The (UN)Fun Parts (Book #14) = Fail

The Fun Parts by Sam Lipsyte

Do no be fooled by this title – this book sucks.  It is not fun to read, it’s not very interesting and it is a swamp and a half to get through.  However, it’s an easy read, so if you need something to add to your checklist, why not.  But again, this book sucks.  The author has gotten high reviews from people from his previous – I don’t know, I’ve not read it.

So this book – oh where to begin – is a conglomerate of stories.  There is a theme: narcissism of the author.  It doesn’t make for a good theme, or a good read, which is why I think I’m so annoyed with this book.  I like the idea of the book, short stories coming together, but it’s just so BORING.  The stories are all droll and dry, and one or two of them were sort of related, but it was like the background character’s aunt’s cousin’s uncle’s sister-in-law---not quite that complicated, but you know what I mean.

There were a couple of interesting stories/chapters, but there were two out of the whole book that I actually enjoyed.  I don’t know why this book is famous, or why the author has so much credit – it’s probably roll over from the last book.  I just don’t know what else to say about this – sorry.  Well, I guess the actual writing was good; clear, concise, ya know, good structure, etc.  But yeah, I don’t recommend this book so avoid it if possible.

Cheers!

The Phantom of the Opera (Book #13)

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

OH MY GOD!!  I LOVE THIS BOOK.  I know that may be a little emphatic, however, those of you who know me, know that I get seriously perturbed by the characters in the “Phantom of the Opera” opera.  Whenever I watch it, there’s just always been something in the back of my mind that has been incomplete about the three main characters: Christine Daae, the Phantom, and Raoul.

The book is much fuller in the explanation of these characters and SURPRISE the book is not solely about the girl.  I mean, don’t get me wrong the story revolves around her, however, we never hear from her point of view, instead we hear from the point of view of an investigator who is looking into the disappearance of Christine Daae some odd-number-years ago, Raoul, and the point of the Persian (WHO IS SUPER IMPORTANT).

Whenever I watch the opera, I always feel sympathetic towards the Phantom, but after reading the book I don’t feel that way.  I don’t want to give too much away because I really think you should read the book.  But his whole character is different in the book, and we get to see where he lived and what he did before he came to the Opera House in Paris.

It is also a little clearer of the role of the managers in the story, and how the “ghost” affects them.  The phantom actually has a name, which I don’t think is ever mentioned in the opera.  His name is Erik.  There is also the Persian, who is (SPOILER) a former Royal policeman from Persia and he plays a significant role in Erik’s life, which I don’t remember occurring in the opera. 

The ending is a shocker; in that it doesn’t occur like it does at the end of the opera.  It’s an easy read and it took me a little over a week to finish with maybe reading no more than 2 hours a day.  But I’m not a super fast reader, and I’m unsure of the time.  READ THIS BOOK!  It’s free on Amazon.com as an e-book, or you can buy a regular copy. 

Read on!

Life After Life :: Life After Life :: Life After Life (Book #12)

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Everyone has read the story, or at least seen some version on TV, about the person who makes some silly wish and relives their life the same day over and over until they get it just right.  Once they finally have that “a-ha!” moment and learn the life lesson, they go on with their lives seemingly happily ever after. 

This book is similar, but instead of living the same day over and over the main character, Ursula, lives her life over and over. 

The book focuses from 1910ish to 1970ish (I think).  Its theme is during the time of World War I and World War II, which I think is a fascinating era.  The first chapter is about a page long, and it starts with Ursula in Germany going into a restaurant, words are exchanged back and forth between her and an unnamed man (pretty obvious as to who), and then she shoots him and is herself killed.  

The book then takes you to the beginning of her life and we follow her from there.  What I really enjoyed about this story was that it opens your eyes to all the little details that could dramatically affect your life – especially if you were growing up in the early 20^th century as a female.  One of the dominant themes of the book was the emphasis of the role of women, focusing on being a mom and wife.  There are various factors and settings that could either push you towards that role, or make you a scarlet-letter-wearer of society.  Often the circumstances leading towards being an outcast were out of women’s control and ability to do anything to be viewed as different.  The storyline of Ursula that follows the outcast is very sad and depressing. 

