Devon Trevarrow Flaherty's Blog, page 39

Book Review: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

A couple months in to school, and this is the third book I am assigning for my middle grades Language Arts class which is also studying Modern History. The first two books were a moderate win, so I thought it would be too much to hope for another success, and yet…

[image error] Cover image from amazon.com.

This book was even better than Calico Captive, which I enjoyed with some small reservations. This book, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham, is going down as one of my favorite kids’ chapter books. I just really enjoyed reading it and it transported me to such an interesting yet light and airy place. I mean, the plot was full of struggle and Nate Bowditch—a historical person—had plenty of pain in his life. And yet, some writers just write with this combination of clarity and (inner) visual space so that the reader feels comfortable and happy there in the book. I find that this is a style that is difficult to come by and that I really, really enjoy it. So I will likely be coming back to this book.

Here’s the deal: it’s another one of those historical novels that I’ve been reading so much of lately (largely in the middle grades age group). It is the story of Nat Bowditch, the very real and little-known American innovator, a genius who used his math brains in the area of navigation. He was born into a town and family that were connected to the ocean and sailing. His family went through a lot of loss when he was growing up, and with a young America at war, Nat ended up losing his freedom and his dreams of higher education. But that’s not the end of the story, and Nat, with his buoyant personality and amazing mental abilities (not to mention a supporting cast of kind and interesting neighbors and sailors), couldn’t stay down for long. The story follows him from his childhood into his middle age. It covers a lot of ground, which, if it were a novel, would make the reader feel like it could have concentrated more. But because it is a biography of sorts, it makes sense to follow a particular dream all the way over a couple decades.

I fear I’m getting you too excited for this book, whereas I expected nothing and then was surprised by the story, the story-telling, and the real-life character. It is highly nautical and also celebrates math. Nat Bowditch almost reminds me of someone with mild Asperger’s. He’s just so specialized and focused. But this book has growth, it has family, it has character (though some of the ideas are a little old-fashioned, like boys shouldn’t cry), it even has romance. I enjoyed being with Nat, being in the spaces that he inhabited, and seeing life aboard a ship of the period without a dark, seedy, pirate tale. Bowditch seems like a good role model in a middle grades novel that is very well written.

Media in Review: September 2020

Well, I am behind on my posts, which can be attributed to a trip that I took to St. Louis to see a friend married and also the demise of my current laptop. To be clear, that laptop—an ancient and cheap HP—was headed out the door for years. It took minutes to do anything, even toggle between apps, and started up with a sound like a jet engine. My son kept begging me to move on, as we waited, grumbling, yet another afternoon for his math site to open. But I couldn’t justify the expense until it had kicked the bucket officially, and my working with it the past few years is a testament both to succeeding with substandard resources and also to my inability to truly find inner peace or patience even when it was required of me every day. I’ll tell you in a later post about the new laptop. In fact, I’ll sing its praises from the rooftop because you think I’m exaggerating about the difficulties of the old one, but I am definitely being nice about it, glossing my struggles over.

Now, here is what I watched way back in September:

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MASTER CHEF

(Warning: rant.)

Note: I did not stick around for later seasons, so this review officially only pertains to earliest seasons, with the hosts pictured here.

I told you in the August recap that I would review Master Chef. Let it be recorded here and now that I could not finish the series. I finally gave in to watching it in the first place because 1) I was just about out of food shows to watch on all my streaming services and 2) I was sick of people saying, “What? You don’t watch Master Chef?” as I once again tried to coax them into The Great British Baking Show or Somebody Feed Phil. My reservation about the show was Gordon Ramsay and his reputation for cruelty against chefs and kitchen staff. Perhaps a little schticky, I am really not a fan of meanness in reality TV. Actually, I began with the kid version of the show, Master Chef Junior, which I have already reviewed, because I thought, “How could he be super mean to kids?” And I was mostly right. When I began Master Chef with season one, I had no idea that Ramsay was going to look like a stuffed unicorn next to one of his two co-hosts, Joe Bastianich (the son of Italian food demigod Lydia Bastianich, who I like okay). In some ways, though the show’s intro asserts his success as a restaurateur and head of a wine empire, he has never moved beyond his status as a little boy growing up under the fame of his mother. I mean, he acts like a child repetitively, throwing away people’s dishes and pulling abominable faces, and he also comes across as the biggest snob, even snobbier than the flashy Ramsay.

And beyond that, I have a couple other reasons for stopping the show after, I think, three seasons (besides my husband repeating the phrase, “Why are you still watching this show if you don’t like it?”). First, I found the pacing to be off. Compared to other food competition shows, it’s reeeeely slow. They drag rounds out for forever and sometimes cut them at bizarre moments to be continued the next week. And even more importantly, they are painfully scripted. While I know that there is an element of scriptedness to all reality TV shows, you feel it in this one the entire time. So I looked into it. Turns out, it is especially scripted, with former contestants accusing the show of doing things like keeping them from sleeping so that they emote (and crack) more on the show, plying them with alcohol to get them to say things they wouldn’t normally, etc. etc. I once met a family that had been on one of those home makeover shows, and they said that what people saw on the screen of their family was about 5% them and 95% fiction. While Master Chef claims that the actual cooking is real, I would guess closer to 100% of Master Chef is fiction, forcing contestants to take on acted characters which are now going to become the face of their fame, which just made me super mad when old Joe was throwing one of his temper tantrums about something that was really forced (like a little sideshow to distract us from the (supposedly) volatile character who made a bigger mistake). Barf.

On top of all that, much of the competition on Master Chef clearly has to do with luck and not talent or experience. It depends on the three judges’/hosts’ moods, on where you were in the original queue for tryouts, when in the onion-cutting competition they decide to single you out, blah blah blah. The whole show feels arbitrary and staged to me, for a reason. When I first started watching it I looked up the next audition because, all things being transparent, I am Master Chef competition level (which is basically a talented amateur who knows way more about food than I have a right to), but as I continued to watch and research, I pulled the open call date from my calendar because who needs that nonsense and drama in their life? Not me.

[image error] Cover image from Disney Plus.

CANDACE AGAINST THE UNIVERSE

We are fans of Phineas and Ferb. We watched it as a family when our kids were growing up, and the kids still return to old episodes to wind down, occasionally, much like I used to do as a teen with The Flintstones and The Jetsons after a tough day of high school or Winnie-the-Pooh when I was sick. We enjoyed the first movie, The Movie: Across the Second Dimension. We approached the second movie the way a viewer often approaches an addition to a beloved universe—with a mixture of excitement and suspicion. The newest addition to the impressive world of Phineas and Ferb (including an interactive experience at Epcot at Walt Disney World), Candace Against the Universe, had its high moments and its middle moments, perhaps not as many high moments as we would hope. If you are fan, you should definitely see it, just don’t expect TOO much. If you are not a fan, I would request that you watch the shows or at least the other movie first. In other words, the movie is good, just not amazing, and it doesn’t do much to expand on the characters and repetitive plot that we were already enjoying. On the other hand, it wasn’t terrible or a flop—sigh of relief.

[image error] Cover image from Wikipedia.

RADIOACTIVE

I’m not going to agree with a lot of people, here. I think everyone was hooked up on Radioactive’s pondering the negative effects of discovering radioactivity, but I thought the movie was much more—well, pondering than judging. I thought this was an excellent movie, for many reasons, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Rosamund Pike got an Oscar nomination, though I know that usually doesn’t happen for indies. (Is it actually an indie film? I feel the lines are beginning to blur with all the streaming releases and even the pandemic.) Though I kind of hate it when history gets fictionalized and speculated about in movies and books, there were many things that I did learn about Marie Currie doing my impulsive research after watching. So many questions, I had! And as I already said, I didn’t see the portrayal as necessarily negative, just as exploratory and questioning. I would recommend the movie for its acting, costuming, cinematography, history, and creativity (with artistic and stylistic flash forwards), I would just warn you that it is highly fictionalized (and to look into it) and also that it is going to consider both the positive and negative effects of discovering radioactivity and juxtapose them against the triumph of a woman, a foreigner, and someone who diligently pursued her dreams through good intentions and out the other side (because we all know what can become of good intentions).

[image error] Cover image from Wikipedia.

