Temporal Variations

Temoral Reviews: War Trash

2005-11-12T17:03:00.000-08:00

War Trash is the PEN/Faulkner winner by Ha Jin. This is the first novel of his that I've read, and I must say I'm impressed. The novel is in the form of a memoir by a Chinese POW from the Korean War. I am not terribly familiar with this part of history (Chinese/Korean issues in the late 40s early 50s). Yu Yuan, the narrator, is a member of the Chinese army, although he not a Communist party member. When he gets captured, he must negotiate the warring factions of Chinese (Communists and Nationalists) when his only desire is to return to his elderly mother and his young fiance.

The novel ends up being fairly existential, where we learn that all of the struggles the POWs go through are rather meaningless, as the capriciousness of the universe has more influence in their fates than their actions. It is the struggles that define these POWs as men...they are ultimately defined by their choices.

It is clear that even though Ha Jin has studied the actual lives of Chinese POWs, he is nonetheless illuminating the current situation and events in the world today. The horrors and challenges these men face are appalling, yet Ha Jin's storytelling is urgent and relentless....we keep reading because we have to.

An excellent read.

Temporal Reviews: Laundry List

2005-11-11T17:13:00.000-08:00

So I've gotten behind again on my blogging reading journal.... Since my last update, I've read:

Alan Hollinghurst, The Spell
Alan Hollinghurst, The Folding Star
Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Colm Toibin, The Blackwater Lightship
Annie Proulx, Close Range
EM Forster, A Room with a View
Marc Acito, How I Paid for College
Augusten Burroughs, Magical Thinking
Truman Capote, In Cold Blood
Philip Roth, The Plot Against America

Whew! All in all, I am super impressed by Hollinghurst's writing, and I'm very excited to start reading his latest novel (the Booker winner). Roth's book was fantastic, until he abandoned narrative in favor of cliff notes. Bad idea.

Temporal Reviews: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

2005-07-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

The new collection by David Sedaris, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, is a return to the high level Sedaris achieved in his first two collections, Barrell Fever and Naked.

Dress Your Family is mostly focused on Sedaris's family - primarily his youth spent with his alcoholic mother, sisters, brother, and very Greek father. The passages about this time in his life are a brilliant mix of comedy and poignancy. There are also essays about his current life in France with his partner Hugh and visits he makes as an adult with his now grown siblings.

There are not very many points in the collection that are laugh-out-loud-funny, but that serves the material very well. There are inevitable comparisons made between Sedaris and our other prominent gay memoirist, Augusten Burroughs. While Burroughs's work is of the laugh out loud variety, I would prefer to read Sedaris any day of the week. The writing here is very elegant and never ventures into the absurd. Sedaris has a much drier sense of humor which I personally find much more engaging. These stories also have a depth that we don't see in Burroughs.

Altogether, an excellent collection. Recommended.

Temporal Reviews: The Master

2005-06-27T00:18:00.000-07:00

The Master is Colm Toibin's Booker finalist about four years in the life of American ex-patriate novelist Henry James leading up to the turn of the 20th century.

Much has been made about the queering of Henry James....my people now claim James as "one of us." Toibin's novel, however, does not necessarily advance that reading. Clearly James is a lover of men, yet he can never bring himself to form full relationships with them. One of the interesting ways that Toibin explores this is to juxtapose James's crushes on men with the gossip surrounding Oscar Wilde in fin de siecle London, including his trials and subsequent imprisonment. In Toibin's estimation, James would have taken to heart the punishment that befell Wilde, which would therefore have discouraged any foray he would have made with other men.

Toibin also explores James's relationships with women. A recurring theme in the novel (and, apparently in James's life), were his relationships with infirm, independent young women who met untimely fates. James's attraction to these women is never really explained. It suggests that he is attracted to their independent spirits, which he lacks, but empathizes with their illness...perhaps reminiscent of his own illness with respect to his unwillingness to engage in romantic relationships.

The Master is not biography - it is a novelization of the life a real life person. Toibin has been widely remarked to channel James in his style. In my view, he has crafted a novel of sublime subtelty, circling around the interior life of an artist without ever touching down in the secret places the artist can't admit to himself.

Temporal Reviews: Let Nothing You Dismay

2005-06-26T23:55:00.000-07:00

As a breezy Christmas story, Mark O'Donnell's Let Nothing You Dismay is a harmless confection. I enjoyed this book well enough, but like an inocuous Christmas cookie, not a lot to write home about.

