| Tuesday, February 27, 2007 |
| Maxed Out |
What kind of financial education did you receive? Mine came from my parents, a banker dad and a -- I was going to say tightwad, but let's say thrifty mom. My dad was a loan officer for many years and I remember his cautionary tales of the bankers and lawyers he encountered who were in debt up to their eyeballs, despite their six-figure salaries. The lesson: no matter how much or how little money you earn, don't live beyond your means. I got my first checking account when I was in high school and learned to balance it to the penny (something I still do, but it's much easier now since I use Quicken). As a result, I live debt-free, with the reasonable exception of our mortgage.
When I was a college senior, I applied for a credit card and was turned down -- apparently, my major (Writing Seminars) was not considered lucrative enough, something that was borne out when I got my first job out of college earning $5/hour. How things have changed since then! Today, any college kid can get a credit card, regardless if he's majoring in philosophy or pre-law. Indeed, credit card companies throng campuses, offering free T-shirts or frisbees to anyone willing to fill out an application. Most kids take advantage of the offers, and a lot of them wind up owing thousands of dollars by the time they graduate -- and that's in addition to their student loans. Did anyone ever warn them that if you pay the minimum payment, it could take you 30 years to pay off your debt, and that's only if you never charge another cent? What about the fact that credit card companies can legally change your interest rate at any time and for any reason?
The new documentary "Maxed Out" explores America's credit card culture, and perhaps the saddest story told is that of two women whose college-age children killed themselves after they ran up huge credit card debts; one of them had accumulated a dozen cards. The moms have since been crusading to get credit card companies off campuses. Were their kids irresponsible for going on buying binges after receiving their plastic? Undoubtedly -- but let's face it, we all did a lot of stupid stuff when we were teenagers. Misusing credit cards is something that can screw up your entire adult life, and for whatever reason, that message isn't getting through to teens. We don't let 18-year-olds go out and buy a six-pack of beer anymore because too many of them weren't using alcohol responsibly. Should those same teens really be allowed to go buy a new wardrobe at Abercrombie & Fitch with their newly acquired Visa card unless they can prove they know the ramifications of what they're doing?
"Maxed Out" features a lot of other stories -- a farmer in Minnesota whose credit rating went haywire when her daughter died and she was mistakenly considered deceased as well; a mentally retarded man who was persuaded by Citibank to refinance his home and is now facing foreclosure; a National Guardsman who had to file for bankruptcy after a long tour of duty in Iraq because his military pay couldn't support his wife and child. The overwhelming message of the film is that the deck is stacked against consumers. (Lest you think filmmaker James Scurlock is a liberal agitator, he is a former campaign worker for George Bush Sr. and was voted "most conservative" by his business school classmates.) The credit providers prey on the weak and the poor because that's where the money is. If they can only pay the minimum, that means they're racking up huge fees and interest payments. Folks who pay the bill in full every month are considered less desirable.
"Maxed Out" isn't a particularly slick or entertaining doc in the crowd-pleasing vein of "Super Size Me," but it is certainly informative, and would be an invaluable film to show to high school or even middle school kids -- before they get to college and encounter the hordes of credit card marketers. |
posted by 125records @ 5:29 PM  |
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| Monday, February 26, 2007 |
| Oscar! |
You would think we'd have stayed home and watched the Oscars in high def on our new TV, but you'd be wrong. We opted to attend the Oscar bash at the Cerrito; I thought it would be fun to experience it communally. What I didn't think through was how boring the telecast often is, and if you're watching at home, you have the option of fast-forwarding through the dull bits (if you're TiVo'ing) or going off to check your e-mail. The Cerrito event featured fast-paced trivia contests during the commercials (Joe won a DVD of "The Maltese Falcon") and prizes in categories like Most Glamorous and Celebrity Look-A-Likes, and it was fun to applaud when deserving folks like Alan Arkin and Martin Scorsese won (when the latter's name was called, someone yelled out "ABOUT F*&$ING TIME!," and thank goodness Eddie Murphy didn't win, with his hateful "Norbit" currently stinking up theaters). But I've pretty much decided that the only way I'm watching the Oscars from a theater seat in the future is if I or a loved one is nominated for one of the awards.
