I finally saw Coco.
Fantastic.
The story follows a 12-year-old boy named Miguel who is accidentally transported to the Land of the Dead, where he seeks the help of his deceased musician great-great-grandfather to return him to his family among the living and to reverse his family’s ban on music.
The concept for Coco is inspired by the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead. …
97% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Pixar truly is the best in animation.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Book #2 in the The Giver Quartet. This was the follow-up to her acclaimed The Giver (1993).
In fact, I’d say Blue is equally good.
I enjoyed the characters more.
And the ending was not what I had guessed.
The central character, Kira, who has a deformed leg, is orphaned and must learn to survive in a society that normally leaves the weak or disabled exposed to die in the fields.
In the course of the book, she begins to learn the art of dyeing thread to different colors except for blue, which nobody in her community knows how to make.
She also learns more about the truth of her village and the terrible secrets that they hold.
Another excellent murder mystery in the Cork O’Connor series.
It starts when a plane Minnesota Senator, Olympia McCarthy, and her family crashes near Desolation Mountain.
Cork and his son Stephen are two of the first on the scene.
Was it downed intentionally, and if so, why?
… Could it have been the anti-assault rifle legislation the Senator was about to introduce?
What about her opposition to the proposed Manila Accord, favored by the alt-right, the rejection of which would affect the profits of arms merchants?
Or was this an action by the Lexington Brigade, a radical anti-government militia group? …
Review of “Desolation Mountain: A Novel” by William Kent Krueger
Once again I broke up long international travel with a stopover in London.
I enjoyed my days in June 2022. And again end of August 2022.
BUT it would take a month of dedicated research to really understand all the areas of the city. And to visit all the attractions.
This time I stayed at Wombats near the Tower Bridge so ended up spending more time on that section of the Thames. Especially in the evening.
Most of what I do is FREE — wandering the streets and parks. Something interesting around every corner.
I drop into one of the free museums most days.
There’s a lot of green space.
There are many excellent street performers.
My favourite this time was Mex.fs, an acoustic lap tap/percussive guitarist.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Of all amazing and FREE museums in London, the V & A is perhaps my favourite.
So massive!
11 acres, 145 galleries, 7 miles of exhibits and 5 million objects.
It’s not easy to see David in Florence — but you can study an exact replica any time, any day in London. Free. No crowding.
In fact, this space at the V & A called the Cast Courts is perhaps the best. You’ll quickly be diverted from David to other astonishing replicas in those 2 galleries.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Another of my favourite exhibits is Tippu’s Tiger.
The ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in India had made a carved and painted wood casing representing a tiger savaging a near life-size European man. It moves and makes music.
I read this book because it reminded me of that great film ➙ Enemy at the Gates.
The movie features a snipers’ duel between two of the best from the Soviet Union and Germany during the Battle of Stalingrad.
The Diamond Eye is based on the true story of a Ukrainian woman sniper in WW II.
In the fictional version, bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko evolves into a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. She becomes a propaganda tool for the Soviets who send her to Washington D.C. to try to gain support from the Americans. She is befriended by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
The plot kept me going. But, ultimately, this book was not nearly as good as Quinn’s Rose Code.
The Mousetrap is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie.
.. opened in London’s West End in 1952 and ran continuously until 16 March 2020, when the stage performances had to be temporarily discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It then re-opened on 17 May 2021.
The longest-running West End show, it has by far the longest run of any play in the world …
Richard Attenborough was the original Detective Sergeant Trotter …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I’ve been working my way through the Agatha Christie books.
Normally I don’t correctly guess the killer. But for Mousetrap I did get it right at intermission.
I only clicked DOWNLOAD on this book because it was set in the Kootenays of British Columbia where my family had a house for 30 years.
It’s not a strong book.
BUT the issues are relevant to the area. Should the town approve a park acknowledging the many American draft dodgers who moved there?
Should the massive Grizzly Resort go ahead, even at costs to the environment? No doubt it was based on the Jumbo Glacier Mountain Resort controversy, ultimately cancelled in 2020.
Constable Molly Smith is a rookie cop in the mountain town of Trafalgar somewhere near Nelson.
I like Molly. But the resolution of the murder seemed dumb to me.
The reader of the audio book, Carrinngton MacDuffie, used quite a dreadful, unrealistic Canadian accent. Mispronounced some place names. That did turn me off the book, too.
In any case, I won’t be reading any more Molly Smith books.
I finally got around to reading some of the Father Brown short stories.
53 were published between 1910 and 1936 by English novelist G. K. Chesterton.
Father Brown solves mysteries and crimes using his intuition and keen understanding of human nature. …
In the most popular adaptation, Mark Williams plays Father Brown. That’s Arthur Weasley, to you. 😀
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Shakespeare: The World As Stage is a biography of William Shakespeare by author Bill Bryson.
… The focus of the book is to state what little is known conclusively about Shakespeare, and how this information is known, with some discussion of disproved theories, myths, and that which is believed by the public but not provable.
It also explores the political, social, cultural and economic background to Shakespeare’s work. …
I read it while in London. Quite dry for Bryson, I thought. I would have liked more humorous anecdotes — whether or not they were true. 😀
The best section is Bryson debunking all the conspiracy theories that other authors actually penned his great plays.
Existing today are only 6 Shakespeare signatures, spelled differently. He took a lot of licence with spelling since it was the spoken word that mattered.
And only 3 images of Bill exist.
We tend to go with the Chandos portrait, which was the 1st work donated to the National Portrait Gallery, London. I went to try to see it summer of 2022 — but the Gallery was closed for renovation.
It’s most likely Shakespeare, but nearly nothing can be factually verified about the great playwright.
I also took the tour of Shakespeare’s Globe — a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre … as best can be guessed.
While on the tour a production was rehearsing. A new play based on Joan of Arc, but using the technology of the original theatre.
Shakespeare lived 1564 – 1616, a terrible time in London. Plague years.
It’s astonishing we think we know as much as we do about one of the most influential writers all-time. Plays at the time were not intended to be published. Happily, much of his work was saved.
Rick McCharles 