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 -

The Bloody Chamber ***1/2

By Angela Carter
Published 1979 - Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1980 Harper and Row, 1981 penguin Books (UK), 1987 Penguin Books (USA), 1993 This Edition
126 pages

Angela Carter has written several short story books. Is seems to have been her niche. I have only read one other book by her which was also short stories. Her work is a mixture of the baroque love for detailed and flowery language and profane subject matter. So while I'm enjoying the sometimes ribald stories with their contemporary feel, I am also enjoying (and often struggling with too) her beautiful language and poetry.

This is a book of retold fairy tale stories. I won't go into detail about the plots, because they are somewhat familiar, but I will tell you the traditional stories that they are based on. The title story is based on the the Bluebeard tale. There are two different versions of Beauty and the Beast. One of the funnest stories is a version of Puss n' Boots and that scampy cat. There are several varieties and themes of the little girl in the woods (Little Red Riding Hood) and also some vampire and werewolf stories.

I can see several themes being displayed here. There is always a beast or monster. And then there is always the sexually ripe young girl as one might expect. Perhaps the thing that always stands out is the sadness and melancholy of these beasts. Most of them seem to suffer and there is a nobleness. In one of my favorite stories, The Lady of the House of Love, a vampiress mourns her condition, but can't resist her primal bestial instincts and desires. When one young man comes to visit, she changes into a human so as not to kill him out of affection for him, thus ending her own life. The piece is beautiful and tragic.

In our book club, many people hated this book. I think it was mostly because of the difficulty of the dense language. There is the general argument that what one does not understand, one does not like. On the other hand, there is also the argument that elitists only like the difficult works because they are difficult. Yes the language is difficult. I had to slow down many times to figure out what was going on. Sometimes it was impenetrable. But even then, the language was so beautiful, I was able to get a feeling or an emotion though my complete understanding was somewhat obstructed. Sometimes the language has a feel or an emotion and does not always have to communicate straight narrative elements.

And also there is enjoyment in going back and deciphering the text. It's not easy work. The reader has a job to do. With each rereading, the stories and language start to unfold and there is new idea for the reader to think about. It's like what some people say about quality music. Each new listen brings something new to the ear. In this case, each new rereading brings something new to the brain to enjoy and savour. This book will definitely have something to give to the reader after many readings.

Ask The Dust ***

by Jon Fante
!939 and 1980
First Ecco edition 2002
First Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition 2006
165 + pages (P.S. Section including interviews etc.)

I got the idea to read this book when I heard an interview with the band members of Calexico. Their latest CD is entitled Carried to Dust and they said it was named after this book. Calexico being one of my all time favorite musical artists, I had to seek this book out.

It's the story of a young struggling author trying to make it in Los Angeles in the midst of the depression (if my chronological time frame is correct it would be early WWII or late Depression). The book is gritty with characters trying to eek out a living. For a while, Bandini, really has to struggle scratching out a couple of cents here and there. The amazing part for me was trying to imagine the small amounts of money having such value. He could survive for pennies a day. Of course it was harder to get those pennies back then too.

Anyway, in the midst of this economic struggle, he meets a Mexican-American waitress, Camilla, in a bar/cafe. It is really interesting how he treats her and overreacts to everything that she says and does. Convinced that she is mocking him, he leaves payment for the coffee in the puddle of coffee that he spills. He has a bit of a cruel streak with the women in his life, yet the author writes like it's no big deal. Now whether that's part of the character development or whether that's how women were treated back then hence it was no big deal - I don't know.

Anyways, Bandini starts to be successful in his writing, and of course he falls in love with the Mexican girl, though they drive each other nuts. It's this weird love/hate relationship. Meanwhile he discover that the girl is a marijuana addict and she starts to have a nervous breakdown. He tries to take care of her, but that proves to be an elusive proposition.

In the end, the author as well as the character romanticise her as an Aztec goddess. She of course is simply a waitress and a pot head. She doesn't see this romanticism. In fact in an argument they have, she insists that she is an American. While he insists that he is his "sweet little peon. A flower girl from old Mexico". Clearly his imagination is clouding the reality of the situation. Or perhaps that it was impossible in that day, for someone non-Mexican to think of someone with Mexican background as an American - even though his roots are Italian-American.

Apparently, this is one of a series of 4 or 5 books he wrote with the character Bandini. In his letters he considered this as a less lyrical book since he wrote it from "my - (it starts with a p and ends with a k)"

So the book has some peotic imagery, especailly at the end. It has some interesting characters and a harrowing setting. And at times it is down right funny. Especailly when Bandini is being to mean to his love interest Camilla.
And there is a movie made that is only a few years old. I haven't seen it yet.

