And now, another day of doing nothing. Hey, I only get two more weeks of this.
ozfroggirl , I got your card! An especially lovely surprise as I don't recall asking for one, but hey, bonus holiday greetings are fun too. *g*
I read When the Wind Blows today, possibly because I harbor secret masochistic tendencies; between that and Barefoot Gen, I suspect I only have to watch Grave of the Fireflies to complete the trifecta of depressing stories about nuclear fallout, although When the Wind Blows is based on a theoretical bombing rather than one that actually happened, so perhaps it is not quite the same. But it is still a depressing story about nuclear fallout, which is all that matters really. I wonder what it must have been like it read that when it was first printed, back during the Cold War; I don't think I or my generation in general really understand what the active threat of nuclear attack is, even if it's still a possibility, and if reading something like that is profoundly disquieting now...
Other things I have seen recently: the movie of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which from what I can remember of the book was reasonably faithful and actually quite well-directed (my dad's a huge A/V buff, and he loved it); and Sunshine Cleaning, which is an interesting little movie about two sisters who go into the business of cleaning the houses of people who have just died or been murdered. I don't think I've ever seen Amy Adams not be perky before. Also, that makes two on the list of Indie Movies With 'Sunshine' In The Title Co-Starring Alan Arkin. Bonus: it was written and directed by women, and passed the Bechdel Test with flying colors, plus it managed some surprise lesbianism and a perfectly capable disabled character--so it's worth checking out at least for the sheer rarity of it.
(Also also: there is an actor in it who drove me crazy because I could not for the life of me figure out where I knew her from, all I knew was that I'd heard her rather distinctive voice before, and praise be to IMDB for revealing that she was the mad scientist in the first episode of The Middleman, as well as apparently a regular cast member on 24, which surprises me quite a bit because, well, one does not really expect there to be much overlap between The Middleman and 24. But apparently there is!)
I read When the Wind Blows today, possibly because I harbor secret masochistic tendencies; between that and Barefoot Gen, I suspect I only have to watch Grave of the Fireflies to complete the trifecta of depressing stories about nuclear fallout, although When the Wind Blows is based on a theoretical bombing rather than one that actually happened, so perhaps it is not quite the same. But it is still a depressing story about nuclear fallout, which is all that matters really. I wonder what it must have been like it read that when it was first printed, back during the Cold War; I don't think I or my generation in general really understand what the active threat of nuclear attack is, even if it's still a possibility, and if reading something like that is profoundly disquieting now...
Other things I have seen recently: the movie of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which from what I can remember of the book was reasonably faithful and actually quite well-directed (my dad's a huge A/V buff, and he loved it); and Sunshine Cleaning, which is an interesting little movie about two sisters who go into the business of cleaning the houses of people who have just died or been murdered. I don't think I've ever seen Amy Adams not be perky before. Also, that makes two on the list of Indie Movies With 'Sunshine' In The Title Co-Starring Alan Arkin. Bonus: it was written and directed by women, and passed the Bechdel Test with flying colors, plus it managed some surprise lesbianism and a perfectly capable disabled character--so it's worth checking out at least for the sheer rarity of it.
(Also also: there is an actor in it who drove me crazy because I could not for the life of me figure out where I knew her from, all I knew was that I'd heard her rather distinctive voice before, and praise be to IMDB for revealing that she was the mad scientist in the first episode of The Middleman, as well as apparently a regular cast member on 24, which surprises me quite a bit because, well, one does not really expect there to be much overlap between The Middleman and 24. But apparently there is!)