A first time for everything!

Hello to the great websphere! This is my first post, and I am excited and hopeful that I will get some response.

I wanted to have a place where I can talk about the books I read and the movies I have seen, without having to deal with the opinions of those close to me. I thought a blog would be the perfect spot. Here I can get unbiased opinions, have open discussions, and not have to worry about offending those near me who are too sensitive, or be offended by them. I also don't want them to worry about hurting my feelings and therefore withholding truthful opinions. So this is it.

Now, is there anyone else out there who likes to discuss books and movies, without searching for the deeper meaning in them? I would like to hear from those of you who go see movies purely for the entertainment value of them...not to see the textural layers, or the underlying subtexts. I just want to know if you were bored, cried, or laughed yourself silly. Same thing for books.

Have you ever wondered, when Hemingway, or Jane Austen were writing their classic novels, did they really spend their time thinking about how to write it so that professors in the future would hold classes to dissect them? I think they just wrote what was feeling right to them at that time. So who decides that there is a deeper meaning, one worthy of college level courses?

I hope someone is out there and will find this. And if you do find this, I hope you respond!

And now, The Box (review)

So let's start this out with a discussion of the my review of the last movie I saw. The Box, with Cameron Diaz. What did you all think? I actually enjoyed the concept, and if they had deleted the entire middle section of the movie, I would have really liked it. Totally didn't get why it wasn't updated for current times - why did it need to be set in the 70s? Just to give us the opportunity to enjoy seeing a sofa match the wallpaper? What would you all do if faced with the final choice? Your child's future, or your own? Remember, this is to be light, not a debate on the Oscar potential of this movie. Let me hear from you!