Books: Plays Well with Others by Allan Gurganus (1999)

There was a Before in the artist circles that kept New York strumming in the late 1970s, where young men of all shades, sizes and age descended on the Big Apple. Most, if not all, where escaping small town middle class life, with all their obligations, all their traditions. All came there to not only let the world see what they created, but to find love. 

If only for one night that is.

I can guess that much of Allan Gurganus’ Plays Well with Others must be autobiographical, but I can’t seem to find too much evidence of that. Still, with an inventive narrative and a sense of emotional punch that made those days seem so much fun, we meet Hartley Mins, a young writer who arrives in Manhattan just before the onslaught of AIDS. Through his narrative we get to meet composer Robert Christian Gustafson, an impossibly good-looking man from Iowa, son of a preacher. Of course, Hartley falls for him, but he gets caught In Robert’s wake because those good looks get Robert everything he wants, anyone he wants, both men and women. 

Also along for the ride is Angelina "Alabama" Byrnes, a failed debutant struggling to make her paintings mean something. And like then, as today, these friends take shelter with each other, promote each other's work, and compete sexually. And become the family of understanding souls that somehow got lost from where they grew up. When tragedy strikes, this circle grows up fast, somehow finding, at the worst of times, the truest sort of family.

Not sure this was, at the time of publication, the AIDS crises great novel, but I’m struck with the idea that while there has been tons of nonfiction books published over the last twenty to 30 years after it began, I’m guessing (though I may be wrong here) not many novels about that era have been published. Well, at least by well-known authors like Gurganus (who is also the author of the huge 1989 best-seller The Oldest Confederate Widow Tells All). Still, we lost so many that part of the problem may be that there is no one left to tell the tale. In the end, it’s a deeply engaging novel about flawed, well-meaning people; but can also be describes as a valentine to dear friendships, and a canticle to a brilliant and now-vanished world.

The Day in a Life

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Books: Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury (1957)

Dandelion Wine is a semi-autobiographical novel by Ray Bradbury, is set in the summer of 1928. Douglas Spaulding, a 12-year-old boy, is loosely patterned after Bradbury. Most of the book is focused upon the routines of Green Town (Bradbury’s real home town of Waukegan, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago) where the comings and goings of small-town America are divined by the simple joys of yesteryear.

One day, while out looking for wild grapes with his father and brother, Douglas wakens to the fact that he is alive. He confides his realizations to his brother, Tom, and records them in a yellow nickel pad as they accumulate through the summer. Life’s bounty presents new tennis shoes, stories of buffalo stampedes by old Colonel Freeleigh, and the affection of and for John Huff, a neighborhood buddy. Family rituals provide another part, especially the monthly gathering of dandelions for wine making. Douglas wishes wonderful summer would stay put. It will not. Beloved John Huff moves away. Tennis shoes wear. The storyteller dies. Another vision assails the boy: Douglas Spalding will die someday.

Less a novel than a collection of richly plotted vignettes (it began, originally as short story published in 1953) about the birth of a brilliant writer, and the remembrances of a childhood where summers lasted forever and mysteries and magic where on the lips of boys.

Books: The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving (1981)

Despite liking John Irving, this is only the fourth novel I’ve read of his (he’s got 14 novels, a short story collection and two non-fiction books). He is an extraordinary author, very literate, very dense, yet always readable.

The Hotel New Hampshire, Irving’s fifth book and the first one after The World According to Garp which made him a huge star, is narrated by John Berry, the third of five very eccentric siblings. As the chronicler of their lives, John begins with “Frank's queer, Franny's weird, Lily's small and Egg is Egg.” From that point on, we can assume nothing. The family's adventures begin in New Hampshire, then shifts to Vienna and eventually in Maine. In between we see the quirkiness that keeps this family going and while outsiders might consider then weird, to them, it’s all normal. The father is an often absent, obsessed with his motorcycle and his bear, State of Maine (aka Earl). The mother is perhaps the most normal, but she is a character none the less. Franny, the second oldest child, is a cheerleader and a tomboy, damaged by a brutal rape. John is a sentimental womanizer in love with his sister Franny. The oldest, Frank, is a surprisingly normal (relatively speaking) and sympathetic character, who is a homosexual, who loves to wear uniforms and performs taxidermy on their dead dog Sorrow. Lily is a writer consumed by her failure to grow. 

