AGAINST THE WIND

Went to Nauset Beach this week for a regular respite from ever-present noise: electronic, traffic, pacing neighbor in common area, and an adult version of Inside Out a.k.a. inside my head. Got out of the car with walking cane in hand, approached the boardwalk and pushed into the gusting wind. After fighting the element, I reached the edge: one step farther and I would've landed face down in the sand. Grabbed a fence post and hung on until my legs began to wobble, feet shuffled back and leg muscles shouted at me to get out when I could. Slowly I turned around, planted my cane in the abutting sand and with an invisible hand nudging me, I scurried back to the parking lot. Phew!

Google Image

Plan busted, I returned to my apartment to work on the "Most Difficult Puzzle Ever," (see last week's blog) only to discover the donator didn't check the number of pieces, It looked like I'd have to wait on finishing that challenge. After an unavoidable, long nap, I reset my goals for the afternoon. Maybe, I'll work on my next book in the Shadowwater series. That resolution lasted for thirty minutes. Beginning, to believe that even the simplest activities would be too daunting, I watched the news which rejuvenated my cognitive abilities; the mental stimulation helped me make it past all the nonsense of the morning and focus on the world at large.

Then I recalled what my friend had advised earlier in the day. "Have some fun!" I considered the above activities fun. Yes, I'm a proud nerd at times. I'm not ashamed to admit I love The Big Bang Theory and actually get some of the techno-babble and science. So after the latest episode that night, reminding me ADHD has its benefits, I uploaded YouTube selected Funk and went with the music. It set me dancing lively steps, albeit briefly. The daunting heaviness I'd fought all day long receded.

Being older doesn't mean duller: my mother knew that; sadly, my father (the younger of the two) did not. I learned from their examples. So, thanks to "Uptown Funk" and "Sax" I forgot the negative challenges and remembered that in fact, I've never been braver or more motivated to push against the wind.

For more on Cape Cod and the Shadowwater series, go to:
www.shadowwater.net

"THE MOST DIFFICULT PUZZLE EVER"

Discovered at local swap shop: a rectangular box with the above title, referred to a puzzle based on an abstract painting by the late artist, Jackson Pollock. The work, Convergence, had been parsed into fragments of color and line with no apparent connection to surrounding pieces other than their shapes. Thus, the puzzle solver must focus on the individual pieces, their shapes only, not the picture provided, antithetical to many jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts.

"Convergence" by Jackson Pollock

This formidable challenge also elicited halcyon days with family as we tried to reassemble the same puzzle my mother purchased at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York City. Last week, I chose to bring home the puzzle, maybe to recollect those days, but I couldn't recall if we ever finished it. Subconsciously waxing nostalgic or acting on an uncontrollable need to complete what had been started?

Feeling the jigsaw pieces in one's hands provides tactile satisfaction which does not on the Internet. I have, from time to time, tackled The New Yorker's puzzles on their website: an iconic past cover is separated into pieces on the screen before your eyes. Then the solver has to finish the puzzle in the shortest time possible (and at different levels of difficulty). Fun, though not the same as putting the pieces together with my late parents or my brother, as we sat at a card table near the fireplace on a snowy winter's evening.

A puzzle, no matter how long it takes may not resolve personal differences or bring families together. It does, however, test one's focus (especially if have ADHD, spacial recognition issues), patience, self-will and/or teamwork. Many traits shared by successful creatives.

Strange how exploring Pollock's painting opens locked memories: nostalgic, wistful and difficult. When I look at the abstract expressionist's masterpiece today, I recollect a picture my mother's of back. An x-ray showed advanced osteoarthritis so pronounced that I couldn't resist turning away from the magnitude of what was or would be. That image had reminded me of an old-fashioned fuse box with every wire crossed in different directions. Now, I see my mother's spine in Pollock's painting.

As with any puzzle, the outline or edges are easier to complete than connecting the inner pieces. Problem-solving has its roots in seeing how disparate pieces fit together. Finding the key to any enigma helps decode the hidden secret, even one with seemingly no clear direction or relationship. And yet, how we approach the solution may vary depending on how we process the problem.

This reasoning hold true for Convergence. The colors stand out in the painting--orange, yellow and blue splatters, haphazard? To the artist, may be not, to the puzzle-solver a break from the black and white tedium. I see these eye-catching colors as bringing cohesion to the composition and providing more clues to assembling the controlled chaos.