I, TONYA

This movie has a lot in common with the previous one, though also much different. I, Tonya, for one, got more respect as a movie, though its fictionalization of history has also brought it criticism. Well, let’s not say fictionalization, maybe, because this one portrays a version of history, very purposefully. It’s the story of Tonya Harding, acted out (superbly) and from the perspective of three of the key players, even when they differ from one another. It is really imaginative, sometimes double-playing scenes and letting the actors interact with the camera, and I don’t mean just when they’re doing their mockumentary scenes. The cinematography, acting, and writing is what really shines in this movie and if you are a movie buff, it’s a must-watch. Gritty and for me, hypnotizing, know that it’s not an easy watch some of the time, with abuse and poverty (not just monetary) as a main theme. In the end, this movie is extremely deft with its execution, and one viewer can leave believing one thing and another, another.

[image error] Cover image from Amazon.com.

BEFORE SUNRISE

Hmm, hmm, hmm. An indy film, cult classic from the nineties. I guess I can see that. In fact, once I started watching it (from the Best Movies list I created), I realized Kevin and I had watched it many years ago when we got our first copy of VideoHound’s Golden Movie Retriever. We had misgiving about it then, and I have misgivings now. Maybe more now, in fact, because the characters are very immature and I’m in my 40s. It’s hard to imagine people out of college even enjoying this movie because of the impulsiveness needed to drive the plot—something that evaporates with life experience (and sense) for almost everyone. Since it was so stripped down and improv, I would have related more to smarter, more mature characters who didn’t have to constantly challenge and rebel in order to feel alive. It takes place in one night, when an American man has a change meeting with a French woman on a train and they decided to layover together in a town they’ve never been in. I can see the appeal of the movie, but I also think many people would find it hopelessly boring. Definitely a college kid, thinking/exploring kind of movie and one that would find a comfortable spot in a film or even philosophy class.

[image error] Cover image from Amazon.com.

WEEK IN A DAY

Oh, Rachael Ray. We all love to hate her, right? She really gets under my skin, but she continues to rule over some sort of food kingdom complete with a magazine, talk show, and a series of rampant interests in her marriages and body size over the years. I started watching old episodes of Week In a Day because the idea really appealed to me (as has her 30 Minute Meals cookbooks). Here’s the plan: each episode, Rachael Ray shows you how to spend one afternoon in the kitchen and have five meals to feed your family for the week. Sometimes one meal is used up that night, sometimes you can reserve all five for the weeknights, though I like the idea of using a warm meal right away and eating out (or ordering in) on Friday. After watching several seasons while sick in bed, I snagged the Week in a Day cookbook from the library and tried things out myself. Besides those traits that get under my skin and which are largely personality-related, here’s that thing about Ray: she is FULL of great ideas and energy, but I do NOT like her recipes. Out of all of the ones I have tried over the years, I have left very few alone. Most of them, for taste reasons, I modify until they are no longer recognizable except for the (often great) idea behind them and this was true with the Week In a Day cookbook, too. Love the idea, love all the tips and pointers, but will be using my own recipes and modifying them to Ray’s techniques next time I cook for a week in one day.

The show itself is moderately executed, but Rachael is still Rachael with all her imperfections except the one where’s she’s rude to guests (people love to complain about this), because there are no guests. She’s still the worst-dressed famous person I’ve ever seen. She’s still a bit pedestrian, though very passionate. She still has great ideas that aren’t always full-baked. And she still refers to food frequently as “cute,” “adorable,” with a number of annoying nicknames (like stoup and EVOO), and while tossing salt over her shoulder with a smirk on her pretty face encased in hair that I don’t believe has been garnished with a barrette, ponytail holder, dye, or—for that matter—more zealous scissors, in her many years of fame. So, what I’m saying, is that I don’t watch Rachael Ray for entertainment value, I watch it as part of a kitchen education, and on that merit, this show is full of practical, interesting ideas and a place to start if the idea of cooking ahead seems like it could improve your life.

[image error] Image from Amazon.com.

THE SOCIAL DILEMMA

When my husband heard whispers of this new movie, he insisted that we drop it into the family movie night queue for the very next week. By the time that week passed, it had become the must-see movie and I imagine that many of you have either seen it, intend to watch it, or are avoiding it because you don’t like it when things are too popular. Whether you’re distracted or too cool for school, you should really watch this movie. And while our teens were pretty bored watching it, at least the two adults and the high schooler really learned from it. Not that I’m saying I was bored. It was interesting enough to keep an adult watching, at least if you aren’t expecting a rom-com or a thriller or something. It’s a documentary, for Pete’s sake, and a pretty good one, at that. Officially, though, I think we’re calling it mixed format, because it has some acted scenes (though what 30 Minutes episode doesn’t?) to drive home the points. The information and the experts, on the other hand, are very much real, as real as the threats the internet and social media poses to us as individuals and as a society. Perhaps it could have said more, but believe me: what it IS trying to say is not what you assume it is going to say. It’s not as much about depression, social isolating, and misinformation as it is about AI creating worlds around each of us (based on economics and advertising as much as anything) that further and further distance us from any information that would contradict our current worldview. It IS alarming in its cold, hard science and ethics hinterland and in the devastating, far-reaching results. I actually started to cry when, like the Matrix, I saw the machine for what it was: the machine that I was watching distance me from my friends and from the truth and yet there were things about the process I didn’t understand until I watched this movie. Really, it’s an important watch.

[image error] Cover image from Amazon.com.

ENOLA HOLMES

And then everyone was watching Enola Holmes which crossed our radar for two reasons: starring Eleven of Stranger Things, and being about Sherlock Holmes—sorta. (I am a big fan of Sherlock Holmes.) The idea is that Holmes has a little sister who is seriously homeschooled by their eccentric mother and when the mother disappears, Enola and Sherlock find that they have more in common than he had initially assumed of his much younger, female sister. Um. This movie was okay. Teens will love the heart-throb in Louis Partridge and perhaps flock to the newly-opened movie theaters for the sequel that the writers have so obviously set up in a year or two. The costuming is fun, the scenery, but other than that (and the heart-throb), I can’t say much to recommend it. It’s an acceptable family movie, but I agree with the Sherlock Holmes estate at being taken aback by the portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. Who is this character I see on the screen before me? Certainly not Sherlock Holmes. For real. He doesn’t even resemble the character cooked up by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and beloved by many through the generations. The Sherlock of Enola Holmes is stripped down of his pertinent eccentricities, distracting from a story about girl power and coming of age and reminiscent much more of steam punk than of any actual time period. So take it or leave it. It’s fine and was received well despite its obvious ploys for popularity and its unnerving habit of Enola talking to the camera. (That is all the rage, these days.) Maybe the books are better, but I can’t imagine how they could save the portrayal of Sherlock. Girl power!

Let the Holidays Begin: October

I haven’t addressed the holidays in a few years. And when I have addressed the holidays, I have been limited by my own experiences, which is fine by me, because part of the charm of the holidays is tradition. However, you might want to branch out beyond Elf and Frankenstein, and I might want to mix a little fresh air into the heady aroma of cinnamon and fir. So here I am, tackling the first holiday of the holiday season (in my opinion), Halloween, with my recommendations and then a list of books and movies I haven’t even tried but might just want to.

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Note: My laptop broke and I was forced to put this post on the back burner for a week. We’re all good now.

October in modern America is a convergence of three things. First, the cooling off and harvesting, which gives us traditions such as pumpkin spice, jack-o-lanterns, hayrides, and apples, apples, apples. Second, we have Halloween pageantry with its costuming and fantasy, which celebrates children, candy, chili and beer, the nighttime, maybe the spiders and the bats against the moon. Third, we have the exploration of the darker side of life, which can get so dark it’s evil (the devil, demons, black magic) or can just muse on inevitable death, ancestors, the afterlife, and then there’s everything in between: from murder to decay. Of course, there’s a long history of Halloween and this time of year, but we have lost sight of the cause and now, I find, October is a swirl of harvest, Halloween, and the macabre. Therefore, you might be looking for this or that in October. While some books and movies reflect a convergence of all things October-y, many of the titles tilt toward one thing or another (and a majority, I think, toward the dark). (Oh, and there’s also Oktoberfest and The Day of the Dead.)

