28.2.09

The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale - Joseph Conrad

This novel of espionage and terrorism, set in early 20th century London, tells the tale of a double agent assigned to a dubious task. Its ironical style is well-orchestrated but traps the narration into excessive omniscience; the interactions are drawn out and the insight into characters is too complete. It seems that the subject matter was not deeply understood by Conrad, and consequently it lacks the vividness and confidence of his seafaring novels, causing his typical verbosity and descriptiveness to hang like dead weight. Despite its shortcomings, it is still Conrad, and provides some insightful glimpses into themes (including terrorism and the involvement of the state) that are maybe even more relevant today.

WORTH THE READ
3 out of 5

Buy this book: The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale (Penguin Classics)

27.2.09

Absurdistan - Gary Shteyngart

Absurdistan naturally draws comparisons to two satirical masterpieces, A Confederacy of Dunces and Catch-22, as it is the story of a massively obese young rich man caught amidst the international insanity of corporate globalization and war. But lined up against those two works, it simply cannot compare. It is, at times, a highly descriptive, lively, and amusing novel, but not much more - after all, what could a modern novel about the absurdity of war and the military-industrial complex possibly add to what was given to us by Joseph Heller back in 1961? As if aware of this, Shteyngart relies too heavily on the details of today's world theater - oil, the Soviet bloc, hip-hop, McDonald's, Halliburton - as if to gain validity, but its use of all-too familiar, already stigmatized names only limit its power. It seems to be a criticism of specific companies rather than of the underlying system that allows for their operation. His parodies are so obvious that they may make one think they are in on something without actually having to think, and its mockery of American culture is too easy - the protagonist, a mammoth Russian brat, enjoys quoting the Notorious BIG, as if the late rapper wasn't ridiculous enough on his own. Whereas the mysterious Syndicate and painful circular logic of Catch-22 boost that novel to the timeless universal, Absurdistan remains no more than a sometimes entertaining, but mostly annoying, comment on the current age.

Um?
2 out of 5

Buy this book: Absurdistan: A Novel
Download for Kindle: Absurdistan: A Novel

26.2.09

The Firecracker Boys - Dan O'Neill


More than a story of unethical government scientists attempting to deceive the citizens of their country, The Firecracker Boys illustrates the decisively split interests that occur so commonly throughout American history, creating both well-defined heroes and unmistakable villains.

Edward Teller and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) spent years attempting to push through an unprecedentedly large nuclear test in northwestern Alaska. Ground zero of Project Chariot was to be on Native land about 30 miles from the ancient village of Point Hope. Despite overwhelming scientific evidence indicating the opposite, the scientists maintained that no damage would be done to food chains, land, or humans of the proposed area. The AEC and their Alaskan business supporters demonstrated extreme racism and disregard for the concerned local Eskimo communities, advocating partiality in the press, academic censorship, and blacklisting of scientists who tried to reveal the truth. The Firecracker Boys shows greed, carelessness, and selfishness on behalf of the government stopped only by the compassion, dedication and selflessness of a small group of citizens. At once inspiring and horrifying, the story makes you question why this behavior was tolerated in public employees, as well as how the American people can continue to trust such a corrupt institution as their own leadership. Dan O'Neill has collected and organized an amazing amount of previously classified information as well as conducted original interviews. The book is well written and captivating; a must read for anyone who considers themselves to be an environmentalist, patriot, or human being.

IMPORTANT!
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Buy this book: The Firecracker Boys: H-bombs, Inupiat Eskimos, and the Roots of the Environmental Movement

W.

The abbreviated title of Oliver Stone's newest flick lends itself to the inevitably questions: What is this? Who cares? But most of all, Why was this film made? And why was it made now, released so soon after George W. left the White House, before we could try to forget him? Couldn't we have waited for future revelations and hindsight? Shouldn't we have waited until his death so we could watch it reproduced in Hollywood splendor? But Mr. Stone apparently didn't bother with those kinds of questions as he set out to create this biographical drama, a collection of highly-selective moments in the still-going life of an extremely lucky, arrogant, and delusional man who happened to stumble into the presidency of the United States.

It seems that Stone also lacked the balls, so to speak, to give us a fully-biased vision of the devil, so the film fluctuates between wild speculation, cheap shots, and contrived sympathy. As usual with this breed of movie, there is an attempt to explain the subject's bravado, ambition, and idiocy, but it appears there was no decent explanation to be found, so instead Stone reduces all of Bush's famous mistakes and shortcomings to a father-son complex (George Sr. apparently preferred Jeb).

In his typical disregard for subtlety, Stone tries to say things with a few obvious, bloated instances of imagery (Bush and his cronies sweating like suited vampires in the Texas heat as the commander in chief leads them literally down the wrong path on his ranch), but nothing manages to express anything new or useful, and they even throw in the usual, tired jokes (a whole scene, for example, unconnected to anything else, reproducing the famous pretzel incident). A more compelling film would have focused on a specific aspect of Bush's presidency - perhaps the campaign of deceit that led America into two unending wars in the Middle-East.

BOOOOOOOO!
Rating 1.5 out of 5

Buy this film: W. (Widescreen)

Plot: 1
Imagery: 2
Originality: 1
Soundtrack: 1
Overall: 1.5

25.2.09

Frost/Nixon

Ron Howard's film, which recreates the famous interviews with the former president Richard Nixon conducted by British TV personality David Frost, manages to create an atmosphere of just enough uncertainty and tension to somehow distract from the fact that it is a film centered around two people speaking together for several hours. Not surprisingly, the film tries to humanize the "monster," but not at the sake of downplaying his crimes. Nixon is portrayed as a man with a heavy conscience, many regrets, and a deep self loathing, but also a great contempt for his constituents and naivete in regard to other human beings. As the story's climax is the same as that of the actual interviews (the moment where Nixon confesses his "mistakes" to the American people), the film's purpose seems to be to show the unlikely circumstances that led to that point, and therefore shows beyond the two men to their respective teams (continually utilizing a tiresome boxinb analogy) to demonstrate what a collaborative effort is is to either maintain or break down a public image. Perhaps this film would be cathartic to those who actually lived through the pain of Nixon's election and presidency, but I imagine the actual footage would offer a bit more kick than a reproduced version. Either way, it is amazing to consider that Nixon was essentially paid to confess to a crime, and another man earned celebrity for digging it out of him, but justice was never served - a bit of irony that the film touches on but doesn't bother too much with, but which leaves me wondering, "What was the point?"

WORTH WATCHING
Rating 3 out of 5

Buy this film: Frost/Nixon

Plot: 3
Imagery: 3
Originality: 3
Soundtrack: 2
Overall: 3

Decline of the Lawrence Welk Empire - Poe Ballantine

What it may lack in depth and originality of plot, Ballantine makes up for in unrelenting charm and refreshing narrative flair. The narrator, Edgar Donahoe, is rich and real (regardless of having read the prequel, God Clobbers Us All), a quirky, flawed and idealistic young man, too smart to stay in the rat race of America, but too American to escape it. Whereas the domestically-set prequel focused more on the madness of American life, this followup is a first rate adventure story, complete with voodoo men, pirate gold, jumbies, crazy jungle dwellers and a femme fatale. But despite its obvious formulaic tendencies, it all seems almost tongue-in-cheek as it comes from Edgar's bitter yet hopeful voice.

WORTH THE READ
Rating: 3 out of 5
Buy this book: Decline of the Lawrence Welk Empire

Slumdog Millionaire

The colorful setting of India's 3rd World slums immediately sets Slumdog Millionaire above its grayed western studio competition. The heartwarming (almost to the point of being sappy) story of an obsessive love carried through a childhood of pain has a struck a chord with viewers all over the world. Much like the protagonist, the movie itself has received a lucky break in a seemingly luckless environment - amid fears of a failing economy this type of 'feel good flick' with arresting imagery is exactly the mode of escapism people are craving. This movie has everything: orphans, game shows, murder, movie stars, love, loss, feces - and, of course, what Indian movie would be complete lacking a synchronized dance scene? Without ruining the ending, we must say we were a little disappointed with the excessive attention paid to the love story thread while the other aspects of the movie, which were much stronger more realistic, could have easily been expanded upon further.

FUN TO WATCH
Rating 4 out of 5
Buy this film: Slumdog Millionaire

Plot: 3
Imagery: 5
Originality: 4
Soundtrack: 4
Slumdog Millionaire
Overall: 4

Setting Free the Bears - John Irving

Despite the insipid title, the novel leaps off quickly into a highly readable adventure that brings together motorcycles, carnivores, Nazis, terrorists, and bees. The obvious metaphor looms all along but enough sharp turns and sudden doozies keep it from swallowing the story. A crash of sorts brings things to a halt, whereupon the focus turns to picking up the pieces, convalescing, and tying up loose ends. This book, written with quick language and sectioned into manageable, brief segments, never demands too much from the reader but provides enough sustenance to make it worthwhile. Readers of A Prayer for Owen Meany will notice a few glimpses of common themes, such as elaborate pranks and contemptuous obsession with the news and severed digits.

WORTH THE READ
Rating: 3 out of 5
Buy this book: Setting Free the Bears

What Just Happened

I suppose we should give them credit, with such a line up of notorious star talent (De Niro, Penn, Willis, Turturro, etc.) it seems like it would be difficult to make an entirely worthless film. Well, the independent production trio who backed What Just Happened has done it. The film is a gratuitous mixture of pointless editing (the old speed it up and drop some frames), aimless dialogue, and mediocre acting (Willis without explosions and De Niro doing yoga, sipping Red Bull). Halfway through the movie when De Niro accidentally hits John Turturro's cowardly agent character in the balls with a shovel and he falls into a freshly dug grave I had to laugh out loud. "This movie is so bad!" I said, gasping for air. Nonetheless, we continued to watch hoping for some sort of redeeming quality: a move that isn't spelled out to us 10 minutes in advance, an original angle or action by the I'm from Hollywood so I serve no code of ethics characters, or even one intelligent, intriguing or catchy line. If this review reveals nothing to you about the movie, it is only because there is nothing in the movie that is worth revealing. If I could, I'd give this movie a zero, labeling it a complete waste of time but, in order to fit it into a category:

BOOOOOOOO!

Rating: 1 out of 5
Buy this film: What Just Happened
Download: What Just Happened


Plot: 0
Imagery: 0
Originality: 0
Soundtrack: 0
Overall: 0