MOVIE REVIEW: Django Unchained

History has shown that competition can be both beneficial and detrimental to society.  Often, the initial motivation for competition is jealousy and envy, and if these emotions get out of control, then they could lead to behavior that is more destructive than constructive.  However, if the common feelings of envy and jealousy can be channeled in the proper way, then it could lead to innovation and greatness.  Competition can inspire people to push themselves to their limits and achieve astounding feats of excellence.  We see it everyday in sports, especially in championship games/series between two professional teams striving for the ultimate prize of the league.  We also see it in music.  A great album from one artist might inspire another artist to work harder on his or her album as a result.  At the end of the day, the audience gets two great albums due to the artist’s competitive drive and possibly more great albums if that competitive drive endures.

How does this relate to Django Unchained?  Well, as far as movies, I imagine that there is a competitive drive to write, produce, and direct films better than your contemporaries, especially if one of your contemporaries receives more accolades.  This is why, after I saw this movie, I was perplexed and disappointed about acclaimed director Spike Lee’s criticism of the movie before seeing it.  Before its release, Spike Lee stated that he would not see the movie because it is disrespectful to the ancestors of African slaves in America.  He goes on to say that slavery in the United States was not a Spaghetti Western, but a Holocaust.  This is not the first time Spike has gone after Tarantino and his films.  He has criticized Tarantino’s excessive use of the word “nigger” in his movies, claiming that Tarantino is “infatuated” with the word as if he wants to be “an honorary black man.” As a black American, I understand Spike’s criticisms.  Although Tarantino was not the only white character that used the word in his hit movie Pulp Fiction, I was immediately taken aback when his character used in within his first few lines.  I remember looking at Samuel L. Jackson’s character and expecting him to punch Tarantino in the face, but he just sat there.  It definitely touched my nerve because it just seemed completely unnecessary and awkward.  The other character who used it was clearly a racist, so I understood.  Tarantino’s character was supposed to be the friend of Samuel L. Jackson, so why was he using it?  One thing that Spike has on Tarantino, though, is that when he steps from behind the camera to in front of the camera, Spike is ten times better as an actor than Tarantino. It is not even a contest.

Still, as valid as some of Spike’s criticisms might be, people always felt that his attitude toward Tarantino was due to envy.  I am a fan of multiple films from both directors.  Their styles were innovative and intriguing.  They can also both get great performances from their actors.  In fact, Samuel L. Jackson and Kerry Washington, who star in Django, have also appeared in Spike Lee’s previous films (Jackson will be in Spike’s next release coming this year).  However, Spike’s critical acclaim has been a lot less than Tarantino.  His movies rarely got nominated for Academy Awards, and when they actually did, the award went to some movie of lesser quality. Personally, I thought he was robbed of the Oscar for Best Picture for the movie Malcolm X, and I never took the Oscars that seriously afterward.  At the same time, Tarantino’s star and legend began to rise, culminating with Django receiving 5 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.  Since maybe 2005, Spike has not even sniffed the same critical acclaim or even box office sales save for a couple documentaries that aired on television.  It seems like Spike’s notoriety has slowly been dwindling for years, and he is not happy about it.  Of course, there are some people that believe that it is a conspiracy due to his outspoken and controversial statements regarding race, whether in the press or through his movies.  At the end of the day, Spike’s public comments are overshadowing his talent as a filmmaker, and he now just comes off as a “hater.”  Instead of popping off his mouth about Tarantino, I wish that he would have just gone back in the film room and put his all in his work.  Eventually, it would pay off for him because if you really touch people with your work, everyone else will notice.

BOOK REVIEW: The House of Rumor

In The House of Rumor Jake Arnott attempts to link together a handful of obscure cultural mysteries from the last seventy years into a loose theory of existence, centering it on the fictional persona of Sci-Fi writer Larry Zigorski. Zigorski comes of age in the early 1940’s and as a precocious writer at the dawn of the golden age of speculative fiction is drawn into the orbit of Robert Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard and Jack Parsons. Meanwhile, in a parallel story, the persons of Ian Fleming, Rudolph Hess and Aleister Crowley toil at information, disinformation, and survival at the height of World War II in England and Europe.

