my stint as a casting director

So I'm constantly hearing rumors about film/mini-series adaptations of Diana Gabaldon's amazing Outlander saga. For those of you who haven't read it, it's a romantic-historical-science fiction tale about a British woman who is transported back into the 18th century Scottish highlands. It's a wonderfully engrossing series that I highly recommend.

The downside is that, because the stories are so detailed, complex, and full of a wide variety of characters and locations, any filmmaker who attempted to take it on would have a huge task ahead of him/her. So I've decided to help them out by doing the casting for them:

Rachel McAdams as Claire Beauchamp:

Chris Hemsworth as Jamie Fraser:

Jonathan Rhys Meyers as "Black Jack" Randall:

Ionn Gruffud as Frank Randall:

Blake Lively as Brianna Randall

With all the fans out there, and the huge success that the series has enjoyed, I can't imagine that they won't make some type of film version of this. If I do say so myself, I think that I have chosen a perfect cast. A little red hair dye and that's that.

review: wasted

Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia by Marya Hornbacher is an amazing read. I (thankfully) have never struggled with an eating disorder, yet I found this memoir completely engrossing. This book has shown me how easily things could have been different had I made just one or two different decisions: Eating disorders are sneaky, long, dark, slippery slopes. Hornbacher very skillfully conveys that frightening message.

I had always been of the opinion that anorexia and bulimia are bizarre, inexplicable behaviors. As you may know, I love me some food. After reading this, however, I can totally see how an intelligent, beautiful, and healthy young woman could just begin to inexplicably self-destruct. That's what makes Hornbacher such a brilliant writer; she makes you relate to her. She doesn't only tell you her story, she sheds light on the devastating social phenomena and helps you understands the psychological roots.

Here's an excerpt, courtesy of the publisher's website:

The bragging was the worst. I hear this in schools all over the country, in cafés and restaurants, in bars, on the Internet, for Pete's sake, on buses, on sidewalks: Women yammering about how little they eat. Oh, I'm Starving, I haven't eaten all day, I think I'll have a great big piece of lettuce, I'm not hungry, I don't like to eat in the morning (in the afternoon, in the evening, on Tuesdays, when my nails aren't painted, when my shin hurts, when it's raining, when it's sunny, on national holidays, after or before 2 A.M.). I heard it in the hospital, that terrible ironic whine from the chapped lips of women starving to death, But I'm not hun-greeee. To hear women tell it, we're never hungry. We live on little Ms. Pac-Man power pellets. Food makes us queasy, food makes us itchy, food is too messy, all I really like to eat is celery. To hear women tell it we're ethereal beings who eat with the greatest distaste, scraping scraps of food between our teeth with our upper lips curled.

For your edification, it's bullshit.

...We lived in a larger world where there is also a sense of hunger and of a lack. We can call it loss of religion, loss of the nuclear family, loss of community, but whatever it is, it has created a deep and insatiable hunger in our collective unconscious. Our perpetual search for something that will be big enough to fill us has led us to a strange idolatry of at once consumption and starvation.We execute "complicated vacillations...between self-worship and self-degradation," the pendulum swinging back and forth, missing the point of balance every time. We know we need, and so we acquire and acquire and eat and eat, past the point of bodily fullness, trying to sate a greater need. Ashamed of this, we turn skeletons into goddesses and look to them as if they might teach us how to not-need.

I'm fond of this memoir primarily for it's valuable social/feminist commentary. It's also a very effective cautionary tale. Hornbacher warns the reader that an eating disorder, like any other kind of addiction, is never something you can completely get over. And, for people like me who had never really spent a lot of time thinking about body image issues in the modern age, it's eye-opening.

Stay healthy and beautiful, girls.

review: sin in the second city

Sin and the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul, Karen Abbot's book about Chicago's vice district, is the kind of history more people should be reading.

She tells the story of the Everleigh sisters, two of the most successful and notorious madams in the history of the U.S. Their Everleigh Club drew city officials, gamblers, aristocrats, academics, and just about everyone else. The Everleigh girls, who included such characters as Doll, Brick Top, and Diamond Bertha, were unique because they were generally very healthy, happy, and independent. They could recite poetry, talk about the philosophy of Balzac, play the piano, and be 'courtesans' in the full sense of the word as opposed to just...ahem...you-know-whatting. The Everleighs took great pains to educate them and keep them safe.
 But there was plenty of debauchery and straight-up weirdness too: opium eating, devouring raw meat for the pleasure of the customers, and serving champagne in the girls' shoes.

Minna Everleigh

And the madams themselves were quite fascinating: They were resourceful at best, liars at worst. They never really got their stories straight on who they were or where they came from. They were masters of constant reinvention - Something I, too, aspire to be. (But perhaps more like Madonna and less like early 20th century brothel keepers. But I haven't ruled out all my options just yet.) They also held their own against political bosses and jealous, conniving rivals. They were two tough cookies and fun to read about.

