The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: The Politics of Popular Music

Bios stolen from the Festival program:

Inna Arzumanova.  Is a PhD candidate in communication and a fellow in the Annenberg School for Communication at USC.  Her work focuses on racial performativity, mimicry, global mobility and masquerade in pop culture’s transnational dialogues.

Alice Echols.  Is a historian whose work has focused on the popular music and social movements of the “long ‘60s.” Her books include “Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture” and “Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin.” She is a  professor of English at USC.

Josh Kun. Is a writer and professor at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the Department of American Studies & Ethnicity, where he also directs the Popular Music Project at the Norman Lear Center.  He is the author of “Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America.”

Shana Redmond.  Is assistant professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at USC>  Her publications appear in the Western Journal of Black Studies, the Journal of Popular Culture, African and Black Diaspora, and the Journal of Popular Music Studies.

The following is my interpretation of the panel discussion and probably contains plenty of errors.

Echols: We judge musical genres and politics by their end point.  We lose the transformative impact of their early days.  How it transformed culture.

She came to the study of music late.  She was a disco DJ and eventually wrote about it.

Disco allowed for bodily understanding for gay men.  The tearing off of shirts meant that one had to work out, it created identity and changed sexual habits.

Kun:  Can a love song be political?  There is something about music that is above us all.  It is how we see the world change.

He once got into a fight over music and realized that music has a lot of passion behind it.

Believes that regional Mexico music that is played in SoCal may have large impact in the U.S. It is about immigrant Mexicans singing about challenges of balancing life in the US with the cultural pulls from Mexico.

Music genre segregation (country vs blues) was a way to enforce social segregation.

Arzumanova:  Popular music is a way to re-make identity.  She focuses on race and politics of making do. 

Looking at one artist who always changes her racial identity as she travels the world.

She studies music become she wants to discover narratives about identity.  She is obsessed with Cher and how her ethnic identity changes over time. 

Nneka is an example of her studies, who has an album out called Concrete Jungle.  She is attempting to engage with what is happening in the globe.  She did not grow up in the US, but identifies with the US due to commercial money.

Redmond:  Popular music gives us a lot of space to re-invite ourselves.  She is writing about anthems, especially how anthems impacted the civil rights movements.  How do we relate to music such as how do shifts in music scores such as women dropping out of the vocals during part of a song impact society.

She was a music major, was trying to figure herself out:  why did she listen to certain songs?

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. History: City of Angels.

Bios stolen from the program guide.

Leo Braudy: is among America’s leading cultural historians and film critics. A professor at USC, he is the author of “Jean Renoir,” a National Book Award finalist. Braudy’s “From Chivalry to Terrorism” was named a “Best of the Best” book by the Los Angeles Times. His latest book is “The Hollywood Sign.” 

John Buntin: is a staff writer at Governing magazine, where he covers crime and urban affairs. He has also worked as a case writer for Harvard’s School of Government. He is the author of two books, “Governing States and Localities” and “L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America’s Most Seductive City.” 

Steven J. Ross: is chairman of the History Department at USC. He has written extensively in the areas of working-class history, social history and film history. Ross’s latest book is “Hollywood Left and Right.” 

D.J. Waldie: received the California Book Award for nonfiction for his book “Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir.” His work, “California Romantica,” became a Los Angeles Times Bestseller in 2007. Recently, he wrote the forward to “Los Angeles in Maps.” 

The following is my interpretation of the panel discussion. There are probably errors and such.

Waldie: We have a sketchy sense of Los Angeles history. We need a workable and useable history of Los Angeles so that we can make good public policy. The Hollywood sign was initially for real estate. New York stories are consoling while Los Angeles stories are apocalyptic.

Buntin: Creating the legend/mythology does a disservice to Los Angeles.

Los Angeles was intentional, created by powerful people. There are many stories to sort out. In 1999, many police archives were destroyed. No city has been shaped by police like Los Angeles.. We can only hope that documents come to light.

