The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis

The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Such an interesting read, Davis' book combines several of my favorites: historical fiction, mystery, architecture, art and art history.

Alternating between the 1920s and 1930s and the 1960s, the author easily moves between two main characters without the reader feeling like its watching a tennis game.

And the ability to convey the grandeur and beauty of art and architecture without the use of photography or illustration is an art in and of itself.

Weave between all of this a fascinating story about women's place in the art world without banging a righteous and indignant drum.

Well done.



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Everything You Are by Kerry Anne King

Everything You Are by Kerry Anne King

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Basically, a family drama with a dose of supernatural dropped into it in the form of a cello.

Not a fan of people who trash Alcoholics Anonymous, especially when taking its very concepts and distorting them for their own gain. This flies directly in the face of the principles of anonymity, on which Alcoholics Anonymous is based.

The book was somewhat interesting, despite the ill-informed AA references. But there wasn't enough supernatural to warrant the supernatural.

And there was too many unanswered questions: what happened to Evan? Why did the oaths and magic work? Does the father ever play again? Do what happened to the relationship between the father and the music store owner?

Not a fan.



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A Literary Christmas Anthology by The British Library

A Literary Christmas: An Anthology by The British Library

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I received this book last Christmas as a gift from Audible and have thoroughly enjoyed it.

I picked it up again this year at the end of the Christmas season as I realized I had not finished it and I was wrapping up my Goodreads Reading Challenge and wanted it “on the books”.

This is an anthology collection of poems, essays and excerpts from well-known literature, such as Dickens, Alcott, Wordsworth and Austen, that depict the Christmas Season.

The narration is excellent. Both readers have quite the dramatic flair and adapt their voices to the character, transitioning from British to American to German accents with fluidity. In fact, Juliet Stevenson sounds a bit like Emma Thompson.

I will be re-reading this next year. So lovely to hear these classics read aloud.



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A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 2019 ★★★★★
Rewatched Dec 28, 2019

Yesterday, my friend and I went to see “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” I had seen it already and was eager for my friend to see it. Instead, it became one of the weirdest experiences I have ever had at a movie theater.

I don’t know if it was because of the area, the time or the theater, but nearly half of the audience was disabled. And I don’t mean people with canes--I mean blind people, deaf people, people with walkers.

The blind family, made up of a father, mother, son and a German Shepherd, were seated one seat from me on the side furthest from the entryway. You would have thought it would have made more sense for the theater employee to escort them up the stairs on the opposite side of the entryway. But, no, the employee led them down the aisle to get to their seats. First came the employee, still carrying her broom and dustbin, then the service dog in his harness and leash, then the three blind people, each carrying their canes, grocery bags and duffles, inching by to get to their seats. The dog, his harness and leash clanking away, and the three blind people settled down with their bags, canes, supplies.

Then the mother and son promptly got on their phones and began texting into the first 15 minutes of the movie. So how do blind people text? I don’t know. But I do know that it entails haptic keys and one eye peering, as if looking at a microscope, at a very bright screen.

Then the rustling began. Every fifteen to twenty minutes the mother would get into a plastic grocery bag, feeling around for something. If you haven’t realized, the sound of a rustling plastic bag is loud and long, especially when you are in the dark and can’t see what you are looking for.

After the third reach into the grocery bag, the woman seated between me and the mother finally got up and moved.

And let’s not forget the deaf person. I actually thought someone was talking on the phone because I kept hearing what I thought was the other half of a cell phone conversation. After thirty minutes of this, and during a tense moment in the movie, I finally realized it must have been the deaf person’s audio version of what was happening on screen. So every time there was silence in the movie, I would hear this vague, distant murmuring. And if you’ve seen the film, you know there is a famous, sixty-second period of poignant silence.

You get the picture.

So bear in mind that this is all happening while Fred Rogers is embodying his famous lines, “ … it is a beautiful day in the neighborhood, will you be my neighbor?”

That is when it occurred to me that this is exactly what Fred Rogers is teaching me. Will “you”--meaning everyone, even when they are ill-behaved, rude, handicapped and wretched--be my neighbor?

Am I really willing; do I really want everyone to be my neighbor?

Or am I only interested in being neighbors with people that only act the way I want them to act; neighbors who are clean, well-spoken, well-mannered and functional?

