It's Either Sadness or Euphoria...

"American Idol" Recap: If It's a Singing Competition, Why is There No Freaking Singing?

2012-02-09T18:37:00.001-08:00

Dear Nigel Lythgoe,

I realize you're trying to ratchet up the drama for Season 11, but there was NOT ONE PERFORMANCE DURING THE ENTIRE HOUR of tonight's show. I loved the montage of previous group meltdowns, complete with glimpses of Gina Glocksen, the Kristen McNamara/Nathaniel Marshall feud, Tatiana Del Toro's emotional breakdown, and of course, the beloved Brittenum twins ("I don't do groups!"), but an hour of people trying to find groups and fighting about songs and harmonies and sleeping and sickness without any songs being performed is just crap. Seriously.

Ahem.

So at the end of yesterday's Hollywood Week episode, what Ryan "I Wanna Be Matt Lauer" Seacrest called "the most intense, stressful, punishing night of the contestants' lives," young Symone Zaire Black fainted after singing (quite well, I might add) and fell off the stage.

As the crew and medical staff tended to Symone, J.Lo needed to make it all about her. "Poor baby," she said. "I was going to say that was one of the prettiest sounds I heard all day." (It's not you, J.Lo, it's her.)

But then it was clear what it was all about: product placement. "Anyone got a Coke for her?," the medic asked. Luckily, it appeared Symone wasn't hurt too badly and was dehydrated, so she needed to go to the hospital with her "stage dad," but not before learning she made it through to the next round.

Also waiting for decisions from the last episode were Lauren Mink (of the key changes during Heart's Alone) and Jeremy Rosado, as well as Ethan Jones, whom we met in St. Louis, and learned his father went to rehab for drug and alcohol addiction. But we didn't hear Ethan sing a note, which didn't bode well.

Jeremy made it through ("along with Nico Starr"); Lauren and Ethan did not. All told, 185 contestants were left.

Producer Ken Warwick put the contestants through their paces as they got started with group numbers. They allegedly had 20 songs to choose from (including Duffy's Mercy, Sugarland's Stuck Like Glue, Joy to the World (no, not the Christmas song), More Than a Feeling, Somebody to Love and a popular favorite this year—and a song sang during Season 4's group night, Blu Cantrell's Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops)). The twists this year? Groups could only be 4 or 5 members and had to be a mix of contestants from Day 1 and Day 2, which of course led to endless minutes of people wandering around saying "Day 1?" "Are you Day 2?"

Having difficulty finding a group are police officer Alisha Bernhardt (mainly because she's a pushy b*tch) and Savannah auditioner Amy Brunfield, who lives in a tent in the woods, and is now suffering from the flu, so no one wants her in her group. Alisha recruits Amy and Dustin Cundiff and needs to find one other person, but her refusal to sing anything other than Joy to the World or Stuck Like Glue leads her group to get poached by Jackie Serra and Matheny Trico, who want to sing More Than a Feeling. (But Amy has to promise not to get Jackie sick.)

Heejun Han, Philip Phillips and Jayron Jackson have formed a group called "MIT" (Most International Team), and then agree to bring in cowboy Richie Law. Season 10 Hollywood Week contestant Brielle Von Hugel (whose group member was the woefully underappreciated Pia Toscano last year) is back, bossing around her group members, including Kyle Cruz, who was apparently told by the judges during his audition he had one of the best voices they'd ever heard. (Not that we heard it, of course.)

Brielle's mother watched from the sidelines, acknowledging her daughter's shortcomings ("she's bossy") but, as any good stage mother will, also casts aspersions on Kyle Cruz's voice. ("I don't want to say he doesn't have a good voice, but...")

Symone returns from the hospital with her father, George, who tells the camera, "I'm not a stage dad. I'm just a father trying to help his daughter achieve her dreams. I'm a mentor...and I want to be a famous mentor." (Gee, I was convinced, weren't you?) Luckily, four girls quickly welcome Symone into their group, and after a slightly creepy "secret huddle" of George and Symone's group members, he leaves his daughter to rehearse.

I can't tell you how much I love watching people throw up or talk about throwing up on television. There's no better way to spend an hour, you know?

Meanwhile, there's trouble with group MIT. Apparently cowboy Richie Law is trying to ensure his group's performance is interesting, so he wants the group to learn choreography(!) and harmonies(!) that the others are struggling with, especially Heejun.

"I don't know how they do it in cowboy town," he says. "Phil had a kidney stone before, and cowboy had a...brain stone." He says he doesn't have a good feeling about the group's chances (although he doesn't appear to be offering any suggestions), and then he said, "Now I have a bad perspective towards cowboys. Even the Dallas Cowboys." Oh, that Heejun.

All-female group The Bettys is melting down, what with one sick group member, one whose voice doesn't do well when she stays up late, and another who just wants to go to bed, leaving poor Jennifer to cry and lament on her own, until Brianna Bell tearfully returns and exclaims, "I'm not leaving you!" (Part of me was waiting for Jennifer Hudson's And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going to play in the background, but maybe that's too much synergy for the producers.)

And then it's performance time. Some groups are ready; some, like The Bettys, who are first up, aren't quite there. And just as they start to sing...The. Episode. Ends.

Next week: More contestants collapse under the pressure of Hollywood Week. (Nigel, injuries work during So You Think You Can Dance. Collapsing just isn't that sexy.)

And it looks like we get the whole finalists-in-different-hotel-rooms scenario again, too. I can't wait.

Until next week!

"American Idol" Recap: (Fallin' off) The Front of the Stage...

2012-02-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know, I shouldn't make fun of "the most shocking thing ever to happen in Hollywood week," but I felt the way the producers teased this was truly more shocking than most of this episode.

But more on the fallin' (and yes, there's some Alicia Keys for you, too) later. It's Hollywood Week, y'all!

Can someone please watch the opening animation on the next episode frame by frame and tell me if they show Taylor Hicks' picture along with the other winners? I see Kelly, Ruben, Fantasia, Carrie, Jordin, David, Kris, Lee, and "The Body," but I swear I didn't see Taylor. Hmm.

As we watch footage of contestants being awoken from their beds to head to Hollywood (some have never even been on a flying machine before), we learn that 309 of "the nation's elite" will try their luck to become ~~Nigel Lythgoe's~~ America's chosen one. Like he does every year, Ryan "It's Not Time for the Suit Just Yet" Seacrest explains that the group will be divided in half, and for many, today is the first—and last—day in Hollywood.

The judges gather to share words of wisdom with the contestants, and Steven is ready with the crazy first thing in the morning, giving us his best Wizard of Oz:

What makes the dawn rise with thunder,
What makes the Sphinx the seventh wonder?
Courage!
What makes the hottentot so hot?
Who put the "ape" in apricot?
What have they got that I ain't got?
COURAGE!

Jennifer, all librarian hair and scads of purple eyeshadow, went the Paula Abdul route, telling the contestants not to let their nerves get the best of them and that she loves them. (Boy, I'm already really cynical.) And the Dawg, unable to be anything but the Dawg, simply yells, "Season 11 is ON!" (Truly the articulate one, no?)

Note to the producers: The little "record" sign in the corner of the screen sometimes doesn't fool me into thinking someone recorded the segment on their iPhone or Flip camera. Just thought you should know...

First up to sing for his life, Johnny Keyser from the St. Louis auditions. Johnny Keyser during whose audition Jennifer couldn't stop shouting "You're a star!" and "I love you!" Johnny Keyser who already believes he's head and shoulders above everyone else out there. (I can tell by the cocky half-grin. Trust me, the non-confident can smell the overly confident a mile away.)

He chooses to sing Dreamin' by Amos Lee (great song choice) much in the style of his audition, with more vocal gymnastics than Nastia Liukin and both Hamm twins could throw into a floor routine. I think if Kara DioGuardi hadn't gotten so much heat for objectifying Casey James in Season 9, J.Lo would totally have Johnny take off his shirt. But instead she just kept yelling "Johnny" and "We love Johnny" while he was singing. Way to keep him humble.

Johnny Bravado (I'm totally trademarking that if he makes it into the finals, so back off, Michael Slezak) was juxtaposed with the non-confident Heejun Han, who shared that he was overwhelmed by how beautiful and tall everyone else was. "Even the guys are beautiful," he self-deprecatingly commented. "What do they eat?"

Heejun trotted out his audition song, Michael Bolton's(!) How Am I Supposed to Live Without You. I like the tone of his voice, although I think he strained a bit, but the judges were impressed.

Both Johnny and Heejun, along with nameless others, made it through.

We then were treated to a quick montage of three other successful contestants: Elise Testone, with a bluesy, scratchy (in a good way) version of Jamiroquai's Virtual Insanity; Season 6 returnee Baylie Brown, who sounded somewhat beautiful and somewhat unremarkable; and Hallie Day, with the old chestnut, Natural Woman.

Next up was Galveston auditioner Jen Hirsh, who needed to overcome her fidgety nervousness. She sang Patty Griffin's Up to the Mountain, which would have been Crystal Bowersox's first single had she ~~not been sacrificed~~ not lost to Lee Dewyze. Jen sounded great, and I hope we'll see more of her.

Lauren Gray brought lots of raspy soul to her song (One and Only, same as her audition), and got so into her performance that Randy had to wave for a minute or two before she noticed he wanted her to stop. (No, Randy, you're not irrelevant. Not at all...) Both Jen and Lauren made it through.

After a montage of unsuccessful auditions from Heather Youmans, Sascha Julian, and Candice Russell, complete with lots of begging for second chances, Steven went backstage to give the contestants a pep talk. He said he wanted to see "snapping, yelling, and freaking out."

That auspicious intro led us to Phil Phillips, whom we first met in Savannah. (Never flown on plane except to jump out of it, folks.) Phil, of the super-cool acoustic Thriller audition, had to be onstage without his guitar. Would he survive? Nearly miming playing the guitar, he sang an interesting rendition of Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, which left the judges a little perplexed.

Next up, Pittsburgh auditioner Reed Grimm, who has been onstage since he was two. He ~~destroyed~~ sang I've Got a Golden Ticket from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, throwing in lots of scatting and hammy playing to the audience. ("I've got a golden ticket...and so do all of us here!") There's always one over-the-top contestant I hate (cough, Jacob Lusk, cough) every season. It will be interesting to see if this season's model is Reed Grimm or Johnny Bravado.

Travis Orlando, who was cut during Round 1 of Hollywood week last season, feels he knows what he needs to do now. Plus, his mother walked out on their family. He sang All I Do, and although I thought vocally it was better than the overdone auditions of several others, the judges chose to send Travis back to reality again. Poor kid.

Apparently we also said goodbye to "early favorites" Ramiro Garcia, Wolf Hamlin, and Jenni Schick. Sixty-eight people were cut the first day.

Leading off Day 2 was Adam Brock, who belted Stormy Weather during his Pittsburgh audition, and told the camera that there is a large black woman inside of him. He lamented about being away from his baby daughter for possibly a long while, but knew it was for the good of all of them, blah blah blah. He chose to sing Walking in Memphis, because Jennifer said during his audition that his voice reminded him of Marc Cohn's. I thought he oversang it—a lot—but he has a great voice, so, we'll see.

Mr. Popper's Daughter (aka Jane Carrey) was up next. She did some overconfident prattling before her performance, which you knew spelled doom or you've never watched a Hollywood episode before. Her quirky rendition of CCR's Looking out My Back Door wasn't overly impressive (it ended with a "squee" I thought at first was microphone reverb), and she was sent packing. But she got a pep talk from Dad, apparently, so it wasn't all bad.

The very tall (and young) Shannon Magrane sang a robust version of Fallin', and she reminds me of Ayla Brown from Season 5. Maybe because they were both tall. Whatever.

David Leathers, Jr., whom we all loved in Savannah, is apparently quite the ladies' man, despite the fact that his voice hasn't changed yet and the producers thought he needed subtitles at one point. He sang Celine Dion's Because You Loved Me, and hit a lot of impressive notes, but what happens when his voice gets all Peter Brady in A Time to Change?

(Believe me, I've been there. When I was 11 and in a summer camp performance of The Sound of Music, I had a higher voice than the girl who played Liesl, and I had to sing some of her high notes. Now she performs on Broadway and I'm here recapping television shows. Yeah, life's fair.)

Jessica Phillips, who auditioned in Portland and shared the story of her fiancé, Angelo, who suffered a stroke, sang All The Man I Need, quite well, as Angelo watched from the audience. Shannon, David, and Jessica all made it through, along with Angie Zeiderman and "NBA cheerleader" Brittany Kerr, who apparently didn't even merit a montage.

Also making it through were "mobile DJ" Erika Van Pelt, who has a great bluesy voice; Creighton Fraker (awesome name but ditch the hat), who sang Queen's Somebody to Love; and Aaron Marcellus, who boasted, "this is for Jennifer and the ladies," and then sang (I think) Barbra Streisand's Starting Here, Starting Now. (I don't know because he caterwauled without a lyric through the middle portion of the clip we saw.)

Lauren Mink, who runs a program for adults with disabilities, was in the last group. She appears to be the rare contestant who feels blessed no matter what happens, and sang Heart's Alone, but apparently changed keys several times. Self-proclaimed germophobe Jeremy Rosado told J. Lo she was breathtaking and then sang Superstar a little too breathlessly for my taste, as was his continuous patter with the judges. (Although apparently it gave J.Lo goosebumps, or she was checking her self-tanner.)

Our final performer of the night was 16-year-old Symone Zaire Black, she of the afore-mentioned rendition of (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay. She has a terrific voice and great stage presence. After singing, while answering a question from the judges, she somehow tripped and fell off the stage, hitting her head. And then the credits rolled.

Will Symone be ok? Will there be drama when the contestants start the group numbers? Will J.Lo cry?

I'll say yes to all three. Back at you tomorrow with another recap!

Book Review: "What It Was" by George Pelecanos

2012-02-08T18:33:00.001-08:00

George Pelecanos, you are easily one of my most favorite crime writers around. I seriously don't understand why you aren't more of a household name given how talented you are. Your ability to evoke a specific time and place, to create tremendously memorable characters set you apart from so many of your peers, and I've found myself getting attached to a number of your protagonists over the years. Just promise me you'll continue writing this type of book, because you're at your best when the action crackles and some of your characters are up to no good.

It's 1972 in Washington, D.C. The city is finally getting settled again after the riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King. Derek Strange has recently set up shop as a private investigator after leaving the police force, and he is hired by a young woman to find a piece of costume jewelry she claims has sentimental value. His investigation connects him with a former police colleague, Frank "Hound Dog" Vaughn, who is looking into the brazen murder of a local drug addict. They both discover they're looking for the same person, "Red Fury" Jones, so named because of his hair color and the make of getaway car his girlfriend, who runs a house of prostitution, drives. As Red becomes bolder and bolder, his crime spree leads Vaughn and Strange across the entire city and brings them into contact with the Baltimore organized crime syndicate. Red knows how it all will end, and he doesn't care, but Vaughn is determined to nab his suspect, and Strange wants to get to the bottom of his own case, and determine why the missing ring is so important to his client.

What It Was is a great example of George Pelecanos' writing at its best. He draws you right into the plot and gets you completely acclimated into 1970s-era Washington—the clothes, the cars, the lawlessness, and the still-slightly-uneasy relationship between the races. While there's not a tremendous amount of suspense in the book, the action and the many layers of plot he has created keep you plowing through the chapters. Honestly, if there's anything wrong with this book, it's that at 246 pages, it's a little too short. But it's great to get a glimpse of a younger Derek Strange, who was the main character in a number of Pelecanos' earlier books. This is a great addition to his already impressive roster of books. And if you've never read anything by Pelecanos before, and you're a fan of crime thrillers, get going. Pick one up now. Trust me.

"I also believe in dance..."

2012-02-08T05:15:00.000-08:00

Last week, I wrote about how a group called One Million Moms was calling for JC Penney to fire Ellen DeGeneres as its spokesperson because she was gay and didn't reflect the "values of the traditional JC Penney customer."

Happily, JC Penney stuck by their guns and refused to give in to the pressure of hate-filled people demanding a homogeneous world under the guise of protecting so-called traditional families.

And in a clip which will air on her show today, Ellen addressed her critics in a way that only she can. She said, "I usually don't talk about stuff like this on my show, but I really want to thank everyone who is supporting me. Here are the values I stand for. I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you'd want to be treated and helping those in need.To me, those are traditional values. That's what I stand for…I also believe in dance."

Here's the clip:

So now I may be a little psyched for this movie...

2012-02-08T04:47:00.000-08:00

Like many people, I didn't think it was necessary to reboot the Spider-Man franchise so soon. I liked Tobey Maguire's performances and Sam Raimi's take on the films.

But the truth is, I am an Andrew Garfield fan (although I do think his performances tend to be slightly mopey), and as I've mentioned about a thousand times, I love Emma Stone.

Watch the official trailer below and make your own judgment. All I know is, this is going to be a good year for movies just considering three that are coming out—The Hunger Games, The Avengers and now, this one.

Book Review: "Wild Abandon" by Joe Dunthorne

2012-02-06T17:18:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you read a book and once you've finished it, you know right away whether or not you liked it. And then there are times when you finish a book and you have no idea what to make of it. Joe Dunthorne's Wild Abandon is definitely a book that falls into the latter category for me. Pieces of the story I really loved, but sadly Dunthorne took the story into some really strange places, which definitely tempered my feelings overall.

Freya and Don Riley have lived in a commune-type community in the English countryside for many years, since they co-founded "the community" with two other friends. Their two children, Kate and Albert, have been raised living the philosophies their parents have instilled in all residents. But things are starting to change. The community is on a decline, down to a skeleton crew. Kate has enrolled in school for the first time and is hoping to get into college, and she has come into contact with "regular" students and cafeteria food for the first time. Albert has fallen under the influence of another resident's end-of-the-world philosophies. And Freya is tired of it all, especially her husband. Wild Abandon follows the Rileys and their friends through all of the changes and the chaos that results.

At its heart, this is a book about change—how we need it, how we crave it, but how we resist it at every turn. Dunthorne has created some very dynamic characters, but in an effort to give each flaws, he sacrifices their appeal. While the characters may exhibit behaviors you might expect from individuals who haved lived for so long on a commune, many of them veer into truly uncomfortable territory, which turned the book for me. There's no doubt that Dunthorne is a really talented writer—and I'm considering reading his earlier book, Submarine—but I found this book ultimately unsatisfying because of the behaviors of many of its characters. Bummer.

Super Bowl, super commercials?

2012-02-06T12:07:00.000-08:00

Well, we survived another Super Bowl. And despite the fact that I can't stand either the New York Giants or the New England Patriots, it was a pretty terrific game, which honestly came down to the last seconds. (Of course, if you ask Giants fans, they had the Patriots on the ropes the entire time, despite the fact that they only won by 4 points. But never mind.)

Of course, there was yet another halftime controversy, which sadly has taken the focus off of an enjoyable performance from Madonna. (Truthfully, I didn't even notice but it apparently scarred lots of conservative television viewers. As a friend said on Twitter, "Dear MIA: I too would give the middle finger to self-righteous and puritanical Americans who get huffy over the middle finger.")

For a not-quite-football-fan, the highlight of the Super Bowl is usually the commercials. But in this age of YouTube, many of the commercials were leaked prior to the game, thus dampening their effect. Still, here are some of the highlights for me:

Doritos had easily one of the best commercials last year, and they did it again this year, with a look at one dastardly dog.

Attention, Audi owners: Your car's headlights are deadly to vampires. At first I thought this commercial would be a spoof of Twilight or True Blood, but it was just fun.

I don't watch The Voice, but I really enjoyed this promo for its post-game season premiere. Looks like the producers realized everything is better with a little Betty White.

Kudos to Bud Light for a fun commercial that also raised awareness of rescue dogs:

And while the commercial didn't wow me, Vanessa Williams is wonderful in everything. Even enrobed in chocolate.

I know it's probably unpatriotic, but I wasn't completely moved by Chrysler's Clint Eastwood spot, "It's Halftime in America," although I kept expecting Eminem to show up.

I was much more excited by the concept of Matthew Broderick's return as Ferris Bueller than I was with the actual commercial. (The extended version is definitely better.)

And I'll admit that the inspirational story of the new VW Beetle encouraging a dog to get into shape made me think twice about grabbing the tortilla chips last night.

For me, the biggest clunkers were Kia's "Mr. Sandman" spot, Chevy Silverado's take on the apocalypse (although kudos for Barry Manilow), and the always-ubiquitous but never-impressive (at least to me) GoDaddy commercials.

What did you think? Any commercials that you considered best, or worst, in show?

It's been a crazy week, and it's only Thursday...

2012-02-02T05:10:00.000-08:00

Ah, crazy people funny. And scary.

But before I dwell on the craziness of our fellow Americans, some good news.

Last night the Washington State Senate voted to approve a marriage equality bill. The bill is expected to pass in the House, and Governor Christine Gregoire, who introduced it, will sign it.

Congratulations to the courageous lawmakers of the Evergreen State who have taken a stand for equality, even when it has meant stepping away from their party.

And now, on to the craziness.

First, in our neighboring state, Maryland, where the second try at passing a marriage equality bill has again brought the crazies out, comes the testimony of the aptly named 14-year-old, Sarah Crank.

