Dreamcatcher - Stephen King

I listened to the audiobook version of this. The problem with audiobooks is sometimes the narrator is not right for the part. Luckily, the narrator here, Jeffrey DeMunn, is perfect. He can not only do four or five different Maine accents so that you really can tell who is talking in the story just by his voice, but he conveys the emotion for all the characters pretty well, too.  And I would definitely say conveying emotion for an alien and a kid with Down's syndrome is a pretty good accomplishment.

This is by no means my favorite Stephen King book, but I enjoyed the story. The childhood friendship between the main characters made me feel nostalgic and wistful. I had heard some people say that it was hard to get into, a little slow at first, and while I can see why that might be the case, I didn’t have any trouble with the momentum of the story at all.

Rating: TBA

Shutter

My boyfriend and I went and saw Shutter on Monday night. It was against our better judgement, but he had seen a preview that he thought made the movie look worthwhile. Unfortunately, all the worthwhile conveyances were in the trailer. It was amusing in that we were able to make fun of the movie at least. I personally enjoyed the Tokyo skyline and repeated images of Mt. Fuji. But since it wasn’t an IMAX film, the scenery should not have been the highlight of the movie.

I do think it would probably be a better short story than a movie. It’s possible the original Japanese version is better, but I’m not eager to find out.

(Ratings will come later, when I figure out what sort of scale I want to use.)

Wordplay

I just watched a documentary on crossword puzzles. I’m sure quite a few people would find that beyond boring, but I thought it was a lot of fun. And besides, now I know what Will Shortz looks like and more about the whole crossword puzzle construction, which is fun. I wanted to go into puzzle making when I was a kid, or somehow solve puzzles for a living, but somewhere along the line that dream or idea fluttered away. I think I’d like to call it back and nurture it. Not that I expect to make money doing them, or even create any that are worthwhile for other people, but they’re fun and I want to foster that amusement and keep my brain working in high gear.

Besides, now that I know there’s a tournament every year, it might be fun to go to one, as soon as I feel more comfortable with the puzzles. I’ll have to start doing more and more and more and timing myself and figuring out what exactly I need to work on. I wouldn’t really expect to win at a tournament, but it would be a lot of fun to go, I think.

Maybe that’s what this journal will be for - chronicling my crossword puzzle journey. For posterity’s sake, just in case I ever do get so far as even the top three at the tournament. ;)

I just did a Monday puzzle in 9:33 - no errors or blanks. I’m definitely going to have to get that one down. But this will be fun!