Jarhead [novel]

I finished Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles by Anthony Swafford. It's very from-the-gut, dark, and doesn't pull any punches. It tells of the author's unwavering drive to become a Marine and of the reality of the hell of actually BEING one and living through a war that wasn't a war out in the desert.

The book doesn't offer up any excuses, it doesn't really give you any trivial information, and it doesn't really give up any deep insights. It simply tells of what it was like, what the other Marines were like, some things he thought of during the things he went through and tells factually the things he saw and did, letting the reader take everything for what it is. War. Meaningless war. Neither pro nor anti anything. Gives you a lot to think about.

I liked the matter-of-factness of the book - makes it a balanced read for people both pro and anti war. War is what it is and this was one man's experience of it. Kind of makes my stomach lurch whenever I read a "Semper Fi" bumper sticker, though. Urgh.

The Radioactive Boy Scout

The Radioactive Boy Scout - The True Story of a Boy and His Backyard Nuclear Reactor by Ken Silverstein

I just read this book yesterday, got it out of the library and finished it the same day, which is something for me, as I usually take my time with books. But I HAD to know what happened to David Hahn, the teen who attempted to build a model nuclear breeder reactor in a potting shed in his backyard in Detroit in the 90's.

I've always had a strange fascination with radioactivity, both the facts and the fantasy of it. I don't know why; in reality it scares the bejeebers out of me yet I find information and stories about it really interesting. The history of Chernobyl, the Bikini Atol, the tests in Nevada. Post-apocalyptic fiction, particulary post nuclear-apocalyptic stories, I can't get enough of - like Z for Zachariah. The "Fallout" RPG games - getting to BE a character in this neo-retro post apocalyptic nuclear world. Films, no matter how cheesy - "The Postman", "Mad Max", the one realistic film that was made to scare people about nuclear destruction that follows some individuals trying to survive after a nuclear attack whose name I always forget...

And what makes this book even better/scarier is that it really HAPPENED.

The book was written by an investigative reporter and doesn't just tell David Hahn's story, how he managed to build something that generated extremely large amounts of radiation levels measurable from several blocks away - it also tells us the history of radioactive materials and their scientific discoveries and uses and the history of the damaging effects various radioactive materials have caused. It tells us about how the government put a happy face on atomic energy and how it was this very out-of-date information that under-informed David enough to go through with much of his experimenting. Lastly, the book details David's family life and how he was able to get away with so much with so little supervision. It's absolutely stunning and really amazing. This teenager was a chemistry genius who was figured out how to procure all kinds of highly restricted radioactive material -- and it's not an evil genius story, just a kid obsessed with a project whose consequences he never really thought about or informed himself about.

Anyway. Good read - I'm not a chemistry buff and the technical stuff was written so I could understand it but without talking down to its audience. And you really feel for David - if only his parents were more supportive, etc.

How the Sun Works in Alaska

It isn't dark here all the time, just to get that out of the way. ;) But it DOES get dark in the winter.

It's just like anywhere else in the world that is a significant distance from the equator. As winter approaches in the northern hemisphere, the earth tilts AWAY from the sun on its axis. This makes the sun appear lower on the horizon. The further from the equator you go in the winter, the shorter the days will be. The opposite is true for summer, though, and people tend to forget that. As summer approaches, the earth tilts toward the sun and we get more sunlight; the sun appears higher in the sky, and the days grow longer.

But it's not just a half-and-half jump. (You wouldn't BELIEVE how many people think this). It's a gradual thing.

Ok. Anchorage is the closest place to me on this sunlight chart - the daylight hours are a bit different for Palmer because we're surrounded by mountains. Fairbanks is a little less than halfway up the body of the state heading north, and Barrow is the farthest town North in the US. But you get the idea of the angle affecting hours of light from this chart:

Maximum Daylight Hrs. at Summer Solstice (June 20 or 21)
Anchorage
Sunrise - 3:21am
Sunset - 10:42pm
Hrs. of daylight - 19:21hrs

Fairbanks
Sunrise - 1:59am
Sunset - 11:48pm
Hrs. of daylight - 21:49

Barrow
Sunrise - May 10
Sunset - Aug 2
Hrs. of daylight - continuous

Yes. So the sun literally goes in circles around the sky in Barrow. You can get photos of this, timelapse. Now for the darker days..

