Thmazing's Thutopia

2024-10-26

The If-Dagwood-Was-Mormon Sandwich

First, take two slices of the finest theology, then cram it skyhigh with Shakespeare and cozy witchcraft and experimental cartoons and 80s-set horror and classic Southern fiction and genre-establishing manga.

Deeeeeelicious.

102) 3rd, 4th Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction by Daniel Becerra, finished October 6

First, the editorial staff doesn't agree with itself. The cover says 3rd, 4th Nephi but the text consistently says 3–4 Nephi. Make a decision. (Also they botched the footnote numbering in chapter four, as long as I'm complaining.)

Anyway, another rocksolid entry in the series. I think the biggest takeaway for me here is the careful explanation of why, as I've long felt, certainty is just as much the enemy of faith as unbelief. We cannot learn more of Christ is we are certain we know all there is to know.

And how much there is to know!

Becerra's style is a bit circular and he's big into early Church theologians, but I think that's great. The variety of styles in these books is a big part of what makes them exciting to read and challenging to digest.

Anyway, although this book felt less tight to me—like it could be twenty pages shorter—as I look through it, there's nothing I'd like to cut. And so I think it's just that Becerra's voice is less inviting to me, stylewise? But it hardly matters because I gained much from reading him. So I guess that's on me.

Just—go get the box set.

about two weeks

103) My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, finished October 10

First, I never would have guessed Grady was a man. The novel was recommended to me by a woman and the main characters are all girls and I never doubted it's female cred. It wasn't until I saw the author photo that I even wondered. But I wasn't certain until I hit Wikipedia.

I know I was just saying that I don't buy devil-worship/possession/whatever stories, but I trust this recommender's taste (example) and somehow I felt I should at least give it a shot.

I'm not big into most teen novels and movies because I feel about teens behaving badly much as a feel about exorcism stories: they may be more believable but they're about as alien to my experience and I find them irritating.

Plus, it takes foreeever to get to the exorcism stuff.

But I kept reading and I'm glad I did. The slow expansion of the horror makes it more reasonable. And when the exorcism does finally arrive, it made me understand the appeal, to some pious people, of believing in powerful and dangerous demons. I got it.

And then things take a different direction and the book goes on another sixty years in an extended denouement that was kinda wonderful and one of the best paeons to friendship I can remember reading.

So another good recommendation.

If you need a Halloween book that doesn't overdue the horror and ends in beauty, it's an option.

a couple weeks

104) The Moviegoer by Walker Percy, finished October 11

I first heard of this book (and this author) thanks to a book my wife gave me in which various writers and artists and designers and such talk about their ideal bookshelf and what books are on it. The Moviegoer appears on more shelves than any other.

Since then, I've learned that Percy is a regional literary hero with his own "Days" and everything.

One early blurb I read said it's like Catcher in the Rye for adults and yeah, it kind of is. In part because I didn't hate it, but also because it's the same midcentury malaise but dealt with by an adult to has actually experienced real stuff and has actual reasons for being disconnected from the world yet carries on all the same.

I was disappointed that the titular character didn't go to more movies or rely upon them more often as metaphor, but ah well.

For most of the book, I really didn't think it was going anywhere. That it would end where it began. It wasn't until the closing pages that it did go somewhere—largely in the short epilogue, making it the most significant an finest epilogue of my acquaintance.

I can't imagine doing this book with teenager, but I love how it's sort of an anti-Pride and Prejudice (which I did just do with teenagers). No one marries for love here. Or at least not for love that sweeps you off your feet and is bold and heroic. And yet marriage is so vitally, vitally important. And it's only by discovering this and putting all one's chips on its red that life becomes manageable or even approaching meaningful.

Modern life can largely feel hollow and circular and pointless, but people are the secret. And nothing is more people than giving your entire life to another person—and accepting theirs in return.

But again, that's all the last eight pages. So spoiler warning, I guess.

let's estimate five months ignoring the near year prior in which I read the first couple pages over and over

105) Bed-Knob and Broomstick by Mary Norton, finished October 12

Historically being two separate books, The Magic Bed Knob and Bonfires and Broomsticks. But I like them as a single volume.

