impunity jane. rumer godden. (106)

"impunity jane" is another book i discovered via flavorpill's celebrities factories article for international children's book day. "impunity jane" was the favorite of kathy bates (and yes they used a "misery" pic for bates). in the post

the story of ferdinand. munro leaf. (105)

for international children's books day, flavorpill ran an article about celebrities' favorite children's books and "the story of ferdinand" was on the list. ed asner, of "mary tyler moore" fame (though i know him more from "up"), chose ferdinand as his favorite. asner admired ferdinand for his peaceful ways.

(i have to add, i also wanted to read "ferdinand" because it was featured in "the blind side", sandra bullock read it to her kids.)

"the story of ferdinand" is simple and sweet. ferdinand is a bull. growing up he never wanted to play fight with the other bulls and instead sat under a tree admiring flowers. thankfully he had an understanding mother who let me be as he pleased and didn't force him to play with the others.

then one day, men came to look for bulls for a bullfight. ferdinand wasn't interested but a bee stung him which caused him to go crazy. as a result, the men thought he was wild and the perfect bull for the fight.

ferdinand goes to the bullfight but since he is who he is, he enjoys the flowers of the ladies in the crowd instead of fighting. as a result, there is no bullfight and he is sent home to enjoy his tree and flowers.

what i enjoyed best about the book is that it demonstrates the importance of being you; especially for boys that might not be your "typical" boy or girls that may not be your "typical" girl. hopefully, kids will read "the story of ferdinand" and know its okay to be an individual. they can do and act as they want regardless of what society tells them their interest or activities should be. and hopefully parents learn a lesson from the mama cow in the book that one should accept his/her children as they are and not what he/she want them to be. though ferdinad was a peaceful bull, i think the ultimate lesson is one of individualism in which everyone should walk to the beat of their own drum.

ghost world. daniel clowes. (103)

i watched "ghost world" the movie when i was a high schooler and wanted to be all indie movie cool (okay i still want to be indie movie cool). but i remember not getting it. i remember finding it odd that scarlett jo was in it cos she was that "horse whisperer" girl so didn't take her to seriously. lol. also i knew it was based on some book but that was about it.

my opportunity to read the graphic novel (comic book) based on it came via flavorpill's 30 list (sorry i'm turning 30 in 1 month and two weeks so get used to this). but this should be read before you are twenty because beyond that is kinda its whatever. i mean if high school me read it, i would have loved it. but late twentysomething only liked it.

like the critics say it is a honest protrayal of teens on the verge of adulthood. i mean i would have wanted to hang out with enid and rebecca but high school me was definitely not cool enough to hang out with them. i was too school
spirit and preppy to be their friend though i wanted to be alt and indie, i did shop at hot topic in attempt to be. lol.

the novel did have its moments. i liked how enid and rebecca read the personal ads. (i love reading craigslist misconnection.) i enjoyed when they went to cavetown usa, who doesn't love big dinosaurs? i also enjoyed how enid used her SAT words. and of course every girl knows how shitty it is to fight with your BFF.

it was also funny. here were some of my favorite scenes:

sadly, if you have big boobs, your only options is slut.

seeing ugly couples always give me
hope that i will find someone, cos if ugly people can find each other than i will find someone.

loved that cat mask. in the movie too!

i hate oprah.

so like i said i liked it. and now i am
inspired to rewatch the movie. and also
have to add, scarlett jo did well in her role, as i read i realized how brillant she was.

maus. art spiegelman. (102)

i remember learning about "maus" in college, the premise was very interesting, a comic book about the holocaust with the jews as mice and the nazis as cats. but i never picked it up. what brought it back into my life was flavorpill's 30 to read before 30 so i finally read it.

