perpetual memory loss

Today for the first time ever on PML we are having a guest post (hold the applause). Here now is the debut from my partner in blogging, Pheebs. Although this is the first time, hopefully it won’t be the last.

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I recently was lucky enough to catch the tail end of a radio news broadcast interviewing author Candice Millard. She was speaking about her new book entitled, Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President. (Hereafter referred to as DOR for my sanity.) My curiosity got the better of me and I added this read to my Christmas wish list — and I have to say it was one of the best presents I received this year. In DOR is a seamlessly woven tale of three men – an assassin, a president, and an inventor – whose paths cross just long enough to change the course of US history.

Even most history buffs can’t really tell you much about the 20th president of the United States, James Garfield. He is often lumped together with his “Gilded Age” contemporaries  — the “forgettable” presidents. Most ordinary Americans (myself previously included) might have an image of him sipping brandy out of a golden goblet with bff’s Johnny Rockefeller and JJ Astor. However, I learned from DOR that the exact opposite is true. The last US President to be born in a legit log cabin, Garfield came from abject poverty and a single mother household. His mom was a pretty wise lady and beyond the completely admirable feat of hacking it alone in that log cabin, she instilled Garfield with a love of learning. An overzealous reader and all around nerd (he knew Virgil’s Aeneid by heart…oh yeah, in English AND LATIN) Garfield put his way through school by working as the institution’s janitor. From the very start of her book Millard paints Garfield as a guy to respect  — a humble book lover who works his way up from that janitor to the university’s president. I was amazed by the man’s versatility as well. Garfield not only pursued a career in academics, but dabbled in law, was nominated to congress, fought as a general on the side of the Union in the Civil War (he was adamantly anti-slavery) and even spent some time working on the Erie and Ohio canal. Talk about a résumé. It’s clear that Millard admires the heck out of the guy, and one of the best things about the book is that it’s incredibly difficult not to join her as a Garfield groupie.

Yet the thing that Millard makes quite clear is that Garfield was never particularly ambitious for the limelight and certainly never cutthroat. One of Millard’s most triumphant moments is her description of how the guy (somewhat comically) accidentally became nominated as a United States president. I read this book at quite a timely moment, feeling a powerful sense of déjà vu as Millard paints the crazy riot that was the 1880 Republican National Convention. Millard reminds readers that merely 15 years had passed since the end of the Civil War and even Lincoln’s grand old party had powerful factions. (think Tea Partiers VS Mitt Romney Repubs….. but more so) Garfield’s appearance was meant to be simply a small part of the circus, as he was scheduled to introduce candidate John Sherman to the raucous and sharply divided mob that gathered in Chicago. What Sherman didn’t count on was how eloquent Garfield really was. So the man stands up to introduce Sherman, and his speech is so good that the crowd starts screaming “we want Garfield!” Garfield, shocked and horrified by this turn of events is left wondering how exactly he ends up getting nominated (and subsequently elected) to the highest office in the land. What Millard makes clear in her re-telling, is that Garfield never intended or even wanted to be President.  I found this one of the best things about Garfield. In contrast to a modern political atmosphere where ambition and a killer ego is needed for a presidential run, Garfield simply seemed to see it as his duty to serve the people who were so inspired by him.

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And now for the worst of 2011:

Worst Novel: Kurt Vonnegut’s Slapstick or Lonesome No More! takes the cake here. I feel like Vonnegut jumped the shark on this one but I did find his introduction to be interesting–much more so than the actual book.

Worst Movie: Sucker Punch was godawful. I couldn’t even make it through this movie and ended up turning it off after about 15 minutes.

Worst Actor: Sam Worthington by a mile, which should be blatantly obvious since he wasn’t even in a major movie this year. However, I find him insufferable especially since he is always trying to hide his accent but doesn’t have the skills to pull it off. He ruins everything he’s in, even commercials for video games.

