Reading, Watching

I will not be joining the Read-a-Thon this April, only because I won't be home. I'll be at guitar lessons, and although that is only 1 hour, it is a trip to and from Manhattan, so that takes a total of about 3 1/2 hours. Not to mention that I have to do laundry and shopping in the morning.

I am reading Roses by Leila Meacham. It is a new book, and I only have 2 weeks with it, and that time is almost up...URGH...I think I'll be owing the library some money. However, I am enjoying it. The firs 250 pages was nothing special, however, it picked up speed rather quickly and grabbed me by the throat and has not let me go.

Synopsis from Booklist (via Amazon)
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the small east Texas town of Howbutker is run by two families. The Tolivers preside over the massive cotton plantation of Somerset, while the Warwicks possess acres upon acres of timber. The children of the families, pretty and stubborn Mary Toliver and suave, strong Percy Warwick, are like water and oil. Percy insists that Mary will eventually marry him, and Mary is adamant that she will never have room in her heart for anything but Somerset, yet their undeniable attraction pulls them together. Through a trick of fate, Percy and Mary are forced apart. The consequences of their separation vibrate throughout the years, giving rise to lies, deceit, secrets, and tragedies that their families must suffer through, until, ultimately, they just have to leave it to Percy, Mary, and plain fate to see if they can make things right in the end. First-time novelist Meacham’s sweeping, century-encompassing, multigenerational epic is reminiscent of the film Giant, and as large, romantic, and American a tale as Texas itself. --Hilary Hatton

* * *

I finally watched The Sound of Music this weekend. I have never ever seen it. I tried to watch it once, but grew bored after 5 minutes. I'm glad I forced myself to watch it this time, what a wonderful movie. I'm trying to play catch up with all the movies that I should have watched as a kid, but didn't have any interest.

New Laptop

I got a new laptop yesterday. The old one I had was 5 years old and slow slow slow. I still got a Dell, but a faster one, that can run many applications at once. While I type this, I'm watching internet TV (just the news) but how cool is that. And I just got off of the Skype with my son who is upstate in college.

I also have wireless, so I am writing this from my bedroom. Needless to say my daughter is in her room, on the wireless, probably on YouTube.

I'm hoping that more posts will be forthcoming, since this is so much faster than my old laptop.

So why is my writing, reading & watching suffering?

Week 1 - Wipeout
Originally uploaded by kelsokraft

Because I have added guitar lessons to my schedule. A new hobby and a time consuming one. We go to class on Saturday, and practice at least 30 min daily (except Thursday which is Choir). When we are out in the street we look at guitars.



I'm a fan of the gold one.
Fender Stratocaster in Fessler Gold
Custom Shop Masterbuilt 1964 Relic Reissue by Greg Fessler.

We do not own any electric guitars (that work). We are learning on acoustic. My daughter has an Ibanez. I have 2, one Cordoba classical guitar and one Fender Acoustic.



Maybe one day I'll have a video of me playing, but don't hold your breath!

Moleskines - February Books/Movies

59/365 - Moleskines
Originally uploaded by kelsokraft

The red one has been retired. The range was September 15, 2008 - March 1, 2010. I had not written in it for a while. The book is Volume 1 and is entitled "The Bad Sleep Well", 悪い奴ほどよく眠る after the Kurosawa film. This book has a dedication as well. Dedicated to Joshua Andrew Koenig August 17, 1968 - February 2010.

Currently now writing in the black one.

It's been a long time, mainly because I cannot post at work, which gets on my nerves. It is hard to post from flickr, but sometimes it is my only option. I can do it from home, but when I get home after work, I have 100 other things to do, who has time to blog? I was hoping my job would get over itself and allow us access, but it still hasn't. Maybe in another month.

OK, on to the post.

February Books

1. The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling
2. The Ominvoire's Delima by Michael Pollan
3. Dragonfly in Amber (Book 2) by Diane Gabaldon
4. Nigger: An Autobiography by Dick Gregory
5. Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley

I only finished 5 books in February. Not my 8.3 I need to make it to 100 books by the end of the year. Now that I'm writing more and playing guitar, I think the 100 books will no doubt, drop down to 50. But at least my time away from the books isn't idle. That's only when I'm watching movies. Which was 9 less this month than last month, so I am busier than usual. That's a good thing.

For February/March/April Movies, you will notice a lot of Biblical stuff. I'm in my 'Easter' mode. I love Biblical movies, and there seem to be so many out there. I thought I watched them all last year, but it seems I only grazed the tip.

Also for February my goal was to watch more African-American movies (those with mostly black cast or a famous black actor). I manged 4 of them. And also Classics from the 1960s, I managed 3 of them. All in all a good month for movies that I would not have otherwised watched if I didn't stretch. And I was not disappointed.

February Movies

A Piece of the Action
(Starring B. Cosby/S. Potier) Very good movie, a bit dated, but fun to look back at the 70s.

Nicholas Nickelby
Front of the Class
Amelia
The Public Enemy (1931)

The Wild Bunch (1969)
This got great reviews on Netflix, and starred a lot of great actors. I just thought it was OK. I'm not into the westerns, although I do try.

Girls Rock!
Not on any list, but I thought my daughter would like this. A documentary about a camp in Portland that is just for girls who want to ROCK. Guitars, bass, drums, singing. It looks like fun. Wish I lived closer, I would send Clarissa.

Twin Dragons
The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Jesus of Nazareth
This is the one from the 70s. Thought it was a great adaptation of the story. A bit long, but I recommend to anyone who likes the story.

American Graffiti

A Patch of Blue (1961)
This covered both my African American and 1960s slots. I loved it. Thought it was an awesome movie. My son watched it last year in school. He said it was pretty good, now if he said that, then I know I would love it.

Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief
SNL: The Best of Commercial Parodies
The Boys are Back
Bright Star
Angel on My Shoulder (1946)

In The Heat of The Night (1967)
Another dual slot filler. Sidney Potier is such a great actor. I don't know why I haven't seen more of his stuff. This month really helped me dive into his movies.

In The Beginning (2000)
Another from Genisis to Exodus deal. Different from the one in the 70s. It was OK, I think I like the older one better.

Law Abiding Citizen

The Call Me Mr. Tibbs
The sequel to "Heat". But this was filmed in 1970 so I couldn't use it to fill the 1960 slot, but I used it for the African American slot. Not as good as "Heat", it was missing something. Maybe it was missing Rod Steiger. The chemestry between Steiger and Potier was amazing.

Ice Castles (1979)
Hey ladies 40+ Remember Robbie Benson. LOL! I thought he was the coolest!!

A Serious Man

The Bible Collection: David
This was OK. I was not too thrilled by this one. Oh well.

Shutter Island
An American Girl: Chrissa


That's it only 3 Biblical movies this month
4 African American
3 1960 Classics

26 movies in all. I think March will be even less. With guitar class on Saturday and Church on Sunday, I'm just not going to have the time. Oh well.