Carlitos, we can’t believe it’s been fifteen years…for you and all the victims of radical Islam here and throughout the world, be assured that you will never be forgotten, and we’ll eventually eliminate this mental aberration!
Don’t Think Twice. Mike Birbiglia, Dir. I liked the characters, the plot not so much. An improv acting group dies a slow death when one actor (Keegan-Michael Key) hits the big time. The ending is as unsatisfying as the plot. That said, there are positives. This movie gives you a bittersweet and realistic glimpse into the hard life actors face in the competitive NYC theater world. Tami Sagher is great as the rich Westside pothead and Kate Micucci’s deer-in-the-headlights ingenuous eyes never cease to amaze me. This is almost a Woody Allen flick: lots of New York angst masquerading as comedy.
The Light between Oceans. Derek Cianfrance, Dir. My kneejerk reaction: ho-hum, another sappy Nicholas Sparks-type romance novel goes to Hollywood. I was half-wrong; the second part of the movie is that bad, or maybe worse than Sparks’s schmaltzy stories. The first half is slow and boring but saved by scenery and lush photography, an Ansel Adams goes to Australia, but in pastels. The author of the novel (not Sparks) the movie’s based on just about plagiarized familiar stories form the Bible: the foundling Moses in a boat is there, and Solomon is sorely needed to arbitrate between the birth-mother and the wannabe mother (it’s Hollywood, so why not twins in the boat?).
The most interesting thing for me was figuring out the title: after putting on my imaginary Sherlock Holmes cap and sucking on that imaginary pipe a bit, I concluded that the game afoot was that “the light” is what’s in the lighthouse. The second most interesting thing: lighting the light in the lighthouse, which I had to wait a long time for. OK, this flick might actually be better than Sparks’s efforts, but are those Aussie accents real? (Fassbender has my same genetic background, German-Irish, but there’s probably a reason his character doesn’t speak much in the film.) Swedish ex-dancer Vikander was better in Jason Bourne, although miscast there too, while I just don’t understand Fassbender’s popularity. Guess they liked their roles as lovers, though—they’re continuing them in real life (without the pathetic pathos, I hope). Go see this flick if you need a two-hour nap in the AC (back to summer heat this weekend). My problem was staying awake so I could write this review!
In libris libertas!
Busy summer. When I announced the reorg of this blog, my excuse was that I needed to dedicate more time to my writing. I’ve done that, but that’s only partly the reason that there hasn’t been much news about the writing business to comment on. That’s more due to things slowing down in the lazy summertime (for some folks, anyway, but not me)—readers might buy books or load up their e-readers for vacations and beach trips, but publishers take a hiatus too, if we discount media blasts about politics. Things will start turning around as we get into the fall. So, here we go!
A coup for Big Five’s Penguin/Random House? I’m talking about the reading program “Subway Reads” where NYC’s subway straphangers will have access to free reads by “major authors,” short stories and novella and novel excerpts, all blessed (and owned) by this publisher. Because NYC is the mecca of too-big-to-fail publishing conglomerates, I’m guessing the MTA only accepted bids from the Big Five. Heaven forbid they feature indies or small imprints!
Of course, why they chose Penguin/Random House (that’s what was reported—others in the Big Five might be involved) and didn’t contract with ebook distributors (Amazon and Smashwords) that often have free ebooks available is easily explained: the city doesn’t like indies or small imprints and they don’t like Amazon or Smashwords. But let’s consider the good, the bad, and the ugly of all this in more detail.
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.—Oscar Wilde
This Labor Day make sure you’re not one of those who go. Drink, eat, and celebrate responsibly and drive safely…
In libris libertas!
Recently there occurred a terrible crime in Gotham: an imam and his assistant were shot execution style in the back of the head while walking on the sidewalk in the middle of the afternoon. NYPD already caught the assassin and charged him with first degree murder. The case is still pending. Whether this was a hate crime—the Bangladeshi community was justifiably outraged and thinking it was—the perpetrator will get life in prison.
Besides being shocked, angry, and saddened, in that order, I was impressed by how the police did their job. While forensic science stepped in, of course, old-style detective work found the killer—interviewing witnesses, identifying the suspect’s car with video (no visible plate, though), and connecting the murder with a hit-and-run that occurred nearby right after the shooting—the suspect was in a hurry to get away.
Forensics data could be used later to build an air-tight case against the suspect, and more data could be forthcoming to prove it’s a hate crime (that’s not so easy, by the way, although it seems obvious in this case). But what’s interesting to this crime writer is that the old gumshoe methods of the NYPD detectives led to this suspect’s capture, not the forensics. It made me wonder: Do the old-style PIs and police detectives still have a place in our modern crime literature?
Wine makes dinner a real winner. Red or white, try it tonight.
***
On sale: The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan. Last three days! This sci-fi thriller will be on sale at Smashwords for $0.99, reduced from $2.99 (67% discount) from now until September 1. Use the coupon code FU54W. First question: what will the U.S. in the future do with retirees with Top Secret information? Second question: how do you prevent the assassination of a presidential candidate? Third question: is there room for romance in the life of an old agent? This fast-moving story’s main character is a woman who shows perseverance and strength to survive while unmasking a terrible conspiracy. Don’t miss the thrills!
In libris libertas!