Worst Actress:  January Jones (Wtf kind of name is that anyways? Did her parents aspire for her to be a porn star?) is the absolutely the worst thing to be inflicted on entertainment in quite some time. Besides the fact she always looks like she’s smelling shit, she is also the worst actress I’ve seen in a long, long time. I often wonder how she ever became famous (sucking dick and spreading her legs probably). She delivers her lines like she’s being held hostage. Stop using her please.

Worst TV Show: Mad Men of course. I didn’t watch this show this season but I’m pretty sure I know what happened. There was some drinking on the job, lots of smoking, infidelity and general sexual harassment by the manly men. Weaved through a boring, blase story-line, where absolutely nothing happens, is a ham-fisted attempt at social commentary. I’ll never understand people’s (and the critics) love affair with this show. I think they all like to think how great they are because only they get how good Mad Men is. Mad Men isn’t even the best show on AMC let alone Cable or TV in general.

Worst TV Show (that was supposed to be good): The Walking Dead, seriously what is wrong with you. This half season there were three good episodes and the rest ranged from unnecessary to complete garbage. Added to that, this is a zombie show with a serious dearth of zombies, and way too much babbling betwixt the characters about meaningless topics i.e. god. Also Plan B is not an abortion pill for chissakes. Get with the times. One can only hope that the next half season is better otherwise TWD is entering into Mad Men territory. There’s too many good shows to be stuck watching garbage.

This list is a bit late because I have been migrating the site to a newer, cheaper server. Hopefully this new server will be able to handle the crush of 12 people accessing my blog. This list also may includes books, movies, games, etc that didn’t actually come out in 2011. That is because I’m old and it takes me awhile to get around to things so just deal with it.

Best Novel: Easily East of Eden, Steinbeck’s grand tale spanning three generations. Absolutely loved the book and can’t recommend it enough to others.

Best History (or otherwise scholarly) book: Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, this massive tome delves deeply into the politics, military, and social history of the Civil War. A great starting place for anyone who wants to learn more. McPherson’s prose never bores but keeps you engaged through 800+ pages.

Best Comic: I read a lot of comics this year and enjoyed the majority of them. The ones I have been looking forward to the most though have been X-Men schism/regenesis storyline particularly Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine and the X-Men, and Uncanny X-Force.

Best Movie: Winter’s Bone. Yep I was about 8 months late on this one but still it was one of the best movies I saw this year, much better than The King’s Speech.

Best Movie (that I expected absolutely nothing from): Hall Pass. Hah! Seriously, I got this movie on Netflix and expected one or two funny jokes but it was hilarious and had one of the funniest/grossest laugh out loud moments of any movie I’ve seen for a long time.

Best TV Show: Damn there was a lot of good TV this year: Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Board Walk Empire, Louie, Modern Family, and I could go on and on. However, I think the show that I enjoy the most, can’t wait to watch every week, and am disappointed when the season ends is Justified. It’s easily one of the best/funnest shows on TV that literally no one watches or knows about.

Best Game: I slacked on the game playing this year but the most enjoyable game I played was Batman: Arkham City. GTA style Batman fun with tons of side missions and plenty of bad guy skulls to crush. Plus Mark Hamill reprises his role as the Joker. What’s not to like.

Best Album: This may be because I have been listening to it constantly for the last couple weeks but by far (and I admittedly didn’t listen to a ton of new music this year) my favorite album of the year is The Black Keys’ El Camino. The quality of their albums doesn’t seem to diminish with time or listens and it never seems like they release a lazy album. Pick it up.

Best Gadget: This is a tough one because I have picked up quite a few gadgets this year but I’m sticking with the latest one, my Kindle Fire. I absolutely love it. Full review coming soon but so far it’s fast becoming my go to gadget.

Next up my worst of list, because the only thing better than things you like are things you hate and get to trash.

A few weeks ago I was looking for a new book to read when I happened to see the trailer for the movie Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with Gary Oldman, and I was struck by a number of thoughts: Gary Oldman is badass, that movie looks good, and I want to read the book first. A couple of minutes later I had bought the book, beamed it to my kindle, and I was sitting back reading the first chapter. TTSS is an old school spy story set in England during the Cold War. The protagonist, George Smiley, gets brought back into the Circus (MI6) at the beginning of the book to search for a mole inside the agency. Almost the entirety of the rest of the novel takes place via flashbacks that occur as Smiley is researching various agency files, that were stolen, to try to uncover who the mole is. As a quick aside Smiley is a thoroughly enjoyable character. With none of the panache or derring-do of a James Bond, but instead a frumpy, crotchety Englishman with a sharp mind, phenomenal memory, and the ability to  deduce what others can’t. It may sound boring but I found him to be a delightful character for a spy novel, in part, because I think it’s more realistic than the guns blazing, philandering James Bond (although that’s fun too). A lot of the work that is done in these agencies in done by analysts sifting through information looking for clues. It also may sound like a boring book because it is all flashbacks and it is mostly a book about Smiley reading records and looking for clues as to who the mole is. However, John Le Carre (a pseudonym according to Wikipedia) used to work for MI5 and MI6 so he is able to infuse the characters and the story with realism. Although I personally have no idea what the life of a spy is like there are some books/movies that just feel fake, and Carre’s prose, terminology, and characters feel more real than other spy books. I found myself jumping back and forth throughout the book picking one person and then another for who I thought the mole was. Then I would re-read whole passages and chapters trying  and end up coming up with a new person or theory as to who the mole was. I was thoroughly engrossed in the chase. 

This book is well worth the read and I was a bit bummed out when I finished it, but I perked right back up when I found out that it’s the first book in a trilogy. I look forward to reading the next two in the series and spending some more time with George Smiley. (Also Netflix get on with making the British miniseries with Alec Guinness available via streaming.)

(photo via: screenrant)

Joe Posnanski is one of the best sports writers around. His book Soul of Baseball recounts the time he spent following Buck O’Neil around the country. Buck wasn’t the best of the old Negro League players, but he was quite good. However, he became baseball royalty for what he did after his playing days were over. He was the first African-American coach in the MLB, a fantastic scout (who is credited with signing Hall of Famers Lou Brock and Ernie Banks among others), and he worked tirelessly to keep the history of the Negro Leagues around and relevant, which culminated in the building of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

Perhaps the saddest/best part of the book is what Buck missed out on in life. Buck never got the chance to play in the MLB because Jackie came later and he never got to manage in the MLB even though he was a good manager in the Negro Leagues. Throughout the book you see that he never let this affect his life. Instead of being a bitter curmudgeon (like I probably would have been) he was forgiving, thankful, and full of hope. This book is a short read but well worth it for sports fans, or just people who like a great story about a great person. Pick up a copy and do yourself a favor and read it.

Also if you like sports you should be reading Joe Posnanski’s blog. With the amount of absolute garbage out there in the sports writing world Posnanski’s blog is like a breath of fresh air.

East of Eden is considered Steinbeck’s masterpiece, and rightly so. The story spans three generations, two families, and it meanders across the entire country finally settling in the familiar Salinas Valley. What is at heart in this story is relationships between fathers and sons, good and evil, and whether we as people have a choice in how our lives turn out or whether it is all decided before hand by fate or a deity. It’s a re-imagining of the story of Cain and Abel in Chapter 4 of Genesis. If you’re not familiar with the story it’s worth brushing up on before you begin to read this book.

Basically, Cain and Abel both give of their first fruits to god. God, however, like lamb better than vegetables (which is understandable) and favors Abel over Cain. Cain feels angry because he doesn’t understand why his gift is rejected whilst Abel’s is accepted. He eventually kills his brother and is then driven away out into the world with a mark given to him by god which will keep people from murdering him. This story, along with the creation story with Adam and Eve, has been seen as absolutely the truth for ages and has also been used to validate the slavery of Africans in the 19th Century. Africans were seen as the descedants of Cain and therefore it was ok according to the Bible to enslave them or segregate them, or discriminate against them etc. Never mind that his descendants would have died out in the flood.

