TV Show Review: Supergirl Season 1

Posted on January 5, 2017 by C.A. Jacobs

supergirlI’d seen a few things about the television series Supergirl recently and decided to investigate a little more in-depth so I went out and purchased the first season on DVD.

“Meet Kara Danvers, aka Kara Zor-El, who escaped the doomed planet Krypton at age 12 and was raised by her foster family, the Danverses, on Earth. There, she learned to conceal her superpowers and keep her identity a secret. Years later, Kara lives in National City working for fierce taskmaster Cat Grant alongside her friends, IT technician Winslow “Winn” Schott and photographer James Olsen. But Kara’s days of keeping her talents a secret are over when Hank Henshaw, head of a super-secret agency where Kara’s older sister, Alex, works, enlists her to help them protect the world from sinister threats. Though Kara struggles to balance her extraordinary skills with her human emotions, her heart soars when she takes to the skies as the DC Comics character Supergirl.”

The first season contains 20 episodes: Pilot, Stronger Together, Fight or Flight, How Does She Do It? Livewire, Red Faced, Human For a Day, Hostile Takeover, Blood Bonds, Childish Things, Strange Visitor From Another Planet, Bizarro, For the Girl Who Has Everything, Truth, Justice and the American Way, Solitude, Falling, Manhunter, World’s Finest, Myriad, and Better Angels.

This is going to be an odd way to start a review, but when I was first researching this series, I performed a basic search and was sent to one of the professional sites. I’m not indicating exactly which one because I honestly don’t remember and I don’t want to post information I know for a fact is inaccurate. The very first comment about the show as a whole was from someone who posted about how it was episode after episode of “more feminist crap.” This made me determined to find the series and buy it within a day. Nothing makes me happier than seeing positive representation for overlooked and underappreciated characters and shows, especially if that show has the potential to bring hope into the world.

Since I purchased the first season of Supergirl, I have binge-watched the entire season. Twice. And I even started trying to watch the episodes on cwtv, since I have the inability to watch them live. I think I’ve seen every episode they’ve posted also at least twice.

So what is it about this show that motivates me to continue to watch it, and to do so repeatedly?

First of all, the show does a lot of really neat little nerdy things. Kara Danvers (Supergirl)’s foster mom is played by Helen Slater, who is the same actress who played Supergirl in the original movie from 1984. Jeremiah Danvers, Kara’s foster father and Alex’s actual father, is played by Dean Cain, who is the same actor who portrayed Clark Kent/Superman in the 1990s television series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Both the original Supergirl movie and Lois and Clark had a lasting impact on me during my youth and I have positive feelings for both, even though it’s been a very long time since I’ve watched any of them. Supergirl also adds in a lot of the comic book mythology and combines new characters with familiar ones, which makes the series a special treat for people with a comic book and a movie background like mine.

I think the strongest aspect of this show is the casting. While from the outside looking in, it would appear as though most of the cast are women, the truth is that this is probably one of the most balanced casts I’ve seen in a show. If you count the main characters on the back of the first season guide, you have exactly three women and three men.

supergirl_castThis is probably the single most aesthetically pleasing James/Jimmy Olsen I’ve ever seen in any rendition of the Superman universes and one of the special features on the last DVD in this season is from the San Diego Comic Con panel in 2015, which was a little awkward because Mehcad Brooks, the actor who plays James Olsen, was encouraged to show off his rather spectacular six-pack of abdominal muscles.

Winslow “Winn” Schott, played by Jeremy Jordan, does a fabulous job of being the over-looked IT guy and he was one of the reasons I enjoyed the pilot episode especially so much. When Kara/Supergirl shows Winn her powers, she does so because she knows that he’s going to be excited for her. He’s so excited for her that he actually is the one who designs her Supergirl costume. Winn is easily a super genius and the fact that he made an amazing costume for his best friend to go out and become a superhero says a lot about the power of this character’s heart and his skills. He is *proud* of the costume and I thought it was one of the best scenes in the pilot episode where they were trying out different outfits and talking about using different materials to be more durable and subtly changing small parts of the costume until they got things just perfect.

Chyler Leigh as Alexandra “Alex” Danvers is easily my favorite character in the series so far. She’s absolutely human and she demonstrates true love, devotion, faith, and general badassery by working extremely hard to be successful. She studies Xenobiology as well as being able to use just about any weapon. Above and beyond everything for me, though, is that she cares. She cares and believes in Kara/Supergirl *so much* that she is willing to sacrifice everything without hesitation. But she’s also badass enough to know exactly what her capabilities and limitations are. She always finds a way.

Cat Grant, played by Calista Flockhart, is as real as people come. She calls out blatant sexism and unapologetically talks about the way the world is balanced. I really appreciated Cat and Kara’s interactions because they constantly worked to make each other stronger and better, but they don’t compete against each other. They are both strong women, working together to make the world a better place and to bring more hope into the world. Cat is often a mentor for Kara/Supergirl by providing knowledge that is designed to help Kara become a more effective assistant and person and to help Supergirl become a better hero. Cat has some really great lines and she is wonderful at demonstrating effective ways to lead a business by being caring and decisive. If only more businesses had leadership like this in the real world.