Abbot also sheds light on the other side of the culture: The evangelists, reformers, prohibitionists, and others who dedicated their lives to breaking up the party. The Everleigh Club, being the most fashionable, popular, and sought-after, naturally became their primary target. Lammmmeeee. Abbot spends about half the book discussing these characters, too - which I, naturally, found much less interesting. I definitely would've been hanging out with the Everleighs instead of holding some sort of revival on the street outside. So I didn't find reading about these party-poopers very entertaining. But it did provide an interesting contrast to the wild & colorful Everleigh Club.

So, in short, I really enjoyed this book. It was great history: equal parts depravity and moralizing. If you have any interest in turn-of-the-century America, or want a how-to manual on how to be a successful madam, I totally recommend.

team tinkerbell

Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver

So I was listening to this amazing program from Wisconsin Public Radio called To The Best of Our Knowledge the other day and had an epiphany. One of their podcasts, entitled "The Uses of Enchantment," explores the concepts of fairy tales, magic, and imagination. Authors such as Neil Gaiman (one of my faves!) and A.S. Byatt were interviewed. It was very very fascinating and enjoyable...here's the link - Listen!

Anyway, a few of the interviews (especially the one with Byatt) and all of that talk about enchantment got me thinking. And here was what I realized: Our society needs a revival of classic "children's literature." I don't mean picture-books. I mean fantastic fairy-tale-adventures. Something to pique our imaginations and transport us to the good old days of fairy-princess costumes and rock forts in the back yard. We (adults) need battles on the high seas, true love, fairies & goblins, magic carpets, sea monsters, swashbuckling, and similarly wonderful things. (Admit it: You loved playing with today's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea-inspired Google doodle.) More importantly, actual children need them, too. Especially the kind of children who don't realize that they need those things anymore: Teenagers.

I have seen far too many kids in high school English classes made miserable by the old-fashioned prose and veiled social/political commentary often found in their assigned reading. But I don't think teachers should only assign the likes of Harry Potter and Twilight either. Students do need to read from the canon of Western literature, at least some of the time. But why not seek some middle ground? Have them read classic "children's literature," which I keep referring to in quotations because it qualifies as just really fabulous grownup literature nowadays. Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, Ivanhoe, and Treasure Island, immediately come to mind.  Have students read classic literature purely for the sake of a good story, rather than for the sake of digging out some obscure theme about the human condition. (And, if you want to get serious about it, you can find serious themes and references in children's lit, too. But why? It's just as wonderful when taken at face value.) Kids are carrying too much baggage as it is. And I don't care how old and cool someone thinks they are, there is no one who doesn't love stories about knights in shining armor, pirates, princesses, and animals that can talk.



If I had my way, teachers would toss The Scarlet Letter, Great Expectations, and Hamlet in favor of this "children's literature." It can be used to teach the same valuable lessons on plot, character, diction, syntax, and all that good stuff, while also being much more enjoyable. Students need language arts skills and exposure to classic literature, which doesn't need to entail torturing them with Dickens's literary musings on industrialized Victorian society. That only makes them tune out and teaches them, literally, to hate and fear the classics. Just sayin'. (By the way, Charles Dickens is one of my favorite authors. But I'm a little too in touch with reality to think that the average high schooler would agree, no matter how hard I try to show them that his stories are actually really exciting and relevant.)

Let me know what you think. And all of us remember being beat over the head with a classic novel in high school. Sometimes it really works, sometimes it really doesn't. I want to hear about some of your own experiences.

love her: joan root

I'm in non-lesbian love with Joan Root. I adore her and the things she did with her life, and I don't really understand why more people don't know about her. I only learned of her when I was browsing a table in Border's and was drawn to the cover of Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa by Mark Seal, which is a book about her life. Apparently he'd first written a successful piece for Vanity Fair, which then led to an expanded book deal and a possible movie biopic starring Julia Roberts. The book is fabulous, and I highly recommend it to everyone! But please indulge me by letting me paraphrase why Joan Root is so amazing.

Joan Root was a Kenyan-born conservationist and Oscar-nominated filmmaker. She and her husband, Alan Root, helped pioneer the wildlife documentary genre. Their escapades involved plane rides, dangerous camping trips, and rides in hot air balloons. She was kind, quiet, and gracious. She loved animals and the African landscape; she cared for literally every creature that crossed her path. She had been a devoted and happily married woman for many years when she was blindsided by the sudden appearance of her husband's mistress. Joan, of course, was devastated. Yet she reacted with great grace and restraint: She walked away and started over.

