Milo MInderbinder
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Posts posted by Milo MInderbinder
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Hi Alyson. Welcome. As a Neil Young fan I see it as my duty to be nice to Canadians.
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Thanks for the info. If thats the case then I think I'll buy the paperback. In the digital age its good to support smaller publishers of printed books.
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Just had a look at this on Amazon. Its nearly £14 for the paperback. I may wait for the Kindle edition.
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Wow. Sounds like a great book. I have never heard of it before but it's now on my radar. Thanks for the informative review CB.
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Milo that's a valid question but you will have to jump in and read the book to satisfy yourself as to the answer. Personally, having read a fair bit of the book now, I think the author had an attitude of "let's see". I think it was a genuine attempt at exploring something that many people don't get to explore. I don't think the motive was money or anything material, which would have been shallow. She did immerse herself as much as she was able to . I don't agree with all her conclusions and observations, and she says herself in the intro that it can only remain a subjective experience, but I give her respect for doing it.
Are you going to give the book a go?
Thanks VF. Thats explains quite a bit. I may jump into the book, but I won't post about it on here as I wouldn't want to incur the wrath of Frankie. I wouldn't want to appear rude or hurt her feelings again.
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It was just a sceptical opinion Frankie. I apologise if I have hurt your or anybody else's feelings. I mistakenly thought that different opinions were allowed on forums, hence the name 'forum'. I am sorry for my mistake. My comment was not aimed at anybody personally. I hope you can forgive me.
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Vodkafan and I are doing a mini group reading of Self-Made Man and we thought we'd start a thread on the book and see if others would like to join in. And even if not, here's where we are going to discuss the book.
Here's what amazon has to say about the book:
Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back Again
Following in the tradition of John Howard Griffin (Black Like Me) and Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed), Norah Vincent absorbed a cultural experience and reported back on what she observed incognito. For more than a year and a half she ventured into the world as Ned, with an ever-present five o’clock shadow, a crew cut, wire-rim glasses, and her own size 111/2 shoes—a perfect disguise that enabled her to observe the world of men as an insider. The result is a sympathetic, shrewd, and thrilling tour de force of immersion journalism that’s destined to challenge preconceptions and attract enormous attention.
With her buddies on the bowling league she enjoyed the rough and rewarding embrace of male camaraderie undetectable to an outsider. A stint in a high-octane sales job taught her the gut- wrenching pressures endured by men who would do anything to succeed. She frequented sex clubs, dated women hungry for love but bitter about men, and infiltrated all-male communities as hermetically sealed as a men’s therapy group, and even a monastery. Narrated in her utterly captivating prose style and with exquisite insight, humor, empathy, nuance, and at great personal cost, Norah uses her intimate firsthand experience to explore the many remarkable mysteries of gender identity as well as who men are apart from and in relation to women. Far from becoming bitter or outraged, Vincent ended her journey astounded—and exhausted—by the rigid codes and rituals of masculinity. Having gone where no woman (who wasn’t an aspiring or actual transsexual) has gone for any significant length of time, let alone eighteen months, Norah Vincent’s surprising account is an enthralling reading experience and a revelatory piece of anecdotally based gender analysis that is sure to spark fierce and fascinating conversation.
Re: "a perfect disguise that enabled her to observe the world of men as an insider."
There isn't a 'world' of men. Just as their isn't a world of women. All of us are individuals. I wouldn't have the short sightedness to think that going undercover as a woman would give me any insight into what a woman mentally feels like. I think the idea for the book is pretty shallow. Whats the authors goal in writing the book? Does anybody know? It sounds like some dull feature from The One Show.
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David Ritz first met Marvin Gaye in 1978, after the former had defended Gayes album of the time 'Hear, My Dear' in the Los Angeles Times against a wave of scathing reviews that met the albums release. Ritz had written books on other artists, most notably Ray Charles. They became close friends and this book contains hours of transcribed interviews and conversations between the two men. Neither of them would have been aware that a lot of what was said would become, as well as his music, Gayes legacy of his life as only six years later he would be murdered by his own father the night before his forty fifth birthday.
As well as the interviews that Ritz carried out with Marvin, as a family friend he got to talk to all the main players in the life Marvin Gaye. His parents, siblings, musicians and artists who worked with him throughout his career, including many of the people involved with the magic of Motown.
