tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6597884971692006022024-03-13T18:20:18.565-04:00The Caustic CriticI have opinions, dammit.The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.comBlogger417125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-86817076102769919442022-02-02T12:10:00.003-05:002022-03-19T23:00:26.841-04:00CBR14 #1 - Revenge Body by Rachel Wiley<p>Cannonball Read #14. Hope springs eternal, I guess. </p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">I have to say that Rachel Wiley is probably my favorite living poet. I've been a fan since first seeing Youtube clips of her performing her work live, and I own both of her previous books. I pre-ordered </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Revenge Body</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"> as soon as it was announced and read it the day after it arrived.</span></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Revenge Body</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"> feels less relatable to me overall, since it seems like a much more personal journey for Wiley. She writes more about her relationship with her family--about recognizing and working to heal from their overwhelming dysfunction and rejection. She also works through a break-up and processes the emotional turmoil from that. Still, her musings on white feminism (A poem called "Intersectional Feminism (AKA Actual Fucking Feminism) Plays the Dozens With White Feminism" is a particular standout), the experience of being fat and female in society, and on searching for love while not being sure one is worthy of it rang true to my experiences.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">As always, Wiley's use of word-play and imagery is striking--in "Exective Functioning" she says "my truffle/ pig brain broke her teather/ again/ and wandered off to unearth some/ sweetly moldering dopamine." which is a feeling I'm all too familiar with (your author said...as it took her months to actually complete a proper review for this book). Her voice and attitude shines through, and as a reader I root for her (the point in her journey when she clearly found a good therapist was a high point to me). While I found the majority of the poems in this collection extremely readable and evocative, I didn't connect as much on a personal level as I did with the work in </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Nothing Is Okay</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">. Which is fine! I'd still recommend this because aside from the joy of watching her wield words as both shields and weapons, there is also a lot in this work that hits on a more universal experience.</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-1297260290193711052021-05-10T10:54:00.003-04:002021-05-10T10:54:57.436-04:00In Which Your Author Gets Stoned and Watches Moonstruck<p> </p><ol style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Cher is supposed to be 37 in this movie. That means I am already too old to find myself a Nic-Cage-In-his-prime of my own. This is definitely an appalling realization. </span></li><li>In a semi-related note, I never used to understand why Loretta was willing to settle for Johnny, who is a giant man-baby. The older I get, the more sense it makes to me. </li><li>The character of Ronny is hilarious. I always missed it before because I was too busy being wowed by the pretty face and animal sex appeal, but his over-the-top melodrama absolutely kills me. I love it. He’s a filthy mess, with his hair a wreck, missing a tooth, yelling about how he needs THE BIG KNIFE, CHRISSY and yet would I? Oh yes indeed. </li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">In every way Cage is overstated, Olympia Dukakis was understated. She was brilliant here. She nails the exhaustion and frustration. (Though frankly, I don’t see what ANYBODY sees in Cosmo. These two women are busy fighting over a whiny plumber.) </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Everyone who won an Oscar for this deserved it. No discussion. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">That is some very 80s chest hair, Mr. Cage. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">How is that shop assistant who is in love with Ronny going to react when she finds out he CAN in fact love again? </span> </li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">These yuppies that Cosmo sold piping to...like, are we supposed to think he's a good plumber? </span> </li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Seriously, what do people see in Cosmo? He is the goddamn WORST. Even Frazier’s dad is a better date. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">“Why don’t you go stand in front of your record player and listen to La Boheme at ear-shattering volume without even removing your coat, and I will immediately make myself at home in your kitchen and cook you food you did not ask for?” Loretta is also kind of a weirdo, tbh. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Is every man in this movie SUPPOSED to be garbage? I mean, Ronny is hot garbage, but garbage nonetheless. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">He IS a wolf. Agreed, Loretta. You’re drunk and babbling, but he is a wolf. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">“Where are you taking me?!” It’s a one-bedroom apartment, Loretta. There are not a lot of options. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Holy balls...if my math is right, Cher was 41 when this was made, and Nic Cage was 23. You go, girl. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">“Old man, you give those dogs another piece of my food, I’m gonna kick ya till you’re dead” is one of the greatest lines in cinema. I yelled an adapted version at an old man once who accosted me as I walked past the bench he was shitting on. (No. That is not a typo.) </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Good Lord, this is an awkward dinner. The food looks great, but I’m guessing Uncle Raymond and Aunt Rita wish they’d gotten take-out instead. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Oh...the Twin Towers. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">I look forward to the day I get old enough to take my half dozen dogs out for a walk to howl at the moon in Italian. Note to self: learn Italian. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">The next time someone says I’ve ruined their life, I can’t wait to respond with “it was ruined when I got here!” Note to self: ruin someone’s life. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">The part where he says “I’m in love with you” like it’s a regrettably forgone conclusion and she slaps him and yells “Snap out of it!” is just *chef’s kiss.* </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Uncle Raymond and Aunt Rita are the true #RelationshipGoals of this film. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Someday I’m going to go to the Met. Not because I like opera, but because I love this movie. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Cher sure was beautiful. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Am I supposed to believe that Ronny owns a tuxedo? Is he THAT MUCH of an opera lover that he goes often enough that he owns his own tuxedo? If not, did he go out and buy one that afternoon? Did he rent it? </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">The most unrealistic part in this whole film is that Ronny notices that Loretta had her hair done. The fact that he mentions it is how I know this movie is meant to be magical realism or something. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Cosmo deserves every terrible thing that happens to him. And his goomah is tacky as all hell (I like her style, but let’s be honest, I’m also tacky as hell). </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Good on Olympia Dukakis for taking herself out to dinner, but is there only one restaurant in their neighborhood? She’s got the night to herself...does she not long for the exotic? Like burritos? </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">And why does Frazier’s dad keep coming back there? Does he have some kink about being watched by a crowd as a much younger woman throws a drink on him and storms out? Could he not do that in other restaurants? If I was part of a scene like that, I’d be too embarrassed to go back to that restaurant again. In fact, I’d probably have to move. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">In the timeframe of the film, he did this exact same thing literally two days ago. Why aren’t the waiters like “Dude. Again?” This is why I think he must do it all the time...and he must tip really well. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Does the Met really have a man with a cape who plays the xylophone to announce intermission is over? Well, now I not only have to visit, but I also have to see at least half a show. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">You know, I’d forgotten how much of the story is the other members of the family, and not just Ronny and Loretta. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">That look...the “Hello there! I have no idea what's going on, I’m just so happy to be here! With Loretta!” look Ronny does when they run into Cosmo SLAYS me. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">I feel like Olympia Dukakis is going to be glad she turned down Frazier’s dad, because when she sees him doing a scene with an undergrad in the middle of her favorite restaurant the next time she’s in there, she’ll be reassured he’s a giant idiot. Because they both go there all the time. Because it’s the only restaurant in the neighborhood apparently. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">I understand how it could definitely be argued that Loretta made the wrong choice there...but GODDAMN do I understand why she made it. I’m pretty sure if anyone with those cheekbones ever looked at me like that and said “Get in my bed” I’d move so fast there would be a sonic boom. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">It’s really good that Johnny and Ronny’s mother recovered—otherwise everyone else would seem like very insensitive people. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">The look on both Olympia and Cosmo's faces: “Oh God. My daughter is going to marry a moron. This is terrible.” No one is happy to see Johnny when he turns up, poor guy. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Wait. Did Ronny put his full tux BACK ON after their night of passion? Because a night of passion is implied, but why would a man put his entire outfit from the night before back on IN HIS OWN HOUSE?! I will never be able to unsee this continuity error. And his neighbors must love the wailing opera record at the crack of dawn. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Oh, okay, so maybe he got dressed again with the intention of going after Loretta...but how did he find her house? Did he just go knocking on doors asking “Is Loretta home?” until he found someone who was like “You’re looking for the Castorinis—they live over on the corner of Cherrywood”? Or did he follow her somehow? That’s sorta creepy. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">MY GOD, THE CHEEKBONES IN THIS FILM </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Is he trying to be a dick, or does he REALLY want oatmeal? The beautiful thing about Nicolas Cage’s performance here is that it’s so hard to tell. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">I love that Uncle Raymond and Aunt Rita show up in the middle of the Awkward Olympics, and instead of taking their bag and going, they’re like “Something exciting is about to happen, we should definitely stay. Ooh, coffee!” Maybe they actually enjoyed the dinner of extreme awkwardness? Maybe this is what they do for entertainment? </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">She didn’t make RONNY kneel to propose. Hmmmmmm... </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Okay so: conclusions. This movie is still very silly, and no one in it has a clue about informed/enthusiastic consent, but I still adore it. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Uncle Raymond and Aunt Rita are my favorite Not-Nicolas-Cage characters. </span></li><li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">Cher is #LifeGoals.</span></li></ol>The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-62402775514067255702021-02-18T14:23:00.001-05:002021-02-18T14:23:28.000-05:00"Are you there, Satan? It's me, Madison" - CBR13 #3 - Damned by Chuck Palahniuk<p> Thirteen-year-old Madison Spencer--the chubby, precocious, pampered daughter of two of Hollywood's brightest stars--discovers one day that she has died (of a marijuana overdose, of all things!) and is now in Hell. Hell, as it turns out, is just as gross as one would expect but significantly more boring. Determined to make the best of it, Madison finds some equally damned friends and begins her quest for something that perhaps resembles meaning?</p><p>As with all Chuck Palahniuk books, I'm not entirely sure whether I liked it. It was super weird, obviously. The premise started out weird and definitely spiraled out from there. However, that's really to be expected with any of his books. There are some sections with sexual content that actively squicked me out, so be warned.</p><p>I liked the character of Madison a lot. Her voice was strong, though I sometimes struggled to remember that she's supposed to be 13 (she comments a lot on her own vocabulary use, reminding the reader often that she is THIRTEEN not STUPID). While I enjoyed her pop culture references, there was a certain part of me who found the whole thing a bit unbelievable for someone her age. </p><p>All of Palahniuk's usual quirks were present: repetition, gross-outs, unexpected twists, playing with familiar tropes, an unreliable narrator--and I liked them just as much as I usually do. I'm pretty sure that Chuck Palahniuk is one of those authors whom readers either REALLY LIKE or REALLY DON'T and there's not a whole lot of grey area in between.</p><p>While on the whole there was nothing particularly "new" here, there were some sections that really spoke to me, especially a chapter in which Madison deals with the collapse of her own image of herself. Her musings on what to do when it turns out the persona you've built and invested in over the course of years is suddenly shown to be inaccurate were super relevant to me.</p><p>I also love <i>The Breakfast Club</i> more than is reasonable, so when she collects a princess, a nerd, an athlete, and a criminal I may have cheered just a little bit.</p><p>On the whole, I'd say that this is probably not a book I'd recommend to someone who doesn't know already whether they like Palahniuk (for that, I'd probably point them toward <i>Survivor</i> or perhaps <i>Fight Club</i>) but I definitely would say I'm glad I read it.</p>The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-62573138223568429452021-02-17T12:45:00.004-05:002021-02-17T12:51:52.565-05:00CBR13 #2 - A Book of Luminous Things - Edited by Czesław Miłosz<p> I don't think I've read a poetry anthology since college -- and even then, I mostly just read the poems we were studying and ignored both the commentary and all the other poems. A Norton Anthology of Poetry can be a very intimidating book, after all.</p><p>I didn't actually intend to read one this time, either. However, I happened to come across a poem by Eastern European poet <span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Czesław Miłosz which I liked, and when I googled him I discovered he'd edited this anthology. I figured it might be nice to branch out and experience some new poets, so I picked it up.</span></p><p>When I started reading, I really appreciated what <span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Miłosz had to say about the poems, why he'd included them, and how they related to each section of the anthology. He had some really great stuff to say about how poets over the centuries relate to nature, and why he like and had selected each poem. The selection leaned pretty heavily on Eastern European and ancient Chinese poets, but since I really like EE poetry and don't have a lot of experience with ancient Chinese poetry, I figured that would be a nice broadening experience.</span></p><p>After a while, I began to wonder if maybe <span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Miłosz should have just done an anthology of Chinese poetry instead.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Still, I read on.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Then there came the chapter entitled "Women's Skin" which was ostensibly about women. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Except only maybe a third of the poems were BY women. And of those that were, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Miłosz was...somewhat uncomplimentary? As I read, I began to get a very distinct feeling that </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Miłosz was not super fond of women, or very interested in their work. His little descriptions and notes about the poems felt almost snide in their dismissiveness. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">After that, while I finished the book, I no longer trusted or appreciated </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Miłosz's observations.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">It's a shame because I really did enjoy some of the poems. I probably would still even enjoy </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">Miłosz's poems, but there are other places to find those. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">I would not recommend this book -- if you're interested in Chinese poetry from the 700s, you could probably find an anthology by a Chinese author that would be better, same with the modern Eastern European poets. </span></p>The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-54235136091769585382021-01-31T11:16:00.005-05:002021-01-31T11:25:45.556-05:00CBR13 #1 - Psychedelicate: The Luckiest Guy Alive by John Cooper Clarke<p> So it's been a while, but it's never too late to try and get back into the swing of things. Every year is a new opportunity to try and do the <a href="https://cannonballread.com/about-menu/" target="_blank">Cannonball Read</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>I started out with a book by British poet John Cooper Clarke. I've seen Clarke several times as the Dictionary Corner guest on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, and I always really enjoy him. It took me a while to get one of his books, though, since it seems that his focus is mostly in spoken word performance rather than published work. This turns out to make a lot of sense because his poetry absolutely BEGS to be read aloud. There is something about his word choices and the way he strings them together that I find extremely enticing. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jz-ZP5at6oc/YBbWAJJGjTI/AAAAAAAAFww/vFGusffrihIvHiXn4MiR1EQi_j2sICtHgCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="404" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jz-ZP5at6oc/YBbWAJJGjTI/AAAAAAAAFww/vFGusffrihIvHiXn4MiR1EQi_j2sICtHgCLcBGAsYHQ/w303-h404/image.png" width="303" /></a></div><br />The poem above, for example--the sound of the line "A rather dissolute but not yet destitute suit" and the way those words work together, combined with the repetition of the "oot" sound throughout is fantastic. Briscoe was not as impressed with my renditions--I will admit that my attempts at Clarke's accent were a massive failure--but I found speaking the words out loud really enhanced my experience.<p></p><p>Not all the poems are as good as this, of course. There are one or two that read as mildly homophobic or transphobic (nothing outright, really, but I noticed regardless) and some that I maybe don't get because they're more specific to Britain. However, for the most part, I enjoyed this little book quite a lot. His sense of humor is biting and slightly dark, which suits me right down to the ground, and his way of playing with language is just...fun.</p><p>On the whole, I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys modern poetry, though I'd also suggest searching out some recordings of him performing his own work as well, since that's the way it's really meant to be consumed.</p><p style="text-align: center;">I'll end with one of his haikus:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">No 1</p><p style="text-align: center;">To freeze the moment</p><p style="text-align: center;">In seventeen syllables</p><p style="text-align: center;">Is very diffic</p>The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-75813300470929112332020-08-16T19:55:00.001-04:002020-08-16T19:55:39.927-04:00In Which Your Author Gets Stoned and Watches "Vera Cruz"<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> So today I decided the best use of my time would be to take an edible and then liveblog this 1954 tale of the Mexican Revolution.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here are the results. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cooper’s kind of a stuffed shirt, but Lancaster is 🔥</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ohhhh, Cooper’s not a stuffed shirt, he’s just DRY. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">This film continues to improve. Jack Elam is in it!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ooh, also Ernest Borgnine!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Is that a very young Charles Bronson?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wow, research suggests Gary Cooper was kind of a dick in real life. Then again, research also suggests he was on so much pain medication when this movie was shooting that his didn’t work, so I guess I can see why he might be crabby.