You’ve Got Mail
1998
Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Nora Ephron

Before there was broadband and wireless Internet, there was dial-up. And when you had to go online using dial-up, there really was only one good choice: AOL. Perhaps you don’t remember, or you’ve never used it before, but AOL was THE way to connect to the internet: it was fast and convenient. It was certainly the way that I got connected. I have fond memories of watching the little yellow man run across the screen, the dial-up sounds and that phrase: “You’ve got mail”. Ah. Memories.

You’ve Got Mail is a movie starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan; one of my favorite actors and my favorite actress. It’s a romantic comedy about people meeting online and falling in love. (Yes, online dating existed before match.com or eharmony.com) But, that’s not what I like about this movie. What I like about the movie is that they are bookstore owners.

Yup. You read that right: bookstore owners. You see Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan worked on a similar movie before, Sleepless in Seattle, and while that movie is great, I don’t love it as much as I love You’ve Got Mail.

I am a book loving person that has always dreamt of owning a small book store/library, just like Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan). Sometimes I see myself in her character: working at the store and reading to children. Then there’s the sad reality of Joe Fox (Tom Hanks), a big corporate owner, that doesn’t really love their bookstore as much as Kathleen, but still owns a huge chain store.

The movie is about how Joe Fox’s bookstore chain, Fox Books, takes over the small store, The Shop Around the Corner. What it means to the people who work there, and how Kathleen deals with it. There’s also the online chatting; the two meet each other unknowingly over the AOL, and how they fall in love.

This year I finally bought this movie and it’s now part of my small movie collection. I still leave it on whenever I catch it on cable. I also quote a lot of lines from it, which is how you know you love a movie, you quote it.

Favorite

The daisy scene: when Joe goes over to visit a sick Kathleen and he brings daisies. I love that dialog:

“…What is that supposed to mean? I am so sick of that. All that means is that it wasn’t personal to you. But it was personal to me. It’s personal to a lot of people. And what’s so wrong with being personal, anyway? … Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal”

And I also love the hotdog line:

“A HOTDOG is singing. You need quiet while a hotdog is singing?”

You HAVE to watch it.

T o escape the monotonous ambience of my apartment I sometimes take my PC to the local bookstore that offers free Wi-Fi and do some work at their café. On this momentous occasion I decided to drive half an hour to go to a decent Barnes & Noble with a decent café area. (The local B&N is extremely small, has no café area, and caters to the local university students.) After hours of working I was signing along to the music that was playing over the store speakers and wondering “who is singing?” So, I went over to the music section and asked the friendly cashier the name of the artist playing. Turns out it was a copy of Anna Ternheim newest CD, Leaving on a mayday. End of story? I bought the CD, of course! LOL

This is the kind of CD that can be played in almost any situation. It has moving songs and sad songs. Songs that inspire the creative juices to flow and songs that you sing walking down the grocery aisle looking for some food. (What, you don’t sing when you go grocery shopping?) Simply put, it has the perfect mix of uppers and downers and the perfect combination of music, lyrics and voice.

The talented Anna Ternheim

Favorite Tracks

• Let it rain
• Make it on my own
• What have I done
• Losing you
• Black Sunday Afternoon

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Anna Ternheim (Official)

Emma by Kaoru Mori
Vol. 1-10
2006-2009
CMX Manga

A manga about a maid? Set in Victorian times?  You have to love it! It’s just too good to leave on the shelf. I first stumbled upon Emma in the Borders Books and Music store located in Boston, MA. I was surfing the manga shelves for my favorite titles and came upon this series. My initial reaction was amusement; a period manga about a maid involved in a love story between the lower and upper classes.  Interesting, but not my kind of story. I put it back. Later during my visit I stumbled upon it once more. There’s something about Emma that you can’t ignore. At first she reminded me of Belldandy, from Oh! My Goddess, she has that same warm, loving, innocent face. Then I was hooked on her story.

Emma has everything: romance, action, comedy and sensuality.

