Blue Like Jazz

"Blue Like Jazz" questions the very notion of what it means to be a Christian. Donald Miller writes about faith with a variety of topics on coming to faith, why to have faith, how Christ can transform, what to do with that faith and how to live a life as a Christian. Other than the last chapter of the book where Miller writes that if Ani Difranco wasn't a lesbian he would marry her, what interested me most was how Miller's perspective on being a Christian did not really come from a sense of organized Christianity as an institution. While he was a Christian and went to church and was even a youth group leader Donald Miller knew that there was something lacking. He believed in his head and he knows that Jesus was God, but he didn't truly believe in his heart. He didn't truly believe with his life. The organization of the church was telling him one thing, but it wasn't quite right for him.

There are several very interesting chapters dealing different aspects of faith that focus on Miller's time at Reed College. Reed is a college that people at his church and other believers declared was extremely immoral and that the college was voted "most likely to not believe in God". That much is true, but it was also a strong intellectual school. When Miller started attending, he met up with some Christians at the school who were essentially an "Underground" group of believers. They talked seriously of what it meant to believe and live for Christ and it was a transformative kind of living, more than just attending church on Sunday it was living as a follower on Monday and Tuesday and every other day. One of Miller's friends believed that feeding the homeless meant more than just giving some money to a homeless shelter, that it really meant to actually go out and feed the homeless, to give them food directly, to sit and talk and share a meal with them. To minister with more than just words and preaching, but by truly loving those whom society does not love. It's a sacrifice that takes a person well out of what they think their comfort zone is. It's a challenge.

The aspect of Miller's time at Reed that I found most fascinating was during the college's weekend party, drunken orgy. It is some sort of festival that most would probably see as one of the more decedent displays anywhere in America. Accepted public nudity, drunkeness, lewdness and this is the norm for that weekend. What Miller and his friends decided to do was set up a Confession Booth in the campus's common area. They expected harassment and perhaps abuse, verbal and physical. Christians are not generally accepted at Reed. But this was a different and revolutionary Confession Booth. The Christians confessed to the Pagans. Donald writes about how they would confess how they were not truly feeding the poor, how he has anger issues and lashes out verbally when he feels threatened and that in general they and many others are not good representations of Christ. And change happened after this. Their activities (feeding the poor, Bible studies for non-believers, etc) gained a measure of respect and more involvement from other students. This isn't to say that the entire school changed, because it didn't, but that a raw Christian faith can find a seed anywhere.

But this raw Christian faith is about truly living a different sort of life, that we as individuals and we as a nation cannot hope to fix the world if we don't see the world differently, that we try to heal ourselves first and that what is wrong with the world isn't the world, it is me and it is you. Saying that hunger and homelessness is a problem isn't enough if we aren't actually trying to do anything about it. If everyone gave $20 a month or whatever to various organizations within America (or worldwide), so many lives could be saved. If everyone stopped the "me first" attitude which is so prevalent and so easily glossed over, there could be radical change. But it comes first from not worrying that the other person isn't changing when we aren't changing, when I'm not changing, because if I change then I'm not worrying that someone else is being selfish...I'm working for change.

But this is a frightening idea because it is easy to be comfortable and just deal with our own issues and we all have issues. To move beyond this is a radical step. It comes from a true change and dedication inside and the daring to move beyond the fear and into the faith.

That's kind of what this whole book is about, but it is also Donald Miller writing about a non-religious but highly spiritual perspective on Christian Faith and that this is so important today. When asked by a radio host to defend Christianity, he couldn't and wouldn't because he didn't know what Christianity and any ten people would have ten different ideas of what Christianity is. But he could talk about Christ and what Christ means to him.

Reminds me of a song by Sara Groves called "Conversations" where near the end of the song where she sings about trying to tell a friend about Jesus and she closes the song with a variation of her chorus "The only thing that isn't meaningless to me is Jesus Christ and the way he set me free. This is all that I have, this is all that I am." This is the root of her belief and is the root of what Miller is trying to say.

Two Mules, Bobby Long

I was able to get in a couple of movies this weekend. The first movie is the Clint Eastwood western "Two Mules for Sister Sara". In this one he teams up with Shirley MacLaine. While this isn't a pairing that immediately comes to mind for Eastwood during his Western Days, it isn't nearly as strange as Eastwood teaming up with a monkey, so it all works out. Here's the set-up: MacLaine is set upon by some bandits and Eastwood happens to come and rescue her. She is initially in a state of undress and Eastwood is his gruff self and plans on just leaving her. But when she gets dressed she is a nun! In full habit nonetheless. Somehow they start to travel together and there are some conflicts and neither can seem to leave the other until the movie ends in a big gun battle with some Mexican soldiers. It's a decent western and entertaining. Eastwood is exactly what you'd expect from him in a western, but MacLaine was spunky and worked very well with Eastwood and it was a good role for her and a good fit for the movie. I liked it!

The second movie is one that netflix had shipped me by mistake. I cancelled last week but I guess "A Love Song for Bobby Long" had already shipped. I made sure I watched it right away so I could send it back. Wasn't sure what I'd think about this movie. John Travolta seems to be hit and miss these days with perhaps a few more misses than hits. I believe I had heard some semi-good things about the movie but it pretty much slipped under the radar except that Scarlett Johansson has been turning in good work, this included.

The basic plot is that Scarlett's mother has just died and when she is told she tries to make it to the funeral in time. She doesn't, but she finds out that her mother has left the house to her and two men. The two men are Travolta, who plays Bobby Long, a former college English professor, and a former student of his. They seem to get by without paying rent and just existing, talking about literature and drinking bad alcohol. When Scarlett begins to live with them things start to change and we see how their relationships evolve and how the student cares for the professor and why Bobby Long seems to be broken and how everyone is broken in some way. "A Love Song for Bobby Long" is less a movie about plot than it is about the characters and how they relate, grow, and learn. Character growth and development. It's one of those movies. Nothing explodes on screen, but their lives seem to be on the verge of explosion. I was surprised by how moving it was and how good everyone is. Johansson, if she can stay away from doing another Michael Bay movie, is turning out to be one of our better young actresses and Travolta can prove from time to time that he's quite good. It's not going to make a "Best Of" list, but it's a decent movie. I'm not mad I watched it. How bout that?

Blood Follows

Steven Erikson's series "The Malazan Book of the Fallen" is widely considered one of today's Great Fantasy Series and he is often listed at or near the top of the list of the best fantasy authors writing today. He's good, but it'll take a few more books until I'm willing to anoint him above a certain George Martin. Thus far only three of his Malazan novels have been published in America and I'm waiting for the third volume, "The Memories of Ice", to come from the library. It's possible that Book 4, "House of Chains", is out, but my library certainly doesn't have it yet. Anyway, along with the primary Malazan series Erikson is also writing a series of novellas set in this same world/universe, but featuring secondary characters which may or may not appear in the main series. As the Malazan books progress we'll see how they tie together or if they even do. "Blood Follows" is the first of these novellas and it is described as being "A Tale of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach".

Who? I don't know, either. Maybe they show up in "The Memories of Ice", but I can't say for sure yet. The story of "Blood Follows" touches up this Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, but the story the novella is telling is two fold. First we have Emancipor Reece, a former coachman for a local merchant who was just killed by this serial killer who has been eviscerating his victims one a night for the past eleven nights. Reece is now out of a job and his wife is commanding that he not come home until he finds one. He does, of course, and it is in the employ of a Bauchelain as his manservant. There is also a sergeant of the city watch who has been ordered by the King to stop the murders and bring the killer to justice. The sergeant is good at his job. Since Reece's last three employers all have ended up dead he is someone the sergeant first talks to, but his investigation also takes him to the foreigners Bauchelain and the so far unseen Korbal Broach.

The novella is only 120 pages or so and Erikson does not have the space to indulge in slowing teasing the reader with little bits of detail across hundreds of pages and "Blood Follows" reads easier than the main Malazan books. It doesn't have the depth of satisfaction or richness as the Malazan books but it does add something to the world, that there is something else going on that may eventually tie in to the main story and how everything may connect. I'm actually looking forward to the novellas as much as I am the novels, if as much because the novellas are less of a time commitment. Finding out more about Bauchelain and Korbal Broach will be interesting and now that Reece has left the city with the two I can only wonder what darkness comes next.

Shadowed

With "Shadowed", author Jerry Jenkins brings to a close the trilogy he began with "Soon" and "Silenced". Jenkins is best known as the co-author of the "Left Behind" series and Jenkins was the writer of that series while Tim LaHaye provided the scriptural background. Here Jenkins is on his own and he tells a story set midway through the 21st Century. Several years from now there will be a World War III and it will be a war based on religion. Out of the ashes of this war will come a worldwide fear and distrust of religion and the new World Government that is created makes as one of its first act of completely banning religion of any kind. The world has lived in relative Godless peace but there are still pockets of underground believers.

"Soon" introduced us to Paul Stepola, a top agent with the National Peace Office and his job is to infiltrate cells of "believers" and arrest them, breaking up the Christians. To better do this he researches and researches and reads the contraband Bible and as he continues to work against the Christians he comes closer and closer to belief until he can no longer deny that there is a God and that Christ is Lord. But Paul still works for the NPO and his new fellow Christians asks if he will work from the inside as a double agent. He agrees. In "Silenced" Paul is working deeper inside and has aroused some suspicion but his "success" in various jobs has protected him even while Believers pray for various large scale miracles which God has delivered. Finally, near the end of "Silenced" the leader of the World Government is issuing a decree that within 60 Days every citizen must sign a statement that they publicly renounce religion. But for a Believer this is Peter denying Christ and they are not willing to do so. Paul knows that this is the end of his status as a double agent when the 60 Days is up and he doesn't sign. The Believers give an ultimatum. If the decree is not rescinded they will pray that God will unleash the 10th Plague of the plagues that inflicted Egypt in the time of Pharoah: The Plague of the First Born. The decree is not rescinded and God unleashes the plague and every first born male on the planet who is not a believer or have a believer as a parent drops dead.

