Only 16 1/2 more weeks until winter vacation!!!!

(not that I'm counting or anything.....)

Movie Review -- Little Miss Sunshine

Let's just get right to it: Go and see Little Miss Sunshine. The always-delightful Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear star as the quirky parents in a quirky family of misfits (including the hilarious Steve Carell as a gay, suicidal Proust scholar). On the surface, the family seems dysfunctional and unhappy, but they pull together (albeit a bit unhappily) in order to get their young daughter, Olive (played by adorable Abigail Breslin) to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant on an unexpected (and seemingly never-ending) road trip from New Mexico (three cheers for my home state!) to California. The trip is life altering on many levels and full of unexpected discoveries.

It's a comedy, sure, and witty from beginning to end; its sometimes dark humor is never predictable and you will literally be laughing outloud. But more importantly, this little film is a story about family and love and belonging, and in between your laughter, you may discover a few tears. The beauty pagent is over-the-top hilarious, and.....well, I don't want to tell you any more. Just go and see it! FIVE BIG STARS!!!!!

Whoa!

Kate Hudson and Chris Robinson split!

I was not seeing that one coming!*

(*Yes, I realize that all celebrities split eventually -- unless you're Paul and Joanne or Tom and Rita or even Goldie and Kurt -- but even so....)

A quote that breaks my heart...

...and makes me not want to go back to teaching English:

The average adult reads less than one book a year. According to the American Booksellers Association, 80 percent of households have not read a book in the last twelve months...Brian Tracy, Time Power

Just sadness. How can so many people not read ONE BOOK a year? One. Book. No wonder I have students approach me every semester and say, "That's the first book I've ever read." As shocking as that might sound, it seems it may unfortunately be true.

Yoo Hoo! Julia!

Check out Kate's photo for the cover of this month's Vanity Fair!

Back to reality!

I'm back from visiting my family in smalltown U.S.A.! Will post a nice update tomorrow, but for now, I've posted my most-recent Books for 2006!