Nonfiction Reading, June 2017

15-Siy, Alexandra. The Waorani: People of the Ecuadoran Rain Forest (Global Villages series) (1993) - Previously reviewed.

16-Gilman, Dorothy. A New Kind of Country (1978) - Half philosophy, half autobiography, Gilman talks about her move to a small fishing village in Nova Scotia.

The philosophy mostly doesn't resonate with me, though some of her own personal observations do. Like unhappiness happens when your brain takes the problem and multiplies it: after a break-up, you think about all the break-ups in your life, etc.

Each chapter has a different topic. One favorite was the one on weather--it didn't get terrible cold or snow terribly often but it did get amazingly windy. There was a twinkle in the eye of the guy who said he probably would never need anyone to plow her driveway.

The chapter on men and women talks about the sexism during the 1970s. "It's simply that I hate waste. If I had to define evil, or sin, or wickedness I would point to waste: waste of talent, waste of potential, waste of freedom, women, men, food, and the earth's resources as well. This includes prisons, poverty, alienation, bad education, pollution, and what happens to people when they prefer shadows to sunlight."

And she has an interesting take on privacy--sacrosanct in the suburbs, no one comes over without calling first. But in her small town, not only do they just come over, and even walk right into your kitchen, they watch you and call to see if you need any help when you do anything different, like go to bed at a different time. One advantage of the latter is that you don't have the problem of dying in July and not getting discovered until December.

She also talked about how much of her life had been based on anger and rebellion. She would even open tin cans at the wrong end.

Movies, June 2017

28-"Wonder Woman" (2017) (Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Connie Nielson) - Princess in isolated island finds out about the outside world when World War I intrudes. She decides that the god Ares is the problem and that she must kill him to end the war, though she is distracted by many other opportunities to help people.

Everyone is so pretty, not to mention the island, and the action is beautifully choreographed!

I despise the part where people refuse to tell her things, supposedly because the sooner she finds out, the sooner the bad guy will find her.

On the other hand, I laughed aloud a couple of times and enjoyed a few other lines, too. "How do you fight in this [outfit]?"

29-"The Assignment" (2017) (Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver) - Assassin kills the brother of a surgeon who takes it upon herself to be judge, jury, and punisher. Assassin then takes revenge on the surgeon. This movie gets bad reviews, but I thought it was well done, though there's more nudity than I like. It feels like a superhero origin story.

again-"Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (1971) (Gene Wilder) - It was fun to see it on the big screen. Those Oompa Loompas are sanctimonious twerps, but I do like their silly dancing. I didn't know that Dahl had written the screenplay. It's a happy ending, but I would have liked it better had Charlie thanked Wonka for the awesome tour.

30-"John Wick Chapter 2" (2017) (Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, etc.) - The way John Wick was drawn out of retirement this time was not nearly so fun as in the first one, and the violence was a bit overboard for my taste. Way too much stupidity and not enough negotiating on all sides for my taste as well. I really liked his house, his favorite car, and his new dog, though, plus I still love the hotel receptionist. Also, a major character was deaf, or at least she and Wick spoke sign language. The only fun line was the "professional courtesy" line, plus all of Bowry King's (Fishburne's) opening monolog.

31-"Extreme Prejudice" (1987) (Nick Nolte) - A CIA team of people who are officially/supposedly dead have a mission in a small town in Texas. They have many cool ways of finding out what's what.

Meanwhile, drug dealers set up the local sheriff and Texas Ranger. And the Ranger's girlfriend is thinking about going back to her ex-, who is a drug kingpin stationed across the border and the Ranger's best friend from when they were kids.

It's exciting and well done, but not very fun, except the singer is really good. Plot problems--why did that one guy have such a long drive? Why did that other guy order that the sheriff be killed?--If he hadn't have done that, probably no one would ever have figured out his secret.

I prefer the Schwartzenegger movie based in a border town in Texas, "The Last Stand"--it's a lot more fun.

32-"CHIPS" (2017) (Dax Shepard, Michael Peña) - The preview shows a lot of homophobic-seeming and slapstick humor, so I knew this movie would not be my thing. The main characters are both stupid and incompetent, but between them (and good luck) they have what it takes to bring down the bad guys.

Exciting motorcycle scenes. Nudity. Discussion of personal problems (I don't think Ponch's nymphomania* gets cured, but Jon does get over his cheating wife). Good job at explaining how two people who don't like each other at first become good friends.

* Apparently nymphomania is something only women have; when men have it, it's called satyriasis.