The Proposal **1/2

Directed by Anne Fletcher.
Written by Pete Chiarelli.
Released June 2009.
With Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Mary Steenburgen,
Craig T. Nelson, Betty White, Denis, O'Hare,
Malin, Akerman, Oscar Nunez, Aasif Mandif

All in all, this is a fun little movie. Basically, it hearkens to the time of the screwball commedy. It tries to be like a Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn movie. It tries, but of course Billock's not Hepburn and Reynolds is definately not Grant.

Bullock plays an executive of a publishing house who is a total bitch on wheels. Reynolds is her smart alecky assistant who wants to be a real writer. It seems that Bullock's character, Margaret, is going to lose her job becasue she is Canadian and is not in the states legally. She's going to be deported. She decides that Reynolds will marry her so that she can stay. Reynolds squeezes some promises from her and they reach a deal. They have to go to sceptical immigration officer who sees through their plot and intends to get to the bottom of it.

Meanwhile, Reynold's character, Andrew, takes her to a weekend back home in Alaska to meet the parents. The parents get all excited and insist on having the wedding there and from there all sorts of whackiness and comedy ensue.

Sure it's predictable, we all know whats going to happen to this mismatched couple, just like we know that our team is going to win whenever we watch a sports film. But it's well written, the shots of Alaska are beautiful the chracters are engaging. There is an unfortunate scene in Which Bette White, the grandmother, does some sort of nature Native American dance in the woods upon which Margaret finds her and does her own bootie shaking dance.

It's no Grant and Hepburn, but it's a good time.

The Night of the Hunter ***1/2

By Davis Grubbs
Copyright 1953
This edition 1999 By Prion Books Limited, London
Pages 266

This is some dark stuff, which is why I totally loved this book. A movie was made of this book, which was also great, which was directed by Charles Laughton (of Hunchback of Notre Dame fame) and starring Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters.

Now I saw the film first and it was a while ago, but it caught the feeling of the book. Of course the book was more detailed, but in this case the movie suffered little for that. The movie seemed to get the gist of the plot and the feeling object terror). The only thing that the movie lacked which was the setting (almost a character really) of the river. Constant references were made to the river (the Ohio I believe) and it became a menacing element of the book.

So the book opens up with a man in prison talking to a priest on the day before he was to be hung. He had shot and killed two men in a bungled robbery attempt during the Great Depression. The priest was trying to find out where the money he stole was, but the man wouldn't tell. The man had hid the money and only his children knew where it was.

So after the man's death, the priest goes to find the widow. Now this priest is special in that he wanders and preaches where he can find a place to stay a bit. he has no parish to call his own. He also chases weak, susceptible widows for their money. And when God gives him the word, he kills the widows and takes her money. Oh, and he has tattooed on the knuckles of his hand, LOVE and HATE.

So this priest finds the widow of the hung man and ends up marrying her. He tries to find where the money is hidden and his "cover" becomes more and more unveiled as time progresses. He eventually ends up chasing them down the river. The children are found on the river bank by the matron of a small orphanage-like household where she takes care of the children. Eventually the priest finds them and there is a confrontation.

Now what's interesting about this book was that I was trying to decide what the author's opinion on religion was. I mean he has this insane killer priest. That at first tells me that perhaps the author is cynical about religion. The priest uses the trust that comes with being a priest to pry his way into the lives of innocent people, and people supported him, even if they had heard rumors of conflicting reports (from the older boy that was eventually chased for example). This would seem to mean a bias against religion. But, the priest was not simply using his priesthood as a ruse. Whether he was officially a priest or not is not known, but he was constantly quoting scripture and giving sermons. Even within his interior dialogue he spoke to and of God. He believed he was a preacher. After all, It was God who gave him permission to steal and kill from widows.

But... the woman of the orphanage was also a religious person. And very strict with the children. Perhaps better said, she was firm but fair. She took care of the kids and defended them. So you have that contrast of two religious people. This character would seem to demonstrate the author's positive feelings toward religion.

I guess one way to look at the religion question is to look at the types of religion that each character practice. The preacher represents a more organized or traditional religion, perhaps one that has gone horribly awry, while the matron represents a more pragmatic and family values oriented religion. Perhaps, the author's preacher character is a criticism of organized religion.

There were two children that were being chased or "hunted" by the priest. One was an older boy, maybe about 10 years old. The other was a small girl, maybe about 5 years old. The boy was the one who had all the responsibility of taking care of his sister and keeping the secret. What's interesting about the book is that after the conflict is resolved, the boy regresses. He turns from a intelligent Kid who always is aware of everything to a boy that can't remember who is who. He gets confused at the trial on the witness stand of whether they are talking about the priest or his dead father for example. I am assume that the intense pressure of what had transpired simply make him break down.

Here's a trailer from the movie.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian ***

by Sherman Alexie
Illustrated by Ellen Fornay
copyright 2007
Published by Little, Brown and Company / Machette Book Groups - First Edition
pages 230

This is a book for teenagers, a coming of age book. And in that sense, there is nothing new here. You have the nerdy main character who's trying to escape his impoverished community. You have the bully/tough guy character who none the less is friends with the nerdy Indian (Junior, which is the name of many Indians on the reservation). But the twist is that it all happens on an Indian reservation and a small town high school. So he's torn between his people and his new friends and opportunities. His tough best friend, Rowdy, is enraged and heartbroken that Junior would leave the 'Rez'.

