Don't Be Jealous Because Your Book Club Isn't As Cool As Mine

I realized something this week--blogs with no pictures? Boring! And my blog? No pictures! Eureka! Therefore I am on a quest to add a visual cog to my literary musings wheel. I really want to be a better photographer, so I took my camera to book club last night in an effort to photo journal the whole experience. Well, you know what they say about a room full of teachers: you'll be hardpressed NOT to learn something new and I ended up getting a photography lesson on the spot. These images come to you courtesy of my private tutorial with Ms. W (that's her with the book!).

Last month at our book club rendezvoux I was one of the only ones who had finished the book (shame on them!) so we just drank wine and talked about online dating and chronicled the various flaws of our significant others. This month we could have made a YouTube video on How to Maximize the Engagement of Your Book Club. It really was quite remarkable!

As a teacher of all things literary, I am constantly reminding my charges of the relationship between setting and mood. Setting and mood, setting and mood. It becomes a mantra of sorts. Attention to detail is everything and the setting at last night's meeting was perfect.

There were tie-ins with the food, the activities and the decor. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is set in New York City--which made this "Black" Pepper Cheese and "Sliced Big Apples" tray so endearing:

Oskar's adventure starts off with a blue vase (not unlike this one) in which hides a mysterious envelope with the word "Black" on it:

The centerpiece of the story is a key. The moral of the story is "never stop saying I Love You". These laminated key-shaped bookmarks brandishing the life motto "It is always necessary" are heart-warming:

The evening's events included eating a vegetarian meal (though not vegan--sorry Oskar), the sharing of pictures representing something significant to each of us (most of which had to do with love-- I think Oskar would be proud of that), and a discussion of "Things We Know About That We Wish We Didn't"--including, but not limited to all-men water parks in India, post-childbirth procedures, rooms at airports for unclaimed children, a plastic island in the ocean, and what happens to a dog's tail when it is stepped on too forcefully.

I also spent quite a bit of time trying to get a good picture of these glass Christmas trees. They are not related to the story, but are lovely nonetheless.

Though my photography skills may leave something to be desired, in the intellectual female conversation department, I'm doing OK.

The Boots Come Off...Reluctantly*

I finished this book as we drove to my parents' for Thanksgiving last week. I had to use a flashlight to read the last 30 pages or so. When I finished, I looked out the window for a long while, pretending not to be crying until Rhett asked, "Why the face?"

I'll tell you what, I love a novel that tells parallel stories. In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, we get the story of Oskar and his journey to find a lock which will accept his key. But we also get the story of Oskar's grandparents, how they met, married, and never fell in love. The Older Schells came from Dresden, Germany after their town was bombed during WWII. There are many mysteries involving this side/back story that do not completely unfold until the end of the book, so I will not go into detail. You will have to discover them for yourself.

Though this book made me very sad, it also made me laugh out loud numerous times. One of those times involves Oskar's pet Buckminster, whose moniker resembles a certain female body part that, when said aloud, can sound very shocking. It rhymes with wussy.

It is bold of me to say so, but I will: This is one of my favorite books

of

all

time.

*This is part deux of my review for ELaIC. For the first part, see below.

Hugo's Big Adventure

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a beautiful story told in both words and pictures that I read in a couple hours on Thanksgiving day. Hugo is a young boy who has lost his father (this seems to be a recurring motif in books I've read lately) in a tragic fire-related accident. Prior to his death, Hugo's father had been restoring an automaton--a mechanical man made from gears much like those of a clock--and now, Hugo has taken on his father's project. Automata are complicated machines and this particular man seems to be the most complicated and confounding one ever created. Through the course of the story, Hugo meets an old toy seller who also seems to have a mysterious connection to the automaton. The relationship that develops between this old man and this young boy is as complicated and wonderous as the machine itself. The images in the book are beautiful. It is worth picking up just to skim over the pictures:

Choose Your Own Theory of Craziness

Groundhog's Day it is! The final season of 'Lost', in which all of the universe's biggest questions are answered and we leave feeling warm and fuzzy for the rest of our days, will indeed commence on February 2nd, 2010. That is Groundhog's Day folks. What could it possibly mean? Probably nothing, but then again, it could mean SO many things. Here are some ideas from Doc Jensen (who is more verbose and has done more background research than me):

"A. ABC and the Lost producers were totally going for a Groundhog Day resonance! The choice of date affirms Time Loop Theory: that the castaways have been participating in a cycle of events that's been repeating for who-knows-how-long. But did someone (Ben? Jacob? The Man In Black? One of the castaways?) finally break that loop by producing a meaningful deviation during the course of this last cycle dramatized by the past five seasons of Lost?

B. Actually, ABC and the producers were winking at ''Veja Diena,'' an annual Latvian festival also held on Feb. 2 honoring the god of wind. The significance: The castaways were blown through time via the Jughead and the cosmic gameplaying of gods Jacob and the Man In Black.

C. ''Veja Diena''? No way! Feb. 2 is a link to Yemaja, the ocean/fertility goddess of the Yoruba religion, who is celebrated in Brazil on Feb. 2. This makes total sense, because Rodrigo Santoro, the actor who played Paulo back in season three, is also from Brazil. See? Paulo really was massively important to the larger Lost saga!

D. The Feb. 2-Groundhog Day-Veja Diena-Yemaja connections really are just total coincidences — a rare exception to the larger rule that each episode of Lost is layered with hundreds of thousands of clues, references, and allusions. I mean, that's right, right? RIGHT?!"

What the what!?! and Why the face!?! These are crazy ideas that illustrate why Jensen is one of my favorite pop-culture experts. Any way you look at it, February 2nd could not come soon enough for me.

New Gems in Television

You already know that I love TV. Now that 'Mad Men' is over and 'Lost' is so...far...away... I have more time to devote to other televised wonders. Here are some of my new favs (and one that is not new, but new to my favs). Allow me to tell you why I love them:

Glee:
So many reasons, where to start? Well, how about the fact that this show is loosely based on my husband's own high school experience. Finn=Rhett in so many ways. Not to mention the fact that this show might be single-handedly responsible for jumpstarting high school arts programs nation-wide. Take, for example, my school. We have had slim to no interest in the drama program since I started teaching here six years ago. Then, this fall, our choir director held auditions for a musical production and seventy (70!) kids tried out for a play with 17 roles. Holy why the face*. This show is taking the world, high schoolers and me by storm. I love, love, love it.

*See Modern Family entry below.

Modern Family:
Because Phil is a "cool dad" who knows all the hip adolescent lingo and text speak: "Lol is Laugh Out Loud; Wtf is Why the Face?" And because Jay's pre-teen stepson is a hybrid fencing-Columbian-gentleman who is trying to be 30. AND because, well, look at that baby with those creme puffs.

Parks and Recreation:
This show is so much funnier in its sophomore effort! All hail Aziz Ansari! He may be overly crass and abrasive on Twitter, but he slays me on P&R. My favorite Tom Haverford quote of the year to date: "On a scale of one to Chris Brown, how mad is he?" I tried to say it the other day to one of my co-workers and I accidentally said "On a scale of one to Chris Rock..." He was all, "Huh? Why the face?"


Flash Forward:
I'm actually not sure about this one. I want it to be good, because the cast is so great (Will Shakespeare/Joseph Fienes AND Charlie/The Hot Hobbit/Dominique Monaghan as a bad guy!). And in the pilot, I saw a billboard for Oceanic Airlines. But I'm not sure about the lifespan of this show, which would seemingly end on 04/29/10. And it is starting to come off as kind of cheesy (I'm a self-proclaimed cheese-o-meter). But I keep watching because I secretly hope that DM is actually Charlie and that maybe, just maybe, out of the shadows might step Benjamin Linus.

In a rare twist, I have been reading so much lately that I haven't had time to watch TV and need to do some catch-up. Luckily the weekends come quickly when your job is as hilarious and your kids are as adorable as mine.