Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Review

I received The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman as a gift for Christmas. I wasn't sure what to expect, because I had not heard anything about it.  I have to say that it was one of the best Christmas gifts I have ever received.  If you haven't read the book, you should.

I love to read, so I could completely relate to the main character who had a deep love for books and found them as his solace as a child. The way that Ocean at the End of the Lane is written reminds me in a lot of ways of Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine.  There were moments in both books  that made me fall in love with good food all over again. The descriptions of food made me relish those moments in life when you taste something that brings an inner balance to you.  It made me long for the collard greens by Dr. Jolly, and miss the days when my mother would take the time to make haluski.  The memories of fresh peaches from my childhood, so juicy there was a trail that ran down my arm with every bite rang solidly in between the words.

The Ocean at the End of Lane is not about food. It is very much a book that gives you food for thought. Part of me wishes it was, because food plays an integral part in memory and I would love to have a meal at the Hempstocks table; however I think that what the book is really about is finding yourself. There was a good part of the book that made me want to cry, and I had utterly convinced myself that Neil Gaiman couldn't write anything cheerful ever. Every childhood has horrors that there is no escape from, and it is part of the journey one must make to reach adult hood. When I finished the book, I dried more than a few tears and was really grateful for the fact that Neil Gaiman doesn't write bubble gum fiction. He writes good solid fiction that knows how to ping the recess of your mind and bring forth emotion that you didn't even know was bottled inside you.

The book reminds me of what it was like to be a child and to have to deal with grown up things much sooner before a person is ready to.  It reminded me of how hard it is to learn those lessons and that looking back and understanding what you are seeing is even harder to do then most people would believe. It reminded me that the outsides and the insides of a person very rarely match.  I am grateful for this reminder.

“Nobody looks like what they really are on the inside. You don’t. I don’t. People are much more complicated than that. It’s true of everybody.” 
― Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Cardboard: A Review

Relationships are hard.  They take a lot of work and a lot of effort. There is no such thing as an easy relationship. It doesn’t matter if it is family, or if it is friends, or even an animal. They take effort and a whole lot of patience.  Even with all that effort they can still go south.

I am sure that I am not alone when I say that I have been hurt by some one I loved. I am not talking about fists to the face sort of hurt, but the kind that people don’t see. The sort of hurt that doesn’t leave any outside scars, but bleed from the inside.  Sometimes the people that you love and that you care about don’t mean to hurt you or even realize they hurt you by what they may have said. When that happens, a person is faced with a moment they have to decide if they want to continue with a relationship with that person.

I am not perfect. I don’t often think before I speak. I have hurt people close to me, and there are plenty of time in my life where I could have used more tact in my approach, but the older that I get the more I value the relationships in my life. And the less I have time for superficial blandness. I want to be in relationships with people that have a value for me, because I have a value for them. I do not want to be in a relationship that makes me feel used. With that said, it doesn’t make relationships any easier.

I read a graphic novel called Cardboard by Doug TenNapel. It reminded me that sometimes it isn’t easy to be in a relationship, to form a relationship and to let go of a relationship. It is a beautiful graphic novel about a father, a son and some magic cardboard and how they figure out how to communicate. 

 I would highly recommend and it made me do some thinking about the relationships that I have, and what my fears are in those relationships.Sometimes things don’t always work out the way that we would want them to, and sometimes we have to figure out what we want out of a relationship before we jump on in.  Sometimes you just need a moment of whimsy. All of this and more can be found in Cardboard.

*Every now and then I move a review over from my old blog** onto my new blog. I take the time to reread what I wrote and reflect upon it. I still believe that Cardboard is one of the best graphic novels that I have read. It is done in such a way that adults and children can enjoy it and take something away from it.  

**Original post above was published on 3/18/13 and has been revised 1/22/14

Wonder Woman Vol 2: Guts

If you have not read the first volume in the New 52 of Wonder Woman, you should.  It is the only way to really enjoy the second volume of this action packed story.  Volume 2: Guts does not fail to deliver. The momentum does not waiver in the slightest bit.

I thoroughly enjoyed the utter confusion that Wonder Woman has to go through in her mind when she realizes that everything is not as it seems with her being a daughter of Zeus.  The beauty of this second volume, besides diving deeper in the re-imagined world of greek mythology and the absolute beauty in the detail of the art,  is that characters have true reactions.

It is easy to relate to Wonder Woman in this story, because not only is she trying to come to grips with who she is, but she is also trying to achieve her mission.  The ending of this volume is a little bit of an unexpected twist, but it does make you wonder what everyones agendas really are.  Wonder Woman on the other hand seems to be the only person that is an open book. You can easily tell what her next move is, which is what make everything so interesting. When she makes her predicted moves, the outcomes are never quite what she expects. I very much look forward to reading next volume, and recommend this series to all that have a love of Wonder Woman and mythology.

