Book three of the Hornblower series was just as good as the first two, but it was kind of interesting to get a closer look into Hornblower's mind. The second book was told from another character's point of view, and the first kept the focus wider. This one, though, zoomed right in, giving us much more of Hornblower's thoughts and impressions. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Still, I think I'm going to take a bit of a break from the series; I don't want to get burned out on it.

Started: 2005-04-04 | Finished: 2005-04-10

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Over the past eight years I've been slowly but steadily saying goodbye to all the pieces of my childhood. I left for college in 1997 and started getting a taste for living on my own. It was an exhilarating time, and will continue to be one I look back on fondly, but at the same time it managed to be a confusing, lonely time. I felt a little lost, a little adrift. I didn't quite feel like I belonged anywhere. I felt homeless. In 2001, I graduated and got my first job, my first apartment. I started providing for myself. I valued my freedom at the same time that I rankled against my responsibilities. By the time I got married in 2003, I felt like more or less grown up. But I guess there's always a bit of the child left; when I found out that my mom and stepdad were going to be selling the house I grew up in and moving to a different state, it hit me harder than I would have expected.

I've never felt completely at home in my new surroundings. I still haven't figured out yet where I see myself ending up in ten years, whether I'll still be in the city or if I'll make it back to my small town roots. There was comfort, though, in knowing that, even if I didn't live there anymore, even if it wasn't my home anymore, I could still visit the place where I spent so much time as a child.

So many things about my town and neighborhood are different already. My friends have all moved away. Even some of their parents have. My mom's house isn't the same, either; the yard's changed several times, as has the paint. There aren't even the same number of rooms. It's not the same place where I used to live. Despite all that, whenever I went back I felt a sense of belonging, a feeling of comfort.

It's strange to realize that if the house sells soon enough I might never have a reason to go back to my old neighborhood. I find my mind flooding with images from the past. Like the swimming hole at the end of the street with the chalk shelf that extended out into the water, or the huge bay laurel my friends and I used to climb in the park across the river. The time my stepdad set up a treasure hunt all over the neighborhood for my birthday, which I might have missed because I didn't feel like going outside that morning. Finding a tiny kitten with a broken tail under the bench in our back yard—our cat Leon, who is old and arthritic now but still full of personality. Oakworms falling out of the tree in the front yard, stick-fighting in the driveway, frantically riding our bikes away from overly territorial neighborhood dogs. The sound of little league games, the bite in the morning air in the wintertime, the way the tap water always tasted like rust in the summer.

I'm happy for my mom, that she's going to be able to make the changes in her life that she needs. I'm sure that in time, the whole thing won't bother me at all. I'll be used to having family on both coasts. This is just another part of growing up. People get older, things change. I wish I could end this piece with something profound, some little piece of wisdom, but for now I just don't have the perspective that time will eventually bring.

I wasn't too jazzed about this one after seeing the previews, but it wasn't looking like a great weekend for movies and we had nothing better to do. As it turned out, Fever Pitch was quite a bit better than I was expecting. Now, it's quite possibly the least funny Farrelly Brothers movie ever, but what it lacks in laughs it makes up for in cute. Barrymore and Fallon have great on-screen chemistry, and I found myself quite drawn in by their relationship. On the downside, as Juliette pointed out on the drive home, Barrymore didn't really fit as the tough, driven, career woman, so that portion of the film didn't work very well. Still, it wasn't enough to ruin the rest of the story, so I'm fine with it.

Viewed: 2005-04-09 | Released: 2005-04-05 | Score: B

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I think I've managed to solidify my opinion of this series a bit more. I don't particularly care for the writing. The dialogue is a bit stilted, and the prose is pretty formulaic—it seems like ten pages can't go by without Joscelin bowing with crossed vambraces. Still, like the first one, the plot is quite intricately laid out, and I find myself really wanting to know what's going to happen. I've also found several of the minor characters to be very enjoyable. Anyway, it's enough that I'm going to finish out the series, but I doubt I'll reread it any time soon.

