Ringing Endorsement

So I had been told in the past "oh you should go read Jane Eyre, it's really good". That's it. Not something to get me running to the bookstore. This is stuff that got read in the other English class that I wasn't in while we read Julius Caesar or something. And it never really registered on my radar. So what did it?

Yup. The 2011 version of Jane Eyre is a humdinger. Mia Wasikowska is SO GOOD.

Also, Michael Fassbender does tortured and crazy and handsome quite well.

I had been reading junk like Rebecca and The Scarlet Letter and yes, great writing, blah blah blah. But talk about leading ladies that I cannot sympathize with for the life of me. But Jane actually does something about her situation, which is what drove me nuts about both those books. Jane gets through awful situations or she gets out. She does it all on her own terms, and to be fair, I am not generally pro-religion, but I like what her religion means to her. 

And seriously, come on.

So I read the book, thank you Project Gutenberg. And it is good. The movie definitely abridges some of the more dated bits, but it is still suitably crazy and gothic and visually stunning (and I don't just mean Rochester). And it gets bonus points for great casting of Judi Dench, who is good in pretty much everything but is great in this. So if you haven't read it, I will say it: get out there and read Jane Eyre. And then watch the 2011 movie, because helloooooo Fassbender! I am not normally one for the broody Byronic crazy ones, but I think Rochester is my exception to that rule.

Movie Interlude

Is it weird that I'm watching the BBC miniseries State of Play (very good, so far) and counting the actors I recognize from Doctor Who? I'm up to six so far, I think. I had to look up a couple to make sure they weren't in Doctor Who. Matt even caught one I missed, and he usually makes fun of me for playing "name that face" (but, I needed to figure out that the snotty Miss Bingley from the BBC Pride and Prejudice was the Vice-President of the Galaxy in the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie!)

My list of Who actors so far:
John Simm
Bill Nighy
David Morrissey
Marc Warren

and Rebekah Staton, who looks very different as a blonde. 

And on top of all the Who people, add a really young James MacAvoy and also, Kelly MacDonald, LOVE HER. Not to mention The Hound from Game of Thrones. Weirdly stacked cast. Almost distractingly so. But this was also pretty early in a lot of their careers and they have gone on to bigger and better things. So, um, good for them, I guess is my point. 

Matt was making fun of me for watching modern BBC with no Mr. Darcy involved but I am home with a stuffy brain and a semi-cold and I just watched the first three of six episodes in one sitting and am going to be waiting by the mailbox until Netflix sends me the second half!

Edited to add: also one of the cops was the alien leader in the first episode of Doctor Who I ever saw. I guess if you do British tv, it's either Eastenders or Doctor Who, is what this really means.

Brain Dump

Happy post-American-holiday food coma! We went to the Sacramento area for the holiday and stayed overnight there, thus completely missing Black Friday (and when I say "missed" I mean "didn't miss it at all"). We went to my aunt and uncle's place (centrally located, big room for entertaining) and had a lovely time. I brought the apple pie I bring every year (don't mess with success, eh?) and it was demolished. Somebody else brought a pumpkin pie, the other thing I usually take care of, so I also made the almost no-bake pumpkin cream pie from Joy the Baker (Smitten Kitchen's gingersnap pumpkin tart with cheesecake swirl was the first test recipe but was not terribly interesting) and it was a massive success. Much lighter and fluffier than a standard cheesecake and the maple whipped cream is sheer genius.

Also saw the new James bond movie Skyfall. And is it just me, or is it becoming a progressively worse and worse gig to be a Bond girl? I just vaguely remember the Pierce Brosnan ones (showing my age, these were the ones I first saw in theaters), and while they were heavy on the camp and riddled with silly gadgetry by the end, they were also the ones with strong female characters that didn't just not think/sleep with Bond/get killed off ASAP. Yes, Xenia Onatopp was campy, but she was also a threat. And yes he was saving a lovely Russian but at least she was also some kind of scientist.