Temporal Reviews: Their Eyes Were Watching God

2005-06-26T23:36:00.000-07:00

Zora Neale Hurston's masterpiece is a novel I have read at several different points in my life, each time taking away something different. Each time, however, I am struck by the power and majesty of her prose. The words she uses....the images she creates are captivating. Janie Crawford's life, as incredulous as it might be, is always compelling.

Temporal Reviews: Mansfield Park

2005-06-26T23:20:00.000-07:00

Jane Austen's Mansfield Park is more Dickensian than her other novels. Our herione, Fanny Price, is treated abyssmally by her adoptive family, especially her horrible Aunt Mrs Norris. But, being an Austen herione, she is plucky and lives to have all her dreams of marriage come true. My only complaint is with how horribly pious and self-righteous Fanny is. The other characters are alive with complexities....Fanny, however, is portrayed as saintly.

Temporal Reviews: A Prayer for Owen Meany

2005-06-26T22:51:00.000-07:00

This complex novel is assuredly Irving's masterpiece. A Prayer for Owen Meany is about the short life of the short Owen Meany. Owen is presented as an oddly Messianic character who believed he was an instrument of the Lord. Whether or not he was an "instrument" is probably less important than that he thought he was.

This novel is also the story of Johnny Wheelwright, WASPish friend of Owen's who has come to worship Owen after Owen's death. This novel is almost equally Johnny's story, in the same way that The Great Gatsby could be said to be about Nick Carraway as much as it is about Jay Gatsby. We see Johnny as not much more than a cipher throughout his life - always living life as the acolyte of Owen Meany.

That Johnny might or might not be a "latent homosexual" is really irrelevant. His experience of knowing and loving Owen Meany has left him unable (or perhaps unwilling) to form human connections in adulthood. Johnny flees the US for Canada, even though Owen had already made Johnny un-draftable. This is really a metaphor for Johnny's flight from human relationships. His self-imposed exile in Canada is truly a lonely one. He keeps himself isolated by his single-minded fanaticism with which he studies American politics. While Owen's life might have made him a Christian, Owen's friendship and love have left him utterly alone in the world.

An interesting juxtaposition in Irving's novel is the comparison of the government's activities in Vietnam with the Iran-Contra scandal. This has a certain amount of relevance today, with respect to the government's prosecution of the war in Iraq. Vietnam was a watershed moment in 20th Centrury American history - the point in time when American's lost faith in their government. Johnny has also lost faith in relationships, it seems.

Temporal Reviews: Everything is Illuminated

2005-06-26T22:43:00.000-07:00

Everything is Illuminated was the "it" book a couple years ago. The debut novel of Jonathan Safran Foer caused quite a literary stir, mostly because the format of the story was new, specifically, the narrative voice of Alex, the "translator" whose English is horrible. The structure of the novel is very creative - a mix of the present day narrative by Alex in the form of letters, and the historical story of Trachimbrod as written (apparently) by the character named Jonathan Safran Foer. I frankly found the use of Alex's poor English to be very gimmicky....it stopped being fresh after about 10 pages. The same effect could have been had without the gimmick.

Temporal Reviews: Memoirs of a Geisha

2005-06-26T22:35:00.000-07:00

I can't comment on whether or not Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha accurately reflects a geisha's life and customs in Kyoto in the years prior to WWII, but it is an engrossing book. Poor Chiyo's life was horrible - but she also seemed to make wrong turns at every decision point.

As kind to her as Mameha was, Hatsumomo was evil. The depth of evil in Hatsumomo's character is a little reminiscent of a silent film villain. Also, the relationship between Chiyo and the Chairman is vaguely pedophiliac, or else I've watched too many reruns of SVU.

In all, an engaging novel.

Temporal Reviews: Old School

2005-06-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

Tobias Wolff's first novel, Old School, is of the boys school genre. This novel is about plagarism in advance of artistic goals. The students are all focused on receiving an audience with a famous writer, including Frost, Rand, and Hemingway. The descriptions of these authors is, alone, worth reading the book. What is most delicious is how each author chooses the winning student by completely mis-reading his text.

As a former English major, this is one of the funniest parts of the book. It calls to mind the sad I was caught grossly mis-reading a Dickinson poem in my AmLit class in college. I suggested that "I felt a funeral in my brain" might have been about a headache. To which the teacher responded, "Yes, it does sound like an Excedrin commercial." Oh the humanity! It's nice to see that, at least in Wolff's world, Frost and Rand don't fare much better.