I enjoyed the little interpretive Pilobolus dance routines (who would've thought "Snakes on a Plane" would get any recognition during the Oscars?), and I liked the fact that they didn't just show clips for the Best Picture nominees, but had some of the people involved talk about the films. Errol Morris' opening montage was kind of cute and at that point in the telecast, there was still plenty of goodwill available. My supply of goodwill had definitely run out by the time Michael Mann's America-in-the-movies montage rolled around, though. I've complained about the superfluous montages in the past, and this time we had to sit through three of them. I was pleased that schlocky Chuck Workman was finally given the heave-ho, but I hope some year the montages get cut altogether. They won't be missed.
I was also disappointed by how many of the winners immediately pulled out a piece of paper and started reading when they got up to the mike. I can understand that you don't want to be tongue-tied in front of several million people, but it removes all spontaneity and excitement from the proceedings.
As for Ellen, I thought she had some funny bits, but her opening monologue seemed a little too low-key. I missed some of the more dazzling and surprising openings of Oscarcasts past, such as Billy Crystal's always-lively musical numbers and Jon Stewart's "Brokeback Mountain" moment with George Clooney.
Nicole Kidman: Step away from the Botox. Also, that bow looked like it was eating her head. |
| posted by 125records @ 10:23 AM |
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| Saturday, February 24, 2007 |
| The monolith: the happy ending (I hope) |
Comcast sent someone out on Friday to return our splitter, though he warned me several times that they had taken it because it was "a bad spleeter" and I should under no circumstances use it. They had already thrown away the cables because they too were "bad," but he gave me a couple new ones (as well as a new splitter). Maybe it's par for the course for them to take people's stuff away and we're the first people to complain about it. It was hard to understand him because he was a Korean (I think) guy who spoke really poor English. If you're going to put someone in a customer service role, he really should speak as little English as possible, don't you think?
As Joe mentioned in a comment, we are going to stick with the two cable cards in the TiVo, since they're only $1.50/month and the third card would cost $7/month.
As far as being distracted by facial detail in HD, as Jestaplero asked, I didn't even notice Tina Fey's scar on "30 Rock" -- I was probably too busy laughing. (Every time I mention our new TV, I will feel obliged to put in a plug for "30 Rock," because I love it and don't want it to get cancelled. Any Nielsen families who happen to be reading this are hereby ordered to tune in NBC at 9:30 ET/PT every Thursday night.) We watched "Law & Order" last night and I was amazed by the clarity -- I noticed things like posters and signs on the walls of the police stations, and knickknacks in the D.A.'s office. It was obvious that Alana De La Garza wears a lot of makeup -- her face looked a little cakey. But on the whole, I really like it. It reminds me of the time last year when we had a professional window-washer come out and clean all the windows in our apartment; you're looking at an old view in a whole new way.
In case you decide to go out and buy a big TV, or (better) have a deep-pocketed relative buy one for you, here are some things I have learned. These may seem obvious to people who have had HDTV forever, but according to a recent survey, many people who own HDTV-capable sets have no idea how to get a high-def picture. You either need to subscribe to your local cable or satellite company's HD service (which is what we did), or (more complicated) receive the signal over the air using an antenna. The reason the latter is trickier is because you must live within range of your local station's transmitter. We didn't try to get an over-the-air signal but I would imagine that in the hilly Bay Area, it's problematic. Rog has chronicled Denver broadcasters' efforts to build a "digital supertower" that would enable more people to get over-the-air HD. (Looks like the problems are ongoing.)
Anyway, let's say, for the sake of simplicity, that you called your local cable company and are getting your HDTV through them. This means you'll be able to get extra HD channels, like Fox Sports and ESPN HD, though you'll have to pay extra for them. (Since Joe is eager to watch baseball in HD, this was a no-brainer for us.) You can also subscribe to HD versions of HBO, Cinemax and Showtime (we declined). You're going to have to get used to a whole new set of channel numbers. For instance, I had to delete our old "30 Rock" TiVo season pass (on cable channel 3) and resubscribe to the show on channel 703, which is our local NBC affiliate's high-def outlet.
