Two books and almost three movies

I read two wonderful memoirs recently: The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, and Unreliable Memoirs, by Clive James.

Completely agree with these reviews:

For Unreliable Memoirs: “Do not read this book in public. You will risk severe internal injuries from trying to suppress your laughter. . . . What’s worse, you can’t put it down once started. Its addictive powers stun all normal decent resistance within seconds. Not to be missed.” (Sunday Times )

For Glass Castle: "probably the best account ever written of a dysfunctional family " (amazon reviewer)

And here is the best part - Clive James has written more than thirty books, including four more volumes of autobiography, and Jeannette Walls has another book, Half Broke Horses.

Such wonderful news! (Although I do feel a bit illiterate, discovering Clive James so late in the game.)

Also, recently saw two movies: Skyfall and A Late Quartet.

As for A Late Quartet, I agree with one of the reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes: ""A Late Quartet" is a magnificent film, the best I've seen in 2012 thus far. It reminds me of when "In the Bedroom" was released in 2001. From out of nowhere, a filmmaker no one has heard of explodes onto the world-cinema stage with a quiet, spectacularly artful near-masterpiece."

And that reminds me - In the Bedroom is a fantastic film I would like to see again. (Bad title, though - always makes me think of that joke about how to make any fortune you get in a Chinese fortune cookie funny - add the phrase "in the bedroom.") (This trick works, too - perhaps I'm too easily amused, but adding that phrase does make any fortune funny.) (But the film of that name is dead serious, and terribly sad, and utterly wonderful.)

I didn't expect much from Skyfall, which was fortunate, because I got even less. I'm not overly fond of Bond movies, but many of them I have liked quite a bit.

The movie has received some excellent reviews. For example, Atlantic film critic Christopher Orr says, "The film, directed by Sam Mendes, is among the most ambitious imaginings of Bond to date: dark, supple, and punctuated with moments of unanticipated visual brilliance."

I thought it was overall boring, and I thought that the whole mommy fixation was stupid. I did like the little allusions to prior films and iconic Bond memes, such as when the mixologist shakes the martini and Bond simply says, "Perfect."

But overall, dumb.

And then, for the third movie - this morning we drove to the theater to see Lincoln, sat in the dark for about thirty minutes, and finally were informed that the projector was broken and our money would be refunded. That was a first.

So - two great books, one great movie, and a couple of misses. Pretty darn good overall.

Weekend tasks and pleasures

Got up at 6:30. Went to the gym and swam laps for an hour. Wanted to take a picture of the pool, but obviously you can't take pictures of strangers swimming - I wouldn't like it if someone were taking a photo of me. And you really can't take photos in a locker room if other people are around. That would be just creepy. So I have a photo of a deserted locker room.

Here's one of the best parts about swimming laps - it gives a person plenty of time to think. I came up with a long list of things I needed to do, or wanted to do, this weekend.

Nice hot shower and then back home for breakfast.

Coffee, toast, and a bowl of tomato slices, fresh off the patio. Then to the computer, where I emailed a resume and cover letter I had prepared yesterday. No more about that unless there is any interest, but let me just say that I'm not averse to the idea of a new job in a different city.

Then our regular Saturday routine - library, Whole Foods, Giant supermarket, Wawa for a second cup of coffee, BJ's (a big discount store) for supplies like paper towels, Produce Junction for an amazing amount of mushrooms and red peppers at a very low price. A frenzy of consumerism - and we are now stocked up for the week.

We discovered a new product - frozen Greek yogurt!

Back home to put everything away, and to have a bowl of tabouli.

Time to tackle the back yard. I filled four big bags with branches that had come down during the recent storms, and it was hot work in the humidity. Will finish up the front yard tomorrow.

Visited with the neighbors across the fence, and admired their adorable grandson. He has recently learned to walk, and you can't keep him still.

Dripping with sweat, so back inside for another shower. Made a southwestern stir-fry on rice for dinner.

Watched a very good movie after dinner - The Ranger, the Cook, and a Hole in the Sky. An indie film that all three of us enjoyed very much.

And now typing up my blog diary for the day. And thinking back to that list of things I need to do this weekend - there are still so many undone!

Dysfunctional, dystopian, disturbing families

Watched three movies last weekend: Black Swan, The Fighter, and Winter's Bone. What a trio. A marathon of ugly, sad, dysfunctional families.

Thinking about them, I realized that I enjoyed Winter's Bone the most, but that the people in that film would be my very LAST choice if I had to actually live among any of these fictional (or semi-fictional) families.

The Fighter was also good, but yikes - what a miserable bunch of people! Fun to watch, but not if it were real life. Still, better than living in the Ozarks of Winter's Bone, if only because it seemed like there might be a chance to escape.

Did not like Black Swan, which I found pretentious and artsy and over-hyped. Again, a group of really terrible people - and yet if I had to choose one group among which to live, it would be these ridiculous artistes. Mainly because at least I would be in New York City, and anything is possible there.

And therefore it might be possible to leave those folks far, far behind.

I should try to think of three films with fictional families that I would like to be part of - almost any three films at random would yield better options. Maybe. You know, we must really like movies about miserable, unhappy people. There are so many of them.