HOP Review - The Speed Round

I haven’t been keeping up with reviewing things I watch or read. And I know you’re all dying to hear my opinion. I hate to leave you hanging.

On TV – Ugly Betty: Such trashy good fun. I am sad that tonight’s episode is the last new one. I missed the April 19 episode because I was in the hospital and I forgot that it was on. So I was desperate enough to let a few build up in the Tivo and I went online to watch on ABC.com! Sure enough, I could watch any episode I wanted! Brilliant. The repartee between the bitchy gay Mark and the slutty receptionist Amanda is reason enough to watch this show.

From the DVD closet – The Prestige: More proof that Christian Bale is an amazing actor. I was previously not excited about this movie because I knew there were 2 movies out at the same time that dealt with magicians in the 1800’s or such. My mother pulled this one out and I was blown away. It was creepy and thought-provoking and I fell for its tricks to the bitter end.

At the movies – Lucky You: Good enough escapist entertainment for the time that it plays. Also a simple demonstration of how poker works. But poor Drew Barrymore’s character was not the point of the movie – she was actually quite a side bet altogether. Plus, she was cursed with lines like “I think everybody’s just trying not to be lonely,” uttered in the middle of NOTHING, FOR NO REASON. I can only hope that the scene was longer at one time, because if Drew read this script the way it’s cut and said “Yeah! Let’s do it!” I would fear for her spacy mind. A line like that is certainly no reason for Eric Bana to kiss her.

In print – The Mother Tongue, English and How It Got That Way, by Bill Bryson: This book will never end. I’m not even finished with it and I’m reviewing it to say BORING. The general conceit is interesting but Bryson loads this book with long long lists of words that were adopted by English for whatever reason the chapter heading calls for. He tries too hard to divide his one-note idea into several subcategories, like “wordplay,” a dissertation on such things as the crossword puzzle. In other works I have found that Bryson makes otherwise dry material into something snappy and interesting, but this one is failing me. Nevertheless, I am determined to finish it. I must do so soon, because The Kite Runner is up next for book club, and I haven’t even started it.

Also in print – The New Yorker: I read this to make me feel hip and educated. Sadly, I usually skip the most important articles. But recently I’ve been reading it cover to cover (must be why I can’t finish the above) because it’s easy to hold while nursing and I can remember what read the last time I picked it up.

And now, more pictures. I know that you skipped everything I wrote and just came down here.