March 01, 2010

Family(minusGirl)Reaction: Lovely Bones

I didn't go see this b/c of an irritation I had with the book. Reading how much my parents liked it made me decide to check out showtimes...and it's already left Chicago completely. Must not have done that well, but as you can read below, they thought it was great.

DadReaction: Did not read book. Thought it sounded too creepy. Must say though: this movie is transcendent. You're really upset at the start and it takes you on a journey of reconciliation that's so odd, so unusual--I thought, anyway--i just don't get why only Tucci got a nomination (for a NOTHING part). Peter Jackson must wonder what he has to do anymore. I mean, King Kong was the movie of the year when IT came out. Not that this one is tops, but c'mon, guys, it's so well done, so unusual, so powerful, it deserves a nod. A lot of the movie was the kid, though--really good casting. But everybody was good.

MomReaction: Your Dad would put it in the top 10 of the year. I liked the way it used horror movie techniques, music that makes you think something is going on, anticipation, really well and it was never a trick, something did happen. I also thought that you went from something that tore your heart out and then saw redemption--hard won. The family did get back to being able to love each other and live, even though something terrible had happened. And the bad guy was identified and died in a very fitting way. The between world was very interesting too.

This movie was complete. It expressed real pain and hurt as well as love, abiding love. And it had a depth that nothing else I saw this year had. So, much as I loved Julie and Julia and Avatar and Inglorious Bastards, I think this had everything they had and more. It was at a completely different level. I think it was too bad only Stanley Tucci got nominated. Although it would be fair to call this an ensemble. Peter Jackson deserved a nomination.

And the setting/background, and special effects ( maybe the category was visual effects) deserved mention in nomination. Your dad just mentioned adapted screenplay as well. Mark Wahlberg was as good as I've ever seen him, lots of emotional depth and even a kind of beauty. Maybe even Susan Sarandon as best supporting actress.

Posted by Duff at 12:52 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks, MomReaction, Recommending

February 01, 2010

DadReaction: Nostromo, by Joseph Conrad

Our November challenge book. I had to leave Dad in the lurch on this one, I just had too much school work in November (with finals in the beginning of December) to undertake this one.

Dad: It was harder to get into than I expected / I remembered really liking Conrad. It was one of those sort of prescient things that could be so easily adapted: a South American country gets sucked into the capitalism of the West, because of its resources. Of course, this starts warping the society there; you're watching it happen.

It's an interestingly written book: always taking some weird perspective, lots of flashbacks, leaving things behind. You know ahead of time who makes it and who doesn't, because he tells you throughout the text. Odd hero as well: he won't marry the right chick / her dad kills him. Very odd ending for a book about something else

Worth it but I did have to flog through it.

Posted by Duff at 04:10 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 09, DadReaction

January 22, 2010

YA/Fiction: The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean

Our challenge book for October. I can't remember what led us to pick this book; I know we (or I) read about it somewhere.

We both LOVED it. It doesn't hurt that we're both South Pole/Antarctic junkies and have already read lots of books on the topic/subject/area (including great books by Sara Wheeler! "Terra Incognita" and "Cherry").

Sym is so smart and fantastically imaginative. It's one of those books that, rather than having an unreliable narrator, it's a narrator who doesn't know everything but as she figures it out, the revelations start coming out fast and crazy and the whole world changes before your eyes. Her obsession with Captain Titus Oates is both humorous and touching.

There's some really sad stuff and some really amazing stuff and you are just ROOTING for certain things to happen...

Fantastic.

Posted by Duff at 10:46 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 09, DadReaction, Readin', Recommending

January 17, 2010

Fiction: A Pair of Blue Eyes, by Thomas Hardy

Our September challenge book.

Dad really enjoyed it, I really did not.

It's an earlier Hardy (almost 20 years before Tess of the d'Urbervilles and more than that before Jude the Obscure) but its immaturities writing-wise really didn't bother me. And Dad's right, there is some really beautiful descriptive writing in it. (Some of the descriptions of the cliffs and the countryside would really take me away for a moment and I'd think "oh that sentence was lovely.")

But I found the characters, especially Elfride, and the plot and the ridiculous romantic contretemps -- all of which could have been avoided just by somebody opening up their mouth and being honest once in a while -- So. Fucking. ANNOYING! I mean, yes, I know, it's a thing of its time, and society was a very different animal and women had such a struggle to even be allowed to have opinions... YES I KNOW all that. That doesn't make me enjoy it any more or want to be more patient with it. I really never found anyone in the novel interesting enough or attractive enough to be more than irritated by their behavior and the events.

Dad on the other hand could find more sympathy for it. In his own words: I ended up liking it a lot--i think Hardy has the gift of life, always makes the characters live (for me, anyway). Did you notice he stopped being so maddeningly allusive as he got closer to the end--he started to trust his own tale and didn't need to refer to Hamlet, etc. And the way his poor people a) get stuck with carrying these torches of love beyond all reason and b) ALWAYS running into the wrong person or the wrong room or being seen in the wrong company. Poor Elfride!!!! Leaving that note for that ghastly woman!! What a schmuck Knight was. Also like Hardy's scenery, the way the places and landscapes become characters. Great cliff scene, no? And , for a Victorian, lots of erotic buzz.

Posted by Duff at 04:53 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 09, DadReaction, Readin'

January 12, 2010

DadReaction: The Time Traveller's Wife

Note he has not read the book (yet); I have not seen the movie. I LOVELOVEDLOVED the book. Which is why we will be reading it in our challenge this year.

Really good. Sad, sad, sad, but you knew that. One of the first movies this year in which I bought the romance--but I REALLY bought it. Eric and Rachel are so super together. Really tears your heart out. And the time stuff is handled so well--you feel like you've known these two for YEARS.

Posted by Duff at 02:05 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

Dad's and My Reading Challenge for 2010 [Updated]

We have decided to do re-reads this year (or each book will be a re-read for at least one of us).

January: "A Study in Scarlet" by Arthur Conan Doyle

February: "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

March: "Rebel Angels" by Robertson Davies

April: "Possession" by A.S. Byatt

May: "The Fool's Progress" by Edward Abbey (new to me)

June: "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger (new to Dad)

July: "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville

August & September: "His Dark Materials" (the trilogy) by Philip Pullman

October: "Sabbath's Theater" by Phillip Roth

November: "The Old Devils" by Kingsley Amis (new to me)

December: "King Hereafter" by Dorothy Dunnett (new to Dad)

Our 2009 and 2008 lists. (Our 2009 and 2008 reviews.) [Yes, I know I haven't finished posting 2009 yet. I will hopefully get all caught up this week!]

Posted by Duff at 01:57 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 10, DadReaction, Readin'

DadReaction: Away We Go

Hilarious friends they had--yet there was a real ring of truth in lots of the scenes. JK and MR I thought were really good --and good together. (That first sex scene was too much for the people sitting in front of us though: they stood up and stomped out.)

I liked it too. Although I have a quibble with one bit of it that I didn't mention there. Maybe I'll write about it later.

Posted by Duff at 01:54 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

DadReaction: Whip It!

WONDERFUL movie. Does everything right that most growing up movies do wrong vis a vis romance, winning, etc. This was just great. Drew--well done!! Ellen Page--Babe Ruthless: tremendous! Good ensemble acting, from top to bottom. Lots of smiles, growls, tears, cheers--I LOVED THIS MOVIE!!

Took me back to when I'd come home from Mass on Sunday and watch--ROLLER DERBY!!! My team was the Bay Area Bombers! They had both men and women jamming in alternate periods--but this was really cool.

Highly recommended. (Minor aside--Zoe Bell, the stunt woman from Deathproof was one of the "Hurl Scouts"--I think her track name was "Bloody Holly".)

Posted by Duff at 01:48 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

DadReaction: Zombieland

FOUR STARS! High-larious! There's a mid-flick cameo that's worth the price of two admissions. A hoot throughout. Woody Harrelson's finest performance.

Posted by Duff at 01:48 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

DadReaction: Hurt Locker

I've already told you how much I loved Hurt Locker (twice). Dad loved it too.

OMG!!Fabulous!! Will James was so intense!! And how they'd freak out when they didn't know what was happening!! You can see why the guys in Iraq just blast away. Super.

I include the following paragraph for hilarity's sake, perhaps you need some humor in your day. No, we are NOT going to become bomb defusers.

