Taming shrews and Culturing children

Phew, haven't done movie/book reviews for a while.


I love art. I hope my children love art too. Why not expose art to them now! The book is Children's Book of Art. I read it to Bryant. He lasted 2 minutes. Yeah, well I tried. I wonder how they chose the different pieces for this book. Well, I really liked it. Maybe it should be renamed Parents' Book of Art.





Tonight we watched Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's Taming of the Shrew. Loved it! I have seen it before but this was the first time for Ben. I loved that the costumes and scenery were set in Shakespearean time. I loved that they didn't modernize the script. I loved Liz's big hair. I just loved it. I wonder if Liz and Rich were like that in real life (the feuding parts.) After all...they were married twice. See this, you'll love it too.

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.

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.

"Nobody minds having what is too good for them." - Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

I'm a fan of Jane Austen. She had a way of telling a happily ever after story without having the story be too cheesy. I just finished a novel based on her life with her sister, Cassandra, as the narrator. The book is called Cassandra and Jane and is written by Jill Pitkeathley. I think this book not only takes a look at Jane, but we get to see a little about her sister and their relationship. It was a good (and short) read.

While I'm at it, I might as well recommend Becoming Jane Austen (the book) by Jon Spence. It has quite a few more "facts" than Cassandra and Jane but it's more of a biography. Lots of facts that I didn't know about Austen. Anyway, if you're a fan of Miss Austen, definitely check out these books.


I also watched Becoming Jane this past week. I have to say I was pretty disappointed. I guess I was expecting it to be less Hollywood-ish and more biographical. I don't picture Jane Austen as they portrayed her. Maybe the director wanted her to seem more exciting, but Anne Hathaway didn't quite cut for me. I did kind of like how they made Jane's life kind of like Pride and Prejudice though.

That time of week again

So, this week I read a very interesting book. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. I first thought this book would be very boring...much like my Econ 100 class. In actuality, it was very interesting. Not very long either. And as long as you don't check out the large print copy from the library, you won't get reader's cramp. The introduction reveals that this book has no "unifying theme." Who needs a unifying theme when you can have schoolteachers who cheat, real-estate agents who info-hoard, drug dealers who deal drugs (I didn't know either), and parents who obsess? You can find out how abortion and crime are related (not in the way you're thinking) and why not to name your child Winner or Loser (also not in the way you're thinking.) In actuality, I think the chapter on names was my favorite. I hear there are those out there who are baby name hunting...I highly recommend this book, it's named Freakonomics, but it's really a baby name book.


On to the movie of the week. Mirage from 1965 stars Gregory Peck, Diane Baker, and Walter Matthau. Now there may be readers out there who don't watch movies older than 2001, but old movies are my absolute favorite and you don't know what you're missing out on. I had never seen this movie before which is highly irregular, especially as Gregory Peck goes. Mr. Peck plays the part of an amnesiac wandering around New York trying to find out who he is and trying to stay alive while he does. There was a definite Hitchcock feeling to this movie, but I think Hitchcock probably would have done a better job (no offense Mr. Dmytryk.) I really enjoyed Mr. Matthau in this movie with his dry sense of humor. Ms. Baker seemed a little young for old Greg, but what do I know. I don't know what else to say that won't give away the movie, so just take my word for it and watch it.

Books and movies

I feel like my blog so far is about two things. Vacations (or mini-vacays) and Ben's bread. Does anyone else out there feel the same way? Good. So, I really like to watch movies and read so now you get to know what I watch and read! Lucky you. Anyway, so the book I've been reading lately is called I Was Vermeer: The Rise and Fall of the Twentieth Century's Greatest Forger by Frank Wynn. This book is about Han Van Meegeren who apparently was a famous art forger.


Anyway, so Ben and I had this discussion that if anyone could forge a painting to look like a master, then did it really matter who painted it? I say yes, Ben said no (of course.) Very interesting book, especially if you like biographies (which I do.)

A movie that I just saw was Martian Child with John Cusack. Cute movie, but did anyone else think that this kid really was a Martian or am I just really gullible?

Anyone else read or seen anything good?