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I love how the Postcrossing people not only facilitate the sending and receiving of postcards around the world, but they also enjoy stats as much as me. Sadly, these stats show it was a dry month for receiving postcards. Oh well, I guess more will come in January.
Hello Patricia!
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Should your child ever ask you what it’s like to be high and you don’t really want them to ingest an illegal substance to find out the answer, might I recommend this movie as a passable substitute? It’s full of heightened sounds and tones and sort of dreamy and nothing much happens, and even when it does, all the emotions seem muted. It’s not at all a gripping way to spend two hours, but, just like being in a certain altered state, it’s rather pleasant.
Cost: $2.00 from Videorama. (I was attempting to have an Affleck Bros. double feature, but Ain’t Them Bodies Saints had been rented out.)
Where watched: at home.
Wrapping up the books read post we continue up the age spectrum to the grownup books.
Grownup books:
Attachments
Rainbow Rowell takes us back to 1999 and an Omaha newspaper newsroom. Eavesdrop in on two employee’s conversations via email. You won’t be the only one who is eavesdropping, and it’s fun to find out just what kind of a conundrum the book character is getting himself into by eavesdropping.
Signature of All Things
It’s very long and very good. Take a journey through the 19th century with the daughter of a wealthy Philadelphia merchant/plant importer.
Telegraph Avenue
Or perhaps you would like to take a very long journey (though a fraction of time compared to the previous novel) through current day San Francisco and a record shop owned by two longtime friends? Michael Chabon has a way with description and his characters don’t disappoint.
Love’s Winning Plays
Then there’s this brief bit of funny fiction. If you are into skewering college football and the princely riches that come along with it, this is the book for you. If you are could care less about college football and the princely riches, but enjoy hilarious novels, (as I do) this book is for you.
White Teeth
Another long book. It seems when I’m not whipping through YA in a day or two I enjoy a story that spools out over many pages. This time journey to London and catch some sharp observations.
Grownup–Honorable Mentions
Ash Wednesday
Glaciers
Nonfiction
The Cocktail Primer
Perhaps you would like a clearly written basic book of cocktails? This, my friend, is that book.
Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows
Check out this book of photographs taken over a few decades by a woman who worked as a nanny. They were discovered after her death and are incredible.
You Can’t Get There from Here
Gayle Forman and her husband traveled around the world for a year. They went to unique places, and Forman structures the book with each chapter exploring a different unique part of the world. In the interludes between unique parts of the world, and sometimes within each chapter, Forman writes honestly of how the trip is affecting their marriage.
Quality Graphic Novels
Bad Houses
Hang out in Failin, Oregon and see what some of the residents are up to.
Bluffton
Spend several summers with a group of Vaudevillians on vacation. One of them is a young Buster Keaton.
I love YA. I love that it explores the nooks and crannies of adolescence. I love that it’s even better written then when I was a YA. I love that I can read it quickly. Here are my top YA books I read this year, divided into two categories: A Top 10 (plus honorable mentions) of YA books that have romance as the main (or a large part of their) plot. I also include A Top 5 (plus honorable mentions) of YA books that do not concern themselves with romance.
As before, links will send you to the Goodreads page for the book, with all the information you will need to find the book.
Top 10 YA With Romance
(I should note that I like the romance part a lot, so some might quibble with me as to whether some of these stories are actually concerned with romance.)
Dodger
Maybe you want to catch up with the Artful Dodger? Terry Pratchett has a delightful bit of historical fiction for you.
Eleanor & Park
Both of the title characters don’t fit into their worlds in different ways. They find each other through a love of books and music and their connection helps one support the other. An incredible story by my new favorite author.
Fangirl
The same person who wrote Eleanor & Park also gives us Cath, the incredibly awkward college freshman who is a master at writing fan fiction. So. Funny. And also sweet and dramatic.