But hey: when I came out I wondered: am I too old to do this shit? Because I would LOVE to do this shit!!!! What do you think? Look--the UN must need people to defuse all those minefields around the world, no? LET'S DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Research it! We'll do it together. (As your Mom said when I mentioned this, "You're probably too old--but, on the other hand, nobody would care if you died." Exactly!!) So let's do it!!

ETA: More musing on The Hurt Locker. Funny: Your mom really put off by it--something about the guy disturbed her. But I'm sitting there thinking: I could be that guy!! In fact, it reminded me of some of the calls I went out on when i was with Temperature Control at Purdue*--you'd walk in alone to these insane situations--steam pipes busted , heat going wild, animals freaking out in their cages, HUMANS (worst animals on earth) freaking out, and: WOW! what a buzz you'd get from the challenge!!! Just the challenge to be focused while all this chaos was around you. I mean, I so get that: that it could be your happiest time on earth.

That little smile on James' face at the end, when he's gone back for another tour and he's walking out to deal with whatever's out there. Yeah, yeah....

Oh, reminds me: one of my favorite movies is about another bomb disposal squad--called Juggernaut, w. Richard Harris, David Hemings. Seen it? Worth a look. Richard Lester, of all people, directed.

*Note he has a PhD and an MDiv but yes there was a time when he had two young kids and a wife and worked at Temperature Control to pay the rent.

Posted by Duff at 12:32 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks, Watchin'

DadReaction: Julie & Julia

It gets my award for most JOYFUL movie of the year. Grinning the whole time. The mod. story (about the blogger) has been sort of carped at by reviewers, but I thought Adams and the guy were v. believable and funny and neurotic--I mean, the stories, eras, women are different but, boy I'd say Adams held her own with Streep. Of course, Streep is getting the praise and she is super--esp. playing such an outsized, well known drama queen like Julia Child. Great impersonation, but she's in the character--you laugh and cry with her, fight with her.

I thought all the humor was very character driven and not contrived (as in the romcoms of the summer--TheProposal and themoviethatmustneverbenamed), and I thought both lives were very gently led to the paths they took. Back and forth between the eras very good too--and interestingly, both eras have a grim background: 9-11 with the mod story and the McCarthy witchhunt in the Child story.

So you get this genuine search for joy in ordinary life, no matter what the world's doing, which is of course how we all live. And the movie takes you to the joy. Highly recommended.

Posted by Duff at 12:28 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks, Watchin'

Fiction: Netherland, by Joseph O'Neill

Our challenge book for August.

I liked it more than Dad did (he reports having to flog himself through it) but overall, as time has passed, it didn't leave that much of an impression. It felt like there was an awful lot of that male midlife meandering (the way Philip Roth and David Hodges novels are getting to be)... The modern stuff was a lot sharper, the drooling down memory lane stuff (moonings over mama and cricket) bored us both. Dude's wife was a totally infuriating character; that relationship was nearly inexplicable. We both liked Chuck but his role is weirdly peripheral and pivotal at the same time.

It was a decent enough book but we have no idea why it got the hype it did. I guess the 9/11 references were probably what brought it to people's attention. Eh.

This is what I've learned on the subject of women: never delay. The more quickly you act, the greater the chance of success.

Posted by Duff at 12:20 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 09, DadReaction, Lit Quotes, Readin'

October 18, 2009

Big Screen: Public Enemies

I thought this was a good movie, but not a great one.

On the great side, Johnny Depp's performance was brilliant. The sets, clothing, atmosphere were all well done. The dude playing the agent from Texas was great - and I loved his (kind) lie at the end. Marion Cotillard was wonderful and it was so nice to see her not looking like Edith Piaf on screen! :)

On the not as great side, he winds up in jail way too soon. The audience hasn't been given enough time to know the gang, to know the politics of dealing with the other mobsters. It's like just as the action was getting good... I thought that was a bad decision in terms of timing. A lot of the dramatic tension was lost after that. And there were a bunch of scenes that I thought felt too flat (and clearly flatter than they were intended). Not enough tension / somewhat balanced out by Depp's bravura performance, but not entirely.

As Dad said when he was re-watching Point Break to get ready to see Hurt Locker (which is definitely my favorite movie of 2009, btw): Now there's a movie about bank robbers and an obsessive agent that pursues them plus a little romance --Michael Mann, take note.

Posted by Duff at 12:15 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks, Watchin'

October 08, 2009

Fiction: Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray

Our challenge book for July and what a behemoth it was. As DadReaction described it: "Some gremlin keeps adding chapters to this sucker, so no matter how much I read there's still more to go. and more, and more, and more..."

It's weird how what we all remember / socially think / this book to be about is Becky Sharp yet in fact she disappears for chapters at a time, as sometimes do Dobbin and Amelia as well. (You could easily abridge about several hundred pages out of this thing and lose nothing of the main plot lines.) There are passages about which members of society are at a party that read as thrillingly as the genealogical sections of the bible.

GirlReaction: The problem with most of the older (in terms of when they were published!) books we've read this year is insipid heroines. I just get bored by the helpless female (Amelia) and the crafty female (Becky) is just as one-dimensional in her own way (although a bit more entertaining). I sometimes feel that as you read "old classics" you can pick out a bit of WHY they were so renowned in their time (or shortly afterward) but it seems very old hat now (i.e., the things that were original about them don't seem original if you happen to have read their (many, and later) imitators first).

DadReaction: Reminded of what Samuel Johnson said of Paradise Lost: everyone can see its value, but no one ever wished it longer. Amen. Becky, the one live wire, keeps vanishing--didn't you think it would be more about her? And the old men--Sedley and Osborne--are just monsters!! It's like suddenly you're in a Eugene O'Neil play. Very much an 18th century feel to the book, though. More like Tom Jones than , say, Great Expectations. Names too are tres 18th siecle: e.g., Castlemouldy. Dobbin's a complete idiot.

Posted by Duff at 10:17 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 09, DadReaction, Readin'

August 19, 2009

DadReaction: "My only complaint about Julia Child,

and I say this as the dishwasher in the family, is if you could make something using 2 pans, she instructs you to make it using 8."

Posted by Duff at 10:46 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Random Quotes

July 28, 2009

DadReaction: Harry Potter #6

The BEST Potter movie. Some very nice moments, stunning scenery, great visuals.

[He kept it short, knowing I am not a Potter Person.]

Posted by Duff at 10:05 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks, Recommending

DadReaction: The Ugly Truth

Alternate title: Cinematic Horror.

Good. God. Worst. Movie. Of. The. Year. Perhaps the Decade.

Added treat. Sitting in front of some...well, clone of the neanderthal in the movie who thought the film was high-larious. Bellowing guffaws at (all AND ONLY) the grossest parts. And, oh, there are many.

At one moment I thought: this is the kind of movie you hope your mother doesn't know you were at.

At one point, Katherine asks Gerald why he loves her--for a second, I thought he was going to say "Because the script makes me!" NO other reason.

Posted by Duff at 09:52 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

DadReaction: The Proposal

Alternate title: Movie Moan.

Spectacularly funny beginning. In a way, they did to The Devil Wears Prada what His Girl Friday did to the Front page--switched the gender of the assistant/reporter. Bullock v. good here, kid adequate. But if you can imagine Streep and Hathaway becoming lovers in Prada--go ahead, try it. No really, are you trying? Okay, now you've got some idea of what goes spectacularly wrong with this flick. The romance is EMBARASSINGLY UNBELIEVABLE. Wow. CANNOT express how unbelievable. Also, the dad is simply from some other, horrible movie about a father who drives his son to suicide. Just warps the comedy. (It's like the public humiliation of the girl in Much Ado About Nothing--you never get back to the lightness.)

What's truly disappointing about all this is that Bullock and what's his name--the Boy--have pretty good comic timing: verbal and physical. They step on each other's words and look awkward when they're pretending to be cuddly very well. Also, so much of the humor is good, like the beginning set-up. But then, just as it goes for simple romance, it goes for simple laughs. Compare the super set-up of the dog/eagle joke with the non-set-up of the
nude collision joke. (When's the last time you took a shower without knowing where the towel was? First grade?)

I'm really sick of movies that take hyper-competent women, send them to somewhere with--I don't know--TREES, and assume they will become completely helpless. I mean, they won't even be able to carry a suitcase. PLUS: she's supposed to be Canadian. Just who in Canada can be surprised at living conditions in Alaska?

