Book-A Thousand Splendid Suns

The second novel by the acclaimed author Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns takes us again to Afghanistan, dealing with the political turmoils by examining the effect on personal lives.

The Kite Runner was Hosseini's first book, and it was great. My only problem with it being too many coincidences happened. This book is better certainly in the regard, and overall, it is better written. You can see that the author is improving in his skills. But is the story better? Is it as compelling as the first novel?

Thankfully, the answer is yes. It may be a bit better overall, though maybe not drawing the reader in quite so closely as the first book. A Thousand Splendid Suns takes place entirely in Afghanistan, and so leaves out the emigrant experience, the new person in America aspect, and I think that adds some distance between the reader and the characters. But I do not think it is a bad thing for the story at all. In fact, I think it is needed, for the story is as brutal, possible more brutal than The Kite Runner.

The basics of the story is the relationship between two women, Miriam and Laila, both bound together be being forced into marriage to Rasheed. It is terrible to see each of them brutalized by this man, and it mirrors the brutalization of the country, as first Russian forces fight with a guerrilla army made up of many factions, and then the factions themselves waging a terrible civil war. And finally the coming of the Taliban, perhaps the most brutality the country had witnessed in modern times.

Hosseini is very skillful in looking at the lives of the two women, the intense dislike they have for one another at first that grows to a love, a sisterhood that ultimately gives grace and meaning to their lives, at the same time as the inexplicable tragedy.

The Kite Runner left us wondering if this was a one time deal from Hosseini. A Thousand Splendid Suns answers clearly that he is an author still growing in skill, with compelling stories still to be told.

This is an excellent book, and I am still thinking about it a week later, and looking forward to the next offering the author gives us.

Movie-Ginger and Cinnamon

This 2003 Italian movie was a cute romantic comedy.

Ginger and Cinnamon is about a woman who is conned into taking her precocious 15 year old niece on a trip to Ios, the Greek island. There the niece is determined to lose her virginity.

Now part of the charm of the movie for us was the setting. One of the best vacations we ever had was in the the Greek Isles, and the setting on Ios reminded us so much of Mykanos that we were a bit taken away by that. But the movie itself is nice too. The aunt is a little tightly wound, and you hope the air from the Aegean Sea will mellow her out a bit. The niece is annoying and a brat, but she is supposed to be difficult and precocious. But the gentle comedy that ensues is nice. The actress playing the aunt is very good, and the whole result is light-hearted and amusing.

Movie-Silver City

Silver City (2003) is far from a perfect movie. It is too long, and has some scenes that could have been cut altogether. But the murder mystery brings us into the world where corporate America meets right-wing political America, and the resulting commentary is pretty good.

One if the highlights of the movie is Chris Cooper, who plays a very dim-witted right wing candidate for governor of Colorado. I have seen no comedian play a better George W. Bush. Though I am sure Cooper would deny that his performance is an imitation of the dim-witted former governor of Texas, it seemed spot on to us. He could rule on SNL with that imitation.

Sometimes the mystery gets lost in the political drama, and sometimes that drama gets lost in the convolutions of the mystery. But the story of the politician being in the hands of a corporation is compelling and seems quite true to life. When a newspaper seems about to investigate this nexus, the newspaper is bought by the corporation. That seems even truer to life.

A very good supporting cast with Richard Dreyfuss, Daryl Hannah, Mario Bello among others adds a great layer to the film.

All in all, a good movie, one that I have been thinking about since I saw it, pondering over the solution to this corporatization of our political system. It is a story that should concern all of us.

Additional Thoughts on Past Posts

Some other quick comments on some recent past posts.

Poker night. We ordered Sardina's. I have not mentioned this place enough. It started as little Italian place on Morena when we were kids. We actually had our first "date" there when I was about 10 and Sharlynn was 12. We split a mini pizza. It has expanded recently, but the quality of the food remains the same---EXCELLENT! From the simple meatball sandwiches to a pasta with fresh mussels, to the exquisite calzones and pizzas, this place is great food, and a great price. We had appetizers of sauteed mushrooms and fried zucchini. An eggplant calzone and a chicken Parmesan calzone, a vegie and a meat pizza, and their antipasto salad is one of the best I have had. It has become very popular of late, since the expansion, and I cannot be happier for their success, as it has been in the same family since it opened.

Another comment--The Martian Child---again, why does the dog have to die? Please, keep the canines alive!!!


Poker night---Emily is looking fantastic. Pregnancy agrees with her fo' shizzle!!

Several friends have recently mentioned the movie Into the Wild to me. They loved it. And they are surprised I really disliked it. I did not like it at all.

Turning 45. I am taking a week off for a mid-life crisis, prior to me turning 45. Somehow, this age is getting to me. Rarely am I concerned about my age, or the age of others, but 45 is gnawing at me a bit, and I do not know why. I am in all likely hood more than halfway past my life span. I probably should be feeling grown up by now. But instead I feel as uncertain in many aspects of life as I ever did. When do I feel like I have a handle on things? When do I feel like career is set? When do I feel complacent? And like I have problems solved? Is this just the conditions of life? Were our parents ever as certain as they seemed to us at the time?

I do not feel uncertain about the choices I have made. The marriage I have, the friends who are close to me. These people I love, they are certain to me. Though
they may not live here anymore, Sharon and Alex, Paul and Wendy, Stella and Yannis, Dan and Norma---they are as dear friends as I could want. And the people who are here, Yvette and Bill, Tandora, Jorge, Janine, Emily and Seth and D'anne and Steven and all the rest. What a joy to have them in my life. And of course my pets, especially the two pooches. I love them so much.

And my friend, my wife. What a waste my life would be without her. I have known Sharlynn since I can remember knowing. We have been friends for 43 years at least, and now married for almost 22. And it still seems like I did not start living until I was with her. And it still seems like she is in a spell that she should be with me, and one day she will wake up and see where she is and say---"What the hell!" LOL!

And so in a mid-life crisis, I am humbled also, by all that I do have.

But 45? C'mon---that is NOT right!!!!!

Movie-Little Black Book

Looking at previews of this movie, you would think that it is a typical, middle of the road, romantic comedy. It is not.

It starts out that way a bit. But Little Black Book ends up as painful viewing, with people hurting other people wantonly. Betrayal, back stabbing, lying---all perfectly acceptable in this TV talk show world. And that is probably true to life. But it is not pleasant watching it in a movie.

Especially the end, the last half-hour or so, you just have that sicko feeling in your stomach, like these people are the kind you want to be FAR away from, and this situation is so bad, you just can't watch anymore. In fact, Sharlynn stopped watching.

I usually like Brittany Murphy (though my friend Paul cannot abide her at all), here she is terrible and seems quite mis-cast. I love Holly Hunter (she is hot BTW) but here I hated her. I dis-like almost all the characters in this movie by the end, with the exception of Carly Simon.

Aspects of this film relating to talk shows may be true to life, but it affirms my decision to eschew almost all reality TV and talk shows.

I do not recommend this movie at all.

Movie-The Martian Child

This was an odd movie, about a widowed man who decides to adopt a very odd child.

Now to say odd is not bad at all, but the child's quirks do make it a surreal viewing. You see, the kid believes he is from Mars. And John Cusack in the lead role has to deal with the idea and all the odd things that come with it. Think Mork as a 6 year old in a family drama.

The Martian Child is good, and it is great to see Joan Cusack play alongside her brother as the characters sister. But I think the thing that got left out, is why Cusack falls for this kid...I didn't feel it, though it was explained a bit. I didn't see why so fast and so surely he wanted this boy to be his child.

Quirky, at at times touching, it is a pretty good movie.

Oh, and Amanda Peet looks great and does a nice job here too.

The Driving Range

You may remember Sharlynn and I played golf for the first time a month or two ago with Emily and Seth. They were nice enough to leave an old set of clubs with us so we could do some practising, but as yet, we had not gone to a driving range.

We went Sunday afternoon, and each got a big basket of balls. Sharlynn had to borrow a left driver, and also a 3 iron. Me, I used a couple of drivers from Seth's set.

I am still not sure this is the game for us. Sharlynn really started getting some distance and height on the balls. But I can't seem to get them elevated with any kind of consistency. Every once in awhile I whack one pretty good, but can't tell why that swing succeeded when others did not. I do understand why gold is frustrating.

We are considering taking some lessons, to see if we can improve.

Poker Night-June

It had been awhile between poker nights. What with our vacations and travel for work it was hard to schedule, but we got one in Friday night. The 3 poker couples were all there, and it was the first poker night without Sharon and Alex who were missed.

