December 28, 2017

Cinemascope: Manhunt:Unabomber

Cinemascope is a regular blog post where I will share with you movies and TV shows I think are worth watching.

Image result for manhunt unabomber

Released in 2017.

Plot line: This miniseries tells the story of the FBI's hunt for the Unabomber in the 1990s. Agent Jim "Fitz" Fitzgerld, a fresh-faced criminal profiler with the agency, faces an uphill battle in tracking the infamous criminal but also has to fight against the bureaucracy of the Unabom Task Force (UTF), of which he is a part. Although Fitz pioneers the use of forensic linguistics, others in the UTF dismiss his maverick ideas and new approaches. Ultimately, though, his new techniques help him identify and capture the Unabomber.

Anther series that got me hooked and didn't let go. True crime is all the rage, and this exploration about the beginnings of criminal profiling, and the case of the Unabomber. The acting is really good all around, and I was delighted with the process of figuring out how this case was solved. I knew only the bare bones of the case, so most of it was new to me, and I was fascinated the entire time.

You can see the trailer here. If you have yet to see it, this is TV worth watching.

December 26, 2017

12 truths I learned from life and writing | Anne Lamott

As another year ends and a new one waits patiently in the wings, this talk made me think and laugh. Is there anything better?

A few days before she turned 61, writer Anne Lamott decided to write down everything she knew for sure. She dives into the nuances of being a human who lives in a confusing, beautiful, emotional world, offering her characteristic life-affirming wisdom and humor on family, writing, the meaning of God, death and more.



If the embedded video doesn't work, click here.

December 25, 2017

Recent Reads

137. 50 Festivals To Blow Your Mind
Oh, how the mighty have fallen! Every time I travel I pick up a Lonely Planet guidebook to learn more about the place and plan my trip, so was looking forward to something of the quality I've come to expect from LP. This book is something a middle school kid might have put together for an art assignment, and looks like something said kid copied and pasted together.

The book itself is small, about 4x6 inches, so it's like holding a stack of postcards in your hands. It should have worked, but the text is ridiculous, and the photos aren't good either. And another thing, while I hadn't heard of some of these festivals, mind blowing seems to be rather hyperbolic for this set.

This is the first in the 50 Series by Lonely Planet, and I had planned to pick up the entire set. Well, that's not going to happen. Skip this book, read the Goodreads summary for the list of festivals, and look up the ones you find interesting on Wiki. Trust me on this mates. Rating: 1 star.

138. Dare to Sketch: A Guide to Drawing on the Go
I'd recommend this one for beginner artists and people new to keeping sketchbooks. There's some good advice in here, and I like the loose style the author uses in his sketches. If you are not a newbie, this one is pretty basic, but the actual book itself is wonderfully designed, and the art fun to look at. Rating: 3 stars.

139. Here We Are: Notes For Living On Planet Earth
Bringing a child into the world has got to be a life changing thing, especially in the world we inhabit these days. This lovely picture book is written for the author's baby son, introducing him to this planet we all call home. The art is lovely and the message about taking care of oneself as well as the planet spot on. As with most books by the author, I appreciated the art more than the text. This would be good read aloud book for the littles in your life. Rating: 3 stars.

140. The Lotterys Plus One
2.5 stars.

This is a story targeted at 8-12 year old readers, and I think it's wonderful that books like these exist today.

This is the story of a large, blended, queer family told from the point of 9 year old Sumac Lottery. Her family consists of "four parents, children both adopted and biological, and a menagerie of pets, all living and learning together in a sprawling house called Camelottery." One day out of the blue, there is news that a grandfather she didn't know existed is moving in with them, and he changes the world as she knows it.

This is a cute story, and almost every possible alternative lifestyle choice is thrown into the mix, including all the kids being home schooled. Things are interesting and chaotic, but that's part of the fun. I did feel that there were simply too many balls this story was juggling to be really successful, but I appreciated the effort to try and include as diverse a group as possible. The other major issue is the premise as to why this family has the name they have, which means that money is simply not an issue. Maybe that would have been one too many topics to tackle, but given all the themes already in the mix, this was a huge oversight in my opinion.

