Month: December 2016

2016 Reading Challenges – Final Update

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations3 Comments

We’re coming up on the end of a very long, very strange year, in which I did a lot of reading.  So let’s get down to it!

Newbery Medal WinnersPicture
Goal: 15 Newbery Medal Winners, to bring myself to half of the total list
Host: Smiling Shelves

This has continued to be my most successful challenge in terms of numbers.  These are mostly fast reads, and so convenient to listen to on audiobook (and not every type of book is) that I’ve blown right through my target number and read 22.  That brings me up to 54 total, out of 95 Newbery Medal Winners.  So that means 41 to go…because my secret goal of course is to read all of them.  Just, not within one year… Continue reading “2016 Reading Challenges – Final Update” →

Movie Review: Rogue One

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science FictionLeave a comment

rogueone_onesheeta_1000_309ed8f6Apparently it’s movie week on the blog.  I didn’t intend to do a theme around scrappy people with few resources fighting governments, but, well…  Today, from a galaxy far away, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Billed as the story of the Rebel team who stole the Death Star plans, this is a prequel (but not a prequel, if you know what I mean) to A New Hope, set in the weeks just before it.  It’s the story of Jyn (Felicity Jones), daughter of the Death Star’s designer.  We meet her in an Imperial labor camp, imprisoned for vague reasons, from which she is swiftly recruited by the Rebel Alliance.  She joins new characters like Cassian (Diego Luna) and converted Imperial droid K-2SO (voiced by Alan Tudyk of Firefly fame), and familiar ones like Mon Mothma and Bail Organa, as they assess the Empire’s new threat.

This was a…different Star Wars movie.  I feel rather oddly about it.  I didn’t exactly dislike it.  It wasn’t perfect but I wouldn’t say it’s bad.  But it wasn’t quite my type of movie either.

More than any other Star Wars movie, this one was a war movie.  Yes, “war” has always been there in the second word of the franchise title, but it’s always been a space opera.  There was always a layer of unreality.  We all know that the stormtroopers will never fire a lethal shot at the heroes, and even though Darth Vader tortured Leia, it didn’t rumple her (iconic) hairstyle.

Rogue One was gritty.  We’re visiting a galaxy that has been ground under the Imperial boot for twenty (give or take) years, and shows it.  It’s visible in the devastated landscapes, the eyes of the rebels, and the layer of dirt on Jyn’s face.  The original trilogy gave us a picture of a fight between good and evil (or light and dark).  Rogue One gives us a Rebel Alliance with infighting and factions, where even the “good” guys do morally questionable things.  Some of this draws out impassioned repudiation, as when Jyn accuses another character of being no different than a Stormtrooper if he’s going to follow bad orders blindly.  But it’s lines like that that stand out in a darker, grayer galaxy. Continue reading “Movie Review: Rogue One” →

Movie Review: Suffragette and All the President’s Men

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews1 Comment

Stories are a big part of the rhythm of my life.  Stressful days call for The Dick Van Dyke Show, depressing ones need Terry Pratchett books and every holiday of any significance has a number of books and movies I pair with it.  So when the world rocked and grew unsettled in recent weeks, it’s not surprising I turned to movies.  Today, two that I’ve found helpful.

suffragette_posterSuffragette

Released in 2015, this looks at the militant suffragette movement in England in the early 1900s, through the eyes of Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan).  A factory worker, she’s gradually drawn into the movement for women’s rights, growing more and more fervent and giving up more and more in the process.  Helena Bonham Carter has a powerful role as Maud’s mentor, and Meryl Streep makes a brief cameo as legendary Mrs. Pankhurst.

This is a hard movie, and you have to be in the right mental space for it.  It is gripping and grim, showing the horrors these women lived with, and the hell they went through trying to secure their rights.  We see how hard Maud’s life is and how little anyone seems to care, and watch as she’s drawn into a circle of women fighting to be heard.  Their methods are at times questionable, but their motivations are extremely compelling.

I’ve loved Carey Mulligan ever since she was Sally Sparrow in the Doctor Who episode “Blink,” and have really enjoyed watching her career grow.  Helena Bonham Carter is powerful here in a role that is, for her, almost restrained.  And Meryl Streep is simply an institution unto herself, perfect casting for the leader of the movement.

This movie did for me exactly what I wanted it to do.  It reminded me of how far we’ve come in the last century, and how far we still have to go.  It inspired me with the stories of how hard women of the past fought and all they gave up.  It made me want to carry the torch forward, though I’ll admit I’m still exploring what that means.  But I’m thinking of it at least, and every time I’ve worn white since, I’ve thought, “White–like the suffragettes.”

all_the_presidents_menAll the President’s Men

I might be the first to put these two movies together, but while they are divergent in time and focus, they both feel highly relevant right now.  Another historical piece, it follows Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) as they investigate and eventually break the Watergate story–and bring down a presidency.