FYI, I don’t do slasher, I don’t do too much gore, and I don’t do occult (generally speaking). My Halloween standards involve a little creep, maybe some mild scares, and more of the schticky versions of the Halloween standards, including pumpkins, bats, fantasy witches, conflicted vampires, aliens, ghosts wearing sheets, the supernatural, poison apples, fairy tale trolls, werewolves getting their comeuppance, worms and bugs and spiders, potions, caramel and candy, etc. So don’t go looking for really scary or evil stuff here. I don’t think you’ll find it.

[image error] Cover Image from Amazon.com

Book Recommendations:

Frankenstein , Mary Shelley. Perhaps the first book ever in the horror genre, it’s pretty anthropological, thoughtful, intense. It’s not anything like a slasher, but much more explorative. If you haven’t read it, it will surprise you because the modern adaptations and conceptions have almost nothing to do with the sad and beautiful story that is the original. This year, I’m going to give the Mary Shelley movie a try. The Witches , Roald Dahl. I looooove Roald Dahl and this is his most Halloween-friendly title, obvi. There is a new movie coming out in just a few days! Some of his other books are a little creepy and a lot magical, too, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Twits, Matilda, The Enormous Crocodile, The BFG, Dirty Beasts , etc. Among the Shadows , L.M. Montgomery. If you know Montgomery’s name, it’s probably as the author of Anne of Green Gables. She also wrote (besides other novels) books of short stories set in 1800s Prince Edward Island, and this one, uncharacteristically, is all about ghosts, criminals, etc.Stephen King’s non-horror stuff: The Stand, The Green Mile , and “The Body.” Perhaps I should branch out and try a few more. And though these aren’t particularly Halloween-y, they are Stephen King and involve at least a little creepiness and grit. Jane Eyre , Charlotte Bronte and Wuthering Heights , Emily Bronte. If you enjoy classics, these each have a certain amount of gravity and creepiness that might do it for you this October, but don’t go looking for overt Halloweenishness.Edgar Allan Poe, known for “mystery and the macabre,” is full of what now makes up Halloween, from ravens to hearts beating under the floorboards. Get a Complete Works or Best Short Stories and dig in.“The Legend of Sleepy Hallow,” Washington Irving. What’s Halloween without Ichabod Crane running for his life from the headless horseman? And I love classics.Almost every October, I read the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. It could be read at other times of the year, but it does fit in perfectly to the feel of Halloween, with its world of witches and wizards, pet owls, cats and frogs, cauldrons, potions, you get it. I love Harry Potter and I love going to back to Hogwarts every fall. I am currently collecting the illustrated edition by Jim Kay.The Twilight Saga, Stephanie Meyer. This was a suggestion by my daughter, and might be the only vampire book (series) I have ever read. I don’t highly recommend this series, but it is about vampires and werewolves and is wildly popular and addictive, which I outline in my review. Lincoln in the Bardo , George Saunders. I am just adding this book this time around, because I read it last year. Again, not overtly Halloween, but it is a ghost story, about death, and an excellent read.Sherlock Holmes short stories, Arthur Conan Doyle. I love Sherlock Holmes, and it qualifies for October reading because of all the mysteries, the murders, and the classic grit. And it can be followed up with Sherlock , the British Television series starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, which is one of my favorites. The Ghost-Eye Tree , Bill Martin Junior. This is a picture book, but my favorite Halloween picture book, probably because my aunt used to read it to me in a hushed, almost-spooky voice. A great bedtime story to break out for Halloween. Sideways Stories from Wayside School ,which is my first recommendation for elementary-age readers. It’s not about Halloween, per se, or even very scary, but it always gave me this creepy crawly feeling, this iciness in the pit of my stomach. Maybe it’s just me.Chris Van Allsburg has some creepy picture books, and for Halloween I would recommend The Stranger and The Mysteries of Harris Burdick .A Series of Unfortunate Events (thirteen book series), Lemony Snicket, is a middle grades choice for Halloween, but would probably take most much longer than October to read them. It is missing a lot of the usual Halloween elements, but it is dark, mysterious, and even a bit dysthymic with a constant theme of danger and death. But for kids. A quicker thing would be to watch the TV series from 2017-2019, which is also dark and my son and I really enjoyed. Review forthcoming.Another elementary school chapter book recommend would be My Teacher Is an Alien , by Bruce Coville. When we read this as a family we found it a surprisingly good read.A picture book favorite of mine is Sesame Street’s The Monster at the End of This Book . It’s a classic at any time of year, but it is about a monster, even if it is just Grover.Another picture book: The Berenstain Bears: Trick or Treat , by Stan and Jan Berenstain. Part of the original series of books, this is one that was in our house when I was kid and that I read to my children. I love the Berenstain Bears.You want historical pandemic reading for your middle grades reader? Try Fever 1796 .I did not highly recommend them, but The Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch is mysterious and dark. Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children , Ransom Riggs, is a dark, creepy, and fantastical book filled with monsters and scares. I would recommend the first book in the series most strongly and the movie to go with it.Some eerie but not scary reading that I would recommend for October, as well, would be Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, Grimm’s Fairy Tales , and maybe even A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd.



[image error] Cover Image from Amazon.com

Movie Recommendations:

Basically, Tim Burton is perfect for October viewing, but especially Beetlejuice, The Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and a little less so, Edward Scissorhands . Bonus: they are all great movies. I would also like to try Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, and perhaps Sweeny Todd , though that might be too scary/gory for me. Even Peewee’s Big Adventure , Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Alice in Wonderland might have enough creepiness, darkness, and costuming to make them count as Halloween-appropriate. Coraline (2009) was based on a children’s horror story by Neil Gaiman and definitely qualifies. Donnie Darko (2001) is a cult classic, sci-fi, psychological thriller that I think fits nicely into the Halloween season. It’s funny and mind-bending, involves mental illness and perhaps some supernatural powers and it is quite dark but not scary.Since I don’t do real horror movies, M. Night Shayamalan—who specializes in the supernatural and twist endings—is another Halloween pick for me, including The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs , and The Village . I would like to watch Glass , but the rest of his films I can leave.And J.J. Abrams, in sci-fi and monster movies. For Halloween, try Super 8, Cloverfield, 10 Cloverfield Lane , and The Cloverfield Paradox as well as the TV series Lost and Alias . I haven’t seen the Stephen King collaboration, The Dark Tower .One of our absolute favorites—as gen X-ers with current teens—is the Stranger Things TV series. We’re still waiting on the final season, which has been delayed by the pandemic. Sigh. It does have some gory moments, but most of it is creepy and full of suspense and occasionally jump scares. One scene (I am not alone in this) really ticks me off, but the rest of the series is nostalgic, spot-on, well-acted, and full of Durham Easter eggs.Another one of our favorite all-time TV shows is The X-Files , which would make great Halloween viewing, especially if you happen to land on the movies at this time of year. Aliens, yeah, but also anything that could end up in X-files, from monsters to murders. There are scads of posts, online, laying out Halloween X-Files marathons with the scariest or the most Halloween-friendly episodes. Look it up. The Dark Crystal is pretty dark and creepy, though meant as family entertainment. If you’re a Muppets fan, this is your Halloween pick, for sure. Warm Bodies was the first and so far only zombie movie I have ever watched. The quirky romance really appealed to me in the previews, and I did end up liking it, though there was perhaps too much gore for me. (That could be said about Kill Bill as well, but it’s such a good movie.) Sometimes I’m conflicted.I mentioned theTwilight books, I guess I should mention the movies as well, not because they are amazing but because they are about vampires and werewolves and are very, very, very popular. I think I might like some things about the movies more, actually.Generally, movies made from Roald Dahl books have taken his black humor and turned it into slightly creepy movies that are good family picks for Halloween, also considering the fantastical elements and the costuming. Some of the these I have already mentioned but would include Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), James and the Giant Peach (2006), and less-so Matilda (1996), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), and The BFG (2016). Even more appropriate are the two version of The Witches , one from 1990 and one being released to HBO Max on October 22 of this very year.If you find murder mysteries (or vintage thrillers) have a Halloween feel for you, I would recommend Hitchcock, first and foremost (especially Psycho, Rear Window, The Birds, Vertigo, and North by Northwest as well as Dial M for Murder and Spellbound ) and then Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Knives Out (2019).Another Halloween classic which they keep playing at my gym along with Beetlejuice (which is experiencing a revival) is Ghostbusters . The biggest comedy of the 1980s which I can appreciate (and marvel at the rudimentary special effects) but gets a little too evil for me, you can stop at the first and best movie, though there is supposed to be yet another sequel out in 2021 and my daughter keeps asking to watch the girl version again. Hotel Transylvania and the sequel. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Vlad the Impaler is no laughing matter, but these movies are cute and funny and entertaining.One of my all-time favorite Halloween movies (though TV-special short) is It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown . My kids avoid it, but I cherish the annual watching, with a nostalgic twinkle in my eye.Another almost-too-scary scary movie that I have enjoyed is The Quiet Place . It has perhaps the most per-capita jump scares of any movie I have ever actually enjoyed watching.If you have a family and it’s October, you might want to pull out somestuff from the Scooby Doo franchise. About as un-scary as ghosts can get, my kids loved Scooby Doo growing up. Some of the movies cross the line for most kids, but I like the TV series better anyways, both the 1969 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and 2010 Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated , the two series I and my kids grew up with.One of the best October movies for the family is Goosebumps (2015). Though I had long opposed my children reading R.L. Stine, I had to eat crow a little bit when this movie immediately became a family favorite, turning the franchise in on itself to include both the author and a number of the books in one funny film. The sequel, though a Halloween-specific movie, received mixed reviews.To honor the Day of the Dead, which takes place during the same season and has many celebrants in our country, I am going to recommend Book of Life and Coco . Though Coco has gotten more attention and plaudits over the years, I much prefer Book of Life. They’re both great, family movies.And I saved the best for last. Though you can watch them all year round (we do), the Harry Potter movies are great to watch in October as you warm up for Halloween for all the same reasons I said it’s also a great time of year to read the books. We’ll be having yet another Harry marathon over the next three weeks and enjoying our new Blu-ray edition.