After the disintegration of her marriage, she was no longer involved in the filming and production of wildlife films. She led a quiet and lonely existence on the banks of Lake Naivasha, a beautiful and ecologically diverse lake in Kenya. Then things began to change: She watched as sprawling flower farms sprung up around the lake, inevitably followed by slums to house the workers. Pollution, crime, poverty, wildlife poaching, and disruption of the lake ecosystem followed. So Joan Root dedicated her life to making it right. Not only did she try to combat the ecological damage, she also did her best to help the Kenyans who were living and working around the lake. She spent an ungodly amount of time and money trying to save the flora, fauna, and people of Lake Naivasha. Meanwhile, a crime wave was sweeping across the region in which white Kenyans were systematically targeted, robbed, and killed. Everyone who knew Joan attested that she was incredibly courageous and determined despite the violence that surrounded her.

She took not only the corporate flower farm machine head-on, but also local poachers. As a result she drew a lot of negative attention to herself. This spotlight, combined with the everyday violence that had become commonplace in the Lake Naivasha area, made for some very frightening years in Joan's life. She was repeatedly threatened, robbed, and assaulted. Yet she refused to leave her home or give up the fight over the lake. In 2006, less than a week before her 70th birthday, four men with AK47's murdered Joan Root in her home. The authorities determined that she was the victim of a violent robbery. If you're wondering why it would take four men with automatic weapons to rob an elderly woman, you're not alone. The whole thing stinks of a contract killing, and the Kenyan authorities haven't shown the smallest initiative in finding who's behind it. It makes my stomach churn.

I think that she is one of the most brave and inspiring women of the past century.

If you're curious about Joan Root but not up to tackling a book on the subject, I highly recommend you check out Mark Seal's article, "A Flowering Evil."

daisy buchanan, the waif

In baz tackles gatsby, I discussed some speculation surrounding the casting of Daisy Buchanan in Baz Luhrman's film adaptation of The Great Gatsby. The verdict is in: Carey Mulligan will be playing Daisy. (This announcement is actually a couple of weeks old, but I've been away from blogging for a couple of weeks due to an end-of-semester homework deluge. I'm baaaack!)

I haven't seen Mulligan in anything other than a BBC production of Charles Dickens' Bleak House, in which she was stunningly unremarkable and pretty. Daisy is a very bubbly, dark, charming, ironic, complex character - I would've thought that an older, more experienced actress (like Natalie Portman or Rachel McAdams, grrrr) would be better. Or at least someone who doesn't so strongly resemble an adorable orphan wearing costume jewelery.

Oh, well. I hope it's good. Although I want to go on the record as being highly disapproving of this whole Carey Mulligan business.

a tale of dubya

Am I the only person looking forward to George W. Bush's memoir, Decision Points? It comes out November 9, and I'm deeply curious about what he has to say. The Washington Post reported on a few advance snippets, including:

• Bush seriously considered dropping Cheney from his 2004 ticket, describing him as Darth Vader (ha ha).
• His response when the CIA asked him for permission to waterboard Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? "Damn right."
• He describes accusations of racism in the wake of Katrina as one of the lowest points of his presidency.
• Bush stands by his decisions regarding Iraq. When it comes to the matter of the missing WMDs, however, he describes having a persistent sickened feeling.

Decision Points should make for an interesting read for both those who loathe and adore Dubya. My own feelings about him are very complex, and I won't bore you by attempting to explain them. Bush, at least, doesn't seem too worried about what people think. He wrote, "Whatever the verdict on my presidency, I'm comfortable with the fact that I won't be around to hear it."

And. in case you missed it:
- a report on an exciting upcoming movie project: baz tackles gatsby
- The Goonies 25th anniversary: ruth! ruth! ruth! baby? ruth!

baz tackles gatsby

gatsby and daisy (1974 film)

Baz Luhrmann (of Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge fame) is making a new film adaptation of The Great Gatsby - yay! I am incredibly excited about this project. Luhrmann is an interesting director. I like to think of his style as exuberant; his critics might call it ridiculous. The fact that he is tackling Gatsby, a hallmark of American literature, is pretty gutsy of him. Luhrmann has gone on the record saying that he wants Leonardo DiCaprio to play Jay Gatsby and Topher Grace as Nick Carraway. They were in NYC reading the roles recently, and it's not official but the consensus is that they'll be the two male leads - Perfect!

if i were in charge

 Daisy Buchanan is another story. Luhrmann wants to see a wide variety of actresses read with DiCaprio before he makes his choice. Names like Keira Knightley, Scarlet Johansson, and Blake Lively are circulating. I want him to cast Rachel McAdams, personally. (Are you reading, Baz?) The most recent news places Natalie Portman in the mix. She would be fabulous, too. I have a feeling this movie is going to be amazing - I can't wait! And, for those fellow F. Scott fans out there, I will definitely keep you posted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

daisy?

oh, leo