Amici:
The Day I Saw Your Heart (Mélanie Laurent) a HILARIOUS yet poignant movie ... Justine’s father can’t stop himself from befriending her ex-lovers ... he either plays golf with them or hires them to work at his “schmatta” shop. A non-religious Jew, Eli Dhrey (Michel Blanc) speaks without a filter and often steps on his tongue ... including with Justine’s new boxing beau ... there’s another daughter desperate to adopt a baby, a younger pregnant wife and all the complications of stepchildren/stepwives/step-everything. This was hilarious and very poignant. A TK MUST SEE ...
Home (Isabelle Huppert) ... what happens when you live alongside a highway that’s been out of commission for ten years? For one thing, you get to use it for your own entertainment (floor and skate hockey, bike riding, lounging in the sun, etc.) ... and what happens when they reopen the same highway? Oy vey ... Home is an interesting movie ...
Tales From the Golden Age ... Life under Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania was no picnic ... and these humorous tales are entertaining from the outside ... especially one where some party officials are spinning around a swing carousel all night because, well, orders must be obeyed! It’s a fun watch, in a dark sort of way.
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, by William Bryson … This was suggested reading for my thesis, but I enjoyed it way too much to consider it a working read. This was absolutely hilarious. Guys my age have to read it, if not for the laughs, than to appreciate the nostalgia, which is way too much to list here. Here’s one for kids in the 50-60s who couldn’t wait to get an electric football game; the author VERY ACCURATELY lists it as the worst toy ever invented, then proceeds to explain why.
It’s a memoir covering the life of the author having grown up in Des Moines during the 1950s … There are so many quotes to take from this book, there’s no way to do them justice, except to read them yourself. A pure delight.
Next week’s book reviews: Go Tell it From the Mountain, James Baldwin (plus some video of him debating William Buckley, Jr. … and Attack in the Library, George Arion (Pro Fusion crime)
Momma Stella and my thesis ...
Me: So, Ma, what did Poppa Tommy do when he wanted to fool around?
MS: What the hell are you talkin’ about?
Me: You know, when Poppa Tommy wanted some action. What he do? Talk dirty, grab your buns, what?
MS: Get the hell out of here.
Me: Come on, I’m serious. I need it for my thesis.
MS: Go scratch your ass.
Me: Tell me. A little amorous action between yous two?
MS: Are you out of your mind?
Me: I mean it. What he do? I need it for school.
MS: What the hell kind of school is this?
Me: For my MFA.
MS: MF what? What the hell are you writing now, you sick bastid?
Me: (laughing) The Stella Family chronicles.
MS: The what?
Me: The Stella family chronicles.
MS: I think I must’ve dropped you on your head or something.
Me: I’m serious. Did he, you know, grab a little somethin’ somethin?
MS: (death stare) You’re a real moron, you know that?
Me: (laughing ... can’t stop laughing)
MS: Yeah, go’head, have a stroke now. Your head is all red. You better lose some weight.
Me: (still laughing)
MS: Stop, you crazy bastid! You’re gonna have a heart attack already!
Me: (calms down) So, what then, you grabbed him?
MS: I’ll hit you in the head with this telephone in two minutes.
Me: Okay, it was all mechanical. You just did it to have kids. No romance.
MS: (looks to the ceiling) Oh, Gesu, please help him. Please, Lord.
Me: Me and Annie, we have, like, codes when we wanna ... you know.
MS: That poor girl. You leave her alone!
I love my Mommy!
One of our own is taking a long walk ... Darrel Leo Rome, SNHU MFA graduate, published author, and all around wonderful person, is taking some time to trek the Appalachian trail. We’ve featured some of DLR’s work here on TK, but the man himself is greater than the sum of his parts. Here’s to DRL and his journey.
—Knucks
Johnny Appleseed (Johnny Strummer) … the theme song from John From Cincinnati, one of two shows David Milch left us hanging with and never finished ... the other being Deadwood ...
Angela Gheorghiu, the ugly one’s latest opera flame, and because my wife LOVES this aria, singing Vissi d'arte from Tosca … sing it, baby …
Some of yous will recognize this one, O mio babbino caro, from a couple of commercials … but it’s actually from Gianni Schicchi …
And from La Traviata, Sempre Libera …
