My goal for 2009 is to include 4 movie reviews per month, all year long, in addition to my book reviews. I am an avid fan of movies and have drifted away from movies due to my intense love of books. So, I’ve decided to broaden my horizons and include movie reviews in my blog for 2009. Let’s say that it’s a New Year’s Resolution. I invite anybody to participate in the weekly MEME and write about any movies, television or big screen, that you’ve seen over the past week and write about it. Please feel free to use the above logo photo in your post and/or link back to the site. I will post every Sunday Night or Monday Morning on the movie I’ve seen from the past week. I’m hoping that there are other movie buffs out there who will enjoy the MEME as much as I’m hoping to! The only small request that I have is that you rate the movie out of 5 bags of popcorn (so, 1 bag out of 5, 2 bags out of 5, and so on). So, here’s the first review of the Monday’s Movie MEME.
This movie was FREAKIN’ HYSTERICAL. I actually think that I bothered the people in front of me because I couldn’t stop laughing aloud. There was an amazing cast of supporting characters including Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Kristen Chenoweth (love her), John Favreau (totally yolked out), Tim McGraw, Dwight Yoakam and Jon Voight. In reviewing the critics’ reviews, they gave this movie relatively poor marks, but I loved it. Some of the lines were just beyond funny. I loved the scene where Vince Vaughn gets carried away performing as Joseph in the church’s Christmas play. All in all, it was a great holiday movie… one that I plan on purchasing in DVD before next Christmas.
The basic storyline of the movie is that Reese and Vaughn are a happily dating/live-together couple with no plans on marraige and family. They avoid their severely disfunctional families every Christmas by traveling out of the country with some lame excuse about aiding humanity. In reality, they escape to tropical vacations and avoid the terror of families mortifying them and destroying their time off work. They are caught, on live television news, getting fogged out of their flight to Figi, hence come the calls from the families requesting their attendance at the respective celebrations. With each of them having divorced parents, they have 4 Christmas celebrations to attend. It’s only then that both Vaughn and Reese really discover each other.
Both Favreau and McGraw are totally yolked up as UFC wannabes…. love that! I also loved watching the couples play Taboo… great scene.
Out of 5 bags of popcorn, genre comedy… I give this:
I have seen information on this book on a few other websites including Books on the Brain. Lisa actually had a contest to win this book and I hoped, hoped, hoped that I would win. I didn’t. But, mysteriously… it appeared at my doorstep! Thanks, Hachette! Wooo-Whooooo. So, I have like 15 books ahead of this one, but I just couldn’t say “no” to it. I picked it up and finished it in just a couple of days’ time. I liked it that much. Rather than describe the premise of this book, here’s a movie of the author, Marie Phillips, describing it herself… check it out!
The Review:
Title: Gods Behaving Badly
Author: Marie Phillips
Author’s Website: Couldn’t find one.
Publisher: Back Bay Books / Little, Brown & Co, a Division of Hachette Book Group
After seeing the 3 minute intro above, you can see that this is a book about Greek Gods and Goddesses in modern-day times, set in England. And, most of them do behave quite badly. Except for Artemis, Eros and Hermes. Artemis is the strong woman lead in the story. She is the goddess of the moon, chastity, and hunting. I really don’t get what chastity has to do with the other two, but she’s quite the strong-willed lady who by and large is in charge of the townhome that the Gods and Goddesses share. Aphrodite is just the most naughty, naughty little sex fiend I’ve ever heard of. She’s constantly on the cellphone as a phone sex operator… well, that and having sex with Apollo and just about anybody else she desires. Which leads us to Apollo. He’s just a wreck. He’s the God of the Sun and he is into playing his guitars and looking for fame. He attempts to find fame as a television psychic, apparently he has some of those powers.