As the book progresses, Ursula sort of remembers more from her previous lives, but not always why she acts that way.  It’s a “gut instinct” that she knows she has to follow. 

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading.  It is easy to get through because the story is captivating.  There are a few instances where it drags, but it’s not long and arduous; as the reader you just want Ursula to “move-on.”  The ending was very satisfactory, but simultaneously a slap in the face.  If you read it, you’ll know what I mean.

Happy reading!

-Jackie

Oh you, "She Devil" you!

She Devil (<-- IMDB link)

Oh my god.  This movie is amazing!  It stars Roseanne Barr and it’s probably from the late 1980’s (hair's a giveaway), but it is AMAZING.  It’s really funny, and kind of a women’s rights/activist movie, though that is very subtle. 

Rose’s (movie and real name) husband, Bob, (Ed Begley, Jr.) cheats on her with a best selling novelist, Mary Fisher, (Meryl Streep) who is much more “beautiful and thin” than her.  She knows this is happening, but swears that her husband will come back to her and that he is just going through a phase.  Eventually, they have a big argument about it, and he leaves during a dinner party that she throws for his parents (in which many things go wrong).  He ends the fight by calling her a “she devil,” whilst insulting everything about her.

Rose then creates a list of the things that he said were important to him, and she decides to embody the so-called “she-devil.”  The main plot is how she decides to destroy Bob's life.  She creates a list of the top four things he said was the most important to him, and one by one she ruins them, and it's quite ...exploding.  

The underlying point this movie is trying to make concerns women's rights.  Through a series of events, she ends up meeting a bunch of different women, empowering them by saying beauty isn’t skin deep, and telling them it’s okay stand up for themselves--but I should also mention that she is simultaneously setting them using them as pawns in her master plan.  She and a friend create a company where these “mistreated and underappreciated” women can learn how to be powerful and take control of their lives.  So it's kind of cool because while she is taking revenge on Bob, she becomes this successful business tycoon-type, creating other women like her.

I don’t want to give too much away, because it is a funny movie and I want you to see it.  Especially if you want to have a lazy, giggly Sunday.

Enjoy!

A Hymn For Anthropologists

I am a giant fan of Regina Spektor.  I want to learn how to play all of her songs on the piano, but her piano books are quite hard to obtain.

If you have ever listened to any of her music, you should be familiar with the complexity and the cleverness of her lyrics.

On her most recent album (that one -->)
she has one song that instantly made me think of my profession: archaeology.  As you may know, archaeologists find things and put dates on them, then they end up in museums where people can oogle them.

The song is called, "All the Rowboats."  I believe that she is in a museum and she is describing her experience there, starting with one painting that has rowboats.  She says at one time, "they keep hanging in their gold frames for forever and a day," meaning that even after humanity is gone the painting will probably still be around.  Of course I think the ending of humanity probably would depend on a cataclysmic event.

When she says she "hears them whispering" French, German, Dutch Italian and Latin, I believe she is referring to the cross cultural phenomena of locking things that are old and of value away to keep them safe.

She then goes on to sing about how the violins are stuck in these glass cases (coffins) and it's so sad and pitiful that they've forgotten how to sing.  The original intent and purpose of items in a museum, like a violin, is forgotten, and the music that instrument makes won't be heard again, so what is the point of keeping them locked up other than to look?  Probably one of my favorite lines from the song is "masterpieces serving maximum sentences."  It's just so clever and rings true.

This song is very well written and lyrically reminds me of Anais Mitchell's style.  As far as the album goes, it is well done like all of her work, but you can see that she is really trying to expand herself as an artist.  When I saw her in concert she said that she had been practicing her beatbox, and whenever you hear a beatbox on this album, it's her.  I love her so much and hope you enjoy her too.