Sarah said, "Today is my 14th birthday and it would be the best birthday present ever if you would vote NO on gay marriage. I really feel bad for the kids who have two parents of the same gender. Even though some kids think it's fine, they have no idea what kind of wonderful experiences they miss out on. I don't want more kids to get confused about what's right and okay. I really don't want to grow up in a world where marriage isn't such a special thing anymore."

The home-schooled student then added, "It's rather scary to think that when I grow up the legislature or the court can change the definition of any word they want. If they could change the definition of marriage then they could change the definition of any word. People have the choice to be gay, but I don't want to be affected by their choice. People say that they were born that way, but I've met really nice adults who did change."

God bless home-schooling, because if Sarah went to public school, she might learn something horrible like tolerance. Shudder.

And then there's the always-entertaining One Million Moms, a subset of the hateful American Family Association. Apparently they have an issue with JC Penney's recent hiring of Ellen DeGeneres as its spokesperson.

Sayeth the hate group in an "action alert":

"Funny that JC Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families. More sales will be lost than gained unless they replace their spokesperson quickly. Unless JC Penney decides to be neutral in the culture war then their brand transformation will be unsuccessful.

"Their marketing strategy is to help families shop and receive a good value for their money. DeGeneres is not a true representation of the type of families that shop at their store. The majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there. The small percentage of customers they are attempting to satisfy will not offset their loss in sales.

"JC Penney has made a poor decision and must correct their mistake fast to retain loyal customers and not turn away potential new, conservative shoppers with the company's new vision."

Not that I shop at JC Penney all that often outside of the periodic underwear and sheet replenishment, but I support JC Penney's standing behind their decision. Ellen DeGeneres didn't get selected as a spokesperson because of her sexuality; I don't imagine she's going to do an ad campaign that says, "I'm Ellen DeGeneres, I'm gay, and I shop at JC Penney. More gay people should!"

We need to stop fearing that which is different. We need to not teach our children how to hate.

And for the millionth time, gay people aren't bad. Maybe say it to yourself a few hundred thousand times, and it might sink in...

Letters to Tyler...

2012-02-02T04:23:00.000-08:00

Those of you who have read my blog over the last few years may remember I was greatly affected by the October 2010 suicide of Tyler Clementi, a then-18-year-old college freshman who jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate broadcast webcam footage of him with another man.

In a tremendously moving piece for Out magazine, Tyler's older brother, James, who is also gay, pays tribute to Tyler, trying to give a little more perspective into a life that ended far too soon.

Read more here. And if any of you reading this blog post is ever considering taking your own life, don't. Let someone know you need them. Suicide is a far-too-permanent solution to a problem that I promise can be solved.

What if we all had Reese's problems?

2012-01-30T05:13:00.001-08:00

I'm definitely intrigued by the release of the upcoming movie This Means War, starring Chris Pine and Tom Hardy as two of the CIA's best spies (and best friends) who, in true Hollywood fashion, are dating the same woman, played by Reese Witherspoon.

While it's anyone's guess at this point whether the movie will be a taut, fun, romantic action thriller, or devolve into a silly, clichéd mess (my money is on a combination of the two), I can't help but feel horrible for poor Reese Witherspoon. I mean, what must it be like to have to choose between Chris Pine and Tom Hardy?

Wow. Count your blessings, huh?

Book Review: "The Odds: A Love Story" by Stewart O'Nan

2012-01-29T14:10:00.001-08:00

Niagara Falls is the often-clichéd spot where couples begin and celebrate their lives together, as a large number of marriage proposals and weddings happen there each year despite all of the tourist trappings. Stewart O'Nan's new novel, The Odds looks at the other side of the coin—a couple staring down the end of their lives together.

Art and Marion Fowler have been married for nearly 30 not-entirely-happy years. With their marriage on the brink of collapse and their finances in ruin, they flee their suburban Ohio home for one last journey back to Niagara Falls, where they celebrated their honeymoon. They've cashed in their savings in the hopes a big win will stem the foreclosure of their house, but both arrive at the Falls with different goals—Art is hoping that maxing out his credit cards by booking a bridal suite and planning romantic events will make Marion fall in love with him again, while Marion is ready to move on with her life no matter what happens with their money. This is the story of a couple gambling their future on one last weekend together, and both want the win to go their way.

Stewart O'Nan is definitely one of my favorite writers. He has a way with language, plot, and character development that always pulls you into his books, and The Odds was no exception. At under 200 pages, I read the book in a little more than a day, and was drawn to finding out just what was going to happen to the Fowlers. They are weary people; each has fought the same fights and heard the same responses from the other countless times. Yet it's probably that weariness that didn't endear this book to me as much as I hoped it would. Yes, I was invested in knowing what happened to Art and Marion (and although the future is alluded to, you're left to your own devices to figure out what's next for the couple), but more because I love reading O'Nan's writing, not because I had any real love for the characters. Much as you feel after visiting a real touristy destination, I felt glad to have made the journey, but didn't feel moved by the experience. I would encourage those of you who have never read any of O'Nan's books to pick up Snow Angels, Last Night at the Lobster, Wish You Were Here, Emily Alone or any one of his earlier books. He's a terrific writer; I just didn't feel this book was as good as some of his previous ones.

Far too young...

2012-01-28T18:51:00.001-08:00

Today I received news from a high school friend that another classmate, Shari Epstein Luzzi, passed away yesterday. While details are somewhat sketchy, I understand that Shari had been ill for at least a year, and she leaves behind a husband and two young sons.

This is not the first high school classmate we've lost. One committed suicide while we were seniors in high school; we lost a few within the first few years after graduation to cancer, car accidents, and drug overdoses; one classmate was killed in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center; and at least two others passed away within the last few years. But each time we lose a classmate, we once again realize how fleetingly fast life moves.

There is never a good age at which to die. But age 42 seems far too young and so tragic, and I feel for her family, friends, and others affected by her loss.

We may be 42 and 43 now, but in our hearts and in our minds, we're still the big-haired high school kids rocking out to Bon Jovi's Never Say Goodbye at our senior prom, hanging out at the Manalapan Diner every weekend, and feeling invincible.

And in our imaginations, Shari will be forever young. Rest in peace.

Book Review: "A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness

2012-01-28T14:09:00.000-08:00

This is a wonderfully magical and compelling book. If all you know about vampires comes from the Twilight series, and all that you know about witches, wizards, and demons comes from Harry Potter, I'd definitely encourage you to give this book a chance.

Diana Bishop is a witch, descended from a long line of witches dating back to the Salem trials. But after her parents were killed tragically in Africa when she was young, Diana has done everything she can to avoid using her magic. (She doesn't think putting a spell on the washing machine to keep it from flooding counts.) Diana is a famed scholar and historian, doing research on alchemy at Oxford. One day while reviewing resources at Oxford's Bodleian Library she encounters an historical alchemical manuscript which provides secrets to the origins of witches, vampires, and demons. The manuscript is enchanted, and somehow Diana is able to break the spell briefly, which brings her to the attention of many who want the manuscript for their own, including Oxford geneticist Matthew Clairmont, who happens to be a vampire. Diana finds herself drawn to Matthew, which causes frictions between witches and vampires long hidden in history to come to the surface, and they encounter many a person (and creature) looking to do them harm.

This book really fascinated me. Deborah Harkness created truly vivd characters that transcend the typical stereotypes of witch or vampire yet retain some of the familiar characteristics we've come to know. The story is part epic adventure, part fantasy, with even a little soap opera thrown in for good measure, yet the action and story development never stop. I really found myself wondering what the next step was in Diana and Matthew's relationship, and hope Harkness will revisit her characters in a later story. If you're at all intrigued by this type of book, read A Discovery of Witches. Definitely a terrifically compelling romp.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T...

2012-01-27T08:33:00.000-08:00

It was the finger wagging seen 'round the world.

This photo of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer appearing to scold President Obama has made its way around the web. While Governor Brewer explained that the camera must have caught her during an "animated" moment because she didn't scold the president, she did mention that their exchange on the tarmac in Phoenix was a little tense, because President Obama was unhappy with the way she characterized a previous Oval Office meeting between the two in her 2010 book.

The fact is, I don't care what the two were talking about. But the picture reignited my strong feelings that President Obama has been met with more disrespect than any other president, at least in recent history. Which, of course, also leads to the question, even if you don't agree with the man's policies, shouldn't you at least respect the office?

Yes, I know that George W. Bush was the butt of many a joke during his eight years as president, but I can honestly say I never heard the news media or his opponents refer to him as "Bush" except in headlines. Yet routinely I hear legislators, the media, and especially those who do not agree with his positions call the president simply "Obama." This is the leader of our nation; more than half of those who voted in 2008 chose him as the president. He at least should be referred to as "President Obama." Just because you didn't want him to be president or don't think he's doing a good job doesn't mean he doesn't deserve the respect of the title to which he was elected.

The disrespect the president has been shown has truly been one-of-a-kind. Again, there was open ridicule of President George W. Bush, mostly by the media, but no one in the Democratic party shouted "you lie" during a State of the Union address, and people didn't routinely show up at President Bush's appearances with pictures of him in the crosshairs of a gun or riddled with bullet holes. Just the other day, Tim Thomas, goalie of the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins, chose not to attend the White House ceremony honoring the team. While Thomas claimed that this was not a slap at President Obama but rather an overall criticism of the government's abuse of power, rarely if ever before has a professional athlete skipped a White House ceremony when their team was being honored.

There are those who have said President Obama doesn't simply deserve respect because of the office he holds; he needs to earn respect. This is a man who oversaw the capture of Osama bin Laden, the end of the war in Iraq, the end of Don't Ask Don't Tell, the implementation of a health care initiative...what more does this man need to do to earn respect?

As adults, we need to set an example for our children about respect. President Obama is no different than nearly every other man who has held the office of president during our country's history, and should be treated with the respect that office deserves.

You don't have to like him, you don't have to agree with him, you just shouldn't wag your finger in his face.

Matching wits with the Academy: How did I do?

2012-01-24T10:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I posted my predictions for this year's Oscar nominations. And as Academy President Tom Sherak and last year's Best Actress nominee Jennifer Lawrence announced the nominations this morning, among the gasps heard from time to time were some of mine.

I didn't match the Academy in any category although I accounted for nearly all of the places where I was wrong in my analysis in yesterday's post.

Here are the major nominations and where I missed the boat.

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Up Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
Tree of Life
War Horse

Analysis: So I predicted 7 nominees in this category instead of the 9 we wound up with. The 7 films I predicted were nominated, as was Tree of Life, which I mentioned as a possibility. Given the lukewarm critical reaction, the nomination for Extremely Loud and Up Close was a pretty big shock.

Best Actor
Demian Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Analysis: I went 4/5 in this category. I'm sad that Michael Fassbender wasn't nominated, although Demian Bichir was fantastic in the little-seen A Better Life.

Best Actress
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

Analysis: Although I went 4/5 in this category, I did say that Rooney Mara was the potential spoiler, either at Tilda Swinton or Glenn Close's expense. And that's what happened. Can't quibble with this category and I'm really excited about Mara's nomination. Plus, Meryl Streep hit the big 17.

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Max Von Sydow, Extremely Loud and Up Close

Analysis: First of all, I am so aggravated that Albert Brooks didn't get nominated for Drive, I can hardly see. (Brooks, however, was a pretty good sport about the snub.) Second of all, I went 4 for 5 again, thinking Von Sydow wouldn't be able to overcome the lukewarm reception his film had gotten thus far.

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help

Analysis: No surprises here, although I'm disappointed that Shailene Woodley didn't get nominated for The Descendants. Although I predicted Woodley might get the nod, I thought she might get bumped for Janet McTeer.

Best Director
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Terrence Malick, Tree of Life
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Analysis: I tend to forget that the directors' branch of the Academy doesn't like to follow the expected path. While I thought the nominations in this category might parallel the Directors Guild, which included David Fincher, the Academy went with Malick instead. Sigh.

For a complete list of Oscar nominees, click here. And tune in on February 26 to see who walks away with the little golden guy...

If I were the Academy...

2012-01-23T09:49:00.000-08:00

One of my most favorite times of year is about to arrive.

Tomorrow morning at approximately 8:37 a.m. ET, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (specifically, the Academy president along with last year's Best Actress nominee Jennifer Lawrence) will announce this year's Oscar nominations. Even though there is no shortage of film awards given out nowadays, which certainly reduces the surprises the nominations bring, Oscar nomination day always gives me the nervous chills.

I've seen almost every movie in contention for major awards this year (there are still a few pesky films yet to be released in the Washington area) so I feel like I have a fairly good handle on which names will be called tomorrow, but there's always a surprise or two in store. And since the Academy and I don't always walk in lock-step, I also have a few things that I'd like to see happen (which probably won't).

So, here are my predictions for who (and what) I think will get the call tomorrow:

Best Actor
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Analysis: Clooney, Dujardin, and Pitt are locks for nominations. I think Fassbender will get in for his no-holds-barred (and no-clothes-worn) performance, and I'm going with outside contender Oldman for his first nomination, although Leonardo DiCaprio has a strong shot for J. Edgar. My favorite performance of the year is Michael Shannon in the amazing independent feature Take Shelter. (Add that to your Netflix queue.)

Best Actress
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk about Kevin
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

Analysis: Meryl Streep is a lock for her 17th nomination; Davis and Williams are locks for their performances, and I think Swinton is fairly solid. If there's an outside contender, it's Rooney Mara for her star-making portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. If Academy voters feel strongly about Mara, she could bump either Close or Swinton.

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
Albert Brooks, Drive
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Analysis: I feel pretty safe with Branagh and Plummer, slightly less so with Brooks (only because he didn't get a SAG nomination). Jonah Hill seems a safe bet, but I'm never quite sure with the way the Academy treats the not-so-serious young actor suddenly taking a serious role (see Mila Kunis last year). And I'm going out on a limb with Nick Nolte, who received a SAG nomination for his transcending-against-type role in Warrior.

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Analysis: Octavia Spencer and Berenice Bejo are locks, as is Jessica Chastain, who gave terrific performances in six movies in 2011. Melissa McCarthy has had a heck of a year, which very well might get capped off with an Oscar nomination. If there's a shaky plank in this category it's the youngster, Shailene Woodley, who absolutely deserves a nomination, but runs the risk of getting eclipsed either by Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbs or Carey Mulligan for Shame.

Best Director
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
David Fincher, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Analysis: I went with the five men nominated by the Directors Guild, although their results are rarely paralelled in total by Oscar. Outside contenders include Steven Spielberg for War Horse, Terrence Malick for Tree of Life (folks either LOVED it or hated it), and if The Help or Moneyball makes a really strong showing in the nominations tomorrow, either Tate Taylor or Bennett Miller could find themselves on this list.

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
War Horse

Analysis: The biggest variable is the Best Picture category, because this year the Academy has announced there will be no less than five nominees and no less than ten, but isn't setting a fixed number. I'm betting on seven and am going with the films above; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Bridesmaids and possibly even The Tree of Life could fill the category if the number of nominees expands.

What will happen? Tune in tomorrow—or at least come back to my blog tomorrow—and see how I did.

Come to the bark side, Luke...

2012-01-19T13:18:00.000-08:00

Following last year's Super Bowl, Volkswagen's ad "The Force," featuring a pint-sized Darth Vader, was the talk of the media.

Well, a few weeks before Super Bowl 46 hits giant screen televisions around the world, our friends at Volkswagen have done it again. And they've not strayed too far from the original.

Check out their new commercial, "The Bark Side," below. You'll need to listen closely for a few seconds to make out the tune the dogs are sharing...

Book Review: "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green

2012-01-15T09:28:00.000-08:00

Curse you, John Green, for writing a book that hooked me so hard I stayed up until nearly 2:00 this morning finishing it. Curse you for writing a book so emotionally gripping that I was sobbing on my couch in the middle of the night. And curse you for writing a book that I cannot get out of my head, one that I am so sad to have finished. By curse you, of course I mean "thank you."

When teenagers Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus "Gus" Waters meet in a support group for kids with cancer, they are drawn to each other immediately. Gus is in remission from the osteosarcoma that took one of his legs a few years ago, and thanks to a miracle drug trial, the tumors in Hazel's lungs aren't continuing to grow, although she knows that's just a matter of time. The two are snarky, sarcastic, sensitive, and wise beyond their years, and begin an intense friendship that brings them both joy. Hazel introduces Gus to her favorite book, called An Imperial Affliction (she calls it her best friend next to her parents); their mutual love for the book and desire to know what happened to the characters after its abrupt ending sends them on a memorable journey to track down the reclusive author. Green's depiction of both Hazel and Gus, and their interactions with friends and family, felt totally genuine and moving.

John Green is the co-author of one of my favorite books from 2010, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and this new book is easily one of the best I've read in quite some time, both for the quality of Green's writing as well as the emotions it evoked in me. Clearly, a book about teenagers who meet in a cancer support group is headed in a direction you don't want it to, but even the journey Green takes you on is worth the sadness. I loved this book tremendously and honestly cannot say enough good things about it. It's not for everyone, but if you know what you're getting yourself into, I think you'll agree how much you'll love taking Hazel and Gus into your hearts.

Book Review: "The Submission" by Amy Waldman

2012-01-13T16:30:00.001-08:00

This was a fantastic, thought-provoking book.

Two years after the 9/11 attacks, a competition is underway to design a memorial at Ground Zero. A jury composed of noted artists, historians, critics, and Claire Burwell, a young widow whose husband was killed in the attack, has narrowed down the selection to two finalists. After an impassioned discussion led by Claire, the jury selects a winner, known as The Garden. And when the name of the architect is revealed (all submissions were anonymous to this point), a stunning discovery is made. The winner is an American Muslim named Mohammad Khan. The jury is fraught with indecision—should Khan be disqualified because of his religion, since Americans would most certainly not want a memorial designed by a Muslim? When news of Khan's selection hits the public, New Yorkers—and those across the world—are fueled by twin arguments. Some adamantly demand that Khan withdraw from the competition, while others feel that unfairly tarring all Muslim people as terrorists is a dangerous behavior. The debate over whether or not Khan should be disqualified ripples into a conversation about whose grief carries more weight, who should be the final say about a decision with the potential to affect the world, and what makes a person an American.

Amy Waldman did a fantastic job with this, her first novel. She deftly evokes a troubling time in our not-too-distant history, giving voice to all facets of the anger, fear, sadness, and hatred that emerged following 9/11. Waldman never takes sides in the argument, yet allows her well-drawn characters to explore the familiar and uncomfortable. A few times while reading this book I worried that Waldman would take the plot down a path that I didn't feel would be true to the story, but she surprised me each time. I did feel at times that there were too many characters to keep straight, but that didn't affect my overall feelings. This is a book that will make you think, it may anger or sadden you, but in the end you'll realize what power it contains. Truly amazing.

Oh, the humanity!

2012-01-11T10:54:00.000-08:00

Last week, Pope Benedict told the diplomatic corps assigned to the Vatican that same-sex marriage "threatens the future of humanity."

He told diplomats from nearly 180 countries that the education of children needed proper "settings" and that "pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman."

"This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society. Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself," he said.

Jimmy Kimmel explains how the Pope's claims could be true.

Kermit 3:16

2012-01-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

Looks like even the Muppets are no strangers to Tebowing...

Book Review: "The Lake of Dreams" by Kim Edwards

2012-01-09T16:33:00.000-08:00

Lucy Jarrett has always had a hard time staying in one place. Fleeing her upstate New York hometown, Lake of Dreams, to go to college right after her father's tragic accidental death, she has drifted from job to job, place to place, relationship to relationship. Living in Japan with her boyfriend, Yoshi, she starts feeling the same pangs of longing and dissatisfaction, so she jumps at the chance to return home and visit her family after her mother is in a minor car accident. But returning home, Lucy isn't happy to see how her family has moved on in the 10+ years since her father's death, and finds herself treading familiar hurts and frustrations, as well as reconnecting with Keegan Fall, her high school boyfriend.

One night, suffering from jet lag, Lucy picks the lock on an old window seat in her family home and finds a number of what appear to be old letters and historical documents. She begins to research her findings, and what she discovers is more than she bargained for—she finds a hidden secret in her family tree that has the potential for ripple effects into the present, and future. As Lucy tries to uncover more and more of the facts, she also must renegotiate her relationships, with her family, with Keegan, and with Yoshi.

I've always been a fan of stories of family dysfunction and family history, so this book grabbed me pretty quickly. And while the story itself was really interesting, and I really enjoyed the way Kim Edwards laid everything out, I had trouble warming up to Lucy's character until well into the book, and that made immersing myself in the story fully a bit difficult. But by the time I appreciated just how complex a character Lucy was, I found myself truly hooked. While perhaps not as memorable as Edwards' The Memory Keeper's Daughter, this book is definitely an affecting, emotional read.

On "becoming a man"...

2012-01-09T10:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday marked the 29th anniversary of my Bar Mitzvah. It seems almost hard to believe that so much time has passed since that milestone, although it doesn't seem like it was just yesterday. One thing I do know—I wouldn't want to revisit the physical awkwardness of that time!

In our temple, preparing for your Bar Mitzvah was always a bit stressful, even though I was a fairly good Hebrew school student. Cantor Ben-Isvy definitely expected the best from all of his Bar and Bat Mitzvah candidates, and he would run you through your paces over and over again, and tolerate no mistakes. He knew when you didn't practice, and I didn't make him angry more than once! (Maybe twice.)

In the weeks leading up to my Bar Mitzvah, I remember a few things weighing on my mind. First and foremost was the weather—it was the beginning of January, after all, in the days before global warming, so all of us prayed that snow wouldn't hit New Jersey and affect those who would be traveling to celebrate with us.

