Month: June 2011

Monday Movie Meme – Gifts

18 Comments

Feature Presentation…MONDAY MOVIE MEME
This week’s movie topic is all about Gifts…
Share on your blog movies that feature presents, gifts or other tokens being
presented.  And please visit The Bumbles to participate.
I’ve only got a few minutes before heading out-of-town, but here are the few I’ve come up with.
1. In No Way Out (1987) Kevin Costner is stuck in the Pentagon while he is assigned the task of finding his lover’s killer.  Only the trail points to him unless he can prove that Gene Hackman gave her a government registered gift from Morocco, thus pointing a finger on him.  I love this thriller.
2. The Breakfast Club (1985) is an all-time favorite and who doesn’t love the scene when good girl Molly Ringwald gives bad boy Judd Nelson a diamond earring?
3. Colin Firth’s gift of a diary to Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) made a very fun and satisfying last scene.
Do you have a favorite gift in film?

Sundays with Gage (and Les Roberts) and my 1,000th post with giveaway

56 Comments

This is a super-sized Sunday with Gage.  Who knew when I started blogging on January 7, 2008, that I’d still be around three and half years later?  These were my first two posts that day.  So, here we are 1,000 posts later and still having fun and loving all of the friendships I’ve made.

Yesterday was a busy day for Gage and here’s why…

His first trip in the pool.  Jason and I weren’t sure what to expect and were pleasantly surprised when he seemed to really like it.  He lasted as long as Daddy, who spent 20 minutes swimming him around.  I was at the side of the pool and getting ready to start snapping pics when a very nice lifeguard informed me that I couldn’t take any.  Huh.  Shows you how often we’ve been to the pool in the last few years.  Apparently, people like to take pictures of kids not their own and do who knows what with them.  I am sure that not all of these people are perverts, but really, way to ruin it for the rest of us.  So, I begged the lifeguard to let me take one photo and that’s the one I got.

Then in the evening local mystery author, Les Roberts, invited all bloggers to join him for a meet and greet at Visible Voice Books in the Tremont area of Cleveland.  This is an area I’m not all that familiar with but have always wanted to explore.  Jason and Gage came with me and while I got to listen to Les talk about his books, writing and life, Jason and Gage toured  the area.

This was the bookstore, which also has a wine bar and live music on the patio in the evenings and also a photo taken with a few of the bloggers that attended. There were around a dozen of us and we each enjoyed a glass of wine and the hour of  listening and asking questions.  I’ll probably include more details in a later post.

Since this is a super-sized 1,000th post I am going to be giving away a signed Les Roberts mystery and you get to pick which one.  On Saturday Les will be signing books 5 minutes from my house, so on Saturday at noon I’ll draw a winner and go and pick up your book.  Since this is also a Sundays with Gage post, you’ll also receive a signed head shot of Gage (LOL).

To enter to win a Les Roberts mystery (a series that is a great representation of Cleveland) just leave your email address with a comment.  You have until Saturday, June 11th, to enter.

A Classic Summer

13 Comments

My friend Molly of both The Bumbles Blog and Quirky Girls Read is hosting a challenge.  And since Molly is fun, creative and just all around great, I thought I would join in and invite you to do the same.

She couldn’t have made the challenge any easier.  Read a classic book before Labor Day, review it (linking to Molly’s challenge post) and add your post to Mr. Linky.  And you can enter as many classics as you want!

Did I mention she’s giving out an Amazon gift card?  You should probably head over there and check it out for yourself!

The Classic Bribe

I am currently reading A Room with a View by Forster (and loving it) and hope to get Emma by Austen in this summer too.  I also need to read Roots and Mists of Avalon.  What about you?  Is there a classic that you’d like to read this summer and this challenge is just the thing to give you a gentle push?

May’s 5 Word Movie Reviews & Money for Charity

26 Comments

Once a month I feature the movies I’ve seen for the first time with a 5 word ‘review’.  Only it’s not really a review.  For that I need your help.  I hope that you’ll add your 5 words to my 5 words and that someone else will add their 5 words and so on until we have a a fun hodgepodge of words that make up a ‘review’.

You may notice that we saw a movie at the theater this month.  Can you tell which one of us won the March Madness bracket and gets to pick the next five theater movies? 🙂

This month you can give money to charity by contributing your 5 words (Details here).  Please join the fun :)  Past 5 Word Reviews here.  We’re up to $66.

(2011. Cast-Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy)    Grade A-

Bawdy Girl Fun. Surprisingly Touching.

Wet my pants laughing (TeddyRee)

Obnoxious. I must be prudish. (Stacy-A Novel Source)

Real Women Having Real Fun (Beth)

Best bathroom humor scene ever! (Michelle)

Obnoxious but hilarious, go women! (Debbie)

So funny and real, favorite.  (Heather)

Depressing but incredibly funny, too.  (Tony)

(2005. Cast-Samuel L Jackson)   Grade B

Tough Coach Reforms Athletes.  Refreshing.

(2010. Cast- Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leto)                                          Grade B-

Great Performances. Depressing True Story.

Creative use of the f-word. (Kathy)

Touching, f-ing story. Bale Rocks! (Heather)

Christian Bale falls in trash.  (Tony)

(2010. Cast- Aaron Eckhart, Jennifer Aniston, Martin Sheen, Dan Fogler)                      Grade B-

Cute Leads. Sweet Healing Romance.

(2005 Cast-Lisa Kudrow, Steve Coogan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Ritter, Bobby Cannavale, Laura Dern, Jesse Bradford)  Grade B-

Interesting Twists & Cast. Unique  Storytelling.