Braudy: There are so many layers. Folks originally came for gold and then health and then fame. New York doesn’t care about their past as much as Los Angeles, we’re more connected to our past. The Hollywood sign goes from a real estate advertisement to a sign of aspiration. New York has a linear narrative; Los Angeles is back and forth. “That’s how I become my real self, I act.”

Ross: Los Angeles creates our own history. What is Hollywood’s impact on politics? The Hollywood Left is more visible, but the Hollywood Right has had more impact.

Our history is not taken seriously. New York has the financial markets. Pittsburgh has steel. Detroit has cars. This is serious work. Los Angeles, we have weather and culture.

Hollywood politics are more varied. Movie stars pick an issue: issue politics such as Darfur. Or we have movement politics. We also have image politics: politicians who could win based on the image they’ve created. On the right: John Wayne or Jimmy Stewart. On the left: Oprah Winfrey or George Clooney.

Folks often say about actors, they’re just movie stars, what do they know? Arnold Schwarzenegger used the entertainment media as a way to reach out. Bill Clinton went on Arsenio Hall, but was still on the outskirts of the entertainment media. Arnold knew he didn’t have a chance with mainstream media. Arnold broke out of conventional wisdom. Only 50% vote. The country is split 40/40 with 20% up for grabs (me breaking in: percentages probably don’t work in California). Arnold went after the 50% who don’t vote. He knew he could get on Access Hollywood whenever he wanted. He used those outlets to layout his ideas. He got them to vote.

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: New Paradigms for Leadership in a Global Economy

The following bios are stolen from the Festival program.

Jolanta Aritz.  Is an associate professor of clinical management communication at the USC Marshall School of Business.  She is co-editor of teh new book "Discourse Perspectives on Organizational Communication" with Robyn Walker.

Dave Logan.  Is a New York Times best-selling author and an expert on cultural transformation in the workplace, serving as senior partner at Culture-Sync and on the faculty of the USC Marshall School of Business.

Kirk Snyder.  Is an assistant professor of clinical communication management at USC.  His work has been featured in Time Magazine and the Wall Street Journal.  His business leadership book it "The G Quotient."

Logan:  How we define leadership doesn't work.  Leadership is transformational.  Leadership is a linguistic exercise.  The developmental stages of leadership fall into three main categories.  25% of corporations fall under "my life sucks", 49% fall under "I'm the greatest, you're not" and 22% fall under "we're all great, shared values."

Doesn't believe in an emerging paradigm.  Language cane make you blind.  Leaders must see from various paradigms.  Must be able to jump from one to another.  Tribal leadership.  In Ameirca, we argue inclusiveness, but a lot of the rest of the world doesn't believe this.  We have to remember we're a young country.

People must say I don't have a clue.  Look at it from all points of view.  Throw up hands and say I don't know what to do.  That is leadership.

You've got to be able to get into a fist fight.  People are plotting against you.  Warm and fuzy only goes so far.  

It is perhaps good that folks are dissatisfied with work.  We need this system to die.  We need new organizations.

Corporate response to 2008 was thoughtless.  Must be able to deal better with chaos.

Pacific Rim countries are more autocratic, but younger workers there are more dissatisfied.  Histrocially, autocratic organizations worked well, but we're not an industrial society anymore.

Snyder.  Connections changing leadership.  Being gay didn't improvement management/leadership, but what they went through made them better managers.  We are in a time of low job satisfaction, because employees often know more than the boss.  The boss can't talk down to the employee because news that used to belong just to the CEO is now broadly available.  The CEO job is now about motivating.

New paradigm:  adaptability.  How do we derive meaning.  Corporations that are doing well have transparancy.  Societal value of privacy is over.  These changes are not going away. Managers need to integrate this.

New paradigms may feel touchy/feely, but you still need to make a profit.  You can't be friends with just everyone, your friendship must have a purpose.  People need to be valued, use it to your advantage.  We're in business to make a profit.