Like the three previous ones I’ve read –A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Cider House Rules, A Widow for One Year- his novels are character driven. And each character is created and realized in such wonderful ways. Plus, I think, Irving is one of the few authors who can get away with taboo subjects in mainstream fiction. All of his novels carry some of the same themes:  homosexuality, transsexualism, incestuous desires, older women, younger men relationships and bears. 

It’s funny, sad, outrageous, and a moving novel.

Eccleston's 'conscience' clean on leaving 'Doctor Who' behind

I'm guessing eventually we'll learn why Christopher Eccleston left Doctor Who after its first season, however, I don't think we'll see it until long after he's left this mortal plain.

What happened during his short tenure is up to speculation, and strangely in this day of social media and people selling their souls to make money, its surprising the truth (whether real or not) has ever materialized. A little over a year ago, he made some comments about it, but they're still fairly nebula's:

"I left Doctor Who because I could not get along with the senior people. I left because of politics. I did not see eye-to-eye with them. I didn't agree with the way things were being run. I didn't like the culture that had grown up around the series. So I left, I felt, over a principle."

What exactly caused this riff has never been clearly explained. Some have speculated over the years it had to do with casting of the Doctor himself, that showrunner Russell T Davies wanted Eccleston while the BBC wanted David Tennant (it was well known that he was second choice to play the Doctor back then -and in some ways might explain why Tennant was so quickly signed before it was announced that Eccleston was leaving). Of course, that could be the opposite, but to me, looking back on season one as compared to season two, that first year was terribly dark in tone.

I can guess that the BBC heads thought they were going to get a Doctor Who similar in tone (but more modern take) to TOS. Only what they were getting, instead, was a broody, emo, more alien Doctor who is carrying a load of pain, loss and sadness around the galaxy. Heady stuff for children indeed. But as an actor, being able to explore those themes must've have been one of the reasons that attracted Eccelston in the first place. 

So maybe, in the early days of production, the BBC was concerned about the tone of the stories, concerned about the tone of Eccelston's performance and made his life and that of the production team difficult. He spoke at one time about some sort of "bullying" from people on the set, that included directors.

 [I]t’s easy to find a job when you’ve got no morals, you’ve got nothing to be compromised, you can go, ‘Yeah, yeah. That doesn’t matter. That director can bully that prop man and I won’t say anything about it’. But then when that director comes to you and says ‘I think you should play it like this’ you’ve surely got to go ‘How can I respect you, when you behave like that?’

And while I loved Tennant as the Doctor, I missed the darker tones of Eccleston's ninth Doctor. I miss the creepy, ominous stories of that era. To me, season one of the revived series matched the story telling of Tom Baker's middle years as the fourth Doctor, when those stories had a real sense of forbidding to them, a darkness that made you wonder if you were indeed watching a kids show, or an adult drama dressed for kids.

In someways, now under Steven Moffat, I think the show is trying to return to that first season style. Sure, Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor is crazy, funny "mad man with a box." But the stories have an undercurrent, a creepy darkness that elevates the show above the campiness that over took it when showrunner John Nathan Turner turned the later years of TOS into a funhouse of gloss and showmanship, but ultimately a tub of empty calories.

Anyways as the BBC begins preparing to celebrate Doctor Who's 50 anniversary in 2013, he's making it clear that he has no regrets about leaving:

"My conscience is completely clear. I've lived my life, particularly my working life, on the basis that I have to be able to look at myself in the mirror about the way I behave. It wasn't a bold move, it was an entirely natural one. I'm hugely grateful to the children who to this day come up and talk to me about the show."

Which is a not so subtle comment that he wants nothing to do with whatever is going to happen. 

For me, I guess, I can understand his desires. It's a shame, just the same. 

In the end, I guess someday we'll learn the full story. But until he sits down and writes about, we still have that wonderful first season of Eccleston as the ninth Doctor. Sure, not all the stories worked, but he shined in every episode, bringing such a totally different take on the Time Lord. I relish his time there, when the stories and the character returned to the more alien take that started the franchise.

'Community' creator Dan Harmon reacts to being 'fired'

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Books: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008)

I'm jumping on the Hunger Games bandwagon. Part of the reason, I guess, is that I'm told the books are so much better than the movie -and to be honest, is that not always the truth? Another part is that while I generally do not read too much in the way of young adult fiction, I will admit some of its worth it. 

