Woohoo! It's going to hit 100 degrees today which means it's finally summer! I'm super pumped.
But first, the Sunday Snapshot.
Currently reading:
Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas: I have never DNF'd a Kleypas book in my life, but I almost did this one. It is moving SO. FREAKING. SLOWLY. Is it the goal of romance publishers to make readers feel like they're watching paint dry? Because it certainly feels like that sometimes.
Judgment of Paris by George M Taber: I actually wanted to read Shadows in the Vineyard, but my library didn't have that in ebook, so I decided to try this one while waiting for Shadows to come in on hold.
Posted:
Go to Book Riot to check out four recent reviews of books about art crime! There's also my list of recommended rosé wines perfect for summer.
Movies watched:
The sequel to Somm, which focuses more on the wines somms love than the sommeliers themselves. I'll admit I got a little bored during the last half hour, but I learned a lot from this documentary anyway. The best part of the whole film is seeing super-rare and expensive bottles opened and tasted, like a 1969 Dom Ruinart (only 18 left in the world) or a 1966 Mondavi, the first wine Mondavi produced. Since this is probably the closest I'll ever get to tasting such wines, I enjoyed it.
This film is in Japanese with English subtitles, and I know what you're thinking: I don't want to read a movie. Well, I don't blame you, but there are two reasons you should watch this film anyway. One, the cinematography is absolutely gorgeous. Who knew rice could look so beautiful. And two, there are a whole bunch of man feels going on in this movie. Also, I bet you dollars to donuts after you watch this you'll appreciate your next drink of saké 1000x more, because that is a shit ton of work, people!
Season the second of Chef's Table is now available on Netflix, and it's much better than the first season. For one, there's a lot more diversity. Even though many of the chefs trained in the US, they cook different styles of cuisine in different parts of the world, and one is entirely self-taught. There are even two female chefs! We are getting dangerously close to equality here, people. And for two, none of the chefs came across as narcissitic arseholes, which was helpful.
Watched this one because my mom was like, "Why does everything we watch have to be about food?" Nina Simone is a name familiar to anyone with even a passing interest in jazz, not to mention the Civil Rights Movement of the '60s. But despite her talent and prestige, Simone abruptly disappeared from the public eye only to reemerge close to the end of her life living as practically a beggar in Paris. So what happened? You can probably take a wild guess and land on the answer, but that doesn't mean the film isn't worth watching for its portrayal, which is the perfect balance of sympathetic and unflinchingly honest.
This week[s] in heidenkindom:
Another busy few weeks down the drain. This week I was under deadline to get the final version of my upcoming book, The Introvert's Guide to Drinking Alone, uploaded on Amazon (if you don't do it by the deadline they revoke your publishing privileges for a year), so I was occupied mostly with that. Remind me when I write another book to do it in an HTML editor, because formatting something for an ebook after writing it in a typical word processing program is a N I G H T M A R E. But! I got it done, so whew.
The week before last, I went up to the Denver Art Museum for the press preview of Women of Abstract Expressionism. This the first ever (!) art exhibit to focus exclusively on female abstract expressionists. It's really cool. Here are a few photo highlights:
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| Joan Mitchell and Lee Krasner rooms. |
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| Helen Frankenthaler room. |
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| Detail from Incision by Jay Defeo. |
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| All Green by Mary Abbott. |
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| Autumn Leaves by Ethel Schwabacher. |
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| Pennington I/Pellham II by Ethel Schwabacher (she was my favorite). |
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| Woman by Judith Godwin. |
Bonus:
This is pretty dang cool: a painting of a prehistoric octopus made from squid ink discovered in a 95-million-years-old fossil!
Have an excellent week, everyone!
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