A Movie and A Book... Take a Look

Based on the recommendations of some web-friends, I've just read and finished Outlander by Diana Gabaldron. It was excellent! I was so glad to have few distractions yesterday (most of my family was off on their own) because I didn't want to have to throw anything at them if they tried to interrupt my reading.

The book is kind of hard to catagorize ---> But I can tell you that it had a bit of everything I usually look for in a good book: a compelling story, witty dialogue, and strong conflicts (wow, were there some strong conflicts!)

She managed to weave quite a bit of historical fact into her story as well. It's probably not for everybody - the length of the book (over 500 pages, I pretty sure... I already sent it back to the library, so I can't be sure) somehow puts some people off, but it was worth it.

And, since it was the first in a series, I'm doubly excited b/c the next books are already out ... now I only have to wait a bit for my library to process the requests.

....

I also got to watch Batman Begins recently.

First, let me just explain my love for Christian Bale: well, I can't explain it. But it started with Newsies - a musical (2 points) about a significant social issue (another point there) with cute boys (which, at the age of 13, translated into about 100 extra bonus points). If you haven't seen Newsies, and any of these things add points to your list, go out and rent it right now. The songs are very catchy, and it may be very "Disney," but that doesn't really work against it in my book. I loved Swing Kids as well, although not as much. He played Laurie to a tee in the 90's remake of Little Women (which is one of my all time favorite books). I squirmed through American Psycho, which isn't really my kind of movie, generally. And that one with the dragons was pretty good too. (Reign of Fire - I also love IMDB, but that's a post for another day). And then there's the lisp... why does that work for him instead of against? I don't know, but it does.



So the fact that he was the lead in the new Batman didn't escape my notice. Plus, I've liked all the other Batman movies - some more than others, but I'm certainly not a comic book purist or movie snob. Although it seems that everyone else paid a lot more attention to George Clooney's nipples in the last version of Batman than I did, I didn't think it was horrible. But this one was much better - it had a better story, it flowed better, it was darker and more intersting. And Michael Caine's Alfred was spectacular.

I didn't really understand how it worked (continuity-wise) with the backstory we'd seen in the first Batman movie (Michael Keaton "I'm Batman/Jack Nicholson as the Joker), but that's not a huge deal. I thought it was very good: I'm glad to see, in Christian Bales IMDB page, a listing for untitled Batman Begins Sequel.

So, if you're looking for some low key things to do this weekend, there's a couple of suggestions.I'll be trying to finish up my brother's birthday present, reading a couple of new books, and trying to help my sister figure out the Weight Watcher's Points system.