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Ring in the New

You might have noticed that I have been blogging every (week)day for almost a week now, and I'm going to try to keep it up! I blogged daily for the first few years of this blog, but my kids don't do such adorably anecdote-worthy things anymore (or, in any event, nothing I can tell you about), I've sworn off political blogging because it's too upsetting, and there are just so many books, movies, and recipes I can tell you about. But I'm going to try. 

I receive comments right here on the blog, as well as on Facebook (I forget how I did it, but some years ago I set it up so my posts show up there), on Twitter (when I remember to tweet a link to a new post), and via email. That fractures the conversation a bit, but that's OK—it's all about connecting, and I'd rather have three mini dialogues going on than nothing. So, please, as I ring in the New Year with the intention of blogging nearly every weekday, let me know you're out there, and tell me what you think. (And, by all means, friend me on FB or follow me on Twitter if you'd like.)

In the meantime, I wish everyone out there all the best for 2014. Here's to a year full of peace, love, and understanding (what's so funny 'bout that—right, Nick?).

Plodding Through the Netflix Queue

Yesterday Andy and I finally got around to watching "The Descendants"—I don't know how it happened, but that is surely the longest I've ever waited to watch George Clooney for a solid 2 hours! He's of course really, really handsome (really!), but I also like watching him act. I've seen him do nice guys, bad guys, funny guys, no matter what, I think he can do it all. Plus, the handsome thing.

So this is the story of Matt King, a direct descendant of Hawaiian royalty. There are two plots going on. The main one is that Matt's wife is in a coma after a speedboat accident, and he is confronting the fact that he's mostly been an absentee dad (and husband) for quite a few years. His two daughters (and his father-in-law) are quick to remind him of his shortcomings. The older daughter is played by Shailene Woodley, and I thought she did a terrific job, which bodes well for the much-anticipated film adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars, coming June 6 to a theater near you!* (I've already promised Steph and her friend that we can go on opening day. If you haven't read the book yet, do that first, just in case the movie ruins it.) The second plot line has Matt in a position to sell off 25,000 acres of pristine land on Kauai and split the proceeds with his cousins. He is under pressure from everyone in the family (and, seemingly, everyone in the state) to sell to someone Hawaiian, or to sell to the highest bidder (who is not Hawaiian), or to not sell at all.

I had some minor quibbles. I saw no reason to include Sid, the goofy boyfriend, who was trying his hardest to resurrect the Keanu Reeves character in "Parenthood" and not succeeding. He really detracted from a number of scenes for me. There were also a ton of continuity blunders—for instance, a couple of times you'd see Clooney clean-shaven in one shot and then stubbly in the next. (But you still get to look at his face, so there's that!) But all in all, a really lovely movie.

*There's been a bit of a to-do about the tagline for the TFIOS movie poster: "One sick love story." I don't mind it one bit. For one thing, it's a story about teens with cancer, so they are sick. But also, from my experience, teens today don't use "sick" to mean demented or deranged; they use it to mean awesome or cool. As in, "My friend's house has a mini movie theater and a pool—it's sick!" John Green (the author of the novel) had this to say:

I did not write the tagline.…These things are not my decision. It’s not my movie, or my poster.…That said, I like the tag line.…I mostly wanted something that said, “This is hopefully not going to be a gauzy, sentimental love story that romanticizes illness and further spreads the lie that the only reason sick people exist is so that healthy people can learn lessons.” But that’s not a very good tag line. I like the tag line because it says, literally, the sick can also have love stories. Love and joy and romance are not just things reserved for the well.

That said, I might be wrong. I’m wrong all the time.

Greatest Invention Ever

Welp, I'm a little late for those of you looking for stocking stuffers for your favorite readers, but you could order a few dozen of these and be ready for next year:

What the hell is that?

It's a Convenient Thumb Thing Book Holder, of course! [Cue infomerical voice.] "Has this ever happened to you? You're trying to read while lying down on one side? Or you're holding a drink in one hand and a book in the other, and your hand is seizing up? Well, struggle no longer! The Convenient Thumb Thing Book Holder is here!"

Despite the whopping $1.20 price per, I splurged on one for each of us. (Oh, and did I mention the free shipping?)

So, what have I been reading with my Convenient Thumb Thing Book Holder? First I read Everything by Kevin Canty. (No, not all his published works, just the one titled Everything. Ha ha!) By the way, that link takes you to the Kindle edition, because it appears to be out of print. I got my (used) copy from Better World Books; you obviously won't need a Convenient Thumb Thing Book Holder if you have a Kindle. I really enjoyed Canty's writing—beautiful but very spare—and his characters. A main theme is the relationship of these characters to their homes in Montana, and in that respect this book reminded me a lot of Tom McGuane's Nothing But Blue Skies, although that novel is funnier and warmer. They're both very masculine books; I'm not entirely sure what I mean by that other than that they were written by and about men, but that's the feeling I come away with. Anyhow, I won't say you should run out and buy Everything (You'd go broke! Ha ha! The joke that keeps on giving!), but if you come across it in the library, it is worth reading and thinking about.

After that I read The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach, which I really enjoyed but can't talk about yet because my book group is meeting to discuss it in 2 weeks. Stay tuned....

Next up is Someone by Alice McDermott, which I received as a gift.

What are you reading? And how's your thumb holding up?