I know everyone wants to know who won the trophy this time around! Well, we had two rounds, and the overall winner was Stephen, sot the trophy goes back to the Stephen/D'anne household again. I am afraid they are getting TOO attached to it.

I myself miss the smell of porn shop in the house---that rubbery smell that can only mean dildos. But I have to get by another month and then try to win it back.

Neither Sharlynn nor I came into the money this time. We will have to do better next time around. Emily and Seth are going to host the next one, and we hope to have it in July.

Movie-Dan In Real Life

Dan In Real Life highlights Steve Carell in a starring role that is not just campy, spoofy part, but a subtle and fairly deep role laced with humor and sadness. And Carell pulls if off brilliantly.

He is Dan, who writes a newspaper advise column on parenting. And he is really good at it. He has 3 daughters, tow of them teenagers, and he raises them alone as there mother died 4 years previously.

And Dan tries really hard, and his own loneliness makes it even tougher to know the right way to handle his daughters. They are all off to Rhode Island for an annual family get together. While there he meets a woman, and they both like each other very much, but she is in a relationship. It turns out, the relationship is with Dan's brother, which he finds out once back at the family abode.

This sounds kinda campy, but Carell plays the role so well---he is generally happy, but there is a sadness and loneliness that comes through that makes him vulnerable. And that actually comes through many of the characters. Juliet Binoche is perfect as the woman Dan wants, but cannot have. And she wants him too, it is not a one sided feeling. And now, they have to act like they don't have these feelings while being in a house full of Dan's family.

Dan In Real Life have characters that are complex. They don't always talk about it, but show it in gestures and expressions. A great supporting cast, with John Mahoney and Diane Weist heading it as Dan's parents, gives this movie and unexpected depth. And they characters have a realism to them...like when you have been through tough times, you carry those scars with you, and for months to years, you feel them, and they effect your behavior and reactions. I could relate to Dan, and his family.

I really liked this movie.

Movie-I Am Legend

This movie made me tense, which is a compliment for a thriller. From the first scenes I was at the edge of my seat, waiting for something to happen. And this was when the movie was its best. Later, when things start happening non-stop it is a bit less thrilling, but still good.

I Am Legend relies almost completely on Will Smith, and luckily, he can carry it off. He plays a scientist, the last man on earth presumably, still trying to find a vaccine for the virus that turned humanity into zombie like creatures of the night.

Smith plays the role very well, seeming brilliant in his scientific endeavours while also seeming just on the edge of insanity from having lived alone for so long. His only companion, his German shepherd named Sam, is a pivotal character, because when she saves his life but is transformed in a dog-zombie, it unleashes his change into quite possibly a mad scientist.

I just wish for once, the dog could be fine. I want the dogs in movies to live more than the people many times. They could have thrown one other person in this movie, and let the person die instead of the dog.

The movie was nicely done and was a good ride, but after you turn it off, some big holes in the plot appear. Where did the other two survivors that appear late in the movie come from? I mean we establish that New York is totally isolated. How did they get there? And if there is no one else alive, why does Smith keep sending out radio signals every day hoping to contact someone? He is pretty adamant that there is no one else out there.

Movie-Stander

Stander was an interesting 2003 movie, a true story about a South African cop that becomes disillusioned with the corruption and bigotry of his profession, he turns into a bank robber...quite successfully.

He gets caught, sent to prison, escapes and forms a small gang to start robbing banks again. Again, really successfully!

It's well made, well acted, with some nice irony. The ending leaves a bit to be desired, but I guess with a "based on a true story," some things are inevitable.

Nice little movie, not great but not bad. Not like the epically bad Troy.

2 Magazines

Well, I only have two magazines this time around as my book was very small.

National Geographic was good...not great...but solid. I don't think it is ever bad. The articles on the Siberian oil boom was really good, and the world oil bust. And the article on snow leopards was great...the images were fantastic. And reading about the lost treasures of Afghanistan was great way to segue me into my next book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, by the author of The Kite Runner.

Zoonooz was unspectacular.

Movie-Troy

Rule #1-Brad Pitt is NEVER allowed to do an English accent again.

Rule #2- See rule #1

Rule #3- See rule #2

So we finally saw Troy, the wannabe epic film made in 2004 for upteen gazillion dollars. I am not going to say this was bad, but it was painful.

Brad Pitt was terrible. Why did they even try to make him do a British accent? I mean they were Greek! Did ancient Greeks speak with a upper crust London accent? I mean, I understand why the British actors in the movie spoke that way, but Brad needs to stick to his own vernacular.

Besides that, his acting was terrible. OK, maybe it was the stinky script. Seriously, even Peter O'Toole was bad in this, so I will give Brad a break. Speaking of the script--the Greeks are invading Troy, and the leading prince of Troy, Hector tells his archers not to kill Achilles (Pitt) when they can shoot him down. I guess it does not matter that with Achilles the Greeks will destroy Troy, kill his father the king, probably kill his brother the prince, his wife, child, cousin and thousands of residents. Nooooooooo! He does the honorable thing and fights one on one in a battle he knows he will probably lose...Oh c'mon...what BS. If you are fighting for survival, you just fight whatever way you can. Like Stalingrad in WWII.

OK...deep breath! The score of this movie was even bad. The soaring strings telling us we need to feel awe or sadness. The stupid chanting. This was not a movie about Muslims, yet it sounded like chanting from a Mosque.

It was all too much...too much OVER acting... too much trying to be epic...too much trying to be awesome...too much of everything, including too much time. It really did not need to be over two and half hours long.

OK...Sharlynn did see one redeeming quality. She said the eye candy of Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom was quite nice. She just wish Pitt had shut up! Couldn't Achilles be mute?

This movie was a mess, from the get go. And it did not get better as it went along.

Book-Very Far Away From Anywhere Else

Very Far Away From Anywhere Else is written by Ursula K. LeGuin, best known for her fantasy/sci-fi books.

But she also writes other material, and this slight novel (a bare 87 pages, more of a novella) is really good. I first read it in 1981, 27 years ago. But time has not diminished this story of a young man who feels different that other high schoolers, and feels quite alone. He finds a friend in a headstrong young woman...someone he really feels himself with. But by his actions, he messes up that important, life-changing friendship.

It is a work that really catches that feeling in high school of no one quite understanding you. Of feeling alien. It evokes a time in life before you have truly found yourself, and feel a bit lost. And of a moment, when you begin to see who you are, or at least who you can be.

Really nicely written, without being overdone. The first person narrative is not whiny, but stays on an even keel, and is more evocative because of that.

3 Magazines

Every once in awhile I will pick up a copy of People--y'know, one of the special issues, the most beautiful people in the world ones.

So the 100 most beautiful people in the world is headed by--Kate Hudson? Really? I mean, don't get me wrong, I think she is really cute, perky, seems sweet enough etc. But the MOST beautiful person in the world this year? OoooooKaaaay. Anyway, just fun gossipy reading.

On the other hand...Playboy's June issue was GREAT! A very good interview with Steve Carell about The Office and his upcoming movie Get Smart. An article by Jason Whitlock about the prevalence of gang related violence and how it is perpetuated by the prison system. He talks about how the prison guard union in California is so strong, the shoot down any talk of prisons actually trying to rehabilitate people. And i remember a few years ago, they laid millions of dollars into advertising to fight a proposition that would make people arrested for small pot charges go to rehab, not prison. A central point of the article is until we reform how prisons are run, we will not be able to stop violence and other societal ills that come directly from prison culture.

Jane Smiley (winner of the Pulitzer Price) wrote this months fiction. Its about a woman who convince her husband to go green by steaming up their sex life every time he made a new step in preserving the environment. Witty and well written. And amusing in the green sense too!

Another really good article was an analysis of the oft predicted end of newspapers as a medium of information. This article takes an different view and opposes that idea while talking to Rupert Murdock and other media empire-men who are buying up newspapers all over. Very thought provoking, and really made me think of it another way. And the 20 questions are with Harry Levin, the creator of the gossipy TMZ show.
One thing he said really made me laugh. he said there are thousands of restaurants in L.A., so how come Britney and Paris only go to 3 or 4 of them. You don't see people like Julia Roberts there or Tom Hanks or Helen Mirren. Believe me, he says, the Skyy vodka does not taste better at those 3 restaurants. So why do these tabloid fodder keep coming---because they want to be followed by paparazzi.