Steinbeck is too good of a writer to fall into some simple trope like this however. He begins with Adam Trask’s childhood and how he is raised by his father and his relationship with his brother Charles. Then it follows as Adam marries Cathy and eventually has two sons Caleb and Aron. Throughout these three generations of Trask’s Steinbeck shows how similar the fathers and sons make similar choices and mistakes. He slowly interweaves, with the help of other characters like Samuel Hamilton (Steinbecks grandfather) and Adam’s servant Lee, the questions that are at the heart of the story. Are we doomed to failure and sin because of original sin? If so why bother try to be good? Shouldn’t a person just accept their fate and do whatever they wish?

In my interpretation of the story I believe that Steinbeck refuses to believe in original sin or any of that gobbledygook. Instead East of Eden is a reinterpretation of the Bible. He seems to be saying there’s no god out there directing my life and my choices in life are mine to make. Whether a person is good or bad is not decision of some deity but on the choices that person decides to make in life.  Unlike most Steinbeck novels (life sucks and then you die) East of Eden ends on a note of hope. Easily one of the best novels I’ve ever read in my life and worthy of all the accolades that were heaped on it. On another note, this is the first book that I’ve ever digitally checked out from my local library and it’s another reason why I love my Kindle. Checking out books from the comfort of my home is about the best thing ever.

Ever since HBO’s The Pacific came out last year I’ve wanted to read the memoirs that the show was based on. I started with E.B. Sledge’s With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. If you know anything about the Pacific Theater or you’ve seen the show then you know that Peleliu and Okinawa, along with Iwo Jima, were some of the most brutal battles of WWII. To make things worse Peleliu was never really used during the war for any purpose during the war so it was a battle that was unnecessary.

Sledge begins the book as he is in college preparing to become a Marine officer. Early on, however, he decides that he does not want to finish college and then become an officer. So he and some others in the program quit and join up as enlisted Marines. He then goes on to describe his boot camp experiences and his training to become a mortar man. Throughout his narrative Sledge sprinkles in his personal insights as an older man looking back on the experience. These insights help foreshadow events setting up the reader for what is to come. More often than not though the insights tend to be a bit contradictory. He definitely sees war differently than he did as a fresh faced young kid. These contradictions are a good thing as it allows him to speak frankly about his experience but to also comment on his actions, other Marines actions, or the war in general from the perspective of time.

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Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths is a manga comic written by Shigeru Mizuki. Mizuki is a veteran of World War II and this manga serves as the memoir of his experiences in World War II. He states that it is 90% true. I believe that this is the only one of his works that has been translated into English, which based off of my experience reading this, is a shame.

This manga follows one particular battalion that is stationed on Rabaul. As one of the earlier battles in the war the Japanese were not as proficient as they would become with their suicide attacks and the guerrilla warfare tactics that would make Peleliu, Okinawa, and Iwo Jima so bloody for both sides. (A quick aside on this. The Battle of Peleliu solidified what would become typical for Japanese fighting afterwards. Long battles of attrition with high numbers of casualties because the Japanese would fight to the death and refuse to surrender. When defeat was imminent the Japanese would go on Banzai charges or suicide attacks ensuring that almost all of them died. The casualties for the Japanese on Peleliu is estimated at 10,900 soldiers killed and 3o2 taken prisoner. Of those 302 only 7 were soldiers and 12 sailors, the rest were non-Japanese laborers. These types of casualty totals became standard for the Japanese. On Iwo Jima 21,844 soldiers were killed or committed suicide out of 22,060.) Mizuki confronts this directly in his memoir. He is a survivor of a suicide attack on Rabaul, along with around 80 soldiers.

