May Round-Up - 2009

May! Spring! What?

Movies Seen: Twelve, with three in a theater. One of those three was a Dutch film called "Can Go Through Skin," and you can read my review of it at the SF Appeal. "Star Trek" was another, and while I enjoyed it a lot, a lot of it also bugged the hell out of me. The good stuff: Any time the show made overt reference to the original series, especially whenever lead actor Chris Pine channeled William Shatner. The bad stuff: All the unnecessary shaky-cam work, especially when used in combination with extreme close-ups on actors faces. That's just a bad combination. There was also a comedic amount of lens flare in almost every scene.

The third film was "Up," which I mentioned briefly in a previous post. Let me reiterate: it's really, really great. It's definitely one of the best, if not the best movies I've seen this year, so far. It manages to be really, really funny AND really, really touching, AND really, really exciting, AND really, really visually stunning, AND...well, I could go on. All I can say is see it. You will not be disappointed.

As for the DVD movies viewed, my favorite was probably "Wendy and Lucy," (not to be confused with former Prince band members Wendy and Lisa), which is a really small and simple movie that manages to do in 90 minutes what numerous movies fail to do in a bloated two-plus hours, namely, make you care a whole hell of a lot about a character. I loved it for its simplicity.

Books Read: None! Actually, that should be "Books Finished: None," because I did spend the entire month of May reading one damn book that I just didn't like very much, but by the time I figured out I didn't like it, I was already half-way through it and figured I had invested this much time, so I might was well finish it, so I kept reading it, flipping it the finger the entire time. Also, the book is kind of a murder mystery, and I wanted to find out who did it. And that's all I'll say about it until next month's Round-Up, except to tell you the title of the book, "The Little Friend" by Donna Tartt.

Fancy Dinners Out: One, at Market Bar, except I totally forgot what I had. I think it was fish. And I think it was good.

Live Shows Seen: One, Ben Folds at the Fox Theater in Oakland. For those who have not been to the newly refurbished Fox Theater, you should. I wish I could see every concert from now on there. It is a mere block from BART, incredibly comfortable, beautiful, and they sell pulled-pork sandwiches. 'Nuff said.

As for the show itself, well, I like Ben Folds a lot. So I liked the show a lot. Kind of a boring review, I know....Oh! He did bring out an acapella group from Sacramento State beforehand. They're a part of the album of acapella Ben Folds tunes he released, and I know acapella groups are supposed to be the pinnacle of dorkitude, but I was so impressed by them that I ended up buying the entire record. Here's the song they did.



Shoes Bought: One pair: These slingback wedges from Target. Perfect for Palm Springs, which is where I will be going in...11 days! Woooo!