Category writing

Apr 24 2015

Happy Birthday, Will (iam Shakespeare)

Yes, it is Shakespeare’s birthday. At least, this is the day scholars believe is likely his birthday. He was christened three days hence, and in his time, it was typical to have that ceremony three days after the birth. Alas, however, many students and therefore many people in our country have studied very little of the Bard’s works.

My daughter got a good background in Shakespeare, because she took honors English with the absolutely fabulous Janet Schwartz. Alas, my son was not a well-liked or accomplished student, so he was in a different sort of class in high school. His ninth grade teacher began Romeo and Juliet, but abandoned the effort during Act III. When I found out, my husband and I took him to see R & J at the Shakespeare Tavern, in Atlanta. Later, he studied Julius Caesar, but I don’t remember that he actually read MacBeth, but we did see that at the Tavern, too. I’ve enjoyed most everything I saw at the Shakespeare Tavern, although they do like to emphasize the baudy aspects.

As a student at Piedmont College, I took Shakespearian Tragedy with Dr. Greene, and it was sometimes difficult, but I am so very glad I took it. That course covered the typical plays: Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. Apparently, many colleges are abandoning the Bard. I know I’m old school, but Mr. Shakespeare’s works are among the finest in western world literature, so invest some time in reading a play or a sonnet or watching some Shakespeare!

Apr 16 2015

Star Wars Episode Seven

After seeing the second Star Trek reboot, all I can say about the new Star Wars is that I have a lot of hope and fear. Hope that it will be worthy of the Episode IV-VI trilogy, and fear that it will be even worse than episodes I and II. I actually kinda liked Episode III.

Harrison Ford looks older than dirt, but I’m not particularly young myself. Of course, any action will fall to the younger cast members, so let’s hope that the writers crafted them well. Abrams can make it look great, but if the writing is bad, nothing can save it.

Apr 6 2015

Dark Space— a review

Dark Space coverRecently, I read a space opera called Dark Space by Jasper T. Scott. Although this book didn’t grab me at the beginning, there were enough innovations to keep me reading. Many science fiction fans pay tribute (deliberately or unwittingly) to their screen favorites. This novel blends elements from Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica for sure. It begins “in medias res” with the main character involved in a star fighter to star fighter dogfight, and when it jumps back to the exposition phase, I decided that this novel too much like every other space opera in print and on the screen. However, the use of a “holoskin” to disguise the main character, essentially allowing him to impersonate someone else, is a nifty plot device. So is the use of a “neurochip” inserted into the brain of another character— leaving her appearance as it was, but giving her a whole new personality. In a universe with such devices, the reader (or characters) never seem to know who is friend and who is foe.

Much of the action of Dark Space is like the original BattleStar Galatica; star fighters and ships shooting. This can be fascinating (think David Weber) or just action packed. One reason Weber is fascinating is his ability to craft characters that the reader can love or hate. The core problem with Dark Space is that I just didn’t care who was gonna win those skirmishes.

Dark Space is predictable, except when it isn’t. And it is action packed, but a tad boring. The ending, instead of satisfying the reader, is a build up for part 2. So, I guess I’d give it three stars….

But it was free, and that’s a good price, no doubt because the author is willing to give it away in hopes of selling the sequels. I didn’t go for the second installment, however.

Mar 26 2015

Goodbye, Top Gear

Top Gear

Top Gear, the BBC’s greatest success, is gone.

My whole family has loved Top Gear for a long time. I have an image in my mind of my son-in-law, tears rolling down his cheeks, watching the guys attempt to navigate the Avon river in a homemade hovercraft, laughing so hard that he was almost as funny as the show. But not quite…. Really, it is hard to put it into words. Top Gear has been the most successful “reality” show, although it isn’t quite real. It is the best because it is over the top. Way over.

Much has already been said about the sad end of the show, which came about because the BBC fired the star of the show, Jeremy Clarkson, for assaulting a producer. I neither defend Clarkson nor do I feel that the BBC did the wrong thing. No doubt all will suffer. Some are saying the show will go on, but I’ve watched a few shows with the co-stars, James May and Richard Hammond, as main presenters, and none of those shows were worth watching. Both May and Hammond are pleasant, but no more so than your average television presenter. No, there is some mysterious chemistry that seems to develop when Clarkson is on screen with these side kicks. Yes, the word here is chemistry: Clarkson is the catalyst, and the other gents are reactants. Take away the catalyst, and you have… the American version of Top Gear. The one no one watches.

