July Books and Movies

Is there anything better in this world than super high humidity? Which brings along with it that nice sticky feeling when you're just trying to sleep? And makes putting on make-up extra fun because your face is sweating, to say nothing of your head. Oh, the joys of summer in Michigan. The good news is that it's supposed to be gone by tomorrow, and I have to say that the weather forecasters have been pretty darn good this year at guessing when the humidity would be leaving us, at least so far. And compared to the previous two summers, the humidity has been short-lived – a couple of days here, a couple of days there. This past weekend was absolutely perfect! 82F and low humidity on Saturday had me sitting outside (after walking up to Michael's to buy kitchen cotton yarn) for five hours. It was gorgeous! I put on my cancer-causing sunscreen and sat out on the front lawn (I don't have a backyard) knitting a potholder & dishcloth for my friend Marianne, occasionally stopping knitting to read a book. It was perfect.

So, you all know I'm a vegetarian and have been for many years, right? Well, I've never made the switch to soy milk, even though regular cow's milk isn't supposed to be good for you, to say nothing of it being "stolen" from the cows, etc. Now, I'm not a vegan and have no real intentions of becoming one as I love ice cream, pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc., but the whole soy milk thing is supposed to be better for you. Well, I tried soy milk years ago when I lived in San Francisco. I bought the regular soy milk, poured it over my Cheerios, took one or two bites and then proceeded to pour the whole mess down the sink (I actually had a garbage disposal in SF – very exciting), including the entire half gallon. And didn't try it again until this past week. This time I bought the Vanilla flavored stuff, and while I have been able to get through an entire bowl of cereal, I have to say that I am not enamoured. It's too sweet. And if I allow myself to think about it, I think it could be gag-inducing.

I had talked to a guy at work and he recommended trying it again, but he apparently told me to try the Edensoy, but I had bought the Trader Joe's brand. What do you all think? Should I try the Edensoy or just go back to my non-fat, lactose-free milk? I'm actually also wondering what I should do about milk needed for a dinner type item – you know, Cream of Asparagus soup which needs a can of milk? I'm pretty that the vanilla flavoring isn't going to work there.

I have an addiction and it's getting out of hand…no, not yarn (although that has definitely gotten out of hand). No, my addiction is to blank books, of any type and size, but especially small ones which ostensibly will fit in a purse. At this precise moment I have THREE in the purse I'm carrying, one in the purse I carried for the past year, (remember my fabulous orange purse? That one.), and a whole bunch one bookshelves and in closets, etc. It's insane. Does anybody else have an addiction to something like this?

I won't be around tomorrow as I have signed up to do community service at the Detroit Zoo. I'll take any chance to be outside in August, especially if it's officially sanctioned by work!

On to Books and Movies read/watched in July.

Books

#32-#38 of the Nancy Drew Series written by Carolyn Keene: The Scarlet Slipper Mystery (179 pages), The Witch Tree Symbol (179 pages), The Hidden Window Mystery (179 pages), The Haunted Showboat (184 pages), The Secret of the Golden Pavilion (184 pages), The Clue in the Old Stagecoach (180 pages), and The Mystery of the Fire Dragon (182 pages). They're Nancy Drew books, you know how they are – nice, quick, easy reads.

The Shining Mountain by Peter Boardman from The Boardman Tasker Omnibus - 185 pages – This was an account of Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker's expedition to climb Changabang, a mountain in the Indian Himalayas. According to Wikipedia, "Changabang was first climbed on June 4, 1974 by an expedition led by Lt. Col Balwant Sandhu and Chris Bonington, via the Southeast Face, leading to the East Ridge. This is the easiest route on the mountain, and one of the few that is primarily a snow/ice climb, as opposed to a rock climb with some snow, ice, or mixed terrain.[2] Other notable ascents include some of the hardest climbs ever done in the Himalaya. The first of these is the ascent of the West Face by Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker in 1976. The route took over 25 days to ascend, and their use of big wall climbing techniques to overcome the serious, sustained difficulties was revolutionary.[2]" I found a book club on-line which read this book back in 2003 and part of the discussion was that it was a very technical book and that non-mountain climbers might have a problem with it. I don't remember having a problem with it, but I've also been reading mountain climbing books for a good 12 years.

Everest the Cruel Way by Joe Tasker – 165 pages – This was an account of an unsuccessful expedition made to Everest by a smallish British group of climbers in winter. It discussed the personality clashes that occur with close living over a period of months in an inhospitable area/situation. I found this story interesting because included in this expedition were the Burgess Twins who I had heard about, but had not yet come across in any of my mountaineering books. I really need to pick up their book(s). They are supposed to be simply outrageous.

