Time's Top 100 Novels....Say What?

Hey everyone! Time magazine recently published their list of the Top 100 Novels. Lists like this immediately catch my eye as I'm such a fan of ranking things. Even though I always get annoyed by the end product, the concept itself is too alluring to be resisted. Plus, it exposes me and everyone else to books we may not have discovered otherwise.

As I scanned through the list my first thoughts were No Russians? And No Austen? And No Fountainhead? I was so perplexed by this that I read their blurb on how they came up with the list. They only chose novels that were written in the English language after 1923 (they noted that Ulysses was written in 1922 - so was the entire point of this arbitrary date to exclude the works of James Joyce - not that I have a problem with that since I've never read Joyce, but still). Secondly, I noted that two guys came up with this list. I have two problems with this: Two. Guys. How random is that? Why don't they just get their own blog or something. Their random criteria explains no Anna Karenina and no Pride and Prejudice. But what about The Fountainhead? It was written in English after 1923. My guess at their rational: Written by a woman - strike 1. Written by someone whose native tongue was not English - strike 2. Written by a devout anti-Communist whose devotees include Fed Chair Alan Greenspan - strike 3. Sorry Ayn, hopefully you'll be satisfied with your placement on the Most Influential Books list. But I'm sure Time's two critics were educated/indoctrinated in liberal arts at Ivy League schools, so I guess we'll just have to assume that they're qualified to be the sole contributors for such a grandly named list and take their opinions as gospel. Now for a little analysis on the list:

19 - Number of books I've read on the list
16 - Number of books I've read on the list and liked
10 - Number of books I haven't read but have seen the movie version
7 - Number of books I've tried to read but gave up on
13 - Number of books previously on my To Read list
72 - Number of books written by men
18 - Number of books written by women
9 - Number of authors who were on the list twice
1 - Number of women authors who made the list twice (Virgina Woolf)
1 - Father/Son combo who made the list (Kingley and Martin Amis)
Lots - Number of books on list I haven't even heard of, many of which I'll now add to my To Read List
Infinity - Number of books I like much better than many on this list

I have to wonder how Time's Top 100 Novels would have looked if two women created it - or even one man and one woman. I'm really to believe that 80% of the best novels written since 1923 - are written by men? This strikes me as extremely sexist. And most of the women they did include are tres PC. It seems like they said, ok we picked our 70 white guys who wrote books we loved, so let's spend the rest of the list trying to appease all the non-white males out there (for example, Beloved was required reading in SEVERAL classes for my brother who majored in journalism and is a thesis away from his Masters in Education. Why that book and why was it mandated more than once? No, I've never read Beloved so I don't know just how mind-blowingly good it is. And I will probably never know as I have no desire to ever read it. And yes, I know this is close-minded and Oprah would be disappointed in me.).

Four of my top 5 books were left off the list, but I was pleased to see that GWTW made it (aside from The Fountainhead, my other huge disappointment was the blackballing of A Confederacy of Dunces). I'm sure this was a yet another calculating move on the part of these two guys. They didn't want to deal with all the hate mail that one exception would have created from romantically-minded females. The funniest inclusion was Are You There God, It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume. Don't get me wrong, I loved this book when I was ten and I would happily re-read it and all of Judy Blume, except for the icky Forever. I'm just trying really hard to picture these two dingbats reading this book on the subway on their way to work and then deciding yeah, that's one of the best 100 novels ever written! My guess is that they're also afraid of all of America's tween girls. The other children's book on the list is The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. No complaints here.

Some authors I was glad to see on the list, but the book selected was either not my choice or one I haven't yet read, i.e., Dashiell Hammet's Red Meridian (haven't even heard of it), Thorton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey (his Mr. North is in my personal Top 10 list, but I'm now adding Bridge to my To Read list even though it sounds suspiciously like a war book), E.M. Forster's A Passage to India (good book, but I loved Room with a View so much more), Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby (the traditional choice, but I'm a Tender is the Night girl.....Die Daisy, Die!), and John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath (I'll admit it - I hated the book, the movie, and even a play of it I was forced to watch in The Fort starring Brother Alexander. Give me East of Eden any day). The other books on this list that I really, really didn't like were McEwan's Atonement and DeLillo's White Noise (both books by white guys I read so much about that I practically felt obligated to read. End result: a heap of boredom and much ado about nothing).

