Donation to the Lambi Fund of Haiti Item 19 - Donate to 30 28 charities/non-profits

The Lambi Fund of Haiti was recommended as a charity that I might want to donate to by my friend Monkey. He has a friend that works for them and it sounded like a good group to help, even in a small way. It is a non-partisan community group devoted especially to helping women in Haiti. They do this through micro-financing of businesses, working on agriculture projects and providing education among other initiatives, all of which can be read about here.

Review of "Machine of Death" edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo and David Malki Item 16 - Finish 30 24 books

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This book has been sitting on my Kindle unread for almost as long as it's been out. So obviously I've put off reading it for a while. It's nothing against the writers, cartoonists or editors involved; I actually like a great number of them. More it was the tremendous number of books I've been working through for the last several years. This one fell to the wayside as a necessity and as a result of it being an anthology.

I'm wary of anthologies for the typical reasons: beating the same drum can become tedious and the works in them tend to be hit or miss. I was especially skeptical of this one as I figured that a good number of the stories would veer a little too frequently into "Twilight Zone" ironic twist territory. Note I did not say M. Night Shyamalan; he wishes he had a fraction of Rod Serling's storytelling skill (want to know what the twist in that new Will Smith movie he made is? It's that he is somehow still making shitty films! I know I didn't see it coming). And while there are certainly a number of "doo-doo-doo-doo"moments (you try and write that out phonetically without making it look stupid), there are also some really fun stories.

The strongest stories in this collection were (perhaps unsurprisingly) the ones where the characters accepted or embraced their deaths (please don't overanalyze what it says about me that I just wrote that). "Torn Apart And Devoured By Lions" by Jeffrey Wells, aside from being a delightful sentence to type is also a highlight of the collection for me. If you know that the most exciting thing that will ever happen to you is also going to be the last thing that happens to you, you might as well go all in on it.

As I was searching for the original "Dinosaur Comics" strip that instigated this collection in the first place (above, obviously) I found out that there will be a second anthology of "Machine." It may just be that I'm completely deathed out at the moment, but I can't see myself picking up a second compilation. I'm sure there are new things to be said on the concept, I just don't think I need to hear them for a while.

Review of "Midnight Riot"/"Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch Item 16 - Finish 30 25 books

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The title for "Rivers of London" was changed to the rather bland sounding "Midnight Riot" for the American release for reasons I don't know. The cover art was also changed from that keen looking piece of textual cartography (more of which can be seen at the artist's website, I strongly encourage you to check it out) to this action hero looking thing:

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This cover, while perfectly serviceable, is decidedly generic. Even more so when you look at the original of that cover and realize the publisher has completely obscured the race of the novel's protagonist:

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This of course created a controversy at the time of the publication which I won't rehash here (not just because I'm two years too late for it). Suffice to say that I prefer the original title and cover as they give a much truer sense of what the book is about.

Which is actually more than I can say about the pull quote they used on the UK cover. It's always a dangerous thing to use another property when reviewing any creative endeavor, you tend to do a disservice to both the thing you are describing and the examples you use; I remember a co-worker once describing "Lost" as "Gilligan's Island" meets "Twin Peaks." I haven't read "Harry Potter" nor have I seen any of the movies, but I think that comparing this particular book to that franchise misrepresents both. Peter, is an unsure, hesitating and at times frustrating (yet still likable) protagonist; much different from the near messianic figure that I understand Harry to be (I really should probably see at least one of the movies before I start throwing these accusations around, but I think this is still a fairly accurate analysis). I know publishers beg writers for quotes like "What would happen if Harry Potter grew up and joined the Fuzz," so I really mean no offense to Diana Gabaldon, I just feel it doesn't do just service to the premise that Aaronovitch runs with in this book.

Another area where this book really gives it's all is in it's internal deconstruction of magic. The basis of magic as national defense as started by Isaac Newton is a truly fun idea. I especially love the idea of Peter as a science nerd to follow in that same tradition. It's a modern take on magic that I don't think I've seen before, where it and science not only can but must live side by side.

I should mention that I realized as I started writing this entry that I have been reading far too much "urban fantasy." Not that there is a quota for how much a person should read, but it does seem to be weighing pretty heavily on the scales as far as these reviews go. On the other hand, had I not read this book I would probably never have read the sentence "urban fantasy police procedural," which still doesn't replace "Like Prince's 'Little Red Corvette', 'Pink Cadillac' follows in the tradition of Wilson Pickett R&B classic 'Mustang Sally' in using automobile travel as a metaphor for sexual activity, particularly as sung by Springsteen as the lyric: 'I love you for your pink Cadillac' was originally a veiled pudendal reference" as my favorite sentence from Wikipedia, but it does rank. Regardless, I think I will probably read the sequel (although I may not do it for this blog). Aaronovitch did a great job making me care about the characters and their world that I do want to know what happens next.

Review of "Django Unchained" Item 2 - Watch 6 5 movies at the theater

Django by *aerettberg

I went to "Django Unchained" with two friends and on leaving the theater I said that it was Quentin Tarantino's best film since "Jackie Brown". At that time I couldn't honestly remember exactly how many films he'd directed in the interim between "Jackie Brown," but it felt like it must have been a lot in those 15 years.

