I’m not even sure where to begin or how to write this review.  A friend and I were out on Sunday, and we decided to go see a movie.  Neither of us had seen Kingsman: The Secret Service yet, but we both had heard good things about it, so we decided to go see that.  I, for one, did not quite expect the movie to be what it was.

This is a hard review to write without giving away spoilers.  We had been at a baseball game before we decided to go see Kingsman, and as we were leaving we ran into two girls that my friend knew, so we asked them about it.  Apparently they hadn’t liked it, and thought it was too “vulgar”.  Hmm, intriguing.  We had heard good reviews from pretty much everywhere else.

As Kingsman started out, it reminded me a bit of the movie Men in Black.  Young guy gets recruited into a secret agency and has to pass a bunch of tests to be the one selected for the position they have open.  Sounds familiar, right?  Only this movie doesn’t have aliens.  What does it have?  Samuel L. Jackson.  Yep, he plays the pretty hysterical character of a tech genius with lots of money and a lisp.  The lisp is very noticeable and memorable, and just makes the character a little more interesting.

Colin Firth plays our recruit’s sponsor as he goes through training and testing for this secret agency.  His character actually turns out to be very likable and appealing.  And he kicks some pretty serious butt.  To try to sum up the plot of Kingsman without giving anything away, let’s just say that Samuel L. Jackson’s villain comes up with a plot to destroy most of the world. And the Kingsman service takes on the challenge of stopping him.

Kingsman started out almost a little serious in the beginning and got funnier and crazier as it went along. I liked it, but I can see how it wouldn’t be for everyone.  I’m not sure vulgar is the right word, but it did get a bit graphic in spots.  My friend compared it to Quentin Tarantino films, and I could see the similarities. At any rate, it was a fun way to spend an afternoon, and an interesting story that doesn’t take itself too seriously.  If you don’t mind a bit of gratuitous violence, I would definitely recommend it.

I think I first heard about Rainbow Rowell’s books when her book Fangirl started getting so popular. Oddly enough, I have yet to read that one. My introduction to her writing was from the book Eleanor & Park, which some friends of mine read together as a book club. Well, we’ve tried to be a book club. We have started on a few books, but I think Eleanor & Park was the only one we really managed to finish and then get together and talk about. We’re spread out all over the country, so we have to get together via Google Hangouts. It’s kind of a chore. Or we’re just not disciplined. Make of it what you will.

At any rate, I had seen friends reading Rowell’s newest book, Landline, over on Goodreads and decided it might be interesting to check out. I mean, literally, check out. I read most of my books on my Kindle, and I absolutely love the ability to check out books from the local library on your Kindle. There’s just usually a pretty long waiting list for the good ones. However, I did finally manage to get my (virtual) hands on Landline recently, and decided to give it a go since I’ve struggled with really getting into a lot of the other books I had started this year.

I lucked out. Landline ended up being one of the ones that I almost can’t put down. I love those kind. You know, the books that just hold your interest and you find yourself going back to them as often as you can so you can see what happens to the characters in the story? Just to give you a summary, Landline is about a woman named Georgie McCool, who is married to Neal. They have two children. It’s Christmastime, and something important comes up with Georgie’s work to where she is almost forced to stay in California where they live, while Neal continues on (with their kids) with the plan to go visit his family in Omaha over Christmas. While trying to focus on her work, Georgie ends up really missing Neal and wanting to work things out since he hadn’t been happy she stayed in Cali for the holiday. Then something sort of strange happens which forces Georgie to really examine their past and their relationship.

Landline was probably more about Georgie’s relationship with Neal than anything else. In Rainbow Rowell’s other book that I read, Eleanor & Park, the two main characters were teenagers, but Georgie and Neal definitely had a much more mature feel to their relationship. (And get your mind out of the gutter, I don’t mean “mature” THAT way.) This wasn’t a blossoming romance, although you did get to see that part of their relationship as well, through Georgie’s flashbacks. I won’t go into the specifics because I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but in a way, Neal and Georgie’s relationship could be typical of almost any couple’s relationship. And that’s what I loved about this book. Though there were magical moments, it wasn’t just some magical happy ever after. It was real, with all the problems and fights that come with relationships.

“Nobody’s lives just fit together. Fitting together is something you work at. It’s something you make happen – because you love each other.”