But at least they included Faulkner. In my opinion, the best writer of the 20th century. And he made the list twice. A Southerner no less.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Rednecks for Kerry

-sunday

Hodgepodge

Hey everyone! I keep thinking things will settle down and I'll just have all this time on my hands, but it never seems to happen. Fall has been super busy for me, but on the upside we've had an amazingly gorgeous season here in Boulder. Up until this week it's been in the 70s or 80s so the leaves have been slowly turning, giving us weekend after weekend to enjoy them. I think this week has been the peak, but the aspens are just now turning gold, so maybe we still have several days left. I spend a lot of time making fun of the never-ending landscaping that goes on everywhere around me, particularly at work. However, these past couple of weeks I've been thankful for it all. I'm surrounded by reds and greens and oranges and golds - it's almost overwhelming how beautiful it is. My favorite thing they plant at work is wheat. There are 2 kinds: one kind of wheat - the tan and green - is everywhere, but the second kind - kind of a cream and red wheat - is much rarer and it's my favorite. They plant it a couple of places at work and it's so pretty and soft (yes, I touched it). But it doesn't last long and today's rain could spell doom for my wheat. It's rained twice this week throwing the general populace out of sorts. We've had so much sunshine and so many beautiful days in a row, that this sudden onset of clouds and drizzle messes with everyone. People are drinking lots more coffee - always a good thing - but still looking blurry-eyed and confused, exclaiming over the fact that it's rained for four straight hours. What next, we think. Luckily the sunshine is supposed to return in time for the weekend. I need at least one more weekend in my hammock so I've my fingers crossed.

Last weekend we had Joe and Kim over, along with their children Zack (3) and Alena (18 months or so). Thomas and I still haven't gotten around to really having people over much and there's absolutely no excuse for this, except for above busy one. I think we just need practice. We decided to do things the easy way this time and ordered pizza and salad from our favorite pizza place, Boulder Pizza Exchange (weird name, I agree) that's half a block down the road. In addition I made spinach and artichoke dip with carrots and chips as an appetizer, some of Larissa's Famous Sangria (last batch of the year) and 4-H brownies. Kim brought a really yummy dessert that I want to try making myself - peaches in rum sauce with angelfood cake. It was delicous! After dinner, Zack wanted to show us Samarai Jack - a favorite cartoon of his. Thomas is really into animation, so I sense a netflix in our future. We then played my favorite new game - The Settlers of Catan. Joe and Kim have been raving over this game for awhile and they brought it over. It is the best! It's all about strategy and bartering and of course, luck. The actual board is made up of cards that change every game, so the game feels new every time you play it. Beware any friends and family, should you ever come to our house now, you'll be forced to play Settlers - but you'll love it! It takes about one hour to play a game and I was very confused for the first 20 minutes. For awhile there I thought I was going to win, but I ended up coming in last. Joe won and Kim and Thomas tied for second. Vengance will be mine! Anyway, after that we just talked for awhile as the kids slept in the guestroom. They are amazingly good and soooooooo cute! We had a wonderful time and it's definitely given us the push we needed to have people over more.