what a beautiful story. the comic book is a memoir, the story of author's father, vladek spiegelman and what he endured during the holocaust. i am always so amazed by how fate worked in favor of those who survived the holocaust and how strong they were to have lived through what they did. however, i would not call their survival a blessing but luck because as explained in a therapy session of the cartoonist:

it was random who survived and who didn't. and surviving is not more admirable than dying. it sad because as discussed in this same session the guilt of those who survived for living. but their fate was out of their hands, it simply was luck. i always think of my friend larry's grandfather who survived the holocaust, because he knitted socks for the nazi. furthermore, he had a wrist injury that allowed him to knit as well as he did. just proving that life really does work in mysterious ways.

i was also impressed by how resourceful vladek was from the very beginning. he took the initiative to find a solution for his problems. vladek's intelligence had much to do with his surivivall. i was amazed by how he was able to deliver food and letters to his wife anja when they were both in camp. i would have never been that resourceful. also he was very innovative, for example how he used the blacket as a hammock while in the trains. it was impressive to see what how clever we was in finding solutions for his survival.

(sorry to the reader, i am sorry for my overuse of amazing and impressive but i am truly in awe of all that happen in vladek's life).

if you haven't read "maus" you should. i couldn't put it down and finished it in a day (granted it is a graphic novel). "maus" is a truly remarkable story and should not be rehashed via me but something you experience on your own.

i do think "maus" is an important read for everyone and not just before 30. we know of the holocaust and how horrible it was but there is still some disconnect from it. we know that hitler and the nazi were evil but for most people, the holocaust is an event in history books. "maus" show us the human experience (though cleverly through animal characters). it gives a soul to the individuals we read about as stastiscs in textbooks. since it is in comic book form, it's presented in a medium everyone can understand and thus relate to. i think it should be used as text for high school students when learning about the holocaust so they can have a better understanding of what occured. for the only way we can prevent history from repeating is knowing our past.

last but not least, i will say that it pained me to see art not wanting to be near his father. his father worked so hard for his son and i wish art was more patient with with him. but then i also get how it can be with parents.

world book day 2013.

today at work, a gentleman came into the dance studio and was handing out free books. at first, i was like sir, i don't want your jesus book but when i saw it was "the alchemist" i took one. and it turns out it was a free book in honor of world book night

!! it really made my day to see this night celebrated in delano!

i read about world book day last year online, it's a program in which reading is promoted by giving people free books. these free books are not just any books but once that are well known and people will actually enjoy reading! as i read last year, i thought to myself what a wonderful program and wished someone would do it in delano. and this year my wish came true! someone at ceasar chavez high school got involved and they handed out free books! amazing right!?!?

and the 2013 book list included some great titles like "fahrenheit 451", "the house on mango street" "my antonia", "the lighting thief" even tina fey's "bossypants"!!! i really wanted the later one but not sure if those were passed out here in delano. so see books people have actually heard of and want to read!

but i really hope people don't just let those books collect dust and actually read them. i almost feel guilty for taking one because i do read and maybe took an opportunity from someone else. but also i am so excited about this program that i do deserve one!

and if you have never heard of "world book night" click the above link and see how to get involve! i am going to help out in some way next year!

anna karenina. 2012 film

if you are an avid reader of this blog, you know i read "anna karenina" last year in anticipation of the film. you also may have noticed i never got around to seeing it in theaters. i was disappointed with myself for not seeing it on the big screen but am now quite pleased with myself for only spending $1.20 via redbox versus $12.00 at the landmark because it was atrocious. oddly enough, it was so bad it made me appreciate tolstoy's work so much more.

i was really excited for the film but 10 minutes into it, knew i was going to hate it. i absolutely hated how it was filmed as a stage production. i get that the theater was an important setting for the novel at the end but it made no sense as the setting or style of the entire film. if it was a movie based on a play or musical ie "les miserables" then i would have thought joe wright a genius. instead i thought joe wright was pompous and idiotic. "anna karenina" is a beautifully tragic story and does not and did not need bells and whistles. "anna karenina" simply needs to be told.