And so we begin "Shadowed". Paul is known to be a first born son and when Paul and his own first born son are still alive he needs to go in hiding. Paul's father in law is also a high ranking NPO official and one who is vehemently anti-religion and is grieving for his own adult son. Paul goes on the run to a underground group of believers and his wife, Jae, also comes to profess faith in Christ.

Since this is written by a Christian author and the Christians are the good guys we know that God will come through and things will change. Nobody on the planet can deny there is a God, but they still do not all worship. This "Incident" as it is called is the last major event of the series, though there is still a little bit of action as the Christians gain more worldwide support.

Yadda.

I finished this book because I started the series and if it is at all readable I want to finish. This book and this series suffers from the same issues that plague (pun intended) the Left Behind series: bad writing. Jenkins can come up with some interesting ideas and he writes in such an easy style that the books go by very quickly...but they aren't very good. Everything is so simplistic and one sided and heavy handed in his novels (and I can say this after reading 12 Left Behind Books, 1 Left Behind prequel, and these 3 Underground Zealot novels). There is enough compelling ideas in the story that I want to see how he delivers the conclusion of the story and how he gets there, but there is a lot of cringing and wishing that the craft improves. But he isn't that kind of writer and this isn't that kind of a book. "Shadowed" is lightweight (though semi-violent and semi-graphic) fiction with a Christian perspective, but I wouldn't hold this book up as something to celebrate how "Christian" fiction can be just as good as the best of "secular" fiction. There's just a little too much sugar here for it to be good for you.

Buy My Stuff

Along with the Netflix Cancellation and other budget changes around the house, we are selling off a bunch of our stuff. Books, CDs, DVDs, clothes, random stuff. I'm putting everything that looks like it can sell for at least a couple of dollars up on ebay. There are a few books up right now, a handful of cds, and I'm working on the DVDs right now. In the next days and weeks I'll be getting more stuff up until we run out of things that look like they can sell.

So, if anyone is interested, they are free to buy my stuff. I suspect I'll be re-evaluating the DVDs that so far I've decided to keep, and will then auction those up as well.

There are also some other DVDs which are not going up on ebay because there doesn't seem to be an Ebay market for them but which can likely sell for $5 each at my mother's garage sale in May. If anyone is interested in buying some and finding out what DVDs aren't going up on ebay (books, too), contact me by e-mail or post a comment and I'll let you know what is available.

goodbye netflix

I cancelled my Netflix subscription this morning. It was a cost savings measure. To get certain costs back in line we're cutting some things out of our budget, and Netflix is one that had to go.

Where shall I get my movies from? The library! I just put a good number of DVDs on hold. They have longer hold lines, but I should be able to get most of what I want, so it all works out in the end.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (movie)

How do you turn a 700+ page novel into a movie? Well, you either make a 4 hour movie or you cut, cut, cut and turn into a 2.5 hour movie. The filmmakers decided on the latter because there was no good splitting point in the novel to make GOF: Part I and GOF: Part II. What we end up with is the absolute core of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Gone is that side plot with Hermione forming S.P.E.W. and trying to bring freedom and equal rights to all house elves. Gone, actually, is any appearance of a house elf. So, no Dobby in this one despite the role he plays in the book. The early scenes of the novel dealing especially with the Quidditch World Cup are cut very short, nothing at the Dursleys, and we do not get to learn much about either Krum or Fleur.

What do we have, then? Harry starts out with the Weasley's as they go to the Quidditch World Cup. The match isn't shown (though the entrances are, so we know Krum is famous) and after we see the attack at the Q.W.C. by the Death Eaters and the Dark Mark being released in the air. I have to say that there was a serious sense of menace and fear and confusion during the attack. Very well done and shows hints of why the Death Eaters (followers of Voldemort) are that scary. From this moment we know things are changing. Year 4 for Harry, Ron, and Hermione is now beginning back at Hogwarts, but this year is going to be different. The Tri-Wizard Competition is being held at Hogwarts and each of three wizarding schools will have a champion competing for Eternal Glory. It is only open to those over the age of seventeen, however. The three champions are chosen: Krum, Fluer, and from Hogwarts - Cedric Diggory. But then the Goblet of Fire glows red once more and spits out a fourth name: Harry Potter. So, Harry must compete in this competition which has caused death in the past and Harry doesn't have the experience or the knowledge. Meanwhile he keeps having visions and dreams about the return of Voldemort and his scar is hurting.

This movie is far more streamlined than the book. School, Voldemort, Competition. That's it. Nearly everything extra is cut. And you know what? It works. Azkaban may have been a stronger movie, but Goblet of Fire is still far better than the first two movies. There is a real sense of darkness and menace to the film as we know that the series is just going to get darker. I didn't feel like anything was missing from the movie. All of the side stories which build the richness of the world would not have fit in the movie and would have killed the flow and tension of it. The only lack is that there is little or no development or information about Fleur or Krum, or even Cedric though a little bit more is given about him. We do get the little love interest of Harry for Cho Chang and the boredom of the Parvati twins at the ball is perfect. But the main story here is the Tri-Wizard Competition and Voldemort, and it works well.

After each Harry Potter movie I always wonder how they are possibly going to film the next one and have it work, but I look forward to it because the movie series is turning out to be quite a good one.

To End All Wars

I thought this was just going to be another telling of "Bridge on the River Kwai". I think it is the same basic story and may be based on the same source material (though "River Kwai" is also from a Pierre Boulle novel). But, the basic form of the story and the origins may be the same, but midway through the movie it is clear that "To End All Wars" is going in a different direction. We are still set in World War II and we are still in Burma and Thailand building the railroad. There are still British Prisoners of War (Scottish this time) and one American (this time played by Keifer Sutherland) and they are being poorly treated in the prison camp and made to build this railroad on meager rations. They are brutalized for not bowing, and for doing anything out of line or that would make the Japanese "lose face".

But through the movie there is a string of hope, of grace. That through kindness in the face of brutality, of turning the other cheek and of sacrifice, that the prisoners can gain respect (from their captors and self respect) as well as better treatment. The railroad is almost an afterthought here.

I had never heard of this movie until a friend recommended it to me, and then another friend. I still didn't expect too much from "To End All Wars", but it turns out that this is a quality movie. Well made, well acted, and very moving. There is a spiritual side to "To End All Wars" with a bit of the Christian teaching running through it. It's not overwhelming or preachy, but it is effective and there is a very strong and overt Christ image but not quite the way it was expected and how that plays out isn't such that it bangs your head with Christ.

Well done. I like when a movie I haven't heard of and clearly did not get a major release turns out to be a good one.

Kinsey

"Kinsey" is the story of Alfred Kinsey, the very controversial sex researcher of the 1950's. At a time when the only sex education that was being taught was abstinence and only in a general health class, Dr. Kinsey was feeling the lack of information and that amount of rubbish that was being taught as fact. People just didn't have any information about sex, who does it, who does what, what is permissible, and what is possible. His interest in the subject came because of some sexual issues early in his marriage and his need as scientist to know the solution. There is also a deep undercurrent of sexual repression from his father.

Dr. Kinsey initially starts to advise some of his science students and then more and more start coming to him and Dr. Kinsey inquires about a sexual education class that could be held at his University. He also begins an exhaustive study (pun intended) into the sexual behavior of human males with a follow up study on females to come later. Any question that could be asked is asked and the findings are shocking to many, though not likely shocking to today's audience.

My expectation for the movie that it would be start to finish sex and nudity. I think this is from some of the negative, one sided reviews that portrayed this movie through a certain moral lens. It isn't. The movie is filled with talk about sex, and as it should be considering the subject. There is sex and nudity, though not nearly as much as one would expect. While there is a good deal of sex as the movie progresses, it is far less revealing than it could have been.

The real surprise that I had was that this was a good movie, better than I had anticipated. I was all ready to dislike the movie and I couldn't. Well made, well told, and while it does celebrate Kinsey and his work (ending with a woman telling an older Kinsey that his work saved her life and helped her to have a healthy relationship with another woman), "Kinsey" does not hide his faults, obsessions, and uncomfortable beliefs (such as that there is nothing wrong or immoral about pedophilia). The film shows the great strides Dr. Kinsey helped America take in sexual education even when America wasn't truly ready, but doesn't hide the negative.

HP:GOF

Sandy purchased some tickets yesterday to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the Imax Sunday night at 10:00pm. Looking forward to how this book gets adapted. Quite a bit has been cut, I hear (nothing on Hermoine's quest to free the house elves), but the core should still be there. Here's hoping.

Lost, ANTM, MNIE, Boondocks

I was a little disappointed with Lost last night. The episode was all about covering the first 48 days the survivors from the tail of the plane were on the island. So we're given this whole new group of survivors to be introduced to and to get to know...except we're not. The focus is mainly on those who we met in the previous two episodes: Michelle Rodriguez, Bernard, Clinical Psychologist Lady, Strong Silent Black Man. But my real problem with the episode was just the format. To get us from Crash to Ana Lucia shooting Shannon in 1 hr and 4 minutes, we get a lot of fade in and fade out as days pass and days are skipped. We get the highlights. We get little clips of the characters and this all could have been done just as well by giving us little clips throughout the regular episodes. The one really positive thing this episode did was show why and how Michelle Rodriguez was in such a leadership role. At first I thought she was just the mouthy little second in command to SSBM, but she's the leader. Why? Like Jack, she stepped up when nobody else did. She filled that void and she was fierce in her desire to protect her group. Unlike Jack, she's much closer to snapping. My wife doesn't like her for two reasons. 1: Ana Lucia is played by Michelle Rodriguez. 2: Because she's always so angry and unreasonable and M.R. always plays that girl. I think I figured some of that out, though. I think the snap in Ana Lucia happened when the kids were kidnapped. She was frustrated when the Others first took the three men on the first night, but losing the kids pushed her over the edge. That's what I think.

