Soaring_Phoenix's blog

Since I have bronchitis, I've been watching a lot of movies, including some of my favorites.

Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte is a movie I'd never seen before.  I watched it on AMC, so I was annoyed by the commercials, but I really liked the movie.  Seeing Olivia DeHavilland play a role that was very unusual for her was enjoyable, and I was really not expecting the twist.  I love Bette Davis, and in this she was at her best, IMO.

Season 2, Disk 1 of House, MD was also on the menu.  I love House.

An Ideal Husband is based on an Oscar Wilde play.  It's well-cast, and has some great moments.  Minnie Driver shouldn't really do accents, though, other than her fabulous Russian accent in Goldeneye.

Yet another Wilde play, The Importance of Being Earnest is silly fun.  Also has an appearance by the incomperable Dame Judi Dench as Aunt Augusta.

For some reason whenever I'm sick and fairly brain-dead I indulge myself in movies based on Jane Austin books.  I choose Sense and Sensibility first because I like the fact that Hugh Laurie is in it, too, as well as being a wonderful adaptation of the book.

And, of course, I had to watch Emma.  There are many different takes on it, including Clueless, but I like this one the most.

Only disk 1 of House, since we're renting it.

Today we watched both of these, as well as some of the episodes from The Simpsons Season 8 DVD set.

Waking Ned Devine is one of my favorite movies - it's low-key, quiet, occasionally silly, but a lovely movie about community.

National Treasure is an interesting variation on Masons' influence on the founding of the US as well as the history of the "treasure" they supposedly collected over the years.  The history is accurate as far as it goes, with additional conspiricy theories of course.  It's great mind candy.

Just finished this.  Didn't like it nearly as much as I liked Wicked, but that doesn't really surprise me.  The ending sets up another sequel, which I have mixed feelings about.

I felt like the book never had a point, other than to follow Liir's wanderings.  Given what was going on politically in Oz at the time, it didn't work for me that he was so removed from it all.  I felt like he was supposed to be "finding himself", but honestly I never got to the point that I cared about him.

What are the 5 words that best describe your life right now?
Question submitted by mojito.

Fulfilling
Happy
Peaceful
Love
Content

Yeah, I'm loving it right now. 

Teh Drama is long gone, and I feel more content than I have in years.  No one needs me, but they want me in their lives and that's so much better.

I have friends, not an audience.

I have loves, not psudo-children.

My health is getting better.

And while there are things that I wish were different, they're being worked on or let go.

So far, I've only read the prologue, but it's pretty intriguing. 

I finished Thud today.  Loved it!

I love Pratchett.  And I've been having laugh out lod moments while reading this one.  It's another Watch book, like the last few Discworld books.

Of course, that's not what the cover of my volume looks like - I prefer the UK versions of Pratchett books, and mind came from Amazon.ca, since they have the version I prefer.  I've also gotten UK versions of other authors (Rankin, Gaiman, Fforde, etc) from amazon.co.uk.

The night we met Terry Pratchett is the same night I landed in the hospital thanks to my asthma.  The room he spoke in was very hot and had stale air, so I ended up coming in and out a lot, but I did get to meet him and he signed a book for us.

Soda? Cola? Pop? What do you say? Any other regional words that set you apart?
Question submitted by Gladys.

Heh.  Around here it's called "Coke" for the most part, even if you don't mean that particular brand.  "Pop" sounds wrong to me, and "soda" does, too.  If I have to use one or the other, I use "soda", though.

GIven that I'm in the middle of the Midwest (which is weird, since I'm in the eastern 3rd of the US) I can't think of a lot of words we use that are regional.  Of course, given that I've lived in Indiana since I was 3 I've not had a lot of exposure to other regionalisms.

I get every 3rd Friday off work, and I'm really loving it.  Not that I did much today, but it was nice to have a day of nothing to do.

I love this show.  Any show in which Patrick Stewart occasionally guest stars and is hilarous works for me!