Recent Reads

The Blunderer. Patricia Highsmith. 1956.
One of the earlier Highmiths and a decent companion, of sorts, to Strangers on a Train. It involves a wife murderer (undiscovered) and a man who "stalks" him, in a manner, and fantasizes about being a wife murderer himself. As with Strangers, the tense relationship between the two men drives the narrative into the strange, cruel world one expects in a Highsmith psychological thriller. I'll admit that I found this to be one of her lesser efforts--gripping at times, certainly, but also tediously bogged down by the main character's foibles and witless behavior. However, I always love the Highsmith "plain-style" of writing--spare prose, studded with gritty details and precise descriptions. ***

Famous Last Words. Timothy Findley. 1987.
A hugely entertaining historical fiction made up of multi-layered narratives and featuring an impressive cast of characters (including Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, Edward VIII, Wallis Simpson, von Ribbentrop, Charles Lindbergh, Hitler, and Rudolph Hess). The plot concerns the rise of Italian and German fascism and the various fascist sympathizers in European high society. What's more, Findley throws in a cabal of behind the scenes Euro power-brokers who go by the codename "Penelope," a kind of Priory of Sion who plans to use the fascists as a scourge to scrub Europe clean before setting up their own pan-European Emporer and Empress--the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Most of the story is told from the point of view of Hugh Selwyn Mauberley--Ezra Pound's fictional character (here a real guy: a wonderful move!), a fascist sympathizer who turns against "Penelope" and pays the consequences. All in all, a real tour de force. ***1/2


Solar. Ian McEwan. 2010.
McEwan's latest about a Nobel Prize winning physicist who plagiarizes from a newly dead protege to keep himself relevant. The story follows his tumultuous love-affairs (five wives and countless lovers) and his rotten business dealings and pathetic post-Nobel professional life. He's a rotter in almost every respect--selfish, hypocritical, cruel, and amoral. He outdoes himself when he frames one of his wife's lovers for the murder of another of his wife's lovers! Yes, this is a comedy--and at some points it is laugh outloud funny--but it's hard to spend time with this character and not feel a little slimy yourself. As usual, however, McEwan's writing is flawless. What does it mean that you keep reading simply because the book is so well-written? ***

Recently Viewed: Julie & Julia, Sherlock Holmes, Il grido

Julie and Julia. Nora Ephron. 2009.

The praise heaped upon Meryl Streep for her astonishing portrayal of Julia Child in this film is well-deserved. I am in awe of her ability to thoroughly inhabit this character both inwardly and outwardly. What a joy to see this! And to see her play off that wonderful stalwart Stanley Tucci, portraying Paul Child. Unfortunately, as every reviewer has noted and as I will also, the rest of the film just doesn't amount to much. Amy Adams is Julie Powell, a woman who, in an effort to shake off a premature (from my view) middle-aged funk, decides to cook and blog about, over the course of a year, every one of Child's dishes featured in her seminal cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The film pops between Powell's personal struggles and victories and Child's, but in the end you can't help but see Powell's side of the film as a sketchy framework for presenting Child's--for otherwise the two simply have no reason, other than the blog (an interesting challenge, but in the end a stunt), to be brought together. Frankly, I think the filmmakers lost their nerve. The real story here is something along the lines of Amadeus: the identity crisis that ensues when the mediocre encounter the monumental. ***** (for Streep and Tucci) otherwise, **

Sherlock Holmes. Guy Ritchie. 2009.

Oh Lord. When I first saw this advertized I cringed--and with good reason, apparently. I was afraid Guy Ritchie would do what he could only do--he'd make Holmes into a Guy Ritchie character. And he did. He's taken the crackling eccentricities of the character (presented, tolerably, in the person of Robert Downey, Jr.), thrown in a bit of Brad Pitt (from Snatch) and Jason Statham (from nearly all his movies) and concocted a Holmes who feels like one part Batman, one part Heathcliffe, and one part Rain Man. But not only that, he's placed him in a CGI Victorian London (all Brunelian oversized chains and smoggy city-scapes) and entangled him in a cabalistic conspiracy plot reminiscent of Dan Brown. Look, I appreciate iconoclasm and revisionism to an extent--but don't fuck with Sherlock Holmes! He isn't a Guy Ritchie character transported back in time. He's enough as he is: Conan Doyle's creation wasn't a 21st century bundle of nerves with martial arts training. Watson is capably played by Jude Law (nice to see him supporting for once), but that's about the only bright spot I found in this grey, bloated film. **

Il grido (The Outcry). Michelangelo Antonioni. 1957.