Blood of Palomar ***

Written and Illustrated by Gilbert Hernandez
Volume 8 of the Complete Love & Rockets
Original series 1987,1988
This Edition 1989 Fantagraphics Book s, Inc
117 pages + black and white illustrations of original cover

I read my first Love and Rockets in high school. So it must have been about 1980 or 1981. I remember enjoying the illustrations - especially the large breasted, half-naked, beautiful Latina women that were drawn in compromising positions. What red blooded male teenager wouldn't? I also remember that some stories were easier to follow that others. In fact the more I read, the more I realized that the majority of stories were difficult to follow. Consequently, over the years, while tempted to pick up material by the Hernandez brothers, I usually took a pass.

After a shout out from Junot Diaz in his book The Brief and Wondrous life of Oscar Wao a friend of mine convinced me to give it another try - and I did.

And it is complicated and convoluted. There is a cast of characters so large that at the beginning of the book, the author has to map the characters out. And then most of the story lines seem, at first, unrelated. No wonder I was so confused as an adolescent! And imagine that I only had part of the story line in my hands while reading it. But they do come together perfectly and the readers patience is rewarded with pure beauty and poetry. All in a comic book! There is a subtleness and emotionality that one doesn't expect in this media.

So here's the plot. First there's Luba, a large breasted middle aged Mexican woman with a bundle of children fathered by various men. But she is no doormat! Men want to have and possess her, but she will have none of it. Meanwhile there appears to be a serial murderer about and people are dying and disappearing.

Mean while, it appears that one of a pair of beautiful twin sisters has gone mad - bonkers. She's taken to dressing half-naked in native clothing or costume. Everyone thinks she's brainwashed into political socialism or communism by an ex boyfriend but it appears she got her ideas on her own.

Okay, that's enough of an outline. It's not that I worry about giving away the spoiler, its just too darn complicated to try to put it together.

As a recommendation, I suggest reading a whole graphic novel instead of reading the individual comics piecemeal. They are just too complicated.

I tried to find some images, but I didn't want to be stepping on anyone's copyright toes. Go to the Fantagraphics Web site to see some images.

Please Stop Laughing at Me... **

by Jodee Blanco
published by Adams Media
2003 p. 276

Ms Blanco's story is a harrowing and excruciating painful story and it should be read by all those interested in the topic, which is, if you haven't inferred it from the title, about bullying. The story is compelling and empathetic and it keeps the reader engaged. Though that engagement has a certain disturbing element to it. Why do we want to keep reading? Perhaps because we want to learn how she resolves these issues or perhaps more likely, because we the masses, enjoy a good train wreck. And a train wreck it is. But that's not the fault of the author. The balance of sensationalism and true reporting in the best interest of the public is always a fine line to be balanced. It's her story, so lets give hr the benefit of the doubt that it is simply not a story of sensationalism. In fact, she apparently does much grassroots work in the schools to help to try to prevent the severe type of bullying she went through. She certainly walks the talk.

So a quick summary is necessary. This is the story of her school life and experiences. Basically, sometime in late grammar school she turned from a fairly well liked kid into an outcast. It continued into her high school years. In these years she was severely bullied. Especially in high school, when one of her breasts did not develop properly. But let's be clear, the bullying happened way before she hit adolescence. Of course, now she is the successful author of this book and works doing public relations for some high level celebrities. That's the short version.

The book has some issues of course. There are some things that are not quite right. I don't want to discount some very real feelings and experiences. No one deserves to go through some of the things that she went through. But she comes across to me as a person who, if I had known her, might have gotten under my skin. People in the book keep telling her that she's too sensitive. On top of that, she was a bit of a drama queen. She participated in school plays and the speech team. She put her self out there - a target. A target whose buttons are quite apparent and easy to push. So I don't want to say she had it coming, because she most definitely did not, but she did not help her case with her behavior.

Another odd thing is how she was able to get acceptance from the cool crowd, which she so desperately wanted, in the beginning of a new school but kept losing that acceptance and turned into an outcast. Perhaps it was that desperation. But what bothers me is that most outcasts don't usually get accepted and then lose that acceptance. Most outcasts never get that acceptance to begin with. If she is trying to reach out to other kids with universal experiences, that part of her experiences are experiences that other troubled kids would have a hard time understanding.

I read this book for a middle school book discussion group. Most of the students in my group are from the inner city and our school has over 90% poverty. So I was concerned how the students would relate their experiences to hers. Ms. Blanco was an extremely talented child. Her parents were able to provide all the creature comforts plus some luxuries like a trip to Greece and they were extremely supportive and involved in her life. The problem with this is that she is trying to get the message to other kids that if she could survive it than they could too. But clearly, my students don't have the same background as her. I have great doubts that many (not all) would be able to achieve what she has. In her defense, she can only write about what she knows. That was her experience and she can't modify it for the sake of others who have different backgrounds. I found it interesting that some of my students empathised with what she was writing and felt like she did. I guess there is some universal truths to what Ms. Blanco is writing. I just don't know if my students will have the same opportunities to overcome the trauma that they have experienced.