Still don't know who the Others are, or where they came from, or why. My guess is something to do with the Island experiment.

Another decent episode of America's Next Top Model. Everyone (except Nicole) was mad at Kim because Kim talks behind folk's back. But near as I can tell from what the editors have selectedly shown us, Kim has only talked about Lisa and Jayla. She joked about Nik in front of Nik, but I haven't seen anything else behind anyone else's back. Bre continues to be a hoot with her attitude hidden behind a layer of cuteness. She's funny, my wife really likes her. Right now Bre is our pick to win (in the absence of any really strong contenders). The shock, though, was Lisa being cut. I thought she'd be final 2 and probably the winner. Don't like Lisa, but she was the strongest and arguably the best model. She was a punk behind the scenes, though. She'll probably get work from this if she can control herself off camera.

Skimmed through My Name is Earl. I watched it, but I was also looking for crap to put up on ebay and if it would sell (found some books that might sell), so I didn't really get a grasp of what happened. That was last week's episode where they drove away in the Bandit car. I have this week's episode recorded. I'll make sure to watch that one and pay more attention.

The Boondocks is getting a little bit stronger. I watched the second episode, "The Trial of R. Kelly" and it was funnier and really kind of ripped on how (and I need to be careful here) the black community will get behind somebody who commits an awful crime because that person is an entertainer and because they like his music, or his athletic ability...even if that person has a mountain of evidence which should convict him. It was a good episode, and at the end I think they are about to introduce Jasmine, the cute little girl from the comic.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Phew. After starting John LeCarre's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" weeks ago I finally finished the book last night. I had previously read his "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" and thought it was fantastic, and was disappointed by "Absolute Friends". Thought I should love this one. Didn't.

My biggest problem is that it was a difficult book to really get into. The story, about spies and double agents and George Smiley trying to figure out who the mole was in the British spy agency is a great idea. However, LeCarre spent so much time telling us what might be happening that he doesn't actually show us. The entire novel is Smiley talking to people, investigating, but we never get into his head so we don't know where Smiley is going with this investigation or where he makes his intuitive leaps. Not really.

I plan on reading more LeCarre, but this one was disappointing.

RAW Tribute Show

RAW last night was an Eddie Guerrero tribute show. I don't remember if it was taped on Sunday along with Smackdown, or if RAW was live last night like it usually is, but this must have been incredibly difficult for the performers. Vince McMahon gave every wrestler the option of performing or not and every single person elected to perform as a tribute. It's an odd thing about the wrestling business, but it is the way things seem to work. These men (and women, but mostly men) spend way more time with each other than they do with their families, so to say that they become family is likely not an exaggeration.

The show opens up with all of the wrestlers of RAW and Smackdown standing in front of the "curtain" where they make their entrance. Vince McMahon (owner of WWE) was standing in front with a microphone announcing to the crowd about Eddie's passing. Everyone already knew as many had signs saying goodbye and even before Vince said anything the crowd was chanting "Eddie, Eddie" and "Thank You Eddie" in respect. Vince talked for a short while as the camera panned around the other wrestlers, some who were barely holding themselves together. Chris Benoit, in particular, was having the hardest time as he has been friends with Eddie for fifteen years. Then there was a tribute video showing some of Eddie's accomplishments and just giving a little bit of a feel for who Eddie was. The song playing with the video was Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt". That's a beautiful, painful song as it was. When it was over most of the wrestlers were crying and as the camera panned, so were many in the Minneapolis audience. After Vince spoke, but before the video the WWE gave the traditional 10 bell salute to a fallen wrestler. It's a chilling sound to hear.

Interspersed throughout the show and between matches were segments where the wrestlers talked about Eddie. Some talked about his professionalism, others his heart and how good of a friend he was. Benoit broke down at the end of his as he talked about his friendship. As Benoit spoke and got more emotional, this was the only one that I had a tear fall. The pain was too raw for so many of these men. Eddie's nephew Chavo Guerrero talked about how he really thought of Eddie as a brother since they were only three years apart and how everything they dreamed of came true except that Eddie isn't here anymore. Shawn Michaels gave a completely different perspective and said that he can't talk about Eddie as a wrestler because he never had wrestled him. Instead he talked about Eddie's faith and how they had shared their faith in Christ for the past few years and how Eddie was the only man Shawn had ever seen to get the entire company together from Vince to the road crew and lead them all in a prayer meeting.

I'm not really going to talk about the matches because they weren't terribly important. They did not advance storylines but served to just entertain the audience as well as show respect to Eddie. Many wore Eddie's t-shirts to the ring and several wore black arm bands with EG on it. A couple almost broke down just walking to the ring. The best match, by far, though was Shawn Michaels against Rey Mysterio (Mysterio is a good personal friend of Eddie's and their families are close). It was a well wrestled match, and if you can give respect through your actions and performance, this one gave the most.

Smackdown, which will air on Friday and was recorded the same day as RAW (this is why I think Sunday night) is also going to be a Tribute Show and is likely just the second half of the Super Show which ended up being one great big Tribute to Eddie Guerrero

RIP: Eddie Guerrero

WWE wrestler Eddie Guerrero died Sunday morning in his hotel room in Minneapolis. He was in town to wrestle in WWE's Super Show. Guerrero was one of the best wrestlers on Smackdown and had overcome drug and alcohol issues in the past to reclaim his life and his career and at the time of his death he was near the top of his industry.

Personally, Eddie has been one of my favorite performers since he had come back from rehab four years ago. He consistently put on some of the most entertaining matches and his gimmick of "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" made for some comic moments as he always found a way to win. It appeared that he was primed to make another run as the Champion on Smackdown as there were hints of a feud with the champion Batista and Batista had just suffered an injury that might put him off the shelf for months, so Guerrero may have been the logical choice to take the belt. As I've never met the man (or any other wrestler), I can't comment on his personal life, but from all reports Eddie had put all of his demons behind him. On WCCO news his nephew and WWE wrestler, Chavo Guerrero said that Eddie told him on the flight that he had just celebrated four years of sobriety.

As a husband and a father to three daughters, Guerrero will be missed. As a wrestler, Eddie Guerrero was one of the best and will leave a hole in the hearts of fans everywhere.

mucho television

This weekend was a semi-busy weekend for me. I wasn't terribly productive, except for running a 5k race and putting 20 cds up on Ebay, but I did get a few things watched.

First is the documentary Gunner Palace. This movie follows a particular group of soldiers in Iraq and gives us a glimpse into their daily life. We follow them on patrols and get to hear what they have to say about being in Iraq, and their frustrations with the situation, lack of armor, and risking their lives when people at home will be forgetting all about what they are doing. Very interesting documentary, and the squad rapper/poet has some heartfelt verses about the situation. It's a little disjointed, though, because Gunner Palace really doesn't follow any sort of narrative structure. There's no point A to point B. But that's okay. The picture of the soldier's life is a very good one.

Second is a couple of episodes of Commander in Chief. This continues to be a quality show. I think we're at the point that Rod Lurie had left the show, so we'll see how things continue. Geena Davis makes a credible President, one who wants to do the right thing, is intelligent and strong yet compassionate.

Third is the first part of the History Channel documentary on the Crusades. It's called "The Crusades: The Crescent and the Cross". It's fairly interesting and it seems fair to both sides, though it veers a little negative in the actions of the Christian Crusaders...but then I suspect it should be. It grants the genuine devotion to religion and spirituality and that many of the Crusaders went off with the best of intentions and the belief that they truly are doing the right thing, but also acknowledged that others may have went for profit and plunder and to be a warlord in the Middle East. Neither side really comes out smelling like roses in this documentary.

Fourth is the Ironman Triathlon World Championships at Kona. Inspiring. Truly inspiring. I don't care so much about the elite athlete stories, it is the common people who are interesting. If you can call them common. There is always a focus on those who have the best stories, like a guy named Blais. Blais is suffering from the early onset of Lou Gehrig's disease and has already lost the use of one of his hands, so he has an additional challenge. So, you know that if he can't finish this year he never will because he will likely be in worse shape next year. Then there is Sarah Reinertson. Sarah was profiled in 2004 as well. She is a single leg amputee (below the knee, I think) and last year she didn't make the cut-off time on the bike, so she didn't get to do the marathon. This year she clear the swim, makes the bike, and I felt a little choked up as she finished. More so than the guy with ALS. It is amazing what people can do when they are determined to work for it.

Fifth is the second part of Category 7: The End of the World. This is the crappy CBS mini-series/movie about a superstorm destroying the planet. Blah blah. Still crappy and now there is this kidnapping plot thrown into it, like giant hurricanes with 400 mph wind isn't nasty enough. Whatever. Honestly, it didn't get any better in the second part. Why do I watch this crap? Do you think there is any chance there is any scientific basis for the weather claims the movie makes? I doubt it, too. But, in case you are curious and didn't bother watching the claim is that something in the atmosphere is dropping (really cold stuff), which is causing these low pressure storms (is it low pressure, I don't know), but this is what is causing these extra powerful storms. Now, when they get over a city the city has these rising columns of heat. This part makes sense because a city should have a greater concentration of heat energy than any other area. When the heat mixes with the already powerful storm you get these super storms and when a couple of super storms combine over a city...you get a crappy movie. The solution, turn off all the power in the city which should lower the city's temperature quickly enough to lessen the storm...but then when they finally do this the storm isn't lessened...it flat out disappears and the the sun comes out. Oh. My. God. Who wrote this crap and what is Gina Gershon doing?

