The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Movie Review)

This isn't exactly a feel-good holiday movie. If you are in need of a post-holiday pick-me-up, you might want to avoid this one.

However, if you want to see a quality movie with some depth, this is a good choice, though the overall message is a little unclear. It's based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but in reading some other reviews, it sounds as though the only thing the movie has in common with the story is a man who is born old and ages backwards. Having never read the story, I have to take their word for it. It's also been noted that the story was much more humorous than the movie. The movie had some humorous moments, but mostly it was a drama rather than a comedy.

At the beginning of the movie, an old woman dying in her hospital bed has her daughter read aloud from a diary. The diary was written by Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), and the story is told through flashbacks. It is the story of Benjamin's life, as well as the love story between Benjamin and Daisy (Cate Blanchett).

Benjamin was born at the end of the first World War. His mother died in childbirth, and his father was horrified by Benajmin's appearance--he was the size of a baby, but looked like an old man. He took the baby away and left him on the doorstep of a retirement home. The retirement home was run by a woman named Queenie (Taraji P. Henson), who ended up raising him.

Benjamin actually fit in quite well at the retirement home, not understanding that he was actually a child. He looked like another old man in a wheelchair, albeit a short one who was not in complete possession of his mental faculties. He eventually grew taller and didn't need to use the wheelchair anymore. He was still an old man, physically when he met Daisy, the love of his life, who was a child at the time.

Of course, he and Daisy didn't get together for years, until the point when they sort of met in the middle in age. But of course, any romance with Benjamin was doomed in the long term, and that was the tragedy of his life in general. It would have to be very lonely to be moving in the opposite direction from everyone else.

The movie is very interesting in that Benjamin had a fascinating life, and visually stunning with great special effects. But the overall themes--time is cruel, we all die in the end no matter how we get there--aren't exactly uplifting. Adding to the ominous tone is the fact that the old woman in the hospital (who turns out to be Daisy) and her daughter who is reading Benjamin's diary are in a hospital in New Orleans right before and then right as Hurricane Katrina is hitting. If there is some more uplifting message embedded in the storyline, I'm not getting it. I guess one could argue that despite a serious obstacle, Benjamin made the best of things and led the best life he could, but even considering this, I still don't consider the movie very uplifting.

Time of My Life, by Allison Winn Scotch (Book Review)

What an awesome book! I love stories that involve manipulating time or involve some sort of road-not-taken scenario. In this book, protagonist Jillian Westfield is living the perfect suburban housewife and mother of an adorable 18-month-old in 2007. She loves her daughter, but she's bored to tears by her life and her marriage has definitely lost its luster.

Then one day she wakes up and it's seven years earlier. (Now, my first thought was, there's no way I could relive the Bush years, but since it was July 2000, I would have wanted alert the media that BUSH IS GOING TO STEAL FLORIDA! And beware of that stupid butterfly ballot!).

But I digress. Other than a brief mention of the Bush-Gore race, there is almost no mention of politics. In 2000, Jill's life was at a crossroads. She was about ready to break up with her exciting but rather unambitious and noncommittal boyfriend, Jackson, and about ready to get together with the man she would eventually marry, Henry. She is now intent on trying to make things work with Jack, and not getting together with Henry. She now has the advantage of 20/20 hindsight; often things work out well because of this. For example, when her friend Meg has a miscarriage, Jill knows it is going to happen, and this time she thinks to call 911 in advance instead of going to Meg first and then calling 911. This is crucial since Meg lost so much blood the first time that she required a transfusion and sustained much more internal damage. Also, Jill is able to anticipate trouble spots in her relationship with Jack and deal with problems more effectively.

Occasionally things don't work out quite as well, because each new action has unintended consequences. For example, her boss Josie's marriage appears to be going south, even though as far as Jill knows, Josie and her husband were perfectly happy in 2007. Jill is upset by the possibility that her interfering in the past, trying to change things, has caused problems for Josie. Also, even though Jill doesn't want to get together with her husband, she misses her daughter, who will never be if she stays with Jack.

But things are going great with Jack, now that she knows he's the one she wants. Or are they?

Is the problem that Jill chose the wrong person? Or is the problem that she has stifled too much of herself and failed to confront her own demons?

This is a book that will resonate with anyone who has ever wished they could have gne back and made a different choice in life. How many of us have wished we could have made a relationship work (or left a bad one sooner), not dropped out of college, taken a risk instead of playing it safe, or done any number of things we felt would have made our lives better? It is a book that invites self-reflection. The book is also a real page turner. I was fascinated by the concept and couldn't wait to see what would happen next. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Is Bush Going to Set the White House Drapes on Fire as He Leaves Too?

I adore Rachel Maddow's show on MSNBC. I enjoy all segments of the show, but am going to speak to the "Lame Duck Watch" portion here for a moment. This is where Rachel highlights some (disastrous) new proposal or regulation that the Bush administration is trying to push through before he (finally) leaves office, probably all of which are in direct opposition to what Obama wants to do. Here are some highlights:

* a new rule that would allow health care workers to refuse procedures due to moral objections, including, unsurprisingly, abortions, and possibly dispensing birth control. (Imagine not being able to get your birth control prescription filled because some jerk in the pharmacy had a problem with it).

* Offering parts of the Utah wilderness for oil and gas drilling.

* Negotiating a deal that would keep the troops in Iraq for three more years (if approved by the IRAQ parliament, NOT our Congress)

* relaxing regulations covering endangered species and changing how pollution levels are measured

* giving state and local agencies more spying power

* many more nefarious things

JANUARY 20 CANNOT COME SOON ENOUGH.

When his administration isn't working to bring down this country further in the time they have left, what exactly are W and company doing? Are they trying to address the economic crisis, maybe? Not so much, from the sound of it. Mostly, they are trying to recast Bush's image in a more positive light.

They should probably wait a few years for that. Like maybe 50, or 100.

I think the Obamas should do some kind of cleansing ritual when they move into the White House. The toxic energy W is leaving in his wake isn't healthy for anyone else to be around.

Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State--Yay!

I'm so excited that Hillary Clinton will be our next Secretary of State! I actually wanted Hillary to get the nomination for president, though I always liked Obama as well. Part of the reason I initially chose Hillary over Obama was that I simply didn't know as much about him (and, okay, I wanted a woman president, though breaking the color barrier is equally important). Now that I'm as familiar with him as any political junkie can be, I'm really happy about him being president (especially considering the alternative, but I would be excited anyway). Still, I really like Hillary, and it's awesome that she will have such a prominent role in Obama's administration. She'll do a great job, and the Clintons are well thought of overseas.

Instead of counting the days until Christmas, I am counting the days until January 20.

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer (Book Review)

I did it! Now that my election worries are over, I can concentrate and read novels again. I had initially hesitated in reading the Twilight series because I'm not normally a fan of vampire novels. (I'm even less of a fan of vampire movies; Interview with a Vampire nearly made me lose my dinner). I decided to try Meyer's series because I had heard so many good things about it, not the least of which was that Edward, vampire and love interest of Bella, the main (human) character, is a vegetarian. Strictly speaking, this isn't true, but he satisfies his thirst for blood by drinking animal blood rather than human blood. Even so, I have to try not to dwell on it too much or I feel queasy.

Still, the book is really good, both as a suspense novel and a romance. Bella, 17, moves to Forks, Washington, to live with her dad after her mother remarries. She isn't at all crazy about moving to one of the rainiest places in the United States, especially since she's from Phoenix, but she forces herself to do so in the interest of her mother's happiness. Bella's moving in with her father leaves her mother free to travel with her new husband.

On the first day in her new school in Forks, Bella meets Edward, whose good looks border on godlike.

Too bad he seems to take an instant dislike to her.

It isn't until later that she learns the truth about Edward. Edward is a vampire, and though he's as crazy about her as she is about him, he was trying to stay away from her because he was also having to fight the urge to suck her blood. Which I guess is as good a reason for his initial behavior as any.

Bella handles the news of Edward's true nature surprisingly well. Despite Edward's warnings that he is still dangerous to be around despite his "vegetarianism" (in case he gets too tempted), she has no intention of staying away from Edward. He finds it difficult to keep his distance from her, too, and they begin a romance, albeit a cautious one.

But hanging out with vampires is even more dangerous than either one of them realizes, and Belle soon finds herself in grave danger.

The magnetism between the two main characters and the suspenseful plot makes this book a real page turner. It appeals to teens and adults alike. I read somewhere that Edward and his vampire family set an example of sorts in that they rise above their lot in life by only hunting animals. It's not an obvious point, but I do believe it's true.

The movie is due to come out in only a couple of days! I look forward to seeing it; I only hope it's half as good as the book.

What Would Obama Do? Eight Years of Slacker Hell

I have developed a disturbing tendency in the last few weeks. Lately when I am confronted with a difficult situation, I find myself wondering how Obama would handle it. The answer is usually something like confronting a problem directly as opposed to studious avoidance, thinking something through before acting, or (gasp!) working harder.

This new tendency unsettles me greatly as it is unprecedented. I sure as hell wasn't asking myself what Bush would do in a difficult (or any) situation, though I suppose that could be a good reverse guide. That is, if you aren't sure what to do about something, ask yourself what Bush would do, and then do just the opposite. Politicians in general haven't been people I considered worthy of emulation, even ones I liked, until now.

Those of us who were deriving a certain portion of our self-esteem from feeling superior to the president are going to have to figure something else out.

It's rather comforting to know that I am not the only one asking myself What Would Obama Do (WWOD). Julia Moulden at Huffington Post writes about how to Unleash Your Inner Obama.

As for myself, I think that's wonderful, but am feeling somewhat less energetic after weeks of obsessively following the election, and like Lisa Earle McLeod over at Huffington Post, am feeling in the need of a detox.
I can't imagine what it would take to actually run a campaign if I'm tired from just following it.

Maybe I will head over to change.gov, President-Elect Barack Obama's new website, where they are inviting people to share their stories and ideas. I could suggest that the country institute afternoon siestas. Probably won't fly, but maybe worth a shot.

On the other hand, thinking of the fact that in 71 days, Obama is going to be our president does give me a burst of energy. Woohoo!

Post-Election Reflections

Last night Jon Stewart was talking about how in New York City people had actually been looking him in the eye and smiling that day and how it was freaking him out. Since I don't live in the Seattle area (the part of Washington that makes it a blue state), the reaction to Obama's win here was more mixed. The people I surround myself with by choice were all happy, but a couple of the women at work were actually talking about how it should be a day of mourning. Their mood was so diametrically opposed to what I was feeling that it was quite jarring.

Now, let's see. These women work in low-paying clerical jobs in a school. I could see plenty of things wrong with them supporting McCain, even though of course it was their choice to do so, demented or not. But they kept going on about it, and I couldn't really just walk away because I had to be doing something in the front office for the moment, and I finally just said, "We are all so much better off with Obama!"

Quite possibly I was better off not saying anything. It's not like he needs the votes anymore. Maybe I should have just offered to help the one who wanted to move to Canada pack up her things. I don't think I convinced them, at least partly because I didn't get much chance before the phones started ringing and everyone got sidetracked. I'm always a little concerned about the status differential in situations like that. Not a power differential, as I am not in a position of authority over them, but a status differential. Not that they necessarily seemed to care about who it was who was disagreeing with them.

But anyway. Obama will do such an awesome job that they will come around, and if they don't, it's not my problem. (Maybe it's Canada's?) Seriously, though, I think it's the kind of thing where people who aren't convinced need to see how things will be. If they are ever going to be convinced (which may or may not happen), seeing for themselves will work much better than anything anyone could say.

