We did find time–over the course of three (3) days–to watch The Big Lebowski. Wow. You wanna talk CLASSIC…………………..The Dude truly abides.
DadReaction: The Big Lebowski
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Category Archives: DadReaction
DadReaction’s New Year’s Resolutions
1) to gain more weight,
2) to drink a whole LOT more, and
3) to achieve a whole LOT less.
Dad’s and My Reading Challenge for 2009 [Updated]
Alternating 19th century and/versus contemporary novels.
January: “Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens
February: “The Broom of the System” by David Foster Wallace
March: “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson
April: “Then We Came to the End” by Joshua Ferris
May: “Dracula” by Bram Stoker [this is a re-read for me]
June: TBD/Contemporary “Motherless Brooklyn” by Jonathan Lethem
July: “Vanity Fair” by William Makepeace Thackeray
August: TBD/Contemporary “Netherland” by Joseph O’Neill
September: “A Pair of Blue Eyes” by Thomas Hardy
October: TBD/Contemporary “The White Darkness” by Geraldine McCaughrean
November: “Nostromo” by Joseph Conrad
December: TBD/Contemporary “Undiscovered Country” by Lin Enger
DadReaction: BOLT
DROP all that you’re doing and RUN out to see it. It’s just great. You get the same roller-coaster emotions, wild fun and thrilling victories that you got in Ratatouille. It’s really good. Not a dry eye in the house. And ANYBODY that likes dogs–their unquestioned loyalty and the way they throw themselves into stuff–can’t help but love this movie. It’s so good you even like the CAT!
The DadReaction, he is a fan.
A lil Keira Knightley for ya.
DVD: Street Kings
Solid, enjoyable, super violent (a + to me) good cop/bad cop flick. Great performances from both Keanu and Forest Whittaker, and lots of interesting bit players I wasn’t expecting, such as Adrian Corbett very effectively playing slime (would you have expected that of “Aidan”?) and Chris Evans also very impressive (first time I’ve ever thought he was actually ACTING in a movie and not just sort of playing himself or “any guy”). (And FYI “House” fans, Hugh Laurie is also present.)
I can only guess why this didn’t do well in theaters (was it even in Chicago for a whole week?): it’s one of those “been done” stories. Very reminiscent of Training Day, among (many) other movies.
Connected DadReaction: Similar to what Dad has reported back about the latest Ed Norton/ Colin Farrell flick “Pride and Glory”. Good flick, good performances…but may suffer from the fact that it’s not a “new” story.
Short Stories: Dead Boys, by Richard Lange
This was our September challenge book and it was so nice to be reading short stories again after slogging through the Musil in August.
These are not happy times stories. Someone in every story is lost (physically, mentally or emotionally), or lonely, or angry, or … or they’ve come to the end of what they can handle or find their way around.
For some characters, their searching leaves them in a better place than where they began, but never the perfect place. But for some, the story’s end is further down a road they never should have been on in the first place.
Really engaging. Unexpected. True and original. Unlike stories you’ve read before. In a very gritty down to earth way.
Fiction: The Man Without Qualities, Volume I, by Robert Musil
Tthis was our August challenge book. And we did not enjoy it.
The reason it made our list was Dad had bought it years ago and always meant to read it, particularly after the Wilkins/Pike translation came out and it was lauded everywhere as “the third member of the trinity in 20th-century literature, complementing Ulysses and Remembrance of Things Past” (Wall Street Journal).
In the beginning, I found it sardonic and was open to it. As it went on, it dragged and felt very pedantic and, as I put it, “kinda prissy.” Dad’s more adult reaction was “It’s very arch.”
We can sort of understand the reaction, originally. A big book trying to touch on a million different European themes right as the War is sneaking up on everyone…
But to compare it to Joyce? or Proust? No. Not in the same league. Not experimental, not groundbreaking, not even truly entertaining. And not worth our time to read Volume II so we’ve scratched that from our plan.
Challenge ’08 Update.
We are tweaking our challenge slightly.
In July, we both only got through the first half (it was THICK). And in August, we finished (eventually. Or I did, a few days into September, can’t remember if Dad actually did or not) but we did NOT enjoy the book and have no interest in reading part II (which was the book for October).
So we are scratching October’s choice and reading the second half of the July book this month.
In case you were wondering.
October: “The Man Without Qualities, Vol 2” by Robert MusilSecond half of “The New Granta Book of the American Short Story” edited by Richard Ford
November: “The Oxford Book of Short Stories” edited by V.S. Pritchett
December: “The Trial” by Kafka
DadReaction: Doomsday
If you don’t see this, you’re missing one of the best movies of the year. Kick-ass girl-power movie. There’s a one-eyed woman cop, tough as nails. Takes on all of Scotland, kicks butt. It’s a lot like 28 Days Later, Mad Max, and Aliens. Also influenced by Satyricon and King Arthur.
Beautifully filmed; the action scenes are great; you’re on the edge of your seat. Stunning photography. Just a great ride.
[Note: Doomsday was written & directed by the same guy who did The Descent, one of Dad’s top five from last year (which was way tooooo fucking scary if you ask me.), and also Dog Soldiers (which I am way way WAY too scared of to watch).]