Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Ho hum. I don't usually knit during movies because I can't knit without looking and movies are a visual medium, but this movie bored me to the point I either had to turn it off or do something else that required sitting still.

Are Johnny Depp and Christine Baranski related? Because he looked just like her in this film, and appeared to be mimicking her character from "Cybill". It was uncanny. And creepy.

I am a big Johnny Depp fan, but I don't get Tim Burton. I was hoping the Depp factor would outweigh the Burtonesque stuff, but alas, it was not to be. None of the characters stirred a modicum of interest, and neither did the "story". Definitely a big waste of time.

A Good Dog

I seem to be reading a lot of animal-related memoirs lately (with more in the queue). A Good Dog is a sequel to A Dog Year and The Dogs of Bedlam Farm. I read A Dog Year, but not The Dogs of Bedlam Farm, which is probably just as well, because A Good Dog recaps much of the former and I presume at least part of the latter. Jon Katz is not that compelling a writer to begin with, leaving tantalizing hints about his childhood and psyche but never delivering the juicy details, so the repetition becomes, well, repetitious. Perhaps he delivers the personal goods in one of his other books, but I'm not going to read them all to find out.

That said, A Good Dog is a decent read, one that should convince you not to get a border collie unless you plan to provide the dog with a farm and some sheep, which is what Katz does. I love my pets and some would say I go overboard when it comes to their care and comfort (I recently donated four dog beds to the local SPCA; I can't for the life of me explain how I came to have four extra dog beds when I have never owned more than one dog at a time), but I draw the line at real estate. Katz might have bought a farm anyway, but Orson provided the impetus for his move to the country.

Sometimes the right animal comes along at the right time.