Archive for the 'Books/Movies/TV/etc.' Category

B. J. Novak’s favorite joke

May 20, 2008

NPR’s got a 30-minute interview with B. J. Novak (who writes for The Office and also plays the character of Ryan,) that you can listen to here, but in case you’re not dedicated enough to The Office to listen to the whole thing, I have to tell a joke he recounts in the interview:
A guy [...]

All I have to say about The Office tonight

May 15, 2008

is that even if Andy (make that “Mr. Andy Bernard” ;) was a HUUUUUGE jerk there at the end,
that was still a fabulous season finale. And the scene where Kevin offered Holly his M&Ms? I had tears in my eyes and difficulty breathing. It feels good to laugh so hard.
By the way, knowing [...]

And while we’re on the topic of things I loved,

May 6, 2008

Bound on Earth, by Angela Hallstrom
I also loved this book. Loved, loved, loved it. Highly recommend it. This tag line describes it as well as I could: “Combining deep emotional candor and spare, elegant prose, Hallstrom’s debut novel is a poignant exploration of family, faith, and the ties that bind.”
(I have [...]

Seriously the best entertainment to come around in a long time, really

May 6, 2008

Foyle’s War.

The premise of this series is that detective Christopher Foyle is fighting home front battles against crime while younger men are out fighting the larger war. He is helped by war veteran Paul Milner and his driver, Samantha Stewart. It is set during World War II in Hastings on the south coast [...]

Still in training

April 28, 2008

Last night Dean and I watched the first couple episodes of the The Pallisers, a Victorian period piece based on novels by Anthony Trollope. I’m afraid the pacing and production values are a little too 1970s for me (which is to say, they’re slow and cheap,) (well, the costumes and sets don’t look cheap, [...]

Spring Break at Zion National Park Q&A

April 18, 2008

Q. When did you leave, and when did you get home?
A. We left Wednesday morning as early as we were ready, which is to say, 2 PM. We got home a couple of hours ago (this evening, Friday.)
Q. How far did you travel by car?
A. A distance of three or four baby [...]

Meet Phin Chase

April 10, 2008

Isaac had to make a doll-type thing to go with a book report; it was suggested he use a styrofoam ball on a pop bottle as a base. Yesterday after assembling the bottle and ball, Isaac was showing Dean the illustration on the book jacket, in particular the cap the boy is wearing in [...]

Mabel’s movie reviews (as told to me during lunch)

March 21, 2008

“I don’t mean to be rude to the cast of ‘Enchanted,’ but, compared to ‘Horton Hears a Who,’ I would give ‘Enchanted’ two stars, and I would give ‘Horton Hears a Who’ five stars. I thought ‘Enchanted’ was really good, but now that I’ve seen ‘Horton Hears a Who,’ fshooo, that thought just got [...]

If it makes me giggle for a full two minutes, I guess it’s worth sharing (now that I’ve said that, it won’t live up to the hype. Oh, well.)

March 19, 2008

How I found this: Mindy Kaling plays Kelly on The Office, and she’s also part of a group blog about products she likes, and the Office fansite Office Tally linked to it.

The nascent hair on a baby’s head is one of the cuter things God has provided us to look at. There’s barely any [...]

“Hooligan” by Doug Thayer

March 14, 2008

This was a pretty fun book — especially if you’ve ever lived in Provo, it’s fascinating to read so many details of what Provo was like in the Thirties and Forties. Thinking of my own ten-year-old son, I was envious on his behalf for the freedom and adventure that Thayer and the other boys [...]