Jackson Pollock worked from within, a method actor who kept his technique opaque. Whether Pollock worked lunging in various directions throwing sumptuous gobs of bright colors and basic black and white across the canvas with his stiff paint brushes, or if he used a turkey baster to spray the glossy enamel, Jackson Pollock had an underlying reason for his abstraction. Bi-polar, alcoholic, introspective and passionate, Picasso one step farther in my mind, the painter saw the world through a different lens.

To conclude, I have learned the following from Jackson Pollock's Convergence, the work and the puzzle: I may never understand our jumbled society with its speed-of-light changes often too many, too intense, to digest. Nevertheless if I can find peace within myself, then despite appearances, I am confident I can tackle "the most difficult puzzle ever."

I WONDER WHAT HE/SHE THINKS?

A wide swath of celebrities and pundits have been interviewed about American politics, here and abroad. My thoughts drift with authors from other countries, outsiders, whose works describe political chaos, many in their own countries, and social disillusionment through their fictional characters.

Milan Kundera (The Festival of Insignificance, his most popular work, The Unbearable Lightness of Being), Tom Stoppard (Rock 'N Roll; film fans will know him as the Academy Award winning screenwriter of Shakespeare in Love), Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Tehran) and Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale) are alive and kicking. How would they analyze the current American circus performers? I'd never presume to step in these author shoes and theorize their personal beliefs; however, I'd go so far as to posit what their characters might say.

In The Festival of Insignificance Milan Kundera offers his admiration and criticism of French cultural life and politics, and the bourgeoisie in all its incarnation. Political satire that cuts but doesn't burn. Kundera's prose (written in his second language, French) elicits laughs, smirks and daggers. He sees all the foibles of his adopted homeland and never embraces blind patriotism, a lesson his protagonist learned in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The Soviets marched in with tanks into Prague, Czechoslovakia; initially resistance was futile. Kundera, in his stories demonstrated he learned the power of the press. Nowhere, in The Festival of Insignificance, does he lampoon his characters to the level of our loud-mouthed, bombasts or apathetic dissonants who decry the horrors of American life yet refuse to participate in its democracy. In essence, Milan Kundera comes from the land of "The Velvet Revolution."

Tom Stoppard, another Czech ex-patriot, (his family left their country before the Nazi occupation) explores in his play. Rock 'N Roll, the dramatic swing between the Prague Spring (1968) and the "Velvet Revolution (1989), and how Western music served as a catalyst to the reformers. Stoppard alludes to dissident Václav Havel's future vision for his country, as seen in Havel's own plays and writings. Socialism supercedes repressive communism, allowing for freedom of expression and tolerance, The hero argues that social upheaval does not demand brutal resistance. Is this always true?

Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran, returned to Iran to teach, as professor of Western Literature, at the University of Tehran during the calculated upheaval of Iran's revolution (1978-1981) in 1979. Idealistic that the end of the Shah's regime would bring political and social freedoms, Nafisi explains in her memoir how she rebelled, endured, then rebelled against the religious intolerance espoused by the Ayatollah Khomeini, e.g. refusing to wear a head scarf  in the classroom and later forming a private book club for students where they discussed forbidden works, e.g. Lolita. (SPOILER ALERT) Once in the U.S. Azar Nafisi acknowledged that blaming the Iranian government completely would then dismiss the peoples' part, enabling a fundamentalist regime to gain power. Interesting that Nafisi emigrated to a country where, in some places, selected fiction has been banned and history re-written to serve an intolerant elite.

In Margaret Atwood's book, The Handmaid's Tale (1985), leaders, albeit fictional, have also established a religious, fundamentalist, caste-driven state, the former United States of America. The heroine (Offred) is captured and made to serve as a concubine. Her reproductive rights in tatters, Offred is forced to help a childless couple conceive, the assumption being the statesman's wife is infertile. Yes, Atwood's dystopian, "speculative" (her word) fiction, has an outsider's perspective--unlike the above authors I've mentioned. But, Atwood touches on a more than topical premise: the direction the U.S. could be headed, because of narrow-minded anger, ignorance or apathy, if our people allow it. Moreover, at the end of  The Handmaid's Tale,(SPOILER ALERT) Offred appears to escape her captors. In the movie adaptation, Offred takes her exodus one step farther: she leaves for the land of the free, Canada.

