changes

I published a review of Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga on Granite Media and also posted it on Goodreads.

I really wanted to put screenshots of this entire poem in the review, but couldn’t justify it on Granite Media. But here, I get to do whatever I want, so…

I still smile at everyone in the street. Not everyone smiles back, though. When they don’t, I want to say, ‘You don’t have to worry about me. I am just a girl who likes movies.’ -–Jude, in Jasmine Warga’s Other Words for Home

This is the engaging story of Jude, a girl who lives in a ocean-side town in Syria, where her father runs a convenience store for the tourists who visit the nearby beach resorts. She loves to watch old (1990s) American movies and sing along to Whitney Houston songs, and wants to be an actress. As tensions rise between the Syrian government and young demonstrators pushing for democracy, including Jude’s teenage brother Issa, Jude and her mother travel to visit Jude’s uncle in America. As the situation in Syria continues to deteriorate they are effectively refugees in America, and Jude must navigate American middle school while not knowing what is happening to her brother back home.

Jude is a character that all readers will be able to identify with, and Warga does a great service in showing Jude’s personality and the details of her family and life in Syria before the political unrest and violence breaks out. Crafted in easy-flowing free verse, this is a story that will help refugees, immigrants, English language learners, and really any young person who feels like they don’t quite fit in to feel seen, and it will build understanding and empathy in readers as it puts an individual face and experience on a terrible individual situation that can be hard to imagine or understand. This would make an excellent classroom read, and I highly recommend it for all young readers and for inclusion in every elementary and middle school library.

Reviewed by Joshua Whiting, Library Media Program, Educational Technology Department Rating: ★★★★★ (5 stars) Interest Level: Grades 4-8

Other Words for Home Written by Jasmine Warga Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 342 pages Release Date: May 28, 2019 ISBN: 9780062747808

Tags: 2019 Children’s Fiction, Cincinnati Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Emigration Fiction, Family Fiction, Government Resistance Fiction, Immigrants Fiction, Jasmine Warga, Joshua Whiting, Movies Fiction, Moving Fiction, Muslim Americans Fiction, Muslims Fiction, Novels in Verse, Ohio Fiction, Political Unrest Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Refugees Fiction, Syria Fiction, Syrian Americans Fiction

Standalone post link: Book Review - Other Words for Home

I published a review of A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Perry on Granite Media and also posted it on Goodreads.

Enjoyed reading this one to my kids at bedtime.

Swift is not the largest or strongest pup in his pack, but he loves his home in the mountains and he wants to grow to lead, provide for, and protect the pack just like his mother and father do. When stranger wolves invade their territory, Swift finds himself alone and blocked from his mountain home forever. He wanders far, encountering dangers from men and challenges on the prairie and desert. Will he ever find a mountain home among other wolves again?

This is a dramatic, realistic, and action-packed animal adventure story inspired by the true experience of OR-7, a radio-collared wolf that mysteriously traveled over 1,000 miles across Oregon and Northern California to establish a new wolf pack. The back matter features engaging photos, maps, and other information about OR-7 as well as about wild wolves generally and their habitats in the Pacific Northwest. The frequent illustrations add to mood and experience of reading the book.

I highly recommend this book for young readers who like animals, adventure and survival stories, and even lyrical/poetic writing about nature and the wilderness. Swift’s keen observation and love of the mountains made me want to get out and explore nature myself, and after reading the book I’ve found myself even paying more attention to the animals and plants around my home and in the city.

Reviewed by Joshua Whiting, Library Media Program, Educational Technology Department Rating: ★★★★✩ (4 stars) Interest Level: Grades 3-8

A Wolf Called Wander Written by Rosanne Perry, Illustrated by Mónica Armiño Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 243 pages Release Date: May 7, 2019 ISBN: 9780062895936

Tags: 2019 Children’s Fiction, Adventure Fiction, Animal Adventure Fiction, Animals Fiction, Joshua Whiting, Journeys Fiction, Mónica Armiño, Mountains Fiction, Nature Fiction, Rosanne Perry, Shelley Francom, Survival Fiction, Wolves Fiction

Standalone post link: Book Review - A Wolf Called Wander

I forgot to observe Life Day several days ago, but I’ll observe it today on the Internet and on my website. I did share Life Day with my kids (just about 7 minutes worth) soon after when I had come to myself and realigned my priorities. They kind of loved it, and kind of thought it was terrible, which is just as it should be.

A day or two later I overheard my kids telling their cousins about it. My daughter gleefully informed them that Princess Leia did not have a very good singing voice. A few seconds later she literally fell onto her own face out of a swing, which I pointed out to her was likely recompense through the force for her speaking poorly and untruthfully of the princess, or perhaps even the force ghost of Carrie Fisher herself reaching out to bring balance.

