In the last two weeks I've seen two movies, and they were both good, really good, movies. And they are good for mostly the same reason. They were well plotted and solid stories.

Most movies today are amazing. They are amazing pieces of self-expression, or engineering masterpieces, or insightful commentaries on human nature. We are truly living in wondrous times. But all this great stuff is wasted without good storytelling. That's why you have caught yourself yawning despite wondrous special effects. That's why some documentaries stick with you and change the way you think, and others you forget like grade six social studies class.

The Incredibles is not good because of the great animation. If it had a bad storyline, it would have been a bad movie. Johnny Depp did not make Finding Neverland great, he just helped tell a story.

It should also mention another thing about these two movies which I appreciate. They could have both been terribly sentimental. Anything involving children and families has this danger. I'm thankful I didn't have to peer at a story through a haze of treaclely scripting.

Posted by Nica @ 10:05 PM PST [Link]

Does anyone know if Amazon.com and Ebay are in cahoots? Lately I've noticed things. Just now I was browsing Ebay for coin purses, then I went to Amazon and they started recommending wallets and purses on sale to me.

Curious.


The reason I was looking at Amazon.com was not because I thought the site would be good for a Prada purchase. I was looking for romance novels. I've become interested in romance novels. Being unschooled in the genre, I was frustrated by the romance section of my local Barnes & Noble. The books covers can usually give you the subgenre but little more. Romance is a genre of subgenres. Just visit Harlequin's site and you'll understand. No one I know admits to reading the stuff, so getting recommendations from associates can be hard. That's were Amazon.com excels by providing lots of romance novel reviews from reader. I eventually decided on a gloriously badly titled book, "Forced Mate". And check out the authoress' name. It has romance, aliens, half aliens, alien princes, a tall heroine with martial arts skills, and bickering royal families. And I'm only about a quarter of the way into the book!

I don't want to give the impression that this is a bad book. It's not. OK, It's not great, but it gives me the same feeling I get when I'm enjoying anime. It's escapism, which I don't think is a lowly thing. It's what entertainment does. And when escapism is done well, it becomes inspiring even if it's not deep.

Posted by Nica @ 01:39 AM PST [Link]

Claudia, my crippled white pigeon, has died. I don't know what killed her, but I suspect it was due to her being bedridden all her rather short life. This is the first grown up pigeon I've lost. My husband woke me in the morning to tell me she was dead. I wasn't surprised, but I was surprised at just how much I sobbed over her passing. In some ways it feels like a relief. I had wondered if it was even right for me to keep her alive. She could barely move around with her legs. She couldn't fly. Dragging herself about with crippled legs and wings she was always getting herself filthy, and bruising herself. She lived in a laundry basket and rested on some old towels. I hope she wasn't miserable all the time during her life.

Posted by Nica @ 10:18 PM PST [Link]