All the complications involved in getting HDTV was one of the reasons I resisted it for so long (well, that, plus I was too cheap to buy a new TV). But now that we have it all sorted out, it really is cool. If you're in the neighborhood, come by our place and see for yourself! |
| posted by 125records @ 2:56 PM |
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| Friday, February 23, 2007 |
| The monolith, part 3 |
So yesterday, two guys from Comcast came out to install the new cable cards. Joe was back at work, so I was left to deal with them. It didn't go very well.
When they arrived, I explained about the guy who had been here on Tuesday, and that the cable card hadn't worked. One of the guys nodded and said of course it didn't work, we only needed cable cards in the TiVo, not the TV. Despite the fact that they acted like they had never seen a TiVo before (apparently they're not very popular items in this service area), they seemed to know what they had to do. They inserted the cable cards and then had to spend an hour on the phone having them activated, a lengthy process that involved reading long strings of numbers off the screen. Finally, it was all set and I was able to tune in all of the high-def digital channels. (To be honest, there doesn't appear to be that much HDTV on during the day, except for some kind of skateboarding exhibition on INHD and a wild animal show on PBS.) As far as I was concerned, yay, it worked. The technicians gathered up some cables and left.
After they left, I called Joe at work to tell him the good news. He was furious that they hadn't installed a cable card in the TV itself. I pointed out that we only watch programs through the TiVo, but he said that he had made it very clear, to me and to Comcast, that we were to have three cable cards installed.
 Stupid TV! It was screwing up our lives. After a brief sojourn to Forbidden Island, we went home and watched "30 Rock" in high-def. I have to admit that it did look really good.
This morning, I asked Joe if he could reconnect our old TiVo, since there were still some shows on there that I wanted to watch. Guess what -- it turns out the cables and splitter the Comcast guys had taken with them were ours. I had just assumed that they wouldn't take something that didn't belong to them. Obviously I am too cowed by authority. I called Comcast and our stuff is allegedly going to be returned to us sometime today. I have now ceded all responsibility for the TV and its associated accoutrements to Joe. If you're looking for me, I'll be in the bedroom reading a book. |
| posted by 125records @ 10:21 AM |
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| Tuesday, February 20, 2007 |
| The monolith, part 2 |
For decades, this is how people watched TV:
1. Buy a TV
2. Plug it in
3. Adjust rabbit ears
4. Watch
But that was before the era of digital cable and HDTV. It's a whole new ballgame now, baby. A much more complicated ballgame.
Last week, I called to make an appointment with Comcast to come out and install a digital cable card in our new giganto-TV. Yesterday, after our new TV and Series 3 TiVo had been delivered, Joe was looking at the instructions that came with the TiVo and realized that it needs two digital cable cards. So we'd actually need a total of three cards. Joe called Comcast and informed them that the cable guy needed to bring the extra cards. Today when the cable guy arrived, I asked him if he'd brought three cards. No, he'd only brought one. Apparently they print out the work orders far enough in advance that if you call the day before to make a change, you're out of luck.
The cable guy installed the one card in our TV, and we made another appointment for someone to come back on Thursday with the two extra cards. Cable guy says it'll take 30 minutes for the card to be fully activated. He leaves. An hour goes by and it's not working. Joe calls Comcast and is unsuccessful in getting the tech support person to resolve the issue. It is determined that on the Thursday appointment, the cable guy will bring and install all three cards.
At this point, I'm sure people are wondering why we're dealing with Comcast when all the cool kids use DirecTV or Dish. Because we live in an apartment building, and we don't have a balcony or a ledge or anyplace where we could put a dish, we're pretty much stuck with Comcast. Also, our condo association board buys cable in bulk from the company, so everyone who lives here gets it at a reduced rate (the fees are included in our monthly dues). That saves us quite a bit of money every month.
Anyway, we can still use our analog cable with the new TV, but the digital wonderland still eludes us. Will we be able to watch Tina Fey and "30 Rock" in high def on Thursday night? Again, stay tuned... |
| posted by 125records @ 10:50 PM |
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| Monday, February 19, 2007 |
| The monolith |
A few years ago, I read something about home theater that has stayed with me. The writer said something along the lines of, if he went out and bought a big-screen TV and speakers and a DVD player and a movie on DVD, he'd have spent $10,000 to watch a movie. Now, granted, a home theater is an investment in years of entertainment, but all I could think was, how many movies -- or even pricier plays, for that matter -- could I see for $10K? Would the handful of shows I watch, like "The Daily Show" and "30 Rock," look that much better on a giganto-screen?