The novel reminded me a lot of the dystopian fiction written during the post-nuclear age by classic writers as Asimov and Clarke. And as I read, I often pondered in their better writing prose, how this novel could have been extraordinary. On the other hand, while the themes may have survived the times, the violence portrayed here would have never made it in that time period.

Still, Collins is a pretty good writer, the book flows very well, at times, even addictive. It's pedantic as well, with predictable outcomes and stilted dialogue. Katniss does come off as fully realized character, yet it seems she had some past adventure that comes in handy once the game begins, which at times makes the internal logic of the book unravel.

Realizing this is the first book in a trilogy, Collins does leave a lot of stuff unresolved. I'm hoping for more explanation of how Panem works, what brought the world to this time, as I felt not enough time was given to this part of the story. 

Maybe that was the point, set up this Universe in the first book and then see it come apart as the second and third book continue story. 

The movie version remains unseen. Perhaps I'll view it, but most likely I will either ignore it, or eventually see it on DVD.

Ummm...Are you listening Dan Harmon?

NBC fall preview of 'Go On'

Matthew Perry is good. He can play comedy and drama. When he did Mr. Sunshine on ABC, he was best thing about it. Despite the fact is was not funny and was poorly executed, he did his best with what he had.

Go On seems to have all his trademark elements, but the biggest hurtle the show might have is getting over the elephant in the room that was the death of his wife while texting. Important message, but since Glee handled semi-okay this season (and would have be more truthful and realistic kill off Quinn, but the show is fantasy) it will be interesting and challenging to see how this comedy series handles it.

Besides, it co-stars Tyler James Williams from the late WB's super underrated sitcom Everybody Hates Chris. He's a talented kid -his brother is star of Disney's Lab Rats- and I loved him as the young version of Chris Rock.

NBC's fall drama 'Chicago Fire'

For Chicagoians, there is a professional soccer team called The Chicago Fire. Hope no one gets confused.

That being said, this format has been done before, and has succeed poorly for various reasons. It looks like two broadcast network shows coming this fall will be filmed in my home town, this and FOX's Mob Doctor, which is cool. I sort of wish ABC's Happy Endings would film more location work there -or, obviously, film there completely- because the city gives great face. Showtimes Shameless films in the city as well, and uses great locations (some that don't always show up in movies and TV shows that film there).

I hope Chicago Fire can succeed. It's tried and true format, but for some reasons, it never lives up to the ambitions of its pilot -which, ironically, happens a lot as the shows go into weekly production. CBS' recently cancelled drama A Gifted Man is a perfect example of show that never was able to capitalize on its origins,

Books: The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King (2012)

The Wind Through the Keyhole, while set within Stephen King’s original 7 volume Dark Tower epic, has little to do with the series. Another words, it’s a small off ramp within the franchise that neither adds nor subtracts from the other volumes. King himself, in his forward, calls it book 4.5 (set between volumes four and five).

While some might hope to spend more time with Roland, Susannah, Eddie, Jake and Oy, they only become bookends to the novel as it takes a structure of a story within a story.  The Ka-tet hunkers down during a sudden storm and Roland tells them a story around the campfire. Their only purpose is to listen to the two stories and provide a context in which the stories take place.

The first story is from Roland's life as a young gunslinger, before he set out on the quest for the Dark Tower. It occurs immediately after he is tricked into murdering his mother, and a large part of the sub-text is Roland struggling to forgive himself for that act. (This is not a spoiler, by the way; King supplies this information in the introduction for readers who may not have read the Dark Tower novel that relates Roland's back story, Wizard and Glass). When he was teen, Roland’s father sends him and gunslinger, Jamie, top remote village to investigate the horrific killings of townsfolk by a “skin-changer” (King’s take on a shapeshifter). While investigating, Roland takes into custody the only witness, a young boy named Bill. While trying to keep the boy company, Roland tells him a fairy tale from his own childhood his mother used to tell. 

This story takes up the bulk of the novel.

It’s this section, with its mix of fantasy and science fiction that will remind many readers of how the Dark Tower universe works, as Roland tells the boy about the encounters with fairies, dragons, mutants, long-abandoned technology and even the wizard Maerlyn. 

He also runs into the Man in Black.

