a couple of movies

Posted on December 19, 2011 by pagesofjulia

During my week home from work recovering from knee surgery, I mostly read books, but I also watched more movies than usual. You’ve already most likely seen my Gone With the Wind movie review; here’s a quick run-through of a few more.

Mary and Max (2009): Recommended by my buddy Barrett, this animated movie is about a little Australian girl and an older Jewish New Yorker who become pen pals by chance and possibly save each other’s lives. Sad, yes, but also cute and heartwarming by turns. I really enjoyed the animation; it’s either Claymation or a fine computer-done imitation thereof.

Boogie Nights (1997): Lent to me by Laurissa & Drew, because I ❤ Mark Wahlburg. Wahlburg is a youngster in the 70's when he's spotted by a big-time artsy porn director who helps him make it big (ha) as porn star Dirk Diggler; but the sex-and-drugs lifestyle may prove too much for him to handle… Most of it was great fun and sexy times, but in the (unavoidable) spirit of movies like Blow and Studio 54, everything goes rather to sh*t. I ended up a little bummed out.

Crybaby (1990): Johnny Depp stars in a John Waters film that borrows a little from Grease and a little from Rebel Without a Cause. Depp is Crybaby, one of the bad boys, but one of the good girls is attracted to him; cue story book, with all the 50’s hair and leather and rockin’ tunes. Good fun, if quite weird.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966): I confess: I put this on too late at night, while I was on pain pills. So, maybe it was partly me. I know this is a classic. It’s from an age when movies were paced quite differently (read: slooow) and I fell asleep; and even while I was awake I was failing to keep track of who was who. I wasn’t engaged. Further blasphemy: I’ve seen the Star Wars movies repeatedly and still can’t follow them. Similar failure to engage. Sorry. :-/

Funny, I didn’t watch nearly as many movies as I thought I would. I do have a towering stack of loaned DVD’s still sitting at home. We’ll see.

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The Drop by Michael Connelly

Posted on December 18, 2011 by pagesofjulia

The latest suspenseful, dark, yet hopeful mystery starring the indomitable Harry Bosch.


In The Drop, Michael Connelly’s long-running protagonist, Det. Harry Bosch, faces end-of-career issues in the Los Angeles police department’s Open/Unsolved Unit. In one day, he gets two hits: a DNA match on a 21-year-old murder-rape case and an unexpected fresh body. The son of Councilman Irvin Irving–Bosch’s nemesis from previous novels in the 17-book series–has jumped or been dropped from his hotel balcony, and Irving inexplicably requests Bosch as investigator. It looks to be a case of “high jingo”–political complications threatening the quest for truth and justice to which Bosch is so committed.

As the Irving case gains momentum, the politics threaten to engulf an old friend and colleague, and Bosch may have no one left that he can trust. Meanwhile, logic contradicts fact as the blood found on the victim of the unsolved murder-rape belongs to a man who was eight years old at the time of the crime. Even Bosch’s new partner seems to be working against him. Worst of all, he begins to doubt his own abilities: is Bosch too old for the job?

Fans of Connelly’s series will exult in another round of Bosch-versus-the-world (and the LAPD); he exhibits all his old charms and skills, as well as tenderness towards his teenage daughter (who develops in her own right as a character). New readers will follow the action perfectly; The Drop can confidently stand alone. The evocation of the Los Angeles setting is lovely as usual, and the action’s crescendo hits all the right notes. Don’t take your eyes off Connelly yet–Bosch is ready to fight another round.

This review originally ran in the December 13, 2011 issue of Shelf Awareness for Readers. To subscribe, click here, and you’ll receive two issues per week of book reviews and other bookish fun!

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The Versatile Blogger Award

Posted on December 17, 2011 by pagesofjulia

I would like to thank TBM, of The 50 Year Project, for thinking of me for the Versatile Blogger Award!

