Weekend Recap/What Were You Thinking, PBS?

And how was everybody’s weekend? It’s been kind of crazy ’round here. Despite the unusual stuff going on, I did manage to read and see some stuff lately. Last week, I reread Danny, Champion of the World (one of my favorite Roald Dahl books) and also read The Old Man and the Sea for the first time. Don’t know how I missed it before. I really enjoyed reading it. Hemingway’s writing reminds me of Cormac McCarthy’s for some reason. But I’m not sure that I could say why.

Jon and I watched the movie, Once on Friday night. I really liked it. I have never seen a movie that had so many complete songs in it. This movie is all about music. The music in the movie is actually the sort that I rarely listen to. I like music that kind of drives along instead of moseying. When I listen to slow, thoughtful music I usually find myself wishing that the musicians would just kick it in and get the drums going. And, the whole reason that I’m saying all of my preferences about music is to say that I liked the songs in Once a lot. The story was great, too. It was sweet and real. And, if you don’t trust me, then go see what Jandy had to say about it.

So those were the winners of the weekend. The loser was the adaptation of Persuasion that aired last night on PBS. I’m actually struggling to find something good to say about this program. Really. I suppose that Captain Wentworth is sort of cute….does that count? I really love the book, Persuasion. I’ve read it a few times and I’ve also seen the adaptation done in 1995. And, in my opinion, the Persuasion that aired last night was very inferior compared with the 1995 version. I won’t even compare it to the book. It was terrible in every way. And, look, I’m not the only one who feels this way.

Just check here, here, or here.

Please don’t waste your time with this one.