This was just a small blight on an otherwise happy day though. I heard from a couple of people whose political opinions I'd not heard before, though maybe I could have guessed. A counselor told me how he'd helped put up signs in the community for Obama and Gregoire (another great win--this time our governor, who only beat Rossi by 129 votes four years ago, decisively beat Rossi and he's FINALLY accepted it and said he will not run again, for which around 53% of the state's population breathes a collective sigh of relief). We talked about the people dancing in Kenya and how awesome it all was.

Also, when I went to my tutoring job (which I got in an effort to help me pay off massive debt from graduate school), the little girl's babysitter was gussied up in a DNC T-shirt from this year and an Obama pin. We talked for a little bit about how great it was that Obama won.

It frustrates me that a lot of the divisions that are still out there seem to be based on low information or misinformation. But I think Obama will be a much more unifying president than McCain would have been (and certainly more so than Palin-God forbid--would have been). Some people are going to be upset now, and it might be awhile before they see how much better things can be.

As for our standing in the world, it's great to be an American again.

Does anyone besides me think that McCain's dissing of Letterman--even though he made up for it later--may have had something to do with Indiana's turning blue this year?

For anyone who--like me--has trouble deciding what to do now that we can be done obsessing about the election, 23/6 has a great article here on things you can do with your time now. I could always do the mountains of work that I have, but I'd REALLY rather not.

Never has two and a half months seemed so far away. In the words of the great David Letterman, "Does anyone mind if [Obama] starts a little early?"

President-Elect Barack Obama

What an awesome day! Living in Washington State, I knew that Obama had won a couple minutes after eight in the evening. Well, actually, I knew before that even, because after they called Ohio for Obama, there was really no way for McCain to win. I loved how the whole West Coast turned blue about two seconds after the polls had closed. I had not expected things to be so "easy", despite how good things were looking in the polls. I was expecting to be up late, more states being too close to call, legal challenges, fistfights at CNN--okay, maybe not that last one. I guess after the last two presidential elections it just didn't seem possible that this one could go so relatively smoothly, though that's not to say there weren't issues with voting problems and all that.

John McCain made such a classy concession speech, though some members of the crowd weren't classy. Obama's speech was awesome and inspiring. I wish his grandmother could have lived to see him win. His campaign has been so amazing. Whenever I was worried about something (election tampering, people not understanding this or that, low-information voters defecting to the other side because of Palin, Bill Ayers, whatever), the campaign always had it covered. Of course the external event of the economy cratering helped the Democrats in general, but still, the campaign had an amazing ground game. If Obama's administration is as effective as his campaign, things will be really great. YES WE CAN!

The Secret Life of Bees and Election 2008

These days the election never leaves my thoughts. I never watch any TV other than CNN and MSNBC (Oh, and Saturday Night Live). I read political articles on my computer at my desk at lunchtime. I listen to NPR in the car. I am for the most part taking a a break from my voracious reading of novels as I can't concentrate on them. Work makes a valiant effort for my attention, and I don't understand why I should be forced to go to work as if it were an ordinary day when an epic battle between good and evil is being fought.

Even when I do something relatively escapist, such as go to a movie, I view it through the lens of the 2008 election. Such was the case with The Secret Life of Bees.

Dakota Fanning plays Lily, who is 14 years old and growing up in South Carolina (red state) in 1964. She lives with her father. Her mother was killed in an accident with a gun ten years earlier, when she was trying to leave Lily's abusive father. They started fighting, and her mother got out a gun, but then dropped it in the struggle with her husband. Four-year-old Lily tried to hand it to her and it went off.

So Lily of course feels incredible guilt over this, even though it was an accident and she was only four. And of course now she's being raised by her abusive father, though really most of the raising was being done by their black housekeeper, Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson, whose recent family tragedy with her mother, brother, and nephew being killed was the little bit of news unrelated to the election that I actually took in).

Anyway, the story really begins when Rosaleen and Lily go into town so that Rosalie can register to vote. Rosalie is accosted and beaten by three white men before she gets the chance. Then SHE is arrested for causing trouble, though she is also taken to the hospital to get treated for her injuries.

I haven't heard of anyone today getting beaten for trying to register to vote. However, I've certainly heard of HUGE problems with voter suppression--thousands of eligible voters potentially being dropped from the rolls in some states because of slight variations in the name or address, attempts to intimidate students by saying if they vote in their college towns their parents can't claim them as dependents on their income taxes (misinformation), to name just a couple of problems--how far have we come since 1964, people? It's pretty embarrassing that we hold ourselves up as an example of democracy when we can't even hold fair elections ourselves. And don't even get me started about the Diebold machines. Ask for a paper ballot if possible.

The incident causes Lily and her father to get into a huge fight, and Lily runs away. She packs a bag and leaves a note for her father, then sneaks into the hospital where Roaleen is staying and basically helps her become a fugitive.

They end up at the home of the Boatwright sisters in a nearby town. Queen Latifah is August, a successful beekeeper whose famous jars of honey have a black Madonna on the label. It was the label in a stash of her mother's things that had led Lily there. August lives in a beautiful (though violently pink) house with her two sisters, May (Sophie Okonedo), constantly sad and troubled since losing her twin sister years ago, and June (Alicia Keys, an earnest (though at times humorless) civil rights activist.

Lily learns about harvesting the honey, while Rosaleen helps out in the house. Staying in the Boatwright house is a healing experience for both of them, and Lily learns some secrets of her mother's past.

It's a heartwarming if at times a bit implausible tale. When I can read regular books again, I'll have to check out the novel by Sue Monk Kidd.

Oh, and Rosaleen does end up getting registered to vote. She tells Lily she will be casting her vote for Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey.

The Democrats ended up winning the White House by a landslide in 1964. Please, God, let the same thing happen in 2008. Let everyone who hasn't voted yet be just as excited and determined to do so as Rosaleen.

Just think how excited Rosaleen would have been to vote for an African American candidate, especially as visionary a candidate as Obama.

Thoughts on the Election

1. Go Vote! If you haven't already voted and your state allows it, vote early. I mailed in my ballot casting my vote for Obama several days ago. I also voted to reelect Gregoire as governor for Washington State, George Fearing to replace Doc Hastings as my US Congressman, and Carol Moser for Washington State 8th District Representative, Position 1. And a bunch of other stuff, most of it not that interesting.