Started: 2005-03-22 | Finished: 2005-04-03

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Once again, I find myself in the position of having to write a review without having done my homework. No, I've never read the Sin City graphic novels. My thoughts on the film, then, will be based on nothing more than the film itself and my reaction to it. The most obvious thing to say about Sin City is that it is violent. You knew that (or you should have). But I don't think I'm stretching to say that it is easily one of the most brutally, graphically violent movies I've ever seen. It was enough to squick me out, which is the only reason that I couldn't give this one a fourth star. The rest of the film was excellent. Much of the dialogue (and the near constant voiceover) approached campy cliché, but that never bothered me. In fact, I think it worked wonderfully with the noir style. And there was plenty of good acting: Mickey Rourke was intense as Marv, and I particularly liked Nick Stahl as the villain of the Hartigan story. Clive Owen did a decent job, but no matter how good an actor does otherwise, if he can't get the accent down, it pulls me out of the moment. On the other hand, nearly all of the female performances were either too flat or too overdone. Though, since a lot of the female roles only exist for skin, it doesn't hurt the movie too much overall. So, to sum up, if you don't like horrible violence and a lot of bare female skin, this isn't a good movie for you. But you probably already knew that. Otherwise, check it out.

Viewed: 2005-04-01 | Released: 2005-03-27 | Score: B

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This weekend marked our first trip back to the local arthouse theater this year. It seems like we go there so seldom, and nearly every time we go we wonder why we don't go more often. This was another one of those times. Dear Frankie was an excellent movie. It's a smaller, more humble movie than most of what we've been seeing this year, but it was very heartfelt. As you might guess from the title, much of the story revolves around letters. Frankie is a young deaf boy who has just moved to Glasgow, Scotland with his mother and grandmother. He has been writing letters to his father for his whole life, but doesn't realize that the letters never actually reach his father; his mother takes them and writes letters back, posing as the boy's father, who he thinks is a petty officer on a merchant ship. I tend to be drawn to stories about childhood and family, and this one certainly fits that bill. It also struck me as somewhat refreshing that Frankie is presented as neither a victim nor a hero because of his disability. Because it's not on the mainstream circuit, I doubt many people will see Dear Frankie, which is too bad because it's really quite a good movie.

Viewed: 2005-04-02 | Released: 2005-01-20 | Score: A

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I don't understand why this movie is being marketed as a comedy. I mean, there are many funny moments, but the rest of the movie is so full of tension and anger that the comedy seems almost out of place. I would definitely put it in the "Drama" category. By the end of the film I thought it was pretty well-written, but it started slowly and it took me a while to warm up to it. The acting was good across the board, and this may be Kevin Costner's best performance ever. Still, so much of the film is wrapped up in Joan Allen's character's wallowing in self-pity that I couldn't completely get into it. Not to say that it was a bad movie; it just wasn't great.

Viewed: 2005-03-25 | Released: 2005-03-10 | Score: C

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I blew through this one even faster than Mr. Midshipman Hornblower. Like the first one, this installment of the Hornblower series is a fun read, full of action and presented in a clean, straightforward style. Where Midshipman was more a collection of short stories, though, Lieutenant is a cohesive novel. I do hope the rest of this series continues to be this good.

Started: 2005-03-20 | Finished: 2005-03-21

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I'm not entirely sure that I liked this book, but for some reason I couldn't put it down. The paperback edition is 928 pages—long, no doubt—but the plot is so sprawling that it requires such a thick book to hold it. I found the plot and characters and ideas interesting, but the writing seemed a bit too fond of fantasy clich

Started: 2005-03-07 | Finished: 2005-03-19

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I think after seeing The Incredibles it would be hard for the next animated film I saw to measure up. In terms of animation, this one was actually at least as good, if not better. The story, on the other hand, was the same one that's been used in more kids' movies than I can count. My wife and I came away with the impression that a bunch of studio execs got together saying, "How can we repackage the same movie and get people to see it again?" "I know! We'll make all the characters into robots and then get some big names for the voice acting!" If you're tired of seeing the same old formula over and over again, it's probably best to skip this one. On the other hand, if your kids are old enough for PG-rated movies and you like Robin Williams, go ahead and give Robots a shot.

Viewed: 2005-03-11 | Released: 2005-03-10 | Score: C

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