Posted by: Sally Ingraham | January 18, 2010

The Big Read V: The Woman in White – Installments 5 and 6

DSC00348by Wilkie Collins

In which Marian’s narrative is unfortunately cut short, and the story is picked up by Frederick Fairlie and carried further by Eliza Michelson.

Spoilers, etc., follow:

I find myself, at this point, extremely worried. Everything is falling apart. Sir Percival and Count Fosco are weaving an intricate web – or at least Count Fosco is, for it seems more and more clear that Sir Percival is just as tangled up as anyone else. He’s still the easiest character to vehemently despise though. Even with all ten of his sticky fingers in the pudding, Count Fosco continues to fascinate. Poor Marian, valiantly trying to figure things out to the last, is most unfairly stuck down by a serious illness, and Laura (who really manages to faint a lot, I mean seriously!) is no help at all. I’m increasingly frustrated with the situation, and at this point, being still very much in the dark in regards to what devilments Fosco is up to, I can only hope that Walter will reappear and make heads or tails of it all. (Wasn’t that dream of Marian’s a brilliant piece of truly sensational writing? I’m still in awe.)

Over halfway though now, and the chocolate pudding plot only thickens with Fosco there to keep stirring it! Can’t wait to see where it goes from here, and can’t imagine how it will get sorted out. 🙂

——
Previously:
Installments 2-4
Ist Installment

Leila’s most recent post!

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Posted in Authors, Big Read V, Book related, Books, Non-sense, Novels, Read-Along, Reading, Reading Challenges, Wilkie Collins | Tags: , ,

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | January 15, 2010

Woolf in Winter: Mrs. Dalloway

Woolf in WinterToday marks the beginning of our first conversation about Virginia Woolf and the words that she sometimes felt she ought to ‘sink to the bottom of the sea, probably, and live alone with‘. To all who are participating, please write whatever you would like to about the book on your own blog – I’ll be running round gathering up everyone’s links as they appear – or simply come here and join the conversation in the comments. I can’t promise that, as host, I will have anything particularly inventive to say about the book, but I hope that others do, and will be willing and eager to step forward and share with us!

——

DSC00344‘Such fools we are, she thought, crossing Victoria Street. For Heaven only knows why one loves it so, how one sees it so, making it up, building it round one, tumbling it, creating it every moment afresh; but the veriest frumps, the most dejected of miseries sitting on doorsteps (drinking their downfall) do the same; can’t be dealt with, she felt positive, by Acts of Parliament for that very reason: they love life. In people’s eyes, in the swing, tramp, and trudge; in the bellow and the uproar; the carriages, motor cars, omnibuses, vans, sandwich men shuffling and swinging; brass bands; barrel organs; in the triumph and the jingle and the strange high singing of some aeroplane overhead was what she loved; life; London; this moment of June.‘

I love how involved Clarissa Dalloway feels here, how caught up she is in the sights and sounds of the bustling morning, how pleased she is with herself and her errand – to buy flowers for her evening party. And I love, too, how at the next moment, as she walks down the street and looks in shop windows and encounters acquaintances, her mind constantly moving from thought to thought, she drifts away from the bright June day:

‘She had a perpetual sense, as she watched the taxi cabs, of being out, out, far out to sea and alone; she always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day.‘

This shows clearly one of the things I love about Woolf’s style – her ability to capture the flow of the mind’s workings, and show how we try, moment to moment, to hold it all together and get on with living, even as the world jumbles by in confusion, and Life and Death are constantly glimpsed out of the corners of our eyes.

I find this to be an uplifting book, even though for one young man the clocks of London tick through what will be his final day on earth. Clarissa, making an art out of her social efforts and drawing all the separate lives around her together, to her party, is somehow wonderful. She recognizes something of her own struggle in the death, in the plunging leap of Septimus, and yet it makes her ‘feel the beauty‘ all the more strongly.

I loved reading this for a second time – very slowly, going back and re-reading passages over and over again, savoring the language and imagery.