Aritz.  What do people do with words.  How can leaders change things with how they use words.  Inspiring.  You can be a directive autocrate:  not caring about buy-in.  You can be a facilitator, which is usually associated with women and asks for buy-in.  You can be a collaborator where no single person drives the group.

Different cultures have different views.  Autocratic usually has poor satisfaction.  Facilitator has more satisfaction.

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Science: Finding the Thread

The following are bios stolen from the festival guide.

Brian Fagan.  Is an internationally known archaeology writer and a former Guggenheim Fellow.  His many books include "The Little Ice Age," "The Great Warming" and "Cro-Magnon." His most recent book is "Elixir: A History of Water and Humankind."

Timothy Ferris. A former newspaper reporter, is the author of a dozen books, among them "Seeing in the Dark," "The Whole Sheband" and Coming of Age in the Milky Way." "The Science of Liberty: Democracy, Reason, and the Laws of Nature" is his latest book.

Holly Tucker. Is an associate professor at Vanderbilt University.  She is the author of "Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution," a 2011 finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology.  Tucker lives in Nashville, Tenn.

The following is my interpretation of what was said at the panel and therefore not necessarily accurate.

Tucker:  Tensions between science and society came up in the story about the first blood transfusion.  The first attempt was due to a race between England and France in the 17th century.  Each wanted to prove you could use animals to transfuse blood to humans.  In France, a crazy fellow was kidnapped.  The guy survived the first two transfusions, but died after the third.  It became a court case and transfusion was banned.

When did scientific inquiry begin?  When did we move from alchemy to chemistry, astrology to astronomy.  Something happened in the 17th century.  There was critical thinking of the past.  For example, there was a belief in blood letting so why would you consider transfusions?  This was questioned.  There were other beliefs such as tying off a testicle in order to have a boy baby.

Publicly funded scientific research actually puts control over ethics.  Public debates about government funding and how far you allow science to go are arguments that have happened in the past.

Fagan.  His book looks at humans and water management.  How do you decide who gets water?  Historically, was done at the community level.  Now people feel entitled to water, which can lead to bad management of water.

Water was given reverence.    Romans and Mayans had water rituals.  At the time power was more important than science.  But when the steam engine was invented, science became more important.

We don't know the impact of the Three Gorges Dam yet.  The dam is preventing silt from flowing down river.  Shanghai is sinking.

Ferris:  60% of college age Americans are enrolled in college.  It is a growth industry.  Excluding South Saharan Africa, 90% of young people are in high school.  Liberal democracy and science are dependent on each other.  Half of humans live in a democracy.  In the past, one might only argue the Dutch Republic was a democracy.

We have a tendency to look back and study the great thinkers of the past.  The formation of academics allowed people to focus on a topic.  Do we really need to study the great writers of the past when we have current contemporaries?

Science is important to government.

We're committed to learn new things.  Curtailing scientific research is not the answer.  There is nothing in science that we should not know.

We can't make reliable predictions about what will happen ten years from now.  It is silly to fear or be optimistic about the future.  In the past, maybe you could be because things didn't change rapidly, but now change is so rapid we can't determine what will happen in the future.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: Robert Kirkman in Conversation with Geoff Boucher

Short bio taken from the LA Times:

Robert Kirkman:  is a best-selling author known for reflecting the cultural zeitgeist of the comic book industry.  He was recently made partner at Image Comics.  AMC adapted his best-selling series, "The Walking Dead," into a TV series.  His latest publication is "Super Dinosaur, Volume 1."

The following isn't meant to perfectly represent what was discussed at the panel, just my interpretation:

Kirkman started off with a joke, saying how he preferred quantity over quality when discussing how The Walking Dead comic series had hit #100.  As for the television series, he's happy with how it is turning out.  As for the comic book versus the television show, he finds that they're rather separate as the comic book is far ahead of the television show and in the comic book Rick has gotten a little crazy due to all he's gone through.  The comic is special as it existed before the show.

In terms of Rick, he has a plot laid out where he wants Rick to do certain things and it is interesting how the character sometimes takes over the plot.