IZOMBIE: Dead to the World

It would be really easy to say that IZombie by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred jumped on the zombie band wagon. We live in a very zombie culture. You can find zombies in your video games (Left4 Dead, House of the Dead, Dead Rising, Red Dead Redemption...) and on television (The Walking Dead) and in comic books (Walking Dead, Evil Dead).  Throw a vampire, ghost and werewolf (if you want to be specific, IZombie has a wereterrier not a werewolf) in the mix, and you could have covered all of the bases in the current trends of pop culture for the past couple of years.

If a person is going to do anything with a very recognizable classic monster, you would have to do something completely different. Shambling mindless hordes bent on the destruction and mankind through their cranial cavity has been done lots of times. What makes IZombie an interesting read and stand out from all the other zombie books out there, is that it is old from the zombies point of view.

In the first graphic novel of this series you meet Gwen who is just trying to figure out the best way not to become a  B- rated Bruce Campbell Army of Darkness extra and make her way in life with out being found out about her delicate eating habits. With out giving away everything in volume one, the story gives you a really good back ground into the lore and sets the stage for some interesting developments.

I think that the art is really well done, and the story line is knit together in a seamless fashion. I am looking forward to reading the next volume. I would recommend this to any one that is interested in any of the classic horror lore, because this truly does have a little bit of everything in it with a good does of tongue in cheek amusement.

Rare Exports: Not what you are thinking

 There is a crispness to the air, and in some area's freshly fallen snow. It feels like it should still be Christmas, but alas the retailers have thrown everything related to the Christmas holiday on 70% off or more, just so they can make room for Valentines Day. Is it too late to try and squeeze in one more holiday movie. Something to try and capture that moment of optimism? I think not.  To satiate that need for building family bonds coupled with Santa Claus, I present Rare Exports.

Rare Exports is not a child's movie, and is probably not child friendly at all. It is a Finnish horror- fantasy film that is completely in subtitles. Do not let the subtitles deter you from watching this. There are lots of really good movies out there with subtitles. Pans Labyrinth and Amelie to name a few.  This movie has a dark sense of humor to it and the perversity of it made me smile more than once. 

Rare Exports talks about the background of Santa Claus, (or the Krampus for those that know who it is) and told from a child point of view. It has all the earmarks of a holiday whimsy complete with a man in a Santa suit, elves, reindeer and gingerbread, but it also have other things in it that sometimes I which I had for the holidays, such as bear traps, death pits and really sharp knives.  Rare Exports is not an intensely graphic movie, the way that most horror movies are, but is more a building suspense that keeps the watcher engaged.  I would highly recommend this off the radar Christmas movie to any one that is looking to recapture the feel of the holidays and family with perhaps a little bit more dark quirkiness to it. 

Choose Your Own Adventure

It is New Years Day. A day that is often used for digestion of the past years events and a stew pot of hopes and goals for the up coming year. It is a time for reflection. Every year I try to make the same resolutions. This past year I would like to think that I kept up with them pretty well, and I plan to use the same ones for 2014.  I firmly recommend these resolutions to anyone, because they are more about perspective and self growth than ego and image.

Resolutions
1. Develop a closer bond to family.

Example: 

I did not use to think that I personally had a lot of family, and the ones that I do have I am not super close to. Part of me has always wanted to have one of those that a person reads about. You know the type; quirky, lovable, reliable, loyal with a dash of angst to keep it all interesting. My family isn't that. My family is like magnets, we repel each other the closer we get.  I love them, because of their dis-function. Their dis-function has made me a better person. 

My dad has spent almost thirty years not talking to any of his siblings. This past year through long talks with my dad, I am now in contact with aunts and uncles that I vaguely was aware that existed.  While it might not be a super strong bond at this moment, it is enough of a bond that I am 93% sure that none of my new to me relatives will be stealing a kidney from me in my sleep and that I come from a line of off the wall black sheep. I am sure not every one out there has family that they have never met, that doesn't make this resolution any less worthy.  

If I had not taken the time to invest in a closer bond with my father, we would never have started talking about family or even family history. Even if I had never had additional family out there, it was really nice to hear some stories about his experiences that I have never heard before.  I recommend to everyone to take the time to have the long talks with a family member, because you never know what you are going to gain from the experience until you do.

 

2. Go on more adventures. 

Example:

I use to think that my life was boring, and nothing ever happened in it. It was true, because I never moved past my comfort zones and did anything new.  For the past couple of years I have made a point to plan some adventures, because I have found that adventures just don't happen without a little help. Or at least the good adventures don't start out with a little help.

I think that if a person wants a life of adventure they have to create it. This past year I have explored caves, thrown surprise parties, consumed foreign liquors (Yeni Raki & Cachaca to name a few), talked to strangers and made myself vulnerable with new friends. None of that would have happened if I had not made the effort to do something. Adventures come in many shapes and sizes, and can be as interesting as trying new recipes from a cook book, or as dangerous as sky diving, but they are all considered adventures and are worth doing. I recommend to everyone to do something out side of the everyday normal, because who wants to read a memoir about grocery shopping?