Monthly Archives: December 2007

The Last Three Movies I Saw; Next Movies; The Oscars

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Atonement: I’m going to copy my thoughts on this one from a comment I left on Michelle’s Vox, so I don’t have to type it all again. :) I definitely recommend reading the book before seeing the movie.

It’s hard for me to express exactly what I didn’t like about it, except for the ending. I read two Ian McEwan books this year, Atonement and On Chesil Beach. From those I’m realizing that what I like so much about Ian McEwan is his ability to express feelings, perception, and beliefs through the thoughts of his characters. You really get inside their minds and can see why they are doing things and why other people who don’t know what they’re thinking might misunderstand. I was certain I would/will be disappointed with any movie for their failure to have that all-knowing narration. A movie could still be entertaining, but to me it would lose most of the power of the book. If I had seen the movie first I would have most likely decided not to read the book.

I didn’t like the ending of the movie because it was my favorite part of the book. I liked how privately she reflected on her life and the whole situation. I do not think the interview suited that at all. Not only that, but the whole end didn’t feel like part of the movie, it felt so different and weird.

But despite all this, I did like a few parts of the movie. I liked the beginning, I thought they did a good job showing what a boring, restless day it was that day, without the movie being dull. Everything was gorgeous too. I loved the green dress…. so perfect! :) (but they also, probably because it couldn’t be done without narration, left out my second favorite part – when the mirror “won’t let Cecelia pass”)

I guess I just didn’t like it because of how much I loved the book. The book shook me to the core and the movie was very underwhelming to me.

Juno: I loved Juno. I loved all of the characters, especially her stepmom. I found a lot of aspects of the movie to be fairly unbelievable, but that didn’t affect my overall enjoyment. I also loved the soundtrack. Also, I need a hamburger phone, asap.

Enchanted: I probably would not have seen this in theater if I hadn’t been back home in Michigan. But I am, and my Mom had a free movie ticket to see it, and so it was only $8 total for her, me, and my brother to go. It was pretty cute, and we all enjoyed it. However I don’t think it was as good as it had the potential of being. It was actually a pretty fun idea for Disney, but I don’t think the script was their best work. I would have saved it for Netflix if I hadn’t been here.

Movies I want to see next: Charlie Wilson’s War; Sweeney Todd; National Treasure Book of Secrets (I know, I know);  Persepolis. Movies I want to see and desperately hope are still in a theater when I get back to New York: Margot at the Wedding; The Savages.

A note on the Oscars:
Usually I love the Oscars. I love trying to watch as many nominated movies as possible before the show, and I like making predictions on who will win. I like watching the show, especially when I like the host. This year I’m not really looking forward to it at all. One reason is that most of the movies this year that have “oscar buzz” are ones that are dark and violent, and I don’t want to see them. Also, because of the writer’s strike, it’s likely to be an incredibly strange and boring ceremony. It will be interesting if the strike doesn’t get resolved…. will Jon Stewart still host without his writers? If he doesnt, who will?

The one thing I am looking forward to this year is the expected nomination of Once for one or more songs in the best original song category. I can’t wait to see them perform.

However – this being the Oscars – they probably won’t win, because it has to go to some hideously overdone song from a blockbuster movie.

(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)

QotD: Best Book of '07

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What’s the best book you read this year?

I’m working on a special post about all my favorite books I read this year, but I won’t be able to post it until after I’m back in Hoboken, since I need Indesign to do it. Hopefully I’ll have it done and posted by the second week in January.

But for now, here are some of books I read and loved this year:
-Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
-The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
-Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
-The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
-The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
-Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison
-How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton
-The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman
-Atonement by Ian McEwan

(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)

Happy Christmas!

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Happy Christmas Voxers! I’m in Michigan and not sure how much I’ll be posting while I’m here. My main goals are to spend time with my family, read, and enjoy the beautiful white snow.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas filled with joy, laughter, good food, and loved ones!

(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)

Culture QotD: Sweet Tooth

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What is your favorite holiday recipe?

My favorite holiday recipe is Chocolate Covered Pretzels.