And so we stuck with our li'l Sony -- until today. A generous benefactor offered to buy us, free of charge, a brand new plasma TV. Our cable company lineup includes the digital Fox Sports channel, and wouldn't A's and Giants games look totally cool in high-def? I agreed to the purchase on the condition that the TV not exceed 40 inches. We wound up going with a 42" TV. It really didn't look that big in the store, but now that it's been delivered to our home, it's like the "2001" monolith turned on its side -- enormous. I guess it just looked small in comparison to the 60" and up behemoths.
Even though the TV is up, there is still much to be done; tomorrow, the cable guy is coming to install digital cable and the HDTV tuner. All of a sudden, we'll go from having "only" 70 or so channels to hundreds, including BBC America, Turner Classic Movies, the Sundance Channel, etc. Will I become a total vidiot? Shall I ever get used to having a monolith in the living room? Does Tina Fey look even finer in high-def? Stay tuned... |
| posted by 125records @ 12:25 PM |
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| Sunday, February 18, 2007 |
| Liberal folk, part 2 |
It's only February and our taxes are finished and in the mail. Our accountant charged us $100 less than he did last year, when I gave him everything towards the end of March and he got them back to me right around April 15. I don't mean to gloat, but... no, I do mean to gloat. Having that noxious chore out of the way this early is a relief.
Joe and I went to the Freight and Salvage on Valentine's Day to see one of our favorite performers, Cheryl Wheeler. Most of her songs are beautifully observed slices of life about topics like her elderly neighbors, love, or her childhood (she even has a number about how much she loved singing hymns with her family -- that's pretty red-state friendly!), but she did throw in a couple political numbers, including "Dubya Dubya" (sung to the tune of "Louie Louie").
Coincidentally, a few hours before the gig, an anonymous person added a comment to my "Liberal folk" post from last month, pointing me to a fabulous site called Conelrad.com, which is devoted to chronicling "atomic age" Americana. Conelrad features obsessively lengthy articles about two right-wing folk artists from the 1960s: The Goldwaters, who released the timeless The Goldwaters Sing Folk Songs To Bug the Liberals; and Janet Greene, known as "The Anti-Baez" for tunes such as "Commie Lies," "Poor Left Winger" and "Comrade's Lament." Both are fascinating reads. Former Goldwaters lead singer Ken Crook describes the combo's LP as "completely unlistenable" (Conelrad helpfully supplies clips of tunes like "Down in Havana" and "Barry's Moving In" so you can decide for yourself). Greene, on the other hand, had a genuinely pretty voice; don't miss her calypso-flavored "Fascist Threat" ("Destroy the government with lies/Seize control and centralize/Very shortly you will see/A fascist state monopoly!") or the playful "Hunter and the Bear." |
| posted by 125records @ 9:41 PM |
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| Monday, February 12, 2007 |
| Random notes |
This woman who wrote into Salon.com's advice columnist feels guilty because she prefers name-brand dishwashing detergent to the "good-for-the-planet, all-natural, nontoxic" variety. Personally, I've never felt any guilt about using Cascade or Palmolive, but I do feel guilty about my rampant, out-of-control Kleenex purchasing. Greenpeace's "Kleerkut" campaign states that "every time you use a Kleenex tissue, you are blowing away ancient forests." The trouble is that as a person with allergies, facial tissues are an important part of my life, and the recycled-paper brands tear my sensitive little nose to shreds. I suppose I could start using cotton handkerchiefs, but the thought of having to carry used hankies around until I can throw them in the washing machine is quite unappealing. I try to make up for this lapse by always buying the super-environmental, unbleached, recycled paper towels and toilet paper.
The newspaper ads for the movie "Factory Girl" feature the screaming tag line "EVERYTHING YOU'VE HEARD IS TRUE!" Uh... the main thing I keep hearing about "Factory Girl" is the widely disseminated rumor that stars Sienna Miller and Hayden Christensen really "did it" on camera. Surely the movie studio ad folks aren't insinuating anything, are they now?