Here's an Antonioni film I had only seen half of, and it's taken me several years to get back around to seeing it again. This is often viewed as the transitional film between MA's early more melodramatic stories (though steeped in Italian neo-realism) and his middle period alienation films. Having seen most of the former and all of the latter, I'd put it closer to the latter--I might go so far as to say it's clearly one with them. We could draw a line right from Il grido to Red Desert quite easily, I think, and call it all MA's alienation quintilogy (quintet?). But does the prevalence of a theme really make a coherent, 5 part whole? (meh...) The film features rugged American cowboy/gangster star Steve Cochran (way out of type--but excellent) as Aldo, a hapless refinery worker who breaks up with his cheating girlfriend, Alida Valli (who's already born his child, now a 7 year-old), and leaves town to become an itinerant worker. For part of the journey, the girl, Rosina, is with him, and his episodic misadventures in employment, romance, and parenting make up the bulk of the film. Very reminiscent of de Sica's The Bicycle Thieves and Fellini's La Strada, Il grido focuses on the alienation of a dispossessed and marginalized man, but refuses to fully sympathize with him as he is clearly responsible for a fair amount of the misery he lives in. He's a victim of a one-two punch: on one hand, he's guided by outmoded philosophies and brutal machismo, but on the other he's ill-prepared (by a kind of self-sabotage) for the hard realities of Italy's post-war economic reconstruction. All in all it's a devastating portrayal of the ways people aid the powers that be in bringing about their own defeat. ***1/2

Ciao,

~CD

Vaux's Swifts

Last Saturday night we went to the Chapman school on 25th and Pettygrove in Portland to see the Vaux's swifts come in to roost in the chimney. This is an annual ritual here in PDX: this particular species of swift will find, during its autumn migration, a safe roosting place en masse--usually a hollow tree, but in this case, a tall chimney. They come in by the thousands at sunset. After filling the skies in the vicinity of the school for a couple hours, they start to work their way down towards the chimney in great whirling funnels, cylinders, and ribbons. At last they start to descend down into the chimney to find a roosting spot, sometimes flapping back out for another go. But by dark, they're all in. Hundreds of people gather on the school's lawn to watch this spectacle (along with a hungry hawk or two), which happens every night for about the entire month of September. When chillier temperatures arrive, the swifts begin to move further south. (Credit goes to Steve Warner and Portland Upside for the photo above.)

Read about this amazing phenomenon here: http://audubonportland.org/local-birding/swiftwatch

Take a look at this video of Vaux's Swifts roosting in a Eugene, Oregon, chimney. It's exactly what you'll see at Chapman school, but this particular footage is so outstanding that I had to link you to it: http://www.formula1movies.com/video/1TT07lAdNaM/Thousands-of-Vaux-s-Swifts-Roost-in-Eugene-OR.html

And enjoy this artist's rendering of the scene (second row down); I must say he captures the mysterious beauty of it well: http://www.flickr.com/photos/32310833@N06/page5/

Adios,
~CD

Boardwalk Empire and some Articles

I watched the debut episode of Boardwalk Empire yesterday, HBO's new gangster drama about the life and times of Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, an Atlantic City kingpin. I'd read great things about it and was looking forward to it immensely. Perhaps it had been a bit over-sold: I liked it, but felt it didn't take me any place especially new as far as mob stories are concerned. But perhaps that's because we've been saturated with mob stories over the last 50 years and there literally isn't any place new for the genre to go. Once we've visited the whole spectrum, from Mean Streets to the Sopranos, it all just seems like a retread. Steve Buscemi is a new take on an old type--he's hardly the "heavy" one expects--but even so, I'm not sure he has the gravity for the part of Nucky. I'll keep watching, however, and perhaps it'll suck me in. Lord knows True Blood has, so you know I haven't too high of a threshold!

Here are a few cool articles I've recently read. One on the much maligned but undervalued technique of rote memorization: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19fob-medium-heffernan-t.html?_r=1, one on how a burglarized writer tracked down the thief via the internet: http://www.salon.com/life/life_stories/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2010/09/20/tracked_down_my_thief, and one on what happens to the libraries of famous authors after they die: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/09/19/lost_libraries/?page=full.

Enjoy!
~CD

Them Two

Here's a link to an excellent three-part article on the songwriting partnership between John Lennon and Paul McCartney: http://www.slate.com/id/2267342/entry/2267343/.