When Apollo is filming his television show, 3 unlikely people show up in the television audience. One of them is Eros, son of Aphrodite, God of Love. His mother somehow persuades him to shoot Apollo in the heart with the love arrows and I am assuming so that he would fall madly in love with Aphrodite who is sitting backstage watching his performance. She is in plain view of Apollo and I think she was hoping he’d fall madly in love with her so that she could control his every desire. Instead, Apollo’s love is affixed on Alice, a petite and mousy cleaning lady. Alice had snuck into the studio audience with her boyfriend, Neil, who is described as looking like a rat and incredibly short. Alice ends up losing her job at the studio when the studio heads catch site of her on the television show when aired. On Neil’s suggestion, she goes door-to-door to look for work in the residential sector. It is there that she arrives at the God’s townhome and eventually is hired by Artemis.
In the interim, Apollo is crushed because his true love, Alice is nowhere to be found. That is, until he sees Alice cleaning the house. He follows her around like a lost puppy dog and only has eyes for her. Aphrodite is completely “pissed off” and is engaging in crazy fights with Apollo. From here, the story takes all sorts of turns and adventures, all a part of an incredibly creative maze that takes the readers on a vivid adventure. Marie Phillips, folks, is a talented writer and paints such a colorful story in the minds of her readers. I kept thinking to myself as I was reading the book, “how did she come up with this idea?” In any event, I formed pictures of the characters and settings with ease and found this to be a very delightful book to pick up. I highly recommend the book if you like creative fiction and are not much bothered by a bit of the naughty tossed in.
A couple of questions from the Reading Group Guide:
1. Despite the waning of their powers, each of the gods has super-human abilities. But, they also have specific responsibilities and spheres of influence. Which of the gods would you most prefer being? Which of them would you least like to be?
I would have to say that I would like to be Athena. She is the brilliant, logical one with much depth and insight into the situations at hand. I would least like to be Ares, God of War. Just being in this god’s presence puts people into arguments. I hate fighting and that would drive me mad!
2. Alice’s experience of the underworld offers a somewhat chilling view of the eternity that awaits us after death. If you could design your own fictional afterlife, what would it be like?
I can’t claim that I would be the best person at creating my own afterlife. I think that God would do an immensely better job than my mind could ever create. I have faith that he has created such a place and that I will be allowed entry. I think that Marie Phillips did an excellent job coming up with a feasible underworld in which the reader gets a very clear understanding of how things work down there. If I were to have a job in the underworld as described in the book, I would be a bartender down there! There are a lot of souls to talk to and hear their tales of their lives.
Sher’s “Out of Ten” Scale:
This was such a fun book. As you can tell, I really liked it and would lend it out to a friend as a recommended book. Phillips is as thorough of a writer as she is a creative one. I can’t really compare this book to anything else that I’ve read of late, so I’m just putting this work into the “Fiction” genre. I am giving it a 9 out of 10. Grab yourself a copy!
On the Library Thing & Amazon.Com Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Where To Buy The Book:
Click here to purchase this book for $11.19 at Amazon.Com
I wanted to save the very best Holiday Cheer post for LAST! Of course, the best gifts to buy are books!
Here are my recommendations based on my reading in 2008 (and, you can read the reviews on my site… just click on the Books page and you can find the review you’re looking for and click on it).
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Losing Kei by Suzanne Kamata
Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
The Alchemy of Loss by Abigail Carter
My Husband’s Sweethearts by Bridget Asher
Season of the Witch by Natasha Mostert
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (No Review – But Great!)
The Time Traveler’s Wifeby Audrey Niffenegger(No Review, but READ IT before the movie is released in ’09)
Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres (No review – But, Really Good!)
There are still some great coupons available on-line for the big bookstores (Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc.). I went to B&N tonight and it really wasn’t bad… so, you can get in and out pretty quick. I’m really looking forward to a great 2009 filled with books!