and don't get me wrong. the film was beautiful. the scenes with the fields of flowers were like a van gogh painting. the scenes with anna with her son in bed were like an art deco building. and of course, loved our first introduction to kitty which was framed in accordance with the novel. i loved how the train was introduced via anna's son's train. but everything else was pointless and excessive. oblonsky's work scenes and the switching of his coats? the beginning scenes with levin walking around? any scene that involved climbing up and walking among crowds in the risers. these scenes did not help the storyline and could have been replaced with parts that could have demonstrated the depth and beauty of tolstoy's work.

i mean levin is an amazing character and an important part of the novel and he was so one dimensional in the film. i also hated how they cut out the whole
kitty being lovesick and meeting levin's brother during recovery. i did love levin's little speech on love and adultery at dinner but he had so many great moments in the book that were edited out of the film. (btw: when i saw levin's home i thought to myself i would marry him and live in the middle of however, mother russia.)

and i must add i still hate anna. her love was not true love because it was filled with selfishness, she only thought of herself which was demonstrated in all of her actions. and sadly people were devoted to her and she just took advantage of her love. think of her poor son. he loved anna more than his father but anna did not love him more than vronsky. what a horrible woman!

but back to the film. the actors were good. knightly's underbite as always is distracting. i pitied jude law which was ironic considering his adulterous affairs. vronsky was hot. and oblonsky reminded me of kevin kline with a mustache. and whoever played princess betsy had weird lips but oddly it worked.

all in all a horrible adaption of a beautiful classic.

spartacus.

as i was watching, i had planned on writing this cute little introduction about how surprised i am with myself for not seeing this sooner since it was referenced in my all time favorite movie "clueless". (chee and christian watched "spartacus" on their first date because christian had this thing for tony curtis. and yes, curtis was dreamt in this with those blue eyes! swoon).

i had also planned on writing how disappointed i was by how the film looked and felt very hollywood. and very un-kubrickesque. it looked more like "the ten commandments" and "ben-hur" than "a clockwork orange" and even "barry lyndon." as i was watching i was certain kubrick didn't direct it, it was so mainstream. (i just read on wikipedia that there was a previous director and kubrick did not have complete artistic control. so that explains that.)

[quick random sidenote but wikipedia also told me the movie was based on a novel, which upholds kubrick's movies being based on literary works.]

i was also going to complain about how
long it was! 3 hours and 15 minutes! actually i will still complain about that. seriously 3 hours and 15 minutes?!?!

anyway, all on judge-iness went on the window with the last 45 minutes and that ending. my god! that ending!

how beautiful and tragic the last 15 minutes were! the irony of the fight between spartacus and antoninus. they actually fought due to their love for each other; spartacus wanted to save antoninus from a slow and painful death, and antoninus did not want the romans to crucify spartacus! but at least they were able to declare their love and appreciate for each other.

and then the ending!!! i was so unprepared. spartacus still partially alive and hanging on the cross, while varinia introduced him to his son. so compelling yet so weird. i mean i still cannot get my head around it. it was beautiful but spartacus was literally hanging on a cross with his newborn at his feet. though maybe my issue with the scene is due to the sacredness of the cross due to my christian upbringing. (mormons do not recognize the cross as a symbol of christ which makes it ultra taboo which might be why i was uneasy with the last scene. uneasy is the wrong word, just surprised. it did pull at my heartstrings.)

since we are on the topic of shocking scenes, i was surprised by the showing of the curfixiaions along the road. but then i guess i got my wish of the film being more kubrickesque. also the battle scenes with limbs being chopped off and sword fights. also those fights scenes were good considering how low tech they were. like how did they do the fire scenes unless they just fired up people? also all of those extras?!?! how did they do that.

and of course, one of the most memorable scenes, "i'm a spartacus". i first hear that phrase in "that thing you do!" (the drummer). and kinda wished i didn't cos it kinda killed the scene. but again so compelling, all of the slaves. standing by spartacus' side. and in a way, they were all him. and of course just single tear down douglas' face, so powerful!

seriously though i was not enjoying "spartacus" at all, but that last hour just reinforced how amazing of a director kubrick truly was.