Star Trek: Into Darkness

BUM BUM BUM!! Khan.

Scotty Running -
He does this a lot in this movie!

Need I say more?

As many of you Star Trek fans remember (or even if you don't), the first new Star Trek movie informs us that we are in a different dimension than that presented by the 1960s Star Trek.  As you may know, a different dimension doesn't mean necessarily that all the events are different, it just means that the outcomes of similar events will be different.  To explain this a little better:

Dimension 1:

Event A occurs,  Person 1 and Person 2 do stuff, person 1 dies

Dimension 2:

Event A occurs, Person 1 and Person 2 do stuff, person 2 dies

That is super simplified version of how the events affect the outcomes, but if you really want to see what I mean, watch the original movie (hold on to your pants; it's exciting), then watch the new movie.  But don't just watch the new one, see it in theaters.  But don't just see it in theaters.  See it in the IMAX.  In 3D.  3D HAS GOTTEN SO MUCH MORE AWESOME!!

I usually hate seeing 3D movies because I end up with a headache, and let's face it when they first started coming out they sucked.  This movie didn't suck and it was totally worth the 3D ness.

If you are a nit-picky movie goer, you will notice a lot of things wrong with this movie; like how in the end it's just wrapped in a nice little package with a pretty little bow.  But you have to keep in mind, it's a movie, not a TV show, and there is no lengthy time for super explanatory endings.

However, if you like to be entertained by movies (like me), you will really enjoy this movie.  There is a lot of action packed fights, Spock-humor, and stunningly handsome leads.  Scotty and Chekov (no idea how to spell his name) play a larger part in this than the TV show, and they are so funny and do their parts justice.

If you are a Pine nut, a Quinto fan, Saldana, Karl Urban (Damnit Spock I'm a Doctor, not a physician), or whoever you follow, they all did a wonderful acting job and you will like this!  Not to mention the hard work of all the animators, directors, etc., make the movie so entertaining.  And Benedict Cumberbatch (what a lengthy name!) did such a good job at playing Khan.

My recommendation is to watch this movie and judge it for yourself; if your disappointed it's your own fault.  You have to remember that Gene Roddenburry isn't alive anymore, so it doesn't have his touch, but it's a good taken on it's own and separate from all the TV series.  Enjoy!

Book #7: A Storm of Swords: George R.R. Martin

Hello fellow avid readers.  There is a lot that I have to say about this book; it may contain spoilers if you haven't read it.  It may contain spoilers if you are watching the TV show.  I don't know because I haven't watched it yet - I was waiting until I finished the book, and now the moment has finally arrived.  I'm not usually one of those "I have to read the book before I see the movie types."  In fact, I started reading the books after I started watching the TV series, but OH MY GOD THE BOOKS ARE SOOOOO GOOD!!!  The writing is clear, concise and easy to get through - it's just lengthy as hell.  For example, this book is over 1100 pages, and that doesn't take into account all the good extra stuff about the houses found at the end.

You would think that by the time you get to the third book in a series the plot gets boring, but no. There are about a thousand twists that occur in this book that I was completely blind sided by.  From the second book, we still get to see the story from Davos, Caitlin, Tyrion, Sansa, Arya, Samwell, Jon, and JAMIE.  We get to see the story from another Lannister - the broken hero with reasons, who nobody listens to.  He does one major bad deed in his life and it follows him around his life; but he is broken, and we get to explore his transformation into the new Jamie Lannister. It's definitely interesting and unexpected.  There may be other characters' points of view, but I can't remember off the top of my head and my book isn't near me.

First, I am going to give a few character summaries and what they went through during the course of this book, and then I will give you what I thought a main theme of the book was.  So again, SPOILERS MAY BE CONTAINED WITHIN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES.