This is kind of a fun way to receive the award, since TBM would have been one of my top choices for it in return. I enjoy the travel photos combined with books and movies.

Here are the instructions:

  1. Nominate 10-15 fellow bloggers
  2. Inform the bloggers of their nomination
  3. Share 7 random things about yourself
  4. Thank the blogger who nominated you
  5. Add the Versatile Blogger Award Pic on your blog post

In nominating other bloggers, I’d like to be very low-pressure about the chain-letter-style requirement to keep passing it on; not all bloggers are interested in that, which is totally cool as far as I’m concerned. I will go ahead and name some other blogs that I feel are deserving – take the compliment! And pass it on if you like, but only if you like. No pressure.

So here are seven randoms facts about me:

  1. I am afraid of roller coasters and driving fast. But I do some things other people find frightening, like racing on the velodrome and mountain biking.
  2. I usually dress my pasta with salad dressing instead of red sauce. Weird, right?
  3. I like little dogs better than big ones.
  4. I never learned how to walk in high heels.
  5. I rode my bicycle to my wedding, as did Husband and my parents and the majority of our guests.
  6. I’m a morning person.
  7. And because it’s been the focus of my life lately: I recently had knee surgery and can’t wait to get better and get back on my bike!

And here are some blogs I enjoy for their versatility:

  • My R and R is actually a tumblr so I don’t know if that counts precisely, but I’m making this award my own. 🙂
  • Coffee and a Book Chick blogs about books (what can I say, we lean that way here at pagesofjulia) but life & personal things as well, and I like the new “A Walk About Town” meme.
  • My Porch does some great book blogging, and social commentary, and I never get sick of seeing pictures of Lucy (Thomas’s dog).
  • TERRIBLEMINDS does some book blogging, more writer’s blogging, social commentary, plenty of curse words on all subjects, and lately blogs about his baby sometimes too – I don’t always get excited over reading about people’s babies, but he’s so delightfully irreverent about it all.
  • write meg! blogs about reading, writing, and life.
  • books i done read is too hilarious to miss, ’nuff said.
  • cakes, tea and dreams is a displaced Texan who blogs about books as well as life’s small but important details.
  • The Feminist Texican [Reads] focuses on books addressing feminism, gender issues, and Mexican-American/border/cultural topics, but also an interesting range of subjects beyond that; I’m always interested to see what book-I’ve-not-heard-of-before she’s going to cover next.
  • useless beauty is another hilarious blog, purportedly covering quilting/knitting/crafting stuff, but in actuality just a hilarious look at many aspects of life in Cambridge (which turns out to be surprisingly foreign to this Houston girl. or maybe that’s not surprising at all?).
  • So Far From Heaven is definitely well-described by the word “versatile” – go check him out.
  • Finally – not that she needs my accolades – who could forget The Bloggess? Also laugh-out-loud funny.

Thanks again, TBM! Keep up the good work, yourself!

Filed under: miscellaneous | Tagged: , , | 6 Comments »

book beginnings on Friday: Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman

Posted on December 16, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Thanks to Katy at A Few More Pages for hosting this meme. To participate, share the first line or two of the book you are currently reading and, if you feel so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line.

I am loving Sharon Kay Penman these days.

This is the first in the Welsh trilogy. My experience with this author actually started with The Reckoning, the third in the same, so I’m out of order, but no matter. Here are two beginnings for you today; between them, they set the book up very nicely.

From the prologue:

Theirs was a land of awesome grandeur, a land of mountains and moorlands and cherished myths. They called it Cymru and believed themselves to be the descendants of Brutus and the citizens of ancient Troy.

And from Book 1, Chapter 1: Shropshire, England, July 1183:

He was ten years old and an alien in an unfriendly land, made an unwilling exile by his mother’s marriage to a Marcher border lord. His new stepfather seemed a kindly man, but he was not of Llewelyn’s blood, not one of the Cymry, and each dawning day in Shropshire only intensified Llewelyn’s heartsick longing for his homeland.

