Palm Springs

We just got back from our annual week in Palm Springs, or rather, Palm Desert, next door. But we spent a good amount of time in PS, which is more festive and definitely gayer, in every sense of the word. We went hiking one day in Indian Canyons, which has beautiful natural palm oases, saw a couple of movies, baked by the pool in the 112 degree heat, observed the locals (all of whom are 90 plus years old and also spend a lot of time baking themselves). It was very relaxing. We also celebrated our 10th anniversary and my 52nd BD.

I've been selected to write a weekly blog about travel tips for an online resource called onlineorganizing.com. I start in a couple of months so I better get busy and make up some stuff. No money involved, just the international recognition and deep sense of self-worth.

Summer Reads

Don't be alarmed, I'm not becoming a book critic, I'm not smart enough, though that hasn't stopped me with movies. But even though I've complained about the crappy summer movies, it has been a good summer for reads.






The Night Watch

It's World War II in England and lesbians are taking over. No, it's a story about a group of women whose lives intersect as do their war jobs in London. Great period detail, lots of surprises.


Gone With The Windsors
The cover makes it look sort of dry, but it's really quite funny. It's in the form of the diary of a fictional friend of Wallis Simpson as she recounts the affair that brought down the monarchy. Lots of name dropping, grand parties, scathing remarks. According to this he was a dimwit and she was a harridan, no big surprise.





A Share in Death

Abandoned because it was too stupid to continue. Murder at a time-share. If only.

Suite Francaise

More World War II, this time in France. It begins by following several families as they flee Paris as the Germans invade and ends with the tale of a love affair between a French woman and the German soldier assigned to be her boarder. The author, Irene Nemirovsky, was a Jewish writer living in France until she was taken to Auschwitz, where she died. Bleak story.

Middlesex

This was a great read. Oddly, the copy I bought doesn't say Oprah's Book Club on it, it says Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. I didn't know both could happen at the same time. It's a family epic, following the Stephanides family from Greece through several generations as they end up in Grosse Point, Michigan. The herione, Calliope, is an undiagnosed hermaphrodite and along the way she discovers and accepts the truth about herself.

Harry Potter

Bye-bye Harry. I really have a hard time accepting that there's no more. As with all of the books, it's overwritten, because who is going to tell JK Rowling to take out that bit please. But there's lots of tension and excitement. Of course, there's the final big showdown with Lord Voldemort. Ralph Fiennes is going to get several weeks work out of it when they do the movie. And contrary to rumor, no one particularly important gets killed here, Dumbledore died in the last one. But I salute JK Rowling for giving kids (and me) some good books to read. I had good books as a kid and it made me want to keep reading.

Summer Movies

Overall, this was a pretty unexciting summer for movies but fortunately I got past the real stinkers early. These I enjoyed.

Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix

They sure grow up fast, don't they? Harry is quite the young man now, and if you've seen any of the racier photos from his West End production of Equus, you know I'm right. If you have stayed a faithful Harry Potter fan, as I have, then this one is quite enjoyable. It's got all those rich production values and a wonderful cast as always. Imelda Staunton steals the show as Dolores Umbridge, the tight-assed new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. But now that I have finished reading the final Potter book [no one important dies, almost everyone lives happily ever after] my Hogwarts fever has abated a little and I need a Potter break.

Hairspray

I'm not sure why it was necessary to remake this movie but the songs are a lot of fun. I prefer John Waters' sick humor, though, to this scrubbed-up version. John Travolta is NOT good as Edna Turnblad. He just isn't clever enough. And poor Michelle Pfeiffer needs a good nights sleep and a hearty meal-she looks like the mummy of Hatshetsup. Queen Latifah is good as Motormouth Maybelle and Allison Janney is funny as Prudy Pingleton. If you need to go to the bathroom, leave during the scene between Michele Pfeiffer and Chris Walken in the magic store.


Ratatouille

Very cute, wonderful animation. Pixar beats Disney all to hell. Great scenes of Paris, and lots of fun French caricatures. It's about this French rat who dreams of becoming a chef... and... just go see it.

Sunshine

I'm still not sure what to make of this. I have to say I really enjoyed watching it, even though it got pretty fucking silly toward the end, with a monster on board the ship and our hero, Cilian Murphy, riding the back of a bomb into the sun, just like Slim Pickens in Dr Strangelove. But most of the time it's an engrossing sci-fi on board a cool spaceship with that interesting, just-took-a-Seconol feel of the first Alien. It seems the sun is slowly burning out so a group of astronauts are taking a big bomb up there to try to explode a new star out of it to save mankind. Gee, it sounds silly when I say it.