He isn't worried about creative stamina as this is all he ever wanted to do:  a long running comic book that he could do with what he wanted.  He hasn't noticed that he's done this for almost a decade.

He related this to The Hulk, where the original writer of this comic book is still involved.

He finds it to be a challenge going from a comic script to a television script.  A television script is read by more people and so the script has to be entertaining.  A comic script is more of a long e-mail.  Television writing is like writing with a safety net.  Comics are more of a collaboration with the artist.  An artist can spend 10-12 hours on a single page.

He appreciates the fact that he writes other comic books than just The Walking Dead.  He'd be depressed if he just wrote that series.

Casting the Governor was hard.  You wanted to find an actor who didn't mind being the most hated character that ever lived.  David Morrissey embraced that idea.

A joke:  Maybe creating a book called Walking Dead for Kids and in small print:  Not for Kids.

The firing of show runner Frank Darabont was a difficult time for the show.  He can't talk more highly of Glen Mazarra:  the pressure of coming in during the second season and did it without a shutdown.

None of the characters are exactly like him, but will write a dialog like how he'd say it, but then tweaks it.

Zombie fans are awesome and passionate.

Zombies make you very engaged.  While sitting on your coach, it puts you in a very dangerous situation and makes you wonder how you'd react.  

Fan criticize the show, but he takes the harshness with a grain of salt as it shows they love the show.

He has thought about bring Daryl and Merle into his comic book, but feels that would be unfair.  He'll see how it goes.

His favorite episode this past season was when Dale died.  Loved the Hershel/Glenn talk about Maggie.  But he also thought the scene in another episode where the zombie got ripped in half when getting pulled out of the well was cool.

He writes knowing that he needs to hit the climax in his book by page 16 so that he can reach a conclusion.  He does always wear read socks.

His advice to comic book writers who want to break into the scene is to find an artist and write a scene, a short story.  Put together a short pitch.  

If someone doesn't want to get ahead of the television series, they can safely read the first two volumes.

Thief of Thieves maybe heading to television.  It is a story about a thief who wants out.  AMC has optioned it, but it is still a long process before it even gets aired.  He is now writing the pilot.

Lucy Schwartz and Busy Living at The Bootleg

It was off to the Bootleg to catch Lucy Schwartz and Busy Living.  I arrived straight from work.  I usually like to head home first, but Lucy Schwartz was going on at 8 p.m. and I do love her music.  And for this night, she played mostly new material so I am doubly happy that I made it to her set.

Comment of the night:  I can't tell if that's a song from church or from the depths of Hell.

Check out the song list:  I love the Awesome Band comment.  And how about the detailed minutes and seconds for each song.

Busy Living hit the stage next.  They gave a more rock oriented set.

Interesting moment:  the trio from Haim walked in.  When started cheering on Busy Living.  The other two sisters moaned, one said, "Oh no."  They quickly scooted away.  Amusing.  

Note:  Grace Woodroofe had the residency for the month of April.  I stuck around for her set as well.  I will remain silent about it as I'm planning on writing about it on Intraffik.com.


Lucy Schwartz







Busy Living

Seth Greenberg of Virginia Tech fired

I guess Hollywood isn't the only place filled with passive aggressive executives. Who announces a press conference about the firing of their coach without first telling the coach? Apparently, that is how things work in Virginia Tech and their basketball coach, Seth Greenberg.

And here is a classic statement by athletic director Jim Weaver when questioned about the basketball culture, "I'm not here to throw Coach Greenberg under the bus, bottom line, so I'm going to pass on that question."  I think you just tossed the coach under the bus.

I hope Duke never treats a coach like this. Sure, sometimes you need to fire a coach, but you don't need to be passive aggressive about it.

Up on Intraffik: No, Raw Geronimo and Black Flamingo at The Echo

I'm up on Intraffik with a post on No, Raw Geronimo and Black Flamingo. Go check it out.

The Child and Coco Morier at The Bootleg

It was off to The Bootleg to catch an addiction:  The Child.  I was listening.  I was smiling.  Life was good.