What really bothered me was her desire to be accepted by a certain class of people. If one group didn't want her, she should have searched for acceptance else where. Eventually, some older girl does take her under her wing, and Ms. Blanco learns that there are alternatives to the cheerleading/jock culture she is so obsessed with at school. She learns that same lesson when she goes to a summer camp for kids who are writers. She grows to accept herself and learn that there are other people in the world. It is an awakening for her. That's fantastic. This is the lesson she needs to get out to her adolescent readers. In fact, I have always had the opinion that those kids who were less cool in school, quite often grew up to be very interesting people. Things did not come easy to them so they had to grow and learn. While the cool kids are on top of the world don't need to grow, learn and struggle because they got everything they need already. Ms. Blanco even states that these peoples' best years were the high school years. If I go to my high school reunion, I would surely be curious about those people who weren't part of the cool crowd. They would be more interesting to me. So what's the problem? At her high school reunion, she still wants to be accepted by all those people who tormented her. She even swoons at the idea that her old crush, who tormented her, might be interested in her. She still wants to be part of the cool crowd. Sigh.

Ballast ***

2008?
Directed and filmed by Lance Hammer
with Michael J. Smith, Tarra Riggs, Jim Myron Ross

This is a beautiful, slow, low budget movie. I would NOT reccomend taking your overstimulated teenager to this film. There's lots of waiting going on.

Ok it sounds bad - lots of waiting - but it isn't. The stoic characers show their suffering and scars in mostly subtle ways. Events take time to unravel adding suspense to the viewer. The slow paced Missisppi Delta landscape is haunting and lonely. And one of my favorite scenes is watching a characer sitting in front a portable heater with his coat on inside the house. These Mississippians are poor, and the flm shows what the poverty looks like. It's not abstract in the least.

The film starts out with the suicide of the main character's twin brother. The brother takes it hard and attempts a suicide himself. He is in anguish and lets his business go to pieces. Along comes his sister-in-law with a young troubled, teenager who makes certain demands of him. Not liking the mother very well, but realizing that her son is his nephew, he is torn.

The characters, and course the actors, are all African-American. It's interesting to watch poor, troubled African-Americans in a different context then the usual urban context that movie viewers usually see them in.

Changeling ***

Directed by Clint Eastwood,
with Angelina Jolie, Jeffrey Donovan, John Malkovich, Michael Kelly, Amy Ryan, Jason Butler
2008 140 min.

Angelina Jolie plays a single mom living in Los Angeles in 1929. One day she comes home to find her son missing. In desperation she calls the police for help, but from the 1st day they seem unconcerned saying that he probably went to a friends house. Eventually, after a long search, a boy turns up on the other side of the country in Illinois. The police think they have found him and bring him home. It is not her son, and she says so from the beginning, but they insist that he is and that he has changed. She takes him in because the boy has no place to go and besides, maybe she is mistaken because she is "hysterical" as the police say. The police insist because they don't want to lose face in light of recent scandals. Thy want to look good in the public eye. They coerce her into accepting the boy as her son though she can clearly see he's not. At one point they institutionalize her, which apparently happens to a lot of women who make too much noise.

So it's a story about police corruption in L.A. Apparently L.A. has a long tradition of police corruption. It's also a story of how a 'weak' woman (this was 1928 after all and Angeline plays the mother well - the meek and submissive mother whose singleness makes her even more vulnerable in this pre-femenist era) becomes strong. She has to learn to become strong and stick up for her self.

In the last decade or so, Clint Eastwood has become one of my favorite directors, and I always look forward to one of his "serious" films. Angeline Jolie is also getting some nice roles recently and I am duly impressed with her also.

The War of the Worlds **

By H.G. Wells
First Tor Edition: October 1988
p. 204 including intros and conclusion

The original date of publishing is not mentioned for some reason, but in the introduction it says that the book originally came out in the decade of the 1890's. Some people (academics, fans etc.)claim that this is the original or granddaddy of science fiction.

It's an odd thing really. It's written in an unemotional, detached manner. It makes for some slow, dry reading. The horror of people getting killed and chased is told in a very matter of fact manner. At our book discussion, someone mentioned that it was supposed to be written like a newspaper article. I guess so that it seems more realistic.

Of course the technology is so obsolete that it seems very unrealistic. You would think that the Martians had some sort of computer technology if they were so advanced. The Martians' mode of communications was very crude indeed. You would think that they would come in a space ship instead of a pod being fired out of a giant cannon. It does make the book intriguing as an artifact though.

I haven't seen the movie since I was a kid, so it would be interesting to see what parts from the book they keep. To my memory, think they kept very little besides the fact that there was total destruction.

An interesting theme of the book is that it seems that Wells is comparing the Martians society to that of Imperialistic England, where the story takes place. He mentions that the Martians have no consideration for the lives of the people. That they are ruthless and that people are less than worthy - ie. less than human. Wells is saying that England needs to be more humane to societies that it is ruling. he says, "Surely if we have learned nothing else, this war has taught us pity - pity for those witless souls that suffer our dominion." In other words, we should be more humane to our opponents in times of war.