You keep thinking of different ways the romance could have gone--including nowhere, with some other development of these two: what's wrong with mutual respect? Is romance the ONLY way we grow? Why not have the kid have an older brother that she falls for? Or--geez--why not have her take on the dad? She eats guys like him for breakfast in her job--she can't manage it in Sitka?

Posted by Duff at 09:49 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

July 17, 2009

Fiction: Motherless Brooklyn, by Jonathan Lethem

Our June challenge book.

We both just TOTALLY loved this book. So much fantastic word play. Great plot, nice details on the L.I.C./BQE area of NYC. A completely original take on this type of book, just takes it to another level.

As DadReaction put it: you know, I usually don't enjoy bizarre narrators but I really--EAT ME, MINNAWEED--like Lionel--and the unlocking of the Tourette's experience is just dazzling (like when he talks about the environments that calm him). Balmslim. Slamkill. Allmiss. Really good.

Also (GR here again) reminded me of the character Adah from Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible (a great book and to my mind by far the best Kingsolver book).

Posted by Duff at 05:37 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 09, DadReaction, Readin', Recommending

Fiction: Dracula, by Bram Stoker

Dad's and my challenge book for May and a re-read for me from grad school (the first time around!).

It was really interesting to go back and re-read this now, when vampires are such a hot topic: between Twilight and True Blood, they're all over the place. But this? This is back when vampires weren't sexy, or intriguing, or sparkly, or helpful to humans, or any of the other modern twists. (You know how every new vampire series needs to put its own twist on the old legends. Which I find it a bit of an authorial conceit.)

They were scary and murderous and preyed on you and sometimes, if you were really unlucky, turned you to evil. There is menace and malice creeping out the seams of this book. It did get annoying (to both of us) how the men just fawn over the poor innocent women...it's definitely a novel "of its time" as they say.

Kept running into notes I had scrawled in the margins in whatever class I read this for (while getting a Literature MA): "This symbolizes the marriage ceremony" or "refers to King Lear". Heh. Funny to come across those although most of it is stuff that you could easily still enjoy the book without knowing.

Dad and I also talked about how similar it felt to Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde which you may remember us reading earlier this year. As Dad mentioned, the multiple points of view, groping for the story, etc.

Some additional comments from DadReaction: Didn't being AND becoming a vampire seem a LOT more complicated than the movies let on? To wit, Drac seems to be able to be out in daylight, he just has less power--and WAY less at sunrise and sunset. Then it seems like there are all sorts of transition stages to become one if you're a victim--but you DON'T want to predecease Drac! No way!! That's like a 'get out of jail free' card in monopoly, no? You skip the steps, even if the death is from natural causes--or, what?

Interesting, though, that it's IMPOSSIBLE to read without filling in the blanks from all the movies you've seen. I keep wanting to tell the characters: 'It's a vampire, you morons!!!" And how weird, that van Helsing talks like Yoda.

I did get tired--o Lord, weary, weary--of all the FAWNING over Mina, those long adulatory passages from Herr Yoda.

Posted by Duff at 04:59 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 09, DadReaction, Readin'

June 16, 2009

DadReaction: UP!

Well, we have another summer where the most realistic humans are in CARTOONS!!! They do an intro montage on the life of this old couple and your jaw drops at the sheer sadness of time, time passing, frailty, as the kick off to this fantasy!!!

ALSO: The fantasy/adventure really rocks. Could NOT take kids to the flick. Much scarier than Drag Me To Hell. NO EXAGGERATION. :)

[bold = mine. he cracks me up.]

Posted by Duff at 10:54 AM | E-Mail | Comments (1) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks, Recommending

June 06, 2009

Fiction: Then We Came to the End, by Joshua Ferris

Our challenge book for April.

GirlReaction: We both came to really like it in the end, Dad perhaps a bit more than me, but it was a bit of a struggle to get into. There were times when I felt he played a little fast and loose with the third-person narrative: i.e., if "we over here" don't like "those people over there" they should be "they"s not also another set of "we"s. And I wonder if this book will have a lasting legacy; it's VERY much a book of its time: of a world with "Office Space" and "The Office" and layoffs and recession/depression (and bonus for me: set in Chicago!).

DadReaction, first: Weirdest response: read one paragraph and thought 'going to like this'. read two paragraphs and thought 'can't go on'--happens everytime I pick it up!! There seems to be an underlying suicidal depression about it--maybe it takes me back to when I was desperately job hunting when you guys were tiny. Tres traumatic.

GirlReaction: That may have been part of my struggle with the book as well: my current-day frustrations with the bureaucratic office environment and at the point we were reading this, I had not yet given notice and it did seem each day like I might just be there forever, until I eventually died there and why am I reading a book about people just as unhappy as me.... Arggghhhhhh. However, at some point I did find my way to enjoying the characters and all their many tics and nuances, and I thought it really picked up after a bit. Really enjoyed the Lynn-centric section and the way that really evolved the action.

DadReaction, second: Finished the book of the month. Okay: officially declaring this the best book I've read this year. Amazing effects, some wallops. So weird that it was so hard to get into. But it did take off, as you PROMISED. More than that, though: really mesmerizing use of the 'we'--it gave the narration a real spaciousness, as though this stuff was always happening, the way you really do feel at work, when it seems like you've been telling the same jokes forever. Great comic moments, but a real dive into seriousness--esp. with the Lynn episode, but also when you really believe Tom Mota COULD be blowing people away.

Some very teasing character developments, with Joe Pope and Jim and Amber and Larry, who all seem kind of throw away when they first come round but then he keeps circling them and they all kind of come alive. Oh, and then it was cool that he would mention other people you never heard of, just the way you do when you're telling work tales.

What else? I'm starting to think we should declare a moratorium--wait, no, an outright, absolute BAN on all references to September 11, 2001--because, folks, there really have been worse disasters in history and it's only the infantile Americans who don't seem to realize that. Or realize that we have killed more people in its wake than we want to admit.

But that said, I loved the leap at the end with Hank's novel and the VERY nice touch that it wasn't this entire novel but only the part about Lynn. But the greatest part WAS the way the 'we' sort of surrounded you without ever becoming focussed and that wonderful, wonderful last line with just 'you and me' left. That's from the Muse her ownself.

Oh, and wasn't Janine sitting in the McDonald's play area just a crushing image--and those jerks staring at her, and Joe calling them on it, and then they really feel their primal jerkiness. I thought a lot of it was LIKE Kafka but more fetching than Kafka, less distant and more able to draw you in, but still the same strangeness. And how about Benny's totem pole?!! (Tres glad Marcia and Benny linked up.)

But now: ALL THAT SAID--why does it seem like IT REALLY DOES TAKE FOREVER TO READ!!!!!!?????????? I felt like I'd never get through it, even as I enjoyed each moment. (To be fair, my own exhaustion could have played a part in that.)

Posted by Duff at 10:26 AM | E-Mail | Comments (1) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 09, DadReaction, Readin'

April 12, 2009

Fiction: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson

This was our March challenge book, technically a re-read for both of us and super short!

DadReaction: It WAS a shorty. Too short really--I actually remember it as being longer, but I liked the sense of being taken over by one ghastly part of yourself. It's one of those stories--Jekyll/Hyde one of those characters--that seem to live beyond the actual story itself, like Don Quixote or Sherlock Holmes. Also liked the oblique narration, getting the story at second and third hand from these peripheral figures. Also: the way stuff develops while some of the characters are just going on with their lives and they have to catch up. Kind of a tiny little gem. I remember really liking the Spencer Tracy movie of this; Michael Caine's in one, too--I think he actually impregnates somebody as Hyde and they spawn this grotesque child. Let's see--Hammer films had a Dr. Jekyll/SISTER Hyde teaser out and Jean Renoir, of all people, adapted the original--Stevenson's, not Hammer--for French tv.

What did you think? It actually ranks as a comfort book for me, since I read it in High School and can always pick it up again--like Treasure Island. Looking forward to the next one.....

GirlReaction: As you touched on, the thing that strikes me most is how it is such a dramatic story but told in a completely passive manner. Two dudes, going for a calm evening walk, one says to the other "So you see that door? Let me tell you a story about it..." Yet the story is smack full of drama. The events have all already happened off screen, yet even in the retelling they are gripping. All the hearsay and facts gathered from different sources give it a real urban legend feel. I also love the emphasis on the science of the experiments. First he just wants to explore the duality he already senses in himself...but eventually science fails to overcome the darker side of his personality. As he unwillingly becomes more Hyde than Jekyll, the story shifts to fantasy from science.