As a fan of many different kinds of music, I can't think of any other record label in the history of popular music that excites me as much as the Tamla Motown Recording Corporation of Detroit Michigan. My love affair with Motown started with my purchase of an old scratched copy of The Velvettes single 'Needle in a Haystack' from a record exchange in Wakefield's indoor market in the mid-1980's, and through all different kinds of music I have heard since then I always return to the quality of songs by Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Martha Reeves, The Four Tops, and The Supremes amongst many many others. Motown had the songs, the singers, and the consistent class, style, and unique sound that I would argue has never been bettered in recorded music.
Apart from detailing Gayes entire life Ritz presents the reader with a great insight into the Motown hit factory. Often presented as one big happy family, Ritz shows the other side of Tamla. Artists stifled, session musicians and songwriters getting paid a pittance for their craft, and at the head of it all the tyrannical Berry Gordy Jnr. A man with enough financial success to make Midas blush (Gordy's fortune is estimated at a cool $600 million).
The accepted image of MG is one of the ultra cool funkateer playboy. This it seems was the polar opposite of the real man. From a troubled childhood that turned into a troubled life, Gaye was a man in constant turmoil. A believer in Christianity but at the same time a hedonist, a man capable of jaw-dropping genorosity but who could be a total nightmare when it came to contractual deals, a man who was a romantic but could be cruel as hell to his wives and partners. Underlying all of this was Marvin's relationship with his father. Marvin senior it seems was a vicious man who's son spent his life trying in vain to win his fathers love and acceptence.
This is a great biography, but one that at least a few times had me looking away from the page and cringing at the missed chances and mistakes that Gaye made in his career and personal life. Ritz details how the fresh-faced boy from Motown with the world at his feet ended his days as a shambling paranoid drug addict. This is the saddest tragedy in pop music I have ever read about. A man who brought pleasure to millions, but couldn't find peace for himself.
Aside from the floored and torured character that I read about in this book, Marvin Gayes legacy to me personally is his music. From his early stuff like 'Can I Get a Witness' through to 1971's monumentally great 'Whats Going On' album, he survived changes in musical fads and embraced new ways of making music. This biogrpahy from the sources interviewed seems to be the final word on Brother Marvin. I think it would be hard to find a better book on its subject. God bless Marvin Gaye!
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Homicide: Life on the Streets, and The Wire. Or maybe not. Those shows were perfection, so maybe they should be left that way!
Twin Peaks?
Have to agree Ruth. All the best series are stopped at exactly the right point. The Wire, The Sopranos. Re: Twin Peaks, thats another that was of a certain era and should never be attempted again in my opinion, even though it was brilliant. I can't think of any drama series I would like to see brought back but I would like to see more qaulity drama on television as oppossed to the brand of I'm a Celebrity-Materchef-Big Brother-Relocation-X Factor garbage that is on every hour of every day on every channel.
Rant Over!
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This started on CH4 a few weeks ago on Sundays at 9pm. I watched the first two episodes on the planner last night. Seriously classy drama.
The Biritsh actor Damian Lewis plays Nicholas Brody, a U.S. Marine sergeant who was presumed M.I.A. in Iraq but is found by accident on a special forces mission. The series starts with him coming back to America and his family. Brody it would seem is just a man wanting to claim his life back. Or is he?
The first two episodes of this had me hooked from minute one. Great pace to the plot and a career best by Lewis from what I can see so far. If this series keeps up the standard of the first two episodes it's going to be a belter. Quirky and unnerving tv.
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Martin Chuzzlewit is only the second of Dickens books I have read. I read The Old Curiosity Shop last year which I enjoyed but this time because I was aware of Dickens style it made this less of a challenge and more of a familiar experience.
With most reviews you would expect a few words about storyline from your reviewer. I don’t actually think with Dickens that I need include any. From my first forays into the works of Charles Dickens it seems in each book that his modus operandi is to take his readers on vast sprawling journeys of plot, insights into the idiosyncrasies of human behaviour, and vivid descriptions of locations in cities and country settings.
In MC from page one Dickens drops the reader into a sleepy Wiltshire village, and then changes the backdrop to London and then on to the United States with seamless ease. On the way Dickens introduces you* to the good, the bad, and the ugly of his tale. The fantastically named Seth Pecksniff, Poll Sweedlepipe, Tom Pinch, Jonas Chuzzlewit, and Sairy Gamp to name but a few. Told with the wit and suspense that seems to be a trademark of Charles Dickens I would wholly recommend this book.
