Sobering and stirirng. And credibly incredibly sad. And so many more have been to war and back on our watch. Time to, time again to educate, act, speak now.

Ok. I just couldn’t handle this. episode 1 was too relentlessly grim. when the story is a man, and a whole neighborhood, and a nation, kind of collapsing (or being beaten – or sucked? – down) inevitably. Maybe it was also that the show looks aged. It has a kind of glossy nineties look to it. And I know things haven’t gotten better. And knowing that the terrible only got worse…

Anyway. Maybe I need to come back to this when I’m not feeling so vulnerable.

Beautiful looking movie. I read the book when I was about 12 so decades later it was startling to remember how weird it is and how much sense it still makes. And the themes of absurdity and profiteering and desperation and even, improbably, hope or at least little crazy glimpses of humanity in war time are frighteningly timely.

It was especially worth hearing the Nichols/Soderbergh commentary. They don’t make weirdo anti-war movies like this with this kind of production budget no more.

Plus every actor you know from the early 70s is in this movie.

Hakan Nesser is my new favorite nordic police procedural author. And I have a few – from Sojwall and Wahloo to Mankell.

Cool, dark, spare, human. Quiet and melancholic, tough and lonesome.

To me this is where noir was leading…and there’s something both wide-open and closed-in about Sweden that seems to suit the genre.

I love this movie and especially this book. Have loved them since I was small.

We named our dog Westley after the Dread Pirate Roberts.

Rediscovering Dan Marlowe rocks! Dark, hardcore, straight up noir. Warning: not much particularly feminist going on here.

I’ve been curious and felt responsible to know more about what it is that allows me to empathize with stories that seem to be so radically removed from my own. And what is lost or transformed in the telling of these stories? Writer-editor Eggers does a quietly and to me masterfully effective and affecting job of re-presenting the stories of a Valentino Achat Deng of Sudan.

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/books/whatisthewhat.html

Totally engaging read!

This book is kind of thrilling, if doctrinaire. I don’t know diddly about gardening, but Mel promises a nearly foolproof method for reducing labor and materials and all kinds of inconvenience and uncertainty.

It’s written with clarity, enthusiasm, and a dollop of step right up showmanship.

Total beach read. Consumed poolside in close to one afternoon. Goddard’s got the suspense and plotting thing down and he just keeps cranking em out. If you’re up for suspense that features well-imagined Brit gents in late middle age, that is.

This book is marvelous, can’t wait to make other people read it. Folks into roadtrips, nonconformism, hopelessly hopeful idealism, adventuring of all sorts. Sweet writing, funny and thoughtful. Could it really all be true?