We read (reread in most cases) Frankenstein for our Holiday book club choice. I read it in high school and again later in college. I think I was more used to reading " Western canon" at that stage of my life. I'm very glad I had that phase. It does a lot for a person... reading those things... in that period of development... but I am decidedly not in that phase now. And I'm pretty glad for it. So, I'm not sure I enjoyed the book as much this go-round. Guillermo del Toro's new version didn't help matters tbh. 

I digress (before I started). I think the "canon" thinking got me thinking about more contemporary Sci-Fi "canon" and what that looks like or could look like. I read enough and try to pay attention enough (or at least some) about what my blind spots are. Octavia Butler was and has been and is still a blind spot so I suggested  Dawn for book club. I didn't know much about her beyond The Parable of the Sower, which I haven't even read. I just know of it. But one of our book club members had already read it and I already had this sick edition of Dawn in my collection so I pushed for it to be our next read. 

After Frankenstein this was a breeze. I zipped through it faster than I have zipped in a while. It was tough in parts and fun in parts and, at least from our little book club limited view, wholly unique. An incomplete list of what we've recently read for book club:

• Methuselah's Children - Heinlein
• Frankenstein - already mentioned
• Dark Matter - no logical reason to be called this...
• Project Hail Mary - discussed here
• Altered Carbon - discussed here
• Scanners Live in Vain - (a personal favorite)
• The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
• Ringworld - Niven

I'm blanking on the others but there were some other stinkers in there too. Compared to the list above I think only the Cordwainer Smith story compares with actual novel storytelling, though, they are nothing alike in any way. Its tough to escape my lived experience of being a white dude and a lot of the stories above are basically white dude stories. I really loved Dawn for not being that which, of course it wouldn't be, but still I'm glad for it. 

Anyhow, quick synopsis. Earth is destroyed. At least people are destroyed. Few folks have been saved and put to sleep by aliens somewhere out in outer space, but not that far away by todays standards. Lilith, our heroine(?), is awakened by her captors and kept prisoner. This has happened many times before. She manages to endear herself to them so as to become their companion(pet?). She's being groomed to wake up others so they can repopulate earth. Then there's some genetic stuff. Some weird sex (sort of) stuff. Alien to human conflict. Human to human conflict in a fake jungle. It gets weirder from there. 

Recommend! 

I had been interested in watching this one for years. I'm not sure I have sorted my thoughts about it yet but I haven't posted in a bit so figured I'd at least mention it with some scattered thoughts. 

The opening of this film, in the dingy downstairs nightclub, with dingy downstairs people is truly one of the most beautiful sequences I've seen in a while. A hell of a way to open a movie, letting the audience know everything about the world these two mermaids inhabit. The music is hit or miss but absolutely service the film beautifully... and the literal translations are quite a bit of fun. The Polish title of the film is bit better but more on the nose, "Daughters of Dancing",  and has nothing to imply the aquatic motif so I guess thats why it was Americanized in the US release. 

I didn't adore the second half in the same way as the explosive opening but all the actors are perfect in their roles. The music and set design is flawless. Overall a really fun 92 minutes. 

I think I've mentioned it here before that I really love melodrama. My enjoyment of it has mostly been limited to US melodrama, with a smattering of Fassbinder. I'm sure I could pluck out some other memories of non-US films if pressed but the point is my focus has been primarily on the BIG classics of the US, my favorite being All that Heaven Allows. I had seen that criterion put this edition out last year and, while judging a book by its cover is something one is explicitly taught not to do... I'd guess exceptions can be made when its as sick as the cover above.

The movies starts with some poor dancer (implied prostitute) returning to The Changoo cabaret to plead with her lover to take her and their baby. He quickly dismisses her and the child and wants nothing to do with her. (Knowing nothing about this movie in advance, the inciting plot element here was pretty shocking.) Anyhow, she begs him to take her back and claims she'll abandon the baby if he'll take her back. He's sort of like, "yeah ok, I guess" (clearly not that interested). So then she promptly goes outside to do just that. Even today this is a visually shocking moment.

Alternating moments with the familial disintigration scenes we are introduced to Violeta, the up and coming dancing sensation played by a really incredibly magentic Ninón Sevilla. We get a few choice numbers throughout the film but I'm partial to a call and response number where the crowd (knowing all the words) shout "I want clams, serve me some clams!" and she dances her heart out having a blast. There is also a great one where she kind of just dances in a circle with some tiny steps (potentially due to the tight dress) kicking and smiling and really going for it. She really looks like she's having fun. 