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer – 391 pages – I'm a big fan of the Artemis Fowl series, so I had to pick this one (book 6) up. I even let the YS take the latest Janet Evanovich book to Arizona because I knew I was going to read AF6 first. Apparently, Mr. Colfer isn't going to write anymore AF books at least for a few years, because all the loose ends have been wrapped up. Whatever. I hope that means he's going to work on his Half Moon Investigations series, because I enjoyed the one of those he has written so far. I won't compare AF to Harry Potter because a lot of people seem to diss HP w/o even having read them (simply because they were popular), but they are written for Young People, technically. Artemis Fowl is a brilliant 14 year old who somehow discovered fairies and interacts with them. It's not all fairy dust and rainbows coming out of …well, wherever…they're more intense than that. I'm terrible at describing books, obviously. I definitely think that they're worth at least checking out from the library, if you're thinking "Fairies? Eeewww." There's also a dirt-eating dwarf with an explosive backside, a mastermind Centaur named Foaly and all sorts of other evil and non-evil Pixies, etc.

This is getting ridiculous, it's taking me three days to write one post!!!

Movies

7/2 - The Holiday (DVR) – 2006 – This movie was cute, but I really didn't think that they developed the relationship between Cate Winslet and Jack Black all that well. I mean, it was obvious he was better than the twit back in England, but damn near anybody would have been. Schmuck. I think Cameron Diaz has Tom Cruise Syndrome (no, not that she's a crazy-ass Scientologist), but that she plays herself in every movie. She annoyed me in this movie, a little bit. But all in all, it's a cute, romantic comedy. Not sure I'd bother buying it unless I can get it for $5.

7/3 - Z (N) – 1969 – I don't think I was in the mood for a French political thriller about a Greek assassination on the day I watched this, because I remember not being very into it. However, as I look back on it, I realise it was a very good movie – just bloody depressing. Governmental corruption is just not a fun time.

7/3/ - The Double Life of Veronique (N) – 1991 – Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski did an incredible job on this film, which is saying something since I couldn't stand his White of the Blue, White, Red Trilogy. Okay, here's where I confess that I never knew he directed all three movies of the trilogy. I liked Blue & Red, so I guess White was the aberration for me. The premise of Veronique is that there are two women of the same name and identical appearance, but one living in Poland and the other in France. They're both musical and somehow their lives are entwined psychically – but not in a cheesy way. The film first follows Polish Veronique and then goes onto French Veronique. I would say that this is actually a good French film and not too depressing (which is saying something).

7/4 – Rear Window – It was playing on TCM, so how could I not watch it? Yeah, I know I own it, but there's still something special about finding it (or anybody great movie you own) on TV. I'll stop every time I find An Affair to Remember, as well.

7/4 – The Music Man – This played on TCM directly after Rear Window. It had been a long time since I had seen The Music Man and it's still a lot of fun, even the annoying mayor's daughter with her "Egods" every time she opened her mouth.

7/6 - Contempt (DFT) – 1963 – The review in the link cracks me up with its first line about this being a "superlative film." Remember above when I saw that Veronique was actually a good French film, and not too depressing. This is an example of a bad and depressing French film. I have no idea why film critics love it. When I mentioned to my friend BST that I was going to go and see it and asked if he wanted to go as well, he said, "I'd rather eat glass than see that horrible movie again." Yeah, his remarks gave me pause, but I figured what the heck. I like to judge things for myself sometimes. I went with my friend Richard who is the sole subscriber to Katflix, what he calls the fact that I lend him movies to watch. The difference between Netflix and Katflix is that with Netflix you get to pick the movies you want and you have to pay while Katflix is free (I just like the idea of someone other than me watching my movies, although Richard usually pays for my dinner when we make the Great Katflix Exchange) and the CEO of Katflix picks what movies you get. Anyway, as we left the theatre, I just had to laugh because it was that horrible. Richard said, "I was really hoping that scene in the apartment could have lasted an hour." Honest to God, the best part of the whole movie was Fritz Lang playing himself. So, if the opportunity presents itself to you to see Contempt, I wouldn't do it, unless it's completely free and you had absolutely nothing better to do.

Postscript

Fermi pointed out that I forgot to list a Book/Movie of the Month, which goes to show you that I shouldn't do anything when I'm in a hurry.

Book of the Month: Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox
Movie of the Month: The Double Life of Veronique