Sixth, because it just gets better, I tried to watch the Penn and Teller special while putting stuff up on ebay. They make a sub disappear and do random other tricks. The one cool thing is that the reveal how they did everything, but otherwise it was kind of lame. Sure the disappearing submarine was interesting (yes, a submarine, not a sub sandwich) in theory, but watching it happen wasn't. Blah blah, blah.

The Boondocks

The Cartoon Network is airing the first cartoon adaptation of Aaron McGruder's comic strip "The Boondocks". This is probably my favorite current strip, though I don't read the funny pages very often anymore. Now Huey is bringing his angry black viewpoint to television, along with his brother Riley and Grandpa. Jasmine didn't make an appearance in the first episode. Regina King does the voices for both Riley and Huey. It works. I don't know what voice I expected for the boys, but they are just kids so a manly James Earl Jones certainly wouldn't work.

Anyway, the first episode has Grandpa invited to a garden party held by the owner of the bank which has the mortgage on his house. Oh, keep in mind that Riley and Huey live with grandpa in an incredibly white neighborhood. The episode opens with Huey having a dream where he tells the truth to white people that Jesus was black, President Reagan was the devil, and the gov't is lying to us about 9/11. The white people riot. When he wakes up Grandpa tells Huey never to tell white people the truth and that he shouldn't even dream about making white people riot. Instead of telling white people the truth, Grandpa says, you should offer whites cheese. It calms them down.

I should be offended by this, but I'm strangely calmed by the thought of cheese.

The isn't consistently funny. The "N" word got thrown around a lot, but it was used casually like it would in real life. The show wasn't as topical or as politically current as the strip, but as McGruder said on Tavis Smiley this week, the show is written a year in advance so it is difficult to truly be topical with the political humor. Plus the shows have storylines rather than fitting ideas into four panels.

We'll see how the show progresses. I want to like this as much as anything else on tv.

Category 7: Part I

Apparently that CBS disaster movie Category 7: The End of the World is actually a two part mini-series and it is even a sequel to last year's crappy Category 6. The setting is a couple of weeks after that huge megastorm tornado which leveled Chicago and Gina Gershon has been promoted to be the head of FEMA. She is charged with not only been the first responder on the scene of disasters but to find a way to get there before the disasters hit. The movie opens with with scenes in Paris where a huge storm causes mass destruction and destroys the Eiffel Tower. Then there are news reports of storms which caused havoc from Nevada through the Midwest United States. The Mall of America was even destroyed (heartbreaking, I live only a few miles from it). Huge storms, tornadoes and hurricanes are taking place all over the globe and often over major cities. Why? What is causing this and how can that be stopped? Gina Gershon brings in a disgraced scientist who predicted the storms which hit these cities several years before they happened but was ignored. It just happens that they are former lovers and that this scientist also happens to be married to Gershon's former roommate. Oh! And Gershon's son is dating Science Guy's daughter!

Honestly, this is a pretty crappy movie. It's actually worse than Category 6, and Cat 6 starred Jo from The Facts of Life. Gina Gershon is a better actress than Nancy McKeon, or at least she should be. I'm not sure it is possible to be good in this movie. Strangely, I wish Jo was Cat 7. Gershon doesn't get to show much personality.

Somehow Randy Quaid is still alive even though his character was swept up in that Force 6 tornado that rocked Chicago. Mmm, hmm. He goes from a full body cast when he first shows up to tearing off his neck brace and walking around just fine only hours later. Right.

The special effects are about what you'd expect from a CBS movie. This movie rains destruction down on the globe. So many major American cities are destroyed, the MOA is gone, George Washington's head at Mt Rushmore has fallen, the Eiffel Tower is gone, some pyramids in Egypt have been wrecked the Sphinx also seems to be destroyed. And it is only fixing to get worse because near the end of the first part we saw the all these storms converging on each other which could make a mega storm.

*sigh* Why am I drawn to these crappy disaster movies? I'm not sure, but I just feel this need to see wanton destruction and bad acting. Then again, after watching The Core, I can make it through anything.

Stay tuned for Part II this coming Sunday night.

dvd cover art

Ooh!

Rize for Four Minutes

"Rize" is a documentary about Krump and Clown dancing. Before I saw the preview for this movie months ago, I had no idea. Dancing to me is the "white man's shuffle" which involves swaying and thumbs pointing straight up in the air, so krump dancing is well beyond my wildest imagination. So what is krump? Krump is a form of dancing that seems to have come from the streets of Los Angeles. The beginning of "Rize" ties the entire movie into the Watts riots from the 60's and the 1992 Rodney King riots, so we are to get the impression that this form of dance comes from the anger of those who have nothing else. In a way, that is exactly what the dancers tell us. The film introduces us to Tommy the Clown, a hip hop dancing clown who does neighborhood parties and is very popular. To him, this dancing and the "clowning" is a chance to do something positive, and the other clown dancers are also doing something positive. The dancing is wild and almost out of control, but it comes from the soul.

Krump comes from clowning, but krump seems to add this extra layer of aggression to the dance. It is hard to truly describe krump, or clowning, but the disclaimer at the beginning of the movie which says that nothing in the movie has been sped up should tell something of the intensity and speed of the dance. It really is amazing.

Rize continues to tie this dance into the community, African traditional dance, the church, and the opportunity to do something positive and be a positive influence rather than gang banging. Clocking in at under an hour and a half, "Rize" is well worth the time to watch. And for those who can only dance the white man's shuffle, it is an impressive look at dance.


"Four Minutes" is a movie which premiered on ESPN 2. Usually this would automatically lower expectations regarding quality but it was fairly well done. Since I enjoy running and enjoy watching the elite runners do their thing, seeing a movie made about Roger Bannister was a treat for me. Bannister was the first man to run faster than four minutes for the mile. As a character says in the movie, four minutes was as much a psychological barrier as it was a physical barrier.

Personally, I found this to be a fascinating movie. It is a fictionalized account and not a documentary, but the performances were good enough and I got to see some running. I have no idea how this movie would play for someone not interested in this story and what is going on. I imagine it would feel a little slow and maybe boring. It helps if you want to see a running movie and the enormity of what Bannister was doing in the running world is great drama even if you know that he is going to break it and open the floodgates to people running sub 4.

It's not a great movie, but I liked it.

Days, Volcanoes, Naked Lunch, Earl

Big movie day so far. I managed to sit through Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven. When The Thin Red Line was released in theatres in the late 90's he was acclaimed as this legendary director whom everyone wanted to work with. He was a recluse who hadn't made a movie since the 70's when he made two. This is one of them. Stars Richard Gere as a migrant worker with his woman and they end up working on this farm. The idea is to scam the farm owner who has fallen for his woman. Everyone believes Gere and the woman are siblings because this is the story they have told. There is very little dialogue, random shots of nature and scenery (though the underwater shot of the goblet was quite beautiful), and there is spare narration and the whole thing felt...incomplete. Like there was a story there but Malick didn't really get around to telling it. I was bored. Still, Malick did an excellent job with The Thin Red Line, I look forward to The New World and I'll get around to renting Badlands fairly soon. Then I can cross "Watch all Terrence Malick's movies" off of my list of things to do.

Watched the Imax documentary Volcanoes of the Deep Sea. Somehow this one managed to stir up a bit of controversy a few years back because it hinted at evolution and the creation of the world and some theatres in the south didn't show it. Oh. My. God. Honestly, this is an hour long documentary about creatures two miles underwater that we've never seen before and scientists didn't believe anything existed down there. So, for a visual treat this is worth watching and it is neat to see this unexplored world...and it is like a whole different world. On the other, the documentary isn't anything special and it doesn't really say anything or explain things very well and it was rather dry. I imagine the best experience would be to find an Imax theatre that was showing this and watch it as it was meant to be seen. It didn't play that well at home, but at only an hour in length it isn't bad. And forget about that evolution controversy. I was looking for it and it wasn't really there...unless you believe the Earth is only 4000 years old in which case you'll probably hate most science books and movies.

I tried to watch David Croenenberg's Naked Lunch. Key word: Tried. A co-worker lent me this movie when I said I've only seen eXistenZ and nothing else by the director. Love eXistenZ, by the way. Well, this movie is just flat out weird. Based on a novel written in an acid trip and considered unfilmable, I just didn't get it. There's this guy who is an exterminator and his wife is shooting up the "bug powder" and then some bugs are huge and they talk to him about this conspiracy and that his wife may be a bug and I just wanted Jerry O'Connell to come in with his roaches and have a great big bug paradise while Caspar Van Diem and Doogie Houser tell me the only good bug is a dead bug. It wouldn't have made sense, but then this movie doesn't either. I could only manage 40 minutes of it, so if you tell me that it gets better or that it makes more sense or that the last 27 minutes of the movie should have won a special Academy Award...I still don't want to finish it.

Ugh.

So, the three movies I've watched so far have all pretty well sucked. What didn't suck? My Name is Earl. This week's episode had Earl trying to make something up to his ex-wife Joy. He had smashed one of her figurines which apparently can only be won in this mother/daughter beauty pageant and he needs to get her a figurine. She wants a hot tub. And then there are this mother daughter pair who come from a long line of knife throwers but the daughter doesn't want to, she wants to become a doctor. The mother wants none of that and wants to go on the pageant circuit with her. This show just gets better and better. Love it. I also want more knife throwing children on television.

Dirty Job, My Humps

My wife and I like to watch a show called Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel. The host, Mike Rowe, goes around the country and shows us what some of the dirtiest jobs are that people do. And then he does them. So we've seen roofing, roadkill cleanup, something with a bat cave (nasty!), sewer inspector, horse inseminator, ostrich farmer and many others.

