The Times they are a changin!

There are going to be some changes to The Lady Novelist as soon as I figure out how to upload the new template to the site. I wanted something a little more original and I managed to find it. Hopefully, it'll look great. I'm looking forward to getting everyone's feedback to the new look.

Didn't do much this weekend apart from reading Harry Potter (review coming), and watching movies. I watched Honey (the less said about it the better), Miss Congeniality 2 (okay, not as good as the original) and Beyond the Sea.

The only thing I can say about Beyond the Sea is that it suffers in comparison to Ray. I admire Kevin Spacey's determination to bring the story of Bobby Darin to the screen, and to revive interest in an artist who unfortunately isn't as well known as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin or even Pat Boone. However, the movie came off more as a vanity production than a movie, a chance for Kevin Spacey to show off his singing and dancing skills rather than a deeply felt movie about a man who was driven to succeed because he thought he didn't have long to live.

Bobby Darin had rheumatic fever, not once but twice, as a child which severely damaged his heart. He was told that he probably wouldn't live past 15, so his whole life was on borrowed time. Because of this, he could be abrasive, demanding, a workaholic, and arrogant. His whole life was devoted to his career to the detriment of his relationships. Then he discovers that his mother was really his grandmother, and his sister was really his aunt.

Unfortunately none of this came across in the movie. I couldn't get past the fact that Kevin Spacey was just too old to play Bobby Darin. Bobby Darin was 21 when he was singing songs like Splish-Splash, and Dream Lover. He was only 6 years older than Sandra Dee, but with Kevin Spacey playing Darin, he just looked like a middle-aged roue after a young girl. None of Sandra Dee's demons were touched on in the movie, the reasons for her excessive drinking or the miscarriages that she suffered. Even the special features on the DVD were heavy on Kevin Spacey, without revealing anything about the real Bobby Darin. A big disappointment. I would give it a thumbs down. Watch Ray if you want to see a warts and all portrait of a talented man.

Hey, J.K. Rowling made $36 million in one day!