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did tooth bleach exist in the 50s? WTF was Burt Lancaster doing to make his teeth look like that? They practically glow in the dark. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh noooooo, they brought in one Black guy, just to use him for a racist dance bit?!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m starting to think I’m not actually supposed to be rooting for Burt here. Oops. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh, Cooper’s not dry, he’s just an asshole. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is like a very, very slow heist movie. It could definitely use more chase scenes. I hope later there will at least be some explosions.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I can’t tell if Lancaster’s supposed to be so creepy...like, I get that he’s an anti-hero scoundrel type, but the line between “charming jerk” and “dangerous sociopath” is getting a little smudgy here. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hooray, there’s another racist dancing bit. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Okay, so upon investigation it turns out that Archie Savage (who plays the Black Union soldier Ballard here) was a “pioneer of African-American dance.” I guess that sort of explains all the dancing? But, like, why is this character there? I’m obviously not saying they shouldn’t have a Black dude in the movie, but like...they didn’t HAVE to—this was the 50s—so what is the purpose of adding this character? The dancing feels like a weird turn in tone every time it happens. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cooper’s character would be a lot more sympathetic if he were a former Union soldier, rather than a former confederate being sad about his lost plantation. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Seriously, those teeth! Were they using ultraviolet radiation on them?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is like the anti-slash as far as manly man films go. Unlike Wayne and Mitchum in <i>El Dorado</i>, there is NO sexual energy between these two at all. Well, Lancaster is shooting sexual energy everywhere indiscriminately (but it’s verging on rapey, kind of?) while Cooper is resolutely anti-sexual. If “plexiglass bathtub” were a sexuality, then that’s what Cooper’s got going here. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This bit where the characters more or less come right out and say “I am double crossing everyone!” directly to the camera before a cut-away is...not subtle. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’d kind of like the two women to shoot Cooper and Lancaster and then run away with the money. Doubt that’s going to happen, though. I suspect Cooper will somehow come out on top. His romantic subplot will most likely be pleased to be finished with those terribly awkward, passionless, lip-squishing kisses he keeps planting on her. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This bit where Lancaster is freshening up in front of the fancy French lady is deeply unsettling. Worse, I can’t tell if it’s supposed to be. I’m not sure whether the original audience of the time would consider it “charming rogue” or “secret serial killer.” I’m still uncertain if I should be rooting for his character, or if the fact that I pick him over Cooper is indicative of a character flaw on my part. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh, well now of course he’s slapping the fancy French lady around, as you do. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So probably meant to be unsettling, then. Well, but now she's kissing him, so it could still be charming rogue territory? After all, there's a perfectly acceptable Dean Martin/Nat King Cole song from the same year that advocates slapping your wife into submission (in a very swingy way, of course) if she gets annoyed with your gambling or reckless spending. (I really liked "Open Up the Doghouse" until I actually listened to the lyrics.) It was a very different time. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I don’t trust him. He likes people and you can never count on a man like that.” Fair enough, Burt. But DOES he like people? Because so far, in this film, the main indicators that he likes people are that he 1. Shot a horse 2. Did not think that massacring a group of children or raping a lady in the main square were acceptable behaviors. Apparently, the threshold for "liking people" in Lancaster's world is very low.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This movie is awful. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think maybe I’m rooting for the Juaristas?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nope, Lancaster is definitely the bad guy. I mean, aside from the French. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At least I'm finally getting the explosions I wanted.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yay! Macho bullshit seems to have proved fatal. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wait, why is Cooper crying? Clearly, I’ve missed something. This ending is both anti-climactic and baffling. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I can see why the Mexican government got so mad about this film they insisted any movies shot there in the future make the Mexican people look good. They do not come off well here, is what I’m saying. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The French don’t come off super well either, to be honest. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In fact, pretty much everyone in this movie is awful, except maybe Gary Cooper, who is both awful AND self-righteous. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So when it comes down to films about running dangerous errands during the Mexican Revolution, I’m going to declare <i>Two Mules for Sister Sara </i>the undeniable winner. </span></span></p>The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-35766223415466003552020-07-21T10:57:00.001-04:002020-07-21T10:57:22.743-04:00"Shut up, Han Solo." Hide and Creep Redux and For A Few Zombies MoreMany years ago, while aimlessly surfing through the offerings of dubious quality on OnDemand, I ran across a little movie called<i> <a href="https://causticritic.blogspot.com/2006/07/featuring-keanu-reeves-bloodied.html" target="_blank">Hide and Creep</a></i>. It's about a little town in Alabama called Thorsby, and how the zombie apocalypse begins there. It's clearly a very VERY indie production--the special effects were...not great, the cinematography was pretty amateur, and it was quite obvious that the majority of the cast were likely friends/family of the filmmakers. However, the script was funny, the main characters were pretty likable, and I admired the clear DIY spirit and enthusiasm. You could say it reminded me very strongly of <i>Clerks</i>, but with zombies, right down to the slacker video store owner and pop culture rants. On the whole, I liked it.<br />
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And then, as they say, some things that should not have been forgotten were lost.<br />
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It didn't take me two thousand years, but the other day the movie popped into my head for whatever reason. I thought I should look it up and rewatch it, just for old time's sake.<br />
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To my great delight, it turned out the movie had a SEQUEL!<br />
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<i>Hide and Creep</i> was released in 2004, and in 2015, the same writer and director (and star, and producer...it's a very small company) released a sequel called <i>For a Few Zombies More</i>.<br />
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<i>For a Few Zombies More</i> takes place ten years after the events of the original film. Video store owner Chuck has adapted the slacker life to zombie times, spending his days roaming the countryside trying to track down movies, as part of a "preservation project." While out one day, he meets a mysterious young woman, who's on a mission to rescue a scientist who might have the secret to creating a zombie vaccine. Soon, they run into other characters with other missions, and eventually wind up returning to Thorsby for a climactic showdown with a shadowy figure called "The Chief." Along the way, they make some allies and some enemies, fight some zombies, and debate the nature of society and what the zombie plague says about humans (a debate Chuck very firmly does NOT wish to engage in.)<br />
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I saw some of the twists coming, but that could be because I watched <i>Hide and Creep</i> immediately before. In general, though, I enjoyed it a lot. I still am very fond of Chuck's character (he's like a southern Randal) and also enjoyed The Woman With No Name. The plot moved along, and there was enough tension to keep me on the edge of my seat most of the time. The villains were appropriately unpleasant, though I thought maybe there was a little more gratuitous toplessness than really necessary. They also clearly had a much larger budget for special effects, since the zombies were much more impressive this time around. I did think the tone was darker than the first movie--while there were funny parts, I felt that this had a more cynical attitude. It also had a banging punk soundtrack, which I appreciated.<br />
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On the whole, while I'd say these movies are probably not going to push George Romero off his throne as the king of zombies, they were a lot of fun, and obviously a passion project for the cast and crew. Both are currently available free on Amazon Prime, and are a fun way to spend a humid afternoon.The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-82948644714956981322020-07-15T14:15:00.000-04:002020-07-15T14:15:24.925-04:00Going off the rails on a creepy train: Breakheart PassAs we've previously established, I like old movies, and old action movies are probably my favorite. Yesterday, I watched <i>Breakheart Pass</i>, which is from 1975, but set out west sometime in the late 1800s. The basic plot is that Charles Bronson is a wanted man who gets picked up by a US Marshal in a small western town. The marshal decides to take him by train to the nearest fort to face justice. The two of them board a train headed to the fort, along with a bunch of other passengers and a group of soldiers.<br />
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Then, of course, havoc ensues.<br />
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1. Charles Bronson was kind of weird looking. I don't know if it's the haircut or the mustache or what, and it's not helped by the giant, weird fur coat he's rocking here. I mean, the man's a decent actor and a good action star, but man...not attractive.<br />
