Ever gotten in a movie and come out thoroughly disappointed, b/c it either featured no people of color in speaking parts or only stereotypical people of color in speaking parts? Well, I was so frustrated with the complete and utter lack of PoC in the movie PAUL, that I’ve started including an Anti-PAUL Report at the end of all of my movie reviews. First up, YOUR HIGHNESS and SOURCE CODE:

YOUR HIGHNESS

Other than the blatant sexism, woman-based ageism, Danny McBride’s general mien and delivery, rape jokes (hilarious!), and the ridiculous amounts of gay jokes (attn: straight male comedians – this meme is way past it’s due date, please start coming up with fresh material already), YOUR HIGHNESS was … okay. But James Franco and Natalie Portman were both really good in this, and there were a few chuckles, so it’s not a complete thumbs down.

Anti-Paul Report

Were There any People of Color In It? Yes. One black guy and a couple of Asian guys.

Did Any of Them Have Speaking Parts? Yes … I think so. I can’t remember what any of them said, but I’m fairly sure that they spoke.

How Many of Them Were From THE WIRE? Zero

Were Any of Them Were Bad Guys? Sadly, every person of color with a speaking part was. However, there were a few cheering peasants in the background, who seemed perfectly nice.

SOURCE CODE

What’s It About? A soldier is sent back in time in 8-minute intervals to discover the identity of the terrorist who blew up a Chicago-bound metro train.

What Makes It Different: We only get movies like GROUNDHOG’S DAY once or twice a decade.

4 Things that I Loved:

1. Instant adrenaline. The story begins with the soldier waking up on a metroliner with no memory. He then has to figure out what’s going on from there, finally piecing the story together with the little bits of information he’s been given. As a result we as the audience are invested from minute one. This isn’t the kind of movie that you pause. Once you start watching it, you’re in.

2. The structure. I’m a sucker for a repeating storyline, and I particularly love a story with several do-overs.

3. The moral lesson. Though ostensibly a sci-fi adventure, the overall moral conclusion of SOURCE CODE turns out to be the similar to one made famous by a popular old play, which is still performed at high schools and community theaters all around the world. I went into the movie in a terrible mood and left in a wonderful one.

4. The meta physics. Though, I’m sure this aspect would drive any real scientist crazy, I love the final meta idea put forth in this movie.

What I Didn’t Like: I didn’t quite realize that Jake Gyllenhaal’s not much of an actor until seeing this movie. Luckily it didn’t matter. Also, a female character makes a decision that so goes against the larger good, that I found it hard to believe that her character as written would do this for any reason other than accomplishing a major plot point.

Anti-Paul Report

Were There any People of Color In It? Yes! Several!

Did Any of Them Have Speaking Parts? Yes!

How Many of Them Were From THE WIRE? Zero

Were Any of Them Soldiers? Shockingly, no. In fact Jeffrey Wright’s (fantastically-acted) character was a brilliant scientist. And there was a great scene that actually managed to make racial profiling seem a little funny. Good job!

As a writing mom, my time to read anything but a stack of how-to books has become all but nil. It takes me months to read one physical book of fiction and just a few weeks of my walking commute to listen to an audiobook, so my Audible.com account has become even more crucial. This is all to say that when they had a $5 sale a few months ago, I went insane, purchasing all sorts of books I had never or only vaguely heard of. WONDROUS AND STRANGE by Lesley Livingston was one of those books. Here are my thoughts:

What it’s About: Kelley, an actress playing the Faerie Queen Titania in a MIDSUMMER’S NIGHT DREAM gets mixed up with real faeries and a very handsome changeling Janus Guard named Sonny.

What Makes it Different: I loved the conceit of an actress who is playing a faerie queen actually interacting with real faeries. Also, I think just about every 17yo dreams about living on her own in New York City. A

What I Loved: As someone who writes lovingly about L.A., it’s nice to see someone with a huge heart-on for NYC. Central Park, the Theater District, and even Tavern on the Green are all given faerie makeovers. I also loved the title and Sonny, the love interest and co-narrarator. And anyone who has ever worked in theater will appreciate Kelley’s determination to wrap her adventure up by opening curtain.