So the story is basically how he gets along with his Native American peers in the rez and how he gets along with his white peers at the white high school he decided to go to. Along the way, some tragic event happen, that help him reunite and rebond with his estranged tribe.

Like I said, nothing new here except the characters being Native American, the setting being on a reservation. The funny illustration, he wants to be a cartoonist, good writing and a well crafted story.

Highly recommended to any teenagers you might know (warning - there is some language issues and sexual concepts are discussed).

here's a video where Mr. Sherman speaks.

Oracle Night ***

by Paul Auster
Copyright 2003 First Edition
published by Henry Holt & Company
pages 243

Paul Auster is one of my favorite authors. His stories are quirky and a little weird. And lately I have noticed, at least in his later books, that he seems to really like and respect his characters. He seems to especially like his women characters. In this book, the narrator spends a lot of time describing how marvelous his wife is, even when their marriage is troubled and he suspects some foul play, he doesn't entirely blame her for that. Even the prostitute in "The Music of Change" is portrayed as kind of a saving angel to the poor gentlemen entrapped in their predicament. I imagine his earlier books were probably a little edgier like most art done by artist/writers in their youth. I haven't read most of his earlier work, so it should be interesting to see if this trend in regards to the characters is there also.

The book is set in New York City, as most of his work is. He is a writer who definitely loves his surroundings and he uses NYC often, if not exclusively, in his writing. The book starts out as the narrator is recovering from some serious accident. One in which he was predicted not to survive. During one of his walks in which he tries to exercise, he walks into a stationary store and buys a beautiful Portuguese notebook. He goes home and is inspired to write in it, which is something he hadn't done since his accident several months back. He makes his living by writing, so it is somewhat important that he start again as he needs to start contributing to the finances of his household. The notebook seems to make the words spill from his pen with ease.

This notebook seems to be the catalyst of several strange events. His wife breaks down and cries in a cab, and she never cries (imagine that!) This happens after they visit a mutual writer friend who also happens to have the same notebook. He warns the narrator that the note book can "be cruel". So the rest of the story is the narrator trying to get to the bottom of his wife's sudden outburst. Also the stationary store suddenly disappears and the writer's friend 's son is having emotional and drug problems. I don't want to go too much further into the story, even though I know most of you won't read it (well maybe you will, if you're reading this -which most people don't! -maybe you're the type who might be interested in reading this book - so I won't spoil it for you).

There are a couple of interesting ideas that Auster uses in this book. First of all, his writing in the blue notebook is the idea he has for a novel, which he calls Oracle Night (hence the title of this book) . So we have a novel within a novel. Not only that, but within this novel (Oracle Night) in the blue notebook, there is yet another novel. Consequently there is some interesting detail on the writing process. It speaks to where writers get their ideas and how they work on these ideas. For instance, he discusses how he writes the skeleton of the story first, and then he plans to go back and fill in the detail (ie. is the woman character single, involved or married? Who does she work for and what does she do? etc.)

Also Auster uses footnotes. He uses them mostly as character development. The present action is part of the story, the past action and background information about the characters is told in the footnotes. This is a little different then the way Junot Diaz used them in "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao". I wonder if this is where Diaz got the idea from.

As usual Auster likes to go off on tangents and wax philosophical, which are trips that I enjoy, because, i guess I like his insights into life. So for me, any Paul Auster book is a worthwhile and enjoyable read.

In the following video the Q & A atarts at about the 40 minute mark. Up to then, it is simply him reading from his latest book.

Team of Rivals - The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln ***

by Doris Kearns Goodwin
copyright 2005 by Blithedale Production Inc.
First Simon & Shuster edition 2006
pages 754


This is a fairly long tome and I had to check the book out twice to finish reading it. The second half of the book, which focuses on the Civil War, is a faster more engaging read. I think it's worth the while to read it, though I know barely anyone reads any more, and few are willing to take the time and make the sacrifices necessary to read a book this size - too busy checking their Facebook status (guilty here too, but I still find time to read). Sigh...

The summary about this is fairly simple, so I won't waste too much time on this and perhaps delve deeper into the details. This book is a biography of Abraham Lincoln. It tends to focus on his political activity and especially his cabinet (rivals).

I may be mistaken, but I believe that President Obama has been seen carrying this book around, so clearly he is influenced by Lincoln, as he himself has said in the past. Perhaps I'll get back to that idea after discussing some of the details of Lincoln's life.

I believe most people take for granted that Lincoln is one of the greatest president ever, and very few people would disagree. But except for the obvious freeing of slaves and the winning of a long, difficult and harrowing war, I would wager few people could tell you why he was great.

In fact the beginning of his presidency had an auspicious start. He was thought of as a yokel - a prairie lawyer from the frontier. To be certain, he was much less connected than most of his rivals. In fact he was not the favorite to win the nomination of the party. But the favorites had made so many political enemies, that Lincoln ended up winning the nomination. And the start of his presidency he was clearly naive.

One major mistake was allowing his generals to delay the attacking of the confederate army in the beginning of the war. General McClellan, a dandy officer from the east, had his soldiers drilled and in fine uniforms, but when it came time to mount an offensive, he always found a way to delay it. Not only that, but he seemed to blame everyone but himself for the problems that the Union army had. Some have surmised that if the Union army had attacked earlier in the war, the war might have ended quicker and less death, pain and suffering would have been the result. Thge North always had supierior man power and technology. I always thought the industrial power of the North came later in the war, but it was always there. Lincoln refused to get rid of McClellan (It amazes me that there is a school in Chiago named after this pompous, arrogant guy). People saw Lincoln as too kind or too patient or perhaps even intimidated to do what needed to be done.

