art intake

randy took a class for writing about the arts, and often, when i find myself writing in my journal about an encounter with the arts, i wish that i had taken that class. i'm not very good at expressing myself in this arena. having said that, i am going to attempt to write a book, movie, and concert review. it is going to be short because i just got madeleine down and i should be taking advantage of that and sleeping myself.

for my sassy ladies book club, we read "the road," by cormac mccarthy last month. the jury is still out on this one. it was a gripping story, written very well, but i'm still not sure if i took enough out of it to have it be worth the incredibly depressing storyline. i mean, really depressing. and yet, i really enjoyed it. i still don't understand it myself. i think that the main thing that i took from it is that our world is defined by our relationships with those around us. i think that's why this is one of my favorite quotes from the book:

"the boy nodded. he sat looking at the map. the man watched him. he thought he knew what that was about. he'd pored over maps as a child, keeping one finger on the town where he lived. just as he would look up his family in the phone directory. themselves among others, everything in its place. justified in the world. come on, he said, we should go."

obviously, it makes more sense if you read the book. so, if you're looking for a well written, depressing novel, pick it up. it's a quick read too.

randy and i finally got out to see the much-hyped, "juno," last weekend. i feel kind of bad saying this, but despite the fact that there wasn't really any morally redeeming quality to the movie according to my beliefs, it was a fantastic movie. let me try to clarify...

it's about teen-pregnancy, and you don't ever really get the feel that she learns from what she's done except to get together with the father of the baby in a slightly-more-mature-than-most-teenage-relationships relationship. it makes single parenting seem easy. i don't like those aspects of it.

however, having said that, the dialogue was witty and funny and the characters were well developed and quirky. above all, the actors performed their roles amazingly. ellen page is fantastic in the title role and deserves the oscar. and then there were some of my old favorites, who delivered, as usual. jason bateman was good in it, although i wasn't as big of a fan of his character. c.j. from west wing did great as juno's step-mom, and george michael from arrested development (michael cera) did an especially great job in his role. i was really impressed. going into it, it seemed like his typical role, which i don't mind, but i was really surprised and it was even better than expected.

okay, now i'm rambling about the movie. onto the concert...

after months of waiting with our tickets sitting in the top drawer of my desk, the brad mehldau concert finally arrived. randy was giddy as a little kid on christmas morning, which was satisfaction enough for me, no matter how much i enjoyed the concert.

brad mehldau performed with his trio and they played some really beautiful charts. i don't usually describe jazz as beautiful music (don't get me wrong, i love it, just not my usual adjective), but these really were just that: beautiful. he also played some cool more edgy pieces, which is what randy really loves, and i enjoyed those, but was glad that it wasn't the theme of the entire concert.

okay, as i expected, i don't think i did any of these justice or accurately expressed my thoughts, but hopefully you get the idea.