Comment of the night (from the audience) #1:  They're from Germany.

Comment of the night (from the audience) #2:  They're leaving the dudes to clean up the stage?

Next up was Coco Morier.  One strategy to find new bands/musicians is to catch bands that play with your one of your favorite bands.  And so on this night I was introduced to Coco Morier.  I think I'll be catching her again.  I clicked "like" on her Facebook page.

Comment:  It feels like an earthquake up here on the stage.

One I got to The Bootleg, the place was crowded.  The door gal told me that an industry event was ending. I need to find a way to get invited to those industry events.  I guess the answer is I need to actually work in the music industry.

The Child

Coco Morier

A Movie Review: Wrath of the Titans

Wrath of the Titans.  Is it possible that one could call this the condensed version of the three Lord of the Rings movies? Well, as a condensed version it didn't do the job all that great. It is a quick 99 minute movie with plenty of action and the occasional humorous moment via Agenor (Toby Kebbell). If I caught the plot point right, the gods are fearful of death (as the human population no longer honors them) so Hades and Ares devise a plan to create fear within the human population and force worship. Blah.

A Movie Review: 21 Jump Street

21 Jump Street. Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) used to attend the same high school. Schmidt was smart. Jenko was the jock. They didn’t interact with each other too much other than Jenko giving Schmidt some verbal abuse. Seven years later they find themselves at the same police academy. After failing miserably at the most basic police assignment (bike cops at a park) they are sent to 21 Jump Street, a unit that deals with undercover work at high schools. Now I say, put aside the question of why you’d send total failures to do investigative work, this is one funny movie. From the humorous take on excessive vehicle explosions in action flicks to changes in high school dynamics (since this was partially written by Jonah Hill, I suspect the changed dynamics is more about what has changed over fifteen years versus seven -- fifteen being the approximate years that Johan Hill has been out of high school while seven being the time leap in the movie), this movie will have you laughing throughout. Best comedy out there since Bridesmaids – to emphasize, this is the best comedy since May 2011.

A Movie Review: John Carter

John Carter. John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) finds himself transported to Mars where he meets some fascinating characters who are entangled in a war. This movie got a lot of press for the huge write-down that Disney needed to take. As for the movie itself? Not bad, but not great. I do love attempts at a grand vision of a new world. For example, in literature, the Dune series. For movies, the first Star Wars trilogy or the Lord of the Rings trilogy (along with the books). An example of a movie that attempted this vision, but didn’t quite make it would be The Chronicles of Riddick. John Carter falls in the camp of Riddick. It just didn’t get there. One reason, and maybe my viewing was ruined by my reading Roger Ebert’s review before hand: if folks can shoot with what appear to be lasers and glide through the air in flying contraptions, why in the world was there so much sword fighting? Of course, one might want to view this through the lens of the Civil War-era when there probably was still a lot of close range sword fighting along with the use of guns. Beyond that, I didn’t feel that certain expects of the movie were explained properly. What exactly was the role of those god-like figures? And why did they not take a more active role in pushing their vision? I know this was all addressed in the movie to some degree so maybe I should give the movie another chance to grow on me.

Santa Anita Park: April 15, 2012

It was off to Santa Anita Park. I took a couple friends who had never gone before. I do believe they had fun. One came out a couple dollars ahead. Another came out $11 down. I came out an amazing plus $0.55. That's right, $0.55. We got into the track for free. As we were entering a guy gave us free passes, which included free entry into the Club House. It was my first time in the Club House. A nice area of the Park.

I came out ahead by only $0.55, but I believe this was the first time I won at least one bet on every race (we came in late, so we missed the first race). If luck had played out a little better, I would have been up significantly more as I picked the correct horses for races 2 and 3 for the trifectas, but the win/place/show didn't cooperate. I did win an exacta in the 8th race, but I only won $2.90. Why so little? The winning horse was expected to win. I believe the final odds came in at like 1/5. And there were only four horses in the race.