There's not much of a plot but here is a synopsis of the book. Some scientists see some explosions on the planet Mars. Those explosions are of course the Martians coming to earth. They land and wait. It seems that they are building there war machines, while humans just wait around waiting for things to happen. Then the Martians finally start their war and complete chaos, destruction and defeat happens. The Martians make their way towards London and cause a stream of refugees to vacant London in chaos where concern for fellow humans begins to deteriorate into every man for himself. It reminded me of Suite Francois which depicts the refugees fleeing Paris from the Nazis. I guess that is a fairly common happening in war time. There is a main character who kind of chronicles all of it and describes the activities of the Martians at work. As he works his way towards London to find his wife and family he learns that the Martians are dying . It seems that they have no immune system and simple viral organisms are the death of them.

The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao ****

2007 335 pages
By Junot Diaz
Published by Riverhead Books / Penguin Books

This is a book by a Latin American author (Dominican), and it is typical of most books made by Latino authors - NOT! Guys like Luis Borges, Carlos Fuentes and Juan Rulfo do not start their books with a quote from Stan Lee's of Marvel Comics the Fantastic Four. No they Don't! So this is a completely different species were talking about.

Yet the book was gripping all the way through. It had pop culture, (more on that later), poetry, drama, history and it had lots of humor. All of it interweaves in a seamless manner, moving from the urbane to the profound with out skipping a beat.

So Oscar Wao is a Dominican living in New Jersey in the inner city. He's a complete nerd. He's very smart, but he's fat and does not fit in. He does all the nerdy stuff. Reads comic books (hence the quote from the Fantastic Four), plays at role playing games and attempts to write some of his own fantasy stories. He's not your typical Dominican, especially since he has no luck with the ladies (you see all Dominican men are lady killers.) It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't care that much about the ladies, but he is obsessed with them. Of course their affections are not returned. A few break his heart by entering into the friends zone with him, which drives him even more batty.

Funny enough, less than half the book actually deals with him. In the middle two thirds, the book is about his family and ancestors and their times in the Dominican Republic. It delves into detail about Trujillo's reign of terror. Tragic things happen to his family and ancestors. This is all part of the Fuku (The New World Curse) which his family seems to be saddled with. This is all set up for the beautiful and intensely tragic ending that befalls Oscar (no spoiler here - remember the title is a "Brief Wonderous Life...)

The book has these very interesting footnotes, which are asides from the main story and give lots of history about The Dominican Republic and Trujillo. Interestingly enough, these same footnotes also give background information on the characters, who are of course fictional. It makes the characters seem real while at the same time, adding to the narrative. The footnotes are nice, because they give vital information about the history without disrupting the flow of the story. These footnotes are very curious indeed. They are part of what makes this book so fascinating.

And then there are all the pop culture references due to Oscar's interest in these things. The thing is the culture is not mainstream culture, but references to hipper, cooler geekdom. I related to some of these references, because I was and still am interested in these things. Oscar's interests are comic book authors, Daniel Clowes and the Hernandez Brothers. The author himself quotes Marvel Comics' character The Watcher for his more cerebral and ominous moments. The kids, Oscar and his sister Lola, grow up in the eighties so there are lots of music references. They mention Siouxie and the Banshees and Joy Division.

The language may be an issue for some people. It certainly was for some people in our group. The characters live in the inner city and the main narrator is one of the characters in the story (instead of the typical god-like, faceless narrator) so he uses some raw language.

I very rarely rate a book 4 stars, but this story is so fresh and so well told, and so powerful. It's the first thing I've rated this way for probably over a year.

The Duchess **1/2

Directed by Saul Dibb
Adapted from biography by Amanda Foreman
With Kiera Knightly, Ralph Fiennes, Hayley Atwell, Dominic Cooper, Charlotte Rampling, and Simon McBurney
Made in 2008 / seen in theater



OK, I kind of like these king and queen films. Not so much for the romance, which is always a large part of the films, but because I am a sucker for Historical Fiction and epics. Though the romance isn't so bad if the actress is a looker, like in this one. I'm a huge fan of Kiera Knightly. I first saw her in Atonement. That scene in the fountain was memorable. sigh....... But I digress.

This film, according to my poor memory, presented little of what was happening in the outside world when the film was supposed to take place. In fact I can't even place when this film takes place as there were little or no time markers. I wanted to see what is happening off screen. I wanted to see the Spanish Armada, the influence of the new world and the decapitation of Queen Mary of the Scots, like in the recent Queen Ann films. None of that in this film.

It tended to be a soapy thing. True it was beautifully acted and it had lush settings and photography. And of course the beautiful Kiera Knightly (have I said how much I admire her yet?) The film has received many good reviews. I thought it was simply a nice film.

