Book Reviews: Killers

Killers
by Howie Carr

If I had realized just who the author was before I picked this book up on a 2 for 1 sale at the local bookstore I probably wouldn't have purchased it. It's always tricky to figure out how much of a book's or fictional characters' worldviews are things that are created by the author separate from his or her own views. Fiction and reality don't necessarily have anything to do with one another. But there are authors with very strong political or personal views that not only bleed into their creative works, they inspire the creativity in the first place. The view points are the reason for the creative work. They give the author a way to purge himself.

Howie Carr is a Boston area conservative racist radio host and Boston Herald columnist who has played footsie with birtherism, claimed that President Obama was given everything because of his race, and mocked Senator Elizabeth Warren with "Indian" war whoops. Boston has always had a certain reputation for xenophobia and bigotry. Although Carr is not a Boston native, he seems to fit well within that framework. Carr is also an expert on New England area organized crime. Famously he attracted the negative attention of Winter Hill gang boss Whitey Bulger, who publicly regretted not murdering Carr when he had the chance.

Now depiction is not endorsement as any creative artist would tell you. But I think that most readers are smart enough to tell the difference between someone who creates racist characters because he's a keen observer of human nature and someone who creates racist characters because he sympathizes with that view point. As a reader there are only so many sentences decrying "a fat female Obama voter yakking on her Obamaphone" or snide asides about jungle areas in Boston (Roxbury) that I can tolerate. Killers was right at my limit.

Prison Abolition: Good Idea??

I can't remember the cartoonist's name but somewhere in my home I have an old newspaper comic cut out that shows a smirking sheriff about to hang a depressed looking criminal. The comic's caption is a quote from the sheriff. It reads something like "Of course I realize that society is partially to blame for your crimes. Unfortunately I only have enough rope for you!"

If you talk to most people about their ideas on individual responsibility, punishment, crime, rehabilitation and the like you will find that many people tend towards one of two differing schools of thought. Many (not all) conservatives will be clustered around the idea of "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime!". Some will (knowingly or not) have a pretty healthy dollop of bigotry mixed in as well. They think the individual is responsible for committing the crime, and must pay the cost. Punishment is important. These folks usually aren't that concerned with rehabilitation or repayment. They are interested in punishment. They are often indifferent to why someone committed a crime. If one group of people commits more crimes or has more run-ins with law enforcement than perhaps those people have some personal problems to fix. People who think like this can be still be persuaded to look beyond punishment as the key purpose of the criminal justice system but only if other important (to them) points are raised like cost. Saying that prison is too harsh usually won't evince too much sympathy from these citizens. They will retort that the criminal should have realized that before they committed a crime. There is an axiom that a liberal is a conservative who just got arrested. With the opioid epidemic in full swing some conservatives have suddenly become open to non-prison alternatives for those who look like them.

Trump vs. Bannon

I have never been fired from a job. I came close once but ultimately avoided it. No one likes being told by their boss or employer that they aren't good enough to do the job they do and need to leave. Now. Right this minute. Steve Bannon is apparently no exception to that rule. The right wing publisher, former investment banker, former Navy officer and previous adviser to President Trump was let go by Trump back in August of 2017. At the time Bannon denied that he'd been fired but said that he hadn't planned on staying with Trump for much more than a year. He said that he could be more effective outside of the Administration. Some sources said that it was Chief of Staff John Kelly who asked Bannon to resign. Other sources said that Bannon and Trump still talked regularly and that any claims of disagreement or dislike between the two men were wildly overblown. Well. It appears that like most other people who got a tap on the shoulder from a supervisor and were ignominiously walked out of the door by security, Bannon is nursing some grudges against his previous employer.

In an upcoming new book by Michael Wolff, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, Bannon launches several personal and political attacks on Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, his daughter Ivanka, and his son Donald Trump Jr.

In his latest book, Wolff quotes former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon calling Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump "dumb as a brick" and denouncing his son Donald Trump Jr. and son-in-law Jared Kushner as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic." The quotes sent the White House scrambling and drew condemnation from Trump, his family and White House officials. Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the book "trashy tabloid fiction."LINK

Movie Reviews: Invincible

Invincible
directed by Ericson Cole

This is an older feel good sports drama based on the true story of an everyday man who beat the odds and made the roster of a professional sports team, the Philadelphia Eagles. It ought to go without saying that the writers, studio and director made all sorts of changes to the storyline to make it more of a melodramatic tearjerker. YMMV. A lot of that wasn't necessary in my opinion. But just about all movies based on true stories take some liberties with the facts. It is what it is. These sorts of films aren't designed for deep introspection by the viewer. They are designed to make the viewer feel better about his or her life. If the person in the story can try, fail, keep on trying, find love, and then ultimately succeed then perhaps the person watching can do the same thing. 