Daniel Craig's nu-Bond established Vesper Lynd as the be-all, end-all of women in Bond's world, killed her off, and decided that no other female gets to be the badass she was. Give me Honey Ryder or Pussy Galore and I will snigger at the name and then be ok with them. These new ones just kind of make me mopey.

New hipster Q, however, is adorable. 

Also, INSANELY GORGEOUS sets. The ruined island where the bad guy hides out? Chase scenes through Turkish markets? Bond's ancestral family home in Scotland? Good gravy. The whole thing was clearly shot with a loving eye and I enjoyed looking at every minute of it. Woof. Apparently they built the whole manor from scratch, which is also fun.

Also, Albert Finney! Bond's arc is pretty good, they spend a lot of time establishing him as aging and losing his knack and his interaction with the excellent Javier Bardem (it's another American movie, he must be playing a creepy bad guy) is so well done. And the car, sweet sassy molassey, the car. I don't want to spoil anything, so I will just say the first car scene makes the movie for me. Bond movies need a sense of humor if they're gonna fly. Daniel Craig is a good Bond but I think sometimes he gets a hair too serious.

And speaking of beautifully shot movies, we also rented Jiro Dreams Of Sushi, and it is also a visual feast. There isn't really a plot or much development of any kind, it's just this guy, he is a top sushi chef, and he talks about food, and his acolytes talk about food. Yes, he has acolytes. But man, talk about a pretty movie.

And more hipster Q. Happy long weekend, Americans! And happy Saturday, Canadians!

Go Vote (With Digression)

Last time I watched Mary Poppins it kind of made me sad that this was a throwaway scene. The whole movie makes it seem like Mrs. Banks should be spending more time with her kids, but in retrospect, this is so awesome. Everybody in America should be voting today if you haven't already!

Also, Glynis Johns (Mrs. Banks) and Elsa Lanchester (Katie Nana) are two of my favorite of Danny Kaye's ingenues. If you like a hilarious movie, check out the Inspector General with the amazing future Bride of Frankenstein.

And the possibly-even-better Court Jester where Glynis Johns does not get nearly enough screen time as the badass Maid Marion-esque love interest vs. Angela Lansbury's shallow, pretty princess.

Danny Kaye had it pretty good back in the day, eh?

Movie Tidbit

This is fully in the category of Movies I Want To See Just To LOOK At. Although it actually does look quite entertaining. But those sets! Those costumes! Julia Roberts finally letting out her inner evil queen! Now it's just getting Matt to go. Oh well. Maybe it's a girls' night type of film. Although this is the same director that just released The Immortals, maybe I can do a quid pro quo deal if I go see that with him (but it looks SO violent). Quandary.

She Advocates Dirty Books...

Some music for your weekend:

Chaucer...

Rabelais!

BALZAC!

The Pros And Cons Of Netflix

I have been watching some fun stuff on Netflix Instant recently. And some not-so-fun stuff, too. Recently I clicked on Easy Virtue, a Noel Coward play made into a movie with the awesome Kristin Scott Thomas and the normally adorable Colin Firth. However, this is apparently not a comedy originally, and they attempted to make it into one. Colin Firth is a depressive war veteran and Jessica Biel, of all people, is the sassy daughter-in-law trying to stand up to Kristin Scott Thomas. Kristin Scott Thomas, people. Seriously. She could pick her teeth with Jessica Biel. I gave up about 20 minutes in, after JB sat on KST's dog and tried to hide the expired carcass in a throw pillow. Pathetic.

Then I remembered a movie that SCB has mentioned in the past:

This is Noel Coward done properly. Jeanne Tripplehorn is the scheming soon-to-be daughter-in-law and the matriarch is the fabulous Julie Andrews. There is a minor Baldwin brother who isn't terrible, and Stephen Fry is the obligatory butler AND Colin Firth is the much more entertaining nephew. This is much more fun and a much better way to spend an evening. Clearly I need to get some Noel Coward plays from the library.

Also, apple butter updates are forthcoming, the first attempt will probably be tomorrow. Wish me luck!