But the main thing I thought about a great deal was my Grandpa George, who was terminally ill with cancer. I remember hearing later that he used to wake up every morning and pray that he could make it until my Bar Mitzvah, as I was the oldest grandchild. Not only did he make it, but he truly thrived—watching the video of that night it's hard to believe how sick he was, and that he died a little more than one month later.

The theme of my Bar Mitzvah was Pac-Man, believe it or not. I remember we had a really cool robot greeting guests and serving drinks (it was the early 1980s, after all), and the stereotypically cheesy Bar Mitzvah band. And much like any special occasion, it was marked more by how quickly the night flew than anything else, other than being greeted by relatives and family friends who hadn't seen me since I was "this high," or in some cases, I'd never seen them before.

Looking back on my Bar Mitzvah, what I'm proudest of is the fact that of all of my friends who attended, I'm friends with all but maybe four of them on Facebook, and in probably every one of those cases, they're not on Facebook as far as I'm aware. It's awesome to have that kind of connection all these years later.

Becoming a Bar Mitzvah means becoming an adult in the Jewish religion, but that is a ceremonial responsibility. (Believe me, your parents don't look at you or treat you any differently!) Even though I don't practice Judaism in my adulthood, I still remember much of what I learned back then, and I feel fortunate to have had such a fantastic celebration to mark that occasion.

Plus, I shared that day with Elvis' birthday, so how could I have lost?

Getting hungrier for "The Hunger Games"...

2012-01-05T16:33:00.001-08:00

I am trying desperately not to get overly excited for the March 23rd premiere of the first Hunger Games movie, but given the current glut of bad movies opening (I'm still waiting for a few "Oscar" movies, though), it's pretty difficult.

When the official trailer was released in November, a collective sigh was released by millions of fans, but we've been thirsting for more. And now, we've gotten one small tidbit.

The photo below shows Lenny Kravitz, who plays stylist Cinna, Woody Harrelson, who plays Haymitch Abernathy, and Josh Hutcherson, who plays Peeta Mallark. While many devoted tween fans of the series questioned many of the casting choices, including Hutcherson and Kravitz, I think both will do a phenomenal job. They already look their parts physically!

Are you as excited as I am? I look forward to the next tidbit...

Book Review: "Misery Bay" by Steve Hamilton

2012-01-04T18:46:00.000-08:00

Steve Hamilton may be one of the best crime/mystery writers in the literary world today. After his spectacular book The Lock Artist, Hamilton returns to the town of Paradise in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and his series of books featuring baseball player-turned-cop-turned-sometime-private investigator Alex McKnight. And it's truly like the return of an old friend, as Hamilton hooked me within the first few pages and kept me racing breathlessly until the book's conclusion.

One cold night, a college student hangs himself from a tree in the middle of a snowy, deserted field. He didn't leave a note, but suicides often don't. The boy's father, a federal marshal and an old friend of Alex McKnight's favorite nemesis, Police Chief Roy Maven, asks Alex to look into his son's suicide and try and find out why he might have chosen to end his life. But what appears to be a simple investigation uncovers a pattern of crimes more affecting and sinister than anyone ever expected, and Alex and Chief Maven find themselves thrown together, trying to find and stop a cold-blooded killer, all while Alex tries to put the demons of his past behind him.

Steve Hamilton knows how to tell a story amazingly well. It's a testament to his skill that he can make the eighth book in a series featuring many of the same characters feel as fresh as the first. The pacing is razor-sharp, the action is first-rate, and even as you think you've gotten the whole mystery figured out, he still has some tricks up his sleeve. If you've never read any of Hamilton's books, you don't know what you're missing—so remedy that right away! Can't wait to see what he comes up with next...

The official start of 11 months of dread...

2012-01-03T15:46:00.000-08:00

Although it seems as if people have been running for the Republican presidential nomination for years, tonight's Iowa Caucuses mark the official start of the 2012 Republican presidential race. Within a week it's on to the New Hampshire primary, and then everything rolls downhill from there.

While I've made no secret of my political leanings, I am truly disheartened by nearly every Republican nominee and the rhetoric many have already employed, which as far as I'm concerned, doesn't bode well for the next 11 months. Every single Republican candidate that has been taken seriously by the media has employed passionately anti-equality messaging in an effort to court the evangelical voters they believe will be core to winning the White House. (The candidate whom I believe would have the best shot to beat President Obama is former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, but because some of his views are more centrist, the Republicans are too caught up in pandering to the highly conservative wing of the party to notice.)

You have Mitt Romney, who when he ran against the late Ted Kennedy for his Senate seat, claimed to be more pro-gay rights than the liberal lion himself. But suddenly, in his second run for the presidential nomination, Romney has vowed to embrace a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Then there's the thrice-married Newt Gingrich, who filed for divorce from his first wife while she was in the hospital being treated for cancer, and who was having an affair with the woman who was to become his third wife when he and his second wife divorced. But Gingrich, who has vowed to protect "the sanctity of traditional marriage," has also embraced the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Texas Governor Rick Perry has been tailed by gay rumors since he first ran for office, but he, too, has promised the constitutional amendment. He has also expressed disbelief in climate change and believes that gay people have declared war on Christmas.

Michele Bachmann is married to a man who profited from those who came to his clinic to "pray the gay away." (Although Marcus Bachmann is rumored to be gay himself.) Bachmann once told a group of educators that gay people and gay life are "part of Satan."

And don't forget Rick Santorum. When Rudy Giuliani ran for president in 2008, Senator Joe Lieberman said that, "There are only three things he mentions in a sentence—a noun, a verb, and 9/11." The same holds true for Santorum, except replace "9/11" with "gay." I don't think Santorum stands for anything; he's just against gay people.

Of the remaining candidates, only Ron Paul has said that same-sex marriage should be a state's rights issue. But earlier in his career, Paul disseminated numerous anti-gay and racist newsletters, so who knows what he believes?

In general, Americans think our country is in bad shape economically, and have concerns about national security. Only when you specifically ask voters questions about same-sex marriage do they register an opinion, and at this point, only evangelicals and Republicans are vehemently against equality.

So if most Americans don't care that much, why do the Republicans think tearing gays apart will be the key to victory?

Why do I have to spend the next 11 months hearing how gay people aren't deserving of equal rights, that they're spawns of Satan who don't deserve a voice in government?

I'm hopeful things will go in a different direction, but I'm cynical enough not to expect anything else.

The best books I read in 2011...

2012-01-02T14:56:00.000-08:00

It may come as no surprise to you, but I read 84 books this year. That's four more than last year, but I'm still down 19 from 2009. Still, an average of seven books a month isn't too shabby!

Looking back at the books I read in 2011, I could find a place for at least 30 of them on my year-end best list. But I decided to discipline myself and cut the list down to 16. (After all, it's my blog; there are no rules.) Your comments are welcomed, as always!

So, in no particular order, here are my favorite books from 2011. For each, I excerpted my original review, but you can still access the full review I originally wrote.

Here's to another year of exceptional reading!

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett: Dr. Marina Singh is a pharmaceutical researcher working for a major pharmaceutical company. After her close friend and colleague dies under mysterious circumstances in the Amazonian jungle while on company business, her employer sends her to the jungle to complete his assignment—track down Dr. Anneck Swenson, a renowned and reclusive gynecologist whose research into the reproductive habits of a local tribe the company has funded for years. Ann Patchett strikes again—more than simply a story of woman versus jungle or woman versus her past, the book explores the creatures—both physical and metaphorical—that frighten, challenge and could potentially harm us, and the ripples that one action can cause many people. Read my original review.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: This book was frigging awesome! Children of the 80s, especially video game junkies, here it is. Combining the adventure, danger, action, companionship, romance, violence, and fantasy of the best quest novels with fantastic 80s trivia, Ernest Cline outdid himself with his very first book. This is a story about courage, friendship, love, good, and evil, with the 1980s and the worlds of classic video and adventure games and anime as its backdrop. Cline definitely lets you get lost in the geekery, but he has created terrific, memorable characters who draw you into their lives, and the action sequences are fast-paced and creative. Read my original review.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: Magical. Incredibly compelling. Romantic. Erin Morgenstern's debut novel follows the magical Cirque des Rêves, a circus full of dazzling and fantastical amazements. Marco and Celia, two brilliant magicians, are locked in a competition that neither of them understand, and that only one of them can survive. Don't think this is a story about clowns and lion tamers and trapeze artists—this is a story with a strong emphasis on magic and illusion and manipulation of reality. Read my original review.

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach: It has been said that "baseball is life." Whether or not you agree with this statement, for the characters in Chad Harbach's fantastic new novel, baseball may not be life, but it certainly is at the crux of their lives. This is a book about baseball that transcends the sport itself—it is a book about how frightening realizing your dreams, and falling short of them, can be. Read my original review.

Life, on the Line by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas: Grant Achatz is one of the most acclaimed chefs in the US, if not the world. His Chicago restaurant, Alinea, has been ranked among the best in the world. In 2007, at the height of his and the restaurant's success, Achatz was diagnosed with Stage 4-b squamous cell carcinoma—tongue cancer. While most doctors advised Achatz to have a portion of his tongue surgically removed, thereby ending his career, he underwent an alternative treatment of chemotherapy and radiation first. This is more than a book about Achatz's struggle with cancer and how it affected those around him, including Kokonas, his business partner at Alinea. The book traces the genesis of his love of cooking, his struggles in the competitive and harrowing culinary world, and his desire to reinvent the way people approach and eat food. Read my original review.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion: In a future in which most of the world has been destroyed by wars and plague and riots, very few humans still exist, and they are hunkered down in former sports stadiums and other large buildings, hiding from the zombies that have taken over. One of those zombies is R. He doesn't know what his name was "before," he doesn't know how long he has been a zombie, but he knows that he is much more curious about the past than most of his fellow zombies are, and he wants to understand what made him the way he is. One day, after killing a teenage boy and experiencing his memories while chewing his brain, he somehow subsumes the boy's soul, and finds himself wanting to protect the boy's girlfriend. Don't let the zombie storyline dissuade you from thinking this book is silly or lightweight; at its heart, this book is a story about finding hope where there previously was none, understanding who you are and believing you have the ability to make change happen. Read my original review.

The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai: Lucy Hull is a children's librarian in Hannibal, Missouri. In general, she lacks drive—she keeps doing her job because she enjoys it but she doesn't really want to pursue anything else. But all that changes as she deals with one of the library's most voracious readers, 10-year-old Ian Drake. When Ian's evangelical mother tells Lucy she only wants Ian reading books that contain "the breath of God" in them, as well as those that focus on stereotypically masculine characters and don't include magic or fantasy, Lucy helps Ian check out the "forbidden" books in secret. And when Lucy finds out that Ian's parents are sending him to religious classes in order to cure him of any potential SSAD (same-sex attraction disorder) when he gets older, she doesn't know how to help him. One day Ian part-convinces, part-threatens Lucy to take him on a road trip, and Lucy sees this as an opportunity to free Ian of the restrictions being placed upon him by his mother. Yet the road trip, like much of Lucy's life, doesn't have much of a plan, and Ian starts trying to lead her all over the country. Read my original review.

Faithful Place by Tana French: When he was 17 years old, Dublin detective Frank Mackey had planned to escape to England with his girlfriend, Rosie Daly. Both were looking forward to getting away from their smothering, dysfunctional families and the violence and gossip of Faithful Place, their neighborhood. But Rosie never showed up the night they were supposed to leave, so Frank took that to mean she left without him, and he made his own escape. Twenty-two years later, Rosie's suitcase is found behind the fireplace of a dilapidated apartment building in their neighborhood, and new questions about what happened that night begin to surface. Frank's return to the neighborhood and the family he left behind all those years ago isn't a smooth one, and it unearths old secrets, old anger and old pain, proving that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Read my original review.

If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This by Robin Black: Robin Black's short story collection examined the tenuous connections of relationships—between parent and child, lovers, friends, siblings, even strangers. Some of the stories (one in particular) made me laugh out loud, some made me cry, but all made me think and have definitely touched my heart. Some of the most memorable stories included the opening story, "The Guide," which followed a father reluctantly watching his blind daughter get ready to head off to college; "Some Women Eat Tar," a humorous look at how a woman's pregnancy affects her relationship with the baby's father; and the closing story, "The History of the World," which looked at the difficult yet cherished relationship of aging siblings on a trip to Italy. And that just scratched the surface of the collection. Read my original review.

11/22/63 by Stephen King: Jake Epping is an English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who teaches GED English classes as a way to make extra money. In response to an assignment in which he asked his students to talk about a life-changing incident, he learns that Harry Dunning, a handicapped janitor, was injured by his father during a violent rampage on Halloween night in 1958, the night he killed Harry's mother and three siblings with a hammer. When his friend, local diner owner Al, shows him a hidden time portal in the diner that transports you back to September 1958, Jake jumps at the chance to go back in time and prevent this massacre. Once Al realizes he has a kindred spirit in Jake, he enlists him in the ultimate heroic mission—stopping Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating John F. Kennedy. But time and history do not enjoy being diverted from their plans... Read my original review.

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson: Caleb and Camille Fang are performance artists. To them, there is nothing greater than the process of creating something that provokes reaction in others, no matter what that reaction is. They have raised their children, Annie and Buster (whom they refer to as Child A and Child B), to be part of their performances, either willingly or unwillingly. When Annie and Buster grow into adulthood, both flee as far from their parents as possible; Annie becomes an Oscar-nominated actress with an increasingly unstable personality, and Buster is a novelist with diminishing promise, who finds work as a freelance writer for men's magazines. The Family Fang is a story about the profound effects your childhood has on your later life, but how you cannot let it define your future. Read my original review.

The Fates Will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard: One Halloween, 16-year-old Nora Lindell disappears. No one really knows what happened to her, although a group of boys who went to school with her have a number of theories, given random rumors and alleged sightings they've heard about. Much like how the girls' deaths in The Virgin Suicides colored the lives of those around them, Nora's disappearance has the same ripple effect on these boys, shaping how they view, and act in, the future. They imagine different paths that Nora might have taken, and through the years, supposed Nora sightings occur in the most unlikely of places. As these boys become men, their obsession with all things Nora (and, to an extent, her younger sister, Sissy) saves them from being mired completely in the minutia of their own adulthood. For some, Nora's disappearance is a tiny catalyst that sets them on a self-destructive course that might not manifest itself for years; for others, it is the push toward saving themselves. Read my original review.

Hero by Perry Moore: Growing up isn't easy for Thom Creed, and it's not just your typical teenage angst. His mother disappeared one day and his father, once a revered superhero named Major Might, was disgraced after a rescue attempt went awry, so he now hates all heroes. Problem is, Thom has just been invited to join The League, the organization of superheroes that rejected his father. And to top it off, Thom is just coming to terms with the fact that he's gay, which makes two major things he can't discuss with his father. As Thom gets more involved with The League, he realizes he must learn to harness his powers correctly and deal with his real feelings at the same time. And of course, that's when things start to get threatening—both from an external villain and a scandal within the League itself. Read my original review.

Blind Sight by Meg Howrey: Seventeen-year-old Luke has been surrounded by strong women all his life. Raised by his New Age-y mother, religious grandmother and two quirky half-sisters in an environment of both mysticism and old-fashioned Puritanism, Luke is actually the first male child in many generations of his family, but has never felt he suffered because of this. Near the end of his junior year in high school, he finds out that his father—of whom his mother had never spoken—is a famous television actor in Los Angeles, and Luke goes to spend the summer with him. Luke learns that the glamorous Hollywood life isn't necessarily a satisfying one, but he realizes very quickly that while he never felt the absence of a father before, having his father in his life makes him feel truly grounded in ways he never imagined. And as the bond between Luke and his father deepens, he starts to question the philosophies with which he was raised, and starts to wonder about his place in the future. Read my original review.

I Knew You'd Be Lovely by Alethea Black: The characters in each of Black's stories are at some sort of emotional crossroads. In the incredibly moving "Someday is Today," a young woman comforts her sister and young children after her brother-in-law's unexpected death, and struggles with questions of faith and her own purpose. "The Only Way Out is Through" follows one man's struggles to get through to his troubled son, with nearly cataclysmic results. The main character in "Mollusk Makes a Comeback" struggles to remain positive as events in her life spiral out of control, and in the title story, the narrator's search for the perfect birthday present for her boyfriend leads her down an intriguing path. And those descriptions just scratch the surface of the stories in this collection. Read my original review.

The House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni: Since his parents' death when he was very young, 16-year-old Sebastian has lived in Iowa's first geodesic dome with Nana (his grandmother), a devout follower of designer and futurist R. Buckminster Fuller. Nana has home schooled Sebastian and allowed him little contact with the outside world beyond the tour groups that come to the dome each week, and he is ready to follow the path that she has set for his future. When she suffers a stroke one day, Sebastian meets Jared Whitcomb, a teenage boy with issues of his own, and his loving yet overprotective mother, Janice, who are touring the dome when Nana suffers her stroke. As Jared and Sebastian become friends, Sebastian starts discovering all of the things he has been missing in life—punk rock, processed foods, girls, and most of all, companionship with a peer. But he is torn between this new life and continuing to work with Nana on fulfilling her visions for his future. Read my original review.

Book Review: "Legend" by Marie Lu

2012-01-02T10:50:00.001-08:00

It is the future, and the Western United States is now the Republic, a military-run nation fighting for control over its neighbors. In order to succeed, the best and brightest students are handpicked by the Republic to attend one of its four finest colleges and then serve the military. Those less scholastically minded teenagers are put to work, and those who fail the Republic's test of mind, character, and athletic ability (called "Trial") are sent away to labor camps. Routinely, sectors of the Republic are affected by plague, but with some of the greatest scientific minds at their disposal, plague outbreaks don't last too long.

June is one of the Republic's greatest success stories. Born into one of its most elite families, she is the only student ever to get a perfect score in the Trial, and she is sent to college at age 15 to prepare her for her service to the Republic. Day, also 15, is a child of the slums; he lives perpetually in hiding, as he is one of the Republic's most wanted criminals. When June's soldier brother, Metias, is killed one night, Day is the chief suspect in his murder, and June vows to use her strength and intelligence to hunt him down and ensure he answers for his crime. Yet once the two finally cross paths, they realize they have more in common than they ever imagined, and both of their worlds are turned upside down.

At least half of the so-called "young adult" novels published today have some type of dystopian vision of our future at their core. With Legend, Marie Lu has created another less-than-rosy version of our future, where the government and the military combine strengths to keep the people down. Her setting—and her characters—are well-drawn and very compelling, and they help the book rise above its lovers-from-different-worlds premise. This was a really quick read, and although I could see many of the plot twists coming, it is a testament to Lu's writing ability that I still wanted to see how she pulled everything together. Day and June are very fascinating characters, and as I believe this book is just the first in a series, I look forward to seeing how she continues to develop their story.

Happy New Year! Enjoy it with new eyes...

2012-01-01T14:05:00.000-08:00

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."
--Semisonic

Happy New Year!

No matter how you chose to ring in 2012, I hope that you had an enjoyable and safe time, surrounded by those whose company you enjoy.

A few days ago, W had LASIK surgery. After wearing glasses for about 20 years, he decided it was time to see if he could avoid having to wear glasses everywhere he went.

All told, the surgery took no more than 7 minutes. Beyond the sheer wonder that a procedure to dramatically improve a person's vision (even when they've worn glasses their entire life) took so little time, what struck me most about the entire day was when each patient left after surgery, the staff told them, "Enjoy your new eyes!"

Think about that: for some of the patients, this would be the first time in 10, 20, even 30 or more years they wouldn't need to greet the day with glasses. They could watch television from their couch or see a movie and not need their glasses or contacts to help them decipher details. For all intents and purposes, they truly were getting new eyes.

Then I realized how appropriate that concept was for all of us as we celebrate the start of 2012. Many people greet the new year by making resolutions, taking down holiday decorations, cleaning and throwing away clutter.

But what if the most amazing thing you can do for yourself in the months to come is to look at everything with new eyes?

Forget resolutions. Forget worries. From today on, I'm going to look at everything with new eyes. And while they will still be behind glasses, what they will see, what they will perceive, will hopefully be a bit different.

Enjoy all that 2012 has to offer you. And I challenge you: enjoy it with new eyes.

What are you doing New Year's Eve?

2011-12-31T13:50:00.000-08:00

I've been in love with Joseph Gordon-Levitt for a long while, but fell in love with the Zooey-Joseph pairing in the amazing (500) Days of Summer.

Happy New Year, y'all!

On beyond 2011...

2011-12-31T12:36:00.000-08:00

In a little more than eight hours, we here on the East Coast will bid adieu to 2011. It has been an interesting year, and I look forward to what 2012 will bring.

Equality took a number of steps ahead and a number of steps back this year. Don't Ask Don't Tell became one for the history books, and despite what some conservatives may tell you, the military has felt no ill effects from allowing openly gay soldiers to serve. President Obama also vowed to no longer defend the outdated Defense of Marriage Act, and Congressional Democrats introduced bills that would replace this antiquated law, but to date, only one Republican has expressed support.

New York lawmakers approved same-sex marriage in the state, while lawmakers in North Carolina and Minnesota took steps toward implementing Constitutional bans against same-sex marriage. And nearly every Republican candidate running for President in 2012 has promised to amend the U.S. Constitution to include this same inequality. Bullying of gay students continues to increase at an alarming pace, as does the number of gay teenagers committing suicide and the number of acts of violence perpetrated against gay people or those "suspected" to be gay.