William and Emma

Romance is definitely the dominating theme through this series, not only between William and Emma, but among other characters as well. It has that doomed relationship between different classes that you just can’t help but root for. You know they are going to suffer, and catch a lot of criticism for daring to break with traditions, but you have to see how it ends. At the time I was reading this series it wasn’t complete. I had to wait for the next volume to be published, so if a volume ended with a cliff hanger I had to wait months for the next part of the story. I can tell you I browsed the manga section often.

But it’s not just the romance that gets you hooked. There’s action too:  William defying his father and social class! Emma leaving. Emma captured. Emma lost and confused. It’s a wonderful rollercoaster told superbly by Ms. Mori with words and graphics. Her attention to details puts you in the time period. Her slow progression puts you in the moment. Fabulous. Simply fabulous.

On a Different Note

• Reading period series always reminds me how fashion has changed throughout the years. What women wear today could be considered indecent exposure by walking around in your undergarments back in the days. It blows the mind that a simple act of removing a glove was considered an act of courtship (not just anyone could remove your gloves and take your naked hand).  Don’t you sometimes wish that mystery of courtship was still around?

• There’s some nudity in this series, nothing distasteful, but it’s still there. It shouldn’t stop anybody from picking up this wonderful manga series, but I know that some people are offended by it. Just warning you (or your parental units).

• I’ve also watched the Emma anime, and while it isn’t absolutely 100% faithful to the manga, it does a very good job at bringing the story from the page to the screen. If you’ve watched the anime I recommend reading the manga to fill in the missing stories and interactions between characters. If you’ve read the manga, I would recommend watching the anime to see how the producers translated the print to animation. Well worth the time.

Emma - the anime

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CMX Manga
Emma – A Victorian Romance (Japanese)
Emma (anime)

Andrés Calamaro is a musician from Argentina. I love his music. It’s just impossible not to smile when you listen to some of his crazy songs. It’s impossible to remain angry and not to burst out laughing. You have to admire a man that has songs about football (soccer) and football players in his repertoire of songs. Crazy dude. Crazy.

Most of his songs are full of slang and phrases that I don’t get (me not being an Argentinian), but it doesn’t stop me from enjoying them. I also love some of the covers his done of classic songs from other artists (among them ‘El cantante’ y ‘El día que me quieras’). He is also a man that loves being a musician. You can tell from his songs, his long career (sometimes fighting against the bad press) and from the photos and comments he writes on his blog.

I got to know him from his past collaborations with Enrique Bunbury. The first song I heard was “All U Need Is Pop” and “Nos Volveremos A Ver”, both songs which features backing vocals by Mr. Bunbury. Then I heard him in the Loquillo, Jaime Urrutia, Enrique Bunbury collaboration, “¿Dónde Estás?” But it didn’t stop there. His music is just too great to only have one track. Needless to say, I was hooked on the man, so I went in search of some of his CDs. Naturally, I went to his official homepage, which much to my surprise, is actually pretty good. My experience is that most official websites of rock bands and artists are lacking. They are basically one big promotion of their new material and there’s no connection between the artist and the fans. Andrés Calamaro’s site is different. Sure it has links to his discography and online store, but the content that stands out is his online blog. He is miles away and still he connects with fans through his writing; he shares is thoughts on concerts, touring, current events, he even puts funny pictures of himself in hotel rooms. I wish other artists would connect this way with fans.

That said, the first complete CD I experienced by Mr. Calamaro was La Lengua Popular. I remember listening to samples of the CD through the radio feature on his site. I loved it. So I got it. La Lengua Popular is one of those CDs that you play from start to finish and then hit the replay button to start it again. It’s the kind of CD that you blast on your car stereo and sing along, not caring who watches you rock out. It is just that great. I’ve had it on rotation on my MP3 player ever since I got it and I still have some songs in the mix.

