The Virgin Suicides

I don't remember where I saw the title recently, or why I decided to read it for the first time.

It is a fantastic book, and the movie is equally amazing.

I can't say why it's good, I wish it sucked, so I could rant about that.

Despite their awesomeness, I don't think I'll be reading or watching it more than once a year or so. It definitely changes your mood, and when you're on edge and having some mood swings, well, I wasn't suicidal, but it didn't make me feel chipper.

I do have one minor quibble with the movie, and maybe this will spoil it, but I don't think so.

When the boys come over to the house to see the girls, in the book, Lux is sitting in a beanbag chair, all folded into herself and low to the ground. And all they could see was the lit end of her cigarette. Also, they went into the house. In the movie, she was smoking, but sitting on the couch, not facing them. She opened the door and let them in.

The visual of her in the beanbag is so striking, I wish it had been in the movie.

Other than that, it rocks.

I also watched Bollywood/Hollywood this weekend, and it was pretty decent. I liked 2 of the songs enough to download them, and the rest were good.

However, I watched the "Described Version" of the movie. (I checked out both movies from the library. I could only have them for 3 days and they cost $2 each. But I didn't have to sign up for anything new.)

There was braille on the top of the cover, over the name of the movie. I thought, "Cool, they're helping the blind." And the repetition of "described version" seemed weird. Don't all DVD cases describe the movie?

Also, it was a Canadian film, so I knew it would be weird.

The "described version" of a film is the version for the blind. There is a narrator, describing every action. "He dies," the voice says, as the man dies. For the whole movie. They described the dance moves. Very surreal. And read the credits, but not all, as it said on the back of the case.

I almost didn't watch it, but it wasn't as intrusive or weird as large print is to me. Plus, I didn't want to buy the movie, I just wanted to watch it.

Definitely a surreal experience.