Sansa:  Oh, Sansa.  Where to begin?  A lot happens with her, remember she is only 12/13 years old, so she is still very young.  However, we do see some character growth and we see her becoming more of an independent thinker.  Thinker, would be the key word.  She doesn't really act on any of her thoughts.  She plans to act but she always hesitates, which puts her in a sticky situation.  Although, maybe if she would act impulsively she would have died at the end of the story.  But she doesn't.  She does get married though, and you will never guess to whom, but it's definitely a shock - she's kind of a bitch to him to, and he tolerates it.  Absolutely nuts.

Arya: Arya is as scraggly as a girl as ever.  She is 8/9 in the story (I always forget with her) and she kills like it's nobody's business.  I don't even think she questions herself as to whether or not she is doing right, she just knows what needs to be done.  She doesn't yet realize that she is a Warg, but she is shifting into her wolf's skin when she sleeps.  Following catastrophic events, she falls into a deep depression and the most unlikely of heroes helps her out.

Tyrion:  Craziness.  Plots, twists, turns, scheming.  He does it all, and it ends up biting him in the ass.  Oh, but don't worry, he gets revenge in the end.  Like seriously, the last 2 or 3 pages of the story, but it is definitely a game changer.

Cersei:  Well, she really isn't in the story.  Except for like little background decisions, and we see how she just really, really wants to be a boy, and should have been a boy because she has more scheming things than anyone.

Samwell: I love Sam.  Everyone loves Sam.  Sam almost dies, but ends up saving some people.  Does he find his courage?  He claims no, he claims Gilly gives him courage, but by the end of the story you can't help but notice how ballsy he really is.

Jon:  Jon also almost dies, A LOT.  He is a cloak-changer, a warg, a lover, a killer but you definitely see him develop his leader skills.  I just hope he can save everyone from the Others.  (I also can't wait to see some of the scenes in the TV show 'cause I know they're gonna be steamy!)

Jeoffry:  He gets married!  There are a lot of marriages in this story.  Possibly one for every death?  But he marries someone not really in the story (well the first two), and she seems like a super badass and she comes with a lot of weaponry.  But ya know during this story Jeoff is his usual ass self.  And he's only 13.  Could you imagine what type of king he's going to be like?  I feel like another Mad King is in the making.  Oh and guess what, JEOFF is the one who sent the dagger to kill Brandon. To impress his "father," King Robert.

Petyr:  He is a sneaky son-of-a-bitch, and I kind of wonder how much control he really has over everything in "the game."  At the end he reveals some of what he's had his hand in...and I can think of someone he will put his hand in.  (ewwwww, gross, sexual!)

I don't know, there are so many characters in this book.  Some that die, some that seemingly die, one that came back from the dead.  It seems like there are weddings and feasts and betrayals left and right.  It's insanity.

Oh yeah!  That reminds me - so the Lord of the Light plays a huge role in this book, and it's really complicated and I don't want to go into it, but Stannis and Melissandre are definitely the ones in the background that are (I predict) gonna kick some major ass.  Also, Stannis is the rightful heir to the throne, so super big motivator...

One thing that occurs over and over in this book is that author is not afraid to kill main characters.  I believe that eight of the main characters die in this story, which is what usually doesn't happen in books.  The first couple were a real shock, and you would think by not the shock value fades.  I think this is a real unique approach to writing because we are taught from childhood that if you are "good" and you fight "evil" you will live a healthy and prosperous life; real life isn't like that at all.  What I also love about this book is how much philosophy of good and evil you can take from this book.  If you have ever taken a philosophy class that is one of the great questions to ponder, what makes "good" and what makes "evil?"  Is it the agreement of the majority of society creating the rules to govern what is good and evil?  Is it something that just is?  Is something more inherent that we just "know" to be right?  Whatever you think it is, you have to acknowledge the possibility that a person can be seemingly evil, but do good deeds; a person can also seem good in the eyes of others, but do evil things to create the overall good for the majority of people. It all depends on what side of the coin you are on as to how you view people/things as good and evil.  And that brings me around to my original point.  This book brings into light the reasons and intentions behind a lot of the "bad" characters actions and you see how they were things gone awry.


Ciao for now!