Favorite Tracks

• Los chicos
• La mitad del amor
• 5 minutos más (minibar)
• Carnaval de Brasil
• Comedor piquetero
• Sexy y barrigón

Other Works of Andrés Calamaro

Since that day I’ve also picked up some other works by Calamaro, among them Obras Incompletas. What a collection of crazy, funny and beautiful songs. Two in particular are my favorite and I would like to share them here with you.

“Cuatro jinetes”

This song makes me happy the minute it plays. It sticks in my head and I burst out singing it at random moments throughout the day. I love how it starts slow and then bursts into music and melody. Love it. Love it. Love it. Below is the lyrics to the song (in Spanish) and a Youtube clip so you can hear it.

Con el invierno se terminaron
los renglones de mi cuaderno
y la tinta ya ni pinta
tendría nostalgia de tinta china.

Y escuchar tu risa loca
me parece suficiente inspiración
los zapatos ya no caminan
y ya terminó la próxima canción.

Los 4 jinetes del apoca-monta
no pueden frenar la risa tonta,
es un ataque que terminó en empate
dale balas de plata y que se mate
y escuchar tu reloj… ¡qué risa!
es ir a misa de 6 de la mañana.

Si al final la derrota gana,
me voy al Planeta Corderoy.
Me voy a la esquina a ver si llueve
tomé la alternativa en canal 9.
o se está moviendo el piso,
o es el planeta que se mueve

Si alguien se atreve a venir
o me canso de tanto reír
o tengo el cerebro frito
o repito la misma canción.

Al final todo sigue igual,
al final todo cambia un poco
o tengo el cerebro frito
o tengo el corazón roto

‘Bachicha’

This song makes me laugh EVERYTIME! It’s so…crazy, ridiculous, you name it. Here are the lyrics and a YouTube video:

Brian bachicha, fiel a sí mismo
En situación de desenfreno brasilero,
Está en la cama, acariciando
El mando a distancia de la grundig
E impresos en tres colores, guaraníes
Los carteles anuncian a bachicha,
El superviena, fetén sucesor de brian wilson.

Apa ta pata, the awama quever
Le toca súper clip fernando trueba,
Y en alcatraz los calcetines de la media
No perdonan ni siquiera
El más mínimo derrape en la carretera.

Cuando todos los caminos
Llevan a la cárcel de las monedas
Hay que ser muy ambicioso
Porque no flota una balsa de madera.
Esta es una industria cualquiera
Pero perdón si se cargó al talego pom-pom,

Brian bachicha, superviviente,
Del cabildo de french y beruti
Ni se imagina, pero presiente,
Que se acabó la realidad dabuti.

Habrá que darle gracias al dios inoportuno,
Por si acaso hiciera falta licuadora
Los de a pie, necesitamos al gran patoruzú
Un cacique popular, porque lo demás
Es solamente entretenimiento.
Impresos a tres colores guaraníes
Los carteles anuncian a bachicha.

No escucho una palabra verdadera
Desde el día de la primavera de 1972
En los juegos olímpicos de munich,
Y el gran bachicha mi combatiente
Volvió a la realidad de cara al sol,
Que ilumina el histórico convento
Y perdón si se cargo
Al entrañable talego pom-pom del gran bachicha

Pum, po pum, poropo pum, po pum
Al entrañable talego pom pom, el gran bachicha.

Enjoy!

I’ve been a fan of Timothy Hutton for a few years now. I first saw him on The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery, way back in 2000. I like mystery movies and shows, plus I watch a lot of A&E. With the help of the Internet Movie Database, I research his filmography and proceeded to watch whatever films were playing on TV or I could find at the local Blockbuster store (Netflix wasn’t around back then). I confess I haven’t watched all of his films, but I have seen quite a few, mostly old ones of when he was younger. Of course I saw Ordinary People, for which he won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. (That’s where the Academy Award Winning Actor title comes from on the TNT commercials).

Anyhoo. Timothy Hutton is the main reason I tune in to Leverage. If he wasn’t there I probably would not have watched the first season. I’ll go further and say that without him this show wouldn’t be as good as it is. He brings not only his good looks, but his own style of comedy to the show.