and one last thought, how lovely was jean simmons? very.

ender's game. orson scott card. (101)

i have no idea how i was an adolescent who read and missed "ender's game" growing up. the cover looked familiar like i probably saw it at the library and book fairs however i still missed it. but thanks to flavorpill's 30 to read before 30, it finally came on my radar.

i was actually surprised by how much i enjoyed this book. the novel which is set in the future is the story of ender, a young boy who may be the world's savior. earth has engaged in previous wars with an alien species referred to as buggers and ender shows promise to be the commander that will stop the buggers from conquering earth.

at first, i was bit thrown off by the children in the book because they were evil. ender's older brother constantly threatened to kill ender (literally not figuratively) and ender's bullies at regular school wanted to cause physical harm to him (it became worse in battle school). but then i started to understand that though ender was 6, he was not a 6 year old of today but one of the future. and sadly these children do not have "normal" childhoods like we know today. the war against the buggers was so important that children are monitor via a monitor in their neck, to see if they show promise to be a commander. if they do they are shipped off to battle school to be trained. ender's sister valentine and his battle school friend dink, both tell ender about a time in the past where kids were allowed to play and went to school to learn instead of battling. they both look back at it as some golden past. ender leaves for battle school at age 6 and as i read i thought of the first graders that i sub for and majority do not show the maturity that ender demonstrated (but that could also be that he was the chosen one).

but this made me worry about now and the future. i don't see war being so important that childhoods are lost but i do see kids being exposed to adult things at too early of an age. i will probably shelter my kids and be this crazed tiger mom but i want my future kids to be kids. i am always shocked by children's use of profanity and knowledge of it. i once overheard 2nd graders singing the will.i.am and britney song and saying how they couldn't say the "b-word". it is good that a 7 year old knows bitch is a bad word but how is bitch even in their vocabulary. maybe my family is old fashion but no one cussed around me when i was a child. another thing that worries me is kids exposure to social media, if you are under the age of 14, you do not need a facebook page or instagram. go out and play outside, play with your dolls or action figures, read a book, interact with other kids in real life. you only get to be young once, enjoy it because being an adult means hard work, so be young while you can!

even though i felt bad that ender was never a carefree kid, the flip side is that this book reminds us of, like flavorpill stated, "the power of children". ender saved the world as a teen and he was able to do that because those around him took the time and effort to teach and train him. though the battle school tactics were sometime questionable, it did demonstrate how kids are intelligent and just need direction to become great. all kids are capable of success if they have the right support. the thing that people needs to realize is that the raising and teaching of kids is not the responsibly of the school but of the parents. it was an interesting transition for me to go from working in beverly hills where parents wanted their students to the brightest and best to coming back to delano where parents can't make sure that the students complete their homework. every child is capable of greatness they just need parents and teachers that are willing to help them achieve it.

yes, all of this from an young adult sci-fi novel. but back to the story. it truly is as flavorpill said one of the best science fictional novels of all time. once i was in, i couldn't put it down. ender is great protagonist and you want him to succeed but also worry about all the pressure that is put on him.

since the novel is sci-fi, i was impressed by the portrayal of the nets and politics in ender's world and how it is the same in our current world. ender's brother and sister used the nets to share their political thoughts with the world and become extremely famous though they are only kids (they have usernames to hide their identity). i thought it was interesting considering how today the internet and social media is utilized so anyone can share their political views. life imitating art!

i also appreciated that with all of the competition in battle school and war, in the end the lesson is one of tolerance ad learning about your enemy and discovering that no harm was meant initially.

but you should definitely read this if you never have and do it before the movie comes out!

one last analysis, the author orson scott card is mormon (found out in the introduction) and i couldn't help but draw parallels between ender's mission and LDS missions. the age students left for battle school was 8, which is the age the children are baptized in the church because they can distinguish between right and wrong. also kids in the church are trained throughout all of their sunday school lessons to become missionaries. and then they are set out into the world to save souls. it kinda works.

