Sushi Girl

Happy August aka Kathleen's Birthday Month, Everybody!

If you know me, you know I love summer and heat, but I have to say that this is ridiculous! At 5:00 a.m., it was 80˚F and I just checked the weather after my wilting walk into work and the RealFeel temp is 89˚F at 6:00 a.m. Un-frickin-believable! I should have slept in the living room last night.

I didn't do such a good job on my reading list in July, I'm only halfway through my fourth book. Pathetic! But here's the list anyway:

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich – I love the Stephanie Plum series, but I'm wondering if maybe she's getting tired. It was a little predictable, although I have to say it was nice that Stephanie's car did NOT get blown up in this one.

Dead Watch by John Sandford – I'm a big John Sandford fan and have read everything he's written under this pseudonym. This was not, as you can tell from the title, not one of his Prey/Lucas Davenport books, but still very enjoyable. Dead Watch took place in the DC area, as opposed to Minneapolis/St. Paul like his Davenport books, and had a political bent. Very interesting.

Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis by Jimmy Carter – If you plan on saying something bad about Jimmy Carter in my presence, I highly recommend you don't do it. I absolutely adore that man and that's all there is to that. I think it should be read by everybody, but know that won't happen because if people don't like him, they're not going to be inclined to read this with any degree of seriousness. It was a very quick and easy read (took me a little over two hours) and I found his take on things very interesting – including his Presidency.

The book that I'm halfway through is Mark Donohue's The Unfair Advantage, which I will tell you all about in September.

On to the movies I watched. I did better this month, even with the Tour de France taking up three solids weeks.

Y Tu Mamá Tambíen (G) - I had heard a lot about this movie over the years, and I have to say that it didn't really live up to the hype. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't utterly fabulous. I liked it, but I wonder if I would have liked it better if there hadn't been all the hype. Not for the faint of heart or easily offended.

Babylon 5: The River of Souls (N) - Although I was getting to the end of the Babylon 5 series with these movies (including the next one on the list), and I was actually ready for it to be over, I did like this movie. They had touched on the Soulhunter idea back in one episode of Season One, although I did have trouble with Martin Sheen as the Soulhunter. Still, it was a good movie.

Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (N) - I was way over B5 by this time and just wanted to get to some other movies, so I did not give this one my full attention. It was probably as good as the rest of the show, but I was literally just watching it to send it back and get another movie. I was not fair at all to A Call To Arms.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (G) – I was very surprised by this movie. As most of you know I have serious Jim Carrey issues (he drives me stark raving mad in about a half second when he's doing his comedy schtick. (There's still no chance of me ever watching Dumb & Dumber.) This movie, though? WOW! The premise was different (How nice of Hollywood to try something different and not just remake movies) and I have to say a little disconcerting, although having all memory of the ex- erased doesn't sound like a bad idea at all!

Les Choristes (The Chorus) (N) - I loved this movie. It was a bit To Sir, With Love & The Blackboard Jungle, but I don't think that took anything away from this movie. It had been recommended to me by my family in Mexico and they were so right. I definitely recommend this movie.

To Have & Have Not (TV) – I watched this movie sometime last year when I was in my Bogart phase, but it was on TCM one night and I decided to watch it again. Before last year I was not a Bogart fan at all, now I love him. (Maybe there is hope for Jim Carrey after all. Heh) This was the movie which brought us the tagline "You know how to whistle, don't you?" Fabulous!

His Girl Friday (N) – Without even knowing it I was on a Howard Hawkes' jag last week. I had this movie way down in my queue, but got an e-mail from Netflix saying it was going out of print or something, so I moved it to the top. I am a big fan of 1940s comedies, apparently. This was fast-paced and a little bit on the ridiculous side, but that doesn't bother me. Cary Grant is Cary Grant and I love him.

Amelie (K) – I hadn't watched this movie since the first time I saw it, and it was just as good the second time around. If you're one of the few people who have yet to see this movie, do yourself a favor and rent it (or Netflix it). It's quirky, but in a good way. And most men I know seem to have a thing for Audrey Tautou. Factoid: Amelie was directed by the same people who did The City of Lost Children (a movie I love) and Delicatessen (a movie I abhorred).

Syriana (N) – I discussed this one yesterday and nothing has changed since then. I wish it hadn't been so darn confusing.

Confession (TCM) – I watched this last night, although I hadn't planned to stay up that late. Robert Osborne did his usual great job in setting it up and it sucked me in right away. I kept saying I was going to bed, but I had to find out how it ended. In the end, it was worth it. Another old, B&W film but I find I like them more and more.

Five Netflix movies for the month, although they think it's six as I sent Andrei Rublev back w/o watching it. I'm planning on watching it with friends and we've been having trouble coming up with 3+ hours to devote to it, especially with a key person heading off to Egypt on vacation. So, I hope to have a review of that come September.

Tonight I'm sleeping on the damn couch.