A fun day.

Dated Photo
 

Downtown/Union at Casey's Irish Pub

Casey's Irish Pub isn't one of my normal stops, but I've actually been there twice in the last couple weeks. Downtown/Union has a residency there.  I've seen these guys a couple of times.  Love their sets.  I don't know if this is the pattern, but on this night they were the first band up (or maybe the second, I showed up after they got on stage).  

 

Mr. Downstairs, The GT350s, Sunfall and Dear Left Brain at Club Moscow

Off to Club Moscow, a night I love because I'm always introduce me to new bands. The GT350s came up first. I'm not sure they knew how strict Club Moscow is about the start times.  Sunfall and Dear Left Brain followed. Sunfall had a bad connection that delayed their set. There was a lot of running back and forth.  It all worked out and their fans showed support.  Dear Left Brain's lead singer had a one gallon container of water next to him. No, he didn't drink it all.  The main band was Mr. Downstairs, which has some sweet catchy tunes.

Joke of the night: How much does a polar bear weigh?  Enough to break the ice.

The GT350s



Sunfall



Dear Left Brain



Mr. Downstairs

Jenny O playing the Bootleg

I was exhausted from a lack of sleep over the weekend, but that didn't stop me from heading out on a Monday night to check out Jenny O.

Comment of the night: Can I have less acustic guitar on the iPad?

Always a lovely night with Jenny O.  I wish I could have stuck around for the residency, but I'll be back around.

Murderland, Mikey Erg and The Maxies at the Blue Star

It was off to the Blue Star last Saturday. Yep, it does take me awhile to post photos. Playing that night was Murderland, Mikey Erg and The Maxies. Murderland really impressed.  This was my first time seeing them and I loved their set.  Mikey Erg gave a one man punk show.  The Maxies entertained, as always.  Unfortunately, I couldn't stick around for French Exit.

Murderland



Mikey Erg



The Maxies

A Movie Review: Jeff, Who Lives at Home

Jeff, Who Lives at Home. This is one of those movies that critics gave thumbs up to and I simply don’t get it. Jeff (Jason Segel) lives at home, a bit too old to be doing so. He gets a random call. The guy on the other end asks for Kevin. Believing that nothing happens without a reason, he tries to figure out why someone was calling for Kevin. His mother, Sharon (Susan Sarandon), also calls and asks him to go to the store. Off he heads with the name Kevin stuck in his head.

Along the way, the movie introduces us to Jeff’s brother, Pat (Ed Helms), and his wife, Linda (Judy Greer). In my mind, the movie should have focused more on Pat and Linda. Their relationship is painfully self-destructing, mainly due to Pat’s lack of respect for his wife’s opinions. But instead this movie takes us on a meandering adventure with Jeff, which means the movie takes us on the idiotic search for reason behind why someone might call a wrong phone number and ask for Kevin. The multiple connections to "Kevin" makes one roll their eyes.

Up on Intraffik: The Child

I'm up on Intraffik with a post about a recent favorite: The Child.

And a most embarrassing error was corrected.

Sometimes a morning starts off with complaints

This past Sunday, Easter, I'm driving to the Hollywood Farmers Market.  I come up to the dreaded Los Feliz/San Fernando intersection in Glendale.  There is a red light camera there.  I hate red light cameras, but I despise this one.  The problem is that the stoplight can switch from red to green to red in less than 10 seconds (maybe it is less than 5 seconds).  You can be the third car at the red light and as you're entering the intersection, the light turns from yellow to red.  Both roads are four lane roads so it takes a few seconds to get through the intersection when you're driving at five miles an hour.  I did look up Glendale's red light camera policy and know that if you're in the intersection when the lights turn yellow that you don't need to worry about a ticket, but it is just so irritating that they put a red light camera at this spot where the stoplight doesn't even allow for three cars to go through before switching back to red.  It just feels like a ticket trap.

After doing my Farmers Market shopping, I walked back to my car and noticed a couple Metro employees hanging around.  Their Metro vehicle:  a GMC Yukon.  And you wonder why Los Angeles is broke.

