Upcoming Books to Movies

I don't know about you, but if I'm going to read a book-turned-movie, I've gotta do it before I see the movie, or I just can't ever seem to get through the book. So, I thought I'd highlight a few books that will soon be hitting the big screen and might have floated under the radar in the wake of the big name releases like Breaking Dawn and The Hunger Games--check them out if you haven't already!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Snippet from the Publisher's Synopsis: Seemingly as different from one another as can be, [three] women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.Would I recommend the book?: YES. Please read it immediately if you haven't already.
Big Screen Release Date: August 12, 2011




The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
Snippet from Publisher's Synopsis: Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.
Would I recommend the book?: Yes, I did enjoy them though the first was a bit slow in parts.
Big Screen Release Date: December 21, 2001




The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Snippet from the Publisher's Synopsis: This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.
Would I recommend the book?: I loved this book as a teenager, but it's been years since I've read it, so I'm not sure whether or not my recommendation would still stand. I can tell you that its one of the most controversial books in recent history and so its probably worth a read for that reason alone. I can also tell you that my favorite quote from a book ever comes from Perks of Being A Wallflower.
Big Screen Release Date: Sometime in 2012


We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Snippet from the Publisher's Synopsis: Eva never really wanted to be a mother—and certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and a much-adored teacher who tried to befriend him, all two days before his sixteenth birthday. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood, and Kevin's horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her estranged husband, Franklyn. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails.
Would I recommend the book?:  Yes, but with reservations. This book deals with some heavy-duty subject matter. HEAVY. I seriously thought I might throw up on several occasions while reading this book. So, it's a good and important book, but not for everyone.
Big Screen Release Date: This movie was a golden-child of sorts at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. I'd bet it will release in the US in 2011 or early 2012.


What do you think? Any books-turned-movies you're looking forward to seeing on the big screen?

Snippets

-On Friday, my baby brother graduated from high school.

-On Saturday, my mom offered to babysit while we went to see a movie. It's been a long time since we've seen a movie in the theaters! We went to see X-men, which I actually liked!

-On Sunday, we had our softball game. There had been a three-way tie for first, with two of the teams were ranked 5-0 from byes. We were 4-1 going into last night's game, and beat one of the 5-0 bye teams...which is always pretty exciting. They were NOT happy at all. But I was pleased as punch, because several of the players on the team were cheating, and I HATE it when cheaters win. I was playing first base and called their base coach out on telling the players to run when the pitcher hit the ball--in this league, you have to wait for the crack of the bat to run. The poor girl who was running the bases looked absolutely horrified when she realized that this jerk was teaching her to cheat, not to play the game.

-This week is going to be insanely busy. Over the weekend, the band is going down to play and compete at a three day music festival in California. It's a situation where if they like you on Friday, you play on Saturday. If they like you on Saturday, you play on Sunday. I think if you win the whole competition, you then play on the main stage the following year. So, it's a pretty cool opportunity for the band.

The whole thing is a little stressful for me though--not knowing how long we'll actually be there, camping with Lizzy,  etc. Oye Vey. I hope that the band does well, but no matter what happens, I know it will work out exactly how it is supposed to, even if we don't understand the reasoning.

-Maybe I should have called this "three things" instead of snippets, 'cause I think that's all I've got!

Snippets

I am in a remarkably good mood for a Monday when I ran out of coffee creamer! On the upside, I have a coupon for a free drink of any size from our local coffee place courtesy of the dinner/auction from this weekend.

-Speaking of the dinner/auction, it was awesome. And I am happy to report that there were no assigned seats...yay! In other news, I'm especially curious about who from the church/school was the anonymous commenter on Friday's blog post!

-I don't know if any other almost-14 month olds do this, but while Lizzy mostly speaks in gibberish with a few words in there, occasionally she'll come up with this entire sentence that is crystal clear and in context. Yesterday, she told Justin, "I can do it" when he was trying to hold her hand to walk her somewhere she didn't want to go. Last week, she said, "I can see better up here" to Justin's mom when she picked Lizzy up. A few weeks ago when she was getting frustrated with a toy, she said "Piece of shit!" (I guess it's time to watch the swearing, eh?). Several times when I've asked her what she wants to eat, she's replied, "More cake!". I'm not sure whether or not she's actually trying to say these things, but it's pretty hilarious.

