BOOKS:
I reccommended MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD a few months back and so I was fascinated by the lecture given below by Dr. Temple Grandin who, like Marcelo, is a person with high-functioning autism. If you loved Marcelo this book and this woman, might be of interest to you.
THE WAY I SEE IT: A PERSONAL LOOK AT ASPERGER’S AND AUTISM by Dr. Temple Grandin (www.templegrandin.com) . Dr. Grandin is whip smart and a kick. Doctor of Animal Science and professor at Colorado State University and a consultant to the livestock industry in animal behavior. Grandin is known for her work in autism advocacy and is the inventor of the hug machine a device she created to calm hypersensitive persons.
She had me riveted on her explanation---of all things, on how a bull will show a lateral threat by standing sideways and giving you his profile to show how big he is, only many people mistake this as docile because he isn’t looking straight at you directly. “When he gets that way, look out.” Good to know.
That was just one of her anecdotes but she delivers them in such deadpan humor it’s hilarious. She is one of the most practical people I’ve ever heard give a lecture. I was amazed by her memory, in the movie they show how her photographic memory works. In keeping with this theme of high-functioning autistics having brilliant minds, she was discussing different autism traits of “Aspies” (Aspergers). Some are math related, some are word, some focus on art and she said, “Heck half of Silicon Valley is probably Asperger’s.” She advocates finding what interests autistic children early on and encouraging their strengths. She claimed she wouldn’t know where she’d be now if her mother hadn’t encouraged her art. In the movie of her life, TEMPLE GRANDIN on HBO, I loved Julia Ormond’s (who played Temple’s mother), response to a doctor talking down to her about her daughter’s condition. When he asks if her father is available, because he doubts if Ormond can follow him Ormond says, something like, “It’s okay doctor. I graduated from Harvard, try me.”
A NORTHERN LIGHT by Jennifer Donnelly – Just cracked open but I’m excited to read. It’s a take on the 1906 true story that inspired Theodore Dreiser’s novel AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY. Also the movie with Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor and Shelley Winters, A PLACE IN THE SUN, which is heart breaking and a must see. Only I suggest having a comedy at hand afterwards because the story is so well done, a lingering sadness will pervade you. I’ll let you know what I think when I’m done, but I mean, the book’s already won a Printz Award so, I’m guessing I’ll love it. Pick it up and read along with me. Love to hear your comments.
Also picked up MAGIC UNDERGLASS by Jaclyn Dolamore.
BRANDO:
If you can find the HBO special TEMPLE GRANDIN starring Clair Danes and Julia Ormond, I highly recommend, Temple’s story is powerful and heroic. Her mother’s determination that she go out into the world is inspiring. Claire Danes performance is jaw dropping. Where did that come from. I attended Grandin’s lecture this month and Danes really nailed Grandin’s exhuberance and intelligence.
I was all ready to see KICKASS, about teens tired of getting bullied who become superheroes, by director Quentin Tarantino and (supposedly) violent as heck, but my husband went without me. We were supposed to go together but I was home making revisions on this next project and he didn’t tell me until the end of the night. Yeah, thanks babe. So, unfortunately I cannot review this movie. (I hope you feel guilty).
RENTALS:
Michael Jordan on IMAX. It’s about basketball and a whole lot more. It’s about work ethic and what it takes to be the best. My husband always puts it on when I start a book project. It gets me pumped. It’s like my Rocky Theme song. One of my most favorite scenes is when Kerr, asks if Michael gets to play opening night after his absence from the game to follow his baseball career. Scotty Pippin says, “Generally speaking if you have your own statue outside of the arena, you don’t come off the bench.”
MADMEN – Yes, I know, old news but I just rented the first season. How smart IS this movie? If you want to comment you can only bring up subjects right after the one guy gets his short story published. Such a terrific sociological study. One of my sociology teachers a year back was discussing power struggles with me and she loves the show and she, Jessica pointed out how hilarious it is that the women all have a problem with the divorcee, when their lives are equally hazardous. Such great storytelling. Pick it up if you’re late in the game like me.
INDIE RENTALS:
RAN – by Kurosawa. King Lear Kurosawa style: elegant, violent, riveting.
RASHOMON by Kurosawa. Directed by the amazing Akira Kurosawa. A 1950 Japanese Crime Mystery. The crime is relived through different perspectives, each person telling a slightly different story. Who is telling the truth?