Temporal Reviews: Mother Night

2005-06-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

I grabbed Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut after being told this was the novel that I am in one of those ridiculous "which ____ are you?" web-tests. Here is what being Mother Night says about me:

Nobody knows what to believe about you, and you know least of all. You spent most of your time convinced that the ends justify the means, but your means were, well, downright mean! And the end is nigh. Meanwhile all you want is to travel back in time, if not to change, then to just delight in the way it used to be. You are who you pretend to be. Oh yes, you're the great pretender.

Now, while this description might fit me, Mother Night is not really a book you'd want to be modeled after....to think I was thisclose to being Gatsby!!??!!?

Temporal Reviews: Enduring Love

2005-06-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

Ian McEwan's Enduring Love is the strange story of a balloon ride gone wrong, and then the stalking that happens after the fact. As always, McEwan's prose is elegant. This style fits the thriller atmosphere of the story rather well, although the sense of impending violence and drama never seems to gain much steam.

Temporal Variations: The World According to Garp

2005-06-26T21:56:00.000-07:00

John Irving's The World According to Garp is quite an excellent novel. To the extent Irving purloined his own life and work in the novel is not so interesting to me - that is more the work of graduate students in literature. Since I'm reading for pleasure these days, I was able to enjoy pure escapism in this "biography" of the writer TS Garp.

There is so much to think about in this book: the artist's life, feminism, fidelity/monogamy in relationships, mortality, lust, conventionality, and so on. Any of these topics could be explored in great depth. There is a certain amount of 70s in the handling of many of the issues, particularly in terms of the sexuality and thoughts about feminism. However, this does not make the book dated. Rather, Irving's book is remarkably well-preserved, even to the extent that it includes a transgendered character, when that is still a taboo phenomenon today.

Garp is a wonderful book - rich enough to warrant several re-readings. This is the kind of book that will evoke different responses at each reading. Highly recommended.

Temporal Reviews: The Swimming-Pool Library

2005-06-26T21:43:00.000-07:00

The Swimming-Pool Library is British author Alan Hollinghurt's first novel. He has achieved more fame this year due to his winning the Booker. I very much like Hollinghurst's prose style...it's very elegant, yet still passionate. There is also a rawness to the experiences Hollinghurst describes.

In this novel, we are introduced to William Beckwith, an effete aristocrat who leads a rather meaningless life, having random sex and only engaging in aesthetic pursuits and studies when the mood strikes. Through chance, he is introduced to Lord Nantwich, who entreats our young Beckwith to sort through his old journals and write a biography.

We learn about Nantwich's life in Africa during colonization, but Nantwich, a notorious homosexual, left behind only vaguely coded diaries and journal entries. The facts of gay life in the early 20th century, in which Beckwith would be most interested, are only suggested by the diaries.

Unfortunately, there is a "twist" at the end. This twist did not, for this reader, provide the payoff that Hollinghurst clearly intended. Not enough to not recommend the book, but it did distract.

Temporal Reviews: Becoming a Man

2005-06-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

Becoming a Man is the National Book Award winning memoir by Paul Monette, and was a landmark text in the literature associated with HIV. This book was, in many ways, the "little book that could," beating out such non-fiction heavyweights as David McCullough for the NBA.

Monette is a fascinating character - shortly after reading this memoir, I saw the documentary about Monette's life. I have always enjoyed his novels...Taking Care of Mrs Carroll, The Longshot, and Halfway Home. This memoir is not only brilliantly written, it is well-suffused with the authors thoughts about being gay, suffering with HIV, and the experience of being "other."

When Monette passed away, literature lost a bright light.

Temporal Reviews: Lives of the Circus Animals

2005-06-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

Lives of the Circus Animals is the Lambda Literary Award winning novel by Christopher Bram. I have enjoyed several of Bram's novels, including Father of Frankenstein and Gossip. This novel is reminiscent of an Altman film- a patchwork of characters interrelated, as observed in shifting first person narration and told across seven eventful days in New York.

The novel mostly centers around theatre folk - people whose lives are lived on stage, in some form or another. Several of the characters are actors (to varying levels of success), there is a writer, a critic, and crazed family members.

A great read - Bram is an excellent writer, and this book is enjoyable from first to last.

Temporal Reviews: Testosterone

2005-06-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

James Robert Baker's Testosterone is an ok book. I read it thinking I would make it to the film version at the Phoenix Gay Film Fest. The novel was disappointing...very uneven. I can't in good faith recommend it.

