TV and Movies and Books

[bearshorty]

TV

Fuller House Season 3(a)

I breezed through these episodes very fast. I love this show. I don't care how corny it is. I grew up with these characters, I like them and I enjoy spending time with them. I think this show has found its voice well. And I also like that even with silly love triangles, no one is really angsting, people are polite and all choices are good people. It's just a feel good show.

Lady Gaga documentary
I thought it was well done - a good glimpse into her life and the process of her work and what its like for her. I watched it and then put it on for my Mom the next day on the big TV. Tanya was watching a bit too, because she likes Lady Gaga CD - she puts it on herself sometimes when she wants to dance. "Artpop". So a few days later when I was showing her a little of "Beauty and the Beast", she asked to see Lady Gaga instead, because she liked the doggies and the balloons and stuff. I think its hilarious.

I also been watching Season 9 of Friends. I love that show. It's comfort food.




Movies

Beauty and the Beast

"Beauty and the Beast" or "Alenkiy tsvetochek" has always been my favorite fairy tale. I like that the main characters get to know each other - a whole year in the story. Even the time in the movie seems longer than typical "first love" stories. And, of course, in the Disney version she loves to read, and the library becomes the greatest gift. So the cartoon is my favorite Disney cartoon. When it was rereleased into theaters I went to see it. And once I saw that the live version with Emma Watson was on Netflix I knew I had to see it.

I was a tiny bit hesitant as not everyone had good reviews but I needn't have worried. I absolutely loved it. The movie gave more depth to the relationship, with conversations, Belle's past and book sharing. And it is fun when relationships make sense. And I liked the new songs too, they didn't feel too extra or unneeded.

I could hear that the clock was Ian McKellen, but somehow missed Emma Thompson's voice and was pleasantly surprised. Overall, I really enjoyed watching it. Love.

Before Midnight

I saw the previous two movies of this trilogy and as soon as I saw that it was coming to Netflix in October, I knew I would watch, despite the fear that I would not like the ending. I saw the first movie "Before Sunrise" probably in high school and it was quirky enough. And I watched the second one, "Before Sunset" when it came out. It is nice to see what happens to the characters as they get older. Funny thing I don't really like the main characters sometimes - Celeste fights weirdly. But I believe in their relationship and I like their conversations. It's a movie where people connect and just talk in a fairly realistic way. I ended up really liking the ending and overall thought it was fitting for this trilogy.




Books

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

After I read To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis I knew I wanted to finally read this book since Willis heavily references it and it is a book known to be very funny. I'm glad I read it. I didn't even realize just how heavily Willis references. From chapter headings to the language and the lightness of descriptions to making fun of some Victorian flowering, it is fun to see how this book inspired and influenced a book of a much more different genre.

And this book was certainly funny. It deserves its reputation. I did like it. But for some reason I was not in much mood for it and read it because I got it from the library and had to return it. So I did not fall in love with this book like I did with Willis. I don't regret it though and would recommend it.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

I heard about this novelette and it won a Hugo for best novelette this year, so I wanted to read it. It was a quick read and fun too. It is an interesting premise of children who come back from the fantasy worlds they go into and who want desperately to go back. It is a good question to ask and an interesting angle. The characters were engaging. I didn't care much for murder mystery and figured it out much earlier than the characters but it was still a good read. But something about it, maybe the style of writing, where POV was switching weirdly sometimes, prevents me from adoring this. I had a similar issue with the Feed Trilogy, the only other things I read by this author, so maybe it is the writing style. Still, the second book in the series about Jack and Jill sounds a little more fun, based on the preview chapters and I want to check that out.


Nobel Prize in Literature - I was very happy to hear that Kazuo Ishiguro won because I read, I think, three books by him and enjoyed them all. I admire his ability to writing in a different style every time. His books are certainly not repetitive. (I say, I think, because I don't always remember if it a movie I saw based on his book or if I read that book. I think it was the book with "Remains of the Day" but I'm not 100% sure anymore. I also read "Never Let Me Go" (and again I confuse it with the movie in my head), and "Buried Giant")