I feel like the holiday special is actually one of the most important entries in the entire Star Wars canon because, other than the scenes by the lake on Naboo, it is the only time you really get a feel for the home front in these taxing times, and just how much is at stake to be lost by the regular middle-class inhabitants of the galaxy if the rebellion fails and the empire continues its crushing, authoritarian reign, not only on a galactic level but in its abuses of the personal freedoms and comforts of individuals right in their midcentury modern treehouses.

Standalone post link: Happy Life Day

Kids singing rhymes Dogs barking Car ignitions turning over but failing to start This bitter earth Scuffling and throwing rocks An ice cream truck on the next street over That’s America to me

(First posted on letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/jdwhiting/film/killer-of-sheep/)

Last night I also watched another film directed by Charles Burnett: My Brother’s Wedding, 1983. I watched the director’s cut. It was included in the same scratched-up DVD set as Killer of Sheep, which I obtained from the Salt Lake County Library. I waxed slightly poetic describing the sounds of Killer of Sheep above, but I think I liked My Brother’s Wedding even more, although I admit that a lot of the acting here is just bad. I laughed at moments that I don’t think were intended as comical on account of the acting, but maybe that’s okay. Overall, I’m glad I watched both of them as a double-feature.

(I’m still working my way through the 2017 and 2018 topics of the Film School Drop Outs Challenge at my own pace. This was watched for Week 32 (2018) - Movement - L.A. Rebellion.)

Screenshot of moment of Killer of Sheep frozen by a scratch in the library DVD

Screenshot of library’s MARC Record for Killer of Sheep, just because I’m a weird cataloging nerd and this is my site so I can. And also because I couldn’t get a direct hyperlink to their catalog record to work :(

Standalone post link: I Watched Killer of Sheep, 1978

This review may contain spoilers.

Can’t stop thinking about ghosts in the basement and cockroaches scurrying under the furniture. And how maybe children’s fears should be taken seriously. This is a metaphoric spoiler.

(First posted on letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/jdwhiting/film/parasite-2019/)

Is it weird that I started subscribing to the weekly showtime updates for the Salt Lake Film Society / Broadway Centre Theater almost a year ago but am just now finally attending a movie there on a random Monday night? Probably.

Standalone post link: I Watched Parasite, 2019

I posted a review of The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop, by Carole Boston Weatherford and Frank Morrison, on Goodreads, and I’m expanding on it slightly below.

I was excited about this book and assumed I would love it because of the subject matter, but I guess I’m a little disappointed and feel the need to talk about it.

For readers who don’t already know much of this history (which I assume is going to be most children who encounter this book, including those who are fans of contemporary rap and hip hop)¹ the text moves so quickly and resorts to so much listing and name-checking without context that they will likely need to go to some other sources if they want to actually make any sense out of it. (Like maybe the book should come with a link to a YouTube playlist or something? At least a bibliography or discography.) There are moments in which it gives off a vibe that you should just already know these things, and if you don’t you should be a little embarrassed to raise your hand and ask, which in my opinion isn’t a great vibe for a children’s book.

On the other hand, for older readers and actual hip hop heads that do know, the illustrations will be perfect but I think the text reads kind of corny, while the back matter is extremely dry. Maybe I’m overthinking this or expecting too much, and the main point of this book is actually just for kids to flip through and look at the awesome pictures. And if they are interested in hip hop it works fine for that. It is just slightly frustrating when there are so many great stories that could be shared from the history of hip hop, but this book hardly gives readers a single hook into learning or exploring more about any of it. It also makes me wish that some actual rappers would write some children’s books about rap (and about everything else, for that matter.)

For better context, pair this with When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop (a great example of a specific engaging story from the early days of Hip Hop) or the Hip Hop Family Tree graphic novels (although I can’t remember whether those are particularly kid-friendly) to give a peak into some of those stories. And if you want to hear the actual music, since the book doesn’t reference any kind of playlist, these yearly History of Hip Hop mixes are one great resource.

Standalone post link: Book Review - The Roots of Rap

I think she might be the most hilarious actor I’ve ever watched.

I watched La Strada, 1954, on February 14, 2020.

I watched Nights of Cabiria, 1957, on February 16, 2020.

I came to watch La Strada and Nights of Cabiria because Fellini was the next topic for an old film challenge that I’m still working my way through, but more than anything I came away from them a huge Giulietta Masina fan. I think she might be the most hilarious actor I’ve ever watched. Just her facial expressions and movements made me laugh out loud numerous times. She imbued both of these films, which on paper would be total slogs or unbearable tragedies, with so much humor and life. It seems almost unbelievable that Zampanò and the other characters in the films didn’t see this charisma and feeling themselves, and make her as much of a star as they could in their worlds. I guess that speaks all the more to the tragedy underlying these tales, our failure to see the wonder and value in our fellow humans.