The third magazine was Plenty. And this month it was OK, but not great.

Movie-3:10 To Yuma

The forgotten genre, the western, receives a boost in this '07 movie. Starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, this compelling movie about an outlaw, and one member of his posse trying to bring him to justice.

3:10 To Yuma is not just a very good western, highlighting individualists that that west is known for, but a very good movie. Crowe is perfect as a intelligent though brutal outlaw. And Bale is just as good, if not better, as a down-on-his-luck rancher looking to make some money and restore his self-pride by bringing the man to a train (the 3:10 to Yuma) that will take Crowe to federal prison.

Along the way, the rest of the posses gets killed or leaves, one by one, leaving just these two to find their fate.

Good supporting performances. Good action sequences, and even better thoughtful sequences make me hope for more from this forgotten genre.

Movie-American History X

This 1998 movie stars Edward Norton. And as I mentioned before, he is one of my favorite actors. And American History X shows why.

The movie is a-frickin-mazing. Much of that is due to Norton, who goes through chameleon like transformations, embuing his character at different stages in his life with layers and subtlety. It seems his eyes even change as he characterizes a skinhead leader, who undergoes a change of perspective after three years in prison for the murder of two black gang members.

All the performances were top-notch in this film. From his family to his former teachers. But Norton is perfect. The story and dialogue are as good as it gets.

One thing I found pretty mind-blowing. This film was made in '98. And Norton gives a speech to recruit new skinheads and to prepare them to invade a Korean supermarket that hires, according to him, illegal migrants. The speech he gives, that was probably fairly chilling and racist in '98, could be a standard stump speech today by many Republican candidates trying to militarize our borders. It was frightening. Literally, except for a few curse words, it could have been commentary of Fox News, almost verbatim.

While this movie does have violence, unlike Fight Club, it is shows violence for a reason, and shows hate for a reason. And it is disturbing. But disturbing in a good way...you should be disturbed by it. And the violence is not gratuitous. Every piece of violence is a intricate part of the movie and the characters.

And while I suggested for those uncomfortable with the themes in Fight Club to not see that movie, I think this movie should be seen, and admired. And Edward Norton should certainly be considered one of the best actors we have.

Movie-The Brave One

I like to admit my prejudices right up front. I like Jodie Foster a lot. I like almost any movie she is in and I think for the most part she picks good, intriguing roles that offer her something new and different.

The Brave One stars Foster as Erica, a radio essayist, the kind you find on NPR, with modulated tones and deep thoughts, mostly about the city she loves and lives in, New York. She is engaged to a doctor and they seem very happy. But then her world is shattered as they are mugged and he is beaten to death, and she close to death.

What follows is a descent into the psychology of a victim. She feels unsafe as she ventures outside, everyone walking near her seems a menace. So she buys an illegal handgun...and we feel that she is justified.

She then almost becomes a victim of another violent crime, and starts to defend herself, this time by shooting and killing her would be assailant. Again, self-defense. But she starts trying to find the bad people, and her descent into victim hood turns into vigilantism.

Terrance Howard co-stars as a police detective who knows Erica and becomes tacitly aware of what she is doing...and giving his tacit approval. Both characters leave much unsaid, but the impression conveyed is this understanding...he knows, she knows he knows...and both actors pull it off very well.

I can understand Erica's behavior, and I think most people watching this can. Faced with a police bureaucracy that does little to actually help (some great scenes addressing this)or make victims feel comforted, faced with fear and violence around her, Erica's choices seem justified.

What the film ultimately does not answer very well is whether those actions are actually justified or not...we do not see enough of the aftermath to judge that, and I wish it had explored that theme a bit more.

Even given that, I think this is a very good movie, and Foster and Howard do a great job.

Movie-Fight Club

Yes, I had never seen this movie. I avoided it in 1999 because the premise just seemed to violent to me, to gratuitous. But Edward Norton is one of my favorite actors, so I am trying to see some of his older movies.

Edward Norton is great here, but the movie lived up to the impressions I had of it. I did not like this, it just seemed stupid, not only unlikely, but beyond even remotely possible. Fight Club was just violent, stupid and had little redeeming value.

The ending was clever, and I did not really see it coming. But otherwise I just wasn't that into it. Even having Helena Bonham Carter in it did not make it better. And I would enjoy almost anything with that hottie in it! LOL!

I know some find it brilliant film making. And film making is not to make you feel good, and is supposed to disturb you sometimes. But I can't even give it that. To disturb only for the sake of disturbing is almost the definition of gratuitous. And that is the only way to describe this. Gratuitous in every way--in the violence, in the showing off of cleverness by the writers, in the poppycock saying that pose as wisdom coming out of Brad Pitt's mouth.

And this film could not be made now, after 911. Just could not happen.

If you skipped it once because you thought it would not appeal to you, keep skipping it, you were probably right.

Movie-The Kingdom

This movie from 2007, seems like it will be the standard, Americans go in and save the day against terrorists-Rambo type of movie. But The Kingdom is actually a little more thoughtful than the typical fair, and with Jason Bateman in the cast, a bit more humorous than I would have expected.

FBI agents cajole their way into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, after a fundamentalist bombing of an American oil workers facility that kills dozens of Americans and some of the FBI's own.

But while there, they are not really allowed to do their work, every move be handled by Saudi Arabian police. This part does give some insight into the politics of the region, forces both of the government and against that have little or no compunction for peace or for the welfare of the people.

But the best part of the movie is when one of these four agents gets taken captive and the other three, with some help from Saudi police, go to rescue him. This was as intense a action sequence as I have seen in some time, with both of us on the edge of our seats. I even had a nightmare about it that night it was so intense.

Jamie Fox is fine as the lead FBI agent, and Jennifer Garner is always good, this time as the token woman and cause of angst to the Saudis. Chris Cooper is one of the best character actor out there. And, as I said, Jason Bateman in an unexpected role, lets his humor shine through in a fairly serious movie.

This was by no means great...but with some thought, some humor and a great ending sequence, it stands apart from the standard of this genre.

Movie-Intimate Strangers

Intimate Strangers starts with an intriguing premise. A woman walks into an office she thinks is a psychiatrist and starts telling him about her terrible marriage. But the man she tells her intimate secrets to is actually a tax lawyer, she has made a mistake in which office she entered. And the way the film opens that premise is quite believable.

As you get deeper into this 2004 French movie, you begin to wonder about even that original premise. Did she walk into that office by accident, or did she know he was not a shrink?

A movie about the psyches of the two main characters, the movie centers mostly on this office and the encounters the two have within its walls. What is the truth, why does she keep coming here, even after she knows he is not a shrink? Why does he let her?

And the build up to all these questions is intriguing, but the payoff does not come. The film wanders far from psychological thriller and meanders into psychologically interesting, well, kinda interesting.

The movie opts for ease and quiet, but in doing so loses any steam it has built. It should have had more twists and curves...but gives for a straight line, and so was ultimately disappointing, despite the allure of the two main characters.

Restaurant-Offshore Tavern and Grill

This is a newer place on Morena Blvd. The past couple of years have seen High Dive, Lot 81 and Offshore Tavern and Grill all open on Morena Blvd.

The Offshore Tavern is a really nice bar, first and foremost, with several beers on tap, a decent wine list, and many well drinks. But they also have a pretty extensive menu. We first ate there this past weekend, we felt like burgers. I got some sliders with garlic tater tots, and Sharlynn got a bigger burger, where you add what toppings you want--she got avocado and mushrooms. And that came with a generous portion of fries. Both meals were good, though my bloody Mary was not so great.

Tonight we went back and were still in happy hour. So good. $2 domestic beers (I got a Sam Adams specialty beer) and $5 well drinks. And the happy hour menu was really good. $2 tacos, we got carne asada and carnitas (I liked the carnitas better, but both were good), about 8 chicken wings (drumettes) for 5 bucks, and also hummus and pita for a few bucks. All told, the bill was about 27 bucks before tip and we were FULL!

The have an outdoor enclosed patio, indoor and bar seating. Good staff and very good service. Try this one for a good happy hour or lunch. They have gourmet macs and cheese too, which I need to try next time!

Morena Blvd will be having the Taste of Morena on June 3, including Sardina's, Lot 81, High Dive and Offshore, among others.

Book-The Time Traveler's Wife

This is an interesting book, while having a premise set in sci-fi, it is really a love story of a couple with some challenges. Henry has a genetic problem, basically he time-travels, usually to the past and to a place/time that has significance for him. Sometimes he even meets with himself in the past. But the person he is most drawn to Clare, his present day wife.