But looking beyond politics, I think it has been a fairly good year. I was able to get out from under a horribly demoralizing job to find a position in an organization that values my skills and challenges me (sometimes more than I want, but that's life), and I look forward what 2012 will bring professionally.

I've enjoyed the opportunity to spend some wonderful time with friends and family this year, read some terrific books, and see some memorable movies. I visited the summer camp I attended for 10 years between the ages of 10 and 19 for the first time in 19 years, and it was an eye-opening experience to be reunited with people who played a big role in my childhood. And on a sad note, we said goodbye to my great-aunt Eileen, who was a truly terrific person.

Wishing all of you a happy and healthy New Year, and I hope that 2012 brings each of you everything you're dreaming of!

Book Review: "The Marriage Plot" by Jeffrey Eugenides

2011-12-31T11:39:00.000-08:00

It's been nearly 10 years since Jeffrey Eugenides published a novel—his last book, Middlesex, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002, so one could imagine that was a pretty hard act to follow. His new book, The Marriage Plot, has been hailed by critics as one of the year's best, although reaction from readers has been somewhat mixed. In my opinion, this is a terrific story led by three complex characters, but from time to time, it gets mired in its own intellectualism.

It's the early 1980s at Brown University. English major Madeleine Hanna, who grew up privileged in the New Jersey suburbs, is in love with romantic novels by Jane Austen and George Eliot, and is truly in love with love. Widening her horizons in her senior year, she takes a semiotics class, which causes her to challenge her beliefs and think more philosophically, but she also meets Leonard Bankhead, one of her classmates, a highly intelligent—and troubled—biology major. Meanwhile, Madeleine's friend, Mitchell Grammaticus, is obsessed with her and believes that she is his true soulmate. Even traveling around the world after college, exploring the history and philosophy of different religions, can't seem to shake her from his mind. The Marriage Plot tells Madeleine, Mitchell, and Leonard's stories, views the world and their interconnectedness through each of their eyes, and gets fully immersed in their happinesses and challenges.

I really enjoyed the three main characters and really became invested in what happened to them. The problem I had with the book, however, is that I felt it tried to be an intellectual novel, and it didn't need to. It gets a little too in depth in its literary and philosophical references, and spends more time than necessary providing a religious framework for Mitchell's explorations. While I understand these characters were intelligent and thoughtful, the same story could have had even more impact if I didn't need to wonder what each literary reference meant. That being said, however, the story and Eugenides' writing is too good to pass up, so if you go into reading this knowing you may need to look things up in the dictionary (or maybe you're smarter than I am), you'll realize the novel's strengths faster than I did.

What bravery looks like...

2011-12-29T10:23:00.001-08:00

This is the face of 18-year-old Ben Breedlove of Austin, Texas.

Breedlove suffered from a dangerous heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which one part of the heart is thicker than the other parts, making it difficult for the heart to pump blood.

On December 18, Breedlove posted two videos to YouTube in which he told his story.

He talked about his heart condition not allowing him to play sports like his friends.

He discussed cheating death three times, the first time when he was four years old and the last time on December 6, when he collapsed while at school and awoke to EMS workers giving him CPR.

In his videos, he talked (using handwritten index cards) about visions he saw the first and third times he cheated death.

He talked about not being afraid to die.

And on Christmas Day, he suffered a heart attack and died in the hospital.

Watching Ben's videos, I am overwhelmed by his bravery. I hope his parents are proud of the child they raised, because he clearly was a special person who never took one minute of his life for granted.

"It was obvious to all of us that knew him that he knew what he was doing when he made that video," close family-friend Pam Kohler said. "There are times that [the family is] overwhelmed by the pain and the loss of Ben, but then it's replaced with knowing that he was at peace with what was going to happen."

If heaven and angels exist, undoubtedly Ben Breedlove is among them. I'd encourage you to watch his story (have tissues handy) and then share it with those you love.

Encourage them to live their lives as Ben did, with no fear, embracing the joy and wonder of every day.

RIP, Ben. You've given the world something to think about and left an incredible example behind, one to which we should all aspire.

The year in movies...

2011-12-28T10:04:00.000-08:00

In my opinion, this has been a really great year in movies, and I've not yet seen several of the year-end releases.

Matt Shapiro created this amazing montage of the year in movies, called Cinescape: 2011. He's apparently been doing these for five years now. (Check out his YouTube channel for the previous years' montages. His user name is oyguvaltshappy.)

They should get Shapiro to put together the montages for the Oscars. This really is brilliant.

Book Review: "I Knew You'd Be Lovely" by Alethea Black

2011-12-28T07:12:00.001-08:00

Short story fans, or those who simply love great fiction writing, go out and pick up Alethea Black's magnificent story collection (or download it onto your eReader), I Knew You'd Be Lovely. I read this collection in one day and nearly every story left me moved beyond words, intrigued, amused, or simply amazed at Black's abilities. (And sometimes more than one of those happened simultaneously!)

The characters in each of Black's stories are at some sort of emotional crossroads. In the incredibly moving "Someday is Today," a young woman comforts her sister and young children after her brother-in-law's unexpected death, and struggles with questions of faith and her own purpose. "The Only Way Out is Through" follows one man's struggles to get through to his troubled son, with nearly cataclysmic results. The main character in "Mollusk Makes a Comeback" struggles to remain positive as events in her life spiral out of control, and in the title story, the narrator's search for the perfect birthday present for her boyfriend leads her down an intriguing path. And those descriptions just scratch the surface of the stories in this collection.

I love short stories, but I really found this collection exceptional. Black created some truly memorable characters, many of whom could have a whole book written about them. (There are definitely more than a few characters about whom I'd like to know what happened when the story ended.) I didn't want this collection to end, but now that it has, I'm more than ready to read what Black has in store next! Don't miss this one, seriously.

Book Review: "Pictures of You" by Caroline Leavitt

2011-12-27T06:25:00.000-08:00

One foggy day, about three hours from Cape Cod, two women's cars collide on the road. Both appear to be running away from their marriages. April dies in the crash, while Isabelle survives, and is left not only to pick up the pieces of her life in the town she had wanted to escape, but becomes entangled with April's devastated husband, Charlie, and their young son, Sam, who is riddled with guilt about the accident. Charlie can't understand why April wanted to leave, and what she was doing on that road far from home, Sam wants nothing more than to talk to or see his mother one last time, and Isabelle is torn between again wanting to escape and wanting to stay to take care of Charlie and Sam, despite her role in their misery. And as their lives unfold, they realize the impact of every decision, and how sometimes the "best" decision isn't always the right one.

Pictures of You had moments of heartbreaking poignancy and moments when I wanted to shake each one of the characters into action, and both contributed to my enjoyment of the book. No character was drawn to be flawless; at times I sympathized with each of them, and at times I wished someone would just tell them to get a grip. The book definitely exceeded my expectations and surprised me in a number of ways, and that made me happy. And while I am, admittedly, a total sap, it was Caroline Leavitt's well-written story, combined with the emotional power it packs, that kept me reading this book well into the night in order to finish it. Very well done.

Book Review: "The Gentlemen's Hour" by Don Winslow

2011-12-25T14:12:00.000-08:00

There's always an intrinsic coolness in Don Winslow's novels, whether he's writing his series with PI Neal Carey, chronicling the battles between drug cartels, or following a group of surfing friends, as he does in his terrific book, The Gentlemen's Hour. It's a combination of his vividly drawn characters and their often quirky-yet-authentic dialogue, as well as his ability to make you feel you're watching the action unfold in front of you.

The Gentlemen's Hour is a follow-up to his 2009 novel, The Dawn Patrol, both of which follow a group of surfers on San Diego's Pacific Beach, which has been rocked by the violent murder of local legend Kelly Kuhio. The case seems open-and-shut: the killer, a wealthy member of a surfing gang, has confessed, and a number of witnesses say they saw him throw the fatal punch. Yet when PI Boone Daniels is asked to investigate the crime to determine whether the charge of first-degree murder should stick, in addition to alienating his long-time friends and the Pacific Beach community, he finds a lot of things to prove the incident wasn't as cut and dried as it appeared. And that's only one of his cases, as he also is asked by a friend to determine if his wife is having an affair. Couple that chaos with a great deal of self-discovery, and it's not all "hang loose" for Boone Daniels.

I love the way Don Winslow writes, and every character in Boone's group is much more complex than they appear initially. Winslow takes the surfer stereotype and turns it on its ear—sure, these characters are obsessed with finding the perfect wave (or any wave at all) and may fall into surfer speak, but they are much smarter and profound than you think. This is a great book, packed with action and character exposition, although at times it gets a little bogged down in background detail. Winslow did introduce a psychotic villain, who I feared was going to derail the entire book, but luckily he makes only a brief (yet annoying) appearance. All in all, I enjoyed this tremendously, as I have enjoyed nearly every one of Winslow's other books. I hope he's hard at work writing the next one!

Movie Review: "The Artist"

2011-12-23T16:22:00.000-08:00

I wish we didn't live in a world where hype existed. Whenever possible, I try to see movies and read books fairly soon after they're released, and avoid most reviews so I don't have any preconceived notions in my mind. But when you follow the entertainment world like I do, there's no escaping hearing which movies and books are being hailed by critics, especially around year-end. All of that preface to say I came to The Artist knowing it's one of the favorites to win the Oscar for Best Picture, as it has been the winner of, or is a nominee for, many major critics' awards.

Is it worth all the hype? No, and maybe, yes.

It's 1927, during Hollywood's Golden Age, when silent movies are at their heyday. Debonair George Valentin (played with a mischievous twinkle by Jean Dujardin) is one of the most popular stars, charming audiences both on and offscreen (although not his wife). One day during an autograph session, a fan named Peppy Miller (the vivaciously adorable Berenice Bejo) winds up in George's spotlight, much to his amusement. The two share some sweet chemistry, and their encounter leads to Peppy's employment as an extra, and then supporting character, in many of his films. Then, as Hollywood gets caught up with the new talking pictures, Peppy's popularity (say that five times fast) explodes, while George, who believes talking pictures are just a fad, is left to lanugish in failure, losing everything, except his trusted dog. But Peppy is determined to save George at any cost, which leads to the film's most dramatic moments, as well as its breathless and unexpected finale.

In case you hadn't heard, The Artist is an (almost completely) silent movie, like a souvenir of the era it captures. It is a beautifully shot film, and the acting is appropriately over the top, as silent movie acting was in Hollywood's days of yore. And while I was utterly taken in by the film's charm and its artistry, in the end, its silence robbed me a bit of its heart. To me, The Artist is like a beautiful meringue dessert—lovely to look at and enjoyable to consume, but in the end, it doesn't fill you up. But it's well worth seeing, for Dujardin and Bejo's performances, and the uniqueness of the experience.

Book Review: "How the Mistakes Were Made" by Tyler McMahon

2011-12-22T18:35:00.001-08:00

I'm guessing that I love to read books about bands or the music industry because I'm such a huge music fan. Novels like Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad or Tom Perrotta's The Wishbones, or nonfiction like Peter Guralnick's books about Elvis, including the terrific Last Train to Memphis, have an added appeal because music truly captivates me. Tyler McMahon's How the Mistakes Were Made is a great addition to this genre, a tremendously compelling (if not entirely original) look at the powerful hold music and performing has on some people, and the relationships that get caught in the crossfire.

In the early 1980s, Laura Loss was known as the queen of hardcore punk, despite being under 18. The bassist for her brother's legendary band, Second Class Citizens, she traveled the country with the band as it made a name for itself, until punk's own fans detroyed her brother. Ten years later, in pre-grunge Seattle, she still lives on those memories, playing for a second-rate band, until she meets Nathan and Sean, two aspiring musicians from Montana in whom Laura recognizes exceptional genius. Under her tutelage, a new band, The Mistakes, is formed, and the three ride the rollercoaster of pursuing their dreams. Yet two of the key factors in the band's success—Sean's synesthesia (a blending of the senses that allows him to "see" the music) and the chemistry between the three of them—are both challenged as the band experiences a meteoric rise to success. Cutting between Laura's days in her brother's band and the day-to-day world of The Mistakes, this is a book about one woman's struggle to hold her life together for the second time as music once again threatens to tear it apart.

I stumbled across this book on Amazon, having heard nothing about it, and I really enjoyed it. While Laura isn't an altogether sympathetic character, her story and her experience in both bands are very compelling. And while the book never lost my interest (I read the entire book in about a day and a half), the relationship between Laura, Nathan, and Sean isn't particularly unique, and you can see what is going to happen pretty early on. But that doesn't take away from the emotions and raw drama that McMahon imbues the book with. This is a good, solid, entertaining read, particularly if you're interested in the music world.

Take that...right in the posterior!

2011-12-22T10:41:00.000-08:00

Did you hear the one about the overweight congressman who ridiculed the First Lady for having a fat ass and forgot that people would hear him and rush to share this news tidbit with the press?

Meet Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner from the great state of Wisconsin.

While on the telephone at DC's Reagan National Airport (still hate writing that full name out), Sensenbrenner said he told a woman who was praising Mrs. Obama—who has pushed her "Let's Move!" campaign and others to improve childhood eating habits—that she should follow her own advice.

"She lectures us on eating right while she has a large posterior herself," he allegedly was overheard saying.

Sensenbrenner does not deny insulting the First Lady, and says he plans to call Mrs. Obama to apologize. His spokeswoman said, "Mr. Sensenbrenner was referring to the first lady's healthy food initiative. He doesn't think the government should be telling Americans what to eat. While he may not agree with all of her initiatives, he plans to contact the First Lady's office to apologize for his comments."

While it's nice to see someone get hoisted on their own petard, I must admit I don't understand why some Republicans are so outraged by Mrs. Obama's healthy eating campaign. She's not forcing anyone to eat anything they don't want to, or forbidding them to eat fattening foods. She's trying to educate people about the need to watch what they eat and exercise, much in the same way Nancy Reagan tried to keep kids away from drugs, and Laura Bush pushed the need for literacy.

Oh, wait. It's because when you're in the other party, you object to everything, no matter how random.

But sometimes it bites you in the, well, posterior.

Book Review: "11/22/63" by Stephen King

2011-12-21T09:55:00.001-08:00

Growing up, Stephen King was easily one of my favorite authors. Many of his novels created indelible impressions in my mind. (I still have a distrust of clowns thanks to It, and just thinking about The Stand makes me cough.) But my fondness for King has wavered a bit over the last 15 or so years, as I started discovering that as his novels grew in size, his ability to close out a story (from often exceptional ideas) suffered somewhat. Needless to say, I put a great deal of thought into deciding whether or not to read his latest opus, the nearly 900-page 11/22/63, but after flying through it in less than a week, I can unequivocally say this novel should be ranked among some of King's best work.

Jake Epping is an English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who teaches GED English classes as a way to make extra money. In response to an assignment in which he asked his students to talk about a life-changing incident, he learns that Harry Dunning, a handicapped janitor, was injured by his father during a violent rampage on Halloween night in 1958, the night he killed Harry's mother and three siblings with a hammer. This discovery deeply affects Jake, and when his friend, local diner owner Al, shows him a hidden time portal in the diner that transports you back to September 1958, Jake jumps at the chance to go back in time and prevent this massacre. No matter how long you're "back," when you return to the present you've only been gone for two minutes, and if you ever go back through the portal again, everything that happened on your last visit resets. Once Al realizes he has a kindred spirit in Jake, he enlists him in the ultimate heroic mission—stopping Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating John F. Kennedy. But time and history do not enjoy being diverted from their plans...

There have been thousands of books written about time travel and the idea of righting past wrongs, but in Stephen King's tremendously capable hands, this concept seems fresh and unique. I kept wondering what twists would come next, but none of them detracted from my complete enjoyment of this book. Almost every character has great depth and they easily draw you into their stories. And when a book of nearly 900 pages reads like a 300-pager, you know you're in the hands of a master. Is some of the plot predictable? Sure, but it's still utterly compelling. Don't be put off by the heft of the book or its subject matter—at its core, this is a story about love, history, and trying to do the right thing, even though it may have larger ramifications. Truly a fantastic book.

Book Review: "The Taste of Salt" by Martha Southgate

2011-12-14T18:00:00.003-08:00

Josie is a marine biologist, one of only a few senior-level black women in her position at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. In achieving professional success, she has finally been able to free herself of her childhood in Cleveland, of her alcoholic father and addicted younger brother, and she can spend her time in the ocean, where she loves to be more than anything. But she has never fully disentangled herself from the trauma and disappointments of her childhood, and that has a ripple effect in her personal relationships, including her marriage to Daniel, who is also a marine biologist.

The Taste of Salt is a book about the unending power of addiction and the harm it does not only to the addicts, but to those around them. But more than that, this is a book about relationships, about allowing yourself to feel worthy of love, to express your emotions, and trust those around you. The book is narrated mostly by Josie, with chapters told by each of her parents, her brother, and her husband, and it is tremendously compelling.

Martha Southgate, author of the fantastic The Fall of Rome (which isn't about the ancient Romans), has written another terrific book filled with complex characters and beautiful prose. Like the ocean that Josie loves, where what appears on the surface is only a glimpse at the complexities that lie beneath, Josie's relationships and her way of relating to those in her life are far more complicated than they first appear. While Josie might not appear to be the most sympathetic character at the start of the book, I'd encourage you to keep reading, or you'll miss a well-told story of human emotions and interactions.

The dichotomy of Tebow...

2011-12-14T04:23:00.000-08:00

I'll admit it: I'm simultaneously fascinated and repulsed by Tim Tebow.

Beyond his aesthetic appeal (what do you want from me?), it's easy to get hooked by his never-say-die attitude, which has propelled his career as an NFL quarterback far beyond anyone's expectations. While no one can argue with his heart or his ability to motivate a team (or a crowd), Denver Broncos' coach Jon Fox's decision to start Tebow was ridiculed by many because of his deficiencies as a quarterback. Heck, even some defensemen from the Broncos' latest opponent, the Bears aren't impressed.

No real throwing ability. No power. A tendency to get rattled. But with all of that, the Broncos are now 7-1 with Tebow as a starting quarterback. The Broncos lead their division, and Jon Fox and Broncos VP John Elway look like geniuses. And there's no denying that Tebow's amazing 4th quarter rallies are fun to watch, unless your team is the one being rallied against.

All that being said, however, it's Tebow's beliefs that I have a problem with. I don't begrudge him his devout faith, but I don't need to have it shoved down my throat with every victory. And while "Tebowing," his tendency to pray on the sidelines, has sparked a craze so big that even an Olympic skiier "Tebowed" after her World Cup victory, like former quarterbacks Jake Plummer and Kurt Warner have suggested, maybe he could tone it down a little.

My main problem with Tebow, however, is his public support for pro-life and anti-equality causes, going so far as to appear in advertisements for conservative organizations. When you publicly affiliate with organizations that promote hatred and support inequality, you clearly have no interest in fans of all religions, sexual orientations, and beliefs. And it's a shame, because someone in Tebow's position has the opportunity to make a powerful statement about loving all people (like Jesus did), but instead, he has chosen to be narrow-minded.

Which is why, although there's no denying the excitement of "Tebow Time," I just can't fully embrace his successes. Should be an interesting end to the football season, though...

Book Review: "American Boy" by Larry Watson

2011-12-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

Some authors seem as if their style and storytelling would fit in perfectly in a different era. Larry Watson, who has written some truly fantastic books, including Montana 1948, Justice and In a Dark Time, is one of those writers. Many of his books would be appropriate companions to those by Fitzgerald or Faulkner, both in setting (many of his stories take place in earlier times) and because his narrative, while spare, packs the power of earlier writers.

Matthew Garth is a working-class teenager growing up in Minnesota in the early 1960s. Raised by his waitress mother, he would much rather spend time in the company of his best friend, Johnny Dunbar, and his wealthy family, led by the town doctor and his devoted wife. On Thanksgiving night Dr. Dunbar is asked to treat Louisa Lindahl, a woman in her 20s who has been shot by her good-for-nothing boyfriend. That night Matthew sees both a gunshot wound and a topless woman for the first time, and both sights haunt him. His longing for the mysterious Louisa changes his behavior and his relationship with the Dunbars, and leads him to actions that set a chain of events in motion that will affect all of them indelibly.

While American Boy certainly is a book that recalls an earlier time, the feelings it chronicles—jealousy, lust, envy, betrayal, and a desire to better one's life—are modern ones. This was a very quick read; while nothing too surprising transpired in the plot, I still felt somewhat invested in the characters and what happened to them, even if none of them were particularly likeable. I really enjoyed Watson's storytelling ability, as I always do, and think he should be much more famous than he is. This may not be his best book, but it's definitely a worthwhile read.

Imagine...

2011-12-08T18:35:00.000-08:00

John Lennon was shot and killed 31 years ago tonight, December 8, 1980. I was a 6th grade student in Mrs. Radman's class (before she left to have a baby) and I remember talking about the Beatles and John Lennon earlier that day with some friends. At that point in time I was somewhat obsessed with the Beatles' music—quite a departure from the other music I listened to.

The violent death of a man so committed to peace was almost incongruous. It certainly was difficult to understand—I wasn't old enough to have lived through either Kennedy assassination, and this was before Ronald Reagan was shot.