Arnott’s narrative plays fairly loose with time, moving ahead and establishing a bookend in the 1980’s with a circle of post-punk transvestites and musicians who are linked to the WWII and Science Fiction narratives trough unhappy coincidence and the transfer of information, disinformation, and rumor. The uncertain nature of events, the inherent instability of knowledge, and its similarity to speculation and prediction are the all-pervasive themes of The House of Rumor. Through the lives and musings of British spies, renowned novelists, occult sages, and all of the points where their lives intersect, we get the impression of existence as a garbled message, an obscure transmission, equally visible and equally clouded from all relative points.

Arnott’s book contains much that is remarkable, scenes like a conversation between Ian Fleming and Aleister Crowley, convincing evocations of the crackle of energy as L. Ron Hubbard fences with rocketry expert and charismatic occultist Jack Parsons, the vision of the beach in Cuba the day Castro lifted the exit restrictions and there was a mass exodus upon makeshift rafts for Florida, and a harrowing blow by blow envisioning of the events of Jonestown through the eyes of a twelve year old boy. These items are tremendous and remain in the memory. Yet the book in all its meanderings leaves many story threads frustratingly half spun, like what of the young reporter with the same last name as one of the main characters, last seen preparing to make love to an emotionally vulnerable trans-sexual? Or what of the old spy master whose mishandled memoirs cost lives and scandal but whose fate and reaction we hear nothing of? There are so many instances of the unresolved in this book, ideas left hanging.

The story ends with Larry Zigorski addressing us with the full weight of our shared knowledge about his life and obsessions. He’s looking back and summing it all up. To my sensibility, for a book that began by moving so swiftly between fascinating set ups, its conclusion comes upon a distractingly ponderous note. It is for the most part a book of winks and playful hints, and for the end to be an over-serious meditation on the literal “meaning” of it all feels a tiny bit flat.

That said; The House of Rumor is full of interesting speculation and fascinating glimpses onto cultural crossroads we’ve all likely wondered about. Beyond that it reveals a richness of subculture it’s fun to be faced with after so long thinking one’s self too sophisticated for surprises anymore. In fact most of the strangest things and oddest people in the book are the real ones, and it leaves one to wonder about the details. How much of it credibly reflect reality and how much of it is amusing dissimulation? Jake Arnott has taken as his subject the un-knowability of truth and left it admirably muddled.

ALBUM REVIEW: Nappy Roots - Nappy Dot Org

Since its emergence in the 1990s, Southern rap music has always suffered from a dual identity.  Much of the early Southern rap that gained any nationwide notoriety could be classified as “strip club music.”  Miami-based group 2 Live Crew was one of the first groups, and they eventually went on to become not only platinum-selling artists but also important figures in 1^st Amendment rights and copyright infringement.  Other groups such as 95 South, Splack Pack, and Tag Team were also prominent during that time and had a similar style of music.  The best way to describe it would be this:  heavy bass, high rpm, simple lyrics, and absolutely NO diversity of content beyond partying and beautiful women.   At the time, the audience did not really care, for fans could get their lyrical fix from artists outside of the South.  Artists from the East and the West coast were releasing quality music back then that wet whatever appetite you had for rap beyond some of the simple motifs that Southern rap had.  Southern rap served its purpose – to get the party going and get the asses shaking.  For the most part, it stayed local, and no one expected anything more.

