Super Fast Books and Movies List from the Weekend

We are having such a blast with Hannah and Rose home and Kirsten here too. It is like Christmas in the middle of the year. Consequently there has been tons of movie and book talk.

Books
For some reason, fiction is on my radar right now. Meaning novels, not sf or mystery genre stuff.

1. Just finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Honestly, if I’d really known what it was about I’d never have been interested but once I was engrossed in it I was glad to have read this excellent book. Told by two different servants and one young woman who doesn’t fit into the Jackson, Mississippi society because she didn’t immediately get married and begin a family, this is a story of their unexpected collaboration on a secret project that results in all of them crossing lines that are not acknowledged aloud but which must be crossed in order to truly know themselves. I raced through the last fourth of it. Highly recommended. HIGHLY!
2. Now am reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which I suppose actually is genre fiction (sf maybe?). I have tried it before but either wasn’t in the right mood or was expecting something different. Hannah read it, loved it, shoved it on my nightstand, and has been nagging me about it (with that hopeful, wistful, little puppy look that a mom can’t say no to…). Began it this morning and don’t understand why I didn’t warm to it before … the writing is charmingly understated and amusing. It is about magic, English practitioners of magic, books about magic, and set in England during the Napoleonic war. Only on chapter 3, but jolly good writing so far.
3. Also began The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society because it looked light and easy AND because everyone else said it was wonderful. A series of letters between various people about reading and food in post-WWII England. That's all I know so far as I have only read about 6 letters and am just getting everyone sorted out. So far, so good. More later, I'm sure.

Movies
Remember I said "super fast!"

1. Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.): not all that it could have been but great fun nonetheless (grade: B).
2. Jennifer’s Body: warning, warning … horrible. Do not watch. (Insider info tells me that the script was a comedy but the studio got scared and cut most of the funny scenes to turn it into a horror movie. It shows. aaargh). Grade: F
3. Zombieland: finally I have found a suitable alternative for Shaun of the Dead. A true delight AND a movie that celebrates family (still chock-full of flesh-eating zombies). Hilarious though. Rule #4: watch this movie. Grade: A+. (The plus may seem extreme but Tom says that is because I had to compare it to Jennifer's Body, besides which practically anything would get a plus.)
   

Lost in Three Minutes

Brilliant. Watching the last two seasons of Lost may have a whole lot more meaning ... and it certainly is something I might be more interested in now.

In which we find They Can Only Hang You Once

Yes, we're breaking from espionage in Europe to come back home for a look at Dashiell Hammett and Sam Spade on Forgotten Classics. Join us for some very American storytelling over this holiday weekend!

You Know You Need It

The oven mitt you've always wanted but couldn't find ... Star Wars Space Slug Oven Mitt.

Thanks to Rose for putting us all on the path to discontent with her heads up on this..

I just finished reading the latest Harry Dresden novel, Changes. That's several hours I won't get back again.

What the Sam Hill was that supposed to be?

It was like a book version of a bad sequel to an action movie.

SPOILERS ... for those who haven't gotten this far in the series but not for this book.
So much action and yet I didn't care about it. I got the idea that author Jim Butcher didn't care either and was forcing the action to have to avoid actually thinking about character development or plot.

I have occasionally wondered if I was getting tired of the series and then something would happen that would reignite my interest such as Molly becoming Harry's apprentice or the rise of the Gray Council. This was just one damned thing after another (literally) with Harry calling in one favor after another.

And yet I didn't care.

As for the ending ... what the Sam Hill was that supposed to be?

This book wasn't as disappointing as Blackout (it would have to be monumentally horrible to match that), but it was a big mess nonetheless.

A Birthday Like When I Was a Kid

Once you get to a certain age, you lose that frisson of excitement over your birthday. Members of our household know that my birthday is special and I yield to no one in my enjoyment of my special day. However, you can't control feelings, as we all know, so it is a rare occasion indeed when we are transported back to those glorious days of our extreme youth when everything is possible and every gift is magical.