And he was a kind and generous man, and some people thought that was a fault and that he was too simple. But he began to get his footing, and his genorisity of spirit remained, yet he was definately in charge of the administration.

The rivals are the memebers he chose for his cabinet. Most presidents picked men who agreed with their policies. Lincoln felt it was best to pick the best men for the job, whether they agreed with Lincoln or not. I believe President Obama attempted the same kind of thing when picking his cabinet.

He gave the most important positions to his biggest rivals who not only felt they were more qualified to be president, but were bitter after losing the party's nomination. The two main rivals were Chase and Seward (The same Seward that later purchased Alaska and was ridiculed for that decision). In fact Seward, expeceted he would pretty much run the show as Secretary of State and that Lincoln would just be a puppet. But Lincoln proved them wrong. Lincoln proved to be shrewd and savvy when dealing with these rivals, at times placating them and at times standing his ground when he wanted something, and he always seemed to have the right balance of generosity and firmness.

Now some people are aware of his feelings toward the slaves and African-Americans. He was a Republican, and the Republican platform was anti-slavery, but Lincoln was a moderate. He did have some moderate rascist feelings torward the slaves, which can be expected for a man of his time. For example, he believed that the freed slaves would not be able to get along with the white population and wanted to set up a colony in Africa. But he proved to be a man who learned his lessons well, and when he finally did come around on some of these controversial race issues, his support for these issues did not waver. When he decided to make the Emancipation Proclamation, he not only did it for political expediency (which is what he told certain moderates in the party), but he also did it because he truly believed (eventually) that all men should be free. He was a man that didn't make rash descisions and took his time thinking about what was best. When he finally did make those descisions, he stuck to them becasue he had put so much effort and thought into those decissions,and truly believed in whatever decision he made.

An interesting thing I learned about Lincoln that they don't mention in the text books I grew up with, was that his assassination was a plot. There were three assassins and each assassin had a person to attack and they were all to attack at the same time. One, John Wilkes Boothe, of course killed Lincoln, another tried to kill Seward. He was unsuccessful, but he seriously wounded Seward and killed a couple of Seward's friends and family memebers (a son I think). The third assassin was supposed to kill Johnson, the Vice President. I believe he was in the same hotel and his vicinity at the appointed time of the attempt. He didn't go through with it. It was more that he had bargained for.


One of the saddest aspects of Lincoln's life as a president was that the Civil War started only days or weeks after his election. And he died less than one week after the end of the war. He never knew peace as a president. His whole presidentail experience was hardship and grief. His innate melancholy character became even more so during this period. He felt he had the blood of too many people on his hands. I wonder what he would have been like in his second term, being a president who ruled under peace instead of war.

He was very in tune to public sentiment (hence he waited on some crucial policies, to the chagrin of the more Radical Republicans who wanted things to be done immediately). His waits always seemed to be justified after the results of his decisions were found out.

So why was Lincoln a great President? He had a knack for making the right political decsions at the right time. He was very concerned about the public sentiment and tried to time certain policies to match that sentiment. He learned from both his moral and political mistakes. He did have comand of his various underlings, though it wasn't always outwardly apparent. And then there was his kid and generous heart.

In that sense, I think Obama has chosen an excellent model to base his presidency on. It's going to be nice to have a president that loves and care the poelpe for once. It will also be nice to have a president that makes thoughtful and intelligent decsions. We haven't seen that in the most recent years. I see Obama balancing his strong leadership with his generosity of spirit. And like Lincoln, Obabma is more concerend about putting good people into offices and not just people who agreed with his policies. It may be too early to see, but I think we got another great one here.

it might be worth an hour of your time for this.

The Black Flower - A Novel of the Civil War **1/2

By Howard Bahr
1997 By Picador Books / Henry Holt & Company licensed by Pan Books Ltd.
pages 267

It's been a while since I've done any writing in the blog and several weeks since I finished reading thisbook. I won't go on for ever, simply because I forgot a lot of details, though usually I like to write a lot of details so as to get all my various ideas down.

Being a Civil War book, it's violent, which is the reason many people like to read war books. It's kind of like looking at a train wreck. It horrible and grotesque, but you can't stop looking/reading. In this sense the book does not fail.

But it also seems to have a spiritual aspect that is not seen in many war books. There's a lot of dreaming and people going in and out of conscience so as to make the reality of the book a little unclear. The injured soldiers are drugged and delusional with pain. There are ghosts in this book. One of the characters, when she goes back to visit the site, senses the souls and the personalities there buried in the bushes and the trees and the ground. It's quite poetic and beautifully done at times.

So basically, the story is based an event in the war that took place at the Tennessee/ Kentucky border. A large battle was to commence there, so the officers of the Confederate ask to use a large mansion in the vicinity as a hospital. The cousin of the mansion's family is one of the major characters as she helps to tend the wounded. Not surprisingly, it's a harrowing experience for her. One of the soldiers she takes interest in.

The other main character, a soldier, is wounded in the hand. He is looking for his friend, convinced he is still alive. So he spends his time wandering around the hospital looking for him until the two main characters meet. His wound is on the hand and seems relatively minor compared to the other wounded at the 'hospital'. The two characters seem to form a bond while helping each other with their various problems.

