"WITNESS ME"

   Movies! I love them. Last year I said "I watch too many movies," and set a goal of watching fewer than 52 movies, which I did. I set the same goal for this year, but I have a feeling I'm going to go over and I am okay with that.

   Here are the movies from the previous post!

• Austenland (13)
• Guys & Dolls (55)
• Jurassic Park (93)
• Mad Max: Fury Road (15)
• Much Ado About Nothing (12) 

    Austenland was REALLY silly but also fun and I laughed a good deal. My cousin told me about it, and said that she loved it so much she watched it three times in quick succession and I was in need a a fluffy, funny movie and this one fit the bill. Jane loves Jane Austen and goes on a trip to a place called Austenland and hi-jinks ensue. And I mean, come on, Jane Seymour? Bret from Flight of the Conchords? It's a good flick. Here is the trailer.

   Did you know that Marlon Brando starred in a musical with Frank Sinatra and that it was the best? Go out and watch Guys & Dolls, at your soonest opportunity, you will not be disappointed. PLUS, will you have heaps of new songs to sing? Yes. Worth your time. (All these movies are worth your time.)

   I went to see Jurassic Park at a free drive-in theater with my boyfriend, and it was equal parts fun and exasperating. Fun parts: Jurassic Park itself! Eating din, playing crib, and watching a movie with my boyfriend! Not as fun parts: arriving in a huge traffic jam line at five for a movie at nine-thirty! That's basically it. I recommend Jurassic Park and drive-in theaters, but maybe not free ones that a zillion people are trying to get to while a zillion other people are trying to use those same roads to get home from work.

   If you haven't seen Mad Max you are missing out big time on a minute-by-minute basis. BIG TIME. Who knew a movie that is basically entirely made up of a car chase could be more subtle in it's treatment of gender and class than a HEAP of the other movies I have seen??? AM I RIGHT. I am right. It's so good. Not only did I want to peel out of the parking lot after seeing the movie I ALSO had a ream of things to think/talk about and use as examples when discussing things like sexualization, representation, and agency in movies. YES. MAD MAX FOREVER.

   Last but not least, Much Ado About Nothing. See it, it's great. I love Shakespeare, I love Joss Whedon, I love this movie.

26-30, 2015

Can you guess them all??? (I have a feeling I might go over 52 movies this year)

July, You Were...Month-Like

I'm looking at you, July.

   Well. It's August. July was...weird, reading-wise. It was hard to get through anything; in comparison to other months I was basically an illiterate slob.  Maybe it's the heat.

   Regardless, here are the three (wow) books I read in July:

• Modern Romance / Aziz Ansari: in a reading slump? Get an audiobook where the narrator calls you lazy for listening instead of reading, it's a bit cathartic. Cathartic might be the wrong word to use there, but I'm running with it. As a bonus, this book was enjoyable and included some good tidbits. Recommend.
• Girl in Dior / Annie Goetzinger: primarily this book is just really pretty to look at. It's charming. The female characters aren't carbon copies of each other. It took a very short amount of time to read.
• The Photographer / Emmanuel Guibert: we already know how I feel about this one. Read it. It's valuable.

   And there you have it! One short comic, one long comic, and an audiobook. Ooof. Here's looking at you, August. Seriously, I gotta get my rear in gear and get some books down my maw (except not, because I don't eat books).  This is a month of much away-from-home-ing though, so who knows what will happen.

Fight Club / Chuck Palahniuk

   I wish I could write a review of this book but both the first and second rule (redundant?) of fight club is that you don't talk about fight club, so we're hooped. Four stars!

   Anyways, here's a flying squirrel. Feel free to regard it as a gif rating in the style of Alley at What Red Read.

MESMERIZING

   Will I be reading more by Chuck Palawhatever? Only time will tell, but it seems likely.