2. David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter, warns "This could look like an ideological as well as a party victory if we're not careful. It could be 1980 in reverse." (Source: The Sunday Telegraph, 10-26-08)

Woohoo! 1980 in reverse! I have been waiting for this since I was ten years old. Balance will be restored to the universe.

3. Not that I am getting complacent. I will not relax until Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. If McCain somehow pulls off an upset, I will never relax again. If the latter were the case, my immediate plans would be to get a passport and pack for my move to Australia. Does anyone know how long cats have to be in quarantine if you are flying with them to Australia?

4. Has any other relatively recent election been compared to so many other elections? The 2008 US Presidential Election has been compared to (in chronological order) 1932, 1964, 1976, 1980 (with the political parties reversed), 1992 (another great year, especially the three-way debates), and of course the inevitable comparisons to 2000 and 2004. I'm sure that other elections have prompted other comparisons, but probably not this many.

5. What has been the most fun for me is watching all the prominent Republicans jump ship and come out in support of Obama and/or criticizing Palin. Here is a partial list--Colin Powell, Christopher Buckley, George Will, Scott McClellan, Ken Adelman, Matthew Dowd. David Brooks called Gov. Palin "a fatal cancer to the Republican Party." Like I said, fun, fun, fun. Unless you imagine McCain/Palin actually winning, McCain dying, and Palin taking over.

6. We are not a center-right nation! Certain idiots in the MSM (that's mainstream media for the uninitiated) keep saying that, but it's not true, especially of younger voters. Some people may still shy away from the word "liberal", but if you question Americans on such issues on health care, education, what role the government should play in getting our economy back on track, and social issues such as abortion rights and banning gay marriage, center-left is probably closer to being accurate. If you still think this is a center-right nation, you're either too old or out of touch. Maybe both. Much like McCain. Not that he is in any way a centrist (right or left) anymore. McCain 2000 might have done much better in 2008.

7. Go vote! Help make history.

Voters' Rights--Link to my Associated Content Post

Below is a link to an article I wrote on Associated Content about a really important issue, especially in certain states. Make sure your right to vote is protected.

Check out my recently published content on AC:

Protect Your Right to Vote

Death Perception, by Victoria Laurie (Book Review)

Abby Cooper, my favorite psychic and amateur sleuth, gives me something to look forward to every September, which is good, since it's usually not one of my favorite months. Summer ends, I'm back to work, and it's usually a really crazy month for me. But I digress.

This latest installment in the Abby Cooper series takes place in Las Vegas. Abby and her boyfriend, FBI agent Dutch Rivers, travel to Las Vegas after he learns that his cousin, Chase, is missing.

It turns out that there is quite a bit more to her boyfriend than Abby has realized. It turns out that Chase was hired as a bodyguard through the security firm that Dutch owns as a sideline to his work with the FBI. Abby knew about the security firm, but not that his cousin worked for it, or how lucrative it really was. Anyway, both Chase and the man he was hired to guard are missing. The evidence points to Chase being dead, but Abby's intuition insists otherwise. Oddly, though, Dutch is reluctant to involve the FBI. Dutch is also ill, and Abby continually dreams of his gravestone. Can she prevent something terrible from happening? And is her boyfriend really the good guy she's always thought him to be?

Laurie's books tend to give me the heebie-jeebies, in a good way. They are unpredictable, and I don't know what it is exactly, but they just want me to make extra sure the door is locked at night. And it's not as though I scare easily; I read murder mysteries all the time. The character Abby is quite down-to-earth, though, unusual profession or not. Some of the situations in which she finds herself are quite hilarious, so you do get the comic relief before you get too freaked out. All in all, this series is pure fun.

Escape, by Carolyn Jessop (Book Review)

Stumble It!

This is the second book I have read by a woman who has escaped from the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), a polygamist cult that was categorized as a hate group in 2005. Actually, I hope I will be able to read more stories from people who have managed to escape its grasp. It's a really scary group. This is a group that splintered from the Mormon church and is renounced by them.

Carolyn Jessop was 35 years old when she managed to do what most women in her situation would find unthinkable. She rounded up her eight kids and with them escaped from the home where they lived with her husband, Merril Jessop, and his other wives and their kids. By the way, these were kids who didn't want to go. She then became the first woman ever to win full custody of her kids in a contested suit involving the FLDS.

Most of Carolyn's 35 years in the FLDS cult were spent in Colorado City, AZ, a small town on the border of Colorado and Utah. She was born in 1968, into the sixth generation of a polygamist family. For the first few years of her life, her father had only one wife, her biological mother. Her mother suffered from depression and volatile mood swings and frequently beat her kids, but this is an accepted part of FLDS culture, as is wife-beating (I'm not going to call it spousal abuse here. It's wife beating). Her parents' marriage was not a strong one, with her father always criticizing her mother, especially when her mother actually, God forbid, wanted to have fun with the kids.

Carolyn's grandmother, Jenny, provided a buffer for her against her mother's volatility, and she explained the importance of plural marriage in their culture. In the FLDS faith, a man must have multiple wives if he wants to do well in Heaven. I think most of us on the "outside" think of Heaven as more of an end goal in itself, but in the FLDS faith, a man who does well in Heaven can become a god himself and get his own planet. It kind of reminds me of Greek or Roman mythology, but only the afterlife part of it, not the oppressive restrictions on earth. They also believe that men in Heaven have spirit wives and father spirit children. Those born into the FLDS believe that they are God's elite, and that they are better than anyone else in the world because of it. Carolyn felt special to be among the chosen ones.

Carolyn was more fortunate than many in her faith, especially those that were younger (as was Elissa Wall, whose memoir I reviewed in an earlier post). Carolyn graduated high school and actually got a college degree, which was almost unheard of.