Is my neighborhood really beautiful? Or am I perpetuating a facade? Do I really want “you” to be my neighbor?

Oh, let me mend my intolerant, broken little heart. Let me mend my fence. Let me mend.

Inside Out - A Memoir by Demi Moore

Inside Out by Demi Moore

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Could Demi Moore be considered the Bette Davis of her generation? I think so.

This is a frank, compelling look at Demi’s intense life. Much is supposed about Demi through the media and it was good to get her perspective.

I have always felt a kinship with her because we are of similar ages and from New Mexico. And, of course, who didn’t have a crush on Bruce or Ashton?

More interesting than I expected and very easy to read.



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Please won't you be my neighbor? "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" (2019) - Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Chris Cooper

"A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" is about a revolution to change the world, one person at a time. In fact, Mr. Rogers, with an education in ministry, knew that to effectuate change, he had to reach the children. And so he chose public media.

I was a little too old to have grown up with Mr. Rogers. So I was familiar with the skepticism that the protagonist displayed when told that the topic of his next  investigation piece was to be the children's TV show host, Mr. Rogers.

I remember watching bits of Mr. Rogers when I was eight or nine and thinking, "is this guy for real?" By then, I was an already jaded kid that was growing up in a dysfunctional family. So when Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) scoffs at Rogers' (Tom Hanks) sing-song voice and hand puppets, I was right there with him.

The next thing that I noticed in the film was the extension of the townscape to depict the transition from Vogel's world to Roger's world. What I mean is that on Mr. Roger's TV show, it traditionally opens with an overview of a model village in which Mr. Roger's neighborhood is located. In the film, though, this townscaped village extends beyond Mr. Roger's neighborhood and transitions to New York. So we see model planes flying into a model NYC and over the Manhattan skyline.

It became clear to me then that what I was watching was the conflict between Vogel's world view and Roger's world view and wondering which world view would survive.

Typically, when a story introduces these kinds of collisions between world views, there is obvious cause for dramatic conflict. But what is unusual in this film is that the conflict between Vogel and Rogers never gives rise to any violence or vitriol. Instead, Rogers is like the steady stroke that sluices through his daily swims. He is steadfast; earnest; serene. There is never any anger; never any judgment. Just a warm wall of ever-present love.

It is apparent that the role of Mr. Rogers was hard for Hanks. He is not a naturally introverted, quiet person: he is exuberant, dynamic. So for him to slow down enough to play the mild-mannered, reserved Rogers was difficult-- it is especially noticeable in the opening scene. He is just a little too eager; too on the nose. But he settles in and I soon forgot it was him.

Rhys was terrific at the surly, hardboiled journalist. And one of my favorites, Chris Cooper, plays Rhys's estranged father so beautifully; with anguish, regret and love.

This movie astonished me. I was prepared to admire it, as I have come to appreciate the genius of Fred Rogers as I have gotten older. But I was not prepared to be fall in love with Fred Rogers.

If ever an American deserves to be canonized as a saint, Fred Rogers, along with Dorothy Day, would get my vote.

Becoming by Michelle Obama (2018)

In my bid to read all Pulitzer novels from the 2000s, I have read some excellent books this year, but Becoming by Michelle Obama has become my favorite.

Mrs. Obama's book brought me to tears, made me laugh out loud, let me see myself in her, and brought me the same singing hope I had during the Obamas' presidency.

When I was six and seven years old, I made my way through a volumed set of bound books that described the childhoods of our founding fathers and mothers. It stirred a sense of patriotism and love for our government that led me to the Girl Scouts and, eventually, the law.

For me,  Michelle Obama's story nudged this same internal touchstone and then meshed other well-loved genres:  a Horatio Alger coming-of-age novel, the secret, sweet stir of a romance and the tense, ambitious political thriller, all written in the pop-culture language of a the smartest and savviest mommy blogger.

Articulate and with great craftsmanship, the story is well plotted and well paced. Told in chronological order, we watch a young girl become a professional woman and see the world through her extraordinary perspective.

To learn that her perspective is not so far from mine was heartening and gratifying. Both of us raised in middle class, minority families that knew that education was the code that led to equality, she, too, had a father that died too young from multiple sclerosis. She, too, would become a lawyer who would often be the only woman and the only minority in the room. She, too, would struggle with the balance of a law career and living a normal life.