Theatrical release poster, includes two white silhouetted figures against a black background.(2010. Cast- Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz)       Grade D

Action Gone Terribly, Terribly Wrong.

No chemistry between leads…None (Kay)

Cruise is creepy. No chemistry. (Heather)

Previews looked good, movie wasn’t! (Debbie)

Should have been great. wasn’t. (Louise)

Cruise and Diaz: poor showing.  (Tony)

Tangled Webs:How False Statements are Undermining America:From Martha Stewart to Bernie Madoff by James B. Stewart, part 2

14 Comments

Tangled Webs: How False Statements Are Undermining America: From Martha Stewart to Bernie MadoffFinished 5-31-11, rating 4/5, current events, 441 pages, pub. 2011

(part one reviewed here)

I jumped on my soapbox in the first half of my review so I’ll try to exercise some restraint this time around.  Lying is bad.  Perjury is worse.  How can we be a country ruled by law if people, under oath, lie.  I covered the first two celebrity perjurers, now on to the last two.

Barry Bonds is not a likeable guy, he used some sort of steroid, and his old friend was so faithful to him that he went to jail instead of testifying against him.  Oh, and the case is just now going to trial.  It’s like 10 years later! Sprinter Marion Jones was somehow caught up in the same investigation and she’s already served her time!  There were a lot of players involved and since baseball is not my thing, it was my least favorite.

My husband is a portfolio manager, so the Bernie Madoff case was right up my alley.  Somehow Bernie got away with lying to the SEC for years and to many different people.  Seriously, the SEC looks bad.  There were a few people in the SEC who were actually doing their jobs, but they or their superiors were in awe of Madoff’s power and reputation.

I really liked this book.  I thought all the stories were interesting and told with an easy to understand, yet detailed, narrative.  I complained in my first post that people made excuses for liars if they liked them.  I had to swallow that sentiment this week as my beloved Coach Tressel (Ohio State football coach) fell prey to the exact problems addressed in this book.  He didn’t commit the crime, but he did lie to cover it up.  If it can happen to the squeaky clean sweater vest, it can happen to anyone.

This book was sent to by the publisher for this book tour.

James’ Tour Stops

Wednesday, May 11th: Take Me Away

Thursday, May 12th: Laura’s Reviews

Tuesday, May 17th: Power and Control

Tuesday, May 17th: Marathon Pundit

Wednesday, May 18th: Man of La Book

Wednesday, May 25th: Stacy’s Books

Wednesday, June 1st: Bibliophiliac

Monday, June 13th: Lisa Graas

Tuesday, June 14th: Ted Lehmann’s Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms

Wednesday, June 15th: Deep Muck Big Rake

15 Free Books for June

20 Comments

My book problem post encouraged me to clean out at least 15 titles that I’ve had for too long and no longer have any desire to read.

Leave a comment, tell me which book you want and I’ll get the book to you for FREE either by mail or personally if I’ll see you soon.  The first one to request each book wins. Once you’ve ‘won’ the book I can get your shipping address if I need it.  Also, you can come back and get a free book every month if you want.  These have all been read a time or two.

1. The skinny orange titles on top all come together.  They are Baa,Baa, Black Sheep by Rudyard Kipling, Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Love Among the Haystacks by DH Lawrence, The Dead by James Joyce, The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde.  for Amy

2. The Bastard by John Jakes. mass market. published 1974. 629 pages.  B&N review here.

3. The Mysterious Stranger and other stories by Mark Twain. library bound paperback. Stories include: Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1865), Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut (1876), Stolen White Elephant (1882), Luck, (1891), The 1,000,000Bank-Note (1893), The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (1899), Five Boons of Life (1902), Was It Heaven? Or Hell? (1902).  for Mariska

4. An Introduction to Haiku by Harold Henderson.  mass market. published 1958. 185 pages.  B&N review here. for Gautami

5. Generation React:Activism for Beginners by Danny Seo. trade paperback. published 1997. 171 pages. B&N review here.

6. Stealing Time:Stories by Mary Grimm. hardcover. published 1994. 196 pages. B&N review here.  for Carol M

7. So Far…by Kelsey Grammer. hardcover. published 1995. 238 pages. B&N review here.  for Kathy

8. Lovedeath by Dan Simmons. hardcover. published 1993. 306 pages.  B&N review here.  for Mariska

9. The Frenchwoman by Barbara Paul. mass market. published 1977. 295 pages.for Gautami

10. The Great Alone by Janet Dailey. mass market. published 1986. 817 pages. B&N review here. for Amy

11. The Captive Queen of Scots by Jean Plaidy. mass market. published 1963. 448 pages.  B&N review here. for Violet

12. Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters.  mass market. published 1962. 316 pages. B&N review here.  for Carol M

13. The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper. mass market. published 1925. 534 pages. B&N review here.

14. The Vintage Contempotraries Reader.  trade paperback. published 1998. 321 pages.  Includes stories and excerpts from writers: McInerney, Exley, Russo, Ford, Simpson, Gibbons, Yates, DeLillo, Baker, Ellis, McGrath, Cisneros, Carver, Beattie, Leyner, McGuane, Guterson, Danticat, Wolff, Munro, Gaines, Dubus, Sapphire, Millhauser, Huneven. for Melissa

15. Heart of Darkness & The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad. trade paperback. B&N review here. for Molly

Happy Reading.  You can request one book a day until they’re gone 🙂