I'm starting a new occasional feature called Really Old Stuff On My Hard Drive. A couple days ago, I remembered a photo I used to have up on my very first interbridge.com web page back in the mid-90s. I've been through at least three computers since then; did I still have it? Indeed I did. Along with lots of other digital detritus. Let's dig it up! Here, in honor of yellojkt's YouTube video of himself singing Foreigner's "Hot Blooded," is 30 seconds of me singing. (Some of my readership will already be familiar with this recording, but I'll bet no one's listened to it in ages.) Date: Jan. 4, 1997.
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| posted by 125records @ 9:54 PM |
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| Saturday, February 10, 2007 |
| Berkeley has Carl Kasell fever! |
The crowd at Zellerbach Hall was pumped up. Tickets to the event had sold out months ago, mere minutes after they'd gone on sale. Was it a rock concert? An appearance by Dennis Kucinich? (It was Berkeley, after all.) Nope -- it was an NPR taping.
The Bay Area is a hotbed of NPR fans; if you want to attend an appearance by a public radio stalwart like Terry Gross or David Sedaris, you'd better be pretty quick on the draw. Personally, I had set an alarm on my computer to go off the moment tickets to "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" were released last summer. Having attended WW's previous Bay Area taping almost exactly two year ago, I knew how fanatic those Carl Kasell groupies are. To satisfy more fans, WW scheduled two tapings in Berkeley this time around -- one regular news quiz, and one "evergreen" show mocking past events that they could slot in during holiday weekends. When I logged on to the Cal Performances web site, tickets for the Thursday news quiz taping were already sold out. I was a little disappointed, but at least I was able to score three tix for Friday (one each for Joe, me, and my WW-loving friend Vallery).
Having listened to today's broadcast from the Thursday taping, I can now state that we got the better end of the deal. Each episode of WW features a special celebrity guest, and when the program (which is usually recorded in its home base of Chicago) goes on the road, they usually try to find a local notable. Last time they taped here, they had beloved San Francisco author Armistead Maupin on. The show that aired today featured San Francisco Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein, who is far more famous than the average newspaperman because he (a) was once married to Sharon Stone and (b) had a well-documented run-in with a Komodo dragon in 2001. However, I didn't find him to be one of their more scintillating guests.
Guess who we got on Friday -- Linda Ronstadt. Now that is a star. What's more, she was incredibly witty and charming. Host Peter Sagal interviewed her for probably 20 minutes, which will no doubt be cut down to around 5 for the 50-minute-long broadcast. (WW is ruthlessly edited -- the taping took almost two hours.)
Our WW panelists were Paula Poundstone, Adam Felber and Sue Ellicott. Attending a taping really allows you to see how quick-witted the panelists are with their ad libs. However, probably the funniest thing about the entire evening was something that, unfortunately, will never make it onto the air. There were two sign-language interpreters onstage -- I'm not quite sure how a radio show could attract deaf fans who would be eager to go see a live taping, but there you have it. One of the questions was about an old quote from Ronald Reagan that involved the punchline "crapping a pineapple." (This is real highbrow fare, folks.) Paula and Adam realized how hysterical it was that the interpreters had to sign the phrase "crapping a pineapple," and they kept working it into their conversation so that the interpreters would have to "repeat" it in ASL. Maybe you had to be there, but it was so funny I was weeping with laughter.
I realize that writing about humor is just never funny, so I'll stop here and just say that any WW fan needs to go see the show live. If we lived in Chicago, it would be hard to resist attending tapings on a weekly basis. |
| posted by 125records @ 8:23 PM |
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| Thursday, February 08, 2007 |
| The giving life |
A while back, during my year-end burst of housecleaning activity, I wrote about the piles of magazines that accumulate on our kitchen counter -- publications we don't subscribe to, but receive anyway, from alumni associations, AAA, the Humane Society, etc. A few days ago, a new one showed up in the mailbox: Benefit, "The Lifestyle of Giving." At first I thought it must have been a mistake because it had three rather glamorous looking women on the cover and was printed on such glossy paper that I figured it was a fashion magazine. (I don't subscribe to any of those.) Then I noticed the subheads: "Giving, Inc.: The top ten Bay Area corporate philanthropists." "Black+White+Gold: On the Red Carpet with the Academy of Friends." This was obviously a super-fancy magazine for rich people who give a lot of money to charity, so why were they sending it to me?