Like last week, I have this nagging feeling that I’m not meeting my own expectations. I need to pray on that because maybe I need to spend more time getting used to the “new me.” Sounds funky, I know. But, a year ago I was FULL THROTTLE on everything and now I’m trying to stay motivated to even get going! Wierd, I tell ya! I guess you just never finish growing and changing and this was my year of great change. Anyhow, as we wrap up the year and face the new one, I have a few Christmas wishes… and God knows each and every one of them… I have many New Year’s Resolutions and hopefully I’ll achieve them all. Here’s my week’s wrap-up (and, thanks for reading them!):
The Sunday Salon: Week in Review AND Up n’ Coming Events…
I read and reviewed Starting from Scratch When You’re Single Again by Sharon Knudson and Mary Fran Heitzman as well as Dating Da Vinci by Malena Lott. I am currently reading Gods Behaving Badlywhich is just a juicy, “oh so much fun” read. You got to have one of those every now and them. I really wanted to read and review this book, so when it arrived it mysteriously made its way to the top of my pile. Hmmm….. I wonder how that happened. But, I’m nearly 1/2 way done and I’ll be back to my TBR pile by Monday, definitely! I want to read Life of Pi and Breathing Out the Ghost next week.
In my mailbox for review…
Recovering Charles, A Novel by Jason F. Wright
The Makedown by Gitty Daneshvari
Five Things I Can’t Live Without by Holly Shumas
Love and Other Natural Disasters by Holly Shumas
Holly’s Inbox by Holly Denham (lots of Hollys here)
Fire Me by Libby Malin
Not in my mailbox, but ended up on my desk…
Nearlyweds by Beth Kendrick
Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman
The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds
Has anybody read any of these?
What I bought for myself with my birthday gift certificate at Barnes & Noble….
The Bible Illuminated: The New Testament (I’ve been dying to pick this one up and now I got it)
What I bought for the twins at Barnes & Noble…
Two Brand New “For Teen Girls” Bibles for the twins… they are BEAUTIFUL… and they are part of their Christmas presents. They address so many current topics and are written in script that is very understandable to them. I loved the part where it focuses on obeying and honoring your parents! AHA!
As for my contests & challenges…
I had to write my wrap-up post for Fall Into Reading Challenge 2008. I didn’t finish 3 books and I hoped that I would. Well, maybe I’ll make the next two challenges. And, I just have to say… I have no idea how Alyce at At Home With Books read that many books! Holy cow, Alyce! You are a reading MACHINE!
At home…
The BookCharmers and ChainCharmers are still doing really well. I wanted to thank everybody who showed my family support by purchasing some! It means so much to us. We’re working on finishing up all of our state paperwork and we’re going to start marketing to retail stores… pretty cool, huh?
I still haven’t started my new job…. hopefully soon!
We cleaned house on Friday. What a nightmare that was! But, it’s done and all we have left is closets and laundry between now and Christmas. If the girls are good, I’ll take them to see Twilight. We’re going to my brother’s house this year on Christmas Eve. I’ve ALWAYS had it at my place so this will be a nice change of scenery. We are having a cook-off and my brother, sister-in-law, and I will each cook something. The kids are the judges. I’m still pondering my recipe. Last year I did a Thai Shrimp Curry dish and a Cajun creamed spinach… and, massively stuffed portabello mushrooms. Did I mention that it can be any type of food, not just traditional holiday food? Anyway, I don’t have anything jumping out at me… so, if you have a killer recipe… PLEASE email me so that I can blow the pants off of my brother the chef!
Contests….
Deslily on this week’s Thursday’s Thoughts and elected to get a book from Amazon.com. Thank you, everybody, for your entries. They were GREAT! This week there are no contests at Thursday’s Thoughts due to Christmas. However, return on December 28th for the year-end Thursday’s Thoughts… Your New Year’s Resolution (I mean, what else could I do…???… had to do it!)
Holiday Cheer…
This week’s Holiday Cheer was my absolute FAVORITE lip treatment, fragrance, and facial cleanser by FRESH. Once, my brother used the cleanser in my shower and he said that it was like washing his face with a salad. Guys! I swear, I don’t get them! Anyway, the final holiday cheer (tomorrow) will be my favorite books of the year.