Like most of King’s novels, it’s enjoyable and very readable. It is a bit lite, coming on the heels of 11/22/63 and its richness, and it comes off more as two novellas, but I enjoy King and his Dark Tower series. I’m curious if he’ll continue with this format, because I can guess that he’s not really finished with this universe.

Next up for him, in January, will be his sequel to The Shining called Doctor Sleep.

Two Promos for 2 New NBC shows for the fall

North Carolina screws themselves & God laughs

North Carolina can go screw themselves. Ooops, they already did. Because this backwards amendment will affect everyone, including unmarried, straight couples.

We as a race need to evolve, to move forward in a linear path. The past is an abstract notion, fed by illogical feelings and bad choices. The future, of course, remains undefined. Still, even if you take "past" ideals into consideration, you still see a world moving on, moving forward. We cannot remain in a vacuum, as nature abhors that. 

When I was growing up, I was told by my mother to look towards the future. The past can always be used as a barometer, but at the end of the day, the universe (no matter how we fight) will push us forward. 

We're at a tipping point with this idea that while all of us are created equal. It seems, for some, to be just words on a paper, meaning nothing because some dusty tome created by humans - who are flawed, ugly, killers and rapists- says it’s so, even though these people offer no proof of the existence of such a "higher being." It's faith, they say. 

But religion exists because we can't accept that we will one day no longer exist even though we didn't exist for billions of years and won't exist for eternity. We can't understand the beginning or end or vastness of the universe and the unknown aspects of our existence. Because those concepts are so scary, and the many can't accept them, they create fairy tales to take those fears away.

The tragic aspect is that these fairy tales have become popular and the more popular and they become, the more we think they might be real. You know, there's nothing wrong with having fairy tales. Just as long as you know they are fairy tales. 

There are lots of people who tend to forget this. And because their need to believe that their fairy tales are real, they'll do anything, at any cost, to hurt people who don't accept their views. We saw that with what happened in North Carolina yesterday. To the ones that voted, to the very human governmental machine that created this, the misery, suffering, and death that this will create for all, not just gay people, is somehow justified because their "faith" tells them there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for them. But we all know, deep down, there isn't one.

Books: Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations: Forgotten History by Christopher L. Bennett (2012)

The agents of the Department of Temporal Investigations are assigned to look into an anomaly that has appeared deep in Federation territory. It’s difficult to get clear readings, but a mysterious inactive vessel lies at the heart of the anomaly, one outfitted with some sort of temporal drive disrupting space-time and subspace. To the agents’ shock, the ship bears a striking resemblance to a Constitution-class starship, and its warp signature matches that of the original Federation starship Enterprise NCC-1701—the ship of James T. Kirk, that infamous bogeyman of temporal investigators, whose record of violations is held up by DTI agents as a cautionary tale for Starfleet recklessness toward history. But the vessel’s hull markings identify it as Timeship Two, belonging to none other than the DTI itself. At first, Agents Lucsly and Dulmur assume the ship is from some other timeline . . . but its quantum signature confirms that it came from their own past, despite the fact that the DTI never possessed such a timeship. While the anomaly is closely monitored, Lucsly and Dulmur must search for answers in the history of Kirk’s Enterprise and its many encounters with time travel—a series of events with direct ties to the origins of the DTI itself. . . .

Apparently, this sequel/prequel to last year’s Watching the Clock was to be part of the original Star Trek book line, but due to the success of the first book that carried the moniker of the Department of Temporal Investigations, this book becomes the second volume in the line –whether it continues, I’m unsure.

This one is a detailed history of how DTI came into existence, with the author explaining and writing out the Enterprises varying encounters with time travel in both the original series, and the animated one (which became the defacto last two seasons of series original five year mission). It also expands on plot threads left unanswered in TOS episode Miri. Then it jumps to about 18 months after V’ger incident presented in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 

Like the first book, there is a lot of convoluted technobabble concerning time travel. Little of science is explained, and what is explained makes me wonder if only students of mathematics and quantum mechanics can truly understand it.  

For many hardcore Star Trek fans, the novels in various incarnations have a tendency to go from good to bad, with little in between that makes them okay. For me, as much as I like authors trying to expand Star Trek by creating new stories, on occasion, it is nice to see someone pick-up interesting plot threads from episodes that were left unanswered and create a whole new story. Also, I like that there are veiled references to Sulu entering the command structure and even a slight comment about the 2009 rebooted Star Trek movie, which I enjoyed.