However, there was something brewing in Southern rap that signaled a change in the South’s place in hip hop.  Groups like the Geto Boys, OutKast, Goodie Mob, UGK, and Eightball and MJG began to express more about their region and their distinct perspective on the world and life that only young black Americans from the South could illustrate.  Furthermore, many of the groups put forth a more positive, socially conscious message to the audience to hopefully deter listeners to take the wrong route that could end in their destruction or disfranchisement.   In conveying this message, these artists never disavowed their Southern heritage or the booty shake music that was just as much a part of the Southern rap scene as their sound.  Despite this, many critics, especially from New York, dismissed Southern rap as not being “real hip hop” because it did not sound like New York rap or rap from California.   It was dumb because if they had tried to mock New York’s style, then many Southern rappers would have been ridiculed for being biters (Wu-Tang’s Ghostfase Killah and Raekwon made it a job calling out other rappers who blatantly borrow styles from others).  Either way, the South pushed on and carved its place in hip hop.  By the beginning of the 21^st Century, many of the socially conscious emcees were going through creative differences and struggles.  Many began associating Southern rap with the obsession with self-indulgence that Master P and Cash Money embraced (you could argue that it was New York artists that popularized the trend, though).  While Southern folks respected any artist coming out of the South, many, like me, wondered if there would ever be a new artist to pick up where groups like Outkast and Goodie Mob left off in bringing soul music that was inspiring, insightful, and enjoyable at the same time.

Enter Nappy Roots, who hit the music scene with their 2002 debut album Watermelon, Chicken, and Grits.  Besides bringing to the masses the hit songs “Awnaw,” “Po’ Folks,” and “Headz Up,” the group brought an aspect to Southern rap that had been missing: catchy and entertaining music that maintained a sense of wit, creativity, insight, humor, and social consciousness.  Nappy Roots became that group that you would point to when some self-righteous New York rap fan would say “all Southern rap is wack.”  I would put on some Nappy Roots and show them what’s up, which was also the same way I used OutKast.  Along with the Nappy Roots putting their home state of Kentucky on the hip hop map, their debut album was a comforting contrast to the obligatory party music coming out of hip hop, which was cool, but always put in your face too much.  Their arrival was welcome, for some of the other Southern legends were going through creative difficulties.  Nappy Roots were able to keep it alive, giving some of the pioneers some time to get back on track.

After the release of the critically acclaimed sophomore album Wooden Leather in 2003, them Nappy boys made the surprising move of leaving Atlantic Records to go independent.  It came as a shock being that their first two albums went platinum and gold, and Atlantic would not have an immediate reason to drop them.  The understanding was that the group wanted to have more control over their career and had solidified their fan base enough to feel comfortable working without a major label.  I definitely admire them for their ambition, but at the time it seemed that they were taking their foot off the accelerator in the middle of a drag race.   With the momentum and popularity gained from their first two albums, leaving Atlantic Records would diminish their distribution and marketability.  Because fanbases are so fickle, it would have been easy for Nappy Roots to be forgotten, and they were forgotten to an extent since five quiet years passed before we received a new album.  To compound on this development, member R. Prophet left the group to pursue a solo career, taking away a distinctive voice and talented piece from the group.

However, 2008’s The Humdinger ended up being a triumph for them.  So what if it did not go multiplatinum?  By that time, barely any artist was going platinum no matter what genre it was.  Nappy Roots country vibe and humble-but-catchy tones radiated through the album as much as it ever had.  In fact, the whole crew of Big V, Fish Scales, B. Stille, Ron Clutch, and Skinny DeVille sounded more confident than they had ever been previously.  The absence of R. Prophet was like eating Publix hot and spicy wings without hot sauce – the hot sauce makes them good, but they are just as good without it.  The next album, 2010’s The Pursuit of Nappyness continued this trend and further solidified their fan base.  It seemed that Nappy was just content with doing the independent thing, and it was not going to stop them from making great music.

With 2011’s Nappy Dot Org, the group embarked on their most ambitious album to date.  How is this one different?  This time, they decided to have only one producer for the entire album: the legendary team known as Organized Noize.  Responsible for some of the biggest hits for TLC and Ludacris, Organized Noize are the architects behind the Dungeon Family and best known for having crafted the early masterpieces from OutKast and Goodie Mob.  It seems natural that Organized Noize and Nappy Roots would come together and make music.  Having one producer produce the entire album can be risky, though.  Sometimes a whole album from one producer can lead to repetitiveness in beats, making the album drag at points.  It is especially dangerous for lengthy albums.  Fortunately, Nappy limited this album to only 11 tracks, which SHOULD keep the album concise with more quality than filler.  Nevertheless, with two talented entities coming together like this, can they live up to the expectations that a collaboration of this magnitude might have?  Well, let’s see…

The album kicks off with “The Legend Lives On” featuring an introductory spoken word piece from longtime DF member Big Rube.  He always comes correct with his verses, and this one serves as a passing-of-the-torch moment for the Dungeon Family and Nappy Roots.  It is fitting and well deserved because I do not think there are many other artists worthy of the honor.  The steady horn loop and background guitar come in at the right time and when Big V comes in with his verse, you feel right at home.  Everybody comes correct from Nappy Roots, and the album starts off nicely.