Suprisingly enough, the battle is a very short part of the battle. All the gory stuff happens in the hospital/mansion.

Let Me In ***

by John Ajvide Lindquist
2004 by John Lindquist, 2007 Translation by Ebba Segerberg
Published in Sweden by Ordfront, Published by Thomas Dunne Books
472 pages

A Window Across the River ***1/2

by Brian Morton
published by Harcourt Books
2003
289 pages

The river of which the title speaks of is the Hudson, so that would make this story set in New York City. All of this authors books (at least the ones that I have read) have been based in NYC, so anyone who is a New Yorkaphile would enjoy this book. I really enjoyed the last book written by this author was Starting Out in the Evening which the wonderful film by the same name is based on.

The story started out decently enough, but it looked to be nothing special. Two ex-lovers attempt to hook up again. Nora was a short story writer who felt she was in a professional rut. Her problem was that she can only write quality pieces when she uses people she knows and loves in her books. The problem is that she tends to dissect their personalities and hurt them when they find out. She ends up destroying her relationships. She is torn between writing and hurting her friends and family or not writing and taking care of people.

So she calls her ex, Isaac, a photographer to help her figure her way out of her situation. Nora looks to Isaac because she feels that he is a pure artist and can advise her, plus she's interested in reviving their relationship - perhaps.

Isaac on the other hand has a 9-5 job and is comfortable, but feels as if he has lost that vision and vitality. He feels embarrassed by Nora's admiration since he is not what he once was. He tries to get back on track to doing real art/photography.

Isaac has a couple of protege's. When they become successful, he is basically jealous of their youth, vitality and the fact that their future lies before them. He wants to be happy for them but he seethes in the light of his latest disappointments.

There are lot of themes that are interesting to me . Perhaps the most interesting is the youth vs aging theme. Youth will always pass up their elders, and that's difficult fort them. Aging myself, I can certainly relate. But there's also discussions about writing and art and those worlds and what it takes to make it in those worlds. And like the characters, I once had some half-assed pipe dreams of living that sort of exciting, Bohemian, intellectual life. But then one grows up, doesn't one.

Morton's strengths seem to be character development and the use of setting in his stories. His dialogue is direct and engaging. His books are a quick and enjoyable read, yet still give plenty of food for thought.

Origin **1/2

by Diana Abu-Jaber
First Edition 2007
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
pages 364

This is a story about a forensic scientist who solves a mystery. And that's about it. OK ,there's more. She believes that she was raised by apes until she was "rescued" and brought to her foster parents. And her memories are fond memories of matted fur and loving long arms. She daydreams of birds and foliage constantly. This "questionable" origin is closely tied to the case she is trying to solve.

She seems to be a tightly wound woman, and she blames her past partly for that. This neurosis affects her relationships with men and she blames on her "past".

The story takes place in Syracuse New York, where it seems to constantly snow. She, Lena, is so out of it that she tends to wander in the snow and several traumatic events happen in the snow.

As mysteries go, it wasn't that hard to figure out. I figured it out about midway through the book, once it became clear exactly what was happening. All that was left was to find the culprit. Sure there were a couple of Red Herrings thrown my way, but not enough to stop me from figuring it out. perhaps more mysterious was the question of her origin.

And the story of her origin was probably the better story in the book. It was interesting the affect it had on her when she learned who she was and who she wasn't. I like the pshyodrama aspect of the book. The pain and confusion that she suffered through.

Lena became tiresome to me. If she was functioning in a forensic science lab, why did she have so much trouble functioning elsewhere? I suppose there are instances when people feel best when they are working and feel at a loss when left on their own. I just didn't buy it here completely.

Overall, this was an interesting, fun read with some interesting things to say about identity and sanity, but not enough meat to really go deep into the book.

Goodbye Solo ***

Directed and written by Ramin Bahrani,

with Souleymane Sy Savane, Red West, Carmen Leyva

2008

A story about a charming Sengalese immigrant who befriends an old man who seemingly has suicide on his mind. He knows this because he is the cab driver who is hired to take him to his rendezvous with fate on the planned day. The cab driver worries and tries to make him part of his own family, though his family life is not picture perfect either. But family is important to our cab driver (Solo) and he states that early in the film. For the rest of the film he practices what he preaches. For the most part. the old man seems to be weakening from his his hard position. But the drop off for that fateful day is still planned and needs to be carried through.

The photography is beautiful. There are many portraits of characters' faces. Silhouettes and closeups of some faces with a lot of charcter. Also some beautiful shots of the Appalachians in North Carolina.

And the character Solo is very charming. Sometimes it was hard to understand how someone could be so upbeat. But he kept fighting, even when things were not going his way. Quite admirable. His litle stepdaughter is quite adorable. She's the one that the old man seems to be attached to. This give hope to Solo seeing that the old man's attachment might forstall his suicide.

Hellboy - Seed of Destruction *1/2

by Mike Mignola
Script by John Byrne
Published by Dark Horse Comics
1st Edition 1994
2nd Edition 1997
3rd Edition 2003
pages 80?

I was interested in this because the Hellboy movies got real good reviews, especially the latter one because of the director who also did Pan's Labyrinth.