Unfortunately, her college degree came with a price. She had wanted to go to school to become a doctor, but the prophet at the time (this was before Rulon Jeffs took over) wouldn't let her do that. He would let her go to college to become a teacher, but only on one condition--that she marry Merril Jessop.

Carolyn wasn't thrilled with the prospect. He was 50 years old while she was only 18. But she wanted to go to school, and she hadn't exactly been brought up to question the prophet or marry for love, so she became Merril's fourth wife.

They remained married for 17 years. Home was far from domestic bliss. Carolyn got some respite from it at first since she got to go to school, but the wives were jealous of each other, and one wife in particular wanted to dominate all the other wives, and Merril let her get away with treating the rest of them horribly, as well as beating the children of the other wives. Carolyn had eight children in 15 years, which was actually on the low end. Most would have had more like 12 or 13 in that amount of time. Merril controlled the money she earned as a teacher, the way her children would be treated, and their sex life. On top of everything else, one of their children was severely disabled, and Merril believed that this was because God was punishing Carolyn for being disobedient. I think he even hoped that their son would die to further punish her.

Life got stranger and stranger too as Rulon Jeffs and then his son Warren took over and made life more restrictive for everyone. They began to preach the apocalypse, and Carolyn feared that eventually there might be a mass suicide.

The story of how Carolyn finally managed to break free from her husband and the cult and then win custody of her kids is an amazing story of courage and hope. Carolyn is an amazingly brave and strong woman. Her story is one that everyone should read. It's scary to think that such a group, with its horrific treatment of women and children, could operate right here in the United States and get away with it. Carolyn pointed out that all the cops in her community were FLDS members, so it wasn't as though there was any place for domestic violence victims to turn to for help. Also many of the women drove cars with expired license plates, and while they wouldn't be stopped in the community, they would be if they tried to leave it.

I see the stories of those who have escaped the FLDS as serious cautionary tales. Religious freedom is one thing, but it's not okay if it involves mistreating others who don't have the freedom to walk away (I'm talking psychologically as well as in terms of the law). Even in the United States, we can't just take our rights for granted.

House Bunny (Movie Review)

Once upon a time, Shelley Darlington (played by Anna Faris) was a lonely orphan. She grew up to be a great beauty and moved to the Playboy mansion at age 18. There she lived happily for nine years, considering the friends she made there to be her family.

Then she's kicked out of the house the day after her 27th birthday for being "too old." She doesn't exactly have a great education or job skills, but she manages to land a job as a house mother to an unpopular sorority on a college campus. The sorority is about to lose their house unless they can get 30 new pledges.

Here's where Shelley's area of expertise comes into play. She helps the girls--all socially awkward misfits--look sexy and learn to flirt. They start attracting the attention of guys and potential pledges.

Shelley, meanwhile, falls for Oliver (Colin Hanks), a nursing home administrator and perhaps the only straight guy on earth who is immune to her more bunny-like charms. To his credit, he wants to be with someone he can actually have a conversation with, which leaves her at a loss. So now the girls help her improve her knowledge base, a rather formidable task.

The basic premise of the movie is to be yourself, but it's not exactly a movie you go to for its redeeming social value. It's fun, though. Faris is wickedly funny as Shelley. Also great is Emma Stone as Natalie, the leader of the sorority girls.

It Only Takes a Moment, by Mary Jane Clark (Book Review)

Those of you who read Mary Jane Clark's novels may remember Eliza Blake. All of Clark's novels center around the staff of the fictional KEY news team, including Eliza. I have some trouble keeping all of the characters straight, since usually too much time passes before I read another book of hers, but generally it doesn't matter. The stories stand on their own and you don't really need to remember details of the previous books.

Eliza is a single parent of a seven-year-old daughter, Janie. Her husband died some years before. She has a boyfriend, Mack, but he is overseas. She has just been re-assigned to do the morning show, which will enable her to spend the summer afternoons with her daughter. She is basically content with her life, but then one day the unthinkable happens. Janie is kidnapped, along with their housekeeper, Carmen Garcia. Terrified and guilt-ridden for allowing her daughter as much public exposure as she has, Eliza and her friends, not wanting to sit around and wait for the FBI and local authorities to find Janie, launch their own investigation. Eliza even gets some help from a psychic, though the authorities are rather disinclined to trust what the psychic says, and her intuitions do seem to be pretty vague.

The story alternates between different points of view, including that of the kidnappers, and the reader learns that money isn't the motive for Janie's kidnapping, but what is it? Clark also does a wonderful job of making everyone look guilty, so even though you get an idea of what the kidnappers are thinking, you don't know who they are until the end, at which point there is a surprising twist. It's a great book for mystery lovers.

Book Review--A Wolf at the Table, Augustin Burroughs

The universe sure didn't do Augusten Burroughs any favors in assigning him parents. Running with Scissors details his mother's mental illness and how she gave guardianship of him to her crazy psychiatrist when Augusten was 13. His life at the psychiatrist's house was truly chaotic and was actually painful to read, though very well done and very funny at times.

A Wolf at the Table is a prequel to Scissors, in which the focus is Augusten's life with his parents before he and his mother left and he started living at the psychiatrist's house. This is a departure from his earlier books in that it is very serious. While Augusten's mother may have been mentally ill, his father seems to have been truly evil. I'm not sure if it was alcoholism that made his father that way, or maybe something in his genes or early life experiences. Probably some combination of all three. Augusten's father actually had a pretty good life until he was about eight or so. He was born to teenage parents, and to help them out, his paternal grandfather and three teen-aged aunts took him in and took very good care of him, which was great until the teen-aged parents, now in their 20s, reclaimed him. Then things weren't so great. His father, Augusten's grandfather, was a very angry man, though no one was sure what caused the anger. He also drank to excess. Augusten's grandmother, Carolyn, was terrified of her husband's anger and thus not much help in protecting her son.

The cycle was repeated with Augusten's parents. Augusten and his mother would sometimes move out of the house because his mother believed they weren't safe there. While his mother had some serious problems of her own, she was right in believing that her husband was capable of violence. In reading this, I was only sorry that it took them as long as it did to make a clean break. With Augusten, there was a complete lack of an emotional connection, and it was heartbreaking to see the little boy rejected time and again by his father.

