So...is it possible to be a Godfather geek? See, I know you can be a Trekkie, a Star Wars geek, a LotR geek, an X-Phile, a Matrix geek, etc. Or (in my case) a horror film geek. (To a certain extent.) But how 'bout The Godfather? The reason I ask is...I think I'm on my way.

Now, I'm certainly not there yet. I've only seen it maybe 4 times and never seen part 2 all the way through. But the potential is definately there. I'm at the point now where I can (and often have to) explain things to Megan when we watch. Of course, that's not an exceptionally hard point to reach. (I love you, Meg. hehe.) And I'm in the middle of the book. Which is kind of fun, because you get background info that they couldn't fit into the movie and personal thoughts that you can't get in a movie without VO narration. Which would be annoying. And those type of things are one of the major reasons that I read fanfic. And, since there is apparently no fanfiction on The Godfather (except for one very strange series on fanfiction.net) the novel is a good thing for me. hehe.

But I like the movie better. Sometimes, you can be more subtle with a film. Certainly, in this case. Now, the author's not bad at all, but he tends to be of the "tell rather than show" school. Whereas, in a movie, you have to show rather than tell. Unless you have the aforementioned VO narration. 8) And everyone in the movie is a phenomenal actor. (Note that we say actor not necessarily because the phrase actor/actress is clunky but because there are really no women to speak of. I mean, we've got Kay (annoying), Connie (more annoying), Apollonia (cute) and Mama Corleone (does the woman have a first name?). And do we really need women? No! Take that, Xenarwen, Warrior Princess! Go back to Rivendell and let Eowyn do her job. Ahem.) Back to the actors. Marlon Brando goes without saying...and we'll pretend that we haven't seen The Island of Dr. Moreau. And I'm very fond of Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen. (The scene where he tells the Don about Sonny - so cute! Poor boy needs a hug.)

But really...nothing is better than Al Pacino. Beautiful performance, truly. To the point where it's not Al Pacino - he is Michael Corleone. He's so quiet, that's what I love about him. I think he raises his voice maybe once. You find yourself listening extra hard when he talks just because he is so quiet. It doesn't hurt that he's absolutely gorgeous. Especially with his hair mussed. 8) Even if the movie sucked I might watch it for that.

(I swear to God that Al Pacino's taller now than he was when he made The Godfather. He is shorter in that movie than I've ever seen him. Really. I love that. It creates a wonderful dynamic. And it makes you want to pick Michael up and put him in your pocket. hehe.)

Anyway...go see The Godfather. I probably will as well. Because I am on my way to ubergeekdom and I will reach my goal. hehe.

("Circumlocution," said Mr. Croup to Mr. Vandemar. "It's a way of speaking around something. A digression. Verbosity." Mr. Vandemar nodded. "I wondered," he said.)

And now for something completely different (and much less serious...)

You are 52% geek

You are a geek. Good for you! Considering the endless complexity of the universe, as well as whatever discipline you happen to be most interested in, you'll never be bored as long as you have a good book store, a net connection, and thousands of dollars worth of expensive equipment. Assuming you're a technical geek, you'll be able to afford it, too. If you're not a technical geek, you're geek enough to mate with a technical geek and thereby get the needed dough. Dating tip: Don't date a geek of the same persuasion as you. You'll constantly try to out-geek the other.

Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com

The B-Movie That Suits Me Is: Robot Monster: Although Blood Feast might deserve this title better, Robot Monster is known as the king of crappy movies. Unlike Blood Feast, this movie played in major theatres. One of the writters took it so seriously that when the movie got much deserved bad reviews, he attempted suicide. In his mind it was art. Find out which b-movie suits you.

Hahahaha! Gorilla suits and diving helmets! Bubbling communication devices! (I really should see this movie someday...)

Book Worm Meter for sara

Shut In 93% . . 7% Out Of The House Intellectual 77% . . 23% Moron High Attention Span 95% . . 5% Low Attention Span Bookitude 96% . . 4% Book Burner Book Worm 90.25% . . 9.75% Bug Stomper

Take your bookworm readings.

Some musings on rock music and Discworld novels

Ahem...Yeah, I just finished reading Soul Music for the second time. I had avoided rereading it for some time because I didn't remember it being one of my favorites. But I was at the library and out of reading material for the moment and there it was. So I got it and read it in about a day. So.

