Oscar Madness Pulls Me Back

It's been too long, and I'm feeling the mojo coming back again.  Honestly, as mentioned before, I've just been beyond burned out this school year and found myself hanging by a thread.  In January I got a student teacher, who took 1/2 of my classes.  Although I still find myself using every moment at work to grade, lesson plan, or deal with day to day stuff, having a student teacher has let me go home at night to rest and go to bed at a decent hour without stressing out over all I left undone.  In short, I'm doing better.

Sorry to vent, but how else do you explain a nearly two month absence?  You complain and then explain yourself.  I'm not 100%, but I'm better, and can say that I've been reading like a fiend!  What makes you feel better than reading a ton and sleeping a bit?  Not much, in my estimation.

Well, tomorrow night are the Oscars.  As most years, I've only seen about half of the Best Picture nominees, but I'm still pretty excited to watch.  This year I had the chance to catch:  Les Miserables, Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, and Lincoln.  From the other categories, I've seen:  Anna Karenina, Brave, and Prometheus. It doesn't feel like much at all to me, but you still couldn't keep me away!  My apologies for those who follow me on Twitter, as I'm sure I'll be chattering away all evening.  I can't wait.

Okay.  Until I get back into the book-review swing of things, I'll see you around.  For now, I'll leave you with a couple of my favorites.  Where would I be this year without Les Miserables?

I also really liked Silver Linings Playbook.  I have to say that this scene where the lead actor, played by Bradley Cooper, flips out over the tragic ending of A Farewell to Arms had me laughing a little too loudly in the theater.  I might be an English teacher who is supposed to love classics, but who hasn't felt this way about a book a time or two?

 

Until after the Oscars, I'll be hoping for the best for all of my favorites this year!  

Sunday Blatherings: Oldies Still Rule

What a lovely day!  It definitely feels more like March already, with spring not only just around the corner but also seemingly already upon us.  I love it.

This past week was a bit odd.  I started to feel "off" Sunday or Monday, and by Tuesday I was in the full throes of the flu.  I took off one day, but muscled through the rest of the week because I had to.  Saturday, you would have thought I was home free, but I woke with a giant migraine that had me wondering what in the world I did for my body to send me such a harsh message!  Thankfully, I'm feeling so much better and can refocus on work and every other goal we throw out when we get sick.

A couple of new updates for me though.  First, I joined Weight Watchers.  I'm not very thrilled, but my best friend coerced me into doing it with her.  Granted, nothing I've been doing has been very successful, but I'm not convinced that counting the value of every little thing I eat is the way to go.  We'll see.  Second, I've applied to teach summer school.  *sigh*  Admittedly, I don't really want to because the summer is already so filled with conferences, meetings, and teaching online classes that it doesn't feel like the huge break everyone seems to think we all get. I'm trying to focus though and get the last of my debt polished off.  I'm so close that I can feel it!

Anyway, that's it for my crazy life.  All is well, in general, so today I'm gearing up for the Oscars later tonight.  I apologize ahead of time if you follow me on Twitter and get a barrage of tweets that are Oscar related.  I haven't quite seen all of the films up for nominations tonight, but I have seen quite a number of them.

Having said that, I got sucked into an oldie but goody today when Singin' in the Rain came on cable.  My mother raised me on a large dose of musicals, which we then followed with some major musical soundtrack tunes rolling through our house on Saturday mornings.  I swear that I think of Camelot as house cleaning music to this day!  I'm now thinking I should do a little honor to all of my favorites, both in honor of the Oscars and to great film making in general.  Here are just a few:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, not really a musical, but I couldn't NOT include this one.

 I swear that these are just a drop in the bucket as far as musicals and oldies are concerned.  Once I got started, I thought of all the great old films I love and want to re-watch.  Although we're focused on all the new releases on this Oscar Sunday, I might have to give myself a challenge to watch all these oldies again!

What oldies are your favorites?

Film Review: Iron Lady (2012)

As a gift to myself for finishing out the term, I slipped into a theater to watch the new Margaret Thatcher film, The Iron Lady.  Starring Meryl Streep as the "Iron Lady," herself, I wanted to see what all this early buzz was about!  With each year I've come to embrace the fact that I'm probably every bit as much of a film connoisseur as I am with books, and so each year I try to make a point to go and see as many of the Oscar-buzzed films as possible, so The Iron Lady was a must see.

