Movie and Book Update

Two of the items on my 101 list are to watch all the Best Picture Academy Award winners and to read 10 Pulitzer Prize winning novels. I knocked one of each off my list this weekend.

The Movie

The Great Ziegfeld
1936
William Powell
Myrna Loy
Frank Morgan
Luise Rainer

This was the story of Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., a famous Broadway producer. You've heard of Ziegfeld's Follies, right? That's the guy. It showcased his personal and professional life, from when he was managing a "world's strongest man" exhibit at the world's fare to his death.

It was an enjoyable movie. The only real fault I had with it was that they showed too much of the stage shows he put on. It was over 3 hours long, and could have been a lot shorter if they had cut that. Which they could have, without hurting the story at all. But then, it was 1936, so audiences were very different. Maybe they liked watching that stuff then.

The other exciting thing about it were that the Wizard from the Wizard of Oz was in it, and so was the scarecrow! Well, that excited me, anyway.

So. Very good performances by all involved, and very enjoyable if you like classic movies and you have three hours free. You might want to go to the bathroom or go get snacks during the show scenes, though.

I gave this movie 4 out of 5 stars.

The Book

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot Diaz
2008 Pulitzer Prize Winner (Fiction)

This book tells the tale of the life of Oscar Wao, a true blue geek. He's fat, he loves sci-fi, comic books and role playing games. He has never been kissed, and may just die a virgin. But he loves women, and yearns to have one of his own. His story is told through the eyes of a friend, and covers not only Oscar's story, but also his mother's and some of his sister's, as well. The story is very engaging, and once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. I sat at home yesterday and read probably the last half of the book, not going to bed until I finished.

My only complaint about this book isn't really a complaint, it's just something that made it hard for me to get into the book at first. Oscar and his family are Dominican, and that culture is basically a character in the story. I come from a world very different from that, so it was hard at first for me to get involved in it, or to understand it. Of course, it might have been easier if the author didn't keep using Spanish phrases without giving a translation for those of us who don't speak Spanish.

Still, once I got used to the language, and learned a bit more about the culture that was so important to the story, it was very easy to get involved in Oscar's life, and it really was an engaging read. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.