100% Baby-Free Post

Much on my mind this week, but I haven't been able to sit down to write down any of these thoughts. Last movie watched: Candy. I was apprehensive, since I am drawn to movies about drug users (Trainspotting, Requiem for a Dream, etc.) and was afraid that Candy would have nothing new to offer. The beginning of the film is very good and I was drawn in. The middle was okay, treading familiar territory, but the end completely redeemed the film and I would recommend it. I had been in the mood, too, for a filling meal of a movie after stuffing my head with so much junk lately, all sorts of bad horror movies and other assorted silliness that act as a nice snack during a moment of boredom, but which are hardly filling -- or lasting.
Lately, too, I had been longing for a book that might entertain and I found such a book in Lunar Park, the latest offering from Bret Easton Ellis. The book is definitely unlike any other that Ellis has written, an "autobiography" that was not really an autobiography. The first part of the book drew me in and then the tone changed abruptly, but I should have expected that after reading American Psycho. I read Psycho on a road trip to Washington D.C. and the whole trip home (when I wasn't driving, of course), I was appalled and fascinated by the descriptive passages toward the end of that book. Park isn't so grim, but it does delve into horror, before elevating again into something different. All in all, I enjoyed the ride, so thank you Ellis.
Judging by the amount of time the local news dedicated to the subject (20 seconds; yes, a whole 20 seconds), I shouldn't really care too much that Kurt Vonnegut passed away, but I do. I cried a bit at the news, sad that Vonnegut would produce no more great novels and sadder still that there would be so many people watching the news who don't even know who Vonnegut was. My introduction to him didn't come until high school, and it wasn't through Slaughterhouse-Five. I did an independent study in Engligh in high school and was given Vonnegut's Sirens of Titan to read (along with Trout Fishing in America, two very trippy novels that I loved). Well, it was love at first read and I had to have more Vonnegut, reading Breakfast of Champions, then Slaughterhouse-Five. All books I would recommend.
This weekend, we also saw Grindhouse, but I will leave that for another post.