Henry first meets Clare when she is six. He knows she is to become his wife, as far as he is concerned, she is right now. But how he deals with a six-year-old version of his wife becomes difficult. How is explains that he is a time-traveller even more difficult.

The Time Traveler's Wife is an engaging book, though to get used to the shifts in time takes a bit of getting used to in the first hundred pages. After that it is a quick read, and the 500 plus pages turn very quickly.

Audrey Niffenegger, the author also describes Chicago nicely, bringing the reader into that city as a setting for much of the novel. I hope she does not try to use this mixture of genres too much, for it could grow stale.

Though some time shifting sequences did not entirely make sense to me (who knew what, when, how) it is really a story about two people holding onto their love through adversity and uncertainty. And it succeeds on that level very well.

Movie-Arctic Tale

This movie about global warming is beautifully, sometimes amazingly, filmed. But Arctic Tale is really a film for kids, and as such anthropormorphises quite too much for my taste.

Still is is a good film for what it is trying to do, explain what global warming does to animals that live in the arctic. Focusing on a walrus and polar bear cub, the film follows their lives in a north that is changing rapidly.

The movie teaches a sad lesson, but it fails in one respect, it does not connect what happens to these animals to what will happen to us, and that I think is a big key to get even young people to care about the problem.

Still, it is entertaining and as I said, wonderfully filmed.

Movie-Open Water

Open Water freaked me out. Not even about the sharks as much as seeing the two main characters abandoned in the open ocean, knowing that they were forgotten.

This '04 movie did great in film festivals and easily returned it's layout. A small film really, despite the vastness of the open sea. It has two main characters floating in the water for most of the movie. It was filmed on DVCam, and so looks documentary like, and has a very real feel to it.

And though its genre is not horror, I felt more horror watching this movie than most movies in the horror genre. That terrible sick tickle in the pit of my stomach. The feeling that I had to turn it off for a few because it made me so tense and it was so upsetting.

Truly, what do you do if your dive boat leaves without you, stranding you out there? Just talking about it i feel itchy.

Really well done, but I will NOT be watching it again! That does not mean you should not watch it, but it was such a visceral experience for me, I prefer to pass on it a second time.

Good movie though!

Movie-Live Free or Die Hard

Live Free or Die Hard is the latest in the Die Hard franchise. This could have been like the latest Rocky movie, and flick that few noticed and even fewer wanted to see. But instead, it took and older and even more cynical John McClane, and let him do what he does best, mainly, beat up on the bad guys.

The character Jon McClane never looks to get involved in these things, they just seem to find him. The latest is a home-grown cyber terrorist who uses the nations computers against its own health.

What I liked about this movie...there was little computer special effects and a lot of special effects the old fashioned way...car chases, crashes, explosions and gun play/ It was an old-fashioned sort of movie. And I loved it.

Bruce Willis plays McClane as a "knows the world is messed up" veteran wise-ass. But when push comes to shove, he goes and gets 'em.

Justin Long plays his computer geek, reluctant side-kick,(nice casting) and does a really nice job,, both giving and taking straight lines with Willis.

The stunts were phenomenal, the action really fun. A great summer movie, without animation and over-reliance on computers. And the ending is about as un-computerized as you can get.

For a fun 2 hours, see this movie.

Best Director-The Andrew Awards

The nominated movies are now on a slow pace coming out, but we saw the lat nominee for best director with Julian Schnabel and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. So without further ado...the Best Director category.

The nominees are taken from the Oscar nominees and are: Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Jason Reitman for Juno, Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton, Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men and Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood.

Joel and Ethan Coen were the winners of the Oscar. But I did not like how they ended the movie at all. I thought it was as if they knew that the movie was running too long and suddenly decided, "Oh we need to wrap this puppy up." Very disappointing. Tony Gilroy---yeah right. I mean the movie was OK, but how it got soooo nominated I will never know. That leaves three.

So the winner for best director of the 2008 Andrew Awards is....(the crowd is hushed in anticipation) Julian Schanbel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. (The crowd goes wild! The Coen look like they are about to cry. Paul Thomas Anderson spits).

Look, Juno was great, but did not seem to need that many strong directorial choices.

No Country was fine...but the actors really made that movie.

But in The Diving Bell...every choice was the directors...and every choice was made brilliantly and artistically. How to bring to life the story of a totally paralyzed, locked in man! And yet he did it with artistic integrity, with humor and with point of view. He made the man's one good eye into the camera lens. It was amazing.

All the other directors were fine, but Schnabel painted with a brush that was incomparable in this movie.

Anyone want to argue the choice, let me know?

The last few categories are: Best supporting actress, best foreign film and best animated feature.

Movie-The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

This movie, a true story can be difficult to watch. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly tells the story of a man, after having an event similar to a stroke, is locked within his own body. His only moving part...one eye.

This man was the editor of Elle in Paris. He lived a nice life...cars, friends, a type of power. And it was suddenly reduced to one eye. And with that one eye, he tells his life story in writing his auto-biography.

The director tells much of the story from the vantage point of this man's eye. We see the outside world as he sees it. We are privy to his thoughts, but he cannot express those to anyone else until a system is developed for him to communicate one letter at a time.

We feel frustrated and hopeless with him. As his aging father talks with him, a role played wonderfully by Max Von Sydow, we can see a bit of emotion on his immobile face, but we can see his one eye tearing up...and yet just that pierces the viewer's heart.

As I said, this is not an easy movie to watch, especially because it is true. It is a monument to how hard we try to survive, and to find a semblance of happiness in the worst of conditions. In short, it reminds us of the human condition. It reminds us to ding what happiness we can eke out, and not to forsake it.

Not easy to watch, but well worth it.

Movie-Code 46

Code 46 is a movie of a not-to-distant dystopian future. A future where sunlight can be deadly and in-vitro, cloning and other genetic manipulations cause a close governmental watch on genetic mingling. Basically, you have to get governmental genetic permission to "liaison" with another person.

I like dystopian tales. And this one is good, though far from great or classic. Starring Tim Robbins, it moves a little slowly and never quite gives us a glimpse of what this future is really like. There seems to be a world or corporate government, and people need permissions to do many things, including travel. there are also viruses in pill form that will make anyone sing in tune, or speak Mandarin fluently. But it never becomes cohesive.

Robbins is a quasi-government agent, and gets involved with a woman he should not be involved with...as she is a genetic match to his mother, a violation of Code 46, hence the title.

There could have been a better cohesiveness to the whole created world. Instead we gets bits and pieces, and by the time we figure it out, I lost some interest in the story itself.

For those who like dystopian stories, this one will do. But others may just get bored or annoyed.

Restaurant-Kazumi Sushi

While it does not get as much notice as a place like Sushi Ota, Kazumi Sushi is the finest sushi I have had. And I am not the only one--my mother-in-law, who is Japanese and has lived in Japan and visited for prolonged times, says it is as good as any she has had there.

Kazumi is a true sushi chef, as he says, "not just a sushi maker." He also says that there are only about 5-6 true sushi chefs in San Diego...that means a long apprenticeship in Japan, up to 10 years. When he started it was four years before he was allowed even to touch the rice and fish. He worked 9 am until midnight, filling the cases up with ice and learning by listening and watching. Then he started to work with food.

And it shows...this is fine dining. Every cut, every piece of fish is perfect. The highest quality ingredients, the best preparation. You do not find this kind of sushi on every street corner in PB.

And you will pay for it. It is not cheap. But when you can taste, even in his wasabi, the best---well, you are OK with that.

His toro, fatty tuna, simply melts in your mouth. The maguro is the best fish I have ever tasted. On his unagi he has his own eel sauce and it is...perfect, just perfect.

Kazumi's is sometimes a little slower on service, again because of quality. Kazumi does not just let anyone work for him, and I am sure is a tough task-master. So sometimes it is just him behind the bar, making his heavenly morsels. But when you taste this sushi, you know that this is how it is supposed to taste...

Kazumi's is in Hillcrest on 5th, right across the street from Corvette Diner. Treat yourself one night. It is worth it.

TV-Two more finales

Two more season finales to blog about. The Office. Now I am not usually a fan of the one-hour Office episodes...sometimes, when they go over-the-top I can barely take a half hour. And they do the hour ones WAY too much. But this finale was very good. All the characters got to play their roles right. Some of the highlights were the return of Jan, the new HR person believing Kevin is "slow", the non Jim/Pam proposal, Michael going back to Jan after all, and Angela's "acceptance" of Andy's proposal. Also Ryan's arrest had me cheering! The weasel! Very funny episode that never took Michael and Dwight over the top. Looking forward to seeing new developments next season.