Then I watched her fall in love, marry and then stand by the man that would lead our country for eight years. It was enlightening to see Barack Obama, our country and our world's leaders through her gaze.

It was a privilege to read her book and I would advocate everyone, but especially all women, to read this extraordinary book.

• Listening Length: 19 hours and 3 minutes
• Program Type: Audiobook
• Version: Unabridged
• Publisher: Random House Audio
• Audible.com Release Date: November 13, 2018
• Language: English, English
• ASIN: B07B3JQZCL

Parasite (2019) - Kang-ho Song, Joon-ho Bong

Joon-ho Bong is fast becoming one of my favorite directors. His latest, Parasite, won the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or, proving that I'm not alone in my thinking.

Clever, beautiful and genre-bending, this film stars Kang-ho Song, who plays the patriarch of a poverty-stricken family that includes actors So-dam Park, Woo-sik Choi and Hye-jin Jang. Song is a favorite of Bong's and has appeared in five out of Bong's eight films.

This is a film about a poverty-stricken but clever family that entrenches themselves into a wealthy home. One by one, each gets the next hired into the "castle in the sky" through trickery and cunning. The wealthy family, with an air of naïveté, glides through life, tossing decisions, groceries and orders with abandon into their shopping cart of a life, with little thought towards consequences.

There are real moments of humor--possibly my favorite was Jang's imitation of the North Korean dictator.

One of the most perilous scenes was wrought with a tunnel of a stairway that radiates the unknown and the unacknowledged. Turning metaphors on their heads, a tunneled staircase with its looming light is a portent of doom and water becomes a carrier of stench and disease. Trigger warning: if you were a victim of Harvey or similar events, beware.

With Escher-like stairs taking us up and down between subterraneans and the high place this mythopoeic warning cautions us of the space between the haves and the have nots and what exactly supports who.

Common Ground

Marbled halls lead
to Common Ground.

I hear You declare,
"It's not unusual
to be loved
by anyone."

I walk through
teak walls,
glass doors,
A cat walk,
to Amille's.

I hear You again:
"It is unusual
for me to say this."

I'm in love with you.

The Front Runner (2018)

Camelot is nevermore: The Front Runner chronicles the decay of the era of the gentlemen's agreement between DC government and journalists when journalists discovered that 1988 Democratic presidential front runner Gary Hart might be having an affair.

In sum, we watch white male entitlement get it's commupence.

Chock-full of A-listers from Hugh Jackman, Alex Karpovsky, JK Simmons, Vera Farmiga to Al Morina, it also includes TV sisters from Last Man Standing, Kaitlyn Dever and Molly Ephraim.

The film takes a new spin on the trend of chronicling journalistic history, this time watching "serious" journalism begin to question its approach on how they handle political gossip.

This movie addresses issues that are still relevant: abuse of power, journalistic integrity, a public figure's right to privacy and, of course, gender inequality.

The saddest parts of this movie are:

- watching a young, idealistic African-American journalist getting schooled in cynicism
- listening to a smart, savvy female campaigner ask for emotional support from a jaded strategist after she witnesses the fall of Donna Rice, who simply tells her to "buck up"

The Front Runner perfectly captures Gary Hart's Achilles heel of paternalistic and intellectual arrogance destroy his career, his family and his life.

S.B. The film failed to note what became of Donna Rice. She is president of a company that advocates for internet safety for children. She is married to Jack Hughes and has six grandchildren. And she is a staunch and outspoken Republican.

Vanishing on 7th Street (2010) - Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton, Brad Anderson

I love true horror— this time, travelling the uncanny valley on 7th Street.

This film leads us into the horror of 7th Street—a place where the phrase “let there be light” is turned on its head (Never mind the nod to the biblical seven days).

Attacking the philosophy of rapture and creationism, Director Brad Anderson takes these concepts to their logical conclusion, tying the state of being with the existence of light.

The ending, I imagine, was put upon him; otherwise the conclusion would be too bleak for most viewers.

