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This and that...
Yesterday was a lovely day - so is today actually, but yesterday was much cooler. Today is in the mid-80's with pristine blue skies and a soft breeze. Bubble clouds color the horizon.
I got rid of some of my books yesterday, not many, just the pulp ones that I no longer read. Wales was going to read American Psych by Bret Easton Ellis, until I explained to her why I almost threw that one in the trash and set it ablaze. She looked perplexed, so I flipped through the book and had her read the section that caused me to stop in disgust. (Without going into detail - for flist sake, It has to do with a starving live rat and raping a girl. And yes, it is worse than anything mine or your dirty mind can imagine, trust me on this one.) Wales' response:"God, it is worse than the movie." Uh.Huh. "Why do you think Ellis wrote it?" Don't know. "Do you think, he thinks men on Wallstreet think this way about women?" God, I hope not. "He's great on his satirical depictions of our culture." True. But also a tad misogynistic for my taste. "I don't think I want it now," said Wales. Could you take it back downstairs then and put it on the street for someone else? Because I really don't want it and I can't bring myself to throw it in the trash. (Which she does thankfully, the book was beginning to feel like a bleeding boomerang.) We had taken a walk then came back to my place to watch Kinsey which was a tad on the slow side. Not a bad flick, just incredibly slow in places. Not much happens in this movie - it is pretty much a by-the-numbers-bio pic of the scientist who did the famous Kinsey report. Spends most of its time talking about the Kinsey report. The famous Kinsey report was the first study conducted in the US on the sexual behavior of men and women. The Male Version went over quite well. The female version cost Kinsey his grant and got him in trouble. Sigh. We've made progress, but we still live in a patrioarchial society - and the fault lies as much with women as with men. There are quite a few women out there who let's face it, like living in a patrioarchial society. They don't want to change and they will kick anyone who tries to do it. Sigh. People, can't live with them, can't live without them.
After Wales left, watched The Aviator, which was moderately better than Kinsey.
Interesting depiction of billionaire Howard Hughes. I may have enjoyed it more if someone other than Leonardo Di Caprio had been cast as Hughes. Di Caprio is one of those actors that either works for you onscreen or doesn't. Also after watching the documentary on Hughes? I'm not unconvinced that Di Caprio was miscast. He bares no physical resemblance to Hughes. Hughes was a tall skinny man, with a long face. Reminds me a bit of Carey Grant, Jude Law, or Christian Bale or Johnny Depp in appearance. Maybe even Gregory Peck. Di Caprio is a short actor and has a rounder face. Cate Blanchette as Katherine Hepburn worked a little better (although Hepburn was also far more attractive and I think shorter than Blanchette, at least she was shorter than Howard Hughes, in this she's taller.) The other thing that bugged me about the movie was the fact that he pulls himself together almost too well after going off the deep end. When I watched the documentary - I realized, oh, Hughes plane crash which brough on much of his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder did not happen until much later - after he was investigated by the government, after he built the Hercules. And what caused the delusions wasn't the OCD so much as the morphine and valium and codine he was taking for the pain - the drugs also brought on the OCD. They changed and compacted a lot of this in the movie for dramatic effect - which didn't completely work for me. My other criticism is the movie felt drug out - it could have been more conscise, too many scenes that went no where - that were clearly scenes the director had fallen in love with. I lost track of some of the romances and the avation. That said - it is one of the better bio-pics out. And they do a masterful job of depicting what a complicated person Howard Hughes really was. I recommend the DVD - for the History Channel documentary and some of the information on OCD. Outside of that most of the special features feel like advertisements to Oscar voters, or lots of self-congratulatory patting on the back. Didn't watch Scorsese commentary on the film itself - so can't comment on that.
So far seen five bio-pics :
Finding Neverland
De Lovey
Ray
The Aviator
Kinsey
(And I'd rank them pretty much in the order above.)
Other thing did yesterday - was buy those two books I was lusting over. Yes, I know, I need more books like I need more clothes or a hole in the head. (Did get rid of some of the clothes in my closet today - spent four hours cleaning out my trunk, closet and dresser. Yeah me.) The books: "The Family Tree by Sheri s. Tepper" and "Queen of The South by Arturo Perez Reverte" - I think between myself and my parents, we own almost all of this guys books now. He's an amazing writer. I've read two so far, still need to read Club Dumas and The Fencing Master, and the Nautical Chart.
