These things I have seen, heard, and read

My apologies for my recent posting dry spell, but here's my babbling thoughts on my wheelings and dealings:


-- I went to see Pineapple Express this past weekend. 'twas very funny. Seth Rogen and James Franco were great together. I usually can't stand Franco, but he was very hilarious in the film. Oddest moment was seeing a father take his two looked-about-10-years old children to the movie. The cashier explained to the man that the movie was about drugs and rated 18A, but he still bought tickets and took his kids to see the movie. Wow, now there's a man who has run out of ideas of what to do with his kids.

-- While I was at the cottage I watched In Good Company. It's a great movie that does a great job of mixing moments of humour with real emotion. They played the takeover and subsequent downsizing storylines very well and true to real life. I really enjoyed the movie's soundtrack. I was so smitten that I actually went out and procured the CD...

-- ...which is where I recently discovered the musical group Iron and Wine (I know the group was in existence long before I "discovered" them, but we say that Christopher Columbus "discovered" the West Indies even though the islands had been there for millions of years, so cut me a break, will ya). The music is simple, with only an acoustic guitar, but very catchy.

-- Speaking of music, a few weeks back I procured the new Coldplay album. I have to say, compared to their other albums, I'm not really digging this one. With the other albums, they wouldn't leave my CD player for about two weeks after I purchased them and even now, I always make sure to add a few of my favourites to my portable music device. I can't say this about Viva La Vida.

-- Getting back to the cottage, I was able to finish The Shining while I was there. I had seen the movie but had never read the book. For me, The Shining is one of the scariest movies ever. It's a psychological thriller. I find it much scarier than movies where four sexy teens go into the woods and a chased by a dude with a chainsaw or vampire and zombie movies. The way Kubrick uses wide lens to make the actors stand so small within the huge background of the hotel and the way he uses the musical score to set the tension. Genius. So, I was quite excited to read the book. The novel was just as good and just as disturbing. I realized though that I could only read the book during daylight hours, as once I read the book before going to bed and I had bad dreams for the rest of the night :).

-- I also just recently finished Empire Falls. Meh. It started out well (the description of high school lunchroom politics was hilarious) and had great character development. I was originally drawn to the book for the depressing and flawed characters that made up the story. The setting was also great - like the flawed characters, the story took place in part of the US Rustbelt, Maine. Empire Falls was a town where old factory buildings, once the economic engine of Empire Falls, now stand silently. Anyway, I thought the story petered out as you got deeper into the book and I was disappointed by the ending.