The Lovely Bones and Glee

Okay, my cultural artifacts for this week come in the form of something I haven't actually seen yet or a song-and-dance tv show that I just can't get enough of.

The Lovely Bones is a new film based on the novel by Alice Sebold. It's directed by the visionary Peter Jackson and focuses on the (short) life of Suzie Salmon, a young girl growing up in the 1970's who is brutally murdered by a guy who lives down the road. Now I know this doesn't sound like the kind of film your going to want to take in on date night or cinema sunday, but I'm not done yet. Suzie is caught between the living and the dead where she watches her family from the safety of her own world. This is where the beauty of the film is executed by Jackson and why I cannot wait to see it! The performances are very likely to be outstanding and heartfelt, while the elegance of Suzie's imagination and painful reality of her family's lives will evoke the watcher to tears (I know I will cry like a girl.) The trailer gives me chills when I catch it on telly and if the reviews are anything to go by then it's going to be one of the best films of 2010! Go see it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikUWKi0W5_g

On a much, much lighter note, I am also entralled with the brand spanking new tv show Glee, which suprised even myself. You see, when what appears to be everyone was prancing and dancing about to Mamma Mia I decided to stay well away. I have even attempted (attempted!) to watch it since everyone stopped dancing and I still can't stand it and do not see the point in its existance. This is exactly why I was so suprised to be loving Glee, but I am! So I willfully pronouce myself a Glee Fan! I just can't get enough of the pre-recorded songs, spectacularly executed through-months-of-practice dance routines, wildly stretched story lines (what kind of husband wouldn't know if his wife was really pregnant? Don't they sleep in the same bed?) and obscene Americaness of it all! It verges on the onbsurd at times and its fab. I urge everyone to surrender themeselves to a bit of song and dance once a week. I guarentee that nothing will make feel better on a monday night than perhaps if you watch it with Johnny Depp feeding you chocolate!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8_blndbOiQ&feature=related