strange and random happenstance

For years I put off watching The Mystery of Edwin Drood because I wanted to read the unfinished manuscript by Dickens in order to read Dan Simmons's Drood. Then when this movie came out, because even if they call it a miniseries, only two hour-long episodes only equals a movie, I still hadn't gotten around to my previous goals so I thought I'd wait. Well, seeing as it's now way over a decade later and I still haven't gotten around to reading, well, either of the aforementioned books, I figured it was time to watch this adaptation. Plus, I was going through severe Freddie Fox withdrawal. Who would have thought I'd ever like anyone other than Tom Hiddleston playing Loki!?! And now that Freddie's really the only socially acceptable male Fox, how could I not give into the craving? Which sadly this didn't quite assuage. In fact, if you really need a Freddie Fox fix Year of the Rabbit episode three, "Gangs," is perfection. There is of course the first few seasons of Slow Horses, but, things don't end up so well for him there.... Back to Dickens! There are many problems with this "miniseries," the most glaring of which is how forgettable it is. I just watched this and I am struggling to recall anything that happened. The problem was this should have been minimally a three-part adaptation. It's just too short to get the full panoply of Dickensian characters. This is exacerbated by the fact that the entire first episode is basically Matthew Rhys in a drugged fug, making anything happening too hard to comprehend even for Hunter S. Thompson. Which, if they had stretched this to three episodes would have been mitigated. Because the angry dissociation of the first episode would have been just part of our tale not half of it. Well, more than half of it because it's not like John Jasper is giving up the drugs anytime soon. And yes, I think if Dickens had survived Wilkie Collins would have possibly had a valid case for libel. But the saving grace of this series is David Dawson as Bazzard. David Dawson who just happens to play Joseph Merrick, "The Elephant Man," in the aforementioned episode of Year of the Rabbit, "Gangs." Seriously, go watch that episode. It might be one of the funniest things you'll ever watch in your entire life. While here David Dawson brings the Dickensian vibe this series was so sorely missing in its first half. He is the clerk to Edwin Drood's fiance's guardian. And given this is Dickens, that's actually a concise relationship. Usually they are all convoluted and full of secrecy. He basically gets stuck into all the mysteries and secrets and just solves everything. I'm sad that he couldn't solve the problem of this show, but there's only so much one character can do. Especially if he's given only one episode to do it in.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bazzard, Charles Dickens, Dan Simmons, David Dawson, Drugs, Fifty-Five Years a Masterpiece, Freddie Fox, Hunter S. Thompson, Loki, Matthew Rhys, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Tom Hiddleston, Wilkie Collins, Year of the Rabbit

When there's a successful television show the powers that be will do anything to expand the brand. The most common in recent years is to do a prequel series. Just look to the success of Young Sheldon and you know what I'm talking about. This reboot of Ian Rankin's surly Scot could be considered "Young Rebus" if you will, because most people associate the character with Ken Stott who was in his fifties when he played the role and Richard Rankin is only forty-two. I though will be pedantic and say that the OG Rebus, AKA the magnificent John Hannah, was actually four years younger than our new Rebus when he played him in 2000 and therefore they are just trying to pull the wool over your eyes and this isn't a "young" reboot it's more of a "gritty" reboot. Just look to the wannabe Jack Irish opening credits. Back to John Hannah. Because really everything goes back to John Hannah. I was a fanatic about Rebus back in the day. It filled the void left by McCallum. And despite claiming that when Ken Stott took over the role it was season two of the show, it was a full five years after John Hannah's last episode so I view it as an entirely different series. A series I just couldn't get into. Perhaps because my mom kept complaining that Ken Stott wasn't John Hannah. Same mom. Same. So I was intrigued by this reboot. I mean, as long as Richard Rankin didn't sing "Joy to the World" this was a very stable move for him to create a long-running series for his post Outlander career. Plus the first season is only six episodes long so I did a seven day free trial of Viaplay and got to see it at no cost to myself other than time. So what did I think of it besides the fact that whomever did the opening credits had watched Jack Irish one too many times? It was totally serviceable with not a single likable character. In fact most of the characters are too dumb to live. I mean, his brother is desperate to pull his life out of the shitter and does one stupid thing after another. You do not rob from drug dealers. You do not kill their bosses. There's just so much basic common sense that went out the window that I can't believe any sane person would view these characters sympathetically. As for Rebus? He just can't keep from making himself unhappy. He just wallows. And, like his brother, makes stupid decisions that put him in the crosshairs of the higher-ups. In other words, it is your bog standard disgruntled and dissatisfied copper which could take a few lessons from Dept. Q because at least there there's a few more relatable characters and no boxing club. Seriously, no show should be allowed to have boxing clubs or fight clubs ever again. It's been overplayed. But at least with the end of Outlander we'll still get our Richard Rankin fix as the show has been picked up for another season. Here's hoping it grows. And that the second season doesn't kill the only likable character. Again.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: And the Emmy Goes To, Dept. Q, Drugs, Edinburgh, Gritty Reboot, Ian Rankin, Jack Irish, John Hannah, John Rebus, Ken Stott, McCallum, Outlander, Police, Procedural, Rebus, Richard Rankin, Scotland, Too Dumb to Live, Viaplay, Young Sheldon

