Playing Catch-Up

So I'm back at work today after taking the whole week off work last week. As I described in my last post, I spent the first couple of days in Ft. Myers with Dean. Wednesday my mom and stepdad came to Tampa for their annual spring training trip. It was a lot of fun. I always relish their astonishment at the beautiful weather here this time of year, their joy at seeing and playing with their "grand kitties" and being spoiled rotten with free food and pampering. We saw four games at four different parks. I didn't bring my camera because they brought their big fancy camera with the huge lenses and fast shutter speed. I'm excited to see some of the action shots. Many of the bigger stars that we would have liked pictures with were not there because of the World Baseball Classic. Don't get me started on THAT. As always I was extremely sad to see them go.

Since I don't have much new in my life besides watching baseball and drinking beer, I thought I'd catch you all up on what I've been reading and watching.

WHAT I'VE SEEN:

Capote- I went and saw it with my dad while he was in town. I was so happy to see that Philip Seymour Hoffman won best actor. He was amazing, as was the whole movie. I knew very little about the whole story behind In Cold Blood, and we are reading it this month for my book club. I'm actually very glad that I saw the movie before I started reading the book because it brings a whole new dimension to the book.

Brokeback Mountain- Finally saw that the week before last. Very disappointed it didn't win best picture last night, but I haven't seen "Crash" so I can't say much about it. I thought it was a beautiful story that completely lived up to the hype surrounding it. I was worried I would be let down after hearing such good things about it, but if anything I liked it more than I thought I would. My mom warned me that I'd cry. I scoffed and reminded her that I'm not a big movie crier. She was right.

40 Year Old Virgin- Dean and I rented it last weekend. It was pretty funny, but it dragged on a little too long. I liked the supporting cast and was pleasantly surprised to see Catherine Keener after just seeing her in "Capote".

WHAT I'VE READ:

Since finishing Vanishing Acts for last months book club (and making my opinion known about Jodi Picoult), I've only finished one book and started another. Pretty disappointing for me, an avid reader. But I have been pretty busy. Per Lefty Grrrl's recommendation I read The Memory of Running. It was quite good. A Forrest Gump-esque guy rides a bike from Rhode Island to California to deal with the remains of his estranged sister. It alternated between him telling of his adventures and of the people he meets along the way to describing life growing up with a mentally ill sibling. Both story lines were equally compelling and I found myself fascinated by the sister's character, espeically as seen through the eyes of her simple brother. Good pick, Lefty!

After The Memory of Running I started reading In Cold Blood. As I mentioned before it is March's book club selection. Unfortunately I will be in Baltimore for a conference when book club meets, but after seeing "Capote" I couldn't not read In Cold Blood and I'm so happy I saw the movie first. It is really intense reading this true crime book and remembering parts of the movie when Capote was inspired by these events. I highly recommend both the movie "Capote" and the book In Cold Blood in that order. I'm only about 100 pages into the book, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

Time to get to work and I'll make the rounds with all my blog friends tonight.