Random Thoughts

Not so capable of sustained thought and writing today, so what about a collection of bits and pieces I’ve been meaning to get to:

1. A few weekends ago, we rented Gone, Baby, Gone and The Jane Austen Book Club and watched them with my daughter who was in the middle of moving to a new job and new apartment in the city. These movies are obviously very different, but we found both well acted and entertaining. Gone, Baby, Gone has a number of strong performances, builds some compelling tension with challenging plot twists. The ending continues to disturb — it’s not an upbeat film, but I’m pretty impressed with those Affleck boys. The Austen is a much lighter, but well-made ensemble movie with some decent performances by a range of familiar, if mainly from TV, actors — Emily Blunt again very fun to watch. (Connection between the two movies can be found in the TV series, Boston Public — Kathy Baker, in the Austen, was the “hand lady” on BP; Michelle Monaghan, from Gone, was also on numerous episodes of BP.)

2. I bought this silk paisley shirtdress at Banana Republic a few weekends ago, and I’m just waiting for the first warm, sunny day to wear it. Again, although it looks short on the model — and even in the store, I thought it looked more tunic-length than dress — because I’m short, it’s actually a great just-above-the-knee length. I can’t really wear orange or yellow on their own, so I love being able to get some into my wardrobe via a fresh print like this.

3. In other random news, I finally went back to the physiotherapist today to get serious about the problem with my rotator cuff (shoulder) which I guess I was hoping would go away on its own. It’s really slowed down my knitting a bit, which is why there’s been no FO news lately. Besides, I realized that there wasn’t enough yardage in one skein of the Camelspin to make the Here and There Cables scarf as long as I’d like it, so I frogged! I’m about four inches into an Odessa hat and will try to get pictures for you soon.

4. Having finished the Firefly series on DVD and then watched a borrowed copy of Serenity, I have now seen all the Joss Whedon oeuvre and will be starting back through Buffy again until the man gets his next series on the screen. I’ve managed to get Paul to watch Firefly with me (a second viewing for me, ’cause I’m not patient enough to wait ’til he’s home on the weekends), and although he’s a pretty critical SF viewer and demanding about special effects as well, he’s stayed interested and amused through eight episodes so far. We both agree that James Baldwin has potential to play Lee Child’s Jack Reacher should those detective novels ever get to screen — there’s a real dearth, obviously, of 6’5 actors!

5. I’ve also been watching Big Love on DVDs — I resisted this for a while, the premise (a polygamous family in suburbia) being offensive in theory — In practise, the show is thoughtful and offers some strong acting (no surprise from HBO) — Bill Paxton, Chloe Sevigny among others. I’m also hooked on The Wire and am trying to stretch out the first season — I bought the DVD and will probably buy the others — well worth the money. The writing’s top-notch, the acting as well, and the attention to social problems is thought-provoking without being in the way of plot and character development.

I have a few more random thoughts to do with Paris, and I’ll try to get those up in the next day or so. For now, though, I’m got some oysters to pan-fry, and my tummy’s growling. Gotta go!