Books to Read (which I have not already or don’t remember well. I reserve the right to chicken out.):

Sandman, Neil GaimanIn the Woods, Tanya FrenchThe Thirteenth Tale, Diane SetterfieldThe Distant Hours, Kate MortonRebecca, Daphne de MaurierStill Life, Louise PennyDracula, Bram StokerThe Sea of Tranquility, Katja MillayThe Complete Stories, Flannery O’ConnorWe Were Liars, E. LockhartThe Mockingbird Sang, ???And Then There Were None, Agatha ChristieA Curious Beginning, Deanna RaybournWe Have Always Lived in a Castle, Shirley JacksonJane Steele, Lyndsay FayeThe Turn of the Screw, Henry JamesNever Let Me Go, Kazuo IshiguroPicnic at Hanging Rock, Joan LindsayHe Said/She Said, Erin KellyThe Hazel Wood, Melissa AlbertThe Crucible, Arthur MillerThe Singer’s Gun, Emily St. John MandelNot That I Could Tell, Jessica StrawserTrick or Treat: A Peanuts Halloween, Charles SchultzGil’s All Fright Diner, A. Lee MartinezMy Crowd, Charles AddamsWitch Week, Diana Wynne JonesThe Accident Season, Moira Fowley-DoyleAnya’s Ghost, Vera BrosgolThe Likeness, Tania FrenchResurrection Bay, Emma ViskicLabyrinth Lost, Zoraida CordovaThe Diviners and Iron Cast, Destiny SoriaMonstress, Marjorie M. LiuGet in Trouble, Kelly LinkThe Night Circus, Erin MorgensternInterview with the Vampire, Anne RiceThe Girl with All the Gifts, M.R. CareyThe Witchfinder’s Sister, Beth UnderdownNOS4ATU, Joe Hill

For Kids:

The Very Busy Spider, Eric CarleRoom on the Broom, Julia DonaldsonThe Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt, Riel NasonCreepy Pair of Underwear, Aaron ReynoldsVegetables in Halloween Costumes, Jared ChapmanPete the Cat: Five Little Pumpkins, James DeanRunaway Pumpkins, Teresa BatemanBonaparte Falls Apart, Margery CuylerThe Brave Little Camper Saves Halloween, Rosa VonfederPeppa’s Halloween Party, Neville AstleySpooky Pookie, Sandra BoyntonWhat Was I Scared Of?, Dr. SeussClifford’s Halloween, Norman BridwellGoodnight Goon, Michael RexIt’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Charles Schultz

Getting Older and Older as We Go:

The Secret of the Old Clock, Carolynn KeeneThe Hallo-weiner, Dav PilkeyGoosebumps: Welcome to Dead House, R.L. SteinBunnicula, Deborah HoweNate the Great and the Halloween Hunt, Marjorie Weinman SharmatJunie B. Jones Boo! And I Mean It, Barbara ParkFrankenstein (Classic Start), Deanna McFaddenThe Mostly True Story of Jack, Kelly BarnhillSchool of Fear, Gitty DaneshvariA Tale Dark and Grimm, Adam GidwitzThe Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee StewartChasing Vermeer, Blue BalliettThe Crossroads, Chris GranbensteinThe Dark Thirty, Patricia C. McKissackCoraline, Neil GaimanScary Stories to Tell in the Dark,  Alvin SchwartzFile Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents, Lemony SnickettThe Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickhollow Place, Julia BerryDoll Bones, Holly BlackConstable & Toop, Gareth P. JonesThe Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, Sheila TurnageDying to Meet You, Kate KliseSammy Keyes and the Kiss Goodbye, Wandelin Van DraanenThe Thickety, J.A. WhiteLockwood and Co., Jonathan StroudRoald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories, Roald DahlThe Graveyard Book, Neil GaimanUnnatural Creatures, Neil GaimanThere’s Someone Inside Your House, Stephanie PerkinsThe Forest of Hands and Teeth, Carrie RyanA Monster Calls, Patrick NessThe Walls Around Us, Nova Ren SumaThe Coldest Girl in Cold Town, Holly BlackThe Dead House, Dawn KurtagichWilder Girls, Rory PowerSpare and Found Parts, Sarah Maria GriffinShallow Graves, Kali WallaceThe Babysitter’s Coven, Kate Williams

And for your October coffee table:

The Zombie Survival Guide, Max BrooksThe Werewolf’s Guide to Life, Ritch DuncanThe New Vampire’s Handbook, Joe Garden

Movies to Watch (which I have not already or don’t remember well. Also reserve the right to chicken out):

Young FrankensteinClueMary ShelleyZombielandHocus PocusHappy Death Day (maybe not)Death Becomes HerRocky Horror Picture ShowWhat We Do in the ShadowsShawn of the DeadThe Addams FamilyLittle Shop of HorrorsCasperLabyrinthHalloweentownThe Host

Book Review: In the Reign of Terror

I have been really enjoying history, lately. Perhaps it’s my age showing. Perhaps it’s my way of dealing with the overwhelming amount of “history” that’s happening to us right now. It makes me feel like I have more perspective and I also feel like I relate to the people on the pages of history more now than I have before. Since all the novels assigned to my son for the school year are related to his history class—Modern World History—I get to do a middle grades tour de-last-couple-centuries, and I anticipate enjoying it all. The first book was Calico Captive.

[image error]cover image from Books-A-Million

The second book was In the Reign of Terror, by G. A. Henty. The kids are in the midst of reading it, and I just keep blabbing to them about Henty and about Les Misérables. Why? Well, as far as Henty goes, I had never heard of the guy, but I suppose I really should have. His popularity was a little before my time—like the 1890s—but many of his books still stay on middle grades reading lists. And when I say “many of his books,” I mean some of his 122 historical-slash-adventure fiction novels. Woah, nelly! Did you say 122? I did. I keep thinking of them as the Hardy Boys of historical fiction, though each book was a different historical event or time, from the Civil War to ancient Egypt, from freedom-fighting Scotland to—right here at In the Reign of Terror—the French Revolution. Which leads me to the second half of my “why?” Why Les Misérables? Because if pressed to reveal what I knew about the French Revolution before this month, I would have mumbled something like, “Onmyown, lookdownlookdown, onedaymore.” Despite the efforts of history teachers of my past, the most that ever stuck was Les Mis the book, Les Mis the musical, and Les Mis the movies, which means that the Revolution mostly meant romance blossoming out of the danger and sorrow, the downtrodden rising up and sacrificing for freedom!, revenge and forgiveness and basically new beginnings. It was surprising to me, then, to begin reading Reign of Terror.