WT - Just For Fun

I guess by rights I should be talking about 1950's-era clothing more than 1940's. But anyways, I went hunting for some dancing clips because I am tired of moving pavers in the yard. Try here first, or here, not exactly practical outfits to emulate but talk about clothing made to move with you. I can't find any good pictures of Cyd Charisse today, for some reason. But here's another clip (an actual embeddable one!) so you can ogle Cyd some more and watch her make some boring clothes look good just by making them move.


And for SCB -




I think that's about as country as I get. I think it's about as country as she gets too. Also, tragically, apparently she dyes her hair. So the only thing keeping me from having hair like that is wads of cash.

The Reviews

The double-feature in question was actually The Manchurian Candidate and The Court Jester. Go figure.

The Manchurian Candidate is not what I would generally consider my "type" of movie, being a black-and-white thriller. But when I keep having to pause it so I don't miss anything when Matt starts talking to me and continually yell at the screen "No! Don't do it!" there has got to be something going on. It is pretty impossible to review without spoiling everything left and right so I will just leave it at this: Frank Sinatra pulls off a totally respectable dramatic performance (I'd say great, but I kept being distracted by the fact that it was Sinatra and all the other movies I've ever seen him in were musicals), and Angela Lansbury is AMAZING. She was nominated for an Oscar for her role but was beaten out by Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker. If you, like myself, rarely watch thrillers but enjoy a really good one every once in a while, see this movie. They remade it recently with Denzel Washington in the Sinatra role but I just don't see it working the same way without the looming threat of Communism being seen in every corner like it was back then.
Image from here.

The Court Jester is totally my kind of movie. Yet again, kind of a convoluted plot but much lighter in tone. Danny Kaye is a member of a group of rebels trying to overthrow a wicked king. They live in the forest, a la Robin Hood, and he came to them from a circus, so he doesn't get to do the macho fight-y stuff so much as he gets to entertain the troops, such as they are, and keep an eye on the kiddo rightful heir to the throne. Only (of course) there is a mix-up and he ends up in the castle, masquerading as the court jester, hypnotized into trying to romance the snotty king's daughter (A. Lansbury again) and assassinating the king's men at the behest of one of the local lords (played entertainingly by Basil Rathbone). Of course there are songs and D.K. gets to do lots of physical comedy as well as some of his trademark tongue-twisty stuff. He is hilarious, A.L. is great as the snotty princess and the lovely Glynis Johns is wonderful as the real love interest (her voice may be familiar as the suffragette mother from Mary Poppins, although she looks very different here). There is even a good swordfight scene with Kaye and Rathbone. The songs are charming and hummable and the whole thing is good silly fun. Also, wherever the hell they shot this, it is GORGEOUS. The castle etc. isn't bad but they regularly cut to armies or whatever approaching on the coast road and you can tell that VistaVision was new at the time because they really want to show it off. There is a reason I own this one. And I'd buy it again.
If you only have time to watch the first couple of minutes it's still worth it. The pellet with the poison is in the vessel with the pestle...

Weirdest Themed Double-Feature Ever (it's a quiz!), Plus Quote of my Week!

So we had a gratuitous double-feature night last night. Themes included brainwashing, governmental overthrow, and Angela Lansbury possibly being evil. You may guess one movie, but can you guess them both? They were made about seven years apart, and neither one of them is this one. I will post a real review (or two) later, I promise.

And Quote of the Week:
Having an updo done in Texas is like having your tires changed by a pit crew at the Indy 500.
From here.

P.S. does anyone else remember the Disney movie "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" in which Angela Lansbury plays a witch in WWII England? God I loved that movie as a kid.

Picture from here. She did not look like this in either movie, actually. That picture is ooooold. Love the hat, though.

I Very Much Want To See This

I can't say I'm all about the "reimagining" of classics as a general rule. But I just think this looks like a blast! I know people get sick of Tim Burton always casting Johnny Depp and HBC but I like the look of Alice and am intrigued by Anne Hathaway as the White Queen.

