Thursday, December 3, 2009

Lemon Sky

This was a film but originally was a play by Lanford Wilson. It had Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick in it. I wonder if this is when they met. They were quite young. Casey Affleck played a young boy. I knew the boy looked familiar; then I had to watch the credits to see who it was. He even sounds like he does now and moves his head and laughs the same way. And I must say, even then, a better actor than his brother, Ben. As with many plays, it takes awhile to get going and for the audience to begin to relate to the characters. This was a touching play about a moment in a young man's life. It was so well written and performed. I highly recommend it. I would go see it on stage if I could.
I've decided to create a list of favorite Christmas songs because I want to. Check it out on the right side of this blog where all of my lists are located.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

A Charlie Brown Christmas

I am listening to a Christmas CD - A Charlie Brown Christmas. There is no music that makes me happier. Why is that? Has this music made me happy since childhood? Charlie Brown and the gang are in the back of my mind as I listen, but mostly it's the happy piano notes that I like. It's just happiness in musical form. My son can play Linus and Lucy on the piano and it's a difficult piece. I'm so glad he likes it as much as I do. Just hearing that rolling beat makes me want to get up and dance!
I went to see New Moon with my youngest son, his friend, and her mom. I liked it! It was better than the first movie, I think because there was more action - just more happening, generally, in that story. The effects are great. The movie works for guys because there was wolf fighting - my son's favorite animals are wolves - and vampires fighting, which face it, you never get to see in real life. Seeing that movie was an indulgence for me because I never go to see "girl movies." Having all boys in my family, we save our movie dollars for Harry Potter, Iron Man, etc. Speaking of Iron Man - we can't wait to see Robert Downey, Jr. in Sherlock Holmes. Yowza!! When literature and hunkiness get together, I swoon!
Watched Frost/Nixon - finally! Soon, it will be time to watch the contenders for THIS year's Oscars. I am so far behind on my movie watching. Still need to see The Reader, Revolutionary Road, and The Wrestler. The last one I just recorded, so that's up for today, I hope. Frost/Nixon was good. I'll bet it was a compelling play. I always liked Nixon. I never saw the original interviews. I relate to Nixon because he was an introverted thinker. He didn't appeal to the masses. He should have been a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. But, he was also paranoid and aggressively pursued "his enemies" while in public office. He had weaknesses. David Frost was interesting to watch because he really was just a talk show host and here he was interviewing a fallen president for ratings and publicity. The two hours went by fast, I can tell you that.
Finished listening to The Wee Free Men. I think I have a soft spot for Scottish stories. The wee men in this book are crazy and delightful and ye cn hardly unnerstand a werd that's sed by them. I should buy the book and see how Terry Pratchett writes their dialogue. Listening to the story is fantastic because the narrator does all the amazing voices and pronunciations and it's like a play. Very fun fantasy story - not just for kids. And the best part is - there are two more books with the same characters! I may listen to those again too.
David Cross' book This is Why I Drink is freaking funny. Not everyone would like his humor probably, but he is a funny guy. I'm looking forward to 5-1/2 more hours of hilarity.