What I Didn’t Like: The main character has a stubborn streak that really doesn’t make any sense at times. Also,  the story ran up on one of my bigger pet peeves: Refusal of the mystery. Basically Kelley’s told something pretty extraordinary toward the middle of the story and other than making one phone call to see if it’s true, she does no detective work, even when another character offers to tell her the answer to a pretty big mystery, she says she doesn’t want to know for no good reason, other than it would get everyone to the next plot point if she didn’t know what she should have been dying to know. In general, her lack of curiosity caused me not to like her.

Writing Lessons Learned:

Don’t let your main character in on a mystery if she’s not going to handle her business. That’s a really irritating experience for some readers. And though this was a first in the series, I find myself not wanting to move on with someone so passive. But…

A great love interest can often trump a main character. Sonny, the Janus Guard, is a sensitive guy and a man-of-action. Most importantly, when presented with a mystery, he actually digs in. Luckily a lot of the book is from Sonny’s POV.

Make us wonder about our every day lives: Livingston gives us a lot of faeries living among us. There a siren who busks, and many other magical beings who work real-word jobs. The next time I’m in New York, I’m going to be giving the more interesting New Yorkers a second look.

To Whom Would I Recommend This Book: Teenagers, People on Team Faerie, Anyone Who Says That Midsummer’s Night Dream is Their Favorite Shakespeare Play, Any Teen Who Really Doesn’t Want to Read MIDSUMMER’S NIGHT DREAM — this book will definitely pique their interest.

Click on the cover pic to buy WONDROUS STRANGE at Amazon!

The good news is that I won’t be swamped next week, because I’m sending the second novel off to my agent today.

The even better news is that I’ve officially started my third novel, and I wrote all about it over at THE GIRLFRIENDS BOOK CLUB blog. Check that post out HERE. (The featured image of WD-40 will totally make sense after you read it).

Til next week, stay fierce and nerdy, my friends.

Love,
etc

What’s It About: How we die.

What Makes It Different: It’s interesting, b/c we see death on television and read about it in books all the time. But I think there’s probably very few of us that understand what happens in both medical and physical terms when we die.

What I Loved: Guys, real death is really, really, really oh-so fascinating. Much to my poor MIL’s horror, I could not stop talking about this book as I read it. As a writer, it made me much less blase about death. As a mortal, it made me think about how I would want my own death to go. And as a mother, it made me want to make a living will, so that my own death wouldn’t be an unnecessary burden to others. It’s hard to explain why I liked this book so much, but what I think it comes down to is understanding. By understanding death, I now don’t feel quite so scared of it.

What I Didn’t Like: Dr. Nuland talks a lot about a somewhat poisonous hospital culture and how 85% of us will probably die in one. But he doesn’t talk much about how to avoid that fate. I guess that’s another book.

Dying Lessons Learned

Plan your life out before the age of 65. CH and I often talk about what we’re going to do “after we retire.” But the truth is that it’s probably better to go on the around the world cruise sooner than later — like after your kids head off to college as opposed to after you retire. Unless differ from the majority of Americans and are super-fit, creakiness will set in after 65. It’s probably better to assume that you won’t be able to do as much after that. So save the trip to Las Vegas and the staycations for when you’re in your twilight years, and start planning that African safari for your 40s/50s. Basically live your life as if you won’t be able to physically do as much after you’re 65.

1 out of 10 people gets Alzheimers. That’s a huge statistic, and that’s why it’s so important to have a living will. What’s interesting about the Alzheimers chapter is that it was harrowing — but not so much for the Alzheimer’s patient himself. It’s certainly an undignified way to go, but most often the patient isn’t aware that he has the disease or even that he is suffering. It’s much, much worse for the family of the Alzheimer patient. If Alzheimer’s runs in your family, do your loved ones a favor and make a living will and also save accordingly, so that they can put you in a home if it comes to that. You think this sounds harsh, but if you had read the Alzheimer’s chapter, you, too, will start thinking about all the things you can do to prevent your loved ones the years of pain and suffering (for them, not necessarily for you) that accompanies this disease.