If you, like me and David Sims, love the Disney adaptation, you may be a little startled by how little the books have in common. Miss Price and the three children and some countryside placenames are intact, but among the characters that are missing you may include these that I just slopped together:

They feel important, at least kinda, but there are no Nazis or even but a mention of the war.

But although none of those things are there,the Disney folks used much of the books' DNA just scrambled into new ways. There is a false magician named Emelius, but he's not Emelius Browne and really they have almost nothing else in common including birth century. So when you enter the books, plan on an entirely new experience.

And a delightful one! Some midcentury elements haven't aged perfectly, but largely this is a lovely jaunt into old (c. 1950) England with some magic and a flying bed. I mean—what's not to love?

Mary Norton's prose style is friendly and open and slightly wry. And I guess you should just go put this on hold at your local library and we can talk again later.

two or three weeksish

106) Psycho II by Robert Bloch, finished October 17

First, I have no idea if this book is at all similar to the movie of the same name.

Second, although I'm a Robert Bloch fan of sorts, I've never read a novel of his before.

Third, I'm gonna spoil things starting with the very next sentence.

This novel is wild—no sooner is a character introduced in the opening chapters than they are murdered. Bloch makes you like someone—or at least understand them—and then Norman Bates kills them. One nun then another nun then a hitchhiker and before we get to page one hundred, every surviving character from the first novel (I'm basing this on my knowledge of the movie and of the narration of Psycho II) is dead at his hand.

Then we go to Hollywood and we have a long, long stretch in which we anticipate disaster but it never quite happens. Until the final pages.

And then is revealed the great twist of this book (which I half suspected but didn't believe): not one but two people have become Norman the same way he became his mother. One of this is set up well. The other is a bit of slight-of-hand and cheaty but the book was a fun ride so I forgive it.

The book is also very 1982 by which I mean it seems to be arguing that the whole world is psycho at this point and Norman-like characters are everyone. And may be any of us with the right twist of circumstances.

Bloch's prose style is very clean, not super flashy. He does have a few turns of phrase he's clearly proud of, like describing someone's decor as less contemporary than a temporary con, but mostly he's interested in moving us quickly through the story without needless distractions. He's a good host. Cynical to his core but he'll show you a good time.

thursday to thursday

107) Osamu Tezuka's Original Astro Boy: 3 by Osamu Tezuka, finished October 19

As I started reading this, I was certain I had read it before. Not so, but I have read a book inspired by it and I'm guessing there were enough similarities that they seemed identical.

No wonder "The Greatest Robot on Earth" (which makes up most of this volume) is a confirmed classic. It starts off as just one bad robot dueling (and destroying) a bunch of good robots, but it develops into so much more than that. The conclusion's a bit silly but the development of the various robots' personalities and ethical systems are fascinating and even moving. It's a terrific story.

The volume ends with "Mad Machine" which is more jokes and reminds me of a Carl Barks one-off.

like three days

108, 109, 110) The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare, finished October 22, 22, 23

I too often make the mistake of rushing through the plays a little too quickly. The semesters are just oo darn short.

It'll be interesting to see how the conversation develops over the following days. It's a strange play. I have lots of questions myself.....

six, six, six schooldays

111) Here by Richard McGuire, finished October 23

I really, really thought I'd read this before, but I can find no record of it and, although I remember the concept, I didn't really get that frisson of recognition. So I guess not.

Anyway, it's a terrific exercise. And I'm very excited about the movie. Zemeckis has made some of my favorite movies (eg, Back to the Future) and some I have no love for (eg, Forrest Gump) but no matter how successful the movie is, I'm just superexcited that such a strange idea is being put out by a big studio with a decent budget and is getting actual ads promoting it. Even if it's a confused mess, I'm there.

If you're unfamiliar with it, the idea is the camera never moves. Every page, the reader sees the same spot from the same angle. Doesn't matter if it's three billion years ago or three hundred years in the future, or anywhere inbetween. You're looking at the same spot from the same angle. And the various time periods are interwoven. It's Tralfamadorean, you might say.

Anyway, it's a cool exercise and would reward rereading. And certainly even if you don't end up liking it, even if you find it a confused mess, you won't regret stepping into this room.

one swimming lesson

112) Sequential Drawings: The New Yorker Series by Richard McGuire, finished October 25

Over five hundred pages, but only one drawing on every other pages. These are McGuire's spot illustrations, I assume published in this form in 2016 to capitalize on the success of Here?

