The Fair that Changed America

It’s not often I turn to non-fiction for entertainment. I’m a fan of documentaries and how-to books, but I tend to keep informational reading to short articles or magazines. I recently came across Erik Larson’s book, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Maddness at the Fair that Changed America, and was floored. Not only is the book a history lesson, its a compelling murder mystery with novel-like twists.

The book is centered around the events of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, or as its better known, the World’s Colombian Exposition. Rich details about the daily lives, interests, and motivations help to flesh out what life was really like. The book leads up to Chicago’s attempt to gain prominence in the world by hosting the upcoming World’s Fair. The rivalry between the Windy City and New York is tense, as each argues over their cultural importance. In the end, Chicago secures its position as host of the fair and the story beings to unfold. read more

Five Books Better Than “Twilight”

Twilight is available on DVD Tuesday and though I’ve willfully neglected to see the movie, I have read the book. It’s mediocre writing at best, and some of the story elements are ridiculous, yet, the book remains readable.  Readable enough, in fact, that I’ve acquired the second in the series to be started sometime this week.  I’ve convinced myself that I must read the series so that I may, if nothing else, be well versed in how to bash it.

I’m usually a sucker (ha ha) for vampire fiction and paranormal type romance, but even by trashy chick-lit standards, Twilight wasn’t that great.  I’m clearly outside the target demographic of tween and teen girls, but good young adult fiction writing should be able to hold up to a slightly older audience. Young Adult writers need to stay away from the topic of vampires if they can’t figure out how to deal with the adult situations presented. read more

Life should be so simple….

Darth Vader, Lord Voldemort, Saruman, The Joker, Carnage, evil aliens, brain-craving zombies, blood sucking fiends, and Uzi Toting Drug Dealers. In movies, books, and comics the goal is always clear: Blow up the Death Star, kill the bad guys, defeat the darkside, toss The Joker in Arkham, restore order, and maintain balance.  Then throw a kegger and celebrate with the Ewoks.  The path is never simple, but at least you know what must be done.  There’s no second guessing.  The hero’s job is to defeat the bad guys.  There isn’t any long exposition about what needs to be done.  How to do it maybe, but never a question of what to do.  There are always twists and turns along the way, and unexpected conflict but in the end, good triumphs over evil. read more

Not Awesome: NeverEnding Remakes

You must forgive me if I’m crying, but I just found out that Hollywood is working on a NeverEnding Story remake.  I’m not going to recap the plot of the original for you, because if you haven’t seen it, I don’t believe you have a pulse.  However, for the quick reminder, its the 80′s movie with the flying dog-looking “luck dragon.”   “They” claim that this new interpretation will be more like the book.  That the new movie will be a closer adaptation of the source material.  It’s not so much that I’m upset they’re remaking THIS movie, (although I clearly AM upset). I am more upset that it seems like every movie that comes out anymore is a remake!  Doesnt anyone write anything good anymore?  Everything I see is a rip off of something else.

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What happened after the Wizard left? A look at the “Wizard of Oz” sequel

Where exactly is somewhere over the rainbow? For many Wizard of Oz fans, the 1939 MGM film was the beginning and the end of their journey into Oz. The film has become iconic and defined the age of Technicolor and grand movie musicals. New interest in the Oz stories emerged in 2003 with the successful Broadway hit, Wicked, based on Gregory Maguire’s novel. My interest in Oz lead me to search more about the original author, L. Frank Baum and his writings. I was astonished to learn that there are 40 official books published by Baum and his successors that explore the land of Oz.

Being an Oz fan, I’ve been privy to the stories shown in the 1985 Disney film, Return to Oz. The movie features Dorothy, returning to a much darker version of Oz, trying to piece together the cause of the destruction. She meets new friends and eventually re-unites with many of her friends from the original journey, including the Scarecrow, Tinman, and Cowardly Lion. It was interesting to find out that this screenplay was a combination of two books that followed “The Wizard of Oz.”

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