I rarely watch a movie twice in two weeks, but my sister from Florida was visiting and wanted to see Jurassic World in 3D. When I reviewed Jurassic World a couple weeks ago (you can check it out here) I pretty much said that it was a perfect Summer pop-corn movie. After seeing it again in 3D, I can report the 3D version of Jurassic World is Superior to the 2D version. That’s not always the case. I’m not a big fan of 3D because most 3D movies aren’t executed very well. But Jurassic World is. Check it out!

“I keep paying his cell phone bill for a year and a half afterwards, because I don’t want to lose the text messages, but I don’t have the heart to read and transfer them. The phone goes dead and gets lost somewhere in the house.” The “afterwards” is the sudden death of Elizabeth Alexander’s husband at the age of 50. The Light of the World–Alexander’s world–was her husband, Ficre. Ficre was a chef and a painter. He loved books and bookstores. He loved his two sons. But Ficre really, really loved Elizabeth Alexander. His love for her springs off the pages of this book. Alexander falls in love with Ficre at first sight. I’ve read Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking and Joyce Carol Oates’ A Widow’s Story, two moving memoirs of the loss of a spouse. The Light of the World may well be the most heart-felt of them all. Diane recommended this book to me after she read it. I’m glad she did.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
I
“Last Night on Earth”
II
Honeycomb
III
“The Edges of Me in the Hands of My Wife”
IV
Ghost of All Bookstores
V
The Plum Blossom

The third season of Orphan Black concludes tonight. I loved the first season of Orphan Black. I was lukewarm about Season Two. I’m very dissatisfied with Season Three. The cast is terrific especially Tatiana Maslany who plays the roles of all the clones. These season the writing has declined with silly plots like Alison selling drugs and running for the School Board. Really? The killing off of a Major Character, while shocking, took one of the more intriguing plots off the board. I don’t know if I’ll watch Season Four. All I know is that the writing needs a major upgrade. And Tatiana Maslany deserves an Emmy Award.

I picked up this little gem at a Library Sale. I SPY: Message From Moscow is in great shape for a book published in 1966. These Whitman books were aimed at the youth market. This book was part of the TV series where popular TV programs provided the raw material for these novels. I found another Whitman, Bonanza, a couple years ago. I had never seen this I Spy book before. Do you remember I Spy? Have you found any of these Whitman books?

I submitted an article to our local newspaper, the Buffalo News. They published my article yesterday and you can read it here or cast your eyes below.

THE FUTURE OF COLLEGE

By George Kelley

Freshman college students and their parents will experience sticker shock when the costs of a college education arrive in the form of tuition bills and dormitory fees.

Parents might wonder why college has become so expensive. Some students will graduate with student loans in the $100,000 range. Around 1989, most of the states started to cut their funding to higher education. While college costs increased, the states paid less and less of their share. State funding of colleges and universities has been cut by half since 1989. And who got stuck making up the difference? The students and their parents.

College used to be affordable a generation ago. Now, many students will be paying tuition equivalent to buying a new car every year for four years. And that’s assuming the student graduates in four years. An increasing number of students find graduating in four years impossible because of funding issues and the unavailability of required courses.

Although most new students look forward to entering college, the sad truth is that over 40 percent of the students who begin their education this fall semester will still be struggling to graduate six years from now. That’s a statistic that won’t be mentioned at college orientation.

There are many reasons why students don’t graduate on time. But the reason I see time and again is that some students are not academically prepared for college, but they go anyway.

Colleges and universities offer extensive remedial courses to provide the learning students didn’t acquire in high school. Many students spend their first year at college grappling with algebra and basic reading and writing courses to learn the reading, writing and math skills required to do college-level work. That delays graduation, since remedial courses don’t satisfy college graduation course requirements.

So the college experience for many students will mean struggling in remedial courses and coping with the grind of retaking required courses until they finally pass them. Meanwhile, college costs will increase (Erie Community College is raising its tuition $300) and graduation may prove elusive for many students.

Higher education is facing the same diminishment of quality that the K-12 grades experience. The educational bureaucracy proliferates while fewer and fewer resources reach the students in the classroom. Art and music programs are eliminated, but more administrators are hired.

Affordable quality education needs to be a priority if we want a growing, vibrant economy. Too many children face a jobless future because their dumbed-down “education” is bogus and access to higher education costs too much.

George Kelley, of North Tonawanda, is a professor of business administration at Erie Community College’s City Campus.

I have no recollection of how Vivan Swift’s incredible book, When Wanderer’s Cease to Roam came into my house. Usually, I can remember fairly accurately where and when I bought a book. But not this one. Diane was “decluttering” our living room and said: “I’m getting very tired of dusting this book. When are you going to read it?” I picked up When Wanderers Cease to Roam and told Diane, “I don’t remember this book at all. How long has it been here?” “I’ve been dusting it for years,” Diane replied. When Wanderers Cease to Roam was published in 2008 so it’s been in our house for seven years utterly forgotten by me. And, I confess, this is not the type of book I usually buy and read. It’s a journal of a woman who’s traveled and captures her adventures in an astonishing book with drawings and watercolor paintings. I’m including a sample of the pages below. This is a browsers delight and a very artful book and a visual feast. After reading it, When Wanderers Cease to Roam is unforgettable. GRADE: A

