Leatherheads and Ireland

Is there an unwritten (or written!) rule that says you have to apologize if you haven't blogged for a while? Good...moving on.




The movie I'd like to review is "Leatherheads" with George Clooney, Renee Zellweger, John Krasinski, and a few other co-stars whose faces you may or may not recognize. That should cover just about everyone in the film. I didn't see this in theaters, but I wanted to! Does that count? We saw it on tv the other night and I thought it was pretty entertaining. It's about the rough beginnings of professional football. George is an "older" player on the Duluth Bulldogs pro-football team who are...well, let's just call them "free spirits" when it comes to playing football. Rules are made up as they go or not made up at all. Too bad their fun comes to an end when Congress appoints a Commissioner of football. Before that point, they have a lot of fun that includes harassing Renee and blackmailing John. What? You want more details? Sorry, you'll have take my word for it (don't sue me Lavar!) and check it out. Be wary of language and inuendo; especially language. Who knew they swore so much back then! Speaking of back then, I really like that George does these 20-30's period films. Did you love "O Brother Where Art Thou" too?





And now for the book. Have you ever been to Ireland? Well, you should go...now. It's beautiful, breathtaking really. And if you can't just now, why, just check out Frank Delaney's book, "Ireland". It will tell you the history of Ireland only not in the boring textbook style. First off, there's a fictional story that becomes the vehicle for the fascinating Irish stories. The fictional story isn't half-bad as well. But the Irish stories are the real star in this book. Have I been vague enough yet? Well, this book seems to be very hard to review...or it's too late at night. Or both. In any case, I highly recommend it. Warnings: language (you'll understand why when you visit Ireland) and some, well, hanky panky, nothing graphic though.