Discovering Dickens quite late in my life as a reader I feel the same buzz I felt at fifteen when I first discovered Stephen King’s books, and the icing on the cake for me is there are so many of them to go at. It seems to me that old CD, if you’ll excuse the pun, wrote the book with regard to plot twists, characterisation, and what makes a great novel and I can’t wait to read the rest of them. Next up for me is Bleak House.
*I recently saw a Dickens Biographer on tv describing how Dickens style makes you feel he’s sat at the side of you telling the story to you and you alone. I couldn’t agree more.
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Finished Martin Chuzzlewit yesterday. Great novel. I feel lucky that I'm fairly new to Mr.D and that with the bicentenary there is loads of good informative tv docus and talk shows about him. So that was my second Dickens book, can't wait to get stuck into everything else.
On my KIndle awaiting my purusal I have:
Bleak House
A Tale of Two Cities
David Copperfield
I will probably go with Bleak House as it was recommended to me by Ruth. With Dickens I have that real buzz you get when you want to read everything by a certain author.
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I watched 'The Guard' at the weekend. Brendan Gleeson plays a quirky local copper on the West Coast of Ireland and Don Cheadle is an FBI agent sent to investigate some drug smugglers. The idea was promising but the film was average at best. Gleeson and Cheadle's acting is of the great standard that they are known for but the film lacked something for me.
Re: The Artist. To me it was a reminder of how important the big screen is as a medium. And a lesson to us all to stop watching things on our laptops and to get down to your local picture house. A great film. I walked out from watching it grinning from ear to ear.
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As we have the most over-rated films list up and running I felt it only fair to look at some of the most under-rated films;
For example, Withnail and I springs to mind as do High Fidelity and Babel
A few more:
The Warriors
Beautiful Girls
Backbeat
Wag the Dog
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Over-rated films; Iron Lady, Titanic, Top Gun (in fact most films with Tom Cruise), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, to name but a few
Couldn't agree more about TIODP. Even as a Python fan this was one of those films that after watching it and walking out of the cinema I felt I'd been conned out of my leisure time and my money. It should never have got released.
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Can't agree on this one...blasphemy!! Blade Runner is superb..Philip K Dick story... artistic vision of Syd Mead..the music..the concept of artificial humans and the issues raised ....for me a recent over rated piece of rubbish was the latest Planet Of The Apes effort...typical of the worst Hollywood films..just throw some big names in with a formula plot and a lot of CGI. They will still be talking about Blade Runner in 25 years time while films like this will be forgotten.
With you on this VF. I love every second of Bladerunner. I actually think the film based around Dick's book was better. I think what this thread shows is how subjective films are. Lets raise a glass to the power of cinema.
Ooh, just thought of another absolute stinker: The Thomas Crown Affair. I'm a big McQueen fan but that film was awful.
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For me a main contester has to Hunger. Set in Ireland in 1981, it follows a prison in which ultimately Michael Fassbender goes on a hunger strike in opposition to British rule.
I am very open to films, and a big fan of Fassbender. I do love artistic films of all sorts.
This film was critically praised and everyone who had seen it told me how brilliant it was.... I just don't understand. It is truly awful. Without giving to much away...First of all it follows two inmates (not Fassbender's character) there is not explanation who they or what they did, doesn't explain there motives or believes. Just shows them in their daily prison lives (which is grim) for about half the film then just leaves them. Don't know what happens to them or anything. They don't go on hunger strikes or show up again in the film.
It then moves on to Fassbender's character in Prison (again no previous connection to the other two, or anything about his life pre-prison.) It has one good scene, about 15 minutes of un-cut dialogue between Fassbender and a Priest, where he explains what he wants to do.
I won't explain anymore, but basically the hunger strike is completely underwhelming.
Ultimately you feel nothing for the characters or their cause.
This was directors Steve McQueen's debut film, it had so much potential and I was so disappointed. His new film, Shame, has also been praised in the same way, I will give it a chance but certainly won't pay to see it.
Hi Timstar
I think what the viewer of this film needed was a previous knowledge of the hunger strikes that happened in Long Kesh prison. The message I got from this powerful film was what a waste of human life on all sides occured during the "troubles" in Northern Ireland and the failure of all the political sides involved not to have gotten around a table and negotiated a solution to a very complex problem, most notably an illegal occupation of its neighbouring nation by the British Government and its armed forces. Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox.
Back on topic:
Totally agree about Tinker, Taylor. Most over-rated thing I have seen in ages. Some more for the list:
Titanic
The Kings Speech - Colin Firth as usual playing Colin Firth. That man's range is never-ending.