Anyway, it's a cool little book. Two of its dimensions are roughly those of a Gideon New Testament—but it's three-plus times as thick.

Anyway. It's a lot of page to turn but fun to fly through.

under and hour, probably, even with breaks

113) Mormon: A Brief Theological Introduction by Adam S. Miller, finished October 26

A brilliant work of theology. And it has the advantage of being written by Miller who is a beautiful writer.

A few of the key ideas he finds through reading Mormon as a manual to the end of the world:

→ 1. God is always destroying the world and building it again. He calls this re/creation.

→ 2. We sin when we fight against the world being destroyed. Instead, we are called upon to sacrifice the end of all things.

→ 3. Mormon was called to his position because he was a sober child and quick to observe. We too are required to witness the end of all things—and to accept it.

→ 4. To judge (we are told not to do) is to give people what they deserve. The judge righteously (as we are told to do) is to give people what they need.

→ 5. This is the work of justice. And it is motivated by love. (And it explains the parable of the laborers.)

Anyway, it's a book for our time. Now that our planet is about to undergo permanent changes and billionaires are conceding to Trump before he's even elected.

twenty days

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2024 × 10 = Bette Davis being Bette Davis

001) Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, finished January 1
002) The Complete Peanuts: 1977 – 1978 by Charles M. Schulz , finished January 6
003) The Sandman: The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman et al, finished January 10
004) Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, finished January 17
005) Touched by Walter Mosley, finished January 19
006) Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever by Matt Singer, finished January 20
007) Evergreen Ape: The Story of Bigfoot by David Norman Lewis, finished January 24
008) What Falls Away by Karin Anderson, finished February 1
009) Peanuts Jubilee: My Life and Art with Charlie Brown and Others by Charles M. Schulz, finished February 3
010) Legends of Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, finished February 3

A few of my favorite things

011) Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, finished February 3
012) The Return of Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, February 9
013) Things in the Basement by Ben Hatke, February 10
014) A Charlie Brown Religion: Exploring the Spiritual Life and Work of Charles M. Schulz by Stephen J. Lind, finished February 10
015) 1st Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction by Joseph M. Spencer, finished February 10
016) Dendo by Brittany Long Olsen, finished February 11
017) The Ten Winners of the 2023 Whiting Awards, finished February 12
018) The Peanuts Papers: Writers and Cartoonists on Charlie Brown, Snoopy & the Gang, and the Meaning of Life edited by Andrew Blaune, finished February 17
019) Do Not Disturb Any Further by John Callahan, finished February 17
020) Mighty Jack by Ben Hatke, finished circa February 19
021) 2nd Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction by Terryl Givens, February 24

Let's start with the untimely deaths

022) The Life and Death of King John by William Shakespeare, finished February 28
022) Mighty Jack and the Goblin King by Ben Hatke, finished February 29
023) Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez, finished March 4
024) Millay by Edna St. Vincent Millay, finished March
025, 026) The Life and Death of King John by William Shakespeare, finished March 6, 8
027) Murder Book by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell, finished March 11
028) A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
029) The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett and Paul Kidby, finished March 15
030) Karen's Roller Skates by Ann M. Martin and Katy Farina, finished March 18

Four comics could hardly be more different

031) The Sandman: The Wake by Neil Gaiman et al, finished March 18
032) The World of Edena by Mœbius, finished March 23
033) Three Rocks: The Story of Ernie Bushmiller, the Man Who Created Nancy by Bill Griffith, finished March 23
034) Mighty Jack and Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke, finished March 23

Jacob says be nice and read comics

035) Jacob: A Brief Theological Introduction by Deidre Nicole Green, finished March 24
036) Starter Villain by John Scalzi, finished March 27
037) Mister Invincible: Local Hero by Pascal Jousselin, finished March 30
038) The Toon Treasury of Classic Children's Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, finished March 30
039) Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Pugh, finished April 1
040) The Super Hero's Journey by Patrick McDonnell, finished April 5