There are too many characters, and none were fleshed out enough to be able to really tell them apart. Not sure why the story needed so many characters, and the action does take a while to get going. I was annoyed with the parents for much of the reading, because you can't really be so alternative and then behave in a conventional manner when it comes to dealing with an aging parent, or at least talk about alternatives. Granted, this is from a 9 year old's POV, so probably lots of this might have been going on behind the scenes. I enjoyed the final several chapters the most, and while I didn't love it as much as I expected to, I do appreciate that stories like these are now available for kids to read, so rounded up. Rating: 3 stars.

December 21, 2017

Cinemascope: Alias Grace

Cinemascope is a regular blog post where I will share with you movies and TV shows I think are worth watching.

Image result for alias grace

Released in 2017.

Plot line: Based on the 1996 Margaret Atwood novel of the same name, "Alias Grace" tells the story of young Grace Marks, a poor Irish immigrant and domestic servant in Upper Canada who is accused and convicted of the 1843 murder of her employer and his housekeeper. Stablehand James McDermott is also convicted of the crime. McDermott is hanged, but Grace is sentenced to life in prison, leading her to become one of the most notorious women of the period in Canada. The story is based on actual 19th-century events.

Netflix continues to produce fantastic content, and this is one is no exception. I have yet to read the book, but this interesting series explores themes of family, poverty, the agency, or not, of women, crime, and the norms of the period. Wonderful acting, and as with any Atwood story it as has a fascinating story at its center.

You can see the trailer here. If you have yet to see it, this is TV worth watching.

December 18, 2017

Recent Reads

133. Origin (Robert Langdon #5)
"Historically, the most dangerous men on earth were men of God ... especially when their gods became threatened."

I've been reading some fairly dense stuff lately and was in the mood for a fast paced thriller, so when this popped up at my library I started it immediately.

It starts off really well, but to quote a New Yorker cartoon by Ellis Rosen: "The problem is that there's no engine. Just a mysterious plot device."

That essentially sums up my thoughts on this, the fifth, Robert Langdon installment. Brown always has interesting themes to explore, and I get hooked on the premise. In this case: "Where do we come from? Where are we going?"

Sounds awesome right? The science and the descriptions of locations in Spain are indeed really great, but the the writing is mediocre, the characters actually boring, and I saw the twist coming fairly early on. Typical boiler plate Dan Brown at this point. I wish this was a multimedia book so I could watch Edmond Kirsch's presentation - that's the part I found fascinating.

I'm currently reading Homo Deus, which covers similar material, but in a five star manner and I'd highly recommend it. I much preferred Brown's earlier books, but the power of this one might well be that people who would otherwise never get exposed to the themes explored here will read it because it is a Dan Brown book. It's a fast read, and I was done with the almost 500 pages in a day. Rating: 2 stars.

134. The Atlas of Beauty: Women of the World in 500 Portraits
Movies and magazines would have you think that there is only standard of beauty for women, namely skinny and white. Since the majority of the women on this planet do not meet this standard, why does this model continue to to sell? Add that to the long list of things I don't understand.

This is book is a photo essay. It's a collection of photographs of women from various parts of the world, and it made me smile. Homo Sapiens is one species and a single race, but oh the diverse ways we adapted to our environs is indeed a thing of beauty. I had not heard about the popular blog that this collection draws from and plan to take a look see. My only complaint is that while many of the photos are luminous, the text is subpar at best. Nature is beautiful, and this book is a wonderful meditation on just that. Rating: 4 stars.

135. Providence Act 1 (Providence #1-4)
The works of Alan Moore are hit or miss for me, and this one is a miss. I think this is partly my fault, as I don't know or understand the works/memes it's paying homage to or building upon, so it's probably just me. There are some cool aspects to this comic series. I quite liked some sections of the story and the art is good throughout. However, I really did not like the stories within stories in this one. While I'm usually a fan of journals, in this case, the journal pages were in a font that I found hard to read, and I found the pamphlets annoying, so I lost steam there. The horror aspect was interesting, the art creepily good, but I didn't like it enough to continue with the series. Rating: 2 stars.