I guess if nothing else the genius of Fellini is that he married Giulietta Masina and made these films for her to act in. Now I’m not entirely sure if I will even like a Fellini movie that doesn’t have Masina in it. He probably has genius beyond this too, but we will see.

Watched for the Film School Drop Outs - 2018 Challenge: Week 33 - Revision (2017) - Auteurs - Federico Fellini

Standalone post link: Giulietta Masina - first and second impressions, while I was supposed to be regarding the genius of Fellini*

I feel like every moment of my life going forward could be another scene of this film.

This morning I woke up and went out on my back porch to appease our dog’s boredom with a game of fetch. It was a quiet, not-quite-spring Sunday morning; the only sounds beyond my dog’s running and occasional barks were some squirrels jumping between bare tree branches and at one point some unseen geese calling as they flew overhead. Snow began to fall, but was not sticking to the yellow grass and concrete. I didn’t really want to go out there but it ended up being low-key beautiful. I felt like I was in another scene of this film.

I kind of want to get out an actual deck of cards and play solitaire today, something I haven’t done in at least 15 years. I’m not sure I quite even remember the rules.

My grandma taught me and my cousins how to play rummy. I spent a lot of time at my grandma’s house as a kid and teenager playing rummy at the kitchen table. Sometimes the tv or radio would be turned onto something random and blaring, because my grandma was hard of hearing. There was an instrumental flute version of “Bllie Jean” that often played on the easy listening radio station she liked. When no one else was there I think she spent a lot of time playing solitaire.

Watched this last night and thought it was funny and well done. Didn’t like it quite as much as Paterson (a personal favorite and my only Jarmusch film watched to this point), but it had a simplicity and purity which was undeniable.

I feel like every moment of my life going forward could be another scene of this film.

Watched this for my old Film School Drop Outs Challenge: Week 34 - Revision (2017) - Movement - No Wave (1976-1985).

(First posted on letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/jdwhiting/film/stranger-than-paradise/)

Standalone post link: I Watched Stranger Than Paradise, 1984

It’s actually kind of inspiring how bad this film is.

I watched this in scattered 15-20 minute increments over the course of four or five days, due to either getting bored or falling asleep at each attempt to continue. I nevertheless kept coming back out of some stubborn need to see it through. When I found myself inexplicably awake at 5:30 this Saturday morning after having fallen asleep to it yet again the night before, I couldn’t think of anything else to do, so I loaded it up and re-watched the last few minutes of it.

I’m convinced now there is a purposefulness and assuredness to its badness, a kind of punk obstinacy against making a good or entertaining film. It also seems a possibility that the whole film exists simply as an extended setup to tell the sick and clever “Doppler Effect” joke. And to just try out a lot of different things cinematically. Now that I think more on the film, there are many other jokes or situations that potentially could have been really humorous, but did not strike me as humorous as I was watching. Perhaps the bad acting and awkwardness serves the same disorienting purpose that noise/feedback/atonality serve in no wave, punk, and other experimental music?

The reason this film’s badness inspires me, or I should say gives me hope, is for my own creative life and for other creators: it is perhaps the best example I have encountered lately that one can make a thing that might be objectively awful, but come out from it having learned and grown, and proceed to make much stronger work in the future. Everything I saw and loved in Jarmusch’s later films (the humor, the obsession with music, the poetry, the awkwardly long, quiet, intimate takes) is already here in this film, but obscured. It is as if for his subsequent films he just had to learn to adjust and recalibrate settings to allow the humor and emotion to come into clearer focus. Or maybe he just needed a better lead actor, to be honest.

In the end I’m quite glad that I persisted in watching this seemingly terrible film and took some moments to think and write about it.

Watched in part for the Film School Drop Outs Challenge of 2017-2018 that I am still slowly, stubbornly, thoroughly working my way through in 2020. Week 34 - Revision (2017) - Movement - No Wave (1976-1985)

(First posted on letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/jdwhiting/film/permanent-vacation/)

Standalone post link: I Watched Permanent Vacation, 1980

Annotated detail from my snapshot of a quote on the wall of the Niko Krivanek: dear sally, love mom photography exhibit in the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Saturday, October 23, 2021.

Text in image:

As that claustrophobic unit, the nuclear family, was being carved out of a much larger family aggregate, photography came along to memorialize, to restate symbolically, the imperiled continuity and vanishing extendedness of family life. Those ghostly traces, photographs, supply the token presence of the dispersed relatives. A family’s photograph album is generally about the extended family-and, often, is all that remains of it. As photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possession of space in which they are insecure.

-Susan Sontag, On Photography

Replace “photography” with “Facebook

Standalone post link: Replace 'photography' with 'Facebook'