And so it begins. Stay tuned for my review, tomorrow.

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A Walk About D-Town

Posted on December 15, 2011 by pagesofjulia

A Walk About Town is a brand-new meme hosted by Natalie over at Coffee and a Book Chick. I liked the idea the first time I saw it, but wasn’t sure my life would be exciting enough to warrant a weekly post! This week I do have something to share, and Natalie, I love the idea. I’ll do my best to be exciting enough to keep up. 🙂

Last weekend I took a road trip with one of my very oldest, best friends, Barrett. You might recall that I am still recovering from knee surgery; when we left on Saturday, I was 8 days into recovery. So we took a borrowed wheelchair with us, and Barrett used that as an excuse to rent us a big ol’ Cadillac for the drive! (I wasn’t ready to drive my car yet, and it’s too difficult to drive for me to wish it on Barrett; and he drives a Vespa.) On Friday night we had been to see another friend play in Sunward, a band from Dallas. It was their very first Houston gig, and a bunch of old friends turned up for it. So we dragged a little bit on Saturday morning, but did get off, in the Cadillac, with the wheelchair, headed (by coincidence) for Dallas.

We had an uneventful drive and hooked up with another friend Jimmy for an evening that started with sushi and sake (SO good) and then took us on to the Polyphonic Spree Christmas Extravaganza. This awesome and totally unique (one might even say weird) band, complete with choir on risers and often staging as many as 30+ members, hadn’t put on a Christmas show in 3-4 years, so it was a neat reunion for us. The first set is Christmas music for the youngsters – and this was preceded by We’re Not Guys, a band made up of four girls, three maybe middle-school age and one I feel sure was in grade school! They weren’t terribly complicated musically but it was impressive as hell. Anyway, then came the Spree’s Christmas set, then the Syncopated Ladies performed – this is a group of ladies of a certain age who do a dance routine. And then we got the Spree rock set – and I have to admit, I was getting stiff and uncomfortable in my wheelchair by then, and maybe didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have. But they do put on a show, with lots of positive energy, and I love watching ALL those musicians rocking their various instruments, and singing along. It was a neat thing to experience again, as it’s been several years since I’ve seen the Spree live.

From there we let Jimmy take us on to a dive bar whose name I’m not sure I ever caught – I think it started with an A – where I got a way comfier seat, and could elevate my knee; Jimmy brought me all the cans of Lone Star my heart desired, and a local classic-country band called the King Bucks was rocking out. And strangely – considering that the Spree had been the point of the trip – that was my favorite part of the evening.

The three of us stayed up too late catching up, and then started our day on Sunday with brunch and (for me) mimosas, then on to a decent beer bar in Jimmy’s neighborhood for the final moments of catch-up time with Jimmy. (Barrett and I had a 5-hour car ride together still to come.) It was action-packed – I never got Husband on the phone the whole weekend til we were halfway home! – but so good. I’m just sorry Jerko wasn’t able to join us in his own town (he had another gig Saturday night). I can’t wait to do it again. Thanks Barrett for driving and Jimmy for hosting; good times! I did find just one picture, only because I shamelessly stole from Barrett who hopefully will not sue me. This is Tim Delaughter (formerly of Tripping Daisy), the lead for the Spree, amid the confetti:

Thanks Natalie for the idea for today’s post. And what have you, lovely readers, done lately that’s interesting?

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Italian Racing Bicycles by Guido Rubino

Posted on December 15, 2011 by pagesofjulia

A beautiful book of pictures and stories about everything related to the fine art of Italian race bikes.