Inside was a notice stating, "You have been gifted a subscription to Benefit from one of the following." We've donated to two of the organizations on the list (826 Valencia and Project Open Hand), so I suppose I'm lucky that I didn't wind up with two copies. Anyway, I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but Benefit seems geared to people who have much more money to give away than I do. Some of its advertisers include The Ritz-Carlton Club; Simayof jewelers; Ensemble Capital Management (specializing in "tactical philanthropy"); and Lily Samii, a designer whose fashions cost well into the four figures.
In addition to ads, Benefit features an eight-page fashion layout (prices for the clothing conspicuously absent) and interviews with local philanthropists. For instance, Lisa Stevens is a regional president for Wells Fargo, has three kids under 8 years of age, and volunteers for 12 different nonprofits. "This year, we took two of our children to Glide Memorial at Thanksgiving and served food. It started them thinking about giving and asking questions like, 'Where do these people live?'" There's also a "Philanthroscope" offering astrological advice: "Cancer: Start contributing to a cause that visibly transforms the quality of life on the planet."
A couple days after Benefit showed up in my mailbox, it was in the news -- it turns out that one of its staff members is Ruby Rippey-Tourk, the woman whose affair with San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom has been the subject of banner headlines in the Chronicle for the past several days. Interestingly, the Benefit web site still depicts the cover of an issue from last fall featuring the mayor: "Why Gavin Gives." Oh, he gives, all right! Gav is also prominent in the current issue, shown lounging on a grass couch in front of City Hall (a temporary installation meant to raise awareness of environmental issues).
Benefit also includes page after page of photos taken at local charity events, such as the Little Sisters of the Poor's Red Tie Gala ("Guests were treated to six floors of international flavors by an all-star team of chefs"). I've never quite understood the appeal of charity galas. If you want to make a donation to the Little Sisters of the Poor, why don't you just send them a check? Why does giving have to come with a side order of entertainment? Here's my personal Philanthroscope: "Sagittarius: Write a check to your favorite charity, change into your sweatpants, and spend the evening at home on the couch with the dog watching 'Law and Order' reruns." |
| posted by 125records @ 6:48 PM |
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| Tuesday, February 06, 2007 |
| It's an ad, ad, ad, ad world |
So everyone in my book club really liked this week's selection, Donna Andrews' You've Got Murder, except for one person who was pretty lukewarm about it but certainly not vehemently opposed to it. I was thinking that it might be nice to get some new blood into the group; I've been in it for about eight years, and only one person joined after I did. A few people have come a handful of times, but on the whole, there has been an extremely low rate of turnover. Several of the members have been in the group since the 80s. At this point, we're like a family -- a highly literate, somewhat dysfunctional family.
Remember my post from December about our media unit that arrived with a broken door? It took another month for us to get the door fixed. The first time the repair guy came out, he did not bring the door. Replacing the door was the whole purpose of his house call, and he arrived without it. I couldn't even wrap my mind around how stupid that was. He returned the next morning with the door. So our media unit, ordered in September, was finally complete on Jan. 26. Here's the punch line: today, I got a postcard in the mail stating that the furniture store where we had purchased the item was going out of business. Take that, Evolution Furniture! The name of the store, by the way, had become the target of Joe's and my barbs -- De-Evolution Furniture, Unintelligent Design Furniture, etc.
Even though I don't do a blogroll, I wanted to give a plug to my friend Steve's new blog. He's primarily blogging about music and sports, and I've really been enjoying it. (Unlike me, he's making a concerted effort to post once a day.) I couldn't agree more with his comments about the Super Bowl: "Even the commercials were boring. I watched the game time-shifted on my DVR, but kept watching the ads anyway hoping for someone to make good use of their $3M worth of ad time. I liked the K-Fed Nationwide ad, and a few others, but when the best Super Bowl commercials are the Letterman and Craig Ferguson, it's a bad year for advertisers too." The Letterman-Oprah spot (along with Prince's halftime show) was the highlight of the telecast. It surprised and delighted me -- something the best ads do, but those qualities were in mighty short supply during this year's game.