Hellboy is a kind of super hero. He's a paranormal detective, which he is perfectly suited to since he comes from the bowels of hell. This story includes his origin which runs into and is related to the second story. An evil wizard conjures Hellboy to aid the Nazi's in their quest to spread evil throughout the world. Of course he has his own reasons to work with them since he's much more powerful that any petty dictator. Hence Hellboy is born, but he's a good guy. He even poses with the American soldiers for a snap shot. So then there's this stroy about monster frogs. The upshot is that there is some kind of sprit in the northpole and the wizard is back changing people into monster frogs so that he can take over the world.

It all seems hair schemed and none of it really makes sense. During the fighting, the preacher is incanting some mumbo jumbo. So what is the basic story here? Evil guy wants to take over the world. A very unimaginative plot in my mind. But its so convoluted that its hard to figure out the plot.

This is typical of what happens to my students when they try to summarize the fantasy books for me that they read. Usually they are too detailed and I cant understand their summaries. When I ask probing questions, "Why did so and so do that?" for example, the upshot is that they are usually evil. No reason that they are evil, they are just evil. I'll try to get some back ground info, "why does the guy do bad things? Did something happen in the past that turned him into a bad guy?" No overbearing mother, no humiliating defeat at the wizardry school. Nope, he's just evil.

So there is no character development and that makes, in my opinion, for a lousy story. A sin that much of the fantasy genre is guilty of. There are some exceptions, so one must not give up on the genre entirely, but this book is no exception to that rule. I did not like the story, though Hellboy himself was an interesting character. I still intend to see the movie. One thing that film provides is someon's imagaination on how other worlds might appear.

And here's what the film looks like.

The Gathering **1/2

By Anne Enright
Random House UK 2007
paperback Black Cat U.SWinner of 2007 Booker Award
260 pages

This is a story of an large Irish family who are "gathered" after the death of of one of the brothers. The gathering could also refer to the gathering of the body, which the main character is charged with doing.

The family is a dysfunctional one, for reasons which may or may not be traceable to the marriage of their grandmother. This is also a book about memory, because the narrator often tells stories about her family's past, and then the narrator isn't sure if that story actually happened. Which make for some pretty ambiguous reading. Why would the author tell us a detail and then claim, through the narrator, that is might not be the case and is ill remembered? It might have something to do with where the blame lies. The blame for the dysfunction in the family and the blame for the death of her favorite brother. The narrator tries to lay the blame at the feet of the other suitor of her grandmother. He wanted her, but she chose the other man who is the narrator's grandfather. This other suitor had some power over the family as he was the grandmother's and grandfather's landlord. He was also in love with the grandmother. The narrator as a child, had witness this man, Nugent, molest her brother and this is what she claims is the reason for her brother's suicide. And consequently for the problems of the whole clan.

And the problems of the family are not clear and cut problems. The brother, Liam, of course, was an alcoholic and was sexually loose sleeping with probably both men and women. The narrator of the story is unhappy in her marriage, but it is unclear why. The mother of the story almost seems vegetable like, but it is never explained. And the uncle is in an asylum.

The book presents the reader with two conflicting ideas at once. The fault of all the family's problems stem from the Nugent character, long ago, (though even before him, grandma was an orphan and probably a prostitute.) On the other hand, the ambiguity of all these details and the faulty remembrance of them make blaming of Nugent debatable. Could he really be responsible for all this?

This is an very introspective book. A psychological drama. I enjoyed it very much, but it took a while to get going. It's not a linear narrative, and jumps around a lot. It's also very slow to reveal key elements of the plot. Add that to the intentional muddying of the details though the narrator's faulty memory and this is one difficult read. If the book would have been just a little less opaque, I probably would have given it three stars. It's really a dark and sad book, which I like of course.

American Born Chinese ***

by Gene Luen Yang
Color by Lark Pien
Publishes by First Second 2006
234 pages

A clever little book with lots of charm. It interweaves three seemingly unrelated stories until they all combine at the end to tie everything up. The tie-in I thought was a little weak and felt forced, but the individual stories are very charming and poignant.

The first story is a folktale about a monkey king who is denied into a party where all the cool deities are because he is a monkey and doesn't wear shoes, even though he has trained to be immortal and god-like. He doesn't like this and vows to become powerful and unmonkey like.

The second story is about a boy living in the United States and going to school. He encounters racism and loneliness, until another Asian friend comes along. That friend confronts him when it comes to a girl.

And the third story is a riotous story about a loud, obnoxious overly stereo-typed Chinese cousin who comes to the states and embarrasses his Americanized cousin. The stereotype is so overboard that it is absurd and very funny.

The one common theme to the book is that of being one's self. Even in the Monkey King story, the monkey learns to be a monkey and is okay with that.

The drawing style is clean, and the color is bright and vibrant. Not draw in the typical alternative comic style but very nice to look at and the stories are good.

here are some images from the book.

And here is someone else's opinion, far more eloquent than mine.

Leap Years **

by Ian Bennett
Published by Candle Light Press
2005

This is an okay little graphic novel. It's a story about a lonely young teenage boy going through high school. The story last exactly through his High School career. He meets this imaginary toad, and things start to go right under the toad's tutelage. He becomes a basketball star (the toad makes sure all his shots go in), he starts dating, runs for president and gets accepted to Northwestern University in Evanston. He does less well in school but everything else is going so great that it doesn't matter. He's untouchable. It's a little inconsistent. The toad preaches learning for learning sake but then preaches about cheating. I guess it's okay to cheat since as the book says several times, "what you learn in High School is not taught to you". So it's anti establishment. He even has the last say at the graduation ceremony.

