Street Books - Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert

Found - Central Park
Picked up because - Its a classic

In the days of high speed Internet and cable T.V. its hard to realize how monotonous life was back in the 1850's. In France at the time there was a big difference between everyday life and the popular novels. Gustave Flaubert wanted to point out this fact in his first novel "Madame Bovary." In this story a young Doctor marries an older widow his mother picked out. Then he becomes a widow himself, ah such is life. When he meets the young Miss Bovary she marries the Doctor. He moves from one small town to a slightly bigger town in northern France, near Rouen in Normandy to please his new wife. The book is told through his "eyes" till this point. Then the reader gets into Madame Bovary head. She wants luxury and romance, but gets bored with her not so sharp husband. Walk with her down the wrong road of infidelity and debt. This bestseller of the 1850's was put on trial when it came out for "offenses against morality and religion." The story of longing and seduction is considered a masterpiece. Reading it now over a century latter the themes seem to echo forward. After all life might be different but the struggles of love are the same.

Get Ready to See Red - Its SantaCon NYC

Every December there is one day when all the the crazy Santa dressed people get drunk and jolly. Tomorrow is NYC's SantaCon and be ready to see red and white all over the city. Here is the run down, Santa's meet and go out to drink the day away and then split up into subgroups. This goes on long into the evening. In there own words "Santacon is a non-denominational, non-commercial, non-political and non-seniecal Santa Claus convention that occurs once a year for absolutely no reason." So get a suit find a hat and get a ho ho ho'in.

PHIL SPECTOR In All His Crazy Glory Once More at the Film Forum

In life there are ups and downs, highs and lows, agony and ecstasy. This is true for everybody. Some weirdo geniuses have very high ups and the lowest lows. Does Agony bring the genius that gives ecstasy? Phil Spector was a musical savant. He came up with a sound big enough to be called "The Wall Of Sound." Everybody wanted to find out his secret that brought hit after hit. ( "He's A Rebel" "Then He Kissed Me" – The Crystals, "Be My Baby" – The Ronettes, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling'" – The Righteous Brothers, "Imagine" – John Lennon, "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" – Ramones ) Not just hits, songs that are different but still linked with that "thing." This music that Phil heard in his brain he had to mach with what came out of the studio. How was he able to produce pure magic? Know one may ever know. He is not the first to be loved for one thing but despised for another. His music changes peoples lives even now 40 years latter. He helped shape Rock-n-Roll and forever changed the way people listen to the radio. Lots of good things come from bad people. This film shows that maybe Phil is not bad, just misunderstood like the Rebel in his songs. This exclusive interview done during his second trial for the murder of a struggling actress seems like a "I told you so" from Phil. In it he is as funny as he is serious. This interview is stuck together with courtroom footage, news reports, and vintage video from the 60's and 70's. The music with the muted courtroom in the background is Enough to look at without the subtitles to read. This makes one miss the point of one if not all three. Other then that, this is an eye opening documentary for the BBC. Just what the music public wants, history with dirty laundry. This time he gets off, but the next time he goes to court he gets19-years-to-life in prison. We know he did not write it but "He Fought the Law and the Law Won."

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http://www.filmforum.org/films/spector.html