So This is Christmas!

I know the holidays can be stressful, but as my slightly drunk co-worker opined as the holiday party, "it's fantastic because, just for a minute, everything stops."  Of course, everything up until that minute was complete insanity, but he's right.  Everything stops.  And it's really lovely when everything does.

In this year's crazy run-up to the holidays, I did manage to squeeze in a few of my holiday favorites.  I watched a couple of the classics, It's a Wonderful Life and Love Actually, plus my own personal Christmas classic, Little Women.  I added a couple slightly-less-classic but nevertheless well-known holiday films: Home Alone and Bad Santa.  And of course there was the terrible Amazon original Your Christmas or Mine?, which is destined to fade into oblivion (although it did have the perk of being set in England).

As an early birthday gift, my mother-in-law took me and her other D-I-L to lunch and to see the Ambassadors of Harmony's holiday show at UMSL.  We had a lovely day out before the bitterly cold weather set in.  I missed the SLSO show this year, but there's always next year!

We also got to visit with some family who were in town -- drinks with K&J at The Blue Duck, followed by dinner at Pizzeria da Gloria, which added J&T, M&K, and J to the party, making us a table of nine.  (When was the last time I ate a restaurant with nine people?  We're going back pre-pandemic here I think!)  And my mother-in-law is hosting her side of the family for their Christmas get-together this evening!

What I'm Reading Now -- The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared

In the waning days of the year, I'm diving into yet another book from my 2022 Reading Challenge.  I have two left un-started, so I'm picking the one I think will be the quicker read: The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared. 

I don't have realistic hopes that I will finish it before the end of the year, but you never know!

The Incredible Journey -- Take 2

I was able to use some not-ready-to-start-the-day time this weekend to tick yet another book off my 2022 Reading Challenge list.  The book in question was the December selection, "Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice": The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford.

l knew even before "about the author" section at the end that she was British (Scottish, actually).  The unusual combinations of words and clever turns of phrase were just so quintessentially British.  There was no way she could be anything but.

Her story of three beloved and indomitable pets who set off across the Canadian wilderness has become a classic theme, and this particular story has been remade a few times.  First, a couple of years after the book's release, Disney made it into a film which -- much to my surprise -- I have never seen.  (This situation will have to be rectified.)

Disney remade the story in the early 1990s, swapping some of the characteristics between the two dogs, and changing the breeds of all the animals slightly.  It also incorporated an additional plot line to add some interest to the human side of the story.

Such a great story.  Absolutely worth reading if you have not.

Good Dog. Stay. -- Take 2

For anyone who has ever loved and lost a pet, especially a dog, it's just about inevitable that the story of the loss of any dog will be touching.  So it is with Good Dog. Stay.  

Anna Quindlen, who has written several books none of which -- save this one -- I have ever read, tells the story of her beloved black lab Beau.  It's a sweet and heartfelt return to the life of her trusty pal, starting in his puppyhood and through his final moments, while she and her family move through their own lives alongside him.

I did manage to make it through without turning into an entire puddle, but certainly my eyes welled up a few times.  Mostly it was social conventions that kept me from falling completely to pieces, as that's generally looked upon quite curiously while you're waiting at a restaurant for your table to be ready.

One more book ticked off the 2022 Reading Challenge!

What I'm Reading Now -- Good Dog. Stay.

I am still mid-Dracula (and I think this might be the time!), but in the interest of ticking off another book or two before the end of the year, I'm turning my attention towards a shorter book on my 2022 Reading Challenge: Good Dog. Stay.

It's probably going to be a terribly sad read and I'm sure I'll be in a puddle at various points during the experience, but I think those things are supposed to build character, right?

What I'm Reading Now -- Dracula (A Third Attempt)

Many years ago, I started reading Dracula one night when I was visiting Dad in Breckenridge.  I eventually made it further than the 16 pages I had covered at the time I wrote that post, but not by much.  I started reading it a second time in the intervening years, and made it further still but probably not past page 60 or so.  

So here I am, trying it a third time.  One thing I have learned about books over the years is that sometimes it's just not the right time.  And that's okay.  Don't force it, come back and try again later.  Paradoxically, another thing I have learned is that sometimes a book just isn't for you, despite what you may think.  It's not always easy to tell which should be the guiding principle when one finds oneself struggling with a book.  The best advice I can offer is to go with your gut on which is the case with any particular read.

With Dracula, I'm giving it another shot.  In addition to all my initial reasons, it was also my October "Thrills and Chills" pick for my 2022 Reading Challenge.  So here we go again!

What I Read -- Muddied Oafs: The Last Days of Rugger

Some time ago, Dad gave me this book.  I didn't read it then, but I've been on a big rugby kick (so to speak) lately, watching Premiership rugby first, but really jolted into high gear with the broadcast of the Women's Rugby World Cup (supposed to be played in 2021, but actually played in the last couple of months due to COVID).

I had put this book on my list for the 2022 Reading Challenge, under the category of "Around or Out of this World (set in a country other than where you live, or by an author from another country, or set in space or on another planet)" (which was supposed to be read in July, but no matter).  When all this other rugby came into my life, it seemed like the opportune moment, even though it was November.