‘Quiet descended on her, calm, content, as her needle, drawing silk smoothly to its gentle pause, collected the green folds together and attached them, very lightly, to the belt. So on a summer’s day waves collect, overbalance, and fall; collect and fall; and the whole world seems to be saying “that is all” more and more ponderously, until even the heart in the body which lies in the sun on the beach says too, That is all. Fear no more, says the heart. Fear no more, says the heart, committing its burden to some sea, which sighs collectively for all sorrows, and renews, begins, collects, lets fall. And the body alone listens to the passing bee; the wave breaking; the dog barking, far away barking and barking.‘

Exquisite.

I am excited to see what others think of the book, especially those coming to Woolf for the first time through Mrs. Dalloway. I am happy to spend this bright, cold day in January discussing them with you! And please join us again at the end of the month for a discussion of To the Lighthouse, hosted by Emily at Evening All Afternoon. 🙂

——

Please be sure to visit these other thoughts and insights:

Amy at New Century Reading
Andi at Estella’s Revenge
Anthony at Times Flow Stemmed
Becca at Bookstack
Bellezza at Dolce Bellezza
Care at Care’s Online Book Club
Christy at Lil Bit Brit Lit
Claire at Kiss a Cloud
DS at third-storey window
EL Fay at This Book and I Could Be Friends
Emily at Evening All Afternoon
Eva at A Striped Armchair
Frances at Nonsuch Books
Jason at Moored at Sea
JoAnn at Lakeside Musing
Julia at A Number of Things
Karen at BookBath
Kaye at Kaye’s Book Review Page
Kristine at BasBleuBookshelf
Lena at Save Ophelia
Lindsey at Sparks’ Notes
Lu at Regular Rummination
Martine at Silencing the Bell
Melissa at The Betty and Boo Chronicles
Nicole at Bibliographing
Nina at J’adorehappyendings
Paula at Blogging Woolf
Rebecca at Rebecca Reads
Richard at Caravana de recuerdos
Sandra at Fresh Ink Books
Simon at Savage Reads
Sissy at A Strange and Beautiful World
uncertainprinciples at anothercookiecrumbles
Victoria at Views from the Page and the Oven
Violet at Still Life With Books

(Since I am the host of this portion of Woolf in Winter, I want to mention that I am definitely trying to get round to everyone’s posts to comment – however, if I don’t seem to show up it is simply because some Blogger formats eat my comments and I haven’t been able to discover why. I am reading and LOVING all of the posts I’ve collected thus far however. 🙂 )

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Posted in Authors, Books, Famous People, Non-sense, Novels, Read-Along, Reading, Reading Challenges, Virginia Woolf | Tags: , ,

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | January 14, 2010

Movie Monday (thrice removed): Jan. 5th-14th

I do really want to write these posts on Mondays, but my trip threw me off. And there’s always some wiggle room with these things! Anyhoo…

Star Trek – J. J. Abrams – USA – 2009 (Movie of the week!)
I was really excited about this movie when it came out, and doubly so when it finally played at the theater I work at – and then, due to mysterious events that I can’t remember, I never got around to watching it! I did get my hands on the DVD the day after it was released, however, and I have since watched it numerous times. I have not yet ceased to be ridiculously pleased as each character is revealed in their younger reincarnation, and I am already anticipating favorite lines and whatnot. It’s a keeper. I like the movie for it’s snappy storytelling and for it’s creative re-mix of a familiar world. The lens flairs are also great. (If you’ve watched the special features, you’ll know what I’m talking about!)

Down by LawDown by Law – Jim Jarmusch – USA – 1986

I decided to put a whole bunch of Jim Jarmusch movies on my Netflix queue, for whatever reason late one night while aimlessly browsing. I wasn’t sorry this one arrived, even if it was a very odd jumble of fun music, black and white images, and surprising cast members. Tom Waits was, as always, strange and awesome, and John Lurie (whom I discovered through his TV show Fishing With John last year) was…also strange and awesome. Strangest of all was Roberto Benigni. His appearance in the movie was delightful, since he is utterly charming as always – I just never expected to see him there! The story of how these three men end up in a Louisiana prison together, and the journey that follows, was compelling and funny, and un-rushed. Interesting stuff.

