Reading...

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

Okay, so I am behind everyone else in the blogosphere when it comes to reading this gem. I blame the fact that I just finished the last of my thesis revisions, and I have the most ridiculous, ever-growing "to read" list. But, now that I have finally picked it up, I am devouring this book. I know that love for the '20s is kind of the thing right now, but I was enamoured with this time period long before the emergence of The Paris Wife, and Midnight in Paris, and Gatsby-fever. I took a modernist lit class during my undergrad, and, unlike pretty much everyone else in my class, adored the literature we studied. And how can you not be enamoured by this time period? The opulence and lushness are astounding, and all I want to do is run away to New York or Paris and become a writer and live this kind of life. This kind of magical lifestyle is exactly what this book captures, only it tempers this vision a little bit, revealing the wear and tear that such a lifestyle inevitably creates. And Zelda is such a fascinating character in her own right. The voice in this book is fresh and snappy, and overall it is just beautifully written.


Watching...

The new adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing

Okay, so, there is a story to finally seeing this movie. Basically, my friend and I were planning to go see it, and we waited and waited and waited for it to actually come out, and then the only show time was really late, and I ended up going by myself. Which is fine, because I actually love going to movies alone. But that's a whole other story. The movie was visually lovely (black and white for the win!). And the actors were excellent, managing to place just the right emphasis on the right parts of their lines so as to get the full impact of each joke or speech or witty comeback. This is no easy feat when it comes to Shakespeare; thus, the astounding number of horrible stage and movie versions of Shakespeare's plays. I loved that it was set in modern times but retained the original Shakespearian text. And, most importantly for an adaptation of a comedy...it was FUNNY. All in all, I genuinely enjoyed it.


Listening...

This Kurt Hugo Schneider and Kevin Olusola cover of "Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men.

I love the cello. And am a big fan of Kevin's celloboxing. And, come on now, how amazing is it that all the background instrumentation is made using Coca Cola products? I mean, can we just take a second to talk about how impressive that is? Seriously.