Melissa Benoist is clearly the perfect choice to play Kara/Supergirl. As Kara, the mostly awkward assistant, she demonstrates that there are more important things to focus on rather than appealing to people’s sense of fashion or how they believe she ought to behave. She’s socially awkward, which is both relatable and adorable at the same time, but she’s also incredibly smart and dedicated to her job, both as an assistant to Cat Grant and as Supergirl. She wants to help people and she wants to learn how to help people better. She brings out the best in the people around her and she inspires hope.

This show as a whole brings out the best in people. Above and beyond all things, I think this show is about hope and about making the world a better place, and I think that’s something the world as a whole desperately needs right now. I don’t think watching shows where everyone dies and the world gets destroyed is doing anything positive for us as a society or as a people. I think that shows like this can inspire us to be better than we are; to be mindful of the world in which we live and the hypocrisies we often unknowingly support. I think this series also shows that there is redemption available to anyone who wants it, but that same redemption takes a lot of work.

I could probably talk about each individual episode, or go into more depth on the plot and other major character development, but I really don’t feel like giving television spoilers for those who haven’t seen this show yet and might be interested in watching it at some point in the future. I will say that I’m glad I bought the entire first season because this is probably the only television show I’ve ever watched where every episode ends on a cliff-hanger. I liked not having to wait to find out what was going on.

Considering how many times I’ve already binge-watched just this season, I think it’s safe to say this is one of my very few solid fives from my rating chain. I obviously own it, I’ve obviously watched it multiple times in a very short period, I very much intend on buying the future seasons, and I am extremely likely to continue rewatching it in the future.

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Movie Review: Rogue One

Posted on January 1, 2017 by C.A. Jacobs

rogue_oneWhat better way to kick off 2017 than with a movie review for Rogue One?

“Former scientist Galen Erso lives on a farm with his wife and young daughter Jyn. His peaceful existence comes crashing down when the evil Orson Krennic takes him away from his beloved family. Many years later, Galen is now the Empire’s lead engineer for the most powerful weapon in the galaxy, the Death Star. Knowing that her father holds the key to its destruction, a vengeful Jyn joins forces with a spy and other resistance fighters to steal the space station’s plans for the Rebel Alliance.”

Rogue One takes place in the Star Wars universe, between the events of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. While the “original” Star Wars movies are episodes IV-VI, Rogue One takes place immediately before the events of A New Hope.

I think I comment on diverse casts in just about every review I type these days because diversity is so much more than just having token characters of a certain race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation and so much of the entertainment industry even now is populated with an entire movie or series only starring the typical white male hero. The cast of Rogue One was definitely diverse and I think that just added to the depth of the movie. No one’s backstories were explained and a lot of the characters simply existed, going about their every day lives in whatever manner they saw fit. For example, you have no idea why Jyn is in an imperial prison. The last you saw of Jyn, she was a child, hiding in a rock. Now she’s grown and in prison with a very entertaining room-mate and you have no idea why and there are no clues provided throughout the entire movie, either. It’s just part of her story that simply is. All of the characters are like that – they must have absolutely fascinating backstories to put them in the positions where the movie catches up to them, but we have no idea what those stories are. (For those of you with more Star Wars knowledge than I have, you might be interested to check out this article about cameos in Rogue One).

Another thing I really appreciated about this movie was the absolute and very distinct lack of any sort of romantic or sexual subplot. It was so wonderfully refreshing to have a story where no one kissed or had sex or even remotely indicated any sort of sexual innuendos. Galen loves his wife and he loves his daughter, Jyn, but neither of them are objects to him. He doesn’t own them and he doesn’t control them; he loves them. Even though his wife is only seen briefly, it’s obvious that they have a fairly even partnership. It’s not that I have anything against romantic and sexual pairings in entertainment, it’s just I’m sick and tired of those pairings being used in just about every media. It’s inaccurate and false representation because interpersonal relationships are never that simple and many people struggle their entire lives to find someone they trust, love, and are compatible with and that kind of relationship doesn’t magically appear because two action characters just happen to wind up on the same mission.

I think what I liked best about this movie is that it was probably the most realistic story of how heroic events actually occur that I’ve ever seen. Those events which have the ability to change the course of the future are often not able to be defined by one specific event or one specific person, but rather are the accumulation of many much smaller events and less obvious people. This movie also addressed one of the most entertaining discussions about A New Hope with how easy it was to destroy the Death Star and I think the reason provided was actually another very realistic example of major events having a lot of smaller events to create the opportunity for that massive event. Someone had to connect the cable, someone had to turn on the switch, someone had to pilot the shuttle, someone had to find the data, someone had to even realize there was data worth finding, someone had to download the data, and someone had to get it to someone else who could action on it. Just like Jyn said in the movie, they kept taking small chances until things worked or they ran out of chances.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and will happily add it to my own collection when it comes out on DVD/Blu-Ray. I’d say this movie is easily a solid four on my rating scale and I look forward to the ability to add it to my Star Wars marathon that I appear to have every year or so.