Posted by Duff at 12:20 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 09, DadReaction, Readin'

April 07, 2009

Big Screen: Gran Torino

SPOILERS

Another afternoon at the cheap (although $1 more expensive than before!) theater.

My dad and I seriously DISAGREE about this movie. My parents liked a lot of it, thought it was worthwhile, thoughtful, etc. (Although Dad agrees with me about the ending. I think.)

I thought it was sooooooo heavy handed and ridiculous. Most of the scenes between Eastwood and the girl next door (particularly the one in the truck) were, to paraphrase myself, straight out of "The Mung People for Dummies". (When I said this to Dad, he said "Nooooo!!!")

There's a huge difference between "thinking some particular people might be OK" and "realizing that your racist attitudes are bullshit" and Eastwood seems to have filmed the movie thinking he has persuaded you of the latter when in fact he BARELY makes the leap to the former.

I was not impressed. The dialogue was horrible, stiff and sometimes idiotic. C. and I were OFTEN laughing at things that likely were not meant to be funny. It was such a thin attempt at addressing racist attitudes. THIN. And not well done, if you ask me.

I can't quite put my finger on what made this palatable to my pops and not to me. I think it's some combination of 1) age: I found Eastwood's character so annoying and such a perfect picture of what's WRONG with so many old people you run into; how they expect you to just be fine with incredibly rude behavior on their part that they would FREAK OUT if a young person treated them with the same disrespect; and 2) exposure to Asian people in general?and perhaps a more shall we say rare Asian culture in particular? That's my guess anyway.

I really thought it was not a very good movie at all.

And the ending? Hello, suicide by provocation? It almost pissed me off as much as another ridiculous ending recently (THAT LINK HAS SPOILERS). Then he uses himself crooning (and playing piano) over the ending credits? COME ON.

I'm glad I didn't pay more than $4 for this because I would have been pissed if I had.

Posted by Duff at 07:58 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks, Watchin'

March 13, 2009

Fiction: The Broom of the System, by David Foster Wallace

Our February challenge book (we are alternating between 19th-century and contemporary novels this year).

I liked a lot of this book. But there were things I could've done without. Since we already reviewed it in sort of rambling fashion on Flickr, I'll just paste in what we had to say there:

GirlReaction: I liked a lot of it but there were annoying things. some chapters where you couldn't figure out who was speaking until WELL into them (must EVERYONE be first person?) or dialogue where it took some figurin out who the conversation was between and who was saying which lines. and then at the end of the book, it just...ENDS. midsentence even. eh? I prefer a bit more of a finale, even if you have a cliffhanger.

But it was really funny and clever and felt very much like Vonnegut to me. Vonnegut but with more details, longer sentences / paragraphs, and if Vonnegut wrote females as the main character (or important characters really). Vonnegut is easier to get through (generally both shorter and less literarily dense), but I felt like they shared some sensibilities.

I liked it more than Dad though. He eventually got kinda of annoyed with it and I think it's tweeness. Like sometimes the reader shouldn't have to work QUITE that hard. "Cleverness for the sake of clever". Although now maybe I am being harsher than he was. Dad?

DadReaction: Yes--your summary of my assessment was pretty accurate. I thought all the guesswork was unnecessary and didn't like the non-ending. He actually got you involved with his goofy people and then sort of sold them short. Still, still, VERY clever-- e.g., Vigorous' son living out the news, being Nixon, etc. The Vigorous-Lenore storytelling duo was super--but you miss her reactions when it's just his story. I wanted to complete the grandmother saga. To be honest, I probably would have loved this book when I was reading the first Pynchon books, Tom Robbins, Edward Whittemore (WHAT? You've never heard of Whittemore? Shame! Go, go, get Sinai Tapestry, Jerusalem Poker.). Then Again, I LOVED the last Pynchon--Against the Day--and I pick up Vonnegut effortlessly. This one, I kind of had to force myself through. Okay, but, once more, STILL, still, Lenore herself always drew me back. And Lang sort of grew on me--okay, so I really wanted to know how their story came out, and was denied that by a much too clever author. So I like much of the creation, but I was not drawn to the creator. Telling fact that maybe sums it all up: haven't recommended it to anyone and not really eager to read another by same author.

Posted by Duff at 11:55 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 09, DadReaction, Readin'

Fiction: A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens

The January pick for Dad's and my challenge this year. Somehow...I didn't realize I'd read this before (it was a re-read for him, but he knew it!). I KNOW. The thing is, I bought a complete Dickens a million years ago when I lived in NYC (and definitely when I couldn't afford it!) and one summer I read a TON of them on my daily commute. But that was...a long time ago. So when I first started reading this, I *thought* it was something I hadn't read before. Then I kept finding turned over pages, and about halfway through it all came back to me.

The main thing Dad and I talked about with this one is how cinematic Dickens was in his details. Moments like describing a wine cask spilled on the cobbled street that then leads the reader's "eye" to the door of the wineship, and in...and then the plot comes in again. One can really see the details around the edges of the action, as a (good) cinematographer would do, to give you a little moment of breath while still keeping you involved in the moment. Really lovely. Not SO descriptive as to lose your focus on the events at hand (as sometimes Proust can do), just enough to paint a fuller picture.

Posted by Duff at 11:20 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 09, DadReaction, Readin'

February 07, 2009

Fiction: The Trial, by Franz Kafka

This was our challenge book for December. So much fun!!! Dad had read it back in high school and been totally traumatized. Then at some point watched the Orson Welles film of it and found it equally traumatizing. But somehow, to both of us, this time around it was just soooo farcical. Might make a good companion for a book we read earlier in the year "The Good Soldier Svejk".

The end is a bit of a shocker just because the narrator has, for the most part, taken things so lightly until then that you sort of expect it to just keep going on forever. It was a lot of fun to read.

Posted by Duff at 08:26 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 08, DadReaction, Readin'

February 04, 2009

DadReaction: The Big Lebowski

We did find time--over the course of three (3) days--to watch The Big Lebowski. Wow. You wanna talk CLASSIC.......................The Dude truly abides.

Posted by Duff at 04:37 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

January 25, 2009

DadReaction's New Year's Resolutions

1) to gain more weight,
2) to drink a whole LOT more, and
3) to achieve a whole LOT less.

Posted by Duff at 09:54 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Lists

January 07, 2009

Dad's and My Reading Challenge for 2009 [Updated]

Alternating 19th century and/versus contemporary novels.

January: "Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens

February: "The Broom of the System" by David Foster Wallace

March: "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson

April: "Then We Came to the End" by Joshua Ferris

May: "Dracula" by Bram Stoker [this is a re-read for me]

June: TBD/Contemporary "Motherless Brooklyn" by Jonathan Lethem

July: "Vanity Fair" by William Makepeace Thackeray

August: TBD/Contemporary "Netherland" by Joseph O'Neill

September: "A Pair of Blue Eyes" by Thomas Hardy

October: TBD/Contemporary "The White Darkness" by Geraldine McCaughrean

November: "Nostromo" by Joseph Conrad

December: TBD/Contemporary "Undiscovered Country" by Lin Enger

Posted by Duff at 10:50 AM | E-Mail | Comments (1) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 09, DadReaction, Lists, Readin'

December 26, 2008

DadReaction: BOLT

DROP all that you're doing and RUN out to see it. It's just great. You get the same roller-coaster emotions, wild fun and thrilling victories that you got in Ratatouille. It's really good. Not a dry eye in the house. And ANYBODY that likes dogs--their unquestioned loyalty and the way they throw themselves into stuff--can't help but love this movie. It's so good you even like the CAT!

Posted by Duff at 07:37 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

December 10, 2008

The DadReaction, he is a fan.

A lil Keira Knightley for ya.

Posted by Duff at 09:11 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction

November 11, 2008

DVD: Street Kings

Solid, enjoyable, super violent (a + to me) good cop/bad cop flick. Great performances from both Keanu and Forest Whittaker, and lots of interesting bit players I wasn't expecting, such as Adrian Corbett very effectively playing slime (would you have expected that of "Aidan"?) and Chris Evans also very impressive (first time I've ever thought he was actually ACTING in a movie and not just sort of playing himself or "any guy"). (And FYI "House" fans, Hugh Laurie is also present.)