The Untouchables - One of the worst mob movies I have ever seen. Again starring an actor who plays himself in every role: Sean Connery.
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Thats the stuff Doc.
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I'm with you on this Booknutt. Even though I'm only on my second Dickens book and am in no way an expert, one of the attractions for me is that his stories are so epic in scope. Great novels should be savoured and not rushed. Often with Dickens I find myself going back over paragraphs in awe of how bloody good he is at descriptive writing.
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The ending to Grapes of Wrath is a strange one, but it has stayed with me over the years and has made more sense over time as I have grown up. Even as a fan of GOW I admit the Oakie-Hokie vernacular that it is written in does make the reader work.
With Mice and Men I personally saw that story as a celebration of strong friendship. It was sad but I thought it a great lesson in short story telling.
Maybe you could give Cannery Row or Tortilla Flat a try Julie. They are both much lighter reads than the books you have mentioned. The latter I found hilarious and it contains as many vindications for getting drunk on red wine as I have ever read in one book.
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I watched a great Newsnight Book Review special on Dickens from last week. Kirsty Wark and a panel including two novelists and an Oxford English Professor were discussing Dickens life and why his works are still enjoyed by readers today. Good telly. It should still be available on iplayer.
And I am thouroughly enjoying Martin Chuzzlewit. Great book!
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Thanks for the kind words Julie. I'm glad you liked the review. In answer to a couple of your questions: East of Eden came out in the early 1950's and wasn't Steinbecks last book. As far as I know he wrote into the mid-1960's and the wonderful 'Travels With Charley' that you mention was published in the early 60's so EOE wasn't any final life testament. As for the suicide, I think you may be mistaking JS for another writer because I think he died from natural causes (could you be thinking of Ernest Hemingway?) From the book it seems to me that his sons were quite young boys, he alludes to the eldest having some problems I.e. growing pains in the journal so I would put him to be an early teen. The characters were not based on the personalities of his own sons, but other characters in the book were based on family members of Steinbecks, and my favorite character Sam Hamilton was based on Steinbecks father. As for your comment about East of Eden being a beautiful strory I wholeheartedly agree with you..
Are you a fan of other Steinbeck novels?
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A book about writing a book? The thought of this even as a big fan of JS gave me flashes of the writer being a teeny bit self indulgent. After I was a couple of pages into this collection of letters my first ill-informed opinion was obliterated.
This is a collection of letters that Steinbeck wrote to his editor and friend Pascal Covici (aka Pat in the text). Many of us will have colleagues to chat to and converse with everyday. This is not so for a writer so for JS his journal was his water cooler chat/cigarette break in which he got to let off steam and ruminate on all kinds of topics.
The journal begins in January 1951 when he started writing EOE and ends in November of the same year when he had finished his first draft. From the get go JS set out to write his ultimate book (which many would say he achieved with EOE, as would your humble reviewer). He saw East of Eden as his heavily autobiographical legacy to his two sons in which he wanted to show them the thorough evil of people, the pure goodness of people, and the wonders of nature.
This is a wonderful easy read but one not lacking in depth in which a man bears his soul and his insecurities. The writer who at the age of forty nine had begun to enjoy being a father and a husband but even as a world famous novelist still had the universal hopes and fears that all of us go through in life. His musings contain his usual satirical wit and excellent style and as a reader it was clear to me that Steinbeck and his long-standing editor had over the years galvanised a very sturdy personal relationship where they and their families had become very close, and in which insulting each other and cruel mockery were key to the relationships survival.
The prospective reader would do well to read EOE before this Journal because as well as the whacking great plot spoilers, the writer’s tribulations over various plot changes and structure make this such an interesting read for anybody who has read and loved the novel. As well as notes on the book the writer also waxes lyrical on that years baseball world series, the unavailability of decent pencils (hard to believe in our digital times but he wrote the entire first draft of EOE longhand), the current political situation in the United States, parenthood, and last but not least his passion for carpentry and buying tools.
To conclude, a great insight into the creative process that formed a great book by a great writer. 10/10
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Science Fiction or Speculative Fiction?
in Horror / Fantasy / SF
Posted · Edited by Milo MInderbinder
I think a good name for the genre would be 'Futuristic Fiction'. Especially for books of the same style as Handmaid's Tale, Orwell's 1984, and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. Sci-Fi can be set in the year 4920 but the aforementioned titles deal with worlds that are not that far-fetched from the era we are curently living in.