Lola Rennt (1998)

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I would have had more fun watching this in the theater in 1998 than watching it at home in 2009.  Watching Lola running is actually still pretty cool, but anything else about this film that was slick and new in '98 has been pillaged and used elsewhere to the point where this film is no longer all that much fun to watch. 

Everything Asian (Woo, Sung Joon) 2009

This is a deceptively simple novel, written with no "SAT words" on the well-worn "a year in the life/coming of age" theme using the familiar structure of following a different character per chapter with Dae Joon's POV providng the centering viewpoint**.  It settles down into a comfortable groove and Dae Joon's first year in the US unfolds with a sense of melancholy doom punctuated by fleeting moments of situational humor, the kindness of near-strangers, and the understanding of those who are experiencing the same (or similar) problems as you.  It's the little connections that matter in this novel, and the chapters that seamlessly blend the stories are wonderfully done.  I think my favorite connection may be one of the more trivial ones, but in the first chapter In Sook reminds Dae Joon of the first time she took him to lunch, so when that lunch actually happens 80 pages later, I'm thrilled. 

Mini-disclaimer: I knew the author 20 years ago in high school, when Sung burst upon my consciousness in Miss Flynn's 11th grade honors English course.  He had a discerning ear for beautiful language and a keen eye for ferreting out the few finer points of whatever we were reading that everyone else missed.  Out of a large class of really sharp kids (self, ahem, included) you knew this guy could have a bright future in literary analysis and perhaps writing fiction.  

** Sung mentions Faulkner in his acknowledgements, and it makes me wonder how much As I Lay Dying, which we read senior year in Mr. Ripley's AP English class along with Absalom! Absalom!, figured in his subconscious when writing this novel.

*** Hey!  I actually read a book the year it was published!

Anansi Boys (Gaiman, Neil) 2005

I was not a big fan of American Gods, nor the first 140 pages or so of Anansi Boys, but there was enough to keep me reading, and it picked up a bit and finishes well.  I just don't get that happy feeling when reading Gaiman's prose; maybe the written novel simply isn't his strong medium and the graphic novel is?  He's got some really interesting ideas, and some good dialogue, but every time something needs to be described, the words seem at a loss for the picture that would explain things so much more clearly and elegantly.

As You Like It (2006)

Branagh seems to have "learned his lesson" from the box-office failure of Love's Labour's Lost; there's no singing and dancing and it's a by-the-numbers edited adaptation of the play -- yes, the setting has been moved to medieval Japan, but changes of setting are commonplace; while in college, I saw Theater Intime put on the Tempest in an abandoned subway station -- unfortunately, this means it's very bland.  The exceptions are Bryce Dallas Howard, who is *great* as Rosalind, evoking memories of Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love, and Brian Blessed, who is excellent in the dual role of Duke Senior / Duke Frederick.  Everyone else is at least passable; the supporting cast is fine, but never really shine as in other Branagh productions.

In fact, the best part of the film is the Epilogue, delivered by Bryce Dallas Howard "in character" as Rosalind but "off camera" in the sense that it's filmed like one of those "behind the scenes" segments that's added to DVD releases where they follow the actors around the set.  This conceit was brilliant, and leaves one wondering if Branagh could have done more with it...

So, did I like it better than Love's Labour's Lost?  Well... As You Like It never reaches the lows of the really bad parts of Love's Labour's Lost, but there Branagh is reaching for something unique, and so the highs of that film are much higher than As You Like It.  For me, it's a toss-up (ooh, though I'd love to go back in time and remake L3 with Bryce Dallas Howard cast as the Princess of France, assuming she can sing a little).

The Best 0-3 Starting Pitchers Ever?

Add Dan Haren to the list.  This is ridiculous; get that guy some run support already!

SPLITS	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	W	L	P/GS	WHIP	BAA	ERA
Season	3	3	0	0	19.0	12	4	4	1	3	17	0	3	93.0	0.79	.182	1.89