In other news, I made the mistake yesterday of going to Whole Foods in Boulder after work. Thomas and I are very particular about when we actually go to Whole Foods because it's always crammed full of people and you can barely find a parking space. Saturday or Sunday nights at 9 pm are the best. But the trip could not be postponed, so there I was. I should have known I was in for trouble when I had to wait for a parking place, but I thought it just must be all the after-work-pre-weekend shoppers. Once I was finally parked I made my way inside only to be confronted by hordes of people - the usual amount of shoppers (honestly twice as many as there should be to be able to comfortably push your cart around) and an additional 100-200 people standing in winding lines everywhere. I found out from the seafood guy that they were having a massive tasting event. Hence the lines. He also told me that he tasted the best thing in the world in one of those lines. What could that be, I asked. Goat cheese dipped in chocolate. I'm a huge fan of both items, but the combination sounds iffy to me. He said to trust him. One day, maybe I'll get the chance. But you would have had to pay me $200 to even consider standing in that line. There were 50 people in that line all giving me the evil eye as I tried to fight my way to snatch a carton of milk. And it just went on and on - every aisle I went down. I ran into so many people and was hit by just as many. I'm black and blue from it all. Why would they schedule a tasting at Thursday at 6 pm??? And who are all these people that have the time to stand in these lines??? Are CU classes really that easy or are there tons of well dressed homeless people looking for a free snack? I'm perplexed. By the time I finally made it out of there, I was traumatized for the rest of the night. I got dinner from the deli there because the thought of cooking was just too much. Luckily the pumpkin risotto cakes were so good that one day soon, I will be returning to Whole Foods.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Attack Syria? NO!
-sunday

Past Due Reviews

Hey Everyone! I wrote this a couple of months ago and somehow missed posting it. It's too late to catch most of these movies in the theatre, but in case you haven't seen them, there's always netflix. The summer offerings (aside from Telluride) have been extraordinarilly slim this season. Here are a few that have stood out

War of the Worlds: I'd been anxiously awaiting this movie for the better part of a year and finally saw it after the 4th with Thomas, Allison and Jess. I've never read the book, seen the earlier version of the movie, or heard the story on radio so all I knew going in was that aliens invade. I was expecting something along the lines of Independence Day (a movie I LOVED), but with a better ending. I'd also seen the previews which were awesome. Now for the big however. ...this movie totally sucked. We were all so disappointed it was unbelievable. I kept thinking it had to get better, had to get more interesting. Wrong. It was so boring and so stupid I wanted to pound in Spielberg's head with a mallet for making me believe all the hype. Because despite Tom Cruise's couch moment, he was not the problem with this film. Cruise is a reliable actor. I can't remember a bad performance of his and he doesn't give one here. It's quite servicable. It's the direction that's the problem. Spielberg chose to focus on Cruise and his family exclusively. I kept wondering, What's the president saying, what's happening in NYC, in other countries, to anyone except the loathsome three (Cruise and his two mewling, worthless kids)? Spielberg compounded this mistake by spending what seemed like a decade on Cruise and his daughter stuck in a farmhouse with a deranged Tim Robbins as the aliens persistently try to find them. They're three people! Why do the aliens care so much about these three when later in the movie we see that Boston looks pretty much untouched. You'd think they'd want a bigger bang for their buck. But no, instead we see scenes of the aliens passing around old family photos and whatnot. I could go on, but it makes me too angry. This movie was an even bigger disappointment than Spielberg's AI - and that's saying something since after it I still despise that Haley kid. Spielberg's next film is Munich, the story of the Mossad agent who hunts down the Palestinian terrorists who assassinated Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Spielberg seems to have a much better track record with revisiting history than imagining the future (have you tried re-watching ET lately?) - think Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, so I have hope that he'll recover from this travesty. Rating: Must be paid to see

The Wedding Crashers: If you like Owen Wilson and/or Vince Vaughn, go see this movie. Thomas and I both really enjoyed it. It's a great comedy and a great date movie. Vaughn particularly is hilarious. The supporting cast is also wonderful. I've mentioned Rachel McAdams before (and will do again). She plays Wilson's love interest. It's not the best part in the movie (the movie belongs to the guys) but she fleshes it out and makes it more than the standard girlfriend role. Also doing great work are Isla Fischer (aka Ali G's real life girlfriend) as the deranged bridesmaid who terrorizes Vaughn, Bradley Cooper (aka Will from Alias) as McAdams's evil preppy boyfriend, and of course Christopher Walken as her scary Secratary of the Treasury dad. The movie goes on a bit too long and gets a bit weird and borderline depressing with a cameo by Will Ferrell, but it redeems itself in the end. Rating: Matinee