Bright Star – Jane Campion – UK – 2009
One of my favorite things about Reel Pizza Cinerama is working the senior matinee in the winter. I always volunteer to do it, since the extra hours are never a bad thing, and I usually get to watch the movie too. This was our first show of the year, and the 35 or so folks who turned up for it seemed satisfied, if a little teary eyed. The movie was an imagining of what the romance between poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne may have been like. The pretty visuals and the abundant use of lines of poetry, passionately spoken by the very capable Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish, made it a very lovely movie, and all the more heartbreaking. I felt compelled to go the library when it was over and get a book of Keats’ poetry, which I have been dipping into all week. I had to scribble these lines from the movie down, since as a person who has struggled a bit with understanding how to read poetry, they were particularly apt:

Keats, speaking to Fanny after she asks how to ‘work out’ a poem – “A poem needs understanding through the senses. The point of diving in a lake is not immediately to swim to the shore. It’s to be in the lake, to luxuriate in the sensation of water. You do not work the lake out. It is an experience beyond thought. Poetry soothes and emboldens the soul to accept mystery.”

A Serious ManA Serious Man – Joel and Ethan Coen – USA – 2009
Initially I had no interest in watching this movie, even though I’ve seen most of Joel and Ethan Coen’s work, and liked a lot of it. While the trailer I saw was intriguing, I loathed it, finding the banging of a head against a wall throughout much more violent than the blood and guts that make frequent appearances in their movies. However, we played it at the Reel for a week, and on the last day I decided to watch it. A very mellow movie, in the end, that offers up an interesting take on the Book of Job. Larry Gopnik is a Midwestern professor, who has a simple little life with his lovely wife (complete with her 1967’s hairdo) and his charming (horrible) children. Of course, just as he’s about to get tenure and everything is going so nicely, things rapidly unravel in every possible direction. He seeks the advice of several rabbis, questioning God’s will and purpose. Darkly humorous events ensue. I definitely didn’t love this movie. The general idea that life simply sucks, whether you believe that there is a God directing things, or whether you believe there isn’t and it’s just all fate, is too sad to be really funny. However, in their usual manner, the Cohen brothers find ways to bring out the quirky and ironic in everyday life, and make a point about happiness being all about your perspective. I definitely didn’t hate the movie either!

Invictus – Clint Eastwood – USA – 2009
Although I love Morgan Freeman, and am increasingly impressed with Clint Eastwood, I was peeved that Matt Damon was playing a South African man in this movie, and based on that alone I didn’t feel compelled to watch it. With two huge names already attached to the project, I felt that a rising South African actor should have been cast in Damon’s role. And I was worried that he wouldn’t be able to pull off the accent, something that annoys me greatly! However, due to the senior matinee at the Reel, I went ahead and saw it today. I liked it well enough. It was suitably inspiring. Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela was quite amazing, and getting a look at the game of rugby was interesting to me. And okay, okay, Matt Damon was fine in the role, accent and all! A really decent movie all around – but nothing spectacular.

That’s my movie watching to date. Fun stuff, but it feels weird to have seen so many new films – all from 2009 except for the Jim Jarmusch one. I need to dig up some more obscure stuff in the coming weeks. 🙂

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Posted in Authors, Famous People, Movie Mayhem, Movies, Non-sense, Poetry | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | January 14, 2010

The Big Read V: The Woman in White – Installments 2-4

DSC00348by Wilkie Collins

In which we continued the story with Walter Hartright, saw it elaborated upon by Vincent Gilmore and Marian Halcombe, reached the end of the First Epoch, and began the Second Epoch, with Marion continuing as narrator…in short, we have arrived at page 271!

I finally got home yesterday, a day late and a bit worse for wear after 5 days in chilly Atlanta at a trade show, where long days, recirculated airplane and skyscraper air, and a lack of Vitamin C all contributed to my bringing a head cold home with me as a souvenir… The Woman in White did all she could to keep my spirits up though, and while I have missed posting about the book, I haven’t yet fallen behind the reading schedule.

So where are we at? (Spoilers are of course to be found in the following paragraphs!)

Shockingly, Walter fell in love with the sweet and sensitive Laura, who is of course tangled in a prior engagement. The mysterious Woman in White appears again, this time with a name attached to her – Anne Catherick – and a sinister warning in regards to Laura’s fiancee. Sir Percival Glyde turns out to be a perfect gentleman – too perfect, perhaps (of course!!). Walter takes himself away to deepest South America to nurse his broken heart, while Laura further injures hers by telling Sir Percival she is in love with some unnamed other, in the hope that he will free her from their engagement. He doesn’t. Marian, in spite of her own very clear (although to all appearances, unfounded) objections, can do nothing to prevent the marriage, and so without further ado, it occurs.