The very first thing I thought when I heard about this series was; "Can Jason Isaacs do the voice?" Because if he couldn't nail that studied yet somehow relaxed transatlantic accent there was literally no point to this miniseries. And the trailers they released didn't really confirm or deny this. Therefore I went into Archie blind with my fingers crossed. And somehow, I don't know how, Jason Isaacs did it. He pulled it off. You believed him to be Cary Grant, especially the older greying Cary. You were able to suspend disbelief for a few hours and learn about this very secretive man. Because Cary Grant was a secretive man. He believed his life was his life. He might have been a celebrity, one might even say one of the greatest stars ever, but no one really knew him. There were the rumors, was he gay? What about his drug use? And I give props to this series for not dodging any of those questions. They weren't interested in making a puff piece, they were interested in showing some truth, be it flattering or, well, not at all complimentary. The controlling Cary if you will. You came out feeling as if you really did know Cary Grant. Or at least more than you knew before. But you also have to keep in mind that having this based on Dyan Cannon's memoir you're getting it through the filter of her experiences. Therefore making sense of the fact that the best cast character on this show was Dyan's. Laura Aikman as Dyan isn't about suspending disbelief, it's about seeing Dyan living and breathing in this show. It was eerie to say the least. But by having Dyan kind of being the lens through which we see Cary my Dad who I was watching this with assumed that Dyan was the love of Cary's life and that they rode off into the sunset together, which isn't the case. At all. Dyan was Grant's fourth wife and their marriage only last three years. Which wasn't his shortest marriage, but it was far from his longest. But the importance of Dyan is that she brought Cary's only child into the world. Jennifer Grant became Cary's whole world. She was born in 1966 and after her birth he stopped acting. He was at the height of his career and he ended it to be a father. Which is the most amazing thing. He found the love he'd spent his life looking for. Because this show does a supreme job of showing the horrors her grew up with, the deprivation, the lies, the love he sought. He thought his mother was dead until he was thirty-one and found out his father had had her institutionalized when Cary was nine so that he could start a new family. The poor Archie Leach used vaudeville as his ticket to America and remade himself. Everything about his life was constructed. If there's one thing this show shows you is that the greatest role Cary Grant ever played was that of Cary Grant. To think that this man, this man who was always acting, was then an actor, it's astonishing the depths to which he was about reinvention. You might find him not as perfect as you'd hoped he was, but you will come away with awe at what he did.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Acting, And the Emmy Goes To, Archie, Archie Leach, BritBox, Cary Grant, Daughter, Drugs, Dyan Cannon, Gay, Jason Isaacs, Jennifer Grant, Laura Aikman, Marriage, Movie Star, Transatlantic Accent, Vaudeville