Without a Trace was good, and ties up the season nicely. This is still a really good show, but starting to lose something. Next season looks like there will be a shake up with Jack no longer being in charge. But make no mistake, he is still the emotional center of the show, and always will be. Good finale, no cliff-hangers, which again are sometimes over-used. And Poppy Montomery and Roselyn Sanchez are still HOT!

Movie-Paprika

This 2007 animated (anime) feature from Japan is frea-KY. A little mind-blowing and more than a little conceptual.

Imagine a device that could tap into dreams, to be used for therapeutic reasons. But the machine is actually used to manipulate dreams, and merges people's dreams together...and makes dreams start to invade reality.

Paprika is a little bit super-hero movie, a little bit psychotic LSD trip, a little bit grand fantasy, and a lot great animation. I still am not sure what I think about it entirely, but it is certainly unique and captures the world it portrays wonderfully.

Movie-The Twilight Samurai

This 2002 Japanese movie is not a traditional samurai flick. It is about a lower caste samurai who would rather not fight, because he would rather care for his two daughters and his aging mother and love them fully. He does not go drinking with his work companions after the work day is done, he is quiet and modest, but his daughters adore him.

He is forced to fight, and it turns out he is quite good. So his clan calls on him again to fight for the clan. He declines, but is finally ordered to fight.

This is a character study of this one man. And of a time period that was seeing the reign of the samurai starting to slip away in Japan. This man know it will happen, and would love to simply be a farmer...but he has his family and their honor to think of too.

Really nice surprise of a movie. You come to really respect this samurai and the choices he makes.

The lead performance is very good, and the supporting cast is great. Would recommend this for something a little bit different.

TV-Catching up

Catching up on all the TV we missed while we were away. Highlights for the week were 2-1/2 Men and CSI. The writers of both shows switched places for a week and the result was very good TV. Both shows were funny a neither took away from the elements that make these shows watchable. They both stayed true to who they are.

Upfronts happened this past week, with the networks debuting their Fall TV schedules. Some of the shows I watch are not coming back, like Back to You and New Amsterdam. And that is OK with me. But the one I will really miss is Aliens in America. It is one of the funniest shows out there, and just did not get enough viewers, even on the CW. Very few of the new shows seem very interesting to me. This past Fall we sampled about 16 shows. I do not see sampling more than 5-7 this year, maybe even fewer. Which is OK...like I need to watch more TV huh?

The season finales for Medium and My Name is Earl were quite good, both ending on up-notes after some angst for the characters during the season. Earl was very funny, as it showed in the past that Earl and his brother used to wait outside an Amish like community for the time young women come ot of the closed community for a month to exprience the outside world. Earl had easy work showing them the world from his perspective.

The season finale of CSI was disturbing. And as much as I do not like the phrase "Jumped the Shark", (it is sooo over-used) this might have been the moment for this show. I knew Warrick was being written out, but it just seemed too contrived the way they ended it. If either William Peterson or Marg leave this show, I will probably stop watching.

3 Magazines

May's Playboy was very good, with a great interview with Fareed Zakaria, the columnist for Newsweek, The Washington Post and a show on CNN. He is considered one of the best commentators on world events. It is a great interview...very insightful and very smart. Also a good piece of fiction by Ron Carlson and the baseball preview made it a very readable issue.

Zoonooz for May was...Zoonooz. Good article on the polar bears.

The highlight was the latest issue of Nat Geo...all about China. What a fabulous issue about the country as it is now, showing the greatness and the warts of this ancient land. And as much as you might root for ordinary Chinese, you also end up wondering if national policies will ruin the world even faster than U.S. policy regarding pollution and the environment. I was also left wondering if all of the history of China is being cast off, and will that eventually be a terrible thing for that nation. For instance, elderly are now being put into rest homes with more frequency, something that would not have been thought even a couple of decades ago.

Anyway, it was a great issue, and a great map insert of China to boot.

Montreal, Last Day and Poutine

It is our last full day in Montreal and I have not yet had poutine. This is a regional dish that I feel I have to try. It consists of french fries doused in gravy and topped with cheese curd. That is the purist version and the one I want to try. There are many adaptations of this, including using just cheese not cheese curd, and veggie versions, Italian versions, many different types...but I was going for the classic.

And the place to go from all accounts was a little diner called Patati Patata. This is a SMALL place near Little Italy, with most orders there done as take out. But we wee lucky enough to find two seats at the counter and I ordered classique poutine.

It was nice. Just a kind of comfort food. Sharlynn was not as impressed with it, but there is no accounting for taste. I will admit she was not feeling the best that day, so will give her the benefit of the doubt, given that she is still talking about Schwartz's smoked meat.

I will want to try variations on the it next time I am in the area. Other than that we hung around Vieux Montreal, going into galleries we had bypassed before. WE had a last dinner of those delicious crepes,and generally had a mellow day.

The next morning, we slept in, and then ate a breakfast at St. Paul's Cafe. And packed and went to airport. It was again a long travel day, but all went well, except at the very end. Trying to get our luggage there was an over 50 minute delay getting it to us. That sucked. The excuse? "We are understaffed." Ummm...did you not know this jet was coming in at this time...because I knew it months ago!

Otherwise, a really great trip. We would go back to Montreal...still so much we did not see...the Biodome, Olympic site, the islands and the casino...

We would recommend it to anyone. It is very European in attitude, and we were greeted in such a friendly manner. So much to see and do, and a lot of fun to be had.

While the dollar is still so bad against the almost everything else, it is about 1-to-1 in Canada.

One note...to buy booze, even wine in for your hotel room, you have to go to store called SAQ's. There are a ton of them, one was two blocks from our hotel, but you have to plan ahead a bit.

What a great trip! One of our best ever

Montreal, Continued

We ate our breakfast in the hotel room from our booty from the Jean Talon market. It was so good. The bread was YUMMY!

As it was raining a bit this day, we decided it was a perfect time to visit the Underground City. Montreal has about 18-20 miles of shops, restaurants and other stuff underground, linked my the Metro tunnels. We had a walking map in one of our guidebooks, and so set off on a tour.

So many of these places were malls underground. Very weird, but when you consider the very hot summer weather and numbingly cold winter weather, it makes sense, We pretty much did not explore each separate mall too much, but the number of malls was amazing.

One of the strangest parts was one of the mall's food court. Take Fashion Valley and Horton Plaza's food courts, and combine them. Then double that. That is probably still smaller than this food court. It had any kind of ethnic food you could want. It was amazing. We came back to this and had lunch actually. I had a very good tortellini with a tomato pesto sauce, and Sharlynn had a quite decent yaki soba. We shared, and had a quite nice meal. Better than the sushi, and under 15 bucks. I can see why so many business people were eating there.

One of the malls was constructed under an Anglican church that we had visited on Monday, the church being the seat of the Anglican community in Montreal. The church actually entered into a partnership with the developer to build this mall. You see, the actual structure of the church was sinking. But they did not have the money to fix it, so this was the solution. And what was amazing, is the church stood above the construction of the mall underneath...virtually floating while construction was going on below. Seeing the images, it was freaky. And apparently, the church stayed functioning while the work was going on. I know what I would have been praying for...not to fall into the huge pit beneath me, that's what!

Neither of remember what we did for dinner this night...isn't that weird? But Sharlynn was worn down, and wanted to just rest, so I decided to go to another strip club. I know I know, pervert. OK, yes, I am. But i won't get back to Montreal for awhile, so I decided to really take in the sights.

I tried one I had read about that sounded intriguing, but when I got to the door, they asked for 50 bucks. And looking at the girls there...well, let's just say that would have been diminishing returns. So again I went to place we saw on one of our walks.

This one offered nude full contact dances. So, of course I had to try it. I mean c'mon...on Friday I will try poutine, a regional dish, so why should I not try other regional dishes...heh heh...I thought that up on my own. High five Paul!?!

It was a fun experience, but I did not stay too long...just enough for a few dances from a few girls. But funny to say, it was a nice experience. The place was more local, and mellow...like a neighborhood bar. The girls were hot, and no pressure at all. It was nice.

I left and called Sharlynn to tell her I was headed home. She gave me the requisite hard time, all in fun, but I reminded her that there were no triple G's at this club. We laughed. I was soon back with my love. We would wake up for our last full day in Montreal tomorrow.

