Posted in Books, Movies, Televison, Uncategorized

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

cf9Pride and Prejudice

by Jane Austen

What can I say about this masterpiece that hasn’t been said thousands of times and ways?
And if we’re going to involve the movies or TV series made of this novel that’s wow, just wow.
P & P is warm fudge topping over heavenly hash ice cream.
It is a kitten’s purr.
Silk on your skin.
A musical piece that caresses your soul.
It is all that the blarry, scratchy, low-manners modern world isn’t.
It is perfection that one can visit and relax. It is tea.
Tea with fresh crumpets.
Tea with fresh crumpets and jam.

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Posted in Movies, Televison, Uncategorized

EXCUSE ME, I BELIEVE YOU HAVE MY STAPLER…

offices7Nothing mocks and understands work like the 1999 comedy, Office Space. Written and directed by Mike Judge, it focuses on a group of people horribly dissatisfied with their jobs.offices1

OS is for anyone who has ever worked in an office or any job they hate. Viewers recognize the despair, the defeat, the boredom, and can almost smell the regret and unfulfilled dreams in the recycled office air.

Best irritating boss portrayal in the history of movies goes to Gary Cole as Bill Lumbergh.

Best creepy, obsessive (don’t touch his red Swingline stapler), mumbling worker goes to Stephen Root as Milton, actually, Office Space is based on Judge‘s Milton cartoon series.

offices9Ron Livingston is perfection as Peter Gibbons, a discontented computer programmer. Also, Mike Judge as Stan, manager at Chotchkie’s restaurant giving Jennifer Aniston’s character a hard time, as well as David Herman, Ajay Naidu, Diedrich Bader, John C. McGinley.

There are so many fantastic lines and scenes, just see the movie, bask in its ingenious satire.

When the co-workers are having to look up money laundering in the dictionary, that’s when you fully realize how pathetic they truly are.
This movie wasn’t a hit, but it’s so hilarious and showed people Judge was more than just Beavis and Butt-head.

And who hasn’t wanted to do exactly what they did to the photocopier.offices10

Bob Porter: Looks like you’ve been missing a lot of work lately.
Peter Gibbons: I wouldn’t say I’ve been ‘missing’ it, Bob.offices2

Posted in Movies, Televison, Uncategorized

YOU’VE GOT MAIL

ImageYou’ve Got Mail is allegedly a romantic comedy, but to accept that you have to ignore the obvious point that both main characters are in serious relationships when they meet first in a chat room online then later in person.  Granted, both break up with their respective partners before they enter a physical relationship, so I guess it’s not actually infidelity.  Still, what could have been a delightful love story seems a little emotionally bankrupt because their partners are unaware of the other people involved in their relationships.

Then there’s the title which is total product placement for AOL, sigh.  Great cast including: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Parker Posey (amazing in well, everything), Jean Stapleton (All in The Family), Greg Kinnear, Steve Zahn (Ever see Happy, Texas? You should), Dave Chappelle, Dabney Coleman, Sara Ramirez  (unknown then, now Dr. Torres on Grey’s Anatomy), Jane Adams, John Randolph, and Michael Badalucco (The Practice).  I’m conflicted because I really do like the movie itself. Image

Quite entertaining updated version of the 1940 Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullivan classic, The Shop Around The Corner, both based on the play Parfumerie (Miklos Laszlo).

The adorableness of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan do make it work.

It never hurts to have your script by Nora and Delia Ephron, mistresses of witty repartee.

And it’s about books. What could ever be bad about books?Image

Posted in Books, Movies, Televison, Uncategorized

The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

HHgttg don't panic2The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams  (Del Ray)   

I can still read this and laugh so hard it hurts. Contains one of the best scenes ever written, in the tea house with the biscuits, I’m giggling just thinking about it; if you haven’t read it, read it just for that. What am I saying, if you haven’t read it?

One of the most entertaining books ever written and apparently inspired by a drunken evening in Austria with a Hitchhikers Guide to Europe in his pocket, sounds about right. 

Adams also wrote and acted briefly in Monty Python and wrote a few Doctor Who scripts. HHgttg don't panic6

Worked on video games.

I have no words.

A delight to the gray matter and darn you Douglas Adams, you’re one of the reasons my laugh lines are so deep! No, I forgive you and miss you. HHgttg don't panic4montyp3In this case as entertaining as the on screen offerings of this have been, the book is so much better. All 4 (or 5 depending on your belief system and the hour of day) books in the trilogy are fantastically mythically rereadworthy.

Although Adams left too early at 49, his written works, his activist causes and his understanding of absurdity of it all remains to entertain and amaze us.

And don’t forget a towel is one of the most useful things you can carry with you on your journeys so celebrate towel day May 25th.

Douglas Adams‘ present location: Highgate Cemetery, Highgate, United Kingdom