Thmazing's Thutopia: 2024

2024-11-16

Would you rather live on the Moon or in Rome?

Fair warning: two books here I really didn't like. One I liked quite a lot. And two were charming looks at the past, one from the past. The real question, as always, is currently unanswered:

What will still matter a year, a decade, a generation from now?

114) Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson, finished November 4

So let's start by saying this book is no good and is further evidence that the people considering the Booker Prize are not broadly read. I have a lot of complaints about Frankissstein but one is that this is clearly a book written by someone with very little experience in science fiction writing science fiction for people with very little experience in science fiction. Large swaths of this book are just people stitching together fun facts the author found on Wikipedia or some pop-science magazine.

In a way, this is less novel and more jigsaw puzzle. She found a bunch of cool puzzles and just found a way to assemble them. Which is cool and all until you look close and notice the pieces don't quite fit together.

I did love the first twenty pages which star Mary Shelley. The other Mary Shelley portions were okay. The 2019 sections were mostly not great though there were moments they rose to the level of fine. Then there were the Bedlam sections which bled into the Mary Shelley portions.

I think I see what she was going for but it never quite worked. Again, it looks like a picture but the pieces don't quite fit together.

And the title is a dumb pun which . . . I guess is about all the sex in the book? I genuinely don't know why it's called Frankissstein.

Another way to think about this book is an older person learned lots of neat things about sexbots and AI and bioengeneering and whatnot and thought no one else has ever heard of these things because she has never heard of them and so she built a book around them. But the book is largely characters saying things to each other they would never need to say because they are experts in their field and already know it. The Ron Lord characters sometimes works as a comic figure and so do some of the other broad stereotypes, but only occasionally. This is a book written for people as ignorant as the author. No one else is falling for it.

Sigh.

Anyway, I don't really regret reading it. I was curious if it would find an interesting destination. It didn't. But I'm glad to know it.

The only thing I regret is the book I didn't read instead. Whatever it may have been.

under a month

115) Motor Girl: No Man Left Behind by Terry Moore, finished November 4

Terry Moore can tell a long story, but he can also tell a short story. This is just two slim volumes (me on #one) and in that space he covers the Iraq war and its complications—both in the field and once back home—mental illness, aliens, government conspiracies. It's funny and it's touching, sexy and sad. Characters look different ways and act different ways. They're all individuals. And the whole thing works as a coherent piece. He's a marvel.

saturday and monday

116) Life on the Moon by Robert Grossman, finished November 10

This is the legendary illustrator's posthumously published (because he died) book on the Great Moon Hoax—although it plays a bit like a hoax itself. Although the final act gets too ludicrous to accept, throughout, famous names like Goodyear and Poe and Audubon and Howe keep popping up and the educated person estimates the math and thinks to themselves, "maaaaaaybe?," but must keep going. (Luckily, Grossman wrote a little explanatory afterword to preempt the need for hundreds of hours on Wikipedia.)

The book's about 400 pages long, with a single captioned illustration on each page.

It's a swift and fun read that never stops being exciting and strange.

two days

117) The Griff by Christopher Moore and Ian Corson with Jennyson Rosero

First, the most positive thing I have to say about this book is that it offers something innovative to how an alien invasion may take place.

The book was originally a screenplay and this shows. The way it cuts between locations feels more Michael Bay than Alan Moore and the clever dialogue seems designed to get bemused laughter from a theater audience, not a solo reader.

The plot is pretty pork and beans. The story tries to make some interesting points about identity but, to return to pigs, is hamfisted about it.

But the worst thing about this book is the character design. The illustrator may be a woman but she's been well socialized into the male gaze. The absurd shapes of the female characters are always on contorted display. And the cartoonishness is emphasized by the characters' static costume. Sexy-goth torn tights, for example, do not survive two months of being chased by dragons.

OH WAIT. I WAS WRONG. JENNYSON IS A DUDE. STILL. MY COMPLAINTS HOLD.

five days

118) Cato by Joseph Addison, finished November 16

After reading an excellent article comparing Washington to Trump (guess who comes off better) and learning about Addison's Cato which was beloved by the Founders—frequently performed and quoted—I decided that I wanted to share this article with next semester's sophomores. But what if we read the play as well? Time to preview it.

First, it's not that long. Just a hundred pages. And so, so much easier to read than Shakespeare, even though he's closer to Shakespeare than we are to him. Partially that's because English had settled down pretty much by then but also because Addison wasn't writing for a Renaissance audience that saw occasional confusion as a net positive. And, I might be wrong here, but I think by this time plays weren't being played to both penny-payers and hifalutins simultaneously, which, again, I'm guessing here, may mean that plays could be more middlebrow rather than having some things clever enough to allow the educated to feel superior than the dick-joke–desirers on the ground. In other words, by not splitting its attentions, it speaks more clearly to a modern audience.

I think.

It doesn't get performed much these days. But a nice revival in Washington of a play about lovers of liberty standing up to blowhards and tyrants might have a place. Perhaps it could be performed in Founders-era costumes. Or perhaps a new play about Washington striving to reach the same thematic goals.

