansens. I'm not sure if I've already mentioned that I'm reading this. Anyway, I've enjoyed it from the start, but about half-way through (where I am now), I've started to really get into it. It's that thing that happens when you're really enjoying a book. You forget where you are, and you forget the physical thing that the book is, and you are so consumed by it that it feels like less of an active reading, and more passive, in that the story is being told to you. Or you're right inside it. I love when this happens with books, and it's happening now with The Girls.

When I'm really into a book, certain snippets will really stand out for me, and I'll read them over and over. Sometimes it's because of the rhythm or rhyme of a phrase, or what it's saying is really powerful. In the case of the below quotation, it was both.

I hum some secret place into being, thinking of this other me, the one that only I can see, a girl called She, who is not We, a girl who I will never be.

The Girls is an amazing novel (so far... am sure it will stay that way) set in fictional Leaford, Ontario, and it is the "autobiography" of conjoined twins, Ruby & Rose Darlen. This may sound awful, but I'll confess that I have a fear of conjoined twins. I'm not sure what the fear is based on... knowing me, it's probably based on crippling empathy, but regardless, I have to turn the channel when TLC does a feature on conjoined twins. This novel, even though it's fictional, has changed my feelings about conjoined twins. It's so humanizing and beautiful, and a mix of tragedy and comedy... I love it! Definitely a great choice for book #2 of the 2011 RC-3.