It began when I went home and did only what I wanted. Right there, that was a darned freeing feeling.

Then Tom came home half an hour early, having left work an hour early to drive to the other side of town to Cheesecake Royale where, which despite what you might expect from the bakery's name, he was picking up "the best tiramisu in Dallas."

You might think they would mention this on their website, but no. They are evidently hoping that the fact they even produce tiramisu will also be the best kept secret in Dallas. Anyway, it is truly amazing as is evidenced by the fact that we had it over ten years ago at an acquaintance's home who I no longer even recall by name. Wow. This bakery uses all fresh ingredients and starts from scratch each day. It shows. Delicious, creamy, not too sweet, and dripping a bit of fresh espresso from the lady fingers. So very good. So very much also as they sell it in a large plastic pan that is about 9x13". Hannah and Rose, we have a ton of tiramisu just waiting for you to help us eat it!

Then we grabbed Kirsten (a college friend of Hannah's who is staying with us for a few weeks as she has begun working after graduating but needs to save up some deposit/rent money) and went to Fireside Pies on Henderson. I'd been curious about the quality of their pizza since they mention a wood burning oven and hand stretched dough. Hoochy mama, that's good pizza!

They definitely encourage communal dining as diners are advised that pizzas are good to share between two to three people, as are the salads (which are gigantic). We tried Jimmy's Spicy Italian Sausage Pizza (with Scamorza & Roasted Red Onions) and the Peta Pie (Sonoma Goat Cheese, Balsamic Mustard Portobellas, Arugula, Roasted Red Peppers, Roasted Pinon Nuts & Charred Tomato Vinaigrette). Both were delicious with thin, oven baked crust and perfectly balanced flavor. The sausage pizza was definitely spicy while the Peta Pizza almost seemed as if it came with salad atop it which made it a bit difficult to eat but the balsamic element shone through and made the trouble worth it. We were all full with four pieces total left over. Tom and I indulged in an Italian beer on tap which was a flavorful lager that complemented the pizza perfectly.

In a mellow mood, we returned home where I attacked a pile of gifts, most of which were books ... my idea of the perfect birthday.

• The Help (thanks to Mom and I can't wait to read it),
  
• complete Flannery O'Connor short story collection,
  
• Flannery O'Connor essay collection (noticing a trend here?),
  
• an absolutely gorgeous book on the Vatican (from my sis who now is determined that I should visit some day after she and her husband were there about a month ago ... isn't it great when people want something so wonderful for you? It makes me feel very loved ...),
  
• A gift certificate for buying books (woohoo, another way around that New Year's resolution of no book buying ... with my own money ... thank you Kirsten!),
• In Bruges, such a profane, violent movie and yet I love it so
  
• Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet, one of the best cookbooks/photography books ever but ever so expensive
• And, of course, baby Mac. From darling Tom who understands me as no one else does. It also may help explain my feeling of being overcome by the munificence of this gift when I mention that not only are we on a tight budget but I have the hand-me-down that has made it through everyone else in the house. I was fine with that actually. But Tom wanted me to have new. What a sweetheart.
  

Then there was the fun of powering up the MacBook, setting it up, learning the new and nifty tricks it can do (can you say two-finger-scrolling? how about four-finger-scrolling!).

My cup runneth over.

Truly Amazing Use of Flash ... And Food

And then there was salsa is something that you really need to see at the home site to appreciate. It's short. Enjoy this land of luscious tomato trees, spicy jalapeño cacti and canopies of fresh cilantro where anything is possible.

More Precious Than Diamonds Is a Thoughtful Husband

For one thing, as we now know, Tom knew that I wouldn't particularly care about diamonds!

For another, he said that he considered giving me an iPad. However, on thinking it over, he realized that iPads are strictly for consuming.

"You're not just a consumer. You're a creator."

That is a gift I will treasure always.

Quick Birthday Update

Posted from my new MacBook.
Gotta love that man 'o mine. What a sweetie.