[August dog-days often mean slim pickin’s for movies, unless you want to hear Streep sing off key or lewd sausage jokes, but here are two “sleepers” I enjoyed…]
Pete’s Dragon. David Lowery, dir. A pleasant movie that leaves you with a good feeling, a bit like Free Willy with a dragon taking the place of the swimming mammal. It’s also a bit like The Jungle Book (it is Disney) where the kid is raised by a dragon, not wolves. Old-timer Meachan (Robert Redford) spins stories about dragons in the deep woods, his daughter Grace (Boyce Dallas Howard, Ron’s daughter) thinks he’s nuts until she discovers Pete (Oakes Fegley). Boyce plays a forest ranger, and she’s the weakest. The kid is OK, but Redford, in his few minutes on screen, steals the show. Forest and mountain scenes (filmed in New Zealand, by the way)—definitely a film for nature lovers, maybe dragon ones too. St. George wouldn’t recognize this dragon, though, because the dragon looks like a cross between a mangy mongrel who escaped the town’s dogcatcher and Shrek, with puny wings that could never provide enough lift for such a massive body. Don’t let the aerodynamics turn you off, though—this one is a lot of fun, and your kids will love it. (Like The Jungle Book, it’s much better than the stupid cartoon.)
War Dogs. Todd Phillips, dir. Actors Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) and Miles Teller are the Dogs, the first a sleazy jerk who will do anything for a buck, the second his reluctant school chum with a wife and a kid who is born during the movie. They let their greed carry them to dangerous extremes as they make gun and ammo sales taking advantage of a Pentagon procurement process that was and still is out of control. There’s a lot of sexual innuendos, violent situations, and drug use—the film definitely deserves its R-rating. Producer Bradley Cooper’s near cameo appearance is mesmerizing as he portrays the serious version of an arms dealer (returning favors to director Phillips?). This movie is based on actual events, by the way, and has its serious side as an indictment of the entire military industrial complex. I never thought the Iraq War could be funny, or Pentagon procurement processes for that matter, and maybe a lot of moviegoers can’t get past all that, but this black humor comedy is entertaining and one of the best movies of the summer in my book.
***
On sale: The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan. This sci-fi thriller will be on sale at Smashwords for $0.99, reduced from $2.99 (67% discount) from now until September 1. Use the coupon code FU54W. First question: what will the U.S. in the future do with retirees with Top Secret information? Second question: how do you prevent the assassination of a presidential candidate? Third question: is there room for romance in the life of an old agent? This fast-moving story’s main character is a woman who shows perseverance and strength to survive while unmasking a terrible conspiracy. Don’t miss the thrills!
In libris libertas!
Writers tend to be introverted, so I have no problem working mostly online. (As you get older, it’s harder to be social in the conventional sense—many of your friends and colleagues have passed on, after all. The crowds in the pubs are younger; if you go to church, you only see irascible oldsters like yourself worrying about their mortality; and so forth) But three news items from the business world caught my attention recently. First, venerable Macy’s is closing a slew of stores. Second, bookstore-barn-giant B&N just fired their CEO. And third, the Trump casino in Atlantic City will file for bankruptcy. What do these news items have in common? Their cause, the internet. At least partially. Let me explain.
People are spending more time online, whether via smartphones or computers (their distinction is only semantical now), and whether buying, playing, or socializing. All department stores from Macy’s to Wal-Mart have been affected by online buying. People don’t go out and buy as much anymore. And if people get out to shop in these hectic times when you might not be sure you have a job next week, they often don’t buy; they just look (window-shopping is the old descriptor), assess their options, and go home and order the goods online. Some pundits call this the Amazon effect, usually in a pejorative sense, but that gives that retail giant way too much credit.
B&N bookstores’ problems are just bigger ones that every bookstore shares and are comparable to the department stores’—online buying is preferred by many customers. The B&N bookstores are big barns for books; the department stores are big barns for clothing, home furnishings, and other goods. The merchandise is different, but the effects of the internet are the same. There are other effects, of course. B&N has been in a downspin since they spun off the Nook business. Macy’s has been hurt from the top and the bottom—your elite stores like Nordstrom’s and Lord and Taylor’s pretend to have better quality merchandise and your Targets and Wal-marts the same products at better prices. And then there’s Amazon.
Ex-KGB VIP and supreme ruler of Russia Vladimir Putin—let’s call him Volodya—is always scheming. He channels Machiavelli but only serves his sociopathic self as prince. He had managed to annex a large part of the Ukraine with negligible reaction from the West; he’s biding his time on the old “socialist republics” of the U.S.S.R. he believes to belong under Moscow rule too, but they have to be nervous after Ukraine; and he is doing Assad’s dirty work in order to maintain influence in the Arab world (will Syria and Egypt be Russia’s next marionettes?).
Under the good-old-boy guise of attacking ISIS, Volodya is attacking everyone trying to end Assad’s cruel regime, including Kurds (the Turks say thank you and are currently aligning with Russia against the U.S.) and Syrian freedom fighters, who don’t belong to ISIS. He is currently launching attacks from Iran, which means that the Russians have some sort of secret agreement with that Shi’ite government. That should worry the Saudi royalty who have always supported the Sunni side and are currently doing so in Yemen. This charismatic, narcissistic, and homophobic Russian leader has enshrined destabilization as the cornerstone of his foreign policy efforts. It’s hard to make sense of it all. And that’s his tactic!
A photon checks into a hotel and the bellhop asks him if he has any luggage. The photon replies, “No, I’m travelling light.”
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On sale: The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan. This sci-fi thriller will be on sale at Smashwords for $0.99, reduced from $2.99 (67% discount) from now until September 1. Use the coupon code FU54W. First question: what will the U.S. in the future do with retirees with Top Secret information? Second question: how do you prevent the assassination of a presidential candidate? Third question: is there room for romance in the life of an old agent? This fast-moving story’s main character is a woman who shows perseverance and strength to survive while unmasking a terrible conspiracy. Don’t miss the thrills!
In libris libertas!