There's One In All Of Us

Turning the pages of "Where The Wild Things Are" at bedtime is a very solid memory I have from my childhood. I remember really loving that book and reading it quite often...I wanted to be King of the Wild Things too!
Well, I just pulled it off the book shelf after seeing the news that Spike Jonze is coming out with his own cinematic interpretation of the classic, and realized it's much shorter than I remember - kid gets in trouble, kid creates magic world, kid parties it up with the wild things, kid goes home.
This is exciting for one reason; Dave Eggers. What the book lacks in length, his screenplay is sure to make up for 10 fold. He's a serious genius. If you haven't read "A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius" (see, he really is a genius!), then you should, quickly. I met him once in a lesbian/gay/transgenered book shop (don't ask) in Madison, WI and had him sign a book for my mother. He was lovely and just ooozed intelligence, and of course wrote something terribly smart and witty for her.
It's definitly one of those movies that could go either way - Amazing or Awful. It's coming out in October 2009. Can't wait.

Jolly Well Done

Like most American's, I first became really aware of Russell Brand when I saw him in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (didn't like that movie too much the 1st time 'round, but that might have had something to do with the story line being awkward in regard to the company that I was watching it with...I won't get too into that here, suffice it to say, I liked it more on the 2nd go when watching it solo).
Anyway, back to Mr. Brand...I caught him a few times on Letterman and was instantly won over by his charm and cheekiness. He looks like a total freak and always leaves some section of pubic hair delinquently exposed but he uses words like "scullery" and "erudite"! How delightfully contradictory!
Having heard that he released his international best seller here in the U.S., I could not deny the urge to be a good American consumer and buy it immediately. It's called "My Booky Wook" (there he goes, being all pert again), and it's very hysterical and refreshingly honest. From recounting drug induced moments in his life when his brain reminded him of his "anus full of heroin", to questioning "what would Hitler do in this situation?", the book(y wook)'s got it all...and more.
Long live Russell Brand, and long live the Queen.

You Can Suck My Blood, Edward

There's no real good way to start this post...I've been trying to find the most un-embarrassing angle with which to approach it, but amazingly enough I've come up with absolutely NOTHING. Alright, so brace yourselves, I'm just going to come out with it...Ready? Steady? GO!
I LOVE THE TWILIGHT SAGA!
OMG, there I said it. What a huge sense of relief!
I don't know how many of you out there have dabbled in the steamy, sexual tension filled, Mormon vampire books (I'm sure there are more of you out there than you'd like to think), but if you haven't, in all honesty, you're missing out.
Listen - don't get me wrong - I like reading Richard Yates, Cormac McCarthy and Marcel Proust just as much as the next mid-twenties intellectual, but there is a time and a place for trashy, overly dramatic, poorly written books about a teenage vampire/human/werewolf love triangle!
And while I haven't seen the movie yet (yes, I will see it when it comes out on DVD on March 17th), I can tell you right now...there is also most definately a time and a place for a man called Robert Pattinson aka Edward. He's a bonafide dream boat (see the girls swooning in the picture above?), and just to drive this point home, I've decided to include a snippet of a conversation between me and another too-old-to-like-Twilight, Edward-obsessed friend of mine:

me: and, btw - robert pattinson makes my pulse race. is that his name? pattinson? patterson?

anonymous: pattinson i think

me: he is so hot

anonymous: he is unbelievably gorgeous... he looks so rugged, and he's a bad ass vampire. he's also a musician in his spare time...ah...love him!!

So, because I haven't really found anything else in the news that's really made me that happy today, I thought - why not call myself out, embarass myself a bit, and let the world (by world I mean the 4 people that read this blog) know that I ♥ Twilight and have a little-girl crush on a big movie star?!
Now, GO READ TWILIGHT!

"Mr. Pepall, every day is now casual Friday for you..."

Excerpt from "Memo From the CEO" by Patricia Marx

The “Don’t Leave Your Coffee Cups on Joan Fulenwider’s Desk: It’s Not a Trash Can (Well, It Kind of Is!)” rule will remain in place, although, as of next week, Ms. Fulenwider will not. We are all sad to see Ms. Fulenwider go, but can we agree that this is a blessing in disguise, since, clearly, it is now or never for her as far as starting a family goes? Good luck, Joan, and kindly return the stapler on your way out.

Patricia Marx wrote one of my favorite books of 2008...aww, screw it...of EVER! If you haven't read "Him Her Him Again The End of Him" yet (especially if you're a girl who has dealt with her share of selfishness and narcissism on the behalf of her adored - and let's be honest, ladies, who hasn't?) then you absolutely have to tack it onto your summer reading list. You won't be sorry.
In the meantime though, Ms. Marx has written a short piece for the New Yorker's Shouts and Murmers section this week, and it's very funny.
Right or wrong? - The employees at AIG only wish they got a similar memo this morning.