Category Archives: reading watching listening

Reading, watching, listening

Posted on by
1

Reading: Current read is Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith, who so happens to be a sorority sister. Cool! I should finish that today.

Recently finished Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot, the first in her “Heather Wells Mysteries” series. As I’ve said many, many times, Meg Cabot is always a great read.

I also finished Coal Run by Tawni O’Dell. O’Dell writes stories that are set in the general area of PA where I grew up…not precisely where I grew up, but in the “hey, we played them in football” area. She writes really well about tragedy and dysfunction, creating flawed but utterly human characters.

Also continuing to read and enjoy Daredevil.

Watching: I finally watched the last few episodes of Veronica Mars that TiVo saved for me. I liked the last couple of episodes for an end to the season…but if the show doesn’t come back for another? (the CW is still dangling a shred of hope over our heads…) Then the last episode was unmercifully cruel. Bah.

Movies…I haven’t seen a new movie in the last little bit, but Rand and I watched This Film is Not Yet Rated over the weekend. It seems like we watched a whole bunch of stuff, but I’m having trouble remembering what…oh well.

Listening: As you may have noticed, I’ve been on a bit of a Dixie Chicks kick. TiVo recorded their appearance on Austin City Limits, which was pretty cool. I’m still loving “Taking the Long Way.” 🙂

Reading, watching, listening

Posted on by
1

Reading: Coal Run by Tawni O’Dell. Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis. Just finished The Amber Spyglass, will be writing about it soon. On deck: Lisey’s Story by Stephen King.

Watching: 28 Weeks Later (I wasn’t crazy about it); Thank You for Smoking (not sure how I felt about it. I didn’t love it.); Shut Up & Sing (a flawed documentary, but I enjoyed it.)

Lost, Heroes (season finale tonight!!), American Idol (I was wrong…bye bye Melinda. I was sad to see her go, but I suspect it’ll be better for her career in the long run).

I have several episodes of Veronica Mars to watch…I’m bummed about the news that it won’t be coming back next season, but not surprised.

Listening: The Dixie Chicks, Taking the Long Way. I’m not all the way through the album yet, but I’m loving it. It’s raw, emotional, powerful stuff.

Reading, watching, listening

Posted on by
6

Reading: For as busy as I’ve been, I’ve certainly found time to read lately. I’ve kind of put other projects on hold for the time being, but I squeeze in reading whenever I can. Here’s what I’ve been up to…

Buffy Season 8 (issue 3)–Rand picked this up for me on his weekly comics-buying venture. I’m enjoying it quite a bit. The first issue was bumpy, but it’s now settling into a great rhythm.

Fray — Joss Whedon’s story of a future slayer. I read this in pretty much one sitting, and I was so disappointed to find out that there was no more Fray. Boo! It did tell a complete story, but left you with the implication that there was more to come. Ah, maybe one day.

The Last Unicorn –When I was maybe 10 or so, the movie version of The Last Unicorn ran on HBO. My dad taped it for me, and I remember loving it. I watched it over and over and over again. It wasn’t until years later that I realized it was based on a book. Recently, I came across a used copy of the book and picked it up. It was interesting how the story came back to me as I read. It’s a lovely and sad fairy tale, and it was as good as I remember. After finishing the book, I promptly went to the Conlan Press website and ordered the 25th anniversary edition DVD. (orders from this website directly benefit the author.) I can’t wait to see it again!

Twisted –The new novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. I loved it, and I will be posting in more detail on my book blog.

I’ve also just started The Golden Compass, which I somehow missed out on when I was younger. So far, I’m loving it!

Watching: Well, American Idol, of course…it was Bon Jovi week, after all! 😉 I thought Jordin’s performance was one of the weakest this week, but I didn’t think there was any way she was going to be sent home. I was right.

I actually kinda liked Blake’s funky hip-hop beatbox version of You Give Love a Bad Name. It was certainly brave, and no one can accuse him of not “making it his own.”

LaKisha and Melinda both rocked the songs they chose. Melinda even made me like Have a Nice Day, which I hated when I heard it on the radio. (I did not purchase that album. I think the last one I bought was Bounce, which didn’t do a whole lot for me.)

I thought the audience chose wisely, with Phil and Chris going home this week.

I liked the new Bon Jovi song. Maybe I’ll buy the new album when it comes out…

This week’s Heroes and last week’s Lost both made me squee with delight! I did not watch last night’s Lost yet.

Kind of randomly, TiVo started recording early episodes of Family Ties, so Rand and I have been watching those. That’s been interesting. 😉 It’s been a little while since I’ve watched any movies.

Listening: I recently listened to Ryan Fitzsimmons’ Open All Night. I enjoyed it very much.

As always, I’m open to suggestions!

Reading, watching, listening

Posted on by
Reply

Reading: Mostly student work these days…other than that, I managed to do a read-through of my NaNoWriMo novel. I wrote a bit about it at my writing blog, if you care about that sort of thing.

