August Round-Up

August. The end of summer. Kind of. Really, summer in San Francisco doesn't really START until the end of August, and kind of ends at the end of October. At least, that's how it was before this whole "global warming" thing took hold. But that has nothing to do with how I entertained myself in August, does it?

Movies Seen: Fourteen, with one in a theater. The best was "Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day." It's was just an all out fun little movie. Certainly nothing deep, but I was pleased through every minute of it.

The worst was probably the one I saw in a theater: "The X-Files: I Want to Believe." Chuck's reaction pretty much mirrors mine. I remain completely amazed that it ever got greenlit in the first place, because it is completely and utterly ridiculous as far as the plot is concerned, and while it might have been saved by some of the humor Duchovny and Anderson brought to their roles in the TV show, they weren't allowed to be anything but depressed and gloomy throughout the movie. I defy anyone to try and explain what the hell those Russians were doing on that farm without cracking themselves up over the sheer ludicrousness of it all. That said, I can't wait to watch it with some Rifftrax commentary!

Books Read: Four. "Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned From Judy Blume" wasn't as fun as I'd hoped it would be.

"Eats, Shoots and Leaves" by Lynne Truss was as entertaining as a book about grammar can be, although since the author is British, I found it hard to take her opinions seriously. I mean, they leave commas outside of quotes, all by their lonesome, instead of tucked inside, safe and secure, as they should be! What do they know about grammar?!

"Life With My Sister Madonna" by Christopher Ciccone was un-put-downable, although really, really badly written. I mean, like, full of spelling errors, and grammatical mistakes, not to mention just plain choppy. Plus, every time he would recall a conversation he had with his sister, he'd insert her name into it. Did he really use her name every time he talked to her? "Madonna, I think your performance tonight was groundbreaking." Or, "I understand that you no longer want the sconces in your bathroom, Madonna, but you still owe me money for them!" I don't think so.

Lastly was "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostava, which took me forever to get through. At first I was engrossed. I imagine it's kind of like "The DaVinci Code" (although I've never read that) in that it's about academics investigating a historical figure, in this case Count Dracula. The conceit is that Dracula was a real vampire, and is still alive...er, undead. Which, being a Dracula fan, sucked (ha!) me in right away. Plus I kind of dig the notion of doing research the old fashioned way, via libraries and old letters and journals. That is to say, doing that. Reading about other people doing that, not so much.

But what really kicked me over the edge of tolerating the book into thinking it was completely redonkulous, was when (SPOILER ALERT!) Dracula is revealed to have kidnapped the professor that has gone missing because....he wants him to catalog his large collection of books. For all eternity!

I am so not kidding about that.

So, basically Dracula is just an evil head librarian. Iz not so scary akshully.

Fancy Dinners Out: One, at L'Ardoise, a little French bistro near the Castro. Good eats, but once again the place didn't have a full bar. You know how I feel about that.

Live Shows Seen: None. Again.

Shoes Bought: Four pairs. But two pairs were super cheap from Payless. This pair of green and white sandals were about seven bucks, and this cutie pair of candy striped peep toes were, like, free. I think it was buy one pair get one pair free week at Payless.

The other two were purchased at Loehmann's, so they were pretty cheap too. I don't know how often I'm going to wear these wedge heels, but they were adorned with sequins, so I couldn't resist. I DO know I've already worn these patent leather Mary Janes more than once already, and love them despite the blisters they've inflicted upon me.