Sudden death is maybe the best way to go. I will say that having read all the ways one could die, it did give me some solace about my mother’s own sudden death by blood clot. At least she didn’t suffer beforehand. At least we didn’t suffer beforehand. In many ways if you have to die early, she had the best possible death. Really, I can’t think of a better early death than the one she had.

To Whom Would I Recommend This Book: This all sounds, really morbid, but I can’t stress enough that I totally get why my old professor recommended this book to me. It truly puts death in perspective, including your own. So this is one of the few books that I would recommend to any mortal living on this earth.

Click on the book cover to buy HOW WE DIE at Amazon!

featured image credit: an untrained eye

What It’s About: I lost track, but I believe it takes place over 20 years in the lives of Emma and Dexter, two people who connect at a university graduation party. Each chapter visits one or both of them on one day of that year.

What Makes It Different: A former actor and a screenwriter on the side, Nicholls has an innate sense of drama that lends itself to a cinematic story with fully universal truths. I didn’t have much in common with either of the main characters, but I found myself identifying with these two people more than I’ve identified with fictional characters in quite a long time. The book just resonates.

What I Loved: Everything. I liked that Nicholls really “gets” your 20s. I love that he really “gets” your 30s. I love that I didn’t always necessarily like the two main characters at the beginning, but by the end of the book I loved both characters beyond all reason, not because they were likeable, but because they were so very real. So looking forward to the movie version, starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, which comes out this summer!

What I Didn’t Like: Much like Lev’s Grossman’s THE MAGICIANS, this book really takes it time. Toward the beginning that might grate a bit, but by the end, I could see the writing lesson in taking so long. You’ll find it below.

Writing Lessons Learned.

If your characters, aren’t likeable, really let us get to know them. If you have a likeable character, we don’t really have to spend a ton of time getting to know him or her. All likeable characters are pretty much likeable in the same way: they’ve got pluck and beauty. They’re smart and loyal and tend to embody all those heroic traits that we’re taught to admire as children. Unlikeable characters either have to fall into two camps: funny or relatable. In the absence of things in common, the easiest way to relate to someone is simply to understand her or him. And the easiest way to understand someone is to spend tons and tons of time with someone. Voila, your audience is relating. But if you attempt this make sure your character is truly engaging and interesting. There is nothing worse than reading a long tome with boring characters. In other words, if you’re going to attempt unlikeable protagonists, you had better have a talent for character.

Ixnay on the expositionay. A lot of important stuff happens in between the days that are detailed in each chapter. And many times as opposed to telling us what happened, Nicholl’s either has it come up in conversation or even more simply has his characters responding in some non-expositional way to what happened in-between. It’s hard to explain this device as I’m still not entirely sure how he did it, but the result was that it felt like a book without exposition. And it made me think about how to better handle exposition myself for future books.

Read the book. ONE DAY is terrifically written and terrifically engaging. Figuring out how Nicholls pulled off this feat is a writing lesson in itself. I think this might be my favorite book by a British male since Alex Garland’s THE BEACH.

To Whom Would I Recommend This Novel: Anyone Writing About Relationships, Gudrun Cram-Drach, Roya Hamadani, Reads4Pleasure, and Those Who Didn’t Go to Their 10-Year College Reunions But Are Thinking About Going to Their 2oth.

Click on the book cover to buy ONE DAY at Amazon!

1. Zack, though I was quite a drinker in my younger Japan-grad schoool-derby doll-starving artists days, for whatever reason, I have never had more than a couple of beer on St. Patrick’s Day. Go figure. Maybe next lifetime… [Tall Glass: Boys and Girls Go Wild on St. Patrick's Day]

As someone who's trying to keep this 40 pounds she lost in 2010 off, I mightily appreciated Debra Goykhman's oat cake recipe referral. Click on the pic for the full blogumn.