Boxing Day Update

Yikes, I can tell it's been extra-long since I blogged—Typepad required me to log in! Sorry, to all eight of my readers, for the unannounced hiatus.

I hope everyone out there in Internetland had a lovely Christmas yesterday! In keeping with official Jewish regulations tradition, we hit the movie theater and then the Chinese restaurant. Julie and Steph saw "Frozen" in 3D. They really liked it but said that it was sad. I said, "Oh, a Disney movie? So one of the parents dies, right?" They replied, "Both of the parents die!" I swear, there isn't enough therapy in the world for the writers of Disney movies—parent issues galore.*

Andy, Pete, and I saw "American Hustle," which was a blast. It was one of the most entertaining movies I've seen in a good long time. The blackish humor was exactly my favorite brand. Christian Bale continues to amaze me with his range; here he plays a paunchy, good-hearted con man who gets in over his head (it's a fictionalized retelling of the 1978 ABSCAM operation). The rest of the cast—Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Louis CK, even DeNiro in an excellent cameo—are all stellar. It was the first time I'd seen Lawrence or Cooper; Pete says I need to see "Silver Linings Playbook" now.

What did you all do?

*Two related anecdotes:
(1) When the kids were at the age when they watched "Finding Nemo" 50 times a day (or so it seemed), I used to put in the DVD and, instead of hitting PLAY, I'd skip past the first section to the part where Nemo is shouting "First day of school! First day of school!" I saw no need for the kids to watch the completely unnecessary part where a barracuda dives in and kills the mother and all Nemo's siblings. I still cannot imagine why they felt it was necessary to begin the movie that way—it has no bearing on the plot whatsoever. They could have still easily had the entire story unfold as it does, with the father overprotective of Nemo because of his tiny fin. As one friend said, "Why couldn't the mom have just been off at fishy grad school instead?" Years later, I nearly laughed myself off the couch when an episode of "The Simpsons" had Milhouse flashing back to when he was a toddler and instead of asking his mother to start "Finding Nemo," he pressed PLAY himself and saw that  horrible opening scene for the first time. So, me and Milhouse's mom, we see eye to eye.
(2) The same friend who made the crack about fishy grad school remembered her son watching "The Lion King" for the first time. Afterward, he asked her, "So ... that would be like if Uncle Kevin killed Dad, right?" Right, kid. Thanks again, Disney.

Atonement for Playing Hooky

Monday I had two deadlines to meet, and yesterday I ran errands all day. Today I was all set for a cookbook mansucript to show up, but it has been delayed until tomorrow. So I decided to make a big bowl of soup, wrap myself in my favorite blanket, and watch Atonement, which arrived from Netflix last May (!) and has been just sitting there waiting for me to remember to watch it. 

The movie is based on Ian McEwan's novel, which I read when it first came out. I remember feeling annoyed and manipulated by the ending, although I liked the story overall. I liked the movie much better—and luckily I had forgotten most of the story in the intervening 10 years. In fact, maybe that's why I liked it better. I can now recall why I felt manipulated by the book, but I didn't feel that way with the movie. 

The story begins in 1935 and tells of a young girl's earnest, well-intentioned lie and the grave repercussions on the lives of those involved in it—and on her own life. I found some of the war scenes a bit overdone and melodramatic, but for the most part I enjoyed it. I do wish someone would either teach Keira Knightley to smoke a cigarette properly or cut those scenes from all her movies, though. James McAvoy, on the other hand, now he can smoke a cigarette.

Bad Arts Weekend

I was disappointed by two movies and a novel this weekend.

I wish I could say that I loved "Lincoln," but I didn't. I mean, I liked it, but I found it a little boring. And I thought DDL was overacting a wee bit, although I know that's heresy. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for a historical movie. I did think it was interesting to learn how the Thirteenth Amendment got passed, though.

I also liked but didn't love "Zero Dark Thirty," although for different reasons. I found the torture scenes upsetting and almost unwatchable (I know, that was the point). The rest of it was exciting and interesting, but I couldn't help feeling that Maya shouldn't have said she was 100% certain that Bin Laden was in that compound, because she really wasn't. She very much wanted it to be true (and it turned out to be true), but she sent those guys in there based mostly on a very well-educated guess. 

But both movies were a whole lot better than Love Is a Canoe by Ben Schrank. This book got great reviews, and I honestly can't figure out why. It tells the story of Peter Herman, a guy in his sixties who wrote a folksy best-seller called Marriage Is a Canoe when he was in his twenties, based on what he learned from his grandfather when he was twelve and his parents were on the brink of divorce. The grandfather's pearls of wisdom are unbearably sappy and made me roll my eyes so hard I almost hurt myself. Anyhow, the action of the novel takes place in the current day. The book's publisher, in an effort to jump-start sales, organizes a contest where the winners will be a married couple that needs counseling, and they will get to spend a day with Peter Herman doing just that. The main problem of this book was that not a single character made any sense to me. I get that people are complex and unpredictable, but these characters just weren't real. I had no idea what made any of them tick, and just when I'd think I was getting somewhere with one of them, they'd do something that didn't work. Finally, I found the writing to be just plain lazy, as well as the editing. There were sentences that I had to read three times to get the meaning of. The only saving grace is that I bought it used from Better World Books and will donate it this spring to the high school book fair for double-karmic retribution. (A Twitter pal scolded me when I complained about it last night: "No offense, but the title is 'Love is a Canoe.' Never read a book called 'Love is a Canoe.'" She's right.)