I also skimmed a bunch of grammar-type books to write this month’s Absolute Blank article over at TC. I began reading Spunk & Bite, which you can see along with all the others in our Amazon Store.

I read the first issue of the new Buffy comic, which I did enjoy, but I’m not sure I have the patience for monthly comics. Then again, do I have the patience to wait until it’s collected? Hmmm…

I have a bunch of things I’m looking forward to reading, like Laurie Halse Anderson’s new book Twisted, which was released today.

Watching: I think Lost is the only current show w/new episodes that I’m currently watching. It’s been fantastic lately, if I do say so.

Rand and I finished the second season of MASH last night. (How many more seasons is Frank on? Gah.) Toward the end of the second season, there was an episode that had to be groundbreaking television in 1974, dealing with a gay soldier. I was impressed.

Over the weekend, we saw Catch and Release at the dollar fifty movies. I liked it okay, and cried a bit at the end, but there were a few too many distracting plot holes for me to love it. The movie stars Jennifer Garner as Gray, a woman whose fiance has died just before their wedding. The question I had to keep asking myself was “doesn’t she have any friends? Or family?” It’s possible, I guess, that the answer to those questions is no, but that was never explained. I’m just pretty sure that if my fiance died, my family and friends would be there. I’m just sayin’.

Jen cries like no one else out there, and Kevin Smith was indeed as great as everyone said. Oh, and Timothy Olyphant (of Deadwood) is hawt.

I also watched Mean Girls…Rand had never seen it. 🙂 Oh, and I almost forgot…we watched The Full Monty, which I had seen before, but Rand just bought on DVD.

Listening: At present, I’m listening to KT Tunstall’s Eye to the Telescope, which I finally purchased from iTunes. I *heart* iTunes. And having an iPod. (I like the album quite a bit, too!)

As always, any recommendations are welcome. 🙂

Reading, watching, listening

Posted on by
3

Reading: After seeing Children of Men, I was curious about the book that it was based on. Whenever I see a movie that was adapted from a novel (well, a good movie), I’m interested in seeing the original source material. What was changed, what was cut, what was kept, and what bears absolutely no resemblance to the original. I’m not all that far into it…so far, it’s moving pretty slowly…but I’ve decided to save any in-depth comments about either the book or the movie until I’m finished.

I’ve also been reading the collected Mutts comic strips. I *heart* Mutts. How had I never read it before?

Other than that…student essays. Sigh.

Watching: Ok, so my favorite show on the air right now is Heroes. This week’s episode was amazing, and I can’t wait to see what happens next! We learned a great deal about HRG this week, and his relationship with Claire is reminding me a lot of SpyDaddy and Syd; there’s no black and white. He operates in shades of gray, and Monday night, it became clear that he’s motivated by his love for his daughter.

I’m a week behind on both Lost and Veronica Mars. I’ve watched some of MASH season 2 with Rand…Trapper John is less annoying this season. I’m finding it interesting that so many people put MASH on their list of greatest sitcoms ever, because it’s hardly a sitcom. We’ve been watching with the laugh track removed, and I can’t figure out who thought a laugh track was a good idea in the first place. See, I think MASH is a half hour drama with occasional humor. I also think Aaron Sorkin owes a lot of the tone of his shows (Sports Night in particular) to MASH. That’s just my $.02.

Listening: So Rand bought a shiny new iPod, and I’ve taken control of the old one. I haven’t had much time to play with it, so I’ve mostly been listening to the playlists he’s created that I enjoy.

The one I seem to be listening to the most is called Mellowmodern…This is filled with mostly indie musicians, some the current hipster trends, and some more or less unknown stuff that Rand likes. I started out with a mental block against Sufjan Stevens, because my God, could he be any more pretentious? But he’s starting to grow on me a little. Anyway, the list is generally good for mellow background music.

I’d really like to check out the new Dixie Chicks album, and I still want KT Tunstall’s Eye to the Telescope.

And as usual, I’m open to any suggestions. 🙂

Reading, watching, listening

Posted on by
Reply

Reading: Still working on Calvin and Hobbes. Finished a YA novel I pulled off of a teacher’s shelf last week called Tangerine. It was a fast and suspenseful read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it…although there were a few things that left me a little cold.

I’m still working on bringing my posts over from the book blog. I noticed that you can import from an RSS feed. Has anyone actually done this?

Soon I’ll have my “books read in 2006” post up. I’ll bet you can hardly wait. 😉

Watching: Ok, I’ve been busy here!

I finished disc 5 of Veronica Mars and anxiously await the final disc of Season 1! I’m dying to talk about this show, so if you’ve seen it, please email me or leave me a comment! That’s the biggest drawback to watching something after the rest of the world has already seen it…

Rand, John and I went to see Borat over the weekend. I thought it was funny, but not that funny.

