So Much Culture I Can’t Stand It

Two things pop into my head as I sit down to write this: First, I have sworn to myself that I’ll start a book journal. In the past I’ve tried to write a short review (just for myself) of each book I’ve read so that I’ll remember what I liked or didn’t like about it. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten more than a page into such a journal.  So now I’m going bare bones–my goal is just to write down the title/author/date finished of every book I read. And if I can manage a sentence of description, more power to me.

We’ll see how that goes. More and more each year, I find myself wanting to know when I read something. Or I remember I liked it, but I’m not sure why. Plus I’d really like to know how many books I read in a year.

Note: Actually, three things have popped into my head. First, the book journal thing. Secondly, the Sidewalk Film Festival from this past weekend, which I’m about to mention. Third, my schnoodle has a schnauzer friend over for a playdate, and they’re wrestling under my desk. There’s a great deal of thumping and snarling, and occasionally someone licks my leg.

Anyway, Sidewalk. We went to four movies this past Saturday, and, like almost every year, we loved one, hated one, and thought a couple were pretty good. In the past two years, the ones we’ve loved have been Dogtooth and Bag of Hammers. This year, it was American Man.

A little summary:

Kevin Turner is a gentle but broken man of 42, a football superstar forced to reflect on the price he paid for his glory years. In May 2010, doctors diagnosed Turner with ALS, a fatal disease. And scientists began to believe at about the same time that the concussions of contact sports were to blame for many traumas of the brain. So Kevin Turner was left to wonder whether in worshiping football, and preaching its glory to his kids, he had prayed to a false god.  But he refused simply to fade away. He invested his reputation in a charitable enterprise that would sound the alarm about concussive sports and teach a football-loving nation to protect its sons. Facing death, Kevin Turner thinks he still has time to fashion a legacy.

I highly recommend it. At the risk of total cliche, I laughed and I cried. I did a lot of both, really.

We also saw Compliance, which gotten a lot of buzz lately. Not sure what to say about it. I hated the viewing experience–the only word that comes to mind for how I felt was ANGRY. I was furious at the movie itself for, I suppose, assuming I bought into a premise that I found ridiculous, and for making me watch a level of degradation I really didn’t want to watch. It was not pleasant to watch. The story still feels unbelievable to me. But it supposedly adheres to true events, and, frankly, my husband and I talked about it much longer and much more deeply than any other film. For what that’s worth.