Six months pass. Laura, now Lady Glyde, returns from Italy with her husband, who has (again, shockingly) become less of a gentleman. The bizarre and somewhat sinister Count Fosco accompanies them. Things are mysterious as ever, and increasingly difficult as Sir Percival begins in earnest to weasel his way into possession of Laura’s money, Anne Catherick’s mother searches the neighborhood for news of her daughter, and really, what is Count Fosco up to anyway?

I am thoroughly enjoying this book, even if the apparent denseness of the characters is mildly frustrating at times. It was obvious to me right away that Sir Percival was putting on an elaborate show in order to marry Laura for her money. The poor lawyer, Vincent Gilmore, saw that plainly too, but his hands were tied. (Does anyone else think his sudden collapse was foul play??) Marian, for all her supposed good sense, spent rather too much time trying to convince herself that she was wrong about Sir Percival, when she should have been trusting the warnings of her subconscious. She is not completely surprised by the ominous twists and turns of their story so far, and while I know that there was little she could do to prevent the disaster she and Laura now find themselves mired in, I still wish she would have listened to her gut a little more. (As CC commented over at Leila’s blog, one of Marian’s obvious problems is that she hasn’t read enough sensational fiction!)

At this point in the story, it is Count Fosco whom I find to be utterly fascinating. Who knows what mischief he is up to, but his clever use of words and his apparent power over Sir Percival are both intriguing. His speech about wise criminals and foolish ones leads me to believe that he classifies himself amongst the wise ones. Instead of making me dread what evil business he has hatched up, and how it will effect poor Laura and Marian and probably Walter, I am instead overly eager to see how his scheme unfolds!

The book continues to be awesome, with this section closing with a delicious shiver as someone sneaks about in the woods, following Marian and Laura on an evening walk. Is The Woman back in all her Whiteness? We shall see.

——
Previously:

The Big Read V: The Woman in White – Ist Installment

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Posted in Authors, Big Read V, Books, Non-sense, Novels, Read-Along, Reading, Traveling, Wilkie Collins | Tags: , , , ,

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | January 9, 2010

The Atlanta International Gifts & Home Furnishings Market

I have several blog entries that I was planning to write this weekend, but after a 12 hour day at AmericansMart Atlanta, I am not going to try to push it. I am on the first official ‘business trip’ of my life. I am spending three days at an enormous trade show with my boss from Our New England Country Store, playing my part as her manager and assisting in the purchase of an astonishing amount of merchandise.

This is just the latest development in what is rapidly becoming my more professional job, even though my other job at the movie theater is more fun and much closer to my heart. However, I’m getting the knack of the retail thing after two years, and as I have more responsibility and say in the matter, I am even developing my own tastes for ‘primitive’ and specific types of ‘country’ merchandise. (We don’t go in for ‘Americana’ at ONECS though – oh no we do not!)

So anyway, since shopping all day is truly exhausting, I am letting myself off the hook when it comes to keeping up with my blog. I’ll be back on Wednesday, after I’ve talked my boss into buying as much super fun Halloween stuff as I can!*

——

*I have to admit that on the one hand, I’m slightly embarrassed by my new profession – not too long ago I secretly sneered at the majority of the merchandise I sold in order to keep a roof over my head – but on the other hand, it’s been increasingly becoming bizarrely fun. AmericasMart is something else, let me tell you! Of course the travel part is great, and the eating. Indian food tonight at Haveli Indian Cuisine. Oh, and did I mention that it is FREEZING in Atlanta? It’s warmer back home in Maine! Chalk the whole thing up to life experiences I guess. 🙂

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Posted in Adventure, Co-Workers, Food, Non-sense, Traveling, Weather, Work | Tags: , , , ,

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | January 7, 2010

Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Death and Dementia

DSC00350Illustrated by Gris Grimly

On Tuesday I visited my library with the purpose of checking out some books (instead of just picking up an ILL) for the first time in what seems like forever. Aside from the book of poetry by Ogdan Nash, and a collection of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry, I picked up a book called Click which is by 10 different authors (more about that when I finish it!), and this juicy piece of work from the combined genius of Poe and Gris Grimly.

