Counting My Blessings

(file under academic papers that I will never write.)

I want to say with all sincerity, that Mamma Mia! is a brilliant film. I'm not sure if it was my jet lag-fueled exhaustion or what, but I laughed, I cried, I generally enjoyed. I'm also quite sincerely sure that this film would not be for everyone. But for what it is and who it's aimed at-- perfect.

So what is it? Wish fulfillment for the Boomers. Excellently done and completely escapist wish fulfillment. And, honestly, even Generation X-ers like myself are probably getting old these days enough to nearly fully appreciate it too.

The film is a glittery wonderful world where true love is wasted on the young. In the Mamma Mia! universe, the only thing that restrains women in their 50s from being complete heartbreaking cougars is their well-centered indepedence. Remember that guy from highschool who dumped you for the girl next door after you slept with him? Don't despair! He's actually secretly pining for you, and has been his whole life. All those emotional investments in that you made when young *will* bear fruit in your middle life. Nothing is wasted! You could and did and will still have everything!

Meryl Streep is fabulous. She's clearly having the time of her life. Mad props to both her and the director for allowing her to appear without globs of makeup to make her look younger. More props for letting older women have a wide variety of body types. And still be depicted as sexy and attractive. Pierce Brosnan cannot sing! At all! And that makes him more adorable than I have ever seen him.

The movie-going equivalent to frozen margaritas in the sun on a Friday afternoon with your terrible wonderful friends. For once in my life, I'm going to tell you not to pay attention to the serious cranky reviewers. If this film is for you (and you know who you are!) then it will be really really fun.

Subtitle: Travels through the Hidden Villages of Sicily.

I picked this book up while traveling in Sicily.

I enjoyed reading this once back. I was close to many of these locations, and even if I didn't see the specific village or area mentioned, it was familiar enough for me to enjoy the descriptions. The book brought back a lot of impressions of the island, both good and bad. Maggio has a keen eye for capturing the moment of travel, and I enjoyed her anecdotes. I was particularly taken with how she sketched people and personality.

Unfortunately, I did not find her quite as skilled in terms of structure. Particularly towards the end I found that the chapters failed to flow well. The timelines seemed confused and at one point it seemed to me that we were being introduced to the same character for a second time (the American contortionist). It made it distracting, and was too bad for the reading experience.

I would recommend it as a light and quiet read, particularly if you enjoy travel essays or have Sicilian roots yourself. Good, but not brilliant.

cardoon
noun
Definition:
spiny plant with edible parts: a large perennial plant related to the artichoke with spiny leaves and edible roots and leafstalks. Native to: southern Europe. Latin name Cynara cardunculus.
[Early 17th century. < French cardon< Latin carduus "thistle"]

mansard
noun 1 a roof having four sides, in each of which the lower part of the slope is steeper than the upper part. 2 Brit. another term for GAMBREL.
— ORIGIN named after the 17th-century French architect François Mansart.

( oh dear oh dear )

This morning, as I get ready to fly to Wisconsin to see my sister, I have been puzzling over this idea about what makes science fiction classic.

Well, to be honest, what I've really been doing is finishing To Open The Sky by Robert Silverberg. So let me spend a moment on that first. As some of you who follow my reviews know, one of my projects lately has been re-reading the fantasy and science fiction books that I enjoyed as a child. That project led me back to the Majipoor Series and Robert Silverberg. Of all of those books, Silverberg is one of the few authors whose work really stood out for me as still being every bit as good as I remember. So lately I have been looking for second hand copies of Silverberg's other books to see if I liked them just as well. To Open the Sky is the first in that effort.

I really enjoyed the book. It is a heady mix of religion, overpopulation, schism, transformation and hope. It took me surprisingly long to read the slim volume (203 pages, in my edition). My only quarrel at all with it was that it sometimes felt a little bit of interconnected short stories more than a novel. And that, dear reader, was exactly what it turned out to be. Wikipedia tells me that To Open the Sky was a fixup of stories originally published by Frederik Pohl in one of his magazines.

What got me thinking about the post today is that Wikipedia also notes about Silverberg that "in 2004 he was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America". And then I wondered what a grand master was, really. Perhaps just in the genre, perhaps in everything. I'm not sure yet. Sometime a few weeks ago, I did one of those book list memes, this time supposedly the best 100 Science Fiction Novels of all time. In the debate that followed, I kind of set the following thoughts for myself:

• I might be able to make a list of the 100 best science fiction authors, assuming that I had read them all.
  
• I might also be able to make a list of my favorite 100 science fiction books. Although that would take some thinking, honestly.
  
• I do not think that I believe in a list of the 100 best science fiction novels.

So, in other words, I tend to believe in the Grand Master concept, but not in the best books concept.

Here's a question-- can a book be great, even if a writer is not what you would class as "Great"? Can a writer be great if they turn out a lifetime career of solid, but not spectacular books?

Anyhow, if you'd really like to muse on that subject, you should go take a look at sartorias' thread on Greatness. She's much more eloquent than I am.

Have a good Sunday, and I'll see all of you in the flyover states later in the day!

( ... )

( more )

( fun )

Main Entry:
sap·id Listen to the pronunciation of sapid
Pronunciation:
\ˈsa-pəd\
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Latin sapidus tasty, from sapere to taste — more at sage
Date:
1623

1: having flavor : flavorful2archaic : agreeable to the mind
— sa·pid·i·ty Listen to the pronunciation of sapidity \sa-ˈpi-də-tē\ noun archaic

One of the more unusual things that I noticed in Sicily, particularly Siracusa, is the practice of posting public posters to commemorate deaths or anniversaries of deaths. These were pasted across the city, for a wide variety of people. I was quite surprised to see commemorations for Mussolini among them. But, in general, the more that I traveled in Sicily the more that I saw various Mussolini souvenirs, tee-shirts.

This comes back to me particularly now in light of the Italian plan to fingerprint every man, woman, and child of Roma descent in Italy.. As regular readers of my journal know, I am the eternal political fence sitter. I would rarely describe anything as pure evil. But this, this is evil, if anything is. Italy has apparently forgotten the lessons of the past, and a very dangerous man is reviving old prejudices in order to gain political capital. I can only read the commentary and mourn for what is such a very lovely country.

( boxer shorts )