The Da Vinci Code... and more!
Because I am such a literary gent, and have a whole section of my new giant movie case (nicknamed "The Unit" after Joey and Chandler's on "Friends") dedicated to books (the bottom shelf, of course), I figured I might go ahead and actually try reading, you know, um, a book.
So, like everyone else in the known universe (or so it seems) I just read The Da Vinci Code. (Ha, wow. I really don't ever talk about reading. My fingers felt confused looking for the underline HTML code.) It took me two days (mostly reading at work) and nearly everyone who passed by had some comment about it, because everyone seems to have read it. Before long, when I had to check people in, I'd leave it open-faced with the pages showing instead of the title, so people wouldn't try to talk to me about it. I don't want to talk to people when I'm involved with a story. Just go away and let me finish.
Anyway, I guess the book was pretty good, albeit fairly predictable. I was sort of disappointed with such a muted ending. For a story like this, I'd have liked another final surprise or some sort of bigger deal for a finale. And with a movie already underway, I wonder if it'll stay that way. They probably have to stay pretty close to the source material or face fanatical outrage, but I'd buy into a more exciting closing.
Which reminds me: Not counting Shakespeare (And when does Shakespeare ever count? :-P), this is the first book I've ever read before seeing the movie. I'm already wondering if I'm going to turn into one of those book snobs that complains the movie can't hold a candle to the book. God, I hope not. In fact, the whole time I was reading it, I was already imagining the movie versions of the characters. I pictured Tom Hanks as Langdon, Sir Ian McKellan as Teabing, Jean Reno as Fache, Paul Bettany as Silas, and despite their decision to cast Amélie as Sophie, I decided to picture Julie Delpy (a favorite of mine since falling in love with the Before Sunrise/Before Sunset movies) in the role. Oh, and I didn't know he was cast till just now, but I'd have been happy to picture Doc Ock as Bishop Aringarosa ("Peter Fache was right. I miscalculated."), too.
So, that'll be fun to see next year.
And for all you Bush-haters out there (Wellesley people, I'm looking in your direction), check this out:
Kerry's Yale Grades Similar to Bush's
Kerry actually got FOUR D's compared to Bush's ONE (a 69, too, mind you), but don't worry, Senator Kerry has an explanation that he used when his father confronted him about the grades: "I always told my dad that D stood for distinction." Go Democrats!
So, like everyone else in the known universe (or so it seems) I just read The Da Vinci Code. (Ha, wow. I really don't ever talk about reading. My fingers felt confused looking for the underline HTML code.) It took me two days (mostly reading at work) and nearly everyone who passed by had some comment about it, because everyone seems to have read it. Before long, when I had to check people in, I'd leave it open-faced with the pages showing instead of the title, so people wouldn't try to talk to me about it. I don't want to talk to people when I'm involved with a story. Just go away and let me finish.
Anyway, I guess the book was pretty good, albeit fairly predictable. I was sort of disappointed with such a muted ending. For a story like this, I'd have liked another final surprise or some sort of bigger deal for a finale. And with a movie already underway, I wonder if it'll stay that way. They probably have to stay pretty close to the source material or face fanatical outrage, but I'd buy into a more exciting closing.
Which reminds me: Not counting Shakespeare (And when does Shakespeare ever count? :-P), this is the first book I've ever read before seeing the movie. I'm already wondering if I'm going to turn into one of those book snobs that complains the movie can't hold a candle to the book. God, I hope not. In fact, the whole time I was reading it, I was already imagining the movie versions of the characters. I pictured Tom Hanks as Langdon, Sir Ian McKellan as Teabing, Jean Reno as Fache, Paul Bettany as Silas, and despite their decision to cast Amélie as Sophie, I decided to picture Julie Delpy (a favorite of mine since falling in love with the Before Sunrise/Before Sunset movies) in the role. Oh, and I didn't know he was cast till just now, but I'd have been happy to picture Doc Ock as Bishop Aringarosa ("Peter Fache was right. I miscalculated."), too.
So, that'll be fun to see next year.
And for all you Bush-haters out there (Wellesley people, I'm looking in your direction), check this out:
Kerry's Yale Grades Similar to Bush's
Kerry actually got FOUR D's compared to Bush's ONE (a 69, too, mind you), but don't worry, Senator Kerry has an explanation that he used when his father confronted him about the grades: "I always told my dad that D stood for distinction." Go Democrats!