Have you run across any good books, films or art lately?

I have been engrossed in an older book by Anne Fadiman, daughter of Clifton Fadiman, that examines the case history of a little Hmong girl and her terrible misadventures in the medical community, N. of SF. The astounding cultural divide, the almost incomprehensible inability to translate accurately from Hmong to English and back defeated the most intrepid and willing of souls, of which there were hundreds.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Western Doctors call that severe epilepsy.

Recommended to me privately by Janbb, “How to Be a Victorian.” Here’s the NYT review, really funny.

^^ Yes, second vote for the Ann Fadiman.

About to teach a course on time travel novels. The first one is Wells’ The Time Traveler. It’s an odd little combination of social criticism from a new evolutionary perspective and dystopian vision. I think you would find it interesting, E.C.

Many good films recently: “The Imitation Game”, “Birdman”, “Theory of Everything”, “Still Alice.” And an old one that I just recommended to Gail – “I Know Where I’m Going” – delightful British film from the 40s with Wendy Hiller. Set in the Scottish Highlands.

Art – Saw a Keith Haring exhibit at the DeYoung in San Fran last month. Provocative more than beautiful but he’s worth checking out.

Once I get my anti-macassars from the draper’s shop, we all must have tea and a proper chin-wag. As long as your gout doesn’t prevent you from taking a Hackney, E.C..

Edit: The Time Machine

Just finished “The Boys in the Boat” by Daniel James Brown. True story about the convoluted journey of students from UW to win a gold medal at Hitler’s Berlin 1936 Olympics. And they did it against seemingly insurmountable odds. Powerful story of mind over matter. Shook me up.

2 on my list I am about to order, both look intriguing and informative.

“Sapiens a brief history of humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari and to be released on March 10, ” Sex drugs and rock-n-roll the science of hedonism and the hedonism of science” by Zoe Cormier

I am a “Smithsonian” mag. addict and they always showcase some really interesting new works. I don’t really care much for fiction, I want stimulating factual info.

There was a Keith Haring exhibit here in San Francisco that ended just last month. It was a wonderful overview of his short yet prolific career.

It’s been out for 18 months or more, but I would urge anyone seeking a good read to try The Goldfinch. A great story, and the author takes one so deep into a locale you feel you are walking down that street.

@zenvelo Jinx on the Haring exhibit but I gave up on The Goldfinch. I thought it was way too drawn out and he was too unpleasant a character.

I recently saw“Mr. Brooks” with Kevin Costner. I loved it. He plays a serial killer, yet you can’t help but root for him.

“Birdman” was great. As was “Nightcrawler”.
“John Wick” was enjoyable.
“Robot and Frank” was great.
I liked the end-of-the-world movie “Knowing”, starring the always great Nicolas Cage.
The really interesting and horribly bad movie “Gorilla Interrupted”, as well as “Feeding Frenzy”, both made by RLM.
The alien abduction movie “Dark Skies” I liked. Much more than “Signs”. Because the aliens win in the end.
And of course the really great “The man from Earth”, about an immortal cave-man that has walked the Earth for 14000 years.

Oh, I just saw “Unbroken” true story about a fella that survived a Japanese war camp/prison in WW11 and also ” American Sniper.”
I loved Unbroken, A.S. meh…not as much but had to see it for all the hype.

(I read only about 1/6 of The Goldfinch and got that far only because I love the painting.)

I went to the Dali museum in St. Petersburg last week and the other fairly large art museum there and they were fabulous. The Dali has the best collection outside if Spain I would say. They usually have a traveling exhibit of other artists as well I think the one coming up is Da Vinci. I only mention it because I remember you live in FL, but I don’t remember how far you are from the Tampa Bay Area. Also, we have Chihuly glass in St. Petersburg and it’s nice to visit the renovated Vinoy hotel. At one end of the main floor there is a little museum with the history. There is an incredible amount of the arts packed into a half mile along the beautiful bay. I didn’t even mention the performing arts center, The Mahaffey, gets Broadway tour and the Florida Orchestra. You can do an intense Arts long weekend here. If you make it to the area I additionally recommend the Plant museum for history and architecture. The Plant museum is in Tampa.

