Finished The Shadow Club Rising by Neal Shusterman.
This takes place after the events of The Shadow Club. Not surprisingly, nobody at their school trusts the members of the (now-disbanded) Shadow Club. And when a new student (the incredibly obnoxious and unfortunately named Alec Smartz) starts getting hideous pranks played on him, everyone (students, teachers, the principal) believes it's because of The Shadow Club in general and Jared in particular.
So Jared has to prove his innocence. I preferred this to the first book but still like Unwind most of all. :)
Recently Hedwig and the Angry Inch was inducted into the AV Club’s “New Cult Canon”, prompting me to revisit it. I first “discovered” the film on a video tape I picked up on impulse from a charity shop, a couple of years ago. I vaguely remembered the film getting good reviews when it came out, and seeing a big glossy book about it when I was in SF one summer, but other than that all I had to go on was the blurb on the back of the box. The film kicks straight in with a punky little number called “Tear Me Down”, sung by what appears to be a drag queen dressed as the Berlin Wall, in the cosy setting of a family-friendly chain restaurant. Needless to say, it was a bit of a “WTF!?” moment, and I was hooked immediately. I couldn’t help wishing that all rock bands had the wit and visual flair of the fictional band rocking out on the screen in front of me, and that all lead singers could share even a tenth of Hedwig’s showmanship.
Still, there was something about the back-up singer with the beard and bandana that was troubling me... I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was something slightly odd about him. As the film wound on, it became more obvious... he wasn’t a “he” at all, but a woman in drag... a woman named Miriam Shor, in fact. Apparently she’s been a part of Hedwig since it was a way-off-Broadway theatre piece, which explains why the three leads had such a tight act worked out. It’s just a joy to watch the performance scenes... scattered as they are through a tragicomic story that follows the rise of a young “girly boy” named Hedwig from the stark poverty of Communist East Germany to dime-store decadence and gossip-rag infamy in America. Serving as writer, director and lead actor, John Cameron Mitchell presents us with a profoundly sympathetic protagonist, especially for those on the margins of the mainstream, but it’s hard to stomach the way he bullies the benign, heartsick Yitzhak. I’m glad I upgraded from my old VHS copy to the DVD, because (among many other fascinating and illuminating extras) it features a deleted scene depicting the first meeting between their characters, and how within seconds of being introduced, Hedwig had humbled and housebroken his biggest fan. Shame, shame, shame.
It confused me a little to read the AV Club’s critic define Yitzhak’s ambition to join a cruise-ship production of Rent as a desire to escape into "comforting mediocrity". I’m not quite as avid a fan of Rent as I once was, but it’s hardly the toothless Disney cartoon that their writer makes it out to be. “Sodomy, it’s between God and me!” is not a line you’re likely to hear in the next Hannah Montana movie, is it? Or perhaps I’m just too easily shocked/impressed? No doubt if I’d been born and raised in a city with its own drag clubs and avant-garde art-punk scene, I’d be a little more jaded about such things. And I admit, if forced to choose between the two, I’d probably plump for Hedwig, because the grinding tragedy of Rent is a lot harder to take seriously post-Team America... but this small-town hick will still remember it as an exceptionally powerful piece of musical theatre. And you can take my signed programme when you pry it out of my cold, dead hand!
Finished Hunger by Michael Grant (the sequel to Gone).
This is more of the same (kids surviving in a world without parents) but there are more bad things thrown in in this one. (No, I'm not getting more specific; if you're curious, read them.) :)
I think I prefer Susan Beth Pfeffer's books, but these are good, too.
Huzzah! Even though Griffin's latest pilot, New Town, wasn't given a full series by the BBC, it did pick up a brace of nominations for the BAFTA Scotland awards, and last night took two of the shiny mask thingies home! One for "Best TV Drama", and one for "Best Female TV actor" (Daniela Nardini)... apparently one of its younger cast members, Rose Leslie, also picked up a New Talent Award for her role, earlier this year. So... yay!!! Note: Awards only matter when they go to the right people. :)
Finished Gone by Michael Grant.
This is a pretty fitting series to start right after reading Life as We Knew It and The Dead and the Gone (and right before Under the Dome), because there are similar themes.