It is supposed to parallel the life of Princess Diane. The Duchess, Georgiana, is married to a cold duke who is only interested in a heir. At first I thought that he was perhaps gay for he never showed any interest in her at all. But no, he continued to have many affairs with other women and he barely made an effort to hide these affairs. Now, I could understand how a man could get tired of a woman, but her husband NEVER showed the slightest interest in her except for the sole reason to produce an heir. It was unfathomable to think that any man would have no physical interest in this beautiful woman who was his wife (have I mentioned how beautiful she is) At least in the beginning, you would think he would be interested in some frolicking around even if her wasn't interested in her intellectually. So it goes with out saying that I had trouble suspending belief on that subject. I might have been biased though.

Was Princess Diana's marriage this horrid? Because truly, Georgiana's husband was horrid to her. In fact, there might be a few scenes in the film where the male audience might feel a little squirmy from the male bashing (by means of his behavior - not what is said about him) that takes place.

I do like that the romance of the film was of the darker variety. The themes of the film were morality, misogyny, sexism and aristocratic power. In that respect, it was less of a romance film than most of these ilk.

Three Day Road ***

By Joseph Boyden
Published by Penguin Books,
1st Published by Viking Penguin
2005

OK - I knew I would get behind but sheesh! I have at least 5 blogs to do, counting this one, and I continue to read so more blogs will be necessary. Until then, I think I need to take a break from films until I catch up. I can't take a break from reading since I have a lot of obligatory reading to do - plus I wouldn't want to anyway. So these will be short and sweet.

Three Day Road is an antiwar book about pair of Native American friends that go to the Western Front in WWI and hale from a tribe in western Canada.

It's a coming of age story since the two young men start out naive and end up grown up at the end of the book - ravaged and scarred, but grown up. They end up being snipers for their group which gives them some perks the ordinary soldiers don't have, yet they still encounter plenty of horrific incidents. In fact they, especially the Elijah, commit some atrocities themselves. Which is all well and good since this is war, and this behavior is expected to a certain degree, at least against enemy soldiers. But Elijah takes it too far and starts to enjoy the killings while at the same time becoming addicted to Codeine (medicine). He starts to lose his sanity and humanity.

His partner, who is the narrator and never really receives a name but his Christian name is Xavair and his great aunt simply calls him nephew, also has his sanity tested. And though it is clear that Elijah has lost it, there is a more subtle question about the narrator's sanity.

Meanwhile, there is a subplot going on with the great aunt of the narrator. She is an outcast from her tribe and also has magical powers. (Ever notice that the witches and magical people in many stories are always cast out from the villages and live alone in the woods - this character is no exception.) Her role as a priestess (for lack of better word) is to kill the demon that possesses her tribe members and consequently the person carrying the demon. People get the demon by committing cannibalism. And here is the link to the main narrative. Elijah is committing cannibalism either literally (he comes back from a kill with blood smeared over his face) or metaphorically.

An interesting theme is the idea of justice in this book. Does the great aunt have the right to kill these people? In most cases the cannibalism was committed out of desperation. For instance one woman was stuck out in the woods with her husband and her baby. The husband tried to provide sustenance, but could not find any. He ended up freezing to death. He also ended up providing that sustenance since the wife and the baby ended up eating him. Of course these people were killed when they came back from the tribe. The great aunt's father, who did the killing and passed on his powers to his daughter, was arrested for murder by the white civilization.

My first instinct is to say, well, you can't murder, no matter the cause. These people are not necessarily bad because they committed a desperate act. The wife did not murder her husband. Perhaps they could hold on to their sanity in spite of the harrowing conditions given the chance, but the tribe never gives them a chance. They are killed. And sure, the victim goes nutty when they return to their village, but wouldn't most people lose it too if they knew they were about to be killed. The same questions has to be asked about the soldiers when they come back - in the past or even today. After being so severely mentally scarred, they do get a chance for rehabilitation. Some make it, some don't. What would be the future of the survivors when they come back - a question for me that looms large in the book.

The author clearly knows his stuff and demonstrates it with scene after scene of harrowing war action. Gripping at first, but then perhaps a little too much. Some might say, and did in my book discussion group, that they got the point. Of course we as readers can say enough already, but a soldier can't and maybe that's the point.

Over all a very good book.

The Book Seller of Kabul

**1/2
by Asne Sierstad

I am very remiss in my writing as was expected considering the magnitude of events taking shape in my life now. I read this book back in September, so my memory will be poorer.

The author is attempting to tell this non-fiction tale in a narrative style. As such, she makes assumptions about what the people actually are feeling and thinking. Sometimes, perhaps, she goes a little too far.

The main subject of the book is an ambivilent character. Being a book seller he thinks of himself as a progressive thinker and an instrument in the mission to restore Afghanistan culture to its former glory.