Anyway. It feels very much of now.

I last taught Shakespeare's Julius Caesar right after the 2016 election (guess why) and it felt very apropos. I'll have to consider if I'm brave enough to do two old plays with sophomores. But it's an intriguing idea. And Addison will feel much easier after doing Shakespeare.

I could just do it with AP but then I wouldn't feel like I could include The Atlantic article or Addison's essays or historians on what Rome was like. So I think sophomores it is.

Watch this space in 2025 to see how things turn out.

two hours a week apart

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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

The If-Dagwood-Was-Mormon Sandwich

102) 3rd, 4th Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction by Daniel Becerra, finished October 6
103) My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, finished October 10
104) The Moviegoer by Walker Percy, finished October 11
105) Bed-Knob and Broomstick by Mary Norton, finished October 12
106) Psycho II by Robert Bloch, finished October 17
107) Osamu Tezuka's Original Astro Boy: 3 by Osamu Tezuka, finished October 19
108, 109, 110) The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare, finished October 22, 22, 23
111) Here by Richard McGuire, finished October 23
112) Sequential Drawings: The New Yorker Series by Richard McGuire, finished October 25
113) Mormon: A Brief Theological Introduction by Adam S. Miller, finished October 26

2024-11-13

Phew.
or, Julie's first print review

I got a whole stack of the new Dialogue in the mail today thanks to my poem in its pages.

You’ll like the poem. It’s sexy.

ANYWAY, I was flipping to the table of contents to admire myself in print (a natural impulse) but I landed in the toc’s list of reviews first and it was a long list! So I read that first. And what was the very last one, but a review of . . .Just Julie’s Fine.

Ever since Alison Maeser Brimley’s story “The Pew” appeared eight years ago, she’s been an artist to watch and so her opinion on Julie . . . would hold weight. I mean, if I were reading her review, it could well make or break my desire to read a book.

And let’s be honest: I wrote a book with so many landmines that the odds of me screwing it up or angering people were always high.

So it is with perhaps more relief than joy that I share with you that Alison gave Julie a positive review!

Phew!

Anyway, see what she has to say then pick up a copy or ask your library to do it for you.

(If you need even more convincing, Julie J. Nichols wrote the very first review of Julie and it’s also pretty persuasive. You’ll know this Julie from her genuinely hilarious review of Byuck.)

2024-11-09

Nature’s Semaphore as Election Metaphor

We stand on the porch of our beachside Carolina home
and see the black mountain range of cloud race toward us
at 140 miles per hour—though it looks still—

flashing with lightning and slowly swirling
like a childhood nightmare
or a missile
falling on someone else’s children.

The future always is far far away

until it isn’t

and we’ve either
battened down our whatevers

or we haven’t....

Either way:

the wind will blow.

2024-10-31

October, now with 40% boos

.

It's hard to believe some of these movies happened this month. I tell you. It has been a long month.

But Halloween was delightful, thanks. So I guess we're ready to move on.

To November.

Where nothing bad can ever happen.....

.

HOME
Public Domain Movies

He Who Gets Slapped (1924)

This movie appears on all sorts of lists, like best movies of the 1920s or best silents or what have you. And it is great. The story of a betrayed scientist and husband (same guy but different betrayers) and what happens when, in his new life as a clown, he finds himself capable of falling in love again—and up once again against his nemesis.

Lon Cheney's performance is terrific—both as a clown and as a man. The circus crowds are horror shows. The cute young couple aren't annoying. And the baddies really truly suck.

The editing in interesting but unobtrusive and the film's structure is tight (only 70 minutes!).

Plus: this is the first appearance of the MGM lion!

(This is NOT the similarly titled film that inspired Batman's Joker, but Lon Cheney finding his mad laugh pre-makeup feels like it may well have inspired Joaquin Phoenix's Joker.

ELSEWHERE
Delta

Robot Dreams (2023)

Kind of the perfect movie to watch on an airplane. There was so much white noise from the plane battling wind and gravity that the lack of dialogue was a real plus.

I'm impressed that the dialoguenessiness of so many modern animated short films was successfully expanded to feature length. And it is. In fact, it does it better than a lot of shorts. (Now that it's practically a rule for shorts, it's getting used even where it shouldn't be.)

That said, I didn't love as much as its acclaim led me to expect. I do think it's a fine expansion from the book and I like the setting (1980s New York). I do think it made a couple strategic errors (although I liked the Snowman sequence so much, I'll forgive it).

HOME
Kanopy

Io Capitano (2023)

Great looking movie about West Africans crossing the Sahara and Mediterranean in hopes of reaching Europe. If more people in Senegal had an Atlantic subscription, they might not make this mistake. It is a brutal journey.

I don't really get the ending. Yes, our lead (who is great, by the way, and only 19 [playing a 16yrold]) gets to yell the title, but . . . did they make it? It feels like maybe they're about to be turned away. And we'll never know, because the film ends.

In the end, I think the moral of the story is listen to your mother. Mom knows best.

It's a good movie and a timely subject but I kinda doubt it has what it takes to be remembered ten years from now. But one can't really predict these things now can one?