Set in a modern context of Thatcher's life, we see the development of her life and career through flashbacks she has from her home, where she is being watched over by nurses and family as she slipped further and further into the throes of dementia or Alzheimer's disease  (we never really know which).  Throughout the film, she sees people from her past and interacts with them, which causes her caretakers more and more concern.  From this Thatcher gains a steely determination to stay in control of her "hallucinations" and either not address them, or keep them hidden from those around her.

As she deals with her present sense of lost awareness, she constantly flashes back to her life and all that she has experienced--and lost.  We get a real sense that although she desperately loved her husband and children--enough so to be at a loss without them in her old age--that her career was the penultimate in her life.  Her real sense of self came from serving her country, come what may in terms of approval or understanding.

I absolutely loved the film and immediately called a few people that I knew would also love it, to recommend it to them.  This is a thinking-man's film, for sure.  There are no flashy action scenes or blatant messages, but what we do get is a real film of introspection and thoughtfulness that had me thinking about my own life.  Margaret Thatcher, whether you agreed with her politics or not, was an absolute standard in Women's History, and someone that should be given real attention for the bravery she showed in moving through what has always been a "man's world."  Her real "iron"-fisted approach to life and her career was very interesting, especially considering how she used it to have a control over her life that had be admired in many ways.

The young Margaret & husband in the early days of her career.

One interesting thought I took away from the movie had to do with her hallucinations in her old age.  As she hallucinated her husband into real life, over and over again, I wondered how damaging is it really to allow someone that comfort--if it is a comfort?  I think we've all dealt with people in our families or lives who grew older or were sick, and slipped a bit in their sense of reality.  Is it our own need to keep them grounded, for our own security, that is important, or is it possible that this gives a person a level of comfort in the end?  I really don't know the answers there, but I have a much greater sense of empathy after watching this film.

The Iron Lady, in my estimation, is a real must see if you are a film buff at all.  Meryl Streep's performance was really amazing, as she slipped into the role of Thatcher, almost flawlessly.  The filming, en media res, was a great technique for moving us backward and forward in time so we could see and feel as Thatcher might feel.  Overall, I found it to be a great film, and one that I think will win Streep more than just that Golden Globe from Sunday night!

Below is one of the official trailers if you want to check it out.

The Oscars After Blog

I make no apologies for the fact that I'm a total Oscar fan.  I will, however, apologize if you got caught in my avalanche of tweets @mjmbecky during the Oscar show!  I'll refrain from critiquing the show, as I think those will come out en force this next week.  The show had its interesting moments and montages (how about the musicals for Harry Potter and Eclipse), but it seemed that The King's Speech, Inception, The Fighter, and The Social Network took home the majority of the awards.

Although I'd seen many of the films featured in the show this year,  my favorite was The King's Speech.  As a longtime Colin Firth fan, I have long thought he deserved more recognition for the range of roles he has played.  In fact, if you had a chance to see him on 60 Minutes last Sunday (I linked it here in my Sunday blog post) or on Inside the Actor's Studio, you know that he has played in films ranging from period pieces such as Pride and Prejudice (1995) and A Girl With a Peal Earring to Bridget Jones Diary, Mama Mia!, and The Single Man.  When an actor can continue to film roles across the board and allow us to forget the actor and escape into the role, you know they are a master at their craft.  Kudos and congratulations to Colin Firth for Best Actor and to The King's Speech for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Director.

For a nice and easy list of complete winners, check out The Associated Press: "List of 83rd Oscar Winners".

Sunday Blatherings: Library Loot & Oscar Madness

After devouring four books last weekend, I went through a type of drought this week.  In the classes I teach at school and online, they're all reading such different things that I found myself coming home and just wanting to watch TV each night!  My juniors just started reading Les Miserables, my Popular Fiction students just finished Hunger Games, my AP students at school are in the middle of studying poetry, and in my online classes they're studying Canterbury Tales and Hamlet.  As you can see, I feel like I'm all over the board! 

Thankfully, I have a lot of books I'm interested in escaping into on my own time.  I'm still in the middle of reading twelve different books.  Yes, I'm a little crazy, but for some reason I tend to bounce around when I read.  Once something gets far enough into the story or grabs me, then I push the others aside to finish the book.  This weekend, I hope to finish Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning.  I'd heard so much buzz online about the latest release, Shadowfever, that I thought I'd give the series a try. 