In this one, everyone over the age of 14 disappears, all at once. (So kids 14 and younger are now responsible for themselves/each other.)
To make matters more interesting, some of these kids start developing powers. (Think X-Men style mutations.)
Not surprisingly, they start to break into two camps--Team Sam (good) and Team Caine (awful).
This is an interesting series. (I'll be starting book 2 tonight or tomorrow; Gone ended with no real sense of resolution.)
Finished The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer. This is a companion book to Life As We Knew It.
Alex lives with his parents and two younger sisters in New York City. When the asteroid hits the moon, his mom is at work (she works in a hospital's OR) and his dad is in Puerto Rico for a funeral.
Alex has to figure out a way to keep his family safe and together, at least until one or both of his parents comes home.
I think I preferred Life As We Knew It, but this was good, too.
These books (there's going to be a third out in April) are so scary, too. I don't think I'd do well in a world where I'd have to acquire food someplace that isn't a grocery store (or any of the places where we normally get food) and I certainly don't know how to cook and wash clothes without electricity and running water.
Finished Finding Purpose Beyond Our Pain by Paul Meier and David L. Henderson for Thomas Nelson.
The thesis with this book is that hard times can either bring you closer to God or drive you farther from God. When bad things happen, it tends to be for one of two reasons:
1) God is using these incidents to improve you in some way. For instance, if you have a problem with patience, perhaps you will be put in situations where you have no choice but to develop that quality. :)
2) God didn't want this to happen, but will work within these circumstances so your life will continue to be what He wants. This is where free will comes in. He doesn't "let" you get mugged, but if you trust Him, He can take your fear away. (as an example.)
I don't think this would be a good book to read while you're going through difficult times (although maybe that's just me; hearing about how God works in mysterious ways after my dad died made me want to hit people in the face) but I think it'd be comforting to read after, once things are calming down a little.
I do have some issues with some of the things the authors said. First, as someone who's struggled with faith, I can tell you that atheists don't think that there's no point in being a good person in this life. You can be a moral or ethical person without believing in God. (And really, isn't there something to be said for doing the right thing because it's the right thing, not 'cause you think God will smite you?)
And second, they trotted out Carrie Prejean as an example of faith and not, say, prejudice. Yes, she has every right to believe whatever she wants. But let's not act like she isn't a bigot. If she had said that she didn't think black people/Hindu people/atheists/immigrants or any other group shouldn't be allowed to get married, we wouldn't even have to have discussions on whether or not she's prejudiced. And yes, it is the same thing. :)
Finished Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer.
This book is told through a series of diary entries. Miranda is a normal teenager, living with her mom and two brothers (one older, one younger). There are two noteworthy events for her at first--her dad's second wife is pregnant and she's going to be the godmother. And an asteroid is going to hit the moon, which everyone's excited about.
Except it turns out the asteroid was bigger than anyone thought, because it knocks the moon closer to earth.
This may not seem like a huge deal. Until you remember that the moon controls the tides, so there are a lot of tsunamis. There are also a lot of earthquakes and volcanic activity (something about gravitational pull; Miranda doesn't get much more specific).
Because of the tsunamis, oil refineries are mostly gone (gas goes up to $12 a gallon) and there's not much electricity. And after all the eruptions, plants aren't growing so well, either (volcanic ash blocks the sun, which means no light for growing). And of course there's no electricity, so grocery stores aren't open very long.
It's scary to think about how screwed we'd be if a huge event like this actually happened. Still, a very good book.
(And tomorrow I have to go to the store anyway, so I may be stocking up on canned goods.)
Finished Fallen by Lauren Kate (this is a review copy; it comes out December 8).
Luce (short for Lucinda) is about to start school at Sword & Cross (a sort of cross between boarding school and an alternative school for troubled and/or dangerous children). She's there because of a mysterious incident involving a fire that led to a boy's death. (That's about all we know, because she doesn't remember it.)
Not long after arriving, she meets Daniel, who is really, really, ridiculously good looking. He smiles...then gives her the finger.
She's still fascinated.
This is a suspense/love story.