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2. This has some strong <i>Murder on the Orient Express</i> vibes, as well as a little bit of Agatha Christie's <i>Ten Little Indians</i>, in that you've got a group of people trapped on a moving train, almost none of whom are who they claim to be, and they're dropping dead at an alarming rate.<br />
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3. It took me quite a while to figure out what was going on, and who was responsible. I was frankly sort of impressed since I'm usually pretty good at ferreting out plot twists.<br />
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4. I was glad the romantic subplot remained very very sub. I kind of thought it was downright yikes due to the age difference, but the main actress (aka one of only two women in the entire movie) turned out to be 39 and not 22 so it wouldn't have been SO off. (Bronson was 54 at the time.) Um, further research tells me that she and Bronson were married when this was made. FURTHER sidenote--she was also married to Ducky from <i>NCIS</i>, and he introduced her to Bronson while they were making <i>The Great Escape</i>. Oops. She once famously said that the reason she was in so many Charles Bronson movies is because no other actress would work with him. I hope she was joking.<br />
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5. There's a pretty good fight on top of a moving train car. There's also some decent explosions.<br />
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6. Because this is a western, there are some Indigenous people. They are on the side of the villains, but they're not particularly terrible. Also, the actor playing the chief was actually Lakota, and not some Greek guy they painted brown, so kudos there, casting department.<br />
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7. On the whole, I liked this one. Not enough to watch it again, but enough to say if you enjoy 70s action movies, this one is worth your time.The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-40431979543259660332020-07-12T23:24:00.001-04:002020-12-28T11:03:31.442-05:00"I'm looking at a tin star with a drunk pinned on it." El Dorado (and also Dust Up)Twice in one weekend -- I know, I'm surprised too. Yet here we are.<br />
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After my adventure with <i>The Three Musketeers</i>, I figured I'd try something else new. At some point, for a reason lost even to myself, I added a movie called <i>Dust Up</i> to my Amazon watchlist. I can't figure out why, since it was a small indie from 2013 without a single recognizable star in it, aside from the woman who played Tara on Buffy (whom I liked, but I'm not exactly following her career). The basic premise is that a one-eyed veteran, who has moved out to the high desert to escape his traumatic past, ends up crossing the path of a deranged meth dealer, and ends up having to fight off a hoard of methed up crazy people, with the help of a young mom (the aforementioned Tara), her dopey addict husband, and the vet's indigenous (?) friend. It was...weird. If I had to make comparisons, I'd say it reminded me quite a bit of <i>From Dusk Til Dawn</i>, what with the B movie cast, over-the-top violence, and tacky effects. There were quite a few very funny moments, and I liked the leads quite a bit. The Native friend was...troubling. I wasn't sure if he was supposed to actually be indigenous, or just one of those people who fakes it, but it did give me some moments of eeegh. I'm not sure I'd strongly recommend it, but if you're a person who enjoys bargain basement Tarantino, it's not a total waste of time.<br />
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The other movie I watched was <i>El Dorado</i>. And before you ask, no, not the cartoon. This is the 1967 film with John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, and James Caan. It's one of those classic sixties westerns that involves groups of heavily armed men shooting at each other for convoluted reasons. As usual, I found it utterly delightful. Some thoughts I had:<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1. The relationship between Wayne and Mitchum is...well, someone is probably writing slash about it somewhere, and for good reason. It's like the male version of "gals being pals." The two of them were trading some rather heated looks. Perhaps I just read too much slash fic, but the undertones there felt scorching to me. Maybe more so from Mitchum's side, but for a guy who is a legend for being a "man's man," John Wayne was delivering some smolder himself. I kept waiting for them to kiss. (Spoiler: they did not.) The whole bit about how Mitchum fell apart because some woman left him...um, we all know it's because John Wayne left. You're not fooling anybody here. I did not buy his relationship with the local madam for a second. Or maybe yes, but there were definitely some bi vibes happening. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2. I'm pretty sure she was a madam. No one exactly said, but it was strongly implied. Particularly the bit where she suggests she could manage to be both Wayne and Mitchum's girl at the same time. Wayne looked intrigued. Mitchum looked concerned. (See point 1.)</span></span></div>
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4. Caan's character clearly does not understand the relationship going on here, either. Him and the old guy with the bugle seem determined to just stay out of the way and let the other two trade meaningful looks uninterrupted.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">4. Holy hell, do I love the men of the Caan family. My deep lust for Scott is well-documented, but his father was no slouch when he was young, either. Just so tiny and feisty! I knew there was a reason my favorite Corleone was always Sonny. He doesn't disappoint in this, and he brings in the sexy, sexy comic relief.</span><br />
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5. I haven't watched nearly enough Robert Mitchum movies, but I need to add more to my list. The man can break your heart with just a single facial expression. There's a part where he comes back after being laughed out of a saloon that just about broke me. And then watching John Wayne try to soothe him through it...<br />
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6. Special effects in the 60s were very rudimentary. Don't think I didn't notice you throwing that dummy down during that horse trampling scene. It wasn't exactly "just fling the plastic skeleton and hope for the best in <i>Army Of Darkness"</i> level obvious, but it was not subtle.<br />
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7. Hey, Ed Asner! I almost always like Ed Asner.<br />
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8. There were only three women in this, and it most assuredly does NOT pass the Bechdel test. However, the sister with the shotgun is pretty badass. She is going to give James Caan and his bitty ass a run for his money.<br />
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9. There is a racist bit. It is "Mickey Rooney in <i>Breakfast at Tiffanys</i>" bad, but at least it's mercifully short. But ouch. Bad.<br />
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10. The poem: I always forget about Edgar Allan Poe, and it's always a mistake. Yeah, he was a massive drunken creep, but there's a reason his poems are still famous.<br />
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11. That was just a delight.The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-66648745843682149442020-07-12T10:39:00.000-04:002020-07-13T14:31:10.446-04:00Thoughts on the 2011 Steampunk Three Musketeers<span style="font-family: inherit;">(Cross-posted from FB. I miss movie reviews. So here I am.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Watching the 2011 steampunk Three Musketeers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1. I like so many of the people in this cast. This should be better.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">2. Remember back when Orlando Bloom was a thing? Weird, right? He’s kind of...fun as a villain, though. I think he might be one of those “character actor in a lead’s body” types. Also, he should never do anything but costume dramas, because the look suits him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">3. No matter the adaptation, Porthos is always the best Musketeer. I am not willing to debate this.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />4. Is D’Atagnan SUPPOSED to be a complete void of charisma? Because that’s almost as universal as the Porthos thing. Is it because he is a literal child? Also, who was responsible for choosing that hairstyle for him? I demand a personal apology.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />5. I wish Milla Jovovich’s husband would make better movies for her to be in.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />6. It’s like they watched Guy Richie’s ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and said “Let’s do that!” but somehow got it just slightly wrong. Like they were trying for the same cheeky, winking, gritty tone, but it’s too well-lit and the sentiment is just shy of Hallmark level.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />7. Fights are good, though.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />8. So are the costumes.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />9. This cast is WAY prettier than the 1993 version. Sorry Kiefer (and Kiefer’s mullet).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />10. I like that the women have more to do in this one than just look scared. (Or, in Rebecca De Mornay’s case, vaguely constipated.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />11. I did not sign up to watch “Villains Special Effect Spectacular” here. Why are the Musketeers barely in this film?!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />12. Speaking of, Christophe Waltz is doing his best, but when it comes to creepily smiling sex predator cardinal, no one will ever be able to take the crown from Tim Curry.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />13. This film had many flaws, but James Corden is the absolute worst thing about it. By comparison, the war blimp impaling itself on the spire of Notre Dame is downright charming. I wish they’d impaled James Corden instead. Preferably right at the beginning of the movie.</span></span></div>
