Review: The Essential Chaplin: Perspectives on the Life and Art of the Great Comedian edited and introduction by Richard Schickel

I don’t normally read essay collections but I decided to take a look at The Essential Chaplin: Perspectives on the Life and Art of the Great Comedian in hopes that it would assist me in my pursuit of all things Charles Chaplin and that it would provide intriguing insight into the silent film comedian.

Schickel gathered a notable series of nearly thirty essays on Chaplin’s work, life, and art from a veritable who’s who of film critics and Chaplin’s contemporaries such as Alistair Cooke, Robert E. Sherwood, Winston Churchill, Graham Greene, and James Agee. The book was also sprinkled with quotes from several other notables, such as Sigmund Freud and Robert Benchley, which I found quite intriguing.

This is a smart book, one profoundly taking an interesting and intellectual view of an actor whose work was based off of the instinctual slapstick comedy of an uncommon man of (and for) the people. Schickel’s introduction was highly intelligent and took an analytical look at Chaplin as both a fan and as a non-partisan critic – something that I am sure is quite challenging to pull off. While he was successful in his attempt to provide an even tone within the book, one could not help but get a whiff of intellectual superiority in Schickel’s tone when describing Chaplin’s attempt at literary and social illumination during his adult years. However, despite that notable blip this does not dampen the obvious affection he does have for the actor nor does it flavor the rest of the book.

For such a proudly intelligent collection, I was disappointed in the amount of misspelled words and typos. The book appeared to have been checked with a spellchecker and at least once in each essay there was a contextually-inappropriate but correctly spelled word. It was an annoying interruption to try to decode what the writer meant only to realize that it was actually just a typo.

The Essential Chaplin is a great source for those who are interested in Chaplin’s work as well as the film industry. Not only does it illustrate the difficulties of how film was received as an art form, but the theoretical challenges of fame facing the first world-famous man. It also provides a revue of the criticisms Chaplin faced not just in his work and art, but in his life and interests. This book is a must-have for Chaplin enthusiasts as well as those looking for an excellent example of the in-depth analysis a collection of essays can provide.

Review: Forgotten Fashion: An Illustrated Faux History of Outrageous Trends and Their Untimely Demise by Kate Hahn

I love humor and while I may not look like my clothes are from the runway and I don’t have a subscription to any of the current fashion magazines, I do have a healthy interest in fashion. If for nothing else, I find that some trends can serve as a way to gauge the social climate by observing clues in the fashion trends. Haven’t you heard the theory that skirt hemlines creep up as consumer confidence increases?

Fun and beautifully illustrated, Forgotten Fashion: An Illustrated Faux History of Outrageous Trends and Their Untimely Demise captures the tone and style of the time periods it describes (from 1903-2005), which helps reinforce the satire but also reflects the author’s understanding and interest in popular culture in modern history.

The story of the ice-beaded dress of the 1920s comes to mind as it is describes both the frivolity and disposable nature of both the dress and the trends followed by the rich and young during the roaring twenties before the depression. The way consumerism and a high value of large-ticket items like cars and washer machines in the late 1950s is illustrated by the story of an artist, his muse, and his dresses inspired by these same applieces, most notably, an Amana fridge. Such parallels run rampant through the book, heightening both its satire on the ever-changing climate of popular culture.

This was an easy book to pick up and flip through. It was created as a series of independent articles and could be read from the beginning or you could skip around. For those searching for a fun book on popular culture that you can pick up and read at your leisure, Forgotten Fashion is a good choice.

Not only were the tales imaginative in their frivolity, they also were plausible, even in the face of (or perhaps because of) absurdity. One would only have to look at the runway to see impractical and absurd fashion statements and you can actually visualize some of the trends in this book. Hell, I think I saw someone wearing the “ponchette” on the train this morning!

Review: Hal Spacejock by Simon Haynes

I have watched Simon Haynes’ Hal Spacejock series grow for years now as a popular series in Australia. The first book, Hal Spacejock is now undergoing a third printing, according to the website it is available as an import to the US. Now you can experience the first book for free as a downloadable ebook here: http://www.spacejock.com.au/Hal1Download.html

Armed with a sense of humor and imagination, Haynes’ Hal Spacejock has just the right humor to entertain in a colorful sci-fi setting. Those who enjoy sci-fi humor will enjoy this as the irreverent tone and settings are akin to Hitchhiker’s Guide, Red Dwarf, Futurama, Discworld, Planetfall, and Sierra’s SpaceQuest.