Yet he has the role of the typical patriarch in Muslim society. He takes a second wife to the disgruntlement of his 1st wife, and his daughters are considered important only for their worth in what they bring to the family for their marraiges. One daughter is treated so bad, she is practically a slave to the rest of the family. Even the son can't go to school because he is expected to work in the book shop. An educated man, one would think, would want his children, or at least his sons, to get a good education. He rules the household with an iron fist. Understand that this is no different from most Afghani men, but he claims to be a progressive thinker.

This is a translation from, I believe Swedish, and some of the language seems a little awkward at times. Some of the parts do also drag on a little. I believe a scene where the women are preparing for a wedding is an example of that.

The author does go a little bit into the history of the Russian invasion and the arrival of the Taliban. It certainly added to my knowledge about that issue.

For the most part it was an ejoyable and enlightening book.

In Bruges **1/2

2008 Seen on DVD (107 mins)
Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh
With Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes, Brendan Gleeson, Clemency Poesy

This film made in Belgium is about two assassins, Ray (Farrell) and Ken (Gleeson), who are on the run after a botched job. They are sent to Bruges to lie low for a while. They are a sort of odd couple in that Ken is older and experienced and Ray is impulsive and almost childlike. Ken wants to see the sights of the town, an old medieval town with lots of period architecture, and Ray is bored and uninterested in it and just wants to get out. The shots of the town, by the way are simply beautiful. It looks like a painting.

As the plot moves on, the audience learns that an accident is the reason that the job was botched and Ray is the one who caused it. He is a wreck of a man because he feels something for the victim, something an assassin is not supposed to feel, even if the victim was an innocent bystander. It soon becomes clear that they are sent to Bruges not to lie low, but because the boss, Harry (Fiennes) wants to get rid of Ray - Nothing personal. And that's all I'll write about the plot because I probably already spoiled a bit of it.

There has been a lot of acclaim for Farrells' acting and I would agree, but there is something odd about his character. Maybe that oddness is waht people liked about his portrayal. Ray is of course a young, loudmouth gangster who has no interest in the beautiful and idyllic Bruges. But he's also nervous and neurotic - almost childlike. He has nervous giggles, and he puts his hand to the mouth as if he were biting his nails. It makes me wonder if he's that way because of the tragedy or because his character is that way anyway. It also shows contrast to his older more subdued partner Ken, who eventually takes a kind of fatherly role toward him and sees hope and a future for Ray.

Overall, this is a funny amusing film, with lots of nice views of Bruges. It's dark and has a bloody ending. Some people say that it is too dark, but for me, an old punk rocker, I have no problem with the darkness. I even embrace it.

Frozen River ***

2008 - Seen in Theater
Written and directed by Courtney Hunt
With Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Charlei McDermott, Michael O'Keefe and Mark Boone Jr.

The working poor - When your American dream is simply to own a larger double wide trailer home to replace your smaller beat-up trailer home. This dream is the driving force of the narrative. This film is about a single working poor mother and her desperate attempts to scratch out a living. She resorts to some questionable moral activities to make that living. She recruits the help of a young Native American woman with a sordid past and experience to smuggle illegal immigrants into the country. To do this smuggling, they must drive across the frozen St Lawrence River, with the danger of falling through the ice always imminent.

One interesting aspect of the film is the people who they are smuggling across. Ray, the lead character of the film, discovers that the people who she is smuggling are indebted to the smugglers, who appear to be Russain mafia, who pay for their passage. It's not clear what will happen, but it certainly can be assumed that they will be serving their debts in some way Ray and her companion don't want to consider. One group is a group of young Asian women, who will certainly be used as sex slaves. But Ray and her partner are only concerned with their own small part in all this and generally don't worry about what will happen, though you can see by their expressions that it feels a little unsavory to them.

Ray is a woman who the audience roots for, but as described above, her moral compass is not always set on the straight and narrow. Her prejudice shows when she tries to smuggle across a Pakistan couple and she throws their bag out thinking that it is a terrorist bomb. It ends up being the couple's baby. She is a protagonist who is human.

The movie is bleak, but I find a glimmer of hope. While Ray does go to jail, other characters are taught a lesson and with the money she earns she gets her trailer. She has forged some friendships and has constructed a small family of outcasts which will provide for a slightly rosier future.

Cahokia - City of the Sun **

Written by Claudia Gellman Mink
Published by Cahokia Mounds Museum Society - 1992
76 pages

Some things are what they are. This is a book usually sold by a museum. It's got your basic information. At least it is not a difficult read (though for my students it would be difficult), though it is pretty boring. It gives you the facts and that's that! There is very little anecdotes about the people's daily lives. It describes how life might have been but there are no "tales" here to hold the readers' interest.

It would be difficult for me to use in my class, which is the purpose of my reading this book. I could use some of the simpler excerpts perhaps, but the kids would be bored to death.