UNIVERSAL TRUTHS: THE FINEST HOURS, NOT JUST A CAPE COD STORY

The Coast Guard often receives attention for their daring rescues, even when they have mishaps such as: Coast Guard boat capsizes (Queens, New York).

CG-36500, the  36 foot, wooden lifeboat featured in the movie "The Finest Hours," didn't capsize. Its captain, Bernie Webber, and three crewmen weathered 40 to 60 foot waves to reach the SS Pendleton and save 32 men from the split tanker during a nor'easter. Why, then, has the film made only 37 million dollars so far? Marketing!

To encapsulate my review, "The Finest Hours" delivers as a remarkable adventure with suspense and moving performances; a wonderful yarn few have seen.

The initial trailer essentially had "tanked" the movie. Only when the second trailer was introduced, emphasizing the action, did the film gain momentum, though too late. The remarkable story had every opportunity to grab potential moviegoer's hearts and at least break even, but it did not.

Knitpicking about the waves being too high (huh?!) as one uninformed critic noted or the film too long (I agree) shouldn't have stopped moviegoers from seeing "The Finest Hours." No, Disney sabotaged the movie from the start by initially deciding to release it in December 2015. What?! We, those of us who follow film, gasped knowing that "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" would open that month. Realizing their error, the producers moved "The Finest Hours'" release date to January 29, 2016. What I call the" winter doldrums" of movie-going.

Wisened trend-followers would assume that Disney didn't expect the movie to do well; therefore, the producers selected a period after the excitement of  "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" had lessened. Also, they marketed the film to attract an older generation instead of seeing a universal story that would capture worldwide attention. In fact, "The Finest Hours" featured mostly younger actors unknown to many baby-boomers, with the possible exception of Chris Pine and Casey Affleck.

Spike Lee, on CBS This Morning, noted how producers would make much more money if they marketed (and made) movies which appeal to wider audiences. "The Finest Hours'" cast reflects the real crew of the USS Pendleton, multicultural sans women. Women do have important roles in the story, however. We live in a global community. It's time that the studios get their "heads" out of the sand and join the real world.

http://movies.disney.com/the-finest-hours

MISSING PIECE: Cautionary Message for Parents about HPV

Growing up, my mother taught me about the bonds between a man and a woman, what to look for in a man, and how my father changed her life--Mom, the ultimate romantic. Dad told me about sex. He never shied from discussing the "bare essentials," and I listened. "Use protection." "If you feel uncomfortable, leave." "Your health more important than taking chances." We discussed the how, what, when, where and why.

I learned more from friends, books and watching movies. However, experience taught me to wait vs. acting on impulse. What did that mean? I'll refrain from sharing intimate details, but I will say that if I saw holes in a potential relationship, I sabotaged any chance for a future or I scrammed.

Then, there were the times when I wouldn't let go, believing I'd found love though one-sided. Still, like pushing a fast-forward button, I'd leave, quickly. Only later in life, much later, did I find true love. Mom would be proud. Dad, delighted with one exception: that as an educated woman I didn't keep up with the latest warnings about STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections, formerly STDs), in particular HPV. I heeded my father's, friends' and colleague's cautionary words about all the other STIs. Therefore, I waited until my partners and I were in close relationships and were tested.

When diagnosed with HPV last year, I shook my head and truly believed that as with most other women the virus would disappear in two years, as my gynecologist assured me.

And, forty years ago, we didn't have vaccines to prevent HPV. Today, we do but only for young women, and yet:

     HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI). HPV is a different virus than HIV and HSV (herpes). HPV is so common that nearly all sexually active men and women get it at some point in their lives. There are many different types of HPV. Some types can cause health problems including genital warts and cancers. Anyone who is sexually active can get HPV, even if you have had sex with only one person. You also can develop symptoms years after you have sex with someone who is infected making it hard to know when you first became infected. (CDC)

The CDC goes on to explain how even using a condom or even being in a monogamous relationship may not stop a woman from getting HPV. So, what should we do? For your daughter, get her vaccinated:

HPV vaccines are safe and effective. They can protect males and females against diseases (including cancers) caused by HPV when given in the recommended age groups...HPV vaccines are given in three shots over six months; it is important to get all three doses. (CDC)

Unfortunately, the vaccine is only recommended for pre-teens 11-12 to age 26 (for some groups). Screenings for HPV should begin, for women, only after age 30. So, "free love" addicts have their hands full. I'm not advocating celibacy or living in fear. The statistics for getting HPV, nonetheless, are staggering: 

About 79 million Americans are currently infected with HPV. About 14 million people become newly infected each year. HPV is so common that most sexually-active men and women will get at least one type of HPV at some point in their lives. (CDC)

There are many variations of the HPV virus. Most women will never develop symptoms or if diagnosed will weather the infection without developing serious symptoms. Furthermore, the number of women who get genital warts is relatively tiny (@360,000, CDC), and cervical cancer even smaller (@11,000, CDC). These numbers change with time--they are growing everyday. Do you want your daughter to take that risk? Remember, it's her future you should be concerned about, when she's no longer living with you and you cannot protect her. 

My wish for your child is that she isn't caught by surprise. That she not become one of the few who potentially gets cervical cancer. That once she finally finds the love of her life, she can enjoy every moment and not be concerned about what may be. Even if it was only a scare, I encourage women to be screened for HPV, i.e. the multitudes who didn't have access to the vaccine.

We're living in an age where HPV can be prevented. Your daughter is lucky. May she continue to be so.

For more information on HPV, follow the link: http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/stdfact-hpv.htm

CAN YOU NAME THE LAST FILM ABOUT OR STARRING WOMEN THAT WON BEST PICTURE?

Unless you're a movie buff, I'd bet you can't. If you count musicals, CHICAGO (2002), if not, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998).

That's right: 1998 or eighteen years ago. Yes, movies starring people of color have often been ignored, too. The Academy of Motion Pictures, as most know by now, comprises 90+ percent white males. When will this change? The Academy's president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, has pledged more diversity among members and voting. As an African-American, she has a case. As a woman, she also has a right to speak about inclusion.

Lupita Nyong'o
(CGI for Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Daisy Ridley
(Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

So, how did the Academy's voters become predominantly white male? An easy answer would be studios have produced movies which cater to that demographic and executives have little backbone to risk hiring women or other minorities. The "big boys" also cater to their own tastes, with an emphasis on teenagers. Studio reps often argue: "We give the public what they want." Anything considered to be a "woman's movie," or in derogatory terms, a "chic flick" rarely does well at the box office thus doesn't get the backing from producers and the recognition.

Well, we've seen many independent and smaller films garner box-office gold via smaller budgets and larger profits, though few have received glowing reviews e.g. BRIDESMAIDS or SPY. Those that critics consider to be award-worthy, for example, this year's BROOKLYN or ROOM, may have gotten a Golden Globe or two, and/or may receive Oscars for acting (ROOM being a safe bet), but rarely will these films win Best Picture (HURT LOCKER doesn't count, guys).

Encouraging or pressing the Academy to change its voting procedures is a beginning. However, like today's politics, the system has to evolve from the ground up: movie-goers must push studios for films for all ages, genders, ethnicities and even tastes. It's time the boys became men and include our real world.

Personal grudge: STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS and STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, which garnered high box office receipts and strong critical acclaim, got shafted by Academy voters.

Want quality suspense and mesmerizing magic in your stories? Read the first two books in my SHADOWWATER series. Third book's launch tentatively scheduled for June 2016. www.shadowwater.net

FILM REVIEW - THE REVENANT: REVENGE IS SOUR (Spoilers Alert)

"You should be a film critic!" That's what friends have implored for years. I'm happy to announce to them, my readers and followers, I've decided to include movie reviews on a regular basis in this blog. Will cover the gamut. 

Urged by my man to attend a movie I'd normally avoid, I saw The Revenant. First reaction, too violent and filled with holes. Confession time: I had a sinus attack which hampered my objectivity and went to the movie ready to dislike it. I also abhor the reverence for violence many film critics and Academy voters often accept, as in The Departed or No Country for Old Men. In contrast, I admire directors who can realistically portray violence without resorting to blood baths and glorification. A good night's sleep produced a rested mind: yes, the film should be seen.