I got rid of some of my books yesterday, not many, just the pulp ones that I no longer read. Wales was going to read American Psych by Bret Easton Ellis, until I explained to her why I almost threw that one in the trash and set it ablaze. She looked perplexed, so I flipped through the book and had her read the section that caused me to stop in disgust. (Without going into detail - for flist sake, It has to do with a starving live rat and raping a girl. And yes, it is worse than anything mine or your dirty mind can imagine, trust me on this one.) Wales' response:"God, it is worse than the movie." Uh.Huh. "Why do you think Ellis wrote it?" Don't know. "Do you think, he thinks men on Wallstreet think this way about women?" God, I hope not. "He's great on his satirical depictions of our culture." True. But also a tad misogynistic for my taste. "I don't think I want it now," said Wales. Could you take it back downstairs then and put it on the street for someone else? Because I really don't want it and I can't bring myself to throw it in the trash. (Which she does thankfully, the book was beginning to feel like a bleeding boomerang.) We had taken a walk then came back to my place to watch Kinsey which was a tad on the slow side. Not a bad flick, just incredibly slow in places. Not much happens in this movie - it is pretty much a by-the-numbers-bio pic of the scientist who did the famous Kinsey report. Spends most of its time talking about the Kinsey report. The famous Kinsey report was the first study conducted in the US on the sexual behavior of men and women. The Male Version went over quite well. The female version cost Kinsey his grant and got him in trouble. Sigh. We've made progress, but we still live in a patrioarchial society - and the fault lies as much with women as with men. There are quite a few women out there who let's face it, like living in a patrioarchial society. They don't want to change and they will kick anyone who tries to do it. Sigh. People, can't live with them, can't live without them.
After Wales left, watched The Aviator, which was moderately better than Kinsey.
Interesting depiction of billionaire Howard Hughes. I may have enjoyed it more if someone other than Leonardo Di Caprio had been cast as Hughes. Di Caprio is one of those actors that either works for you onscreen or doesn't. Also after watching the documentary on Hughes? I'm not unconvinced that Di Caprio was miscast. He bares no physical resemblance to Hughes. Hughes was a tall skinny man, with a long face. Reminds me a bit of Carey Grant, Jude Law, or Christian Bale or Johnny Depp in appearance. Maybe even Gregory Peck. Di Caprio is a short actor and has a rounder face. Cate Blanchette as Katherine Hepburn worked a little better (although Hepburn was also far more attractive and I think shorter than Blanchette, at least she was shorter than Howard Hughes, in this she's taller.) The other thing that bugged me about the movie was the fact that he pulls himself together almost too well after going off the deep end. When I watched the documentary - I realized, oh, Hughes plane crash which brough on much of his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder did not happen until much later - after he was investigated by the government, after he built the Hercules. And what caused the delusions wasn't the OCD so much as the morphine and valium and codine he was taking for the pain - the drugs also brought on the OCD. They changed and compacted a lot of this in the movie for dramatic effect - which didn't completely work for me. My other criticism is the movie felt drug out - it could have been more conscise, too many scenes that went no where - that were clearly scenes the director had fallen in love with. I lost track of some of the romances and the avation. That said - it is one of the better bio-pics out. And they do a masterful job of depicting what a complicated person Howard Hughes really was. I recommend the DVD - for the History Channel documentary and some of the information on OCD. Outside of that most of the special features feel like advertisements to Oscar voters, or lots of self-congratulatory patting on the back. Didn't watch Scorsese commentary on the film itself - so can't comment on that.
So far seen five bio-pics :
Finding Neverland
De Lovey
Ray
The Aviator
Kinsey
(And I'd rank them pretty much in the order above.)
Other thing did yesterday - was buy those two books I was lusting over. Yes, I know, I need more books like I need more clothes or a hole in the head. (Did get rid of some of the clothes in my closet today - spent four hours cleaning out my trunk, closet and dresser. Yeah me.) The books: "The Family Tree by Sheri s. Tepper" and "Queen of The South by Arturo Perez Reverte" - I think between myself and my parents, we own almost all of this guys books now. He's an amazing writer. I've read two so far, still need to read Club Dumas and The Fencing Master, and the Nautical Chart.