2. R.B. one of the things I adore about living in L.A. is that people are always surprising you. I’ve had strangers be both insanely rude and insanely kind to me here, and I seriously wouldn’t want live and work in any other American city. Though, I do have dreams of relocating to Hawaii, which is even warmer and way more generally kinder. But if you take Hawaii off the board, L.A.’s definitely where it’s at for me. [Hyperbolic Tendencies: Wherein I Learn that the Road to Heaven Is Paved with Coffee]

3. Unlike Josh Pullin, I have really fond memories of being a latchkey kid — though I myself didn’t become one until I was like 8 or 9. The freedom, the TV, the sugar! Boyo, my daughter can only dream of such a life. And, also much like Josh, it blows my mind how different her childhood will be from my own. I don’t think she’ll even be able to wrap her head around the concept of getting her own self home from school until she’s like in high school — maybe college. Isn’t that wild? [Stay-at-Home Nerd: The Latchkey Kid]

4. Seriously trying to come up with a good excuse to make “hung like a gorilla” my new catchphrase. Any ideas? [Ask Dr. Miro: Hung Like a Gorilla]

5. The disaster in Japan made me realize how well-prepared we are in case of a disaster. Really the biggest thing holding us back right now is the fact that I have no sense of orientation. So if I’m more than a mile or two from our place when the disaster happens and the 3g towers go down as well, I’ll be in deep doo-doo. If you’re not amateur survivalists like us though, I deeply urge you to read Monique King-Viehland’s article on disaster preparation. [Political Physics: The Importance of Being Prepared]

6. My MIL says she’s going to refer people to Michael Kass’s blogumn the next time someone asks her why she doesn’t try out for WHEEL OF FORTUNE (she’s really good at it). [Single White Nerd: Wheel of (Mis)Fortune]

7. For all of those people who gave me guff about complaining about the 60-degree weather last week, check out fellow transplant, Eric Sims’s Las Vegas poolside observation: “It was 74 degrees and breezy — warm, I suppose by the poor-bastard-state standards, but Uggs and scarf weather for Californians.” When he then went on to say that he actually got in the pool, despite the weather, I swear the words “polar bear” went through my head. Okay, even I have to admit that maybe I’ve gone a little soft out here. [California Seething: Seething Las Vegas]

What It’s About: A laidoff zookeeper is recruited to help with the development of of a highly interactive and consumer-programmable animal and robot avatars.

What Makes It Different: You know how most future fiction says that robots will eventually take us over? This says the opposite of that. It’s kind of like Spielberg’s AI, except it’s not precious or mind-numblingly illogical.

What I Loved: It really made me think about the emotional side of technology. It also made me think about human nature, how some of us fully commit to certain devices, and how some of us (including me) jump from gadget to gadget searching for that next big thrill, without a thought for the gadgets we leave behind me. It also made me feel bad for MySpace — you’d have to read this to understand why.

Writing Lessons Learned:

Try focusing on the gadgets. So many books and movies use technology as either a cool trick or a villain that we have to vanquish. I always find it intriguing when an author or screenwriter zeroes in on one piece of technology. Think Pixar’s WALL-E or THE TRUTH MACHINE (a now hopelessly out-of-date book that hung its entire plot on the near-future development of a piece of technology that allowed people to irrefutably tell whether others were telling the truth — of course this changes the course of humanity forever).

Sci-fi verite. I love it when we get heroes doing jobs that you often don’t see featured in stories. In LIFECYCLE, instead of the usual hero battling the evil “lone” developer, we get a stripped down story, featuring real developers as the heroes. These developers work with a team — much more realistic than the corporate head that’s somehow responsible for both running the company and developing its main technology [looking at you TRON]. Unlike most futuristic sci-fi, LIFECYCLE feels like a completely real set of circumstances that could and might really happen. Call it sci-fi verite. It made me want to see more future ordinary people in future ordinary situations. And it was really quite fascinating to think about what our future technology might look like, without all the world-ending, dystopian rigamarole.

Finish your effing love story. I think all authors should think about how they use love stories. If you use a story and then don’t follow it through, you might think of it as “art,” but to the reader if feels like you’ve tricked us by asking us an engaging story question that you weren’t fully planning to answer, which leaves us dissatisfied and wondering why you asked the question in the first place if you weren’t going to satisfy us with a complete answer. This for whatever reason is a problem that plagues male writers and in my opinion the literary equivalent of trailing off right when you get to the good part.