Eleven books closer to death

041) The Stranger Beside Me: Updated Twentieth Anniversary Edition by Ann Rule, finished April 9
042) Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy, finished April 13
043) Enos, Jarom, Omni: a brief theological introduction by Sharon J. Harris, finished April 25
044) The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson, finished April 27
045,046,049) The Mysteries by Bill Watterson and John Kascht, finished April 29, 30; May 3
047) The Children's Bach by Helen Garner, finished April 30
048) No. 1 with a Bullet by Sehman/Corona/Hickman/Wands, finished May 2
050) Over Seventy by P. G. Wodehouse, finished May 7
051) The Happy Shop by Brittany Long Olsen, finished May 16
052) Shades of Fear, finished May 21
053) Love Poems in Quarantine by Sarah Ruhl, finished May 21

And a vibrator makes it five dozen.....

054) The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt, finished May 25
055) Mosiah: A Brief Theological Introduction by James E. Faulconer, finished May 26
056) Lives of the Monster Dogs by Kirstin Bakis
057) 100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write: On Umbrellas and Sword Fights, Parades and Dogs, Fire Alarms, Children, and Theater by Sarah Ruhl, finished June 1
058) Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary by Timothy Snyder, finished June 4
059) Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl, finished June 6
060) The Next Room, or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl, finished June 8

And with Ursula, 69

061) The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty, finished June 10
062) Blood of the Virgin by Sammy Harkham, finished June 11
063) Mulysses by Øyvind Torseter, finished June 11
064) Between the River and the Bridge by Craig Ferguson, finished June 12
065) Cranky Chicken by Katherine Battersby, finished June 12
066) Mile End Kids Stories by Isabelle Arsenault, finished June 12
067) Tiny Titans: Field Trippin' by author, finished June 14
068) Brief Theological Introductions: Alma 1–29 by Kylie Nielson Turley, finished June 16
069) Words Are My Matter: Writings on Life and Books by Ursula K. Le Guin, finished June 16

Numbers 70 through 75

070) Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think about Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth by A. O. Scott, finished June 17
071) Alice, Let's Eat by Calvin Trillin, finished June 20
072) My Lovely Vigil Keeping by Carla Kelly, finished June 21
073) Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre, finished July 9
074) The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne, finished July 11
075) Best. Movie. Year. Ever. How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen by Brian Raftery, finished July 16

Comics soup and rice

076) I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001 by Lauren Tarshis and Corey Egbert (et al), finished July 16
077) Skull Cat and the Curious Castle by Norman Shurtliff, finished July 18
078) Epileptic by David B., finished July 19
079) Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld by Shannon and Dean Hale, and Asiah Fulmore; finished July 30
080) Fadeaway by E. B. Vickers, finished August 2
081) You're Dad by Liz Climo, finished August 4
082) Meanwhile...A Comic Shop Anthology, finished August 5

Lobsters are vermin you eat

084) Lobster Is the Best Medicine by Liz Climo, finished August 7
085) Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang and Leuyen Pham, finished August 12
086) Alma 30–63: A Brief Theological Introduction by Mark A. Wrathall, finished August 18
087) The Pearl by John Steinbeck, August 20
088) The Woman in the Woods and Other North American Stories, finished August 20
089) Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber, finished August 23
090) Radiant Vermin by Philip Ridley

Six books closer to the end of all things.

091) After the Blast by Zoe Kazan, finished August 30
092) The Nether by Jennifer Haley, finished August 31
093) Mr Burns, a post-electric play by Anne Washburn, finished August 31
094) The Voynich Manuscript ed. by Raymond Clemens, finished September 4
095) Brass Sun by Ian Edgington and I. N. J. Culbard, finished September 5
096) Termush by Sven Holm, finished September 7

Ally Condie kills it (+2 more)

097) The Unwedding by Ally Condie, finished September 13
098) Enola Holmes: The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer, finished September 18
099) Helaman: A Brief Theological Introduction by Kimberly Matheson Berkey, finished September 21

The end of one century and the beginning of another

100) Motor Girl: Real Life by Terry Moore, finished October 2
101) The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare, finished October 5

2024-10-16

Music for little girls of taste and culture

The 7yrold’s new second-grade teacher is collecting one song from each kid to build a class playlist. Perhaps because it’s what Lady Steed’s been listening to recently, Lil 7 started generating a list of Taylor Swift songs.