Passionate fans of Italian bicycles, professional bicycle racing, the history of the sport and/or fine craftsmanship must add Italian Racing Bicycles to their collections. It’s not just about bicycles, as the title suggests, but about the companies that made (and still make) them and about the Italian cyclists who ride competitively. Top-of-the-line Italian bikes are works of art as well as masterpieces of function, and Guido Rubino considers 40 of the finest manufacturers: their histories, likely futures, personalities and history-making products. The indispensable Colnago, Campagnolo and Bianchi brands are covered, as are the men who originally bore those names. Racing greats such as Coppi, Pantani, Sarroni and Bartali, whose performances helped establish the legacies of these companies, receive well-deserved attention here as well (along with select non-Italians like Eddy Merckx). Plenty of beautiful pictures complete this lovely coffee-table book.

This review originally ran in the December 6, 2011 issue of Shelf Awareness for Readers. To subscribe, click here, and you’ll receive two issues per week of book reviews and other bookish fun!

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Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty

Posted on December 14, 2011 by pagesofjulia

A respectful and compelling salute to Medal of Honor winners through brief profiles and striking portraits.

Medal of Honor begins with a thoughtful, detailed yet succinct history of the Congressional Medal of Honor, providing an excellent introduction to the subject; later chapters include letters from every living U.S. president and short essays on wars from World War II through Afghanistan. But Peter Collier’s real achievement lies in the 144 profiles of Medal of Honor recipients, representing every branch of the military, accompanied by Nick Del Calzo’s stunningly beautiful photographic portraits. Collier’s profiles tell of the circumstances leading to each citation, along with details of the recipients’ lives that illuminate themes of humility, friendship and service. With one page devoted to each, Medal of Honor makes for easy coffee-table reading, and it’s tempting to read them all in one sitting. This incredibly touching commemoration transcends politics to celebrate the contributions of brave, and selfless individuals in simple, glowing stories.

This review originally ran in the December 6, 2011 issue of Shelf Awareness for Readers. To subscribe, click here, and you’ll receive two issues per week of book reviews and other bookish fun!

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Teaser Tuesdays: 11/22/63 by Stephen King

Posted on December 13, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just open your current read to a random page and share a few sentences. Be careful not to include spoilers!

My mother ran right through this over-800-page book in a few days, and I’m looking like I’m going to do the same; my first day got me nearly 300 pages. I don’t often jump on the hot-new-book bandwagon, but this one grasped me: JFK’s assassination, dreams of a more perfect world, time travel, and Stephen King? Okay. Here are a few lines I liked:

I liked writing, and had discovered I was good at it, but what I loved was teaching. It filled me up in some way I can’t explain. Or want to. Explanations are such cheap poetry.

And I like the poetry of that final line. So tell me: what are you reading?

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Their Eyes Were Watching God Readalong, part 3

Posted on December 12, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Today we’re finishing up a readalong, hosted by The Heroine’s Bookshelf, of Their Eyes Were Watching God. I’m discussing chapters 14-20 (please pop over to THB at the above link to join in). We recently discussed chapters 1-6 and chapters 7-13. Caution: spoilers follow.

A lot happened in the final third of the book! Janie and Tea Cake settled, at the end of part 2, in southern Florida, and many of us readers were concerned with Tea Cake’s reliability. Would he make a good man for Janie? Well, we see them continue to establish a life together, and Tea Cake did turn out to be a good man for Janie – at least in Janie’s eyes. I’m sure I’m not alone in being unhappy with him for being jealous, for flirting with Nunkie, and finally, for beating Janie. But she continues in her opinion that he’s perfectly wonderful, and I do see the good: he brought her a sense of adventure, a sense of community, someone and something to work for and feel good about. I guess I can’t begrudge her the happiness she found. Although the idea that Janie getting beat up “aroused a sort of envy in both men and women” is not one I appreciate.

And then the hurricane! My, but that was some action. Tea Cake and Janie choose to wait out the storm – in their little cabin right on Lake Okechobee – despite the animals and the Indians wisely taking off for higher ground. Their flight from the path of the storm – “de lake is comin’!” – is high drama. And it’s nice that almost none of Janie & Tea Cake’s friends lose their lives. I enjoyed this part quite a bit.