Back to cookie-baking!

Musical Interlude/ Movie Review Time!

Matt and I went to a fascinating documentary last night, called It Might Get Loud. It was about The Edge (of U2), Jimmy Page (of The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin, among others) and Jack White (of the White Stripes and the Raconteurs). It was a combination of them talking to eachother about music, interviews with each of them about their influences and them sitting in a room talking music and jamming. It was SO well done.



It was an odd format, because it would switch back and forth between the three of them, and they had interviews with Jimmy Page and the Edge in their old recording studios where they had recorded iconic albums and in their current abodes talking about their influences and (especially in the case of Jimmy Page) past musical experiences. In Jimmy Page's this was particularly interesting as he started out pre-rock and roll and learned to play in a skiffle band and spent so long as a studio musician playing written-out music (he's the guitarist on Goldfinger, among other totally random things). He talks about the point where he was sitting in a session and realized he was playing muzak, and he just had to leave. He then goes into how much time he spent trying to innovate and do different things with the guitar just to get away from the rigid structure of his past studio gigs (playing guitar with a violin bow, for example). It was a little sad actually, they show a clip from Spinal Tap which came out a couple of years after Bonham's death and the breakup of the band, and you realize that it wasn't that over-the-top, and he just looks so sad about that. Although he does explain the double-necked guitar, too. The top half was a twelve-string and the bottom was a regular electric because it was the only way he could play all of Stairway to Heaven live in concert without switching instruments - he played all the solos on the regular side and everything else was on the twelve-string.


The Edge was actually really interesting as well, it goes a lot more into his influences from the political climate in Dublin when they were starting out and how that influenced his writing music. Songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday for example - I for one forget how much singing and songwriting he does for that band. It was also fascinating to watch him talk about his gear, how much time he spends getting just the right sound and effects for each song and each lick - he sits down at one point and plays a catchy lick on an unplugged electric guitar and then he plugs in and it turns into this huge memorable song and it is so interesting to watch.



Jack White was kind of the "which of these things is not like the other" factor. I know he was kind of the contrivance to get the other two together in the first place but it just felt a little forced when they would have old footage of the others and them talking about their experience and they've both got 20-30 more years of stories to tell than he does. I know it's kind of to get the younger crowd in and it is interesting to hear him talk about his influences as well but he just seems kind of out of his league, especially in the jam sessions. That was kind of my other little peeve - they hardly showed them jamming at all! The preview kind of implies that the whole thing is about the jam and it is really a minor component. Although it was pretty cute watching him just look on in awe when Jimmy Page is showing them how to play Heartbreaker.



Overall, I highly recommend it if you like rock music (or are married to a guitarist). I've got some residual interest as a non-guitarist who lives with a serious guitarist but also as a moderate U2 fan and a huge fan of both Zep and the Raconteurs. And I thought it was very interesting and extremely well done. So there ya go.

Just another...

aah, Monday. When I'd rather blog than get anything real done. So... a recap.

Friday night I talked Matt into taking me to Harry Potter (I was supposed to go with my sister, but she was supposed to wait until I got back in town, so whatever). He later compared it to walking in in the middle of the second Lord of the Rings movie - he hasn't seen the others and they really skimp on the exposition in this one. I did enjoy it but I recall in this one and the one before some touching hospital scenes that got completely left out that make the bad guys a lot more clear-cut - in this one, Helena Bonham Carter does a lovely bat$#it crazy, but you never get the connection made that she tortured Neville's parents to death and enjoyed every minute. There's just a lack of depth that can't be helped. I did love the effects of the potions on Ron and Harry, they're really improving at the comic stuff, and Draco did some of his best acting in this one, as the snotty spoiled brat who finally starts realizing what he's gotten himself into. And I love whoever it was that played his mom.

