"The Irishman", some books, writing and general malaise

"The Irishman" was much better than I expected. Taking Gabe's advice, I watched it in one setting, as Scorsese undoubtedly intended. Good story, really good performances, nice melding of past and present. The CGI of making Pacino, DeNiro and Pesci look younger was, at times, a little off, a little fake-looking but an interesting technique. The story is predictable, but Scorsese makes things feel fresh even when we know they are not. The movie ended well, no redemption scenes and I can easily give it two thumbs up. 

Books:  sadly, I admit that I am seduced by good book reviews and then, sadly again, often disappointed by those books that had promise. I read a lot, maybe that makes me a worse critic, but I just finished a couple of books that simply made me weary. One was 'Normal People" by Sally Rooney.  I could copy quote after quote about how profound this novel is, all about young love across class lines, about angst and longing and betrayal and yada yada. First, it is written in the present tense which bugs the hell outta me. No one lives their life in the present tense except when they are actually living it, not when it's a retelling of their story. Second, everyone in high school falls in love with the wrong person, sometimes it works out well, sometimes it ends poorly. These kids are not different or profound or special.  They break up, they go off to college, they meet again. Yippee.  It was trivial. To me, at least, the book was a waste of time.

There are some other books that I was so looking forward to reading but that also disappointed...... but I won't name names. It could be me. I have been working full time for a year, I definitely need a vacation and thus my mental acuity is at a low point. Reading sometimes feels like a wade through a swamp. My patience for lazy writing is gone. Which leads me to the uproar about "American Dirt" a novel by Jeanine Cummins.  Now, I admit that I haven't read the book, but given the backlash against it, I might not ever read it. If you haven't any idea of what I am talking about, check it out here:  https://www.npr.org/2020/01/24/798894249/latinx-critics-speak-out-against-american-dirt-jeanine-cummins-responds
If you have the chance to read the review by Myriam Gurba, do, it's so to the point and funny at the same time. But reading about "American Dirt" and the inaccuracies the author puts forward as fact seems like another brick in that wall of lazy writing. Again, I haven't read it, but if and when I do, I will tell you what I think of it.

Which segues into the writing of this blog. Seriously, I am home three nights a week these days. Working Saturday through Tuesday gets me back home around dinner time on Tuesday and there is no motivation to do anything that evening.  Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are my nights home, unless I go out, and those are the only nights I can write this blog. (No access to a computer those other nights.)  If I thought it would help, I would promise to write more at work but that is simply too problematic to even consider. Writing about my personal life on a computer owned by those who pay me seems chancy at best and creepy at a little less than best. 

One of my bosses asked me this past Monday if I was OK. After answering that I was fine, he said something like "You just don't seem your sparky self lately."  I agreed with him, I am not my sparky self because I am just tired. We agreed that I need to take some time off, which I will do soon. Last March I took a trip to Memphis, Nashville, to Mississippi and Louisiana and so many places in the South and every day of that trip was eye-opening and amazing. This year, I could go back. Or I could go somewhere totally different for a long week. Budapest. Iceland. Boston. British Virgin Islands. Iguazu Falls. Greece.

But right now it is time to go to bed.  Thank you for checking in and following along.  Here is a photo of Iguazu Falls. Who wouldn't want to see this in person?