Happy Friday!

Wow, haven't done this in a while. I just finished reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's about a futuristic North America where the cruel government sends a boy and a girl from each outlying district to the Capitol where they battle to the death. Why? Well to keep the districts "in line" of course. Alright, so the reason isn't very good but the rest of the book was a good read. There were quite a few violent parts that you can see coming and therefore skip over (as I did.) And as embarrassing as this is to admit, I didn't know this book was part of a series so when I got to the last few pages and expected a quick wrap-up, I was kind of annoyed when the last page read "End of book one." Doh. So if you don't want to wait until September to know what happens next, wait to read this book sometime in the Fall. Anyway, I recommend this book although I'm hoping they don't make it into a movie as it would probably be very gruesome.

And now to the movie. I absolutely love TCM and leading up to the Oscars, they have what is called the 31 days of Oscars where they show movies that either won or were nominated for Oscars. Lots and lots of good stuff.



Anyway, I watched a movie from 1945 nominated for best music, scoring of a dramatic or comedy picture. It's called Brewster's Millions with Dennis O'Keefe and Helen Walker. Not really big stars but they did well in this movie. It's about a guy (Brewster) who has just got out of the army and learns he is the heir to his uncle's fortune. In order to recieve all of the money, Brewster has to first spend a million dollars in two months. He can't just buy anything. Whatever he buys cannot be an asset. It's kind of funny how his buying schemes just can't work out. Who knew it was so hard to spend a million bucks! Very cute little movie.

TCM says this isn't available on video but there are a couple used ones for sale on Amazon. You can always wait for TCM to show it again or try and rent it. Good luck finding this gem!

*Note: Ben says I should mention that there is a remake of this movie with Richard Pryor and John Candy. I haven't seen it but I'll bet it isn't as good as the original. Oh, and I guess these movies are based on the book of the same name by George Barr McCutcheon.