Last week I posted about this month’s Wall Street Journal Book Club choice, Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust. My public library had a copy of the 1988 film version so I watched that. The cast is impressive: James Wilby as Tony Last, Kristin Scott Thomas as Brenda Last, Rupert Graves as John Beaver, Anjelica Huston as Mrs. Rattery, Judi Dench as Mrs. Beaver, and Alec Guinness as Mr. Todd. But Waugh’s story of Bad Decisions and the tragic consequences still casts a pall over this work. As Roger Ebert said, “A Handful of Dust” has more cruelty in it than a dozen violent Hollywood thrillers, and it is all expressed so quietly, almost politely. GRADE: B

Richard A. Epstein is worried about the state of our country. “In virtually all areas of law, the Constitution has to deal with the twin questions of takings and givings” (p. 492). And Epstein thinks all parts of the Government–executive, legislative, and judicial–have overreached. “Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security all have the capacity to bankrupt the nation” (p. 312). Epstein quotes a former President’s warning, “A government big enought to give you everything you want is a government big enough take from you everything you have” (p. 18). Epstein argues for a smaller, more compact and sustainable Government based on the original classical liberal Constitution. This 684-page tome explores the Constitution in detail. If you’re a history buff, you’ll find plenty in this book that you didn’t know about the Constitution and the Supreme Court. I found Epstein’s analysis compelling and persuasive. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Preface: My Constitutional Odyssey
Part One: Preliminaries
Introduction: Our Two Constitutions
1. The Classical Liberal Synthesis
2. The Progressive Response
3. Constitutional Interpretation: The Original and the Prescriptive Constitutions
Part Two: Constitutional Structures
Section I: The Judicial Power
4. The Origins of Judicial Review
5. Marbury and Martin
6. Standing: Background and Origins
7. Modern Standing Law
8. The Political Question Doctrine
Section II: The Legislative Power
9. The Commerce Power: Theory and Practice, 1787–1865
10. The Commerce Clause in Transition: 1865–1937
11. The Commerce Clause: Transformation to Consolidation, 1937–1995
12. Constitutional Pushback: 1995 to Present, from Lopez to NFIB
13. Enumerated Powers: Taxing and Spending
14. The Necessary and Proper Clause
15. The Dormant Commerce Clause
Section III: The Executive Power
16. Basic Principles and Domestic Powers
17. Delegation and the Rise of Independent Agencies
18. Foreign and Military Affairs
Part Three: Individual Rights
Section I: Property, Contract, and Liberty
19. From Structural Protections to Individual Rights
20. Procedural Due Process: Implementing the Classical Liberal Ideal
21. Freedom of Contract
22. Takings, Physical and Regulatory
23. Personal Liberties and the Morals Head of the Police Power
Section II: Speech
24. Freedom of Speech and Religion: Preliminary Considerations
25. Force, Threats, and Inducements
26. Fraud, Defamation, Emotional Distress, and Invasion of Privacy
27. Government Regulation of the Speech Commons
28. Progressive Regulation of Freedom of Speech: Labor, Communications, and Campaign Finance
Section III: Religion
29. Free Exercise
30. The Establishment Clause: Theoretical Foundations
31. Regulation and Subsidy under the Establishment Clause
32. The Commons
Section IV: Equal Protection
33. Race and the Fourteenth Amendment
34. Citizenship and the Fourteenth Amendment
35. Equal Protection and Sex Discrimination
Part Four: Conclusion
Conclusion: The Classical Liberal Alternative
Notes
Index of Cases
General Index

I really enjoyed watching the Masterpiece mini-series of Wolf Hall on PBS last month. Music is a big part of Wolf Hall so I bought this new CD of the Tudor music from the TV series. The series features early musicians playing live on the sets. All the Tudor Music for the production was arranged by Claire van Kampen and recorded with the Musicians of Shakespeare’s Globe at the Abbey Road Studios in London, England. GRADE: A-
SET LIST:
1 A New Beginning: Trumpet Parley (0:11)
2 Court Masque: Lady Carey’s Dompe (2:53)
3 Cromwell at York Place: Hoboekendans (2:04)
4 Smeaton, Anne’s Lutenist: Ah Robyn (2:19)
5 Cromwell Is Happy: Scaramella (1:04)
6 A Play About Wolsey’s Fall: Romanesca (2:53)
7 Henry Sings of Anne: Alas What should I do (0:44)
8 The Feast at Calais: Bassadansa (1:29)
9 Anne’s Music: Browning (2:19)
10 Anne’s Coronation: Fanfare No. 1 (0:31)
11 The Coronation Feast: En Vray Amour (1:09)
12 Anne and Henry’s Court: Tandernaken (2:24)
13 The Baby Princess: Lady Carey’s Dompe V2 (3:02)
14 Thomas More: Helas Madame (0:43)
15 Christmas: Hoboekendans Extra (1:29)
16 Court Masque: Ce Qui Souloit (1:50)
17 Henry at Greenwich: Tourdion (3:11)
18 Henry Sings of Jane: Whereto should I (0:44)
19 Anne’s Last Supper: Chiaranzana (3:01)
20 Henry Embraces Cromwell: Green grows the Holly (0:47)