Next up was the gas station.  A driver decides to pull up at the very first gas pump instead of the further open gas pump.  Now I ask:  isn't it common courtesy to pull up to the furthest open pump so that another driver can just pull up behind you?

A Movie Review: Safe House

Safe House. Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) is working at a safe house in South Africa. This isn’t the most exciting assignment and he wants out as soon as possible. It isn’t long before the excitement picks up. Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington), a rouge CIA agent, turns himself in at the US Consulate in Cape Town. He is quickly taken to Weston’s safe house for interrogation. The safe house is soon attacked. Weston and Frost escape, but are on the continued run from this group of men.

This movie doesn’t break any interesting ground. You know that at nearly every turn that this gang of gunmen will show up no matter where Frost and Weston hide. You also know that the only way that this can happen is if there is some inside help. What keeps you glued to the screen:  Washington brings an intensity as the disillusioned ex-CIA agent and Ryan Reynolds brings the eagerness of a new agent. Does this mean one should go out and catch this movie in the theaters? Probably more like a rental title.

A Book Review: Under the Dome by Stephen King

Under the Dome by Stephen King. The book version I have has 1,074 pages. So it is one thick book. It might be thick, but it is a quick read (well, not as quick as perhaps a John Grisham book, but considering the length of the book it is a quick one). I read one quote on the front cover that calls this the best Stephen King book ever. I don't agree, but that doesn't mean it isn't a page turner.

The book tells the story of a town that becomes sealed off from the rest of the world when a dome descends over it.  Only trace amounts of water and air can penetrate the dome.  Within days, total chaos descends:  rape, murders, false accusations, political manipulation, suicides.

I kept on thinking:  would a small town where the total population appears to be less than 1,000 really behave in the manner that Stephen King describes?  Who really knows.  There are certain aspects that I question, but in the end I believe he describes a very likely possibility -- especially given the set-up that he presents us with.        

One problem I have with the book is that there are so many characters that sometimes I felt the writing was confusing. For example, towards the end of the book (pages 1052-1053) he has a conversation between two individuals and then switches to a conversation between four individuals and then back to the two individuals. When he went back to the two individuals he wrote a sentence: "What bag?" he asked . . . Personally, I was like so who is this "he?" I had to go back to figure out who "he" was. I don't know if my confusion is due to Stephen King's writing or my own lack of comprehension.

The Child: "The President" video

A music video by one of my favorite local Los Angeles bands.

Michael Davis with Lions at the Silverlake Lounge

I generally prefer to see at least two bands when I go out, but on a recent Monday night I was only able to catch the residency band at the Silverlake Lounge, Michael Davis with Lions.  It was a long day at work and things came up and so I ended up going later than I would have liked.  And well, they also went on stage at 10:30 p.m., which I always operate on the assumption that the residency bands at the Lounge start somewhere between 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.  Maybe things have changed up.  Anyways, back to Michael Davis with Lions.  A wonderful sound that reduced those work stress tensions.

As always, I really wished more folks would show up to the Lounge on Monday nights.

The Mo-odds and Chance & the Choir at Casey's Irish Pub

It was off to Casey's Irish Pub to catch The Mo-odds and Chance and the Choir.  Chance and the Choir gave one inspiring performance.  It was a requirement as the drummer took the chance of getting fired from his job to play the gig.  The Mo-odds had a big time fan that night.  Okay, so everyone knew he was a little "faced."  He did keep things entertaining.  

Chance and the Choir



The Mo-odds

A Book Review: Saving Fish from Drowning

Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan. A group of friends travel through China and Burma. When one young member is mistaken as a fulfill of prophecy, they are tricked (kidnapped) into spending time in the jungles of Burma. The story is told through a spirit, a friend of the group who died just before the trip.

It has been awhile since I last read an Amy Tan book. This book was a pleasant read and amusing. The spirit friend is able to understand the intent of the people in the book so you have this interesting situation where you know exactly what is happening and why folks are acting in a certain way, but the characters in the book are rather unaware of the true intentions of others, which often results in false perceptions.

