The whole Trump thing (no, not that one - the recent one)

Considering the sheer number of ridiculous statements the man makes, this may become a continuing entry, but for now...

I don't understand the outrage over Meryl Streep's speech at the Golden Globes. Once you get past the "look at us privileged people from humble beginnings" introduction, the content is quite elegant and hard to argue against.

(1) Primary message: be empathetic and compassionate to others, especially if you are in a position of power and the other is not.

(2) Secondary message: the press is accountable to the truth only, not to authority.
(3) Tertiary message: diversity matters.

I think if you showed somebody a transcript with the name removed, or even just talked about the actual content of the speech, they would be hard-pressed to say those are controversial messages.

So... why the "controversy"?

She never mentioned Trump by name, and I don't think anyone could justifiably call what she said "an attack"... There was no defamatory statement about Mr Trump. She said she was disgusted by his flagrant mocking of a disabled reporter, and that led into the statement on empathy. Again... why the controversy?

There's this implication that Hollywood is out of touch with "the common man," that liberal elites should "shut up and [do whatever they're paid to do]" rather than comment on politics... but Hollywood has been out of touch for a long time, so that's not the issue. And telling someone to not talk about something because you don't like what they're saying is just a childish thing to say - they can say anything, just as you can say anything in response.

One of the pillars of our democracy is that nobody is above scrutiny. Obama caught a lot of flak over his eight years - some of it deserved, some of it not. Would you have been just as outraged if Streep had been talking about him? If so, then you should look at your own biases.

What's more troubling in my mind is Trump's response... Because, really, who cares what Meryl Streep has to say? Even if she had outright insulted him or gone on this lengthy tirade, her statements are not going to affect anybody or anything. They're getting attention, but they'll be forgotten soon enough. Trump, however, will soon take office as the most powerful man in the world, and what was his response? To belittle her directly, and then go on the defensive to justify himself as right about months-old statements referring to a story about 9/11, all of which have proven false.

So, if Streep bugged you that much, or you're just generally outraged by the Hollywood elite, some suggestions...

(1) Take a breath. There are a lot of outspoken liberals involved in the movie-making process. But there are conservatives as well. It's everyone's right to say whatever they please.

(2) Boycott Meryl Streep. If it's that big a deal, don't watch her movies.

(3) Boycott Hollywood. Again - if you feel so strongly, do something about it. If you hate uppity liberal Hollywood and how much money they have and blah blah blah... then just don't give them money. Done.

For the Record (cue: needle drop)

We've done this song and dance before, you and I...




It's been (apparently) about eighteen months since my last entry (itself about eighteen months after its own previous entry), and I've got that itch again...


As it so often does, the keyboard calls for action.



After my first major break from writing, I started this blog and wrote a couple (what I hope were good) short stories. I can't guarantee the same will happen this time - but I've got the call again, and I'm hoping to answer it justly.




Goals for the New Year
(1) Write - at least a little bit - most days of the week. This will, likely, devolve into my insipid opinions on movies, books, or whatever media I've just consumed, but hopefully there will be at least a few nuggets of substance sprinkled in there somewhere. And even more hopefully, I'll be able to write something new.

(2) Finish a two-year-old story... No details, but I was cruising for a while on a story that had some really nice individual pieces, but then hit the inevitable road block, and it's been sitting untouched ever since. The hope is that the physical act of writing more will get me back into the rhythm, so I can find and complete the rest of the story.

(3) Other stuff - more mundane. Saving money, raising a happy healthy child, living healthier, all the other usual stuff people say at the start of the year.




Good luck to you and yours. I hope you'll wish the same to me and mine.

Patriot, Unrelenting: Thoughts on American Sniper

Last year, American Sniper did what no other movie about the Iraq war managed to do: it made money. With mostly positive reviews (72% on Metacritic) and enormous box office success ($350+ million in the US alone), the film was nevertheless a lightning rod of controversy. Some decried the story as hero worship, lauding Chris Kyle to near-messiah status; some felt the tone too jingoistic for such a complex situation. (There were other, more extreme opinions, but I'd rather spend time on the points that have at least some degree of merit.)