In all honesty, I didn’t follow all of this.  Watergate was well before my time, and this delves into details of individuals involved and legal lines crossed that grow obscure and convoluted.  But I didn’t really care.  I can’t follow all of the conspiracy, but I can follow Woodward and Bernstein as they chase down the next clue, the next detail, the next interview or “non-denial denial.”  There’s corruption in the government and they’re tracking it through higher and higher levels, and that’s what counted for me, not every detail of what that corruption looked like.

The scene that has resonated with me for weeks after watching this movie was the last one.  It’s the Washington Post office.  The television is on, showing Nixon being sworn into office amidst tumultuous applause.  But at the Washington Post, Woodward and Bernstein have their heads down at their desks, typewriters clattering away.  They’re coming, Mr. President.  They’re coming.

all-the-presidents-menJust as an aside, The New York Times homepage recently added a link with information about how to submit a confidential news tip.  I’ve read them for years so I know that’s new.  You can also find a “SecureDrop” link on the Washington Post‘s homepage.

Women’s rights and freedom of the press are both values near to my heart, and which I believe are integral to a free and just society.  If you need a story from history to inspire you, I found both these movies effective.

Favorites Friday: Holiday Albums

On By cherylmahoneyIn Favorites Friday4 Comments

I’m somewhat famously Scroogish about Christmas music.  Fifteen years ago, the radio started playing Christmas music (earlier and earlier every year) ad nauseum this time of year, and even though I haven’t listened to the radio (to any meaningful degree) for a good six years now, I’m still not over feeling that I’ve heard too much Christmas music.  At least, of a certain variety, because the radio (and retail establishments) do tend to play a certain type.

But I like Christmas–and I do have particular Christmas albums and songs I enjoy.

1) A Christmas Album by Michael Crawford – I mean…Crawford!  He brings all that emotional heft and incredible range of notes to Christmas music and it’s beautiful.  It’s also mostly non-“certain type” songs.  His “Journey to Bethlehem” medley of a good dozen religious songs is breath-taking, and his “O Holy Night” is SO Crawford.  There’s a repeated refrain of “O night divine.”  The first time I listened to this song, after a good dramatic “O night divine,” I thought–no, it’s Crawford, he’s going to go bigger.  And sure enough, he repeats it one more time even more dramatically.

2) John Denver and the Muppets – On the possible other side of the spectrum…this really is the Muppets singing Christmas carols, with occasional accompaniment by John Denver.  Miss Piggy squawks indignant about “piggy pudding” (“no, no, figgy pudding”) and throughout “Little St. Nick” you can hear Animal yelling, “Run, run, reindeer!” in the background.  It’s great fun, and there’s a few more heartfelt moments too. Continue reading “Favorites Friday: Holiday Albums” →

Taking a Stance

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations2 Comments

This is not a political blog, and it is not about to become one–but in light of recent world events, it feels like time to make some kind of statement.  The time may have been a month ago, but on my own personal journey the right time seems to be today.

I already alluded in a NaNo post to being shaken by the November U.S. election results.  I won’t get into details about candidates or specific results, but here is what I will say:

I am against racism, xenophobia, hate-mongering and fear-based politics.  I believe in everyone’s right to claim their own identity and choose their own lives.  I believe in protecting marginalized groups, whether they are marginalized for their color, their income level, their gender identity, who they love or who they worship.  I believe in protecting our planet, which I believe is under human-made threat.

I believe in the right to speak and write your truth, and I believe in freedom of the press to find and spread truth.  I believe that no elected official is above the law, and that hate is not acceptable no matter how many people vote for you.

I believe that most people are basically good and that many, many people in our country and world are hurting–on both sides of the political spectrum.  I believe it’s on all of us to choose love rather than hate, and to each do our own part, big or small, to address the pain and fear of the people around us.

So what does that mean for this blog?  I also believe in the power of stories to shape our world view–and ultimately our world.  I have always embraced stories with strong female characters (and male, but it’s women who historically and still currently need those stories more).  In recent years I’ve become more committed to finding stories with racially diverse characters.

I am recommitting to sharing about stories that offer hope or inspiration, that present characters of every color and creed, that tell us that we can create a better world.  I’ll call out stories that present abuse as romance, that tell us we can’t choose our fates, or that gloss over racism or hate.

I believe what I always believed, and I’ll keep doing what I’ve always done.  I believe in love, tolerance, compassion, and stories that strive to create a better world.  It simply feels that at the moment, that message needs to grow more overt.

So that’s my line of books in the sand.  I hope you’ll keep reading.  And we’ll see what happens next.