No one would ever get the wrong idea

Over at Kirkus reviews, Rebecca Cramer pulls lines from Here’s the Situation “written” by Mike Sorrentino.

My impression is that he’s a sensitive soul, too good for this world.

Belated Booklist for B

This is for you, B-

Remember when I promised to think up a summer reading list?  Yeah…

Most of these titles are funny.  A lot of them are older because I thought you might not have heard of them.

1. An Old-Fashioned Girl / Louisa May Alcott (1870) Historical.  Poor but proud girl falls for rich, feckless boy.
2. Powder and Patch / Georgette Heyer (1923) Historical.   “Geek falls for cheerleader” plot set in Regency England.
3. Gaudy Night / Dorothy Sayers (1935) Mystery Series.  At her college reunion,  she is stalked by an murderer out-of-control grudge-holder.
4. Mara, Daughter of the Nile / Eloise Jarvis McGraw (1953) Historical.  A young linguist becomes a spy in Ancient Egypt.
5. A Thurber Carnival / James Thurber (1960) Humor, Short Stories.
6. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress / Robert Heinlein (1966)  Science Fiction.  The Moon rebels from Earth.
7. The Hot Rock / Donald E. Westlake (1970) Caper Series.
8. The Clairvoyant Countess / Dorothy Gilman (1975) Mystery, w/Sequel.  A psychic solves mysteries.
9. Another Fine Myth / Robert Aspirin (1978) Fantasy Series.  A loser magician hires a demon as his teacher.
10. So You Want to Be a Wizard / Diane Duane (1983) Fantasy Series.  Two kids find a manual for wizards.
11. Moonflash / Patricia McKillip (1984) Science Fiction, w/Sequel.  A girl escapes her suffocating community.
12. A Natural History of the Senses / Diane Ackerman (1990) Nonfiction.
13. Wild Magic / Tamora Pierce (1992) Fantasy Series.  A girl can talk to all animals.
14. Dead Until Dark / Charlaine Harris (2001) Mystery/Fantasy Series.  A vampire walks into her bar.
15. Jenna Starborn / Sharon Shinn (2001) Science Fiction.  Jane Eyre in space.
16. Bet Me / Jennifer Crusie (2004) Romance.
17. Peeps / Scott Westerfeld (2005) Horror, w/Sequel.  Vampire boy struggles to be good.
18. The Lightning Thief / Rick Riordan (2005) Fantasy Series.  Demi-god must prove his innocence.
19. Freaks: Alive On the Inside / Annette Curtis Klause (2006) Fantasy.  “Normal” boy runs away from the circus, gets in a real mess.
20. American Born Chinese / Gene Yang (2007) Graphic Novel.

Now, I’m waiting for yours.

Videodrome (1983)

Cover of Videodrome

First it controls your mind…then it destroys your body

Here’s a gruesome sci-fi horror from David Cronenberg.  I’ve been nervous about watching it for a long time.

Max Renn (James Woods) is a fast-talking cable tv programmer with a taste for sleaze and a kinky girlfriend, Nicki Brand (Deborah Harry).  He gets the opportunity to watch a mysteriously broadcasted show named “Videodrome,” which is nothing but sexualized torture. He thinks he’s found gold. As he learns more about the people behind the show, he finds the whole thing is more than he can stomach.*

Renn begins the movie as a sadist-in-denial but his girlfriend has completely embraced her masochism.  Half way through the movie, these two turn out to be as straight-edge as the characters get.

According to the reviews I’ve been reading, Renn represents society’s corruption and its perverse desires being controlled by technology that is supposed to sate those desires.

Cronenberg gives a nod to Marshall McCluhan’s theories of media in the characters’ pontifications.  Renn meets a digital fanatic named Brian O’Blivion (Jack Creley) who only appears on a screen not in person.  O’Blivion has opened a Cathode Ray mission house for the homeless, and he thinks virtual life is superior to real life.

A Boy and His Dog (1975)

Image via Wikipedia

A rather kinky tale of survival.

It’s not so much kinky as it is vicious.

The boy is Vic (Don Johnson) and the dog is Blood (voiced by Tim McIntire).  In a post apocalyptic world, the clever and telepathic Blood and young Vic struggle to survive.  Vic’s two goals are to find food and to find women.  Blood simply wants food.  Vic discovers a different kind of woman in Quilla (Susanne Benton) but she may prove more of a challenge than he anticipated.

Bad Movies.org says that it influenced the making of Road Warrior, and I can see that.  Everything is scrappy, dirty, derelict.  People are focused on survival and violence above all.  The world feels destroyed.  Even worse are the hints that people have mutated into dangerous and alien beings.

I must say that A Boy and His Dog is not a feminist film. In fact it’s pretty much anti-woman.  The only woman with any kind of strength in the movie reveals herself to be controlling and cruel.  It is not pleasant to watch how women are treated in the movie but at least it is overt misogyny unlike many Hollywood movies.

There is an interesting emphasis on literacy.  The dog teaches the boy how to read and prods him into reciting the presidents of the USA.

It is based on a novella by Harlan Ellison.  Different reports have him approving or disapproving of the result.  At least, it’s irreverent and scrappy, and surely some part of him approves.

Good movie but hard to take in spots.

Reviews:

Roger Ebert review.

John Smyth review.

Bad Movies.org review.

Light Views review.

Richard Scheib review.

Scifimoviepage review.

Solaris (1972)

Cover of Solaris - Criterion Collection

We don’t need other worlds. We need a mirror.

This is one of those important films directed by Andrei Tarkovsky.  I have been reluctant to watch it.  It features those elements that usually annoy me:  the pacing is limp, the plot  minimal, the hero unsympathetic, and the conclusion ambiguous.

But I surprised myself by being satisfied by it.

A space station orbits a strange planet named Solaris.  Though scientists have studied it for years, the data is inconclusive.  Kris Kelvin (Donatas Banionis), a psychologist, goes to evaluate the mental health of the three remaining scientists.  His report will determine whether the project is continued.  When he arrives at the station, he finds the situation is much more unstable than was believed on Earth.

To me the basic story was of a man’s spiritual awakening.

Kris begins as a closed-off, nearly heartless man.  He is on the verge of a leaving Earth behind but he barely seems to register the change before him. He’s lost many human connections in his life.  He’s a widower. He’s been estranged from his father for several years and yet makes no overt gesture to reconcile with his father. He doesn’t appear to be attached to his son either. He rebuffs the astronaut who has come to tell of his experiences on the planet.    Though he strolls through the lovely countryside of his childhood, his expression is morose.

When he reaches the station, the scientists have neglected their environment, behave strangely and keep secrets from Kris.  He is confronted with what appears to be his wife  Hari (Natalya Bondarchuk).  She is not quite Hari but she does act as a catalyst to crack open Kris’s heart and expand his spirit.