So, what else do I like about this show? Easy. It’s about thieves and impossible heists. I like that whole genre of a mastermind leading a team of experts to steal some mark, the harder the stakes the better. I like the way they show all the research that goes into making the plan. It makes it very real. You can’t just wake up one day and decide to steal the Mona Lisa without a well crafted plan. It also shows how much security some places have, and how totally worthless some of it is. Plus the team sticks it too high CEO type people, most who deserve all they get. That part I can relate to very well.

Now, how true are the things they show in this series? I don’t know. I have no idea if some of the hacking Hardison does (mostly with a cell phone) is possible. Sometimes they swipe people’s ids and they never notice. (I don’t know about you, but I check my id constantly when I’m wearing one). Plus, they always seem to get away with the con, even if the odds are impossible. (But we want them to get away with it, don’t we?)

In all, the show is very entertaining (which is the purpose of most TV shows). It is a nice break from the reality-show infestation over taking NBC, ABC and FOX. I like how TNT has kept the reality-shows to a minimum. Most TV stations have blindly, and ridiculously, followed that cash cow to the death and beyond.

I love this show. I hope TNT keeps it around for a long time.

The Characters:

Nathan Ford: (obviously) I like how they changed his character; TV doesn’t need another glorification to alcoholism.

Eliot Spencer: love his hair (really, for a man who makes a living out of hitting people, you’d think he wouldn’t have long hair that can get into his line of vision). I also love how he knows nothing about electronics, and how he ‘freaks’ when Hardison gives him some job with technology.

Parker: What can I say? She jumps off buildings and dangles from rooftops without a care in the world. I know I will never do that kind of thing, so I live vicariously through her. I also love the relation between her and Hardison.

Hardison: I like technology and I like the way he breaks down some of the ‘high-tech’ gadgets. Really, some people rely entirely too much on their cell phones, and sometimes they get back at you.

Sophie: she’s my least favorite character- I’m not exactly sure why either. She does some great accents and pulls off some great performances (off the stage of course!).

Favorite Episodes:

The Wedding Job: I loved how Eliot devoted himself to the cooking. Hilarious!

The First David Job & The Second David Job: it when wrong. I love to see them succeed, but sometimes you have to fail too. I also liked the Nathan’s ex-wife was working with them. I wonder if she is going to return to the show.

The Order-23 Job: the way they worked on the fears of that guy was awesome! I would have been feeling sick if I was in that room too!

Timothy Hutton Films

Let me recommend a few films by Mr. Hutton. I’ve watched them, and I liked them, but you’re free to have your own opinion. I’ve included links to their IMDB entries, so you can read the plot and any reviews they might have.

1. The Falcon and the Snowman: two boys as spies, what could be better?
2. French Kiss: Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline WITH Timothy Hutton. What more can you ask for? LOL I love this film! I quote this film! Really, it’s funny and romantic.
3. Beautiful Girls: romantic drama. Friends and love, plus the beautiful Natalie Portman!
4. A Nero Wolfe Mystery Series: can’t recommend it enough. I taped this series (and removed the tabs from the tapes so I don’t record over them!). I watched the DVDs . I still re-watch it. I love Archie Goodwin’s character. How does he put up with Mr. Wolfe? My only complaint is that the actors were re-cast for all the episodes and sometimes I didn’t buy the change of character.
5. 5ive Days to Midnight: he has to solve his own murder! Got me right there.
6. Last Holiday: ok, you don’t love Mr. Hutton’s character, but this movie is great. Reminds us how short life is and that we need to live and do the things we love

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Links

Leverage (official)

Pixie is a two volume graphic novel published in United States by Toykopop. It follows the adventures of Pixie, a young red-haired thief, Prince Ael, a young prince with the power to move through dreams, Elvynn, a spellcasting warrior and Balor, a wise werewolf. Together they are trying to stop Ankou from unleashing his terrible machine on the different worlds.