Temporal Reviews: Dave Brandstetter Mysteries

2005-06-26T19:18:00.000-07:00

So I read some cheesy Dave Brandstetter mysteries by the late Joseph Hansen. I read the first three books in the series: Fadeout, Death Claims, and Troublemaker.

These stories were ground breaking for the time, as they were really among the first of their genre (gay mysteries). In all, they're a little dated, but campy fun. I was drawn to them because of the insurance connection (Dave is an insurance adjuster). These books are good, but the period is a little precious. I am secretly looking forward to reading the rest of them.

Temporal Reviews: Little Children

2005-06-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

Tom Perrotta's Little Children is surely one of the best books of last year. The author of Election and Joe College turns his sights on suburban America...specifically the dream of the perfect American family (pre-dating the Desperate Housewives).

The novel concerns the lives of suburbanites: "Prom King" Todd, who spends the novel rebelling against the expectations thrust upon him by his wife to be a responsible adult man; Sarah, the erstwhile bisexual documentary filmmaker who is terrified of her daughter and the traditional turn her life has taken; Richard, her husband consumed by an internet porn fueled fantasy life; and Ronald, the convicted child molester whose release into the community seems to hover over the characters in the novel.

Since I'm doing a dump of books I've read in the past nine months, I won't go into details. But this novel is a must-read. Excellent work.

Temporal Reviews: Toilet

2005-06-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

Toilet, of Tom Woolley, is a disturbing little book. Kind of along the lines of Dennis Cooper or JT LeRoy, but much more readable. To be frank, I don't remember much about it (read it a while ago while in the pit for Cosi Fan Tutte), which probably speaks to its relative effect on me (net net - not too much)

Temporal Reviews: What Was She Thinking? (Notes on a Scandal)

2005-06-26T18:34:00.000-07:00

Zoe Heller's bitingly funny "What Was She Thinking?" was short-listed for the Booker Prize - quite rightly so. This is a delicious novel...very subversive. On the surface, it is an account of an all too American phenomenon: teacher seduces underage student. Similar to the Mary Kay LeTourneau incident, the teacher involved is female, and the student is male.

The real story, though, is all about the narration. The novel is narrated by the sexpot teacher's "friend," a spinster teacher who has "be-friended" her, and is attempting to write her story ostensibly to stand up for her character, but we learn much more about the narrator.

The narrator is a cleverly disguised, rather closeted lesbian. She has a habit of taking young female teachers under her wing, in a rather Jamesian ploy of mentoring...really it's a sexless, lustless crush. Barbara Covett's attention, always smothering, is always eventually rejected by the young women.

Reading first person narrative from the POV of a narrator so lacking in self-awareness can be used to evoke pathos, as in Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day," or to evoke black comedy, as in Vonnegut's "Mother Night." Heller's approach is to head for the black comedy. The extent to which the narrator has built up elaborate explorations in order to avoid dealing with her own sexual identity is quite humorous - especially as she attempts to dissect and analyze the sexuality of her "dear friend" Sheba Hart.

Highly recommended

Temporal Reviews: Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

2005-06-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

I read this book thinking I'd want to see the movie. Unfortunately, the book put me right off. There were moments of broad humor, but mostly, the charm of the original book is sorely lacking in this sequel. Bridget in the original found herself in funny situations, or helped make them worse. The kinds of situations most of us could find ourselves in.

In this sequel - a Thai prison?? Please. This was just an ok read. I'd save time and just re-read the original if ever in the mood to wallow in my singleness. Hurrah for the Singletons! But sucks to this sequel.

Temporal Reviews: Primary Colors

2005-06-26T18:06:00.000-07:00

I read this book, penned by "Anonymous" (aka Joe Klein currently of Time Magazine) when I went through 90s nostalgia after the election. I wanted to harken back to happier times....Clintons in the White House, Kurt Cobain was still alive, flannel shirts - in, goatees - in, etc. Good times.

This book is a roman a clef about the Clinton presidential campaign. It's quite a page turner, although not really great literature. It's hard to read a book like this and not think that all of the stories are true. I'm not one who expects my leaders to be perfect people. I don't believe something like infidelity in a relationship means that someone will therefore be a bad leader (or even a bad person).

I would much rather have a president that lies about his sex life than a president that lies about issues of national security. That issue makes Primary Colors a quaint trifle in these days of "yellow cake uranium" and "greated as liberators with flowers in the street" and "compassionate conservative" etc etc. I'd take a randy president who likes blow jobs and day of the week over a president that likes to blow things up.

An ok read, but more for nostaligia than anything.