Edit: I forgot to mention the Morse museum in Winter Park near Orlando is fantastic. One of the largest collection of Tiffany. I highly recommend it. The alter from a church is incredible. The whole place gives you an appreciation for his work. I love Winter Park the town and the Morse museum. Great day trip if you live near by.

Everything is awesome Lego movie song. You can get from YouTube.

I watched “Finding Neverland” last night for the first time since it came out 11 years ago. Can’t believe I’ve been missing this lovely movie for 11 years! I missed it.

The SO and I have been working through several Top 100+ Movies lists. It’s shocking how many I hadn’t seen yet that truly are worthy of their rank. A few gems recently seen are:
* The Great Dictator – Charlie Chaplin, a British bloke, ends up living in America and makes a comedy that parodies Adolph Hitler in, get this, 1940! This is a 10 of 10
* The Godfather. Yes, I finally broke down and watched it. This was almost two decades after reading the book. It turns out that it is worthy of the accolades, if not the right awards, and is one of the few movies better than the book. 10 of 10

@Pied_Pfeffer Did you watch it as I and II combined? Or did you watch just the original in it s theatrical release, or watch I and II sequentially?

@Pied_Pfeffer The Great Dictator is one of my favorite films. He did a good job on Hitler. Then, at the end, he breaks character and gives this incredible speech.

The actual filming was in 1939, and the Brits were still in appeasement mode, Chamberlain had returned from Munich only months before with Hitller’s promise that he wouldn’t invade any more countries after the Austrian Anschluss in March, 1938. The Brits got wind of the film and banned it before it opened. Hitler banned it, but had a copy brought in through Portugal and viewed it twice. Nobody recorded his reaction to it. The film remained banned in Germany until 1958.

During filming nobody knew the true extent of the Nazi atrocities that had been perpetrated for years, but by the end of 1939 everybody knew there were one million German troops sitting on the French border. Before the film was in the can, in September, 1939, German armored divisions had invaded Poland. It only took a matter of hours.

After the war Chaplin said that if he’d known the extent of the Nazi atrocities, he would have never done a comedy about them.

It’s a great film and an amazing speech for many reasons.

I recently watched Road to Pedition. It’s a mob film alright, but what set it apart from other films is the focus on father-son relationship. The relationship is the primary theme of the film, not the gangsters. Really thought-provoking and touching.

@Mimishu1995 That is a great film!

If you like imaginative, visually stunning, and heartwarming movies, I highly suggest The Fall by Tarsem Singh.

It’s a story about a stuntman from the 1920s who ends up in the hospital due to an injury he obtained on the set of a movie. He meets a little girl who was also admitted due to a broken arm and they begin to bond. He starts to tell her a fantastical tale about heroes and the lines between their reality and the story he tells begin to intertwine. It manages to wrap itself around your heart and by then end you may have both cried and smiled.

Edit: If you like quirky indies, I also suggest Safety Not Guaranteed. It’s about people who are, in ways, social misfits who meet and bond – even though one of them may not be quite all there mentally. It’s lighthearted, goofy, fun and touching – if you’re sappy like I am, anyway.

I read ‘We are all completely beside ourselves’ recently and loved it. I also re-read ‘Cider with Rosie’ which I was not so enamoured with. Just before Christmas was the last time I went to the theatre and I saw To Kill A Mockingbird which was great. On TV I have been watching a french police drama called Spiral which is excellent.

@zenvelo Do you mean The Godfather series? If so, the first and second were watched separately and several weeks apart. Then I watched III. The first is unforgettable. The second is complicated, but still admirable. The third is somewhat forgettable.

@Espiritus_Corvus Over the past four months, I’ve watched several of Chaplin’s full length movies and one of the shorts. All are worthy of recognition, and The Great Dictator remains my favorite so far. Thank you for posting additional information on it.