I didn’t plan to take time off from the blog.  It just happened that way…probably one part end of the semester fatigue, one part uninspiring movies at the multiplex over the last week or so, and one part reading print texts instead of moving images.

There has been one trip to the movies to see The Tourist.  Eh…it’s doubtful that I would have ventured out to see it if the director weren’t the creative force behind one of my favorite films in recent years, Lives of Others.  The best I can say about The Tourist is that parts of it are stylish and pleasantly composed and photographed.  In this regard, it reminds me a little of Hitchcock’s film To Catch A Thief, another film that is fun to look at with a few engaging sequences but not much narrative to hold it together.

Better things are coming, or, at least, they are anticipated!  I have upcoming movie dates with my son to see Black Swan (I’ve been waiting for him to work me into his schedule because I turned him on to two superb films by Darren Aronofsky, Requiem For A Dream and The Wrestler, that are now among his favorites), with my mother to see True Grit (Mama loves Westerns), and with my friend Kline to see The King’s Speech (he always makes an appointment to see WWII-themed films with me).  I’ll keep you posted after I see these films.  I might also write a little about some of the movies I’ve been watching at home.

So, what else have I been doing?  Quite a bit of reading and knitting.  The list of books I want to read before the next semester starts includes Jane Smiley’s Private Lives (but I’m rereading one of my Smiley favs Moo right now), Lionel Shriver’s So Much For That (just finished her book A Perfectly Good Family but recommend We Need To Talk About Kevin and The Post-Birthday World more highly), Louise Erdrich’s Shadow Tag (I’ve read several of her books often love bits and pieces while remaining ambivalent about them as whole works), and Emma Donoghue’s Room (which I’ve meant to read ever since I read the review months ago in the New York Times Sunday Book Review).

Last week, I also read the latest Patricia Cornwell book featuring Kay Scarpetta; Port Mortuary is not as thrilling as some of the early novels but better than some of the recent ones.  See, I don’t just read “serious” books.

Just like I don’t only see “serious” films.  Variety is good.