I can only guess why this didn't do well in theaters (was it even in Chicago for a whole week?): it's one of those "been done" stories. Very reminiscent of Training Day, among (many) other movies.

Connected DadReaction: Similar to what Dad has reported back about the latest Ed Norton/ Colin Farrell flick "Pride and Glory". Good flick, good performances...but may suffer from the fact that it's not a "new" story.

Posted by Duff at 04:44 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks, Recommending, Watchin'

October 12, 2008

Short Stories: Dead Boys, by Richard Lange

This was our September challenge book and it was so nice to be reading short stories again after slogging through the Musil in August.

These are not happy times stories. Someone in every story is lost (physically, mentally or emotionally), or lonely, or angry, or ... or they've come to the end of what they can handle or find their way around.

For some characters, their searching leaves them in a better place than where they began, but never the perfect place. But for some, the story's end is further down a road they never should have been on in the first place.

Really engaging. Unexpected. True and original. Unlike stories you've read before. In a very gritty down to earth way.

Posted by Duff at 02:17 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 08, DadReaction, Readin', Recommending

Fiction: The Man Without Qualities, Volume I, by Robert Musil

Tthis was our August challenge book. And we did not enjoy it.

The reason it made our list was Dad had bought it years ago and always meant to read it, particularly after the Wilkins/Pike translation came out and it was lauded everywhere as "the third member of the trinity in 20th-century literature, complementing Ulysses and Remembrance of Things Past" (Wall Street Journal).

In the beginning, I found it sardonic and was open to it. As it went on, it dragged and felt very pedantic and, as I put it, "kinda prissy." Dad's more adult reaction was "It's very arch."

We can sort of understand the reaction, originally. A big book trying to touch on a million different European themes right as the War is sneaking up on everyone...

But to compare it to Joyce? or Proust? No. Not in the same league. Not experimental, not groundbreaking, not even truly entertaining. And not worth our time to read Volume II so we've scratched that from our plan.

Posted by Duff at 02:10 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 08, DadReaction, Readin'

Challenge '08 Update.

We are tweaking our challenge slightly.

In July, we both only got through the first half (it was THICK). And in August, we finished (eventually. Or I did, a few days into September, can't remember if Dad actually did or not) but we did NOT enjoy the book and have no interest in reading part II (which was the book for October).

So we are scratching October's choice and reading the second half of the July book this month.

In case you were wondering.

October: "The Man Without Qualities, Vol 2" by Robert MusilSecond half of "The New Granta Book of the American Short Story" edited by Richard Ford

November: "The Oxford Book of Short Stories" edited by V.S. Pritchett

December: "The Trial" by Kafka

Posted by Duff at 02:05 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 08, DadReaction, Readin'

September 30, 2008

DadReaction: Doomsday

If you don't see this, you're missing one of the best movies of the year. Kick-ass girl-power movie. There's a one-eyed woman cop, tough as nails. Takes on all of Scotland, kicks butt. It's a lot like 28 Days Later, Mad Max, and Aliens. Also influenced by Satyricon and King Arthur.

Beautifully filmed; the action scenes are great; you're on the edge of your seat. Stunning photography. Just a great ride.

[Note: Doomsday was written & directed by the same guy who did The Descent, one of Dad's top five from last year (which was way tooooo fucking scary if you ask me.), and also Dog Soldiers (which I am way way WAY too scared of to watch).]

Posted by Duff at 02:15 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

September 10, 2008

DadReaction: Tropic Thunder

So many laugh out loud moments. Total Monty Python-type comedy. Robert Downey was awesome. Tom Cruise was great also, Tobey Maguire. The mock previews at the beginning were HILARIOUS, you just can't help but laugh. But there was a lot of grossness too, your mom was put off by the gross bits. I didn't think she was going to make it through the fake previews of Jack Black's fart movies; thought she might walk out!

There are some really good parodies and some real black humor jolts where you think to yourself "I can't believe they just did that" but at the same time you're overwhelmed with laughter. They kept surprising you, some fun stuff with subtitles, some good slams.

However, I would say I thought it was kind of a cheap shot at Platoon, which was maybe over the top at times, but was a really moving movie. On the other hand, a great slam of Apocalypse Now.

It was kinda fun, I didn't think it was too long. But you can get tired of the guy humor/gross joke stuff. Partly because the rest of it was so clever, it was like those jokes dragged it down to a lower level.

At times you would think "I can't believe they're going so far with that handicapped joke; I've never seen anybody do that so blatantly." They just wouldn't let it go. It's so funny, but at the same time, you're looking around thinking, "I hope there's nobody handicapped sitting next to me." [i.e., being offended by my laughing at this.]

[He kept telling me this was a "mixed" review. Finally I said: "So what about this is mixed? Sounds pretty positive to me!" He laughed and said "Yeah, I guess maybe I just feel like it SHOULD be more mixed. I really enjoyed it!!" This is definitely tops on my list to see...I mean except for the fact that I have just been slacking slacking slacking on going to movies lately. I suck.]

Posted by Duff at 10:00 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

DadReaction: The Mummy 3

When I'm putting things like The Mummy 3 in my top 5, you know it's been a bad year at the movies.

That said, the photography is just great. There's a long prologue that takes place in 56 BC or something: it's just filmed amazingly, knocks your eyes out. All the Asian actors are all really great, you just buy them as part of this epic. Really intense, especially the women, you can't take your eyes off them. That section is really a highlight.

However, there is one point later on when the movie just stopped. They're at the Fountain of Youth and all of a sudden they start talking about family stuff and I turned to your mother and said "Did the movie just stop?"

But everything else was enjoyable. Very "Indiana Jones meets Lord of the Rings". The filming is tremendous, the special effects are out of sight, just wonderful and the credits are great, featuring this really cool Asian art.

Worth seeing, a nice ride.

[Wow, my dad can really sell a not-great movie on the few great things about it, can't he? :) Honestly, sometimes what I WANT in a movie is mainstream escapism for a few hours. And this certainly sounds like it was better than the new Indiana Jones.]

Posted by Duff at 09:54 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

July 24, 2008

My Dad.

This is his book.

Posted by Duff at 09:33 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, DadReaction, Recommending

July 17, 2008

Big Screen: Wanted.

Sooooo much fun. Completely exhilarating! Great trip to the movie theater. Very different from Iron Man, but just as completely what I am looking for in an action movie. My two favorite movies of the year so far. No fucking doubt about it.

I LOVED IT. Dad LOVED it. Nipper loved it. Michelle liked but didn't love it. The Chicago Reader hated it (prompting this response from Michelle: Damn! I liked it a little more than that dude. Who apparently doesn't understand the difference between REALITY and a FUCKING MOVIE.).

Where it suffers in comparison with Iron Man:

• The underlying mythology isn't as strong. With Iron Man, it's very clear why he decides to do what he does, what's driving him, it makes sense in a very cause-and-effect way. When he sits in front of the press and says "somehow we've become comfortable with zero accountability" it's like a jolt to your (any actual smart, responsible person's) heart, a direct attack on the fucked up situation of today. With Wanted, it's more smoke and mirrors. A very "In the Name of the Rose" or "DaVinci Code" type background. I mean, that's fine, except that no one ever questions "who's running the loom?" No one ever wonders who's in the background pushing the buttons? The assassins committed to this society BELIEVE the loom is doing it all on its own? (Although in other ways, this does work for me. That whole "secret society buzz" has a very comic book feel to it, so I think it works in the movie, I just think it doesn't work AS WELL as Iron Man's themes.)

• The situation isn't as personal, or it technically should be, but it's not presented that way. While RDJ's character in Iron Man is in many ways someone living a life who just doesn't care, when he does begin to care, it's very personal. His name on the weapons, his legacy, etc. In Wanted, McAvoy sort of falls into things with an extreme lack of knowing what's really going on. Things eventually become personal, but not at first, and they become personal via lies and misinformation that creates a kind of distance from any emotional effect. In other words: Iron Man becomes a MORAL QUEST. Wanted is about a gang of slaughterers. Fun, but kinda sick. Iron Man engages you on another dimension. As my Dad put it: It's probably not good to kill people you don't even know.

• The Hero's Glamour Factor. While RDJ's character may not be on the moral highground to begin with, he's not a frustrated loser working a shithole job and getting blindsided by his best friend either. He's a little easier to fall in love with in that "beginning of the movie, suck you in, make you want to watch him" way. Much as I love Bright Abbott dearly, oh, man, I hated seeing him be the swindler of McAvoy.