Temporal Reviews: War Against the Animals

2004-09-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

I had been eagerly awaiting the release of Paul Russell's latest novel, War Against the Animals - and I was not disappointed.

Russell's novels are always engaging, usually revolving around characters who are coping with loss. In this novel, both characters are coping with the loss of adolescent innocence that comes with the acceptance of one's sexuality.

Cameron Barnes, one of the main characters, is living out the end of his life looking back at his youth - haunted by memories of the boy he loved (before he could name it that), the boy who abused him, and the boy who eventually became the love of his life.

These memories render him open to the companionship of Jesse Vanderhof, the other main character. He is a young "redneck," who initially befriends Cameron in order to bilk him for money. But along the way, Jesse undergoes an awakening that parellels the memory-life Cameron is re-living.

Russell pairs these twin stories of lost innocence with a motif of gardens. The gardens represent an interesting counterpoint to the characters, and help to symbolically tie them and their experiences together.

I was struck by Cameron's character - he is surrounded by friends who love and cherish him, but his loneliness is palpable, especially as he realizes that Max, his oldest and dearest friend, doesn't really "know" him at all.

An excellent novel. I can also highly recommend Russell's other novels - especially "The Coming Storm."

Temporal Reviews: Tommy's Tale

2004-09-05T09:28:00.000-07:00

Tommy's Tale is the first novel by renaissance man Alam Cumming, whom you may know from The Anniversary Party, Cabaret, or X-Men 2.

Cumming himself is a rather impish character, and the narrator (Tommy) in Tommy's Tale sounds a lot like the persona Cumming eminates.

I enjoyed Tommy's Tale - written in the manner of a memoir. The free-loving Tommy is an engaging character, even as he makes terrible life choices, we can't help but like him and want to ruffle his hair.

Cumming is very clever, not just in characterization and plot but also in the form of the novel. It felt to me a little like a cross between Nick Hornby and Augusten Burroughs. Very funny, yet with lots of emotions under the surface.

All in all, a very enjoyable read - unless you have issues with drug use, lots of sex, lots of drug use during sex, descriptions of bodily functions, etc.

Temporal Reviews: Hey Nostradamus!

2004-08-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hey Nostradamus! is the latest novel by Canadian author Douglas Coupland. Coupland is perhaps best known for coining the phrase "Generation X" - taken from the title of his first novel. I have been a huge fan of Coupland's since that first novel - even though much of his work is spotty (for example, I thought "Girlfriend in a Coma" started very strong, then meandered away to mediocrity).

This novel, however, is brilliant from top to bottom. Similar to the atrocious Booker winner ("Vernon God Little"), this novel is a take on school shootings. But where VGL does it's best to explain the "why" of school violence (and fails miserably), Coupland wisely uses the school violence as a starting point. He's much more concerned with "what happens afterward?" This creates a much more complex novel that explores not only teen angst, but also familial emotional abuse, spirituality, religion, feelings of urban isolation, and a host of other themes.

By using four narrators, Coupland is able to take a core theme, spirituality, and absorb it and examine it from vastly different angles. Moreso than in his other work, Coupland captures the unique voice and experience of each character.

Overall, this was a fascinating read, and one that will stay with me for a long time - especially the "Heather" section. An amazing novel.

You are Gold - Always believe in your soul

2004-08-24T11:01:00.000-07:00

So I think for starters that Paul Hamm is gay. It's not just the lisp. It's not just the chipmunk voice. OK. It's the lisp. It's the chipmunk voice.

But give the brother (oops- sister) a break! He should keep his gold medal which he earned in true American style - playing the rules game (aka "I followed the rules")

There seem to be a lot of cry-babies in the Olympic gymnastathon this year.

Koreans. OK, so the judges screwed up. But they should have caught the error sooner - before someone else was wearing the gold medal. And who's to say this guy would have just gotten the 0.1 added?

Svetlana Khorkina. Someone feed this girl. Krispy Kreme and Ham Sandwich to go, stat! I know she's a "model." I can't imagine what she models for. Baby Gap? No one is out to get her, except for maybe a Lifetime TV movie about the dangers of food issues.

Alexei Nemov. You're beautiful, and you have 12 medals already. Let the other kids play.

Pam Anderson. I really wanted to see her at the Olympics. She would have won the gold medal for "boob jobs", hands down.

Bulgaria. I'm faulting Bulgaria, not Jordan Jotchev because he is one beautiful man, even if he is only 4 feet tall. He's like a mini-me version of George Clooney. Only he wasn't in that Batman movie.

