Saw Once Upon a Time in Mexico last night. Fun movie. Driving home, we decided it was a Mexican movie with an American budget and a Hong Kong action sensibility. Very much the birth of the reluctant hero. By the end of the movie, Antonio Banderas, while still dark and brooding, has found someone to live for – a nation too often crippled by power-mad criminals. He’s on his way to being a modern-day Zorro, only without the funny mask and the penchant for carving Zs on everything. The fun of the movie of course is not just the hero’s …
Category: media
It’s gotten obscenely hot again. I’m beginning to contemplate moving in to the refrigerator. Finished reading Second Glance this week. I’m surprised how much I enjoyed it; I don’t usually go for mysteries. I’m never able to see the clues, so when the sleuth/narrator makes a big announcement, I always feel like he’s just pulling conclusions out of thin air. Second Glance, however, while heavily layered and complicated, unfolds in a logical fashion. An evocative, poetic story of love, loss and genetics spanning 70 years with some interesting ethical debates along the way. Extra points to the author for including …
Actually left the house last night for an excursion into Hollywood to the Lava Lounge to see Kelp. Ian knows Todd and Paul, the bassist and guitarist, from the Meta days. The drummer, also from Meta, recognized Ian, but no one remembers his name. Kelp plays “surf music,” the kind of sound that would go with an Endless Summer movie. I can’t help wondering if the music conjures up visions of sand, sun and sea out of itself or because it’s called “surf music.” Just when I had decided it didn’t really matter, it was all happy music that made …
Ah, narrative! So refreshing after recent explorations in sociology. Sword-Sworn is a warm glow of a conclusion to the author’s series about Tiger and Del and their outcast sword-for-hire adventures. Given recent discussions in our house, the end is especially satisfying.
Read Please Stop Laughing At Me in two and a half days, and that was too long to spend with the book. I picked it up because it was the last book to get a major marketing push before I left the bookstore at the end of last April. And because I was an outsider in school. I don’t really recall anyone laughing at me, mostly just keeping their distance, but I figured I’d be able to relate to the author. Not really. She endured some terrible stuff at the hands of her schoolmates, but despite everything they did to …
Attended my first Hollywood premiere Thursday night. Ian was the First Assistant Director for The Drop when it filmed back in November. The premiere was sort of reuniony – all these people who had spent 12 or 14 or 16 hours together every day for a month and who hadn’t seen each other since then. Lots of “So good see you again!” “What are you working on?” and “Would really love to work with you again sometime.” It’s sort of like signing a yearbook; do all these people saying nice things really mean them? As for the movie, it’s cool. …