A Movie Review: Chronicle

Chronicle. This movie is about three high school guys who gain telekinetic powers after a brief encounter with an object that one assumes is alien. We have Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan) who is an outsider, bullied by his classmates and his father. There is Matt Garetty (Alex Russell), a philosophical driven young man, who seems to occupy a space as the semi-cool high school kid, not overly popular, but well liked. And finally we have Steve Montgomery (Michael B. Jordan) who is the sports star who wants a career in politics and so is running for class president.

I tend to avoid high school centered movies. I’m older and really can’t relate, but the critics loved this movie so I decided to take a chance on it – it also had that Sci-Fi genre label, which I can be a sucker for at times. I really enjoyed this movie even though I feel it had some flaws. I felt the outcome was obvious.  You know immediately that if anyone will abuse their new found powers it will be Andrew. A more interesting scenario might have been Matt abusing his power, reasoning his way through his philosophical mind about why it all made sense to do so.  Also, I just couldn't see these three individuals ever getting along as friends.  I could see Steve and Matt fitting in well together. Steve is the politician. Matt could be his voice of reason, the chief of staff type. Andrew just didn’t seem to have the personality that would fit in well with Steve and yet the two seemed to gel well together.

But who cares about those complaints. This movie brings a wonderful mix of Heroes and X-Men.
And the sequel: I’m sure the alien contraption passed along powers that the three haven’t totally explored yet even if the ending appeared somewhat conclusive on the matter.

A Movie Review: The Grey

The Grey. Ottway (Liam Neeson) works near/at the arctic circle, an oil facility. This obviously isn’t the ideal location to spend your life so the job attracts those attempting to escape life (from flashbacks we can assume that Ottway’s wife has passed away) or needing a new start (due to criminal records).  The only way to occasionally re-acquaint yourself with normality is to take a flight down to Anchorage, Alaska.  On this one occasion with Ottway and his other co-workers, the plane crashes. Ottway and six other surviving individuals must attempt to find civilization while being hunted by wolves.

I have to say this movie didn’t excite me. Yes, I understand it is more philosophical versus action packed, but I think by the middle of the movie you’ve pretty much determined what the ending will be. Also, the philosophy is rather pedestrian.

And I couldn’t help but have immediate issues with the movie. Did they really need to leave the ruins of the aircraft and seek the protection of the forest? Maybe Ottway had a point about leading the group to the trees, but it soon looked like a mistake when the wolves started to pick away at the group anyways. One argument for leaving the crash site was because they needed to find civilization on their own, because the rescue units would never be able to find them. Black box, anyone? I thought the black box gave out signals. The other argument was that the open terrain gave no protection against the wolves and yet later the group of men find their backs against a “natural wall” and the argument is made that at least the wolves can only attack from one direction. Well, if you set up yourselves defensively within part of the damaged plane, wouldn’t you have the same protection?

I will say one thing, you half suspect that this movie closely reflects how Liam Neeson personally dealt with the death of his own wife, which makes it feel like you are invading his privacy.  This also makes it a reason not to see this movie.

A Movie Review: Haywire

Haywire. Mallory (Gina Carano) works for a for-profit special forces corporation. She is set-up by her employee to take the fall for a murder. She is able to uncover this plot and heads off for some revenge.
I have this love/hate relationship with Steven Soderbergh. I loved Ocean’s Eleven. I hated Ocean’s Twelve. I loved Contagion. I hated Informant! (well, the portion that I saw, I stopped watching after awhile). As for Hirewire, I am neutral on it. Neutral in the sense that this is a movie that you might want to watch while spending a lazy Sunday at home, but not necessarily at a movie theater.

Up on Intraffik: Dollyrots, Queen Caveat and The Cowboys

Up on intraffik with something other than fashion. Viper Room. Dollyrots. Queen Caveat. The Cowboys. Go check it out.