Tom is soooo lucky he doesn't have to actually make a cake for me

Because I have now seen the new cake of my dreams. Zebra Cake!

Simply amazing looking isn't it? To be fair, it isn't the stripes that would kill Tom, it is the concept of cake making in general that would do him in. He would appreciate the simplicity and use of kitchen science that makes it work.

I'm going to have to try this one out soon.

Do We Know What Today Is? The Third Most Important Day of the Year!

I say this every year, but that's just because it is always true. First is Easter, then is Christmas, then is ... my birthday!

Some people ignore their birthdays or don't want much fuss made. Not me. Everyone in the household knows it too. (To be fair, they all regard their birthdays to be the third most important day of the year.)

You notice that only Jesus trumps this day for me ... so then imagine the place He holds to overcome a lifetime of "most important day of the year" before I became Christian.

Hannah showed the proper spirit several years ago when she was filling out a job application on Sunday and asked me what the date was. Then she answered her own question with, "Oh, wait. It must be the 22nd because I know Wednesday is the 25th." Yep, just like Christmas. All other dates are figured around this one.

Tom is supplying the celebratory dessert. Not a cake or a Strawberry Tart as I made last year, but Tiramisu which for some reason really struck me a few days ago as just the thing.

Also I love the fact that this is also St. (Padre) Pio's birthday. I couldn't find anything online that communicates the sense of joy and light-heartedness that I received while reading a biography of him. It was a photo of him with his head thrown back laughing that first made me notice him. I thought, "Now there is someone I could talk to..."

While praying before a cross, he received the stigmata on 20 September 1918, the first priest ever to be so blessed. As word spread, especially after American soldiers brought home stories of Padre Pio following WWII, the priest himself became a point of pilgrimage for both the pious and the curious. He would hear confessions by the hour, reportedly able to read the consciences of those who held back. Reportedly able to bilocate, levitate, and heal by touch. Founded the House for the Relief of Suffering in 1956, a hospital that serves 60,000 a year. In the 1920's he started a series of prayer groups that continue today with over 400,000 members worldwide.

And it is the Venerable Bede's saint day which is also very cool. You will never read a better death than that of the Venerable Bede ("Write faster!").

Even on the day of his death (the vigil of the Ascension, 735) the saint was still busy dictating a translation of the Gospel of St. John. In the evening the boy Wilbert, who was writing it, said to him: "There is still one sentence, dear master, which is not written down." And when this had been supplied, and the boy had told him it was finished, "Thou hast spoken truth", Bede answered, "it is finished. Take my head in thy hands for it much delights me to sit opposite any holy place where I used to pray, that so sitting I may call upon my Father." And thus upon the floor of his cell singing, "Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost" and the rest, he peacefully breathed his last breath.

So It Was Purgatory All Along? UPDATED

I quit watching Lost about two seasons ago. It was dragging on so much getting to any real answers that I just didn't care anymore.

However, I said from the beginning that it was Purgatory, even when the show's creators decried that (because, frankly, just about everyone pegged it for Purgatory).

An office mate who stuck with it described the end and I said, triumphantly, "So it was Purgatory all along."

He said, "Well that depends on your definition." (Being a nonreligious person for all I can tell.)

Then he said, it was like a halfway house between life and death where you had to be so you could sort out everything that was true about your life and see it with complete clarity.

Yep. Purgatory.

UPDATE
Here's the a bit of the post that has settled it for me. I'm going to have to rent the DVDs and watch the last two seasons of Lost.

As the story ended, the people sitting with me immediately began discussing: So is the Sideways real? I just smiled to myself, being too exhausted to formulate an answer. I wanted to say with Dumbledore, “It was in their heads, but why on earth should that make it not real?” What LOST did was make the statement: what is in your head is real. Imagination vindicated. Faith vindicated. Spiritual reality vindicated.