We really like the show, but sometimes the jobs aren't really nasty dirty, but just tough jobs when you might get a little dirty. Last night was about charcoal and Mike got as dirty as I've seen, and also a segment in a animal groomer's office which included having Mike express the anal glands of some dogs! We've seen that done on our dog, and it is nasty and smells awful. Good show, I just hope they can keep finding some dirty jobs for Mike to do. That guy is willing to try anything.


I've been thinking about this for some time and the song "My Humps" by the Black Eyed Peas has to be one of the worst songs I've ever heard. Really. That chorus about "my humps, my humps, my lovely lady lumps" just kills me. I mean, who decided one day that they wanted to sit down and write these lyrics and thought they sounded good? Who? How was this a good idea? "Yeah, man, these are some kicking lyrics, let's put a beat to it!"

Ugh.

Hurt, Batman Begins, Elizabethtown

I rented the Johnny Cash video "Hurt" from Netflix. One disc, less than four minutes. It's a great song, Cash doing the Nine Inch Nails cover all slowed down and broken. Beautiful. The video is good but on the second time through I decided to close my eyes and it was even more powerful. The songs hits me in the gut far more when it is just Cash singing with no visual.

After missing it in the theatre, and having it sit on my DVD player for a week or two, I finally watched Batman Begins. Damn, if that isn't what a Batman movie should be. The origin story worked so well and I really, really hope that Christopher Nolan makes the next two. He did such a great job reinventing Batman and making him darker and grounding everything in a reality. The Scarecrow charcter made me nervous as a concept of a supervillain who caused "fear" in people, but it works so well. Everything did.

Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown is something that I've been looking forward to for some time. He is one of my favorite filmmakers, but I was nervous. Orlando Bloom was great as an elf, but as a real person? Well...he works. It works. Bloom is believable without pointy ears and I loved the dynamic of Bloom meeting an entire side of his family that he never met before (the father's side) and how different it is and how welcoming it was. It's a family dynamic that made me a little wistful, how the whole community was family and friendly and supportive and close. And Kirstin Dunst played an actual character with some depth. Her flight attendant who becomes friends with Bloom and helps him find some focus even while she doesn't have a true focus is an excellent character. She has heart, the movie does, and the longer the movie played the more i liked it and the less I wanted it to end because i just loved being in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. It is doubtful that it'll make my top ten list for 2005 (which you can expect sometime late 2006 when I watch all the movies), but I truly felt a part of this town, family, world, movie whatever.

Ann Patchett

Rare is the author who can write a novel and make me just fall in love with the characters and the setting and care deeply about what happens to the characters. With all of the books that I read I find that while I enjoy most and admire some, I truly love few. Rare is the author that can give me this sublime experience once. Ann Patchett has delivered rare gems in each of her three novels which I have read. It is amazing in how different her novels are from each other, but she writes each book with such heart and such grace and such compassion that it is so easy to get involved in the lives of her characters and really care for them. I finished her novel "Taft" this weekend and I was enraptured in these characters and the situations within. Everything felt right.

C.I.C.

Watched my second episode of Commander in Chief last night. Episode 3: First Strike. Still hoping ep 2 gets rebroadcast soon so I can see it. I have to say, I'm loving this show. I didn't buy it at first with the pilot, but Geena Davis made a solid president in ep 3. She seemed sure, and thoughtful, made decisions with good logic and wasn't afraid to be tough. She had a heart, but stood up for herself and her family.

This show could work.

Absolute Friends

For nearly 400 pages I knew what I was going to say about John le Carre's Absolute Friends. I was going to write about how this book was very well regarded and had nearly unanimous critical acclaim. I can't remember ever hearing a bad word about the book (thought now that I check Amazon, there are some negative reviews about the politics of the book). I was also going to write that despite all the praise I couldn't get a sense of what this book was about. At all.

The first 400 pages still bother me. It was well written and they follow Ted Mundy, a Brit born in Pakistan and son of a former career military man very disillusioned with England. The book begins with Mundy as a middle aged man working as a tour guide at a castle in Germany and then goes back to his youth growing up in Pakistan and having to leave the country, then living in Germany as a young man where he meets Sasha a left wing socialist radical and he gets involved in that movement. Pages and pages are spent on this showing that Mundy is a radical, but not nearly as fervant as Sasha or the others.

Flash forward and Sasha reconnect with Mundy and somehow Sasha is a spy and Mundy gets drawn into it working for England against the East and I'm not entirely sure what Mundy believes. Not sure he does, either.

When Mundy is brought into the spy game is when the book got interesting for me, but there didn't seem to be much purpose to it. So much happened off the page, and I was missing whatever sort of commentary le Carre had on modern day espionage, terrorism, and the like. I just didn't see it.

Then we get to the last 50 pages or so and it hit. Everything came together, the ending was excellent and it was quite clear what le Carre's point was.

I'm not going to say that 50 pages made up for 400, or even for the first 300 if you call that other hundred pages a wash, but I'll be damned if it didn't spin my mind on how exactly I feel about the book.

I can't recommend it, because there is too much that made me weary, but I feel the ending is worth the effort and it is easy to see le Carre's disgust with today's world and even America's behavior in it.

The ending does redeem much of what came before it, but the meat of a novel shouldn't need redeeming.

Jarhead bashing

I've been very interested in seeing Jarhead when it comes out. It is directed by Sam Mendes who has made two rather good movies in American Beauty and Road to Perdition. It is based on a best selling memoir by Anthony Swofford which while I thought was an interested look into the mind of one marine, I didn't admire it...or him. Well, let me rephrase that. I admire anyone who serves in our military. Anyone. They are doing something that I'm not and doing a job that they don't get nearly enough credit for. That said, I didn't admire his attitude. Compare Swofford with Captain Andrew Exum (author of This Man's Army) and I would much rather have Captain Exum on the front line.

Regardless, this is about the movie and not about bashing a former marine, something which I don't want to do and don't really intend.

The movie. Jeffrey Wells, a critic and columnist, has written a little bit about Jarhead and it isn't good. He says that movie is well made, well acted, but is empty. It's not about anything. It's almost about not fighting (which makes sense because that's what the book deals with), but that if it didn't have this Oscar push it might feel somewhat different. It's not that Wells was brutal, but when I finished reading that column I was left with the feeling that Jarhead just got its teeth kicked, and hard.

I quit you

Dear Invasion, Everybody Hates Chris, and The Amazing Race: Family Edition,

I believe I have given each of your programs a fair chance to hook me. Each show has not lived up to my expectations, made me laugh, or connect enough with a storyline and has been a disappointment. There are other quality programs out there and I will watch those over your shows. I appreciate your efforts in finding an audience and I wish you the best of luck in the future. Right now, however,

I quit you.

-Joe

Contender Rematch, Commander in Chief

I finally caught the rematch fights from The Contender on ESPN. There were three fights on the card, but the broadcast I saw only aired two of them because it was delayed due to baseball related stuff. There was a rematch of the championship fight between "The Man They Call the Latin Snake" Sergio Mora and Peter Manfredo, Jr. The other fight was Jesse Brinkley vs Anthony Bonsante.

I was looking forward to the Bonstante fight because he was my favorite fighter from the first season and in his first match with Brinkley he dominated the fight until the last minute of the last round when Brinkley caught Bonsante with a tight uppercut that knocked him out. This rematch didn't have the aggressiveness of the first fight, but it seemed like Bonsante was winning. He landed far more punches and was more active that Brinkley. The announcers said Bonsante won. And then the judges gave Brinkley the fight in a unanimous decision. I was shocked, the announcers were shocked, the live crowd booed, and Bonsante just walked out of the ring with speaking to anyone.

I fast forwarded through a bunch of the Mora/Manfredo fight. Mora won, another shocked audience as Mora likely lost most of the rounds.

What I noticed is that I found the fights to be less interesting when we don't have the show. We get less of the behind the scenes training and talking and we lose the personality of the fighters. So I couldn't really get into the fights because I lost the reason to really care. Except for the Bonsante fight because I still had the interest in who the fighters were and how they did.

The second season will begin in April, but ESPN will air two more fights before then. I imagine they'll just get some of the other fighters, but we'll see who and when.


I also finally watched the pilot episode of Commander in Chief, the new ABC show where Geena Davis becomes the first female (and Independent) president when the sitting president dies in office. Not bad. The episode went fairly fast and it was interesting to see Davis in that role and how even the old president wanted her to resign before he died because he only selected her to get some votes and never wanted her to really get to be president. But she didn't resign. I want to see how this plays out. Supposedly the show has been getting good ratings. I have episodes three and four recorded. Missed ep 2. Since I may be dropping The Amazing Race this season, I'll be able to get the first run episodes as they air rather than hoping ABC does a rebroadcast later in the week.

Dogville

Sometimes a movie is just disappointing. I had read all sorts of good things about Lars Von Trier's Dogville. I knew it was going to be something different as this is the guy who made Breaking the Waves. Dogville has quite a bit more polish, but has its own quirks. To start with, the setting is sometime in 1930's America, out west I guess.

Paul Bettany plays Tom Edison, a man who fashions himself something of the town philosopher of Dogville. He is giving these lectures saying how Dogville needs to learn to accept. But there are no gifts to accept until Grace (Nicole Kidman) comes to town. She is able to slowly break through and the town accepts her at fist, then comes more distrust and a breakdown in the morality of the town as Grace becomes the unwilling but unfighting town whore.

I think the movie is supposed to give us some sort of lesson in American morality and how morality can be fluid and not such a sticking point as we'd like to think. The movie shows the transition between grace and digrace.

But good lord is this a slow and fairly dull movie!