Today, however, I dropped into the library and just wandered around a bit.  I haven't done that in so long!  There is something so relaxing about looking through shelves and shelves of books.  Usually, I put books on hold and then run in, check them out, and run out again, managing my entire library account online.  It was nice to have a moment to spare to take a look around.  In fact, I ended up picking up a stack of cookbooks, since all these snowstorms put me in the mood for some nice home cooked meals.  Here's what I picked up:

Art Smith was Oprah Winfrey's chef and also appeared on Top Chef Masters 1.  His food had a lot of heart and won over the judges for quite awhile.  I'm eager to flip through and try out some of the recipes in this cookbook, since I was raised on good "home" cooking like he features in his cookbook.

 
Considering we have a fresh layer of snow on the ground today, nothing sounds better than a hearty bowl of soup.  I actually happen to really love soup and think that it makes for a great meal that I can divvy up for lunches throughout the week.  This is a small cookbook, but the pictures and variations make it pretty appealing.  In fact, I'm going to take a look at this one to possibly purchase it for my own collection.

I'm starting to see a trend here!  Could I be in a "home cooking" mindset right now?  This particular cookbook by country singer Trisha Yearwood is actually the second that she has put out.  I was given her first cookbook for Christmas last year and really love it.  This second cookbook seems to have a much larger dessert section, which is fine with me!  I'm also trying to decide if I should get her second cookbook to go with the first one.  Decisions.  Decisions.

Now I can take a look and whip up something great for the Oscars!  I usually have people over to watch the Oscars, but this year it didn't work out that way.   I'm okay throwing my own Oscar soiree though.  I can put on my pj's and watch all the red carpet madness, thankful that I'm not in a constricting dress (although I love seeing what they're wearing).  My hope is that Colin Firth wins a much-deserved Oscar for King's Speech!

What are you reading this weekend, and will you be watching the Oscars? 

*Library Loot is a meme hosted by Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader and Claire from The Captive Reader.  Join us, and share what you've picked up from one of our many great libraries!

Three-Day Weekends

It seems that when I disappear for a few days, I can blame a busy work schedule and grading stacks of papers.  For once, I have to say that work hasn't been keeping me from writing; in all truth, the reading has kept me away!  Maybe because work has been so stressful over the past several weeks, I just hadn't had real down time to read, but I sure made up for it this weekend!  Every spare second I wasn't working on my taxes, cleaning house, or running errands, I was reading, and it was GLORIOUS.  Over the weekend I read four novels, which might not seem like a lot to some, but it was for me!  Having pushed everything aside for reading, I know I'll have a lot of writing to do. 

Also, as the weekend comes to a close, I'm reminded that the Oscars are in a week.  I like to make a big deal out of Oscar night, often having a nice dinner party or group of people over to watch them, but won't be doing that this year.  Strangely, I'm all right with not making a big deal out of it, but will definitely be watching.  My hopes are mainly for The King's Speech, and if you missed it, check out the following link to see the wonderful Colin Firth on 60 Minutes this weekend.

I hope that whatever you were doing this weekend, that it was a good one!

Aloha!

Yay!!! I made it to Hawaii after a hellish couple of weeks leading up. I literally had spent 12 to 16 hour days at work, preparing lesson plans for this week off, grading projects, and getting my final grades figured out. What a challenge, but now is TOTALLY worth it!

No, I haven't read a SINGLE THING in the midst of all this madness! I am feeling like both Les Miserables and Tess of the D'Urbervilles were a great success. That is a huge relief for me, as I hate making students dread a novel. Neither are perfect, chipper and happy novels, but both have amazing messages about culture and society. So, what could I possibly need to post about, since I haven't yet read a single thing??? Well, I didn't dare read on the plane--since I knew I'd get plane sick and end up freaking out whoever sat next to me--, but the plane from LA to Honolulu was really great, and outfitted with your own video screen filled with TONS of great, new releases. Having followed the Oscars, and it's nominees, I had heard a lot about the film "Doubt," which was offered for free viewing on the plane.


I clicked on it, and have to say that it was pretty engaging. I really liked it, although it's not a feel good film. Set in the 1950's or 60's, it centers around a Catholic school where Meryl Streep is the head principal. The lead actress from "Enchanted," Amy Adams, plays the classroom teacher who becomes suspicious of the attentions the head priest begins to pay one of her young, and only African-American, student. You get where this is headed! Anyway, Meryl Streep plays this amazingly tough-as-nails nun, who demands a type of strict discipline and adherence to a clean lifestyle, that she refuses to sit by and see one of her students suffer at the hands of one of her fellow members of the cloth. Standing up against her own superior, Streep confronts the priest, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, and while she has doubts, she puts the welfare of the student first and challenges the priest to be honest about his actions and behavior.