Didn’t that sound like any other review? LOL I picked up this series at my local Barnes and Noble store. Why? Because I like the illustrations. That is usually the reason why I pick up graphic novels, the pictures. If the illustrations don’t catch my eye, I probably will not buy it. I know that sounds awful, but it’s the truth. (Same goes for most books I’ve picked up.) Now that’s not to say that I buy everything with cute illustrations or that it is the only reason I pick up books or comics. It is the leading reason, not the only one. Got it? Great.

The Good

• I love the art! (Have you gotten that fact clear yet? LOL) The colors are rich and vibrant. It has that fantasy look down. Glowing-sparkling fairies and what-nots. Beautiful creatures: mermaids, fairies and even dragons. What can I say? Aurore Demilly is an excellent artist! If you’re not familiar with her work, please visit her website. She has excellent pieces in her gallery. (like the one below)

• The story: one thief helping out a confused prince. Classic. I love that they’re not perfect characters (ok, they’re kind of typical). Pixie is the typical do-first-ask-later hero that has a lame plan for every situation. But I like the idea of having the ability to control your surroundings with your dreams. What if I dream that I was a mermaid and woke up under the ocean? What if I have a really ugly nightmare and wake-up in that scenario? You have to admit, it’s an interesting idea.

The Bad

• This comic is a translation. Pixie was originally published by Delcourt in France. When I was reading it, it seemed that in some instances some of the context was “lost in translation”. Or I got the feeling that it was translated literally and that the meaning didn’t come across as intended. Really, it comes across as a bad translation.
• The action moves way to fast. One moment you are trapped in a jail cell; the next you are roaming around the palace halls. The ending is rushed.

Parting thought: I took French in high school and then one semester at the university, so technically I can read the original French version of this comic. What stops me? The prices. I wish I could afford to buy a lot of French comics. They have some gems over there that I know I would love. Maybe I should purchase some through Amazon.

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Links:

Toykopop
Aurore Demilly

Simple Minds have been performing live for 30 years. That’s a lot of years of fine, fine, music. The first song I heard from them was “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”- you know that famous song from that famous movie, “The Breakfast Club”. To be completely honest, at the time, I didn’t know who they were or what the name of the song was. It was playing on the local radio station (now defunct) and I could only record the last part. (That would be on a cassette player). Yes, all I had to go on was Jim Kerr’s voice sing: “La, la, la…” These were the days before the Internet and that all powerful search engine. Oh boy.

Days or months later I caught the video for “Hypnotized” on a channel whose name I can’t recall. Needless to say I was “hypnotized” by the sound and the images. I had the song running around for days, but most importantly, I had the name of the artist and the album! I was then to stumble upon the Simple Minds in a music magazine. It was an add for their new album “Good News From The Next World”. And that was that. As fortune would have it my birthday was around the corner and I purchased a copy with my birthday money. (I couldn’t choose between Sting’s “Mercury Falling” and “Good News From The Next World”, so I bought them both. In cassette form that is. I still have them. ^_^)

So began my love of the Simple Minds. Quite a few years later, I still listen to their music. A few months ago they came out with a new CD: “Graffiti Soul”. I don’t know how they did it, but they combine the sound of the old with the new. They took the best of the old Simple Minds (80s) and the best of the new Simple Minds (90s) and created this incredibly, fantastic, wonderful, energetic, awesome album. Some of those tracks could belong in old albums- Jim Kerr’s voice even SOUNDS like it did back then. While others are modern, they could fit in “Cry” or “Black & White 050505”. It blows you away. It ROCKS you to the core of your being. It is the best music I’ve heard in a while. Much better than some currently playing on the radio (does new music even play on the radio anymore?).

