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This weekend was an unique mixture of productive and lazy.

On the productive side, I worked on two of my New Year's resolutions:  to dress up and use my feet for transportation.  I didn't get any pictures of my cute outfits, because it's dark and winter-y outside, and using my feet involved taking the bus, but overall, we're making progress!

The lazy side was much more enjoyable:  I drank coffee and watched movies.

Allow me to elaborate.

(I also took a great picture in Alterra, but also managed to delete it.)

On Friday night, some girlfriends and I went to "The Artist", and on Saturday, Jordan and I went to a matinee of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy".  I'm getting all brushed up for the Oscars - two years ago, my mom and I predicted all but one of the winners!  I want to go for 100% this year!

"The Artist" was very good.  I wasn't as blown away as others have seemed to be, but I've also watched a fair amount of silent films, so I know when it's done right.  Hazanavicius' film (you better believe I had to look up the spelling of his name!) was a solid homage to a great period of film.  I especially enjoyed Jean Dujardin's performance - he took his character on a journey.  You got to see the nuances of his character - he's vain and prideful, yet scared the world is changing without him - without a shred of dialogue.  I appreciated some of the director's choices, such as the times when he did include sound.  It made those scenes more powerful.  The film dragged in the middle, and the ending got a little muddled, but I liked it.  And holy cow, if the soundtrack doesn't win the Oscar, I will be very surprised.  The music made the film.

I wish I had a similarly good review for "Tinker, Tailor".  I was really looking forward to this one - Gary Oldman!  Tom Hardy!  Colin Firth!  Benedict Cumberbatch!  Be still my beating heart! - but it did not live up to the previews.  It took a reeeeaaaaalllllyyyyy long time to set up; it left you with probably 45 minutes of "Wait, is this a flashback?  Isn't that guy suppose to be dead?  Wait, now is it a flashback?"  Once Tom Hardy's character came in, it picked up speed, but eventually slowed down and petered out in the end.  The fact that Gary Oldman's character is nominated for a Best Actor Oscar is laughable.  I generally like Oldman - I feel like he can totally disappear into a character - but this character was so boring.  I compared him to a turtle - slow, silent, and dull.  Overall, David Edwards of the Daily Mirror said it best: "Unfortunately, the plot is every bit as bewildering with an overload of spy-speak, a few too many characters to keep track of and a final act that ends with a whimper, rather than a bang."


Have you seen any Oscar contenders?
Any recommendations for me?

The Book Club Bloggers: Reviews for January

"The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger

It was like a long-lost reunion.

Holden and I, remembering the days of our misspent youth.  One of us was getting kicked out of prep school, while the other was busy with her friend, writing stories about orangutans who happened to also be private detectives.  I won't give you time to guess who was doing what.

In some ways, reading "Catcher in the Rye" was a happy bit of nostalgia for me.  It brought back fond memories of junior year - furiously typing English papers in my dad's office, auditions for plays and anxiously awaiting callbacks, dating boys, and not dating boys, and entertaining foreign exchange students.  Junior year was a good year, my friends.  (It was also the year I met Jordan!)

But, in so many other ways, "Catcher" brought me joy as an adult, probably more so than when I was in high school.  Within the first few pages, I found myself falling in love with Holden, and his voice.  It's easy to see why this book is a classic, and a favorite of generations of teenagers.  Holden is real, probably more real than other book characters previous to his time.  He is a teenager through and through:  confident, yet nervous, snotty, headstrong and impulsive, a bit shallow.  As an adult, I can appreciate Holden and see a bit of him in my teenage self.  I wouldn't have thought that when I first read the book at 16, but I can see it now.  But then again, part of being a teenager is thinking you're not anything like other people your age; you're much more mature.

To speak a little more on Holden's "voice" - one of the questions I asked in the book's introduction was, "Is the way Holden talks and swears important to the book?  Would it be the same book without this?"  I would have to say, yes, the way Holden talks and swears is important to the book.  It wouldn't be the same without it.  It sets the book apart from other literature; it encompasses something special about its characters, about Salinger, and about the time he was writing - the time when teenagers were becoming their own entity.

I can see why this book was challenged when it came out.  I can see adults believing it would put ideas into teenagers' heads, with its careless response to school, sex, and respect for adults.  But such an idea begs the question: would a book like this cause teenagers to act in this way, or were they already acting like this, and Salinger just happened to capture it?  My vote would be for the latter, but I can see how it would cause adults to panic.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on Salinger's work!
Post your review to the Blog Hop below!

Smoky

i've decided that grey days are my favorite kind of days.

i love how everything is soft and muted.

wrapped in a blanket of fog.

i makes me want to wind a scarf around my neck and walk the moors, with a mug of tea waiting at home for me.

it leaves me feeling peaceful and still.

what are your favorite kind of days?

photo sources:  one - two

Beat you to it!

Zooey Deschanel, on Facebook:

Oh Zooey, I've so been there, done that:

Milwaukee

Chicago

Madison


Now, where to go to next?

Fashion Fridays: Nordic Patterns

What the what?  A fashion post, on a non-fashion week?

Yep!  I'm linking up with Blonde Episodes [found thanks to Christianna!] for a Fashion Fridays post.  This week, I'm interested in Nordic patterns.

Normally, I think these types of reindeer-bedecked, oversized, heavily patterned clothes are, well, tacky.  I don't know what it is about this winter though; I've just been drawn to it.

Maybe I'm dreaming of a Scandinavian vacation.  Windswept tundra.  Sturdy cabins on frozen lakes.  Bundled up in front of a fire, drinking hot cocoa, sitting in a cabin with blustery winds outside.  [Notice how my dreams of a vacation don't involve going outside?  As much as I like the idea of bundling up, I don't want to actually go outside...]

Well, I don't know what it is, or if I'll actually buy some, but I'm enjoying the patterns all the same!

How about you?
Would you wear Nordic patterned clothing?

Photo sources:  1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

Fruitier

i think figs are fascinating and beautiful.

they have such a great color contrast: vibrant on the outside, dark on the inside.

like a watermelon, but deeper.

i've never had a fresh one, but I'd like to.

(ps.  i'm taking the online test to qualify for Jeopardy tonight.

wish me luck!)

photo credit

Now in HD!

This weekend was a delight.

Most of it consisted of being lazy:  cuddled with Jordan on the couch, watching TV.  (We're all caught up with Modern Family!)

But on Friday, my siblings-in-law came over.  We hadn't seen each other since Christmas, but that was kind of lame, since Jordan and I were too sick to have any fun.

My brothers-in-laws are such a joy.  They are becoming such men.  The youngest is fourteen now, no longer the goofy, gap-toothed little boy I knew.  (Now he's a goofy, gap-toothed teenager.)  Even though all of them tower over me, it's so easy to forget they aren't young.  We can joke differently now, and bring up more mature topics.

But still, my husband and his brothers will always be boys.  Boys willing to go out and buy a new TV, so we could watch the movie we downloaded.  It was silly, and random, and so much fun!
(It also wasn't a big deal, since Jordan and I have been saving up for a new TV anyway.)
(But we couldn't even watch the movie since it contained nudity, which wasn't mentioned on the description.  Boo hiss!)

Anyway, here are some pictures of my niece, because she's cute.

In other news, drumroll please...

I wrote my very first guest post!!
It's over at Life and Its Other Drugs.
Check it out and show me & Stephanie some love!