And I finally watched Pirates of the Carribbean, which we had borrowed from Ron, um, way too long ago. I liked it, but found it a wee bit longer than I think it needed to be.

I thought last week’s episode of The Office was great. Plenty of laugh-out-loud moments.

And finally…Studio 60. It may have been a bit of a bumpy ride getting there, but good Lord, was the Christmas episode amazing. It was everything that is good about Aaron Sorkin. I was weeping and cheering by the end of the episode. I’ll be on this ride for as long as NBC will let me. 🙂

OH! And I nearly forgot…we got the first disc of SNL: Season 1 from Netflix. Interesting. The second episode might as well have been called Paul Simon and friends Live. 😉 I don’t get the Muppets. We’ve seen the first three episodes, and so far, I have to say John Belushi’s performance as Joe Cocker is the shining moment. I was practically rolling on the floor by the end. 😉

Listening: I’m going to take this opportunity to pimp what may just be my favorite Christmas album:

It’s not a traditional “Christmas”…with the exception of Silent Night, all of the tracks are original songs. But they are amazing songs. “First Snow of the Year” is ridiculously catchy. “Three Generations” is a happy and yet wistful tune…the line “three generations are only together for so long” never fails to bring a tear…and the love songs–Merry Christmas (I Love You) and A House or Maybe a Boat are my favorites–are sweet and achingly romantic.

Check it out. You won’t be sorry. 🙂

Reading, watching, listening

Posted on by
4

So, I’ve decided this is going to be a regular Monday feature.

Reading: As most of you know, I haven’t been doing much novel reading, mostly due to the fact that I spent the past month writing a novel of my own. (more of my thoughts on NaNoWriMo and the fruits of my labor to come soon) Additionally, it was the month of reading submissions for the December issue of Toasted Cheese, up now! I think it’s a pretty strong issue, and the editorial staff was in very solid agreement about our picks this time.

Apart from that, I’ve been reading collections of Calvin and Hobbes strips, which I’m enjoying very much.

I’ve added a couple of things to the “to-read” pile…The Awakening, so we can get on that book club thing, and I Was a Non-Blonde Cheerleader, which I picked up used for under $5 with shipping. Hardcover, even. 😉

Watching: I am continuing to adore Heroes…we’ve got the last episode before it goes on hiatus tonight! I admit, I’m a little skeptical about how this whole Sylar thing is going to play out…last week’s episode left me going, the-wha?

ETA: I forgot to mention my favorite moment in last week’s episode. Hiro, upon discovering that he has sent himself 6 months into the past, says “Great Scott!” hee.

Got the second disc of Veronica Mars S1 last week. I just watched episode 5. It made me cry a little. I *heart* this show.

Rand and I are working our way toward catching up on Studio 60…we watched up to The Wrap Party last night, and I thought it was a fantastic episode. Yay for the Sorkin! Now that the characters and issues have been introduced, we really get to see some of the actors shine. I’m really enjoying the Christine Lahti character, who seems to occupy the same space as Felicity Huffman on Sports Night and Allison Janney on The West Wing. They have the same vibe, the same speech rhythms, and even a sort of similar look.

And in a blast from the past, Rand picked up a DVD of the first season of Night Court. I did love me some Night Court…the pilot episode was kind of scary, but the show quickly got on track. I remember why I liked it. 🙂

Listening: John Denver and the Muppets, A Christmas Together. Who can hear the Twelve Days of Christmas without thinking of the Muppets?

Jellyfish, Spilt Milk. I’ve heard much of this before, on Rand’s iPod, but I took the CD to listen to in the car. I really enjoy The Ghost at Number one, and I think New Mistake was the other one that really stood out when I listened.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Reading, watching, listening

Posted on by
1

Reading: Just finished The Fourth Bear…brief comments over at the places i go

Watching: Went to see Little Miss Sunshine last night. Despite what Entertainment Weekly had to say (they didn’t like it much), I thought it was great. Steve Carell was fantastic in an understated (but still very funny) role. The scenes at the end, at the pageant, were horrifying, as I suspect they were meant to be. My two favorite moments involved Olive and her brother Dwayne: “Go hug mom” and “Okay. Let’s go.”

Watched the first episode of Deadwood, from Netflix. Not sure I’m completely sold yet…anyone want to talk me into it?

Working through season five of The West Wing. I finally got to see The Supremes in its entirety, which was a fantastic episode. It was definitely rocky without Sorkin, but there are a few moments of greatness in this season.

Also watched the pilot for Kidnapped. Great cast, interesting premise, but I’m not sure I want to invest the time.

Listening: Hmm…what am I listening to these days? I’ve gotten a taste of The Raconteurs (read jennimi’s post about them) and I’ve been enjoying that, despite never having been a fan of the White Stripes.

Hope everyone’s having a good weekend!