If I Stay / Where She Went
The first of this two-book series is gripping and incredible and I think you should just read it, instead of reading a synopsis. It will be that much better, trust me. The second book is also quite good. This is by my other new favorite author.
Just One Day / Just One Year
Man, sometimes a book just catches you and it becomes difficult to go to bed on time, or fix dinner or even go to work, because all you want to do is read. Just One Day was that book for me. And Just One Year was nearly as consuming.
Love and Other Perishable Items
It wasn’t quite as consuming as Just One Day, but nearly so. Having worked in a grocery store, I loved that perspective, and the twin unrequited loves the two leads felt were well written.
Openly Straight
Rafe is gay and out of the closet and fine with it. But when he decides to attend a boarding school for his junior year of high school, he decides not mention to anyone that he is gay. Very interesting setup.
Out of the Easy
What’s a daughter of a French Quarter prostitute to do with her life? That’s the question in this grand bit of historical fiction, set in the 1950s.
September Girls
Sam’s dad drags him to a beach house on an island for the summer and said island is populated with a ton of incredibly beautiful girls, who all seem to be very interested in Sam. The rest of the book doesn’t go the way you are thinking it will.
The Infinite Moment of Us
True confession: This is one of my favorites because it’s very explicit in its description of sex, and what comes before sex. However, that said, I like the way the characters experience sex and what comes before it.
YA With Romance–Honorable Mentions
All the Truth That’s In Me
Far Far Away
Hattie Big Sky
In the Shadow of Blackbirds
OCD Love Story
Top 5 YA No Romance
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
Leonard has plans to murder a classmate and kill himself. Not at all as horrifying as it sounds.
One Came Home
Aside from the title, which I hate, I loved everything about this book which has a little bit of everything in a not-overwhelming way.
Shift
Kinda mystery, kinda adventure. Good bicycle book.
The Different Girl
The kind of book that will probably stick with me for a very long time.
The Thing About Luck
Tragically funny in that way that books can be sometimes.
YA No Romance–Honorable Mentions
In Darkness
Winger
Just because you are over eighteen doesn’t mean you won’t love these books. Or maybe you have a young reader who is interested? The links in the title will take you to the Goodreads page for the book, which lists all the information you will need. If you are my friend on Goodreads, it will also be easy to see my review.
All lists are in alphabetical order.
Picture Books
A Long Way Away
Take a long journey through space. If you liked following that kid in the Family Circus as he wanders around the comic strip, this book is for you.
Mr. Wuffles!
Mr. Wuffles is a cat who spurns all toys except for one. But this toy is not like any other. Find out why.
Year of the Jungle
Suzanne Collins (she of the Hunger Games and the Gregor series) tells us about the year her dad went to Vietnam. Good capture of a child’s sense of time and making sense of what she can.
Tiger in my Soup
Fabulous illustrations and fun for all the little brothers out there. And the big sisters who might recognize themselves.
Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great
The title says it all. See the world through Goat’s eyes.
Picture Book Honorable Mentions:
Carnivores
Xander’s Panda Party
Juvenile Chapter Books
I’m not the biggest fan of these, so I didn’t even have five for my list. But the four I had were good.
Counting By 7’s
My library lists this as YA, but I put it in the “J” category because the girl is 12 and I think kids tend to read about children older than them, not younger. I loved this main character and how she just kept on chugging through her troubles.
Doll Bones
If your middle-school student (or you) likes to be creeped out by stories, this is a book for him/her. Also a good depiction of middle school kids being at different places in their maturity.
Gone Fishing: A Novel in Verse
Great story told using poems. Perfect for introducing elementary school kids to different forms of poetry.
P.S. Be Eleven
Not a story set in a New York City Public School (P.S. 11) as I first thought, but a story of three sisters in Brooklyn in the 1960s. Very well done. It’s also the second book, so you might want to read One Crazy Summer first.