In other words, this was logos epistemology, as I had hoped when watching “Across the Sea.” The light of the world is in every person. We recognize it in each other. We recognize the spiritual reality within and behind the physical world, and it’s in our minds – in our imaginations – that we perceive the truth. Just note the way the show opened and closed: Jack’s eye. And then remember your eye symbolism from Harry Potter.

Via Amy H. Sturgis.

Sunday Snippets - a good idea

RAnn wrote to tell me about a new Catholic Carnival she's hosting called Sunday Snippets.

Sunday Snippets is a chance for Catholic bloggers to share their posts with each other. It doesn't matter if you blog exclusively about things Catholic or whether, like me, it pops up periodically. If you are Catholic you are welcome to join us.

For more information, here is last week's post to peruse.

"We get our weirdest when we compete over who is the most pure."

Yes, we’re moving into an era of hyper-accountability. Soon Cain will no longer answer, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” but will take great pride in keeping his brother on the straight and narrow. The Cain of tomorrow will be a pest, a prig and a self-righteous tattle-tale. The Spanish Inquisition and the holocaust of the Nazis were the result of just such a trend getting out of control.

From Roy H. Williams' Monday Morning Memo which I just finished listening to (here's the mp3 link location).

I have been noticing that for a while and the heat has been turned up in the last year, or so it seems to me. It smacked me upside the head when we were hosting a party and a guest innocently asked if I recycled, while waving an aluminum can. I had a surprising moment of inward cringing before saying, "No." Another friend nearby jokingly said, "Julie, Jesus would be green, you know."

Yes, he really was joking. And we laughed. But he was making a point. And it was not him making the point that mattered. I didn't care, honestly because that's nothing. I have been getting lectures from a particular grocery store check out girl for some time. In fact, I wickedly delight in asking for plastic bags when I am in her line even though my preference is paper.

The point was that I was conditioned to know somewhere, somehow judgment was going to be rendered. It made me reflect upon how many people these days think nothing of butting into other people's business at the drop of a hat.

I've been paying more attention ever since.

Perhaps that is why the Monday Morning Memo had me nodding and saying, "Preach it!"

It is also undoubtedly why I noticed the C.S. Lewis quote at Brandywine Books today. It starts like this ...

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.

Be sure to read or listen to that Monday Morning Memo and take special note of his prescribed antidotes. Another way to say that would be "live and let live."

Play PacMan on the Google Homepage Today!

It's the 30th anniversary and Google's special home page logo doesn't just emulate the game ... it is the game. (Use up and down arrows to move the PacMan.)

Thus allowing us to squander time in yet one more place, but with nostalgia so that's ok, right?

Freedom from Porn. Freedom from The Old Boss?

"Yep, freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery," the Apple honcho [Steve Jobs] wrote. And then came the kicker in his litany: "Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin'."

Mr. Tate gasped. "I don't want 'freedom from porn,'" he shot back, "Porn is just fine!"

"[Y]ou might care more about porn when you have kids..." was Mr. Jobs' response.

After some sparring with Mr. Jobs on another topic, Mr. Tate came back to what is now bothering him most: "I may sound bitter," he wrote, explaining why: "It's you imposing your morality, about porn."

My, how the definition of imposing one's morality has changed over the years. Once it meant enforcing criminal sanctions on smut-peddlers. Now, a businessman who prefers to opt out of the trade is accused of impinging on everyone else's free speech.

This email exchange is the subject of Eric Felten's WSJ column today. Felton nails it.

Also, as Tom and I discussed, if the masses are crying out for porn then Apple will find out the old fashioned way. They'll go out of business.

I will take a moment here to point out that this led to a continuation of a long-running and enlightening conversation we have been having about Flash and Apple.

Simply, Steve Jobs may be against porn. But he is more against allowing open development. He is about control.

Here's how that works in this case.*

Flash is a program that is used to make and show moving things on websites, including YouTube embedded videos. (This is an extremely simplified explanation.)

Apple can't run Flash on the iPhone.