This was a difficult book to read because it was so disturbing, but very readable and well done.

Movie Review--Wall-E

When I am visiting my family, which includes my 5-year-old niece and 8-year-old nephew, I sometimes see movies I wouldn't otherwise see. Wall-E was one I probably wouldn't have thought of seeing on my own, but the kids wanted to see it. When I heard it was about robots, I hoped it would be a short movie.

However, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, the main characters are robots, but the movie is clever and engaging, for adults as well as kids.

We first meet Wall-E, a solar-powered robot, several hundred years into the future. He is back on planet Earth, apparently by himself, cleaning up garbage. Since he doesn't speak at first, the viewer learns what is going on indirectly. A stray newspaper indicates that the Earth is covered with garbage, and indeed Wall-E is surrounded by garbage to clean up. Skyscrapers around him are actually constructed out of garbage. He has a big storage area where he retires at night which has electricity and is festooned with Christmas tree lights. He watches old movies on TV, and at one point we see an old advertisement, from which we learn that all the people on earth went aboard a giant spaceship while the garbage was being cleaned up.

Wall-E's world changes dramatically one day when a spaceship lands and dispatches another robot named Eve. Wall-E is instantly smitten and tries to impress her by showing her his few treasures. The tiny green plant he found one day and and transplanted into an old shoe gets the biggest reaction. Eve takes the plant and both of them end up aboard the spaceship Axiom, where they find many extremely overweight and lazy humans who are used to having everything done for them, waiting to one day be able to go home again. Wall-E and Eve get caught up in a plot regarding the fate of the plant and the people aboard the spaceship.

The story is just so clever that it is difficult to do it justice in describing it. Much of the story of the robots is told through their actions rather than dialog. It's a science fiction story with a message, and one that is important for adults to see as well as children.

Stolen Innocence, by Elissa Wall with Lisa Pulitzer (Book Review)

In reading about Elissa Wall's experiences, it amazed me to think that this sort of thing goes on in America. I had heard of her case and other stories of polygamous sects, of course, but still.

Elissa is the child of Douglas Wall and his second wife. She is the 11th child of her mother, who eventually had 14 kids. Her father had more kids with other wives as well. In the household where Elissa spent most of her childhood (an abbreviated childhood due to her forced marriage at age 14), Elissa had two mothers, her biological mother as well as her father's first wife, Audrey. A third wife was added later as well. They belonged to the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), a group that broke away from the Mormom church. The kids all went to a private academy for FLDS kids. FLDS members wore long church undergarments that covered their entire bodies from neck to ankle, and the girls and women wore long pioneer-style dresses all year long, even in the heat of summer.

Elissa's was not a happy home. There was much discord, possibly because her father and his first wife had not grown up in polygamous families. Her mother had and knew they could work, but the discord worsened until finally the sect leader had her mother and all her mother's children placed with another man, as was the custom in the church. If there were problems at home, the man was blamed for not controlling the wives. There was no such thing as dating in the sect either. The sect leader would supposedly get a revelation from God about whom someone belonged with.

Elissa was very upset about having to leave her father. She did get to go to a public school for a year when she moved into her new father's home, and there she discovered a love of learning and a sense of life outside the FLDS. However, this was short-lived, as the sect leader Warren Jeffs ordered church members to take their kids out of public schools.

Elissa had a lot of rebellious siblings, which may be why Jeffs decided she needed to be married early, at age 14. Elissa did not want to be married so early and was horrified at his choice, her first cousin, 19-year-old Allen. She and her mother and some other family members tried to talk to Jeffs about it, but he wouldn't change his mind. After the marriage took place, Elissa had to endure repeated rapes at the hands of her husband.

It wasn't easy for Elissa to break free and find a life for herself outside the FLDS. She is a tremendously courageous individual who had to make some really tough decisions. She had to go against everything she'd been taught to believe in order to break free.

I found this book hard to put down because I wanted Elissa to escape the awful situation she was in already. The story was very interesting, though. Not exactly your typical American childhood. Elissa Wall is using part of the profits from this book, money from a lawsuit she brought against the FLDS system, and donations to set up a fund called the MJ fund, which will help former FLDS girls and women start lives for themselves.

Movie Review--Mamma Mia!

If ABBA music makes you want to get up and dance, you will love this movie. With cast members bursting into Abba songs and breathtaking scenery, it hardly needs a plot. So it gets by with a skimpy one, but the movie is so much fun, who cares?

The movie opens right before the wedding of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), a 20-year-old American who was raised in the Greek Isles by her single mother, Donna (Meryl Streep). Donna runs a charming hotel that is falling apart. Sophie has never known who her father is, but by reading an old diary of her mother's, she finds three possibilities, tracks them down, and invites them to the wedding. She is ecstactic when they all reply that they will be there, sure that she will know which one is her father right away, but when she meets them she has no idea. Furthermore, her mother is not at all happy about seeing these three guys again.

When Donna met Sam (Pierce Brosnan) 21 years ago, she thought she had met the love of her life. Unfortunately, he was engaged to someone else and left her to get married. The other two guys (played by Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard) were rebound guys, and she doesn't know who Sophie's father is either. It's best not to pay too much attention to the timelines. They talk about being involved in the era of flower children, which would make Sophie closer to 40 rather than 20. I guess the movie wouldn't necessarily have to have taken place in 2008, but they also talk about developing a website for Donna's hotel, so it couldn't have taken place too many years ago. As I said, best not to pay too much attention.

Both Streep and Seyfried have good voices. Christine Baranski, in the role of one of Donna's friends, does a rendition of "Does Your Mother Know" that is lots of fun as well.

Professional reviewers tended not to like this one too much, but unless you're not an ABBA fan, I wouldn't pay too much attention to them.