I'm not sure what the lesson was, but the book had it's moments.

Very crudely drawn figures and art. Though I think that was the point.

Let The Right One In***

2008
Direncted by Tomas Alfredson,
Script by John Ajvide Lindqvist
with Kare Hedebrrant, Lina Leandersson
Seen On DVD

This came right out at the same time as the film Twilight and the comparisons are instructional. But I wont make that my entire discussion.

This is a vampire movie. The two main characters are a wisp of a boy who is not vampire, and his neighbor, a girl who only comes out at night, is of course the vampire. They fast become friends because they are about the same age - but of course they aren't, she's ancient.

They become friends and arguably fall in love. They make sacrifices for each other. Some of the bonding scenes are very touching and tender.



Spoiler Alert! Scroll down to the end if you don't want to know how it ends.

In the end, the boy runs off with the young/ancient girl. The director of the film thinks that this is a happy ending. He states some people disagree with him becasue now the boy is bound to the girl/vampire. I tend to agree with the latter opinion. In the beginning of the film, the girl arrives with a "guardian", but really he is her procurer. He procures victims so that she might feed and survive. My opinion is that this boy will take his place, and it is a nasty, violent business. This older procurer meets a violent and tortuous end. I don't think anyone would wish this boy to follow in his footsteps.

Now I know that boy and girl are romantically attached, and the first thought is that the vampire won't put the boy through what the old man went through becasue she loves him. He was just her procurer and was expendable excepting the service he provded for her. But she loves this boy. She is actually indebted to the young boy. So no - this boy won't follow in the path of the older man.

But this is my argument. How do we know that the older man him self wasn't a former lover of the girl. What else would compell him to do her grotesque bidding for her. Sure he's old now, but she's a vampire and remains eternally young. Perhaps he was young too and had grown older. In fact the old man seems to show some jealousy. Early in the movie he asks the girl not to see the boy. I thought it was to protect their identity, but I now believe that it was jealousy. As in any vampire book/film, the vampire always has her minions. I think that she just recruited her self a new one.

And it doesn't help that the boy seems to have a streak of violence in him. Perhaps because of all the bullying he endured, but even the vampire points this out to him. She saw him fantasizing killing his attackers with a knife againts the tree. This propensity for violence should come in handy when trying to procure victims for his vampire lover.

End of Spoiler Alert!

One has to compare this film to the blockbuster
Twilight because it came out at the same time and it has a similar story. Young vampire falls in love with mortal. It is slower moving and less action packed, so my daughter informed me and the people are less beautiful. But the story is so much better. And let's face it, the Twilight film has some really stupid parts and the obnoxious Hollywood formula of having obligatory knock-down, drag-out fight to near death ending. This is an intelligent film which demands a little more attention from the viewer, but it's worth the extra effort.

And here is someone else's opinion.

Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond *

By Don Cheadle and John Pendergast
Published by Hyperion
2007
272 pages

Luckily this book was read several months ago and I don't remember much or this rant would be much longer than it already is. But it did have some relatively small merits to reccomend it. I'll end this discussion with those merits. First I want to rant.

I really disliked this book. I felt tricked into reading it. I though I was getting the story of Darfur, which I knew nothing about and was curious to learn about. This is not really a book about Darfur. It is a book about how to be an activist. There probably wasn't more than a dozen pages describing what exactly was happening in Darfur. There was tale after tale of examples of people being successfull activists. How they were able to raise money for their cause. Or how they were able to meet politicians and lobby. Certainly, this is an important thing to discuss but that was not what i was looking for. And If I had known what this book was really about, then I wouldn't have read it. Not that that kind of information is not important, but really, it's so much less interesting than what I had hoped for. I want to spend my time reading books that are interesting. It felt like i was reading a large corporate brochure.

It seems that this book was preaching to the choir. The authors made the assumption that we all realized that the situation in Darfur was horrendous and therefore we wwould be ready for active participation. And anyone who is mildly alert and current with today's events know that there is something going very wrong over there. But the book keeps making the point that few people, becasue of the press and politics, know about the situation. I myself knew very little. The little that I did know made me want to find out more. It piqued my interest. This book did make me more interested in the situation. Ok, yes, I know that things are bad over there. You (the authors) need to tell me just how bad it is because there are a lot of things that need my attention, and I need to be convinced that Darfur is THE ONE most important thing and that I should spend my precious litte free time for this cause. Liike most people i havbe a very busy life and a variety of interests including my surviving and taking care of my own family. If you want me to take time out for "your' cause, then convince me that I need to get involved, don't take it for granted.

What this book needed to do if it wanted me to get mobilized was to tell me a story. Tell me a heartbreaking, well told story. The book mentions the movie Hotel Rwanda (another genocide in Africa that happened slightly previous to the one in Darfur) as a piece of art/literature that might get people interested in the casue. Give me a riviting fictional account or even a well written historical/political account of what is happening, and I might feel more dispensed to become active. The book fails to do that.

The book is way too repetative. I guess they are trying to drive their points home, but I got very tired of it. It states that one of the dealiest sins to the casue of activisim is to be boring. Ironically, that is exactly what this book is. It really is, overall, a boring book (though it did have a few moments acattered far and wide through out the book). It says not to be too self- righteous as it's a turn off to possible converts. This book is too self righteous.