Thirty-one years after his death, Lennon remains an icon, both for his musical genius and his innate goodness. While the songs of the world have been less melodic without him, we are truly fortunate to still have some of his most memorable creations in our lives.

Rest in peace. And thanks for all you gave us in your far-too-short life.

Book Review: "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline

2011-12-08T18:08:00.001-08:00

This book was frigging awesome! Children of the 80s, especially video game junkies, here is the book for you. Combining the adventure, danger, action, companionship, romance, violence, and fantasy of the best quest novels with fantastic 80s trivia, Ernest Cline has outdone himself with his very first book.

It's 2044, and the real world is an awful place. The environment has been destroyed, there's a worldwide energy shortage, nearly all people live in abject poverty, and the only escape is plugging into OASIS, a virtual world made up of thousands of planets, where you can be anyone or anything you want to, do anything you want, even fall in love. Because schools became so dangerous they have been replicated virtually on OASIS, ensuring students pay attention and face no threat of bullying. Like everyone else, Wade Watts uses OASIS to escape the bleak world he lives in. And one day, the creator of OASIS, James Halliday—a highly eccentric, 80s-obssessed multibillionaire—dies, but he leaves one final gift for the world, a series of puzzles and challenges sure to test anyone. But the winner will have ultimate control of OASIS. And the challenges are unlike anything you could imagine. Wade, like millions of others, tries and tries to solve the challenges for years, until one day, he stumbles onto the first clue. And then the greatest adventure—and the greatest threats—of his life begins.

I'm a sucker for books about a noble hero on a quest, so needless to say, Ready Player One sucked me in from the get-go. This is a story about courage, friendship, love, good, and evil, with the 1980s and the worlds of classic video and adventure games and anime as its backdrop. Cline definitely lets you get lost in the geekery, but he has created terrific, memorable characters who draw you into their lives, and the action sequences are fast-paced and creative. I can only imagine what a phenomenal movie this would be, but I can say for certain it is an exceptional book. Easily one of the best I've read in quite some time.

So what if it's a manufactured holiday?

2011-12-05T10:11:00.001-08:00

Today, according to the folks at Foodimentary.com, is National Comfort Food Day. How awesome does that holiday sound?

Now, maybe you're not one of those people who lives for the cold weather because of stews, soups, casseroles, and chilies, but I most assuredly am. (Not to mention the fact that cold weather clothing is much more flattering to the comfort food-fueled body!) While I went to culinary school, and can cook nearly everything, when I am asked what my specialties are, or what I most love to cook, I always answer "comfort food."

Comfort food really is, well, comforting for me. When I'm sad, or hurt, or stressed, or emotionally and physically exhausted, the best medicine is often a bowl of macaroni and cheese, or a plate of baked ziti. (Of course, the fact that I am a carbohydrate junkie helps here, too!)

So, take the time today to celebrate the food that can be your friend when you need it. I'll resist the temptation to dive into a vat of mac and cheese tonight!

Book Review: "Lost Memory of Skin" by Russell Banks

2011-12-04T15:18:00.000-08:00

It takes a talented author to make a sympathetic character out of one who has done something odious, but Russell Banks succeeds in his new book, Lost Memory of Skin. Sadly, other aspects of the book didn't fare quite as well.

The Kid is a 21-year-old, socially awkward misfit on probation from his conviction as a sex offender, after an attempt to meet an underage girl goes awry. Unable to live less than 2,500 feet from anywhere children might gather, he lives in a tent under a South Florida causeway, in the company of a number of others who have committed similar and worse crimes. He knows what he did was wrong and truly wants to start anew, but can't seem to catch a break either keeping a menial job or a place to live. One day he encounters the Professor, a larger-than-life man (physically and figuratively) who believes the Kid will be an excellent resource for his studies on homelessness and sex offenders. In exchange for sharing his experiences, the Professor takes Kid under his wing and provides some assistance. But the Professor is a man with a number of his own secrets, and when those are revealed, the balance of power between the two shifts. Ultimately, this is a book about the importance of trusting yourself, and how difficult it is to trust others until you can master that skill.

With Kid and the Professor, Banks created very unique characters, characters with whom you certainly can't identify but at times can't help rooting for them. While the general thread of the plot is compelling, the story takes a very unnecessary turn after the Professor's secrets are revealed, and I really felt that twist undercut the story. And at times, Banks spent far too much time dwelling on Florida history and the Bible, which distracted from the actual characters you want to follow. A truly prolific writer, Banks has written two of my favorite books—The Sweet Hereafter and The Rule of the Bone, but I felt he tried a little too hard with this book. His writing, however, is still something to behold, so I'd encourage you to pick up one of his earlier books if you've never read him before.

Doesn't anyone care about accuracy anymore?

2011-11-30T11:59:00.001-08:00

File these under "D'oh":

A few weeks ago, Victoria's Secret started selling its take on college sports t-shirts, with a cute, sexy Michigan State t-shirt.

Nothing objectionable about this shirt, right? It has the Michigan State name, the Spartans logo, the color is correct...The problem, however, is that the tagline "Hail to the Victors" is actually from the University of Michigan's motto/fight song. Guess there must be a Wolverine fan in VS's product design department...

Not one to be outdone, Old Navy recently tried their hand at women's college t-shirts, with similar results.

With these three shirts for the University of Iowa, University of Colorado, and University of Arizona, the team names are correct, but the founding years for each of the universities is off. The shirts list the founding dates as 1820, 1878, and 1881, respectively, but the actual dates are 1847, 1876, and 1885, which means that the date on Iowa's t-shirt is 27 years off.

Has no one at Old Navy heard of the internet? Has our society always just been content with mediocrity, or is this something that has come along with the general malaise from which we all seem to suffer these days?

Hope the individuals responsible for these errors don't leave their jobs to pursue positions in pharmaceutical or medical supply communications...

It's time...

2011-11-29T04:29:00.001-08:00

This video has made its way around the web, but in case you've not yet seen it, check out this amazingly moving commercial for marriage equality, thanks to GetUp! Australia.

Whether or not you're an emotional cripple like I am, there's no denying the power of this message. I just wish the whole world could see it this way.

Movie Review: "The Muppets"

2011-11-27T18:09:00.000-08:00

When a new installment of a movie franchise is released after a number of years have elapsed since the last one, there is always concern whether the new movie will be able to capture the magic of the series. Where The Muppets is concerned, the answer is a resounding yes.

It has been nearly 13 years since the last movie starring the Muppets, the middling Muppets from Space. The world certainly has changed since 1999—puppets, when they exist at all, are edgier and more satirical (think Triumph the Insult Comic Dog or the characters from Mystery Science Theater 3000 or Crank Yankers)—they don't wonder why there are so many songs about rainbows, they don't sing with chickens or tell corny jokes. And it is precisely that world that The Muppets is set in, which probably adds to its appeal.

Gary (lifelong Muppet fan Jason Segel, who co-wrote the script), his Muppet-obsessed brother, Walter, and his girlfriend, Mary (Amy Adams) set off for a trip to Los Angeles to visit the famed Muppet Studios. When they arrive at the rundown landmark, Walter overhears the plans of evil oilman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to tear down the studios and drill for oil...if the Muppets don't raise 10 million dollars in two weeks. Walter and his pals track Kermit down, and it turns out that the Muppet crew hasn't been in touch for a long time. Kermit is at first reluctant to try and track everyone down, but eventually joins Walter, Gary, and Mary on an expedition to reunite the old gang and put on a telethon in the old Muppet Show model to raise the money. But things aren't as easy as they seem—there's one key holdout among the Muppets, no network wants to give them a chance because they're no longer relevant, and then there's the matter of finding a celebrity host...

Will the entire Muppets gang reunite? Will they be able to raise enough money to foil Tex Richman? (Cue maniacal laugh...) Will they be able to find a celebrity host? And will Walter decide whether he wants to return to his home in Smalltown or join the Muppets? Well, needless to say, there's not a lot of suspense to be had, but that doesn't detract from a second of the movie's appeal. It's campy, funny, corny, and heartwarming, from the celebrity cameos (Selena Gomez, Modern Family's Rico Rodriguez, John Krasinski, Neil Patrick Harris, etc.) to the kitschy musical numbers, but ultimately, the movie had me from Statler and Waldorf's first insults, not to mention The Rainbow Connection.

Having eagerly anticipated the Muppets' return for months, I can say that the movie wasn't quite as great as I had hoped, but it was tremendously enjoyable. Definitely a fun trip down memory lane...

Book Review: "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

2011-11-27T13:31:00.000-08:00

Henrietta Lacks was a poor Southern woman and mother of five children who died in 1951 as the result of a remarkably aggressive form of cervical cancer. While undergoing radiation treatment, doctors at Johns Hopkins took samples of her cells without her consent, to better study the cancer. These cells, known as HeLa, became an important scientific and medical tool—they were the first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, and they are still alive today. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. But very little was known about the woman from whom these cells came, and her family was unaware of Henrietta's contributions to science for many, many years.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells Henrietta's story and chronicles the struggles of her family, most of whom never had the opportunity to even finish high school, to understand what cells were taken from her and what scientists were doing with them. Rebecca Skloot also gives a great deal of background into scientific research, particularly where cell and tissue study is concerned, and the challenges both the scientific and medical ethics communities face relative to "donations" of cells taken from patients. But in the end, this is the story of Henrietta's family and the emotions that the discovery of her role in science uncovers.

While the subject of this book is very scientific, much of it reads like a novel. It is a fantastic story—sometimes shocking, sometimes heartbreaking—but Skloot gives depth not only to Henrietta and her family, but the researchers who both studied and questioned the HeLa cells through the years. When this book was released last year to tremendous acclaim, I didn't think it would interest me much, but a friend recently recommended it, and I'm glad I was motivated to pick it up. Don't be put off by the subject matter; in the end, this will pique your curiosity and tug at your heart. And you'll definitely look with a different eye at the next medical procedure you have!

Book Review: "The Art of Fielding" by Chad Harbach

2011-11-25T12:05:00.000-08:00

It has been said that "baseball is life." Whether or not you agree with this statement, for the characters in Chad Harbach's fantastic new novel, The Art of Fielding, baseball may not be life, but it certainly is at the crux of their lives.

Henry Skrimshander is a scrawny, aspiring baseball player whose effortless talent during a summer league game attracts the attention of Mike Schwartz, an athlete at Westish College, located on the shores of Lake Michigan. Mike gets Henry enrolled at Westish and becomes his mentor, coach, torturer, and biggest advocate, and Henry finds himself turning into a superstar, being mentioned as an early draft pick in the major leagues. And then one errant throw sets a chain of events in motion that affects the lives of not only Henry and Mike, but also Guert Affenlight, Westish's president, who finds himself caught in the grips of an obsession he never imagined; Pella Affenlight, Guert's daughter, who returns to Westish after escaping an impulsive marriage, and wants to start anew; and Owen Dunne, Henry's roommate. This is a book about baseball that transcends the sport itself—it is a book about how frightening realizing your dreams, and falling short of them, can be.

Amazon chose The Art of Fielding as its best book of 2011. And while I'm not ready to bestow that title on it just yet, I can unequivocally say it's one of the best books I've read this year. Harbach has created an unforgettable bunch of characters, and while the situations he puts them in may not be unique, the way he tells their stories and how they handle what comes their way is truly fantastic. He is a terrific writer and at times, a sentence or two would make me pause and read it again, just to marvel at his word choices. This is a book of over 500 pages that read like a much shorter novel, yet when I finished it, I wished I had more of it to savor. Truly fantastic.

Giving thanks...

2011-11-25T11:31:00.000-08:00

Once again, the year has flown by at unbelievable speed. It seems impossible to think that yesterday was Thanksgiving and today—the equally beloved and dreaded "Black Friday"—marks just one more month until Christmas.

We celebrated Thanksgiving back in New Jersey with my family, and I cooked the meal. It always amazes me how the fruits of two days' worth of cooking can be devoured in less than 30 minutes, but it's clearly a good sign, no?

As I cooked and we ate, I realized that once again this year I have so much to be thankful for. I am thankful to have been able to celebrate the holiday surrounded by gamily. I am thankful to have the opportunity to continue watching my nephews grow and be amused by their antics.

I'm thankful for our dog, Quinn, and I'm thankful we discovered doggie day care so Quinn can channel some of her boundless energy! And of course, I'm thankful to spend every day with the love of my life, because every day is more special and more meaningful.

I'm also thankful for the opportunity to express my opinions through this blog, and I'm tremendously grateful that you visit from time to time to see what I have to say. This is so much better than the alternative of talking to myself!!

Hope your holidays were truly special.

Book Review: "The Detachment" by Barry Eisler

2011-11-20T17:51:00.000-08:00

Into everyone's life, a little John Rain should fall. John Rain is the deadly yet sensitive assassin who has been the protagonist in six of Barry Eisler's previous novels. He finally returns after a hiatus of several years, during which Eisler wrote two stand-alone novels. Happily, Rain—and Eisler—are at the top of their form yet again.

After deciding to get out of the life as an assassin-for-hire, Rain has returned to Tokyo and resumed his old habits of martial arts training, listening to jazz, and enjoying fine scotch. But when black ops veteran Colonel Scott "Hort" Horton tracks Rain down and tries to convince him to take out three targets in the national security realm in order to prevent a coup which could essentially suspend the U.S. Constitution, Rain finds the offer too dangerous, and too good, to refuse. He enlists the services of his old ally, Dox, and joins forces with two of Hort's men, Treven and Larison, each of whom has their own secrets to hide. And then Rain discovers that Hort might not have been completely truthful when laying out the rationale for the planned assassinations...and at least one member of Rain's team has plans for some sidework that might have dangerous repercussions.

Barry Eisler is a terrific storyteller, and even though the world he has created for John Rain and his other characters is nothing like I can imagine, he quickly engrosses you in nonstop, crackling action, suspense, and exceptional character development. I always find myself rushing through these books, pushed along by the plot, fascinated by the details that Eisler includes, and transfixed by the fact that he has been able to make a deadly assassin with a conscience a realistic and sympathetic character. If you like this type of thriller, you won't go wrong with any of the John Rain novels—each one reads like a movie, but they're better written. Hope the next one comes sooner!

And speaking of Christmas traditions...

2011-11-18T12:33:00.000-08:00

Too good to pass up.

The Santa problem...

2011-11-18T09:52:00.000-08:00

Grumpy parents and movie villains often joke about canceling Christmas, but at the Hollings Cancer Center in Charleston, SC, that nearly happened.

Earlier this week, the Center's administration decided that because of its state affiliation (it is part of the Medical University of South Carolina), they weren't going to have a "Santa presence" this year. And that meant telling hospital volunteer Frank Cloyes, who has spent the last two years dressing as Santa and spending time with chemotherapy patients, that his services were no longer needed.

Center leaders also decided to make decorations "more secular and respectful to all beliefs," said Hollings spokeswoman Vicky Agnew. "We don't want to offend a volunteer with good intentions, but we need to think of the bigger picture. People who are Muslim or Jewish or have no religious beliefs come here for treatment," she said.

This decision, of course, caused a great deal of public outcry all over the country, leading to more criticism that political correctness had gone too far.

The Center received so much negative feedback that Agnew released a statement saying, "We’ve received a number of strong responses to the Santa story, and it prompted another discussion on our end. As a result, we’ve decided to allow a Santa presence this year." But Agnew did clarify that the initial decision to end Santa's visits was made after complaints from patients.

Being Jewish, clearly Santa doesn't have the special meaning to me that he does to those who celebrate Christmas. But that's fine with me. I've always viewed Santa as more of a representative of the commercial nature of the holiday than the religious one, so the presence of Santa doesn't offend my religious beliefs or anything. If emphasis was placed more on Jesus Christ or the Nativity scene, I would have more of an issue with it, especially if equal weight wasn't given to other religions.

The holiday season is a traditional touchstone for many, especially those dealing with stressful situations, such as undergoing chemo or having a family member with cancer. If the presence of "Santa" brings comfort, then I see no reason to ban him from a cancer center during the holidays, unless his presence is making more patients unhappy and uncomfortable. And if you don't want a volunteer dressed as Santa to spend time with you, it's easy enough simply to say "no, thank you."

Sometimes political correctness for political correctness' sake isn't correct.

Sometimes only a hamburger will suffice...

2011-11-15T08:17:00.001-08:00

We've all been there. You're completely in the mood for fast food, so you head to the drive-thru, only to find that they're still serving breakfast or, if you have a craving for hash browns, that they've already switched over to serving lunch.

Take Shanaya Edgell, for example. According to The Smoking Gun, the 22-year-old and her boyfriend arrived at a Janesville, Wisconsin McDonald's around 3:00 a.m. the other day, and she was jonesing for a Mickey-D's cheeseburger.

The challenge: McDonald's had already switched over to their breakfast menu. This enraged Edgell, so she turned on her boyfriend, Darrell Page, biting him on the arm and tearing off his shirt. Page and Edgell drove away, but then she apparently changed her mind, and directed Page to "return to McDonald’s so that she could get breakfast."

Then it appears Edgell got a little loopy, and allegedly began striking Page in the face and biting his right arm. Page also told police that when he pulled his car over during the assault, Edgell got out of the vehicle and climbed atop the hood to keep him from leaving.

Edgell, who was arrested for disorderly conduct, told police she became "upset" after discovering that McDonald’s had "switched over to the breakfast menu and she wanted to order food off the regular menu." She said she was "freaking out over this," adding that Page was trying to calm her down over the matter of the unavailable cheeseburgers.

Lucky she wasn't after the elusive McRib sandwich or a Shamrock Shake. Those are limited-time items, you know...

I am an excited fanboy...

2011-11-15T05:08:00.000-08:00

That squeal you heard around the world yesterday, the slow-down in productivity everywhere came courtesy of the official trailer for The Hunger Games, the much-anticipated movie adaptation of the first book in Suzanne Collins' best-selling trilogy.

As I've written a number of times previously, I loved these books, and cannot wait for the movie to come out next March. While many of the series' younger fans questioned nearly every casting choice, from Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss ("she's not tall enough" and "she's blonde") to Josh Hutcherson as Peeta ("he's short and not blonde"), the trailer delivers convincing glimpses that all of the choices made by director Gary Ross—in concert with Suzanne Collins—were on target.

Admittedly, I'm most excited about Lenny Kravitz playing Cinna, the stylist who turns Katniss into an icon during the Hunger Games. (If you've never read the books, you won't know what I mean, but suffice it to say, he's a terrific character.)

Read the books if you haven't. And enjoy the trailer! Can't even count how many times I've watched it already...

Wanna feel old (and maybe a little bit creepy)?

2011-11-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

While 1996's Jerry Maguire may be best known for the lines "Show me the money!", "You had me at hello," and "You complete me," little Jonathan Lipnicki, who played Renee Zellweger's nerdy son, often stole the movie, with lines like, "The human head weighs eight pounds."

Well, today Lipnicki is 21(!) years old and looks a bit, well, different. And if the human head does weigh eight pounds, clearly Lipnicki has been lifting a lot of human heads to get a physique like this.

I know I have no real reason to feel like a creepy old man given that Lipnicki is 21, but I kinda do. Still, this is quite a transformation...

Movie Weekend: "Being Elmo" and "J.Edgar"

2011-11-13T18:23:00.000-08:00

I had the opportunity to see two great movies this weekend, and they couldn't have been more different. Being Elmo chronicled the journey of Kevin Clash, the puppeteer most famous for Sesame Street's Elmo, and how a boy growing up in a lower middle class suburb of Baltimore became passionate about puppeteering and was able to turn that love into his life's work. Clash clearly wears his heart on his sleeve (or at the end of his hand) when he takes on Elmo's childlike persona, but those who know him say that Elmo's loving nature is a pure manifestation of Kevin's heart.

Being Elmo was a beautiful documentary about finding and following your dreams, and never letting anything stand in the way of what you're passionate about. And it's also the story of how you can never expect the impact a person may have on your life, just as you cannot anticipate the impact you may have on another's. Spectacular.

From Elmo to the FBI. Interesting transition, no?

This morning we saw J. Edgar, Clint Eastwood's new biography of famed FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Leonardo DiCaprio gives a fantastically nuanced performance of the power-hungry, paranoid, approval-craving Hoover, as the movie follows him from the early 1920s through his death in the 1970s. Some believe Hoover to be the embodiment of all that is wrong with law enforcement, that his unwavering focus on whom he considered America's enemies was often motivated by grudges. Others believe that his focus on forensics, evidence collection (early police cases saw detectives simply throwing evidence away), and centralizing fingerprint records revolutionized the fight against crime.

While Eastwood certainly allows viewers a glimpse into the psyche behind the dogged crime fighter, he doesn't beat you over the head with his opinions about the man. And Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black's (Milk) script shows you both the henpecked man dominated by his mother (Judi Dench) as well as the man wishing he could follow his heart but knowing that to do so would be disastrous. Armie Hammer, who with some digital enhancement played both Winklevoss twins in The Social Network, needed no visual gimmickry to play Clyde Tolson, Hoover's second-in-command and, if the rumors are true, his longtime companion. Hammer and DiCaprio have immense chemistry, and their scenes have both a power and a poignancy.

The movie jumps back and forth through the decades, under the guise of Hoover's dictating the story of the FBI to various agents. The time shifting is a little confusing, because while all of the characters are saddled with age-appropriate makeup, until the plot advances you aren't quite sure where you are in the plot. And the film, like many of Eastwood's recent movies, moves a little slowly at times, but the performances will keep you riveted.