While no one was really paying too much attention Harlan Coben has made himself a little dynasty over at Netflix. While everyone was obsessing over Bridgerton or pouring over the details of Ryan Murphy's deal with Netflix for the last six years Coben has delivered eight shows that are solid and addictive mysteries. The recipe was simple; take one of his books, change the setting to England, add Richard Armitage, and voila, hit show. But a hit show without too much coverage. It's like how Suits emerged out of the mists of time to become popular again. Harlan Coben's adaptations succeed whether they're talked about or not. And Fool Me Once is the only one I've really seen talked about. Which is a shame. This adaptation just didn't work. Could it be too little Richard Armitage? Perhaps. Could it be that despite being the darling of British television I found Michelle Keegan flat and incapable of shouldering the duties of leading lady? Oh, most definitely. Joanna Lumley should have killed Michelle in the first episode and made it her own. The problem with this adaptation is at its heart it's about a British drug dynasty like the Sacklers, but told in the stupidest way possible. This is buried so deeply in the narrative it only becomes clear in the final episode when Michelle Keegan's Maya confronts her husband's family. I would have far rather watched eight episodes of Maya living this half life between the world she was born to and the world she was thrust into because of her marriage than her wandering about being wooden looking into the deaths of her husband and her sister, one of which really makes no sense when you learn the truth. Which just lends itself to the convoluted nature of the entire show. So much is not explained and left unresolved. If you like your mysteries with a big helping of vague, well then, this one's for you. The lead cop, played wonderfully by Adeel Akhtar, is taking drugs produced by the "Sacklers" and is having severe health issues. Are we ever told why he's on medicine that he pops like candy? No! And then when he's at the doctors trying to figure out why he's blacking out, when the doctor is talking the sound fades away. So... No idea what's going on there. So much is not knowing what's going on or just assuming the audience doesn't care about a single detail. Like Maya's sister gave up a baby for adoption. Why did she give the baby up? Did her husband know? Or did Maya's friend actually have kids? I never saw these kids or even pictures of said kids. These little things keep building over time until I was just so frustrated that I'm glad Maya died. This show explained nothing, underused great actors, and overused incompetent ones. I kept thinking that this could have been something but in the end I just no longer care. Yes, it was slightly redeemed by vigilantism with dire consequences, but it was too little too late.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Adeel Akhtar, Adoption, And the Emmy Goes To, Bridgerton, Drugs, Fool Me Once, Harlan Coben, Joanna Lumley, Maya Stern, Michelle Keegan, Netflix, Richard Armitage, Ryan Murphy, Sacklers, Stay Close, The Stranger

The Man in the High Castle Season 2
Based on the book by Philip K. Dick
Starring: Alexa Davalos, Conor Leslie, Tate Donovan, Valerie Mahaffey, Macall Gordon, Daniel Roebuck, Rufus Sewell, Chelah Horsdal, Quinn Lord, Gracyn Shinyei, Genea Charpentier, Emily Holmes, Jessie Fraser, Gillian Barber, Aaron Blakely, Ray Proscia, Luke Kleintank, Sebastian Roché, Wolf Muser, Kenneth Tigar, Bella Heathcote, Gabrielle Rose, Joel de la Fuente, Lee Shorten, Tzi Ma, Alex Zahara, Hiro Kanagawa, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Brennan Brown, DJ Qualls, Rupert Evans, Cara Mitsuko, Callum Keith Rennie, Rick Worthy, Michael Hogan, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Arnold Chun, Yukari Komatsu, Eddie Shin, and Stephen Root
Release Date: December 16th, 2016
Rating: ★★★★★
To Watch

Juliana Crain's actions have gotten her into trouble. Handing over the film to Joe, a known Nazi, has sparked the ire of the resistance and has led to her being brought before The Man in the High Castle himself. He won't answer her many question, including whether she appears in the countless films he has surrounding him, he only wants her to answer one question, did she recognize one specific man in the film she gave to Joe? She knows she's seen him before but not who he is. Now certain members of the resistance want her dead but little do they know she has remembered the man, he was a comrade of her father's and, as it turns out, her sister Trudy's real father. But George Dixon lives in New York, deep in the heart of the Reich. Knowing she isn't safe in San Francisco Juliana defects to the Nazis. The resistance had the wrong idea about why she gave Joe the film, so why not see if the Nazis will draw the same erroneous conclusion and let her infiltrate their ranks? All she planned on doing was finding George and getting some answers, but he's in the resistance as well and with Juliana being sponsored by Obergruppenführer John Smith she is placed to help like never before and wash the slate clean for the film debacle. Though giving the resistance information on people she's come to know, even if they're Nazis, is harder than she would have thought. Whereas back in San Francisco Frank is good with doing whatever the resistance wants, even blowing up the Kenpeitai headquarters if it comes to that.

