A. Michelle – Google

I was so looking forward to this film. I love historic drama and fiction. But after watching this self-centered attempt by lead actress/Director "Maiwenn" I'm totally nauseated. It could have been SO good. I was constantly distracted by Maiwenn. Her acting was overweening, sappy, barely passable. She was completely mis-cast, her directing uninspired and cliche'. As someone who has deeply researched Du Barry and seen her portraits I know one of her most attractive attributes was her innocent appearance coupled with great intelligence and wit. She was a natural blonde with blue eyes. Her countenance angelic. The contrast of her also being an intellectual, artistic Courtesan was what made her so attractive. The producers chose, instead, an actress who in appearance looks like a born seductress. The real Jeanne du Barry was elegant and classic. Born to be a King's mistress. Maiwenn would be better cast ruling from the deck of a pirate ship. The discovery Maiwenn was the Director made the debacle even worse. Had she truly cared about the project she would have cast an actress who would have been more enchanting less Linda Lovelace. Maiwen turned a woman who, for the rest of her life, fought for and supported her friends, artists, scuptors, writers, architects, musicians into a panting lap dog. The real Madame DB started the Sevre porcelain company at Versailles.The leaps of time taken at the opening of the film skip over and totally skew historic fact. Jeanne worked in both a high end fashion house and a wig salon where she met wealthy patrons and was in a position to become a kept mistress. Married Monsignor du Barry was NOT her pimp. In fact, she became HIS mistress. He cultivated her to present to the king for his own benefit, as a way into royal court.They were lifelong friends and allies, especially after the king died. His son, Adolph, was her nephew by marriage, not the "son she bore" in the film. The screenplay is totally rotten with cliche'. Jeanne never worked in a whore house but was a " kept mistress" to many wealthy men, some aristocrats. WOW. Did the Director and writers do any research at all???

While this Pulitzer Prize winning novel is not my favorite of Louise Erdrich the Pulitzer Prize was way overdue. I knew she would one day win it when I read her first novel "Love Medicine" which is still my favorite. The Night Watchman is definitely a brilliant work and definitely worth reading. Referring to it as a "Stand Alone" book is kind of true, however all her books can be read in any order whatsoever. She plays with time shifts and characters that span and reoccur over several books, but because of her mastery they can also each be read as "Stand Alone" works. And I do recommend reading all of them.

I was taken by this book at the first but it lost me half way through. The tension of plot just wasn't there. There were a few jarring places within the text that felt as though the editor missed them. This is a book where wildly well done research meets a forced plot... and famous names that seem contrived within it. It's okay. I liked Brooks' "Year of Wonders..." better. I know why this was given the Pulitzer, but I don't know how.

Sorry. Country music is defined by the singer/composer's personal story/stories. It's about growing up country, horses, cattle, slammin' screen doors, pickup trucks and country heartbreak. While I respect Beyonce for her career I can't help it if I find "Texas Hold 'Em" and other songs ( with the exception of "Blackbird") a vain attempt to capitalize on cowgirl culture that is so chic right now. Her outfit, or rather lack of one, in her "Texas..." video is SO disrespectful of country culture. She looks like a dive-bar stripper. Sorry not sorry. I know she grew up in Houston but the fact she had to be photoshopped onto a horse, wearing an outfit traditionally reserved for young ladies who have won rodeo competitions, shows, even moreso, what she doesn't know about country culture. Most of the music on this album has no heart.