Luce is a good heroine. She's smart and easy to root for. Daniel is a fairly typical love interest (I don't think it's a spoiler for me to say that) although I wish that authors would let go of the "He's cruel because he cares so, so much" rationale.
The writing is cheesy in parts but the story is compelling, so I forgive it. (Also, since I got a review copy, it's possible that some of that got edited out.)
Another one from the vaults... I first saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the early years of adolescence, when it was first broadcast on TV, and it’s been a favourite of mine ever since. I’m not going to pretend that I understood all of the jokes and references... in fact, I’m not sure I understand them all now either, even after multiple viewings... but that was always part of its appeal. Growing up in a small grey town, it was an all-singing, all-dancing window into an alien world... a more colourful, more passionate, more fantastical world. As a drama student and wannabe writer, I ate it up with a spoon. In later years, at university, I would share a classroom with students who insisted that all fiction should be “naturalistic”, and consist of abusive alcoholics shouting at each other in dingy squats... which just strikes me as a waste of good celluloid/video. I’ve always preferred directors who toyed with reality, or ignored it altogether in favour of their own nightmares and dreamscapes. Leave the kitchen-sink stuff to TV, and embrace the phantasmagoria, dammit!
RHPS has its flaws, of course, no doubt about that... giving Dr Scott a wacky German accent actually undermines a pretty good scripted gag, for instance... but plenty good jokes survive, and ultimately the songs take the curse off any draggy plot elements (no pun intended). Richard O’Brien’s wordplay is always a joy, no matter how the original arrangements age. I strongly recommend checking out his contributions to The Return of Captain Invincible... if only to witness Christopher Lee’s evil mastermind, Dr Midnight, tempting Alan Arkin’s recovering-alcoholic superhero with a wet-bar, via the medium of music! “If you don’t name your poison, I’ll have to get the boys in, and you’ll never see another tequila sunrise...” Genius. The songs in RHPS remain rock solid, no matter how many punks take a swipe at them, and how many other languages they’re translated into. It’s a crying shame that O’Brien was so naive about selling the film rights to his stage-show, and ended up earning bugger all from the midnight screenings that confirmed its cult status, and the mountain of merchandising that continues to pile up on our shelves.
Speaking of which, the only piece of merchandising I own, aside from the published screenplay, is a figurine of Columbia, modelled after Little Nell. Obviously there are a number of very attractive women in RHPS, and Susan Sarandon was arguably the star... but for me, Little Nell was always the focal point. Frankly its hard to miss her in the gold sequin top-hat and jacket, tippety-tapping her way across the ballroom, but she’s also the most fun and exuberant character, besides having a voice that can cut through your ears like cheese-wire. And I mean that as compliment. I was delighted to discover that her solo singles were included in the boxset of CDs, but was sad to see how little material she actually recorded. If only she’d released a full album, at the very least! I could listen to her sing all day, and never get bored... someday I hope a mad scientist will create a machine that allows me to apply her striking strine to any song I choose.
RHPS was followed by a semi-sequel called Shock Treatment. Hampered by industrial action, the results are “uneven”, to put it kindly. The ratio of jokes to expositional blah is a lot lower, and the plot is far less coherent... but there are some fun performances, and thanks to the DVD player’s skip button, it’s possible to enjoy the musical set-pieces on their own merits... and there’s plenty there to enjoy. Nell gets less exposure (in every sense of the word) as a supporting character called Nurse Ansalong, but she does score a couple of good lines here and there, and another cheeky outfit to dance around in. Incidentally, Jessica Harper, who takes the lead role of Janet, would also be on my shortlist of Singers Who Should Have Sung More Songs. While the threat of a RHPS remake fills me with, well, horror, I wouldn’t mind someone taking another swing at ST. It had such a neat (not to mention prescient) premise, inviting us into a smug, all-American town which had been converted into a TV studio, with the citizens being drawn into life-altering “reality shows” at the whim of a shadowy sponsor. It could have been The Truman Show of its day... but funner!
Ah well, time for bye-byes...
My Groups
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The Vox Meetup Group Updated: Yesterday
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This American Life® Group Updated: Nov 1, 2009
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