I was able to easily accept how the sets were laid out. Rather than being set in a city or a village and having there be real buildings the film takes place on a set where the houses and walls and bushes are all drawn on the ground in outline (as is the dog), and there are no doors but sound effects let us know when the door is knocked or closed. It is something like theatre, and it gives actors room to act without a real prop or location.

Many people think this movie is something special, but I just didn't care. The narration told us too much rather than letting the film show it, and the dialogue was a bit self conscious in how the characters present themselves.

Ugh. It's a long three hour movie that feels longer.

North Country

I really hate the tagline of North Country. "All she wanted to do was make a living. Instead she made history." It's terrible and doesn't at all capture what North Country is. Well, I suppose on one hand it does because that ultimately is the storyline of the movie but it's a tagline that makes me want to run away rather than buy a ticket. But enough about that.

North Country is based on actual events at the Eveleth Mines in Minnesota's Iron Range. Women were first allowed into the mines in the late 1970's and the stories that North Country deals with occurred all throughout the 80's and into the first class action sexual harassment lawsuit in the early 1990's. Director Niki Caro (Whale Rider) spoke with some of the women miners and had one, Lynn Sterle as an advisor for the film.

Charlize Theron plays Josey Aimes, a fictionalized character who comes to work at the Pearson Taconite mine where her father works and where her friend Glory (Frances McDormand) works driving truck. Josey is trying to raise her two children after leaving her husband and the mine will pay six times what she was making elsewhere. Glory tells her that Josey is going to have to deal with taunts and crude behavior and that the men do not want them at the mine. She believes, but she doesn't know. From the first moment she steps foot into the mine it becomes clear just how little they are wanted. The HR representative tells the new women that he doesn't want them there and if it wasn't for the Supreme Court, he wouldn't have hired them. But he'll give them a tour anyway and show them what the work is. The other workers call them crude names and Glory warns Josey that she may find degrading things in their lunch pails. Names are written on walls and lewd drawings are made. In general, the women are not made to feel welcome even though they are also members of the same union with the same rights as the men. But this is a boy's club and women are not welcome.

Josey complains to HR and he tells her that nothing will happen. She continues to complain about the behavior and things get worse. Much worse. They are threatened, attacked, degraded and I can only believe that what is shown in the movie is only scratching the surface as to what really went on in the mine. Finally Josey has had enough and finds a lawyer (Woody Harrelson) and decides to sue. But even the women are not supportive.

North Country mixes Josey's experience at the mine with footage from the lawsuit (preliminary hearings is my guess as it wasn't yet class action) and also makes the connection with Josey's story with the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings that were going on at the same time.

This is a moving film that deals with an incredibly ugly subject matter. One would think that by the 1990's such behavior would not occur and that it wouldn't be put up with, but it did. The movie itself is well acted by Theron and the supporting cast. In particular the other women miners do a great job in showing toughness in the face of such degradation and why they would not want to speak up and how they can deal with the harassment.

Well made, well acted. I don't feel that North Country was especially manipulative. All film is manipulative and has a viewpoint and an agenda. The questions are: does the movie work? Is it any good? Does it feel true? Yes, to all. North Country is not a feel good movie by any measure and it isn't one that I can really say I enjoyed, but I enjoy any good movie and in that sense I did.

Some may feel that this is nothing more than Oscar bait with the poor woman overcoming degradation and rising to accomplish something big, and that it is touching the buttons that need to be touched to get awards...but that does not lessen the fact that the movie is rather good and that Theron will deserve whatever nominations she receives or awards she wins. She does an excellent job as does Niki Caro, Frances McDormand and the other actors. The movie only hits one note that felt like too much (what happened to Glory), but even that isn't a major point against it. Just something that felt off. It's the only thing that comes to mind.

Firefly, I heardly knew ye

I finished the entire series of Firefly this weekend. I'm actually a bit sad about that. With shows like the X-Files or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the shows were given the chance to develop storylines and mythologies and give the viewer a chance to really get to know the characters over the course of years. We didn't get that chance with Firefly. Actually, I really didn't get the chance because somehow I missed the show when it was first on (as I did with most good programs). But this show was not shown in the order Joss Whedon intended and was cancelled midway through its first and only season. This is a huge shame because this is one of the best shows I've seen and given the chance to have 3-5 seasons could have been one of the really great ones and one of my all time favorites. It already is. I almost feel the need to write a letter of apology to Joss Whedon for missing the show when it was first aired and thanking him for creating such a good show. And then another letter of apology because I may not get the chance to see Serenity in the theatre though I am quite sure that I'll buy the DVD. I'd like to get the Firefly DVD set as wel.

I hope stuff like Netflix rentals are tracked because at least this level of support will show up. There are so many stories that weren't explored (who is the Shepherd anyway?) and just more character goodness with Whedon dialogue that you can't buy anywhere else.

Sigh.

I miss the show already and I just sent back the last disc to Netflix.

Given the seven seasons of Buffy of the five seasons of Angel, I can only imagine just how good Firefly would have been.

I just hope that UPN or the Sci-fi channel decides that giving Joss another shot at Firefly is a worthwhile investment and that Joss and the cast and crew are willing to come back.

Firefly, I hardly knew ye...

The Painted Drum

I'm sad to report that I didn't love the new Louise Erdrich novel The Painted Drum. She has been my favorite author ever since I read Love Medicine the summer before junior year of college to prepare for my American Lit II class where the novel was an assigned text. It was the first section of the book with June Morrissey walking out into the blizzard that haunted me and made such an impression that years later I still remember that scene. There is an echo in The Painted Drum of that scene, and it works as a strong scene but the book doesn't connect with me the way Love Medicine did or The Last Reports on the Miracles at Little No Horse or some of her other novels.

Even though I finished it this morning before work I can't say without checking what the book was really about. I suppose it traced the history of a ceremonial drum back to its origins and where it is in the present time and how it has, in some way, impacted the lives of everyone who came in contact with it.

But anytime I started to connect to a character, Erdrich would shift in viewpoint to another set of characters and another era. It's a very lyrical and beautifully written novel, but it doesn't resonate (no pun intended). Because there are these viewpoint shifts and shifts in chronology, Erdrich somehow does not build a flowing coherent novel. It's odd because she used a similar framework in Love Medicine, but to far greater effect.

There are the usual ties to her other novels as Fleur Pillager is mentioned and briefly appears as a child, and old man Nanapush is referred to. So she is still playing around the edges of the world and reservation she created some twenty years ago. I know that her next novel will likely be a strong one because in the past when I've been less than blown away she has delivered a knockout.

Out of Gas, Lost

The beginning of the Firefly episode "Out of Gas" was a little confusing at first. It began with Mal stumbling through the cargo bay of Serenity holding onto a part and falling on his face while he bled. He made his way to the engine room, but the ship was quiet and empty. Kaylee wasn't with the engine and nobody was around. Then it flashed back to when Mal first purchased the ship and brought Zoe on board and her doubts. It should how Kaylee, Jayne, Wash, and Inara all got hired or brought on board. But it kept flashing back to Mal in "the present". But then it flashed over to when the engine failed and how the crew responded and it started to make sense...but how were they to get out of this situation. By the end it gave a lot of background as well as provided an excellent episode.

This week's Lost was okay. We saw a boar for the first time in a while. Wonder where the polar bears are. Not much to say about it. I'm liking Season 2 more than the first season, but I wonder if that is because I'm not sharing the show with my wife and we're watching together compared to watching it alone. Not sure. Either way, it's entertaining. Glad Sun found her wedding ring.

Firefly, Top Model, My Name is Earl

Finished the Firefly ep "Our Mrs Reynolds". It is really interesting how the started with that girl claiming to be Mal's new wife after a primitive ceremony. That girl seemed so innocent, but firm in that she wants to be a good wife. But there was this edge to her and as the ep progressed she wasn't what she seemed. Is anyone? I finished off the second disc with "Jaynesville", an episode where the blustery Jayne happens to be the hero of this other world because he had to drop some money he stole as he was escaping and the townspeople thought he was helping them. Ha!

Another good episode of My Name is Earl. This time a friend of Earl just got out of prison and this is a guy that Earl had taught how to steal and now the friend is a klepto. Steals everything (remember the klepto from Can't Hardly Wait who randomly steals stuff? Kind of like that). But when he finds out that Earl won the lottery, he tries to steal that and kidnaps Randy. Meanwhile, Earl is trying to atone for making fun of people with accents by teaching English to foreigners who are new to this country. Good stuff.

I didn't expect Coryn (the Minnesota girl) to get booted from America's Next Top Model this week. Nik seemed a better choice. Lisa apparently is a complete drunk and lied to Tyra about it, but she had a very good photo shoot. The first practice interview she gave bombed, but her test interview was much better. The judges still like Kim's androgyny. We'll see how stuff plays out. My final 3 prediction is: Lisa, Kim, and Nicole. Jayla might sneak in there, though.

why i don't like the Amazing Race

For the past five seasons The Amazing Race has been the one show that Sandy and I have looked forward to watching each season. It has been fun to watch, and a quality show. I loved seeing all of the places that the teams went to across the globe and see how they interact with different cultures and people. Often enough we see the "Ugly American", but we also saw some grace and humbleness from the contestants.

This season was a breeak from all of that. It is the "Family Edition" and it stinks! This time around we have families of four instead of teams of two and after four weeks the teams are only in Mississippi. That's right, rather than being in Iceland or Chechnya or China, they are in the foreign land of Mississippi. In the second episode they were only just in New Jersey after starting on Manhatten.

Weak!