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Book Review: Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey

Posted on January 1, 2017 by C.A. Jacobs

arrows_of_the_queenIt kind of surprises me that I’ve never written a book review for Arrows of the Queen (Fantasy 320 pages) by Mercedes Lackey, considering how many times I’ve read this book and this series. I think I wind up reading the entire series about once every year or two and my paperbacks are getting a little worn.

“Chosen by the Companion Rolan, a mystical horse-like being with powers beyond imagining, Talia, once a runaway, has now become a trainee Herald, destined to become one of the Queen’s own elite guard. For Talia has certain awakening talents of the mind that only a Companion like Rolan can truly sense. But as Talia struggles to master her unique abilities, time is running out. For conspiracy is brewing in Valdemar, a deadly treason which could destroy Queen and kingdom. Opposed by unknown enemies capable of both diabolical magic and treacherous assassination, the Queen must turn to Talia and the Heralds for aid in protecting the realm and insuring the future of the Queen’s heir, a child already in danger of becoming bespelled by the Queen’s own foes!”

I think this book appeals to everything I enjoy about reading. The story starts with a young girl who doesn’t fit into her world. She is addicted to reading and stories as well as other “unseemly” behavior like riding horses. She wants to do something more with her life rather than just be an object for her arranged marriage, have endless babies, and do household chores. She wants to be something more than a house-wife, to serve something greater than herself, but more than anything, she wants to be free to make her own way in her life. I relate to this on a level I don’t think I can ever adequately describe. I think this book appeals so heavily to me because of how much of myself I saw in Talia. She was determined to succeed and determined to find her own path. She worked hard in all of her assigned tasks and always gave everything her best effort. And she had no desire or ability to fit into a world wherein she was a housewife, which is definitely me. I mean, even the idea of marriage to her is pretty much her nightmare.

This book also appeals to the desire many people might have to secretly find out they’re someone special and they’ve just been outcasts in their own worlds because of that specialness. It’s the same or similar concept as a lot of comic books, especially Marvel Comics, where the main characters are just ordinary people, living normal lives, and then someone of means approaches them to tell them they’re having problems fitting in because they’re actually special. I think many people want to believe that there is something unique and special about them that would make them capable of accomplishing the impossible because it’s something they would be not only adequately suited to accomplishing, but tasks they would enjoy. Even Queen Selenay in chapter three discusses that being a Herald isn’t like how it’s portrayed in the tales because it’s work that’s either tedious or dangerous and sometimes both at the same time. She marvels that anyone would ever want the job, let alone dream of it as their heart’s desire.

I guess this really sticks with me because I firmly believe that not everyone is capable of doing the same tasks. Some people are fantastic mechanics and machines just talk to them. Some people are chefs of the highest caliber who can make delicious food out of the most random supplies. Some people are great writers, or artists, or managers. Everyone has different skills and different abilities and trying to fit everyone into the same mold only causes everyone issues. I think that’s another part of this story that really resonated with me – the idea of the Collegium is what I think schools throughout the world should be like because you are put in classes based on your own desires and your abilities. While some classes are mandatory for everyone in certain fields, you can start and stop the classes whenever you want or whenever you’ve caught up to where you want to be. It seems like very individualistic training and learning and that appeals to me because of the freedom and respect given to all the trades.

One of the best parts about this book to me is the incredible diversity written throughout the story. While attention is never specifically drawn to this diversity in the sense that every page doesn’t discuss the race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation of the characters, it’s mentioned when each character is introduced and it’s all just an accepted part of life. Keren and Ylsa are a same-sex lifebonded pair and it’s something that’s acknowledged and accepted as something that just exists, the same way that Alberich is described as being tall, lean, and dark with a scar-lined face. The characters in this novel simply are and they don’t require any sort of justification for being who they are, nor is their diversity listed on every single page. This book was originally published in 1987, which says a lot about the story because that means that this book was published at a time when same-sex pairings were particularly discriminated against and diversity wasn’t exactly something publishers were seeking out.

Obviously, if I reread this series every year or two, I must really enjoy the book. This book is easily a solid five on my rating scale. I don’t know if that’s mostly because of where I was in my life when I first read these books or if it’s just because of how much of the characters and the story I relate to, but it’s definitely a book that I’m happy to own and reread frequently. I even have travel copies that I take with me on my extended research trips, that’s how much this series means to me.

Works cited: Lackey, Mercedes. Arrows of the Queen. New York: Daw Book, Inc., 1987.

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2016 in Review and 2017 Ideas

Posted on January 1, 2017 by C.A. Jacobs

2014 was the worst, most painful, most difficult time of my entire life, and because of that, I swore that I would take charge of my life again and be successful. All through 2015 and 2016, I’ve definitely spent a lot of time dedicated to being extremely successful in my career.

In 2016, I crossed off three more states in the United States, which only leaves me two states left before I will have visited every one of the 50 states. I took a train from Chicago to Los Angeles and taking a train across the U.S. was a bucket list item and an adventure I would happily repeat in the future. I finished my MFA from SHU and even took the class to get my Teaching English as a Second Language certification. I even successfully completed National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) with over 50,000 words in a new novel I intend to market in June! I haven’t attempted nor finished NaNoWriMo since 2013, so this was actually a really huge thing for me. Rock climbing became more of an addiction and less of a hobby and between that, working out every day with a special trainer, and taking up jiu jitsu, I dropped at least two percent body fat and am at my ideal weight for myself.