HOME
library dvd

Live. Die. Repeat. (2014)

From the current dvd, you might think they've given up on the title Edge of Tomorrow. But they're still hedging their bets on the 4K disc. At least they're not pushing the in-some-foreign-countries All You Need Is Kill Which is dumb. Anyway, I have my favorite.

This is my third time watching it (1,2) and when I go back and read what I said, it seems like every time, in the immediate aftermath, I think it's good but not as good as expected. And yet, in my memory, I always remember it being a brilliant film, a perfect piece of entertainment.

So when I say this time I wasn't as impressed, that does not mean that's what I'll say ten months from now.

Anyway, it's a showcase for Tom Cruise the actor. His face and voice and movement all evolve from slimy milquetoast as the film begins to hero. And the final scene is an utter cheat but it works because of his true smile.

And the film's construction is excellent. When you give your hero immorality it ain't an easy thing to keep raising the stakes. And yet the film does so, over and over, by altering and growing the goals, and, finally, by removing his immortality.

Anyway, a few years from now I will watch it again and be slightly disappointed because I remember loving it inordinately. But that's okay. Because months will pass and I will love it inordinately all over again.

THEATER
Cinemark Century Hilltop 16

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

To suggestions when watching this movie:

1) Be in the right mood.

2) Don't care that much about Beetlejuice.

My wife enjoyed herself fine but has many, many complaints about this movie as a sequel to one of her alltime favorites.

Me, now that it's been a couple hours, sure I can see all the flaws (flaws endemic to most sequels), but I still don't care. The actors were great, it was fun to look at, and I had a great time. Who cares about logical flaws or bloat? I had fun!

Which is great, because I am not someone who can usually enjoy a flawed sequel. But, then, I usually only watch sequels to movies I'm deeply attached to. So, as I said, not caring too much was part of my secret.

(Fun fact, unless I saw her terrible Alice in Wonderland in theaters [and I may have], this is the first Time Burton-directed movie I've seen in theaters. Which is wild.)

ELSEWHERE
library dvd

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

Really cool to look at. And, a bit after I expected it, suddenly quite moving.

I love how it deconstructed the common understanding of the story.

In the end, like most Guillermo del Toro's movies, much cooler than effective. But admirable all the same. Even with its flaws (and they exist; I mean, this is a movie with TWO [two!] plans whispered into ears to hide them from the audience).

ELSEWHERE
library dvd

Skinamarink (2022)

A thing about movies like this:

(and what kind of movie is this? let's just say I expect a record-setting number of people left saying, "We'll THAT's a hundred minutes of my life I'm never getting back!)

You have to know when to quit. I thought this movie was ending NUMEROUS times before it finally did. Any of those endings would have been better soley because it was earlier. I know movies under an hour are hard to market but half as long would have been plenty.

Nothing happens. I was bored.

THAT SAID, it's an interesting movie. You know found footage films like Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity?, Well, they're like novels in the 1700s which were just fake diaries and fake letters because there needed to be a REASON for this text to exist. But the novel evolved and now we accept third-person narration and other basic facts of the novel. Skinamarink isn't really a proper found-footage movie. There's no claim that is what's happening. HOWEVER, it seems to be shot on rerererereused VHS tape and largely shot from angles a child would shoot at. Yet kids aren't filming this. And there are only a couple sequences where it seems to be in a child's p-o-v. No explanation for the non-"subjective" shooting. It just is what it is.

So in that sense, it's a big leap forward for the genre.

I just kind of hated it.

Give me the half-hour cut and I'm there. One hundred minutes is silly and indulgent. So no thanks.

I think this movie will be forgotten, but I suspect we'll be walking along the path it discovered for some time.

ps: I did appreciate that most of the jump scares were of things LEAVING the screen

pps: it was interesting how the vhs noise made things seem to be moving or possibly exist when possibly they were not and did not

ELSEWHERE
Prime Video

Barbarian (2022)

This is so good! Plus, it's like, three movies for the price of one, and only 108 minutes. What a deal!

Anyway, I get why all the reviews were so hesitent to say ANYTHING about it. Honestly, I already feel like I know too much (and that I knew too much coming in).

So I'm just going to recommend it as an excellent excellent excellent horror film and call it good.

HOME
library dvd

Austenland (2013)

So my wife and I were supposed to go see this in theaters but INSTEAD she went with her FRIENDS and now a DECADE has passed and here we are. First time watching.

Anyway, the script has a lot of flaws and some of the Austeny stuff is wrong purely because it's wrong and not for any comedic reason. But all that said, there are moments of comic perfection that let me forgive the many flaws. Plus, one shot was so beautiful it just makes me mad Jerusha isn't directing more stuff.

HOME
Prime Video

MST3K: Werewolf (1995, 1998)

While it's fun to watch bad movies, it's also awful. So having a string of dumb jokes as soundtrack is one of the finest inventions cable tv brought us.

Just me and the 17yrold and the 15yrold, yucking it up.

Egad.

What a TERRIBLE movie.

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

===========================================================

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)

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.")