This is worse, far worse, than Two and a Half Men without Charlie Sheen. (And that was pretty bad.)

Since the BBC has something to prove, they will no doubt put out a show with the same name and flashy videos, in order to fulfill contractional obligations, as well as to demonstrate that the show must go on. But it will suck.

I seldom watch television, but I generally make an exception for Top Gear. Oh, well, time to read another book.

Mar 3 2015

American Sniper— the book

American Sniper by Chris Kyle coverOkay, I admit, I have a tendency to do certain things backwards. Hubby laughs at this one: whenever I pick up a magazine, I thumb through and begin reading somewhere near the back. I sometimes do that with catalogues, too. Why? Because the snazzy pictures are in the front, and the words are in the back. I like words.

American Sniper, the movie, is in theaters in my area of the country as I write this, which means it is the perfect time for Pam to read the book! Chris Kyle’s exploits are apparently quite controversial, based on the reaction to the film, but I did not find it so much controversial as conversational. After I finished, I felt like I has spent a while talking with this Texas cowboy turned Navy Seal, who loved guns and his country enough to go back into a war zone, over and over.

Why is Kyle’s career a controversy? There are those who feel that Americans were invaders in Iraq. Okay, I see that. A little bit, anyway. Any war on foreign soil will have that aspect. And there are those who feel that being a sniper, hiding behind a big rifle with a bigger scope, is a cowardly way to fight. That I don’t get, at all. Guerilla warfare is not new. And, in the war in Iraq, with insurgents attacking government installations and convoys, having a sniper on every tall rooftop made a lot of sense. As he often puts it in the book, Iraq was a “target rich” environment. His recorded number of “kills” is far above any other sniper, and he is matter of fact in explaining that his accomplishment was in part due to being in the thick of things for four deployments.

Kyle’s story, which begins during his childhood in Texas, is entertaining and quintessentially American. When he discusses the war, it is the voice of a military man, explaining what happened from his point of view. Also of interest are brief interludes where his wife, Taya, discusses what was happening from her perspective. This gives the story more depth because modern warfare can happen so far away that the combatant’s home country is isolated from the realities of war. The price paid by the family is made quite real through her observations.

If you haven’t read Kyle’s autobiography, you might want to give it a try. Although it becomes a bit repetitive, because what he did on a day-to-day basis didn’t change all that much, his voice is strong throughout the book, and Chris Kyle was a man’s man in a country that has, by and large, gone soft.

Feb 20 2015

Nebraska— the film

I’m a fan of Netflix.  As of this writing, the film Nebraska is available on the service. This comedy/drama is rather hard to classify, but I enjoyed it very much. Perhaps it speaks to my life experiences. My father was a widower for a number of years, and as the daughter who lived close by, it was often up to me to take care of his needs. And, people of his generation are just different from ours. Example: I was handed his wallet while he underwent a medical procedure; the darned thing was two inches thick. With nothing else to do while I waited, I thumbed through it. There were many scraps of paper, usually with a phone number scrawled upon each of them. He had a metal plate replica of his social security card! And, there was a “business card” of some executive from the Reader’s Digest Sweepstakes. No kidding.

Okay, you are wondering when I will get around to reviewing Nebraska. Here goes: As the film opens, set in Billings, Montana, an elderly gent is walking on the emergency lane of a multilane highway. A cop pulls over and asks the gent (ably portrayed by Bruce Dern) where he is going, and he merely points ahead of his position. When asked where he came from, he points behind him. All the while, he is still walking. The next scene has his son, Dave, coming to the police station to pick up his father. His father’s destination is Nebraska. Why? Because he has a letter saying he won a million dollars in a sweepstakes, and the letter has to be returned to an address in Nebraska by a certain date. You know, the kind that really exist only to sell magazines.

The father, who seems a bit out of it, apart from his intense desire to get his million dollars, has become a thorn in his mother’s side. So, to give his mom a break, the son feigns illness to get off work, puts his dad in the car, and off to Nebraska they go. Their adventures make up the rest of the film. I’m not going into details, because I don’t want to spoil it, but suffice it to say that the son learns quite a bit about his elderly father on their journey to pick up his million dollar sweepstakes.

Nebraska gets a 92% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is unusual. So is this film, however. Those who have dealt with parents born during the depression will really appreciate this well acted film.