It is not, of course, strictly a holiday food, but it feels very Christmas-y to me. I first had them when one of my favorite high school teachers brought them in for us on the last day of school before Christmas break, and since then I’ve made them every Christmas and shared them with friends and family. I actually just made some tonight, to bring to our secret santa exchange at work tomorrow.

You buy a bag of small pretzels, a bag of Hershey’s kisses, and a medium bag of m&ms.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
Arrange some pretzels (no broken ones) on a cookie sheet, in a single layer.
Unwrap the kisses and put one in the center of each pretzel.
Put them in the oven for 5 minutes.
Remove and immediately smoosh down the melted kisses in the center with an m&m.
Make sure the ‘m’ side is up.

Let most of them cool, but eat a few of them a little bit after removing from the oven while they are still melty and warm. Those ones will be extra delicious. The rest need to cool for several hours before you can move them around and safely stack them for storage or travel.

Make as many as you want, but the kisses will usually run out first (unless you buy a personal size bag of m&ms and not the big bag) so get a few bags of kisses if you want to make a lot.

Chocolate covered pretzels
(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)

Links 12.12.07

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Easy DIY gift tags (inspired by the great Ed Emberley)

Very fun “Book” parking garage at the Kansas City Public Library. More pictures of the gorgeous new library in Kansas City.

A blog I found recently and love: 3191. Two people on opposites sides of the country take a photo each morning. They don’t talk about what photo they are taking in advance. They put them together and post them. Such a simple idea, but the result is gorgeous. The photos often compliment each other naturally, even though they are unplanned. This post is one of my favorites, and puts me in a very merry holiday mood.

Mental Floss has a very fun list of their 10 favorite Facebook groups. The groups they found are pretty hilarious.

Fun quiz that determines what your design style is. I like the way the quiz is designed; the visual element is neat (and relevant).

(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)

First Snow!

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Today I was absolutely delighted when I pulled up the blinds and saw the first snow of the season!


In other news, today also happens to be my 1 year Voxiversary. I’ve been a member since 10/26/06, when they opened Vox up to the public, but I didn’t make a real post until 12/2/06. I probably made some posts and deleted them, but we’ll go by the first post that survived.

(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)

Polysyllabic Spree: November 2007

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There wasn’t much time for book buying or reading in November.

Books purchased:


Books read:


My complete Polysyllabic Spree can be found here

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I haven’t seen Atonement yet, but I would recommend reading the book before seeing the movie. To quote from Entertainment Weekly, “Their movie is abundantly attractive, every scene serenely composed, and every character so fair in love and war that, when the lights come up, it’s too easy to say, ”That was good and sad and romantic and classy, now what’s for dinner?” Turning the last page of McEwan’s book, in contrast, you’re more likely to be shaking from direct devastation and intensity of experience.” There are very few (if any?) book-into-movie situations where I’d ever recommend seeing the movie first, but this one especially. The ending of the book is incredible and powerful, and having the movie ruin that experience for you would be a calamity.

Probably the same is true for The Kite Runner. The difference for this post, though, is that I’m not planning on seeing The Kite Runner. Maybe I’ll change my mind based on reviews and input from others once they see it. For now, I plan on leaving the book free for further independent digestion.

The Principles of Uncertainty is one of my favorite books of the year. It was an unexpected delight; I hadn’t been reading her monthly columns for the NY Times online. (This book is the entire collection of columns she’s done so far.) It’s a very unusual combination of art and writing. Completely whimsical, and absolutely gorgeous. The main tendency of the book is about little things that Maira notices and finds beautiful. An old woman with three large bobby pins in her hair. (Are there three more on the other side?) A sliced egg sandwich, eaten by someone named Sally at a luncheonette counter on a drizzly day in New York City. A woman who used to print photos in her bathtub. Before I read The Principles of Uncertainty I only knew Maira from her (gorgeous) illustrations in The Illustrated Elements of Style. Now I’m a huge Maira fan and have found 3 of her (just as gorgeous) books for children at Strand and added them to my collection. I’m anticipating the return of her column in January.

(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)