“Country Boy Return” takes the album down a notch, though.  The beat is not that inspired and neither is Nappy.  It is far from a bad song; it is merely OK.  If I was relaxing and was not in a hurry, I would listen to it.  Otherwise, it would be a skip.

“Easy Money” picks the album back up, and it turns out to be one of the highlights.  Organized Noize speed things up beat-wise, even though there is not much variation in the instruments.  The organs and the drums still fit the track like a glove, and the vocal effect on the hook compliments the track very well.  The title of the track is delightfully deceptive.  One might think that they are talking about making money without doing traditional work (usually illegal).  Instead, Nappy Roots is embracing the idea of the freedom and satisfaction of doing what you love as your career.  According to Skinny Deville,  “If you do it for the love, that’s Easy Money/ might mean a little better if you believe in something.”  Doing what you love is not always easy, but the feeling of doing it makes whatever money you make from it “easy.”  It is a good message not heard very often, and it is nice to hear.

The lead single “Hey Love” comes next, where the members speak about ending their relationships with women who are not good for them.  It is a nice song, but I feel that “Easy Money” would have been a better choice as a single.   Lyrically, Nappy Roots does not disappoint as usual:

[B-Stille]

They say it's cheaper to keep her
But if you gotta beat her you don't need her
I love her but I have to leave her
Or else I probably end up on Cheaters
Caught red handed like I'm eating hot Cheetoos
Best believe I'm going out like a G though, widda bang!
See we had a problem everyday like a Tyler Perry play
Never really had all our bases covered
Like a brand new home with the basement flooded
And we have no coverage so we packed our luggage
And we went where the wind blew each one of us

Essentially, the hook from Sam Christian is the main hiccup, for it is not strong enough to support the song.  It sounds like Sleepy Brown should have been on it but somehow was not available for this album.  It is a shame because he would have been a nice inclusion as a cameo from the Dungeon Family.

Fortunately, another longtime member of DF, Khujo Goodie of the Goodie Mob, comes through with the next single “Pete Rose,” another highlight of the album.  The beat is minimized to have only the drums and a keyboard effect, but Organized Noize hits all of the right notes with this one.  Nappy keeps things interesting themselves as they go back and forth with each other talking about racism and social injustice.  Why “Pete Rose?”  If you are not familiar, Pete Rose is the infamous baseball player who Major League Baseball banned from the sport for life for betting on baseball games, specifically the games for his own team.  Even though he was very aware of the consequences of his actions, he went forward with the betting scheme, denied his involvement for over a decade, and then admitted his guilt around the time he was releasing a book about his life.  Nappy Roots seems to flip it and say that the only way to make it in this corrupt society is to go all out despite the consequences. No matter what they mean, the song is bangin.’   Take a look yourself and make your own interpretation:

[Ron Clutch]

My homie just got out my cousin going back in
Three quarters of my neighborhood still packed in a pin
I swear the justice is some set up to target black man
This ain't no new phenomena been going on since back then

[B. Stille]
Back in Louisville the plot thickens
Homicide, lookin for leads the clocks tickin
Shoot the block down, the cops trippin
Community motto is stop snitchin
Pissed off they beat a child up for shop lifting

[Hook: Khujo Goodie]
Where the scene unfolds,
Concrete, Streets, Dirt Roads,

Young Bloods, G's, Street Codes,

Bank Rolls, Cheese, Pete Rose

Get Yours

[Fish Scales]

I don't roll blunts and I don't do paper
I'm in the corner to myself getting straight vapored
I'm from the boondocks AKA boonies hoe
Poe folks still ball like a snooty hoe