Hal Spacejock, a not-too-bright or ambitious pilot of a run-down space freighter is desperate for a job. When faced with a very real threat on his life from loan sharks he embarks on a sketchy pick up and delivery job with only a robot companion, Clunk, to assist him when it all goes from bad to worse.

The story is fun and fast-paced, a great book for a quick read or for a younger reader who can appreciate humor, slight cursing, and poop jokes. While it lacks depth, it makes no qualms that it is there for your amusement and tries to please.

The dialogue was its strong point and the witty repartée between Spacejock and the various characters he encounters smoothes over any of the bumps in pacing. Some of my favorite moments are with the ship computer, Navicom, especially when it finds itself copied onto another ship.

It’s an entertaining read, and I recommend it for anyone who loves deadpan narration and a few hours of frivolous fun in a science fiction world. You may want to download it while still available and check it out for yourself!

Review: American Gods by Neil Gaiman

I have a particular weakness for irreverent humor, satire, and surreality, so when I was recommended to read American Gods by Neil Gaiman I was agreeable. I had loved Sandman and his joint-venture with Terry Pratchett in Good Omens. However, I was surprised and found myself eagerly devouring this novel because it was unique, not many books are able incorporate mythology, satire, and humor so successfully.

As always, Gaiman brings together an adventure that matches wit and fantasy with mythological themes and contemporary storytelling. In the heartlands of America, its settlers and immigrants brought with them the beliefs and myths of their homelands. Those gods and other mystical creatures from folklore and mythology are now living amongst us, getting by and dealing with the day-to-day issues all mortals face...mortgages, money, death, and taxes.

It is this world to which an ex-con, Shadow, is slowly introduced as he takes employment with a mysterious man named, Mr. Wednesday. Here he meets a drunk leprechaun, talking animals from old folk stories, and a cacophony of deities as he helps his employer gather up the old gods in a defensive bid against the rise of the new gods of modern America such as the internet, credit cards, and media, Shadow finds himself a pawn in a very dangerous game.

This book was a particularly good fit for me because I have often wondered what the gods would be doing after their worshippers have moved on. Are there laundromats on Mt. Olympus? What about child support and parking tickets? Some situations were exactly what I would have pictured if you were immortal and accustomed to performing particular tasks. For instance, if you were to deal with and judge the dead, like the Ibis and Jackal, what other profession would you turn to but running a funeral home?

On the whole the novel progressed smoothly through the plot. Only a few chapters interrupted the flow. These occasional interruptions were origin tales describing an Old World god’s introduction to America. On their own, they were intelligent and gripping, I would have loved to learn more about Odin, or the woman who brought the Little Folk with her from Ireland. As part of a whole, they simply broke my immersion in Shadow’s story and served no clear narrative purpose. You would be reading along minding your own business and then a new chapter would be come up and it would feel as if was a completely different story tucked in the middle. Perhaps if they were presented in a different way it wouldn’t have felt so out of place.

Gaiman's tale was easily read and pulled you along an engaging adventure. To see these once-great beings acting just like regular people down on their luck gave the book just the right amount of irony and humor without it being preachy, corny, or even religious. I was pleased that American Gods features increasingly odd and surreal moments that made me eagerly turn each page to see what happens next. Ultimately, what won me over was that the characters were created in such a vivid way and with such unique personalities that despite the possibility of being conned, robbed, killed, or blessed, I would love the chance to meet any of them on the street one day. I would just watch my wallet and perhaps how much everyone’s been drinking!

Sunday Salon - September 14, 2008

It's been a rather interesting week. I'm still slogging through Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. I have two hundred pages to go and it's finally getting interesting. Hopefully I can get them done soon so I can start thinking about the book and writing up a review.

This week, I've written up two reviews so far. A review for Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants was posted last Tuesday and the other, for American Gods will be posted later this week. Let me just say that having an editor for a husband is both a blessing and a curse. He's been really helpful in giving me some direction on improving my writing skills. (I'm sure I've mentioned I'm working on regaining skills left unused for a few years.) Of course, though, he gives me more homework as a result. It's worth it though, I'm already seeing an improvement. Hopefully I can get back to into my old form, and perhaps even surpass it!

I'm also gearing up for this year's NaNoWriMo. 'Tis the season to start the prep work for research and writing exercises so I can join others across the world in the goal to write a 50,000 novel in November. If you haven't heard about it, I suggest you check it out! I think I'm going to hit the library and check out Thud! by Terry Pratchett, it's been recommended that it has the write type of narrative tone I'm looking for this project.

Back to the grindstone, hopefully I'll be getting a review of a few other books ready in the pipeline this week before guests come to the house to visit. After that, I'll probably not have much time to do anything.