As you can imagine, it is a hard-hitting film. Based on a famous play, the filmography works amazingly well to propel the story, and not distract us from the dialogue and relationship between characters. I don't know if the film was edited for the plane, but it was gritty yet clean. Yes, I still agree that Kate Winslet's performance in "The Reader" was oscar worthy, I have to say that I TOTALLY see why Meryl Streep earned yet another Oscar nod for this performance!

Well, I'm off to finish preparing Sunday dinner! :) Doc went down to the beach to soak in some rays, and I'm sure mom and I will follow suit later this afternoon. I can't wait to sit in a beach chair, the ocean rolling in, and a nice book in my hands. Until later then...Mahalo!

Oscar Worthy

I recently posted about having read The Reader by Bernhard Schlick. It's not a novel for the faint of heart, but I loved the raw, gritty nature of the story, and the way that life is portrayed as more complicated than the mundane things we consider day in and day out. Well, I noticed that it had circled round to show again here in our valley. I was SO excited, and since I knew I was alone in my desire to see this movie that centered some of its storyline around the Holocaust, I traipsed off to go see the matinee today. Honestly, it was amazing. Just as with the film, it IS NOT for the easily offended, with its sexual content and nudity, but I also have to say, that the sensuality is what creates some of the layers that built this very believable relationship. Complicated and messy on so many levels, I just though it was poignant, and thought-provoking--all the things I love about good art. I realize I've always been a bit of a "tragedy" lover, but have to really defend myself by saying that there just seems to be something so REAL about reading or watching tales about humanity...not human beings living, but real humanity. What I mean by that is all the raw, dirty, sometimes painful things that build our character and make us real human beings. Maybe I'm just too much of a humanities sort of person, and I've let all that artsy angst get to me, but this film and novel really struck a chord in me that has left me thinking about how powerful the reach of each and every human being really is. It's funny that I say that, because only one hour after getting out of the matinee for "The Reader," I got a phone call with some news that had me blubbering in my car and trying to pick up the pieces of my former self. It was so stupid, and I knew it, but my heart and tear ducts didn't know it. So...I let my reddened eyes and nose chill a little, and then walked into the mall to pick up some more Clinique products that I've run out of


(which I tried to switch away from by just using store brands...you know, to save money in these tough times...only to have my eyes break out in this horrible rash! Mom laughed and said, welcome to grandma's skin!)--LOVE Clinique. Anyway, I went up to the counter and had one of the girls at the counter tell me she recognized me from BYU. Now that doesn't seem like much, but at a moment when I felt a little "unrecognized" in life, someone from ten years ago said to me, "Hey, I see you." That sounds dumb, but it gave me the real-life punch that I needed to hammer home some of the big-wig ideas I'd been pondering about the film, before I got that phone call.

On a less artsy-fartsy note, I finished listening to Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner. I've seen the movie "In Her Shoes," but can't recall ever reading one of Weiner's books. Since reading has become so hit and miss with me lately, it has been nice to at least listen to something as I drive back and forth from work.


The story centers around the narrative voices of a mother (almost 40) and her young 13 year old daughter who is preparing for her Bat Mitzvah. The mother had the daughter with an early relationship in her early 20s, ended up not with the father, and also ended up writing a romance novel about her experience. Enter her daughter some ten years later, who reads the romance novel and gathers that her mother didn't want her, that she'd been something of a nympho at one time, and that her real father didn't love her because of something her mother must have done. It's a very familiar mother vs. daughter, teenage Lifetime movie sort of story, and while I'm not always big on those, it kept me interested. Especially endearing about the story though was the relationship the mother had with her husband Peter, who seemed like and angel come from heaven; a man who had not been threatened away by his wife's constant pushing him away nor by her body issues. In short, I fell in love with her husband and now desperately want to find my Peter!!! :) Overall, it's a good story, with a narrative that bounces back and forth from the mother speaking to the daughter speaking, highlighting the innocent things we do that actually cause pain for our loved ones or cause us to misunderstand one another. I enjoyed listening to it, so I guess that means I give it a thumbs up on the entertainment scale of things!


Well, it's almost 7:30 at night, but since I ate half a sleeve of Biscoff cookies (YUMMM--MMMYYY) this afternoon, I better head to the gym! Until I've something new to report on...happy end of January!