camellias on the moss.

Sorry I haven't been keeping up to date, I'm a little horrible at this. I also figured no one was reading this blog anyway, but it turns out I have FOUR followers!! So I must be true to the fans and continue putting down my thoughts.

SO the latest in my life would be a book I just finished titled The Elegance of the Hedgehog, which was originally written in French by Muriel Barbery and translated into English by Alison Anderson. The story intertwines two points of view; that of Renee, a Parisian concierge who nurtures a fervent love of art, philosophy, music and Japanese culture, and Paloma, an extremely intelligent twelve-year-old who lives on the fifth floor and plans to end her life on her next birthday. Both hide their true natures from the rest of the world, instead preferring to keep to themselves and scorning society and its idiosyncracies. However, when a new tenant moves in, Kakuro Ozu, everything begins to change.

I found the book to be humorous, intelligent, sentimental, and a wonderful read. Although sentences such as "The enigma is constantly renewed: great works are the visual forms which attain in us the certainty of timeless consonance" would sometimes discourage me, I pushed through and found it entirely worth it. The story is filled with philisophical observations, which I greatly appreciated, but if you are not a fan of intellectual commentary, I would not recommend this book.

My tastes in literature are extremely varied, however, and I've just begun Chuck Palahniuk's (author of Fight Club and Choke) newest novel, Pygmy. More on that to come. And finally, just for fun, I thought I would throw in a video that my friend showed to me. It's really fascinating, if a little long. Hope you enjoy!

summer lovin'.

I only just started this blog and I'm already falling desperately behind on my posts. It seems vaguely reflective of my inability to consistantly maintain a diary... oh well I'm trying.

So a few nights ago I went to see the new indie flick 500 Days of Summer. It was all I expected and more. For those of you who haven't yet heard of it, it's a delightful romantic comedy (to satisfy our need to squeeze everything under a neat label) starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, two actors I really enjoy, and now even more so. The formatting was very interesting, which is often true for most indies, and the filmography lovely. I was most appreciative, however, of the unique ending. I find the majority of movies I see very predictable, but this one defied all my predictions. But of course I won't give it away.

This leads into my admiration for Zooey. I think her acting has a special signature that I adore, not to mention her extremely expressive eyes. My favorites of her would be her roles as Kate in The Go-Getter, Kit in Failure to Launch, Anita in Almost Famous, however small, and of course her quirky cameo as Kat on my favorite show, Weeds. (Notice all the K-names. Coincidence? Hmm...) She's also been in some not-so-great blockbusters, such as Yes Man and The Happening, but I can always forgive an upcoming actress her career mishaps. Some of her works are also my list of to-see, including Gigantic, Flakes, and Live Free or Die.

Aside from her acting career, I also greatly enjoy her musical work. She is a half of the duo that is She & Him, which also includes M. Ward. Their premier album, Volume One, came out March of last year. Their acoustic sound is reminiscent of the 70s with sugar-coated, country-flavored vocals. The mood is cheery, relaxed and almost overly sweet. It's not exactly one of my favorite bands, but it's definately worth a listen.

That's about all for now, although I wanted to quickly go off on a tangent and mention something I noticed very recently: there are three movies coming out called Nine, 9, and District 9, all within about three months of eachother. They all have absolutely no relation in plot, except the latter two have apocalyptic themes. Interesting little factoid I geuss.