Minimum Daylight Hours at Winter Solstice (Dec. 21 or 22)
Anchorage
Sunrise - 10:14am
Sunset - 3:42pm
Hrs. of daylight - 5:28

Fairbanks
Sunrise - 10:59am
Sunset - 2:41pm
Hrs. daylight - 3:42

Barrow
The sun sets November 18th and does not rise until January 24 for a period of 67 days in which there is NO daylight in Barrow.


The boundary for this is the Arctic Circle. Starting at this level of lattitude, there is one day where the sun does not set in the summer. From there north, the amount of days with Midnight Sun increases. Fairbanks isn't far from the Arctic Circle, so they get a lot of daylight.

And even though the sun goes below the horizon in the summer, it doesn't get DARK. It's kind of dusky. In some places, it's still bright enough to read without straining your eyes or anything. Geography has a lot to do with it - mountains to the north of you will make it darker out, but for the most part, anyplace north of Anchorage doesn't ever get DARK out in the middle of summer.

As for winter, that's another thing. The sun doesn't technically RISE in Palmer til even later because the mountains are so tall and they're RIGHT there. And closer to Solstice, the sun barely scrapes along the tops of the mountains to the south, even going behind Pioneer Peak if you're in town. Today I noticed that the sun is about a hand's width above the same mountains in the middle of the day now. Certainly seems cheerier with the increased amount of light.

Funny, because it used to not really bother me. Or maybe I just never noticed. Or maybe I've been too busy in the past to let the lack of light depress me or something. One thing's for sure, in the winter with the sun so low on the horizon, you get KILLER sunsets and sunrises ALL the time. :D

This may all seem completely fascinating to folks who have never thought about it before. Equally it might seem totally logial and not that interesting. I choose to enjoy and relish the little things like this that are around me daily - it enriches my surroundings and makes the universe seem that much more special and interesting. It's fun to mark how much daylight we've got and it adds to the uniqueness of each season. Some people complain about the amount of darkness in the winter but personally I find it cozy and magical, just as I find the summer daylight envigorating.

Just my three bingles' worth.

The Aviator [film]

No spoilers.

We saw the Aviator in the theatre yesterday. I love aviation and aviation history, so yay! Of course, you should know ahead of time that it's not simply about Howard Huges, but also about his OCD and other mental problems he suffered from, which I think are a testiment to what he went through to still create the things he did. Not to condone any of the iffier things he did, but you gotta feel for the guy in some way. The whole film makes you squirm because of that, but soar whenever Huges gets into a plane - which I'm sure is how HE felt, as well.

And I couldn't wipe the grin off my face at the Spruce Goose parts - I've seen the real Goose all rebuilt down in McMinville and it is something to see at 5 stories high with the widest wingspan of any aircraft EVER built - you could use ONE of the wings as an airstrip for a Piper Cub.

And Cate Blanchette as Katherine Hepburn? Wow, she was fantastic - what a remarkable actress.

So, not necessarily a film you HAVE to see in the theatre, although it looked like it was filmed in cinemascope (the widest ratio they generally film at). Any part showing flying aircraft was much better on the big screen, I'm sure - especially parts with the HK-1 (alternately H-4 or Spruce Goose) because of it's size - it was meant for the big screen.

Affinity [novel]

In short, if you haven't read it, you should. Get it from the library, borrow it - something. You will be amazed, whether you like it or not (this falling into the 'mindfuck' category).

From Wikipedia: Margaret Prior (also called "Peggy" and "Aurora"), an unmarried woman from an upper class family, visits the Millbank Prison in the 1870s Victorian era England. The protagonist is an overall unhappy person, recovering from her father's death and her subsequent failed suicide attempt, and struggling with her lack of power living at home with her overinvolved mother despite being almost 30. She becomes a "Lady Visitor" of the prison, hoping to escape her troubles and be a guiding figure in the lives of the female prisoners. As she peers through a flap in the door, entranced by the sight of a girl with a flower — she is reminded of a Carlo Crivelli painting. Of all her friendships with prisoners, she is most fascinated by this girl, who she learns to be Selina Dawes, medium of spirits.

