"When I do not want to say things in real life I often say them here." — Mimi Smartypants
Unsolicited opinions on books, movies, TV shows, consumer products
“His bun-like face was not made bewildered by grief or fear. That was what he looked like.” — Philip Hensher, King of the Badgers County Line Bill Cameron This was a Free Friday Nookbook download from Barnes & Noble. Bill Cameron’s character is an ex-cop private eye, Skin Kadash, who lives and works in Portland, […]
Donna’s never been able to sit through a violent movie. She’s fine with the occasional fistfight or car crash in an action thriller … I’m not saying she’s strictly G-rated … but movies that glorify violence, or that are based on violence and not much else, are not her thing. Maybe I’m just going through […]
“I checked the list of people I trust and your name ain’t on it.” — Matthew McConaughey as Mick Haller in The Lincoln Lawyer The Piano Teacher (2001, France) A tense, dark, disturbing movie about a repressed woman with sexual needs she doesn’t know how to satisfy. Hoo boy, this is an uncomfortable movie to […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. In the news: US prisoner forbidden to read Pulitzer-winning history book Our Bodies, Ourselves turns 40 In Cold Blood gets okay from Glendale, California school board Another annoyed librarian slams Banned Books Week On Facebook: You Can’t Read That! banned […]
I’m sitting here with my Deskbuddy™ 1.0, enjoying the quiet afternoon that comes after a busy Friday night and Saturday morning. Polly went on a date earlier in the week, and last night the young man (her age, twice divorced, with children … but hey, young to us) dropped by to visit Polly and her […]
“If you take a punch at me now: (1) You will break your hand. That’s the beauty of spending just a half hour a day on your muscular-skeletal structure — it turns into kryptonite; (2) I will fall on you. I’m still working on my core and balance issues, so after you slug me I […]
“You’re not gonna blame me because the phone went dead. I’m not the phone company. Nobody’s the phone company anymore!” — Kelli Maroney as Samantha in Night of the Comet Farewell (2009, France) Really good cold war spy story in the Frederick Forsythe/John Le Carré tradition, made even better by being based on real events. […]
How’s that Nook e-reader I got for my birthday last year working out? Glad you asked. Over the past year my reading has been about 25% Nook, 75% book (I keep a record of the books I’ve read, and I actually counted). That strikes me as about right: e-books cost money and library books are […]