Saturday I trekked down to Grass Valley for a baby shower. This was the third weekend of extended driving in a row now. And I have decided that next weekend I am not driving ANYWHERE. Also, my car needs an oil change, a new brake light and a bunch of other crap so that can be my excuse to make sure I get to actually stay home and work in my yard instead of traipsing off somewhere again (although, they have all been somewhere fun, so it's hard to argue). Also, I finally got to meet the clearly-not-apocryphal-at-all "kitties" of the stocked pond of a family friend. The shower was at his place and he has a pond with catfish that are ridiculously large and will come up and say hi when you toss out some food. Yes, we fed the kitties. And they are maybe 2.5-3 feet long. Big kitties.

And that was about it. The weather has alternated between sweltering heat and awesome summer thunderstorms. My yard is surviving but is currently chock-full of quail and mourning doves due to the fact that ALL of the weeds have now gone to seed. I am in big trouble. Thankfully, these areas in the future will be planted and hopefully covered with ground cover by this time next summer so it will not look quite so bad. The doves and quail are pretty cute though. Hopefully we can strike a balance so they will still hang out without my yard needing to look like a total mess.

Quickie Holiday Weekend Update

Friday - my parents came in to town and we had a big family bbq. I picked up a massive amount of halibut at Costco and grilled it. Yum! Recipe as follows:

Take 1 lb. halibut
Rub it with olive oil and lemon juice.
Sprinkle with s&p to taste, and cover with slices of garlic and branches of oregano and rosemary.
Wrap carefully in tinfoil - not too tight but you don't want it to drip out.
Grill on medium heat for ~10 mins. per side, or until opaque in the middle.
Enjoy with a squeeze of lemon.

Matt decided we need to do this again so we can make fish tacos out of it. It makes for very moist, flaky fish.

Saturday we were bums and took naps and mostly slept through the fireworks.

Sunday we were bums and I watched Sabrina and took a nap. Sabrina (the original) holds up very well, I remember watching it as a little kid and I could not figure out why she ended up with Humphrey Bogart instead of the much more charming William Holden. It makes sense now. Although looking it up via imdb, she was 25 and he was 55 when the movie was made. So I can see how that would make no sense to me as a little kid.

(That's me with the tuba, and yes I am the youngest person in the group by about 30 years. It works.)

And last night was our second concert at the Marina. AND IT WAS WINDY AGAIN. I know, this is Nevada, I should just deal with it, but we had to tape our music stands down so they wouldn't blow away. That is not conducive to good music, I'm sorry. Mother Nature? We need to talk. Next Monday? I need 78 and sunny, with no wind above 5mph. Thanks!

The Movie Of Your Life?

Stolen shamelessly from Miss Sarah Von - if your life was a movie, who would you want to star?

Well, since it's a movie, the last actress I got compared to was Scarlett Johannson, and I liked her early stuff before she went all bombshell - so we'll go with her.

It's the adventures of a band geek who wants to be a jock, or possibly a jock who wants to be a band geek. Watch the undergraduate hijinks as she moves to Oregon and moonlights as a late-night indie DJ for a tiny radio station and ends every show with a track from this album - just because she can. Whether it gave her nightmares or not is not in the story.

Witness her move to Reno and attempt to break in on the local classical music scene (harder than it sounds). Smirk at her meet-cute with one of her sister's friends who thinks they should "play some duets sometime" and her total obliviousness to the pickup line, followed by her showing up at his house with a tuba...

Follow their travel adventures as she branches out from quiet suburban life to including sleeping on a lot of random floors and getting walked in on in the shower by an 87-year old British man not once but TWICE (a scene played for hearty laughs with an excellent body double). Watch as she attempts to channel both her inner Martha Stewart and Ina Garten while her husband tries to have band rehearsals in the living room and then has to reschedule around her band rehearsals in the living room. A quirky indie shot in saturated 60's color with a bumpin' soundtrack (that's another whole post right there).

And for my tall, dorky, scruffy love interest, I vote Clive Owen.
Would you watch? I promise it's a comedy... and possibly an adventure? We'll see.

