koosie

Well, it's angry because I'm blocking it's beautiful forehead from the photo.

Actually, I'm looking forward to Monday, since there's someone in the English department who I urgently need to talk to, but she ran off for a couple of weeks and will finally be back in business then. Are you dreading tomorrow then? I'll send you "Talk of the Town" in my next, if you want.

Well, I've been making some progress with Harold, so that's good. As for the rain, yeah, it was pretty miserable today, I was stuck inside for most of it. I think that Crackers and Cheese must be a metaphor, but I can't work out what. I think that the song itself has something to do with inter-racial relationships.

Don't throw stones from your house of glass - that's advice which Bruce Hornsby gives in his song "Talk of the Town". Oddly enough that line precedes a second bit of caution, to stay away from Crackers and Cheese. You'll get in trouble if you mess with these.

Yes, I loved Christopher Lloyd in that movie. His character gets a much rawer deal within the book, which I actually read a couple of years before seeing the film. As with the SR, the film's better, but the book's still worth reading. As for Mr. Kesey, well he did make that brilliant quote about the 60s not being over until the fat lady gets high.

BTW, you have seen One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, right? If not then I may have to kill you. It's the other classic incarceration movie, and it's been around for a lot longer than the Shawshank Redemption so there's even less of an excuse.

Done.

And yes, the Green Mile (also King, also Darabont) certainly has nothing upon the Shawshank Redemption. It kind of made me feel really heartless that, when I watched the Green Mile with my mum and my brother, I was the only one who wasn't crying at the end. I always cry at the end of Jacob's Ladder though. And the Shawshank Redemption does have a handful of scenes which make me really swell up. As for Dog Day Afternoon, I have that on my rental list, but they haven't sent it to me yet. Sadly, I missed my opportunity to see it on the big screen a couple of years ago. They were playing it at the student cinema, but I had an essay due in the following day which I really needed to work upon.

And you should see Ratatouille too.

Well, you're seriously missing out, is all I can say. I don't mean to get on my high horse and tue, I know that I have a long, long way to go before my own such existence is completely fulfilled (assuming that I live long enough), but I think that the Shawshank Redemption would be a very sad thing to deny oneself of, it's a really wonderful piece of film-making. And Mr. Robbins has been in lots of great movies that I can think of - as well as the Hudsucker Proxy and the SR, there's also Jacob's Ladder, the Player, Bob Roberts, Short Cuts, Bull Durham (though I like Susan Sarandon better in that one) and Mystic River. And he directed Dead Man Walking. In my eyes he's a fantastic bloke. And Morgan's cool too, of course.

Well, the ending to Apt Pupil (the novella) has a SERIOUSLY bleak conclusion. I can tell you what happens in email or PM, if you like, so you can compare - I wouldn't want to spell it out here in case someone else unfamiliar with the story should stumble across it and resent me for it.

Koosie, that's appalling, I can't believe I just read that! Eh, sorry, but the Shawshank Redemption honestly is one of those movies which if you've never seen, then I really don't know what to do with you. In short, get yourself down to Blockbuster now, my son! It's awesome, and it's got Tim Robbins (Norville Barnes). He plays a strong-willed lifer with an obsession with Rita Hayworth and rocks. I must have seen it...well over thirty times. That's no exaggeration.

Yeah, Apt Pupil was King's originally. I've never seen the movie, but apparently they give it a much happier ending than the novella, which is dark all over. No redemption for any of the characters there.

As for the goosies, I can only imagine how beautiful that was - did you happen to get any photos?

Have you ever read "Different Seasons", then? The original Shawshank Redemption story isn't nearly as great as the movie, but I thought it was pretty good all the same, and it's interesting to see how things developed. There, Red really is Irish and Andy Dufresne is described as a "little guy" (so I doubt that Mr. King really had Tim or Morgan in mind when he wrote it). The original story which they got "Stand By Me" from is in there too. "Apt Pupil" is a nasty, nasty story, but a real page-turner - they got a movie out of that too, only it's not supposed to be all that good. I'm glad that your day was graced with so many goosies...I fed Muriel today for the first time in months!