Ancient civilizations probably present a special problem to historians and archaeologists. There usually is no or little written record. And coupled with the fact that these civilizations were of course existing a long time ago, it is very difficult to get information about them. So that is one reason that it would be very difficult to write anecdotes and narratives. I believe in this book, the author and archaeologists don't even know the names of the kings. Still, I've seen it done where vivid pictures have been painted of what life might have been like. I remember once I read a book about the Aztecs. The 1st third was incomprehensible, but it got much better when it started to describe what daily life might have been like.

Here is a summary of those basic facts.

There were groups of indigenous peoples in the North American continent called The Mississippians. They started out living in the Southeastern woodlands of North America which is called The American Bottom. Basically it centered abound the confluence of Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Prior to the rise of Cahokia (the civilization being discussed here) mounds were being built. There is one famous one called the serpent mound that is shaped like a serpent, which is located in Ohio.

The Mississippians reached their apex with the city of Cahokia, which is located just east of the Mississippi River and current day St. Louis. It was larger than any city in Europe or the United States up until the year 1800. They built great giant mounds which were probably used for religious and communal purposes.

One reason they were able to become large was due to the cultivation of corn. It was the major food staple of their diet. Some historians hypothesize that the lack of a varied diet helped lead to the downfall of their civilization, along with other problems that can arise from big cites such as health, pollution, overpopulation and the depletion of their resources. Being located in the woodlands, wood of course was a major resource which they used for building structures.

They were a center of trade as proven by the seashells that were found which came from the Gulf of Mexico. The used the rivers as highways to travel and trade.

No one really knows what happened to them. it was probably a combination of things that led to their demise. The problems of big cities mentioned above were certainly a contributing factor. They could have also been conquered by neighboring hostile groups. Archaeologists have found proof of a wooden wall that went around the entire city, probably for protecting themselves, but also possibly to keep the social hierarchy of their society from breaking down - Perhaps it kept the riffraff out. And there is no evidence of any great battle.

The city lasted until the early 1400's when it was abandoned. It was too early for European explorers and conquerors to meet them, but they did meet some of their ancestors who told them tales of this great civilization.

I think if I teach this as a unit of study, I'll probably just stick to the information I just summarized. There are lots of ancient objects found, but that would be too subtle for my students to enjoy.

Longitude - The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of his Time ***

by Dava Sobel

1995 Walker Publishing Company

The title of the book is a little misleading, but it's still a good book. It makes it sound like the inventor invented Longitude. He didn't - he just solved the problem of how to figure out longitude. In fact, he didn't even really figure it out. They already knew how to figure out longitude.

The globe, being circular in shape is divided into 360 degrees of longitude. Every one degree of longitude represents a certain distance (15 or 30 miles for example). The way to figure out how many degrees you traveled is by using the time of where you departed from compared to the time of where a ship is located in that exact moment. So they knew how to do it! The problem was that they needed to keep the departure time current and accurate so the comparison could be calculated accurately. Well 300 years ago, time keepers (watches) were not able to withstand the trials of sea travel - the extreme heat and cold, the movement of the boat and the constant wet conditions. So really, this book is the story of how this inventor created a watch that was extremely accurate an durable. He was an innovator of clock mechanics - not the inventor of longitude.

Of course his accurate clocks enabled sailors to calculate Longitude, so he did solve the problem of longitude.

An interesting theme in the book is that this longitude problem was rife with politics. The longitude problem was so important (and deemed almost impossible to solve at the time) that the King of England offered an award for the person who could solve this problem. Well, many people tried and what it amounted to was that there were two different strains of logic. The king had set up a board to help solve the problem and judge the solutions that came in. The memebers of the board were of course all scientists and mathematicians, and they were not eager to endorse a mechanical solution by a mere clockmaker. They were more interested in astronomical and scientific ways to figure it out. There was much resistance to the time pieces and therefore, it took the clockmaker over 20 years to convince this board that his time keepers were the solution.

There are some other minor points that are interesting, such as how they picked the Prime Meridian, but the above summary, pretty much gets to the gist of the story.

The book is easy to read (relatively - some of the older women in the Chicago Pubic Library were not able to get through it) and tells some good anecdotes and tales.

Baghead **1/2

2008
Directors/Writers Mark and Jay Duplass
With: Ross Partridge, Steve Zissis, Greta Gerwig and Elise Muller
Seen in theater

So the premise of the movie is that 4 underemployed actors are inspired by a low tech DIY art-house film that they had saw at a film festival. Convinced that they could do much better, they decide that instead of waiting to be cast in a movie that they instead would write and star in their own low budget vehicle.

This cracks me up, because clearly, Baghead is a low budget film identifiably so with its use of digital video cameras and easily accessed settings. It makes me wonder if this film itself was created under the same circumstances with the same goals and objectives.