Four full films. He's directed four films in that time. So why did it feel like I'd seen so many pictures by him? For me, I think it has to do with the fact that his last few films have been... large. I've said in the past that Tarantino is the Girl Talk of directors, taking a sample of this western and putting it over that samurai film and speeding up the results. That isn't meant to be a slight. I like Girl Talk; All Day is one of my favorite albums to listen to when I need that little extra kick at the end of a long run. But the result with films like "Kill Bill" and even more so with "Inglorious Basterds" was to just tire me out. Knowing that every scene is so carefully composed to evoke something from another film left me saying "I get it, you're a smart guy who has seen more movies than most people ever will. Show me something from you."

That's a big part of why "Django" works so well. It both is and isn't a reboot of a franchise that most people have never heard of (but really should watch). It's also an homage to those same spaghetti westerns without the overt shot for shot remake of "Fistful of Dynamite"/"Duck You Sucker" (whichever title you prefer) being forced down our throat. And it's good revenge western without a harmonica playing badass awkwardly shoehorned in. And it's a ret-con origin for Shaft (or rather his great-grandparents), which is simultaneously hilarious and awesome.

I'm glad that I got to see this movie on the big screen, one of the things I mentioned to my friends after leaving was that the way I felt then must have been the way my dad felt when he first saw "Fistful of Dollars," like I'd just witnessed the start of something. Because this isn't just the best Tarantino film in 15 years, this might also be the best western made in the last two decades. Hopefully, as with "Dollars," it's just the beginning of a movement.

Review of "Gringos" by Charles Portis Item 16 - Finish 30 26 books

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This is the fourth Portis book that I've read (the others being "True Grit", "Norwood", and "The Dog of the South") which actually makes me sad as I write that, because I now realize I only have one of his books left to read. Portis writes the sort of road trip stories that meander from place to place, with an utterly contradictory unhurried pace but still with a sense of urgency of goal.

"Gringos", more than any of his other three books that I've read, is a character study. Not just of the narrator Jimmy Burns (about whom we seem to learn more than any of Portis' previous narrators) but also each of the characters around him. Portis' ability to sketch and breathe life into these characters is fully on display here. We have his usual cast of cranks, blow-hards, fools and "hippies," but the thing that always makes Portis' characters seem real is the fact that his narrators tend to be just as flawed. Plus, it rings true to how we see the world; you know that everyone around you is not an idiot, but through your eyes it can sure look that way sometimes.

As a funny quirk of happenstance, I finished reading this book right at about the time of the Mayan No-pocalypse a couple weeks back. A funny coincidence considering that some of the major action occurs during what one group of new-agey types think is the end of the long count calendar. Portis pretty soundly voiced my own opinion on various apocalpticos, something I've more or less said to people before:

These lost sheep knew nothing. I was pretty sure of that. They simply wanted to be on stage for the dramatic finish. It must all wind down with them and nobody else. The thought of the world going on and on without them, much as usual, and they forgotten, was unbearable.

-Charles Portis, Gringos

Review of "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson Item 16 - Finish 30 27 books

This is the third Bill Bryson book that I've read (the other two being "In a Sunburned Country" and "A Short History of Nearly Everything"). I'm a little late coming to the Bryson altar, so that might be why I (at least two times out of three so far) frequently find him disappointing.

"Sunburned," was one of those travelogue books that made you want to drop everything and run off to the place being written about. I've always fantasized about living in Australia, but "Sunburned" just made it seem all the more realistic a dream. Not to mention, it was without a doubt one of the funniest books I'd read in a long time. But then I had to make two attempts at "Short History" before I finally made it through. Granted my first go was me reading the first two pages and saying "this guy is aping Sagan a lot," but still.

That's why I so wanted to like "A Walk," it had all the right elements for a Bryson book that I would like: it's a travelogue, it's funny, it has moments of foolishness interspersed with interesting factoids. And I did like it in parts, but I think too much of Bryson's personality was showing in this one for me to get on board. Obviously, when talking about attempting such a arduous process as hiking the Appalachian Trail you are going to talk about the personal side of it; it's a very primal and human thing to hike and work in such conditions.

Something I've found that frequently pops up in Bryson's writing is how rarely it is that he makes a mistake or does a foolish thing. Most often the faux pas', fumbles and missteps are made by those around him. In the case of "A Walk" that role typically falls to Stephen Katz, his friend that is hiking the trail with him. When Stephen is not around, or some broader point needs to be made about how people can be so dense a surrogate Ugly American™ will typically step in to help out, often allowing both Bryson and Katz to roll their eyes.

Which is another point that sticks for me, Bryson has-in the three books of his that I've read-been consistent in his inconsistency. He's American or British when it's convenient, sometimes he almost seemed on the verge of adopting Australia as well. In "A Walk" he jumps back and forth between the idea that it's a horror that there should be any development along the trail, that the pristine nature of it is holy and then will whine about how there aren't enough restaurants, chalets, or even just shelters. Frequently he will voice both opinions within pages of one another.

Overall, I'm not sure I'm entirely ready to give up on Bryson yet. I'll probably try at least one more book before I slot him in next to Erik Larson, Joseph Heller and any other writers that wrote one great book and then a bunch of mediocre ones.