Book Review: "What It Was" by George Pelecanos

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..."

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...

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

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?

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...

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...

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.