Also in New York Joe's actions haven't gotten him in trouble at all. In fact he's being lauded for his work and has been called to Berlin to finally meet his father, Reichsminister Martin Heusmann. Joe learns that his entire life has been a lie. He was bred by the Nazis to be a part of their master race. A master race that is ready to finally take full control of the world and eliminate their allies, the Japanese. Yet from what The Man in the High Castle has seen, if all the pieces line up just right another world war can be averted. This all hinges on Trade Minister Tagomi. Tagomi has found a way out of this world. He has found his way into a world where the Axis powers lost and where is wife and son still live. In this world he also has a daughter-in-law, Juliana. The woman who was once in his employ in his world is here his daughter. But there is a distance with this family he longed to find again. He slowly starts to bridge the gap. Why would he want to return to his world when everything he could ever want is here? His son and Juliana belong to a group that hopes to "Ban the Bomb." The group watches video footage of what an H-bomb can do. Tagomi is shocked by the destruction, his world only has A-Bombs, which are actually used to detonate H-bombs. They are so much more deadly, so much more powerful, but the video just happens to have been shot in what is Japanese territory in his world. If Tagomi could take this film back there he could scare the Germans into believing that the Japanese could destroy them, therefore the delicate balance of world peace would be restored. Only Tagomi could lose his own chance at happiness in saving his world. 

I have spent a little over a week binging The Man in the High Castle's first two seasons and I am not exaggerating when I say I could literally go back to the first episode right now and start all over again. What's interesting about season two is that now that they are running out of narrative from the book they are expanding the universe but then linking it back to the original story when you least expect it. Small, throwaway lines have become fully developed into catalysts for world changing events. While in the book Hitler's death is important, it's almost part of the background noise. It's happening, but it was inevitable. Here, because we actually have characters embedded in the Reich we see the power struggle, we see the plays for control, we get a richer experience. Because so much of season two is taking the characters we loved and scattering them to the four corners of the earth and watching them interact with different characters we never thought they'd meet. This gulf between them makes them all have to survive more on their own but at the same time it makes you feel disconnected. They aren't all trying to get back to each other, they're just trying to survive and make it in the world they've created for themselves so sometimes, just for a second or two, you think, perhaps the series has lost it's way. Yet by the end I realized I should have never doubted anything. The Man in the High Castle was using his knowledge, threading the needle of possibilities to get the best outcome for his world, and that meant the strongest ending you could imagine with each and every character playing their part in order for that end to be achieved. Go team!

Of course for that ending to be possible some characters have fallen by the side of the road and some have just fallen. Frank for example. Frank has fallen. In the first season he was a sympathetic character. He'd just lost his sister and her two kids because of his heritage and his belief in Juliana. His attempt to assassinate the Prince of Japan was a reckless moment that he grew to strongly regret. But seeing his brains blown out in a possible future in one of the films bound for The Man in the High Castle unhinges him. It's like he knows his death is coming so instead of being just grief-stricken he becomes careless. He is reckless with his own life and out of nowhere he becomes an asshole. While I should be marveling in the fact that Rupert Evans is such a good actor that he can make me hate him so much after feeling so sorry for him instead I just want to punch him in the face. I mean it, I seriously NEED to punch him in the face. He's become a dick and he needs to die. Even his best friend Ed, who will literally take anything from anyone calls him out on it. That's how low you've fallen Frank! And yet without Frank I wouldn't get some of my favorite scenes in season two. In order to get Ed released from prison Frank formed an alliance with Robert Childan and the Yakuza to make forgeries of American antiques. This is a bit of a twist on the arrangement in the book where Ed and Frank make jewelry that Childan then sells in his shop. But it's the expansion of the friendship between Ed and Childan that is at the heart of the show. They're both underdogs who don't trust each other but realize they can use each other. In fact, can we just give these two an "Odd Couple" like spin-off right now set in the neutral zone?

Whereas on the other coast Juliana is living this weird Nazi filtered Leave it to Beaver life. In fact, does anyone else remember that horrible John Travolta movie The Experts about Russians trying to become Americans? I feel like it's a weird parallel world like that, they're trying so hard but something is just off. These ARE Americans, and yet they're Nazis! In a flashback we see Obergruppenführer John Smith on his way to Washington when the bomb went off. He WAS an American. He WAS in the army. And yet he's been totally indoctrinated. The insight into the American Reich is something entirely new that this adaptation did which the book never explored. While getting to see it last season through Joe we saw it at a distance. He was technically an insider and therefore the world didn't shock him. But for Juliana, well it is a foreign country. While her world is also foreign to us, the things she points out, the protection she gives the ailing Thomas, these are things we can relate to and therefore her eyes become our eyes. In fact when she tells Dixon that she feels sorry for them I totally agree. They might be people with different beliefs, some of them sick and demented calling for the killing of the ill, but they are still people. They still live and love and are worthy of our sympathy. And that's how you know if you're a good person, if you can find the good in anyone. If, on the other hand you just see people below you? Well, then you're a Nazi in your heart of hearts and are not a good person. 

