My day

I went to Seattle today to have lunch with a good friend who is in the area visiting relatives.  We ate at a great little French restaurant called Le Pichet (the pitcher).  Here's their website:

http://lepichetseattle.com/pages/home.php

It was a little bit of Paris!  It looked exactly like the restaurants we had been to when we were there.  It was so good to see my friend Mary again after many years.  The weather was perfect; the sun came out in the afternoon.  It was a great day!

Curb your Enthusiasm

I finished watching the 7th season of Larry David's series on HBO called Curb your Enthusiasm today.  The DVD came out recently and I was able to pick it up from my local library.  This season is a special one since Larry reunited the Seinfeld cast to play themselves on Curb in a very satisfying reunion.  This is actually funnier than the finale for the Seinfeld series (which they make fun of on Curb).  It's really great to see Jerry and Larry (and Jason, Julia & Michael) interact and see the old sets from the show.  Of course this being Curb, everyone is playing heightened versions of themselves and they do a lot of improvising.  The DVD has some good bonus features including an interview with the cast.  For a big Seinfeld fan like me, this was a must see and as Jason Alexander commented, we are not likely to see it again.  Larry David is brilliant to have come up with this show within a show idea and he also sprinkles bits and story lines from Seinfeld throughout the episodes of Curb.  I should probably point out that there is adult language and situations that are for mature audiences.

book news

I went to Seattle today and checked out a favorite bookstore of mine called Elliott Bay Book Company.  They moved to a new location which is more out of way for me but the new store looks good, same wood floors and big selection of books with recommendations from the staff.  They don't have used books anymore but they have a bargain book section and I found what looks like a great one.  It's called Case Histories and is written by Kate Atkinson.  It's a mystery with a glowing recommendation on the cover from Stephen King no less!  Here are some reviews -

http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/case_histories/

I hope to read it soon and when I do I'll post a review.

4th season of Mad Men premieres tonight!!!

I think AMC's summer series Mad Men is arguably the best show on TV these days.  The show takes place in the 60's and revolves around a Manhattan advertising agency.  It's very historically accurate, the acting is brilliant, the writing is outstanding, the costumes are fantastic and it's critically acclaimed.  Mad Men has won back to back Emmy's and is up for that honor again this year.  The only problem is that very few people I know watch Mad Men which frustrates me to no end!  Well, now is a good time to start watching since things will have changed since the end of season 3 and you should be able to catch up.  There are many blogs that discuss the show including Entertainment Weekly -  check out Ken Tucker's reviews of the show on http://www.ew.com/.  Anyway, I'll be watching!

Jon Hamm

Don Draper

Anniversary Trip to Europe

The London Eye

I have started to add some photos from our recent trip to Europe.  I plan to talk about that trip a lot and add more pictures as soon as I can.  We went to Bath (in England), London, Paris, Bruges and Amsterdam and followed the advice from Rick Steves' travel books.  It was fantastic! 

Dragon Tattoo movie

I just read that David Fincher (who directed Se7en, Fight Club and was nominated for the Best Director Oscar for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) will direct Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  Daniel Craig (the current James Bond) is in talks to star as Mikael Blomkvist.  Ellen Page (Juno, Inception) has been talked about to play Lisbeth Salander but she would not be my first choice for the part.  I think they should cast an unknown actress but of course nobody asked me!
hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2010/07/21/girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-casting-whos-in-the-mix-now/

Current book

I just started reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson. This is the 3rd book in the so-called Millennium trilogy that began with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, followed by The Girl Who Played with Fire. I read the first 2 books in the series quite awhile ago but the latest one does a great job of recapping what went on previously so I didn't feel lost. I think this one could probably be read without reading the first 2 but I recommend reading them all in order. I actually haven't gotten that far (I'm on page 50) but I hope to get some reading done soon.

They have already made movies of the first 2 books in Sweden but I haven't had a chance to see them yet. Soon Hollywood will be making their versions. Right now they are considering a bunch of actors (I've heard Brad Pitt's name mentioned) and I'm curious to see who will end up with the coveted parts of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomquist.

More on this book later once I get into it some more! I like it so far...:)

My first blog post!

I always wanted to start a blog so here goes! I read all the time, one book after the other and actually don't feel like myself unless I'm into a book! I'm really passionate about books and hope to encourage others to read more. I'll tell you what I'm currently reading, what I plan to read and whether I liked the book I just read. I am a member of a great online book club called goodreads (see what your friends are reading is their slogan) and I have met great people through this site. Check out www.goodreads.com to meet other people who love to read! It's a lot of fun.

I am also a huge movie fan and my husband and I usually watch 2 or 3 movies a week. I'd love to talk about the movies I watch and also I have some favorite TV shows that are fun to discuss.

I try to keep abreast of what's going on in the world of pop culture. Also, my husband and I recently took a trip to Europe and I plan to talk about that and hope to post some photos. Oh, and one other thing about me is I'm a big fan of Seinfeld and I can usually find a Seinfeld quote to apply to any situation!

So that's my introduction to this blog. Hope someone out there finds it interesting!