Lady Steed didn’t think “Bad Blood” was a terrific choice given the song’s destination and was able to get her to consider “Shake It Off” instead.

(Incidentally, “Shake It Off” is the first Taylor Swift song that managed to crack through my ignorance and make me hear it while it was still new.)

Anyway, when Lil 7 proposed Miley Cirus’s “Party in the U.S.A.” (learned from friends, natch), Lady Steed realized that she might end up choosing a song that other kids in the class would also choose. And who wants to be redundant?

Ergo, this conversation:

LS: What about something by They Might Be Giants? Do you like any of their songs?

L7: Yes! I like “Whistling in the Dark” and the one about crazy garbage!

LS: . . . Do you mean the one that goes, “I built a little empire out of some crazy garbage called the blood of the exploited working class”?

L7: Yes, I LOVE that song.

Um.

Lady Steed, in the end, decided to persuade her to do “Whistling in the Dark.”

Which, honestly, also . . . anyway this was a month ago and no parents have complained yet.

She’s considering “Older Every Day” should there be a second playlist.

(Update since I originally wrote this—she’s now decided on another TMBG song should there be another list. And it’s much more appropriate.)

Incidentally, as we have an election coming up, I’ve been meaning to make a music video for “Kiss Me, Son of God” with Trump clips but . . . it’s hard to spend that much time with Trump clips.

And, as you can see, there are no more videos in this post.

2024-10-15

One for the locals
(Caro for CC Board of Education)

First, other than giving his campaign fifty bucks and planning to vote for him, I'm not associated with Anthony Caro's campaign.

This is Anthony Caro candidate for Contra Costa County's Board of Education:

Speaking as a person tragically and suddenly deep into middle-age, Caro is young. And he really wants to do political things. This isn't a pro or con, just something to note.

Anyway, I represent my colleagues as a rep on our union's rep council, which is sort of like being a representative sent to the House. And yes, I voted to endorse Caro—and endorse him we have.

And while Caro's a good kid with the right intentions, I'll admit that a vote for him is just as much a vote against county superintendent Lynn Mackey

If you're local, you well know that our school district is famously bad at money. But this badness is enabled by Lynn Mackey.

Consider!

WCCUSD is require by state law to put 55% of its "current cost of education" into classroom compensation. Last year, it only spent 52.36%—$11,391,200 less that 55%—which is a lot of money. ("Current cost of education," incidentally, includes teacher and aide salaries/benefits. And we are having a desperately difficult time keeping educators.)

WCCUSD has fallen short of this legal requirement four years running. How?? one might reasonably ask.

Because Superintendent Mackey gives the district a waiver year after year after year.

Incidentally, and this is fun, school districts in California are only legally required to tell the truth about how much money they have once a year. The rest of the time, they talk about "projections" which can basically be whatever they want.

My favorite example of how this works in practice is from a couple years ago when I was trying to get the new Norton of English poetry for my AP Lit classes. That year, WCCUSD projected $75,000,000 for textbooks and other classroom supplies (like science labs). That money was sacred and couldn't be moved to any other line item. But $75,000,000 didn't go as far as you might expect. Not enough for my Nortons, for instance.

But in the report where they had to tell the truth? They'd spent $16,000,000 on textbooks etc. I know the Nortons are expensive, but $75,000,000 – $16,000,000 is still a lot > 150 Nortons. A lot >.

Anyway, Mackey currently has a 3–2 majority on the board and voting for Cato helps fix that problem.

So vote for Cato.

Hey! Do you want more funny money facts?

A lot has been made of the teachers getting a raise the last couple years.

HOWEVER,

as you can see, although we are getting paid more dollars, as a percentage of WCCUSD's entire budget, we are less and less and less:

Anyway, there are lots more fun graphs out there showing the nonsense of WCCUSD's money management, but the important thing here is that Mackey enables this malfeasance and we can't vote her out until 2026.

So this election, what we can do, it break up her board majority and deny her the power to do whatever she wants. Like screw WCCUSD.

Vote Caro for Board.

2024-10-05

The end of one century and the beginning of another

Honestly, are they that different? Sexy Iraq vet trapped in the Nevada desert versus sexy Sicilian princess trapped in the Bohemian sheeplands? Six of one, am I right?