Reign of Terror is one of Henty’s more enduring titles. I imagine the general make-up is similar to his others. A 1700s English teen, Harry Sandwith, is sent to France to live with a family of French nobility for the edification of the young monsieurs. The Revolution worsens until the house is in disarray, scattered between prison, the countryside (trying to flee the country) and in hiding in the city. Young Harry must do what he can, even risk his own life, to protect the daughters of the house, even if they are the only ones to survive the violence. This perspective—from the standpoint of a friend of nobles and from the angle of mere children—the Revolution doesn’t look quite so shiny anymore. You still see a gaping chasm between the haves and the have-nots, but you also see the executions of the enemies of the people as murders of, in many cases, innocents (including women, children, and clergymen). Jeanne and Virginie are just girls: girls who have now lost everything including their parents and most of their family and who still possess the will to live and to love.

I don’t know about you, but I like when my perspective of history is stood on its head a little bit. Seeing things from different sides lets me know that there is complexity in the issues of today, as well, not to mention that history is so big: it’s impossible to see it all clearly and to evaluate it from some sort of neutral worldview. I assume that I’m wrong about something, about many things, and to have assumed that the people overthrew the monarchy in a blaze of glory without burning some bridges was naïve (although mostly just not something I had thought much about). Considering there are some parallels between the French Revolution and what is happening in our country today (not too much, but some), I found this reading of the Revolution interesting and edifying.

Yes, but what about the book? I can understand why Henty was popular with the lads of his day. The writing is okay, though it is outdated and was difficult for some of my students to read. My vocabulary sheets were like a page long for some chapters. But Henty’s characters are worth knowing and they have all sorts of adventures. On top of that, I’m sure adults were always thrilled to know that a reader of Henty would walk away with capital-K knowledge about an event, a time period, the food, the clothes, the customs, the weaponry, the conveyances, the inside of a lugger… The real point being that among all that learning is tucked fist fights, knife fights, daring escapes, executions, more daring escapes, and even a little romance. And, to top it all off, Harry grows from a boy into a real decent man.

I’m not going to recommend Henty too strongly, because, as I said, it is outdated and of okay writing. But I am tempted to read more of his books, myself. If I was a kid coming across these, I think I would feel the same. It’s like a spoonful of sugar with your medicine and satisfyingly formulaic plotting and characterization all at the same time.

NOTE: I did forget to mention that the cover I have, not an original, is an absolute travesty. It’s horrible. I am tempted to cover it with some brown paper. Harry easily looks to be in his 50s, and that’s just the beginning of it. You’ll know it when you see it. Oh, so bad. The original illustrations inside are fine.

Book Review: Amal Unbound

My twelve-year-old son joined a book club this year. Okay, that’s a bit of a laugh. I forced my son into a book club. Yes, I am the dentist with the kids with bad teeth, or more literally: the writer with a son who can’t stand the sight of the printed word. He is too old to still be a reluctant reader, he is an obstinate one. So, naturally, when a friend approached with a spot in a home school boys’ book club, I accepted for him.

[image error]book cover image from Amazon.com

Running on schedule with the school year (if we can call it that, this year—“schedule” or “school year”), the first book that Eamon read was Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. If you want to see an old review of that book, then go HERE. The second book was Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed. Yes, it is already two months into our school year, and at the rate of a book a month, he’s already read Amal, discussed it, dragged a copy of it out to a park in the middle of a drizzle, and had a book-themed party with a gaggle of other boys (which involved Pakistani candy). When we got home, I asked my son what he thought of the book. (He doesn’t hate stories—he actually likes many stories and he is an auditory learner, so I sometimes let him do books on tape.) Normally a fan exclusively of boys in nature or fantasy, he surprised me when he said he liked the book. What did he like about it? The story, characters, and the language. (!)

Well, butter my biscuits.

I have always tried to read what my kids read. A couple years ago I fell behind on keeping up with my older daughter, but I still read some of what she reads. As for my son, I am still up to date. So, before he finished Amal, I also read it. To be honest, I’m not sure my review is quite as shining as my son’s. Not that it’s bad, either. I guess what I’m saying is I think the book is okay. I understand wanting to recommend it because it’s representative of a population, indentured servants in Pakistan, that you don’t find a dearth of children’s fiction about. In fact, under some circumstances, indentured servants in Pakistan fall into the trafficked people group, and this in an area where I have a lot of passion for exposing, educating, and seeking justice. I should be throwing this book at children, but I just couldn’t get that excited about it.

Why? I’m not exactly sure, but the story, characters, and language all fell flat for me. Again, not bad, but nothing gripping, magical, mysterious, surprising, beautiful, or even charming, quirky, all those adjectives I’m looking for in a book. It does educate while telling a story. It does paint a picture, draw you in, and then go through the stages of a plot. There are good guys and bad guys. Details. I dunno’.

Amal Unbound is a novel, the story of a girl named Amal. Amal is growing up in small town Pakistan, though that’s probably not what one would call it. She has friends, a family she loves, and school. Amal is a natural academic, and she wants to be a teacher one day. Her mother’s post-partum depression and social practices collide, however, forcing the eldest daughter—Amal—to quit school for domestic work. Still, she dreams and studies. But things go from bad to worse, and Amal has a chance encounter with the corrupt landlord which lands her in the clutches of a systemic power, an indentured servant with no chance of paying off her family’s debt. Trapped for life. And still she dreams and studies. There is a bit of a twist at the end, which feels to me like it comes too late to save the story, but it does come. (And it has been argued that this story is too idealistic, which it is, but it’s also a story for middle grades, so…)

Aisha Saeed, the author, is a Pakistani American writer and lawyer. She was inspired by Malala (and other things, I’m sure), the Pakistani activist who champions education for girls and who is the youngest winner of a Nobel Peace Prize. This book shines a light on the need for girls to receive an education as well as a need for people to keep fighting for education for all. Not everybody is handed an education, and there are children worldwide being stripped of the means to carve out a healthy, happy, and free life for themselves.

Sometimes when I am struggling with boldly saying what I want to in a review, I check to see what other people are saying. Amal Unbound is a New York Times bestselling book that consistently garners high reviews. This makes me wonder, what’s wrong with me? It took me less than five reviews to come across a reader who felt exactly as I do. The other reviewer was happy this book existed and that the world “is a better place” with stories like it, but “here’s the catch: Although I can praise the themes all day long, it doesn’t change the fact that the writing is only adequate, the secondary characters two-dimensional, and the events … somewhat dull.” Cristina Monica from Goodreads went on to sum it up: “A character-driven, realistic middle grades story that could have been more engaging, but that managed to bring forward and explore universal themes.” Yep. That’s pretty much what I’ve been saying. It contributes, but it’s not amazing writing. My son enjoyed it. It’s important, so lots of people are reading it.

Keep writing this stuff, people. Keep publishing it. Keep reading it.

Where in the World is the Starving Artist?

I really didn’t think that I would go three weeks without posting a blog post, not any time during this (pandemic) season, anyhow. Alas I did go almost three weeks without posting or even maintaining the blog. What can I say? I was sick. Did I have the Covid? I do not know. I think—by the symptoms—it might have been a bad cold, though I was sick enough to spend a week pretty much in bed and then several more days recovering. I did have a low-grade fever. My school-faring nephew almost certainly gave it to me and my children were both sick and breezed through it. Even though I have asthma, I did not have respiratory issues. “They” advised me not to go get tested unless I couldn’t breathe or had a high fever. I guess we’ll never know.

Where did I disappear after the week/week-and-a-half of staring blankly at Rachael Ray (of all people! I usually don’t watch her. Perhaps this is a symptom we are overlooking.)? To the place where all house-keeping mothers go after they have been sick: buried underneath the pile of dirty laundry, house chores, work, and to-dos that accumulated while you were out of commission. At least my kids manage the dishes and some of the chores at this point, but I also had the blog backing up, a home school class to prep for and teach, a child to be homeschooled… not to mention work: writing and submissions and editing, oh my!

After I was back up to functioning level, which happened slowly and in fits and starts (and was interrupted by a nasty reaction to the flu shot (oh, bother!)) I spent weekend number one checking off the tardy things on my to-do list and continuing to rest (oh, and washing all the linens in sight). I spent weekend number two cleaning the house from top to bottom and batch-cooking. My thought is that this weekend, number three, I can catch up on home school, teaching, and work. That might be too much to ask, but home school is now progressing a little every day, anyway. Or maybe not. I feel like I’m treading water but at least I’m doing it in a clean house.