Movie-Iron Man

Yes, we went to a movie, since I was still on vaca yesterday. And Iron Man was pretty good, a good one to see in the theater. Now it could have been hokey, but with Robert Downey Jr. in the lead, it had a great actor grounding it, in a way a less talented actor could not have done.

Downey plays Tony Stark, a weapons manufacturer that gets kidnapped in the middle east and has his view of the world turned upside down. In escaping he creates his first Iron Man prototype, and keeps working on it after his return to the USA.

Now it is based on a comic book, so there is a large element of the fantastic here...can anyone really be that much of a genius? But we know this is the genre, and with Downey exemplifying the good and bad in his character, it comes off.

Hi is supported by Gwenyth Paltrow as his assistant, and Jeff Bridges as his adversary/partner. Both are good, with Bridges especially standing out.

The star is the Iron Man suit, and this is really cool. Great effects, and a good idea to keep showing Downey's face as he flying around in the suit.

A fun summer flick, great production values and really nice performances. And that does not always happen in super hero movies.

Montreal, Continued

Our next day in Montreal was another walking day...quite a bit of extra walking due to my mistake.

We started out with breakfast at Chez Suzette, the crepe place. Split a savory and a sweet crepe. So good. Really, the best crepes we have had, bar none. And then we set off on the Metro to explore some further reaches.

Montreal has great public transit, and it is easy to use. Our plan was to go out to Little Italy and walk back. While in Little Italy, we would go to this great open air market, the Jean Talon market. Not only does it have great food items there, but there stores surrounding it have cheese, bread, meat and sweet specialty shops.

So we got on the Metro, got to our stop and started walking. I had our route set, and we walked one nice avenue and then headed south to head to Little Italy...ahem I mean, what I thought was south. It actually wasn't, it was north. Through some nice neighborhoods, but REALLY north. For about 2 hours. Once Sharlynn asked me if I was sure (and I had been) that we were going the right way, suddenly I was quite unsure, and stopped to ask. CRAP!!!!

So we headed the other way and then stopped at a bus stop. But a cab came by first, and discretion being the better part of valor...we went in the cab to Little Italy. But my mess ups did not stop there.

We were walking south again and got to Schwartz's deli. This place is really known for its smoked meat sandwiches, so we went there for lunch. Sharlynn was a bit skeptical, but we shared a sandwich that was just piled with smoked beef, and it was fantastic. Not at all salty, just really flavorful with a great mustard on it. They are also famous for their black cherry soda which was delicious.

So I ask about Little Italy and Jean Talon market as we leave. Turns out, it was the direction we just came from...OK, I am getting grumpy now, but Sharlynn says lets walk. About 20 minutes later we stop again and ask. The guy says, that is a looooong way away.

We caught another cab.

We get to the Jean Talon market finally, and it is really nice. So many fresh veggies and fruit. We stop by a cheese shop and get some great white cheddar and some mild Swiss. We go and get great fresh bread. We go another place and get unique Chardonnay and chestnut salamis. And some fresh berries and bananas.

We are bushed, and head to the Metro to head back. We will have a great feast for breakfast tomorrow with these items.

We clean up, and head out to our bar. We our sweet bartender friend again, and have few drinks, and then head to Le Bourlingueur, a French restaurant near the area.

Now this place was really good. We both had different lamb dishes and they were fantastic. It is small, and quiet, but just the thing after a long day of walking and getting lost.

Again tired but happy, we made our way back to the hotel for some wine and a good nights sleep.

Book- A Lost Lady

This short novel from Willa Cather makes me again realize why she is one of my favorite authors. Her writing is clear, lyrical and perfect. There is so much underlying the words, that you cannot help but feel the emotions.

A Lost Lady is mild, yet rich. It is about a couple, and older man and younger woman. He has been a captain of industry, with the railroads. They are rich, and are the biggest people in the town. The entertain out of town guests and hold lavish dinner parties and travel all around.

But the story is not about them, but about how they are perceived as they go through stages of their life. Like My Antonia, the narrator is an adult, who knew these people when he was young, and his impressions and how he records the impressions of others, is what makes this book vivid and alive.

One of Cather's small wondrous works.

Montreal, Continued

We slept in the next morning and got breakfast at the same place, Cafe St. Paul. Our legs were a bit sore from all the walking yesterday, so we decided to explore the area we were staying, Vieux Montreal, where the city started.

Walking the cobblestone streets, we explored all around this historic area. Plenty of unique shops, restaurants and historical sights. Also with Notre Dame Basilica, just a amazing piece of liturgical architecture, and somewhat gaudy to modern sensibilities, but a sight to behold for certain.

We also explored the Old Port area, so ended up walking for several hours still. By the time later afternoon came around, I needed a drink, so we went into Brandy, a bar associated with a restaurant called The Keg. We met our favorite bartender, Christine there. Just a nice young lady, so sweet and and easy on the eyes too. She chatted with us for quite awhile as I had cold martinis, and Sharlynn had red wine. She suggested a sushi place close by, Tatami, as the best sushi around. And Sharlynn thought it sounded good, so that was where we would go for dinner.

After again stopping by the hotel to clean up and have a little down time, we headed out for Tatami. The place has fish tanks for the tables, a very unique display. And as we were seated, we were impressed with the decor. But as I looked around, it became less impressive. In the corner stood an open trash bin, and metal cart loaded with dirty dishes and a portable coat rack with empty hangers on it. It seemed more fitting for a take out Chinese place than with good sushi dining.

We ordered eda mame for appetizer and a plate overflowing with them came...WAY too much, and not salted either. The lure of the place was innovation, we had been told, you could even eat the flowers the decorated the plates. We ordered a few promising looking rolls, and after a loooooong wait, we got our food.

Now the presentation was so-so. A flower stem sticking out of every section of the roll did not really make it innovative. And then we ate. We were both disappointed, and I saved my comments for when we left. And my comment was "Sushi Deli is better and a third of the cost." And Sharlynn readily agreed. A disappointment for sure. I would pass it up if you go to Montreal.

After that, we headed to the hotel, to chill and sleep.

Montreal-Night

So, we left Chez Suzette and went back to the hotel to clean up, rest and decide how our night would go.

After I took a shower and power snooze and Sharlynn relaxed, we discussed our options, where to go for dinner etc. And we decided that this night was the night to check out the strip club scene! Good times! LOL!

I had done considerable research on the subject, and found there were two types of clubs, no contact and full contact. Well duh! Which would you go to? Really, why even have no contact? So we were off to Super Sexe, a highly rated club full of anticipation.

Super Sexe was super dull! About 5 girls in all, nothing going on. It was a snooze. I was beginning to think that maybe the scene was overrated. So we split there and headed up Rue Catherine to another place I had spotted on our walk earlier, The Downtown Club.

Wow, it was like night and day. This place had energy. Lots of hot scantily clad women, very friendly and welcoming. Good sound system. Friendly bartenders (also very cute women). Things were looking up. And as we sat down we looked up at the stage. This woman had the largest implants I have ever seen. I mean they looked like blimps on her chest...and not just any blimps, they looked like frickin' Hindenbergs up there...it was soooo ridiculous. They must have been triple GGG. I almost burst out into laughter. Thankfully, the rest of the girls either had no implants or at least were VERY reasonable about the size.

The stage show is OK, but the real kicker is the full contact lap dances...And yes, it is pretty much self-explanatory. An almost naked woman does seductive lap dances and you are able to run your hands over 95% of her body, and she rubs on you too! We both went together with one dancer and got a few REALLY REALLY nice dances. Then we went with another dancer and got a few more. In between we were having more drinks and having a great time. And then Sharlynn got her Jack Nickelson eyes. You know, the ones that say she is over the edge and out of control.

Well, remember triple GGG? Sharlynn was amazed by these things and had to get a closer look (and feel). So she went to get some dances just for herself with this walking lower back problem. As she said, "It was like watching a train wreck...I just had to see what was happening."

She reports that the skin was so tight, even between the breasts, that it felt hard, and the flotation devices themselves were pretty cement like. She was astounded and just could not believe what she was seeing (and feeling).

Well, that last dance put us out of there. We had had some really good dances from very attractive women, an experience that is very Montreal. And Sharlynn did not get whiplash with the last one thank goodness.

There are quite a few of these clubs around this area, some better than others from what I hear, and quite interesting rules. Montreal is even giving consideration to legalising prostitution.

