Bent-Con 2011

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Random III

Books: Parrot & Olivier in America by Peter Carey (2010)

After –and really before- finishing Peter Carey’s Parrot & Oliver in America, I wondered what the book was about. It is inspired by Alexis de Tocqueville, the young French nobleman who wrote Democracy in America, the first great study of manners, morals and politics in the United States. 

But beyond that knowledge, I’m at a loss to say I did not fully understand the plot of the novel, though some could say it had no real plot beyond poking fun at the French Aristocrats and early American schisms between Puritan and the changing times.

The character of Olivier de Garmont is an over-protected man/child with allergies and other afflictions who –after being apart of the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution, which he does not remember- is exiled to America, a place he no desire to come to in the first place. 

Meanwhile, Parrot’s history involves a tramping childhood with his father, a strange apprenticeship to an engraver-forger, a voyage to Australia at age 12 with a shipload of convicts, marriage to an Irish girl in New South Wales, a gift for exact imitation of speech, a frustrated artistic vocation, and long service of various kinds to the enigmatic Tilbot. 

In essences though, Carey paints a coarse America -based largely on De Tocqueville’s point of view it seems- is entertaining and the interaction between Parrot –a lowly English-man- and Oliver –an aristocrat buffoon- is somewhat predictable. 

Still, Carey’s prose is vivid, poetic at times and very forceful. It’s enjoyable, and worth a read if only to prove the literary novel still exists in the 21st Century, but it bothers me that I could not grasp what fully Carey was trying to convey.

A Muster of Peacocks

The Kiss

Boo Boo

Rise

Mirror Obscura

Bent-con

Soles

Bond 23 becomes 'SKYFALL'

 

Skyfall will be the name of the twenty-third James Bond movie, which begins filming this week in London, with other location shoots that include Shanghai, China, Istanbul, Turkey and Scotland. Legendary Pinewood Studios will also be used for certain interior sets.

Director Sam Mendes, along with cast members Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench, Javier Bardem  Naomie Harris and Bérénice Marlohe, were introduced to the press by producer’s Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson on November 3. Due to scheduling conflicts, other cast members Ben Whishaw, Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney were not at the press conference. Mendes noted this, and was unwilling to say what their roles were in the film.

Meanwhile, Mendes praises the script by John Logan, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. But all that’s been released about the plot of the film is that “James Bond’s loyalty to M comes into question when MI6 is attacked. Bond must seek out and eliminate the threat while dealing with the consequences of M’s past actions.”


The other thing confirmed is that Skyfall is not a direct follow-up to Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace, which could now free the creative team to return the film series to its stand-alone roots.Still, I wonder if there will be any carry overs from the two films, insomuch as the mysterious organization known as Quantum -which is the replacement for early Bond villain organization, SPECTRE. Rumors have circulated that Bond will encounter Ernst Stavro Blofeld, most likely played by Fiennes.

Skyfall will have its London debut October 26, 2012 and will be released in the United States on November 9, 2012.

Bikes

Artful

Displays

Relax

Pre-Halloween Fetish

Random Choices II

Random Choices

Books: The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde (2006)

Sometimes, especially in his Thursday Next series, Fforde does not explore the other characters too much. I mean, Thursday is well rounded, nearly three dimensional person, but a lot of the times, you don’t get much more than two-dimensional with the supporting ones. Ironically, in The Fourth Bear, the second novel in Jasper Fforde’s Nursery Crime series, he allows some of the supporting characters to move a bit forward. 

After all the glory that Jack Spratt got solving of the Humpty Dumpty murder case four months ago is now gone, a series of blunders and mishaps – the biggest being the Red Riding Hood murder investigation where a few people were eaten by the wolf – has found the NCD under the gun to be disbanded. And because of the Riding Hood case, Jack is been ordered to take a psych evaluation and some time off. Shortly after this, the sinister psychopath The Gingerbread Man has escaped from the mental asylum that Jack put him into twenty years ago, and he's going on a rampage, while a death of a reporter named Goldilocks – a huge advocate for the bear population living in the area- gives DS Mary Mary  (who finds romance with a fellow officer) a chance shine, whether she wants it or not. But a simple investigation uncovers a more sinister plot that may go high up. Also, why goes Jack keeping running into the Gingerbread Man, only to be left alive? And what do the intricacies of bear society, the illegal trafficking in black market porridge, and a theme park based on the Battle of the Somme have to do with each other?

The Fourth Bear is a stronger book than The Big Over Easy (as I’ve mentioned before about Fforde’s World Building style sometimes gets in the way of the plot), because I actually think the story is more effective. His weirdness, his silly humor, his ability to create a coherent universe that makes some sort of logical sense is what makes these books (and his Thursday Next books) a delight to read. These series of novels -what makes a good writer, I think- allows Fforde to let his imagination run wild and the reader is awarded greatly because of it.

Suicide takes another gay teen

It can be said that prejudice is a product of ignorance that hides behind barriers of tradition. Here, in Norman Oklahoma, when the city council was weighing a debate about October being Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender History Month in the city -which was passed 7 to 1 in favor of it- the debate about it rose to a predictable dislike for that said group.

A 19 year-old teen named Zack Harrington was there, and he was witness to his fellow Oklahomanians illogical reasons as to why this was a bad idea. We don't have to go over the minutes, as you can read the article. But none of you will be surprised at what was said.

But for one young man, whom his sister described as a person who was "internalizing everything and analyzing everything," it was his breaking point. While the measure passed, I think he saw all the ugliness that came from adults, people who were his parents age. Like all gay youths who somehow survived the High School years, and now are trying today to tell kids who are coming out so much sooner, that it does get better, to see adults acting like this must have triggered something in Zack.

Being face-to-face with intolerance sometimes has an effect of not wanting to fight more, but perhaps to ask one self, "what's the point?"

I think young Zack, while maybe happy for the city passing the bill, felt that the struggle for acceptance, for understanding was a fight he no longer wanted to battle. I'm sad that he decided this, but in some ways even I can understand his plight. We need more people to help fight what is a good cause, and the more we end our lives, the longer the fight will take.

It seems obvious to me, as I've said before, all of us need to help one another. We cannot do this alone, and the weak, the disfranchised, the homeless, the unemployed, the gay youth of today need people to show up at their doors, talk to them on the phone and tell them again and again that life is worth living. Yes, death is a great equalizer, and no matter how rich, how poor you are, you cannot escape it. But to die for this, seems pointless and a waste.

And we all need to stop it.