This is because they don't care to develop the iPhone to run Flash, for whatever reason.

Therefore, Steve Jobs denigrates Flash whenever he gets a chance by mentioning things like buggy programming. I will spare you the details and slurs.

This led to an exchange of attacks between Adobe (developers of Flash) and Apple.

Until finally, Apple has shown their true colors in this fight. They make tons of money from the Apps that are sold to go on the iPhone.

A way to produce an App for the iPhone has been developed that uses Flash and then exports it (with no moving elements) as an App. Therefore, it is perfectly usable with no buggy programming.

Apple has made it a policy to refuse Apps developed using Flash, even though it does not affect the end product or the iPhone's ability to use it.

Simply put, this is about total control. Period.

Goodbye Old Boss Microsoft.

Hello New Boss Apple.

Same as the old boss.

*This has deliberately been made extremely simple since it is a very complicated topic. However, keep in mind that complex arguments can be used to obscure real objectives, which when stripped down are fairly simple. Control. Ownership. Money. Steve Job's reality distortion field. Etc. (We love Apple in general, but we have NOT drunk the Kool-Aid.)

Stacked ... Everywhere

I am once again in the position of having many books, partially read, stacked all over the house. However, the great thing about these books is that all of them can be picked up and enjoyed no matter what.

Trouble is My Business by Raymond Chandler
Having suffered through City of Dragons, I realized I'd never really read any of the prototypical genre she was attempting to emulate. My random selections of Raymond Chandler from the library yielded a book of short stories and a novel. Beginning with this book of short stories, I discovered that Chandler is an author I am enjoying. These pithy stories are exactly what you would expect from the creator of Philip Marlowe, except that they show the quintessential hard-boiled detective from a developmental stage through many different stories. The last four stories, so I'm told from the book blurb, have Philip Marlowe in them, though I am not sure how he differs from the 'tecs I've read about thus far (except in name). Great fun.

Nightmare Town by Dashiell Hammett
Yep. I couldn't just try Chandler without also sampling the other great master of hard-boiled mystery fiction, Dashiell Hammett. Again, my random library selections yielded a novel and this short story selection. It also has an interesting overview of Hammett's life in the introduction. These stories contain hard boiled detectives but also, surprisingly, twist ending stories from different points of view as well. Hammett is a more varied writer than Chandler and I am always amused whenever the main detective describes himself as short and stout (which seems to happen frequently). About halfway through and thoroughly enjoying this intro to Hammett.

Assam and Darjeeling by T.M. Camp
If there is any justice in this world, then this book will become a classic. I was enchanted by it when listening to T.M. Camp's audio version on iTunes (want a sample? go listen.)

Taking up the published version (it is on Kindle also but the actual book is high quality ... Tom was very impressed) I was afraid that the story wouldn't hold up to what I remembered. I need not have feared. The printed version is superior, in fact, because the eye can linger over the beautifully written phrases, which add a depth that the ear doesn't convey in quite the same way. I am uncharacteristically reading this slowly for the pure pleasure of it. (Also, I must say that I am reading a copy bearing the author's inscription, though that in no way is influencing my commentary. I have always been a fangirl of this book.)

A masterful and nuanced book, Assam & Darjeeling is the story of a quest straight into legendary, mythological landscape. Two children’s efforts to save their mother serves as a lens through which we see pure love, redemption, and sacrifice. (For my complete review, go to SFFaudio. Highest recommendation.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
Rose has been after me to read this for some time. But it took SFFaudio mentioning a read-along of The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester ... then they said it was based on The Count of Monte Cristo and I knew, with a sense of doom, that my time had come.