Simple Minds even rock the cover songs! Their cover album “Neon Lights” is fantastic. Jim Kerr sings some of those songs better than the original artist. The deluxe version of “Graffiti Soul” comes with a bonus disk (“Searching for the Lost Boys”) that has these awesome covers. (My favorite is “Sloop John B” from The Beach Boys)

Seriously, don’t take my word for it, go out and get a copy for yourself! ^_^

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Favorite tracks:

“Graffiti Soul”

“This is it”

“Stars Will Lead the Way”

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Links:

Simple Minds Website (official)

Dream giver redux

Hollow Fields by Madeleine Rosca
Vol. 1-3
2007-2009
GoManga/ Seven Seas

In this world the children of mad scientists are sent to a special school, called Hollow Fields, to study the art of becoming a great evil mad scientist. The school is run by Miss Weaver and her mechanical engineers. The kids take classes like grave robbing, anatomy experiments and killer robot construction. All is fun and games until Friday comes, when the lowest achieving student is sent to detention in the mysterious Windmill. This is the way it’s been for years, until Lucy Snow arrives and one “lucky” child escapes from the Windmill. Just what is Miss Weaver working on? What happens to the students who go to detention? Will Lucy survive the school year?

Favorite

I love the character designs for Miss Weaver, Miss Notch and Miss Ricketts. The robotic clockwork graphics created by Mrs. Rosca was what attracted me to this manga. Her attention to detail is fantastic. It’s also a nice twist to the school manga stoylines: a  school for mad scientist! How can you pass that up?

My favorite character is Miss Weaver. Her design is fabulous and her personality is perfect for a mad scientist school principal: impatient, cruel and ingenious. Of course, I get a kick out of having such a strong female character being in charge and bossing people around. Definitely a plus. Another thing I love about this series is that it starts and finishes in less than ten volumes. So many original American manga is left unfinished by creators or publishers that sometimes I hesitate to buy the first volume because I never know if it will continue. Other drag on in endless volumes and pretty soon your shelf is full of multiple volumes where, sincerely, there is not much plot advancement. My congratulations to Mrs. Rosca for creating and illustrating such an entertaining story. I look forward to her next series.

Hollow Fields is available from GoManga as both three separate volumes and an omnibus collection.

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Links

http://www.gomanga.com
http://clockwork7.deviantart.com/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/clockwork_hands

Phoenix and Ashes by Mercedes Lackey
Published by DAW (2004)

This is the third book in her Elemental Masters series. Which, I can now proudly claim that I have read all of them; out of order and with gaps in between each book, but still.

Anyhoo, I highly recommend any person who enjoys fantasy books to pick up this series (or any other of Mercedes Lackey’s books). They are extremely entertaining and well written. The kind of book that you can submerge yourself in and almost be in the setting with the characters. If you are like me, you probably have this intense movie going on in your head as you read (and on a later day wonder what the name of that movie was or what actor was in it…) I mentioned the series, but they can be read as stand alone books since they don’t have continuing story lines, but some characters do crossover or are mentioned.

Phoenix and Ashes is the story of two elemental masters (students really), Eleanor & Reginald, and all the hardship they face to become elemental masters. Set during World War I the two characters start out with hardships as the country is strained by the war: Reginald is a pilot called to fight and Eleanor must work miracles with all the rationing imposed. This story is a re-telling of the classic Cinderella fairytale. It’s got all the elements: a wicked stepmother, two spoiled stepsisters, a “fairy” godmother, a handsome rich “prince”, a hardworking, enslaved “Cinderella” and a royal ball, complete with a misplaced article of clothing. Over the years, I’ve read many retelling of fairy tales, but Mrs. Lackey’s are the best. She takes the underling story plot of the the fairy tale and builds her own story on top to the point where you can almost separate the two and not remember you are reading a retelling. She comes up with new, exciting ways to tell the same story and keep you completely glued to the book. Truly wonderful.

Favorite Part:

Eleanor’s journey through the Tarot as part of her education to become a Fire Master. Mrs. Lackey presented the journey with such detail and symbolism that I found myself picturing the Major Arcana as Eleanor walked among them. I only wish she would have had enough space (or time) to go through all the cards with the reader. But that’s just my personal interest in the Tarot shining through.