Edit: forgot to pick a director, I'd have to go with John Schlesinger, mainly because I don't really know directors and he directed one of my favorite movies ever, in which style I would love my movie to be as well... also, he happened to direct one of the best thrillers I have ever seen (and I hate thrillers), Marathon Man. Watch it, and read the book. I highly recommend both (which is very unusual for me).

I got nothin'

It has been raining for a good four days now. While I love love love the rain and so does my garden, it does cramp my gardening style. And beyond not gardening, I haven't been doing much. Low energy has led to naps and some quality time with netflix.

Blake Edwards may be more well known for A Shot in the Dark and The Pink Panther, but The Great Race is one of my favorites - a historic race from New York to Paris with stops in the wild West, old Bavaria and a melting iceberg, among other places. Tony Curtis is our hero, the Great Leslie, Natalie Wood is the ardent feminist and Jack Lemmon is the villain and the prince who happens to look just like Jack Lemmon - this scene is the pie fight after the failed coup with the Jack Lemmon characters.



If you can spot him, that's a very young Peter Falk as the bad guy's sidekick (who keeps yelling Hey Professor). And I don't know how they shot it so Tony Curtis is so pristine for almost the whole pie fight.

And Henry Mancini did the music. How could it get any better?

Review time!

The weather isn't quite nice enough to garden every night after work yet (sunny, but we get these late afternoon winds that are crazy blustery) so I have been doing some reading. I've got a pile of books people have recommended to me and I am trying to make a dent.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - I could not put this book down. It is beautifully written, as a series of letters from a woman in post-war London to a group of people on the island of Guernsey. Guernsey was occupied by the Germans in WWII and the letters become the story of the occupation and the heroic people on the island, as well as the story of the woman in London coming to Guernsey and falling in love with the island and the people. It is so vivid and a joy to read, I have to recommend it very highly. I read my mom's copy and had to go buy my own, as I am sure I will be reading it over and over.

My Life In France - I have always been fond of Julia Child, and this just made me love her more. It is the story of her time in France learning to cook and writing Mastering The Art Of French Cooking and I love how interested she is in getting all her recipes just right and how The Book just kept getting bigger and bigger... it's a great portrait of how times have changed - everyone wanted to cook easy stuff and not spend time in the kitchen and the publishers wanted quick and easy. She loved how the French cooked and ate and she was so methodical about everything being fresh and done by hand. It is just a fun, light read (although a lot of the recipes do sound kind of crazy when you think about it). Also, now I can't wait for the movie of Julie and Julia, partially based on this book and with Meryl Streep as Julia Child. Talk about awesome casting!

Storm Front - Jim Butcher writes mysteries, but they are in the fantasy section at the bookstore. I like a good mystery, but these are a bit much. It's fun froth, but no real substance. I think I'll get the rest of them from the library.

Down With Love - This is still an adorable movie. Fluff at it's finest, with fantastic costumes and Ewan MacGregor doing his best Cary Grant. Renee Zellweger pulls off the banter and costumes beautifully and isn't even too squinty-faced (aah, the good old days). The supporting cast is fantastic (yay Sarah Paulson and double yay David Hyde Pierce), and I love Tony Randall.

Middle Cyclone - Neko Case's newest album, at first I was a little bit "eh", but I kept listening to it and now I am definitely a fan. There are a couple of tunes I skip, but apparently those are both covers so I am not holding them against her quite so much. I have trouble not listening to certain songs over and over and over...

That can't be the goal

I always figured actors who went by three names were just trying to make themselves more memorable. However, I also just confused Richard Dean Anderson with Jeffrey Dean Morgan. As in, "that Watchmen guy was MacGuyver?" kind of confusion. That can't be the goal.

Reno cultcha

I haven't been busy getting anything real done, but I have gotten quite a bit of cultcha this weekend, comparatively.

Thursday night Matt's buddy who thinks he's going to be a promoter now successfully pulled off a show at a tiny venue in a sketchy neighborhood. However, it was this guy:



Who is an amazing gypsy jazz guitarist with an amazing band and despite Matt's buddy's failure to do ANY promotion or even figure out a hotel room for the band, the evening went very well. Matt hired security guys to work the door and ran around being helpful all night, and I just got dressed up and looked pretty and enjoyed the music.

