Second Quarter 2014 book reviews

Mrs. has done a great job consolidating her book reviews and limiting them to just a few sentences.  I’m going to try my best to keep my second quarter book reviews as short as possible (for me).  I only read three books in the second three months of 2014, so this should be a quick post.


The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice

As you can tell from the title, Armand is the focus in this one, the sixth book in Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles.  After the last couple of disappointing books about the adventures of Lestat, it was a welcome change to read about Armand’s origins and the journey that brought him from Russia to Italy, where he becomes a vampire by his teacher Marius, and eventually to Paris, where we first met him in Interview with the Vampire.  Overall, I was much happier with this book than the last couple in the series, but it was still nowhere near the level of Interview with the Vampire (a recurring theme with my reviews of Anne Rice novels).  Related side note – Anne is now working on a new entry in The Vampire Chronicles, set for release in October (although back to Lestat as the focus), so I have that to look forward to.


The Great Depression: America in the 1930s by T.H. Watkins

The titles are giving these away – yes, this is a nonfiction book about The Great Depression.  I had wanted to read more about this time period (in particular before I read the next book in this post), and this was a pretty detailed look at this tumultuous period in our nation’s history.  It kept my interest and was a fairly easy read (at least for a book on a topic like this).  It did get bogged down a bit when delving into the labor movement.  I think I’ve read about all I can take on the union battles during the 1930’s.  But I guess if that’s what was going on during those years, the author had to write about it.  And I will say that it gave me a good historical background for this next one . . . 


The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck


Surprisingly, I had never read this Steinbeck classic in high school or college, and it’s been on my list of "classics to read" for years.  I’m not sure what made me put off reading it, but for what it’s worth, I thought it was fantastic.  One of the best of the “classics” that I’ve read.  The story follows the Joad family as they’re forced off their tenant farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl at the height of the depression.  They make their way across the country to California, to join the many migrant workers fighting to survive.  What is a promised utopia, instead becomes a nightmare, where hundreds of thousands of people can’t find work and are forced to accept low wages and unfit living conditions.  It is depressing, heartbreaking, and doesn’t end with a ton of hope.  And yet I still enjoyed it.  The book alternates chapters on the Joads and chapters detailing the migrant workers' plight in general, and that may have been a bit distracting, but I still think Steinbeck created something pretty great here.  It’s not a perfect novel and many of the characters aren’t developed fully, but I can at least agree that it belongs on a list of classic American novels. 

A long overdue Mad Men recap

So you may have noticed that the blog has gone dark for a while.  Since May 20^th to be exact, including not one single post in June, the first month since the blog started that that happened.  So what does it mean?  Well for one, it means we haven’t been posting anything.  But really it just means we haven’t had anything to say, or more appropriately, haven’t had anything to say in blog form.  I hate to say it, but it’s possible the blog fad has passed (for us at least – it may have passed a long time ago for everyone else).  We’ll see what happens going forward.  For now, I have a post on the Mad Men mid-season finale that I wrote sometime shortly after it aired and never posted for reasons unclear even to me.  So here it is: 

Well that went fast.  Seven episodes done and now we have to wait another year (I suppose at this point were down to 9 months) to get the conclusion of the final season of Mad Men.  Here are some thoughts on where we’re leaving each character.

Megan – so I guess this is officially goodbye?  I feel like we’ve seen the Megan-Don marriage end multiple times, so maybe they will reconcile yet again, but I think we've seen the last of Megan.  With only seven episodes left, there’s probably too much else to wrap up to waste time on her.  That being said, I know I liked Megan more than the average viewer, and I always felt she was a good way to show us someone Don could be happy with.  But as Don himself once said, “But what is happiness?  It's a moment before you need more happiness.”  And that is certainly true of Don and women.  Megan made him happy.  But so did Faye, and Rachel, and even Betty once upon a time.  And then Don needs to move on.  Here’s hoping Megan becomes a big Hollywood success. 

Bert – I’m even more certain that this is the last we’ve seen of him.  At least he got to witness the moon landing before he kicked the bucket.  And he even got to give us a song and dance number from beyond the grave.  I think his ghost was trying to tell Don that it’s not all about the money.  We’ll see what Don does with this information.

Cutler – well, it is a lot of money.  The resident villain of SC&P wasn’t able to get what he wanted with Don out of the firm, but he did agree to cash in on the offer from McCann.