Violeta learns of the baby abandonment and runs out into the night and immediately finds him! Which always tickles me, when they find the thing right away (spoofed in The Jerk at the end... one of my favorites jokes... "How'd you find me?" "I dont' know. First place we looked.") She is down and out a bit, gets fired by the Don of the Changoo which then epically goes out of business because the other matron leaves as well. Right before this she has a wildly suggestive song all about 'dancing'. Good stuff.

Rodolfo (baby daddy) finds Violeta on a street and wants her to be with him. He sees the baby in the corner just chillin and tries to once again do away him him. :( Then he is equally bogus to Violeta but she is saved by the other "dancers" who are on her block. They take him to night court(!), or something, and he gets thrown in jail for six years.

Visually this film is also a wonder. All dark and smoggy. It seems that most was shot at a studio in Mexico City but there are some exteriors that are really striking. Especially by the La Machina Loca club where she later is installed as a "dancer" and then an actual dancer a bit later. She takes up with the owner of this club and he seems ok! and they are happy... for a while, even getting the child baptized. 

Fast forward six years and guess who is getting out of prison? From here it goes from bogus to bleak as hell. All in all a really great film.

I generally try to get the vintage copies of books, especially if the author is not around anymore. No need to give "The Big Five" more money. A quick Biblio, Abe (I know... I know who they are owned by... but at least the booksellers are just regular folks trying to get by), & Bookshop visit can give you vintage/used options if your normal go-to is Amazon. I've even made pen pals of a sort through buying from independent sellers. All around a better experience. 

Anyhow, older paperbacks of this particular novel are pretty cost prohibitive so I ended up with the more recent New York Review of Books edition from someone on Biblio. The George Pelecanos intro to this edition is ok. Short and sweet. He understood the assignment and what makes this a worthwhile read.

That said, I'm not sure that I have too much to say about this one. There is some great dialogue.

"Holy Cats," Jack said. "Did you see this shower? One sprayer up on top,

for on the sides. Man, they must stand in there and just plain go out of their minds. 

An the control aint two handles, it's one that goes from cold to hot."

Its bleak though. Bleak throughout, but the final quarter seems to exist just to hammer home how awful life can be for some people and rich people get everything they want. I could have done without that portion completely. The first bit, in Portland and environs is great though, especially if you are at all familiar with the area. Now that I'm thinking about it (writing about it)... its kind of 3 books or novellas in one. From hustling in the pool halls to prison to domestic(?) life and its trappings... 

It's worth a read if any of that sounds good.  For a much better summary and bio on Carpenter head over to this great substack post.. 

A few years back I went with two friends to see The Heartbreak Kid at the (completely packed) Music Box in Chicago. Caring about Chicago and Chicago history, as I do, I knew who Elaine May was. The Compass Players... Nichols and May... The Birdcage... Mikey and Nicky (which I should rewatch because all my friends love it and I didn't really like it the first time... 😬) etc. I knew of her but really didn't have an understanding the level at which she operated.... which is basically just higher than everyone else, effortlessly. Chicago comedy owes much of its success to her and Nichols.

In her first outing as a director, she cast Matthau as the bumbling rich person who never had to work. This is punctuated by a great scene of confusion with a banker, displaying just how little he understands money. There are some great jokes in the first third of the movie between Matthau and his butler, including a running gag about "Carbon on the valves..." Movies should really employ running gags more.

But once Elaine May shows up, the film is elevated beyond the typical bumbling male-centric comedy (No shade... sometimes those are great). May is adorably and clumsily introduced with a spill and a Matthau speech about the hosts rug perversions. Throughout May is hilarious with her subdued demeanor ("Heavens..") and physical comedy. Alone in my living room I laughed out loud when a waiter pulled a table back and she's covered in crumbs. Precursor to Charles Grodin disgusted by Jeannie Berlin eating in Heartbreak Kid. This gag is hilariously called back later in the movie when Walter Matthau declares "She has to be vacuumed every time we eat!". 

Matthau's scheme in the second half is pretty dark but the writing and repartee soften all of this... It is pretty easy to see how the film will resolve but knowing where it is headed takes nothing away from the journey of getting there.