Also, you should probably be told that my dad recently purchased Bruce Springsteen's new CD, The Rising. And it rocks. Completely. It's hard and it's warm and it screams and dances and cries. Tell me that Meet me at Mary's Place doesn't make you want to dance. Just you try to tell me that. You can't, can you? See, I knew it.

Now, I'll listen to just about anything. (With the possible exception of rap music and certain kinds of honky-tonk.) As long as it's lyrically interesting, it's good in my book. But Bruce...well, he's the man. The Boss. He writes songs that aren't just songs, they're ballads. And not the soppy romantic kind you're thinking of. (Though there's a time and place for that, too.) They're about things. Not just "I love you, you love me, blah blah blah..." And that's hard to find. There's a reality to his music. The pain you feel in it is real. That harmonica solo at the beginning of The River - that hits like a punch to the gut. It's painful and that's good. (It didn't hurt that for the longest time, I thought the line was "And into the river we'll die" instead of "dive". Changes the whole meaning of the song, I can tell you. And shows you how morbid my thought processes are. But Bruce is a mumbler.) But there's so much hope, too. Meet me at Mary's Place or Thunder Road or (my God!) Born to Run - they're like religious experiences, gospel numbers of the best and most perfect kind, prayers to a god that knows that we're lonely and lost and will take us to a place were the guitars are hot, the sax is smooth and the drumbeat fills your whole body.

(I promise - these weirdly poetic ones only come along once in awhile. Not very often. After, this is only really the second one we've had.)

And this brings us to Terry Pratchett, author of the fabulous, wonderful, fantastically funny Discworld novels. When they're good (and they are always good) they make me laugh and when they are better (this happens more often than not) they make me cry. (Go, thou, and seek them out. You will thank me for it, O my little brothers.) And Soul Music. The Discworld meets Rock 'n' Roll. Or, at least, Music with Rocks In. (Thank God for the British!) Everything from Buddy Holly to the leopard with the hearing problem and a lead singer who looks suspiciously "elvish" (providing the longest setup to a joke I think I've ever seen). And, on top of that, it's a Death novel. Which means it's going to make you think a little bit. About life and duty and family and loneliness and the proper way to make a tree swing. And the music. Always the music. The eternal dance and the empty chord.

Aw, heck, I can't do it proper justice. Go and find it. (And when you're done, find Reaper Man and Hogfather and Jingo...just read them, dang it!)

But Mr Pratchett, he gets it right. And so does Bruce. Burn across the sky. Damn right.


(Mr. Croup: Well, there really wasn't a circumlocution today.
Mr. Vandemar: No. There wasn't.
Mr. Croup: But she didn't mention Messrs Pin and Tulip or mothballs, so perhaps we'll forgive her.
Mr. Vandemar: Don't like mothballs.
Mr. Croup: No.)

The problem with being home is finding a place to watch movies that no one else wants to watch. There are 2 televisions in the house. One is extremely exposed in the middle of the den which is in the middle of the very open downstairs level. The other is in my sisters' room and my middle sister guards her territory fiercely. So, my choices are to watch movies in front of everyone (or in the middle of the night when no one's around) or to beg Megan to use her room. And it's very hard to find a movie I want to see that my family's not going to mock me for in some way. I think I scared them away slightly with The Wicker Man but trying to watch things like The Return of the Joker is just asking for mockery. Ah, well. Soon I will be in my dorm room with a little tv and my computer.

Speaking of the computer, the saga is now ended. My parents are getting a new computer and so I to get the old one. Which works for me. It has a DVD player. Bwa ha! So my quest for the LotR DVD will not be as silly as once it was. And I can start buying DVDs...when I have money. Which I don't.

And, speaking of LotR, I went to 2 moveis in the theater this week (Signs, which was very good and Reign of Fire which was a lot of fun) and both of them had Two Towers trailers on them! Ahh, so exciting. Theoden and Eowyn and Grima and Saruman and Gandalf, returned from the dead new and improved and with color-safe bleach. So much fun! (If they kill Grima in the next movie, I will hurt someone. Very badly.) Oh, and Gollum! Smeagol! hehe...also very exciting. (Yes, for the next four months you get to hear about LotR from time to time. I am obsessed.) I love the Two Towers. It's my favorite of the books, so I'm very excited about this movie. I can't wait!