But the tragic ending… I recall that I wasn’t the only one concerned, from the beginning, that Tea Cake “left” Janie. But I guess we didn’t guess how he’d leave. That was high drama, too; I was moved by the courtroom scene, the insinuations that the jury was moved by Janie’s beauty, the insinuations of racism, and finally the transition from indignation to shame and apologetic acceptance on the part of Janie’s community. Tea Cake died as a result of saving Janie during the storm. I guess I have to retract some of my concern. Although beating her was still uncool.

The final scene wraps up Janie & Pheoby’s conversation, in some beautiful language. “Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore.” Lovely.

I enjoyed this read, and I look forward to joining in the discussion (THB) today.

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movie: Gone With the Wind (1939)

Posted on December 11, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Well I finally got around to it. I think I was the last person alive who had not seen this movie; and having finally read the book just this year as part of the Great Gone With the Wind Readalong (thanks Erin!), and then being laid-up post-knee-surgery, what better time?

It’s certainly an amazing movie. The score and the cinematography were outstanding; dated, yes, but obviously classic and absolutely admirable even in late 2011. Vivien Leigh made a lovely Scarlett and Clark Gable made a perfect Rhett. If anything, I found Ashley an even more obviously weak man, and Rhett a more obviously handsome and preferable pick, onscreen. I loved the Technicolor! It was beautiful to look at. If I have some criticisms, they are only the obvious and unavoidable ones: even in an almost-four-hour movie, the format clearly doesn’t allow for the inclusion of ALL of Mitchell’s 1000 pages of details. (This is why I always struggle with movies made from books. I am attached to ALL those details.) But to be fair, the movie did a pretty wonderful job of sketching the book in broad strokes; they included just about all the important bits. And if they sometimes felt a bit rushed-together – Scarlett makes her “I’ll never be hungry again” speech immediately upon reaching Tara, giving it less power than it had in the book, after months of suffering there – this method did give the movie the same epic, sweeping, long-time-line feel that the book had. I thought it was awfully well done, considering the obvious limitations of the format. The most blatant exclusion, for me, was Scarlett’s two children from her first two marriages. But maybe this just underlines how important poor little Wade and Ella weren’t to Scarlett in the book!

love the Technicolor!


The greatest divergence from the text, and the only one that really bothered me, was Rhett’s constant declarations of love. The great drama of the book is arguably Rhett and Scarlett’s failure to connect their love for one another in time and space, their passing as two ships in the night, their missing of the opportunity to share their love. Without consulting my text, I’ll venture that Rhett never declared his love, in fact denied it, declared he’d never love Scarlett, until it was too late. This changed things somewhat in the movie and bothered me some. (This is why I mostly avoid movies made from books; they disappoint me.) But you know? It didn’t ruin it for me. This was a beautiful and enjoyable movie.

Poor Melanie’s plainness was emphasized clearly enough; she definitely had some bags under her eyes here and there. The slaves were played as fools in a way that I found faithful to Mitchell’s work, which is also to say kind of cringingly offensive to my eyes today. Rhett was a dish. Ashley was a bore. Melanie was sweet; Scarlett was impressive, powerful, beautiful and conniving; Mammy was a nag, and Ellen was grand. And before I neglect, let me also say, I thought both Tara and Atlanta were very well-done, despite receiving very little attention in the movie compared with the book. We get a few shots of Atlanta as (respectively) booming, powerful, covered in dead and dying troops, crumbling and burning, and being rebuilt, which painted Atlanta-as-character very effectively in very little screen time.

If Gone With the Wind, the book, was a masterpiece – and I say it was – Gone With the Wind, the movie, starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, was every bit a masterpiece in its own right, and surprisingly faithful to the book. I’m impressed. It was a fine way to spend a few hours. If there’s anyone else out there who hasn’t seen it yet, I recommend it.

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