BURGERS: Stellina’s in Point Reyes – After the Grandin lecture we went to Stellina’s. Their mussels, sausage stew is out of this world.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Of Zombie's and Seances
BOOKS:
Just read Libba Bray’s - A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY. About 4 girls in London’s Spence school in the 1800s. It’s like stepping into a delicious, gothic, time warp. It’s about friendship, cliques, power and pushing against society’s expectations for ‘proper girls’. A wonderful read, two thumbs up. Great atmosphere. Ever since I read that teeny séance scene in Graham Greene’s THE MINISTRY OF FEAR, and Bronte’s JANE EYRE, I’ve wanted to feel that spooky ambiance again. In fact, it’s part of the reason I loved SÉANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON, an opera by Stephen Schwartz, which debuted last year in Santa Barbara. It’s a remake of the old black and white movie of the same name and directed by Bryan Forbes.
Went to see Ian McEwan at City Arts and Lecture last week and he gave this terrific story of the genesis of his novel, ATONEMENT. He was in Holland and he had this idea of this young woman inside a house filling a vase with flowers. A young man was waiting for her outside and she was torn between wanting to see him and wanting to avoid him. McEwan then sketched the scene out in this notebook where he allows himself to jot down things he’s not working on. He forgot about the scene. Months later he had a different image of a younger girl watching a scene play out near the fountain, from her bedroom window. The third scene came weeks later when he realized the young girl at the window was looking back on her life and that one moment of misunderstanding that would reverberate throughout their lives.
Until that point, McEwan had thought the first scene could have been a short story, possibly something set in the future; it wasn’t until months later that he realized he had a novel. The first scene of course, is the character Celia (played by Keira Knightley in the movie) wanting to avoid Robbie Turner (played by James McAvoy).
It was fascinating to hear how the story came to him like a gift. Sometimes writers sit down with a definite plot in mind and other times, you’re backed into it and given small gems to piece together. And who are we to say no, to scoff in the face of the muse crooking her finger? The best you can do is scramble for a notebook and pen.
I had this experience myself, writing THE FIVE-FORTY-FIVE TO CANNES; I was with my mother in-law in Cannes, where I was supposed to be taking a break from writing. We were sitting at this sea-side café. It was a gorgeous sun drenched day and we were watching families come into the square from the beach for lunch. And I thought to myself, in my day-dreamy way, ‘how nice, these families must meet every year in Cannes over the course of their lives’. Even though they could have been locals, I decided they were visitors. And my next thought was, ‘What if one year, one family member, the golden boy, the black-sheep, doesn’t make it to Cannes?’ All I knew at the time was that the young man’s absence was ominous. That evening I sketched out an outline. Throughout the trip I wrote feverishly for three weeks and at the end of our vacation I had hand written THE FIVE-FORTY-FIVE TO CANNES in three notebooks in three weeks. It was an amazing, very Jane Austen, experience.
There’s something liberating about working on something ‘just for the fun’ of it, to see where it might go. There are times when you have a plot first and there are times when the story takes you by the hand and whirls you up in its dance. I recommend both.
I devoured Carrie Ryan’s THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH and had nightmares. Fun! At first I was skeptical, a zombie book? (As in book vs. movie) How will that play out? Except I did enjoy director, Danny Boyle’s 28 WEEKS (and the sequel 28 DAYS) LATER. And then the book opens with her mother…and I’m hooked. Great book. I haven’t had a ‘oh god I’m glad it’s a dream nightmare’ moment, in a long while. Fun! Of course then I had to go out and consume THE DEAD TOSSED WAVES, in like two nights. Wonderful, intense read.
Speaking of Danny Boyle (and now I’m letting my Books section mix with my Brando section) have you seen the list of credits to this man’s name? Wow. Here’s just a few: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, TRAINSPOTTING, SHALLOW GRAVE, MILLIONS, it goes on. He’s one to watch, isn’t he?
I’ve just finished INCARCERON. What a wild Alice in Wonderland ride. It’s about a young man who may or may not have been born in a prison that’s as vast as the dessert. Who may or may not be a dead prince. Fisher continually kept me guessing. My only critique of the book, if you can call it a critique, is I wanted to sit with the characters for just a breath longer. Love that Keiro. (Why is that? I loved Damon in LJ Smith’s book too). The sequel SAPPHIQUE is next, maybe it’ll be ‘all about Keiro’.
BRANDO:
After Reading and giving a lecture for BLESS ME ULTIMA at the Hayward Library I made comparisons to Pan’s Labyrinth and Salem’s Lot----The scene with the preacher in the kitchen when the vampire leader breaks in and grabs the cross the preacher holds to ward him off and the nosferatu looking vampire says, “Your Faith against mine,” is one of my favorite showdown scenes. So now I feel the need to recommend the two. Stephen King’s SALEM’S LOT is one of my all time favorite vampire movies, the scary factor is just unrelenting, and then the brother scratching at the window is, priceless. Smart-scary without the gore.