TiVo is going to start monitoring its users' commercial-watching habits. I'm guessing that most TiVo users are like Joe & me -- we fast-forward through most of them, but we stop and watch the good ones. We both love the Mac campaign with John Hodgman playing the PC (we like him better than the Mac dude, but even so, we're diehard Mac fans). We always watch the Jack in the Box commercials, which are funny and clever. Make your ads entertaining, and we'll stop skipping them. |
| posted by 125records @ 10:42 PM |
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| Thursday, February 01, 2007 |
| Opinions are like a-holes... everyone has one |
A few weeks ago, the moderator of my book group was choosing the selections for the current session. Usually, she comes up with something thematic -- books set in the art world, award nominees or winners, books featuring antiheroes, etc. This time, however, she decided to ask us to name some of our favorites, and that would be our assigned reading. I named two books: Bill Pronzini's Shackles, one of my all-time faves; and Ellen Hart's The Iron Girl, which was one of the best books I read in 2006. (I mentioned it back on Sept. 1.) I thought The Iron Girl was a moving and engaging mystery about a woman coming to terms with her lover's death; to me, it was a real "can't put it down" kind of book. I didn't realize it would prove to be one of the most controversial titles we've ever discussed in my group.
The protagonist of Hart's series is a lesbian restaurateur. The books aren't the least bit sexually explicit; Jane's sexuality is treated matter-of-factly. However, the fact that she had started dating a woman who lives on a ranch sent one member of my group into a sputtering rage -- couldn't we all tell that her cowboy boots and love of horses were deeply Freudian symbols! Jane's best friend Cordelia was considered supremely annoying by some (I think she's a hoot). A couple people liked the book, but I was amazed at the vitriol that was spewed by those who didn't -- it was poorly written! Jane was dumb as a box of rocks! etc. It was all rather upsetting. It's not like I'm alone in enjoying The Iron Girl; Publisher's Weekly called it "shrewd and consistently entertaining," and it won the 2006 Minnesota Book Award for Best Popular Fiction. Anyway, next time we're called upon to recommend something to the group, I'm either going to keep my big mouth shut or go with a book that is so universally beloved that no one can possibly pan it. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, maybe.
Anyway, I managed to finish four novels during NaJuReMoNoMo, plus a nonfiction title I inadvertently started before being reminded that January is NaJuReMoNoMo.
Books bought:
Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu by Lee Goldberg
Books read:
Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops by James Robert Parish
Shackles by Bill Pronzini
The Ruins by Scott Smith
Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu by Lee Goldberg
Night Vision by Ellen Hart
I'm feeling a little gun-shy about recommending anything at this point but I will state again that Lee Goldberg's Monk books are really fun if you're a fan of the show -- he's written several episodes of the series, along with a number of well-regarded mystery novels that are not based on TV characters. The books have sold so well that the next Monk novel is going to be published in hardcover. Good for Lee, not so good for those of us who enjoy picking up the Monks as light (in both senses of the word) vacation reading. I hope that my local library will find it worthy of inclusion in its collection.
I generally don't read the horror genre but The Ruins showed up on a couple of best-of-2006 lists (the San Francisco Chronicle and Entertainment Weekly), so I thought I'd give it a try. I think I'll stick with mysteries, thanks. The book is creepy and scary, if that's what you're looking for. It's also extremely nihilistic. The thing that really annoyed me about The Ruins was the ending. If you plan on reading it, don't go any further!
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The Ruins is about a group of 20-somethings who are vacationing in Cancun and wind up in the middle of the jungle, held hostage by a group of Mayan villagers and some supremely menacing vines. What kept me reading the book was my curiosity about how they would get out of a seemingly impossible situation. I mean, at least one of them has to outsmart the Mayans and the greenery, right? Nope -- they all wind up dead at the end. Where's the fun in that? |
| posted by 125records @ 6:45 PM |
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Name: Sue
Home: San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States
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