- Speaking of Lizzy, last night we got home from my parent's house at about 9pm. She would NOT go down for bed. So I bucked all the rules when it comes to our normal method of sleep training and rocked her to sleep. And it was so nice to have that snuggling moment. I am so glad that I did it.

- From my mountain of library books, I've finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, and Under the Dome by Stephen King. Both were very good. Ethan, you especially should read Under the Dome the next time you can just pick up a 1000 page book for fun! Now, I'm reading Midwives by Chris Bohjalian, and it is fascinating.

-While visiting my parents yesterday, we went to the Blockbuster that's going out of business and picked up seven movies for $18--Rendition, Deception, GI Joe, Fast Food Nation, The Soloist, Veggietales Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, and Stop-Loss. Not too shabby!

-Tonight, J and I start our 3rd week of Insanity! We'll be rocking the Fit Test once he gets home from work...we were actually supposed to do it this morning, but both needed/wanted just a little bit more sleep when 5:30am rolled around. I'm also excited to take some measurements, because I think I'm starting to see/feel some difference!

-And a BIG, BIG, BIG thanks to my dad who installed my new laptop screen while watching the kiddos during the dinner on Saturday! It is SO nice to have a fully functional screen!!!

Table Setting/Brownie Bites/Family Photos/Headbands

Last week, I saw all of your awesome table settings for Thanksgiving. Then, I looked at my table, which had become a total dumping ground for junk. And it occurred to me that maybe, if it was set nicely, things wouldn't get dumped there as often. So, I went to wally world, picked up some chargers for about $5, and plucked out the only four of our dinner plates that haven't chipped, and set the table.

That same day, I decided to make some chocolate dipped marshmallow brownie bites, which were directly inspired by Inside Bru Crew Life's Pumpkin Spice Brownie Bites. I followed the Bru Crew Life instructions, except that I eliminated the Hershey's kiss and dropped about 24 mini marshmallows in a grid shape on the brownies for the last 5 minutes of baking. Then I cut the brownies around the marshmallows, and smushed the brownie so the marshmallow was in the middle. They were super yummy, but really rich.

On Thanksgiving, we attempted to take a family photo for our Christmas cards {which I WILL send out this year!}. Lizzy is becoming such a ham.

Earlier, I mentioned Inside Bru Crew Life's blog. Well, while looking at her blog on Wednesday, I also came across a tutorial for fabric headbands. And because I didn't have enough to do on the day before Thanksgiving, I decided to make one. Once I was finished, I remembered that there's a craft bazaar at church on December 4th to benefit the church's partner school. And because I didn't have enough to do the week after Thanksgiving, I signed up and decided that I could sell all kinds of fabric headbands, among other things.

Overall, it was a really good weekend! We got to spend a ton of time with family, snagged a really cheap TV during the Black Friday sales to replace our dinosaur that was getting green and pink spots {thanks to our sweet daughter who decided to be awake for the day at 3am on Friday morning}, rearranged out entire living room, watched some Firefly, ate a modest amount of Thanksgiving food {I did not feel stuffed at all! Yay!}, made some Christmas CD's {loving Glee's version of O' Holy Night!}, caught up with my best friend from high school, and Justin and I even went to see a movie {Unstoppable--not my first choice, but it ended up being really good}.

Hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving!

Date Night

Last night, Justin and I put Lizzy to bed and watched the movie Date Night (yeah for Redbox!). I wasn't sure whether it would be hilarious or stupid, and maybe I was just in the mood for a silly movie, but I thought it was HILARIOUS. One scene in particular had me laughing so hard I was crying.

Basically, the two characters (Tina Fey and Steve Carrell) are a married couple discussing their fantasies. The husband asks if the wife ever fantasizes about leaving him for someone else. She responds something to the effect of,

'God no. If anything I fantasize about being alone. Leaving and going to a hotel for the afternoon. Being in a quiet room where I can eat my lunch with no one touching me. And drink a diet Sprite in peace.' 