No matter the criticism - or perhaps even in spite of it - American Sniper became a rallying cry for conservative America. Pundits pointed to the film's financial success and lack of award status (ie, one minor-category Oscar with three major-category shutouts) as some sort of proof of Hollywood's "liberal agenda," or at the very least of being out of touch with the average moviegoer. (Um, duh - they're even out of touch with the artsy movie-goers.) For some reason, it became unacceptable to a huge number of people that a successful, popular, well-reviewed movie not be anointed "the best," even though box office darlings rarely take home Best Picture (or any Oscars, for that matter).

I did not see the movie when it came out. I had interest - I thought the trailer was strong - and I love a good film controversy, but there simply was not enough time/money/resources to see something that seemed most surely to be overrated, when there were so many other worthy films on my "to-watch" list.

So I waited until disc, and now I've finally seen it. And for what it's worth - now that the waters have calmed a bit from last winter - here's what I thought...


American Sniper (dir. Clint Eastwood) - 2/5

Chris Kyle was a super-soldier. With over 160 confirmed kills, two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars, and numerous other medals and distinctions, he was an ideal product of the US military. He was efficient, deadly, dedicated, and (with four tours of duty) unrelenting.

One of the big problems in reviewing any biopic, especially of such a lauded figure, is separating the film from the figure. Biopics try to "peel back the curtain" and show us what the subject was actually like. Some succeed, most (in my opinion) do not and simply become checklists of major accomplishments and setbacks. To its credit, American Sniper avoids the typical biopic pitfall: aside from the occasional caption which denotes which tour he is currently on, there is almost no mention of his prowess as a soldier. I cannot recall a moment when the number of honors and distinctions is mentioned, even at the closing credits, when most movies love to extoll the accomplishments of the subjects which had not been covered in the bodies of the films themselves.

The failing of American Sniper, though, is that while it does not fall into hero-worship (though a case could be made for the closing montage), it unfortunately does not reveal much about Kyle as a human being either. Much of the film is simply a collection of Kyle doing various things: here he is in the rodeo, here he is in combat, here he is at home. This can be a winning tactic in the right kind of movie, but American Sniper is not abstract enough to pull off this kind of technique. The movie lacks a narrative drive - there's nothing connecting these scenes other than the fact that Kyle is in each and every one of them.

The film portrays Kyle as an almost idealistic conservative force. His dedication to his principles is unrelenting, such that any sort of cynical and/or dissenting view is met with profound disbelief, or even threats of violence. This single-minded focus serves him well in his military career, but essentially wrecks every other aspect of his life, though he never admits it and the film barely acknowledges it. Bradley Cooper does an excellent job typifying this behavior, and his eyes show the internal struggle he must be going through... but at the same time, this struggle is only shown in Cooper's gestures and facial expressions. Aside from a recurring, opposing sniper trying to cash in a bounty, Kyle faces virtually zero opposition from anyone else in the film. His wife offers some occasional limp protest or incredulity early on, but is largely reduced to a one-dimensional cluster of doe-eyed support. Even when it's revealed late in the film that Kyle has been out of duty for an unspecified amount of time and has not returned home - has not, indeed, even told his wife he was going to be home, what is her response? I think most wives would be pretty angry, offended, and hurt. This was a man who (at least in the film) was basically an absentee father of two and an essentially uncommunicative husband, and yet she simply tearfully wishes he come home. She never raises her voice, never gets angry, never really addresses the deeper issue - that Kyle clearly feels more at home in a war zone than with his family - and that is the end of the scene. I have to say that it plays pretty well, I just found it hard to believe that's how any real, flesh-and-blood woman would react.

This was my other major issue with American Sniper: I never really "bought" any of it. Did it seem based on true events? Yes. Was it a faithful adaptation of Kyle's life and autobiography? Probably. But it just never quite worked. Clint Eastwood's spare, economic direction vacillates with elements of realism, stylism, formalism, and hyper-realism, but never quite finds the appropriate balance, nor does it commit to any one style wholeheartedly. The battle scenes are somewhat convincing, except when they're not - there's an effective, sadistic standoff involving locals, terrorists, and a powerdrill done in a hyper-realistic style, but then there are stylistic flourishes of unconvincing slow-motion bullets and poorly rendered, video game-quality CGI that only pull you out of the experience. I can understand filming certain scenes in a certain style and other scenes in other styles, but the lack of any unifying vision or tone simply highlights Eastwood's mishandling and misdirection of the material.