There really is no point to sharing all this, except that it’s my blog and I thought I might explain myself to someone. I was going to dive right into my review of Amal Unbound but then I was on my third paragraph and I thought, This isn’t much of a review. I’ll review Amal this weekend or, goody-goody, maybe even before. I do have a few books to share with you, though my pace slackened to a full stop during those hours I was slack-jawed, snuggled down in my bed, planning batch cooking with Rachael Ray, my new, totally obnoxious and misunderstood buddy.

Movie Review: Tolkien

I may be a little under the weather. You hate to admit such a thing in a pandemic, because not only is it panic-inducing for you and your loved ones, but it also comes with a certain amount of ostracizing. Rest assured, my children and I—who are very mildly ill (probably a cold)—have cancelled all our (already modest and socially-distanced) plans for the weekend and are getting better already. That said, I managed to get quite a bit of movie viewing and reading done, while I was not cleaning the house or submitting novels (too taxing!) and when I was not slumped up in a bed-blob watching Rachael Ray’s Week in a Day with glassy eyes.

[image error]Cover image from amazon.com

One of the movies I watched was yet another movie about a writer, which means it gets its own blog entry here at The Starving Artist. Tolkien is a movie about—ta da!—J.R.R. Tolkien. I have to admit, I don’t know how it came across my radar because I hadn’t really heard much about it. And when I looked it up? Just articles about it costing twenty million and only raking in nine at the box office and another article about how the Tolkien Legacy Society (that’s not it’s real name, I can’t remember it) does not in any way endorse this movie. So, that’ll make you want to run right out and rent a movie…

But through my curiosity about writers and love of speculative fiction, The Lord of the Rings cycle, and all things British, I pushed the button anyways. (It was free with one of my subscriptions.) And I don’t know what all the fuss was about. It makes me sad that this movie didn’t at least make the twenty million. I mean, it’s not amazingly good, but it’s decent enough that all those crazy, comi-con people should have showed up in droves, no? I mean, I kinda think the investors were banking on all the many loyal fans of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit series to show up. Was it too much to ask then to have some interest in the artist behind the art? Apparently.

Or maybe they got the memo that this was a “based on a true story” account, one that didn’t involve anything but humans and the very real realm of WWI England. Or maybe it was released at the wrong time or during too stiff of a competition, maybe a blockbuster summer week. Whatever. I think the movie is pretty decent. My only complaint is that the on-screen chemistry between Tolkien and Edith isn’t what it could have been, though everyone seemed to be trying hard to make it work, to make it magical. Because of it, the comradery between Tolkien and his friends took front stage instead. That’s okay, since this movie isn’t really a romance at all, though it involves romance. It really is much more about friendship and support and loyalty, and Tolkien’s story is interesting enough to make a viewer want to later pick up a more sanctioned and accurate biography.

There was some beautiful cinematography, some good acting, and fine writing, knit neatly together. My favorite bits were where we could see the magic in the world that Tolkien was seeing in his head. (Magic realism seems to be a movie trend lately, especially in very small doses.) As a writer, I think this is a fair (and even fun) way to portray the writing process. We get ideas from the world around us, sometimes see a story in the mundane. And really, the movie makers were not saying Tolkien had visions, just suggesting that what happened to him would become the stories that we all love and are even instructed by (in the same way that the flash-forwards in Radioactive show us the repercussions of Marie Currie’s work). Not that Tolkien was a typical writer. And I mean that more than that he was to go on and write perhaps the most influential body of work in the speculative fiction genre, stories that would take on a life on their own and inspire lots of art, entertain lots of people, and make lots of money. I mean that he was not a typical writer in his path there and in his process. I already knew, before watching the movie, that Tolkien was more about world-building than in penning a novel. In the movie, it begins with language, which is possibly accurate, I don’t know, though I do know Tolkien was a big language guy. I actually have a writer friend who is like this: he is more intent on rabbiting away decades of files on people who don’t exist, places that don’t exist, a history that didn’t happen, languages, customs… world building for the sake of world building! It’s just a different motivation, a different passion, to that insistent drive to put words on a page until it makes a complete story and then do it again and again. This is what most writers experience. But not really Tolkien, I think. He felt an insistent drive, like my friend, to create a whole world.

I would recommend the movie if you have an interest in Tolkien, language, writing, or all things British. It’s a good shoulder-to-shoulder guys movie, but it is a bit tragic because it’s a war movie. I did want to see more of his later life, but that’s not the story being told here. It’s Tolkien coming of age, with some exaggeration and fantasy mixed in, a little chemistry missing, a lot of religion missing, and a splash of magic.

Book Review: Sit, Walk, Stand

Heads up: this book is meant for Christians. It pertains to that particular faith in an intimate way. You have been warned.

Technically Sit, Walk, Stand is not on my working list of best books, but the author, Watchman Nee, is. I read this book because my pastor preached from it this summer and gave out free copies at a function. (I was virtual, but I managed to snag one later.) He just finished up the series this past Sunday, and I finished the book. Not that it should have taken me that long: it weighs in at a very slim 67 half-sized pages. While only three chapters, it is still a little dense, so I read it along with the sermons. Roughly.

[image error]cover image from goodreads.com

Using the book of Ephesians, Watchman Nee—a revered and fascinating Chinese pastor from the mid-twentieth century (who died in prison for his religious beliefs)—breaks down the oft-confusing idea of both being saved by grace and being asked to lead a righteous life. In concise and straight-forward language punctuated very occasionally by a story, Nee says we are first to rest (sit) in our position in Christ, then as a natural outflowing, walk the kingdom life, and then lastly, to stand in Christ’s name against evil. Walking and standing can only flow out of sitting. One will flow into the other. All of them are powered by God and have their end in His glory.

Most of what Nee says is just a nice break-down that a majority of Christians will agree with, theologically. There are a few moments, a few points, however, when there is some question as to whether or not he is theologically correct, at least in the view of some people. I had question marks and “hmm”s in the margin only a few times. Overall, though, this is the sort of book I will be returning to to review, because it is a wonderful, little, practical book about the Christian life. It is riddled with nuggets of wisdom, with quotes and stories that I am sure I have heard from other pulpits before, and with an earnest and concerned voice. It is also, as many good religious books are, a tall order. If you want to let this book change your life, you’re going to have to make big sacrifices to gain it all, which is a big part of the Christian faith. Nee supposes that a Christian can go through their earthly life without properly sitting, walking, and standing, but what is to be gained is far too important to let that happen.

I saw a reviewer suggest this book for new Christians. I think that is a great idea since it deals directly with building a faith from the first moments, up. I also think it’s about time for any Christian to realize they’ve stood the Christian life on its head and go about turning it back around again. It might come as a shock, as a struggle, but there are some important and beautiful truths here.

I would recommend this book for Christians of all stripes. It is a quick read, one that could sit on your bedside table for a few weeks, with the potential to change your life. It’s wisdom literature, and you’d do well to tack a few of his quotes up on your bathroom mirror.

QUOTES

“…it is only by placing our entire emphasis there that we can hope to realize the divine purpose for us, which is that ‘we should be unto the praise of His glory’” (pix).

“…every Christian must begin his spiritual life from that place of rest” (pxi).

“Most Christians make the mistake of trying to walk in order to be able to sit, but that is a reversal of the true order” (p2).

“But Christianity is a queer business! If at the outset we try to do anything,we get nothing; if we seek to attain something, we miss everything” (p2).

“Our key word here is not of course, in its context, a command to ‘sit down’ but to see ourselves as ‘seated’ in Christ” (p5).

“What, then, is God’s basis for the outpouring of the Spirit? It is the exhalation of the Lord Jesus” (p6).

“Have you ever tried to save a drowning man? The trouble is that his fear prevents him trusting himself to you” (p11).

“…it was his sorrow that in the elder son he found no such applicant” (p13).

“If you leave all the giving and all the working to God, do you think the result will be less satisfactory than if you do some of it?” (p13).

“Nothing has done greater damage to our Christian testimony than our trying to be right and demanding right of others” (p20).

“My life is to be governed by the principle of the Cross and of the perfection of the Father” (p20).

“’If we only try to do the right thing, surely we are very poor Christians. We have to do something more than what is right’” (p21).

“We have nothing to stand for, nothing to ask or demand. We have only to give” (p21).

