Let's Review

I've never been one to "discover" things. (You know, like how Columbus discovered America.....gag me) I'm a happy bandwagon jumper. All of the things I'm about to review are old. So you may have decided you did or didn't like them months ago. But I'm a late bloomer and I've had a bit of free time the last week or so.

This week and last are the only break I get between spring and summer classes so I've been reading for pleasure which will sadly end again come Monday.

books

One day last week I read The Great Gatsby....yes it was the first time, what can I say I didn't reach much in my youth. But I've evolved into someone who wants to read something before I see the movie. And with Leo...you know I was going to see this movie. The book was great. I wasn't moved by it and it didn't make me want to be a better person but I can appreciate it for what it is. One of the reasons it probably didn't affect me very much is that I read it in less than 24 hours.
It was the first book I'd read that I didn't have to stop and take notes and highlight in months so I breezed through.

The joy of owning a Kindle (thanks Dad!) is that I can immediately start another book I want to read and don't forget about reading altogether for months at a time. So that same night I started:              Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling. I needed something light-hearted and had heard awesome things about it. To any and all ladies who may read my blog, if you don't listen to any advice I ever give again listen to this: read this book! It would be great to read at the beach or as I begged my sister to do on her plane ride to Prague Monday she did not listen. I laughed until I cried more than once. Drew laughed at me, laughing at the book. She is a genius and she's also maybe the funniest freaking person ever. I finished it in 2 days.

 Then I started this little gem: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. My feelings about it are mixed. It was funny at points. It is a "Chinese mother" telling how she parents her two daughters in modern America. It was interesting, certainly. However, I think it may have offended me a couple of times but I'm not entirely sure. Whatever, I'm easily offended. But I think it's worth a read. She was definitely passionate about her style of parenting which I can appreciate.

Now I'm reading this:

 

Which my mom has been begging me to read for years. So far, so good.

 

 

Now onto the movie portion of my reviews.

 

Saturday Drew and I finally rented Django Unchained. I loved Inglorious Bastards so I had high hopes for Django and oh he did not disappoint. I love that Quentin Tarantino has the balls to rewrite History to suit his fancy, I think he is brilliant. I loved Jamie Foxx who I am normally not crazy about. And Christoph Waltz was kick-ass as a "good guy" who kills people for money.

 

In true Tarantino fashion, there were parts of the movie that I hung out in the kitchen and had Drew yell when it was over. But the thing that made this movie for me was the music. I'm so excited to watch it with my sissy when she gets back I know she will love it.

 

 

Then on Sunday we went to the $3 matinee and saw The Great Gatsby. And I will just tell you, I'd be fine if I never saw another movie. It made me completely re-think the book. Leonardo Dicaprio is getting more handsome the older he gets which I'm totally fine with but it's a little unfair. Prepare to get angry with me literature snobs: I liked this movie more than the book. Oh I cannot get enough of the movie. In fact I dreamt last night that I got married again.....Gatsby style.

 

And once again the music was perfect. I love that both of these movies used current music in their movies whose stories are not.

 

 

I hope to see Gatsby again ASAP and I will be purchasing both soundtracks. I'm also taking book suggestions...I have until Monday people. Tell me what's worth reading!



A Long and Distant Crazy

I feel pretty confident that I will no longer be allowed to pick our movies out of the RedBox while Drew runs into the grocery store to get a gallon of ice cream. After watching Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close two nights ago and watching Like Crazy last night there was talk of us sharing a prescription to depression meds.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was bad enough. A young boy rushing around NYC hoping to be able to find a lasting connection to his father (Tom Hanks) who was killed in 9/11. It was moving and I loved that little boy.

However, the real tear-jerker in this household was Like Crazy. A movie about a young couple trying to survive a long distance relationship. Drew and I both must have known what was coming because without even speaking about it, before either of us sat down we took out our contacts and put on our glasses. Bring on the waterworks.

Drew and I have been married for one year after having a long distance relationship for 4 years (give or take a 3 month hiatus) and with no plans to ever do long distance again. But still I found myself moving from the opposite end of the couch to almost in his lap just to assure he wouldn't leave me again. My husband, the man I have seen cry twice and never at a movie, cried before me in this film.



I will not compare a 3 hour distance in which Drew and I saw each other at least twice a month to different continents and time zones with 6 month separations. But the bones of long distance are always the same. The constant "starting" and "stopping." The awkward silences the day you have to leave each other. The never ending "reading into" things the other person says, the paranoia. Something about not being with a person consistently, it starts to play with your mind. And inevitably, it happens. Someone else comes along, maybe just for a little while but it never fails. Then there's the really not pretty thought in the back of your mind....if we were together all of the time would we get  tired of each other? All of these things on top of just trying to function in your everyday life take a serious toll. And even watching them in the movie I felt that same anxiety for an hour and a half.