The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-4662835983275934702019-10-09T20:48:00.000-04:002019-10-09T20:48:03.752-04:00CBR11 #5: The Darkness on the Edge of Town - You Might Forget The Sky Was Ever Blue by Michael ChinFirst of all, I have to admit that this review is probably going to be a little biased because the author happens to be a friend of mine. I've known Mike for twenty-three years (Jesus, really?) since I was fourteen. We went to nerd camp together -- a total of nine weeks over the course of three years. We took writing classes together and wrote letters during the off-season (yes letters! On paper!) A character in his first published work was based on and named after me, a fact that still, nearly twenty years later, inordinately pleases me. I like the guy. Lucky for me, I also have always liked his work. From those early stories to his <a href="http://miketchin.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blog</a>, of which I am a Constant Reader, he's always had a way with words and a unique view on the world. This book doesn't disappoint.<br />
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<i>You Might Forget The Sky Was Ever Blue</i> is a series of vaguely related short stories which mostly take place in a rotting town in upstate New York called Shermantown. It's one of those places which used to have a factory, but now it doesn't, and the people who stay there are still not sure how to move on. It's the kind of place where people in diners get interviewed about why they voted for Trump, and the words "economic insecurity" will probably come up, which is both accurate and not. I know this kind of place because I grew up in one. As the stories unfold, Shermantown becomes a character in them, creeping around the edges of nearly every story.<br />
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I think I'd probably say my favorite was the first piece in the book, called "Prophecy," which is the story of an elementary school teacher and his wife. It's hard to pin down what it's <i>about</i>, exactly. It's more a feeling of rising tension and the thought that something <i>might</i> happen. Many of the stories are like that--tension that builds uncomfortably. Some resolve. Some don't. The characters aren't all likable, and they don't necessarily make good decisions. Nearly all of them are sad in some way, and the characters who aren't sad are frankly a bit suspicious. There were some stories where I wished there could be more. There were one or two where I was very, very glad when they ended. There are thoughts about family, and friendships, though the families are off-kilter and the friendships (and relationships) seem to be rotting along with the town.<br />
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To be honest, this style of work is not really my jam. I prefer my fiction funny, full of monsters, or ideally both. These stories weren't dark, but they were a deceptively sharp knife which cut just a little too close to the bone for me. I was deeply impressed with the careful, deliberate way they were put together, but I'm not sure I'd say I "enjoyed" them. It's a bit like the way I feel about movies occasionally--there are some films that I watch, and can say "That movie was beautiful, deep, and moving...but I don't think I want to watch it again." I appreciate the craftsmanship that went into them, the way the descriptions were so clear, the characters so deftly defined with just a few words. I'm glad I read it and would encourage anyone else who has an interest in literary fiction to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/You-Might-Forget-Ever-Blue/dp/1943900167/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1P2RWZ08WHA9Z&keywords=you+might+forget+the+sky+was+ever+blue&qid=1570668094&sprefix=you+might+for%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-1" target="_blank">buy it</a> (or demand your library buy it) because it's so worth reading.The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-22046628300036665572019-03-04T12:30:00.000-05:002020-07-13T16:34:30.784-04:00CBR11 #4:Pretending to Care - The Pretenders (Cemetery Girl #1) by Charlaine Harris and Christopher GoldenI wanted to like this, but...I just didn't. I don't know if it was too short, or whether it would have more appeal for a YA audience, but I was just kind of bored.<br />
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Calexa Rose finds herself dumped in a graveyard, with no memory of her identity, and only the knowledge that someone tried to kill her. She can also see ghosts. She makes herself at home in the cemetery, trying to hide out from whomever tried to kill her, while attempting to find out who she is. She steals some stuff. She develops uncomfortable friendships with some old people. She spends a lot of time running around, leaping over stuff, and wearing a veil. One night, she witnesses a crime. Then she has to decide what to do about what she saw. Can she manage to see that justice is done without exposing herself? The antagonist characters are extremely one-dimensional, as well as kind of stupid. Their motivations don't really make any sense. And while this is in theory a ghost story, there was only one ghost, and even she was boring. How does a cemetery only have ONE restless ghost? Maybe the format doesn't allow for much expansion, and I should have waited for an omnibus, rather than reading this book as a stand-alone, but it did nothing for me. The art was fine, but nothing stunning or particularly unusual. I really like both Charlaine Harris and Christopher Golden's other work, so this was a major disappointment.The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-22116351905254477822019-01-23T18:08:00.002-05:002019-01-25T11:30:03.161-05:00CBR11 #3 - Fat Girl Finishing School by Rachel Wiley<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">I need to preface this by saying I did really like Fat Girl Finishing School. Because I think my review is going to sound like I didn't, but that's not the case.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">If I had found this book first, I'd probably be in love with it. Rachel Wiley's work is intense, personal, and her poems--specifically those about being a fat woman--strike a very strong chord with me. Unfortunately, I read Nothing is Okay first, which spoiled this a bit. In comparison, FGFS seems a bit unpolished. The poems are good, but seem to still be struggling with style. I didn't find them to be as strikingly specific. Some of them feel like very very good class assignments. They're great, but not not transcendent the way NIO is.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">I'd recommend reading this, just because it does contain some real gems, and because I think it shows the clear progression and development that happened in between Fat Girl Finishing School and Nothing Is Okay.</span>The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-13092295702860212832019-01-18T12:34:00.001-05:002019-01-18T12:34:50.363-05:00CBR11 #2 - YES. THIS. -- Nothing is Okay by Rachel WileyI have a confession to make: I am a monster. No, not the kind who stampedes through Tokyo (though #goals) or the kind that lurks outside your window at night. I am dog-earer. I know, a shiver ran up the spine of book lovers everywhere--I could feel you all cringing. I know, it's a bad habit. But when I read (poetry especially) I like to be able to mark the page where I found something really striking, so I can double back and find it later. When it comes to my books, a turned down corner means "HERE! THERE'S SOMETHING IMPORTANT HERE!"<br />
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I'm telling you this dirty secret of mine so that you'll understand what it means when I say that by the time I got through Nothing Is Okay, nearly every other page had a bent corner. Some were bent over twice because there was something valuable to me on both sides of a single page.<br />
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I discovered Rachel Wiley after someone posted a video of her performing her poem "Ten Honest Thoughts On Being Loved By A Skinny Boy," and I knew immediately that I had to have more.<br />
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These poems are personal and specific, but speak to the broader experience of existing as a woman in today's society. They are by turns hilarious and heart-wrenching, sometimes both at the same time. I laughed out loud at many examples of her dating travails (as a fellow Tinderer, the Rejection Letter poems were a delight) and also cried when faced with "Letter to My Cat," knowing (because I follow her IG like a weirdo) that Clementine passed away last year. Wiley's turn of phrase makes every poem shine, and the way she opens up her own emotional wounds for inspection makes this book feel very intimate. It's a bottle of wine with the funny, empathetic, strong bestie we all wish we had. My absolute favorites were the poems which touched on existing as a fat woman in today's society. "Fat Joke" was a stiletto straight to my heart, and I want to staple a copy to the forehead of...everyone, pretty much. I don't have the experiences to compare, but I imagine for those who identify as biracial and/or queer, there will be a lot of that same "YES. THIS. I KNOW THIS FEEL." with her poems which touch on those aspects of her life.<br />
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So to sum up: buy this book. Buy her other book, Fat Girl Finishing School (which I will be reviewing as soon as it arrives). Go see her perform if she's in your city. Tell your friends. You won't be disappointed.The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-82810427175454750342019-01-16T15:36:00.001-05:002019-01-23T18:09:24.298-05:00CBR11 #1 - Writing Internally*: Salt by Nayyirah WaheedHi! Gonna try this Cannonball Read thing again. We'll see how it goes...<br />
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I received Salt by Nayyirah Waheed as a Christmas gift -- I'd never heard of her or of her poetry before, but I'm always happy to give contemporary poets a try.<br />
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There's very little information available online about Waheed herself - I tried to look her up in order to perhaps put her work into context -- but her poetry touches a lot on race, and how the world relates to Africa and Africans. There are some pretty hard-edged critiques about tourist culture, and also about the divide between Africans and African-Americans.<br />
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The poems that stuck resonated more for me were those that had to do with personal relationships -- the one in the attached photo in particular really hit me where I live.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RJagtXtRCMc/XD-JZtYqGiI/AAAAAAAAByU/ONJjv0V45wEu7HTXhMblF2Z63-b6WPoEQCLcBGAs/s1600/Salt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RJagtXtRCMc/XD-JZtYqGiI/AAAAAAAAByU/ONJjv0V45wEu7HTXhMblF2Z63-b6WPoEQCLcBGAs/s320/Salt.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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However, I will say that as far as micro-poems go (that's what I call these), they're not really my favorites. I do sometimes enjoy the format, but frankly most of these were not evocative enough to really make me feel strongly about them. Many of them felt like stuff you jot down in your phone while riding the train, formatted in an "interesting" way, and then compiled. And while I'm sure the extremely stark design of the book would appeal to many people, it felt very empty to me.<br />