To Whom Would I Recommend This Novella: Anyone Who Works at or Used to Work at MySpace, People Who Used to Own Digipets, Futurists, People Interested in Our Probable Immediate Future.

Click on the pic to read the novella!

I know, I know that I’ve yet to do a graphic novel this year. I think that must be some kind of record, and the sad thing is that I have two really cool ones waiting in the TBR wings: BAYOU Vol. 2 by Jeremy Love and GOOD EGGS by (fellow Smithie) Phoebe Potts. I’m going to get to those sooner than later, I promise. But this week, I’m going to review a book that’s like the total opposite of cool: SINK REFLECTIONS by Marla Cilley

Why I Decided to Read It: This post about my newfound obsession with cleaning should just about explain it. Basically Friend of FaN, Janice from Sew Girly mentioned that she had just started this system.

What’s It About: It’s a self-help book meant to make cleaning a quick and everyday part of your life, but it’s also a compendium of the information provided on the Fly Lady website. So if you don’t feel like spending the money or checking the book out from the library, you can get all this information for free HERE. But warning, the site is like 90s-level clogged and disorganized. I thought it was well worth the $10.20 the book cost just to have the information presented in an orderly fashion.

What Makes It Different: You know that saying, “Cleaning is next to godliness” — well, this woman really, really believes that. Also, it’s based on the theory that a clean house begins with a “shiny sink.”

What I Loved: I’m only six days into about 31 days of the getting-started “Baby Steps,” but it seems to be working. Not only is my house slowly but surely getting generally cleaner, but it doesn’t feel like I’m killing myself to get it that way. Unlike a lot of other books that I ordered from the library, this one was written by one woman, who has a family and husband. Therefore, unlike say, Real Simple’s CLEANING tome (which felt like it was written by a crew of people who think women have hours and hours to clean), SINK REFLECTIONS makes practical sense. And it feels like my house will indeed be unexpected-visitor ready in no time.

What I Didn’t Like: If you’re not religious, you might find the deeply spiritual language that Cilley uses throughout the book a little much. Actually even if you are religious, you might still find it a bit heavy-handed. Also, it skates the line of being anti-feminist. But even so, I found that like her tips, her instructions made a kind of practical sense. She advises against “whining” that your husband and your kids don’t help out with the housework and just doing it yourself. But then she goes on to point out that leading by example is the best method and that your loved ones will probably fall in line if you just work the system. Being a feminist, I married a fellow feminist, so CH and I don’t have housework-split issues. But even I was surprised by how quickly both he and my 20-month-daughter started pitching in within 24 hours of me quietly switching to the Fly Lady system. Wow.

Cleaning Lessons Learned:

Rinse off dirty dishes and put them directly into the dishwasher. This is so obvious, that I feel like an idiot for not thinking of it myself. But with everyone simply rinsing off their dishes and putting them directly into the dishwasher all day, we pretty much have no dishes at the end of the night. We just rinse off our dinner dishes after we eat and run the washer.

Set out your clothes the night before and shower first thing in the morning, put on non house-slipper shoes, and keep them on throughout the day. Now this is the piece of advice that has yielded the most surprising results so far. I usually squeeze in a shower somewhere between PRICE IS RIGHT, which goes off at 11am and DAYS  OF OUR LIVES, which comes on at 1pm. But this week, I’ve been setting out the clothes that I plan to wear the next morning down to my shoes. And to my surprise, that’s made me way more productive. It doesn’t take as much time or energy to get ready and I find myself starting my day earlier. I’ve also been following through with my gym plans a lot more, because if I get up and my gym clothes are waiting for me outside the bathroom door, then that’s what I’m going to wear, and I guess I don’t really have any excuse not to go to the gym. Nice!

15-Minute Cleaning Projects: Everyday I get an email with a new fifteen-minute cleaning project for the next day. This means you set your timer for 15 minutes, and then go at the day’s project for fifteen minutes and fifteen minutes only. This is really freaking awesome. On Monday, I washed my counters. On Tuesday, I decluttered the kitchen. On Wednesday, I wiped down all of the kitchen appliances. Today I’m going to clean the kitchen faucet with a tooth brush. With only fifteen minutes at stake, it feels more like a game than cleaning really. But the kitchen looks great!