136. Garbage Night (Vacancy #2)
2.5 stars.

This graphic novel tells the tale of a dog, Simon, and his best friends, a raccoon and a deer. Something has happened to all the humans, and domesticated animals and animals that depend on human scraps have the toughest time of it. This volume contains two stories, and I'd suggest going to the end and reading how the trio meets before reading the main story.

I quite liked the art and the depiction of these anthropomorphic animals in their tattered human clothing. The colors make the illustrations pop. The main story however seemed to lack something and seemed unfinished. I did like how themes of friendship and bullying were handled, but the plot wasn't compelling enough for me. This is written for kids, so it might work much better for that audience. Rating: 2 stars.

December 15, 2017

Non-fiction November

I participated in Non-fiction November this year, and these are the books and documentaries that I completed during the month. You can read my comments on my Instagram account.


December 14, 2017

Cinemascope: Confirmation

Cinemascope is a regular blog post where I will share with you movies and TV shows I think are worth watching.

Related image

Released in 2016.

Plot line: Judge Clarence Thomas' nomination to the United States Supreme Court is called into question when Anita Hill, a former colleague, testifies that he sexually harassed her.

I remember the Anita Hill hearings, and the classic BS of a woman not being believed. This TV movie dramatizes that event, and it made me oh so angry. Again. It's interesting to watch it 25 years later during the #MeToo movement and fallout. It's a straight up account of this historical event, but I did learn a couple of things I didn't know.

You can see the trailer here. If you have yet to see it, this is a movie worth watching.

December 11, 2017

Recent Reads

130. Pen and Ink
Book blurb: Exploring over 100 pieces of artwork by contemporary artists, Pen & Ink highlights and examines the different techniques, qualities, and effects relating to each piece.

This little book is like holding a small curated collection of pen and ink art in your hands. I appreciated the diverse styles on display with this simple medium, and as with all collections some art spoke to me while others did not. I would have liked more information about the pieces themselves, still, this is a good book to flip through when you're looking for pen and ink inspiration. Rating: 3 stars.

131. Hostage
3.5 stars.

Translated from the French by Helge Dascher.

Moved this up my TBR for non-fiction November. If you are familiar with his oeuvre, you know that the author usually writes graphic memoirs about his life as the spouse of a Doctors Without Borders administrator in various parts of the world. This book departs from his usual fare and tells the true story of Christophe Andre, a man kidnapped on his very first MSF assignment. You know that Christophe survives because he is the one telling the story to the author, but I think if you decide to read this book, the less you know about where he's taken, how long he's held, and how he survives the better the reveal.

The author uses his signature illustration style and a limited color palette to wonderfully evoke the right mood for this experience. Boredom and mundane life stuff is intermingled with moments of sheer terror, and the use of first person point of view is very effective. How would one stay sane when held captive and is mostly in isolation? I couldn't help thinking that this would have been a very different story if the kidnapped person was a woman.

I really liked the art style, but this one is over 400 pages and very little happens for most of it. I understand that we don't know anything about the kidnappers and their motivation because of the language barrier, so we only know what the narrator knows, which is nothing at all. On the plus side this created the right level of bleakness in the reading, but on the other hand, there were times when all that day to day repetition seemed tedious. I do think that the author captures the slow manner in which time passed for the hostage effectively, so for that I'll round up. Rating: 4 stars.

132. Lighter Than My Shadow
Book blurb: Lighter Than My Shadow is a hand-drawn story of struggle and recovery, a trip into the black heart of a taboo illness, an exposure of those who are so weak as to prey on the vulnerable, and an inspiration to anybody who believes in the human power to endure towards happiness.

Moved this up my TBR for non-fiction November, and I've procrastinated writing my review for this graphic memoir because I'm not sure I can adequately convey why I love it so. I find that's often true for things that evoke deep emotion. All you can say is "you had to be there."

This is a book that deals with the author's struggles with anxiety, anorexia, and sexual assault, and it's not an easy book to read. I loved the art, and how she tells her story. There are so many panels/pages without words, and it's a powerful way to leave space for the reader's own emotions about the material.

