Some movies (even silly, but thoroughly lovable ones) are of such great comfort to the soul it's hard to find the right words to describe their impact. I am so glad I watched Bringing Up Baby to get out of my funk. It doesn't hurt that I baked brownies too and fixed myself a glass of coconut milk. I've seen the movie dozens of times and yet I never get tired of all its wonderful zaniness.

I laughed like I always do, but this time I cried at the ending, which I never noticed before is so incredibly romantic and sweet. Is there anyone more adorable than Cary Grant when he's flustered? :)

And the chemistry Grant and Hepburn share starts almost from the very beginning, but it's only toward the end where they finally seem to be on equal footing, even if they both almost end up in a gigantic pile of brontosaurus bones.

My second favorite part, that one that gets me every time is when Susan (Katherine Hepburn) and David (Cary Grant) are fighting the wild leopard, not the tame one who is Baby. "I won't leave you David! I love you!" Susan cries when David tries to fight it by himself. It's such a terrific scene because Susan is being selfless and serious for the first time.

But it truly is the ending that makes me cry:

"I've never had a better time," David says after Susan comes to the museum and apologizes for everything that has happened since the moment he met her.

"But...but I was there!" She responds, sounding startled because she is, after all, fully aware that, despite her best intentions, she's pretty much made a mess of all their time together.

"Well, that's why it was so good!"

The very last scene, despite the wacky dinosaur set-up, is also especially memorable because it has its most heartfelt, mutually reciprocated moment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B16rhVK5Av0

A solid enough read and definitely sweet and touching in many parts without being sugary, Ruth Gogoll's take on The Christmas Carol didn't grab me quite the way her other novels have (Taxi To Paris, for instance.) It isn't so much that it's not a good story as it feels like something's missing and that it's much shorter than its actual length.

The love between the main characters does not have enough time to flourish, no matter how sincere, and I would have loved to see them get to know each other, truly know each other, before everything else happens. Even so, I find an "okay" Ruth Gogoll tale (most of her work is top notch!) is still better than many other titles in the lesfic genre.

One of the best...

Michael Hann, The Guardian

 

I'm listening to Pink Floyd's latest release Endless River (it's mostly instrumental and I love the "comforting sway of swelling synthesizers and the soaring Gilmour guitar that are sometimes unexpectedly moving"* ) while reading a sweet and likable novel called The Music of Mary Frances. The best therapy for when I'm down...low-key music and a good book. Pitchfork refers to the album as being "lazy" at times, but that's why I like having Endless River in the background as I read. If it were too commanding I wouldn't be able to concentrate.

* allmusic.com

I think about how much I love anything zombie and I wonder if it has something to do with the deadness inside of me that comes to my aid and surfaces during trying times. 

I see someone I like (whom I'm not supposed to) and I steel myself so well (it's taken time, but I think I've perfected it) I am almost positive the feelings are gone...even if they aren't really. With enough determination and acting, you can even convince yourself you no longer care.

The Living Dead 2 (as well as its predecessor The Living Dead) is full of high quality writing, sometimes bordering on beautiful. For me, the stories that appeal most are the ones that combine suffering with survival, even if that survival comes with the high cost of detachment. 

For more perspective on zombie fiction and The Living Dead anthology read here:

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/09/zombie-round-table-what-is-the-appeal-of-zombie-fiction