also last but not least there were a lot of mentions of farts in this book but i guess that is how kids talk!

cloudy with a chance of meatballs. judi barrett. illustrated by ron barrett. (100)

i am quite disappointed with myself for not realizing what an important day today is but just discovered thanks to this flavorpill article about
celebrities' favorite children books, that today is international children's book day. and luckily for me i recently checked out one of my favorite children's book, "cloud with a chance of meatballs" for brother bear so can post about it!

if i had to guess, i first read "cloudy with a chance of meatball" in the 4th grade. i do remember writing a story based on the book. it was called "cloudy with a chance of pancakes" (which i just realized with my re-reading was not that creative since the grandpa's story was based on "flying" pancakes) and featured the simpsons as the family (wow! talk about copyright infringement!)

my love for this story just proves one thing, i have always and will always be a fat kid. as a kid, i always wished that i lived in the land of the chewandswallow and that food just fell from the sky for me to eat! talk about paradise! though now i would be very precise about what i would want to fall from the sky.

if you have never read the story, it's kind of a story within a story. grandpa tells
his grandchildren a story about a mythical land called chewandswallow where food falls from the sky. whole meals fall from the sky for breakfast, lunch and dinner. the city also has a sanitation department that was very green. they gathered the extra food and feed the animals and the rest was put in the soil to make it richer for gardens. however, the weather changes on them and the food becomes disgusting so they had to sail to a new land. and in this new land, they have to adjust to snow and rain falling from the sky and getting food at the grocery store!

cute story, huh?

ron barrett also did an excellent job with the illustrations. look how great they are:

the hot dog is one of my favorites!

since we all know i loved to eat, this will alway be one of my favorite books!

1984. george orwell. (99)

george orwell's "1984" is on flavorpill's "30 to read before 30" and since i am two months away, i decided i need to crack down on my reading. so i picked up a copy of "1984" at the library. and before i go on, how great is this cover?!?! there was a paperback version i could have checked out but after i saw this cover, i had to read this one.

i guess i should clarify, this was my first reading of "1984". i never read it in high school, it wasn't assigned to us. my sister read it in college and i remember borrowing her copy to read but could never get into it. i tried twice. and thanks to apple and cbs, i knew about "big brother is watching" so was okay on the pop culture front. but in order to get its literary significance i needed to read it.

this book is always noted as a revolutionary novel and it is especially considering the time it was published. i remember checking the publishing year and surprised to find it was 1949. to question and portray governments in such a manner had to be shocking. however, as interesting as the concept of this novel is, i still became bored with it, there were points were i was like, get on with the story already.

let me clarify, i was not bored by the segments on oceania but by some of the story plots. i loved learning about the society of "1984" and how it worked. being a history major, it was interesting to see how the world we know could develop into oceania. for example, i believe that war has become more of a means of economic growth than anything else. just like in the novel, the boundaries for our countries are set, which is why we now fight for concepts like democracy and freedom and against terrorism and islam, fighting wars that truly do not have a means. i know we captured osama bin laden, but are we still at war with afghanistan? honestly, i do not know. can someone clarify this for me? my confusion is also an example of how majority of the united states is now like the "proles" when it comes to being informed about the war. we know nothing other than we need to support it and we have an enemy. also the switching back and forth between the enemies in the novel, foreshadowed what happen with the us and 9/11. i was always confused as to who our patriotism and nationalism was supposed to be directed against because i thought it was al-queida and then all of sudden, saddam hussein and iraq were targeted as enemies. another thing from the novel that reminded me of 9/11 was the labelling of things like "victory" gin or "victory" cigarettes, just like we had our "freedom" fries. and though we did not have "hate week" or "two minute hate" after 9/11, i did feel this odd peer pressure to demonstrated my patriotism via a flag. remember how everyone had flags on their cars and it was unamerican not to have one? it's scary to think of how simlilar the world was post-9/11 to "1984".