[Big V]
Batter, Batter, Swing, Barry Bonds
Steroid or not he still had to hit the ball
Dreadlocks don't mean what they used to mean
Now they jammin’ Lil Wayne, tryna kill a man

[Skinny DeVille]
Yeah I'm on my Pete Rose bet it on it make a killin
Before I lay my head down I'm tryin to get a billion
I used to do it for the love I kind of lost the feeling
Fuck a record deal, middle finger towards the ceiling

This review is getting a little long (and I’m getting tired), so let me sum up the rest of the album: it is good.  The bouncy and inspiring vibe of “Good and Evil” and the haunting organs of “Karma” continue the slew of solid material from Nappy and ONP.  The song “Y’all Party” is Nappy Roots’ routine club track on this album, which gets better on repeated listens but the disappointing hook takes it down a notch.   However, tracks like “Give Me A Sign” and “Congratulations” easily make up for it, as they are examples of what you would expect between the two groups on their best days.  The final highlight of the album would be “Nappy U Here,” which is probably my favorite track on the album.  Organized Noize really come correct on this track, starting off with a violin intro and falling into an intoxicating backdrop that locks you in until the song ends.  While the hook, or really the delivery of the hook, is simple, it works extremely well and reflects the modesty that Nappy has always displayed in their music.  All the guys had to do was spit some words, but of course they bring a little extra.  Although they all drop good verses, Ron Clutch stands out on this track:

I remember like yesterday, barely had a pot to piss
Just a watermelon, piece of chicken and a pot of grits
On top of this, cheap whiskey, whatever got us bent
Looking back on it all seemed so innocent
The O.G.’s told me to cherish these good old days
So they know they was dropping jewels by the look on they face
Looking like they give everything, he could have took my place
Took a last look to his whiskey, took it to the face
Don’t wanna be that cat with dreams he should have chase
So what good is the trap if cats can't escape?
Life's a book written in ink that you can't erase
Lord don't let this all be a beautiful waste

By the end of this album, you will conclude that the collaboration was a success.  Nappy Roots and Organized Noize brought us an album worthy of both of their catalogues.  The only thing that I wished the album had was more appearances from the Dungeon Family, but Nappy Roots has never been big on guest appearances anyway.  The thing that always attracted me to Dungeon Family and Nappy Roots was their courage to try to speak from a perspective to which we can relate.  The frustrating aspect of hip hop these days is the habit of propping yourself up so much that the average joe cannot relate to your experiences.  The same rhetoric of “I’m so rich that you cannot see me” or “I’m so gangsta you cannot be me” gets old, and most people know that what they say is bullshit.  Rappers have always used their gift of gab to get them where they wanna be and have inspired others to strive for the ceiling.  There is nothing wrong with that.  People forget, though, that the difference between a good song and a timeless song is the ability to feel that artist and relate to their words.  You cannot relate to everything that people go through, but if you make an attempt to relate that to others, you will likely be surprised by how people will respond.  Nappy Roots is one of the few groups that believe in this and has made it part of their legacy.  Maybe they will get back to their mainstream prominence one day, but until then, I recommend that you support them and cop this album.  You will be nappy that you did.

AUDIO SHAKEDOWN - Volume 5

Every time I wear headphones people are always talking at me, but they never seem to ask the only question I actually want to hear: "What are you listening to?" So welcome to the fifth chapter of the Audio Shakedown, my ongoing quest to answer the unasked question. I've spent a lot of time with these records recently, and what follows is my explanation of why you should as well.

Mudhoney - Vanishing Point - Grouchy, funny, swaggering, veering wildly out of control... It must be a new Mudhoney record, and the world is a better place because it exists. This is a very direct outing with bright, punchy production and no time for much subtlety, which plays to Mudhoney's strengths. Much of the record displays a Stooges-style groove and singer Mark Arm is in fine form throughout. If you need a straight-ahead rock and roll album, look no further.

