Whatta Fiasco

A decent enough ending to the trilogy with some nicely tied up threads. Satisfying entertainment.

[powells]

Being a fan of Suzette Haden-Elgin’s linguist books and stories, I couldn’t pass this one up. And, in fact, there’s a nice acknowledgement of Suzette both in the fore matter and in the book itself. Oddly, that linkage made this collection of stories much more difficult for me to read. If you can get past the unrelenting depression of pointof view xenolinguist characters who are desperate to change careers, the last story will pay off in spades.

[powells]

The story of Josh Waitzkin, a young chess prodigy. I can vaguely remember considering seeing this one when it came out in the theater, but I didn’t make it. Was that really in 1993? The weird thing is that Ben Kingsley (as Bruce Pandolfini) and Lawrence Fishburne (as Vinnie, the chess hustler) both look so damned young in this film. Or maybe Fishburne is just so skinny. Anyhow, not a bad little film. It’s a little disjointed, and for pacing purposes nearly all the chess play is presented as if it’s being played as speed chess. It’s not great chess, but it’s a sweet little film.

[imdb]

Yes, that Rocky. The first one. I hadn’t ever seen it before. Now I have. Eh. I now fully appreciate the “Yo, Adrian” thing, and it’s very much a product of its time. It has its moments, but it’s not my sort of thing at all. Maybe because I’d rather see the story from the viewpoint of Adrian. Ah well.

[imdb]

Bollywood with political overtones. Opens with a shot of the polluted Ganges (Ganga)river, including floating dead bodies and a corrupt political election. Our hero travels to the source of the Ganges to get clean water for his grandmother. While there, he encounters a mountain woman named Ganga. Puns and love ensue, and then the trouble begins. Our lovely, pure Ganga ends up being sullied, partly through the offices of the politician (as if you couldn’t see that coming), and getting things all straightened out again is not fun. It’s a pleasant enough film, but the heavyhandedness of the metaphors gets tiring.

Time for another tale from Henghis Hapthorn., and a delightful one it is. Some of the plot twists left me temporarily adrift trying to figure out just what was going on, but not too terribly adrift. And I love how Henghis never gets to rest on his laurels. Things are always changing, and always for the stranger. But my favorite part was a reverse pinnocchio which was just lovely.

[powells]

Opera night again! This time it’s early Georges Bizet. (You know, the guy who wrote Carmen.) Two guys, Zurga and Nadir, fall in love with the same woman, and then each swear to stay away from her to avoid having to fight over her. Foreswearing love is seldom a good idea. Things go badly. But before it all falls apart, Zurga and Nadir get to sing a glorious duet recounting how they felt when they first encountered this goddess among women. Lots of very pretty music, but there’s a reason you’ve almost certainly heard of Carmen but haven’t heard of this piece. But that duet, Au fond du temple saint was lovely.

Ok, so maybe you got tired of Ken McLeod banging his Socialism in Space drum. (But it’s such an interesting drum!) This one is different. Oh, it still Ken’s work, but think about Ken filtered through Charlie Ross in an alternate history, near future tale that wickedly skewers current political trends in a distinctly unfunny, disturbing way. Good stuff.

(My bonus words for this book: snib and thrawn.)

[powells]

This was an interesting book. It started out in textbook mode for the introduction/theory, but somewhere halfway through, the personal observations took over and the tone changed, almost enough to make it feel like a different book. But it works.

If you haven’t ever encountered the term “cissexual”, the first part of this book will give you a good understanding of that and many other related words. There’s also an interesting teasing apart of traditional versus oppositional sexism and how they play out in sexist/gender bias. All good stuff, but somewhere along the way, you’re going to find something in this book to disagree with, something that does more than just make you uncomfortable. I consider that a whopping big plus in favor of the book. It gave me plenty to think about.

[powells]

What a great book to read on Halloween! A runaway nun with an interesting problem hunts down werewolves. Only, it’s so much more interesting than that. It’s just enough creepy for me, and a fun read.

[powells]