I am listening to the LibriVox free audio book. I have gotten to about chapter 35 (out of 117 ... oy!) but so far I am enjoying it. Though that villain Villefort! Oh, I want to give him such a slap! And I could have done without that exceedingly long history of the shepherd/bandit, although Dumas certainly threw his heart into the telling of it. Sadly, there is one reader who did quite a few chapters which are agony for me to try to follow as her foreign accent mushes everything together to the point where listening is a chore. So I am alternately listening and filling in by reading, which has been quite a few chapters thus far.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
A lovely surprise given by my friend Meg. Major Pettigrew is living a quiet life in the village of Edgecombe St. Mary when the news that his brother has suddenly died comes and sends him into a (very quiet) tailspin. It sparks a sudden friendship with Mrs. Ali who has also lost her husband. Both are struggling quietly with relatives who selfishly want to force them to behave differently.

I'm only on chapter 4 but am struck with the simultaneous feelings of wanting to gulp it down at once and also savor it slowly. So far it is truly a gem.

Walk This [Roman] Way

I did make one hypothesis while I was there. Just one. I wish I could share with you more than that. It was something I noticed. As I stood close to the location to the Temple of the Vestal Virgins I could see the collossium. In fact it is in walking distance. It was not that far from the Senate building where the laws were made, and the emperors sat, and I could imagine that when the wind was good, and the conditions right, 50, 000 voices shouting in their blood lust could be heard through the windows.

I wonder what laws were passed based on that sound.

I've been thoroughly enjoying the Ancient Rome Refocused podcast. It has the informality and "outside the envelope" thinking that puts one in mind of Hardcore History (I have a feeling that Rob Cain is going to get very tired of that comparison). Now I see that his blog is just as entertaining, informative, and thought provoking. Check it out.

It's All Downhill from Here: Nature's Mathematician

A little mid-week humor (more or less midweek) from the brilliant Dr. Boli whose latest allegorical bestiary topic is timely since I just installed bird feeders outside my kitchen window about a month ago. Though I, of course, must adapt it to the fox squirrel.

DR. BOLI’S ALLEGORICAL BESTIARY.

No. 22.—The Grey Squirrel.

THE GREY SQUIRREL is a cunning mathematician whose skill in calculating trajectories is unmatched in the animal kingdom. It has, in fact, been estimated by behavioral scientists that the Grey Squirrel would have reached the moon at least two million years before man did, had not the squirrel’s calculations revealed that the probability of finding peanuts on the moon was practically nil.

Ornithologically inclined observers who keep bird feeders in the back yard may frequently see Grey Squirrels sitting in low branches near the bird feeders, manipulating their tiny slide rules with astonishing speed and consummate skill to arrive at exactly the correct parabola that will take a squirrel from branch to feeder in one leap.

No amount of ingenuity in the design of bird feeders will ultimately defeat a determined Grey Squirrel, and the best strategy for bird lovers who wish to preserve something for their feathered friends is to feed the squirrels themselves so often that they become more or less spherical, which throws off their parabolic calculations.

Although human intelligence is no match for the squirrel’s, there is one enemy for whose formidable brain the Grey Squirrel is no match. This is the Blue Jay, a member of the hyperintelligent Corvid family of birds. Alas, the Blue Jay uses his brain for evil instead of good, his favorite recreation being the theft of nuts from (relatively) innocent squirrels. Squirrel lovers should not attempt to thwart the Blue Jay, no matter how much sympathy they feel for their furry grey friends. The Blue Jay is a bird you would not wish to have for an enemy.

Allegorically, the Grey Squirrel represents Engineers’ and Technicians’ Local No. 348, which has kindly agreed to sponsor this allegory through March 28, 2014.

Vive La Difference!

... women and men strive for the same virtues, but often attain them and express them in different ways. The virtues will be lived and manifested differently in the lives of sisters, mothers, and wives than in brothers, husbands, and fathers. Two different musical instruments, playing the exact same notes, will produce two different sounds. The difference in the sounds is one of those ineffable things that’s hard to describe with words, but easy to discern. Neither instrument is better than the other; in the hands of the diligent and dedicated, each instrument plays music which fills the spirit and adds beauty to the world.

I have never seen that truth stated more beautifully. Be sure to read What is Manliness in its entirety. It is a splendid article.