By that time it was late, and all the restaurants in our area were closed, so we had to order room service at 12:30 am. Ah well, it was worth it. A fun fun night.

Montreal, The Trip, Day 2

Ahhhh, our first full day in Montreal. I forgot to mention that I had come down with a bit of a cold, so was a bit stuffed up and coughy, but slept well and woke up feeling pretty good.

What to explore today? So many choices. Sharlynn thought we would be good to go a little further away, so we decided to walk Rue le Saint Catherine, the main avenue of Montreal, with arts, shopping and a lot more.

Before we left the hotel, we found a little breakfast cafe around the corner called Cafe St.Paul's (for Rue le St. Paul) which our hotel was on. A nice breakfast, nothing fancy and pretty cheap, with good strong coffee. We would eat there several times, and I highly recommend it.

After asking at the hotel, they advised to not do the Metro, and instead just walk. So we did. On the way we stopped by Montreal's few blocks of Chinatown. and then went on to St. Catherine.

It is an exciting street. A huge arts center with all kinds of venues and museums at the east end, and shops, restaurants, historic churches and strip clubs galore. Yes, this is Montreal. This also a long street, going for a few miles. We meandered, going from side to side as things elicited interest from us. The churches were amazing. The shops were varied. The restaurants intrigued. And the strip clubs intrigues even more.

Now Montreal has a rep for good strip clubs. With full contact lap dances that run quite inexpensive compared with say, Vegas. So, I was marking these out as we walked- in between the churches that is. As we came to a certain part of St. Catherine, Sharlynn pointed out the road that led to the mountain, Mont Royal. "Let's do that walk," she enthused. After coughing a bit, I agreed reluctantly.

Mont Royal is not really a mountain, but a pretty steep hill, with A LOT of stairs that lead to the top, and great open parkland all around. A true metropolitan park, with tons of grassy area that Montrealers were enjoying.

Now we did get a great view of the city, but I was pooped from this extra excursion, especially considering the long walk back to come. But it was fun, and as I said, great views of the city, changing at each level we stopped at.

The weather was great, and Montrealers were out enjoying the 65 degree sunny day. As we walked back to hotel, we realized how far we had walked out, and knew that this was a 4-5 hour walking day. But it felt good, despite the lingering cold. As we returned to Vieux Montreal, we needed to get a bite. So we stopped at Chez Suzette, a nice crepe place, and split had some of the best crepes we ever ate. We needed our strength for the night to come.

Magazines

April/May issue of Plenty was good. Always get good ideas on how to reduce our carbon footprint from this magazine, and it is always interesting. Main articles had to do with new car technologies and how China is trying to manipulate the weather for the Olympics.

April National Geographic was great. I especially like the articles on design engineers taking their cue from nature to try to create products (that is how Velcro was imagined). Fascinating stuff that goes from concept to creation. And really makes you look at everything around you in a slightly different light. Also loved the article about chimps and tool making, especially the making of spears for hunting. Pretty mind blowing, especially following the issue on animal intelligence.

April Zoonooz. Ehhh. It was Zoonoooz, what can you say? Killed some time on the flight.

Montreal, The Trip, Day 1

Will be blogging a bit about our trip to Montreal, taking you through some day by day stuff we did.

Sunday we leave...a pretty early flight, but considering it is about 10 hours of travelling and a 3 hour time difference, the early part is fine.

We took Northwest airlines, and the flight was great...1st into Detroit, where we had about an 1 1/2 hour layover, then to Montreal. We got to the hotel about 8:30, pretty pooped, and just wanted a meal a shower and a bed. Since we did not know our area at all, we ate at the hotel, The S Restaurant at the St. Sulpice Hotel. This place actually got rated pretty well in some Montreal guides.

Well, it was an expensive meal. The menu was all pricey, and the wine pricier. But as worn out as we were, we weren't going to complain. We both had different cuts of steak, mine with a gorgonzola sauce. For the price, it coulda been better...too much gristle, thought the sauce was nice. Sharlynn like her filet minon. Service was spotty, forgetting my martini, not giving us silver service twice.

After dinner we walked a block or two to see if there was anyplace we could go for breakfast in the morning, and found a shop open were we got a bottle of wine. We stayed in Vieux Montreal, the old area with cobblestone streets and just that little walk made us look forward to the next day of exploring this charming city.

Montreal or Bust

I am back from a trip to Montreal, and will be blogging about the trip, books, magazines, TV and movies as I get over jet lag and get things back in order here.

It is a great city, and a lot of fun. I look forward to sharing my thoughts about the city and its restaurants, attractions and activities.

Book-The Historian

The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostava is not to everybody's taste I am sure. As the title states, it is about a historian, or several historians, and much of the book takes place in dusty libraries and various other repositories containing ancient texts and books. But the histories they are searching are of Vlad the Imapler...the Transylvanian prince who fought off the Ottoman Empire and whose cruelties and blood thirstiness led him to become the legend of Count Dracula.

But as we get deeper into the book, and deeper into the characters we become sure that Dracula is not just a legend, but a real vampire...and not from the past, but present now.

This is a creepy book, as much as it presents the artifice of a scholarly tome. It has some very eerie scenes, and some quite freaky. Kostova constructs this artificial history (or is it artificial?) with care...for her words, for the plot and for the art of history.

I think it may be too slow paced for some, but for me it just added layers. The only complaint was a few times she had too many alternate time lines running at once. But that is really a minor quibble.

It is not a fast-paced as say, The Da Vinci Code, and takes its time unravelling the mysteries contained in the historical texts. But it kept me turning the pages, wanting to uncover more alongside the characters.

A great debut novel. Really enjoyable!

Book

Finished "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostava, 676 pages.

Movie-Reign Over Me

This 2007 release did not seem to get a lot of fanfare and was a revelation in many ways.

Reign Over Me stars Adam Sandler in a dramatic role, that is the first revelation. The next revelation...he was good...really good! I mean, not like Laurence Olivier good (but I bet old Larry could never pull off The Waterboy, now could he?), but better than a lot of dramatic actors I have seen on the screen.

And Don Cheadle continues to play roles that while not outside the box, still offer new insights for his acting ability to shine a light on.

These two main characters from a friendship, unexpected and at times difficult. And there lies another revelation. A movie about male friends that is not Brokeback-like, nor a buddy road trip, or a silly frat-house flick, but a look at the bonds mature grown-up men (though troubled with faults)can and do form.

The supporting cast is good, and look for cameos by Donald Sutherland, who is great as an imperious judge, and Office cast member BJ Novak, Intern Ryan.

This is a good movie. Maybe not great, but really good. And that is unexpected because of Sandler's part in it.

Do you think he will try Hamlet next?

Best Supporting Actor-The Andrew Awards

The nominees for this year best supporting actor are...

Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men, Hal Holbrook for Into the Wild, Philip Seymour Hoffman for Charlie Wilson's War and Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton.

The winner of the 2008 Andrew Award for best supporting actor is...(cue the music) Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War. (Cue applause).

If you have read my blogs, you know that I have a difficult time in the selection of the supporting roles. That helped my eliminate two nominees right away. Hal Holbrook had such a small role in Into the Wild, and Casey Affleck had such a large role in Jesse James, that I felt neither should be nominated in this category.

That left Javier Bardem, Tom Wilkinson and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Javier Bardem was the winner, but I did not think that role required much at all. It was an intense role, but did not need any range, or subtlety or empathy. Tom Wilkinson was great, and really was the only reason I can think of why Michael Clayton should have been nominated. But the role that Hoffman portrayed in Charlie Wilson's War was just out of this world. Wry, frustrated and accessible, this portrayal of a CIA operative that meets Charlies Wilson is just downright tough to play. At one moment a sidekick, at another an expert and yet another the butt of jokes, this needed super acting ability to play just right...and Hoffman pulls it off.

Philip Seymour Hoffman...best supporting actor for the Andrew Award of 2008.

If anyone else has seen all five supporting roles, tell me what you think.

And just to be clear...posting hyperlinks for the actors is not nearly as much fun as posting hyperlinks for the actresses.

Movie-Charlie Wilson's War

Charlie Wilson's War---What a frickin' great and entertaining movie! Seriously, it should have been nominated for best picture. But I guess there is room for only one amusing film in the category, and Juno had already taken that spot.

This movie provokes so many emotions. First, it is subversively and whole heartedly funny. It also provokes drop dead amazement about how our system of government works.
It provokes sorrow in a few places, most of all in the ending.