If one is willing to allow an author of a semi-autobiographical, semi-historical book about his own history in a sport, this is a pretty good one.  It does talk about the sport itself, the history of it, how it changed over time and how it's different in different parts of the UK (with a little bit of continental Europe sneaking in there as well).  But it also is a reminisce through his own years of playing.  As a former rugger myself, I was more than willing to indulge the stories of his glory days.  Non-ruggers may not be so generous, which I completely understand.  If you haven't done it, it doesn't quite hold the same allure.  But if you have, it's worth perusing if only because it helps you remember your own good fun from those days.

What I Read -- Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives

The Postal Book Club strikes again!  Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives was E's pick, and I'm glad she picked it because it's been on my "to read" list for a long time.

This is definitely a book to read in small pieces.  It seems like it'd be an easy one to blow through, because each story is quite short (a few pages), and the volume itself is dimensionally slim.  However, each story merits at least a few minutes of reflection before blowing through to the next one. 

Though the subtitle says most of what you need to know, I'll elaborate here a bit: each story is a different idea of what the afterlife might look like.  They're wildly imaginative -- some, of course, more than others, but to come up with 40 iterations (plus however many were scrapped in the editing process) is an impressive feat of creativity.  Even if you're not a believe in the idea of an afterlife, the stories still present a clever game of "what if" that you can play.

Great pick, E, lots of fun to read, and also thought-provoking.

Movies -- A Recap -- Part XXIX -- The City Stories Edition

It's too bad that Once Upon a Time in London was not a better movie.  It had potential: gangsters, so of course lots of violence, clubs, Art Deco stylings, cocktails, good music, and all set against a wartime backdrop.  It just wasn't very good, which was too bad.  I just didn't care about any of the characters.  If you can get past the violence, it's a fun look at the seedy underground (not the Tube) of London at the time, but that's about all it's good for.

The duo of Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder made a handful of slapstick comedies together, none of which I had previously seen.  See No Evil, Hear No Evil stars the pair, one of whom is deaf and one who is blind.  They witness, such as each of them are able to, a murder.  The two of them have to work together to navigate Manhattan while simultaneously evading the real murderer.  It's goofy, but I got several good chuckles out of it. 

The Voyeurs is in some ways is the ultimate city story.  Neighbors are spying on each other through their across-the-street apartment windows.  (I probably shouldn't admit that I loved doing this when I lived in the city ... but I did!)  Things start out promising for the first third of the movie or so; even after the first half they probably could have pulled it back from the edge, but it just goes completely off the rails in the second half, and then even farther off the rails towards the end.  Do yourself a favor and skip this in favor of Rear Window if you're looking for something in the spying-on-the-neighbors vein.

If you like hearing Adam Sandler scream at people or into his phone, Uncut Gems is for you.  He plays a gem dealer based in the Diamond District of NYC, but he has a major gambling problem which puts him on the wrong side of some nasty folks.  I don't particularly care for the shouty-ness of his character, but otherwise it's a pretty good performance and I did find myself rooting for him in the end.  I did find it to be a bit overly-long, however.

Christoph Waltz decided no one could play his main character better than himself, but at least he had the good sense to put strong supporting characters on both sides of him in Georgetown.  He plays Ulrich Mott, a social climber who marries a much older woman played by the inimitable Vanessa Redgrave.  When the elderly woman dies, her daughter (played by the equally spectacular Annette Bening) is suspicious of Mott and his motives.  The film is based on a true story, but don't look it up just yet or you'll find out what really happened!

Tower Heist is a reasonably amusing Ben Stiller comedy.  He plays the supervisor of the building staff at a fancy-pants high-rise Manhattan residential building.  When the staff discover that they've been cheated by their wealthy building owner's Ponzi scheme, they band together to take their revenge.

Limitless is another New York movie, and though of course the city figures throughout, my favorite scene is reprised for use with the opening credits.  It's a high-speed trip through the streets of the city.  As for the actual plot (based on the book The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn), our previously-struggling main character stumbles upon a drug that allows him to access 100% of his brain capacity, to become the best, most skilled version of himself -- and who wouldn't want to see Bradley Cooper being his best self?

What I Watched -- What's So Bad About Feeling Good

I had never heard of What's So Bad About Feeling Good until a few months ago.  It was produced in 1968, and stars George Peppard (and how can you not love him after Breakfast at Tiffany's?) and Mary Tyler Moore.

The movie is set in New York City and is about a highly contagious respiratory epidemic.  It's a total trip to watch it after what we've been through in the last few years.  There are debates about whether the illness is real, fights over whether to wear masks (and whether they even do anything), politicians who have other designs (including considerations about an economic crash), a Dr. Fauci character ... really, the comparisons are just too wild.  S and I just keep looking at each other with wide eyes, as if to say, "what the f***?"

It really just felt like we were watching a differently-costumed version of everything that happened in the last three years.

Bottom line: though not an objectively great movie, this is 100% worth watching, even if only to look at whomever you're watching with and go, "what the f***?"