My recent viewing of Rock of Ages got me thinking about the power ballad. Here are some things the power ballad and their videos all have in common:
And so I bring you this retrospective of my favorites:
And I hope you understand the way I spin the word “favorites” to mean something like: at one time I desperately loved these songs and so I still feel a strong affection for them, even if now I find some of them a little silly.
To view, click the links, or, if the site lets you, you can watch the embedded videos.
Patience
Guns & Roses
“The record company made Guns & Roses write ‘Patience’,” said boyfriend #2 with a steely glint of admiration in his voice, “because the crowds were getting too out of control and they wanted the band to play something to calm them down.”
I have no idea if this is true or not, but I prefer this song to “November Rain” which has also has its merits.
Watch for:
Heaven
Warrant
Watch this and look for:
I Remember You
Skid Row
Their other ballad “18 and Life” is also good, but more sad-sad than sad-romance-ballad sad.
Look for:
High Enough
Damn Yankees
Look for:
(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection
Nelson
Look for:
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Poison
I won’t lie. I still love this song, it’s probably a top-10 from the 80s. I probably love it partially because Bret Michaels sings in my range, something that was quite rare for the time period. But the video, I have to say, is a bit disturbing. At some point in his writing, Chuck Klosterman pointed out how this video is a “sobering examination of Poison’s alcoholism” and he’s not wrong.
Look for:
Love Song
Tesla
I think this one holds up rather well, though I have to sing along an octave lower
Look for:
When the Children Cry
White Lion
This was actually painful to both watch and listen to. It has not held up well. At all.
Look for:
Living in Sin
Bon Jovi
I loved this album and liked this song a lot–enough to transcribe it into a journal. But watching the video now! Yow! It seems fairly racy for my then-eighth-grade self. O! MTV. Such promises you made to us about romance. That said, the “kids” in this video look like they are in their early 20s, too old for their parents to be so interfering.
Look for:
Love Bites
Def Leppard
I may have slow-danced to this song at a junior high dance. Or I may have wished I was slow dancing to this song at a junior high dance.
Look for:
Here are my top rankings of movies I watched in 2013 (that were from other years.) Just because it took me a while to get around to them doesn’t mean they aren’t good. You can see my best of 2013 (from 2013) by reading this other post. See my original Three Sentence Reviews by clicking on the links.
Listed in alphabetical order:
Bernie
Jack Black playing a very un-Jack Black character. Plus Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey, residents of small Texas towns and TWO musical production numbers.
Paper Heart
Weird girl! But so fun! And Michael Cera in a fabulous quasi-documentary. Words fail me to paint the proper picture of just how enjoyable this movie is.
Platoon
So it took me a while. But I watched it and I liked it. Travel back in time when all those guys were young. Twitch at all the grody war stuff. Realize your Charlie Sheen thing wasn’t all that strange.
Premium Rush
Joseph Gordon-Levett as bicycle messenger in a “map” movie meaning they several times trace maps through New York City. Michael Shannon as the very bad guy. Plus, one of the best bar kisses on film. Perhaps the best.
Rock of Ages
I’m totally the target audience, but even so, this was incredibly fun. And Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand make up for their lack of singing pipes as a very funny comedy duo. Catherine Zeta-Jones should just restrict herself to over-the-top characters.
Safety Not Guaranteed
There are the good movies everyone natters on about and then there are the good movies that are unexpected. This was the second kind. It had a bit of a bizarre plot, but by investing your time in this movie you will be served with a full meal of good movie. There is character growth, humor, a few tears. Also, the entire time I just wasn’t sure if we were watching a movie making fun of a weird guy, or a quasi-sci-fi drama. I’ll let you find out which way the wind blew.
Silver Linings Playbook
Perfect story, in that I wasn’t “in” from the get go. It seemed a bit off, I wasn’t totally sold and then, wham! They got me. Upon repeat viewing with Matt, I felt him experience the exact same distance and the exact same locking-in at the same point. Perfect cast, main and supporting, quirky characters, captivating story. When watching the preview, I was annoyed that Jennifer Lawrence was in this because she is too young, but she played older and was fabulous and I wouldn’t trade any of them for the world.
Take this Waltz
A movie about a young married woman drawn to another man. The longing is palpable, so much so that I ended up feeling like I was cheating on her poor husband. This has not only an interesting love triangle, but all three characters are fully developed. The film is also quite hot, as longing tends to be. Plus, Sara Silverman has a minor role. So it was a good film and then, where the ending usually would be, the film just kept going to deposit us in an entirely different space. And that’s what made it a great film.
The Help
I was ready not to like it because the book was so good and also complex and there was no way they were going to be able to transfer all that to the movie. But they did! And the acting was superb. And the men were actually minimized in the book-to-movie transfer, which is something that never happens.
The Master
This is probably not the best movie to watch while you are knitting, or letting the dog in and out of the house or stopping the film to answer the phone. Because you might become distracted and just stop watching, because it’s that kind of film. However, if you can set aside the time to just watch this movie, you will be bowled over by an intense plot and stellar acting. It’s also fantastically weird. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams standing over a sink are permanently burned in my brain.
I’ve got two separate posts for you and a bonus list. Or, if you want sentences instead of paragraphs, you can go to the Patricia Awards for Movies.
Let me begin by saying I think ranking Top 10 lists is dumb. Flim/Movies covers a lot of ground, and how can you compare the best documentary to the best film you saw with ‘splosions? That said, I do have a #1 choice: Frances Ha. But everything after that is too hard to rank. So here are my lists in alphabetical order. Link(s) to the original three sentence reviews by clicking on the titles.
I have no ability to critically regard any of the “Before” movies because I am crazy about them. I love that I am two years younger than the characters, I love that they keep catching me in life stages, I love that they are well written, witty, thoughtful and superbly acted. And I love that Julie Delpy’s Celine is a piece of work. No shaving off the rough edges of that character. If you haven’t already partaken, plan a day, or series of days, and watch all three: Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight.
Fast & Furious 6
This movie made my list partially because Filmspotting’s Poll question this week was “Which of these 2013 box office hits would you most like to see make some ‘best of’ lists?” and this was my pick. (It’s currently losing with only 6.16% of the vote.) So I couldn’t not include it in my Top 10 list. But it’s also here representing films made for the masses. I like to be challenged in my movie watching, I like to be transported to other places and times, I like to experience things through characters. And sometimes I just like big, dumb action movies which are not only fun IN the theater, but fun to recount dramatically to people who find such films stupid. They are also fun to read about online. This one not only had a How it Should Have Ended treatment, but the movie franchise has also spawned much debate about the physics of the Fast universe. Now that’s a great movie franchise.
Frances Ha
Those of you who know me know that the lack of women in cinema drives me crazy. I love movies, I love women’s stories and it frustrates me that we don’t get to see more of them. Or even two women in a movie. Or even a sub-plot with a woman in a movie. Or a film that doesn’t just have the woman in the girlfriend role. I could go on, and have. But enter Frances Ha, making my movie dreams come true. I also hated that mid-20s period of floundering in my own life, so it was wonderful to see that life passage writ large on the big screen. Also, its fun and funny.
Kings of Summer
Until they start making good movies about teenage girls, I will have to slack my thirst for adolescent life passages with movies about boy teenagers. Fun fact: when I was in high school (and even college) Hollywood produced basically NO movies about teenagers. The sun had set on the Brat Pack and wouldn’t rise again until the late-90s with Can’t Hardly Wait, American Pie and their like. Except for Heathers, we had nothing after Say Anything, and that classic came out when I was in eighth grade. So a vast yearning need to see my adolescent story played out while I was an adolescent was not fulfilled and thus I tend to watch every single (non-horror) teenage film that appears. This one hit every note of high school summer with three very memorable actors. Plus all the supporting cast was excellent. My teeth dried out from smiling.
Philomina
Judy Dench usually does right, so I expected this to be good. I was surprised at just how good it was. What could have ended up a sort of dramatized-for-television level of emotion was ratcheted up quite a few notches. Aside from the main thrust of the story, Judy Dench’s portrayal of Philomina is fun to watch just from the “oh, mother really!” perspective. Bring tissue. It’s a weeper.
The Place Beyond the Pines
I’m guessing that the vast majority of straight women have the same bad-boy fixation I have. Hopefully y’all have found a very nice boy to settle down with and confine all your bad boy urges to the screen, as I have. It really works much better if the bad boy is ephemeral celluloid. I’ve gone on the record (multiple times) as NOT having a thing for Ryan Gosling. However, blond Ryan Gosling with face tattoos is another story entirely. This is a film in three acts, and blond Ryan Gosling is only around for the first act. But the story that starts with him and then flows through the picture is breathtaking. Also, this movie I can never remember the title. I call it “that Pines film.”
Stories We Tell
Sarah Polly has been a great actress and director and it turns out makes a darn good documentary too. It’s interesting to tell people the premise–Sarah Polly explores rumor that her father is not actually her father–and see what their reaction is. Polly layers her story with her siblings and father (her mother died when she was 11) and as we go deeper into the stories the story we are listening to gets complicated in interesting ways. This movie is good for a gasp or two. And maybe a tissue.
The To Do List
This movie makes my list because I’m stubborn and I’m willing to write off a movie’s failings (this one was a bit uneven) if it gives me something I never get. Remember up there in the Frances Ha review where I talk about wanting to see more women in film? Well, this deals directly with emerging female adolescent sexuality. A lot of the reviews of this film said the same thing: It’s American Pie from a girl’s perspective but not very well done. But guess what? It is FROM A GIRL’S PERSPECTIVE! It’s not the film for every one. Or most people. But how often do I get to see a female set out to explore her own sexuality? Not very often. I liked it so much I wrote an essay about it.
This is the End
Whereas dirty female movies get written off as being crude, dirty boy movies are celebrated. And this is a very dirty boy movie. And it is very, very, very funny. And what makes it a fabulous film is that it never stops. It manages to introduce untold scenes and stories and it never once stops and it never once drags.
American Hustle.
It was a bit too long, but otherwise fabulous.
Enough Said.
Great chemistry, good story.
Gravity.
Everyone is seeing it for a reason.
Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
If they are going to make a favorite book series into a movie series, they might as well be doing it well.
Much Ado About Nothing.
Shakespeare. But fun.
Rush.
Go for the dreamy lead, stay for the story.
The Spectacular Now.
Fabulous acting. Unfortunately culminates into a hideous rewriting resulting in a stupid Hollywood ending.
Thor: The Dark World.
I like superhero movies. Though I was surprised how much I liked this one.
White House Down.
Went for Channing Tatum, was surprised that I really enjoyed the film itself.
20 Feet From Stardom
The women who haven’t made it big
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
Casey Affleck!
August: Osage County
Ensemble full of people I love
Blue is the Warmest Color
All the straight male critics like it. I need to weigh in my straight female point of view.
Blue Jasmine
Cate Blanchett!
Fruitville Station
Vince from Friday Night Lights!
Her
My secret nearly-twin Joaquin Pheonix in a hideous mustache.
In a World
Ridiculous that I have yet to see this!
Inside Llewellyn Davis
I’m getting that I will like the music, even if I end up not liking the film.
Out of the Furnace
Casey Affleck!
Prince Avalanche
Supposedly underrated.
Short Term 12
Excellent murmuring about this film.
The Wolf of Wall Street
Go for Leo, stay for the misogynist behavior.
Wadjda
Saudi Arabia. Girl and her bike!
It was a good movie year and I have many awards to present. To read all the original Three Sentence Reviews use the search box.
In chronological order of viewing:
