Monday, June 05, 2006

The Ups and The Downs

I rented Brokeback Mountain and watched it last night.

Wow.

I'm not really sure I know what to take away from that. I can't get the music out of my head. I would have been pissed if I had seen it at the theatres because I couldn't understand much of what Heath Ledger's character said. I couldn't hear the last line of the movie no matter how loud I set it. Good thing they have subtitles on DVDs. I went back and watched the end and thought 'huh?'. Yep, mostly a head shaker on that one. I then went back and watched a few scenes that I *thought* might have lines and found whole sections that I just couldn't hear. Made the scenes just that much more touching.

Suddenly all those times that people would tell me I was going to make myself deaf by listening to my headphones too loud are coming back to haunt me.

So that was the down because the feelings kind of stick with you.

I'm trying to go around the clock and get back to sleeping during regular hours. I somehow got rooked there a month back and have been sleeping during the day again. So I have been forcing myself to stay up. I'm hoping to reach noon but it's almost 10am and I'm beat.

To help pass the time I read Kresley Cole's short story The Warlord Wants Forever from the Playing Easy to Get Anthology.

Keeper.

I'm loving all these paranormal books that have warring factions. I'm beginning to think I've been missing something all these years by not reading fantasy books. They have wars and stuff, right? Oh, wait. No romance or killer sex scenes. Got it.

The only thing that worries me about Cole's series is that the heroines may all be Valkyrie (dang, can't find the spelling and my eyes hurt) while the heroes will have 'The Mate' syndrome. This story has a vampire finding his Bride which of course means they need to be together forever and ever. The V's don't have this recognition but know their 'true one' if their love opens their arms and they would run forever to get into them. Meanwhile (are you keeping up?), A Hunger Like No Other had a Laykre (shit, again with not knowing the spelling) - you know, a werewolf to you and me and 'lo and behold, they can recognize their mate. Their forever mate.

Can you see where this is heading? A bunch of heroes madly in love with their heroines while the heroines fight like hell to be free but fall in love over time.

Still, works for me.

I have three more books of hers in the TBR pile which is all of 10 books because everything is packed.

I have to keep myself from gorging.

That was the Up part of today. So far, anyways.

5 comments:

Megan Frampton said...

Yeah, BB Mountain left me devastated for two weeks.

So I watched it again. Masochist, anyone?

I love that movie, but it is wrenching.

I am getting Van Helsing soon, that should cleanse my palate.

CindyS said...

Megan - I admit that I probably re-watched most of the movie again with the subtitles so I could understand some of the scenes better.

I think I have come to the conclusion that Enis loved Jack although I did struggle with that. His upbringing definitely did a number on him. I am also struggling with their last time together. Did they quit each other? I just didn't know and was upset that that was how we the viewers ended with them. The scene with Jack's father was heartbreaking also. I don't know about you but I think his father would have accepted Enis and Jack on the ranch or am I only hoping that would have been the way. Makes me blue but I'm working hard to shake it off. I think I may end up buying it at some point but like you said, it's painful.

I went and rented A History of Violence because I love Ed Harris, Jim Carrey's Unfortunate Accidents or something - kid's movie but I'm hoping it will make me laugh and another that I can't remember. So I am definitely in the cleansing the palate mode!

Reading instead of going to bed right away helped me from getting too hung up about the story but I was immersed in it for about 4 hours easily.

CindyS

meljean brook said...

I ended up missing about half of Brokeback Mountain because of the toddler -- and she's also the reason why we've taken to automatically putting on subtitles for every movie (I can read even if she's making a ton of noise). I thought Enis was a great character -- much more interesting in his conflict than Jack. I definitely think he loved him; I don't think his father would have accepted them, though. I think the mom would have.

I (finally) finished A HUNGER LIKE NO OTHER -- I like the world building, and the wars, and am intrigued by the other Valkyries. I do hope it doesn't fall into too much a pattern. Cole's voice is strong enough that I might not care, though :)

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed Van Helsing ... it's dark but yet upbeat (hmmm ... am I making sense?) in the end.

Oh, and of course it doesn't hurt that Hugh Jackman is the lead.

Cindy, I read An Independent Woman by Candace Camp (remember? the prize?) and liked it quite well. Thanks for the gift of this one.

Anonymous said...

Coming late to the post:

I saw Brokeback Mountain at the theater and thought it was an amazing film, even though (or maybe because) it left me feeling so disturbed. Beyond feeling frustrated that Enis (and viewers) had been left with such painful, unanswered questions, it made me think again of all of the ways that people damage themselves (me included) by trying to be whatever is supposed to be "normal".

A History of Violence -- rented this last week. Excellent, excellent movie. I'm not a particular Viggo Mortenson fan (during the LotR trilogy, I mostly wanted him to wash his hair; mental lusting was impossible with it looking so stringy), but I thought he was fantastic, as were Maria Bello, Ed Harris and William Hurt.