After a successful hunt, The Revenant opens with hunters preparing their pelts for transport. Various stages from skinning to folding the furs in canvas and binding the prized bounty are depicted. Modern viewers, like me, may be repulsed by the process. Director, Alejandro González Iñárritu chooses, however, to allow the hunters momentary revelry before the predators become the prey. The ragged group are attacked by the Arikara Indians and experience heavy losses and injuries. Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) the hunter and scout for the group knows the territory and is the group's only reliable compass to finding their way back to camp. Glass's mixed-race son, Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), accompanies his father yet remains silent per his father's orders as not to incense the volatile hunter's irrational fears of the "Indian," particularly "half-breeds," Only the Captain truly understands Glass's value.The director introduces his viewers to an initial form of revenge: killing the white men who have taken the Native American's means of survival to sell for profit.

Iñárritu, helmed last year's Oscar winner for Best Picture: Birdman, another movie where I respected his choices more than the story. As a one-time theater goer and behind-the-scenes gopher, I'd have to favor Birdman, wondrous though the shots in The Revenant may be. As an ensemble film Birdman carries us away yet keeps the audience grounded, whereas Iñárritu's follow-up, The Revenant, has fantastic elements sprinkled amidst realistic drudgery.

This lone-wolf story is an intelligent examination of the old West and the killed-or-be-killed mentality to ensure survival. (In my mind, the foundation for our current American obsession with gun-violence.) No, I can't use the verb "loved" to describe my reaction to this film, better to write I respected most of the process, the production: acting, cinematography, directing (as described above) and screenwriting. I had problems with the editing. The movie, as is the norm these days, is too long. And scenes, particularly one involving a conifer left this benefit-of-the-doubt movie fan rolling her eyes and screaming in her head, "Cut!" 

Okay, Leonardo, I'd endorse your getting an Oscar at last. I have watched for growth in this actor since his days in Titanic, and have finally accepted he has the chops. Another performer, Domnhall Gleeson plays the cavalry Captain who has a pivotal role in the movie. Cinephiles will recognize Gleeson from the brilliant film, Ex Machina, and the equally terrific, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. If any performer should be nominated for Best Supporting Actor, it's Domnhall Gleeson. 

In The Revenant. cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki captures not only the breathtaking vistas of Alberta, Canada  (where much of the movie was filmed) but the smallest creatures as well like carpenter ants climbing over one another to reach the summit. In a blink this scene ends yet serves as a perfect metaphor for the teamwork expected by the Captain of his remaining men to undertake their arduous journey to reach the fort. 

Story-wise, historical accuracy comes and goes. In truth Glass didn't have a son, which leads to a peevish injection: why do movie marketers/producers insist on posting the words, e.g. "based on true events," on their posters? In the case of The Revenant the contradictions are staggering (for a well-researched history of Hugh Glass, read Rebecca Onion's excellent article on the Glass myth in Slate Magazine: Who was Hugh Glass? ). The screenwriters do provide ethical lessons for audiences to ponder, and work hard to show a balanced perspective, from the in-fighting among various tribes to the cavalry captain and the complex "villain", Fitzgerald. I also admired the main theme, reinforced throughout the movie, of revenge and its consequences (Gladiator references abound, intentional or not, I don't know.).

Moreover, the Native American women may be victims or need rescuing in this story, but their pride and self-empowerment, especially in one brutal scene, rise to the surface in unexpected places.

In the future, I hope to interview some Native Americans who have seen this movie to get their opinions. I know my boyfriend, part Blackfoot, felt emboldened by the screenwriter and director's choices. In my opinion, The Revenant boldly and reverently depicts the tribes as they try to maintain their culture and protect their lands. Forced to take sides, French vs. British/Colonials, these indigenous people have fateful choices. 

Making decisions is the fundamental basis of a director. Iñárritu, and his cinematographer Lubezki, illuminate all that is beautiful and ugly in our natural landscape. Choosing to film in natural light, from a myriad of vantage points, these men show the land, nature as gifts to be savored not squandered. 

In the end, the quest for vengeance left this audience member shaken, unsatisfied, a reaction I'd bet Iñárritu wanted. So, see a master craftsman and his artists at work. You will be affected. In its message, The Revenant shines a new light on the early days when men raped the land and left little except for the very few. An old lesson yet to be learned by mankind.

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