Where it SHINES in comparison to Iron Man!!:

• Hello, four words: Female Fucking Action Hero. Jolie* is just as much a focus as McAvoy, or any of the other assassins (even moreso). As Dad points out, "she is a MAJOR part of this movie, her part is outstanding and she's outstanding in it." Whereas in Iron Man while Gwyneth Paltrow is actually good (a rare enjoyment of her on my part), and has great chemistry with RDJ, her role is soooooo sidelines. And very retro, the female "secretary" role, even with sass is STILL the female secretary role. I mean, she goes to the final confrontation in 5-inch spiked heels to stand on the sidelines and shriek in distress. She's good when she's in it but she's so auxiliary.

• The Sets, particularly the Factory. While they make sense in the storyline, Iron Man's modern office buildings and desert caves don't really do as much for me as the sets in Wanted (although RDJ's house is pretty cool). The textile mill/factory is really majestic in a way, I LOVED all the car chases through the El structures and the stuff on the El itself (I love you, Chicago! You're so pretty!). And the train scenes at the end with his dad? And when Jolie drives her car onto it! VERY COOL!

Where both movies are GREAT:

• Effects, effects, exhilarating effects. Even my Dad who is not generally fan of CGI bullet fights (Peckinpah and Walter Hill did it better, OLD SCHOOL, and he will happily talk your ear off about it), even he loved the "fight" scenes in Wanted. How about the final showdown at the textile mill, where McAvoy is picking up other people's weapons as his way to reload? AWESOME!

• Wit, sarcasm, banter. Both movies have enough of this to be interesting BEYOND the effects and the drama and the Super Heroness of it all. Comic relief so you don't become bogged down by the horribleness of some of it.

• The "training" scenes. RDJ in his laboratory with his robot helpers and McAvoy gettin' schooled by Jolie. Like the scene where he's trying to grab the shuttle? And then when he finally does? All done with nice touches of humor.

I could go on (and on...) but believe it or not, I actually have something else to do right now. Shocking!

Need I even say it? Highly recommended. (BOTH)

*And if you enjoy Jolie in this, I recommend you check out Mr. & Mrs. Smith (which I LOVED a ridiculous amount!) as well as the two Tomb Raider movies, because she is great in these mixes of physicality/sass/sex/etc.

Posted by Duff at 02:30 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks, Recommending, Watchin'

July 07, 2008

DadReaction: The Strangers

Sooooo scary/good. A real psychological terror/thriller. Really well done.

Classic "things that go bump in the night". NOT a gorefest.

Dad to you, random reader who can handle scary movies and maybe even thinks they're fun: Go see it! Totally worth it!

Dad to me, scaredy freakshow, especially if she sees them a) alone or b) at night or c) any other time: Do.Not.Go.See.This.Movie. Do.Not.

Posted by Duff at 08:04 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

DadReaction: In Bruges

Howling [with laughter]. Off the wall. Black humor. Incredibly funny. Colin Farrell is so hilarious.

Dad is the second person in two weeks to recommend this movie to me.

Posted by Duff at 02:42 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

June 24, 2008

So last night, on the telephone...*

My dad and I spent an hour discussing the various things that make Sharon (or "the 8s") different than the other Cylons. Seriously.

Then there was this:

Him: So I figured out there's only one thing left I haven't done in this life.

Me: Oh yeah?

Him: Win a marathon. So I'm going to do it!

Me: Wait, did you say "run" a marathon?

Him: No. WIN a marathon.

Me: Well. Win for your age group, right?

Him: NO! Win. Win the whole thing.

Me: Well, good luck beating the Kenyans! Do you realize how fast you have to run to win a marathon?

Him: Yeah, that's true. They'll be some tough competition.

Me: It's very coincidental you bringing up running. I just started trying to run again, but it's one of those "go from being a couch potato to someone who can actually run for 20 minutes" things where you start really gradually alternating running and walking..

Him: That sounds good! Send me the instructions for that!

Me: OK, Marathon Winner.

All this from a 6261 year old man (whoops, that doesn't happen until August) who I'm pretty sure the last time he actually RAN ON PURPOSE was sometime in the late 60s when he took running as part of his P/E credit in college and (so I was told) puked his guts out after every run. Oh, and there was that time a few years ago where he was playing softball with the youth group, ran for base, and SLID, and threw his rotator cuff out.

*Said, of course, to the rhythm of "so one time, at bandcamp"

Posted by Duff at 03:07 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction

May 29, 2008

DadReaction: First Impression BSG

If all the cylons are as hot as that smokin' #6, then I'm rooting for the cylons!! (direct quote)

Posted by Duff at 11:04 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, TVTVTV

May 28, 2008

Quote of the Night and perhaps THE CENTURY!

Said by my Dad, to my Mom, in the midst of reporting to her about how AWESOME Battlestar Galactica is (he's halfway through season 1, disc 1 (the mini-series), he had to hang up to get back to it but called me midway through to rave), which he just started as I sent him all the discs as an early Birthday present:

Carolyn is the one kid in a million who actually paid off.

Hello, I WIN. ;) And yay, Dad is loving BSG too. Someone else to share the obsession. Yay!

Posted by Duff at 09:00 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under " " of the XXX., DadReaction, Random Quotes, Remember, TVTVTV

Big Screen: Iron Man

A full Family Reaction even featuring the extremely rare MomReaction!! (No, we did not see it together.)

DadReaction: Eye popping effects, but with a lot of character. And not so effect heavy that you lose the humor as in some action movies. Downey is really great here. He's a stronger character as an actor and so much more entertaining than, say, Spiderman. Christian Bale brought a lot of grimness to Batman but Downey is very funny, lively and self deprecating. Really uses his wise ass attitude so well here, and it makes the idea of a superhero movie so much cooler. His and Paltrow's characters attraction feels very real, even though it's an under the table sort and they dance around it. Jeff Bridges was good too.

MomReaction: There's a really topical social edge to this movie about collateral damage and what you do to the world, what weapons do to the world. They don't hide behind the story: War is bad. Guns are bad.

GirlReaction: Fanfuckingtastic. Everything you could want in an action movie AND MORE. Lovedlovedloved it.

Posted by Duff at 08:22 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks, MomReaction, Recommending, Watchin'

May 24, 2008

Fiction: The Death of Virgil, by Hermann Broch

The April challenge book. Certainly the toughest read so far, for both Dad and me.

The language is rich, gorgeous and elegaic; much like reading Virgil himself (or Homer. or Ovid). It's dreamy and powerful and image-full. But...

Part 1: Interesting. Lovely imagery and prose. Nice.

Part 2: Interminable. Almost the death of ME, let alone Virgil. Sentences so long, you can't remember where they began or if anything has even happened in them. And what? Did he just suggest burning the Aeneid? WHAT?!?!

Part 3: Hey, there's some stuff happening again! Still a very high-toned literary experience, but now the drama with Octavian really pulls things along. Some very neat imagery, the landscape arising out of nothing (much easier to do in film than in prose). His yearning is so strong, you can really feel it. [According to Dad the slave boy and Plotia play a very similar role here to that of Jessica Lange in "All That Jazz." I was then castigated for not having seen that recently enough to be able to agree (or not). p.s. just between you, world wide web, and me, I'm not even sure I've ever seen it all the way through!] Really enjoyable.

Part 4: Ugh, we're back to part 2-like process again. Dad: "It's like 2001 the Space Odyssey. At first it's kinda cool and then after a while you just get really, really bored." Me: Hard to know what's happening here, when he's actually dead, what is dream sequence vs. reality vs. post-mortem? (And in this part, hard to care. If this was written like Part 3, I'd be all over it!)

Glad to have read it, but certainly never going to need to read it again. Definitely a challenge.

Posted by Duff at 04:41 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 08, DadReaction, Readin'

April 16, 2008

DVD: The Descent.

Well. I may never sleep through the night again. Completely mind-twistingly scary and freaky and gross and OH HOLY SHIT! NO NO NO! RUNNNNN!!! RUNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

Dad LOVED it. In his top five for last year. I am not quite as much a fan of the horror genre as he, although I do get just as scared (thanks for passing that one down the gene pool, pops). In fact, if you ever want to have a really good time laughing at other people, you should sit between the two of us at a horror film. And wear ear plugs.