Though the person who once again makes all the incredibly talented cast look like amateurs is Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Tagomi. Everyone has seen him in something, from Big Trouble in Little China to Rising Sun to Mortal Komat to basically every TV show ever, he's always played larger than life characters like Edie Sakamura memorably belting out "Don't Fence Me In." Yet here his performance is subtle, nuanced, and he's finally getting the props he deserves for being such an amazing actor. He is the heart, he is the lifeblood of The Man in the High Castle, and he is perfection. It's not that his foresight saves his world and makes him a hero, it's the little moments that bring it all together. Watching his wife through the window as the blossoms fall from the tree. Carefully fixing a cup that was destroyed and resulted in a fissure developing between himself and his family. The subtle expressions of how he sees this new and strange world he has become a part of and trying to rectify his knowledge with this new knowledge. The joy of holding his grandchild for the first time. Plus finding out that the connection between him and Juliana, that protectiveness he felt in this world is the love for a daughter, it's heartbreaking. Each and every little moment adds up to an Emmy worthy role. But then, to have him turn his back on this happiness, turn away to save his world when he could just live here, that shows the worth of the man. He can't be happy if those he cares for are in danger. Seriously, is someone going to give him an Emmy and me something to wipe away my tears?

An interesting fact about this show is that despite being set in the 60s in San Francisco there has been little to no mention about the drug culture, which Philip K. Dick did somewhat include by the legal and copious use of marijuana in his book. But in season two this all changes! Not only do the marijuana cigarettes, Land O' Smiles, make an appearance, there's far more drug use and "free love." The importance of finally including the counter culture and the peaceful protests is that it gives the viewers something they can more directly relate to. It's more a history we know, with the Berkley protests, but what's more it's a history we're currently living through. What I found extremely interesting though are that those most embracing the love and drugs are the children of those in command in the Reich, the Lebensborn, the genetically engineered superior race of which Joe belongs. They're all about sex without boundaries and drug experimentation. It's like we've gone back in time to the Weimar Republic which Christopher Isherwood wrote about and became immortalized in Cabaret. One starts to wonder, as Joe's new lady friend Nicole says, if perhaps things would be different if the new, younger generation were in charge? Do the youth of Germany hold the same beliefs as their parents? We've seen in Obergruppenführer John Smith's son a certain Hitler Youth fanaticism, but what about those put into power? Joe quickly becomes his father's right hand man and doesn't hold the same beliefs... one wonders, with the death of Hitler, if enough time were to pass would the Nazis just go away? A thought for another season, which I wish was available right now!   

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: 1960s, A-Bomb, Adaptation, Cabaret, Christopher Isherwood, Counter Culture, Drugs, Dystopian, Dystopian Drama, H-Bomb, Nazis, Philip K. Dick, Rising Sun, San Francisco, Tagomi, The Man in the High Castle, WWII

The Terminal Man by Michael Crichton
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: April 12th, 1972
Format: Paperback, 266 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Harry Benson blacks out. When he loses time he commits violent acts. This has been happening ever since he was in a car accident where he retained brain damage. The Neuro-Psychiatric Service of the University Hospital has been looking for a "stage three" candidate to try a new procedure on. They believe that actual psychical brain injuries can be cured with the implantation of electrodes in the brain. The electrodes would fire a positive charge into the patient's brain whenever an "attack" was imminent. This would be perfect for Harry. Whenever an attack started, instead of blacking out, he would get a happy little pleasurable charge and everything would be fine. He'd no longer be beating up exotic dancers and gas station attendants. The only thing the NPS didn't count on when choosing Harry as a candidate is that he is actually psychotic. Doctor Janet Ross warned them that this was the case, but the surgeons in their zeal to do what has never been done brushed aside her concerns about Harry's fear of machines and went ahead with the surgery. The day after the surgery it appears that Doctor Ross's fears have materialized as Harry is triggering seizures to get pleasurable responses. He then escapes the hospital and it is only a matter of time until he reaches his breaking point. If he was dangerous before he is even more dangerous now.