Thanks, as always, to all of you out there in “cyberland” who read my rantings… it always means so much!
The Fall Into Reading 2008 Challenge WrapUp for Menagerie
The Challenge: To publish a list of books that I intend to read in that duration and stick to it!
My Challenge List:
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Of Mice & Men by John Steinbeck
They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It
The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
The Lost Diary of Don Juan by Douglas Carlton Abrams
Faefever (Fever Series #3) by Karen Marie Moning
My Husband’s Sweethearts by Bridget Asher
NEW: Dewey
NEW: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
New: Being Written by W. Conescu
New: Life After Genius by M. Ann Jacoby
New: Home Girl by Judith Matloff
New: Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin
Yesterday’s Weather by Anne Enright
Unfortunately, I didn’t succeed in finishing those last three books. I guess they are going onto 2009′s reading list. Callapidder Days has provided the following wrap up questions:
Did you finish reading all the books on your fall reading list? If not, why not?
No. I didn’t finish them. I had too many other review books and book tour books come into the fold. It’s my first challenge and I needed to be more realistic about what I could accomplish.
Did you stick to your original goals or did you change your list as you went along?
I ended up adding five books to the list, one of the 5 was not finished.
What was your favorite book that you read this fall? Least favorite? Why?
My favorite of the list was I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The least favorite was Being Written. Why… well, Maya Angelou is just an amazingly profound and spiritual writer. She’s just an incredible spirit that I needed to acquaint myself with via her writing. On Being Written, it was just such a different type of book that it didn’t sit well with my reading tastes.
Did you discover a new author or genre this fall? Did you love them? Not love them?
I did discover a new genre…. historical romance. I don’t know if I would like any others in this genre as much as I liked The Lost Diary of Don Juan. That was a terrific book and I very much enjoyed it.
Did you learn something new because of the Fall Into Reading challenge — something about reading, or yourself, or a topic you read about?
I learned that there is a wealth of books that I may not necessarily choose for myself that I would enjoy. Most of these books were the review books that were sent to me. Some I really enjoyed. I also confirmed that the books I choose for myself are 9 times out of 10 ones that I enjoy.
What was your favorite thing about the Fall Into Reading challenge?
For the most part, it did keep me grounded to my list and strive to accomplish them.
Would you like to participate in another challenge here this spring?
Yes, however I will most likely give myself a shorter list. I can’t even believe how many books Alyce (At Home With Books) read. She’s a machine!
Thanks for letting me be a part of this challenge, Callapidder Days!
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In the interim, Apollo is crushed because his true love, Alice is nowhere to be found. That is, until he sees Alice cleaning the house. He follows her around like a lost puppy dog and only has eyes for her. Aphrodite is completely “pissed off” and is engaging in crazy fights with Apollo. From here, the story takes all sorts of turns and adventures, all a part of an incredibly creative maze that takes the readers on a vivid adventure. Marie Phillips, folks, is a talented writer and paints such a colorful story in the minds of her readers. I kept thinking to myself as I was reading the book, “how did she come up with this idea?” In any event, I formed pictures of the characters and settings with ease and found this to be a very delightful book to pick up. I highly recommend the book if you like creative fiction and are not much bothered by a bit of the naughty tossed in.
Like last week, I have this nagging feeling that I’m not meeting my own expectations. I need to pray on that because maybe I need to spend more time getting used to the “new me.” Sounds funky, I know. But, a year ago I was FULL THROTTLE on everything and now I’m trying to stay motivated to even get going! Wierd, I tell ya! I guess you just never finish growing and changing and this was my year of great change. Anyhow, as we wrap up the year and face the new one, I have a few Christmas wishes… and God knows each and every one of them… I have many New Year’s Resolutions and hopefully I’ll achieve them all. Here’s my week’s wrap-up (and, thanks for reading them!):
