Friday Fondue (Don, Lorde and Simone)

Can someone explain to me why the first four days of October were 82 degrees? 

Is this even normal? 

I don't understand! I did all this closet transferring from summer to fall/winter and now I gotta dig in these just-packed boxes for something I won't sweat to death in! This isn't what I planned. 

Getting tired of your crap, Global Warming. 

But I digress. It's Friday Fondue time--one pick from the movie, music, and book category.

Let's get right into it: 

"Don Jon"  

This is that Justin Gordon-Levitt written and directed movie about Porn Addiction that everyone's been making these kinds of memes about.

Yeah, when I read the summary--A porn addict who goes out of his way to impress a romantic-movie addict but still watches porn--I assumed I understood the main idea. 

Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

It is a lot more than just a funny porn addict movie. Justin plays the Don Jon, whose life is a routine of gym, clubbing, church, family dinners,sex with hot girls, and porn. Lots of porn. Even after the sex with hot girls. His defense for the constant pornhub visits--"real sex just isn't as good as porn." Not even real sex with Barbara Sugarman (Johansson) who he's been carefully playing the "boyfriend" role just to get into bed with, can measure up to his beloved porn. And since Barbara has told him not to watch porn(he still does), Jon will eventually have to be caught in his own lies.

It's funny as heck, yes, but it's also serious. Both Jon and Barbara are victims of their own delusions. Jon is playing into Barbara's fantasy so she can fulfill his own--Jon's porn-star like sex and Barbara's movie-like happy ending. But both paths collide because neither side is honest about their true intentions. This movie does more than make you laugh and/or cringe. It effectively conveys the reality that both the hyper-sexual and the hyper-romantic are two extremes, two side of the same coin. Porn is not a reality of sex anymore than most rom-com's are a reality of love. The character that helps Jon realize this is Esther(Julianne Moore), the Jon's older classmate from night school with enough problems to deal with without him, but eager to have someone to talk to anyway. There's a point when she explains to him why he feels he can't lose himself during sex--because it's one-sided for him. "You have to lose yourself in her, and she has to lose herself in you. It goes both ways."

And this, my friends, is the reason why everyone age 18 and over (it's Rated R) should go see this movie. Reflect a bit on their own delusions when it comes to love and sex. Couldn't hurt to try, eh?

"Ribs" by Lorde

She's as new as a newborn baby, but this 16 year old New Zealand native is already getting some attention due to her single "Royals" and her EP, The Love Club. Oh, and her debut, Pure Heroine. 

What brought her to this week's Friday Fondue is this little gem I found on iTunes, that is free for a limited time. It's called "Ribs."

I think we've all experienced these points in our lives, whether at 16, younger, or older, when we've realized that life is passing us faster than we thought. In Lorde's case, she's realizing the privileges of growing up (like her parents leaving her at home alone) is matched by the fear of getting older and leaving that safe place we call childhood. She's also conveying the hard-hitting emotions we have all felt as we discover that growing up isn't the free-ride we used to think it was. "This dream isn't feeling sweet, we're reeling through the midnight streets...It feels so scary, getting old."

Definitely a must hear for anyone who has felt, or is feeling, the fear of "getting old."

"Blonde Faith" by Walter Mosley

If I haven't yet made a post about the Easy Rawlins series...I'm sorry. It's an amazing detective series set in the early to mid-1900's, and revolves around the African American detective who has to juggle crime-solving along with his own personal demons. Have I really not posted about this? Not even about the fact that one of the books, Devil In A Blue Dress, was made into a movie with DENZEL WASHINGTON?? Gee, well I'll make up for that failure now!

Anyway, I'm still reading the book, and so far, it's as good as the previous ones, although much sadder in content. It starts off with Easy reuniting a father and daughter, but internally lamenting the loss of his longtime lover, Bonnie. In the last book, she had cheated on him with Prince Joguye, who was paying for her daughter's medical bills, and Easy had kicked her out for it (as he should.) But ever since, Easy has been dying inside without the woman he loves, and is desperate for her back. But then she tells him she is set to marry Prince Joguye, and the chances of wining her back are very slim. Love stinks, doesn't it?

ON top of that, Easy is tasked with clearing the name of his best friend Mouse, who is accused of a murder he didn't commit; with his past of dealing with the police, Easy seems to be the only one in his corner. Additionally, Easy has to figure out what to do with the daughter of Christmas Black (yes, that's his name), a veteran who left her at Easy's doorstep without any explanation as to why. 

And where, in all of this, does the blonde-haired Faith fit in? 

I won't spoil it. Mainly because I don't fully know yet myself. But the way it's going so far, I expect an amazing unraveling of events, and a powerful conclusion, as only Mosley can do it. 


Who's seen, listened to, or read one of these picks? What did you think of it?

- CDM