13th Floor Elevators - Easter Everywhere - Their debut record, The Psychedelic Sounds Of... is more well-known, but the follow-up release Easter Everywhere is the stronger of the two overall, even though there's not a song that reaches the heights of "You're Gonna Miss Me." Roky Erikson and company combine some wild psychedelia with quieter moments and come up with a winner, even doing a swirling cover of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue."

Clutch - Earth Rocker - Clutch are back, and they're revved up even more than usual. Album opener "Earth Rocker" is a paean to worshiping loud guitars and doing it live on stage, which is just a literal retelling of their career, which can now be measured in decades. Their last record was a bit slower and more subdued that one might've expected, but they're running on every last cylinder here; the tempos are quicker and the band is almost jumping out of the speakers. Whatever has Clutch so energized, let's hope they stick with it.

Soul Coughing - Ruby Vroom - Sometimes you just have to go back and hit play on Mike Doughty's first long player of "deep slacker jazz." You have to feel those crisp, mellow beats covered with samples both wacky and orchestral, all topped with Doughty's hyperliterate stream-of-consciousness raps. His is a voice so distinct that you could play thirty 90's records at the same time and still pick him out of the crowd. Songs like "True Dreams of Wichita" show an off-beat sensitivity, and for some premium brain-melting weirdness, give a listen to "Bus to Beelezebub," whose nonsensical lyrics rub shoulders with a looped sample of "Powerhouse," which most people know only as "that cartoon factory music."

Various Artists - Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era - In 1972, Jac Holzman (founder of Elektra Records) and Lenny Kaye (later a guitarist for Patti Smith) put together a double-LP collection of mid-1960's garage rock, which was later expanded to a four-cd set in 1998. The four-disc set is worth it, as it represents a nearly exhaustive account of the garage rock explosion of the 60's and contains the early seeds of punk rock. Sure, with four discs of material, there are some goofy novelty numbers, but the great-to-silly ratio is actually quite admirable in this collection.

Van Morrison - Astral Weeks - Some bands chase down sounds that are so unique that they become a genre unto themselves, like "Primus" and "Bjork." Van Morrison's record Astral Weeks just might qualify for the same recognition at the album level. Any classification you can think up will fall short of describing the music on display in these eight songs. It dips into soul, jazz, folk, and more, all mixed up with a mysterious and plaintive Celtic sensibility. 

ALBUM REVIEW: Seventh Wonder - The Great Escape

Seventh Wonder is a progressive power metal band hailing from Sweden. They have mostly flown under the radar until recently, when their lead singer Tommy Karevik joined the more popular American power metal outfit Kamelot. When Kamelot’s latest album Silverthorn was released in October of this year it received great critical acclaim, a lot of the praise focusing on the new singer. Some said that as good as Tommy Karevik performs with Kamelot on Silverthorn, Seventh Wonder is still a better band by comparison. That’s where my interest got piqued and what led me to look into Seventh Wonder’s latest album called The Great Escape.

The first song on the album, Wizeman, blew me away. The guitarists provide a twisting and constant barrage of chugging riffage while Karevik somehow manages to sing catchy melodies over them, all the while showing off his impressive vocal range. Karevik immediately stands out from the rest of the band and though some of the instrumental breakdowns are impressive, the music just doesn’t carry much weight without him.

For the most part, Karevik wisely avoids the lyrical cheese that is so prominent in this genre. But there are a few exceptions. Exceptions so devastating as to nearly destroy the entire package (but not quite).

The second song, Alley Cat, comes in naturally and seems to keep the catchy progressiveness going. There’s nothing better than getting a new CD and finding that each song that plays is as good as or better than the last. And at first glance that is the case with this track…until you hear the lyrics. I’m a fan of power metal, I can handle some cheese, it just comes with the territory, but this goes beyond acceptable.

This album suffers in a weird way. There are six stand alone tracks and one thirty minute epic track at the end. It feels like Karevik excised all the cheese from four of the tracks and then crammed it all into the other three. Having to skip songs on a CD as you listen is an album killer for me. My solution was to delete the three offenders (Alley Kat, Long Way Home, and Move on Through) and take in the album once more in its new abridged format.

