Dear Friend,
It's that time again! Time for a random list entry here at Dear Friend! Isn't that exciting? Random thoughts commence in 3... 2... 1....
1. I bought a ukulele, and boy is she fun! I can play Yellow Submarine, though I can't really sing it.
2. Speaking of Yellow Submarine, I'm in a Beatles mood/mania the past few days. I blame Beatles Rock Band, because it's loads of fun and the music is great.
3. I can't pinpoint why, but I anticipate being in an Elvis mood/mania next. I don't know much about Elvis, and have seen a grand total of 1 movie that he's been in, but I'm getting interested.
4. Jem is now playing weekdays on the HUB network. It couldn't be more 80's in it's "outrageous" music, fashions, and to be honest, stupidity. I love it.
5. I'm glad to know that the next season of Chuck will be the final. The last two seasons were all right, but I don't like it as much as I did when it first started.
6. Psych will not be on this summer, since it's been delayed to the fall season. I don't think summer will feel like summer without Psych.
7. Eagerly awaiting the new season of Leverage. I don't remember if I wrote about it here in my blog, but last year I was scary obsessed with that show. It is such fun to watch.
8. Even numbered random thoughts are better than odd numbered, don't you think?
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Saturday, May 07, 2011
I love Exapno Mapcase!
Dear Friend,
As I mentioned in my last entry I'm very much into comedy lately. When I want to laugh there aren't many sources of nonsense and merriment as reliable as the Marx Brothers. In watching so many Marx Brothers movies lately I got a little curious about them, especially Harpo. Harpo is my favorite of the brothers by a landslide, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that he had written a book, entitled Harpo Speaks.
After a friend pointed out to me that I could read part of the book at Amazon.com I decided I had to read this book. Fortunately one of the local library systems out here is wonderful at acquiring books if you put them on hold.
The first day I had the book checked out I read ten chapters. Did you read that? Ten chapters! These chapters weren't exactly small. But it was fascinating to read about his childhood. Reading about how he was consistently pushed out of the window of his second grade classroom every time the teacher left the room made me laugh and feel sorry for him at the same time. His descriptions of his daily life on the streets made me almost feel like I was right there with him. His life sounded hard, and lonely and fun and filled with family and just plain interesting. It was turning out to be an amazing book.
Then he met Alexander Woolcott. Don't get me wrong, obviously Harpo liked the guy, and had a lot of fun with him and his crowd, but... and I hate to put a "but" in there, I wasn't impressed. The things Harpo wrote about Aleck, and the Algonquin Round Table stuff didn't interest me. Sure, some of the stories he had to tell about that time in his life was funny, but most of it I breezed through, waiting for him to get back to talking about working with his brothers.
Eventually, though, the story moved on, thankfully. His description of his trip to the U.S.S.R. was a great read, and if you read it, you'll understand what the title of this entry means. My absolute favorite chapter of this book was the one in which he described meeting his wife, Susan. Everything after Susan came into his life was interesting to me. I loved to read about his family, and to see how obviously loved his kids. I guess I'm sappy that way.
My only real disappointment in the book was that there was so little written about his brothers. Most references were to Chico, especially stories about how the fact that they could pass for twins made trouble for Harpo when they were young. There were a few references to Gummo and Zeppo, but very little about Groucho. There also wasn't much said about making their films.
Still, this book was an interesting, funny and sometimes touching read. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who wanted to know more about Harpo. And, let's be honest, who doesn't want to know more about Harpo?
As I mentioned in my last entry I'm very much into comedy lately. When I want to laugh there aren't many sources of nonsense and merriment as reliable as the Marx Brothers. In watching so many Marx Brothers movies lately I got a little curious about them, especially Harpo. Harpo is my favorite of the brothers by a landslide, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that he had written a book, entitled Harpo Speaks.
After a friend pointed out to me that I could read part of the book at Amazon.com I decided I had to read this book. Fortunately one of the local library systems out here is wonderful at acquiring books if you put them on hold.
The first day I had the book checked out I read ten chapters. Did you read that? Ten chapters! These chapters weren't exactly small. But it was fascinating to read about his childhood. Reading about how he was consistently pushed out of the window of his second grade classroom every time the teacher left the room made me laugh and feel sorry for him at the same time. His descriptions of his daily life on the streets made me almost feel like I was right there with him. His life sounded hard, and lonely and fun and filled with family and just plain interesting. It was turning out to be an amazing book.
Then he met Alexander Woolcott. Don't get me wrong, obviously Harpo liked the guy, and had a lot of fun with him and his crowd, but... and I hate to put a "but" in there, I wasn't impressed. The things Harpo wrote about Aleck, and the Algonquin Round Table stuff didn't interest me. Sure, some of the stories he had to tell about that time in his life was funny, but most of it I breezed through, waiting for him to get back to talking about working with his brothers.
Eventually, though, the story moved on, thankfully. His description of his trip to the U.S.S.R. was a great read, and if you read it, you'll understand what the title of this entry means. My absolute favorite chapter of this book was the one in which he described meeting his wife, Susan. Everything after Susan came into his life was interesting to me. I loved to read about his family, and to see how obviously loved his kids. I guess I'm sappy that way.
My only real disappointment in the book was that there was so little written about his brothers. Most references were to Chico, especially stories about how the fact that they could pass for twins made trouble for Harpo when they were young. There were a few references to Gummo and Zeppo, but very little about Groucho. There also wasn't much said about making their films.
Still, this book was an interesting, funny and sometimes touching read. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who wanted to know more about Harpo. And, let's be honest, who doesn't want to know more about Harpo?
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