DIANA VREELAND THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL

Diana Vreeland The Eye Has To Travel - This documentary traces the life of Diana Vreeland, the legendary fashion editor of both Harper's Bazaar and then Vogue, in their heyday.  Much of it is told in her own words while being interviewed by George Plimpton, but it's rounded out with comments from her sons and many of the models and people she worked with at the magazines.  Visually, it's a trip down memory lane to those colorful large magazines of the 1960s and 70s, and the exotic spreads she would do to showcase fashion.  She was a character and a savant and she used her power to create unusual beauty.  She was an original. 

GIRL WALKS INTO A BAR * DROP DEAD DIVA

  Girl Walks Into A Bar. A Memoir by Strawberry Saroyan - At first I thought that the title overreached the chapters, but as the book went on and came together, and as I fell in love with the earnestness of these stories, I realized that the title was quite perfect.  She is the girl who walks into the bar.  And it was mostly the bar, because after the first few times of it being a bar, it becomes a familiar place with familiar faces and people who are your friends and it ceases to be a bar.  Strawberry wrote about being in her twenties from the perspective of her early thirties and she spoke for so many girls who walk into a bar.  Looking for fun, for answers to the big questions, and to beat the loneliness, if only for a few hours of conversation and laughs. Drop Dead Diva - One of my favorite new shows is called Drop Dead Diva.  I think it's on Lifetime, and it's a lawyer show with a twist.  The heavyset body of the main character, Jane, is inhabited by Deb, a model who died and came back in Jane's body.  Apparently Jane used to be a frumpy workaholic, but with Deb driving the bod, Jane dresses great, flaunts her stuff, flips her hair and guys fall in love with her right and left.  The cases are always interesting, the love angles are great with a lot of push-pull, and the supporting cast is sharp and sweet, especially Margaret Cho as Jane's assistant, Jane's ditzy roommate and Jane's guardian angel du jour.  It's my favorite show this summer.  

NOT FADE AWAY * THE GLASS WIVES

Not Fade Away - This movie was so good, that after it ended, I started watching it all over again.  It's a band movie about 4  guys in the early 1960s who come together to make music.  The young actors are unknown which adds to its immense charm, although  James Gandolfini plays the main character's dad, a man who is both frustrated and yet somewhat admiring of the son who is so different from himself.  It's about music, love and relationships.  I loved the way the movie ended, but also hope to someday see a sequel.  The Glass Wives by Amy Sue Nathan - The best thing about this book is that it was a new story.  It's inspiration was launched by the author's personal experience, but she added and padded her experience with what ifs and complications both good and bad.  I enjoyed it more as it went along, and it was fun to have it set in a fictional town on the north shore.  My favorite line in the book was "You can be really, really angry with someone and still move forward with them instead of without them."  A powerful concept, indeed.  It's a modern read about modern women dealing with the curve balls that life sometimes throws at them.

BEHIND THE CANDELABRA MY LIFE WITH LIBERACE

Behind The Candelabra My Life with Liberace by Scott Thorsen with Alex Thorleifson -  Scott wrote this book after Liberace died, and it's the entire story of their affair and its sad demise.  Not as good as the movie if only because the visuals in the movie are so fantastic.  Still it's a decently written account of life with Lee.  Between the book and the movie you'll have the story - from Scott's perspective.  From Liberace's perspective, he wasn't gay - just flamboyant.  The photo on the cover is almost chilling because of their resemblance to each other.  Liberace is still rather a mystery - which is often true of people who are not truthful.  I visited the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas years ago, and it was the epitome of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous in the late 1980s.  Very glitzy, pretty garish and all over the top.  It was before I got into Real Estate and satisfied my desire to see how people live, so I loved it.  I think I'm going to watch the movie again!  (And if I ever get back to Vegas..... I might go back.) 

WANDERLUST * VEEP * MAD MEN

Wanderlust - Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd are a New York City couple who lose their jobs and end up at a commune.  It's all fluff and not really that funny, but there is an amusing something to it if you want to watch a movie and not have to think.  Some parts are unbearable, and some parts are just enough already, but it does move fast, and the guy who plays Paul Rudd's brother is the same guy who was the bachelor on that spoof about The Bachelor, so there was a bit of redeeming comedy.  

VEEP - VEEP was really good this season, and the last two shows in particular were stellar.  Really sharp and really sarcastic and really funny.  Just looking at this picture of vice president Selena (who thought up that name by the way?) makes me laugh. 

Mad Men - This show always has its ups and downs since there are times where it drags.  However the season finale was so good that I saved it to watch again.  Everything I'd been waiting for resolved, at the same time as new questions arose.  Really really good.  In the last episode there is a part that takes place in the GM Building in Detroit and you get to see the gorgeous gold lobby.   We'd go there when I was younger;  I think there might have been a restaurant, and am pretty sure my Auntie Kaye worked in that building at some point. 

SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME

Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent  - I couldn't put this book down and read it in two days.  It's the story of an unlikely friendship between two men who were worlds apart in their backgrounds and lives.  If you're a religious or spiritual believer of any kind, there's a good chance you will embrace this book.  If not, I can't speak for you, but personally I loved it.  I hope someone makes it into a movie. 

THE GLASSBLOWER OF MURANO * AN ARMENIAN DOCTOR IN TURKEY * IT'S MY F---ING BIRTHDAY

The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato - Finally!  I have to admit I did save this one for last.  I didn't think I was going to be gone for a month, so I took four real books out of town with me, and figured I'd read books on my iPad when I finished them.  It's really good.  It's the story of a modern day young British woman who was born in Venice and her ancestor who was a famous Venetian glassblower named Corradino.  To say anything else will spoil the story.  It was a pleasure to get lost in this book.  

An Armenian Doctor in Turkey by Dora Sayakan - Dora is the granddaughter of Garabed Hatcherian who was an eyewitness to the Smyrna Catastrophe and this book is his journal of those events.  It's an excellent day by day account of the few weeks in August and September 1922 when the Turks wiped out the Armenian and Greek Christian populations of western Turkey.  As the turkish soldiers chased them, the citizens of the surrounding villages fled to the large port city of Smyrna.  Once in Smyrna, the turks set fires that burned the Armenian and Greek quarters of the city right down to the harbor.  It was a tragedy of epic proportions and over 30,000 people lost their lives.  My grandmother was a survivor of that history and a refugee who made it to Greece, so an account like this is gold to me as part of my family's legacy. 

It's My F---ing Birthday by Merrill Markoe - This is an amusing story about a single woman with birthday, parent and boyfriend issues.  She's an art teacher in her mid thirties and into her forties and in the way of all fiction, she has a lot of time on her hands to get into crazy situations with people.  She has an honest funny voice and it's great to laugh while reading.  The part about the flowers that arrive on her birthday every year is particularly fun.