Skeleton Key: Thomas has this system for determining which movies he'll go see that he likes to torture me with - he goes pretty much by the magic Rotten Tomatoes number. And his cutoff is usually an 80. My cutoff - there isn't one. I tend to avoid reviews until after I've seen the movie, making me the kind of indiscriminate moviegoer that studios love. As for Skeleton Key, the tomameter was in the 30's or 40's. Usually this is enough to disqualify any movie, but he will occasionally make an exception - especially if it's a horror movie. Skeleton Key is not a horror movie and I'm baffled by the overall low rating. Methinks some people just don't like Kate Hudson. And I think these people are crazy. I've been a fan ever since her magical turn as Penny Lane in Almost Famous. And who could forget how funny she was in How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. Anyway, she tries something different with Skeleton Key, playing Caroline, a nurse who lives in New Orleans and travels to the bayou to care for stroke victim, Ben Devereaux, played by John Hurt. Caroline lives with Hurt and his wife Violet (Gena Rowlands - who'd have thought she could be so scary?) in one of those fabulous antibellum type mansions surrounded by beautiful trees and gardens. A truly great location for filming. The couple's lawyer (Peter Sarsgaard) also keeps popping up and flirting with Caroline throughout the movie. Anyway, Caroline quickly realizes that something's amiss in the house. And that something has to do with a type of voodoo (it's called Hoodoo - honest) that was practiced at the estate years and years ago by a couple of servants who were eventually hanged. The movie is beautifully filmed and has lots of scary scenes (but I didn't have to watch the whole thing from between my fingers, thank goodness). Caroline drove me crazy with her curiosity but the twist at the end - neither Thomas or I saw it coming - made it all worthwhile. Rating: Matinee

Next up: Reviews of a couple I've seen more recently - History of Violence and In Her Shoes.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day (courtesy of Jen): My other car is a college education.
-sunday

School Days

Hey everyone! School is officially back in session for me. Every spring and fall I volunteer for Junior Achievement, an organization my company supports. Basically I go to a class and teach a series of courses on community, money, government and businesses. This semester I'm back at Louisville Elementary in Mrs. Beitzel's second grade class. I've worked with this teacher once before a couple of years ago and she was by far the best, so I was happy to get this assignment. Sometimes the teachers don't show up at all, so it's like you're a full on substitute, or sometimes they'll just ignore you entirely and let the class go wild. Not Mrs. Beitzel - she's right there the whole time and her class is soooo well behaved. Last year I taught the gifted class or 5th and 6th graders. It was a special course that involved making, marketing and selling these utterly hideous animal-themed foam picture frames. I still have nightmares from all the glue. At the end of the course though, we actually sold out of frames during our lunchtime sale ($.50/frame). They decided to give all the money - $26 or so - to the tsunami relief fund. How sweet is that?

Yesterday was the second class of My Community - the course for second graders. We learned all about production - unit versus assembly line. This involved four teams making paper donuts, two with unit production and two with assembly line. Unit always wins this exercise but it's fun to see how excited they get. At the end of the class I surprised them with real donuts and basically got to feel like a hero. Bribery definitely works with 7 year olds. At least when you just see them an hour a week.

One of my favorite questions for the kids is what they want to be when they grow up. I ask this during the first class. The responses inevitably crack me up. This year's standouts were a ninja, a director, a zookeeper, a stuntman, a doctor - because they make lots of money, and a famous singer/art teacher (it's good to have a backup plan). I always have a few boys that want to be in the military. One year I got responses for every branch of the military, including the Coast Guard. Not sure how much of a need there is for that in Colorado, but...... Other favorite occupations for the boys include video game makers, firemen, policemen and bankers - I guess Monopoly has its impact after all. The girls almost all want veterinarians (or veteritarians as Lexie told me this year), teachers or movie/rock stars.

Anyway, Junior Achievement is a great organization. A lot of fun and a good way to break up the work week, so check it out if your company partners with them. There's nothing like 25 7 year olds to liven up your day. And by the end of the course they are so enamored with your presence that you get lots of hugs. How often does that happen at work?

-sunday

End of Summer Reading Extravanza

Hey everyone! I haven't talked much about books lately. And no it's not because I'm still in mourning from finishing Harry Potter 6. I'm just going to try to put the series out of my mind for the next two years, with a brief hiatus to see the 4th film in November. Anyway, I struck gold a couple of months ago and read four books in a row that I enjoyed.