Despite deciding on a whim that I would read the books for my Crichton Celebration in reverse order I have to say it's a decision that I don't regret in the least. As I read this, my last book for my celebration, and the second book Crichton published under his own name, it's fascinating to see the genesis of what he'll later explore in future books. The Terminal Man is by no means a polished book, it's very rough around the edges, and I almost like it more for this. Crichton hasn't established any pattern to his narrative structure and this gives the book a freshness. But we get hints as to his future greatness and his future themes, from man competing with technology to apes to genetic modification. Crichton had a very interesting range of subjects he was compelled to write about and seeing them in a protoformat makes the book nerd in me smile. Of course he does fall prey to some cliche ridden techniques that he would thankfully remove from his repertoire later on, the most egregious error being the abrupt ending that he would use again in Eaters of the Dead in some attempt to be edgy, but it's just lame.  

What I find interesting to mull over is the idea of the medical drama or medical thriller. While there have been innumerable shows and books and movies, so much so that we know the language and the argot, Crichton would be at the forefront of this movement. He refined and for many defined what a medical procedural should be with ER. Twenty years after writing The Terminal Man he was still interested enough in medicine to bring it to television. He was always working and playing with ideas for years and years until he found the perfect outlet, be it book or film or television. He was able to explore themes in a way that was almost always fresh and most definitely an expansion of his previous thoughts. What I wouldn't give to have him still in the world and examining how things have changed and how much he predicted and how some things were tried and abandoned. He must have been an interesting person to talk to and how I wish I had had that chance.  

Though with this prevalence of medical shows over time I think I have become desensitized to blood and guts. I can sit and watch Hannibal eating Eddie Izzard's leg and think nothing of it aside from the wonderful ability of Eddie to deliver a wry line. Adaptations of some of the bloodiest murder scenes, such as those of Jack the Ripper, nary an eyelash is batted. Yet reading about the brain surgery of Harry Benson I had this odd visceral reaction. Perhaps it's because I'm used to visual stimulus and this was written and therefore my mind's eye was left to imagine the worse, but the impact this simple surgery had on me was remarkable. It had such force my gorge was actually rising as I thought of the brain being cut into. Also, the fact that the brain has no nerve endings and that you can hack away without the patient feeling any pain, ugh, no. I don't know what it was about this but it struck a literal nerve in me and made me connect to Benson on a level I never thought I would.

Another medical aspect that struck me was the doctor patient confidentiality between Harry Benson and all his doctors, in particular Doctor Janet Ross. In other words, they didn't seem to care about it or even mention it once. Yes, once Harry goes on his little rampage every sane doctor would give the police everything they needed to catch him, but shouldn't there be at least a nod of acknowledgement that Harry is a danger and that is why the confidentiality is being breached? When Captain Anders comes to Doctor Ross's apartment after Harry tried to kill her she calmly sits down and tells him everything about Harry not leaving out a single detail. Would this fly in court? Can she really tell him everything? It not only seems like a breech of trust, but as if she's being vindictive against her patient. She keeps saying that she wants to help him, yet she's laying all his secrets bare and that seems like a negative response to almost being killed more then a helping hand.

But maybe in the early seventies people didn't dwell on potential litigation. Ethics and standards have changed drastically in the past forty some years. And, as the book is written to point out, technology is changing rapidly too. One of the aspects of the book that I found disturbing was the fact that research on monkeys wasn't in the least bit controversial. Ellis mentioned hundreds, yes, HUNDREDS of monkeys he'd worked on to prepare for this one procedure in a human. Also, the monkeys apparently cost $80! Not only the cruelty to the animals but that such a low sum could be placed on their lives disgusted me. Which if extrapolated outwards, you can relate to Harry's predicament and how the surgery being preformed on him both disgusts and horrifies him. Morals, standards, ethics, all is in flux constantly within ourselves and within society. There is a palpable fear of technology that is logical. But there is also a fear of what we have been and what we could be capable of. It's not even the technological advances and the fact that a computer knows what a cat is that's the real danger, it's the human element that is unpredictable and terrifying.