100) Motor Girl: Real Life by Terry Moore, finished October 2

I love Terry Moore. And not just because he's skilled at drawing beautiful women. Although no question he is, though they aren't just pin-ups—they are living breathing humans with particular ways of standing and moving their eyebrows and speaking to others. They are real people.

And it's not just pretty girls, either. All his people have personality and realism or, alternatively, cartoonishly chaotical qualities. Both of which are great.

Our hero in this story is an ex-Marine who was held and tortured in an Iraqi prison. She may be an excellent mechanic and able to deal with 112-degree heat, but her grasp on reality is weak (he costar is an imaginary gorilla) and she is not great with other people.

Also, there are aliens and a government conspiracy and such.

This is just the first volume—I picked it up cheap from a Fantastic Comics sidewalk sale—and now I'm obliged to read the rest.

Of course, eventually I will need to find Moore's alleged masterpiece, Strangers in Paradise—I saw a couple enormous volumes for cheap at Comic-Con but, well, a guy's got to start at the beginning, you know?

And first, he's got to finish Motor Girl.

two days

101) The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare, finished October 5

Shakespeare's kind of a little weirdo.

Curious how the only person to truly die was a child.

Also interesting how correct the Delphic Oracle is.

And how many years pass.

And its fairy tale certainty that princesses are born physically beautiful and perfect in etiquette and nothing can hide that.

And the amazing efficacy of a simple disguise.

I mean—was Shakespeare face blind??

(If you must be a Shakespeare-themed Conspiracy Theorist, consider this one. After all, consider what Tybalt says: "This, by his voice, should be a Montague.")

one day

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2024 × 10 = Bette Davis being Bette Davis

A few of my favorite things

Let's start with the untimely deaths

Four comics could hardly be more different

Jacob says be nice and read comics

Eleven books closer to death

And a vibrator makes it five dozen.....

Ally Condie kills it (+2 more)

2024-09-30

September's mini filmery

.

Did not see a lot of movies this month but we started with The Apple Dumpling Gang and ended with Megalopolis so hoogolly did we cover some ground!

.

HOME
Disney+

The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975)

For reasons I do not know, the 15yrold wanted to watch an '60s/70s live-action Disney movie and the 7yrold really wanted to watch this one. So we did.

It's not that bad. But it is kinda dumb.

This was one of the two or three movies my elementary school owned and so I saw it kinda regularly. That and Pete's Dragon. (And maybe Watcher in the Woods? Is that where that sense of terror was born?)

Anyway, the great thing about these movies is their lean into slapstick. More live-action for-families movies need to do that. Who is our Tim Conway? Who is our Don Knotts?

HOME
Link+ dvd

Out of Sight (1998)

We just watched The Limey and so it seemed necessary to take a step back to Soderbergh's previous film, his career resurrector, the more loved Out of Sight. And it was pretty great. Hard to guess where this one is going. But holy smokes does it provide a blueprint for both Limey and Ocean's 11, the two that follow it. The chronology is very Limey; much of the visuals and music and even specific lines show up later in Ocean's. But it has the darkness of Limey but bit of the brightness that comes in Ocean's. It's like the badness of the badguys got laundered to create Danny Ocean and crew so we didn't have to stress so much about rooting for them.

Anyway. I guess it's a trilogy.

HOME
Peacock

Good One: A Show about Jokes (2024)

This is a nice look inside someone's creative process but it's just about the first couple weeks of a years-long process, and so it necessarily feels incomplete.

I get that's probably part of the point, that process IS the point. And, as a creator myself, I do appreciate that. But it probably doesn't make for a beloved classic.

On the other hand, while it's long enough to qualify for this list, it's half the length of a normal on-the-short-side feature. So who can complain?

ELSEWHERE/HOME
Peacock

Monkey Man (2024)

I dunno, man. There's a lot of interesting ideas in here and cool shots and so forth. But it's so, so violent. And some of the stuff that happens are just because it looks cool or because the trope demands it.

I remember reading a review that said this is one of those first movies where the filmmaker is trying to cram in every idea he has—just in case. And it does feel like that.

But Dev Patel is as great on screen as he always is. And, you know what? I hope he gets to make aother all his own. I'd like to see what he can do now that #1's out of the way.