Sandy has already dropped the show because it is so hard to follow the teams and really figure out who they are and the real thing is that the challenges kind of suck. They had to row across the Delaware river and grab a flag, ooh! They had to ride a weird 4 person bike around a race track. Ooh! They have to drive 12 miles in America to find a building that is shaped like a shoe. Ooh! If that last challenge was on a dirt road in Kenya where there are lions walking by that would be different. It is all about the context, but the challenges are still weak. No walking across a high wire or climbing down a castle or bungie jumping? I know, there is a team with kids along, but c'mon now. The program has built itself a reputation and I applaud the show being daring and trying this new thing but it's messing with something that has won Emmys for a very good reason.

I might make it another episode or two, but I'm really close to cutting this season loose and recording Commander in Chief instead.

In other news: I watched another episode of Firefly last night. Good stuff. That's all I wanted to say. I'm 30 minutes through the episode "Our Mrs Reynolds" and I continued to be impressed by the quality here, how good the writing is, and how much I've already come to care about the characters.

Knife of Dreams

I read a mini-review of this book several weeks ago where the reviewer said how much he loved Knife of Dreams and how it resolved so many little plot points and helped really point the way for the final book 12. Well...maybe. Maybe not.

Here's the thing: I liked this book a whooooole lot more than Crossroads of Twilight which just kind of takes up space since 85% of that book takes place during the final event of Winter's Heart. This book picks up several different storylines. Egwene, the young rebel leader of the Aes Sedai who have splintered from the White Tower, is captured by the existing White Tower. Chapters are spent on how she is slowly changing the minds of those within the walls of the White Tower and how she is waging silent war to bring down the Tower from within. Robert Jordan writes about how she is having this huge effect and it is clear she is being viewed differently. And then I see it is only day 4 of her captivity and by the end I think it is Day 9. Nine days? Say what? The novices are coming to her for advice in only 5 days? Are you kidding me? They'd still being viewing her as the upstart runaway who thinks she rules the White Tower, not as a potential figure for advice and leadership. The Egwene chapters work well to set up more cracks in the White Tower, but it just feels so accelerated.

I swear that I'm going to be complaining and then end with "and I can't wait for the next book", but this is what is coming to mind.

The chapters with Mat were also uneventful until the very end. He is still going around with the Daughter of the Nine Moons, the heir to the throne of the Seanchan invaders and he knows that he is going to marry her (as said by the Aelfinn), and RJ keeps tipping us towards this, but slooooowly. The big reveal of what a bellfounder would be used for in fireworks was kind of a let down. It'll be a big deal in the next book as a weapon, but it's like it was teased as this big thing and then it was just revealed matter of factly.

Rand, the main character of the series, doesn't even show up until chapter 18. Not much happens with him. At least nothing memorable.

Perrin spends too much time mooning over Faile, his captured wife. But his alliance with the Seanchan is solidified as they help him rescue Faile from the Shaido Aiel. That's probably the big thing, that one of the main three characters has just aligned with the Seanchan. Mat, even though he got married to Tuon at the end of the book, has no intention on holding back the war against the Seanchan. He knows the stakes. Perrin doesn't care. Too bad about Aram. Well, I guess this was a big thing...it's been a storyline which has crossed several books and this is resolved, too.

Elayne...finally claims the Lion Throne in Andor. About time! And she's still pregnant with Rand's twins.

Nynaeve sens Lan off to Tarwin's Gap in the Blight to continue the War with the Shadow. Lan doesn't want to have anyone fight with him as it is his personal war alone (he thinks), but she gets him to agree that anyone who asks can come. Then she drops him off as far from Tarwin's Gap as possible and still be in the Borderlands and then spends time Travelling and raising the Golden Crane of Malkier saying that Lan rides for the Gap. This was a pretty moving segment. For some reason I had thought I read an accidental spoiler that Lan dies in this book and I'm glad he didn't.

The big things in my mind are Noal and Moiraine. I wrote earlier about Noal being Jaim Farstrider. I don't know how big this will turn out to be, but it's big to me (mostly because I figured it out several books ago).

Chapter 10. So, midway through the series Moiraine, the Aes Sedai who pulled Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, and Nynaeve out of Emond's Field as the Trollocs came for Rand, she disappeared fighting one of the Forsaken, Lanfear. Because of what she fell into (I'll just shorten the description and call it a magical gate) there is no body and even though it should be death and the archway melted, most fans believed she was coming back (why not, most every other killed character has). But there really hasn't been any hints except that she left Thom, the gleeman/bard a letter before she "died" saying that she knew she might not come back but that was all that was revealed of the letter. Later, when Lanfear came back as Cyndane (though with less power) it meant that Lanfear had died and was resurrected by the Dark One into a new body. If Lanfear died, surely Moiraine did, too.

But the theory went was that she was in the land of the Aelfinn (that was the gateway). Lanfear died because she was of the Shadow and things that even mention the Shadow to the Aelfinn are dangerous. But Moiraine fought the shadow. Somewhen the Tower of Ghenji was mentioned and that somehow she would be rescued from there. But as each book passed it became less and less likely.

Then chapter 10. Mat askes Thom what is in the letter and that is the signal Moiraine gave Thom to reveal it to Mat. See, Moiraine said that everyone would think she is dead, but she isn't. She isn't!! But she must be rescued and three must come for her: Thom, Mat, and one other, and in many of the futures she could see she didn't make it out and neither did the rescuers but it had to be attempted. Mat would know where the Tower is. But he doesn't, until it was described.

And we find out that we actually saw the Tower in book 1 or 2 when the group left Shadar Logoth and Mat was hazy with fever and he and Rand escaped up a river and met Baile Domon and they saw this tower that had no doors and nobody knew much about.

Yeah. That's it.

But the quest to find Moiraine has been left for book 12 and Jordan is convinced he is finishing in 12 books and there is so much left to do and I don't know how Moiraine being rescued fits into the book and having the Final Battle.

Oh, and Semirhage has been captured by Rand. Another of the Forsaken. She makes an interesting point that Rand is quite insane already and he is hearing voices (that of the original Dragon Lews Therin Telamon). The fact that it is a real voice in his head makes it worse and that there isn't much that can be done as he will start to lose his grip...but he is the only hope of the world against the Dark One.

So, overall I am satisfied with the book. RJ gave us consecutive chapters with the same viewpoint so we could follow Egwene or Mat for 4 chapters or so before he switched viewpoints on us again. Good choice. I liked getting some of these details worked out and revealed but there are still so many big things that I think need to be done that I don't know how RJ will finish it in one more book. Glad I read it, Wheel of Time is still a series I love and this was one of the better books in the last 4 or 5, I'd say (except for the ending of book 9). But not without its flaws and it spend a lot of time to get to where it was going that it felt like there was quite a bit of fluff (like this blog entry).

But...the real question remains:

Who killed Asmodean?

Bushwacked and Shindig

I don't think I can properly express just how much I like Firefly right now. I'm almost pissed off that I missed this show when it was first on television and that it took me this long to get it from Netflix.

I'm now on disc two of Firefly. "Bushwacked" was semi-creepy with the families slaughtered on their ship and only one survivor who has snapped. But I loved "Shindig". We get to see Kaylee dress like a woman rather than the ship's mechanic and she is so childlike in wanting to own a frilly dress, but her initial experience at the party is rough because the "socialite" women look down on her and her dress. The scene where Kaylee is almost holding court with the man at the ball is great. She is the center of attention but talking about engines and ships and all of the men are enraptured and arguing but she is the toast of this little group.

Hopefully I'll get through an episode or two tonight.

tattoo

On my drive home I saw this bumper sticker:

Tattoos: Not just for sailors and whores anymore.

I love it!

a whole lotta television

In the past couple of days I've caught up on a whole lotta television. I watched another episode of Firefly called "The Train Job". Two episodes and three hours in and I am loving this show already. Sandy and I watched this week's episode of America's Next Top Model. We kind of figured that Diane was going to go, and she did. The biggest problem was that she just didn't show any confidence. I'm hoping that Kim can somehow show another facial expression because she has the potential to be a finalist, but she isn't showing that much and Janice Dickinson was very frustrated with her. Janice was the guest photographer this week (her judging spot having been taken over by Twiggy). The Minnesota girl Coryn finally told Lisa that she just doesn't like her. Lisa is a bit of a snit anyways, always trying to give everyone advice so that it will be the toughest competition possible and that Lisa wants to win against the best. Blah blah.

We caught the first four episodes of this season's Lost yesterday. All in a row. Watching like that kind of makes it easier to follow characters and storylines, but I don't think we're going to let the episodes pile up again. This time it was just so that Sandy could get through all of season 1 on DVD. I didn't really think there was going to be some Belgian guy down the hatch, but when he said in the flashback "see you in another life" that was the only reason he could say that. Weird. Very weird. I'm not disappointed, but I am a little confused. The hatch gives clues about the island, that it was this research facility and as much that it was psychological research. I don't think I believe that the island will blow up after 108 minutes. For a moment there, I thought the rest of the survivors were the "Others", but they seem to be having as much trouble with the Others as anyone. It's interesting that they have gone more tribal, but they have also gone from 23 survivors to just a handful. Rose was right about Bernard being alive all this time. Odd. Why does Michelle Rodriguez always play a hardass character. I've seen almost everything that she has done, including a crappy Showtime movie caled 3 A.M. and it is always the same sort of character. So...are the back of the plane survivors suffering from the sickness Desmond was worried about?

Last week's episode of My Name is Earl is the best one yet. Earl had picked up this girl at a bar and they both got drunk and went home together. He thought she was just looking for a one night stand and she had a tatoo on her back saying something like "wanna ride?" So, he did. But when morning comes she wakes up and is all cheerful and bubbly and opens the curtains and her room is very, very girly and innocent and so is she (except for the wild sex, apparently). She turns out to be incredibly clingy and the opposite of Earl. So, to break up with her he fakes his own death. Well, now that Earl is trying to fix his karma he has to make amends here. Best episode yet. Glad I'm watching the show.