While I must complain that the four stories contained within the book were abridged (pooh…), other than that the book was awesome. I have really never read much Poe before. The peculiar tilt of his language was kept intact as far as I could tell, and the words alone were spine chilling and delicious. Gris Grimly’s fabulous illustrations were manic and colorful, and suitable grisly at times.

I was so pleased with this book that all the time I was reading it last night while at work at the theater, I kept stopping to jam it into someone’s face in order to get their reaction. It was generally admired, and one of my co-workers deemed me to be 25% cooler as long as I had the book in my hands!

I have to go back and see if Jesup has the companion – Tales of Mystery and Madness – or else I’ll have to ILL it. 🙂

DSC00352

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Posted in Art, Authors, Book design, Book related, Books, Comic Books, Comics, Edgar Allen Poe, Famous People, Graphic Novels, Gris Grimly, Non-sense, Reading, Short Story | Tags: , , ,

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | January 6, 2010

The Big Read V: The Woman in White – 1st Installment

DSC00348by Wilkie Collins

The First Epoch: The Story Begun by Walter Hartright, Chapters I-VIII

(WARNING: I’m not going to make a huge effort to avoid spoilers in this post, so all you who have never read the book, be ye warned! Read at your own literary risk.)

‘There, in the middle of the broad, bright high-road – there, as if it had that moment sprung out of the earth or dropped from the heaven – stood the figure of a solitary Woman, dressed from head to foot in white garments; her face bent in grave inquiry on mine, her hand pointing to the dark cloud over London, as I faced her.‘

My copy of this book (donated to me by the generous Richard of Caravana de recuerdos) claims that The Woman in White is the first and greatest ‘Sensation Novel’. I can testify to it’s sensationalism! It is spine tinglingly exciting from the get go, when Walter Hartright, teacher of drawing, begins by hinting mightily about the strange and mysterious events he’s in the process of revealing – (and makes some apt observations about the Law, which even to this day is, ‘in certain inevitable cases, the pre-engaged servant of the long purse’!)

Walter so far is not incredibly interesting, but as he moves to Limmeridge House to take up a teaching engagement, the people he encounters along the way are delightful. From the hilarious Pesca, the little Italian who loves English ways, to the horribly finicky Mr Fairlie, Collins has already imagined up a fine crop of fun characters.

Marian Halcombe, who along with her half sister Laura Fairlie, is the student of art that Walter was summoned to assist, is especially fine. Her snappy conversation and lively opinions, as well as her quick curiosity, make her instantly my favorite character thus far.

Aside from the thrilling moment when the Woman appeared in the night, the ending of chapter VIII with it’s (sensational) revelation about the similarity of appearance between Laura and the Woman, has proved that my attention will be kept and held for the remaining 500+ pages.

If the opinions of our Big Read V host Lelia interest you, check them out here. Next installment coming around the 8th. 🙂

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Posted in Adventure, Authors, Big Read V, Books, Famous People, Non-sense, Novels, Read-Along, Reading, Wilkie Collins | Tags: , , ,

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | January 5, 2010

Family Reunion

DSC00347by Ogden Nash

Thanks to a delightful piece in issue No. 24 of Slightly Foxed, I took a tumble into the world of humorous verse tonight. Oliver Pritchett wrote about a poet of ‘splendid daring‘, who would ‘lay about the language to suit his ends‘ – a poet who was an ‘ingenious rhymester‘.

Thus was I reminded of Ogden Nash, whom I’m sure I’ve read before, but never knowingly. I got a collection of his poems from my library and proceeded to read the whole thing over the course of this evening. My mind is reeling from a couplet overload! I couldn’t put Family Reunion down though – it was too much fun. 🙂

The poems that made up the first section dealt with the joys and trials of raising children, and while some were laugh-out-loud funny, I wasn’t completely convinced. In the second section Nash’s short and clever descriptions of animals showed off his own unique way of working the language more clearly. A favorite:

‘The Porpoise
I kind of like the playful porpoise,
A healthy mind in a healthy corpus.
He and his cousin, the playful dolphin,
Why they like swimming like I like golphin.‘

Since from time to time I’ve written poetry (ha!) and have struggled to make things rhyme, I love the idea of a poet saying, ‘Oh, heck with it!’ and just making up a word!