ELSEWHERE
Peacock

Abigail (2024)

It had a couple plot and rule holes but nothing egregious. Would have been fun to watch with an audience. Bummed I didn't get to the theater in time.

I did like some of the character actors quite a bit and some of the twists were solid.

But it's all a little weirder, maybe, when the monster looks uncannily similar to a little girl I once new....

HOME
Peacock

Addicted to Fresno (2015)

Terrific cast doing good work and not as bad as I'd been led to expect but, honestly, it doesn't quite work. Is it script? Is it direction? Is it editing? I mean, yeah, probably. But film is alchemy.

Perhaps Steven Soderbergh could have had one of his magical afternoons and reedited it into a hit. Or maybe this is just as good as this material can be. Hard to say.

THEATER
Cinemark Century
Hilltop 16

Megalopolis (2024)

First, this movie isn't nearly as bizarre as I'd been led to expect. It's a weird movie, sure, but I've seen weirder. And weird that worked better. The Tree of Life and The Meaning of Life jump to mind. And those works, like Megalopolis, are largely sprung from a single intelligence. But those works are coherent in a way Megalopolis is not.

But I should rush to point out that Megalopolis is barely a story. It's more a collection of symbols arranged in deliberate fashion. It is compiled of multiple sources. I heard multiple Shakespeare references beyond the entirety of Hamlet's fourth soliloquy and more than one person is quoted explicitly, including Marcus Aurelius three times in a row. I almost missed it, but there was a section in the credits for sourced writers that also included Plato and Shaw and Wilder (who's done weird things himself). I'd love to see the whole list, but I'm not sure it's online yet.

The main flaw of the film, however, is its uncertainty. It's subtitled A FABLE and early on tells us that this story will tell how society's collapse when powerful men only strive to retain power. But the end of the film is all about the right powerful man retaining power and the rest either surrendering to him or getting lynched by the mob they sought to control. He, of course, is the artist. So, yeah. This is a film by a powerful artist about how only powerful artists should get to decide how we live. We've been here before.

There are other issues like this, but they tend to share root in Coppola not being 100% comfortable letting his symbols stand on their own. He wants to be sure the Most Important ones are clear. But that turns the audience from individual interpreters into a congregation. Which now how this sort of film achieves greatness.

5.1 Open Questions, an intro to season 5

To start with the subtitle, it’s hard to say. Here’s an hourlong detour, if you desire such:

Anyway, we’ll come back to the doctrine question. First, I need to talk about paranoia. Perhaps, in an almost-connection, by quoting the title of an article by LDSish author Walter Kirn: “If You’re Not Paranoid, You’re Crazy.”

Joking aside, I recognize there are alternate (slash more-reasonable explanations) for some of what I’m going to say, but let’s pretend I’m a great counterculture revolutionary with a target on my back, even if this pretending is absurd.

Anyway, one thing that is true is that my ward has been told explicitly that Salt Lake has their eyes on us. Not because we’ve done anything “bad” but because, how to put this, we are ahead of the revelatory curve?

We were doing this thing that was carefully designed to be Handbook-compliant and then, as happens these days, the Handbook was changed without notice and, without intention, we were now doing wrong. And things turned . . . unpleasant.

Anyway, choosing to be paranoid, some of the recent changes to the Handbook as regards transgender folks may thus be my fault?

But this gets to the question of doctrine and just what is and what is not and what that even means. Which I’m not going to get into, but I will comfortably argue that some things are more doctrine than other things. For instance, the canon. Even though we only believe the Gospel of Matthew as far as it’s been translated correctly, it’s still canon and thus trumps, say, a Conference talk from 1968. No knock on President McKay, that’s just a core understanding Latter-day Saints have re doctrine.

Which is part of the reason we regularly hear rumors of The Procamation on the Family—which gets lots of attention—being canonized. Because, you know, it’s so important. And so maybe it should stay top-of-mind? In a way proclamations don’t always?

But this Proclamation is also kind of controversial (which I suspect is a mark against canonizing it), and not in totally consistent ways. For instance, in countries like the U.S., it’s considered conservative, perhaps even a bit reactionary. Yet, as I learned from the late Melissa Inouye, in other parts of the world, say an LDS congregation in sub-Saharan Africa, the Proclamation is liberal, even radical. You mean men and women are equal? I have to treat my wife as a partner? And this has led to what those U.S.-based naysayers should consider good outcomes.