And isn't that always the way? The human element is where things break down. This idea that we can control humans, that we can program them, drug them, retrain them, it is always in playing god in this sense that things go awry. Yes the technology is terrifying, but the fact that humans then try to use it, try to play god, that's what really scares me. Despite the fact that Harry is quite literally insane, I truly felt sorry for him reading this at this time in my life. These doctors that were there to help him were really, despite them objecting that the press was sensationalizing it, preforming mind control. Because changing someone's behavior, be it as simple as them biting their nails, is mind control at a basic level. Look to all the drugs prescribed for anxiety and stress; I'm on a few myself. These drugs don't magically solve anything, they are their to rewrite your behavior and get you to stop anxiety in it's tracks. If I get over emotional I feel the drugs kicking in and it feels like a band around my head which won't go away unless I calm down. This pressure has taught me to calm down. I have been reprogrammed in the simplest way, with negative reinforcement. Now imagine having wires in your brain doing that? I shudder to think. Having them in the mind of someone actually psychotic? That is why The Terminal Man is both terrifying and a cautionary tale.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Brain, Crichton Celebration, Doctors, Drugs, Eaters of the Dead, Eddie Izzard, ER, Ethics, Hannibal Lecter, Harry Benson, Jack the Ripper, Michael Crichton, Psycho, Surgery, The Terminal Man

Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
Published by: HarperCollins
Publication Date: April 24th, 2008
Format: Hardcover, 325 Pages
Challenge: Fantasy
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

Leslie has had a tough go of things lately. Tough might even be too nice of a word. Her mother split, her Dad is mentally gone, if physically there, and her brother Ren is into drugs and consorting with the worst type of lowlifes. Her best friend, Aislinn, has a weird threesome going with Seth and Kennan and has taken to keeping too many secrets. But who's Leslie to judge, she also has her dark secrets, horrors that happened because of what her life has become that she'd rather forget. She has one remaining hope, one thing that will keep her going till she's able to head off to college in the fall, a tattoo. If she can just find the right ink to adorn her body she can reclaim it as her own and move beyond the something that happened. But all is not right at the tattoo parlor... the proprietor, Rabbit, is having bizarre back room dealings with dark faeries for nefarious purposes. Leslie is destined to be a victim once more... the tattoo that calls to her happens to be the mark of the king of the Dark Court of fairies, Irial. Because the secret her best friend Aislinn has been keeping is that fairies exist, and she is the Queen of one of the four courts, the Summer Queen. Aislinn thought she was keeping Leslie safe by holding out on her, by having her guarded unknowingly. But things have a way of becoming complicated, especially when her guard, Niall, is falling for her, and he has a past relationship with Irial, who he forsook for the summer court.

Things start to become more dangerous and more inevitable once Leslie's inking has begun. With a mixture of dark blood, tears and shadows, Leslie becomes slowly entwined with Irial. But a simple ink exchange binding a mortal to a king for the purposes of sustaining his people has the unintended effect of making Irial care for Leslie. Victim she might be, but Irial wants only the best for her, as does Niall. But is it too late? Could Leslie stop the process before it is complete? Her new feeling of empowerment and the control over her own life might all be an illusion, feelings lent from Irial, and not her own. In trying to feel safe and protected she has placed herself unwittingly in the worst type of danger. Aislinn's codling of her friend helped to create another horror in order to assuage her guilt over not being their before. But things will of course get far worse before there is any chance of them getting better.

Looking back on my previous review of Wicked Lovely, I said what this series needed to hook me was a darker edge... well I sure got it! Leslie is a far more compelling character than Aislinn ever was. For all Aislinn's "problems" with fairies, she had a relatively easy life. Leslie has not had this easy life, her encounters with humans are far worse than what Aislinn has had to deal with... she was made queen after all! Whereas Leslie and her dark past attracts the worst kind of fairies who desire to use her as their conduit to human emotions. She is turned into the very thing she abhors most, a junky and a drug source in one. The two things that destroyed her life in the first place she unwittingly evolves into. In an effort to escape, and who wouldn't want that after what she's been through, she destroys herself more. For a time I was very worried that Leslie would have no redeeming quality, that she wouldn't be able to reclaim her life and her body, that her descent into debauchery would continue. I, of course, should have had more faith in the author. A helpless female is all well and good just so long as she isn't that by the close. I enjoyed this darker tale in Marr's world of fairies, a sort of depraved version of Labyrinth, with the Goblin King being played with equal elan by Irial and Niall... at times the boy's seemed more stilted and less engaging than Leslie, but soon all was well and the story kept the pages flying. Final verdict... the next book is near the top of my to be read list, and I'm far more optimistic after reading Ink Exchange than after reading Wicked Lovely... I think this series has the potential for hooking me yet!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Aislinn, Dark Court, Drugs, Ink Exchange, Irial, Kennan, Labyrinth, Leslie, Melissa Marr, Niall, Rape, Reading Challenge, Ren, Summer Queen, The Goblin King Tattoo, Wicked Lovely