Quickie

Back to Richmond tomorrow from Pennsylvania. Getting ready for some visitors for New Years. I thought that was a week away, but it's Wednesday. Yikes. Major chill and movie-watching time will be had post.

*

My Mom has spent much time in the last years and months creating these amazing photo albums from the day I was born until I graduated college.

I don't really know how any gift could be better or more thoughtful than that.

She had to figure out all the years and months the pictures were taken, in addition to all the time and effort constructing them. And it was a very long process, as you can imagine. They're really something. It'll be amazing to have such fantastic thing to hopefully show my kids. Thanks, Mom. You're the best.

*

A few movie updates:

Towelhead - Alan Ball is overrated. His direction's also pretty bad. Too much of a Happiness ripoff and not enough originality. Took the lasciviousness and raunchiness way too far. Aaron Eckardt and Summer Bishil were the only bright spots.

The Wrestler - I've been hearing things like, "If Mickey Rourke didn't play the lead, then you wouldn't have a movie." Or, "This movie was written for Mickey Rourke." Well, yes, obviously. Since when is the pleasure of watching actors act such a horrible thing? The story's fairly straightforward, but Rourke should win an Oscar. And not only is Marisa Tomei ridiculously hot, but she's believable as the stripper. One of my favorites of the year, and I can't wait to watch it again. I never thought watching someone walk through the back of a grocery store would be so engaging. There's an energy to this movie that's palpable for me, and the dirty Jersey landscapes sometimes are amazing to pause and stare at.

Frozen River - A hit at Sundance, and I can see why. I'm not sure how excited I am to watch this again, but I felt like I was actually seeing something new-ish at least, something with blood pumping through it. A lot to admire, and very pretty to look at, even though to many the landscapes are probably bleak.

*

Picked up some books when I was visiting Jess in Pittsburgh at Half Priced Books, and one of them was Quan Barry's Controvertibles.

Does anyone else think that she's writing amazing poetry? Poetry that's putting many poets to shame? Am I the only one? So many poets are being talked about, but I never hear anything about Quan Barry.

The long lines and historical mash-ups in the book remind me of a balance between David Wojahn and Larry Levis. That's watered down. There's so much to take in every line.

Some of her titles knock me on my ass too. Even if the poems were bad. And Jesus are they not.