Holiday Weekend

I just saw The Brothers Bloom with Kristyn, and it's the most fun I've had at the movies this year. Well, it at least ties with Star Trek which is still, in my opinion, the best film of the summer so far. But The Brothers Bloom is not a summer popcorn flick, though it does have plenty of explosions; instead, it is a wonderful dramedy. The four leads are fabulous and what with Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, and Rinko Kikuchi, how could they not be? The actors throw their considerable talent into their roles with such verve you know they are having the time of their lives playing these characters. Their delight is infectious and so the audience is willing to go along with them. The settings, clothes, and bygone time exude an Old World glamor from Montenegro to Prague, from ocean liners to passenger trains which is just the icing on the cake. It was the perfect way to start off the week (that and a giant iced coffee this morning!), and I highly recommend this film to everyone.

My holiday started a little bit early last week. My cousins flew in from Boston on Wednesday--we're having a family reunion which starts later this week--and so we lit some fireworks outside the house on Thursday night. That was fun, except that our poor dog has been skittish all weekend. She, like most furry friends, hates fireworks. On Friday night, we were gone and she was locked outside the house--but when we returned the door had been unlocked and she was cowering inside. That's insane. Anyway, I didn't have to work on Friday--score! And while my family went to some rodeo, I instead went to Sam's house which has been a long-standing tradition dating back to high school. His parent's house borders the golf course/park and stands a mere 100 yards away from where the fireworks are launched (yes, the city of Bountiful celebrates on the 3rd). We enjoyed a delicious barbecue and caught up with some old friends like Katie Johnson--what a doll!--waiting for night to descend. The display was fantastic, as always, and included some "rainbow" fireworks which I've never seen before, and then we continued to chat for an hour or so after the fireworks finished so to avoid hellish traffic.

The next day just didn't feel like the 4th. It felt like Sunday all day long, except that my mother doesn't clean the oven and scour the stove top on Sundays--but it was anything except celebratory. After being denied lunch, I visited my sister who works at a diner, and ordered a cheeseburger and fries, and that's how we celebrate freedom here in America, bitches! Later that afternoon/evening we met up at my friend Whitney's apartment to enjoy some pasta primavera and wine which was followed by cocktails and several episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 1 which is one of the snarkiest comedies featuring some of the most dysfunctional characters I've ever seen. And it's absolutely hilarious! And I have a huge crush on Glenn Howerton who plays bastard-in-chief Dennis.

Sunday was a quieter day. I watched Wonder Boys from Netflix, which was an interesting collegiate movie. The always-talented Frances McDormand played the university's chancellor to great effect and with a dangerous beauty, and my favorite part was when Robert Downey Jr. and Tobey Maguire ended up in the sack together. After eating Sunday dinner with the family, Kristyn called me up because she wanted to go to The Pie, so that was an exercise in gluttony. I finished the night by reading the latest book on my summer reading list, Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham. Lately, I've been on a reading frenzy which ended about a week or so ago. But it's been nice getting back into a book. You may have noticed, by the way, my book list on the sidebar. It was inspired by Megan, the 25 Books meme on Facebook as well as my Visual Bookshelf. It will be the current list of the latest twenty-five books I've read including what I am currently reading. It's mostly a list for myself, but it's out there for any and all who are curious. Well, I believe that wraps up this holiday weekend. I rather enjoyed mine, and I hope you had fun as well. Shalom.