I’m a big fan of Carl Hiaasen’s comic crime novel, Bad Monkey (2013), so I was looking forward to the Apple TV+ version. From watching the first two episodes–all that’s available now–I’m delighted by the casting and the high production values. I can’t wait to see the next eight episodes!

Vince Vaughn plays Andrew Yancy, suspended police detective who has been reduced to conducting restaurant inspections in Florida Keys after knocking a politically connected man into the water…with a lot of witnesses viewing the event. Vince Vaughn is terrific as a guy obsessed with detection.

A severed arm found by a tourist during a fishing outing lures Yancy into a plot filled with corruption and murder. After only two episodes I’m in love with Natalie Martinez who plays Dr. Rosa Campesino, the smart and sexy medical examiner from Miami, who helps Yancy investigate the severed arm.

And I can’t get enough of Jodie Turner-Smith as Dragon Queen/Gracie, an Obeah–practicing siren living in Andros, Bahamas. If you’re looking for some late Summer TV entertainment, I highly recommend Bad Monkey. GRADE: INCOMPLETE, but trending towards an A.

Nancy Pelosi denies she had any direct role in convincing Joe Biden to leave the Presidential race, but after reading The Art of Power (2024) I bet Pelosi had a big role in that decision… from afar. And after reading The Art of Power I’d would have suggested to the former Speaker of the House that The Art of Politics would be a more accurate title.

Politics can get a little dry. I suspect most readers are going to find Pelosi’s writing about getting the Affordable Care Act of 2010 passed a bit tedious. But anyone running for office will find the tactics Pelosi used both powerful and effective.

The part of the book that held my attention–I was on the edge of my seat!–was Pelosi’s hour-by-hour account of the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. As the mob shouted Pelosi’s name and threaten her life and the lives of the other members of Congress, those representatives with military training were making pikes from the wooden stands that held anti-Covid-19 hand sanitizer in case they had to defend themselves from the attackers.

Pelosi holds Trump and his cult responsible for the vicious attack on her husband, Paul. In 2022, a far-right conspiracy theorist, David DePape, broke into the Pelosi’s San Francisco house while Nancy, his target, was in Washington. DePape delivered three hammer blows to Paul Pelosi’s head with such force that DePape later expressed surprise that his victim survived.

Republicans have spent millions of dollars on ads personally attacking Pelosi over the years. But their vile attacks continued after the attack on Paul Pelosi. Donald Trump Jr. shared a meme of a hammer on social media that was captioned: “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready.” Sick.

There’s a price to be paid if you decide to pursue a career in public life, but currently the hostility is so high, rational people would have to consider whether putting their families and themselves at risk is worth it. The Art of Power provides some insights into what life in Washington, D.C. is like today. GRADE: A

“Trump first brought up her Time cover during his disastrous chat with Elon Musk on Monday night. “She looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live,” he complained. “It was a drawing, and actually, she looked very much like our great First Lady Melania. She didn’t look like Camilla [Kamala], that’s right. But of course, she’s a beautiful woman, so we’ll leave it at that, right?”

Many people pointed out that this was a very weird thing to say, as Harris looks nothing like Melania Trump in the cover image, and comparing your female opponent’s looks to your wife’s is generally a bad move. But Trump is still fixating on the image. He brought it up again during a rally in Asheville, North Carolina, on Wednesday evening, which was ostensibly about the economy but included lots of personal attacks against Harris.” — New York magazine,
“Trump Can’t Hide Jealousy Over Kamala Harris Time Cover” By Margaret Hartmann

Is Trump losing it?

Back in the 1990s I spent a lot of time with Patrick and Katie watching animated TV shows. One of the shows was X-Men: The Animated Series. Even at an early age, Katie–who was eight years old–questioned the title of the series: “Dad, if Jean Grey, Rogue, Jubilee, and Storm are women, how can they be called X-Men?” “Limited thinking on the part of the writers,” was my answer then. Today, you’d have to say: sexism.

Now on Disney+ there’s X-Men ’97, a retro animated television series created by Beau DeMayo based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the X-Men. It is a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997), continuing the story of the X-Men who face new challenges following the loss of their leader, Professor X.  By retro, I mean the style of animation, the storylines, and even some of the voices are the same as X-Men: The Animated Series. Looks the same, sounds the same.

X-Men ’97  has DeMayo as head writer for the first two seasons, followed by Matthew Chauncey for the third season, and Jake Castorena as supervising director. The quality control operates at a high rate insuring the new animated series looks just like the 1990s version.

I always enjoyed the various forms of The X-Men–animated series, comic books, movies–with the theme of Being Different Has Consequences. The mutants–most of them–try to work with humanity while many humans fear the mutants and want to exterminate them. In this rendition, Cyclops, Jean Grey, The Beast, Wolverine, Jubilee, Rogue, Gambit, and some surprise mutants battle against the forces who want to eliminate them. Unlike the 1990s series, some X-Men get killed in X-Men ’97. I’ve watched six of the 10 episodes. Just as much fun at watching this series 25 years ago! Are you a fan of the X-Men (and women)? GRADE: INCOMPLETE, but trending towards a B+

“Ideally every text should be read twice, first to know what is said, second to appreciate how it is said, and from there to obtain the full aesthetic enjoyment. The crime story is a limited but exacting model of a text that, once you have discovered who the killer is, invites you implicitly or explicitly to look back, either to understand how the author has led you to build up false ideas, or to decide that after all he hadn’t hidden anything, only that you had failed to observe with the keen eye of the detective.” Umberto Eco, Chronicles of a Liquid Society, p. 112

I took Umberto Eco’s advice and read The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) again, even when I knew “whodunnit.” I watched as Agatha Christie, in her first Poirot mystery, cleverly sends the reader–especially the First Time reader–down Rabbit Holes and encounters with Red Herrings.