What a difference! The album went from fatally flawed to sheer brilliance. And it still clocks in at fifty-two minutes with three songs cut out. Unfortunately, not everyone picking this album up is going to be as brutally proactive as I in carving it up into the masterpiece it should have been, so that has to be weighed into the final verdict.

The Great Escape is an exceptional album with a couple of glaring flaws that nearly destroy the whole thing. If you’re not a power metal fan to begin with, this isn’t going to win you over. However, if you are into this genre or can appreciate music for what it is within its own genre, then I highly recommend you give this album a listen. Just skip the audio abortions mentioned above and you’ll be left with candy and roses.

BOOK REVIEW: Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson

Gardens of the Moon is a fantasy book by Steven Erikson and the first in an epic ten volume series called the Malazan Book of the Fallen. While it injects some sorely needed originality into the epic fantasy genre and is written with admirable sophistication, it suffers from a number of issues that may cripple its appeal to a mass audience. That doesn’t mean it is bad by any means, I already have the second book and am looking forward to reading it, but it’s not for everyone.

I’ll start with the good. Fantasy fans will find a lot to like here. The world is well developed with a variety of different races and regions. It has a sword and sorcery vibe, but expands greatly beyond the clichés and feels appropriately adult in its ideas and graphic imagery. Soldiers use swords in battle, but are referred to as Marines. High explosives are used to wire up a city block for later detonation. That same city is powered by natural gas collected from the caverns it sits atop. The originality combines with a quickly paced plot that feels fresh and (for the most part) holds your attention.

Now, for the bad stuff. Character descriptions are woefully weak, and sometimes completely absent. And there are a lot of characters in this book, sometimes having multiple names and allegiances and it can become tricky to tell them all apart. One of the main characters, a soldier named Whiskeyjack, is described as a man with grey eyes and a beard. I can’t recall much other description. So, obviously, I immediately picture him as Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad. Is that what the author intended? I don’t know, but it’s too late. In my head, Whiskeyjack looks like Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad.

Further complications occur with the book as the reader is thrown right into the middle of the story with few introductions or explanations for what is happening. In a way, I like this, it feels realistic, like you’re the new guy and no one can be bothered to get you up to speed on the current happenings, you just have to pay attention, pick up bits and pieces, and overtime connect it all together. Eventually, you do figure out what is going on, or at least you become more comfortable with not knowing everything, but this doesn’t occur until about three hundred pages into the book. I will admit, it was a difficult barrier to get through. Even prepared as I was by other reviews that mentioned this issue, I still found it difficult to press on. Not everyone is going to be so determined to get hooked into this story. Rarely does a book make the reader responsible for becoming engrossed in its tale, but this book does and it gives you the finger and a firm backhand if you start mouthing off about it. It is what it is. Nobody asked you to read it.

There’s another issue I have with the book that may not be a problem for others. Scenes are short. Sometimes it cuts to different perspectives and plot lines multiple times per page. Longer scenes tend to only be a couple of pages in length. Like I said, this may not be a problem for everyone, but I found that it was hard to get absorbed into the tale or really get connected with certain characters because of this. This may have also contributed to the struggle to break through to the halfway mark. New characters are introduced then it’s quickly off to someone else. Characters have a brief conversation in which you have no idea what they’re talking about. Some assassins fight on a roof top for no apparent reason. Someone has a dream about an ancient god, but it’s actually real. Or is it? A mad wizard in a puppet’s body appears from a rift out of thin air, blasts a couple of talking crows, then disappears again just as quickly.

I think if you read some reviews and get a description of  the basic story elements, you don’t have ADD, and are patient about being in the dark for most of the plot, you’ll know whether this book is for you or not. It’s not an easy, casual read, and it’s got some flaws, but there are some brilliant moments and epic ideas that make the task of seeing it through worth while.

For now, I’m going to relax and take a breather with some “easier” fare, but I will get around to the second book at some point. Based on the observations of other readers, I feel like I will enjoy this book more as I read more of the series. For me, that’s fine, I can handle it, but most people don’t read for the challenge. If you decide to read this book, know what you’re getting into, go with its flow, be patient and I think the pay off will be worth it (unless you just hate the fantasy genre in general, Gardens of the Moon won’t help to change your opinion).

