Category: Film & TV (Page 2 of 3)

‘CLOCK DANCE’ & ‘THIS IS US’ ON COMMUNITY

October 3, 2018 /

As I was finishing up Clock Dance: A Novel by Anne Tyler this week, I found complementary ideas about “community” while watching my favorite show, NBC’s This is Us.

This book starts by narrating the most defining moments in Willa’s life: As a young girl, her mother disappears; in college, she ponders a marriage proposal; and later she is a young widow. Fast forward some years, and she feels a bit lost while living in Phoenix with her new husband.

“Willa loved saguaros. She loved their dignity, their endurance. They were the only things in Arizona she felt a deep attachment to. The first time she saw one – a whole assemblage of them, actually, looming outside the airport last summer when she and Peter came to house hunt – it was like meeting some mythical race.”

I, too, loved the saguaros I saw in Phoenix area. I had never seen anything like them and couldn’t stop looking at them. Where the arm meets the base – this part looks so fragile and strong at the same time.

But as amazing as saguaros are, they don’t make up for personal connections. When she’s called across the country to a stranger’s aid, Willa begins to find a purpose as she becomes part of a slightly eccentric community.

We stayed in the cottages to the right of the lighthouse!

MY STAY AT POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE

July 23, 2018 /

How many people can say “I stayed at a lighthouse” ?? Well now I can!!

As the third in a series of posts on my epic family vacation, I want to tell you about an amazing and beautiful place we stayed while traveling California Highway 1: Point Arena Lighthouse in Mendocino County.

I discovered this opportunity – to stay on lighthouse property – when I was looking for a 2nd overnight stop between Ashland, Oregon and San Francisco after experiencing the majestic Redwoods.

‘Bachelor Nation’ – yes I’m part of it

March 29, 2018 /

I have watched literally every season of The Bachelor and The Bachlorette. And Bachelor in Paradise, which is my favorite of them all!!

These shows are my Monday night pleasure, and I am not going to call it a “guilty pleasure” because I no longer – somewhat thanks to this new book, Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America’s Favorite Guilty Pleasure, feel guilty about it!

Why do I – someone who obviously reads and watches more intellectual works – watch this show? I think it’s a curiosity about human nature. Even with the understanding of producer manipulation and editing (both which are highlighted in this book I’m going to review today) I love watching how people act and relate to each other. Thanks to DVR I can turn a 2-hour show into a manageable 1+ hours. (Or the 3 hour episodes – which my husband complains about – into a manageable and fabulously enjoyable 2 hours.)

So when I heard about the newest book about this popular TV franchise, Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America’s Favorite Guilty Pleasure, I knew I had to read it.

The Glass Castle movie – I changed my mind about watching it

March 19, 2018 /

A couple of weeks ago I was telling someone (now I can’t remember who this was) how I watched all the films nominated for best picture. This person (maybe the woman I was speaking to at the alignment shop?) said, well did you see The Glass Castle?

I said no, I hadn’t.

I had just recently read the book last year. And I liked it so much I decided that I just couldn’t see the movie after all, even though I finally read the book so I could see the movie…

But with a few months separating myself from that reading experience, I decided to – based on her recommendation – give the movie a try after all.

Now I wish I could remember who this was and thank this woman! Because yes, this is a great movie and IT DOES do the book justice.

Goodnight Moon (spotted on This is Us)

March 8, 2018 /

This week’s “This is Us” featured the children’s book Goodnight Moon.

I, like many parents, read this book hundreds of times over several years. Seeing it on this show made me happy and sad (like everything on this show, right??) – sad because it has been years since I read Goodnight Moon but happy that I shared this experience with all the parents on this show (and real people around the world) across generations who have also read this book to their children at night. My copy of this book says 60th anniversary, and we’ve had it for about 10 years now!!

This post will take much less investigation than my previous book sighting on this show because I actually have this book in my bookcase though it hasn’t been off the shelf in years.

My thoughts on all 9 best picture nominations!

March 3, 2018 /

I am usually reading, but at the beginning of each year I set a goal to see all of the Academy-nominated “best pictures.”

I REALLY enjoy this challenge. I see such a diverse selection of movies (and get to have opinions on them). It makes Oscar Night much more fun for me!