The third section had an unobtrusive seriousness tangled into poems about adult relationships and making a go at life. I liked this one for it’s joyous playfulness though:

Ogden Nash‘No Doctors Today, Thank You
They tell me that euphoria is the feeling of feeling wonderful; well today I feel euphorian,
Today I have the agility of a Greek god and the appetite of a Victorian.
Yes, today I may even go forth without my galoshes;
Today I am a swashbuckler, would anybody like me to buckle and swashes?
This is my euphorian day,
I will ring welkins and before anybody answers I will run away.
I will tame me a caribou
And bedeck it with marabou.
I will pen my memoirs.
Ah youth, youth! What euphorian days them was!
I wasn’t much of a hand for the boudoirs,
I was generally to be found where food was.
Does anybody want any flotsam?
I’ve gotsam.
Does anybody want any jetsam?
I can getsam.
I can play “Chopsticks” on the Wurlitzer,
I can speak Portuguese like a Berlitzer.
I can don or doff my shoes without tying or untying the laces because I am wearing moccasins,
And I practically know the difference between serums and antitoccasins.
Kind people, don’t think me purse-proud, don’t set me down as vainglorious,
I’m just a little euphorious.‘

This one does capture the feeling of euphoria, especially since the guy feels so good that he can mention “Chopsticks” in a friendly tone of voice. (In an earlier poem he raged against it, and beginner pianists in general…!)

The poem I liked the best, probably due to it’s very apt timing, is A Word About Winter:

‘Now the frost is on the pane,
Rugs upon the floor again,
Now the screens are in the cellar,
Now the student cons the speller,
Lengthy summer noon is gone,
Twilight treads the heels of dawn,
Round-eyed sun is now a squinter,
Tiptoe breeze a painting sprinter,
Every cloud a blizzard hinter,
Squirrel on the snow a printer,
Rainspout sprouteth icy splinter,
Willy-nilly, this is winter.

Summer-swollen doorjambs settle,
Ponds and puddles turn to metal,
Skater whoops in frisky fettle,
Golf club stingeth like a nettle,
Radiator sings like a kettle,
Hearth is popocatepetl.

Runneth nose and chappeth lip,
Draft evadeth weather strip,
Doctor wreastleth with grippe
In never-ending rivalship.
Rosebush droops in garden shoddy,
Blood is cold and thin in body,
Weary postman dreams of toddy,
Head before the hearth grows noddy.
On the hearth the embers gleam,
Glowing like a maiden’s dream,
Now the apple and the oak
Paint the sky with chimney smoke,
Husband now, without disgrace,
Dumps ash trays in the fireplace.‘

Lovely – captures both the chill of winter, and the delicious coziness of it – and in fabulous couplets! Thanks Nash. I’ll be visiting your rhymeulicious world again soon. 🙂

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Posted in Authors, Book related, Books, Famous People, Non-sense, Ogden Nash, Periodicals, Reading, Weather | Tags: , , ,

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | January 4, 2010

Movie Monday: Jan.1st-Jan.4th

O' HortonI really like keeping lists, so it’s kind of funny that I’ve never kept track of the movies I watch beyond rating them through Netflix. I felt ridiculously pleased with myself yesterday after I set up a “Movies 2010” list, complete with title, director, country, year, and my personal rating. It will be extremely amusing to me to track how many movies I actually watch per month, and exactly how sporadically odd my choices are.

For instance, since the beginning of the year (four days ago) I have watched 6 movies – 4 American, 1 British, and 1 Norwegian, with release dates ranging from 1975 to 2007. That’s already really interesting to me! Perhaps less so to the rest of the world, but hey, what else are blogs for?

This is all just the build up to announcing a new blog feature of mine, for which I will post once weekly about the movies I watch. It’s been so rewarding to put a little more brain power into examining the books I read, and since watching movies is about neck and neck with reading in the race to being my top time consuming activity, it seems only logical that I should spend a little more time dwelling on the the movies I watch. I’ve written about movies before here, but now I want to do it with more focus.