“How does my wristwatch go? By moving first, or by being moved? Of course it goes because first it is moved by a power outside itself” (p23).

“You were surely not wrong in seeking love from God? No, but you were wrong in seeking that love as something in itself, a kind of package commodity, when what God desires is to express through you the love of His Son. / God has given us Christ. There is nothing now for us to receive outside of Him” (p25).

“…things! Held by us out of relation to Christ they are dead” (p26).

“Our holiness will therefore by spelled with a capital H, our love with a capital L” (p26).

“The all important rule is not to ‘try’ but to ‘trust’” (p27).

“Nothing is so hurtful to the life of a Christian as acting; nothing so lessed as when our outward efforts cease and our attitudes become natural…” (p28).

“Praise God, His life is as mighty as ever, and in the lives of those who dare to believe…” (p28),

“God does not command what He will not perform; but we must throw ourselves back on Him for the performance” (p29).

“…it is not a question of what we will get out of it. It is a question of what the Lord must have now” (p38).

“…we fight from victory” (p43).

“If we believe the Lord, we shall not pray so much but rather we shall praise Him more” (p45).

“It is clear they do nothing of themselves. They use the Name” (p50).

“The end is the preeminence of the Son of God, and evangelism is bringing in the sons among whom He shall stand preeminent” (p54).

“God’s name can never be a ‘rubber stamp’ to authorize work that is ours in conception” (p55).

“We have to learn that if God does not move we dare not move” (p55).

“…naturally gifted though we may be, we dare not speak, except in conscious and continual dependence on Him” (p56).

“Somehow, in our history with God, we must experience that initial crippling touch of His hand to weaken our natural strength, so that we stand forth on the ground of resurrection life in Christ alone…” (p57).

“God never asks us to do anything we can do” (p58).

Movie Review: How to Build a Girl

Once again, I must begin by explaining that I veer regularly toward all things British. I have some YA Brit comedies in my cupboard, ala Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging. So when How to Build a Girl showed up in my previews, I immediately put it on my to-watch list. Though it is based on a book, I decided I didn’t, in this case, need to read the book and I delved right in, one night, with a whopping $4 rental.

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Let me first tell you what it is about. Based very loosely on author Caitlin Moran’s life (though she claims it to be fiction), we meet Johanna, a helplessly optimistic, starry-eyed, smart, well-read, and nerdy highschooler who wants desperately to escape her dysfunctional, poor household in her working-class town and become a writer with a big life. She loves her quirky family, but some things have fallen apart over the years and she no longer feels parented. Her best friend is her brother, Krissi, and with a little nudge from his fanzine, she stumbles into a job as a critic for a music magazine. Though she has relentless issues with being taken serious—as a sixteen-year-old, overweight, awkward, and bubbly girl—and is perpetually bullied, she uses humor and talent to remake her image and rocket herself toward rent, stardom, and the fast life. The fast life takes its toll quickly and Johanna must confront who she has become to get her where she now is and is headed.

See? Sounds kinda interesting, though maybe already done, like in Almost Famous. (That was a good movie, wasn’t it? I watched it such a long time ago.) It doesn’t feel already done when you’re watching it, because Johanna is such a quirky character and well acted, she just splashes out all over the screen. And there are little things, like how she has no friends but the photos of famous people from Emily and Charlotte Bronte to Sylvia Plath and Sigmund Freud on her bedroom wall speak to her when she needs advice. The camera occasionally tilts or skews. Reality and fantasy blur now and again. The soundtrack swings from Annie’s “Tomorrow” to Salt ‘n’ Pepa to the Pretenders. Johanna’s fiery, red hair and outlandish outfits seem to fill the entire screen. It has it’s uniqueness. Also, the love interest—Alfie Allen—is so very charming and believable. But speaking of love, this movie is largely about sexual awakening and for me, it crossed way over the line into crass. I mean, it kind of makes sense that if you have no boyfriend and you are suddenly famous at sixteen, you might have some abnormal sexual experimentation, but Johanna is just gagging for it from the first scenes and it never quits. While I sort of appreciate taking some of the sexual initiative out of the male camp and into the female, because that’s real, especially in the current first world, it was a sad, dangerous way to go about it and it was way overkill on the screen. (It’s rated R for swearing and for a number of sex scenes which largely come in quick succession.) The crassness didn’t make sense to me, anyway, given her personality, heroes, and family.

As for this movie being about a writer (and therefore warranting a review on The Starving Artist), it falls into line with every other movie about a writer I have ever seen: success comes way too easy. I mean, the whole story takes place while Johanna’s baby siblings don’t even age—she stays sixteen through the whole thing—and while you often wonder will she?, she always does. Like all the other writer movies. While this makes for an interesting—and somewhat true story—it leaves me still waiting for art about what it’s actually like to be most artists: the slog, the dedication, the many hats, the relentless rejection…

With mostly positive reviews from critics, I would have been much more into it without the crassness (and, let’s be honest, the inappropriateness of her age and the many adults who take advantage of her). As it is, I just can’t recommend it for actual teenagers, though the ending is really thoughtful, something you don’t often see in stories. An oft-forgotten moral (besides “be true to yourself,” which we always knew was coming). I like the ending.

Media in Review: August 2020

FORREST GUMP

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I forgot this one, last month. I believe we chose it because it was literally the first title on the Best Movies and Shows list. Also, my daughter had already seen it and wanted to watch it again. We have it in the house, too. So we stuck it in and watched. If you’ve never seen this movie, it is a classic, for sure. (And with limited special effects, if has aged well, though my children marveled at the execution of those “old” special effects.) Forrest Gump is the story of a boy on his life’s journey. Forrest is special—he has a learning disability as well as something wrong with his legs—and it’s just him and his mom in a small, Southern town. Starring Tom Hanks, Sally Field, Robin Wright, and Gary Sinise (plus), the story’s backbone is the empathetic characters, the historical moments, and the almost-fantastical life that Forrest leads. The real win is not the story, though it is compelling in the normal ways: a boy grows up, is made fun of, falls in love, goes to war, tries to make his way in the world. The real win is, like I said, the juxtaposition of this charming young man and his difficulties, of the tumultuous historical events of 1950s-1980s American history against the romance and adventures of Forrest Gump. In a way, we’re also watching the history of how “different” people have been treated. I love Forrest Gump. Watching it with a tween, I had a lot of pausing and explaining to do (mostly because of the casual historical references), as well a little bit of skipping inappropriate scenes (sex and drugs). Still, I think that with its morals (some said, some just felt) and its romp through history, it was worth it. As for adults, I would recommend this movie to pretty much anyone.

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GIRL MOST LIKELY

(After writing the review below, I realized I already did a review way back in 2014, which I should have realized because it’s about a writer. Oops. Don’t fret: my impression was pretty much the same.)

This movie has been on my Amazon list for years. I was looking for something cheap recently, and bought it. On an evening when I was feeling blue and willing to kick my kids out of the family room, I watched it. I suppose I like this movie for two major reasons: it is about a writer, and that writer showed lots of promise when she was young, creating a precarious situation for an actual career. I am a writer. I was often praised and singled out for my talents when I was young, making anything less than the Pulitzer a little bit like failure. Disappointing. Now, if you are not a writer struggling to live up to that potential, you won’t relate as much to this movie, but you might, still. I mean, we all had dreams that just don’t pan out in adulthood. And the story isn’t so simple. Girl Most Likely has some charms, including its quirk. Quirky characters. Quirky turns of events. It’s not perfect, and the romance is both obvious and a little forced, but overall it’s a great one to pull from the vault for date night.

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FOOD SHOWS

Well, I had little bits and pieces to watch of a lot of food shows, this month. I mean, I often end the day with an episode or two of one, so I can cover a lot of ground in a month.

Taco Chronicles would be fine, but it’s distractingly different. It has the narration, the history, the culture, the beautiful and exciting food, the personalities (but no host), but it’s also awkwardly strange. Narrated by the tacos themselves who give enormously hyperbolic asides (like tacos are the one thing that will be there when all else fails or that tacos can make everything better) in an often sexy tone, it left me wondering if I was missing some enjoyment by not being Mexican. Does that intrigue you? I dare you to try it.

