Search results matching tags 'humor' and 'fiction'

Elizabeth II, in Film and Fiction

myzticrhythmz@evpl — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 19:45:00 GMT

Britain’s Royal Family is always a source of curiosity, and their Monarch is no exception. Queen Elizabeth II, who celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, has been featured in a number of films, documentaries, and books over the past several years. Here are a few to enjoy.

The Queen, a 2006 feature film starring Oscar-winner Helen Mirren, portrays the turmoil in the Royal Family in the days following Diana, Princess of Wales’ death. This film portrays the public’s strong sentiment in favor of the Princess, as the Queen struggles with a proper response to her former daughter-in-law’s death. Mirren’s portrayal is sensitive, with a bit of humor thrown in, and well worth the viewing.

As Queen, Elizabeth has sometimes seemed detached from her subjects, and fiction authors have responded by imagining her in creative ways. Alan Bennett’s The Uncommon Reader poses a unique notion: What if Queen Elizabeth became such an avid reader that she loses interest in her “duty,” and becomes more introspective and sympathetic to others? This novella is a quick, pithy read, and sure to bring a smile.

Author William Kuhn creates a different scenario for the Queen. In Mrs. Queen Takes the Train, the longtime Sovereign of the United Kingdom ponders what she might be find missing in her life. The answer, strangely enough, is Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia, the former Royal Yacht of the British monarch. Alone on an inclement winter’s day, Elizabeth grows restless. First, she decides to visit one of her horses, also named Elizabeth. Then she’s off to the cheese store to buy Elizabeth (the horse) some of her favorite cheese. And finally, Elizabeth boards a public train bound for Scotland to visit her beloved yacht. The chaos that ensues among the Queen’s staff and acquaintances by her unexpected journey helps cement relationships, and demonstrates loyalty beyond “duty” to their Sovereign. This book, like The Queen and The Uncommon Reader, adds a bit of warmth and compassion to a celebrated historical figure.

For more in the Library’s catalog about Queen Elizabeth, click here.

Grab a warm cup of tea and your favorite QEII tale, and enjoy!

Recent Chick Lit Reads

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:33:00 GMT

In the past few weeks since my last blog post, I have been on a chick-lit rampage. I have been speed-reading through recent releases like I don't have a hundred other things to do. Laundry piled up, kitchen didn't get cleaned, and packing for my move didn't happen. These three books are part of the reason that I have been slacking.

Prospect Park West by Amy Sohn takes place in Brooklyn's prosperous Park Slope neighborhood. The lives of four women intersect as they deal with husbands, children, and playground politics. Not earth-shattering reading, but worth a chance if you have the time.

Mercury in Retrograde by Paula Froelich has a cover strikingly similar to Prospect Park West. Froelich's novel takes place across the bridge in Manhattan where three women who are down on their luck join forces to get their lives back in order. The ending is pretty predictable, but it is an enjoyable read.

Going across the pond to England, Sophie Kinsella's latest book, Twenties Girl, introduces us to Sadie, a wild flapper from the 1920s and her great-niece, Lara, living in present-day London. Sadie has passed away alone in a retirement home, but her spirit remains on Earth pushing Lara to find who stole Sadie's prized possession. True to Kinsella form, this book is laugh out loud funny and highly recommended.

Happy Reading!

"Hot Fuzz" a modern spoof film worth watching

professor.knowsitall@evpl — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:20:00 GMT

While channel surfing several weekends ago, I happened upon Naked Gun 33 1/3 airing on Comedy Central. I used to love the Naked Gun series, with Leslie Nielsen portraying a bumbling Lieutenant Frank Drebin. It made me recall some of the other "classic" (I use that word subjectively) spoof films of the late 80s and early 90s, like Spaceballs, Hot Shots!, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Okay, so none of these movies are all that great, but I still enjoy them to this day. And it's not just from nostalgia-goggles...the lame, in-your-face comedy cracks me up.

I then thought about the current state of the spoof movie...and it's a bit painful. From the Scary Movie's to Meet the Spartans to Superhero/Date/Epic/Disaster Movie, things have come a long way. In my opinion (and on IMDB & Rotten Tomatoes), most of these movies are unwatchable. But someone's watching them, as they all make millions (and Sci-Fi Movie & Scary Movie 5 are in the works).

It was there, in the midst of that frightening darkness, that I recalled a beacon of hope...a 2007 film called Hot Fuzz. I rewatched it to get the bad taste out of my mouth and was amazed...a modern spoof movie that's witty & funny!

Hot Fuzz, in a nutshell, is a spoof on the "buddy cop" movie (i.e. Rush Hour, Bad Boys) from the guys that created Shaun of the Dead (a romantic comedy, with zombies!). Here's the official plot summary, better than what I could come up with:

Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is the finest cop London has to offer, with an arrest record 400% higher than any other officer on the force. He's so good, he makes everyone else look bad. As a result, Angel's superiors send him to a place where his talents won't be quite so embarrassing - the sleepy and seemingly crime-free village of Sandford.

