Thursday

[nightdog_barks]

Just outside, refilling the sunflower seed bird feeder, and omg it is so MILD out. Weather site says it is 68 degrees (20 Celsius), and I believe it.

Watched the middle and end of the movie Nocturnal Animals the other night. Have any of you guys seen this? It's Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams as this married couple, and then she dumps him and he writes a book and sends her the manuscript, and as she reads the manuscript the movie starts to follow both Jake and Amy's story AND the story of the couple in the book manuscript (Jake (in a double role) and another actress named Isla Fisher). AND! The book manuscript story is DARK and VIOLENT and GRIM, and oh did I mention it was DARK AND VIOLENT holy shit. Anyway, there's that, and a few other things, and then it was over and I was sitting there like WTF DID I JUST WATCH. It does have Michael Shannon in it (as a hard-bitten Texas lawman) so there is that. Also it was directed by Tom Ford, so parts of it are very ... arty, and there is at least one legitimately terrifying "jump scare" involving a cell phone.

In other news, I am a bit more than three-quarters of the way through the Laura Ingalls Wilder bio. It is a long book, chiclets. A long book.

Comments

[hannah]

Speaking of Michael Shannon-related topics, I've been listening to a lot of Ben Nichols and Lucero lately, which you might also enjoy. (His brother, Jeff, has made a lot of movies with Shannon.)

[nightdog_barks]

Oh, thank you for this timely reminder! I saw Lucero mentioned in a Reddit thread the other day, and I meant to go listen to some of their music. Are there any of their songs you would particularly recommend? I do remember one the Reddit folks liked was "Last Pale Light in the West," but I haven't listened to anything yet.

[hannah]

The songs for the movies Take Shelter, Loving, and Midnight Special are all very good, as is the album All A Man Should Do. But you can't go wrong starting just about anywhere.

[nightdog_barks]

OH! I didn't realize that was them in Take Shelter and Midnight Special! So I've already heard them (and thought they were great) and didn't know it. More reason to look farther afield. :D

♥ ♥ ♥

[bironic]

LOL. Your reaction to the movie sounds about right based on the trailer they showed for a while at our local indie movie theater last year, which left me going o_O Even right down to the TOM FORD A FILM BY TOM FORD YOU'D BETTER KNOW WHO TOM FORD IS OR ELSE ALL THESE MENTIONS OF HIS NAME WILL BE USELESS slides, ha.

[nightdog_barks]

Oh my god, Bironic, this movie is such a MESS. Not in terms of the story -- both stories, the "real story" and the "book story" run in parallel and are fairly straightforward, but in terms of TOM FORD ARE YOU REALLY SAYING WHAT I THINK YOU'RE SAYING HERE, SIR? Hoo boy ...

[taiga13]

I was curious so I went to Netflix to see if they have it, and the recommended title was The Secret Life of Wombats, which I don't think is the same thing ;)

[nightdog_barks]

I DO NOT THINK JAKE GYLLENHAAL AND AMY ADAMS ARE WOMBATS, NO. Although Michael Shannon, on the other hand ...

:D

[srsly_yes]

I respect Jake's film choices. He's not afraid to take risks. Nocturnal Animals sounds fascinating. I'm tempted to watch but violence isn't my cup of tea. Have you seen him in Nightcrawler? Worthwhile but creepy.

[nightdog_barks]

I have not seen Nightcrawler yet, but I've heard nothing but good things about it. And I agree completely about taking risks -- I thought he was terrific in both Everest and Jarhead! :D

The violence in Nocturnal Animals is only (as far as I recall) in the "book manuscript" part of the story. Some of it is implied -- we don't actually see two people being murdered, but we hear a description of how it happened, which may actually be worse because imagination. Later on, though, we do have some gun-play and someone hits someone else in the head (not with a gun). Oh, and there's an imagined rape scene. Looking at IMDB, it says this film was rated R for "violence, menace, graphic nudity, and language."

[srsly_yes]

Thank you for going into more detail. It's changed my mind. One of these days I'll give it a try.

[sabra_n]

It is a long book, chiclets. A long book.

**glances at Ulysses S. Grant brick biography**

I feel you. And I have to return mine to the library because some jerk's put it on hold. It's not easy to read a 900+ page book in two weeks while working full time, geez.

[nightdog_barks]

Oh, the Chernow biography! Did you like it? I've been thinking about buying it, even though I have his bio of Hamilton that I haven't read yet.

Prairie Fires is definitely not as long as the Grant book. My copy is 608 pages, not counting the index. I finished it night before last, and I thought it was worth every page.

[sabra_n]

I'm enjoying the Chernow so far, and don't even mind its clear revisionist agenda because I think the reason Grant needs revisionism in the first place is due to Lost Causers. But yeah, it's a few days overdue now...