A Light in the Piazza by Elizabeth Spencer: I was given a first edition of this book by Marlene that I will prize forevermore. My brother gave me an unfortunate dilettantish taste for first editions a few years ago by giving me a first edition, first printing of Atlas Shrugged for Christmas. Since then, whenever I find a new book that I really like, I try to get a first edition off Amazon or bn.com. Older books tend to be tricky because they're so pricey. For example, I could only afford a third edition of I Capture the Castle that's in okay condition. But it was in the library of Louie B. Nunn, the former govenor of Kentucky, so that made me happy. Anyway, to the book review! You may have heard of A Light in the Piazza, particularly if you live in NYC or are a fan of the stage, because it was made into a Broadway musical this year and won buckets of Tonys. Marlene, Janice and Bobbi were all lucky enough to see it a month or so ago and I'm still pea-green with envy! The book was written in 1960 by Mississippi author, Elizabeth Spencer. It reminded me of some of the works of Tennessee Williams, like The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, or to a lesser extent Suddenly Last Summer, where a few Southern characters travel to Europe and some drama goes down. In this case it's the wealthy Mrs. Johnson and her daughter, Clara touring Italy. Clara is in her early 20s, but had an accident in her childhood that left with the mentality of a child. This disability goes unnoticed by Fabrizio, the handsome, young Italian she meets and subsequently falls in love with. Finally a benefit to language barriers. This causes much distress for Mrs. Johnson as she worries about the effect of the relationship on her daughter. She does her best to discourage the pair, knowing Clara's condition will eventually be figured out by Fabrizio or his family. The characters are charmingly and effectively written and the plot takes a few unexpected turns. It's also interesting to read about the mores and opinions of the time and the role of class and wealth in the States and Europe. A Light in the Piazza also benefits by being a very quick read, quite the pageturner. Now if I can only see the musical!

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford: I've always wanted to read one of Mitford's novels, because I've been intrigued with the author herself. Mitford and her sisters were quite notorious in their day, kind of like early 20th century England's version of the Hilton sisters. Pursuit is her first novel, written in 1945. And Mitford wrote what she knew, so it's fun reading about this wealthy, eccentric family, the Radletts of Alconleigh. Lord Alconleigh is obsessed with old school English ideals - hunting and going to war, basically; while his wife does her best to accomodate everyone while not putting herself out too much. There are nannies and servants for that. The beginning of the book reminded me some of Cold Comfort Farm or I Capture the Castle because it focuses the Radlett children playing about in the English countryside, getting into amusing adventures, tricking their parents and whatnot. The protagonist of Pursuit is Linda Radlett and the story follows her through childhood and beyond. Once Linda hits her teens, she marries one misfit after another, gets involved in the Spanish Civil War, and is finally stranded in Paris where she meets her match. Of course WWII must get in the way at that point. You know what Shakespeare said about the course of true love. About halfway through the book, I got a bit tired of Linda and her romantic trials. I was more interested in some of the other, more neglected characters. But it was a first novel, so I definitely will try Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate somewhere down the road.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden : This book has been tormenting me since it first came out. It received so may rave reviews, I heard so much about it and I knew so many people who read it. But I never could bring myself to pick it up, regardless of my love of kimonos (a love that was exquisitely requited thanks to my trouseau). This all changed when I heard they were making a movie version coming out this December. I knew it was now or never. I was also encouraged when a review on the back of the book compared the heroine to Scarlett O'Hara. So Geisha is the book I took to Telluride (yes, I still found time to read despite my nine movies). The setup for the story took around 160 pages. This was a little rough for me - lots of details and description. I'm more of a dialogue girl. But I did enjoy Geisha and I learned a lot about the geisha lifestyle - much different than I expected. I really thought they were just high class prostitutes, but it turns out that especially at the top level, geishas are more along the lines of extremely accomplisted hostesses and entertainers who must comply with a rigourous code of conduct. They spend years going to school to become geishas and have some sort of continuous learning thereafter. The book is set in the 1930s and 1940s and told through the eyes of Sayuri, who starts out life in a small fishing village with her distant father, sick mother, and dumb sister. Soon enough Sayuri ends up in Gion, a Japanese geisha district and begins her training. She is terrorized by the head geisha in her house, the monstrous Matsumoto, but eventually finds a big sister in the geisha, Mameha. Along the way she becomes one of the most famous geishas of her day and falls secretly in love with The Chairman who steps aside as Sayuri is pursued by his disfigured business partner, Nobu. The love story didn't really do much for me, but I did enjoy learning about all the geisha rituals, Japanese customs, and the Japanese view of WWII and Americans. Sayuri is definitely no Scarlett, but she is a survivor and given the horrid environment that she grew up in, that's saying something. I hear that Ziyi Zhang is supposed to be great in the movie, so I can now see it with the clean conscience of having read the book.