It is a Sarah Water's book, so you know that there is a woman/woman relationship involved in the character development. This story slowly unfolds, teasing the reader along. The setting is wonderful, you feel like you're going behind the scenes of a Jane Austen story to see what life was REALLY like beneath the frills and pomp - gritty and real.

DO NOT READ THE REST OF THIS POST unless you have read the book. I'm serious - you'd be so spoiled, it wouldn't be worth reading. It'd be like knowing the entire mystery and how it works BEFORE you read the mystery. In other words, there'd be no suspense, no wonderment - it'd be ruined. This means YOU.

~==~
Ok. I hope if you are reading this, you have read the book.

Hope, you were, by the way, correct in that I want to stab the author. And hug her at the same time, though, for writing so craftily what she wrote.

I feel so... gullible and tricked. It's so amazing - right at the beginning of the book, we see signs of why Selina Dawes isn't to be trusted. I was hesitant to believe her, but as surely and slowly as Miss Prior fell for her, so did I. It was SO slow and so elegant, the way the reader is drawn in - it takes over half the book before anything huge happens. Very realistic to the end in how we think everything is as it appears to be, right up to the moment the mirror is shattered, the curtains taken away and we see the world for how it really is. And in that split moment, everything seems foriegn - everything we were doing just a moment before seems like it's from another life completely - a life lived in a dream world that never counted for anything. We're left so stunned we don't know what to even THINK. We want to believe in the illusion so badly because what we felt for it was so genuine... What Margaret felt for Selina was so beautiful and true, how could it of been for nothing?

Now I feel like I'm pointing out the obvious - how unbelieveably crafty Selina was. What an actress... It was even hinted at in the beginning, but I chose to believe... like Margaret, with each movement of the spirits, I chose to believe rather than try hunting down an obvious answer. It was too easy.

Even right up to the night Margaret stayed up til dawn waiting for Selina to appear - I was right there with her. I had my inner doubts - maybe she won't come. Maybe Selina was indeed delusional from her stay in the prison. Maybe the spirits simply won't be able to do it and the two will kill themselves rather than be apart. Maybe maybe maybe... But never that maybe Selina would have other plans alltogether. Even once Mrs Jelf arrived at the house and began telling of her part in Selina's escape, I thought maybe the concentration on the spirit was just a way of distracting Margaret from negative thoughts til Selina could arrive and explain everything. Then I thought, as Mrs Jelf was revealing what SHE felt of Selina - that maybe Selina really was in love with JELF and that Selina was going to arrive and there'd be a confrontation and the two would go off together.... But in the end, I really thought that Selina was going to appear and go off with Margaret. So I was just as shocked AS Margaret with each revelation of every piece to the puzzle.

And the whole time it was RUTH VIGERS?!? I couldn't even make a sound, couldn't shake my heads. I wasn't anything yet I was everything all at once, I was so stunned. Because I should of known. Somehow, I should of seen it all along.

And I feel SO gullible. Gullible. I mean, I like to be suprised in stories - books and movies and TV shows. I try NOT to guess at what is going on. Of course, often, TV and movies are easier to guess at than books. And I think, maybe I COULD of remained objective... maybe I wouldn't of fallen for it. But Selina was too good; I was drawn in and I fell for it, too.

Now I don't know what to do with the book itself. Laugh at it, glare at it? Put it on my bookshelf with my collection? I do re-read books, but this... this isn't a story to be re-read, a world to be re-visited. This book WAS an experience. And like most life experiences, things one cannot repeat. Something one cannot go back in time and recapture. It's one of those "first time" things - the first time is always the best, full of wonder and suprise. And once that's over with, even the anticipation of the end result in subsequent experiences cannot capture that naive suprise.

Anyway. Like I said, I'm a book collector - I love my books. But I honestly dont think I'd ever be able to re-read this one. Who to pass it to, then?

I'm serious... I was just BUZZING during the chapters leading up to Selina's escape.... When she got put in the darks... I was just fluttering inside. I HAD to see what happened. I couldn't stop reading. And it built and built and built -- then... It was like jumping into a glacial lake. Solid cold came over me, slowly dripping, coating me, like a giant egg cracked over my head. And all time stopped as I found out the truth to Selina's plans.