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Although a few of them were thought-provoking, I don't really feel like I got as much out of this as I'd like. This one is probably not going to win a place on my already tightly packed poetry shelf.<br />
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*<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">“remember,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">you were a writer </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">before</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">you ever </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">put </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">pen to paper.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">just because you were not writing </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">externally. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">does not mean you were not writing</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">internally.” </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">― </span><span class="authorOrTitle" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "lato" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold;">Nayyirah Waheed</span>The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-18697254033936387862017-11-08T17:47:00.002-05:002017-11-08T17:47:31.685-05:00CBR9 #6: Crystal Flowers: Poems and a Libretto by Florine StettheimerI love traveling alone, and one of the things I like to do on my trips is go to museums. I just dig learning things I didn't know, I guess. The problem--when it comes to cities I've visited before--is that I have often already seen the better-known museums. And when it comes to New York City, I've worked my way through MOMA, the Met, the Museum of Natural History, the Guggenheim, and several of the other most well-known institutions. So this last time I visited, I decided to branch out and visit a couple I'd never heard of before.<br />
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One of the three museums I visited on my last trip was <a href="http://thejewishmuseum.org/" target="_blank">The Jewish Museum of New York City</a>. Now before you ask, I'm not Jewish. But like I said, I enjoy learning things, and this museum just happened to be near the location of a theater where I was going to be seeing a show in the afternoon.<br />
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It was a Friday afternoon in August, and when I arrived, I was informed that due to renovations, only one exhibit would be open. I was disappointed, but it was very hot outside, and the cost to see this exhibit would be minimal, so why not?<br />
<br />
The entire exhibit was dedicated to <a href="http://thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/florine-stettheimer-painting-poetry" target="_blank">the art of Florine Stettheimer</a>. Florine was born into a wealthy Jewish family in 1871. During her childhood, her father left the family, and once her two eldest siblings married, she was left to grow up with her mother and the other two youngest children, Carrie and Ettie. The four women traveled extensively, with Florine studying art both in the USA and abroad in Europe. Once they were adults, the Stettheimers became known in New York Society for holding a salon which was popular with modernist artists of the day. Marcel Duchamp, Gertrude Stein, and Gaston Lachaise were among the famous names who visited the Stettheimer home. Florine herself was a painter, though she refused to sell any of her art.<br />
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Wandering through the exhibit, I was delighted by Florine's work. She had a sense of whimsy and sly sarcasm that was clear among her group portraits and depictions of her New York social scene. But the thing that really caught my attention was her poems -- the museum had placed several of them on walls in among her paintings.<br />
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When I finally made my way to the gift shop, I discovered that they had a book of her collected poems for sale. Normally, I don't like to buy books at museums, because they're generally over-priced and annoying to carry around with me for the rest of my trip. However, this was a very slight volume, and a quick check of Amazon told me it would be cheaper to buy here and now. I continued to dither about it, until an unlikely lady named Ruth came over to start up a chat, and suggest to me that it was the universe that had brought me to this particular place at this particular time, perhaps even to buy this particular book!<br />
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There's really no arguing with that, is there?<br />
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Was I disappointed? Definitely not. Though it is a small book--poems collected and arranged by Florine's sister Ettie post-posthumously--there is quite a bit to see. Arranged by subjects, the breadth of Florine's opinions are on display. Some are deceptively simple (like the one above), many even child-like nursery rhymes with a sly undertone. Others hint at the societal conventions that couldn't be avoided during her time, even by a woman with the comparative freedom she enjoyed.<br />
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The thing I enjoyed most was the fact that I felt like I got to know the author a bit, and she was probably someone I would have liked a lot. Her sense of humor and passion for art would have made her someone who would be tremendously fun to know. In fact, I'm pretty sure we would be two of a kind.<br />
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<br />The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-74170675794466867072017-05-09T09:09:00.001-04:002017-05-09T09:19:42.001-04:00CBR9 #5 Borgin Keep by Ron Ripley<span style="background-color: black; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I've read the entire Berkeley Street series, as well as the Haunted series, and I think this was definitely one of the better offerings. This time, former Marine Shane and his slowly growing band of willing (and unwilling) ghost hunting allies face their biggest challenge yet. While the ghosts of Borgin Keep are both very dangerous and very evil, Shane also must keep one step ahead of The Watchers, a ruthless and powerful organization who find him to be a threat to their shadowy goals.</span><br />
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As always, for me the best part are the characters. Shane and his ghost-hunting partner Frank (a former soldier/former monk) are joined once again by police detective Marie LaFontaine, who is a very tough woman determined to avenge a dead friend. I'm not as fond of Shane's girlfriend Courtney, but I understand her uses as far as character development.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The plot moves along quickly, and I found this book a little better fleshed out than a few of the previous ones in the series -- while I enjoyed <i>Lake Nutaq</i> and <i>Slater Mill</i>, I also found them just the slightest bit procedural. <i>Borgin Keep</i> has raised the stakes for Shane and for his friends. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I also enjoyed, as usual, the epilogue chapters which give some details about the history of the ghosts in house. Since my favorite part of most ghost stories are the researching bits wherein the heroes find out who the ghosts are and what motivates them, these bonus chapters are a real treat.<br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;" /> This is a great read, but definitely requires reading the rest of the series in order to understand it.</span></span>The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-88136135217401495842017-03-28T11:07:00.002-04:002017-03-28T12:06:09.089-04:00CBR9 #4: Missing People: Disturbing Stories From The Last 100 Years: People That Disappeared Without A Trace by Roger P. Mills<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px;">I am a big fan of true crime books, and normally I'm pretty forgiving about the occasional typo or incorrect word, but this book unfortunately didn't make up in content what it lacked in style.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="font-size: 14px;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The book covered what could have been interesting ground, including the missing Malaysian Air flight, the Sodder family fire, and several other disappearances from both recent times and the distant past. However, no</span><span style="font-size: 14px;">ne of them were covered with any depth, and it seemed clear that the author did not do any of his own research. These were basically brief summaries of the cases, sometimes with the addition of bizarre conspiracy theories as to what may have happened to the missing people. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="font-size: 14px;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px;">In addition, I found the tone perhaps too conversational for the subject matter. While I don't mind a slightly less formal tone (M William Phelps's work comes to mind) I found this to be uneven and distracting. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="font-size: 14px;" /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px;">I would also agree with other reviewers who complained that this ebook was only about 60% Missing People, and about 40% previews for the author's other two books, one about Ouija Boards and one about Bigfoot. (I didn't read those, so I can't vouch for their quality.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px;">On the whole, I'd give this book a pass.</span></span>The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-16285178229982643212017-03-07T11:13:00.002-05:002017-03-08T10:50:40.094-05:00CBR9 #3: Missing Wives, Missing Lives by JJ Slate<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">There's a lot of discussion these days about things that are dangerous to women--is it heart disease? Is it stress? Car accidents? Drugs? Serial killers? Trans women in bathrooms?--but it seems like one of the biggest hazards to women are the men in their lives.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">This book details the cases of thirty women who vanished. Stretching back to 1976, and with cases as recent as 2007, the women featured in this book seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth, never to be seen again. For some, the legal system was able to prove a case against the men in their lives, but for others, the search for justice may never be resolved.