Really well done. Strong performances from unknowns. Great great locations, well chosen. Totally creepy-ass filming. I'm getting shivers just thinking about it and it was over a week ago that I watched it. *SKEEVES*

Posted by Duff at 07:25 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks, Watchin'

DVD: Becoming Jane

While I know all the Austen fans are up in a flurry over this one, I thought it was charming and well done and really solid performances from both Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy. My heart broke right along with hers.

My Dad really liked it too. In fact his constant refrain has been "Years from now, nobody's going to be rewatching Michael Clayton but this movie is still going to be fresh and enjoyable." I have to agree.

Posted by Duff at 07:23 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks, Watchin'

April 13, 2008

Short Stories: The Complete Stories by David Malouf

The March selection in Dad's and my reading challenge. I had read a few Malouf novels so this was one of my suggestions.

LOVED it. [Both of us did.] Had no idea going in, but the dude is a MASTER of the technique and these are certainly some of the best stories I've ever read, and probably the best overall collection. [Dad might not be QUITE as nutty about them as I am.]

Seems he can write from any angle, any point of view: young boy, middle-aged woman, loner, popularity queen, happy, sad, criminal, just. The atmosphere is rich and vivid (and reeks of Australia, I could feel myself there again). The language is thick and layered and sensual [reminded Dad of D.H. Lawrence stories]. Really beautiful. In many stories, a BIG event has taken place "offscreen" (never to be known), with the focus on the human reactions and following chain of effects.

My favorite stories were: "Every Move You Make", "The Domestic Cantata", "Sally's Story", "Great Day", and "A Traveller's Tale".

Highly recommended.

Posted by Duff at 02:42 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 08, DadReaction, Readin', Recommending

April 08, 2008

DadReaction: Leatherheads

I thought it was a lot of fun. I don't generally like Renee Zellwegger but I thought she was really good. And I thought Clooney really did that screwball comedy stuff that they were trying for. It was really funny and they played off each other really well. John Krazinski was good as this kid who's a nice guy and is in trouble really through no fault of his own, so you kind of feel sorry for him.

I thought it was cool, and it had this really nice golden light. You know, that world still existed when I was growing up; these old railroad stations with wooden seats and the college stadiums with red brick around them, none of the glitz and the domes. That older slower world. I enjoyed the whole setting.

Randy Newman wrote the music and it was a great score; got the tone just right.

I enjoyed every part of it and I came out expecting to see a bunch of great reviews. I was in complete shock when I read EW's negative review. They called it slow, said it drags? And not funny? My jaw dropped.

Thumbs up from me!! [Dad, that is. No GirlReaction YET! But clearly it's now on my list!!!]

Posted by Duff at 04:47 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

March 05, 2008

Fiction: "The Good Soldier Svejk" by Jaroslav Hasek

The February book in Dad's and my reading challenge.

Eastern European classic, Dad bought it years ago based on a Kundera recommendation. Total farce, hilarious comic novel. Bumbling anti-hero, a miserable idiot...or is he? Really a lot of fun to read. The never-ending "Well that reminds me of" stories and the contretemps...just indescribable. We both loved it. Humbly report, sir...

Somewhat in the tradition of Don Quixote or Tristram Shandy, although Svejk is a bit more self aware than DQ.

Posted by Duff at 10:35 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 08, DadReaction, Readin', Recommending

February 26, 2008

Song of the Day

"Gravedigger" - Willie Nelson (from Paste sampler #40, off his album "Moment of Truth")

Dude, he works "Ring Around the Rosie" into it; come on now. His voice is such a perfect combination of melodiousness and gravel. I neverrarely* buy his albums but every once in awhile I come across a tune of his I love. He's a better lyricist than I've heard him given credit for. You should never have to bury your own babies. And have you seen Songwriter? Because I love EVERYTHING about that movie, including him, his acting, his singing, and his humor. But it's one of those movies that I'm not sure anyone other than me and my Dad ever watched (Dad is a big Alan Rudolph fan).

*I did buy one a few years ago, I think it was this one.

Posted by Duff at 01:37 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under " " of the XXX., DadReaction, Flicks, Listenin', Tunes

February 09, 2008

Stories: "The Oxford Book of English Short Stories" edited by A.S. Byatt

The January book for me and Dad's 2008 reading challenge. We picked this b/c Dad had (recently) so enjoyed V.S. Pritchett's Oxford short story collection.

However, the selection of stories in this book felt very bizarre to both of us. Byatt's particular idea of "what makes an English short story" was a very specific type and some of the things she claimed were "very particularly Britishly funny" in her introduction were things we either found a) not funny or b) not very British feeling (to us, both non Brits, of course).

So while there were some stories we really loved (some we both loved), there were a lot of stories that we didn't like / I wouldn't recommend the collection as a whole.

There were a lot of stories that were supposed to be (per her intro) scary = but weren't. Or stories that would be scary if they were written differently, but a LOT of stories in this book were very distant / the heavy presence of a "storyteller" telling the story (a very passive voice relating the action) on top of the writer made what was happening in the story seem very far away and hard to connect with. There were a lot of stories I call "afterschool specials" = you know, "message" or "lesson" stories.

And there were a lot of stories that seemed very atypical of their authors. In other words, my dad said, "if the story in this book were the first A.E. Coppard story I read, I would never have been interested in reading him again." Same goes for Dickens, Hardy, D.H. Lawrence and T.H. White. All great writers, all represented here by bad stories.

While we had different faves, these are eight we both liked.

Dad's faves were: ""Wireless" by Rudyard Kipling, ""At Hiruharama" by Penelope Fitzgerald, and "An Englishman's Home" by Evelyn Waugh.

Mine were: "The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown" by G.K. Chesteron, "Solid Objects" by Virginia Woolf, "A Widow's Quilt" by Silvia Townsend Warner (and not because of the quilting), "A Dream of Winter" by Rosamond Lehmann, and "Telephone" by John Fuller.

We'd both recommend those (and some others), but not this particular collection. And we both thought "The Destructors" by Graham Greene was a really good story but had an incredibly devastating (and not funny at all) ending.

Given our experience with this collection, and his previous love for the Pritchett, we've added that one to our challenge for our last set of stories (even though he's read it already).

Posted by Duff at 01:12 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 08, DadReaction, Readin'

February 06, 2008

DadReaction: Away from Her

I was really disappointed. It was so light; an after-school special look at the issues. Actual Alzheimers is so much worse, and the manipulations of the story distanced the problem: you could be a saint and your partner could still get Alzheimers. They don't just fall in love with other people, but still regard their partners/families/etc. kindly: they will actually start to be abusive toward the people who used to be their entire lives; not just kindly "oh who are you" / a much more violent response.

Julie Christie really stole the show, but it seemed like maybe the writer was really going for the man's story? And while there are times when it works when you shuffle time via editing ("Memento"), it's another manipulation: it's really easy to make the audience feel an intensity that isn't really there.

I was also really irritated when he complained that she was wearing someone else's sweater and the hospital administrator said "well, she looks nice in it." We deal with nursing homes administrators all the time and I can tell you, NO nursing home administrator would ever say that, particularly not one in a high-toned place like that. They are so careful and go to great lengths to make sure people's stuff doesn't get confused, partly because of the pain it causes the relatives, and also just b/c of the miscellaneous theft that goes on. They sew on labels, they're constantly policing that stuff.

Little details like that really blew the film for me.

[I liked this better than my Dad did; but I too felt that the plot manipulations were heavy-handed and obvious (and not either necessary or particularly additive to the storyline).]

Posted by Duff at 12:00 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

Dad's and My Reading Challenge for 2008 [Updated]

Alternating short stories & Eastern European novels.

January: "The Oxford Book of English Short Stories" edited by A.S. Byatt

February: "The Good Soldier Svejk" by Jaroslav Hasek

March: Complete Short Stories, David Malouf

April: "The Death of Virgil" by Hermann Brach

May: Collected Short Stories, Isaac Baschevis Singer

June: "War with the Newts" by Karel Capek

July: Stories TBD"The New Granta Book of the American Short Story" edited by Richard Ford

August: "The Man Without Qualities, Vol 1" by Robert Musil

September: Stories TBD"Dead Boys: Stories" by Richard Lange

October: "The Man Without Qualities, Vol 2" by Robert Musil

November: Stories TBD"The Oxford Book of Short Stories" edited by V.S. Pritchett

December: "The Trial" by Kafka

Posted by Duff at 09:35 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, Challenge 08, DadReaction, Lists, Readin'

January 30, 2008

DadReaction: Cloverfield

It got me, I loved it. They never break the premise: You're seeing the whole thing with this handheld and you never find out anything else, you just see what's on the tape. It really wrapped me up. I loved the music.