In the end, as much as I want to throttle Sarah Waters, I want to praise her as well for such a good job. To write something like that, that can DO this to a reader - that's just amazing. *shakes Sarah's hand and thanks her for holding my heart to the light, warming it, then quickly lacerating it and stomping upon it before handing it back*. I almost feel BAD for appreciating the book - like a dominatrix who suddenly realized she liked being a bottom, liked being abused all a long.

Ok, weird analogy, but it's what came to mind. :P

Strangers in Paradise

The Official Strangers in Paradise website

The best thing about SiP is that it isn't necessarily a comicbook-readers book. It's the book for people who DON'T read comics.

SiP is about the not-quite average lives of three people (to start with). It's got everything from humour to pages black with blood. Love, angst, drama, fun-times, art, gangs, murders, cops, Texas, lesbians!, snipers, mafia, drugs, and characters we CARE about. Hell, we even want to know more about the antagonists to the point of liking THEM, too.

Terry Moore, the author, used to work in TV as an editor, and he sets up each storyline like a storyboard with text so it reads like you're watching a really great TV show. And of course, if you've never read an independant title, the series HAS an ending we're heading toward. So everything is serving a purpose and WON'T be repeated again the way that regular superhero titles do.

Also, Terry Moore has a beautiful line style (the books are in black and white), very art-nouveau inspired (think Quinton Hoover, if you know who he is). And lastly, it's totally queer/queer friendly. The way it deals with issues, it just makes them part of the story the way if YOU actually stumbled across it in real life. In so many TV shows, they deal with things like, say, AIDS in a one-time episode or story arc and then you never hear about it again. But the way they show it, they're FOCUSING on it which makes it surreal. "She's dying of AIDS... let's show all the minutae of what that's like". There's a time and place for that, but in a larger story it comes off like a lesson rather than part of the story.

Queer themes are like that as well in the story in a lable-defying sort of way. Thus the more main character of the three - Katchoo. "Everyone calls her a lesbian. But she's been with guys. Is she bi? But she HATES men, she prefers women. (But she still says there might be guys out there who are still bad). So she's bi?" - Katchoo doesn't lable herself and refuses to be political about it. I think that'd be the ideal place for our society to be and I know some individuals who ARE like this. So in a way it's kind of refreshing - we don't need to see Katchoo pushing LGBTI issues. Just her being who she is is somehow enough. And no, it's not a half-assed gay-character thing. I've read solidly GAY comics and I just don't like being drowned in my own issues all the time.

It's hard to describe Strangers in Paradise without giving everything away. Every issue is full of suprises and you never know how Terry is going to twist it all with the unveiling of each TPB. You just have to sit there and read and trust that he knows what he's doing since he's already had this thing planned out for years. :D

http://www.strangersinparadise.com/issues.html -- go here. This shows the covers of all the trade paperbacks to date. The first volume is only three comics long - Terry did them for fun, not expecting SiP to take off so it FEELS really short and not so permanent. So I highly HIGHLY reccomend you try out SiP somehow (they had them at our library in Portland) -- but get the first two TPB's - volume 1 and 2. (Amazon.com sells them used, by the way). :D

By far one of my favorite stories of all time in any medium (books, films, anime, graphic novels, etc).

The House of Sand and Fog [film]

The House of Sand and Fog starrs Jennifer Connelly and Sir Ben Kingsley ("Gandhi"), primarily. I've always kind of tip-toed around Jenniffer Connelly films due to the whole stigma she carries from earlier 80's films. But she was very good in this movie. The entire cast of the five main characters are just phenominal in their acting. The cinematography alone makes it one of the top three most beautifully filmed movies I've seen lately, and the story...

The imagery, the story, the characters are all so filled and entwined in symbolism, nothing is left un-thought of but it feels so natural. Apparently they filmed the whole thing without storyboards and just went with the flow, which is amazing because you'd think just the opposite - but it does feel very natural and organic.

Without giving anything away, it is a drama that kind of rips you open, stomps on you, but doesn't come off as trite at all, definetly not a rehash of anything I've seen before. And after, you don't necessarily feel DOWN. It's definetly more... "down" than, say, Eternal Sunshine... but I felt better about life after watching this film than I did ES. Strange.

And just to give a hint of how good the cinematography was, I've never been so compelled to rip a DVD out of the player and immediately go cap it. ;) Go watch it!