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">The amazing thing to me was the stories that the husbands gave upon their wives' disappearances. "So, you had a fight, and she just left the house--at 3am. In her pajamas. Barefoot. Without her purse, or her glasses, or her car, or her TEETH? Leaving her small dependent children behind. And you decided to say nothing for three weeks? And while she was gone you replaced your mattress and moved your girlfriend into the house?" It boggles the mind that many of them managed to get away with most likely murdering their significant others, despite there being a mountain of circumstantial evidence pointing right at them like a neon sign.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">Could some of these women have run away to start new lives away from their ostensibly abusive spouses? Could some of them have been snatched off the street by a predatory stranger? Perhaps. Is it likely? No.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">I'm not sure I'd recommend this book--it's not exactly a fun read. However, it is important to remember these women, and know that these are only thirty cases among thousands. According to this report from CNN (</span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/06/us/domestic-intimate-partner-violence-fast-facts/" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #00635d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" target="_blank">http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/06/us/dome...</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">) an average of THREE women are murdered EVERY DAY in the United States by their intimate partners. The story this book tells is merely the tip of a terrifying iceberg.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;">ETA: Sorry about the weird formatting. I don't know what's even happening here.</span>The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-65065052558778493142017-01-11T17:08:00.000-05:002017-01-11T17:08:00.982-05:00CBR9 #2 - Southern GodsI've had <i>Southern Gods</i> on my TBR list for so long I no longer remember why I put it there. Was it a recommendation from Amazon? From Goodreads? Did someone I know recommend it? Did it cross my path as a "If you liked __________ then you'll like this too!"<br />
<br />
Maybe I heard it through the grapevine?<br />
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I only know that recently, I happened to come across it on my wishlist and decided to go ahead and splurge on it.<br />
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I'm glad I did.<br />
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In 1951 Memphis, war veteran and leg-breaker-for-hire Bull Ingraham gets a new assignment: a record company has lost one of their employees somewhere. Early Freeman set off to deliver new records to radio stations, and has seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. His boss at Helios Records is anxious to find him...and also anxious to find a mysterious blues musician whose music can do terrible things to the living -- and to the dead.<br />
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Meanwhile, in Arkansas, Sarah Rheinhart leaves her abusive husband and returns to her family home, where she hopes to recover, surrounded by her young daughter, her invalid mother, and her Uncle Gregor's books.<br />
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Both of these characters find themselves caught up in something that will shake their entire lives to the core, and rewrite everything they thought they knew about the world, drawing them together in the face of an ancient and immortal evil.<br />
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I liked this book a lot -- the plot was tightly wound, bouncing back and forth between Bull and Sarah's perspectives. While I preferred Bull, Sarah was a smart woman, though not particularly tough. Bull more reminded me of Russell Crowe's character in <i>LA Confidential</i> -- a tough guy who spends the majority of his time solving problems with his brawn, but isn't incapable of using his brain, too. The story itself is, as some have said, a bit Lovecraft-meets-Faulkner, though it manages to mostly avoid the pitfalls of both. The descriptions are lush, and I found I really enjoyed the writing style.<br />
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On the whole, I'd recommend this to other horror fans -- it's pretty graphically gory in some places, so it's not for the faint-of-heart. Still, it's a good story written well.The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-18246516728990930602017-01-11T16:35:00.002-05:002017-01-11T16:35:45.112-05:00Well, here goes nothing: CBR9 #1 - Finders Keepers by Stephen KingAnother year, another attempt to complete a Cannonball Read. Last year I signed up and then didn't do a single review, which was pretty sad. Luckily, it's a new year, and I have a new chance to read and review and say "<a href="http://cannonballread.com/about/" target="_blank">Fuck Cancer</a>!"<br />
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So here we go!<br />
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<i>Finders Keepers</i> is the second book in King's <i>Mr. Mercedes</i> series, and is again more of a dectective thriller than the typical supernatural fare that you'd expect from a Stephen King novel. In this book, our heroes--former police detective Bill Hodges, anxiety-sufferer and super hacker Holly, and college student Jerome Richardson--are called in on a case by one of Jerome's sister's friends. They find themselves in a race against time, facing a dangerous and single-minded murder.<br />
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I liked the book a lot--the events unfurled in such a way that I spent much of the novel on the edge of my seat, watching as multiple groups of people converged in a suspense-filled climax. However, I wish we could have spent more time with Bill, Holly, and Jerome, whom I grew really fond of during their adventures in <i>Mr. Mercedes</i>. The new characters were pretty good, though, especially Pete, the teenage boy on whom the action hinges.<br />
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This is a great book for those who enjoy detective thrillers, though it definitely needs to be read after <i>Mr. Mercedes</i>, and is clearly setting up a final showdown in the third book of the trilogy, <i>End of Watch</i>. There's also a certain amount to be said about King's thoughts on literature and literary obsession, which he weaves into the story with a deft hand.<br />
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On the whole, thumbs up!The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-86644627766576692222016-01-02T17:58:00.001-05:002016-01-02T17:58:25.859-05:00Greetings, 2016!I did not get a lot of blogging done in 2015. It's not so much that I had nothing to say, and more that it didn't seem all that important to say it. But now here we are, in a new year! Let's review 2015, eulogize it, lay it to rest, and put out some goals for 2016, shall we?<br />
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I have always believed--without a shred of evidence, mind you--that New Year's Eve sets the tone for your whole year. Whatever happens on that night will be reflected throughout the next 365 days, for better or for worse. Last year was...not great. I found myself home alone, crying to my cat while basically everyone I knew went to a party at Captain No-Fun's--a party that no one had the guts to tell me about, and let me figure it out via Facebook. I thought that meant that this would be a year of lonliness and desertion, just me and the cat, by ourselves, dealing with a world that didn't give a shit.<br />
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Weirdly, though, it turned out that it WAS an indicator of the year...I'd just interpreted it wrong. Yes, this did turn out to be a year of me and Briscoe going it alone...but that was okay! I realized that I don't actually NEED more than that. Do I like other people? Absolutely! But do I need them to be happy? Nope! I also learned that the people I had considered my closest friends couldn't be relied on. When it comes down to it, they're actually Captain No-Fun's friends. Do they like me? Sure. Will they invite me to things? Sure. But will they invite me to things when it means not inviting him? Nope. Will they make the effort to hang out with me outside of that? Nope. It was a very hard lesson, and it hurt. A lot. It still does, frankly.<br />
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But in the course of the year, I met NEW people! My roommates have turned out to be--for the most part--completely awesome. Ms. Neuroart and Bone Girl are a constant joy, even though I spend a lot of my time with them wondering just what the hell is going on. It's wonderful to come home every day and feel like you live in a place with friends, not just a boarding house with random strangers<br />
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The Boston Dyke March committee turned out to be a life saver for me. The people I met there have become some of my closest and dearest friends. If I hadn't said yes to that, I don't know what my year would have looked like. Aside from putting on a frankly unbelievable event--we managed to raise our entire budget from the ground up, and create something that drew between 1500 and 2000 people to join together and march through the streets of Boston--I met people who have literally changed my life. They are kind, supportive, funny, and interesting. They've taken me into their lives and their social circles and made me so welcome. In fact, this year I spent Christmas with The Nanny and this NYE was spent with Krav MaGoddess, The Patriarchy, and their friends. It was a turnaround from last year, but it also wouldn't have been possible without my resolution to say yes to things.<br />
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Dating was still just a big no. I have issues. I will get to them one of these days. In the meantime, I am reasonably content on my own. As a FB meme from the other day said, "I am not searching for my other half because I'm not a half." If I should happen to meet someone who interests me, that would be nice. However, it's not on my priority list.<br />
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What IS on my priority list for 2016?<br />
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1. Continue to make new friends and nurture those friendships I've started. I don't think it's possible to have too many friends.<br />
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2. Therapy harder. I've frankly got complacent with Valerie, in that I mostly use my time with her for venting and validation. I need to start actually doing some WORK. Probably dealing with my relationship fears, figuring out how to deal with my terror regarding failure, and also maybe figuring out how to be a functional adult without giving up who I am.<br />