I switched jobs and have learned so very much about everything that it often stuns me as to how I even pretended to function as an intelligent person prior to this. I returned from another successful extended research trip and I learned a lot there, too. My new job gives me a lot of freedom and I also have the ability to help a lot of people, which is really great.

I accomplished enough of the goals I set for 2016 that I feel like it was a successful year. I accomplished a lot of long-term goals and I made so much progress on so many things. While I do not know what 2017 will hold, I do know that I will fight the enemies of freedom with every last breath and I will defend the lives of those who are likely to struggle. I will approach 2017 with a sense of purpose and hope and I will support people to be better than they are and to work together to make the world a better place.

These were my goals from 2016, and how well I accomplished them:

  1. I’d like to read a book a week and post a review of it. This should get me 52 newly read books at the end of 2016. I read 46 books and 6 graphic novels/comic books and therefore easily achieved my goal of reading 52 books.
  2. I’d like to watch a movie a week and post a review about it. Which should also give me 52 movie reviews at the end of 2016. I only reviewed 22 movies in 2016 and I am completely okay with that because it means more of my time was spent actually living my life and less time was spent in front of a screen.
  3. I’m going to finish Surveyors in the next couple of months. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had writing and even if it never gets a home with a publishing company, it’s a story that makes me smile while I write it, and that’s good enough for me. This is an ongoing process and I am okay with where Surveyors and Academy are both at right now.
  4. If everything goes well, I’ll be graduating from SHU with my MFA in June. I totally did this! w00t!
  5. I’d like to travel to the last five states in the upper northeastern part of the U.S. sometime this year, which means I will then have been to all 50 states. I missed Maine and Rhode Island because of time and traffic, but I’ll get there eventually.
  6. I am going to get my Teaching English as a Second Language certification sometime early in 2016. I finally finished this whole process in November, but it’s done! w00t!
  7. I think it would be great if I did at least 30 minutes of cardio every day during 2016. Oh, goodness, did I achieve this goal. If you read my previous paragraphs, you know that I very much did this and more. Total success.
  8. I’d like to put closer to 10% of my earnings into savings for my retirement cabin during 2016. This is also mostly a success. My finances are doing quite well.
  9. I’d like to attend the World Fantasy Convention 2016 in Ohio. This I did not accomplish and I didn’t even try because I had entirely too much going on and didn’t have the time in October to be away from work.
  10. Above all things, I would very much like for Adventure Buddy to give our friendship another chance. This is probably going to be my main goal for the rest of my life, but it’s worth it.

Here’s what I’m looking at for 2017:

  1. I’d like to read a book a week and post a review of it. This should get me 52 newly read books at the end of 2016.
  2. I’d like to watch a movie a week and post a review about it. Which should also give me 52 movie reviews at the end of 2016.
  3. Surveyors and Academy should both be ready to be pitched in June.
  4. I intend on attending In Your Write Mind (IYWM) in June and hopefully even teaching a module.
  5. I’d like to travel somewhere in the world and have a new adventure.
  6. I am hoping and working towards moving up at work.
  7. I think it would be great if I continued my workouts and maybe even lower my body fat percentage even more.
  8. I’d like to continue to place about 10% of my earnings into savings for my retirement cabin during 2017.
  9. I’d like to attend at least one convention in 2017, not including IYWM.
  10. Above all things, I would very much like for Adventure Buddy to give our friendship another chance.
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Book Review: Ella Enchanted

Posted on December 31, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

ella_enchanted_bookI received two books for Christmas and Ella Enchanted (Young Adult 232 pages) was one of them. As I was about to embark on a grand train adventure across the United States, I opened the books before I left so that I would have something to read on the train.

“How can a fairy’s blessing be such a curse? At her birth, Ella of Frell was given a foolish fairy’s gift – the ‘gift’ of obedience. Ella must obey any order given to her, whether it’s hopping on one foot for a day or chopping off her own head! But strong-willed Ella does not tamely accept her fate. She goes on a quest, encountering ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, fairy godmothers, and handsome princes, determined to break the curse – and live happily ever after.”

Ella Enchanted was sent to me by a friend with whom I was chatting at the beginning of December while I watched the movie Ella Enchanted. Since she had liked the book so much better than the movie and because the movie was so vastly different than the book, she sent me the book so I could read it and enjoy it as she had and so that I would have a basis for comparison, as she did. I’m really thankful that I have people in my life to share books and other entertainment venues with because I like the conversations and the thoughts that come up with solid dialogue about things especially like books.

Something I liked about both Ella Enchanted the book and the movie is that Ella mostly does the best she can to rescue herself. She doesn’t necessarily need other people to rescue her, but she definitely needs the help of other people in order to be fully successful. She takes what action she can and does what she’s able to do until other people arrive to help her out. She isn’t the typical damsel in distress that so many of the fairy tales portray who just wait around to be rescued.