Tom Hanks has the title role of Charlie Wilson, a congressional representative from Texas who has...let us say, a loose code of ethics. But he gets drawn into the plight of Afghanistan as the Soviet Union invades the country in 1980, and becomes a champion for throwing out the communists. hanks needs to be recognized as the greatest living actor we have today. He can handle any role, play comedy and tragedy and drama and romance...sometimes all at once. And in this, he is superb.

The supporting cast is great, headed by Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who deserves accolades of his own for the variety of roles he can play. Both are amazing in these roles. And Amy Adams demonstrates her versatility as Charlie Wilson's aid.

This movie deserves more recognition than it received. it is topical, and funny and dramatic and suspensful...OK...now I see why the Academy did not nominate it...people might want to see it. LOL LOL!

See this movie and tell me what you thought.

Best Actress-The Andrew Awards

We have now seen all five of the best actress nominated movies, and this is the toughest category so far to pick a winner. All of the performances were great, and I cannot say that any did not deserve the award. All I could do was start eliminated one by one the nominees, to try to narrow it down.

The nominees are: Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Julie Christie in Away From Her, Marion Cotillard (the Oscar winner)in La Vie En Rose, Laura Linney in The Savages and Ellen Page in Juno.

The winner for best actress in a lead role in the 2008 Andrew Awards is....

Julie Christie in Away From Her.

As I said, I had to eliminate the other actresses one by one. Cate Blanchett was great, but I thought her first portrayal of Elizabeth was better and more nuanced. Laura Linney has played this type of character before...it did not seem a great stretch for her. Ellen Page was great too, but was she acting or just playing herself more or less? Was it her acting or the great script and dialogue?

That left Marion Cotillard and Julie Christie. I can't fault the Academy for picking Marion. She was phenomenal. And her transformation throughout the movie was brilliantly played. But for me, Julie Christie was transcendent in her role of a woman stricken with Alzheimer's. I think I wrote in my blog, that she was luminescent. And she did it without the help of big sets and lots of makeup, she did it quietly, with the power of her acting. Just by a hair, that is why I chose Julie Christie.

Sharlynn actually agrees. I thought she would go with Cate or Marion, maybe even Laura.

Has anyone else seen all the movies? Who would you choose?

Movie-The Savages

The Savages tells the story about a family named Savage, the father who has dementia, and two grown siblings, brother and sister, who have to deal with this problem.

As we get to know the characters, we find they are not particularly close, and the father was not a good father, or a nice person. But the two younger Savages still must find a way to try and take care of him. As the brother says at one point, after putting the old man into a nursing home, "We are doing a lot better for him than he ever did for us."

That quote captures the essence of this movie. The bitterness is still there, but somehow, these two must find a way to still do the best they can for their dad.

Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman play the Savage siblings and did a great job, Linney being nominated for best actress in the Academy Awards. They both emoted confusion and bitterness, and yet they both show the struggle on how to handle this problem, a problem that is tough enough to face if the family is not extremely dysfunctional.

It is not a fun movie to watch. But at times it is very funny, at other times very sad. And always it tries to get at the truth of human relationships...how we grow, how we deal with crappy situations, how we deal with each other. And it succeeds well enough to leave the viewer with some hope that all of us can make it through the crap, and make ourselves better than we were before.

Movie- War Dance

War Dance, a nominee for best documentary feature was an incredible movie. It follows Northern Ugandan refugee children to a national competition for music and dance.

While the present day story of the kids competing for not only a trophy, but for the respect and recognition of their fellow-countrymen is compelling in and of itself, the back story for some of these kids is moving, terrible and tragic.

The film makers wisely choose to focus on just a few of the young people, more would have diluted the care we feel for the individuals. But it is clear from the graphics, the story of these few applies to many.

At once heart-rending and heart-lifting, War Dance is a beautiful example of the elegy documentary film-making can leave. You will remember this film, it may even haunt you a bit. But this movie should be watched.

Sharon, I think you will like it, especially in light of the paper you wrote.

I highly recommend this one.

Movie-The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Yes, a long title for a long movie, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is over 2 and half hours. While excellent, the film could have been cut a bit: it would have been fine at a little over 2 hours, especially since we did know how it turned out by comments made at the beginning.

The cinematography was great, beautiful scenes of the (then) western states. The acting was great. Brad Pitt held a unpredictable menace in every scene. Casey Affleck was nominated as best supporting actor, and was very good also.

The title pretty much tells the plot.

One complaint that I have is Affleck's nomination for best supporting actor. I have mentioned before how actors with tiny roles can be nominated in this category...well, this complaint is the opposite. His role was at least a co-star role, if not the lead role in this film. I could see Pitt being in this category more than Affleck quite frankly. A quibble, I know, but it bugs me.

This movie is not rushed at all, and you can't be tired and watch it well. But it is a good piece of story telling about an American legend, that in his time was as known as any media darling today.

TV Returns- Samantha Who?

Samantha Who? stars Christina Applegate as a formerly bitchy lawyer, who, due to an accident, has lost her memory. She tries to regain a life, but is shocked as she learns about who she was, and wants to be a better person.

I liked this show a lot initially, but I am starting to get a Little tired of the role of little girl that the writer's have Samantha acting like. It has become a little bit overdone...I would rather see her have lapses into her little girl confused persona as she deals with who she once was, and act like a confused adult more.

Aside from that, Applegate has comedic chops. She does a really nice job, and the supporting cast is great, including Jean Smart as her mother and Jennifer Esposito as her bitchy, narcissistic best friend.

The writer's have a chance to fall into the ridiculous if they don't watch out, and I hope they keep from going over that line. For now, Samantha Who? is fun.

Congratulations are in Order

Big huge life-changing congratulations are in order for our dear friends, Emily and Seth. They are pregnant!!! We have actually known for a little while, but they wanted me to keep it under wraps until she had her first ultra-sound and knew things were going well. Well, today that happened, and the heartbeat was good, and she saw fingers. And baby Hill is doing fine. So, everybody send their best wishes to them both!

Movie-Spiderman 3

This was pretty bad. Spiderman 3 was the worst of the three movies. It had too much of everything, too many super-villains, too many emotional scenes where Toby Maguire cries, too many cool fight scenes, too many plots and it was too damn long!

I liked the other Spiderman movies, but this was really not good. All the actors and characters were back. But it seemed like the writers and director did not feel like they could carry the movie, and just kept adding more more more. I am surprised the kitchen sink did not make a cameo as a reformed super-villain.

Skip this movie. Unless (like me) you once loved comic books. Then you kinda have to see it.

Best Actor-the Andrew Awards

Now I have seen all 5 nominees for best actor. They are George Clooney in Michael Clayton, Daniel Day Lewis (the winner of the Oscar) in There Will Be Blood, Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd, Tommy Lee Jones in In the Valley of Elah and Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises.

The winner of the Andrew Awards for Best Actor (again a drum roll of the mind) is...
Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd!

OK...yes, Daniel Day Lewis played an intense role. But how many times have we seen play intense, smoldering, emotionally unstable. That is his bread and butter. But Depp played a role no one even knew if he could do. And he pulled it off fantastically. His singing was very good, and he projected his emotions with song and made me care about this character. Not always agree with his choices, but care about what happens to him...and again, I will say, all in song.

All the actors did great. Viggo Mortensen blew me away and I have posted here about Jones and Clooney.

Sharlynn agrees in this category too.

Anyone else seen all 5 performances? What do you think?

Movie-In the Valley of Elah

In the Valley of Elah is a film that could have easily been bad. It could have been hysterical where it decides to go quiet. It could have been heroic where it decides to go grim. It could have been a rant instead of a still study. And the decisions were chosen wisely.

Some right-wingers derided it as an anti-Iraq war film. And if had made other choices, it could have been (not that there is anything wrong with that). But this movie is not just about Iraq, it is about war, and the effects of war long after the fighting is done.

Tommy Lee Jones is right for this role, his craggy features registering determination and an aching world-weary sadness. He hurts, deep inside, but also has a pride as he searches for the truth of what happened to his son who had just returned from Iraq. The pain seeps from his pores.

It is a sad tale. And there is little to brighten it, except for the pride. The pride of the father in finding the truth. The pride of the detective, masterfully underplayed by Charlize Theron, in overcoming the beligerence within her own department.

Somehow these subdued performances (with Theron not being sexy at all, but just normal) capture the script perfectly. It is a very well made film. Anti-Iraq? No. Anti war? Yes, I think it does speak out against the traumas that we put people through in this abomination called war.