 And of course after the movie, Drew is angry. If he's going to watch one of "my" movies he prefers a lighthearted chick flick like You've Got Mail. Anything that gets too close to real life is not enjoyable for him. While I love to spend an afternoon watching Father of the Bride I like a movie that can pull me back to a time in my life, even if it was a really shitty time. Drew did, however, quote Fair and Tender Ladies to me after it was over (which makes me fall in love with him all over again)."Don't forget, even when remembering brings pain."

So for those of you who have done long distance I encourage you to watch it. It will hurt, you will feel all of those crappy things all over again. But you're not supposed to forget them. Drew and I are as strong as we are because we went through all of those things. Marriage has been a piece of cake compared to that but I never want to forget what our story is. It's not pretty, in fact it's depressing but it's still our story. And I'm happy to be in it with that man with the thick glasses who sat beside me trying to hide his tears last night.

The Hunger Games

I imagine I am the last blogger to have a post regarding this topic but I still wanted to join the masses. I read first the book this past Monday in order to be able to take my brother (who had just finished the first book) to see the movie this week.

We went last night and I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. As with anything the book was better, but my husband who hadn't read the book enjoyed it. I had no intention of really reading these books until I began to feel like the only person who hadn't done so, so I caved. As I said I read it in one day and finished the second book today (hope to finish the third this weekend). Probably the thing that sealed the deal for finally reading them for me was the fact that District 12 was placed in Appalachia.


I, personally, didn't question the way that District 12 was portrayed until my husband mentioned it on the way home. He was very perplexed as to why there had been such a regression and I couldn't give a great answer to him. I know that part of the struggle was as a result of the uprising. However, if all of the Capitol is depending on District 12's coal, shouldn't they still have the most modern technology to mine it? I suppose because Drew is so familiar with the technology behind modern mines he didn't quite understand that. And I do see his point.

The scenes from District 12, in retrospect, make me wonder if this is how the world still sees our region. Jade had a whole post about this at The Acorn Underfoot which made me think even harder about the portrayal. I can definitely relate to what she says about no one knowing her and her husband were from Appalachia until they opened their mouths, that happens to me all too often. Coal mining has come so far even from when my grandfather was in the mines, but in the scenes from the district it seemed I was watching footage from my grandparents early married years. My papaw going into the mines and my mamaw wearing a dress she had made herself. Perhaps that was just meant to be along the Seam but it seemed a bit extreme to me.

 

 

I will admit that I am afraid that we, as readers of the Hunger Games, may be becoming no better than those in the Capitol seeing the games as a sense of entertainment. Yes, these are just books and meant to "entertain" I suppose. But shouldn't there still be a part of them the turns our stomachs? My cousin said that what was so great about the books was that they appealed to such a large audience, which is true. However, it also concerns me. Maybe I'm making too much of it but as much as I have enjoyed the books part of it still worries that we are all making light of it. That might be too harsh but the thoughts crossed my mind.

As for the movie I missed hearing Katniss' thoughts and knowing exactly what she was feeling, I felt like Drew (who hadn't read the book) missed out on a lot because of that. But all in all I felt the movie did as good of a job as it could. I do agree with a fellow blogger who reviewed the movie in feeling like a lot of the gore was missing from the actual games. I know it is portraying children being killed and no one wants to see that in detail but that is the horrific truth of these games. I was also disappointed that they didn't portray Peeta's injury to be as critical as it was in the books. I don't mean to sound morbid but part of the sense of desperation was missing because of that, or at least I felt it was. 

On a lighter note, Gale was such a cutie but poor Peeta left a little to be desired (bless his heart). Didn't care for Lenny Kravitz as Ceena but it's good to know he's still alive. On the other hand I did love the casting of Woody Harrelson as Haymitch.

Even with my unsettled stomach I would still recommend the books, they're such quick reads and they definitely give you something to think about. And to lighten the mood once again here's handsome Gale:

 

I'm excited to finish the third book and see how everything ends up, Suzanne Collins definitely does a great job of keeping me turning the pages.

Fun fact: The place where District 12 was set in the movie (Henry River Mill Village, NC) is for sale for $1.4 million. So if any of you've got that kind of money lying around, go crazy! Basically the place was a mill town until the '70's and after the mill burned down the town was deserted until the movie was made there. Pretty interesting little tid-bit.