Let's first talk about the physical book. Weight is an issue throughout this narrative. Her weight, or lack of it, in particular, so it's rather amazing that this 500 page volume has the heft it does. The heft of the book is much heavier than you'd expect, or it needs to be. You read this story of a girl/ woman struggling with weight while holding an overly heavy book in your hands. It's a tactile experience. Then there are these dark black squiggly tornado like lines that hover over her head, sometimes it's small, and other times it takes over the panel/page. It wasn't until about half way through the book that I realized that those squiggles actually have texture. I went back and ran my fingers over the pages I had already read. Another tactile clue while reading. So even though I was reading a 2D book, there was additional information being transmitted to my brain.

As mentioned earlier, I love the artistic style of the illustrations. The monochromatic use of color is very effective in setting the right mood. I appreciated the honesty in the telling. The author says in the introduction: "It exists because I wanted nobody else to feel as lost, confused and alone as I felt. I wanted to be honest about how hard recovery is, and how long it takes, at the same providing that it is possible." We might not struggle with her exact issues, but anyone who struggles with something will seem parts of themselves in this story. I looked a long time at some of her wordless scenes as entire worlds seem captured in them. There's an illustration where she's eaten something, and the black squiggly tornado is inside her body. She opens her mouth and reaches her hand down her throat trying to pull it out. There are no words, but I don't think I've ever understood the urge to purge in such a visceral way before.

My library system has the Young Adult label on this one, and I would highly recommend it to anyone struggling/recovering from these issues, and everyone who loves them. Rating: 5 stars.

December 6, 2017

Rushed Bill Goes Far Beyond Taxation

So I guess "Making America Great Again" equals huge tax breaks for corporations (especially ones that deal with real estate, hmm wonder who that'd benefit?), continuing to destroy the environment (who the hell goes to Alaska anyway?), and millions of Americans without healthcare. Oh, and those of you who live in a state with income and other state taxes, you might want to see how you get f#$#ed with this one too.

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December 4, 2017

Recent Reads

127. Strong Is the New Pretty: A Celebration of Girls Being Themselves
If you are a fan of the Humans of New York blog or books, pick this one up. If you are a girl, woman, or have one of those in your life, pick this one up.

It will do your heart good to flip though this collection of photos and quotes from girls. The photos are beautiful, and some of the quotes make me stop in my tracks, look at the girl, and then re-read it. I have a complaint though, and it's not a minor one. This is a collection of mostly white, thin, athletic girls, and there are many who will not find themselves represented here. I'm tempted to get a copy for my nieces, but am conflicted about giving them yet another book they won't see themselves in. I would have loved to see more diversity in all it's forms, so will keep my fingers crossed that this is the first volume in a larger body of work. The other issue I had with the book is that it's broken into sections, and the photos don't match the section headers particularly well. Also, the introduction to each section was rather weak. All those flaws not withstanding, this was a book that made me smile, and the portraits of these girls makes this one worth picking up. Rating: 3 stars.

128. Transfer
I've read several poems by the author that I've loved, but for some reason my library system didn't have the collection I wanted to read, so I tried this one instead.

This collection is a homage to her father and her grief at his death. There is much here that is universal, and I especially liked the ones that dealt with the immigrant/exiled man her father became after leaving Palestine.

I copied some of the lines into my journal, and there were times I stopped reading because I was stunned by the imagery evoked, but overall this is not a collection I loved. I say that knowing full well that poetry is not my usual fare, so the fault might be all mine, and there I'll leave it. Rating: 3 stars.

129. Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower #4)
I'm listening to The Dark Tower series on audio, and this one continues to be superbly narrated by Frank Muller.

Holy moly, what a long strange trip this has been. So many reviewers hated this installment. It's mostly backstory, and we get to spend time with 14 year old Roland, his first ka-tet and his great love. There's lots of action, gun (and other kinds of) fights, curses, scheming, betrayal, and a love story. I loved every minute of this one. I loved the old timey Western feel, I loved the love story, I loved learning about the events that shaped the Gunslinger, and I developed a crush on the man. There are so many new characters, and for change I don't have to complain about the women, who are wonderfully fleshed out here. As usual King spins a wonderful yarn with lots of tangents, and nods to his other books and popular culture. Oh Kansas, how interesting you are in stories. I loved every minute of this one, and in my opinion it's the best in the series so far, and might well be the best thing he's ever written. Rating: 5 stars.