Magic in the Moonlight is a low-wattage Woody Allen movie. Colin Firth plays a magician who is called in to expose a medium (played by Emma Stone) who is engaged to a wealthy young man who worships her (and serenades her with a ukulele). The views of southern France are gorgeous. The antique cars are spectacular. You’ll find few surprises in this movie. GRADE: B-

Dear Committee Members is a snarky, funny, and witty novel. Julie Schmacher captures the entropic decline of an English Department at a second-tier Midwestern college. She creates a cantankerous Professor of Creative Writing and Literature at Payne University, Jason Fitger. The novel is told through a series of Letters of Recommendation, some for students and some for colleagues. Anyone who ever taught at a college (or attended one) will instantly relate to Jason Fitger’s acerbic comments about funding cuts and diminished resources for the humanities while departments like Economics get showered with money and staff. This slim novel (180 pages) displays the frustration and disillusionment of senior faculty in a time when higher education is in decline. But Dear Committee Members achieves its effects with humor. There were times I Laughed Out Loud while reading this book. It’s been a long time since that has happened! Don’t miss this funny book! Check out the sample LOR below. GRADE: B+

September 14, 2009

Ted Boti, Resident Sociologist and Chair
Department of English

Dear Ted:
You’ve asked me to write a letter seconding the
nomination of Franklin Kentrell for the University’s
coveted Davidson Chair. I assume Kentrell is behind this
request; no sane person would nominate a man whose only
recent publications consist of personal genealogical
material and who wears visible sock garters in class–all he
lacks is a white tin basin to resemble a 19th century
barber.
But if you want me to endorse his nomination in order to
keep him quiet and away from your office (you will find him
as persistent and maddening as a fly), you may excerpt the
following sentences and affix my name to them:
“Professor Franklin Kentrell has a singular mind and a
unique approach to the discipline. He is sui
generis. The Davidson Chair has never seen his like
before.”
A word on the call for official, written letters of
recommendation, Ted: I hope for the sake of all concerned,
you will cut back on these as much as possible. The LOR has
become a rampant absurdity, usurping the place of the quick
consultation and the two-minute phone call–not to mention
the teaching and research that faculty were supposedly hired
to perform. I haven’t published a novel in six years;
instead, I fill my departmental hours casting words of
praise into the bureaucratic abyss. On multiple occasions,
serving on awards committees, I was actually required to
write LORs to myself.
Keeping my temper under wraps for the present,
J. Fitger
Professor of English/Creative Writing and Upholder of the Ancient Flame
Payne University

P.S.: I couldn’t help but notice,
following the departure of the Economists, that our Tech
Help office has been largely vacated as well, a single
employee–the appropriately named Mr. Duffy Napp–left
behind to respond to faculty requests for computer
assistance. This surly somnambulist rarely deigns to answer
the most basic of questions, and treats with exhausted
dismay any individual who is not a specialist in computer
arcana. Might it be possible to exchange “the
Napper” for someone more civil and less lethargic?
P.P.S.: Thank you for your attention to
my office window, which now closes; but due to an impressive
crack in the frame–presumably due to the earsplitting
construction on the second floor–rainwater is trickling
merrily down the inside of the glass and, as I type
these words, entering the rusted slats of the heater. You
might want to send someone to take a look.

Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt,Rosario Dawson,Bruce Willis, Eva Green, Powers Boothe, Dennis Haysbert, Ray Liotta, Christopher Meloni, Jeremy Piven, Christopher Lloyd, Jaime King, and Juno Temple are the ensemble cast of the sensational Sin City 2: A Dame to Die For. Co-directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller create a noirish world of violence and vengeance and betrayal. Based on Frank Miller’s classic graphic novels, this movie captures the look and feel of the comics yet delivers a visual punch. If you’re going to see Sin City 2 I highly recommend you see it in 3D. The effects are eye-popping! I know this isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but I found Sin City 2: A Dame to Die For compelling. GRADE: A-

I confess: I have reservations about the new Doctor. For many people, Matt Smith’s performance as Doctor Who over the past few seasons is a high point in the series. And, before Matt Smith took over, David Tennant turned in some excellent performances as The Doctor. So now we have a much older and more alien Twelfth Doctor (played by Peter Capaldi). Will this work out? I’ll be turning in to tonight’s episode on BBC America to find out. The good thing is that the Doctor’s companion, the fetching Clara Oswald (played by Jenna Coleman), returns to give the series some much needed continuity. Obviously, for you Doctor Who newbies out there, this is the perfect time to give this wonderful series a try.

Big Damn Sin City is a damn big book! At 1360 pages, this book weighs 12.2 pounds. This new coffee-table format tome from Dark Horse Books arrived just as Sin City 2: A Dame to Die For opens in the movie theaters. Big Damn Sin City collects all seven of Frank Miller’s classic Sin City graphic novels! This is hardcore noir. I’m convinced Big Damn Sin City will become an instant collector’s item. If you’re a fan, this is a must-buy. If you’re an investor, I’m confident this book’s value will beat the S&P 500 returns easily.