Elizabeth Berkley. OK, so she wasn't there, but I bet she's pissed that Tarin Humphrey stole her look from "Showgirls" and got rewarded with 2 silver medals. Relax Elizabeth - the medals are for swinging around and leaping over the bar, not writhing on it.

The only thing that would have made gymnastics this year better would have been if Surya Bonaly competed. (OK, so she's a skater - is there really much difference?)

Temporal Reviews: Garden State

2004-08-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

Garden State almost makes me want to watch Zach Braff's TV show (Scrubs or Scabs or something?). He is certainly the new "it" boy - at least for me. Garden State was a valiant, if flawed, effort. The quirky sense of humor - of laughing at life's daily tragedies - was spot on. I'm not sure it would have worked as well without such great acting.

I have admired Peter Sarsgaard's talent for several years now (he was absolutely brilliant in Boys Don't Cry, The Center of the World, and Shattered Glass). Natalie Portman has some great acting chops - I wish she would bring them to the Star Wars prequels! But Braff himself had the perfect detached/medicated persona to give the Large character the right mix of bemused observer and conflicted protagonist.

As I was looking him up on imdb, I noticed he appeared in Broken Hearts Club. I don't remember him at all. I'll now have to revisit that film. Not necessarily a bad thing (Dean Cain, where have you been all my life?!?)

FYI - I think I want to get the soundtrack, too. Hmm.

Temporal Reviews: Cosmopolis

2004-08-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

Cosmopolis is the 13th novel by Don DeLillo. It tells the story of a day in the life of a billionaire asset manager - a day spent mostly in his white stretch limousine, and a day when the currency market crashes (due mostly to his interference) and bankrupts him.

It's also a day anarchists take over Times Square, a day he makes love to his wife for the first time, and the day he sees what he believes is his own demise in his pocket watch.

Were Cosmopolis any longer, I think it would be a failure as a novel. As it is, the unevenness become unbearable toward the last 10 pages or so.

Aside from that, this is a provocative novel with a great array of images, ideas, and characters. Clocking in at 208 pages, it's a perfect length for its subject matter. I loved the passages with his Chief of Theory - she was certainly the most interestingly drawn character.

Temporal Reviews: What the #$*! do we (k)now?

2004-08-13T10:40:00.000-07:00

I finally saw What the #$*! do we (k)now? at the Valley Art last night with my friend Andy. It was a very fascinating film - part drama, part animation, mostly documentary - lots of talking heads of physicists and spiritualists talking about quantum physics and reality and such.

This film for me called to mind another film I liked and admired more - Waking Life. Waking Life was the film Richard Linklater filmed and then animated that was more an exploration of dreaming and consciousness with respect to reality - much less academic than What the Bleep.

Like Waking Life, What the Bleep is a film I will need to see a few times to really appreciate everything that happens. For me, the most powerful scene was when Marlee Matlin (I love her) has her breakdown/breakthrough - smashing her bathroom mirror and confronting her own personal demons (specifically her outrageously low self-esteem) and choosing to love herself rather than hate herself.

Overall, an excellent film, even though I got a little sleepy at times. And I loved the chubby Barbara Eden lady who channels Z Gallerie. She was great!

Vacation all I ever wanted....

2004-08-11T11:36:00.000-07:00

So I'm now back at work after a glorious 5-day vacation of doing absolutely nothing. It was a lovely vacation:

Thursday evening: Coffee with the boys at Biltmore
Friday day: Bowling party sponsored by my realtor Heather - which was fun. Also met my friend Keith for coffee.
Friday night: Birthday dinner for my friend Nicole at Oregano's - they know the owner, so he blocked off part of the parking lot for our big birthday bash. I had a spot of beer and a spot of martini, and felt no pain as I drown my vacation in pizza. Yummmmm. There were a ton of people there (mostly from Realty Executives), but it was fun anyway.
Saturday day: Haircut day at Biltmore - Lana/Iguana was happy to see me - followed by some pool time relaxation.
Saturday night: Out for beers and jello shots with my boys at Tinseltown Tavern. This experience can be summed up as "Hags Gone Wild." Yikes.
Sunday morning: Church (natch) - which was very interesting - sermon about friendship. I listened to most of it.
Sunday afternoon/evening: Scott and Shawn's Day of Fun. We had an impromptu pool party at my place, followed by dinner at Pei Wei (orange peel chicken for me), then beer bust at NuTowne, and lastly bare chest night at Padlock. Quality time with Shawn is always good.
Monday day: Gym and snoozing while watching Lifetime TV for Gays.
Monday night: Bowling - we lost two of three, but are still in third place with one week to go. I feel like the Cubs...
Tuesday day: Finally got around to taking an HIV-test at APAZ. I took the new 20-minute test. I am negative (to be celebrated by throwing huge orgy - kidding).
Tuesday rest of the day: I finally got around to cleaning to my house, and I'm now perhaps 90% done (I thoroughly cleaned the downstairs, still have to finish my bedroom/bathroom and vaccuum upstairs). Also watched a lot of Law and Order. Benjamin Bratt is sometimes very cute. Sometimes not. He should pick cute.