Friday night I finally saw Watchmen, which my justify its own post. In short, it was extremely well done and having read it, I was conveniently able to look away from the nastiest violence. The sex scenes weren't as obnoxious as I was led to expect (ahem, 300, I'm looking at you) and they were able to keep an impressive number of the plots together. That said, the female characters were incredibly poorly acted, especially compared with the great jobs that Jackie Earle Haley and Patrick Wilson did. Also, they could have cut a decent amount of the slow-motion sex and violence and been able to put in a lot more of the regular joe storylines. That was what I felt the major flaw was - the book spends time with a lot of minor characters like the prison psychiatrist and his wife, the people at the newsstand etc. so you really feel the bleakness when (SPOILER!) they're all blown up at the end. When you don't see nay regular New Yorkers, you don't realize the destruction and how it brings together the warring world powers.

Then Saturday I had my camera class on how to get more out of my fancy camera I inherited from my dad. It was great, I can do so much more with it now! I can't wait for things to start looking nicer outside so I can go practice my depth of field on some plants!

And Saturday night we went and saw the Reno Chamber Orchestra. Not normally a group I would be inclined to support (chamber orchestras have no low brass - that means, no trombones, and NO TUBAS! God only knows what they're thinking with that). However, they had a guest soloist named Edgar Meyer, who is one of the greatest living bass players out there today.



They opened with a strings-only Stravinsky piece that really showcased their weaknesses a little too well, but then Edgar Meyer did his solos - a Bottesini double bass concerto and his own double bass concerto. They finished with a respectable Mozart Symphony, the "Prague". This and the Meyer concerto were even better because at least they had some winds for them - it makes a huge difference in a room of screechy strings when you add some woodwinds and trumpets and horns. It adds depth to the sound and when some of the winds are better musicians (I think) than the excessive number of violins it really makes a difference. So the last number was respectable, and the two concertos were spectacular. That man is an absolute genius. And that is the only reason Matt came with me. I like classical music, and I still wouldn't normally go see these guys. However, if I ever have a chance to go see Edgar Meyer again I will be at the head of the line with my checkbook.

The fine line between being Good and Enjoyable. And a question for everybody.

I finished The Watchmen. It promptly gave me nightmares. It was excellently written but I thought the ending was incredibly dissatisfying and now I pretty much don't want to see the movie. Sigh. I won't deny that it was Good but I can be pretty clear on the fact that I didn't get a single moment of pleasure out of it.



And then I got lectured about not depriving myself of the joys of Frank Miller just because I've prejudged him (based on everything I've ever seen of his work, ALL of which I hated). Sigh. And this was shortly after he re-watched Sin City last night and deemed it "moronic". Sin City was the only movie I have ever walked out of in theaters. Although the last Batman was pretty close too.

So I read The Dark Knight Returns, to make him happy. Yes, it's a brilliant story. Yes, the art is great. That doesn't mean I didn't still fucking HATE IT. I grew up on the cheesy Adam West Batman and the early Tim Burton Batman. Those were silly and fun. This is go-kill-yourself levels of depressing. Jesus, yes it was a brilliant idea to have Batman and Superman fight and it was a great setup (who else could get you to root AGAINST the Man of Steel?). That still didn't make me like it. Or any of the rest.



I don't like Hemingway either. I will acknowledge his greatness, but he pisses me off. Alan Moore I'm ok with, but I don't know if I will read V for Vendetta after all. And Frank Miller? Yes he's great. But I never want to read anything else by him. Ever.

There's a meme - best item of reading or viewing material that you hated? As in, you can acknowledge how good it is but still can't stand it. Anyone? Anyone?

Edit: Tonight I finished Arkham Asylum and The Killing Joke (both Joker ones). This is just not my Batman. Tomorrow I pick up Sandman and V for Vendetta at the library. Maybe those will be interesting without being so miserably bleak. We'll see.