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Location: Vero Beach, Florida, United States

My name is Pat and I live in Florida. My skin will never be smooth again and my hair will never see color. I enjoy collecting autographs and playing in Paint Shop Pro.,along with reading and writing. Sometimes, I enjoy myself by doing volunteer "work" helping celebrities at autograph shows. I love animals and at one time I did volunteer work for Tippi Hedren's Shambala Preserve.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Pickford or Thief?

I began this book over a week ago and have only managed 100 pages.  That's not like me.  I'm not sure if it's my own mood through Thanksgiving or if the book is "boring". All I know is that I am setting it aside for now and will try more of it at another time.

There were some small parts of interest  however they were more about the "time" than Mary Pickford herself...

"Short films had entered Vaudeville as early as 1896, and the nickelodeons by 1905.  By 1907 there were ten thousand nickelodeons in the US selling 2 million tickets a day.  Most were converted storefronts, filled with chairs and hung with muslin or a sheet for a screen."

"Thomas Alve Edison patented more than a thousand inventions in his lifetime, including the phonograph, the microphone, and the incandescent electric light bulb.  But initially he showed no interest in the movies, or in efforts of previous engineers to animate photography with movement.  He claimed he worked only for the dollar, and he considered the movies uncommercial. ( Edison also saw no future for the airplane)."

For Now I am going to close that book and try another  ..

... we'll see if this one gets my interest better than the other.  I really do dislike giving up on a book, and it happens rarely (thank goodness).    And although the author doesn't seem to have found whatever it is that makes a biography interesting as did Simon Louvish with "Stan and Ollie", I do think my mood has a lot to do with it also.

Here's hoping The Good Thief shakes me out of the funk the other book seems to have put me in.

Meanwhile I have been enjoying movies!

As you saw in my last post I went to see Australia and it was enjoyed to the fullest!

On the "home front" David bought some movies and we've been watching them too.  First we watched Wall-E.  I now want a toy Wall-e!! Too darn cute! hahaha.. I can relate to Wall-e never getting things to work out they way he hoped, but never giving up either!

Then there was Kung Foo Panda.  It was cute, but not nearly as good as Wall-E.  In the wings we have Journey to the Center of the Earth with Brendan Fraser.  Then TCM showed two more Basil Rathbones Sherlock Holmes movies yesterday... so it's been a good few days for movies.

One last note here.. I woke early, as I always do and was on my computer as "daybreak" approached.  It was very cloudy and didn't get very bright.  I was reading some of my normal blog stops when something out of the corner of my eye made me turn and look out the window...

... that my friends is snow!  Yep it snowed like hell for about 20 minutes, then slowly turned to rain. :o(    But I ran out to the deck in the back and took this photo of what snowflakes managed to stick to the railing before they disappeared!

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mary Pickford is just so amazing.
What she did, not only on screen
but off, still resounds in the
film industry today. I want to
check out that book... But it
sounds like a dud. LOL !!!

3:46 PM  
Blogger CJ said...

Gotta admit Mary Pickford is one of the greats I don't know much about but this doesn't sound like the way to find out.

However, it is good to know that Edison was short-sighted on some things.

I've got Wall-ee on my must see list. He does look so darned cute!

And, not to criticze your snow... but we've had about 16 inches on the ground for a couple of weeks now. It's gonna be one long winter!

cjh

4:23 PM  
Blogger Helen said...

I hope this other book holds more interest for you. At least you have been enjoying those movies.
That snow was pretty. They are saying we may get some snow showers tomorrow. Hugs, Helen

4:57 PM  
Blogger DesLily said...

Daniel: I agree Pickford was one of those ultimate stars, and this book may be better than I give it credit for..but any time I don't keep picking up the book I'm reading and it takes me this long to read 100 pages..well, either the book is boring or it's just not the right time for me to be reading it.. and I can't tell which it is.

CJ: LOL.. oh criticize away! hahahahaha.. as much as I love watching it snow out I do not look forward to it at all!! You can keep your 16 inches of snow! lol

Hi Helen: I hope you don't get snow!!.. as we get older I really don't think we need snow do you?! lol

8:03 AM  
Blogger Cath said...

Same here funnily enough. I read a vampire book for about 5 to 6 days and managed all of 50 pages. The reviews on Amazon were good but it just did nothing for me... really weak, uninspiring writing, imo. So now I'm reading Coraline by Neil Gaiman and that's much more interesting. Hope you have more luck with the thief book, it looks good judging by the cover!

9:55 AM  
Blogger DesLily said...

Cath: I just worry, and don't want someone NOT to get a book when I really don't know if it's the writing or my mood or both! I found parts very interesting and that's what I want when its a biography or autobiography! But I wasn't even "wanting" to pick up the book each time I sat down, and normally once I am "into" any book that's what I do.

10:10 AM  
Blogger Carl V. Anderson said...

Sorry the Pickford book wasn't capturing your interest, but of course that is just the way it is sometimes. I get frustrated when a book is not engaging me and I have to give up on it. I think I anthropomorphize objects too much and I feel like I'm hurting the book's feelings if I set it aside.

9:02 PM  
Blogger DesLily said...

Carl: me too. I think I had high hopes that the writing would be something it isn't. The period of time and the transition of vaudeville to silent movies to talkies is always interesting to me.. I will give it a try again someday.

6:37 AM  

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