I about died. I SO understand! I never really understood until I became a mom how exhausting it can be just to be touched 24/7. But I also didn't have any understanding of how heart-warming and fulfilling it can be either.

How I Spent My Summer...

Or the last few days of it at least....

-On Monday, we got to finally see Kaitlin, Jesse, and Jaxon! Since before they were born, we have joked that Jaxon and Lizzy are betrothed, so that we could all actually be family. So we about died when Lizzy kept trying to pet his face and hold his hand. She's been around a lot of babies and hasn't done that before, so it was hilarious. I'll have to try to get a picture of it soon.

-I have officially completed Level 1 of the 30 Day Shred ten times, and even with actual weights instead of canned food. I didn't quite do 10 consecutive days, but I was close. Today, I move on to Level 2, and I am nervous! I've done it once or twice before, and it is KILLER.

-I finished reading The Help, and it was fantastic. I loved every second of it, and would recommend it in a heartbeat. I'm now reading a book called The Girls, about conjoined twins. It is really interesting!

-We've had a couple of weeks off from softball, and we're going to start the fall league here pretty soon. We were hoping to move down to the C league, but we're still in the B league. Here's hoping we actually win a game, and not just because the other team doesn't show up! 

-For my birthday, one of the things my parents gave us was a gift certificate to go to the movies. Any suggestions? I hardly even know what's playing right now...

-The band has been busy this summer. A couple of weeks ago, they had the opportunity to play at an old rock quarry that has been renovated and turned into an outdoor amphitheater for concerts. It's a really beautiful setting:

 The band has several more concerts coming up in the next few weeks--it's a busy (and fun!) time!

Burning Question of the Day: Movies

Today's BQOTD:  

What was the last good movie that you saw, 

either in theaters or at home?

Honestly, I'm not sure. We saw Avatar in the theaters (in 3D) before Lizzy was born. I did enjoy that one as much as a 9 months pregnant lady sitting through a 3 hour movie could. 

I really want to see Valentine's Day, but it isn't available in Redbox yet, and I'm not sure that I want to buy it without having seen it first.

Figuring Out the Guest Room

We have a "guest room" that is totally unusable, because you can hardly walk in the door due to all the boxes and other crap on the floor. I think that the major problem is all of our DVDs. We have a TON of DVDs--when we were both working and had a lot of expendable income, J would buy 2-3 movies a week. In fact, when I was working, co-workers used to "rent" DVDs from us, lol! Anyway, we currently have tons and tons of DVD towers, bookshelves, etc. that are used to house all these movies. But I don't like that solution because it takes up so much floor space.

I definitely need to make room in that space for a treadmill, but I'd also eventually like to put a futon, and possibly an extra TV in there (for J's video games). I'm kind of at a loss as to how to do all this while still keeping the room halfway stylish on a serious budget. Anyway, I'm contemplating using some sort of track storage system on one entire wall.

Any other suggestions? How would you store 500 plus DVDs while taking up as little floor space as possible? And remember, we're going on a shoestring budget for this!

Snippets

-It is Friday. I am pretty sure that my bosses are both off today. So, even though our office dress code is "business casual, jeans okay on Fridays", I plan to wear black yoga pants. Hey, they KINDA look dressy...

-I have been up since 3:30am....for no reason at all. I just couldn't sleep.

-I should be working for a canine unit right now. My sense of smell is off the charts--I was sitting in court yesterday, and I could tell *exactly* which parents were still actively using. I could smell the alcohol seeping out of their pores or the marijuana in their hair. No one else seemed to notice.

-I purchased the movie "A Christmas Story" to watch tonight because J has never seen it. And I am pretty sure that he WAS that awkward chubby boy from the movie. In fact, last night when I showed him the DVD case, he said, "Oh my God...you weren't kidding...I had those glasses growing up!"