Betty – I feel like I’ve said this before, but what is left of Betty’s story?  To justify her continued presence on the show the writers are going to have to come up with something for her to do in the last seven episodes.  If nothing else, it might be nice to see her and Don have some sort of real closure to their relationship.

Sally – smoking cigs and kissing nerds.  I also liked how Sally repeated the college dude’s comment about the moon landing being too expensive when she was talking to Don on the phone.  Don’t be cynical her Dad tells her.  That’s good advice Don.  I still find it hard to believe that Sally doesn’t end up at Woodstock.  I mean she has to get into some trouble before the show says goodbye, right?

Ted – was he suicidal there at the beginning?  Is this still because of Peggy?  Seriously?  Get it together man.  With Ted presumably coming back to NY, is it inevitable that he’ll end up with Peggy at the end?  Because I’m kind of rooting for that not to happen.  Like seriously hoping that isn't a story line we have to endure.

Harry – at this point the computer will make partner before Harry.

Joan – I like that Roger referred to her as Benedict Joan.  I still remain confused on her behavior all season.  I get that Don cost her a lot of money by killing the deal where the firm would go public (I think), but I think it’s been a bit much.  Hopefully now that she’s got her money, Joan will be a bit more pleasant in the second half.  I feel like there’s story left to tell with her and I still think her and Roger end up together in the end.

Roger – he’s been mostly comic relief, but it was good to see him flex the dramatic muscles when talking on the phone with Don.  Bert was a father figure to Roger and it’s understandable how emotional it made him and how he suddenly had much more incentive to try to keep his friend Don around.  And it was good to finally see him take charge and do something.  Although I wonder if they’ve gone to this well a few too many times.  How many times can one firm change names and move offices and avoid folding?

Pete – I have 10%!  Yes Pete, we know, you’re rich now.  Or richer.

Peggy – I didn’t write about this previously, but it was great seeing her and Don reconcile.  The scene of them working in Lou’s office that ended in the slow dance will be added to the top scenes the show has ever given us.  Much like Bert to Roger, Don has been Peggy's father figure all along.  The two of them have been through so much together and it’s a better show when they’re on the same team.  It was also great to hear Peggy give her first Don-like pitch to a client.  The baton has officially been passed.

Don – “I worry about a lot of things, but I don’t worry about you.”  Again, I love Don playing the father figure to Peggy and then putting his ego aside to let her do the Burger Chef pitch.  Two other great Don scenes: Meredith attempting to comfort Don after he gets the termination letter.  Never change Meredith.  And an angry Don charging into Roger’s office and forcing the partners to vote on his dismissal.  “Motion denied!”  Poor Cutler, don’t you know not to make Don angry?  I still think the show ends with him out of advertising, although the new contract with McCann may make that more difficult.  But Don’s never been one to care much about contracts and rules and not doing things only for himself.  We’ll just have to wait and see . . . another 9 months.

Ok gang, see you next year.  You know, if the blog is still around.

April- May Reads

Mr. has been keeping up the blog this month so a special shout out to him.  I have been slacking.

Here are some April-May reads:

The Secret Rooms by Catherine Bailey

Non-Fiction

Catherine Baily shares her real-life account of how she discovered one aristocratic family's secrets.

I thought there would be more to this story, it was a bit heavy in the WWI history, and I have to say I felt guilty reading some of the private correspondence that was included as it seemed a bit personal.

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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

Non-Fiction

Book challenge: NY Times Best Seller.

Berendt depicts his time in Savannah with a colorful cast of characters and a famous murder trial.

I went into this book expecting it to be dark but turns out it was pretty funny and a great read which I highly recommend.

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Call Me Zelda by Erika Robuck

Fiction- Historical

Book challenge: Main character mentally ill.

Anna, a psychiatric nurse, becomes involved in the lives of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald while Zelda is under her care. 

I am not sure how true to life some of this book is but I felt sorry for Zelda and her train wreck of a marriage and I also thought that Robuck did a good job with Anna's story, separate from the Fitzgeralds.

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1022 Evergreen Place by Debbie Macomber

Fiction 

Book Challenge: Scavenger Hunt

A romance in Cedar Cove blossoms around a shared duplex and newly found WWII letters.

This was typical Debbie: light and easy reading.

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Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence

Fiction

Book challenge: Banned book

Lady Chatterley embarks on a taboo love affair with her husband's grounds-keeper.

Parts of this book were bad, parts of it were good, I got tired of reading about coal mines because who cares? and I could see why it was banned for being risque.

The Movie Trailer Post

I’m a sucker for movie trailers.  Most of the time I like them more than the actual movies.  Mrs. knows that I will watch trailers for almost any new movie coming out (usually while she sleeps on the couch) despite the fact that we see very few actual movies.  Just yesterday I watched the trailers for Godzilla (surprising it looks entertaining if you’re into the whole big budget action flick – I might not be the target audience), Maleficent (I’m not a huge Angelina Jolie fan, but I liked this trailer and it looks pretty good if you’re into the whole fantasy adventure thing – I probably will still never see it), and Interstellar (looks intriguing if Gravity wasn’t enough to satisfy your need for space movies – although it might be trying a bit too hard on the emotional front).

In the last year some of my favorite trailers were for Her (a man in love with his computer/phone – or the story of everyone on earth right now), Gravity (if only because it gave me a panic attack), and Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (a movie with Casey Affleck that I had never heard of, but discovering new movies is why I watch trailers.)

The key to a great movie trailer comes down to three things:

1) No voiceovers

You know, like “In a world . . . “, or anything that attempts to explain what you’re seeing, “Bob thought he had a normal life . . . “  It’s just totally unnecessary.  A good trailer shows me a sneak peak at the movie; it doesn’t explain the movie to me with a disembodied deep voice.

2) Keeping some mystery alive

Don’t give the whole plot away in the trailer.  This probably seems obvious, but so many (often bad) movies have all of the jokes and/or action in the trailer.  Ok, so that guys dies and that’s the killer and wow a cameo by Tom Cruise!  I prefer a trailer that ends with me thinking, “What is that all about?” and causes me to add it to the list of movies I want to (but never will) see.   Pique my interest; don’t show me a 3-minute version of the movie.

3) The music

Probably the most important part.  I’m only watching for a few minutes and you’re trying to intrigue me to see the movie – for God’s sake make the music count!  I would love to have a job where I could just pick music out for trailers.

Anyway, all of this was an excuse to do two things – share my favorite movie trailers and discuss the new teaser trailer for Wish I Was Here, the new Zach Braff film coming out later this year.

First, the recently released teaser trailer (about half as long as the eventual full-length trailer) for Wish I Was Here hits all of my points above perfectly.  No voiceover?  Check.  Mystery?  Yep, not sure what it's really all about.  Good music?  Absolutely.  The teaser trailer (which can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3280645401/) is 99 seconds of fun.  You had me at Zach Braff and Kate Hudson.  Not to mention a Donald Faison appearance (Scrubs reunion!)  And some Mandy Patinkin in a hospital bed for good measure.  And of course the perfect use of “Simple Song” by The Shins.  Is it possibly a bit melodramatic?  Sure.  Could the movie suck?  Yes, maybe.  But the trailer has me interested, gives me little to no indication of what the movie is about, and looks a bit weird.  Yes, please.  And plus I love Garden State, so this will probably be right up my alley (and probably the opposite for Mrs.)

Ok, so now for the main attraction, a short list of my favorite movie trailers:

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2897281305/

Ok, so right off the bat this brazenly violates rule #1 (the exception to prove the rule?), but if you can get past this what you have is a wonderful trailer.  It’s about Jessie James and I guess his assassination (the title gives away more than the trailer there), but man did I want to know more.  The movie was good (could have been great with an editor or two) but the trailer has Brad Pitt holding snakes, Casey Affleck pointing a gun, the beautiful use of “What Must Be Done” by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis from the movie soundtrack (I love this music and it was well placed in the film as well), people robbing trains, snow, fire, and a candle being blown out.  That’s how you do a trailer.

The Social Network

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4152690201/

First, they made a movie about a website and it was awesome.  How did that happen?  As far as keeping mystery alive in a trailer – it’s a film about a website, so umm . . . yeah . . . what?  The first minute of the trailer is literally images from Facebook (not scenes from the movie) set to a children’s choir singing Radiohead’s "Creep", which could be the greatest moment in movie trailer history.  And then . . . boom!  College parties, JT talking about a billion dollars (that’s Justin Timberlake kids, try to keep up), people throwing things, a guy walking around in a robe, more JT (this time in a club), and people setting fires in garbage cans.  I scoffed at the idea of a Facebook movie when I first heard of it, and knew I had to see it after viewing this trailer.

The Thin Red Line

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1266944281/

The Tree of Life

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi612735001/

I’ll lump these two together since they are both Terrence Malick films and the man knows how to make a movie trailer (well he probably didn’t do it, but just go with it).

It almost seems like this is another violation of rule #1, but the voiceovers (specifically in The Tree of Life trailer) are part of the films.  That’s just how Mr. Malick rolls, gang.  He loves a good voiceover.

The Thin Red Line is obviously a war movie, but the trailer was incredibly intriguing and foreboding, and by the time the music starts up about halfway through, I was hooked.  It gets me every time, and for some reason I enjoy the rundown of the famous cast.

The Tree of Life trailer takes rule #2 to a new level because not only did I not know what it was about after seeing the trailer, I didn’t know what it was about after seeing the movie.  But I also love the music in this one.  And the movie just looked like it would be creative.  Malick’s trailers are perfect for saps like me.

Magnolia

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4237558041/

Ok, I know, I know . . . another one that violates rule #1.  Let’s just move on quickly before I boot this off the list because of this egregious violation.  I am not reconsidering the rule.

It might lose points for the voiceover, but it gains points for keeping the mystery alive.  The trailer even specifically points out that it will all make sense in the end and that’s good, because it certainly doesn’t make any sense during the trailer.  But what you do have is lots of characters, an Aimee Mann song, Tom Cruise’s finest acting moment, a game show host, a police officer, a frog, and a movie I really wanted to see.

Inglourious Basterds

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1860895257/

Quentin Tarantino films usually come with a great trailer.  Although maybe it’s just my excitement for a new Tarantino film that leads to my opinion.  The trailers for both of the Kill Bill films were awesome, but this is the one that truly got me hyped to see the film.  Brad Pitt’s third appearance on this list, movie theaters, bombs, plenty of Tarantino violence and explosions, fires (another recurring theme on this list), and an intriguing take on a WWII film.  It all added up to a movie I needed to see.  It started off slow and slowly built up the pace, and while not a rule this is always a good way to impress me with a trailer.

I'm sure there are several trailers I love that I'm just not recalling right now, and I've tried to show restraint by only including a handful.  If this blog is still around in a decade maybe I'll have a few more to add at that time.

A very . . . interesting Mad Men

Ok, so that was weird, huh?

Don and Megan and Amy from Delaware engaging in some post-party fun, Ginsberg trying to procreate with Peggy before presenting her with his nipple in a gift box, Lou drawing cartoons, secret meetings in the computer room, a very pregnant Stephanie looking for Don's help, Harry showing up at Megan's party and then grabbing a drink with Don . . . it just kept going and going.

I don't have much to say about the episode because frankly, I don't know where this is going.  Only two episodes left before the Season 7 one year break and I'm not sure if they'll give us a traditional type of finale.  A lot of things to be resolved.

Don seems like he might have positioned himself as essential in landing the Philip Morris account, but it could just as easily backfire, right?  He broke the rules by going off script with a client (I assume since he wasn't even supposed to be there) and Cutler and Lou still don't have warm feelings for him.  Maybe like Harry suggested he'll end up in California (either with SC&P or on his own.)

The Don-Megan relationship seems all but over.  I thought that before and it's been resurrected several times, but the three-way just seemed like Megan's desperate attempt to save a marriage that is over.  Don was more interested in saving his job back in New York.

The Betty-Henry relationship doesn't seem that much better while we're discussing failing marriages.  I'm curious where Betty will end up by the end of the series.

My personal favorite line of the episode was when Don and Harry were at the bar and Harry mentioned that he was going to come up with a plan to make Don important.  But then Harry started rambling on about how it would be difficult and would take some major thinking.  In fact maybe Don would have to come up with the plan.  Classic Harry, classic.

No Roger, Pete, Joan, Bert, Ted or Dawn this week.  They missed all of the strange activities.  But I'm sure they'll be more to come.

This week's Mad Men post

So I guess Don didn't have a plan.

Unless the plan was to come in, have things not go his way, overreact, and then get bombed on Roger's vodka.  If that was the plan, then it went perfectly.

But . . . at least the episode ended with Don seemingly getting his crap together, thanks to Freddy Rumsen.  Freddy Rumsen!  Seriously, the guy that wet his pants is now giving motivational speeches to the guy who gave the Carousel speech.  Now Don needs to use Freddy's example to clean up his act.

A few other random thoughts:

The best part of the episode was Don staring down Peggy when she assigns him the task of writing tag lines.  Seriously, I think he was trying to kill her with his eyes.  I told you that man can say it all through a facial expression.  Give Jon Hamm an Emmy already.

The big news was of course SC&P getting a computer.  Although with no e-mail, Twitter, Facebook or blogs in 1969, I'm not sure what they're going to use it for.

That diabolical Lou.  Pitting Draper and Olson against each other.  Hoping they'll bring about each other's downfall.  He's like a master criminal that one.

So I get that everyone hates Don or something, but what is Bert Cooper's problem?  The old man is only where he is because of Don.  You think he'd be a bit more professional.

Did anyone else assume that Roger would end up living at the commune with his daughter?

Peggy as Don's boss.  Priceless.  Way to go writers.

Mrs. pointed out to me that the moon landing takes place in July of 1969, so it's likely that happens around the end of Season 7, Part I.  In three episodes to be exact.

There were several shots of Lane's Mets banner that Don found and hung up.  The Mets were an expansion team in MLB in 1962 that was always at the bottom of the standings, and then in 1969 the team dubbed the "Miracle Mets" went on to surprise everyone and win the World Series.  Is that symbolic of Don's rise from the bottom to win?

I've been enjoying this season and Mrs. and I were noting that the episodes have been filled with a sense of dread as to what might happen.  First you had Don walking down the hall to meet with the partners in the previous episode, unsure of his fate.  And then in this episode after Don got drunk, you kept waiting for someone to discover him and that be the end of the Draper comeback.  That suspense is what makes the show great.

Another Mad Men Blog

At the risk of this becoming an all Mad Men blog . . . . 

He may have messed up his surprise trip to see Megan with the ill-timed confession that he came at the bequest of her agent.  And because of that he may be on the verge of a second divorce (or maybe this is just another speed bump.)  But Don Draper is back!  And by that I mean he’s going to be back at SC&P, hopefully showing Lou how it's done.  But before I say anything more about the impending Draper return, a few thoughts on some of the other characters:

Betty – just the worst.  It was a sandwich Betty.  He didn't trade away Gene.  Now relax and smoke your lunch.

Megan – I’ll never understand why people (read:  internet commenters) hate Megan.  I've always liked her character and I feel bad for her in her attempts to deal with the human mess that is Don Draper.  I know people keep discussing the Sharon Tate parallels, but hopefully that is just misdirection by Matthew Weiner and company because there is no need to kill her off.

Peggy – are we supposed to assume that Peggy is still mad at Don for the whole Ted leaving for California thing?  Isn’t that really more on Ted?  And shouldn't she be excited at the possibility of going back to work for Don, someone who respects her and her work, and not Lou, who only respects his sweaters?  Still, Peggy’s “I can’t say that we missed you” diss to Don was pretty good (if cold).  Too bad Don didn’t send her some flowers.

Joan – I honestly can’t remember why Joan is mad at Don, but it’s fun to see Joan fired up.  Maybe she’s just defending her turf a bit now that she’s in accounts and doesn’t trust that Don won’t ruin what she has going.

Bert – so he doesn’t like how the agency is viewed on the outside.  Of course that doesn’t mean he’ll get off his "don’t wear your shoes in my office" ass and actually do anything to improve the firm, does it?  Keep cashing those checks Bert.

Cutler – I love when he verbally spars with Roger.  That is all.

Roger – so he left Don out to dry a bit by not telling anyone at the office about agreeing to let him come back.  But I do love that Roger stuck up for Don and got all feisty with the other partners.  Of course based on the strict stipulations that Don was given, I don’t take it that Roger was victorious in the meeting we didn’t see.  But still glad he had his old friend's back.  

I assume that the other partners were surprised that Don accepted the offer (oh, to have seen their faces), but to get back to Don . . . 

I loved how uncomfortable he was throughout the scenes back in the office.  First he was nervously glancing at his watch before finally going to the office, then when he arrives he's suddenly a visitor at best and a stranger at worst.  He has to sit around in the creative room all day making small talk and being verbally assaulted, looking like he thinks he made a mistake by coming in at all.  And then the walk down the hall to the meeting with the partners was full of suspense, and of course he'd have to scoff at and turn down the offer in typical Draper fashion, but wait . . . no . . . he accepts with no questions!  What?!  Does Don have a plan to unseat Lou and regain power?  Is he just this desperate not to have to go to California to live with his beautiful wife . . . while still maintaining partner status . . . and still being paid to do nothing?  Either way, I really like how this episode set up some drama for the last four episodes before the final season break.