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I really like Kurt Vonnegut and when he’s on he’s one of the best and funniest satirists. When he’s not on… well it gets to be tough to read. Slapstick is definitely one of those books where he pulls a Fonzy and jumps the shark. The novel is about a pair of twins (boy, girl) who are super geniuses but only when they are next to each other. They also have some weird maybe platonic maybe incestuous relationship. They also look like neanderthals and their family thinks they are retarded for the first 16 or so years of their life. The son ends up becoming the President of a declining US and ends up narrating the novel from a dilapidated Empire State Building in a mostly deserted New York City.

I found the novel weird, cumbersome, semi-boring, and not sharp or funny like some of his other novels. In the end the fact that it took me only a few hours to read made me stick through until the end. If it was a long novel I would’ve just moved on to something better. I found the introduction to be better than the actual novel so this book is definitely for Vonnegut über fans only.

Anyways I’m two books behind on my reviews, plus I have my new Blu-ray player to review and Star Wars Blu-ray. So stay tuned for a multitude of reviews plus my long developing post on religion.

I found Washington’s Crossing an extremely enjoyable read. It’s a fairly short book but well written and captivating. While the focus of the book is on the crossing and the ensuing battles, Fischer starts the book describing the various parts of both armies. I have to admit before I read this book I didn’t know much about the Hessians or all the various divisions and specialties within the British Army. After getting the reader acquainted with all the major players Fischer delves into the beginning of the revolution. Specifically he highlights the New York campaign which was a disaster for Washington and the Americans. Afterwards you see how precarious the situation was and how close the revolution came to dying out. This context helps the reader understand why the crossing is important in our history and also why Washington is a big deal.

This book isn’t a hagiography of Washington. What it does is turn Washington into a real person. All too often the founders are looked at, spoke of, and written about like they are these mythical beings that came down from on high to bestow their wisdom on us. Their greatness is in the fact that they were flawed people who were thrust into a situation where they overcame their flaws and achieved greatness. Washington may not have been the best tactician, but what Fischer makes clear is that Washington knew how to be a leader. After some missteps and apprehension in the New York campaign, Washington begins to trust in himself and his generals, especially when contrasted with the British and Hessian style of leadership. He learns how to lead all the various sub groups of Americans effectively. That’s what is really at the heart of this book. If you don’t like military history you can skip some of the descriptions of the battles and still find the book worthwhile.

One of the strongest, most resonant parts of the book for me were the parts that described how Washington enforced the ideals of the American Revolution and put them into practice. Throughout the war Americans were often not given quarter by British or Hessians. Many Americans died a brutal death after surrendering, and many more died on prison ships off the coast of New York. However, Washington and other leaders stressed that captured British and Hessian soldiers should be treated as humanely. While I’m sure there were retribution killings, the vast majority of British and Hessians were treated humanely by the Americans. This was something that was just not done at the time, but it exemplified the ideals of the revolution. It was theory put into practice. The treatment was so good that almost a quarter of all the Hessians that were captured either remained in the US after the war or emigrated shortly thereafter. (This has been seen time and time again in American history, where our noble treatment of POWs has left an indelible mark on those people. In particular during WWII many Germans wanted to be captured by Americans or British soldiers as opposed to the Russians because they knew they would be treated fairly. Many who were brought to the US remained here after the war. Sadly, I don’t think anyone in Guantanamo will wish to remain. IMHO our magnanimity in war and as victors was one of our greatest assets and we seem to have forgotten that.) Anyways the book is well worth the read and I highly recommend it.

I’ll leave you with a quote from a closing comment from Fischer:

“Too many writers have told us that we are captives of our darker selves and helpless victims of our history. It isn’t so, and never was. The story of Washington’s Crossing tells us that Americans in an earlier generation were capable of acting in a higher spirit–and so are we.”