-Yesterday, I had a conversation with the doctor that went something like this:

Doctor: Well, you're definitely at least 1cm dilated and pretty effaced. And she's pretty much engaged. That's good news. Most first time moms are totally shut up at this point. You're officially on deck!
Me: Well that's good, because I'm officially uncomfortable all the time.
Doctor: No doubt! Well, if there's any day that you really don't want her to come, that will be the day that she comes.
*Justin and I look at each other*
Me: Looks like we're having a Christmas Eve baby
[Every year, my family goes out to one specific fancy restaurant on Christmas Eve. I have been looking forward to this dinner for MONTHS, and keep talking about how with my luck I'll be in labor instead of enjoying the feast]

Doctor: Well, if I had to pick a date for you to deliver, it would be two weeks from today. I always think the 38 week deliveries go the best.
Me: You want us to deliver on New Year's Eve?
Doctor: I didn't even realize that....but bonus for you!

Monday Snippets

• I am eating Grandma's Peach-Almond Pie for breakfast. It is delicious. And PS- it's what I've listed over at NewlyWoodwards for the Dare to DIY challenge of the week, which was cookies/bars/cakes. I'm a rebel and threw in a pie.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I also plan to try Starbucks' Cream Brulee Latte today. It had better be worth the hype and the giving up of my much-loved Peppermint Mocha.
  
• The nursery is so close to being done that I can almost taste it! I just have to get Justin to re-arrange some of the furniture. He arranged it in what would admittedly be the most functional way, but it just looks funny that way. I may hold off on the big reveal until after my shower on the 19th, because I'm sure there will be more to add then.
• The movie 2012 was better than I expected. It was actually quite good--just loooooong.
  
• For the past couple of weeks, my cat has been shunning me. Seriously, she wouldn't come near me. Over the weekend however, she's been attached to my side and wants to be held 24/7. This freaked me out, because I've now heard from several people that their cats did this right before they went into labor, and I am not ready to go into labor yet!
  
• I was up from 12:30am-1:30am last night. Why? Inexplicably, doing a kick count. Don't ask.
  
• But since you're wondering, I have been having incredible anxiety again lately. It's totally irrational anxiety, usually revolving around our house not being clean. So then I don't sleep, which means that when it comes time to actually clean our house, I'm delirious and exhausted, which means nothing really gets done. Vicious cycle. I want to pick up Max Lucado's new book Fearless. I have a feeling it might help calm me down and conk me out in the middle of the night.
  
• Leg cramp on the couch = Kicking laptop off the couch = Cracked laptop screen. You might recall that it was already cracked. Now it's really cracked. Suck. But my fantastic dad is looking to see if he can find a replacement screen on eBay. Here's hoping.
  
• Our Christmas shopping and December birthday shopping is just about done!
  

A few things...

I really want some of this, which the Haagen Dazs website says is available from September through December. However, I have not been able to find it ANYWHERE, and boy have I looked! Peppermint, chocolate, and ice cream together are my serious weakness. My only other option to satisfy this craving would be Dairy Queen's Chocolate Peppermint blizzard, but I can guarantee that won't be available until next month. C'mon people....help a pregnant lady out!


I read Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas last night. I believe it was one of the books that you faithful blog readers suggested that I check out. It's not a book that I would have normally picked for myself, but it was available on Paperback Swap, and so I got it. It wasn't bad. A fast read nonetheless. There's something awfully rewarding about completing an entire book in an evening! Overall though, I did find the book pretty darn predictable. And again, I felt like it just kind of ended. Even after reading the diary, I wasn't buying that Katie would completely forgive Matt THAT quickly.

In other news, I've been having a hard week. Last Thursday, I started having contractions. Not Braxton Hicks contractions, but the real deal. It turns out that I was a) dehydrated, b) hadn't been getting enough sleep, and c) doing too much. Thankfully, they've stopped, but there were a few days there of being uncomfortable and in pain all.the.time. The not-getting-enough-sleep part was not surprising, as for the past week and a half or so, I've probably been averaging 3 and a half hours of sleep a night. And that just isn't cutting it when I'm still working. Last night, I broke down and took some Benadryl. I'm still exhausted. I just keep reminding myself that I only have 1.5 days of work this week (though I do need to work a longer-than-usual day today), and I can do that. Then I have 5 days off, which is a MUCH needed break! I'm hoping that will help improve my mood a bit.