I found it fairly easy to figure out who was writing what in this episodic series. If there were trolls or kobolds then it was Terry Pratchett. If it was scientific explainations of phenomena, it was Stephen Baxter. The premise of this series presented in The Long Earth is that there are an infinite number of Earths separated into dimensions. An eccentric billionaire puts the plans to a “Stepper” online and suddenly millions of people are exploring alternate Earths. Our Earth, referred to as “Datum,” becomes unglued as people immigrate to an Earth of their own. Of course, there are problems. In The Long War, governments on Datum try to establish their power across multiple Earths and control the Great Migration. They build and launch a series of Zeppelins with the ability to “step” through the dimensions. The crews of the Zeppelins encounter plenty of adventures. The premise of The Long Mars is that if there are an infinite number of Earths, there must be an infinite number of Marses. A crew lands on Mars and launches gliders that can “step” through the dimensions to different Marses. At the same time on Earth, an expedition goes as far as 250,000,000 Earths on a grand quest to explore the planet’s possibilities. This is Big Concept science fiction. If you’re in the mood for long, rambling adventures then this series will entertain you. If you prefer more focused action and plotting, this might not be your cup of tea. GRADE: C+ (for all three novels)

Eleanor & Park is a novel of teenage love between two very different people. Eleanor is redhead who lives with her dysfunctional family in Omaha. Park has a Korean mother and an American father, but feels that he’s an outsider in the high school he attends. Eleanor sits next to Park on the school bus and slowly their relationship begins. Park is reading The Watchmen comic book and Eleanor starts reading it with him. Of course, true love never runs smooth. The kids on the bus harass Eleanor. The girls in gym class taunt her unmercifully. At home, Eleanor tries to deal with a mother in an abusive relationship and the poverty that goes along with it. I confess: my eyes misted up several times while reading this fine book. If you liked The Fault in Our Stars you’ll be moved by Eleanor & Park. Both books are great love stories! GRADE: A

Director Richard Linklater took a huge risk in filming a movie that takes the measure of a boy’s life from age six to age eighteen. Fortunately, the risk paid off. In 2002, six-year-old Mason Evans, Jr. (played by Ellar Coltrane) and his older sister Samantha (played by Lorelei Linklater–the Director’s daughter) together with their divorced mother Olivia (played by Patricia Arquette) move from a small town in Texas to Houston. Olivia wants to attend the University of Houston so she can get a better job. When they get to Houston, Mason Sr. (played by Ethan Hawke) takes Mason and Samantha bowling which hints at the level of their father’s involvement. Boyhood presents an episodic journey of a young boy growing into a teenager in front of our eyes. Olivia makes another disastrous mistake marrying one of her college professors. Mason and Samantha deal with growing up with Mason, Sr. showing up erratically in their lives. With a nearly 3-hour movie you have to expect some tedious patches, but Linklater keeps them to a minimum. Linklater also captures on film the beauty of Texas. Boyhood is an astonishing technical and artistic triumph. It’s well worth seeing. GRADE: A-

Diane’s Book Club (members are all retired teachers) read The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry and loved this story of a grumpy independent bookseller. A. J. Fikry loves books, but he really really loves short stories. That’s why each chapter leads off with a short commentary on one of his favorite short stories. I had to go back and reread Irwin Shaw’s “The Girls in Their Summer Dresses” because I didn’t quite remember it. The rest of the short stories were familiar Old Friends, but I did go back an reread Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.”. It’s was as good as the first time I read it. This book is a homage to reading and the power of books to change lives. There are a number of surprising twists in the plot so I’m being deliberately vague (I hate Spoilers). I highly recommend The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry! Trust me, you’ll thank me after you’ve read this book. GRADE: A

Table of Contents
PART I,
Lamb to the Slaughter, 3,
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, 27,
The Luck of Roaring Camp, 41,
What Feels Like the World, 79,
A Good Man Is Hard to Find, 87,
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, 129,
The Girls in Their Summer Dresses, 159,
PART II,
A Conversation with My Father, 173,
A Perfect Day for Bananafish, 187,
The Tell-Tale Heart, 199,
Ironhead, 213,
What We Talk about When We Talk about Love, 239,
The Bookseller, 247,

I’ve seen most of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies and music plays a key role in many of them. I have a half dozen soundtracks from some of the major Hitchcock films, but I enjoyed this new collection of music from the major composers: Bernard Herrmann, Arthur Benjamin, Dimitri Tiomkin, Danny Elfman, and Franz Waxman. If you’re a Hitchcock fan you’ll enjoy this music. What’s your favorite Hitchcock film? I have to go with Rear Window.