There are things to like about the movie, however. Bradley Cooper nails the performance as a fierce, terse Chris Kyle, bringing nuance and shading beyond what is present on the page, or even in the rest of the film for that matter. In a Best Actor field that was cluttered with biographical portrayals, Cooper's version of Chris Kyle was the only performance that went beyond mere imitation and provided a glimpse (frustratingly, only a glimpse) into what it was that defined and drove the man. (As a sidenote: Keaton's fearless, soul-baring performance in Birdman was the best of all the nominees, but Cooper's was a more heartfelt and, ultimately, "real" performance than Redmayne's.) The cinematography, while spare and unimaginative, is nevertheless effective. What sinks American Sniper is, in my opinion, the failure to focus on Chris Kyle's mentality and humanity, instead focusing on his actions; and a severe lack of vision and direction of the material by Eastwood.

There's the potential for a good movie here, even a great one, but the only one who rose to the occasion was Bradley Cooper.

Nothing is Secret

Nothing is Secret: Or, Why You Won't See Many Pictures of My Family Online

It's been some time, dear friends... Other than an obligatory "best of," it's been over a year since last we spoke! So I hope you'll forgive me if my prose is a bit rusty and, well, prosaic...

In the interim, a number of big doings:

(1) I graduated PA school. Proud owner of a shiny, new Master of Science in Physician Assistant Practice.

(2) I passed the Physician Assistant National Certification Exam (PANCE). Quite a relief. My scores didn't earn me any bragging rights, but frankly - I passed, and that's all that matters.

(3) Still searching for a place to call home, so to speak... I'm being considered for a few positions: one in the Chicago area and one in the Seattle area. Major pros and cons to each area, and to each position; the wife and I have some big decisions to make in the near-future.

(4) Biggest news of all... WE HAD A BABY. It's been a while, actually, but I've been so wrapped up in school and other issues that it didn't seem important to blog about it.


That actually brings me to the topic of this entry: privacy.

Obviously, this is a blog, so there's a certain lack of privacy that simply goes with the territory, but it's important to me to keep things kosher at home as well as online.

We hear all the time about how millennials and the younger generations are increasingly interconnected on the Web and yet personally disconnected from the flesh-and-blood creatures around them. My wife and I are deliberately trying to buck this trend.

That's not to say we don't have an online presence - such thinking is simply unrealistic this day and age, unless your Luddite fear and paranoia have sent you to the hills to live in a shack as a hermit. There are facebook accounts, twitter accounts, intagram, this very blog, etc etc ad nauseum. But if you know us at all, you'll see a few common traits among all those entities: the vast majority of entries reveal very little about our personal lives. You'll get opinions, thoughts, quips, (occasional) complaints, and comments, but very little about friends, family, and even each other. And I don't want to speak for her, but for me that's by design.

I love to write. I love to share my thoughts and opinions on myriad topics. But I don't kid myself: over the Internet is no way to know a person. So even if I were to go back to the glory days of this blog and post an entry every day, or even multiple entries a day, you'll get few details about my life. Or my wife's. Or - especially - our child's. All this (sometimes) to the chagrin of extended family, who sometimes (lovingly?) request, in none-too-subtle tones, that we post more pictures online so they can watch the child grow up. Sorry, but no thank you!

It's great to share photos with friends and family. But the idea of sharing photos with an entire online community - for potentially hundreds, thousands, or even millions to see - doesn't work for us.

We keep to ourselves. Except for when we don't. If you do see a baby picture online, enjoy it - they're few and far between. And that's because we'd rather live our lives and enjoy them in reality, not gather more "hits" or "views" (or whatever) online.

Thanks for respecting that. And, of course, for reading!

Best of / the New Year

As per the last couple years, I'm going to give a quick rundown of my favorite movies, books, and general finds from the past year... A little different from the last couple years: I'm trying to keep things brief. Fewer "honorable mentions" or "runners-up," shorter explanations/justifications - let's stick with the best, and then go from there.

BEST BOOK - House of Leaves (Mark Z Danielewski)
At the start of the year, my literary goal was to give Stephen King a chance and venture through his Dark Tower series... I'm about a hundred pages from completing that goal; and while it's been fun, there were a few detours along the way. I started writing a short story, and the further along I went, the more bizarre and experimental it became... To keep up my inspiration, I sought out experimental literature. Enter House of Leaves.