There are some redeeming values (hence the 1 star). The information given here is good if you did want to get involved in activism. While the book overdoes the "testimonial" aspect of the success of activism, there is one section which describes these examples which is quite readable. There are some interesting anecdotes written by the actor Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda), who is also co-author of this book. And finally there is a nice appendix of information to use if you want to get involved and help. It does suggest some smaller things that one can do with out sacrificing your whole life.

This could be a valueable book if you cut it down to under 100 pages (lot's of repetition!) because it is a good reference. In fact, keep it short was another piece of advise they gave us which the authors failed to follow themselves. And it could be valuable if one was already interested in becoming an activist. What they should have done is attach this quality information to the appendix of a really riveting, best selling book. Get the people hooked first, then preach the activism. That is what Al Gore did with his movie An Inconvenient Truth. He presented rivieting information and followed it with a short "appendix" about what we the people could do to help.

It was also nice to see that so many Jewish - Americans are getting involved in this movement. I was beginning to think that after the hey day of the civil rights movements when Jews were very involved in activism. that the Jewish community had turneed inward and begin to be more concerned about the acquiring of material goods like the rest of America. There are several examples of Jewish leaders in this movement. To be sure the word genocide is partailly what attracts them to the cause, since Jews have went through similar events. I think that's a good thing.

I don't like that the book tried to make me feel guilty. Of course genocide is a horrible phenonema, and we should do all the things necessary to stop it. I would be willing to do some of the smaller activities suggested if I wasn't so irritated with the book that I forgot about it in a couple of weeks. In fact, I kind of did make a plan to do some things. But as time passed the urge grew weaker. A stronger book might have made that urge last longer.

This video might actually be more interesting than the book.

My Most Important CDs/LPs

"Think of 17 albums, CDs, LPs (if you're over 35) that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dug into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. Royally affected you, kicked you in the wasu (wazoo?), literally socked you in the gut, is what I mean. Then when you finish, tag 20 others, including moi. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you're it!"

Here it goes, in more or less chronological order:

Black Sabbath - Volume 4 - My first favorite band. I was in 4th grade or so. How could you not love the long hair, large oversized crosses and the power chords. This was not my first but it is their best. More intricate than the slab of meta that makes Paranoid

Jethro Tull - Aqua lung: Not my favorite now, but back in the day it was. I like the folksier earlier stuff better now like Benefit, Stand Up Living in the Past.

Genesis - Foxtrot - In High School I would sing the whole of Supper's ready to kill time during my daily 3 mile run.

Chris Squire - Fish Out of Water - The bass player for Yes. Better than any Yes album. Had the London Philharmonic backing him up on strings and such.

Gentle Giant - Octopus - My favorite of theirs. The most consistent.

Kink Crimson - Lark's Tongue in Aspic - A super group and their best cd ever. Bill Bruford on drum kit and John Wetton on Bass.

Roxy Music - Viva Roxy - Live album by Roxy Music. Not my favorite, but it has my favorite version of a great song by them "If There is Something".

Brian Eno - Before and After Science - First heard this under a chemical enhanced mood. It sowed the seeds to my later taste in New Wave and Punk Rock.

XTC - Black Sea - the 80's did not hold up to the test of time very well. These guys and Talking Heads are probably all that I will listen to now. Needless to say, the musical motifs of the 80's forms the basis of what I listen to now.

The Birthday Party - Junkyard - My first Introduction to Nick Cave - Also see their Ep Mutiny in Heaven.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The First Born Is Dead - The rolling thunderous bass of Tupelo is an unforgettable start to an album full of dying, blind blues men, criminals on the run and biblical stories of the great flood.

Violent Femmes - Unhallowed Ground - This second album is under valued but just as great, if not greater than their 1st album. It's one of the albums that got me interested in Alternative country.

The Gun Club - Fire of Love - Gothic and horrifying. Country punk. A wonderful version of Preaching the Blues. Another favorite is Jack on fire.

Hunters and Collectors - Jaws of Life - Australian group influenced by the Birthday Party. Great rhythm section with a stand out bass player. Came out inthe height of interest of all things Australian. Good for road trips since all the songs seem to be about cars, trucks and engines.

The Sound - From the Lions Mouth - Think Early rockin' U2 but Much better. Adrian Borland's guitar soared (RIP). dark and haunting.

Echo and the Bunny Men - Heaven up There - Mellow that their debut. I think it sounds better today after test of time.

The Teardrops Explodes - Mount Kilimanjaro (Spelling) - punk/pop from the eighties. Julian Cope's cds are hard to find here n the states.

Chris & Carla - Swinger 500 - this is their second cd together, but my 1st exposure to them. They are the leading musicians in the group The Walkabouts who are one of my favorite all time groups. Sounds like a mix of Portishead (Some weird electronics) and Leonard Cohen (great song writing).

Tindersticks - Curtains - 3rd cd. Alternating beautiful sweeping violins pop vs dissonant punk rock sounds.

16 Horsepower- Sackcloth 'n Ashes - Greatly influenced by The Gun Club. It's old timey music with an insanely religious bent to it. When the singer sings, you fear god dag nab it! Lots of banjo, hurdy gurdy etc.

Neko Case - Furnace Room Lullabye - My first and still by far her best. Dark abnd sinister and beatiful.

Damien Jurado - Where Shall You Take Me - A singer song writer who write beautiful heartbreaking songs. Has been compared to the writing of Raymond Carver who writes about ordinary people in ordinary situations which become transforming and trascendant.

The National - Alligator - Kind of like Tindersticks but more rocking. Get's better on repeated listenings.