Elsa’s father has a significant role in this book as a merchant who is only interested in acquiring wealth in whatever way necessary. He even attempts to manipulate Ella into marrying Edmund, Earl of Wolleck, so that he can regain his fortune. He orders her to eat mushrooms he knows will cause her to be compliant to anything anyone wants of her and he hopes to fix the marriage that way. This comes right after Ella meets Lucinda who then tells Ella to be happy to be obedient instead of being rightfully defiant of her forced obedience. Ella’s father realizes that a marriage to Edmund would not be the most financially rewarding and so instead, he marries Olga.

The abuse in the book was a lot more prevalent than the abuse in the movie, though. The things Hattie orders Ella to do are really horrible, but it made me at least happy that Hattie wasn’t more creative or more of a strategic thinker when she realizes that Ella must do anything she’s ordered to do. Someone with a lot more creativity and who is capable of thinking about bigger things other than petty selfish desires could do a lot of damage to someone who must obey the orders of others. I spent a good portion of the book worried that Ella’s father would find out about the hand-made gifts she’d received from the elves and would order her to part with them so that he could make a profit. It really spoke to me that Ella won people’s hearts by being genuine and by appreciating the crafts of those around her for what they truly are and represent instead of putting on a fake face. As someone who strives to be honest and genuine, that was probably the most positively represented method genuinely good and decent people making a positive difference in the world than I’ve seen in a long time. I really appreciated that, as much as I spent the entire book worried about what would happen if someone selfish found out about the gifts given to her by the elves.

One of the most fascinating and interesting parts of this book to me was how dedicated Ella was to learning about other cultures and other languages. The reason she became such good friends with Areida is because Ella was one of the few people who took the time to learn about Areida’s language. Even in my own travels, I’ve realized that nothing breaks down potential cultural barriers quite so much as being willing to attempt to converse with people in their own native tongue. Ella started learning every language she could, including the nuances of Ogre, and all of her cultural and linguistical expertise started to pay off hugely when she was captured by Ogres and able to use their own language to keep herself alive.

Overall, this book was a great story with fantastic characters. I’m really glad and thankful that it was sent to me as a Christmas present, and I’m even more thankful that I’ve now actually read it. I’d probably rate this as a very high three on my rating scale. I’m glad that I own it and I will definitely reread it in the future.

Works cited: Levine, Gail Carson. Ella Enchanted. New York: Harper Collins Children’s Books, 2011. Original print 1997.

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Movie Review: Ella Enchanted

Posted on December 31, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

ella_enchanted_movieI’m horribly behind on all the book and movie reviews of things I read and watched during 2016 since the last couple of months have been ridiculously busy with work and the holidays. So I actually watched Ella Enchanted at the beginning of December and I’m only just now writing my review of it.

“On the day of her birth, Ella is given a gift from her Fairy Godmother – the gift of obedience, which is also a curse. Under no circumstances can Ella refuse anything she is asked to do, no matter how wicked it may be. Tired of being taken advantage of, Ella, with a talking book as her companion, leaves home to find her Fairy Godmother and return her unwanted gift. This simple errand soon turns into an amazing journey filled with ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, elves and the plotting of Prince Charmont’s evil uncle, who wants to take over the crown and rule the kingdom. Bursting with colorful characters, music, wit and whimsy, Ella Enchanted is a truly enchanting and heartwarming tale that will captivate the entire family.”

I remember watching this movie because my day at work had been super busy and I just wanted to turn something on that was funny and light and that wouldn’t require too much of my intellectual or emotional capacity. Ella Enchanted was just what I needed to wind down a very, very long day and relax for a little bit.

While watching the movie, I was chatting with one of my friends who told me that she liked the book better and I actually didn’t know that there was a book. She said the movie was too different from the book for her to enjoy the movie too much but I have no frame of reference for that, as I haven’t read the book.

The movie was definitely a lot of fun. It’s a non-standard fairy-tale with a non-standard family and a non-standard fairy gift. I can’t imagine obedience being a trait sought out by any person as a special skill. Now, I can see obedience being sought after as a trait horrible people would want in others, to be obeyed without question and be able to exercise their own power over others, which, as sad and unfortunate as that is, is something a lot of people in our world seem to enjoy. I am not one of those people. I believe that free will is pretty much the greatest gift we were given and that anyone who impedes the free will of others, so long as that free will isn’t being used to cause harm to others, is pretty much the worst kind of person I can think of.

Which brings me back to Ella Enchanted.

Ella’s stepsisters definitely abuse Ella’s forced obedience, making her do the most ridiculous things, and even forcing Ella to give up the things that matter the most to her. Hattie orders Ella to give up her mother’s necklace, as well as ordering her to lose a debate at school, and ordering Ella to destroy her friendship with Areida. I really didn’t like watching Hattie make things miserable for Ella and I really didn’t like the abuse Ella received at Hattie’s hands. Hattie was so selfish that the things she did do Ella really bothered me. While Ella was able to take some charge of some of the situations, such as substituting plants for the flowers she was ordered to collect with those which would cause an allergic reaction, most of what she was required to do was horrible and distasteful.