Watched Oct 27, 2019

Hayden Christensen (Actor), Thandie Newton (Actor), Brad Anderson (Director) 

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A Pleasurable Duty - Downton Abbey (2019) - Julian Fellowes, writer

Moving along at a fast clip, Downton Abbey, the movie, hits all the high points: the monarchy, the peerage, the advent of industrialism and the cognizance of homosexuality.

A fairytale of manners and silver, a sealed, handwritten letter leads us back in time, sending us to the Downton Abbey morning room.

We watch the letter pass from castle, to train, to jiggedy, gilded mail truck, to cyclist until the letter is passed from the young butler, Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier),  into the hands of the Earl of Grantham, Robert Crowley (Hugh Bonneville). As is true with so many dutiful domestics, the servants know of the letter well before their masters.

The letter deftly brings the familiar Crowley family and their servants into frame and sets the stage for the impending arrival of King George V and Queen Mary in a fortnight.

The Downton Abbey series, which thrilled, yet baffled, American audiences with its foreign manners and affectations, rises to even greater heights of pomp and circumstance with the impending monarchical visitation.

The movie again pits the familiar foils of Dowager Countess of Grantham, Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith), against Lady Merton, Isobel Crawley Grey (Penelope Wilton); and Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier) against Mr. Carson (Jim Carter).

But before the arrival of the King and Queen, a feud erupts between the Downton servants and the royal staff. Americans may be astonished by the seeming pettiness of British class and manners, property and duty. But, remember, England is a small, island country--no bigger than Alabama--where honor and duty create invisible walls that define one's personal space, and manners are the social language of class.

Taking place in a period between WWI and WWII, we witness to the fraying edges of the British class system. This is most apparent in the storyline between Cora Crawley's widower Tom Branson (Allen Leech) and the Queen's lady's maid's maid, Lucy Smith (Tuppence Middleton).

The ending, neatly wrapped up in a perfect bow, pairs all off like the parade into Noah's ark. And like Noah, there will likely be a dawn to a new day and, perhaps, another sequel.

A pleasure to watch, with lovely settings, pastoral views and a rousing soundtrack, the movie is comforting in its predictability. And like all good fairytales, it is a story deftly grounded in hopeful morality.

A fond "Farewell" - The Farewell (2019) - Lulu Wang, Awkwafina

More contemplative than I anticipated,  The Farewell is a beautifully wrought film that considers the merging of cultures.

It is the story of a family's decision to protect their grandmother from the knowledge of her cancer diagnosis.

What emerges is the coalescing of American independence with Chinese interdependence.

And the surprise is Awkwafina: a talented actress with great range. It was interesting to learn that she actually filmed this prior to her two subsequent films, Crazy Rich Asians and Oceans Eight.

Links related to The Farewell

This American Life podcast on What You Don't Know by Lulu Wang

Lulu Wang's open letter on A24 on how the movie got developed

Follow me on Letterboxd

Long Day’s Journey into Night (Di qiu zui hou de ye wan) - 2018, directed and written by Bi Gan

A movie worth experiencing again to better remember the memories Gan presents.

Capturing this film is like recalling a dream: lacking transitions and sequences, it is difficult to explain.

It plays a bit like an Odyssey, with pivotal, broken characters. I couldn't help but think of The Wizard of Oz, particularly with it's spinning house and secondary presentation of an alternate reality.

But it also reminded me of Blue Velvet, with it's Lynch-like color palette, but with more muted tones.

And there was an element of Hitchcock, with it's juxtaposition of ordinary elements to create a sense of dread. Watching the light bulb get screwed into the light fixture was agonizing--i could barely stand it (gave a whole new meaning to how many does it take to screw in a light bulb?). There were several scenes like that, which caused me to feel that horrible dread that can arise in dreams.

Don't go into this film expecting a plot line or resolution. This film is a meditation. And be prepared: you won't find inner peace.

It is beautiful and extraordinary and I am glad I saw it. In the end, you may be thinking, "there's no place like home."

Who moved my chi? A review of Toy Story 4 (June 22, 2019)

Tom Hanks, Annie Potts, Tim Allen, Keanu Reeves

An unexpectedly mature story in a Pixar form.

I have come to expect a lot from the little Pixar film that could. Toy Story, once seen as a funny, quirky one-off, is now elevated to an artistic masterpiece whose story transcends to fable.

