Hey there and happy March!!! Spring is on the horizon and I don’t know about you, but I’m so ready for it! Especially considering it’s going to snow all day in good ol’ Akron, Ohio. -____- As of late I’ve been enjoying some great movies, literature, and music that I’d love to share with you. There’s also one heinous excuse for a film that I must warn you about, so let’s get started!!

Watch St. Vincent: I watched this fantastically sweet movie last night with my parents and I loved every minute of it. St. Vincent was a classic “grumpy old man with a sensitive side underneath it all” film starring Bill Murray who was quite phenomenal. (He was nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars for his performance.) The sensitive side to Vincent is brought out by a number of people and situations throughout the film including his new neighbors Maggie (Melissa McCarthy) and her young son Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher), the lady of the night Daka (Naomi Watts), and his Alzheimer ridden wife Sandy (Donna Mitchell). The all star cast all give inspiring performances. I was pleasantly surprised that Melissa McCarthy was able to pull off a serious roll and young Jaeden Lieberher was sweet as can be. Usually I’m not fond of child actors, but he was just adorable and not annoying in the slightest. And can we please just talk about Naomi Watts as Daka?! Between her prostitute-y hair and makeup and her thick Russian accent, I didn’t even realize it was her until my mom told me! She nailed it. In the classic storyline with a twist, St. Vincent truly showed that you can’t judge a book by its cover. The film was the perfect combination of serious and pure fun and I can’t recommend it enough.

DO NOT WATCH Before I Go To Sleep: I’m sure you guys will recall that I absolutely loved the book Before I Go To Sleep from previous posts. I still hold true to my statement that this book was infinitely better than the popular Gone Girl. I was extremely excited to hear that one of my favorites was made into a movie starring the lovely Nicole Kidman and the hotty mchothot Colin Firth. I’ve been looking forward to watching this film for a while now and was so happy when my mom brought it home from the library yesterday. Eager to see my favorite book on the big screen (more like eighteen inch TV screen, but same difference) I popped the movie into the DVD player and was ready to be taken away into the creepy confusing world described in the book. To bring you up to speed if you’re not familiar with the storyline, Before I Go To Sleep tells the tale of Christine, a woman who experienced horrible trauma causing her memory to erase every night when she falls asleep. The movie started out okay for about ten minutes, and then everything went downhill. The movie was absolutely NOTHING like the book. Important facts were altered or removed completely and the acting of Kidman and Firth was sub par at best. Quite frankly, I’ve seen Lifetime movies that were better than this. If you read the book and enjoyed it as much as I did, don’t bother watching the movie because I give you the Lil Red Guarantee that you will absolutely hate it. If you have never read the book and are thinking about watching it, DON’T DO IT! It sucked and you’re welcome for saving you an hour and a half of your life. 🙂

^^SHAMEFUL!

Read Dad Is Fat: Lol, if you’re familiar with the extremely pale comedian Jim Gaffigan, you’ll know that this is his memoir to all things parenting. Gaffigan has a herd of five small equally as pale offspring and Dad Is Fat includes stories, tips, observations, and just pure silliness about his adventures as a parent. Usually I’m not one for reading books penned by celebrities and I’m also not fond of reading comedic books but when my brother was home a few weeks ago he brought Dad Is Fat with him (which I actually bought for him) in case I wanted to read it. He told me it was hilarious so I accepted the book to maybe read at a later time. That time came sooner than I thought, after I finished the last book I was reading The Rosie Effect in a whopping three days. (The Rosie Effect was the sequel to The Rosie Project and it was simply delightful! Definitely give the series a try, you’ll be glad you did!) Anyways, I was completely out of things to read so I begrudgingly picked up Dad Is Fat and was instantly in stitches. If you’re looking for something lighthearted and lots of fun, give this goofy memoir a try. You’ll be in laughing hysterics the whole time!

Give The Rosie Series A Try: As I mentioned above, I recently finished the much anticipated sequel to The Rosie Project, The Rosie Effect. The Rosie books tell the story of calculated, scientific, and socially awkward Don and his quest to find true love. The books never go right out and say that Don is on the autism spectrum, but you can easily deduce through the context clues that he indeed is on the spectrum. Don’s life is turned upside down in the first book when he finds himself falling in love with the outgoing and outspoken Rosie, who is literally his polar opposite. In the sequel which I really enjoyed, we find our cute couple enjoying married life until a major shock happens…Rosie is pregnant! The Rosie Effect follows the hilarious and at times heartbreaking moments in Don’s every day life. New friendships are made with eccentric characters even in the midst of a marital rough patch. Blame it on the hormones, I guess?! Can Don and Rosie salvage their relationship in time for their new baby? I guess you’re gonna have to find out!

Listen To Tom Vek: I know that I’ve mentioned Tom Vek before, but he’s slowly but surely becoming one of my favorite artists, so I figured I’d mention him again. I’m so obsessed with his album Leisure Seizure, I seriously can’t even. Vek has this amazing ability to make his voice drone on and on but still sound completely amazing. His music is moody, melancholy, and I can’t get enough. His monotonous voice is the definition of complete angst and all of his songs sound so mechanical and cool. It’s rare for me to hear an album and enjoy every song, but Leisure Seizure defies those odds, delivering hits track after track. I would put videos for the entire album on here, but I’ll leave it up to you guys to find more of his music if you like him. Here’s a few tracks that I really enjoy to get you started:

So there you have it, my Lil Red Recommends – Entertainment Edition! Have you guys read any of the books or watched any of the films I mentioned? What did you think of them? I’d love to hear from you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Happy Sunday! -Sarah