Review: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I was excited to read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, it had all the elements I was looking for, the circus setting, the depression era time period, and I'm not ashamed to say it: the handsome cover. I certainly was not expecting to find such a gem in this light summer reading expedition.

"Oh yes. It's an honor indeed. I'm willing to bet no one else in your neighborhood -- heck, probably the whole city -- can say they've had an elephant in their backyard. Our men here will remove her -- naturally, we'll fix up your garden and compensate you for your produce, too. Would you like us to arrange for a photograph of you and Rosie? Something to show your family and friends?"

Gruen's gritty narrative, told as a series of flashbacks, provides a fictionalized glimpse at circus life in 1930s. Penniless and having just walked out on his exams, Jacob Jankowski finds himself hopping onto a train, like so many other drifters, hoping that it will lead him somewhere better than where he left. Instead he is thrust into a world very different than the Ivy-league shelter as he is employed as the resident veterinarian for the menagerie of a circus. The Benzini Brothers Most Amazing Show, like many other circuses of that time period, was not just home to performers and exotic animals, but to numerous taboos, like prostitution, bootlegging, and shady business practices.

The characters were engaging and well-created and Gruen's descriptions of their actions and emotions as told through the eyes of Jacob carefully navigated you through a gauntlet of emotions, from frustration and anger, to bitter embarrassment. I still feel a bit of a blush when thinking about the aftermath of Jacob's horrifyingly uncomfortable encounter with booze, women, and a clown's revenge.

The unique setting of circus life during the Great Depression provides the perfect touch of history, realism, and surrealism to this tale of a young man's search to find himself in an increasingly mad world. It was a gritty, desperate time in America's history and the shady backdrop of a migratory circus fits well. The descriptions are clear and vibrant and instead of leaving you with the feeling you just sat through a history lesson, you are transported. It was this originality and promise of escape that drew me to reading this book and I was not disappointed.

Sunday Salon - September 7, 2008

Well, it's my first Sunday Salon and I figured I should write this one up early since today is going to be busy. It's been a rough week and I've been trying all sorts of new things to shape my blog into what I had in mind.

I've written several reviews to be published in the future, but my hiatus from writing has really had an impact. I guess two years of game forum moderation really can wreak havoc on your skills. (You write what you read!...never before had I thought of that until now.) Either way, I've been brushing up and while a lot of my writing currently is still clumsy, I do know I'm improving. Hopefully I can get those reviews out soon and in better quality than my previous attempts.

One nice thing is that I've been able to read books at my old pace again! I just finished a long series of books focused on Charlie Chaplin and since I was not able to get an early reviewer book from LibraryThing this month, I am now working on my backlog of books. These are books I bought or was given over my two years of non-reading.

Currently, I'm reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. I'm through the first 200 pages so far and while the beginning was a bit slow, I'm enjoying it. I definitely love the usage of footnotes! Strange thing though, I was reading some various stories written by Prosper Mérimée this week and his syntax and writing style seemed really similar. So similar, in fact that at one point I was merging his short story, The Double Mistake, with Jonathan Strange, spawning a moment of disorientation.

As for my big day, Spore comes out today! It's a organism/evolution simulation game that starts from the simplest of creatures and can evolve/mutate into societies with religion, science, war, love, and space travel! It's been well-hyped and long-awaited. Of course this means I need to get the house ready for several days of marathon playing...this means clean laundry, dishes, meal lists, etc.

Why I'll never be any good in Vegas...

In anticipation for the video game, Fable II, Lionhead has made three pub games set in the Fable environment available. Gold made from these mini-games will have the ability to be transferred to your Fable II character when the game comes out end of October.

Of course, the real challenge is making the gold. Gambling has never been a strong point with me. To illustrate that fact, the first time I ever went to a casino, I left it on a stretcher going to an ambulance because I had dislocated my diaphragm and sprained two ribs from the smoky atmosphere. (I tend to think it was an allergic reaction to Lady Luck's perfume.)

All subsequent casinos have luckily only taken my money. I believe that I have never actually won anything.

Luckily with these pub games, I'm not going to ruin myself (not that the entire 60 dollars I ever used and lost in real life is going to be the cause of my ruination). I'm just going to ruin my character, and if I do particularly awful I could always reset or start anew. (I might keep one with some debt, just to see what might happen. Apparently debt in this game might translate to something particularly unpleasant to my character in the Fable world.)

There are three games: Fortune's Tower, Keystone, and Spinner.

Fortune's Tower is my favorite as it's like a cross between blackjack and chicken. It also seems to be the one where you have the most control over what happens. It also is where I've lost the most money.