another way our world is similar to "1984" is the news and stastistics. part of winston's job was to change the figures that big brother had projected in terms of production so that production was recorded as over what bb had predicted. in the novel, winston pondered how these numbers were all arbitrary. first of all, a prediction is a prediction so if it was not accurate that is fine. why go through the point of lying especially since people know that production is low because whatever was being produced was scarce. this reminded me of our news and the stastiscs it spews at us especially in terms of health. there is always some study that shows this or that but in real life, disease strikes whoever. there is j real means of preventing things. i mean explain ozzy osborne, with how he treated his body, yet he is still alive and kicking. stastiscs are just a means of manipulating society.

last but not least, i am worried that history would be lost like in "1984". not so much because it is being rewritten but because it is not being taught. i recently subbed for a fifth grade class and they only worked on social studies for 15 minutes. i worry that the youth today do not understand the importance of history. because as orwell wrote and zach de la rocha from rage against the machine sang "who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past", so if they learn nothing, they will control nothing.

this is all praise but there were also aspects of the story that i did not enjoy. for one thing i did not like julia. it just seemed so random that her character feel in love with winston. i thought she was part of the thought police and was going to betray him. (also the fact that the shopkeeper was a thought police totally took me by surprise though in the back of my mind, i wondered how his shop was still in existence). once i figured out she wasn't, i didn't care for her character. she wasn't a rebel because of any inner longing for a better life like winston, she was a rebel just to be against the system. i hate to get all women's lib but i felt julia was an unjustly portrayal of women in revolutionary movements. julia was not fully committed to the ideologies against the party and her primary act of resistance was sex. and i am all for women gaining liberation via fulfilling their sexual appetites versus following societies virtues. however, julia demonstrated no intelligence or knowledge when it came to protest against the current system, she often became bored by what winston had to share. she even feel asleep during his reading of the book. it just seemed like a copout to make her so shallow once the real revolting started especially since she was smart enough to get goods like real coffee and sugar and had came up with routes for them to meet. and sadly throughout history women's roles in revolutions sadly get reduced down to their sexual experiences.

since we are on the topic of sex, i was shocked by how much sex was discussed in the novel. and wonder how high schools that teach this present this. or is "1984" one of those banned books? and the sex is why "1984" is banned. anyway, i found it interesting how sex is a means of control. the party takes away the sensuality of sex and turns it into a duty. i know i have discussed it before but i really feel that being raised mormon, the emphasis on purity and chastity resulted in my obedience as teen. i was so focused on being pure, i didn't date in high school. i am not saying that as a teen one should have sex. i am just saying that for me, my abstinence from sex may have been a reason for my obedience as a teen.

also i did not buy that winston was so naive about o'brien. i thought it was too convenient how it all came together. it seemed too easy to become apart of the brotherhood and felt like a trap. but i guess winston was so hopefully that he was too gullible.

last but not least i did not like the ending. i was hoping the human spirit would have prevailed. i didn't expect winston to spark a revolution but i didn't want him to give in. it was also pathetic that he gave in because of rats. i would hope that the human spirit would have been stronger. it was heartbreaking to see all hope lost. i would have been happier with winston committing suicide versus loving big brother.

i enjoyed the appendix on newspeak. it is interesting to think of how important vocabulary is in terms of expressing our views. it is also interesting to think
how lack of a vocabulary restricts our thinking. the focus on language also demonstrated how important it is to read and expand our vocabulary. it is true with my recent reading of classics, i have been about to better expressed my view of the world by using literary examples. so let this be a lesson!

after reading all of that analysis, you are probably wondering, but you said you got bored. i did simply because though
"1984" raises important questions about politics, war, government, and history for someone that is already skeptical about their government it doesn't present anything new. i was a history major and so many of the trends discussed were not new for me. however if i had read this book while in high school or during college, it would have blown my mind. so i guess instead of being a book one reads before they are 30, it actually before 25.

last but not least at the lacma, while looking at the bcam elevator, i was able to imagine what it would like to have big brother watching: