I've been a blog-slacker for the last few weeks. I could give all kinds of excuses, but instead I'm just going to call it summer vacation. I have been seeing a few movies, watching tv and reading a few books, though-- so I thought I'd share a few thoughts.
Book List:
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières This book is a World War II book written about the role of a Greek Island during the war. I loved that this book "had it all"-- love, humor, great characters, drama, irony, tragedy, and history. I was getting mad at the end because I thought I'd been duped into reading another one of those books that just ends badly, but it was saved in the end. There is a little bad language in the book-- but it's more contextual than gratuitous. I'd recommend it, as long as you don't mind a couple of "f" bombs.
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. I checked this one out because it was on the "if you liked Captain Corelli's Mandolin, then you'll also like...." list. But they were wrong. I can't give you a full review on this one, as I couldn't make myself finish the book, but they are definitely not in the same class. I think that the story had potential, but the writing is so disjointed that you can barely find the story for all of the extraneous words. It's a dud.
Movie List
Knowing with Nicolas Cage (on DVD). What a bummer. I like Nicolas Cage and the first of the movie was dramatic and had chills running up and down my spine-- I really thought it had potential. Half way through, though, I started to see that there was no good way for this movie to end and it was like watching a train wreck. At the end of it, I sat there in disbelief thinking, "really? This was the best you could do?" The special effects during the last 10 minutes were totally cool-- especially on Blu-Ray with surround sound, but overall, I'd like those 2 hours of my life back.
TV
Man vs. Food Have you seen this show? It's disgusting and awesome at the same time. This guy travels around and visits local restaurants in big cities-- usually culminating in some food challenge (eat the 72 oz. steak and get your picture on the wall, etc.) My boys love this show-- Layne included.
The last episode, they showed a 3 1/2 foot diameter pizza that weighed over 30 pounds. It looked so good, that my boys almost had me talked into calling Pizza Hut for a 9:00 pm delivery. For the challenge, he had to eat a burger covered in ghost chilis-- the hottest chilis known to man. You shouldn't eat anything that you have to wear surgical gloves to touch. Bad in, bad out, if you know what I mean.
With school starting up in a week, I'm hoping to maybe have a little more time to do more quality blogging.
Who am I kidding?
I'll probably just spend more time on my bike.
As soon as my butt stops hurting from the last ride, that is...
1 comment:
Thanks for the reviews Kim. I've been thinking about reading that book, so your review was timely. I also wanted to rent Knowing because I usually enjoy Nicolas Cage and the plot seemed very interesting, but I think I'll pass now. Thanks for saving me two hours. I wish you had yours back :o)
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