Keystone is a cross between craps and roulette. It's rather interesting and I've been finding new and interesting ways of losing money by experimenting with various betting strategies.

Spinner is a slot machine-type game. And like all other slot machine games I'm not a fan. I never could understand the point of feeding a machine money for that very low chance of winning some more money so you can feed it back. It all seems very much like a trial of Sisyphus to me...except in the Tournaments.

I love the tournaments. They are a ton of fun and gives me some kind of motivation for gambling. You play against NPC opponents and try to score more tournament chips to place in the tournament. Placing can reward you with gold (much better to lose later in the other games) or even an in-game item! I think that's a lot of fun and alot more rewarding to this non-gambler.

Now I must go and see what type of damage and monetary trouble I can get in to even before my poor character is born. Well, at least there's no ambulance to haul me away!

Review: Chaplin: His Life and Art

David Robinson's examination of the silent film comedian, Charlie Chaplin, is a must-read if you have an interest in Chaplin's life and extensive experiences at the birth of American Cinema. Chaplin: His Life and Art uses a multitude of sources to help give witness to the actor from many viewpoints and addresses the various inconsistencies found in Chaplin's own autobiography.

For those interested in comparing the two, I recommend reading My Autobiography first. His Life and Art is clearly written and includes many details about Chaplin's life, work habits, and influence on the film industry and the people around him. Other treats are sections of photos from his private and professional life as well as images of childhood photos and publicity flyers.

I found my educational experience was heightened by also watching the films mentioned in detail in both books. Sometimes a written description of how a gag had evolved is not nearly as vibrant until you can see the end result. (That and they are hilarious!) It is a rare opportunity to not only read about a man's life but get to watch his works unfold in front of your eyes in a visual way.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it as essential to any person interested in learning about Charlie Chaplin or the birth of Hollywood and the movie industry.

Review: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Now that I commute every morning by train, I am able to finally regain my love for devouring books.

I decided that my first book since I came back to the land of the bookworm is The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

It is an intricate and intriguing tale of a girl uncovering her family's past and their secrets surrounding the late fifteenth century history and legend of Vlad the Impaler (Count Dracula to those who are not aware of the connection). Told in a unique fashion, you follow the various exploits of several historians and scholars as they get entangled with conspiracies and find themselves on a trek across countries in hopes of uncovering the mystery that involves not only vampires but the lingering threat that had been following them.

All in all, it's a book that was in need of an editor. It's an interesting tale hampered by an over-complicated delivery. Told as a woman remembering her search for her father, reading her father's letters telling the tale of his search for his mentor, in which he sites the mentor's letters chronicling his search for Dracula. The epistolary style harkens back to Bram Stoker's Dracula but it complexity reduced its effectiveness as a narration.

The odd thing was that the tone of the letters did not seem to vary from character to character, and I could only hope that if you were to meet them over coffee you'd recognize that they were different people. Also, not too many people write letters that include full dialogue, descriptions of people, and their own mannerisms when they speak...let alone the five or so people who did exactly that in the book. It's awkward and makes you forget that you're writing a letter or a journal entry only to be jarred out of that reality by mention that it was only a letter.

I enjoyed The Historian and thought the story and the characters were interesting, however it felt like a long book. It would have done better if it was told from only a few viewpoints, rather than the layered onion it was.

Paging Dr. Horrible

Today is the big day...the start of the great Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog!

You can watch it here (if available):

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

I was lucky enough today to get a chance to watch it at work before everyone else got in and I have to say...it is awesome!

Joss Whedon does it again by creating a story that is compelling, well-written, and populated with interesting characters. I am always impressed with his ability to create a story and setting and then a script that doesn't just help tell the story but fills out the characters so efficiently.

Neil Patrick Harris plays the low-rent villian and main character, Dr. Horrible. He plays it just how I like my low-rent villians who aspire to find their niche in the realm of evil, by being not-quite evil enough. An average super-hero/villian in an average world.

I kinda feel like he's that slightly nerdy and awkward guy next store who is an accountant by day and dreams of being a super-villian at night. At school, he probably sketched out elaborate rube-goldberg machines of destruction in the margins of his lined loose leaf.

The first act is a great hook and introduces the characters perfectly. Nathan Fillion, one of my favorites from Firefly and Serenity (heck they all are my favorites), makes a grand entrance that just fits the character. He hams it up and shines in this so-far hilarious role of do-gooder, Captain Hammer.

Being a nerd myself I love how this story pits the nerd (semi anti-social, brainy, and on the side of villiany) against what looks like the jock/bully of Captain Hammer (the good looking, athletic guy who has a better time with PR). It's an eternal struggle and I look forward to it being played out here.

All in all, it's similar to the premise of the Tick, with its average-joe villian and superhero population struggling with real-life woes...except it's from the viewpoint of the villian and it's a musical...which can only make it great!

Here are a few of my favorite lines pulled from my first watching:

"The status is not quo!"

and

"Lacy, gently wafting curtains"

If you haven't taken the time to see the almost 14 minute flick, you should. You won't be sorry!

Don't look Marion, whatever you do, don't open your eyes!

Please note that spoilers are contained within!

With a combination of trepidation and optimism I decided to go with a few friends to see the new Indiana Jones movie. The intrepid Dr. Jones' adventures had always captivated me during my childhood and I'm sure his unique brand of archeology made many a child say to his parents, "I want to be an archeologist when I grow up." Because really, who wouldn't want to learn history by shooting at Nazis and riding in mine carts? Alas, I have yet to meet an archeologist that has ran away from a humongous rolling boulder, or tripped a booby trap in a cobweb-filled ruin. Perhaps I'm not moving in the right social circles.

It's been a while since a good old adventure story has come around and I was looking forward to seeing if Lucas and Spielberg could dust off Indy and bring him back to life again. There is a real chance that Indiana Jones' time has come and gone. I'm not even talking about Harrison Ford's age; it's a steep challenge as the number of adventure movies have dwindled in favor of more action-centered fare. In fact, the only adventure movie I could think of in recent memory was National Treasure and I didn't even see it.

Their answer to entice the younger crowd to go see our aging Indy was to bring in a kid -- and not just any kid, Indy's kid. To me this is warning sign that a series is ending. Name one sit-com or movie series that was saved from the specter of low ratings by introducing a kid. Usually shows or movies opt for an adorable kid with pinchable cheeks and a sassy personality and in this case, Shia LaBouf fits the bill nicely. He's a great actor and I absolutely loved him in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, but he wasn't enough to save this movie.

(Don't even get me started on the awfulness of the kid's name -- Mutt. If that is not a poor parallel to Indiana being named after his dog, I'll be surprised. Seriously...Mutt?)

It was nice to see Indy back on the big screen. The iconic silhouette of the man in his fedora filled me with the same amount of awe as it did when I was a child. The sounds of the punches and the well-timed Wilhelm screams was like music to my ears. However, even after all these clues and Indy-iconography, the film just didn't feel like Indiana Jones. That dusty feeling you get when you watched him take a punch just wasn't there. It felt too clean, scrubbed, and deliberate.

While Harrison Ford did a lovely job dusting off and bringing Indiana back, the writing just didn't meet the challenge. Instead of witty remarks and charming personality we got long-winded exposition that came across flat. I understand that the movie was trying to show Indiana turning more and more into his father and Ford did a great job of channeling Sean Connery's Henry Jones Sr. However, there were too many of these little moments that mimicked something that happened in the earlier films but instead of making the viewer all warm and fuzzy with reminiscence, it came across as desperately trying to recapture what worked in the past and regurgitating it at a drop of a hat.

(Too many sequels do this, and it drives me nuts. If I wanted to see the same joke over again, I would see the original movie. Please, for the love of all that is good in this world, write something original! Perhaps, the reason a joke works the first time around is because it was original. If that originality is already expended, it's not that funny to see it again.)
Another very telling cue that they were trying too hard to capture a much younger crowd was the repeated appearance of silly groundhogs and swarming monkeys. I just watched the original trilogy and there were no snakes mugging for the camera, no insects popping up for comedic effect. There was actually a moment where I groaned out loud in the theater when Mutt swung from vine to vine like Tarzan with the aforementioned monkeys who then descended on the Russians, aiding his escape. It was cartoonish and ultimately felt superfluous. (And dare I say it, it broke my immersion!)

Overall, I think the movie tried too hard to achieve certain "Indy elements" but not hard enough to ensure quality. (Like mentioning fencing classes off-hand early on in the film to explain the unavoidable and overdone sword fight that turned from interesting to slapstick and too long.) I could go on, but the list is rather extensive. If you really loved Indiana Jones because of its witty dialogue and sweeping adventure, you may not like this movie. I wanted to like it but it lacked what I looked for in this series...that inherent Indiana-ness that charmed and wormed its way through my childhood.

Let's just end with one word, one question: Aliens?

No, really... Aliens?

---

Review Summary

Overall: 57/100

Writing - 8/15
Cinematography - 10/15
Acting - 12/15
Entertainment value - 12/15
Indiana Jones-ness - 15/30

*Values weighted based off of genre.