casanova, green eggs and ham

If you only see one Heath Ledger movie this January, I wholeheartedly suggest you get yourself to a theater and check out Casanova. I am being serious! I saw Brokeback Mountain and yes, it was a marvelous movie, but not as marvelous as the short story – and I swear I'm not one of those obnoxious "but the book is better!" people about everything. Jim Gaffigan has a really funny routine on this topic that culminates with the line, "Yeah, you know what I liked about the movie? No reading." And that's kind of the problem I had with Brokeback Mountain – the story is just so beautifully written that I'm not sure any movie could have captured the feeling I got from the way Anne Proulx's words fit together. The acting was phenomenal, the cinematography marvelous, and it was certainly faithful to the story but, in the end, just not as good as the short story was for me. It's the reading!

Casanova, on the other hand! Casanova was MARVELOUS. I went to see it on Saturday with some friends and didn't have the highest expectations, knowing it had gotten middling reviews and all that (it's rotten on Rotten Tomatoes, so you can take my endorsement with a grain of salt), and the magic of lowered expectations may be the reason I found it to be the more awesome of the two Heath Ledger movies I saw in the past ten days. You know how sometimes, rarely, at the end of a movie, you find yourself turning to your friend and saying, "Well, I loved that movie!" That's the kind of movie Casanova was for me.

I mean, bear in mind: Ten minutes before the movie ended, someone in the theater exclaimed, "Well, that's RIDICULOUS," and I have to say, if you're the kind of person who cannot handle ridiculousness in a movie, then this movie may not be for you. But if you value ridiculousness, the good kind of ridiculousness, then I think you should check this movie out. And if you're wondering about good/bad ridiculousness: Good ridiculousness is Bringing Up Baby. Bad ridiculousness (a.k.a. guilty pleasure ridiculousness) is the TV movie I caught ten minutes of earlier today (starring Jay Thomas and a veritable smorgasbord of 90s TV talent – Amy Jo Johnson, Michelle Williams, Mario Lopez, Neve Campbell's abusive boyfriend from Party of 5). Personally, I enjoy ridiculousness in all its forms. Much like chocolate, I enjoy it in all its permutations.

It was just a very fun, funny, satisfying movie, with swordfights and mistaken identities and cross-dressing and jokes about the Pope and really pretty scenery. It's also one of those rare movies where the ending comes and it's just right. I loved it.

The other highlight of my weekend happened on Saturday, with my regular weekend tutoring session with R. We have fifteen minutes of reading at the end of our sessions, and recently we've been switching between auto magazines and Dr. Suess books (he really likes Dr. Suess – then again, who doesn't?). Anyway, I grabbed Green Eggs and Ham from the kids' section, and he opened it for the first time and proceeded to READ almost ALL of Green Eggs and Ham BY HIMSELF. The only reason he stopped before the end was the library closing down around us. I know this does not sound like much, but for someone who a year ago put up a months-long struggle over learning the word "put," it's a pretty exciting thing! I was so excited, he was so excited - it was a pretty great moment.

I put this here to mark the date for my personal records and, yes, to brag a little bit. I will be honest. But it isn't a completely selfish bragging event: I will be benevolent with my bragging and tell all of you that it was a truly awesome feeling for both R. and yours truly, and one any of you (who has time in your schedule) could experience for yourselves by becoming a Literacy Volunteer. You, too, could have your very own illiterate factory worker who looks like Santa Claus!

I should probably finish my work. I will hate myself tomorrow for being up this late. Oh well.