I think the movie did an interesting job of making this fairy-tale so that a lot of the more modern audience might be able to relate to it, such as by using a fairly modern soundtrack and showing Ella and Areida as progressive and intelligent women who want to actually make their world a better place instead of the petty and shallow aspirations of Olga, Hattie, and Olive. Hattie and Olive are members of Prince Charmont’s fan club because of his physical appearance while Ella is supremely annoyed with Prince Charmont for catering to a world where he has no responsibilities and has the luxury of being shallow. I think this movie actually did a pretty decent job of showing that responsibility and working to make the world a better place are much more attractive personality traits that shallowness and physical appearance. When Ella and Charmont first meet, Ella doesn’t like him very much and Charmont is greatly intrigued by this because he’s used to everyone, especially women, just falling all over him. As the two get to know each other better, it’s obvious that they get along really well and actually have similar ideas as to what would make the world a better place, especially once Charmont starts seeing his kingdom with his own eyes and the injustices that are happening to his subjects.

I was interested in the different way the other races were portrayed in this story, such as how the elves were only allowed to exist so long as they were providing entertainment for others and how the giants were used as slaves. Both of these situations show that slavery is slavery, no matter how gilded the cage might seem. People might think that providing entertainment for others is a wonderful thing to do, but not if that’s your only authorized job in the world. And just because you’re big and strong doesn’t mean you should be subjected to hard labor.

The movie had some interesting musical numbers and I thought it was well done, for what it was and what it was intended to be. I enjoyed it and would probably rate it as a high two on my rating scale. It’s not a movie I can watch very often but I am happy I own it and will likely watch it again in the future.

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Movie Review: Arrival

Posted on December 30, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

arrivalI have now seen Arrival twice in theaters. The very first time, I dragged one of my friends who knew absolutely nothing about the movie and we both walked out of the theater talking about how it was one of the best movies either of us had seen so far in 2016.

“Linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) leads an elite team of investigators when gigantic spaceships touch down in 12 locations around the world. As nations teeter on the verge of global war, Banks and her crew must race against time to find a way to communicate with the extraterrestrial visitors. Hoping to unravel the mystery, she takes a chance that could threaten her life and quite possibly all of mankind.”

While I usually keep my reviews as spoiler-free as possible, there are some aspects of this movie that I really, really want to discuss. So if you want to wait to read this review until you have seen the movie, I encourage you do to exactly that.

I had seen a little bit about the movie which I think was an interview or something about how it was an intellectual and linguistical movie and not an action movie, which was very interesting to me, and so when the movie actually came out, I made a point of going to see it.

This was probably the most realistic version of aliens arriving on earth that I’ve seen yet. The day starts as any normal day would and if you’re not one of those people who listen to the news on your way to work or watch the news before you leave for work, the world could change drastically and you wouldn’t know it. And since something as huge as first contact with an alien race who is clearly technologically superior to humanity would cause everyone to have a lot of mixed reactions, it would only make sense that no one would be able to focus and everyone would want to leave work and go home. Some would attack, some would try and communicate, and some would flee. But no one person and certainly no one country would have predictable reactions to the arrival of an alien species.

I was more tense during the first viewing of this movie than I have been for a lot of other alien movies. This movie had very little in the action category and yet I was so entrenched in the plot and characters that I spent most of the movie very, very tense. There were no super jocks who punch aliens, no massive and technological battles, and no trauma-related battles between opposing forces. There really wasn’t much violence and action in this entire movie, and yet, the story had me so hooked that I was seriously more tense during this movie than I have been through most action movies involving aliens and alien contact. I think the reason that I was so tense is because I’ve seen the direction our modern world is heading and it worries me because with a lot of the incoming administrations, their first instinct for everything will be to try and kill it or make it bow to their way of thinking, which isn’t the right answer at all. I worry about the future of our planet and those fears are only getting stronger as we approach the new year. But that’s a rant for another day.

I’m going to start getting into some movie spoilers in the next paragraph so if you haven’t seen the movie yet, I would encourage you to stop reading and wait until you’ve seen the movie yourself to read the rest of my comments.

One of the absolute coolest parts about this movie to me was when Louise absolutely owns Colonel Weber when he starts asking about why she went off script and this was pretty much the biggest nerd moment for me I’ve had because of a movie. He’s asking why she was using the words she was using in the session with the aliens and her response is to write on the white board and when she goes to erase a portion of the science equations, Ian is like, “not the stuff on top” which made me laugh. But the true nerdy moment was when she wrote the sentence, “What is your purpose on earth?” and broke it down for Colonel Weber. She explains in detail the entire sentence and how language is actually incredibly complicated. She says they have to understand the actual meaning of the alien words and not just infer what they think the aliens might have meant with any given communication session. She explains the difference between “you” meaning an individual and “you” meaning a collective whole and why that difference matters. She explains that they have to make sure the aliens understand interrogative sentences and pronouns. Having just finished my Teaching English as a Second Language certification, all of this linguistical knowledge and its use really made me exceptionally happy to be so nerdy. I think that was my absolute favorite part of the whole movie just because of the level of nerd I appear to be.

This is where I’m going to spoil the true hidden part of the plot so if you’re still reading and you want the movie to unravel naturally, this is your last chance to stop reading.

