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This blog is the work of an educated civilian, not of an expert in the fields discussed.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Book/Film Update



A few good things that I happened to come across by chance. I pass a Borders most days on the way home, so check out the selection around once a week. The way to go is to reserve any good books at the library -- NYC is a big system, and you can have a book coming from any branch from three boroughs (Queens and Brooklyn are separate). This provides a convenient process -- pick up the book that has come in, drop off what I have read, watched or listened to, and then do some other Saturday morning errand. And, you just might find something else there (e.g., You Know Where To Find Me) of interest.

[There are also a ton of Starbucks and not a few Dunkin Donuts around, too much of the latter apparently, since they are going to close six hundred or so. I finally bought a Starbucks coffee -- nothing special, but $1.75 is relatively normal for a 12oz. One Dunkin Donuts is convenient in particular both because it takes credit/cash cards and because it is near the subway. OTOH, not a big fan of knowing how many calories are in some of that stuff. Over 500 for a muffin? Really?]

Anyways, recently, I saw Trans-Sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian, a Vermont based fiction writer with whom I am not familiar. The title is of course a pun -- a small town divorcee/school teacher (Allison) falls for her college professor (Dana -- nice unisex name), who eventually lets her into the fact that he is really a transsexual about to have a sex change operation. This causes various difficulties, largely to the school teacher. All the same, the book has a nice set-up in which we see things through the perspectives of Allison, Dana, Will (Allison's ex) and Carly (their college age daughter). It's good to see things through different people's eyes generally, and this revolving first person narrator works fine.

And, the book as a whole is a good read too, in large part because of the characters. The story is not totally predictable, which is nice, though nothing too horrible happens or anything. The dad is in public radio, and that sort of gives a flavor of the main characters (middle class, at least somewhat liberal, etc.). As a review says, a bit too nice, but I guess sometimes we want a bit too good to be true characters, even if it hurts the dramatic edge a bit (there is a bit more edge than suggested by the review). Overall, I personally think sex is not sexual orientation -- it is something deep inside of you. Even if people think one can ignore it. And, along with NIMBY, the book suggests even beyond homosexuality, transsexuality is still a taboo. [The book was written before civil unions.]

On another front, I largely saw WALL-E by chance as well, this time because of the few places that takes a free movie ticket I have plus the limited selection of movies for me to watch generally. On first glance, the movie didn't look promising, some sort of cutsie ET thing or something. But, overall, it is a very good movie. One plus is that it has the courage to have chunks of almost silent stretches with WALL-E (waste collector on a worn out earth, hundreds of years in the future, with only a cockroach for company) going about alone (and lonely). You basically have a mix of live action (so to speak) and animation, an overall creative mix. And, the animated short at the beginning was cute.

Charming romance too -- a little too cutesy toward the end (his mate is EVE, who is programmed to look for signs of life), but the scenes of the lazy fat humans (animated except for some taped material) hits a nerve too. As does the fact that deep down they are good souls, wanting a connection with others and to "live" not just exist. Overall, good movie-making as well as enjoyable family entertainment. On some level, parts of it are rather sad, but the same probably can be said about other works too (teen caught in a tower? beloved mom died young and dad chose unwisely to replace her?).

As with treats, movies need not be too saccharine to still be good for children too. BTW, I caught Persepolis on DVD ... for all the extras, including behind the scene stuff and Q&E. It's nice to see the author ... she's a cutie. The DVD was supposed to have an English version of the movie (that is, English voices ... it is animated), but I didn't see it. Anyway, it would probably lose some of its charm that way -- the movie has an interesting look, and the foreign language soundtrack (French) adds helps the overall feel.

How about those Rays? 2.5 in first now! Best record in baseball! If nothing else, even a major collapse should not prevent them from being over .500, which I don't know if they ever was.