To Whom Would I Recommend This Book: Surprisingly enough — Men. It’s really easy, and I actually think that they could use this information more than women. But other than that Stay-At-Home-Moms, Single Moms and Working Moms — okay, really just moms in general.

Click on the cover to buy the book at Amazon!

1. Though Michael Kass was confused, I can see exactly why he was chosen to be the front page face of the [redacted] dating website. He looks exactly like what he is, friendly and personable, and I think it’s a great reflection of this particular dating site. Still, I’m wondering if he got them to take agree to take it down. Hopefully he’ll update us the money after next. [Single White Nerd: My Life as an Unwitting Cover Model]

2. I’ve tried rewriting this sentence three times and still can’t come up with anything level-headed to say about the ongoing demonization of unions. The issue seriously makes my head explode. Okay, not really. I’d be dead if my head exploded, but you get my meaning. [Political Physics: On Today's Lunch Menu ... Public Employee Unions]

I love old Joan Rivers routines, and thanks to Debra Goykhman for reminding me that I need to make the time to wait towatch this doc.

3. I love this quote from the comments section of Dr. Miro’s Facebook post of her Wednesday blogumn: “I don’t even need to read this, sex TOTALLY makes me smarter!” But I still think the commenter (and you!) should read the explanation for why. [Ask Dr. Miro: Sex Makes You Smarter?]

4. Speaking of Facebook comments, according to mine, Angry Birds can totally destroy a relationship if you don’t manage your addiction. But if you’re already in deep, Zack Bunker’s post on the subject is well worth checking out. [Tall Glass of Shame: Angry Birds Go Viral]

5. I’m not so much worried about physical bullying as I’m about verbal bullying with my own child. I seriously think words hurt more, but then again, I’ve never been physically bullied, so…  [Stay-at-Home Nerd: The Bully at the Mall]

Standing in the series: This is Book 3 of the HUNGER GAME trilogy. I reviewed the first book HERE and the second book HERE.

Better Than the First Two? Good golly, yes. Seriously J.K. Rowling could learn a thing or two here about how to wrap up a series without going overlong. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my few quibbles with the second book were so thoroughly resolved, that I felt silly for voicing them in the first place. Collins really puts her love triangle in perspective to what’s happening, and I felt that by the end of the book I understood Katniss even better than she understood herself. Also, if you’re listening to the audiobook, Collin’s author note is worth the extra few minutes. Her inspirational source material for the story made me both gasp and nod my head, because of course that was the inspiration. Why hadn’t I thought of that before?

Writing Lessons Learned

Three books is sometimes better than seven. As a huge fan of Stephen King’s multi-volume DARK TOWER series, I think there might be something to be said for keeping a series limited to three books as opposed to seven — especially when action is involved. I felt fully present for MOCKINGJAY with none of the exhaustion that comes from having spent too long with a story. Also three is a charming number writing-wise. It feels just right, like the author was going somewhere from the start as opposed to trying to find or milk the story over the course of several books. Stephen King is good at taking readers along on his journey to find the story — most other authors are not. I say stick to three books for any given story.

Have a big piece of irony. I think that Collin’s book, as opposed to the HARRY POTTER series, will eventually be taught in schools. I think this because her writing is clean and neat and inspires great discussion questions. I also think this because there is a hugely ironic moment that is pulled off so well, I can see students discussing it in essay questions for years to come. It also reminded me that sometime the most interesting answer to a main story question is “No.”

What Should I Read Next? I, like most other HUNGER GAMES enthusiasts, got very caught up in the series and ended up reading all three books back to back. The only problem with doing something like this is that you feel terrible when it’s done, forlorn, like you’ve lost a best friend. It’s very much like a break up. And much like a break-up, perhaps the best course of action is to have a quick and dirty fling with some other  random book that is nothing like the one you just read — in my case a paranormal romance novel . Then after this palate cleanser of sorts, you can go in search of another deep and meaningful book. But I’d be interested to see what other people chose to read after finishing the HUNGER GAMES series. Let me know in the comments.

Click onthe pic to purchase at Amazon.