Most of us aren't going to make the roster of an NFL team but a big part of the American Dream is that with hard work, determination and love of friends and family a man (or woman) can overcome and do anything that they want. A more cynical negative person might dismiss this sort of stuff as horrible propaganda that prevents people from making the sorts of systemic group changes that need to be made in society. Perhaps. But all the same art is not necessarily bound to political needs. Sometimes art is just art. And people do need dreams.

Music Reviews: Billy Joel's Laura

Although I am something of a Billy Joel fan I hadn't heard this song until recently. "Laura" was on The Nylon Curtain album. The only songs I was familiar with from that album were the ones like "Allentown" and "Pressure" which got heavy radio play and "Goodnight Saigon" which shows up routinely on greatest hits compilations. The Nylon Curtain came out shortly after John Lennon's death. The album in general and this song in particular had a strong Beatles influence. The guitarists on "Laura" sound like George Harrison while Billy Joel appears to be doing his best John Lennon vocal impression. And the backup vocals are very Beatle-esque. All in all it sounds very much like something Lennon or McCartney could have written. The lyrics contain the only profanity which Joel had used up to that point, perhaps his only profanity ever as far as I know. Perhaps that is why I never heard this song on the radio back in the day.

For the longest time (heh-heh) Joel was cagey about what had inspired this song or what the lyrics meant to him. When pressed he would say that the lyrics could be about anyone (family member or romantic partner) who knew just when and where to push your buttons for maximum emotional damage. This might or might not be malicious on their part. After his mother's death, Joel admitted that the song was at least in part about his complicated relationship with her. As he mentioned the line about the umbilical cord should have been a dead giveaway. 

Movie Reviews: Oldboy, The Dark Corner

Oldboy
directed by Spike Lee

This is a remake of the classic South Korean movie of the same name. Sadly I hadn't seen the original in full because of an unfortunate chain of events with a now defunct video rental store. I was thus only slightly familiar with the story. I had no idea of any plot twists or turns, which of course won't be discussed here. I had heard mostly negative things about the Spike Lee remake. I was still willing to give this movie a chance because in some circles it's become popular to bash Spike Lee regardless of whether the film he directs is actually any good. I wanted to make up my own mind. Although there were certainly a few directorial choices I didn't care for, this remake of Oldboy wasn't anywhere near as bad as many people claimed. This film was a box office failure. I think that some people want Lee to only stick to a certain kind of movie. I think because the original is so iconic that some people wouldn't have cared for any American remake regardless of the producer or director. I might well feel the same way about a remake of the South Korean movie Train to Busan. 

But people probably shouldn't be so snobbish about remakes. People always like seeing movies in languages they understand with actors they already know. It's just human nature. And some important American movies like The Magnificent Seven are remakes. So just because it's a remake doesn't mean it's a bad movie. Just because it's a Spike Lee film doesn't mean it's a bad movie. There are just a few points in this movie where it's obvious to the casual viewer such as myself (not a film student or professional) that this is a Spike Lee film.

Movie Reviews: Flatliners, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Flatliners(2017)
directed by Niels Arden Oplev

Flatliners is a remake of the 1990 film of the same name that starred such Hollywood luminaries as Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon among others. The story is a familiar one. People cross boundaries that shouldn't be crossed. Initially the people who broke the rules seem to be doing well. In fact they are doing better than ok. They have abilities and knowledge that can't be explained. But there's no such thing as a free lunch. The transgressors start to have problems. Big problems. There are things that we aren't meant to know. Hopefully the smarter or more moral of the protagonists can find the key to making things right before everyone has to pay with their lives or sanity. 

There aren't too many surprises when a story adheres to this theme.  What counts is the style, not the details. Flatliners starts out with style and creepiness but almost immediately falls back on the same generic jump cuts and did or didn't I see that spookiness that make up the majority of horror/thriller movies today. This movie was almost the definition of bland. A medical student is fascinated with the idea of what lies beyond the limit of death. There is still some brain activity beyond the point of what we call death. What's going on in the brain for those few seconds?