This movie really plays with the concept of time and I found it fascinating in a lot of ways. Having memories of events that haven’t happened yet would really mess with your ability to focus on the here and now. It would also mess with your concepts of reality. Perhaps because Louise knows that Hannah has an incurable disease makes her appreciate absolutely every second of Hannah’s life. It’s also possible that Hannah’s disease is because of Louise’s unprotected time in the alien atmosphere, but without the aliens’ arrival on earth, Louise and Ian would have never met, and certainly never started a life together. Is Louise trapped by time in the sense that even though she knows what’s coming, she still makes the same choices. She still marries Ian and they still have Hannah. She knows why Ian leaves her later and still makes the choice to tell him about how she knew Hannah was going to die before either of them. In some ways, knowing your future and knowing what kind of life you’ll have must be kind of calming because you know that you won’t have to struggle and you know that things will work out positively for you. In other ways, though, knowing your whole future might feel like a trap because no matter what you do, your path is set. And you know that you would have to stick to your path because if you don’t, you’ll impact your memories in the past when you were actively attempting to save humanity. It’s a fascinating mental game and I continuously think about it.

Overall, I’d say this movie is a low five. I intend on buying it when it comes out and I enjoyed watching it so much that I saw it twice in the theater, but since it’s such a heavily intellectual movie, I can’t imagine that I will wind up watching it over and over again because I normally only turn on movies when I want to veg out or when I’m working on other things that divide my attention and Arrival is not a movie where you stop paying attention or veg out.

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Comic Book Review: Blackest Night

Posted on December 30, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

blackest_night_green_lanternContinuing with my reading of the Blackest Night series, I’d been reading Blackest Night: Green Lantern (graphic novel 320 pages) off and on for about a week or so in between accomplishing huge other tasks for work and school. In my last review, I listed what I thought was the intended reading order for the trade paperbacks. While reading this one, I’m not so sure that they should be read in the order listed. Based on the list in the back of all of the books, Blackest Night should be read in this order:

Blackest Night (Black Lantern symbol)
Blackest Night: Green Lantern (Green Lantern symbol)
Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps
Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps vol 1 (Sinestro Corps symbol)
Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps vol 2 (Orange Lantern Corps symbol)
Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns (Indigo Tribe symbol)
Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps (Blue Lantern Symbol)

“The universe is at war. Green Lantern Hal Jordan is fighting on the front lines. With power rings blazing, seven intergalactic armies have harnessed the power of the emotional spectrum to wage a War of Light: the red throes of rage, the orange light of avarice, the yellow fire of fear, the blue rays of hope, the indigo glow of compassion, the violet aura of love, and the green might of willpower. But now, an impenetrable darkness threatens to extinguish them all. The Black Lanterns have been raised from the dead with a single purpose: to blot out the light of life. With their enemies divided, they are unstoppable. Only Green Lantern can unite the warring Corps and cast out the lingering shadow of death. To do so, he must forge alliances with his deadliest enemies – and do battle against his closest friends. Does he have the will to power himself through the universe’s darkest hour?”

I am absolutely positive that a lot of the references made throughout this trade paperback would be more emotionally or even intellectually interesting for me if I paid attention to DC Comics at all, which I mostly don’t. To be fair, I’m not paying much attention to the comic book world in general right now because my “real life” is rather busy. I know some of the basics from my minimal exposure to the Green Lantern v3 comics I was reading earlier this year, from a really good friend who shared their love of the Green Lantern universe with me three years ago, and from some of the other media I’ve read and watched over the decades. With that said, I didn’t feel as though my lack of investment or knowledge in the DC Universe negatively impacted my ability to follow along with the storyline. But in order to even remotely pay attention to what was going on, I definitely needed at least the tiny amount of back story I already had.

Even though this is a Green Lantern title, I was really hoping to get a lot less of Hal Jordan. He is definitely not my favorite of the Green Lanterns and I get really tired of the entire Green Lantern universe revolving just around him. I am also frustrated in the way these trade paperbacks were organized. The more of the DC Comics stuff that I read, the more I appreciate how Marvel Comics does theirs. I feel a lot like I’m reading a whole bunch of comics woefully out of order. I think that these should be taken apart and reformatted so that you can read the entire series in order instead of just getting tiny chunks of it. In Blackest Night, the first of these trade paperbacks that I reviewed, you get pretty much the condensed story from beginning to end with a whole bunch of holes. Blackest Night: Green Lantern doesn’t even give you the whole story, just a fragment of it, but it does fill in a lot of the story gaps from Blackest Night.

So if I was going to reformat these trade paperbacks so far, I think I would do something like what Marvel Comics does with their trade paperback series where they put a variety of titles together in the order in which they should actually be read and then number the volumes one through whatever. That way, you can read the whole story, in order, without having to figure out the holes later. I understand that these are all from a variety of titles and that it looks like Blackest Night comes from the individual titles with that name and Blackest Night: Green Lantern comes from the Green Lantern issues that dealt with Blackest Night, but it would really make more sense to have the whole series able to be read chronologically. So start with Prologue: Death Becomes Us, then go to Green Lantern 43, then probably Green Lantern 44, then Part One, etc., so that you can read the whole story all in order because it really is very disjointing to get only parts of the story at any given time and having to go back and forth between the books.

