May update
Why May? Because I thought I updated that at the beginning of June but it seems I didn't. This hit and miss updating when I have internet access sucks big time. I miss my nice, affordable, local Internet through QIS. California net services are horrendous. There is ATT - very expensive and my friends with it constantly are having issues, as in they pay for DSL but get worse quality and speed than what I got as a dial up service. There is Comcast - again with the expensive, don't know anyone who uses it but due to way the house I rent is listed... they can't service both parties on the property. Dish Net uses ATT for their internet provider. There are a bunch of small 'wire-less' companies, they look good, cost are almost worthwhile even if they are more than 3X what QIS in Maryland cost, but if you have trees (which I do) you get intermittent access at best. Yes, I checked, but my house is too far under the ancient trees to get any kind of satellite provided net access.
So...
Books:
May:
Books:
The Way to Rainy Mountain Scott Momaday
Secret Game
Conspiracy Game
Dangerous Game
Night Game
Murder Game
Deadly Game
Predatory Game
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Raferty's Wife
Movies:
The Next Three Days - drama at its finest. The evolution of a mild mannered college professor into a man who is so thoroughly in love with and convinced that his wife is innocent that he will literally do anything to rescue her. And through it all, I found myself crossing my fingers for him even though I knew I really should be rooting for the 'good' guys - who really were good cops doing their jobs.
Jodhaa Akbar Bollywood romantic historical. I've watched Bollywood movies off and on since I was 12 or so. Saw a lot between age 12 and 14 with the Indian movie night at Vanderbilt since my aunt and uncle were very interested in India, Indian culture and Indian cuisine. This movie, like all the others I've seen, is part drama, part romance and heavy on the musical. I'm not 100% certain about the history in it, but it's still a fascinating viewpoint on the cultural relationship between Rajastani Hindu and Muslim during the 1550's. If you like sword fighting, large scale battles, slow igniting romances with evil stepmothers, arranged royal weddings, betrayals, and the like - you might want to watch it. Cavaet though - if you don't like subtitles and don't speak Hindi, you will get lost. It's still worth the watch.
Transiberian I got this thinking it was a modern remake of Orient Express. It's not. Set on the Transiberian Railway between Beijing and Moscow with some really awesome shots of the taiga, ancient monasteries, desolate Siberian vistas, the Russian Metro and more, the movie is a serious drama that makes me think twice about my dream of some day finding the money to take that trip. Keeping straight who is caught up in whose web of intrigue and lies is almost as difficult as figuring out exactly which role (hero, anti-hero, villain, and foil) each actor is portraying at any one time. Quite simply I got pleasantly surprised by some of the twists in the plot. I will admit, however, that the movie had several scenes that literally turned my stomach. All in all, I liked it more than I disliked.
Ice Age I admit it. I like the squirrel. He's completely extraneous and totally nuts, but I like him. It's a good movie - a fun, flight of fancy. Manfred the Mammoth. Syd the Sloth.
The Joneses As a commentary about the one upmanship and consumerism that currently rules not only America but much of 'modern' society, this movie is both thought provoking and very sad. It made me look at myself, my surroundings, and my purchases a bit more cynically than normal. And I'm still doing so. I've avoided a lot of the high end, today's fad, tomorrow's craze stuff but even I have a computer, a stack of books whose titles have hit the charts, an I-pod, a cell phone. No I don't own this year's newest, latest of any of them, nor have I purchased the humungous, take over the wall TV screen with matching new fangled digital toys, but I still have more than I can put in a backpack and carry away with me easily. The question is... is it worth it? That's something I need to look at seriously and pray over. And think about it - this is AFTER I got rid a lot to move from one coast to the other.
The Others I got clued in on the ending maybe ten minutes before the actual end of the movie. Set in 1945, the movie is set on one of the smaller British channel islands that were occupied during the war. With her husband not yet back from the war, a long suffering British woman and her two children are literally trapped in the ancestral home due to the children's illness. Add in strange occurances and three new, very unusual servants and you have a distinctly spooky set of circumstances. Very well done - with some of the best foreshadowing I've seen in modern 'scary' type movies. No gore. No horror on screen. It does discuss some terrifyingly sad off screen occurances but it is done rather tastefully.
U.S. Marshalls Sequel to The Fugitive which is one of my all time favorite serious Harrison Ford movies. (No, Ford is not in this one - but that's okay, there are some very good actors in this one.) Well played and suspenceful as the Marshall Gerard and his team hunt down another fugitive, one who is also being hunted by a group of well trained traitors who were using the fugitive as their patsy.
Casino Jack Based on events that I remember reading about just a few years ago, this one is slow and yet still hard hitting. The lobbiests get time in federal prisons but the bribed senators get slaps on the wrist if that. Makes me dislike politics even more than I do. Again - greed and consumeritis cause a lot of problems. Dishonest dealings on a high scale don't help either. Yeah, this movie focuses on lobbiest Jack A.... (I can't spell it, sorry), his partner and the Republican senators and congressmen he bribed, it doesn't touch the Democrats, but I have no doubt that lobbiests are still doing business as usual and on both sides of the fence. I'm just too cynical about the many politicians who make a living out of 'working for the common man and our democratic way of life'. I've seen a few too many corruption scandals in my voting life to trust any of them. Sad, hmmm?