Toy Story 4 examines fundamental notions of loyalty, conscience and purpose, and takes and makes the Duke Kaboom leap from comedic to authentic. Do I see shades of Pinocchio here?

Woody, played by Tom Hanks, has been shelved by his new child, Bonnie. She still keeps him but pulls away his Sherriff's star and assigns it, in a very girl power move, to Deputy Jessie (Joan Cusack). He's also been demoted from running the toys after Dolly (Bonnie Hunt) becomes Mayor of the toys. 

**SPOILERS AHEAD** 

Lay-offs

So he starts hanging onto the only function he sees left: make sure Bonnie makes it through Kindergarten orientation. So despite the rules, he sneaks out to school with her. And when a bully throws her crafts in the trash, Woody rescues them out of the trash and leaves it for Bonnie. From the debris, Bonnie creates Forky (Tony Hale) and puts her name on the "sole" of his foot, and brings Forky to life. In this part of the story, Woody's purpose is to be a Change Manager.

Is it called "recycle" or "re-purpose"?

Forky's subsequent identity crisis is a hilarious examination of what it means to repurpose something or someone. Woody stays by Forky's side, talking him down from the trash can ledge, watching him through the night so Forky doesn't hurl himself into the abyss, chasing after him when Forky attempts to turn himself into litter. Then Woody's purpose is to being a Life Coach.

Maybe losing is better than winning?

But the biggest and longest story arc is when Woody is trying to get Forky back to Bonnie. He sees his lost love's light--Bo Peep's lamp--in an antique store called Second Chance. Woody yearns to see Bo (Annie Potts) and sneaks through the store's mail slot to get to her. There he runs into Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks) and her minion(s) Vincent in a very "Rosemary's Baby"-like baby carriage.

As an aside, I think Vincent is an homage to William Goldman's movie, "Magic", starring Anthony Hopkins, Ann Margaret and William Burgess. Goldman, famous for "Butch Cassidy & and the Sundance Kid", "Marathon Man" and countless other screenplays and books, made the ventriloquist's dummy the trope that it is today. It is, hands down, one of the creepiest movies I've ever seen. Once you see it, it will become obvious where Hannibal Lector came from.

Also let me just say that having Bo play as a fearless leader and super hero, with a cape, jumpsuit and an avenging shepherd's staff, is another fine gesture towards girl power. And that the villainous Gabby Gabby has a broken voice box that drives her to what appears to be cruel lengths is fundamentally in love with the unattainable. Her duality is aptly summed up in her name, much like the 80s rocker, Lisa Lisa.

The Antique Shop / Adventure Land story arc is a tale of loyalties and loves. Does Woody's purpose transcend love? Or does Woody even still have purpose? What does it mean to be lost? Or can you repurpose yourself? Or does someone else need to help you find that new purpose?

These big, esoteric questions are wrapped up into a tale about toys. A bit heady, mind you, but with as clear a gaze as Gabby looking for love in all of the wrong places. 

Motherhood exposed - Tully (2018) - written by Diablo Cody, starring Charlize Theron

I've not had the privilege of bearing a child. And after watching Tully, I am pretty sure that I made the right decision.


Want a non-mother to understand motherhood? Tully should be mandatory watching.

Most movies today invoke what seems to be mandatory montage to demonstrate the passage of time. Tully implements it as well, but to a most shattering effect.

We watch a mother after the birth of her third child deal with the relentless feeding of a newborn. It's shockingly real and Charlize Theron exposes a less-than-perfect self to near the same scale as she did in Monster, for which she won an Oscar.

The writer Diablo Cody and the director Jason Reitman impeccably portray a middle-class woman's  aspirations for a better life for her children.

I credit Diablo Cody, who also wrote Juno and Young Adult (Charlize appeared in this one as well), for capturing the truth of motherhood.

Eighth Grade (2018) - Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton - Directed by Bo Burnham

In her head. I don't know how Bo Burnham got so in an eighth grade girl's head. But he did.

He and Elsie Fisher captured the anxious, fumbling ambitions of an eighth grader and project them onto a screen to pair with my prepubescent mind.

Then to have the dad moment in the backyard was the antidote that we could all use.

Sweet and honest, like God looking down on our humanity and telling us that we're doing just fine.

A lovely film.

I couldn't recommend it more.