AN EDUCATION – A story about a girl’s coming of age in 1960s London. Okay, here’s the deal. I thought the acting was superb and Carey Mulligan is just a revelation. The entire cast is strong and I really like Peter Saarsgard, I thought he was intense in BOYS DON’T CRY, JARHEAD, SHATTERED GLASS, and his acting is always great, BUT-----spoilers coming so close your eyes. I didn’t believe that a young sixteen(?) year old, even a precocious one would fall in love with someone who was made up to look more like her father’s crowd. Maybe if she was college age…What would have been more believable to me was if he had switched places with Dominic Cooper. Cooper looked more the part of the ‘playboy’, someone I would believe a young girl, dozens of young girls, to fall head over heels and risk her future for. Cooper would’ve put a different spin on the whole throw your life away story-line.
Saarsgard is more of the quiet, steadfast, goodlooking, older brother type. I didn’t believe he was this playboy. I don’t know. Dominic Cooper would’ve been way more believable to me. It was a thorn in my side the entire movie. I wanted them to switch parts so then I couldn’t focus on the movie. I couldn’t get past it. Rosamund Pike is wonderful as the shallow, passive aggressive, girlfriend. Such a turn from PRIDE AND PREJUDICE’S gentle Jane.
INDIE RENTALS:
The Wind that Shakes the Barley (Irish) – Ken Loach film about the Irish War of Independence 1919-1921 and the Irish Civil War. Cillian Murphy is heartbreaking as is his character’s plight. You also learn a little bit of history.
Pan’s Labyrinth – Guillermo Del Toro. Set during Franco’s Spanish Civil War and filled with magical realism. A dark fairy tale of a girl’s coming of age. The young girl Ivana Baquero is TERRIFIC as Ofelia. She reminds me of Natalie Portman’s star turn as Mathilda in--- and also a great film, THE PROFESSIONAL.
BURGERS:
Bequet caramels from Montana. Oh my gosh. Salty-sweet. Individually wrapped.
Luxe Cappuccinos, Los Angeles – oh so creamy goodness….sigh.
Just read Libba Bray’s - A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY. About 4 girls in London’s Spence school in the 1800s. It’s like stepping into a delicious, gothic, time warp. It’s about friendship, cliques, power and pushing against society’s expectations for ‘proper girls’. A wonderful read, two thumbs up. Great atmosphere. Ever since I read that teeny séance scene in Graham Greene’s THE MINISTRY OF FEAR, and Bronte’s JANE EYRE, I’ve wanted to feel that spooky ambiance again. In fact, it’s part of the reason I loved SÉANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON, an opera by Stephen Schwartz, which debuted last year in Santa Barbara. It’s a remake of the old black and white movie of the same name and directed by Bryan Forbes.
Went to see Ian McEwan at City Arts and Lecture last week and he gave this terrific story of the genesis of his novel, ATONEMENT. He was in Holland and he had this idea of this young woman inside a house filling a vase with flowers. A young man was waiting for her outside and she was torn between wanting to see him and wanting to avoid him. McEwan then sketched the scene out in this notebook where he allows himself to jot down things he’s not working on. He forgot about the scene. Months later he had a different image of a younger girl watching a scene play out near the fountain, from her bedroom window. The third scene came weeks later when he realized the young girl at the window was looking back on her life and that one moment of misunderstanding that would reverberate throughout their lives.
Until that point, McEwan had thought the first scene could have been a short story, possibly something set in the future; it wasn’t until months later that he realized he had a novel. The first scene of course, is the character Celia (played by Keira Knightley in the movie) wanting to avoid Robbie Turner (played by James McAvoy).
It was fascinating to hear how the story came to him like a gift. Sometimes writers sit down with a definite plot in mind and other times, you’re backed into it and given small gems to piece together. And who are we to say no, to scoff in the face of the muse crooking her finger? The best you can do is scramble for a notebook and pen.
I had this experience myself, writing THE FIVE-FORTY-FIVE TO CANNES; I was with my mother in-law in Cannes, where I was supposed to be taking a break from writing. We were sitting at this sea-side café. It was a gorgeous sun drenched day and we were watching families come into the square from the beach for lunch. And I thought to myself, in my day-dreamy way, ‘how nice, these families must meet every year in Cannes over the course of their lives’. Even though they could have been locals, I decided they were visitors. And my next thought was, ‘What if one year, one family member, the golden boy, the black-sheep, doesn’t make it to Cannes?’ All I knew at the time was that the young man’s absence was ominous. That evening I sketched out an outline. Throughout the trip I wrote feverishly for three weeks and at the end of our vacation I had hand written THE FIVE-FORTY-FIVE TO CANNES in three notebooks in three weeks. It was an amazing, very Jane Austen, experience.
