It's been--hmm, months--since my last post. Not that anyone is reading this, which is perhaps why I went away. Of course, why would anyone be reading an unadvertised blog after three posts? But I'm posting again, because hey, someday people might read this, right? And then they'd go back and read old posts?
I didn't run out of uplifting material. No, I still read wonderful books and rent Netflix movies that I'd like to recommend. Let's see what I can think of off the top of my head as examples.
Books: Paper Towns, An Abundance of Katherines, and Looking for Alaska by John Green. All these books had dark elements, but they weren't written in a way that glorified the darkness, and that I appreciated. My favorite of the three? I don't have one. The order they're listed in is the order I read them. Paper Towns has a great mystery component that keeps you turning the pages. An Abundance of Katherines is humorous--the main character spends his time coming up with a mathematical formula to explain why he's always been dumped by his girlfriends. Looking for Alaska is sad and vivid in its portrayal of boarding school life (something with which I have experience). John Green is definitely one of my new favorite authors. I heart deep young adult fiction. (I'm on a YA bender, apparently. Honestly, I've never outgrown the joys of young adult fiction. So fresh, so honest.)
Website: Vlog Brothers' You Tube Channel. This I found through John Green's website. He and his brother Hank Green set out to communicate every weekday without the written word for a year, and this is what it became. Video blogs back and forth, and they're hilarious. That year ended a while ago, but they're still at it just for the fun of it. Watching their old videos got me through days of lying on the couch feeling under the weather. I laughed out loud, all by myself in the room. I really don't know how to describe these at all, besides hilarious. Here's some of my favorites: July 18: Accio Deathly Hallows and Peanut Butter Face. This one's just interesting because haven't you always wondered how audiobooks are made?
Movies: The Singles Ward, The Singles 2nd Ward, and God's Army. I don't happen to be Mormon, nor have I ever been, nor do I ever plan to be. However, these three films were made by Mormons about Mormons. And you know what? It's really cool to see into their world. I rented the first one by accident--hazily noticed that the description of Singles Ward mentioned a Mormon character, but figured that was just the one character. And then the whole movie was about Latter-Day Saints doing Latter-Day stuff. It was a good movie, too. In a normal movie, many of the laughs come from people getting drunk and doing stupid stuff when they're drunk. The Mormons don't drink, though, nor do they even consume caffeine. The humor is tame, but good. I will say this: Singles Ward is cheesy. There are sound effects and the un-ironic wearing of a metallic silver shirt. But it's entertaining and all around fascinating to see how a whole world of people with whom I've had very little contact live their lives. So much so that I sought out the next two films knowing full well they were Mormon productions.
So listing examples took up some room. I didn't realize how much I had stored up in my head. Have fun reading or web surfing or watching. The world has good stuff in it. It's our job to find it and make more of it.
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