How to be Lost, by Amanda Eyre Ward

I must admit, part of the reason I bought this book was the Montana references. I am from Montana originally and it is rare to find book characters outside of westerns (which I hate)who are from there or even visit there. A good part of the book takes place in Missoula, MT. I am from Great Falls, MT, originally and went to school in Missoula, and I enjoyed reading about all the familiar places there.

The other, and main, reason I bought it was just that it sounded really intriguing. The book is written from the point of view of Caroline, whose sister disappeared at age five. Caroline was 15 at the time, and they had another sister, Madeline, who was in middle school then. Since that time, their father more or less drank himself to death. Their mother had never really been able to move on. Madeline and Caroline had drifted apart.

Now Caroline is 32 and has never really gotten her life together. She ran away to New Orleans and became a cocktail waitress (the story is pre-Katrina). She drinks way too much. She dreads going home for the holidays. On her last visit, her mother showed her a photo from a magazine, of a girl she was sure was her long-lost sister Ellie.

Then Caroline's mother dies and she loses her job, and she decides to search for Ellie. In the course of her search, you tend to wonder who is really lost here. The story is fairly gripping in that you want the sisters to reunite already. The back story of who took Ellie and why is pretty interesting as well. Caroline does grow quite a bit as a person over the course of the story, but I still felt she had a ways to go--Alcoholics Anonymous might be a start.

I look forward to reading more by this author. She has written one other book so far, Sleep Toward Heaven, and I plan to check that out.

Book Review--The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards

This is an amazing book. In 1964 Dr. David Henry has to deliver his twins himself due to a freak snowstorm in Lexington, Kentucky. His son is healthy, but he realizes right away that his daughter has Down Syndrome. He hands his daughter over to his nurse and tells her to take the baby girl to a nearby institution. Instead, the nurse, Caroline, takes the baby away and raises her as her own in another city.

It sounds from this like David is a monster or that he just can't be bothered with raising a child with disabilities. But I think maybe he had just already known too much pain. He had lost his sister when she was only twelve due to heart problems, and it had just about destroyed his mother. They'd had a difficult life anyway due to poverty. He was worried that the baby would have heart problems, as people with Down Syndrome sometimes do, and apparently was worried that Norah, his wife, would be destroyed in the same way his mother had been when his sister died. In 1964 people didn't know as much about Down Syndrome as they do today

Still, obviously, he didn't do the right thing. He had to tell Norah something about the other baby, and he told her that she died. Norah and he both grieved the loss of their daughter and were never the same afterwards. The secret was destructive to both of them and their son.

The story alternates between their story and the story of Caroline and Phoebe, the daughter. Phoebe turned five a few years before Public Law 94-142, the law that guaranteed an education to every child. So Caroline had to fight to get the public schools to allow Phoebe to go to school there. She sent David pictures from PO boxes in different cities, but she was afraid that David might eventually try to take Phoebe away from her, so she wouldn't let him know where they lived.

This book really illustrates the destructive power that secrets can wield. Also interesting to me was how far we've come in our understanding of disabilities. This is not to say that there aren't plenty of small-minded and cruel people out there, unfortunately, but now most people wouldn't think that a baby with Downs should be sent to an institution. Caroline wouldn't have to fight to get the public schools to accept her child.

Another theme is the role of women--David was incredibly paternalistic in deciding--without consulting his wife--that their baby should be sent to an institution. In the course of the story, Norah evolves from the stay-at-home wife and mother who defers to David on everything to an independent and accomplished career woman.

This book has many layers to it. It is a family drama and a page-turner--you keep wondering if and when Norah and Paul, the son, will find out that Phoebe didn't really die. I look forward to reading more by Kim Edwards.

Book Review--Death by Chick Lit, by Lynn Harris

Lola Somerville has a great husband and a great apartment. She's even published a novel. But her first novel isn't getting quite the attention it deserves. On the other hand, her best friend, who readily admits she's not even a "real" writer, has been approached by someone who wants to turn her blog into a novel. Lola can't even take a cab drive or walk into a bar without running into someone who's writing a book. Or someone whose book is being turned into a major motion picture. It's all very irritating.

But then Lola stumbles upon the dead body of an author friend of hers at said friend's book party. As if this weren't bad enough, she dog-sits for another author friend and ends up finding this friend's body, too. Lola does some sleuthing on her own (as do most of the people in the books I read) and nearly ends up dead herself. But if she can solve the mystery, what a great book deal she could get!

This is a totally fun murder mystery, satire at its best. It is intelligent without being overbearing.

Book Review--School of Fortune, by Amanda Brown and Janice Weber

Pippa Walker's mother has spent the last six months attending to every last detail of her daughter's wedding. She has spared no expense. She even held a mini-beauty contest among Pippa's friends in order to select ten perfect bridesmaids and three alternates, all of whom had to sign contracts agreeing to stay slim and beautiful. And how does Pippa repay her? By backing out of the wedding at the last minute.

Pippa has a really good reason to back out, but to protect her ex-fiance, she keeps it to herself. Her enraged mother disinherits her. Her father never stands up to her mother.

But Pippa can get her own share of the family fortune. Her grandfather provided for her through his will. The only thing is, she needs to get a diploma from a school (ANY school) to receive the bulk of his estate. She will receive an allowance of $60,000 a MONTH while she is in school.

Now personally, if this were my situation, I would have sucked it up, re-enrolled in college, and worked toward getting a college degree. I figure I could probably have managed to survive on $60,000 a month, given that I still don't make that much in a year, even after being out of graduate school for several years now and having earned two graduate degrees.

But Pippa takes advantage of the fact that the wording in her grandfather's will was rather vague, and she figures she will just get a diploma from a school less, shall we say, taxing, than college. She starts with driving school, then moves on to matchmaking school, then an extremely alarming circus academy, of all things. But it isn't until she enrolls in the Mountbatten-Savoy School of Household Management that things finally begin to turn around for Pippa--both school-wise and in finding true love.

