Author: Michael

I heard a terrifying report on Christian Law Schools on NPR this morning. Not that I have any problem with the concept of a Christian Law School as being akin to a Christian prep school. If someone wants to go to a religiously affiliated school for certain standards of education, or an education tied to that religion, that’s fine. What terrified me about the report I heard was the frequent linking of the Church and State that was being espoused by the students and administrators being interviewed.

In general, there seems to be a strong movement toward the unification of Church and State… but it’s not just any church. It seems to be a decidedly Christian conservative church. Has anyone stopped to ask themselves, “What about all the people who are not Christian?” The State, or law, is a universal concept for anyone living in the United States. The law touches everyone, regardless of their religion people still get charged for breaking the law and get criminal charges, and that’s why people look for help from criminal lawyers from sites as criminalattorneylongislandny.com/areas-served/long-island/trial-attorney/ so they can at least get a defense for these accusations. How can people even think about bringing in religion… any religion… that will automatically alienate many, many people?

I can’t even coherently write about this issue. It is the single most frustrating and frightening concept in the world today, and there are a lot of those!

To read more about Christian Law Schools, visit the NPR website.

At the Brattle Theatre’s Oscar Party Gala in February, Scot and I dropped a few hundred bucks to support the Foundation at its Silent Auction. As we often do, the focus of our bidding comes in the form of theatre tickets. This year, one of the packages we won provided us with four passes to see some shows at the usually delightful Theater Offensive.

After reading a couple of great reviews, we decided to catch Mike Albo’s “My Price Point,” which wrapped its Boston run this past Sunday. I’ve seen lots of great one-person shows, and “My Price Point sounded intriguing and fun. Whoo boy… maybe Albo was just having an off-night, but I can’t for the life of me understand where those good reviews were coming from!

To be fair, Albo is a comfortable performer, relaxed on stage, and a good dancer. The material, on the other hand, was fairly unoriginal, boring, obvious, and unfunny. “My Price Point” is a satire… oops, I mean a lampoon (according to its press release), which is a “light, good-humored satire” (thank you dictionary.com, I thought there was a more clearly defined difference.) While “light” is certainly accurate, good-humored is less so… and satire? Hmmm… just what was he supposed to be satirizing? Consumerism? American society’s fascination with branding? Albo is clearly someone who is fascinated with consumerism and pop culture himself, and intends to lightly poke fun at the extremes of our culture, somewhat effectively, but not very originally. I felt as though I was watching a less-talented Jack-McFarland performance of “Just Jack!” (especially during the interminably long and lacking-in-laughs J-Lo skit.)

So, you missed the Boston run of “My Price Point.” Consider yourself lucky.

Oscar Nominations were announced yeserday morning, and more importantly, Chlotrudis Awards Nominations were set last Saturday (pre-Boston Blizzard) at the Chlotrudis Society’s Nominating Committee’s Annual meeting. While the quality of films honored at this year’s Academy Awards is arguably better than usual, what frustrates me is the fact that the Academy seems to think that there is a very small pool of award-worthy films released each year. The same films keep showing up in each category. By contrast, the Chlotrudis nominations boast a startling variety of films in different genres and styles, from an amazing array of countries, at so many different levels of “independent film.” To contrast, THE AVIATOR picked up the most Oscar nods at eleven. Chlotrudis’ Nominating Committee favored Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’ Thailand/Japan co-production LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE as the film with the most nods at a mere five.

Sure there were a couple of surprises over on the left coast. I know the slate of Best Actors was strong this year, but skipping over Paul Giamatti for his work in SIDEWAYS just seemed wrong especially since they acknowledged supporting performances from Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen. Surely Clint Eastwood, who is being much lauded for his direction of MILLION DOLLAR BABY, could have taken a pass in the Best Actor category.

On the more pleasant side of surprises, the Academy showed an uncommon boldness by going with crtically acclaimed Catalina Sandina Moreno from MARIA FULL OF GRACE in the Best Actress category. While her performance was lauded by critics nationwide, it’s still unusual that enough Academy members actually saw the film in order to nominate the first-time actress.

Of course, not even Chlotrudis is exempt from shutting out deserving films. As my pal over at lymejello pointed out, BEFORE SUNSET, which was appreciated by many Chlotrudis members, just didn’t have the weight to make it onto the ballot. A couple of films I saw late in the year that I would have liked to seen on the ballot somewhere include the quirky Australian film THE RAGE IN PLACID LAKE, and the haunting Turkish film, DISTANT. I know it caused some controversy, but I would have sworn that Lars von Trier’s DOGVILLE would have fared better with Chlotrudis voters (it did pick up a couple of nods.) I was particularly surprised that Nicole Kidman didn’t make the cut.

Still, I strongly feel that this is the year that the Chlotrudis Society really got it right with its’ nomiantions; lots of interesting foreign films, the mini-majors didn’t dominate. The Buried Treasure Award, Chlotrudis’ centerpiece award, is still under discussion. Expect an announcement by the weekend.

See you at the movies!