Once there, he is partnered with the well-meaning but overeager police officer Danny Butterman (Nick Frost). The son of amiable Police Chief Frank Butterman, Danny is a huge action movie fan and believes his new big-city partner might just be a real-life "bad boy," and his chance to experience the life of gunfights and car chases he so longs for. Angel is quick to dismiss this as childish fantasy and Danny's puppy-like enthusiasm only adds to Angel's growing frustration.

However, as a series of grisly accidents rocks the village, Angel is convinced that Sandford is not what it seems and as the intrigue deepens, Danny's dreams of explosive, high-octane, car-chasing, gunfighting, all-out action seem more and more like a reality. It's time for these small-town cops to break out some big-city justice.

This movie is absolutely hysterical! Pegg & Frost always work great together, and Hot Fuzz continues that trend. Their dialogue, characterization, everything is A+! Every "buddy cop" and over-the-top action movie cliche is taken on here. Whether it's the humorously-overdone gore, the hilariously-brilliant plot you won't see coming, the insane gunfight at the end, the FOUR cliffhanger endings, or "firing your gun in the air and yelling 'aaaahhhhh!!!'" (ala Point Break), you will laugh profusely while watching this movie. Unless you have a condition that prevents you from laughing.

Below is a short clip of one of my favorite scenes. If you find yourself laughing, you owe it to yourself to watch the whole movie!

(Please visit the site to view this media)

More Information

Library Catalog: Check the availability of Hot Fuzz on DVD. The EVPL has widescreen and fullscreen versions.
Theatrical Trailer: Check out the theatrical trailer for a glimpse of the humor, guns, & gore.
User Reviews: The movie has an 8.0/10 rating on IMDB and a 90% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Elementary, my dear Peabody ...

myzticrhythmz@evpl — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:37:00 GMT

There are some books you read to stay current and informed, and some that you read because you "should" or you "have to". Then there are the books you read simply for the pure enjoyment of reading them.

One of my favorite fun reads is the Amelia Peabody mystery series by Elizabeth Peters. This series features intrepid Egyptologist Amelia Peabody Emerson (aka "Peabody") and is set between 1884 and 1923, mostly in Egypt. Our heroine is a wry, progressive woman, madly in love with her husband Professor Radcliffe Emerson (aka "Emerson," or the "Father of Curses" to the native Egyptians), and ever-watchful of her precocious son Ramses. What makes this series so appealing is the interplay between characters, the witty dialogue, and the realistic way Peters paints turn-of-the-twentieth-century archaeology.

I have not read this series in order but have gone back to the beginning to pick up some of the first books. My most recent read was Lion in the Valley. This story has Peabody, Emerson, Ramses and their entourage excavating pyramids, accompanied by a companion for Ramses and a wayward young woman in Amelia's care. The latter come with their own troubles, and when you add a couple of kidnappings, a couple of murders, and the return of Amelia's arch-enemy, the "Master Criminal," the Emersons (and readers) are in for quite an adventure.

Give It Up

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:41:00 GMT

It is time for Janet Evanovich to stop writing Stephanie Plum novels. I mean it. I started reading the series seven years ago when Seven Up was the most recently released book in the series and it quickly became my favorite series. I still read the new ones as they come out; I can't stop. They really aren't very good anymore, though. So I really wish Janet Evanovich would just stop writing them so I'd no longer feel compelled to read them. I suppose the real problem is that people can't seem to stop buying them, so then the publisher tells her to "Write more, plea$e!".

For those of you who are not familiar with the series, Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter in Trenton, New Jersey and she's... well... not always very good at her job. There's a whole cast of great characters that includes her long-suffering mother, her spunky grandmother, Joe Morelli (a cop and also Stephanie's boyfriend... usually), Ranger (her hot bounty hunting mentor) and Lula (an ex-hooker turned file clerk). It begins with One for the Money, and keeps going with titles like Two for the Dough and Three to get Deadly-- they all have numbers in the titles. Well, they all have numbers in the titles except for the "between-the-numbers" books like Visions of Sugar Plums, Plum Lovin', Plum Lucky and the one I finished reading just last night, Plum Spooky.

The first 10 or so are good, fun reads but sometime after that they start to slip. They all have entertaining moments, but I haven't found any of the last four or five to be wild roller coasters of hilarity like the earlier books are. This most recent one (Plum Spooky) was even kind of anti-climatic. The stories are not as entertaining as they once were and then there are the inconsistencies. It's not that her pet hamster Rex seems to be immortal or that cell phones and the internet sort of appeared out of nowhere a few books back. What bothers me is that at some point Joe Morelli became only mostly her boyfriend while Ranger became a sort of alternative. A lot of people are going to disagree with me here. Most fans have their own personal preference for one man or the other and my preference is for Joe. I suspect she cooled things down between Stephanie and Joe because Ranger is actually the more popular pick. Fine; everyone is free to have their own opinion, but I don't think it did anything for the on-going story of Stephanie Plum's life; the background for all of her bounty hunting escapades. It also bothers me that her sister Valerie has sort of disappeared. It's true she got annoying for awhile with her and her husband Albert calling each other Cuddleumpkins and what-not, but why is she gone? The last several books have only just mentioned her or left her out completely. Stephanie's niece (one of Valerie's daughters) Mary Alice would have fit in perfectly with the plot of Plum Lucky, but she was nowhere to be found.