And finally (for now), I watched the second part of No Direction Home. This part followed Bob Dylan from the early 60's through his motorcycle crash in '66. What was the most interesting was his switch from acoustic folk to the electric guitar and how the crowds hated it and booed him on stage but continued to buy tickets and sell out his shows...all the while complaining that they bought tickets to a folk show. Well...no. You didn't. If you yell out "Judas" before the man even walks on stage surely you know he's not playing his classic folk and is bringing something new. He'd been doing it for a while so it couldn't be a surprise. Were they thinking that Dylan just might do an acoustic set for them even though his whole tour has been electric?

Anyone, No Direction Home is a good 3.5 hour documentary and is worth watching if you are just a little bit interested in Bob Dylan.

Firefly, Earl, Knife

Last night, for the first time, I watched an episode of Firefly. I don't know what took so long. It is a show created by my television Overlord Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel), so what took so long? Probably whatever took so long for Angel, the show's concept didn't sell me right away and I was late catching on to Buffy. They were just starting season 6 of Buffy when I starting buying the DVDs.

Anyway, I love the feel of Firefly. It's a western set 500 years in the future. So there is that outlaw feel and our leads are outlaws, and there is the whole untamed west (space) and it just works. The characters have heart, the dialogue is excellent and I have no idea how this show didn't last a full season. Oh, yeah, the execs didn't advertise the show well and didn't support it.

The first episode was called "Serenity", which is the name of the ship and just happens to be the title of the Firefly movie which just came out. Hopefully it is still in theatres when I finish the series.

I caught the 10/4 episode of My Name is Earl last night as well. Man, I'm behind on my tv. In this one Earl decides that he has to fix the wrong he did by fixing a high school football game and also denying his brother a chance for a touchdown. His ex-wife is still trying to get his lottery money. You know, this show is really growing on me. I like the combination of Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee. Nothing as classic as the previous ep's scene of Darnell admitting to Earl that he is bringing poisoned cookies from the ex, but still a good show. But...what exactly is the relationship of the Mexican maid to Earl and his brother?

More Wheel of Time goodness here: When Mat first met this man named Noal Charin I wondered who this old guy could be. The man was missing some memories and had been messed with by the Shadow, but I didn't see the importance. Noal Charin is actually Jain Charin. Jain Charin is (and this part is fact) Jain Farstrider, the guy who wrote Rand's favorite book "The Travels of of Jain Farstrider". The book and the author were mentioned so much early on in the series and why throw a Charin in and not have it be Jain? That doesn't make sense. And everything seemed to click, including Noal's age, his memory loss stemming from the Shadow, and how he seemed to be more than he is.

Well, Robert Jordan pretty much handed me the answer in Knife of Dreams and proved me theory.

"Are you any relation to Jain Charin, Noal?" (asked by Mat)...

The old man's face went still as stone, and Mat had torn off a piece of bread and eaten that as well before Noal answered. "A cousin," he said at last, grudgingly. "He was my cousin."

"You're related to Jain Farstrider?" Olver said excitedly....

"Who is this man with two names?" Tuon asked. "Only great men are spoken of so, and you speak as if everyone should know him"

Noal then proceeds to call Jain a fool for abandoning his wife to die alone in her bed while he was off traveling. Olver protesting, saying some of the good Jain did and Noal admitted that Jain did do some good, but that what sort of man leaves his wife like that and Noal sounded very sad when he said it.

This was a great scene and conversation and all but straight out says that Noal and Jain are the same person. I've been sure of it for several books and I have no doubt it'll be revealed for sure later. I wonder what Rand would think...

No Direction Home: Part 1, Knife

After three days I finally finished the first part of the Dylan documentary No Direction Home. I'm not sure how much of the life and career of Bob Dylan this doc will cover, but the first two hours started with his childhood and into the early part of his career before he became big, and then as he was starting to become big. I think it only goes into the 60's (so his Christian albums will probably not be covered). There is a lot of old concert footage and photographs as well as interviews with Dylan today and his contemporaries.

It seems to be a fairly good documentary. I haven't been able to give it my full and undivided attention since I have to keep an eye out for what the puppy is doing, but it was interesting to see how Dylan became so successful. He is a very talented artist and an excellent songwriter...and as much as I like some of Dylan's songs, it is tough to listen to Dylan sometimes. His voice isn't that strong and sometimes it is difficult to understand what he is singing...and yet people bought tickets and he is a legend. Funny how that works. And for that we have Blowing in the Wind, Hurricane, Rainy Day Women, Not Dark Yet, Shelter from the Storm, and many other great songs.

Last night I was able to begin reading Knife of Dreams, the eleventh volume in the long running never ending Wheel of Time series. Thus far I am 140 pages into the book having read the extra long prologue (clocking in at nearly 100 pages), and one or two chapters. The prologue held a nice event with Galad killing the Lord Captain Commander of the Whitecloaks, but the rest of the prologue wasn't that big or special or necessary to be a prologue. Simirhage did make an appearance. We need more Forsaken in the books.

Supposedly this book does resolve quite a few loose ends and sets up the potentially final Book 12, so I'm very interested to see how this goes.

No Moiraine quite yet. I doubt she'll reappear in this book, but I've been hoping since she passed through the doorway with Lanfear (who has since died and been reborn as Cyndane).

On Beauty

I read Zadie Smith's On Beauty a month ago and I just never got around to blogging about it. But I just read an article on CNN.com about Smith and the novel and I decided to give a brief mention.

This is the book I've been hoping Zadie Smith would write. She was acclaimed for White Teeth which was well written but nothing that I loved. The Autograph Man didn't thrill me, but it had something. On Beauty delivers. It's one of those Literature with a capital L and doesn't necessarily have a plot that goes from point A to B because life goes on after the ending, but it is the journey of experiencing the two families that just works for me. I loved this book.

Peacemaker

“Peacemaker” is the debut novel by author Dan Ronco. Ronco has experience in the software industry so it is with personal knowledge and experience that he crafts the story of artificial intelligence and the future of the technology industry. Ronco presents this novel as what could be a worst case scenario with software terrorism and a future where this could be an issue as serious as nuclear war.

Dianne Morgan is the CEO for VantagePoint Software, the maker of Atlus, the most popular computer operating system in the world and one which is in nearly ninety percent of the world’s computers. This obviously brings to mind a company called Microsoft. Morgan brought to trial by the United States government in an anti-trust lawsuit and her company is broken into smaller companies. This is something that has happened several times in our nation’s history. Her revenge is to unleash a computer virus called Peacemaker. Peacemaker has the capability to infect and shut down nearly every computer on the planet. Her goal: nothing less than global domination. The only man who can stop Peacemaker is Ray Brown, a software developer who helped make Atlus the most popular piece of software on the planet.

The novel becomes something of a cat and mouse game as Ray stumbles across Peacemaker and learns of the scope of this virus which is so sophisticated that it is an artificial intelligence. Dianne Morgan is preparing to unleash Peacemaker on the world and while she needs to stop Ray she also wants to convert Ray to her side since they share a past together.

The concept behind “Peacemaker” with the ideas of software terrorism and the artificial intelligence and just the scope of the issue is fascinating and helps the reader press on through the book because I certainly wanted to know how things played out. The problem is the writing and the characters. The characters seem to be mainly one dimensional and Ray’s inner struggles regarding his alcoholism seem somewhat childish. The other characters are not any better and most are even more one dimensional. Before each chapter there is a one or two quotes from a future newspaper or novel regarding some of the characters. What this does is let the reader know a little bit how the events of this novel will play out and affect the world years down the road. It kind of takes some of the tension out of the book.

Ronco has a good deal of potential as an author because he has one very important gift that can’t be taught: the ability to come up with a very interesting story idea. I have no doubt that his skill as a writer will come as he continues to write. “Peacemaker” was a very fast and easy read, but it is not without some serious flaws in the execution of the novel. It is difficult to recommend “Peacemaker”, but the positive is that the concept behind the novel is a good one.

The Light Ages, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

I somehow managed to get through two books on my vacation. The first book I read was John LeCarre's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. This was LeCarre's third book back in the 60's and it is the one which really made him famous. It is the story of a British spy, a former great one who is in the downswing of his career. He had great successes but now everything has been failure. He is brought back to England in supposed disgrace and is put out to pasture. At least that is the story being presented. The real deal is that he is going back in the field one more time trying to be recruited by the East Germans to eliminate one particular man who is causing great trouble for the Brits. But as the rather slim novel progresses (200 pages) things are not quite what they seem.

It's a good book. I was surprised by how much I liked it. I'm going to read more LeCarre in the future and I appreciated how slim a volume this was compared to the 500 page monsters I expect from folks like Tom Clancy. Actually with Clancy I expect an 800 page monster, but that's another point.

The other book I finished was Ian MacLeod's The Light Ages. This one is an urban fantasy with a feel for the Victorian Age of England even though I think the timeline is more modern than that. But three hundred years ago a substance called aether was discovered that allows people to augment machines and tools to make them stronger and better. It is in this Third Age of Industry that our story begins. There has been no real innovation in decades if not a century because with aether, why bother? Robert Borrows is a young man we see grow up from a poor family to be a man seeking some answers about who he is and what some of the secrets of his family's past are.

There are fantasy elements here, but not they are not exceptionally strong. The fantasy imbues the setting, the kind of world this is and how England had changed.

There is no question this book is very well written and is high quality. The only problem is that it wasn't that engaging and that I couldn't get swept up into the world despite blurbs from Tim Powers and Michael Moorcock saying how much they were swept away. The story felt real and natural, but I didn't care what happened or who the characters were. It's a flaw that may be as much me as it is the novel. I tend to not prefer the urban fantasy and would rather read the fantasies set in a more midieval world with swords and magic and stuff like that. There are more modern and urban fantasies that I've loved, but in general...