This is a hilarious book. Pippa's world (or at least, the world from which she has recently been expelled) is populated be ridiculously rich individuals, and the authors do a great job of making fun of them. The schools Pippa attends are also full of extremely interesting and hilarious people, and I laughed out loud in reading about her misadventures in trying to earn a diploma.

Book Review--Carrot Cake Murder, by Joanne Fluke

Our heroine Hannah is back, with her extraordinarily-bright cat, her two suitors--exciting cop Mike and dependable dentist Norman, and a new whodunit to solve. Personally, I would never ask Hannah to look for people, given the number of dead bodies she's stumbled upon. This is a fun mystery series though, especially if you like mysteries that contain recipes to try.

Hannah's business partner, Lisa, and Lisa's husband Herb are getting ready for a big family reunion. Herb's mother, as well as the rest of the family, gets a pleasant surprise when Herb's long-lost uncle, Gus, makes an appearance. Gus had disappeared thirty years previously and had not been heard from since.

Unfortunately, they aren't graced with his presence for too long. The morning after he arrives, Hannah goes looking for him at her mother’s request and stumbles on his dead body. Of course, Hannah immediately puts her amateur sleuthing skills to the test, with some help from her mother and sisters. She is surprised and suspicious when Mike gives his blessing and even offers to share information, as long as she'll share her information with him. Personally, I thought it was a smart move. He knows her well enough to know she'll investigate no matter what, and this way she will come to him with crucial information.

In her investigation, Hannah discovers that many people had reason to hate Gus, and she is putting herself in danger with her nosing around.

On a personal level, Hannah seems to be leaning toward choosing one of her suitors. . .will she finally choose one, or move off in a different direction altogether?

As always, these mysteries are fun and leave me looking forward to the next one.

Book Review--This is How it Happened (Not a Love Story) by Jo Barrett

This is a great girl-power book. Our heroine, Maddy, was dumped by her boyfriend over email. This would be one thing if they'd only gone out a few times or something. But no. He was her live-in boyfriend, and they'd been together four years. Not only that, but they started a company together, and Maddy did everything you're not supposed to do if you don't want someone to steal your ideas and be able to oust you from a company you helped found that was based on your idea. Carlton, her ex, had a rich and sociopathic dad who said he'd only fund their venture if Carlton was CEO and Maddy didn't get any shares in the company.

So anyway, Maddy is left with no boyfriend and no career (another downside to working with your significant other. You can't console yourself about the breakup by saying at least your career is going well. Two life spheres down in one shot). She decides she needs to take revenge on Carlton. Actually, she decides he needs to die. She experiments with some different methods--poison brownies, carbon monoxide. The main problem is that she is more suicidal than homicidal at this point and nearly offs herself. With the connections of her formerly drug-addicted brother she hires a hit man.

While I obviously don't advocate more illegal and violent forms of revenge, certain other types of revenge can be fun and won't land you in jail. This book is loads of fun to read for anyone, but especially if you are in need of a feeling of solidarity (and revenge ideas, of which this book has several). There is even a section at the back where people sent in their ideas.

Book Review--Lost and Found, by Jacqueline Sheehan

I am much more of a cat person than a dog person, but Lloyd, the dog in this novel, is very endearing. Rocky, his new human, found him with an arrow sticking out of his shoulder. Both Lloyd and Rocky are grieving. Lloyd lost his previous human companion, and Rocky, aged 38, recently lost her 42-year-old husband to a heart attack. No kids to worry about, so Rocky quits her job as a psychologist and goes to live on a tiny island off the coast of Maine, where she takes a part-time job as an animal warden.

If it were me, going to such an isolated place when I was grieving a loss would be the absolute worst thing I could do, but everyone deals with grief in their own way. Rocky meets Lloyd, adopts a cat (which would help the grieving process) and meets Tess, a retired physical therapist who has this really amazing condition called synethesia.

Synethesia is a neurological phenomenon "in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway" (this according to Wikipedia). In all my studies of psychology, I had never heard of this. Tess sees letters and numbers as inherently colored. She also saw parts of the body as having their own colors, and days of the week had their own color and shape (Tuesday was a blue cube to her, while Wednesday was a red globe). Now that I know about synesthesia, I am jealous because I don't have it.

Rocky also meets Melissa, an anorexic teenager. Interestingly, though Rocky had been a psychologist at a counseling center on a university campus, this was not one of her areas of specialty, though she immediately knew the girl had it. Melissa also bonds to the dog. The dog, honestly, should have had his own license to practice therapy. He just seemed to have such a healing effect on those around him.

It seems to be characteristic of psychologists to personify the animals they keep as pets. Rocky had been a psychologist, and the author also is. I am a school psychologist, and it has been suggested to me more than once that I ascribe human characteristics to my cats. But, they are like family to me, in the same way that Lloyd becomes part of Rocky's new little family.

This is a wonderful novel about dealing with loss and moving on. There is also some mystery in it, as Rocky tries to solve the mystery of Lloyd's accident. So there is something for everyone--people who like stories with character development, mysteries, and animals.

Blogcharm is Dead

Well, I'm moving my blog back to blogger. I moved it over to blogcharm awhile ago because they said they were going to pay people to blog. Anyone who might have been following the forums over at Blog Explosion knows that they weren't paying their bloggers for a very long time. They said it was something to do with taxes (even if that's true, why would it take so long to fix?). They didn't answer support tickets and generally appeared to be ignoring frustrated bloggers. I also thought they should stop advertising that they were paying people to blog until they fixed whatever problems there were with payment.

I figured I'd probably never see the $20 they owed me, but miracle of miracles, I did get it through Paypal yesterday. This though was after an abrupt announcement that they were shutting down blogcharm, supposedly on January 1st, but a friend emailed me before that, asking if I was going to move my blog or what. It was then that I realized that my blog had already been disabled. It does not appear to me that anyone was given warning before they actually disabled the blogs. We can get to the content through cached content in Google, and also I had cross-posted some things (some things I had published first on this blog, and others are on Associated Content). There were also a few things I saved in word documents. Still, I don't think it was worth the $20 to go to the trouble of moving it.