All I can say is that I wish I was still on vacation. The Go-Go's were right. Vacation all I ever wanted. Vacation have to get away.

Temporal Reviews: Oryx and Crake

2004-08-11T11:22:00.000-07:00

I just finished Margaret Atwood's latest novel, the Booker shortlisted novel Oryx and Crake. It, like Atwood's most famous novel, The Handmaid's Tale, is a dystopian tale. In this future imperfect, genetic engineering and bioterrorism have run amok - not to mention extreme class warfare with the virtual elimination of the middle class.

Atwood is one of my favorite authors - I think she is destined for a Nobel Prize. I was a little hesitant to read this novel - especially given the luke-warm reviews it recieved from critics. I thought the novel was amazing. Her approach was mesmerizing - especially in how the actions and histories unfolded in both real time and flashback. If there is a fault in this novel, it's how the climactic point of the novel, Crake's ultimate betrayal of humanity, is not monumental enough. Even though the novel is called "Oryx and Crake" - and the spectres of those characterize infiltrate every aspect of the novel - the novel is really Jimmy/Snowman's story - his experiences growing up before the virus, and his survival after (including his semi-deification by the Crakers).

As far as the Booker Prize is concerned, they certainly missed the boat. I haven't read the other short-listed novels, but Oryx and Crake was in another league altogether from the anemic piece of crap that won (Vernon God Little). All I can say about why that POS won is that Europe really hates us.

There are giants in the sky

2004-08-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

So I went to "Coffee Lady" today for a smoothie, and I think I was disappointed. Trying to eat healthy sucks. Really sucks.

High Fructose Corn Syrup
This stuff is terrible. It's like non-sugar sugar. It doesn't exist in nature, just as a cheap way for The Man to sweeten things that are sweet enough anyway. No wonder the US is now all-diabetic, all the time. Why does Apple Juice need to be sweeter? Apples are sweet enough!

(Partially) Hydrogenated Oil
This stuff is terrible. It's like vegetable oil that's been injected with death. It's also nigh on impossible to avoid. And it's really bad for you.

Vegetables
This stuff is terrible. Why can't vegetables taste like donuts?

Anyway, so my smoothie was tasty (apple juice, frozen peaches, yogurt, and protein powder), but i don't like not knowing the nutritional value of things like that. I have a feeling that the apple juice had added High Fructose Corn Syrup, and I'm sure the yogurt did too (and was probably full fat).

It sucks to try to eat natural foods that are good for you.

Temporal Reviews: De-Lovely

2004-08-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

De-Lovely was certainly better than I expected, but I still didn't enjoy the framing effect. I think the merits of the story (Cole Porter's lifestory) was strong enough without creating this bizarre "This is Your Life" frame.

Moreover, the frame itself was odd. If the point of Kevin Kline's make-up was to make him look like Carl Reiner, why not just hire Carl Reiner? And am I the only one who is frightened of Jonathan Pryce? He can be done anytime now.

The songs I thought worked very well - in most cases improving on their (somewhat narrow) appeal from the soundtrack (especially Alanis Morrissette). The big exception here was the stagnant rendition of "Just One of Those Things" by Diana Krall. Not sure why, but she doesn't seem to get the song.

Kevin Kline is yummy. That's all I can say.

Temporal Reviews: Dry

2004-07-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

Dry is the third book from Augusten Burroughs, following the novel Sellevision and the memoir Running With Scissors. Dry, like Running, is a memoir, this time of Burroughs's struggles with alcoholism and recovery.

Burroughs's style is very funny - and most of the book is very funny, until the obligatory relapse and ensuing self-destructive behavior. I don't necessarily understand addiction, so I'm probably a little callous towards his challenges.

I must admit that I enjoyed Running With Scissors more than Dry, but for my money, Sellevision was the funniest. I'm hoping that Burroughs will return to fiction at some point (I believe his next memoir is due in September).