Let me say up front: House of Leaves is not an easy book to read. Never mind the main storyline (which is fairly straightforward), or the footnotes/extracts/appendices so extensive they could be their own novel... I mean the book itself is hard to read. Danielewski puts you square in the minds of his characters, so much so that the text reflects their experiences. Best example: the titular "house" has a mysterious room which shouldn't be there - a room so vast and infinite a team of explorers and videographers get lost inside it... and it just may be haunted.

To convey the confusion, paranoia, and labyrinthine nature of the room, a whole section of the book is written as a maze. Think about that: you'll read a paragraph, which sends you to a paragraph a few pages ahead, which sends you to another paragraph a few pages back, which sends you to a paragraph on the same page but printed sideways... Or there's another page where a character falls and twists through the air, so the letters and words twist upside-down and rightside-up... This goes on for some time, and I'll admit it can be infuriating, but the payoff is so rewarding. You become invested in the story, and it's really a beautifully devastating book. It's trickery in the name of artistry, and by the end your heart will be cracked.

The whole book isn't like this, but this is the most extreme example

Stephen King is the winner this year for quantity, but his Dark Tower can't compete with House of Leaves - it's one of the best books I've ever read.



BEST TV SHOW - Breaking Bad (specifically, "Ozymandias")
I pretty much got on board with Breaking Bad during the third season; and I've loved everything ever since. They ratcheted things into overdrive, though, with "Ozymandias" - which is probably the single greatest episode of television I've ever seen. Fast-paced, dramatic, shocking, well written, well acted, well directed, subtle, exciting... any positive description you can think of, just apply it to this episode and it still won't be enough. The first time I've actually rewatched an episode just for the joy of it.

BEST MOVIE (DISC) - Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger)
A "classic" I'd never seen, Anatomy of a Murder deserves its status as one of the great courtroom thrillers. A very smart, frank film about sex, rape, murder, and the justifications and excuses for all of those things - it's also got great music and cinematography to go along with it. We loved it!



BEST BAND - Lamb of God
I've gotten more and more into metal music as I've gotten older (while simultaneously refining a long-standing love of jazz and Chick Corea), and this year I started to really love Lamb of God.

Normally, this would be too heavy and intense, but I don't know... something about it has been sticking with me. A lot of it goes back to my love of drumming - and the percussion of Lamb of God is pretty obvious, even without musical training. Not just the work of double-bass virtuoso Chris Adler, but the music itself. The bass, the guitars, even the growling screams of Randy Blythe - all of it in the service of hitting you hard and leaving you breathless. They're not writing songs, these are sonic assaults. I love it.

BEST MOVIE (THEATRICAL) - Upstream Color (Shane Carruth)
For a long time, it seemed nothing would beat Rob Zombie's masterpiece, The Lords of Salem; I saw that in April 2013, and it took a DVD rental in January 2014 to finally knock it from the top spot.

Carruth's shoestring epic Upstream Color had me from the first moment, and it is without question my favorite film of the year. It's a bit like mixing David Lynch with Terrence Malick - that bizarre dream logic carried by soft, lyrical storytelling... it's more a tone poem than a movie, but that's what makes it so captivating. I suppose you could relay the story and try to pin down the narrative (an exercise in futility, if ever there was one), but why bother? It's a film about ideas, emotions, thoughts, gods, demons, life, death, birth, rebirth. If you like great cinematography and visual storytelling, it's a must-see. If you like ham-fisted writing with lengthy diversions and plot-point discussions, it's not the film for you.

This was actually a really good year for movies. The last two years, I could only come up with three movies I felt strongly about... this year I have nine strong recommendations, and a couple others I thought were really good. Below you'll find a list of challenging, interesting, sometimes outright strange movies that break with the norm... and what's really nice? Finally - some VISUAL storytellers! Some are obvious, but you could turn off the sound for most of these and still know exactly what's going on.

(1) Upstream Color
(2) The Lords of Salem
(3) The Act of Killing
(4) Blue Jasmine
(5) Before Midnight
(6) Inside Llewyn Davis
(7) Gravity
(8) Her
(9) Spring Breakers
...other fun ones: American Hustle, The Evil Dead (remake), Mud, About Time, and Warm Bodies.