Instead, we purchased a Roku box and switched to streaming instead of renting.  Nice savings (especially when Netflix decided to raise their rates).  The selection certainly isn't as broad as we hoped, but we've found enough good stuff to add to our queue - hopefully by the time we run through those, more movies will be added.  Right now we are alternating The Wonder Years with Twin Peaks (I know, quite an odd juxtaposition!).

Music-wise....I've not discovered anything earth shattering lately.  Our morning music of choice is jazz (especially Norma Winstone, Tomasz Stanko and Kenny Wheeler).  Sue streams Radio Paradise while she does her sewing, and I run through whatever classical, jazz or rock I can get my hands on in my office while I work on my Dwarf Tomato Project book.

We are going to see the NC Symphony play Mahler's Symphony #4 at Meymandi in early December.  Looking forward to that!  Best concerts of the year so far have been Arcade Fire in Charlottesville VA, and Gillian Welch at the NC Museum of Art.  Death Cab for Cutie in Cary was good, not great (not sure why....venue?  audience?  song set?)....

 
 
http://video.pbs.org/video/1350236975/

I was lucky enough to catch part of this before going to bed a few years ago - this is what turned me on to the band.

Sue and I are going to Charlottesville, VA to see them in a few weeks!

Enjoy!  

 
 
Netflix recommendations deliver another delightful surprise - August Evening.  Just a thing of beauty - minimal in dialog, but overflowing with emotion.

As far as The Hurt Locker, we've not found all that many of the Iraq/Afghanistan war movies all that great.  So we were really prepared to not care much for it.  But - it was a fine movie, delivering a really true to life (true to living hell, really) experience.  Intense, stressful, memorable...and we suspect, important.

We loved Up in the Air when we went to see it at the theater a few months ago.  Alas, it is not one of those films that performs well on a second look.

We finished the John Adams miniseries, and really enjoyed it.  

As far as the Private Lives of Pippa Lee, we would have preferred that they had stayed private!  Good acting but weak story line (and if I knew Keanu Reeves was in the movie, it
 
 
Now that the Olympics are over, we are returning to our frequent movie watching.  Coco Before Chanel - nicely filmed, lovely music, Audrey Tautou was fine - but it was a bit like watching grass grow or paint dry.  We got through it all....but it certainly didn't capture our interest in a big way.


We are half way through The Hurt Locker.  We've not been big fans of recent (Iraq/Afghanistan war movies), but this one is as good as we've seen - as well as exhausting and challenging to watch.  More after we finish it.


Next up is the final installation of the John Adams miniseries.  


Music....more good music from Sara - XX.  


Starting to acquire some Porcupine Tree - report to come.  
 
 
On my recent visit to Florida, my brother had me listen to the new solo release by Steven Wilson, Insurgentes (of the Porcupine Trees), as well as Blackfield (also his band).  I like them both, but especially Insurgentes - hard to pin down, I was thinking Pink Floyd, Coldplay, a touch of Air in spots.  Great stuff!


I am also listening quite often to Jon Hassell's release on ECM, "Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes" - any fans of Brian Eno's ambient music will love this.


Our Sunday Morning favorite listen has become the jazz releases by Tomasz Stanko, Soul of Things, Suspended Night, and Lontano, all on ECM.


Movie-wise, we've loved Bright Star, the PBS John Adams miniseries, Cherry Blossoms, Goodbye Solo and Zelary.  We are also anxious for the second season of the HBP series "In Treatment" to make it to DVD.
 
 
As long time Netflix subscribers, we've enjoyed renting long series productions, such as Upstairs, Downstairs and the Forsyte Saga.  It's always a bit sad when we come to the end of these....and we are nearly done with War and Remembrance.  Some of the acting is a bit hokey, and there is a feel of soap opera to it, but it does a pretty good job of showing the horrors of World War II.

Our daughter Sara has been a great source of new music ideas for us - we are pretty adventurous anyway (Sue gets loads of ideas from listening to Radio Paradise).  I can't seem to get enough of The National (their Boxer CD).