Pillow Talk

One of my childhood friends really loved the movie Pillow Talk, but I’d never actually seen it until I checked it out from the Library last week.  I found it to be a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it.  It’s about a young career woman, Jan, (played by Doris Day) who shares a ‘party line’ (basically a phone line) with lothario composer Brad (played by Rock Hudson).   Phone lines are so scarce that Jan can’t get her own, and Brad continues to hog the line, singing “original” tribute songs to different women.  Eventually the two meet, and Brad adopts the persona of Texan Rex Stetson in order to woo Jan.  The movie seemed to be a little risqué for the 1950s, and I think it’s still a pretty clever romantic comedy. 

Homework Assignment

I have an assignment for the next two weeks: listen to some rock music and identify the accents in the guitar riffs. I’m sure it’s okay if I listen to blues, too, so I went on over to iTunes and found a few songs in various genres that I thought would be great. Thankfully, I remembered that we probably have some good stuff in our collection before I went hogwild with Leadbelly purchases. And there’s lots of other recordings of American roots music. Now to remember all this when I’m actually at the library. I’ve got lots of listening to do!

Book Covers

Today I read a little piece on book covers-why books written by women (or featuring female protagonists)-are often pink or otherwise “girly,” even when that doesn’t jibe with the book’s subject matter.  When I’m at the bookstore or library, covers certainly draw my attention to a book-I’m tempted to pick up those that look ‘fun’ but not too silly or cheap.  I’ve certainly picked up some that would seem to fall into the ‘chick lit’ category, only to put them down again after reading back jackets that seem to describe a much more depressing story.  What do you think of this type of advertising? One chick lit book that I’ve read and enjoyed is Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. (If you enjoy book cover design, Stephanie had recommended the hilarious “Judge a Book by it’s Cover” blog.)

Shakespeare on the Common

Every summer the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company puts on a free performance of one of Shakespeare’s plays on the Boston Common. This year’s show, As You Like It, is currently being performed at the Parkman Bandstand on the Common. As You Like It is a comedy about love, loyalty and friendship. I had not previously read or seen this particular play but I very much enjoyed it and would highly recommend it. It’s playing now through Sunday August 3rd. So, if you like Shakespeare, or are just looking for something to do that won’t cost you anything, grab some friends and a picnic and head down to the Boston Common.