But you know, I told somebody about it the next day and he said his daughter said it was the worst movie she'd ever seen in her entire life. And that she'd read somewhere that on the sneak preview cards, the only grades the movie got were either As or Fs.

If you don't "go with it" you're going to be thinking "Who cares?" To me, it was very believable. The desperation of some of these people, and the fights... woah, look out. I thought it was just so effective.

Posted by Duff at 02:40 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

January 10, 2008

Recent DadReactions

Big Screen: I Am Legend. Similar to how I felt. Good job by Will Smith but the ending sucked. And Dad also felt it was very derivative. The "ghoulie" types = copied straight from The Descent (one of his faves last year!). The "medicine becomes infection wipes out population and turns them into ghouls" = copied straight from 28 Days Later (and then Weeks also) . [Yes, we know this was a book a long time ago. But given what Carla's told me about the book, it is pretty different than the movie.]

Big Screen: Juno. He LOVED it. Smart and sweet. Really thought the lead actress was excellent. Liked the parents a lot. Thoughtful and moving.

Readin': "The Oxford Book of English Short Stories" ed. by A.S. Byatt (For our challenge. He's ahead of me because he already owned the book and I had to wait for it to be delivered!) Really really strange selection of stories. Some good ones (the Kipling story is GREAT! [man I can't wait to read it. Haven't read Kipling since I wrote my Master's Thesis (on "Kim")]) but some that are just bizarre (and not enjoyable). Thinks we should read the V.S. Pritchett-edited Oxford collection as our last month of the challenge; in comparison, he thought that was a great collection/selection when he read it (which was why he had picked up this one).

TV: The Office. I gave him season 1 for xmas and said I'd pick up the rest if he liked it. Two episodes in, it was obvious it was a go, so we quick picked up the next two. I had watched these either on TV or on iTunes whereas he is watching the DVDs. a) He LOVES it. Says if he had nothing else to do, he would already be done because he just can't get enough. b) He said the DVD extras are AWESOME and some are basically like an extra episode (20 minutes long!). [Crap, now I'm going to have to get the DVDs for myself!] c) General comments: Hilarious. Really enjoying it. Loves the Pam/Jim thing. Loves Dwight! d) Is already halfway through Season 2. Yay!

Posted by Duff at 08:17 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under Books, DadReaction, Flicks, TVTVTV

October 25, 2007

DadReaction: 30 Days of Night

Up until the last five minutes: A+.
Awesome. Great vamps, very cool. Subtitling genius.

Last five minutes: F.
Totally blew the premise.

So that averages out to...a C+?

Unless you somehow figure out how to tell when the last five minutes is about to start and -- quick! -- RUN OUT OF THE THEATER.

Posted by Duff at 09:37 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

September 11, 2007

Big Screen: 3:10 to Yuma

Really a funny movie. Very entertaining but very silly, and a lot of holes that can be poked in the plot afterward. Weirdly my parents went to see it the same night (600 miles away) and said the same thing: entertaining and satisfying but very silly. Dad says it made him remember how some Elmore Leonard stories just go overboard into crazy silliness.

Russell Crowe is quite saucy and fun, and Christian Bale is so earnest and moral that you kinda want to slap him upside the head, or upside his weird, stereotypically English, filed to the exact same length across the top row, gray teeth. Yes I have a thing about teeth and his drive me nuts.

And for you Serenity/Firefly fans, Wash has a pretty big part and he's great in it! Yay! [And the dude who played Sam Phillips in "Walk the Line" is in this as well. He has a somewhat creepy resemblance to John Ritter in this role....]

Posted by Duff at 11:16 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks, Watchin'

August 27, 2007

SModcasts: Side-Splittingly Funny

If you found Clerks, Clerks 2, or Jay & Silent Bob to be just downright fucking hilarious, then these podcasts are for you. If you like the "Evening with Kevin Smith" DVDs, these podcasts are for you. If you can sit through 45 minutes of really blatant grotesque sex and slime talk, these podcasts are for you. I had to download them for my Dad, Kevin Smith's biggest fan, and after hearing his rave reviews of SModcast #2, just started listening to them myself.

Too dangerous to listen to on the El because other passengers think you are a freak when you bust out laughing over what's playing on your ipod. These would brighten even the darkest horrible days. So funny.

Posted by Duff at 07:41 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Podcasts, Recommending

Planet Mnemonics

The old mnemonic my Dad can still recite from however many gazillion years ago (hahaha) he learned it:
My (Mercury)
Very (Venus)
Earnest (Earth)
Mother (Mars)
Just (Jupiter)
Served (Saturn)
Us (Uranus)
Nine (Neptune)
Pies (Pluto)

The new mnemonic he made up for the Pluto-less planets:
Miserably
Vain
Earthlings
Must
Just
Shut
Up
Now

Posted by Duff at 04:39 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Lists, Remember

July 31, 2007

Dad Recommends: Ratatouille

The animation was really well done: when he was watching the show and realizing he wanted to be a chef, his eyes were just shining! It was really touching. You were really rooting for him. Very charming.

Posted by Duff at 10:00 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks

July 26, 2007

Stereotype Jokes = my fave.

European Heaven
British are the Police
French are the Cooks
Germans are the Mechanics
Italians are the Lovers
and the Swiss run everything

European Hell
Germans are the Police
French are the Mechanics
British are the Cooks
Swiss are the Lovers
and the Italians run everything

Posted by Duff at 11:01 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Remember

June 25, 2007

Dad Does Movies Too.

My dad had a few days off this week. He went to the movies.

Waitress: He liked A LOT. But as we discussed how he liked it and I kinda didn't, everything he mentioned he liked was a very specific Keri Russell moment. So maybe he liked the film because he liked her so much (and because he was on vacation, he felt that was a contributing factor) whereas I really liked her but was ultimately disappointed that the rest of the film didn't live up to her level.

Pirates 3: He liked it better than the bad reviews (and hello the third movie of anything is going to get slammed, no?). He loved Pirates 1 but thought Pirates 2 was only OK. He said anyone who liked Pirates 1 will like this one as well, some fun stuff. And Keith Richards is great (he is KR's biggest fan).

Mr. Brooks: It's a mess of a movie, there are like seven different (and pretty much unconnected) plots. But there were enough things worth seeing in it that he thinks it's a shame that probably no one will go to it because every review will say "this thing is a mess." He said yes that's true BUT he really enjoyed the Kevin Costner/William Hurt conversations, among other things, and that there are enough enjoyable things that you wouldn't regret going to it.

We were also talking about our recent DVD watches and whether or not to watch the "extras" or "commentaries" and whether or not they're stupid.

He recommends the extras on two specific movies:

Gosford Park: commentary by the screenwriter. Completely entertaining, gives ALL KINDS of extra information, etc. Talks alot about the screenwriter's aunt who was living during that time of changeover from British "realm" to hello welcome to the real world, etc. Very cool.

A History of Violence: commentary by director Cronenberg. Said it was so interesting and compelling that it made you want to watch the movie again right away!

Does not recommend extras on:

Goodbye and Good Luck: commentary by director Clooney [and co-author?I think?]. Said it's totally lame and laughable and doesn't fit the tone of the movie AT ALL and makes you forget about how serious and welldone of a movie it was.

Posted by Duff at 06:09 PM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks, Recommending

August 14, 2006

Big Screen: Scoop.

SO MUCH FUN. Back to what Woody does best: awkward bumbling convoluted comedy. Sooooo much better than Matchpoint which I really didn't like that much (yes, I am saying exactly the opposite of the critics, who all seem to have liked that better than this). Hugh Jackman is super yummy in this film (I never thought so before!), suave and dangerous. Scarlet and Woody are bumbling and awkward and funny and play off each other quite well. Laughed the whole way through. Totally worth the price of admission. Gooooooo.

and p.s. Dad concurs: "Hilarious." "A Laugh a Minute."

Posted by Duff at 08:57 AM | E-Mail | Comments (0) | Permalink | filed under DadReaction, Flicks, Watchin'