There’s something liberating about working on something ‘just for the fun’ of it, to see where it might go. There are times when you have a plot first and there are times when the story takes you by the hand and whirls you up in its dance. I recommend both.
I devoured Carrie Ryan’s THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH and had nightmares. Fun! At first I was skeptical, a zombie book? (As in book vs. movie) How will that play out? Except I did enjoy director, Danny Boyle’s 28 WEEKS (and the sequel 28 DAYS) LATER. And then the book opens with her mother…and I’m hooked. Great book. I haven’t had a ‘oh god I’m glad it’s a dream nightmare’ moment, in a long while. Fun! Of course then I had to go out and consume THE DEAD TOSSED WAVES, in like two nights. Wonderful, intense read.
Speaking of Danny Boyle (and now I’m letting my Books section mix with my Brando section) have you seen the list of credits to this man’s name? Wow. Here’s just a few: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, TRAINSPOTTING, SHALLOW GRAVE, MILLIONS, it goes on. He’s one to watch, isn’t he?
I’ve just finished INCARCERON. What a wild Alice in Wonderland ride. It’s about a young man who may or may not have been born in a prison that’s as vast as the dessert. Who may or may not be a dead prince. Fisher continually kept me guessing. My only critique of the book, if you can call it a critique, is I wanted to sit with the characters for just a breath longer. Love that Keiro. (Why is that? I loved Damon in LJ Smith’s book too). The sequel SAPPHIQUE is next, maybe it’ll be ‘all about Keiro’.
BRANDO:
After Reading and giving a lecture for BLESS ME ULTIMA at the Hayward Library I made comparisons to Pan’s Labyrinth and Salem’s Lot----The scene with the preacher in the kitchen when the vampire leader breaks in and grabs the cross the preacher holds to ward him off and the nosferatu looking vampire says, “Your Faith against mine,” is one of my favorite showdown scenes. So now I feel the need to recommend the two. Stephen King’s SALEM’S LOT is one of my all time favorite vampire movies, the scary factor is just unrelenting, and then the brother scratching at the window is, priceless. Smart-scary without the gore.
AN EDUCATION – A story about a girl’s coming of age in 1960s London. Okay, here’s the deal. I thought the acting was superb and Carey Mulligan is just a revelation. The entire cast is strong and I really like Peter Saarsgard, I thought he was intense in BOYS DON’T CRY, JARHEAD, SHATTERED GLASS, and his acting is always great, BUT-----spoilers coming so close your eyes. I didn’t believe that a young sixteen(?) year old, even a precocious one would fall in love with someone who was made up to look more like her father’s crowd. Maybe if she was college age…What would have been more believable to me was if he had switched places with Dominic Cooper. Cooper looked more the part of the ‘playboy’, someone I would believe a young girl, dozens of young girls, to fall head over heels and risk her future for. Cooper would’ve put a different spin on the whole throw your life away story-line.
Saarsgard is more of the quiet, steadfast, goodlooking, older brother type. I didn’t believe he was this playboy. I don’t know. Dominic Cooper would’ve been way more believable to me. It was a thorn in my side the entire movie. I wanted them to switch parts so then I couldn’t focus on the movie. I couldn’t get past it. Rosamund Pike is wonderful as the shallow, passive aggressive, girlfriend. Such a turn from PRIDE AND PREJUDICE’S gentle Jane.
INDIE RENTALS:
The Wind that Shakes the Barley (Irish) – Ken Loach film about the Irish War of Independence 1919-1921 and the Irish Civil War. Cillian Murphy is heartbreaking as is his character’s plight. You also learn a little bit of history.
Pan’s Labyrinth – Guillermo Del Toro. Set during Franco’s Spanish Civil War and filled with magical realism. A dark fairy tale of a girl’s coming of age. The young girl Ivana Baquero is TERRIFIC as Ofelia. She reminds me of Natalie Portman’s star turn as Mathilda in--- and also a great film, THE PROFESSIONAL.
BURGERS:
Bequet caramels from Montana. Oh my gosh. Salty-sweet. Individually wrapped.
Luxe Cappuccinos, Los Angeles – oh so creamy goodness….sigh.
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