There are some issues with the characters because no one is quite sure who want to be with whom romantically. Meanwhile, they decide that they would write this film at a vacation cabin in the woods. They go to the cabin and personalities, liquor and perhaps the lack of ambition get in the way of them writing the movie. One of the women has several apparitions in which she sees a man with a bag over his head that seems to be stalking her. With the anger and mistrust that many characters have now, it is not certain if it was really an apparition, one of the characters messing with each other or really a psychotic killer. The film keeps the audience guessing through out the whole thing.

So the film works as a comedy and also as a low key horror movie. It's a lot of fun to watch.

Redacted **

2007
Written and Directed by Brian DePalma
With; Rob Devaney, Izzy Diaz, Patrick Carrol, Ty Jones and Kel O'Neil
Studio; Magnolia

This is a war filmed LOOSELY based on an actual incident in Iraq in which a 15 year old girl was raped and murdered. While watching it, I kind of liked it, but after reading some reviews about it, I saw that reviews were largely mixed and that the majority were negative. Now my main source is The Chicago Reader (See links on this page) and they liked it with reservations. They liked that the film tried to take on a serious and timely subject. I liked it for that reason. I felt it showed both sides of the issue. It showed the Iraqis being abused and hurt and the soldiers' stressful lives that quite often lead to cataclysmic consequences - sometimes accidental and sometimes (as in the case of the rape) not.

So there is a large controversy over this film. Some people say it showed the soldiers in a bad light. But I disagree with that because it did not show all the soldiers in a bad light. Several soldiers tried to stop it and one only relented because a gun was pointed at him by one of the crazy soldiers. Interestingly enough, one soldier was there to video tape it and was therefore an accomplice because he was standing there watching the whole thing. His excuse was that he was there to document it so that the "truth" could come out. This scene represents an interesting and thought provoking idea about the role of the media and their responsibilities. Should media be there as an observer or should media get involved when necessary? This is certainly not a new question, but one that takes on more significance with the war being a current phenomenon.

And then there are the two "monsters". The instigators of the crime. They are portrayed as hideous and unmerciful, but there are enough clues here to show that even they might be victims from the stresses of war. I mean one of them is so crazy that his speech is almost incomprehensible. he also shoots a pregnant woman and her family because their car would not slow down or stop at a checkpoint. The soldier did wait to shoot until the car crossed a certain line. Protocol had been followed, and no one could argue that the soldiers shouldn't protect themselves. Though his attitude about it after wards was racist and disturbing. So the question that comes to mind is was he feeling remorse or was he a monster? The fact that he defended his action, while at the same time slurring the Iraqi people tells me he might have been hiding some guilt under the bravado.

To me, it is also an interesting commentary on American culture. The fact that our culture could allow people like these two thugs to flourish. You know, the macho, kick-ass attitude that men seem to need to have these days or otherwise they will be seen as less than manly. The same culture that makes men take steroids so that they can be bigger and stronger and faster (incidentally, that is a title of a documentary about steroids which came out this year that I strongly recommend). So even these two monsters are shown in a light that is gray and murky. One can not draw draw conclusions about them that are black or white.

The structure of the film is interesting, but many critics did not like it. Maybe I'm too unsophisticated but I liked it. The whole movie was shot from the point of view of different media formats. It was not a straight narrative. A large portion of it was "shot" by a hand held video camera that the soldier had which I previously spoke about. But many different media were also used. Part of the story was told in a faux French documentary with subtitles, in French because the men spoke English of course. There were also news reels and of course the Internet. The criticism was that it was too much and too distracting. But I think that it is directly related to one of the films themes. That the media is implicit in all this and helps drive the events in the war. For instance, in the disturbing scene of the soldier being decapitated, well, that demonstrates the power of the media whether we like it or not.

Some critics also said the acting was awful. Well, again, maybe I'm not too sophisticated and I did not notice it. Now I was not overwhelmed by the acting, but neither did I notice really bad acting. Perhaps they were speaking of the crazy soldier who at times was incomprehensible, but if he was crazy, his incomprehensibility would have been appropriate. Or perhaps maybe some of the actors might have overacted to the horrific events in the film, but there was nothing obvious that I saw.

I did notice the violence before I read any reviews, and DePalma is know for violent films. There's a concept that when artists display violence to show how awful it is, it quite often ends up being just as bad as the real violence it is betraying because it titillates the audience. Sometimes I did think the violence was over the top.

Some critics, many of them your average citizens, thought that this movie should not be shown simply because the soldiers had enough problems and that it would lower moral. I disagree with that completely. The "truth" must be shown (even though remember that this is a fiction). Besides, not everyone in the film were monsters. Some were quite heroic because they were doing what they thought was right under very trying circumstances.

The last criticism against the movie was that it did not have the facts of the case straight. This might be a valid criticism if this was a documentary, but it was a fictional film. DePalma himself said that the lawyers told him that the film had to be different from the real events. It was based on a real event, it was NOT a reenactment of it.

I could not find a trailer, but here is a clip. It's the part where it is supposed to be a French Documentary.