I loved Landline because it dove into the questions that we all have when in a relationship with a partner. Do they really love me? Are they really happy? Do I really love them? Am I happy? Should I have picked someone else? If you’re in any kind of long-term relationship, you can’t tell me you haven’t thought through some of these questions at some point. This book takes you through the main character’s journey to try to find answers to them – her journey to try to make the right decisions for her life. Life is full of choices, and none of us are always sure we are making the right ones. Heck, are there even really any right ones, or is it all just arbitrary?

“How does anyone ever know whether love is enough? It’s an idiotic question. Like, if you fall in love, if you’re that lucky, who are you to even ask whether it’s enough to make you happy?”

I thought Landline was a great book. I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads, because not only did I really get into it, I appreciated and agreed with the message. We may not have all the answers, and we may think sometimes we made the wrong choices, or at least we’re not sure about them. And that’s even more true about relationships, where the choices we make seem oh so important. But life is not defined, and the only thing we can do is make the choices we think are best and make the most of them. Which really is not always as hard as you might think.

I’ve been a fan of Alan Jackson for quite a while. It’s funny, because some people might not even be aware that I am even into country music. But hey, I am from Indiana. I also have family in Kentucky. So growing up, country music was hard to get away from. I remember being in my dad’s shop (he was a self-employed cabinetmaker and had a workshop), and he would have the local country radio station playing a lot of the time. So growing up, I heard a lot of country music, and I just kind of took it along with me. I’ve been into it off and on since I was a kid. It’s not always my primary genre of music, but definitely something that I listen to when I’m in the right mood.

The country artists I’m into the most are probably the somewhat epic ones from the 80s and 90s, since that is when I was listening to country music the most. Singers and bands like Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Randy Travis, Alabama, Tim McGraw, and of course, Alan Jackson. If I remember correctly, I think he was my cousin Debbie’s favorite country singer. When my family would visit our relatives in Kentucky, we would stay with my aunt (who loved Vince Gill) and uncle, and Debbie would always let me hang out with her and her daughter Tina, who was only a year younger than me. Sadly, Debbie passed away from breast cancer a few years ago. But memories like spending time with her are one reason I still love country music. The Tracy Lawrence song “If the World Had a Front Porch” totally reminds me of this part of my family. We used to spend days and evenings hanging out on my aunt and uncle’s front porch when we were there. It may make me sound old, but days definitely were simpler then.

When I found out Alan Jackson was going to be in Phoenix this year, I decided I had to buy tickets for myself and Ricky. Oh yeah, he likes country music too. I think it’s part of coming from a small town or rural town in Indiana. He’s from Brazil and I’m from Lebanon (the towns in Indiana, of course, not the countries). Anyway, we are both fans of Alan Jackson. I’m not sure what country music fan that’s been listening for more than a few years wouldn’t be. He’s kind of a big deal.

Knowing that I’d be going to see him, I listened to some of his music for a while in advance. It brought back some memories and made me remember some of the songs I’d loved as a kid. I think my favorite song of his is “Chattahoochee”. I mean, it’s just fun to say, and a fun song to sing. So of course I was ready and very excited when we got to the concert venue last Saturday. And I was not disappointed. He opened up with “Gone Country”, a perfect song to start the evening with. And while he did sing some newer stuff, a lot of what he played were the favorites I remembered, including “Wanted”, “Summertime Blues”, “Don’t Rock the Jukebox”, “Little Bitty”, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere”, and of course, my favorite, “Chattahoochee”. He closed out the night with “Mercury Blues”.

One thing Ricky picked up on pretty quickly in the show is that Alan (or should I refer to him as Mr. Jackson?) likes to point. Like, a LOT. He points so many times in every song. It’s kind of funny. I’m sure it’s just his thing, but Ricky found it pretty amusing. It became a running joke throughout the night.

Say what you will about country music, but I really think it does better than most forms of music at holding up over time. Alan Jackson’s “Keepin’ It Country” tour, the show we went to see, is his 25th Anniversary tour. How many artists in other genres of music do you know that have been successful for that long? I think for a lot of people his songs evoke a lot of emotions, and like me, a lot of memories of different times in our lives. It was fun to see him live with Ricky and get a chance to enjoy some music that has meant a lot to me over the years and to have a chance to wander down memory lane for a bit. I’m glad I got the opportunity to see one of the most epic country singers of our time.

(Oh, and did I mention that he has the same birthday as me? Just a different year…)