We went to see New Moon over the weekend. I liked it much better than the first movie, probably because I'd much rather stare at Jacob for 2 hours than Edward. Definitely Team Jacob here. However, actually going to the movie was a PITA. We had tickets, and admittedly arrived later than we should. We both kept trying to sit in the available seats, and people would say, "Sorry, this seat's taken." Which happened with every empty seat in the theater. Okay, we have tickets for the showing, I know not EVERY seat is taken, you just want a seat for your damn coats. We ended up having to switch to another showing because everyone SWORE the empty seats were actually taken. So, we made it to the next showing, and ended up with a one year old next to us. The parents refused to take him out of the theater when he cried, and even changed his diaper in the theater. No joke. Look, I don't mind if parents take babies to the movies, but for god sake, if they're screaming bloody murder, take them out of the theater!

Hope y'all had a good weekend!

Over the weekend....

-We went grocery shopping and stocked up on food. I actually did a meal plan through the second week in September, and I know this is a no-brainer, but it was AMAZING how much less we spent when we actually knew what we were planning to make! And it is AMAZING to have home-cooked meals! I'll post up a meal plan in the next couple of days if anyone is interested.

-The fair was a great time! It was hot, but not as hot as last year when it was 112 degrees, so I'm not complaining! I do need to clean up my eating after the fair-food, fast food, and ice cream filled weekend though!

-I think I have self-diagnosed my rash as being eczema. I've had little itchy bumps just like this before, but just one or two, not my entire hands, feet, armpits, and stomach! Seriously though, I almost cried at about 2am last night. I've been using both Cortizone and the non-steroid Sarna lotions coupled with Benadryl, but I'm still hardly sleeping at night...last night, I slept with ice-packs on my hands and feet.

-I also had my first "it's a girl" ultrasound dream last night. It was a bizarre dream--first, they had somehow done the ultrasound without me being actually present, and had told my brother in law the sex of the baby. He then told me congrats without realizing that I didn't actually know the sex yet. I was pretty ticked. And then the dream turned into a nightmare when I discovered that the baby's skin was on inside out.

- I had no desire to see GI Joe, but we went with my dad and sister yesterday, and it was actually pretty good! Sienna Miller looks totally different, and much hotter as a brunette!

-We made the recipe for Auntie Anne's soft pretzels from The Long Haul over the weekend. Actually, Justin pretty much made them after I blacked out. Nice. Aparently, it had been too long since I had eaten. Anyway, J did a great job! I've never had an actual Auntie Anne's pretzel, so I can't attest to the authenticity, they were pretty darn good!

-We got our glider, which Justin assembled in the living room and then determined that it doesn't fit through the door to the bedroom while assembled. I think it may have to go out in the garage for awhile since we still have to rip up the carpets, paint, etc in the nursery-to-be.

17 or 27?

This weekend, J and I went to see two different movies. The first was The Watchmen on Friday night. The movie was rated R, so they had a guy at the door checking that all the people entering were either 17 or with their legal guardians. J and I were walking in, and the guy stopped us and said, "Are you his legal guardian?" J and I both looked at each other oddly--we were alone, so we weren't sure who the guy was talking about. We told him that we were by ourselves, and he said, "Oh...I thought the 10 year old behind you was yours." Um...if that were my 10 year old, I would have had him when I was 13. And even if I had had him when I was 18, that would have put me at at least 27. J and I both laughed a bit and headed in to watch the movie (PS--I was SHOCKED at how many 8-12 year olds were at The Watchmen with their parents last night...not really a kid appropriate movie.)

Fast forward to today...my parents called and offered to treat us to see The International. We accepted, and met up with him at the theater. He went over to buy the tickets, and the lady at the box office said rather snottily, "Um, sir, who exactly are you buying tickets for?" My dad gestured at J, my mom, and me. Box office lady said, "Um...this movie is RATED R. Anyone not 17 must be a parent or legal guardian of the children. Are you their parent or legal guardian?"