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery: I take a lot of flack for continuing to enjoy children's books. But I always say, just because a book is about children doesn't necessarily mean it's a chidren's book. Somehow I missed out on reading Anne in my younger years. It's been on the shelf taunting me for years. As I haven't had time to go to the library I finally gave in and plucked it down. The novel is set in a small rural village on Prince Edward Island in the early 1900s. As a 9 year old orphan, Anne comes to live with the Cuthberts . The Cuthberts are comprised of an old maid, Marilla, and her old bachelor brother Matthew. They wanted a boy to help Matthew with the farm, but once they got Anne they couldn't turn her away. Anne is characterized by her runaway, vivid imagination, her non-stop talking, and her red hair which she detests. Most of the story centers around Anne's adventures and the scrapes she gets into on the farm, at school and all places in between. This is one of those books that's perfect to read in a hammock. It makes you feel good and happy and peaceful and right with the world. Kind of like Jan Karon's Mitford series. I wouldn't be surprised if Montgomery inspired some of Karon's work. I'm very happy that though I've finished the first book in this series, there are many more to look forward to. I'll be interested to read about the woman Anne grows up to be.

I'm currently re-reading The Eight, a thriller by Katherine Neville. I first read it years ago and remember really getting into it, but I've totally forgotten it now. The Eight revolves around a mystery rooted in a notorious chess set given to Charlemagne in the 8th century. Math also plays a part in figuring this whole thing out. Reading it makes me wish I knew a bit more about both topics, particulary chess. The Eight was written about 20 yrs ago, and it's Divinci Codesque, except that in The Eight, a woman is the protagonist. Much better.

-sunday

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Decade

I finally found one I want:

I brake for prairie dogs.

-sunday

Ray vs. Walk the Line

Hey everyone! I finally got around to watching the movie, Ray. Last year it won an Oscar for Jamie Foxx as lead actor. Watching it, I couldn't help comparing it to Walk the Line, another movie about another famous but troubled singer, Johnny Cash. There were many similarities between the two men, and unfortunately many differences between the two movies. A compare and contrast was called for:

• Brothers: Both lost a brother as children, and both were haunted by the loss and felt responsible for it throughout their lives.
• Childhood family: Both had difficult childhoods. Cash had a bitter father who put him down, but Charles wins the worst childhood easily as he grew up a black child in the segregated South, was raised by a caring single mother, was dirt poor and became blind.
• Musical Impact: Cash and Charles both broke new ground and were enormously talented, but Charles came out the winner here - first to make the transition from R&B to pop and first artist ever to own his own master recordings (not sure I understand the significance of this, but they made it a big deal in the movie). However, Cash's live recording from Folsom Prison topped The Beatles on the charts, so that's saying something.
• Drugs: Cash was entralled by pills of all kinds, while Charles's was heroin. Both abused drugs for years, ended up being briefly imprisoned because of it, then went through painful withdrawals
• True Love: Cash - June Carter. Charles - it looked like heroin to me, but the movie posited that it was his music. I can go for this AFTER he finally quits using. And this isn't until like the last scene of the movie.
• Acting: Foxx did a good impersonation of Charles and had some good moments, but this proves to me that Leo was robbed at last year's Oscars. My fav parts of Ray were the flashbacks and Foxx wasn't even in them. Don't get me wrong, Foxx is a great actor, but I think he was a heck of a lot better in Collateral than in Ray. Phoenix doesn't give an impersonation - he disappears into the person of Johnny Cash. Phoneix may not look exactly like him, but after seeing him on screen for 5 seconds you're completely absorbed in the character and riveted to the screen. As for the supporting casts, Charles was involved with lots of women, his band and his handlers, and all these supporting parts are fine but no one else really stands out in Ray. The obvious standout in Walk the Line is Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. She's right there with Phoenix, holding up the movie.
• Singing: Phoenix and Witherspoon do their own singing. Foxx lipsynchs.
• Movies: Ray is a good biopic. Walk the Line is a wonderful movie. Ray almost felt like a documentary. It took you piece by piece through 30 years of his life. It felt like they were checking off concerts and events. Watching it at home was especially difficult for me. I stopped it at least 7 times to do other things. At 2 hrs and 45 min, Ray was waaaaay too long - it could have knocked off 45 min and I would have rejoiced. Walk the Line had 100% of my attention and it could have gone on for another hour and I would have been thrilled.
• Easy Winner: Walk the Line