Temporal Reviews: Man About Town

2004-07-25T22:57:00.000-07:00

Man About Town is Mark Merlis's third novel, and the follow-up to the Lammie winner "An Arrow's Flight" (in my library, still unread).

I much enjoyed Merlis's first novel, "American Studies," and have looked forward to the trade paperback release of "Man About Town." (One of the many quirks to my character is that I prefer trade paperback to all other book editions. Don't ask why - I don't know).

"Man About Town" is plagued by a vaguely unlikeable narrator. This is frankly a daring choice. I'm not sure how easy it is to read a first-person narrative with a narrator who is plagued by so many neuroses and insecurities.

For me, this served as much of a cautionary tale - especially with respect to the prospect of being middle-aged and single in a gay world where middle-aged men are largely invisible.

Troubling to me were the continual references to how Joel, the narrator, had "let himself go" - implying that he was grossly overweight. What constitued grossly overweight? His waist size was 35. If/when I'm in a 35, it will be a day for rejoicing. This book, despite exploring issues of older gay men on the outskirts of the gym/AF culture, still, in my humble opinion, promotes the extreme lookism that permeates modern gay life.

This is an interesting irony in a book that idolizes the 50s/60s gay ideal that was much less gym-crazed (ie, men with natural beauty/bodies versus gym-crafted six packs). Even though it harkens back nostalgically to that time, the emphasis with how fat, lazy, and slobbish Joel is (with his size 35 waist) is insulting.

Why couldn't Joel have a 35 inch waist and be invisible and a good person? Who took pride in his appearance? He was a complete mess, as evidenced by his fatness/slopiness. He would have been just as invisible had he been well put together and fat. The latent racism was also alarming. Joel was a very dislikeable character, despite how much I might have understood/empathized with his situation.

The execution of the novel was expert, but sometimes I wonder about the plot choices that were made. In this case, I would give 2 stars to the plot/subject choices, and 3 stars for artistic merit.

Temporal Review: The Bourne Supremacy

2004-07-25T22:20:00.000-07:00

So I went to see The Bourne Supremacy Saturday morning at the Cine Capri. Overall, I think this was an excellent thriller movie - about as intelligent and well-excuted as any I've seen.

It of course helps to have top-notch actors in the film. I love Joan Allen as a general rule of thumb - she is an actor that creates a complete characterization and then fully inhabits the role. I didn't so much like her hair in this movie, but as my friend Brian put it, it probably looked appropriate for the character.

Brian Cox is a similar actor who fully inhabits his characters. Same Brian asked if he ever played a nice guy. I suggested that his pedophile in "L.I.E." was nice, for a pedophile.

As for everyone's favorite Matt Damon - *sigh. He's my boyfriend, even if he doesn't know it yet. He brings a believability to the Bourne character - a delicate balance of earnestness and intensity. And such a cutie.

If there is a down side to the film, it is the unfortunate presence of teen queen Julia Stiles. Minor spoiler alert - one of my favorite parts of the film was where Matt bashes Julia's head into a cement wall. Hee hee hee.

Overall very enjoyable. The plot was serviceable, but much more interesting was the way the film executed the plot - with style and heart.

Nature boy

2004-07-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

So I've been curious about getting juice instead of smoothies at In the Raw, when I stop in before work. This morning, eschewing a smoothie I opted instead for the Kamikaze (juice of apple, cantaloupe, and carrot).

It was a little too hard core for me. I'm not sure what the problem was. I like apples. I like cantaloupe. I like carrots. Maybe I wanted it to be, I don't know, in the form of a smoothie instead of watery. Maybe it was too murky in its unnatural glowing orange color. Anyway, it put me right off. So much for the concept of drinking my daily vegetable requirements.

I wish I liked V8. I've never really understood V8/tomato juice. It smells wrong. It smells (and tastes) like it should be warm and on pasta, not cold and in a glass. Maybe that's the Italian in me. Who knows?

Here's Bernice

2004-07-22T08:55:00.000-07:00

So I'm working from home today - which is cool - except that I slept through my morning workout. Not happy. But well rested.

I am born

2004-07-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

Whether or not I shall turn out to be the hero of my own blog, these pages must show. Now that I've gotten the Dickens out of me...

This is my first experience blogging, and I'm very excited.

I'd like to thank all the bloggers who have come before me - Angela Bassett, Jada Pinkett Smith, Dorothy Dandridge - and my lawyer, my stylist, my agent, my publicist...I'm not done!