To kick things off, let me quickly go through those 6 movies I mentioned. 🙂

The Nightmare Before Christmas – Henry Selick – USA – 1993
I know this is a classic, and while I found it somewhat interesting it really just made me want to watch Coraline again, as it is far superior in my opinion. I found Nightmare visually interesting, but the singing and dancing was quite dull.

A Boy and His Dog – L. Q. Jones – USA – 1975
As I mentioned before I learned about this movie through Book Travellers Inc., and the premise of a boy and his telepathic dog trying to make it in a post-apocalyptic world intrigued me. A very young Don Johnson was also good bait. The film itself proved to be bizarre and kinky, but quite satisfying. It’s based on a story by Harlan Ellison, so of course I now feel compelled to track that down!

Clash of the Titans – Desmond Davis – USA – 1981
With a new version of this movie coming out sometime this year, I felt the need to watch the original. I’m so glad I did! In this mish-mash of Greek myths I found much to giggle at (especially the “pretty” but dense Perseus played by Harry Hamlin), but was also impressed by the visual effects that must have been quite something when it opened in 1981. The stop motion animation mixed with live action was especially fun. It was also hilarious to see Laurence Olivier as Zeus, and I was delighted to encounter Maggie Smith looking the youngest I’ve ever seen her. A winner all round.

Smokey and the Bandit – Hal Needham – USA – 1977
This movie made me laugh a lot, and will definitely be one of my go-to movies when I feel a particularly strong need for a good high speed car chase. Burt Reynolds is easy on the eyes, but it is the adorable Sally Field who steals the show.

Krull – Peter Yates – UK – 1983
This is a good example of how I often pick out movies: while scanning the back of this DVD I read that it was one of Liam Neeson’s earliest screen appearances, and so without a second thought I rented it. Another foray into the wide wide world of special effects, this movie offered up a futuristic world that definitely had more in common with a fairy tale than most sci-fi landscapes. There were some alien/monster baddies, but also a prince rescuing a princess, some seers, some changelings, a cyclops, fire mares, a magician, a giant spider, a movable fortress, etc. It was a long and complex quest, and I pretty much enjoyed it, even if I found myself snickering into my sleeve on more than one occasion. Liam Neeson was definitely there, tall and handsome as ever, but it was Robbie Coltrane making an obscure and minor appearance that got me the most excited.

O’ Horton – Bent Hamer – Norway – 2007 (Movie of the Week!)
My Dad won many points with me for this Christmas present! We played it at the theater I work at last fall, and I loved it then – after a re-watch it proved to be just as good as I remembered. A simple story about how a 67-year old train engineer adjusts to retirement after nearly 40 years of service, it captures his first awkward steps into a new life with exquisite charm. The movie is full of quiet but quirky scenes, and Baard Owe plays the character of Odd Horton with grace and humor. The composer and musician Kaada provides a lovely score that really pulls the whole thing together. A captivating film, and one that is at the top of my current favorites list. 🙂

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Posted in Authors, Famous People, Foreign Films, Movie Mayhem, Movies, Music, Non-sense | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | January 1, 2010

January 1st, 2010

Boy and Dog

I was going to make some new years resolutions today, but instead I watched A Nightmare Before Christmas and A Boy and His Dog (the picture above is of the adorable Don Johnson and his incredibly scruffy, but telepathic pal). I also started reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, and perused the first piece in one of my new literary loves, Slightly Foxed, (The Real Reader’s Quarterly).

Now I’m going to go for a quick walk around my snowy town, and then head to work at Reel Pizza Cinerama. And that pretty much sums up the resolutions I have for 2010: ever more reading, more movies, more walking, and more fun at work – and better blogging about it all! 🙂

(Many thanks to Pia at Book Travellers Inc. for bringing the bizarrely awesome A Boy and His Dog to my attention, and to Desperate Reader for giving the shout out to Slightly Foxed that I was fortunate enough to hear! 🙂 )

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Posted in Authors, Bar Harbor, Big Read V, Book related, Books, Famous People, Hiking/Walking, Movies, Non-sense, Novels, Reading, snow, Wilkie Collins, Work | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

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