I think Leonardo DiCaprio has always been one of those actors who gives strong performances but is never quite taken seriously despite his talent. I hope this performance nets him another Oscar nomination, and I would also love to see Armie Hammer be recognized in the Best Supporting Actor category as well. J. Edgar is definitely a movie worth seeing, for even if Hoover wasn't the most popular of men, he certainly was one of the more intriguing ones of the 20th century.

Book Review: "Zone One" by Colson Whitehead

2011-11-13T17:39:00.001-08:00

The literary world over the last few years has been somewhat obsessed with the undead—novels featuring vampires, zombies, werewolves, mythical creatures, etc. are more popular than ever before. Yet there hasn't quite been a zombie novel like Zone One, Colson Whitehead's thoughtful and thought-provoking new book.

It's a time in the distant future and the world has been hit by a pandemic (referred to as the Last Night) which divided its citizens into two classes—the living and the living dead. While an initial military operation killed many of those who turned into zombies following the Last Night, brigades of citizen soldiers, at the behest of the provisional government in Buffalo, have been tasked with clearing out the rest of New York City so it can eventually be resettled. Mark Spitz is one of those citizen soldiers, and over the course of three surreal days, Zone One follows his efforts and those of his fellow recruits as they sweep city buildings and kill any remaining zombies that had been able to hide, or were trapped when the plague hit. The book cuts between the present day and accounts of Mark's attempts to survive in the early days of the pandemic.

I've referred to this as an "intellectual zombie novel," because while there is no shortage of lurid violence as the zombies attack and are captured, the book spends more time exploring themes of survival, courage, mediocrity, and the fight to distinguish yourself in a world characterized by unique people. Whitehead is a tremendously gifted writer and his use of language is mesmerizing at times, but I felt at times that the book moved very slowly, because despite the action, everything unfolds at a fairly meditative pace. This is a book worth reading, but it's important you keep in mind that this is a book much heavier on contemplation than action. But Colson Whitehead has made a worthy, if somewhat unique, contribution to the zombie "genre."

Be cool, boy...

2011-11-12T11:50:00.000-08:00

I'm a sucker for all things West Side Story, perhaps because I still haven't gotten over that we didn't perform it in high school. (My sophomore year we performed Grease, and so it seemed the most natural follow-up for junior year, but it never happened. We did Carousel instead, and gone were my dreams of playing Tony. Sigh.)

Anyway, to celebrate West Side Story's 50th anniversary (and the upcoming release of a new Blu-Ray DVD), a group of dancers created a flash mob in Times Square. Flash mobs may be a little overused, but this one had me at the first snap of the fingers.

Thought for the day...

2011-11-09T05:46:00.000-08:00

Enough said.

Say it ain't so, Joe...

2011-11-09T05:14:00.000-08:00

When it comes to Pennsylvania legends, Joe Paterno probably ranks somewhere just under Ben Franklin and above William Penn and "Mean" Joe Greene. Head coach of Penn State for 45 years, most people figured his tenure would end in a similar fashion to Supreme Court justices.

But with the increasingly disturbing allegations of sexual abuse and subsequent cover-up swirling around Penn State, it's becoming infinitely clearer that the time for Paterno to step down as coach may be sooner rather than later.

Has he run a clean program as far as NCAA rules are concerned? Yes. But while protecting your players, your reputation, and your school certainly are admirable actions (and somewhat rare in the do-or-die world of college athletics), doing so at the expense of innocent children makes you a coward and a monster, not someone to be revered.

Yes, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. But as the number of children that former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky allegedly sexually abused grows, so does the sadness and anger that university officials aware of the allegations for years did nothing to ensure it stopped. While Paterno informed Penn State's athletic director of one instance of alleged abuse he was told about, Paterno was happy to stay out of the fray. And that included turning his back when university officials continued to do nothing regarding the abuse accusations, and allowing Sandusky to continue to use school facilities to run his foundation for at-risk children, where he met those he allegedly abused.

Paterno taught his players courage, teamwork, sportsmanship, and drive. Sadly, it appears that the teacher did not heed his own lessons. It's time for Paterno to bid farewell to Happy Valley and think more about the lives changed because of things he did not do than those changed by the things he did.

Those children allegedly abused by Jerry Sandusky at the very least deserve that.

Stop the population...

2011-11-08T06:28:00.001-08:00

Clearly any concerns about the world's population exceeding 7 billion last week were lost on Jim-Bob and Michelle Duggar, who announced that baby #20 was on the way earlier today.

Baby #20.

Seriously.

This, despite the fact that their last child, Josie, was delivered at only 25 weeks (and weighed less than 2 pounds) because of Michelle's preeclampsia. (Nearly two years old now, the Duggars say Josie is showing no signs of complications due to her premature birth.) This, despite the fact that Michelle is now 45, requires the care of a high-risk pregnancy doctor, and is a grandmother to two children.

All because this is "God's plan." (Oh, and the fact that they have a reality show on TLC.)

I am not a fan of telling women what to do with their bodies. But in my opinion, having 20 children is absolutely unnecessary, especially when there are thousands upon thousands of children in the foster care system or in orphanages, desperate to find families of their own. If the Duggars feel the need to share the love they have with more and more children, couldn't they adopt a few? Imagine the joy that a family this size could bring to children longing for their own families. And why jeopardize your health and the health of an unborn baby simply to have a 20th child?

Wouldn't you think God would rather people find homes for all of the children in our country and the world who need families? Wouldn't that be more of God's plan than forcing the world to support more children being born unnecessarily?

Movie Review: "Like Crazy"

2011-11-07T12:55:00.000-08:00

Admittedly, I've been really inconsistent in reviewing movies on my blog. The truth is, I've seen some pretty fantastic movies so far this year, and as the end of the year approaches (which is the time all studios start premiering their "Oscar-worthy" movies), I know I'll see a ton more great films.

Two weekends ago, in fact, we saw two terrific independent movies—Take Shelter, an odd, somewhat disturbing movie with breathtaking performances from Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain (in her fourth movie of 2011, after Tree of Life, The Help and The Debt), and Weekend, a wonderful, emotionally compelling movie about two guys who meet at a gay bar one Friday night and then spend the weekend together, talking about life and relationships, and trying to decide how much of themselves to share and lay bare.

But to get back to the subject at hand—Like Crazy. Having been to the movies so much these past few months, I think we saw the preview for this movie at least 10-15 times, so I had been eagerly anticipating it. This story of young, all-consuming love, and how it can and cannot flourish from a distance, was absolutely mesmerizing to me, although, as I've disclosed numerous times before, I'm a total sap (or hopeless romantic, depending upon how you look at it).

Anna (Felicity Jones, bringing steely strength and wavering emotion to her performance) and Jacob (Anton Yelchin, truly coming into his own) meet in their last year of college, while Anna is on a student visa from the UK. They fall utterly, completely, obsessively in love, until visa issues upon Anna's return to England force her to stay there. Caught between two countries, torn between needing to stay together and wanting to move forward with their lives, the movie flows through time quickly and chronicles the ebbs and flows of their emotions.

I found out after seeing the movie that director Drake Doremus based Like Crazy on a long-distance relationship he once had, but that there was no actual script for the movie; rather Doremus worked with Jones and Yelchin and the other cast members to improvise everything. And you'd never know it: the dialogue flowed naturally, the emotions were never forced, and not everything had tidy resolutions.

Some people have been lukewarm on the movie, but most have really loved it. I am firmly in the second camp. Especially if you love star-crossed love stories, see this. And in case you haven't seen the trailer, here it is:

You Cannot be Serious...

2011-11-04T13:08:00.001-07:00

It seems as if every time I've turned around the last few days, there's been another bewilderingly prejudiced decision made by a state legislature, another presidential candidate taking an appalling stance, or some other shocking incident that makes me shake my head.

Here are just a few things that make me want to either weep or break out into a John McEnroe-esque rant:

It's okay to bully as long as you really, really believe in what you're bullying about: Michigan is one of only three states in the US that has not enacted anti-bullying legislation. And now that the state legislature is finally getting around to thinking this is a problem, the Republican-led state senate has passed a piece of legislation so toothless, some say it actually condones bullying. Matt's Safe School Law, named for Matt Epling, a 14-year-old Michigan student who committed suicide after sustained bullying from fellow students, was passed after Republicans added an amendment stipulating that it does not abridge First Amendment free speech rights or impinge on the expression of religious or moral views. So, in essence, if you object to someone's sexuality on religious grounds, it's okay to bully them. The law is so pathetic, Matt Epling's father, Kevin, wrote a letter of protest that state Sen. Glenn Anderson read on the chamber floor during the debate over the measure on Wednesday.

But it was Senate Democratic leader Gretchen Whitmer's reaction that rings the clearest.

Separation of church and state? Nah. There's already been abundant proof that many of the candidates running for the Republican presidential nomination are trying to appeal to the highly conservative factions of their party. A number have taken pledges that if they are elected president, they will push for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, reinstate Don't Ask Don't Tell, and make other moves against equality.

Then there's former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. His anti-gay tirades are legendary; many have even commented that he seems almost obsessed with gay people and what they do. And in a recent speech in Iowa, Santorum's obsession has caused him amnesia where the issue of separation of church and state is concerned. You see, according to Santorum, "God's law trumps civil law," especially where issues of equality for gay people are concerned.

Granted, I'm just a wee bit more liberal than Santorum, but I find it really distressing that he and several other Republican candidates keep addressing the issue of God and God's laws. These individuals are running to be president of the entire country, not just one religious group. The laws of my God are different from the laws of Santorum, Bachmann, and others, so does that mean that if one of them are elected president, they'll only represent those who worship their God? These are scary questions to be asking in late 2011.

Take care of your gay kids: keep them in the closet. Such is the advice of Houston Chronicle columnist Kathleen McKinley, whose recent column suggested that parents of LGBTQ teenagers should convince them to stay in the closet, for their own safety, of course. And she came by this epiphany while reading a People magazine article about gay teenagers being bullied and committing suicide.

"Am I mad at the hateful mean kids who bully and tease these teens? You bet I am. But I am just as mad at the idiotic adults who force our adult views on kids, and pull them into our adult world long before they are mature enough to handle it. The 13 year old that killed himself told his Mom he was gay. She said she already knew and hugged him. She said she just assumed that everyone else would be as accepting as she was.

"Really? Have you been around teenagers? They are cruel and mean. They constantly tear each other down. It was bad when I was a teenager, I can only imagine what it’s like now. No, I don’t have to imagine how it is now. This is how it is now. Why in the world would you give teenagers a REASON to tease you? Oh, yes, because the adults tell you to embrace who you are, the only problem? Kids that age are just discovering who they are. They really have no idea yet. The adults tell you to “come out,” when what we should be telling them is that sex is for adults, and there is plenty of time for figuring out that later."

McKinley then proceeds to say that gay-straight alliances are harmful ("The idea of a high school club based on who you want to sleep with is absurd to begin with."), accuses LGBTQ kids of "flaunting their sexuality" and says the "It Gets Better" campaign designed to prevent bullied youth from committing suicide is actually causing more of them to do so, because "it will never get better."

I hope no kids commit suicide after their parents tell them to stay in the closet, because this column is as close to malpractice as it can be...

Bieber's baby? Say it ain't so. From the infuriating to the somewhat ridiculous. Nineteen-year-old Mariah Yeater claims that her baby, Tristyn, was fathered by none other than supposedly squeaky clean teen sensation Justin Bieber. (I might have thrown up a bit in my mouth on this one.)

I don't know what's crazier in this entire scenario: the fact that authorities have said they'd pursue filing statutory rape charges against Yeater if her claim is true (Bieber was 16 years old when the alleged encounter occurred), or the death threats Yeater has gotten from the legions of angry Bieber fans. (Seriously.) Eager to clear his name, Bieber has consented to a paternity test. The whole thing makes me shudder, but I guess it takes all types...

Book Review: "Domestic Violets" by Matthew Norman

2011-11-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

I love it when books surprise me. Quite often while reading Domestic Violets, Matthew Norman's terrific debut novel, I expected the plot to go in a certain direction and I was disappointed that the book would head in that direction, but Norman's storytelling ability surprised me nearly every time. This is one of those books that made me sad when I finished it, because in the few short days it took me to read the book, I became very invested in the characters and their lives.

Thirty-five-year-old Tom Violet is in the midst of a midlife crisis. He and his wife are having relationship issues stemming from their desire to have a second child, he hates his job except for the opportunity to flirt with his younger employee (and antagonize a colleague), and his famous novelist father, Curtis, just won the Pulitzer Prize, and is staying with Tom's family as he abandons yet another wife. Oh, and Tom has written a novel of his own, but no one will read it, mostly because they expect it will be horrible. And this is the high point of Tom's current situation.

I really enjoyed this book because while the dialogue is certainly sharper and funnier than people talk in real life (at least the people I know), I felt as if the characters were very real, experiencing realistic problems and responding in genuine ways. While I found the ending a little too pat given the rest of the book, at least it resolved (somewhat) what happened to all of the characters I had grown attached to. I expected this book to be reasonably good based on the reviews I read, but it far exceeded my expectations. It is funny, compelling, emotionally astute, and really enjoyable. (Yeah, I kinda liked it.) Read it!

Book Review: "Falling Together" by Marisa de los Santos

2011-10-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

The irony isn't lost on me that Marisa de los Santos' new book, Falling Together, centers around three once-inseparable college friends who come back into each other's lives several years later, because the return of Marisa de los Santos with a new novel felt a little like a reunion to me. Like her earlier novels, Love Walked In and Belong to Me, there's so much more to this book than meets the eye, and as I tore my way through it, I felt many of the same emotions her characters did.

Pen (short for Penelope), Will, and Cat met in college. "Met cute," they liked to say, when Will and Pen came to Cat's aid when she was in the middle of an epileptic seizure in a university bathroom. Pen was the idealist, Cat the flighty one, Will the steadfast one. The three were inseparable for a number of years (often at the expense of romantic relationships any tried to pursue), until one day, Cat decided to get married and determined that in order to have any chance at a successful marriage, she needed to end her friendship with Pen and Will. Shortly thereafter, Will left Pen, because he said he didn't know how to be friends with just her. Will and Pen both got on with their lives, until one day just before their 10-year college reunion, both received an email from Cat saying she needed help and begged them to come to the reunion. The email sent their lives into disarray, and is the catalyst for an interesting, sometimes frustrating and heartbreaking, journey.

Some have referred to de los Santos' novels as "chick lit," because they're books about relationships and love, but I believe that doing so denigrates the quality of her writing and her storytelling ability. Her use of language is almost poetic and she develops characters that seem fairly simple on the surface but are truly complex, flawed, unique people. While some of the directions the story takes are a little overly dramatic, the book pulls you in emotionally and makes you want to get invested in the story. I thought this book was fantastic, and you can't go wrong with either of her other books. Take the chance—you won't regret it.

Book Review: "The Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes

2011-10-23T16:47:00.001-07:00

Brilliant. That's one of the best words I can find to describe Julian Barnes' latest book, The Sense of an Ending, for which he recently was awarded the Man Booker Prize. This is a book that is fairly straightforward, yet its impact sneaks up on you.

When we first meet Tony Webster he is a high school student; he and his friends want nothing more than to be thought of as smart, witty, and successful with the opposite sex. Into their clique comes Adrian Finn, a new student who actually is smart and witty, and while Tony and his friends envy Adrian a bit, they all vow to remain friends even as they go their separate ways. Their lives proceed in this regard until Adrian's life takes a tragic turn. But many years later, when Tony becomes aware of information regarding this tragedy, and his role in it, he begins to look back at his past while trying to figure out how to make sense of this sudden discovery.

The Sense of an Ending is a book about memory—how it aids and how it fails us, and how our memories of events in our past are shaped by what we want to believe. Reading this book I discovered, much as Tony did, that nothing is quite what it seemed, and acceptance that you cannot change past actions is often hard to come by. Julian Barnes let the story unfold little by little, and it isn't until the end of the book that I was able to put all of the pieces together. This is a very short book but it packs a powerful punch, and it conveys the realities we learn as we age and as we analyze the directions our lives have taken. This is a beautifully written book and easily one of the best I've read this year.

Book Review: "Feast Day of Fools" by James Lee Burke

2011-10-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

At age 75, James Lee Burke may be one of our greatest living crime writers, if not simply one of the best writers around. He's won two Edgar Awards, been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and created some fantastically vivid characters in his more than 30 books. If you haven't read anything he has written, pick up one of his books. You won't be sorry.

Burke usually writes a novel a year, and lately switches between his longtime protagonist, Louisiana police detective Dave Robichaux, and Texas sheriff Hackberry Holland. Feast Day of Fools follows Hack Holland as he tries to keep the peace in his Southwest Texas border town, and resists the temptation to begin a relationship with his much-younger deputy sheriff, Pam Tibbs. And then one day, the erstwhile alcoholic ex-boxer Danny Boy Lorca reports that he witnessed a man being tortured and killed in the desert. Holland's investigation leads him to the home of Anton Ling, a charismatic Asian woman known for helping illegal aliens cross over the Mexican border, whose past is more sinister than she is willing to let on. As Hack struggles with his attraction to both Anton and Pam, he finds himself drawn into an ever-more sinister web, complete with Russian gangsters, the son of a former nemesis, an unstable preacher, and the return of serial killer Jack Collins, presumed dead at the end of the last book to feature Hack, Rain Gods. Along the way, there's loads of violence, soul searching, intrigue, and Burke's fantastic writing.

One of the things I love about Burke's writing is his evocative imagery, and it is once again in full force. His heroes are truly flawed characters, wanting to do the right thing but not always approaching it the right way, committed to truth and justice, but cutting corners where necessary. There were a lot of characters to follow in this book, and many were fully developed and more complex than you'd expect them to be. My only criticism of the book is that it was almost too full—I could have done with one less villain or plot thread to follow, although Burke resolved the story quite well. Feast Day of Fools had almost an elegiac feel to it, and I couldn't help wondering if Burke sees a little bit of himself in the aging Sheriff Holland. All in all, this is a hefty, action-packed and beautifully written book, earning its place along James Lee Burke's other must-reads.

I'm Back...

2011-10-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know. It has been a little more than two weeks since I last blogged.

I've spent the last 4-5 weeks working nearly nonstop in preparation for my association's annual conference, which ended this past Tuesday. I was keeping such crazy hours I literally got up, went to work, came home, worked, ate dinner, worked, and fell asleep (sometimes at my desk). Didn't work out, didn't blog, didn't read...but fortunately, it's over now.

You probably might not have noticed I was gone, but I'm back. Hopefully you are, too!

In Memory of a Visionary...

2011-10-06T05:13:00.000-07:00

The world lost a creative genius, a dreamer, an innovator who knew no bounds, and a visionary last night with the passing of Apple founder Steve Jobs. Jobs, who had been suffering from cancer since 2004, stepped down from his role at Apple in August.

In a statement, the company said, "We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today. Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve. His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."

Moments after the news was announced, I was amazed by the number of Facebook posts from friends all over the world remarking on Jobs' death. Then I realized the irony—so many of us were communicating using technology envisioned by Jobs himself.

This irony wasn't lost on President Obama, who said after learning of Jobs' passing, "The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented."

Jobs' life is a true testament to seizing your dreams and never letting anything stand in the way of achieving them. His 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, in which he discussed "How to Live before You Die," should be required viewing for all.

Rest in peace, Steve. And thank you for leaving an indelible imprint of creativity, courage, and connectivity on our world.

Book Review: "Everything Beautiful Began After" by Simon Van Booy

2011-09-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with Simon Van Booy's mesmerizing short story collection, Love Begins in Winter, when I read it in 2009, and it was among my favorite books of that year. His first novel, Everything Beautiful Began After, approaches love and relationships in a wholly different way, and although it didn't resonate with me as much as his short story collection, Van Booy's writing continues to transfix me.

Rebecca is a former flight attendant and an aspiring artist on the run from life. George is a loner and student of foreign languages who spends most of his days drunk and wishing for companionship. Henry is an archaeologist who has never allowed himself to get completely close to someone because of a tragedy that happened in his childhood. The three young people meet in Athens one summer, and their encounters with each other change their lives profoundly. This is a story about the peculiarities of friendship, the beauty of love, the overwhelming paralysis that accompanies grief and fear, and finding the courage to embark on a new start.

This book was beautifully written and tremendously compelling, yet I didn't feel as much of an emotional connection with the book in its entirety. Each of the characters were complex in their own way, but despite the range of emotions and events that affected each, I never quite warmed to them, and I found the crisis that one character went through toward the end of the book to be a bit excessive. But Van Booy's storytelling ability kept me reading because I was blown away by his use of language. I definitely liked this book, but didn't quite love it as much as I hoped I would. It's worth a read, but read Love Begins in Winter first.

Why Bother With Modifiers?

2011-09-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

Enough said.

Customer Disservice...

2011-09-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

When I was in college I managed a bookstore. There were few better jobs for a bibliophile like me—we were able to borrow books, the longer I worked there I started having regular customers ask me for recommendations on what to read, and I had the opportunity to talk about books all day long. (Plus, I could wear jeans every day, and the store hours were pretty accommodating to someone going to school full-time.)

These were the days before the "super stores" came to the DC area, so we didn't have to worry about clients going to Borders or Barnes & Noble, and ours wasn't a store built for congregating or reading—you browsed, found a book, paid, and left. (The one exception to that rule was during lunchtime, when the government workers would stand in the magazine section hiding their copies of Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler in legitimate magazines.)