MOVIE REVIEW: The Avengers

I would like to start this review by being up-front about something. In the pathetic, niche, world of comic book dorkdom, I am what is known as a “DC Elitist”. It means I favor the world that DC Comics has created over other comic companies such as Marvel, Image, and Dark Horse. Not only that, but I generally cast disparaging remarks upon those companies and their fans, waving a dismissive hand and making “pfft” noises when they try to argue me over to their side. It means that I have a huge bias against Marvel and their movies.

Okay, that’s not entirely fair. Marvel has had pretty great success with their movies while DC (excluding the Batman franchise) has fallen flat. Not to mention, DC has really pissed me off recently with their whole “let’s reboot the DC Universe and start over from scratch, then make something new and modern and innovative and really go the extra mile and . . . oh, wait, it’s still the same garbage we’ve always put out” stupid venture. And then they come along a few months later and announce that they’re making a PREQUEL to Watchmen. This is the worst idea of all worst ideas! In fact, upon hearing this, I stood up and vocally renounced my status of “DC Elitist” and disavowed any association with them (post reboot). But I digress.

I actually went in to The Avengers with high hopes, which nowadays is a dangerous thing to do. My hopes lay squarely on Joss Whedon, writer, director, and comic book fan. He handles ensemble casts well, as seen in previous ventures such as Firefly and Hanging with Mr. Cooper (Okay, I made that last one up. Not the show itself, unfortunately, just the fact that Joss Whedon created it). And he really is a fan of the source, not like some directors named Michael Bay.

So, I was surprised to find out that I thought the film was good after it was over. I have this inner contrarian which assumes that anything popular must be garbage, so it makes me nervous when something I’m interested in becomes super popular. But I couldn’t find anything particularly wrong with the film.

You may have noticed that this review has really explained nothing about the movie and that’s because there is really nothing to explain. We’ve seen (most) of the lead-in movies to this. There’s no origin story. A bunch of superheroes are brought together, they fight with each other and then work as a team to bring down the bad guy at the end. It’s all very predictable, and yet also very gratifying.

There are a couple of elements that make this movie as good as it is. Firstly, the threat that they counter is worthy of the team-up. In so many Marvel movies, the villain is usually just an evil derivative of the hero. In the first Iron Man, the villain was just a bigger Iron Man. In Iron Man 2, the villain was just a bunch of robot Iron Men, and the hero needed help from his buddy who was also an Iron Man, called War Machine, only way cooler (which is a major flaw with that movie, amongst other things). In the Incredible Hulk, the villain was the Abomination, which was basically just a big white Incredible Hulk. Though Abomination was played by Tim Roth, which is the only good quality of that otherwise horrible movie. In Captain America, the villain was Nazi Elrond. The point is that those villains were weak, and Avengers gets it right by having Loki as the main antagonist, and then follows him up with an invading alien army. Loki is a good villain because he’s not completely evil, he has weaknesses and doubts and major insecurity. In the end I felt kind of bad for him. The invading alien race is basically just fodder for the Avengers to slap around, and that’s fine, because it lets the heroes have lots of screen time doing what they do best and doing what we want to watch them do.

The second reason why this movie works well is in the way they handle the Hulk. His past two movies have been lame, boredom factories. Hulk works exponentially better in a team environment. Bruce Banner makes the other team members nervous, especially when he starts to get irritated. He’s a bomb ready to blow at any moment, and when he does he’ll take out everything and everyone around him, friend or foe, it doesn’t matter. Everyone knows this, including Banner, and it is used to great effect in creating tension. He’s kind of scary in this movie, and he should be.

I want to see this movie again, which is pretty rare. As I’m sitting here writing this “review”, I keep thinking on certain moments that I’d like to see again. It’s got excellent dialog and interactions. It’s written like a comic book. Every line is important. There is only so much space available to get the story across. There’s little room for filler or fluff. It’s lean and focused and entertaining. That’s more than I can say for most recent movies I’ve watched.