But it can also be controversial in other ways. It didn’t take long for people to realize that Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose can very easily be interpreted in favor of the transgender community’s claims for themselves. The general assumption is that this was not the intention, but—words are as words do.

And this is where I get to be paranoid again. See, just over a year ago, the second of the first two published Mormon Socrates dialogues (note that this pdf has a couple typos that do not appear in the final published version) showed through the persuasive power of f*i*c*t*i*o*n just how a faithful Latter-day Saint could interpret the Proclamation as being supportive of how transgender folk understand themselves.

And what happened next?

The Handbook decided to say this:

Gender is an essential characteristic in Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness (see Genesis 1:27). The intended meaning of gender in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” is biological sex at birth. (For those whose biological sex is not clear at birth, see 38.7.7.)

Of course, all scripture requires interpretation in order to be understood. But this seems . . . desperate? It’s not a particularly elegent exegesis.

I don’t want to come off cocky, but Mormon Socrates makes more sense (skip to 10:18).

I mean. That parenthetical seems like an honest admission that we can’t really know these things!

Being a Latter-day Saint well demands combining a belief in ongoing (and true) revelation with a constant grasping for humility (link to literally any Face in Hat episode here). It’s not easy. It’s not easy at the individual, ward, stake, area, or church levels. And we should give each other grace.

And we must also harvest what we sow.

2024-09-21

Ally Condie kills it (+2 more)

097) The Unwedding by Ally Condie, finished September 13

A popular YA novelist decides to write a mystery for grown-ups. I feel like we've heard this story before. And it sounds like a crass moneygrab, no matter how well done.

And, you know, maybe.

But don't say that about this novel.

I'll admit that for most of its runtime, it seemed like a pretty typical pop mystery. A middle-aged woman is slapped into mysterious circumstances as she finds one body then someone finds another. She and her two quirky friends start asking questions. Etc etc.

And the flashbacks of a previous happenstance seem, at best, par deepening.

But then the novel ends and we get a long explanation of how the figuring out happens.

But: that is not the end of the novel.

In fact, to this point, our author has been building up her stacks of items only to now turn them and we realize what else is in front of us.

About half way through the novel I read one of the backcover blurbs and rolled my eyes at the book being, besides a thriller, "an exquisite meditation on grief and loss." I mean. Some thematically relevant flashbacks aren't making that so.

But that was before the novel stood and turned itself, revealing the hummingbird that was there all along.

It's quite the moving achievement.

a week

098) Enola Holmes: The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer, finished September 18

I found this in a Little Free Library and grabbed it because I keep hearing about how great the movies are. If I had Netflix, I wager I would have watched them by now. So I figured, why not try the book?

And it was great. It's now one of my favorites mysteries-for-kids. Which is terrible timing because I was planning on cutting myself off from the library I can focus on the books we own . . . but now I want the second Enola book!

One thing I like, as a Holmes fan, is how Enola is quite her own person yet she is very much of her family. She has things in common with Mycroft and Sherlock, but the age difference, the lack of contact, and society's sexual structures have resulted in her being very, very apart. It's great.

From the couple stills I had seen of the movies, I'd assumed Enola and Sherlock would be on grand adventures. And maybe that is true in the movies or the later books, but in book one? Ah ah ah! Not at all. I wouldn't go so far as to call them antagonists, but their goals certainly are. There is one moment that gives us hope they may later share adventures but that day is not today.

Anyway. Springer did a great job adding to the mythology. Loved it.

maybe a week or two

099) Helaman: A Brief Theological Introduction by Kimberly Matheson Berkey, finished September 21

"Our reading of the book of Helaman leaves us with an inescapable conclusion: you and I are wrong. Profoundly, devastatingly wrong about a great many things—many of them quite important."

This is perhaps the most straightforward summary of this book's theme. And it says it and demonstrates it over and over again as it explores Helaman.

And I'll tell you: I am convinced.

We are, almost certainly, profoundly and devastatingly wrong about a great many things.

Let's find some humility and try harder to be Christians.

a month

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2024 × 10 = Bette Davis being Bette Davis