For years after I graduated from college and held numerous stress-laden "real jobs," I used to dream of one day working at a bookstore again. Little did I realize that the advent of the bookstore-as-library concept championed by Barnes & Noble and Borders, coupled with the growing selfishness and entitlement of customers, would shake me from my idyllic thoughts.

When I decided to concentrate on being a personal chef full-time in 2004-05, I took a job at a local Barnes & Noble in order to have a regular income and health insurance. I learned fairly quickly that this wasn't the perfect job it once was—book displays were determined by corporate, so there was little creativity involved; my knowledge of books wasn't prized by our store manager, so I spent a great deal of time shelving maps and travel books, or magazines, instead of working with "real" books; and I often found myself supporting the nearly-always-shorthanded café staff, making lattes, serving cheesecake and mopping floors.

Oh, and the customers truly sucked the joy from the job. People would come into the store, grab a gigantic stack of books or magazines, read them in the café, at tables throughout the store, or even on the floor, and then leave them there. I literally would put the same magazines away time and time and time again. (My tenure at the store was during the whole Brad Pitt/Jennifer Aniston/Angelina Jolie scandal as well as the breakup of Britney Spears' and Jessica Simpson's marriages, so I grew quickly tired of their faces on the cover of every magazine.) Customers felt entitled to leave stuff wherever they wanted; they'd set up their laptops in the middle of an aisle, and allow their kids to roam free and pull stuff off the shelves. (Anyone assigned to straighten the kids' area at the end of the night would want to cry nearly as much as the person in charge of the newsstand.)

Not that the job was all torture, mind you. Apart from those people who never wanted to do anything or didn't show up for their shifts, I worked with a really fun group of people, many of whom read books and loved talking about them. And there was many a time where a group of us were laughing hysterically at one thing or another, usually the behavior of customers.

So it was with great fondness when I saw the list of bookseller grievances that came from Borders' employees as their stores closed. While some of these may seem petty to those who never worked in a bookstore, many of these hit the spot, and my memory bank. (When people would call the store and say, "I wanted to know if you had a book," my sarcastic reply after the call was ended was, "Oh, we're fresh out of books, but we can sell you a lovely calendar.") And more than one person asked for "the book by that guy," "the book with the blue cover that was on that table last week," or "the one they talked about on the internet last night."

Here's the list:

++ We hate when a book becomes popular simply because it was turned into a movie.

++ It confused us when we were asked where the non-fiction section is.

++ Nicholas Sparks is not a good writer … if you like him, fine, but facts are facts.

++ We greatly dislike the phrase "Quick question." It’s never true. And everyone seems to have one.

++ Your summer reading list was our summer reading NIGHTMARE. Also, it’s called summer reading, not three days before school starts reading.

++ It’s true that we lean to the left and think Glenn Beck is an idiot.

++ We always knew when you were intently reading Better Homes and Gardens, it was really a hidden Playboy.

++ Most of the time when you returned books you read them already — and we were onto you.

++ "Limit one coupon" did not mean one for every member of your family — this angered us. Also, we did know what coupons were in distribution that week.

++ It never bothered us when you threatened to shop at Barnes & Noble. We’d rather you do if you’re putting up a stink.

++ "I was just here last week and saw this book there" meant nothing to us. The store changed once a week.

++ When you walked in and immediately said, "I’m looking for a book," what you really meant to say is, "I would like you to find me a book." You never looked. It’s fine, it’s our job — but let’s be correct about what’s really happening here.

++ If you don’t know the author, title, or genre, but you do know the color of the cover, we don’t either. How it was our fault that we couldn’t find it we’ll never understand.

++ We were never a daycare. Letting your children run free and destroy our section destroyed a piece of our souls.

++ Oprah was not the "final say" on what is awesome. We really didn’t care what was on her show or what her latest book club book was. Really.

++ When you returned your SAT books, we knew you used them. We thought it wasn’t fair — seeing that we are not a library.

Believe me, I don't excuse those in customer service who are rude, but I will say that working at a bookstore these days was a brutal job, only as far as dealing with the public. But it was fun...

Despicable We...

2011-09-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

I know we are a society built on the freedom to express your opinions, and it is often the difference of opinion that leads to progress. But lately I have been appalled at the growing lack of respect and civility that characterizes our country, and worry about what the future holds based on the behaviors that I've seen, from our elected officials, "regular" citizens, and our youth.

Much news coverage has been devoted to recent incidents at the Republican presidential candidate debates over the last several weeks, including one audience cheering about uninsured people dying and another booing a gay soldier. While many of the Republican candidates have been forced into condemning these behaviors, it is clear from their tepid reactions they saw little wrong with what happened.

But even more appalling than the growing disrespect those in the political arena show each other and the citizens of our country is a recent incident that took place in a suburb of Buffalo. As I wrote last week, 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer committed suicide after years of being bullied for being gay. His suicide came even after he recorded an "It Gets Better" video to try and rally others who felt as he did.

At a homecoming dance Jamey's sister attended shortly after her brother's death, some of his anti-gay schoolmates mocked and cheered his suicide.

Jamey's mother said, "She was having a great time, and all of a sudden a Lady Gaga song came on, and they all started chanting for Jamey, all of his friends. Then the bullies that put him into this situation started chanting, ‘You’re better off dead!’ and ‘We’re glad you’re dead!’ and things like that."

In an interview with Anderson Cooper last night, Alyssa Rodemeyer talked about the incident at the homecoming dance. She said, "The bullies ran from the dance when they realized they were going to get in trouble."

To date, school officials have done nothing. And you know they were there to watch the jeering, so they were aware of at least some of those involved.

Too many teachers, coaches, and other school administrators have stood idly by when children are bullied, especially because they are gay or perceived to be gay. It's not enough that no intervention occurred in all the years Jamey was bullied in school, but again, they refused to intervene while these same bullies jeered his suicide.

Who puts these ideas in these children's minds? Who tells them to think that it's not only right to undermine a person's self-worth until the point he sees no other option but suicide, but then applaud the decision?

This is so, so wrong. I shudder to think how many more lives will be irreparably damaged or lost because of disrespectful, disgusting behavior on the part of children and adults.

We can do better. Why don't we?

Book Review: "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

2011-09-27T17:52:00.001-07:00

Magical. Incredibly compelling. Romantic. Boy, I loved this book.

Erin Morgenstern's debut novel follows the magical Cirque des Rêves, a circus full of dazzling and fantastical amazements. Marco and Celia, two brilliant magicians, are locked in a competition that neither of them understand, and that only one of them can survive. They use the circus as the epicenter of this competition, creating spectacles more incredible than the next. And as the two fall deeper in love, they learn just how enmeshed with the circus their lives are—and how the lives of all of those involved will be affected by whatever decisions they make regarding their future.

I thought this was a terrific book. I was completely taken with Morgenstern's creation of the circus and all of the people involved, both behind the scenes and within it. And this is a circus like no other. Don't think this is a story about clowns and lion tamers and trapeze artists—this is a story with a strong emphasis on magic and illusion and manipulation of reality. I fell in love with the characters and was truly disappointed when I was finished, although I couldn't help but race through the story. I'm sure this will be made into a movie at some point, but I'd encourage you to read the book first. If you enjoy these types of stories, you'll fall in love with the book just like I did.

If it Gets Better, Why Does it Keep Getting Worse?

2011-09-23T10:36:00.001-07:00

This occurred earlier this week but I didn't have time to post about it until now.

My heart is breaking over last weekend's suicide of 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer, a gay teen from the Buffalo area. He took his life shortly after returning from a family camping trip, and his suicide is attributed to years of bullying because of his sexuality.

"I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens," he wrote on his blog September 9. "What do I have to do so people will listen to me?"

In the months prior, he routinely blogged about school bullying and thoughts of suicide in between upbeat posts about his pop star idol Lady Gaga and the ordinary types of teen rants typical for kids his age.

To demonstrate the amazing beauty of Jamey's spirit, even as he battled bullying in his own life, in May he recorded a video for the It Gets Better Project, to try and encourage other teens struggling that life was still worth living. It just kills me to watch this video.

I know that for every suicide that finds its way into the public eye, there are a dozen children who commit suicide every day because they are bullied for being different, even when they themselves might not really know what their differences are. And I continue to be frightened by the conservative turn our society seems to be taking, especially when it comes to the way people are treated relative to their sexuality, or what is perceived to be their sexuality.

But regardless of your views, it is not okay for a teenager or preteen or anyone to take their own life because they feel they have nowhere else to turn. And it is not okay for them to be abused, physically or emotionally, because of their differences.

Why can't we teach our children this lesson? How hard is it to get teachers and school administrators to recognize what is going on in front of their faces and take action? Ignoring it makes the problem worse; it does not make it go away.

Let's try not to lose another Jamey Rodemeyer. Can't we allow these kids to live their lives so in turn they can grow up to be adults with full, loving hearts?

We can't waste another minute. My heart goes out to Jamey's family and friends, and all I can say is, rest in peace, Jamey Rodemeyer. You left this world a little more compassionate than it was to you, and for that, all of us should truly be grateful.

A Sad Goodbye...

2011-09-22T16:59:00.000-07:00

"Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes, I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again."

—Billy Joel

One of the worst things about growing older is losing those you love and having to say goodbye to them, often unexpectedly. (A friend of mine from high school recently said, "The only time being a grown-up pays off is when I want an extra cookie, watch a dirty movie without fear of getting caught, or get a drink.")

Today we said goodbye to my great-aunt Eileen, who passed away Tuesday night at after suffering a massive stroke following heart surgery last week. She was 85 years old.

Aunt Eileen was an absolutely terrific person, who never stopped living life to its fullest every day. As many of her generation, she was never shy about sharing her opinions and telling you exactly how she felt, but she was also never shy about sharing her love and her heart with those she cared about. For as long as I can remember, she was a tremendously warm and welcoming person, and always made W feel like he truly was a part of our family when she saw him.

She taught school for more than 30 years on Long Island, and loved to talk about books and other intellectual pursuits with me. I remember as a child, she would always give me workbooks and other study materials she thought would be helpful, and was always happy to talk things through. She believed you should never stop learning, and took classes and attended workshops throughout her life.

Her greatest love, of course, was her family. My uncle Jack died approximately 20 years ago, but she never let widowhood stop her. She had four terrific children—Allyn, Larry, Roberta, and Cindy—whom she loved as fiercely as she did all of her grandchildren—Bobby, Philip, Ian, Barbara, Debbie, Ross, and Cole. And she was over the moon with her nearly two-year-old great-grandson, Jackson.

But her love and her generosity of spirit didn't just stop with her immediate family. I remember she sent me a card when I had my gall bladder removed in the late 1990s, and also sent a card and checked on me when I started chemotherapy for cancer in late 2002. She was always happy when any family came together, whether for a special occasion or just an everyday encounter.

I was lucky to see my aunt in July when we celebrated my grandmother's 89th birthday. She was completely happy, healthy, funny, and opinionated as always. It's the perfect way to remember her.

Rest in peace, Aunt Eileen. Thank you for your love, your spirit, your intelligence, and for being you. I will miss you with all of my heart.

Book Review: "The Leftovers" by Tom Perrotta

2011-09-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

Most of Tom Perrotta's novels have been wry examinations of society and its foibles. Election, Little Children and The Abstinence Teacher each did a terrific job in chronicling the positives and negatives of human behavior. His characters aren't always sympathetic, their motivations aren't always understandable, but his books always make you think.

With his newest novel, The Leftovers, Perrotta ponders an interesting question: what if the Rapture happened, but not all of the religiously devout were taken, but instead, a random, unexplainable group of people disappeared? How would the rest of the world cope? How would a person deal with the disappearance of a spouse, children, or parents? These are the issues that the citizens of Mapleton, a small midwestern town, are confronted with when an event called the "Sudden Departure" affects the world. No one—not even religious leaders—can explain who was chosen and why, and no one can help those left behind to try and get on with their lives. Kevin Garvey, the mayor of Mapleton, lost none of his family to the Sudden Departure directly, but his family has fallen apart in the wake of the event. His wife, Laurie, joined a cult of survivors called the Guilty Remnant; his daughter, Jill, has started failing out of school and become promiscuous; and his son, Tom, dropped out of college to follow a questionable prophet named Holy Wayne. As Kevin tries to help the people of his town rebuild their lives, he embarks on a relationship with Nora Durst, whose husband and children were lost to the Departure.

I always marvel at Perrotta's storytelling ability and the way he thinks things through. He did a great job creating a post-Rapture world without actually having you experience what happened that day, so much like the characters themselves, you don't really know what happened to those who disappeared. When I finished the book, I found myself frustrated that not one character's situation was resolved, but then I realized that this must be a metaphor for how the world felt after the Sudden Departure. (It's still frustrating to me, though, that no narrative threads were wrapped up. I like some ambiguity, but this was tough.) In the end, though, this is a well-written and tremendously captivating book, and I'm so glad Perrotta is still in fine writing form.

Great TV Musical Moments, Part 2...

2011-09-20T04:21:00.000-07:00

This one you probably didn't see.

Sir Elton John was among those celebrated at the 2004 Kennedy Center Honors. During the ceremony, each honoree is recognized by those they are close to or those who admire them, and these recognitions often result in memorable moments, musical or otherwise.

During the tribute to Elton, Heather Headley, who won a Tony in 2000 for playing the lead role in his musical Aida, performed Your Song. Other than Elton's performances of this song, this may be one of the most incredible versions of the song I've ever heard.

As you watch Headley's performance, you'll see Elton fighting back tears as well as the admiration of fellow honoree Warren Beatty and his wife, Annette Bening, and the emotional reaction of the entire Kennedy Center audience. This is one of those performances my brother texted me about and said, "You better watch this one."

You better watch this one.

Great TV Musical Moments, Part 1...

2011-09-20T04:09:00.000-07:00

This performance came up on my iPod on the way to work this morning, and I remembered how amazing it was to watch.

At the 2005 Grammy Awards, as a tribute to Janis Joplin, Joss Stone and Melissa Etheridge (returning to the stage for the first time since being treated for breast cancer) performed a medley of Cry Baby and Piece of My Heart.

While the former song suited Stone's soulful style well, Etheridge truly shone on the latter song. Head shaved (coping with the effects of chemotherapy), voice raspier than usual, she gave what she later said was every ounce of energy she had into that performance. And the primal scream she gave toward the end of of the song felt truly symbolic of her howling anger at the disease. (When she re-recorded the song for her greatest hits album a few months later, although she kept the scream in, it didn't seem as passionate nor as raw.)

If you missed it or don't remember it, check it out.

Feeding My Ryan Gosling Addiction...

2011-09-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

My name is Larry and I am becoming increasingly more addicted to Ryan Gosling.

We saw Gosling's terrifically cool (and seriously violent) Drive over the weekend. I was mesmerized by director Nicolas Winding Refn's ultra-stylized homage to 80s movies, particularly in the opening sequences, but more than that, I was really taken in by yet another of Gosling's fantastic performances.

Gosling plays a movie stunt driver and garage mechanic by day who lends his services as a getaway driver at night to those in need. Given his evening pastime, he is fairly circumspect about sharing any personal information, but that doesn't make his character less intriguing. He becomes involved with his neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan), a young waitress and mother whose husband is just about to get out of prison. As you watch Gosling and Mulligan's interactions you are captivated as much by what is not said as what is.

In an effort to protect Irene and her son, Gosling's character agrees to help her husband settle a debt. And that's when things go horrifically awry, bringing Gosling into the sphere of soft-spoken gangster Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks, playing marvelously against type) and his loud, violent partner, Nino (Ron Perlman).

This is the second of three Gosling movies released this year. He gave a terrific performance (abs notwithstanding) in the marvelous Crazy, Stupid, Love (to which I pledged my devotion earlier this summer), and he has a much-buzzed-about performance in George Clooney's upcoming political thriller The Ides of March. While I don't know if any of these performances will be award-worthy, I hope Gosling gets more recognition for his acting soon.

Gosling is one of those actors who is terrific to watch, for his incredible ability to totally occupy a character, as well as his obvious physical characteristics. In addition to Crazy, Stupid, Love, he has turned in some truly memorable performances over the years.

Those include: Blue Valentine, a mesmerizing (and depressing) look at a marriage in decline. Gosling gives a performance that absolutely should have been nominated for an Oscar last year, alongside the deservedly nominated Michelle Williams; the fabulously lovable and goofy Lars and the Real Girl, where he plays a social misfit whose relationship with a blow-up doll he orders from the internet captivates those around him; his Oscar-nominated performance in Half Nelson, where he plays a teacher with a drug habit who makes an impression on an inner-city girl, and the unforgettably disturbing The Believer, one of his earliest films, where he plays a racist skinhead who turns out to be Jewish.

If you've missed any of these, check out Netflix (or Qwikstar—ugh) ASAP. And please share which of Gosling's films feed your addiction.

So now I've acknowledged my little obsession. Thanks for listening.

Book Review: "Mile 81" by Stephen King

2011-09-16T18:35:00.000-07:00

Given Stephen King's penchant for 1000+-page novels, it was terrific to have a short story from him instead. Mile 81 is a short story released exclusively in e-book form, and it marks a return to the King of yesteryear, where "regular" people find themselves confronted with a completely horrifying situation.

At Mile 81 on the Maine Turnpike is a boarded-up rest stop. One day, young Pete Simmons goes exploring there, to prove to his older brother and his friends that he's just as capable of being adventurous as they are. Armed with the magnifying glass he got for his 10th birthday, he finds the rest stop not quite all it's cracked up to be—just a place where teenagers go to drink, play cards and hook up. But then he finds a bottle of vodka, and drinks just enough to pass out. While he is sleeping, a mud-covered station wagon drives up to the rest stop (strange because it hasn't rained in Maine for more than a week) and stops. The doors open, yet no one seems to get out. Then the car's presence starts to attract a number of good samaritans driving along the highway, who don't realize quite where their good intentions will lead them...

This was an enjoyable short story, and it really did remind me of King's earlier work. As always, King excels at characterization, and really imbues each character with a great deal of life and detail in just a few pages. The problem is the story just wasn't as scary as I had hoped, and I felt like the ending was a little too pat. But for $2.99 on my Kindle, this story definitely was worth my time, plus it included a preview of his upcoming novel, 11/22/63.

Worthy of the Word "Champion"...

2011-09-12T05:40:00.000-07:00

To the surprise of nearly everyone (perhaps even herself), Australian Samantha Stosur captured the U.S. Open women's championship last night, stopping heavily favored Serena Williams from her magical comeback march (and in straight sets, to boot). Stosur played magnificently, challenging the somewhat lethargic Williams on nearly every point, conquering the nerves and errors that characterized her first Grand Slam final last year, when she lost the French Open to Francesca Schiavone.

While the story of the women's championship should be Stosur's impressive play, it is her opponent's behavior during the match that once again has caught the attention of the media. Of course, Williams' behavior at the Open is somewhat legendary: during the 2009 U.S. Open, Williams' outburst against a lineswoman cost her the semi-finals against Kim Clijsters, who went on to win the title.

This year's outburst was slightly less toxic but equally as disappointing. Serena was serving at 30-40 in the first game of the second set when she hit what she believed was a winner and shrieked "Come on!" in approval. But she called out before the point was over, while Stosur was still making a futile attempt to get her racquet on the ball. Chair umpire Eva Asderaki gave the point, and the early break that came with it, to the Australian.

Serena was understandably displeased, though she had no ground on which to stand. The call was obvious. Serena disagreed and became more incensed when she thought that the umpire, Asderaki, was the same official who was in the chair for her infamous 2009 blowup at the tournament. (She wasn't.)

"Aren't you the one who screwed me over last time here?" Serena asked Asderaki after being told of the point penalty. "Yeah, you are."

At that point, the crowd rushed to Williams' defense, and it seemed to energize her. She broke Stosur back to even the set at 1-1, and then held serve in the next game. Commentators John McEnroe, Mary Carrillo, and Dick Enberg—as well as most people watching—wondered whether this would be the turning point in the match.

But Serena wasn't content to leave well enough alone. During the next two changeovers, she continued berating Asderaki, with comments that included:

"A code violation because I expressed who I am? We're in America last I checked. Am I gonna get violated for a water? Really, don't even look at me. I promise you, don't look at me because I am not the one. Don't look my way."

"If you ever see me walking down the hall, walk the other way. Because you're out of control. Totally out of control. You're a hater, you're unattractive inside. Who would do such a thing. And I never complain. Wow."

Fortunately, Stosur showed true class and composure during the match, breaking Serena to go up 4-3 and then winning the two remaining games to take the championship, 6-2, 6-3.

Serena was gracious in defeat, praising Stosur's play and acknowledging that she outplayed her during the entire match, but when asked by Mary Joe Fernandez about the controversy, she said, "Well, I hit a winner that I guess didn't count." When told about the hindrance rule that caused Asderaki to reward the point to Stosur, Williams said, "I guess I have to read my rule book."

Serena Williams may have won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, but her behavior is not worthy of a champion. She feels as if the rules should never apply to her, and that she is entitled to berate anyone who doesn't kowtow to her. Had she won this championship because her behavior intimidated Stosur (anyone who watched Serena threaten the diminutive lineswoman in 2009 could certainly feel intimidated), the tournament would have had a serious black mark on its record. This type of behavior may have been colorful and amusing in the days of McEnroe and Connors, but it contradicts the sport's genteel beginnings, as well as any notion of sportsmanship.