Midnight Choir - Unsung Heroine - I heard this cd for the 1st time on one of the more traumatic (emotionally) times of my life. The music brought calmness to my tormented soul that night. And don't forget beautiful emotive singing and swirling sweeping strings.

Willard Grant Conspiracy - All their cds are great so ill pick just one song here - "Dig a Hole".

I know that's much more than 17 (25 to be exact)... Besides

Role Models **

2007?
Written and directed by David Wain
Co written by Paul Rudd
with Paul Rudd, Sean William Scott, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Ken Jeong, Jane Lynch, Elizabeth Banks

I have fallen way behind so I will be doing some quick and dirty "reviews" just to keep track of the things I've read, seen or listened to. I've said that before, but I really mean it this time. I mean, I saw this movie back in January I believe so of course I don't remember details. So here goes.

Two travelling guys who work marketing a highly caffeinated drink to college kids run amok of the law after Paul Rudd's character has a melt down. For community service, they have to reluctantly become "big brothers" for two kids. One, a nerdy role playing kid and the other a profanity filled street wise African-American kid with an obsession with boobies. Of course they are perfectly matched up, though they don't realize it at first.

So it's fairly formulaic, though the jokes are good and the ending while expected - geeky guy gets girl etc. has some small twists that keep the audience guessing. There is enough originality in the details to keep it fresh.

Bluford High - Blood is Thicker *1/2

by Paul Langan and D.M. Blackwell
published 2004 by Townsend Press
pages 156

This is a young adult series about teenagers living in urban environments. Apparently it's quite popular amongst teens and preteens. It's easy to see why since I doubt that there is much good literature about urban teenagers. Though I could be wrong.

My problem with it is that there is not enough ambiguity in the narrative. The basic story is that a kid (Hakeem) needs to move to Detroit from California because his father is ill and lost his job and needs to see a doctor in Michigan. He rooms with his older cousin (Savon) who he hasn't seen for years. Apparently his cousin seems to be leading a secret life and running with the wrong crowd. The story is resolved too simply for me. Basically, it was a case of misunderstanding and Savon is an upright kid. I think it would have been more interesting if Savon was actually involved in the things he was suspected of, but would have had inner conflict with right and wrong.

To be sure the characters are appealing. Hakeem's love interest is a "bad" girl who is trying to go good. She ends up leaving Detroit to escape the bad influences that surround her. Perhaps this would be a more interesting story, because she was actually a "bad" girl once. I'm willing to bet that she has her own book.

Jellyfish **1/2

Directed by Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen
Written by Shira Geffen
With SArah Adler, Assi Dayan, Tzahi Grad, Nikol Leidman, Gera Sandler, Noa Knoller, Ma-Nenita De Latorre, Zaharira Harifai
In Hebrew w/ English Subtitles
Released 2007

This is an odd little surreal movie with an abundance of symbolism and poetry. There is even a poem written and then read at one of the character's deaths in one of the more beautiful scenes.

There are 3 main story lines that overlap. The first story is about a newlywed couple that has a troubled honeymoon after the bride breaks her leg. Things go all wrong from the start. They settle on a local honeymoon but the bride is never happy. I got the feeling that she was nervous about starting her conjugal duties and looking for excuses to delay the act. To be sure the groom was very frustrated. it's at this point he meets an older, attractive poet. The bride is jealous, though nothing happens between the husband and the poetess. The bride writes her own poetry perhaps in response to the competition with the poet. I'll stop summarizing the story line here since it would be a spoiler.

Then there is the story of a disheveled waitress who meets a mute young girl who comes out of the sea. She takes in the girl, but then loses her and proceeds to look for her. In the meantime, she tries to deal with her past which involves her divorced parents and perhaps a lost childhood. At one point she wants to see a friend's home movies which are boring, because she has never seen any of her own. The child is a catalyst for this journey in the past as well as an important symbol of the movie - the sea and water.

The 3rd story line is about a Philippine woman, who is nursing an elderly lady, crotchety and grumpy old lady that mistreats her. She puts up with this abuse even though she dearly misses her own child. The irony of course is that she's taking care of other people's problems even though she clearly would rather take care of her own son (and who wouldn't). This is perhaps the most conventional story of the film and perhaps the sweetest. The old lady and her nurse come to an understanding of sort and bond.

These narratives all overlap and the film cuts back and forth between narratives. Perhaps the main narrative is that of the waitress. There is a real question as to whether the little girl is real or unreal - perhaps a ghost, or the waitress' imagination or whatever. That's the part that lends its surreal feeling to the film. When the girl and the waitress finally part ways, there is the feeling that the waitress has found what she was looking for and the waitress may now continue on with her life and grow to be a content adult.

And then there was the water motif. I had a better idea what it was about when watching, but since a week has passed, I'm not so sure anymore. But here are some examples. There are periodic images of ships in a bottle. The Philippine nurse buys her son a ship as a birthday present. The little girl comes from and returns to the sea. The waitress has a extraordinary memory of her parents at the seashore. In one scene her answering machine is floating and taking messages in her flooded apartment.

Time and memory are also major themes of the movie. Memories turn into reality, etc. That has to do with the waitress' mind set in the movie.

All in all, a good film, perhaps a little too ephemeral, but plenty to think about, to absorb and some nice visuals and moods to enjoy.

This is a trailer to the film to give you an idea what it looks like -



And here is someone else's opinion -