-sunday

Serenity NOW!

A few years ago my favorite new show on tv was called Firefly. It was made by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you liked Buffy, you would have liked Firefly. It had all of Whedon's calling cards. Complex characters, a talented cast, complicated relationships, oodles of witty dialogue, and lots of action. If you liked Westerns or space movies, like Star Wars, you'd also like Firefly, because it was billed as a Space Western, set in the future. The crew flies around the galaxy in its beater old spaceship called Serenity. The captain of Serenity is Mal (as in Spanish for bad). Mal fought the ruling Alliance as a rebel or browncoat. He, along with his comrade in arms, Zoe; Zoe's husband the pilot, Wash; mercenary Jane; mechanic Kaylee; companion (kind of like a geisha) Inara; and preacher Sheperd make up the crew of Serenity. They took on risky jobs (some legal, some not so much) to make their living. Along the way they also picked up two passengers - a doctor, Simon Tam and his sister River. River had been part of some Alliance initiative that programmed her to basically behave very strangely. As the series progressed, the Tams history with the alliance was a strong storyline. Of course, the writers also teased the audience with a couple of budding relationships: Mal and Inara and Simon and Kaylee (I love the Mal/Inara relationship, but I hate Simon so his pairing with Kaylee never did much for me). Thanks to the lack of a consistent timeslot from Fox and the horror known as baseball playoffs, Firefly never did too well in the ratings and was canceled after 13 episodes.

Something surprising happened after that. Thanks to the miracle known as DVDs, all sorts of fans ended up seeing the show once the boxset was released. It was a huge seller. This led Universal to greenlight a movie version of Firefly that would appeal to fans and those who'd never seen the tv show. This movie was called Serenity and it finally came out in theatres on Friday. Thomas and I were both huge fans of Firefly so we've been waiting years to see this movie. We were also terrifed we'd be disappointed. Luckily that didn't happen.

Serenity does it all. It progresses the Firefly mythology - we learn why River is such a wackjob (and a martial arts machine as it turns out), it delves into the Mal/Inara and Simon/Kaylee relationships, and it tells how the canabalistic Reevers that terrorized the crew throughout the series came into being. And everyone stays in character and there are tons of great dialogue and witty repartee. The action scenes - basically every single one throughout the movie - are awesome, thrilling and have you sitting on the edge of your seat (and I'm not one for action scenes, really). By the end of the movie you're basically fearing for the survival of the entire crew. I won't spoil it for you, but there are some vicious scenes. Whedon continues to be a heartbreaker, just as he was on Buffy (I'm still bitter that he killed Anya on the LAST episode of that show).

So, if you liked Firefly, the tv show, you'll love Serenity. If you haven't seen Firefly, you'll still probably really like Serenity. There's more character development in Serenity than there is in 95% of action movies. Plus there's some romance, some scares and a lot of humor. If Universal can make some money on this, Whedon has promised to make more movies in the series. He said he has hundreds of stories to tell for the crew of Serenity. Go contribute some dollars to this one, and make Thomas and me really, really happy.

-sunday