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The Chef Show was almost equally as strange and disconcerting, but in a totally different way. You have the host—Jon Favreau, who played a chef in 2014’s Chef—and you have the high-profile guests and restaurants, and you have the food… But there is absolutely NO narration or asides or captions or anything except for these random Wes Anderson-like animations of a food truck barreling through the countryside and IKEA-like labeled food flying around inside. I can’t help but think it’s so pared down that it’s distracting and moorless. Not a fan.

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Ultimate Summer Cook-off, on the other hand, is completely predictable and canned. That doesn’t make it bad, though, and if you enjoy typical cook-off or bake-off shows, this one is going to be right up your alley. Hosted by Eddie Jackson, it’s four longish episodes where the eight(?) contestants compete for advantages and to avoid periodic elimination, in an outdoor setting in summer-themed challenges (such as six-foot lobster rolls and unexpected, loaded hot dogs). There was only one season, in 2018, which ended in a $25,000 prize and is strange to me because Food Network is really big on repeating seasonal specials over and over (like Spring Baking Championship or Halloween Wars). I wish they had repeated this one, because it works and Eddie Jackson is a very anchoring host.

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I watched a newer season of this Britain’s Best Home Cook, since it’s one of those that I wait for the next season, catch up, and wait again. It’s no secret that I love British cooking shows, largely because of how nice and encouraging they all are. (Also because of the Anglophile thing.) I just love these people: the host, the judges, the cooks… Pretty much your typical (nice) cooking competition, this one is meant for home cooks, and I really wished I lived in England so I could go on this show (and for many other reasons). (Our amateur cooking competitions are so very, very brutal, but more on that in a minute.) Sweet and full of delicious-looking food, this is one I’ll be watching every time a new season comes out. Because I like food competitions and I like leaders who lead with compassion.

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Cake Wars is a Food Network standard. There are a bunch of seasons and I realized I had missed one of the seasons. (Not that I couldn’t watch some of these over, because—crazy me—I can seldom recall who won each episode and the twists and turns to get there.) Anyhow, I enjoy seeing the flavor combinations and the techniques used to make gigantic, flashy cakes for major functions. By now, some of these people don’t really belong at this high level of competition, but I can still be inspired by watching. What doesn’t inspire me on this particular series is the judges. They’re just unnecessarily mean and horrible at acting, especially Waylynn Lucas (and also Richard Ruskell). The shtick is painful and Lucas’ eyes seem permanently glued up into a roll, her face perpetually frowning at some imminent baking disaster that she’s predicting. She holds zero charm for me (or for my husband. We balk at her witchy ways).

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Next month I will tell you how I got hooked into a series I have avoided like the plague for years: MasterChef. But right now I will tell you how I started my descent into the universe: MasterChef Junior. I mean, I thought, how mean could they possibly be to kids? And I was basically right. The infamous MasterChef judges—Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich, and Graham Elliott—are much gentler with the kids who come to compete on their reality TV competition. It has a similar setup to the uber-famous MasterChef, which is pretty much like every other reality TV (food) competition (except, for some unknown reason, paced way slower than any other TV competition), but they don’t murder any contestants with cruelty because they’re all under age 16. They are a little mean (okay, and occasionally brutal), but mostly they are encouraging to the nuggets, who range from innocent and cute to strangely prodigious. It makes you wonder how much the competitors are coached and staged, as well as how much the drama and plot are scripted, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the answer is “a lot,” but it was still pretty interesting to watch. Honestly, if they just let a bunch of kids cook un-coached, it wouldn’t have been my thing because I, as always, am here for the food. I could do with a faster-paced show with less scripting, however.

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PARASITE

This movie was a big winner at the Oscars this past year. The first time a Korean movie had serious Oscar buzz, everyone was talking about and paying attention to it. It took home ALL the big awards, but I was personally still confused about what this movie was. Could a subtitled movie be so popular? (Yes.) Was it a horror movie? I mean, the name is Parasite. (No.) Did I actually hear someone refer to it as a comedy? (Yes, but a really dark comedy and no LOLing.) So I wasn’t sure what sort of mood to be in when I watched it, but I was certain that I was curious enough to watch it. So one night when Kevin and I were home and both awake, we turned it on. Whew! It’s, um, quite a movie. I really don’t know about all the awards that it received—it doesn’t seem that good—but it was worth watching, once. My main issue with it was its lack of flavor (which is funny, considering I couldn’t get anyone to hone in on a genre, type, or even sentence about it beforehand). There were times when you thought you were warming up for a flavor, like it was about to become scary or creepy or quirky or funny, and then it totally didn’t stay there. It has a real identity crisis, as far as I am concerned. But it was also suspenseful and thought-provoking and most definitely had some memorable moments. However, I left lamenting that those moments weren’t made more special by the movie picking a flavor and really going for it. There is some violence, some sex, tons of awkwardness (on purpose), things to discuss, culture to learn, and plenty to despise in these characters (both protagonists and antagonists). Just to help you out, it’s a drama with some dark comedy and creep factor. It’s about a Korean family who lives in a flooding basement apartment and are looking for better work when one of them stumbles on a gig in a high-society home. Deliberately, they each hide their identity and get jobs in the same home, living it up and throwing caution to the wind, creating some serious tension and face palms throughout this disaster-riddled plot. Now, was that so hard?

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DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD

My daughter is a teenager. When she was little, her favorite show and character was Dora! She loved Dora, had Dora everything, and our house often rang with the Dora theme song. We visited Dora at theme parks (to disappointing results) and clad the child in Dora merchandise day and night. So when this “real-skin” family movie showed up in the “coming soons,” we knew it would be a family movie night selection. I mean, it was really built for these now-older Dora fans, right? And their nostalgic families? Perhaps. It turned out to be a mediocre movie which is a good family night pick. The only thing remarkable about it is that Isabella Merced actually pulls off a live-action, teen portrayal of the syrupy, wide-eyed Dora. For reals, ya’ll. I was like how is she doing this? And how did they find the one person who could? Most of the rest of it was canned, predictable, and okay which is disappointing because it was only a few tweaks off from being much better. But if you are as nostalgic about Dora as we are or you have grandkids who haven’t seen it yet, this is a cute, family movie.

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EDWARD SCISSORHANDS

For our next family movie night, we went with a tried and true movie, Edward Scissorhands. It was a surprisingly easy sell to our tween/teens, who were told that Jack Sparrow and Joyce Byers were the stars. They maybe didn’t realize how young Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder were going to be in the film. I don’t recall if they knew it was a Tim Burton film ahead of time. Anyhow, they really enjoyed it. I did, too, of course. I am a huge Tim Burton fan and I have long loved this movie and almost everything else he’s ever made. Edward Scissorhands is a classic and it has aged well (though a couple special effects are now laughable). It’s quirky and has an ominous feel, everything about it like Tim Burton meets the Stepford Wives. But while you may find the ending a little short of perfect (and cheesy), the whole movie is feel-good and entertaining. Johnny Depp really pulls off the completely odd homunculus (maybe?) Edward, and Diane Wiest (I always thought it was West) is a pitch-perfect, naive and innocent suburban mom. Burton manages to create a time reminiscent of every time period in the many “golden” eras of the last century and you do what moviegoers do best: cringe as you wait for the cinematic ax to fall on a character that you have grown to love in the last cinematic-bubblegum-filled hour. (Warning: there is a character that adds a sexy-housewife dimension to the movie and this creates a couple of really awkward sexy (but not sex) scenes. Like uncomfortable for watching with your kids.) I think we might go this route for Halloween this year (assuming Halloween is on during a pandemic).

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JUMANJI: NEXT LEVEL

For our final family movie night of the month, I talked my family into Jumanji: The Next Level. The reasons I had to talk them into it is that one of them had seen it once and another, multiple times, but I hadn’t yet. We are Jumanji franchise fans. We love Jumanji and Zathura, and we were also pleasantly surprised by how much we liked Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which was a modern take on the old Jumanji but with video games and a much flashier touch. I was probably expecting too much when we turned on Next Level–the part two of Welcome to the Jungle–but it didn’t matter. I loved this movie. Mainly just a really predictable plot with overdone genre references, it was SO FUNNY. So funny. I haven’t laughed this much at a movie in a long time. And while I know no one’s getting an Oscar for this performance, the acting was really fun to watch. It was just good, clean fun and I highly recommend it (and all the other related movies) for families and even for a lighthearted movie-going experience without kids, especially if you need a good laugh during all the current stress.