My Current Interest

                  I’m not really sure what to say about this film.   To be honest, it’s kind of strange.   For most of the film, I wasn’t even sure where the story was going.   Then all of a sudden this film turned from strange to warm-hearted.   When that happened, I knew I had to write about it.                        Ben (Rupert Grint) is seventeen years old and trying to get his driver’s license.   Unfortunately when Ben takes his test he fails miserably.   This means there will not be a license in the immediate future and he must continue taking driving lessons from his mother (Laura Linney), Laura.   This is not what Ben wanted.   Less time with his mother would have been much preferable.   A very controlling woman, Laura often uses her religious beliefs to get what she wants.   If anyone ever tries to argue against her, Laura is always ready with a response as to why she is right and they are wrong.   This creates for a very tense household.   Robert (Nicolas Farrell), Be

                From the very start this book has been full of surprises.   First I came across it by accident on my library’s website as I searched for something else.   Then when I picked the book up from the library, I was startled to see how small it was.   After that, the shortness of the chapters struck my attention.   Every encounter I have had with this book has brought me something unexpected, with the most important being the absolute beauty of the story.                 Johannes Karelsky is a violin prodigy.   Growing up in 18 th century Europe, Johannes travels all around playing his violin.   He amazes audiences with his talent, but after he performs, Johannes lives a very lonely life.   Without any friends, his mother is Johannes’s only companion.   When she dies, Johannes doesn’t know what to do with himself.   No longer a child prodigy, the attention that was once showered on him has waned.   In order to support himself, Johannes resorts to teaching the violin t

                There has been a lot of noise lately.   Electronic noise.   Political noise.   Noise that happens from simply living within close proximity to others.   Even lights create noise.   Some days it can all be too much.   This is why I have been spending so much time lately in silence.   I know I have written about silence before, but it is worth mentioning again.   That’s because, amongst all this noise that surrounds us, sometimes the best thing we can do is turn it off and be in silence.                 It’s not always that I want or need things to be so quiet.   Sometimes I can have the TV on, my computer running, as well as someone banging around the kitchen and still be able to concentrate.   Then there are the days where any inside noise is a distraction, but I can work through the car doors slamming outside, dogs barking, and the sounds of kids playing up and down the street.   Finally there are the days where any sound is going to drive me crazy.   Even the f

             The more I watch TV shows on DVD the more I find I like it better than actually watching the shows on TV.   There aren’t any commercials to deal with unless there are previews in the beginning, and I can usually zap through the credits.   With typically four episodes to a disc, depending on the length of each episode, I can catch up on a series pretty quickly, which has been happening a lot lately.   For the past few months I have reached the end of the episodes available on DVD for a lot of series.   Some I have been working on for years.   It always creates mixed emotions when I reach this point.   I’m always happy to be caught up with the storylines, but I’m also sad because I don’t have the show to watch anymore.   Murdoch Mysteries is the best at bringing up these feelings.   It is a show I love to watch and I always miss it when there aren’t any more episodes available on DVD.   I spend months waiting for the newest season to be released, and then I stretch the

Image provided by AcornOnline.com.       There are two reasons why I’m surprised I’m enjoying the show Vera as much as I am.   First is because the character Vera (Brenda Blethyn) is very cranky and abrasive.   The littlest thing can set her off and a lot of people are left with hurt feelings.   This is not usually a type of character I like to watch, but there is another side to Vera that does come out from time to time that I do like.   It just takes some prying to get this other side to come out.           The second reason for my surprise is that when I first tried to watch the series on PBS , I kept falling asleep.   Now that I am watching it on DVD, I blame my initial sleepiness more on the time the episodes aired than the actual show itself.   The background music doesn’t really help either.   It has a lulling quality that can easily put a tired person to sleep.   Which is why, even if you have the DVDs, make sure you don’t watch it late at night when you might doze