TV shows
NCIS
Criminal Minds
Hawaii 5-O
Criminal Minds 5
Bones season 5
Earth 2 season 1
Mentalist
Places/Things:
St. John's Garden Tour
Turtle Bay/McNally Arboretum & Botanical Garden (the irises were blooming)
So...
Books:
May:
Books:
The Way to Rainy Mountain Scott Momaday
Secret Game
Conspiracy Game
Dangerous Game
Night Game
Murder Game
Deadly Game
Predatory Game
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Raferty's Wife
Movies:
The Next Three Days - drama at its finest. The evolution of a mild mannered college professor into a man who is so thoroughly in love with and convinced that his wife is innocent that he will literally do anything to rescue her. And through it all, I found myself crossing my fingers for him even though I knew I really should be rooting for the 'good' guys - who really were good cops doing their jobs.
Jodhaa Akbar Bollywood romantic historical. I've watched Bollywood movies off and on since I was 12 or so. Saw a lot between age 12 and 14 with the Indian movie night at Vanderbilt since my aunt and uncle were very interested in India, Indian culture and Indian cuisine. This movie, like all the others I've seen, is part drama, part romance and heavy on the musical. I'm not 100% certain about the history in it, but it's still a fascinating viewpoint on the cultural relationship between Rajastani Hindu and Muslim during the 1550's. If you like sword fighting, large scale battles, slow igniting romances with evil stepmothers, arranged royal weddings, betrayals, and the like - you might want to watch it. Cavaet though - if you don't like subtitles and don't speak Hindi, you will get lost. It's still worth the watch.
Transiberian I got this thinking it was a modern remake of Orient Express. It's not. Set on the Transiberian Railway between Beijing and Moscow with some really awesome shots of the taiga, ancient monasteries, desolate Siberian vistas, the Russian Metro and more, the movie is a serious drama that makes me think twice about my dream of some day finding the money to take that trip. Keeping straight who is caught up in whose web of intrigue and lies is almost as difficult as figuring out exactly which role (hero, anti-hero, villain, and foil) each actor is portraying at any one time. Quite simply I got pleasantly surprised by some of the twists in the plot. I will admit, however, that the movie had several scenes that literally turned my stomach. All in all, I liked it more than I disliked.
Ice Age I admit it. I like the squirrel. He's completely extraneous and totally nuts, but I like him. It's a good movie - a fun, flight of fancy. Manfred the Mammoth. Syd the Sloth.
The Joneses As a commentary about the one upmanship and consumerism that currently rules not only America but much of 'modern' society, this movie is both thought provoking and very sad. It made me look at myself, my surroundings, and my purchases a bit more cynically than normal. And I'm still doing so. I've avoided a lot of the high end, today's fad, tomorrow's craze stuff but even I have a computer, a stack of books whose titles have hit the charts, an I-pod, a cell phone. No I don't own this year's newest, latest of any of them, nor have I purchased the humungous, take over the wall TV screen with matching new fangled digital toys, but I still have more than I can put in a backpack and carry away with me easily. The question is... is it worth it? That's something I need to look at seriously and pray over. And think about it - this is AFTER I got rid a lot to move from one coast to the other.
The Others I got clued in on the ending maybe ten minutes before the actual end of the movie. Set in 1945, the movie is set on one of the smaller British channel islands that were occupied during the war. With her husband not yet back from the war, a long suffering British woman and her two children are literally trapped in the ancestral home due to the children's illness. Add in strange occurances and three new, very unusual servants and you have a distinctly spooky set of circumstances. Very well done - with some of the best foreshadowing I've seen in modern 'scary' type movies. No gore. No horror on screen. It does discuss some terrifyingly sad off screen occurances but it is done rather tastefully.
U.S. Marshalls Sequel to The Fugitive which is one of my all time favorite serious Harrison Ford movies. (No, Ford is not in this one - but that's okay, there are some very good actors in this one.) Well played and suspenceful as the Marshall Gerard and his team hunt down another fugitive, one who is also being hunted by a group of well trained traitors who were using the fugitive as their patsy.
Casino Jack Based on events that I remember reading about just a few years ago, this one is slow and yet still hard hitting. The lobbiests get time in federal prisons but the bribed senators get slaps on the wrist if that. Makes me dislike politics even more than I do. Again - greed and consumeritis cause a lot of problems. Dishonest dealings on a high scale don't help either. Yeah, this movie focuses on lobbiest Jack A.... (I can't spell it, sorry), his partner and the Republican senators and congressmen he bribed, it doesn't touch the Democrats, but I have no doubt that lobbiests are still doing business as usual and on both sides of the fence. I'm just too cynical about the many politicians who make a living out of 'working for the common man and our democratic way of life'. I've seen a few too many corruption scandals in my voting life to trust any of them. Sad, hmmm?
TV shows
NCIS
Criminal Minds
Hawaii 5-O
Criminal Minds 5
Bones season 5
Earth 2 season 1
Mentalist
Places/Things:
St. John's Garden Tour
Turtle Bay/McNally Arboretum & Botanical Garden (the irises were blooming)