Augusten Burroughs is a freak, and I will not read anymore of his work that is non-fiction and has to do with him. I just do not want to know anything else about this man, and if I ever see him walking toward me, I will cross the street immediately.

Augusten Burroughs is a very good writer. His work is clever, witty and very fast moving. I have read his novel, Sellevision (which I actually read before his smash memoir was released), said smash memoir, Running with Scissors, and just now, his collection of true stories, Magical Thinking. I did not read Dry, the account of his alochol-hazed twenties, and now I do not plan to. Reading Augusten Burroughs books has crystalized something that has been itching at the back of my mind for several months, if not years.

I don’t really want to know peoples’ dark secrets. I want to know people from the moment I meet them forward into the future. Okay, I’m exaggerating, but when it comes to complete strangers, I’m uncomforatble reading about their dirty little (or huge) secrets. This self-confessional form of memoir has been popular for several years now. It started with celebrities, but in the past few years, it seems like anyone can write a book about their chilhood, the more perverse or twisted the better, and have it be a runaway bestseller. I partially blame Oprah. Augusten Burroughs is the most recent, trendy example of this. When I read Burroughs books, I am alternatively entertained and horrified. But it’s not the fun horrified of the spiraling descent in a bleak foreign film, it’s the horrified that genuinely upsets me, and makes me wonder just how much of a freak this man must be.

Now comes the strange part. I get that feeling reading some peoples’ blogs as well. Kind of contradictory, considering I’m writing in my own blog at this moment. But I also have a love/hate relationship with blogs. I do occassionally stumble upon a blog from time to time, that I find fairly interesting, that I read sporadically, or even vaguely regularly. As is often the case, these blogs usually revolve around the person writing it. Lately, I’ve been reading someone’s blog over a period of time, getting to “know” them in a certain sense, then I will start to be horrified at what they’re writing. The things they’re sharing with people they don’t know. I start to think they’re freaks.

It helps if I meet the people, because then I can see them as a whole person, and not just as what they write in their blogs. It has also become wonderfully refreshing to find bloggers who write intelligent, interesting, personal blogs that avoid the mysterious quality that gives me the heebie jeebies.

Then there is film, and as anyone who knows me, film is a medium that I simply adore. There was a film out this fall called TARNATION directed by Jonathan Caouette. Part biography, party memoir, Caouette has been filming his own admittedly dysfunctional life since he was around eleven years old. As an adult, he edited a lot of the footage that he had been filming for his entire life into a film exploring the descent into mental illness sufferred by his mother, and the extremes in his life that he has endured. I was very wary of seeing this film, and watching it, in fact, did make me very uncomfortable in the way reading Augusten Burroughs’ books do. But Mr. Caouette was in the audience that day, and hearing him speak and talk about his life and the making of this film, put my mind at ease. The film, by the way, is pretty amazing, and one of my top 10 of the year, but I’m hoping it doesn’t start a trend.

Perhaps I should go to a reading of Augusten Burroughs, to try and get over this strong aversion I have developed surrounding him. I try to make myself feel better thinking he exaggerates for his books, and that no one like that is really walking around unrestrained among normal people. I know it’s me. His books are best sellers. People love him. And I will happily read anymore fiction that he publishes.

I have to close this blog entry with Mr. Burroughs own words… a passage from his book. He explains, since writing his books, people will approach him on the street and tell him embarassing or horrifying things about themselves. He writes of one woman, somebody’s grandmother and a complete stranger, who confessed something truly repulsive and bizarre to him. After telling this woman’s story, Augusten writes, “Although I was able to maintain a pleasant expression, I was mentally throwing up in her face. This is the sort of detail you don’t reveal to anybody, even a therapist. You simply avoid Dr. Pepper and take your dirty little secret to the grave with you.”

Well, Mr. Burroughs, I wish you had taken your own advice.

Warchild is a first novel from 2002 by Karin Lowachee. Taking place largely in deep space, this compelling novel looks at interstellar war through the eyes of a child. Jos is torn from the only life he has ever known at the age of eight, when pirates destroy the merchant ship that he lives on with his family. His parents are killed, and Jos is taken on as the pet of Falcone, a cruel, manipulative, and dangerous pirate. For the next eight years, Jos finds himself in a variety of situations were trust is a deadly concept, and doing what is right is often the most difficult thing imaginable.

Lowachee has a strong sense of storytelling. It is not often that books keep me up well past the time I should have turned out the light just so I can find out what happens next. Her characters are fully fleshed out and real, with their hidden complexities slowly revealed, rather than delineated in the pages that they first appear. Yet she doesn’t pull any unfair tricks either, with characters suddenly behaving contrary to their natures just to provide a plot twist.

I read Warchild because the author will be one of the four who I have invited to appear at the Massachusetts Library Association’s annual conference in May 2005. I always try to read at least one work by each of the visiting authors. How delightful to find a new, talented author whose career I can enjoy hopefully for many years to come. Fans of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game should give Lowachee, and Warchild, a try.