In this post I’m going to name my favorites (there are two!!) and talk a little about all the nine nominated films. I include no spoilers (I want you to enjoy these movies for yourself) only some inside jokes or quotes from the movies.

I also added some “thoughts from Jeremy” which are tidbits from my husband (when applicable); we rarely watch & enjoy the same types of movies, but his reflections are often amusing to me (and admittedly accurate).

Disclaimer: I am not a movie critic; I am just a normal person who watched all of these films!!!

Notice this book actually has two authors...

This is Us & “Poem Counterpoem”

January 15, 2018 /

In the super-popular, critically acclaimed, and award-winning NBC series This is Us Randall aka “Number 3” of the triplets is named after a poet.

We learned this namesake in Season 1, Episode 3: “Kyle” when we see William give Rebecca a copy of Poem Counterpoem by Dudley Randall. William says that Kyle/Randall’s birth mother read this poetry to him while in the womb. Rebecca then takes William’s suggestion to “give him his own name” and changes Number 3’s name from Kyle to Randall. “Maybe you’ll see fit to give it to him someday,” William says, and in fact later we see this book on Randall’s shelf.

Update: In the second to last episode of the series, William reappears and recites Randall’s poem Luzon again. I loved this!

I don’t watch a lot of TV because I am usually reading, so a show has to REALLY be worth my time. Obviously, this show is. In fact, “This is Us” may be my favorite show ever…

And when I see a “literary cameo” in a show, I like to dig a little deeper to pay tribute to it – both the cameo and the show – and learn more myself.

So I decided to investigate Dudley Randall, Poem Counterpoem, and the lines of his poetry quoted in Episode 7 “Best Washing Machine in the World” when Beth (Randall’s wife) and William (Randall’s birth father) gaze up at the stars after eating pot brownies (did I mention I love this show??).

What I found out about this “literary cameo” surprised me!

Celebrating “The Glass Castle” before the movie

August 12, 2017 /

Let’s celebrate the The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls as the movie is released.

For me, never before has a memoir read so much like fiction and never before have I both loved and hated the same “character” so much.

If you haven’t read this book yet (of course many of you have as it was on the bestsellers list for a few years) I highly recommend doing so either before or instead of the movie.

Even if you have already read the book I hope you will enjoy reminiscing a bit with me.

New TV show about a young Shakespeare – Will

July 19, 2017 /

I was “accidentally” eavesdropping on a conversation the other day – it looked like a first date and I just couldn’t help myself because I was well within earshot! Well thank goodness because that’s how I heard of this new show on TNT, Will, about a young Shakespeare.

The girl said she and her roommates or friends were getting together to watch it later that evening (this was Monday – it airs on Monday nights on TNT and is also “On Demand” if you have Comcast.)

Oh how I remember those fun days when I would watch my shows with friends! But now I prefer everyone to be in bed before I even start my show, so I can enjoy the TV to myself in the dark – ha!!

But I am soooo thankful to this girl for turning me on to this show which I checked out last night.

The Light Between Oceans – book & movie

June 14, 2017 /

I recently plowed through The Light Between Oceans, enjoying the suspense of how the situation could possibly play out:

In the aftermath of WWI, a veteran takes a post as a lighthouse keeper at Janus Rock, which is hours by boat off of the coast of Australia. He and his new wife are the only people on the island, and they try to start a family. After multiple miscarriages and stillbirths, they are heartbroken. But then… a boat containing a dead man and a healthy baby drifts to their shore!

This book was a quick and entertaining read that required me to consider the morality and implications of these people’s choices. The ending was so emotional for me that it left me dehydrated the next day after staying up way past my bedtime to finish it in peace! I know this is not a new release (2012), but if you have not read this yet, I do recommend it! It left me desperate to discuss the situation with someone; it would be a great choice for a book club.

Category: Film & TV (Page 2 of 3)

‘CLOCK DANCE’ & ‘THIS IS US’ ON COMMUNITY

MY STAY AT POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE

‘Bachelor Nation’ – yes I’m part of it

The Glass Castle movie – I changed my mind about watching it

Goodnight Moon (spotted on This is Us)

My thoughts on all 9 best picture nominations!

This is Us & “Poem Counterpoem”

Celebrating “The Glass Castle” before the movie

New TV show about a young Shakespeare – Will

The Light Between Oceans – book & movie

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