Worse still, the "between-the-numbers" books are getting out of hand. Plum Spooky is just as long as most of the number books, meaning she's now trying to turn out two full-length Stephanie Plum novels a year, plus her other writing. Oh, yeah, by the way Finger Lickin' Fifteen is due out in June. I just don't see how this could be good.

Janet Evanovich's website

"Chuck" is about a nerd that becomes a spy...essentially my life story

professor.knowsitall@evpl — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:50:00 GMT

In the television show Chuck, Charles "Chuck" Bartowski plays your typical 20-something computer-geek, stuck in a dead-end job at Buy More's Nerd Herd (a less-than-subtle parody of Best Buy's Geek Squad). He lives an uneventful life with his sister Ellie, until one day when he receives an email from his long-lost friend Bryce. Turns out Bryce is a rogue CIA agent, and his email contains an entire government database of top secret info, which embeds itself into Chuck's brain upon viewing.

Both the NSA and CIA want the intelligence returned to them and dispatch agents of their own - Major John Casey and Sarah Walker - to "retrieve" that data. When the original database is destroyed, Chuck has the only copy of that data, so he is forced to become a spy. Chuck's decision to keep his new-found occupation a secret from his family and friends, and to live his life as normally as possible, forces Casey and Walker to establish an uneasy alliance and secret identities (Walker poses as Chuck's girlfriend and takes a cover job at the local restaurant next to the Buy More while Casey gets a job at the Buy More), with the shared goal of protecting Chuck at all costs.

Seeing specific people/things causes Chuck to "flash", subliminally retrieving data about the person/object from the government database in his mind. Chuck uses this ability to help John & Sarah thwart evildoers and save the entire world from impending doom.

Sarah is an incredibly attractive female spy, and as they continue their "fake" relationship Chuck's feelings for her become real. There is lots of romantic tension, often mocked by smart-aleck comments by John (portrayed by Adam Baldwin, of Full Metal Jacket & Firefly/Serentity fame).

This show is brilliant, tied with The Office as my favorite current TV show. The cast is excellent, with real chemistry. The plots, while far-fetched, are extremely well-thought out, always resulting in hilarity and the unexpected. And the emotion evoked by the tension between Chuck & Sarah (not helped by Ellie's constant "I'm so happy you finally found a girlfriend" remarks), his belief that Sarah is way out of his nerd-league, the experiences with his ex-girlfriend (who re-appears in season 2), and his quest for more (a normal life and better job, for starters) creates endearing, genuine characters.

Season 1 was released on DVD & Blu-ray a couple months ago, and season 2 (which is even better than season 1) is currently airing on Monday nights at 7pm on NBC. It's a show you really need to watch in order, so check out the season 1 DVDs, catch up on the previous season 2 episodes at NBC.com, and watch the latest episode every Monday night!

More Information

EVPL Catalog: Check on the availability of Chuck: The Complete First Season on DVD at EVPL libraries.
NBC.com: Official website of Chuck. Find out more about the show, and watch full episodes from season 2!
Amazon: Buy Chuck: The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-ray using these links, and the Public Library Friends will receive a portion of your purchase!

Perfect fireside reading for Fall

librarianinheels@evpl — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:58:00 GMT

When I was a kid, I loved to prop myself up in a wing chair by the fire, stick my feet out, and read a good book. While I don't have a fireplace in my house, I have established a comfortable little reading ritual for myself when the nights are cool, and this fall I'm reading a few books that I think the casual reader might enjoy.

For those of you out there who really enjoy material that might be classified as "chick lit", but you like your fiction served up with some humor and a little bit of social criticism, try anything by Marian Keyes. Keyes is an Irish author and one of my favorites - her books are alternately entertaining and thought-provoking. Right now, I am reading Angels, an installment in her non-sequential saga of the five Walsh sisters. I have read Watermelon, Rachel's Holiday and Anybody Out There?, about Claire, Rachel and Anna - this book is about Maggie and I'm still waiting for the book about Helen, the most outrageous of the Walsh sisters. (hopefully Keyes will write one soon...it should be the best, the most hysterically funny of the bunch...maybe that is why it's taking her so long to write it?) This Charming Man is Keyes' latest novel (and for those of us old enough to remember - it's also the name of a song by the Smiths)...about the interworkings of toxic relationships between four different women and one man. The subject matter is more intense than Keyes has tackled in the past - but this one really seems like it will deliver, as hers always do. It's our November selection for our chick lit book discussion at Oaklyn.

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent is a novel based in truth, set in 1691-1692 Massachusetts Bay Colony and centers around a family's involvement the Salem witch trials. It's engrossing reading...particularly when you realize that Kathleen Kent, the author, is a descendant of the family portryed in the novel. I am really enjoying it. Perfect fall reading...so curl up by the fire (or with a bunch of pillows, some cherry Hershey kisses, and a warm blankie - and a cat or two...) and dig in!