As I've said before, professional athletes should act like professionals. A lawyer cannot berate a judge for a ruling they don't like, nor can a teacher shake their finger at a principal or other administrator. It shouldn't be acceptable here, and if the WTA has any backbone, they will suspend Williams for this recent outburst. (Following the 2009 U.S. Open, Williams was put on two years' "probation" with the threat that she could be suspended for any repeat performance.)

Congratulations to Samantha Stosur on her victory. Sometimes, the better player—and the better person—can triumph.

Never Forget...

2011-09-11T05:23:00.000-07:00

Not that anyone could.

Prayers and love to all of those who lost someone on this tragic day. Unending gratitude to the heroes who led the way, often sacrificing themselves for others.

Brady Howell and Angela Houtz, you are missed today and every day.

Book Review: "The Cut" by George Pelecanos

2011-09-08T19:31:00.000-07:00

George Pelecanos is one of the best crime writers around today. A native of the Washington, DC area, all of his books take place in the area, and tend to explore the thin line between good and evil, and how easy it can be to cross that line. (This is a theme that Pelecanos also explored as one of the main writers of the television series The Wire.) His newest book, The Cut, is one of his best.

Spero Lucas returned from the Iraqi war ready to do something. He finds a job doing special investigations for a defense attorney, and also does freelance work for other people, returning stolen property. He is good at what he does and commands a healthy 40 percent cut of the findings for his work. When a noted drug kingpin asks Spero to find out who has been stealing drug shipments from him, he jumps into the investigation full bore, but finds far more than he bargained for. As he tries to keep control of the situation, using all of his physical and intellectual strength, he wonders how much a successful job really is worth to his life, his future, and the love of those around him.

When George Pelecanos is at his best, he creates complex characters who are far more than what they seem at first glance. Spero Lucas is a terrific creation; you think he's a cocky former soldier who gets by on his intellect, good looks and physical strength, but he is far more complicated than that, and the depth Pelecanos gives him makes him tremendously appealing. The action in this book crackles, and while you may see some of the plot twists coming even quicker than Spero does, the pacing of the book and Pelecanos' storytelling ability will make you want to race through the book as quickly as possible. It's so good to have Pelecanos back at the top of his game, and I can only hope his next book will feature Lucas again.

Do yourself a favor. If you're a fan of crime novels and you've never read any George Pelecanos, pick up The Cut or nearly any one of his other books, and you won't be disappointed. You'll wonder where you've been all his life.

Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?

2011-09-08T10:54:00.000-07:00

The impending 10th anniversary of 9/11 on Sunday has me dreading the weekend a bit. Even though the media hasn't shied away from covering the tragedy every year, somehow I feel this milestone may be a bit more overwhelming than I can handle.

Earlier this week, a friend on Facebook asked if people remembered where they were when they first heard the news of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and the plane crash in Shanksville. While I have shared my recounting of that day on my blog previously, it still feels strange to share with people my memories of that day.

Somehow the question being raised triggered a continuous refrain of Alan Jackson's song about 9/11, Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning. While I tend to steer clear of books, movies, etc. that use 9/11 as their focus, this song touches me, at least right now.

In the coming days, I'm sure everyone will be asked at least once where they were or what they were doing on that fateful day. I'll just take the message that Alan Jackson is conveying in this song as a bit of a comfort.

Food Nirvana...

2011-09-06T04:53:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me are aware that I'm obsessed with a few things—movies (and the Oscars as an offshoot), reading, pop culture and, of course, food. And as much as I love cooking it, I love eating it even more.

Although I really haven't had the opportunity to travel outside the US, I have been able to enjoy some pretty fantastic meals in my life. For me, the perfect meal is a combination of excellent food and service, and ambiance doesn't hurt either! And excellent meals don't have to be budget-busters—sometimes all it takes is a great piece of steak or fish, beautifully cooked, sided, and plated, and presto!

Stupidly, I've never thought of using the blog to highlight some of my more memorable meals (perhaps I've been too bloated to think clearly) but I'm turning over a new leaf!

After much anticipation, yesterday I had the great fortune to finally visit Graffiato, the Washington, DC restaurant owned by Mike Isabella of Top Chef and Top Chef All-Stars. While the final episodes of the latter truly highlighted Isabella's skill in the kitchen, I wasn't prepared for how fantastic his food would be.

Graffiato is based on the small-plates concept, so you can try a few different things on the menu, especially if you go with folks who are willing to share!

Our first dish was the absolutely sublime Chicken Thighs with Pepperoni Sauce. (Isabella created the pepperoni sauce during the finale of Top Chef All-Stars, and judge Gail Simmons waxed nearly poetic about it. Actually, all she kept saying was, "Pepperoni sauce!") Imagine perfectly cooked boneless chicken thighs, seared to crisp the skin, with a zesty yet complimentary tomato-based sauce that had tiny chunks of pepperoni, served with a vegetable relish of sorts. Every bite was unbelievable. If he wanted to bottle the sauce, I'd buy a case right now.

Next came Sweet Corn Agnolotti, a pasta filled with outrageous sweet corn in a light sauce accented by pine nuts and tiny chanterelle mushrooms. I literally gasped when I bit into the agnolotti—the sweet corn was so perfect as a foil for the pasta and the sauce. If Graffiato served bread, I would have sopped up every drop of that sauce, if there was any left after the pepperoni sauce.

Grilled pork ribs, fall-off-the-bone tender and liberally seasoned with Sicilian oregano, came next. The ribs were served with a side of coriander-spiced yogurt (similar to a tzatziki sauce) which was the perfect foil for the ribs, as was the sweet and sour garnish of chopped fruits and vegetables, which I couldn't decipher because I ate it too quickly!

Our last entrée was the "Jersey Shore" pizza. OMFG. This pizza had provolone cheese, tomato sauce, FRIED CALAMARI and a cherry pepper aioli drizzle. The crust was thin and came out perfectly hot from the pizza oven. Needless to say, much of the pizza came home in a box, but I nearly picked all of the calamari off first!

Of course, we had to save room for dessert. How about Nutella sandwich cookies—chocolate hazelnut cookies with Nutella in the middle, all with just a little pinch of sea salt, and the gelato of the day was (what else) sea salt, a vanilla gelato with an amazingly sweet and salty flavor? An incredible cap to an incredible meal.

As I've learned, not all hyped restaurants (particularly those owned by celebrity chefs) live up to expectations. But Graffiato most certainly did, and I know we'll be back there again soon, because there are a ton of other things on the menu to try! (And we'll need more pepperoni sauce!!)

Where Were My Acid-Washed Jeans?

2011-09-05T19:02:00.001-07:00

Last night we saw Journey and Night Ranger in concert. (The concert was also supposed to include Foreigner, but when it had to be rescheduled because of Hurricane Irene last weekend, Foreigner was no longer available.) Needless to say, it took me back—all the way back to my childhood in the 1980s.

As I've mentioned before, music has always been a huge part of my life. When I was younger, I bought record albums, 45s, and even cassettes with reckless abandon. I used to lock myself in my bedroom with my stereo blaring, and I'd sing along to practically everything. Journey was one of my favorite bands starting in the early 1980s when they released Escape (I can't even count how many times I used to doodle the cool way the album title was lettered), and I devoured their earlier music as well. And then in the mid 1980s, Night Ranger completely hooked me with hits like When You Close Your Eyes, Sentimental Street, Goodbye and, of course, Sister Christian.

Obviously, a lot has changed since the 1980s. Steve Perry left Journey, and although his vocals were tremendously distinctive, the band's new lead singer, Arnel Pineda, sounds so much like Perry it's eerie at times. And of course, everyone in the bands are older now. (Yeah, I am, too.) But for a few hours last night, I found myself taken back to my high school days, when some of the biggest crises I faced were whether or not I'd get the part I wanted in the school play, or how to get out of gym class (especially when it rained). All I needed was a pair of acid-washed jeans, a Swatch watch and a skinny tie (preferably a leather one), and it would have been just like 1985.

It was a fun time to revisit, although I wouldn't want to live there. But I'm grateful to Night Ranger and Journey for helping me reminisce.

Book Review: "We the Animals" by Justin Torres

2011-09-05T16:52:00.000-07:00

Running just under 150 pages, told in a spare, staccato style, this book packs a real emotional wallop. This is the story of three brothers frenetically racing through life, playing and fighting with each other, and at times tiptoing around their parents' tumultuous marriage. Sometimes humorous, sometimes depressing, and sometimes disturbing, the book is a series of relatively short chapters which examine a particular incident or crisis. At its heart this is a story about how family dynamics can leave you vulnerable, and how that vulnerability can affect you throughout your life.

This book gripped me from the start, and as fast as I read, I was done with it relatively quickly. The book is narrated by the youngest brother, so everything was viewed through his eyes, which was effective although at times somewhat irritating. I thought the book was at its best when the narrator recounted his parents' relationship as well as the relationship he and his brothers had with their parents. Torres threw in a big surprise at the end, which although tremendously powerful, frustrated me a bit, because I never saw it coming, and it didn't feel true to the story. (However, since the book is apparently semi-autobiographical, I guess it's the way it really happened in Torres' life.) All in all, this book definitely moved me, and I look forward to seeing Torres' career proceed.

For the Love of a Cupcake...

2011-09-04T13:52:00.000-07:00

I'm not a big fan of waiting for things. It's the whole lack of patience thing—waiting on line to buy something or to eat at a restaurant doesn't thrill me. But it's a part of life, so I've become a bit more tolerant of waiting as I've gotten older.

And waiting is certainly part of the game when you want to eat at a restaurant owned by a celebrity chef (or one featured on a reality show), or a restaurant featured in the media. (There's a pizza place in Phoenix that Oprah Winfrey called the best ever, and people routinely wait four hours to eat there. Same as the bakery featured on the reality show Cake Boss.)

I've loved cupcakes since grade school, so the current cupcake craze is one I'm enjoying as much as someone one Weight Watchers can. And I've long wanted to go to Georgetown Cupcake but, because it is featured on the TLC series DC Cupcakes, crowds routinely look like the picture atop this post (the waits for a while on weekends were as long as three hours), so I've avoided it. (And it's not like Georgetown is an easy place to visit on a weekend anyway.)

Today we took a trip into DC, and on the way home, thought we'd drive into Georgetown to see what the line was like at Georgetown Cupcake. It didn't look too bad, but as always, parking is a challenge. And then W spotted a space right on M Street, the main street in Georgetown. A free space, to boot. Now, I don't believe in divine intervention, but when there is a free parking space a block from Georgetown Cupcake, that's a sign from God saying Get a cupcake.

So we did. We waited maybe 10-15 minutes and picked up a red velvet and a peanut butter fudge cupcake. Well worth the wait, both today and in our delay visiting the store. And pretty affordable, too!

Check it out: www.georgetowncupcake.com. They mail cupcakes, too!

Book Review: "Union Atlantic" by Adam Haslett

2011-09-04T06:32:00.000-07:00

Doug Fanning, a cocky war hero, is a tremendously successful banker in Boston, where he works for a major financial institution. Having grown up the son of a housekeeper in a working-class suburb of Boston, his competitive nature has taken him to the top of his profession, giving him authority for multi-million-dollar financial transactions all over the world. Charlotte Graves is an eccentric former teacher whose family has long had roots in the wealthy Boston suburb of Finden. She lives with her two dogs, whom recently have begun speaking to her in the voices of Cotton Mather and Malcolm X. Nate Fuller is a disaffected high school senior whose life has lost direction since his father's suicide.

Adam Haslett's Union Atlantic hits its stride as the lives of Doug, Charlotte, and Nate intersect in a number of ways. This is a story of how the thirst for power—be it financial or power over another human being—can obsess a person; it is a story of the strange twists and turns that personal relationships can take; and it is a story of how when you pursue what you want single-mindedly, you may discover it isn't what you want at all.

A great author can hook you on a story even when the characters aren't completely appealing, and that is the case with Union Atlantic. Adam Haslett is a fantastic writer and he has created tremendously flawed yet amazingly appealing characters who draw you fully into their story. While the book gets mired down a bit too much in its financial details, particularly at the beginning, at its heart this is more of a story about personal relationships than the banking world in which a great portion of it is set. Even as it headed toward its somewhat-expected conclusion, the book intrigued me tremendously, and I've found myself still thinking about the characters and wondering what happened to them after the book ended. That, in my opinion, is the mark of a great story.

Different Than Us = Bad

2011-09-02T20:06:00.000-07:00

Attention parents: this fall, a dangerous television show will be hitting the airwaves that you'll need to keep your children away from.

Its name? Dancing with the Stars.

There may be reasons to avoid Dancing with the Stars, including the hideous cover versions of songs the contestants dance to, Brooke Burke's inane commentary, or the arbitrary voting that seems to keep undeserving dancers on the show long after they deserve to depart. But according to Fox News' Dr. Keith Ablow (whose "wisdom" I've questioned before), those aren't the real dangers to children.

As Dr. Ablow says in an opinion piece on Fox News' website, the problem is transgender contestant Chaz Bono.

Ablow says, "Casting Chaz Bono on "Dancing with the Stars" is part of Chaz’s victory tour, which has included appearances on talk shows and the release of a book called "Transition." I advise parents to not allow their children to watch the episodes in which Chaz appears."

In Ablow's twisted mind, simply watching Chaz Bono perform and be applauded on the show could wreck havoc with their gender identity. "The last thing vulnerable children and adolescents need, as they wrestle with the normal process of establishing their identities, is to watch a captive crowd in a studio audience applaud on cue for someone whose search for an identity culminated with the removal of her breasts, the injection of steroids and, perhaps one day soon, the fashioning of a make-shift phallus to replace her vagina," says the not-so-good doctor.

You know what hurts children wrestling with their gender and sexual identities? Being told that what they feel and who they might be is wrong. Being told that boys must act one way and girls another in order to be considered "normal," and if they don't, they need help.

That's what people like Dr. Ablow preach. That's what causes young people to kill themselves, the fear of being considered "abnormal" by those around them. Instead of embracing our children for who they are, Ablow believes medical treatment and prayer can change them into who they should be.

Chaz Bono isn't the danger, Dr. Ablow. Intolerance, prejudice and hatred are the dangers.

And at least I won't see those on Dancing with the Stars.

It's Not Okay...

2011-09-02T05:13:00.000-07:00

Time to get back on the soapbox.

In February 2008, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney killed his classmate, Lawrence King, because King, who was gay, allegedly teased McInerney repeatedly with sexual advances, and wore makeup and women's accessories to school. Three years later, McInerney was tried in a California court as an adult. While the prosecution alleged that this was a premeditated murder, as King had expressed his fears that McInerney might act violently toward him, the defense used the pathetic "gay panic" defense, saying that McInerney was "provoked" by King's repeated sexual advances.

And yesterday, the judge declared a mistrial. The jury voted 7-5 in favor of finding McInerney guilty of voluntary manslaughter, not first- or second-degree murder, which meant that seven jurors sided with the defense's version of events: that King's death was his own fault because he acted and dressed effeminately, and made sexual overtures toward McInerney.

While I'm not surprised by this result (except that the trial ended in a mistrial instead of an acquittal), I'm disgusted all the same.

Being gay is not an excuse for murder. It doesn't matter if Lawrence King wore makeup or called Brandon McInerney "baby." While those actions were misguided, they didn't justify McInerney's shooting King point-blank in the head.

Where does this second-class treatment stop? On an almost daily basis, gay people are verbally harassed and physically abused—sometimes seriously or even fatally—while they are walking on the street. Gay business owners or homeowners have had their property vandalized, even destroyed.

And rarely do the perpetrators pay the price. Judges, even when presented with overwhelming evidence supporting that anti-gay violence should be considered a hate crime, refuse to consider it as a possibility, nearly universally. And juries just don't seem to think that gay people are entitled to the same protections under the law that straight people are, as the majority of anti-gay violence cases end in the defendants being acquitted, or at least in mistrials.

Prosecutors will now have to decide whether to retry McInerney, although I'd be surprised if they do. It's sad to think that the legal system, built on guilt or innocence being determined by a jury of our peers, fails to protect gay people time and time again.

With peers like this, who needs enemies?

Book Review: "The Borrower" by Rebecca Makkai

2011-09-01T05:02:00.000-07:00

Boy, did I love this book.

Lucy Hull is a children's librarian in Hannibal, Missouri. In general, she lacks drive—she keeps doing her job because she enjoys it but she doesn't really want to pursue anything else, she keeps personal relationships at arm's length, and she doesn't care that her life is fairly boring. But all that changes as she deals with one of the library's most voracious readers, 10-year-old Ian Drake. When Ian's evangelical mother tells Lucy she only wants Ian reading books that contain "the breath of God" in them, as well as those that focus on stereotypically masculine characters and don't include magic or fantasy, Lucy helps Ian check out the "forbidden" books in secret. And when Lucy finds out that Ian's parents are sending him to religious classes in order to cure him of any potential SSAD (same-sex attraction disorder) when he gets older, she doesn't know how to help him.

One morning she arrives at the library to find Ian camped out, with a knapsack of provisions (including his pool pass if he needs to show identification). Somehow he part-convinces, part-threatens Lucy to take him on a road trip, and Lucy sees this as an opportunity to free Ian of the restrictions being placed upon him by his mother. Yet the road trip, like much of Lucy's life, doesn't have much of a plan, and Ian starts trying to lead her all over the country. They head from Hannibal through Chicago, to Pittsburgh and Vermont, as Lucy tries to rationalize her actions and draw Ian into telling her he needs her help. And along the way, Lucy learns a little bit more about herself and her family, which she has always kept a distance from, and how what you think is the truth is never quite absolutely true.

While clearly implausible in many ways, this was a terrific story. It had the potential to be preachy but it skated around the controversial issues fairly well. And while I felt that Rebecca Makkai made Lucy's Russian family and friends seem a bit stereotypical, I felt that the rest of the characters in this book were unique, complex and fallible—you wanted to know their story and you grew to care about them even if you didn't like them 100 percent. I would have liked to have known what happened to Ian as he grew up, even though that might have killed some of the book's magic, but overall, I really, really enjoyed this. Any book about the love of books does right by me.

I'm So Pretty That I Love Stereotypes...

2011-08-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

Well, I'd imagine someone in JCPenney's design department may lose their job...

A great deal of brouhaha in the media has ensued over JCPenney's recent decision to market a girls' t-shirt that says, "I'm too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me." (Way to tell girls they're not worthy of achieving anything of consequence.) And the description of the shirt in the retailer's catalogue sends a terrific message:

"Who has time for homework when there’s a new Justin Bieber album out? She’ll love this tee that’s just as cute and sassy as she is."

Who comes up with these ideas? A few months ago, online retailer David&Goliath started marketing a t-shirt that says, "I'm too pretty to do math". And back in 2005, groups of teenage girls—and then the media—took on retailer Abercrombie & Fitch for marketing a line of t-shirts they felt degraded the girls who wore them, including shirts that read, "Who needs brains when you have these?" and "You better make more than I can spend."

After controversy erupted about the JCPenney t-shirt, the retailer removed the shirt from sale and released a statement that said, "JCPenney is committed to being America's destination for great style and great value for the whole family. We agree that the 'Too pretty' t-shirt does not deliver an appropriate message, and we have immediately discontinued its sale. Our merchandise is intended to appeal to a broad customer base, not to offend them. We would like to apologize to our customers and are taking action to ensure that we continue to uphold the integrity of our merchandise that they have come to expect."

I just don't understand the thinking behind these shirts. Sure, cute and sassy might be appealing, but are these the attitudes we want to promote in preteen and teenage girls? While some say it's the choice of the parents or the girls themselves to purchase and wear the shirts, why promote messages that underachievement is cool or sexy, or it's good just to get by on your looks and sex appeal, that being smart is somehow less attractive?

I know that stereotypes exist because many people uphold them, but at the same time, not every gay person is like Sean Hayes' character on Will and Grace or Chris Colfer's character on Glee; not every Asian person takes pictures; and not every athlete is stupid. Why not embrace what makes each person different and special?

Gee, all that from a t-shirt. I guess I fall into the "Bloggers are cranky" stereotype, huh?

Super, Super Psyched...

2011-08-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

As I've discussed before, I am a ginormous fan of the Hunger Games trilogy. I devoured all three books last year and was completely captivated by Katniss and Peeta's struggles through the Games.

Fortunately, I read the books before casting decisions were made for the movie adaptation, so I didn't have any vision of the characters in my heads. While I saw certain things, I didn't focus much on the characters' descriptions, so I didn't have the unhappy reactions some fans did when the roles were cast. (Clearly many of the books' fans have the inability to picture actors and actresses undergoing transformations for roles; if a person is blonde, they can't seem to picture them dying their hair or putting on muscle.)

Last night during the MTV Video Music Awards (which I missed because I haven't seen a music video in quite some time) the network premiered a teaser trailer for The Hunger Games, which is due out in March. While it is super-short (hence the word "teaser"), it rekindled the excitement I felt when the casting decisions were announced. I honestly CANNOT wait until the movie is released and hope that it is faithful to the book, while being a good movie on its own. The good news is that the trilogy's author, Suzanne Collins, has worked very closely with director Gary Ross (Seabiscuit) on the film, so I am tremendously optimistic.

Check out the trailer below and know that I'll continue posting updates as they appear! (BTW, I'm totally Team Peeta.)

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music