The Village Idiots

I want to draw the idiots’ attention to one of the best critical reviews I have come across. The review–or, to be more specific, the analysis–is of the Harold Arlen song, “Over the Rainbow,” and it comes from the NPR music series, “What Makes it Great,” a series that explains what makes specific, famous songs so good. (I urge you to check out the review here.) Everyone knows the song, but the commentators, Fred Child and Rob Kapilow, walk the listener through the song–with Kapilow playing the song on the piano while he and Child interject comments. Sometimes Kapilow will repeat a phrase until the point is clear; at other times he will play a phrase in a way one would expect and then quickly play the actual way it was written. The approach is highly effective, and the points made are absolutely clear and compelling–so much so that I want to use the words like “enligtening” and “magical” to describe the review.

Now, how often does that happen with a review of a movie, book, or piece of music? I’d say almost never–certainly not in as vivid and compelling a way as this NPR episode. While I don’t expect reviews to be “magical,” I do expect a better job of helping me appreciate the merits (or lack thereof) of the work in question.

To be fair, I think reviewers have multiple objectives: they want to help viewers determine whether they should see a movie or not (which is not always related to the aesthetic merits of a film) and they want to critically analyze the work (at least some of the reviewers). Complicating matters is the high volume of movies/books/music they must review, as well as the limited words and time to write these reviews. It’s no wonder that reviews don’t leave people with a greater understanding of what makes a work of art great or bad.

Here are some changes I would suggest to deal with the problem:

1. Limit the number of works to review I can hear the critics saying, “How can we do this? We don’t have a choice on the matter?” My response is try a different approach. I believe that the majority of works don’t deserve a lot of time and energy to review. I’m thinking of the mediocre works, the cookie-cutter and copycat type of film. A really short review or even just a rating would be sufficient for these films. These works may not be bad, but they don’t warrant a lot of time and energy. This will allow reviewers to have the time and energy to review the films that deserve it.
2. Select a handful of works that deserve the time. These works would be either really terrific films (certainly those that could be all-time greats) or, perhaps, critically acclaimed films that don’t deserve it.
3. Copy the “What Makes it Great” approach. I’m thinking specifically of the way the NPR commentators use specific examples of the film to make their points. The movie review equivalent would be for reviewers show actual clips of the film and comment on them (similar to what filmmakers did in films like The Celluloid Closet, The Cutting Edge or Visions of Light). Yes, this would take a lot of time, but it could also help people understand what makes a film so great.

Helping the layperson to understand what makes a specific book, movie or piece of music so great is one of the most important roles a critic plays in society. While the suggestions above aren’t easy, I think they would go a long way in making the reviews more valuable.

I think I could give up eating beef, but the thought of never eating a good steak again would make it really tough. “In Search of a Steak Glory” is an Atlantic article by Marck Schatzcker about the quest for the greatest tasting steak. (He’s written a book about the quest called, Steak: One Man’s Quest for the World’s Tastiest Beef.) In the process, he’s come to examine what exactly makes steak taste so good. The answer is not simple, but according to him, it has nothing to do with marbling or with grain fed cattle. Schatzcker touches on the science of what makes beef so tasty, and it’s pretty interesting.

What are some of the best steaks you have eaten? What restaurants, in Hawai’i or other places you’ve tried, serve the best steak?

This is the book that followed Robinson’s Gilead. It has the same characters, but occurs at the same time as the first (a parallel novel). Imo, it’s not as good as Gilead, but if you liked the first book, and you wanted to know more about the Boughton’s, particularly Jack and his relationship with his father and sister, Glory, then I would recommend this.

I think Mitchell may even like this more than Gilead. (There’s a chance that he could love one aspect of this book, which I won’t say.)

While this may not be a better book, I think it might generate more interesting discussions than the latter. I wanted to jot some of my thoughts down before I forget them, just in case any of you want to read this. (Btw, I recommend reading this right after Gilead, so the events are fresh in your mind.) Read more »

I saw this listed as one of the best books of the decade from the Boston Globe. I liked the premise–a father writing a letter to his son–and I ended up really liking this one. But the reason I’m starting a thread on it is because I think many of you would really like this, namely Chris, Kevin, Penny, Tony, Mitchell and Marc. I don’t think you have to have a son to appreciate this book, but it definitely adds to it.

For those of you who need more information, I’ll say a little about what the book is about. Read more »

J.D. Salinger passed away today. Here’s the NY Times odbit on J.D. Salinger. I feel a little sad. I re-read Catcher in the Rye several years ago, and I still considered it one of my favorite novels of all-time. I still found myself really liking Holden. After reading the obituary, I realize that I may not have read Nine Stories, and I think I should. Any thoughts?

Talk about the books, articles, etc. that you’ve read in 2010.

Best Young Adult Fiction of 2009

The last book looks like something Mitchell would like.

That’s what this Times of London article claims.

“While not every sentence necessarily needs to contain a subject, object, and verb, every sentence does need to have rhythm, cadence, movement, and a pattern of sounds. Without those elements, a sentence doesn’t bury its miniscule hooks in the reader’s brain. And a story, if it’s not composed of compelling, rhythmic (or arrestingly arrhythmic) sentences, may move forward in a rudimentary, what-happens-next fashion, but it doesn’t live, it doesn’t spin, it doesn’t glitter. Not if it’s every line is merely plunked down like one more cinder block on a construction site.”

–Michael Cunningham (given in a speech at Univ. of Puget Sound) Read more »

In A Classic List of Children’s Literature NPR asked author Lesley Blume to talk about books that children should read. Here is the list: Read more »

The Atlantic website has two articles, “Resisting Kindle” by Sven Birkerts and “In Defense of Kindle” by Matthew Battles, discussing the pros and cons of Kindle, Amazon.com’s electronic book, which recently released the 2.0 version. On the con side, Birkerts seems mainly concerned that the Kindle will obliterate, what he calls, “the context of books.” (More on that later.) On the pro-side, Battles seems to say that increased access and democratization (less control of books by elites) trump any loss of context. Here is my two cents on the subject. Read more »

Who have you read at least ten books by? Here are mine.

1. Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin. Fifteen Danny Dunn books before the end of sixth grade. Still love them.
2. Dr. Seuss. Thirty-two picture books, of which my favorite is Horton Hatches the Egg.
3. Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman. Fourteen Zits comic-strip anthologies. This maybe shouldn’t count, but since I purchased every one, I’m sure it matters to the writers. Hang on: There are more just like this.
4. Madeleine L’Engle. Nineteen novels, poetry collections, and memoirs.
5. Gregory McDonald. Ten Fletch mysteries.

Read more »

I was talking to a friend who likes to read, and I asked her what were top ten books of all-time. She said she wasn’t sure, and when I asked her to name some favorite books, she squirmed and said, “I don’t know what my favorite books are. I just know which books I enjoyed.” Sometimes choosing your favorite books, let alone your top ten, can be daunting and anxiety inducing. Hence the title and approach to this thread. Talk about books you enjoyed. It’s as simple as that. (Of course, feel free to list your top ten books of all-time or your favorites.

Talk about what you’re reading in 2009.

Kevin recently highly recommended a book on architecture to me,which gave me the idea for this thread. I think getting recommendations of books from the people who are knowledgeable about a particular subject is a great way to find books. In this thread, recommend books to others in your area of interest or familiarity. Assume that someone is interested in that field and select one or more books that you would recommend.

Talk about favorite Christian books, both non-fiction and fiction. Talk about your favorite Christian authors if you have any.

Garry Wills has a background in the classics, taught Greek and now teaches history at Northwestern. Wills is a Catholic and his theology is conservative in the sense that he believes in the divinity of Jesus and his resurrection. Wills explicitly states that the book, What Jesus Meant, is his personal interpretation of Jesus and his teaching, and describes the book as “devotional.” At the same time, Wills wants to challenge social-political beliefs held by various groups, but mainly the Religious Right (the Vatican, and Liberal Biblical scholars are also targets).

In this thread, I’ll lay out some of the arguments I found interesting or provocative in the hopes of sparking an interesting discussion. Read more »

What did you think about Billy Beane’s approach with the Oakland As? Are there are any flaws? Why do you think so many people are resistant to the concept (besides the fact that the book’s tone is clearly insulting to the old school guys).

This Thursday I volutneered to read aloud a book at Wai’anae Intermediate School. I didn’t really think much about the book I would, figuring that I could easily find something. When I thought about more, I got a little worried. I want to find something really compelling, and, hopefully, something that will inspire someone in the audience to read, too.

My first thought was to read an excerpt from Ender’s Game, but I haven’t read that in a long time, and I would have to find the right passage. If anyone has any recommendations–for a book and a particular passage in the book–let me know. I don’t have much time.

I figure this would be a good time to start a new thread on what others have been reading this year.