My mom started laughing hysterically. Without missing a beat, my dad said, "Well, I'm their parent, but they've qualified as their own legal guardians for about 5 years now...they're long out of the house and married. I think they're probably allowed to see R rated movies."

So, in the course of 24 hours, I went from being mistaken as being at least 27 to being mistaken for under 17. LOL!

Friday Fun

- I only have to work until 3pm today! Hopefully Renee and I will get to hang for a couple of hours before she has to pick up her kids. Yay!

-We are actually going to see a movie tonight--J has been absolutely dying to go see The Watchmen. He's really into superheros and comics, so he already knows all about the movie. I know nothing about it. I just hope it's good--I'm a scrooge and I hate paying full price for crappy movies.

-I had this crazy dream last night that we went on a road trip. We got to this big hill, walked up the hill, where there was a gothic cemetary, and it was all snowy. I was having a blast taking pictures with my camera, but all of a sudden, it broke and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. We ran into a few people that we knew in the dream (I don't know them in real life), and they brought us over to the edge of a cliff where you could see the ocean--and it was a gorgeous sunny day. I kept talking about how incredible it was to be able to see the ocean and snow at the same time. I haven't had a dream that vivid in a LONG time, so I decided to look some of it up in a "dream dictionary."

Cemetary: Rebirth and/or fears about death
Broken Camera: You're ignoring an issue or can't see the big picture
Snow: Signifies needing to release emotions and inhibitions
Ocean: Signifies the state of emotional feelings, indicative of spiritual refreshment and renewal.

Goodness sakes--anyone care to take a stab at psychoanalyzing me?

352.

-At work, the girls are always talking about renting movies. I finally told them that J buys movies pretty much every time we walk into ANY store, and they should check with us before renting movies, 'cause we're happy to loan them out. Friday, J came to pick me up from work, and they convinced him that if he created a movie spreadsheet, they'd "rent" movies from us for a dollar. So, we tallied up the movies today, and I have to say...it's pretty ridiculous. All the movies are kept in J's man cave, so I really didn't have any idea that we have 352 freaking movies! Lordy! They'll be able to "rent" movies from us for the rest of our lives!

-I finally took a cue from Renee, TYH, and every other blog I've been reading lately and planted a few things in an indoor greenhouse. I know I'm late at doing this, but I'm hoping I'll still have some veggies this year. So far I've got jalepenos, radishes, carrots, tomatoes, mint, bell peppers, watermelons, and sugar snap peas. I'd like to add strawberries, cantelope, corn, spinach, and potatoes to the mix too. I would LOVE to not have to buy produce all summer. Not only is produce pretty dang expensive, but it just isn't very GOOD around here. For flowers, I planted some morning glories and sweet peas. I have a total black thumb, and I didn't even look to see if these things can grow in our region or level of sun, but I'm hoping they turn out! Maybe this will give us some incentive to get our backyard under control so that I have somewhere to PLANT these babies once they start blooming.

Ghost Town

After rave reviews from my sister, brother, AND parents, Justin and I bought the movie Ghost Town over the weekend. It's really unusual that both my sister/brother AND parents like the same movies, so I definitely had high expectations for this movie, and it did not disappoint.

Lisa recently discussed her not-so-friendly Norwegian neighbors, and I laughed just thinking about it because the lead in this movie is the EPITOME of an unfriendly neighbor. He's the type of guy who doesn't hold the elevator, steals other people's taxis, and is a dentist so that he doesn't have to hear people talk. On the odd occasion that he attempts to compliment someone, the best he can come up with is, "You have...comfortable shoes."

Anyway, here's the official description: Bertram Pincus is a man whose people skills leave much to be desired. When Pincus dies unexpectedly, but is miraculously revived after seven minutes, he wakes up to discover that he now has the annoying ability to see ghosts. Even worse, they all want something from him, particularly Frank Herlihy who pesters him into breaking up the impending marriage of his widow Gwen. That puts Pincus squarely in the middle of a triangle with spirited result.