Books and Films

Marlon Bundo was Mike Pence's daughter's bunny, which was the subject of multiple books. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo (proceeds going to charity) is a cute children's book about him falling for a boy bunny. 

Pence's daughter (even though there is a stinkbug that looks like Pence and the whole thing is clearly a dig on his anti-gay views) gamely said she was fine with the whole thing, especially since profits went to charity.  

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I checked out two Bart Ehrman books from a few years ago. Journeys to Heaven and Hell: Tours of the Afterlife in the Early Christian Tradition turned out to be an academic-leaning book. 

It was too "graduate level" for me. Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife was a "trade book" for general audiences. It was generally interesting though it is not really a complete "history," starting with Gilgamesh and Homer. One amusing bit was a sly Clinton joke.

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I said I wasn't going to read Breyer's new book, which multiple people panned as tedious, but I'll give it a shot. The author's photo reminds us that he is in his mid-80s. The intro has his usual "darn he's so reasonable" tone. He dedicates it to the justices he served with, using their first names!

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I checked out Ensign Pulver, a sequel to Mr. Roberts because Walter Matthau (playing the William Powell role) was in it. Robert Walker Jr. did a reasonable Jack Lemmon impressive. The ship looks about the same. But, the film overall was not as well written. 

An early weirdly serious scene underlines how off the whole thing felt. It involved a character's young child dying. Also, by some rule of consistency, it turns out the act of rebellion at the end of the first film was only a short-lived moment for Pulver. Plus, they reference Roberts dying and all, but it seems Pulver no longer has his job anymore for some reason (I only saw half of the film; maybe, they explain it later).  

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Palm Beach Story has a reputation as a classic screwball farce. 

If so, it seems to take a long time to get going. The opening credits are amusing. But, then there is a not-too-funny bit about a nearly deaf "Weinie King" that helps cause problems with the couple. 

The film gets more screwing eventually but I was too bored to stay on. I also am not that big of a fan of Claudette Colbert.