Just thought I'd throw it on here because I found it so damned interesting. I do realize that so much has been written about these two that many might just roll their eyes at such a thing: "Oh, another one about how John was edgy and Paul was all glitter, great." But, in fact, it goes well beyond such simple equations--even refuting them to a large degree. Read it and see. For me, it was just fun to read an intelligent, nuanced analysis of the ins and outs of the creative process. The writer, Joshua Shenk, really gets it.

Enjoy.
~CD

Going Coastal

We went coastal a couple weeks ago, meaning, of course, that we paid a weekend visit to the Oregon coast. We stayed in Newport, one of my favorite coast destinations (been going there since the 80's). We stayed our first night at The Waves Motel (not recommended) and then driven by mildew, a lack of an elevator, safety issues, and general shabbiness we spent our second night at the Greenstone across the street. Much better--clean, new, tasteful, pleasant views, covered parking, and an elevator. And it didn't cost too many $ more.

We met my friend Lynn Jeffress and ate at Local Ocean, a newish place down on the waterfront. Clearly the best restaurant in town--everything's fresh (purchased from the marina each morning), the place is always packed, and it's very family friendly. Ian fell asleep on my shoulder and stayed there the whole meal (he'd had a big day at the beach!). We also enjoyed Panini's for coffee and morning treats and Nana's, an Irish restaurant/pub with fabulous authentic Irish breakfasts.

All in all it was a low-key trip. We mostly went to see Lynn, frolic on the beach with Ian, see the Oregon Aquarium, and enjoy the Labor Day weekend. Great weather too. Here are some pics:

Ian found a kelp "whip":

...and he and Lynn decided to make a jump-rope out of it:

At first, I was a little uncertain but then thought, What the heck!:

Oh...umm...er...

Oh yeah, I still got it!:

Here's K and Ian at the old Yaquina Bay lighthouse (K looking fabulous if I do say so myself):

Here they are at the front of the lighthouse:

And here they are at the back of the lighthouse:

And here's the Spanish Inq--no, I mean Ian and I gazing at the waves. He had just warned me that I was starting to get red (sunburned) on the place where my "hair is missing":

You ate sand?

We ate sand:

Adios.

~CD

August Round-up

A round-up of bloggolicious things that have gone down lately:

Saw the B-52's at the zoo on August 13th. We sat on blankets on the lawn waaay in the back. We occasionally caught glimpses of the band. Ian and his friend Jackson (and his parents) were all on hand. We had a moderately good time. The band played more of their latter-day offerings than the stuff I was familiar with, that is, the first couple albums. But it was definitely fun to hear "Planet Claire," "Rock Lobster," and "Private Idaho" live. I can also now check-off the list another band I never had the chance to see in their prime. (Along with The English Beat, Squeeze, and The Knitters.)

Discovered the 19th century Brazilian writer Machado de Assis. The proprietor of Post-Hip CD's (and Books) in Multnomah Village gave a me a copy of Dom Casmurro for free, telling me I simply had to read it. I loved it and read Epitaph for a Small Winner soon after. Great tragicomedy of the Flaubertian variety, with a strong dash of Laurence Sterne. How did I grow up not knowing this writer? I can see a little more clearly now where some of the 20th century South American writers drew their inspiration.

On Aug. 22 I went up to Lake Coeur d'Alene for, probably, the last time this season. Met my brother Scott and my poet friend Tod Marshall (see "You Should Know About" for details) for a day of fishing in CDA, Lake Chatcolet, and up the St. Joe river a bit. Caught a fair number of Kokanee (land-locked sockeye salmon) and a few pan-fish. Scott smoked the Kokanee and, boy, were they good on a bagel with cream-cheese. Here's some pics.

Beautiful Rockford Bay, Lake Coeur d'Alene:

Our trusty fishing boat:

A moose chomping on reeds at the mouth of the St. Joe River at Lake Chatcolet:

Our harvest: smoked Kokanee. Note the bagel. Note the coffee cup: it's been in the family for nearly fifty years.

Alas, September is now here, and with it come late summer rains. Sniff.

But here's something perfect: Alan Greenspan's reaction in an interview to a question asking if Stan Getz playing sax at the age of 15 was really so good as to discourage Greenspan from seeking a career as a jazz musician:

"Oh, my God."

Here's the link to the fascinating little curio I found that in: http://www.stangetz.net/world_financial_crisis.htm

~CD