Back in 1964, I binged on a couple dozen Agatha Christie mysteries. When I read The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Christie faked me out of my jockstrap! She had me so confused, that I had THREE suspects for the murder…and all were wrong! But after reading a dozen Christie mysteries, I started to see certain patterns and my Picking the Murderer Rate went up to about 60%. By the time I’d read my 24th Christie, I was batting 900!

Are you an Agatha Christie fan? Do you have a favorite Christie mystery? GRADE: A

“Pure Gold Hits” is a little bit strong, but I remember all these songs especially Sammy Johns’ “Chevy Van” (backed by The Wrecking Crew) which inspired a lot of fantasies back in 1973. This compilation includes classics like The Lovin’ Spooful’s “Summer in the City” and Linda Ronstadt’s “(Love is Like A) Heat Wave.” I’m also partial to Seals & Crofts’s “Summer Breeze,” which I wish we had right now with temps in the 80s!

Do you remember these songs? Do you have a favorite Summer song? And what do you think of Obama’s Summer Playlist 2024? GRADE: B

TRACK LIST:

Matthew Hughes first introduced Margolyam, a young sorceress with great potential, in Cascor (you can read my review here). Margolyam decides to attend The Institute of Hermetic Studies to become a thaumaturge and learn more magical spells. However, her professors discover that Margolyam has a rare ability: she’s a “Tome-tickler.” Margolyam can open ancient spell books that other thaumaturges couldn’t access. This creates problems for Margolyam when her enemies frame her.

Two of Margolyam’s professors at The Institute, Vinciano and Quist, approach her with a proposal: if she will accompany them to Olliphract–a city of thaumaturges, wizards, sorceresses, and magical beings–they will reward her with more lessons and magic spells. Margolyam accepts their offer and finds Olliphract a bizarre city completely surrounded by mountains. Vinciano and Quist begin their experiments with Margolyam’s powers, but they attract a cunning thaumaturge, Fatezh, who also wants to use Margolyam’s powers…for nefarious reasons.

Margolyam’s adventures include meeting Skyrie, a magician from the Past aeons. Skyrie created a magic artifact, The Hat, that can totally destroy Reality. Margolyam needs to find The Hat before other thaumaturges find it and annihilate everything.

Matthew Hughes has the gift of creating worlds where magic makes sense in the hands of quirky magicians and sorceresses, some Good and some Evil. The wild adventures his characters undertake are both thrilling and intense as they confront challenges and dire perils! Margolyam is an imaginative and heartfelt story of a young girl learning about the power and dangers of her talents. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Foreword — vii

1. The Touch — 1
2. Nescience — 43
3. The Institute — 88
4. Olliphract — 135
5. The Hat — 172
6. The War — 201
7. Skyrie — 233
8. The Boyfriend — 271

Epilogue — 302

Acknowledgments — 307

Bibliography — 309

A Note from the Author — 311

Diane wanted to see Despicable Me 4 in June, but we came down with Covid-19 so that plan was put on hold. When Diane checked the AMC website, she found that Despicable Me 4 would soon be leaving after this week so she booked some tickets to the 2:45 P.M. showing yesterday. When we arrived at our local AMC Theater, there were plenty of cars. When we entered the theater (Number 4 of 8 theaters in this complex) it was almost full of parents with young kids.

For those of you not familiar with the Despicable Me franchise, it’s a series of animated films featuring a former Villian, Gru (voiced by Steve Carell). Gru is a grouchy, brilliant, and arrogant former supervillain, who now serves as a secret agent for the Anti-Villian-League (AVL) in order to fight other supervillains. In Despicable Me 4, Gru and his family are sent to a Safe House when Supervillain and Gru’s old high school rival, the coackroach-obsessed Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell) vows to steal Gru’s baby son.

There’s a lot of silliness in Despicable Me 4 but the audience we saw it with loved it. Plenty of laughter and giggling! I laughed a few times, too. GRADE: B-

Jon M. Chu is the Director of CRAZY RIGH ASIANS and Wicked. Viewfinder is Chu’s story of growing up in Silicon Valley and working in his parents restaurant. Chu’s childhood was full of wonder as his mother took him, his brothers and sisters, to movies and plays and musical events. All of that culture motivated Chu to want to make movies. And, Chu started early in high school where his teachers allowed students to turn in assignments and projects in written form…or in video form.

Chu encounters problems while working on his degree at USC and more trouble when he graduates. “But the collapse of Hollywood is one of the dislocations that have upset my world–and everybody else’s. The 2020s have seen the rise of forces that a lot of us never thought possible: the pandemic, broad social undress, threats directed tat Asian Americans. The more dangerous the country gets for us, the more I quest the belief in the place that I inherited from my parents. Is this still where we belong?” (p. 6-7)

Fortunately, Chu has some powerful connections to help him succeed. I was blown away at Chu’s encounter with Steven Spielberg. Chu not only gets a boost from his favorite Director, he learns important lessons by spending a day on set with Spielberg. “Just as he’d made me fall in love with movies when I was five years old, just as he’d reveal al that they could do–move people, bring them together, harness a power much bigger than any of us–he’d now show me the right way to make them. My teachers could lecture me, but they could really make me understand what it was like to direct a movie. Neither could my peers. Only another. director could do that. And in Spielberg, I had the best of all possible guides. He proved, in that instant, that you could make giant-scale movies with kindness, patience, joy. ” (p. 112-113)

Later, Chu meets one of his heroes, Steve Jobs, and comes away inspired at a time when he was struggling. Life is about struggle. But Chu’s story shows how one nerdy kid overcame his obstacles to become a successful movie maker. Inspiring story! GRADE: A

How is the state of your world?