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3. Creative pursuits. I need to actually DO things, as opposed to just strongly considering doing things.<br />
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4. Be more open. This is a carry-over from last year, but the process continues. Now I need to manage to be open, but not be a drunken feelingsbomb. When you're telling people deep dark secrets that you haven't even told your therapist at a NYE party, maybe you need to work on wrangling in the openness just a smidge.<br />
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5. Clean better. I know I'm a slob. I will probably always be a slob. Accepting this about myself does not mean that living in squalor is acceptable. Take out your fucking trash, Johnson.<br />
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6. Continue to learn, listen, check my privilege, and question my reactions. Accept that I have anxiety, and even with medication some days are going to be a struggle. Know that there will be the occasional anxiety attack for no reason, and that taking an Ativan and going to bed with the cat to watch cartoons is a reasonable response to that.<br />
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7. Watch my drinking -- I LOVE to drink, and I think it often loosens me up and brings out the best parts of my personality. Then again, my parents are heavy drinkers/alcoholics, so I should probably keep an eye on that. Drunk once a month or so is fun...drunk every week and you start to turn into a hot mess.<br />
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Anyway, I've been working on this entry for two days (as you might be able to guess from the complete disjointed rambling nature of it) and I figure it's time to put down the keyboard as it were and let it go.<br />
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Happy New Year!The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-12705796250313416912015-02-20T16:14:00.000-05:002015-02-20T16:14:27.378-05:00CBR7 #2: Ramona's Home by Lawrence BassettThe first thing I have to admit up front is that this book was written by my all-time favorite high school English teacher, so I am a little bit biased. The man was (and still is, I assume) wonderful, smart, hilarious, and also completely insane. I totally adored him.<br />
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<i>Ramona's Home</i> is the story of Ramona Schuyler, a woman in her fifties who has returned to her small hometown to serve as the chief of police. Ramona had left town as soon as she could, and spent most of her life in the miliary an MP or as a state trooper. She hasn't been back in town all that long when the father of her childhood best friend kills himself. As she investigates, Ramona discovers that the town has been keeping some awful secrets, and she tries to decide if it's worth shining a light on them. She also tries to figure out where her place in this is, and whether she even has one.<br />
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There were a lot of things I really liked about the book, most importantly Ramona herself. As a character, she's tough, self-mocking, cynical, and very smart. I liked her very much, and was interested in her actions and motivations. I was also interested in the mystery itself, trying to follow along and recognize the clues at the same time Ramona did.<br />
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On the other hand, there were a few things that bothered me. First off, it felt like the book rushed to an ending. A promising mystery was tied up fairly quickly, and with hardly any raised stakes for Ramona. There was a sudden reveal of a new character, some fisticuffs, a little gunplay, and everything was tied up neatly. I didn't feel like I necessarily got the pay-off for my invested time and emotions. I also felt like some of the secondary characters could have been fleshed out a little better. I wanted to know them and care about them, but for the most part, they were just background players who stepped in, said their lines, and then stepped out again.<br />
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Overall, I liked this, and would recommend it. However, I do think it wouldn't have suffered from the addition of another 100 pages to fill in the holes and ratchet up the tension.<br />
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For more book reviews, be sure to check out <a href="http://cannonballread.com/" target="_blank">The Cannonball Read Blog</a>!<br />
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<br />The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-4968376222451652532015-01-22T16:03:00.000-05:002015-01-22T16:03:58.834-05:00CBR7 #1: NOS4A2 by Joe Hill<a href="http://cannonballread.com/" target="_blank">Cannonball Read #7 has BEGUN!</a><br />
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My first book is Joe Hill's <i>NOS4A2</i>, which was received as a gift in the CBR Book Exchange this year. I was extremely excited, because I've been hearing really good things about this book, and I really enjoyed Hill's <i><a href="http://causticritic.blogspot.com/2009/02/cannonball-read-7-heart-shaped-box-by.html" target="_blank">Heart Shaped Box</a>.</i><br />
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The main character in the story is Victoria McQueen, called Vic by some, and The Brat to her father. She discovers one day that she has the ability to slip through space to find things, driven to wherever she wants to go by crossing over an old wooden bridge. Usually, she uses it to find items people have lost, but one day when she's a teenager, she uses it to go looking for trouble. As it always has, the bridge takes her to exactly what she asked for. What she finds on the other side is another person who also has a way to slip in and out of the world, but his activities are not as benign as Vic's. Although she manages to escape from Charlie Manx when she's seventeen, the rest of her life will turn on what happened that day.<br />
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Thus begins a tale that spans more than a decade and criss-crosses the country. I was very caught up in Vic's life, and really liked and identified with the character. She had a tough but vulnerable voice, and I was anxious to find out what would happen to her. I also liked the supporting cast quite a bit--her boyfriend Lou was a wonderful, gentle giant of a character, about whom I was constantly worried. Her son Wayne was also interesting in a quiet, self-contained sort of way. Maggie Leigh was wonderful, and I was sorry she didn't get more time.The villain and his henchman were both deeply creepy, though I would have liked just a bit more back-story about Manx.<br />
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The plot moved along pretty quickly, and at no point did I find the book dragging. It was quite a page-turner, and I was happy to be along for the ride.<br />
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Hill is obviously deeply influenced by his father's work (his father being Stephen King), but he has his own unique voice, and has managed to take a lot of the things I love about King (his relatable characters, clever use of language, creative ideas) and put his own spin on them. He has also managed to come up with a solid ending, for which I was grateful.<br />
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On the whole, I liked this a lot, and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys creepy stories.<br />
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A note: read to the end. Don't forget the note on the typeface...I know they're usually boring, but this one isn't.The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-659788497169200602.post-71648241499374061592015-01-13T17:29:00.000-05:002015-01-13T17:33:42.858-05:00Big Brother is Counting Your StepsSo my work has given us all FitBits.<br />
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I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this yet. On the one hand, it's nice that they're concerned about our health and willing to shell out for this not-cheap device. On the other hand, there is a departmental "challenge" aspect to this that I did not actively agree to, and also a certain amount of implied weight policing I'm not sure I'm comfortable with.<br />
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If I want to go home and lie on the floor all evening and not move, that's no one's business but mine, and to have my activity levels broadcasted to the people I work with feels somewhat invasive. But I'm not sure this is a situation in which refusing to participate would be acceptable. No one wants to be the whiner, after all.<br />
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For those who don't know me personally, I work in healthcare. I'm not a doctor or nurse or anything like that, mind you -- I'm an admin. I'm also a fat person, who has worked hard at accepting herself and her body as it is. I think I've mentioned my stance on dieting here before, and I continue to believe that my life is not even the slightest bit improved by torturing myself over every bite of food I consume. My body is what it is, and even though I might not be considered asthetically pleasing by society at large, I have perfect blood pressure and cholesterol, not a hint of the dreaded diabeetus.<br />
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But even if I DID have any of those ailments, is it any of my employer's business? I pay for my insurance just like everyone else, and frankly I probably am much cheaper to them than the people who have a bunch of kids or hereditary issues or weird food allergies. I am under no obligation to anyone to be a "<a href="https://danceswithfat.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/there-are-two-kinds-of-fat-people/" target="_blank">good fatty</a>". If recent events have given me nothing else, I've gotten the freedom to be whomever the fuck I want, without having to justify my life, my choices, or my behavior to anyone. If I want to eat quinoa and kale and sweat to the oldies, that is okay. But if I want to eat chips for dinner and spend the weekend watching CSI reruns, that's okay too, because it's no one's business but mine.<br />
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I appreciate the idea that they are trying to motivate us to integrate more activity into our lives, but the onus is on us to do this outside of work, since my work by definition requires that I sit at a desk all day. Also, the FitBit requires entering a weight before you can even set it up. Is that going to be made public? Is this campaign focused on activity or weight loss? And will I be shamed by my coworkers if I don't measure up?<br />
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I guess I'll try it out and see how it goes. The Caustic Critichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05667898743105476923noreply@blogger.com0