This trade paperback did have some other Lantern Corps stories, such as what was going on with Green Lantern John Stewart as he faces the undead version of his destroyed home world and Star Sapphire Carol Danvers who battles the Sinestro Corps, Red Lantern Atrocitus, the Indigo Tribe, Saint Walker from the Blue Lanterns, and Larfleeze and his Orange Lantern. Obviously, all of the tribes have to learn to work together because it’s only by combining two or more different colors of lanterns that enable the destruction of the Black Lanterns or the severing of the connection between the black rings and those animated by the Black Lantern rings. This trade paperback obviously used this series to resurrect old drama between people like Hal Jordan and Sinestro and bringing both of them face-to-face with each other, and the same is true with Hal Jordan and Carol Danvers. There’s even a bit where Sinestro gets to battle Mongul for control of the Sinestro Corps. So of course, the drama between Sinestro and Hal Jordan means that they fight and then they fight together and then they do their own separate things and it’s just unnecessary drama because their petty arrogances make it so they each think their way is the right and only way. It’s actually really annoying and one of the many reasons I don’t tend to read the Green Lantern books with Hal Jordan in them. It’s all just petty bickering and stupidity caused by dickheaded machoism.

Overall, this was an okay read but I think my dislike for Hal Jordan got in the way of me actually enjoying or being surprised by the ways the heroes went about fighting the Black Lanterns and I would probably rate it as a mid-grade two on my rating scale. I’m glad I own it so that I can go back through the story when I need to but I’m not sure I’ll feel the need to actually read this part of the story again, except when I’m doing research or need Green Lantern references in the future.

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Movie Review: The Twilight Saga

Posted on December 30, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

twilightFor whatever reason, I decided to watch the entire Twilight Saga from beginning to end. I tend to prefer forming my own opinions about just about everything and I have found that I have spent a lot of my time and energy regurgitating other people’s opinions or thoughts and not enough time giving things a viable chance. With that in mind, the desire to be more open-minded and accepting of other people’s viewpoints, I decided to do an entire marathon where I watched the full Twilight Saga from beginning to end. The Twilight Saga consists of: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn.

A long, long time ago, when the first Twilight movie came out, my brother and I went to see it because we didn’t know anything about it but what we did know was that there were supposedly vampires and the story took place in our home area in the Pacific Northwest. We are typically those movie-goers who enjoy some bloody vampire movies so we didn’t do any more research on any parts of the movie or the background of the books. If my memory is correct, and I honestly can’t vouch for it because my brain has been scrambled many times before, Twilight is the first and only movie I have ever walked out on because it was just not something worthwhile for me. Now, I don’t know if we actually walked out of that movie, but I kind of feel like we did.

Here are some of the reasons we were originally dissatisfied with Twilight:

  1. Vampires are supposed to be creatures of the night and they’re supposed to be scary monsters. Vampires are not supposed to be glittery and walk around in the daylight, nor be interested in attending high school for a century or more. Looking at this movie from my current world-view and experience, however, and having done a little bit more research into the history and lore of vampires, it actually wasn’t until Bram Stoker’s Dracula where vampires became creatures of the night and developed super powers and weaknesses to certain things such as garlic and sunlight. Prior to that time, many different mythologies all over the world had different variations of people thought to be dead who would feed on the living. So when Twilight’s vampires weren’t really the scary vampires of the common Hollywood, we were disappointed instead of allowing different interpretations of mythology and lore. Instead of finding something fresh and different, we found something lacking violence. I guess that says a lot about how I’ve grown in the last several years. I can now see a lot more of the positives from the series than I could before.
  2. The romantic story in this movie was down-right frightening. Love is one thing, obsession is another. However, I can also say that in the last several years, I’ve learned what being in love actually feels like and I’ve learned a lot about what a healthy relationship should look like. A healthy relationship should have compromises and lives and hobbies outside of time spent together. The relationships presented in this entire series were all very uncompromising and there was constantly a lack of clear communication throughout the entire series. Each character would go off and do their own thing and not even think about how their actions would impact others. The characters were all remarkably selfish, only thinking of themselves and their own needs and wants. Even the friendships felt one-sided, like how Bella would just ditch her friends all over random towns after a movie because she wanted an adrenaline rush with a random stranger on a motorcycle or picking a fight with another friend who wasn’t feeling well.
  3. Not one character in this entire series had any sort of goal, motivation, or ambition to do anything with their lives. In theory, you could say that Bella had a goal of becoming a vampire, but that’s not really a life-motivation. That’s kind of a short-term goal, but it was all she asked about. And that’s the same thing with Edward – all he wanted was to marry Bella. He’s been a vampire for over a hundred years and all he wants to do is wait until he’s married to have sex? It just seemed really short-sighted to me. If you’re immortal, you could learn every craft or trade there is on the entire planet. You could become the world’s best carpenter or painter or pianist or novelist or *something*. But it seemed to me as though all the characters in the entire series were just hanging around, doing a lot of nothing. I think out of the whole series, this is what bothered me the most. A hundred years isn’t even remotely enough time to see the entire world but that’s what I would be doing. I get that they’re vampires and not supposed to show themselves to the world, but you could still travel and experience new cultures instead of just hiding in a very, very tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Basically, there’s far too much you could be doing with your time and the fact that no one in the entire series had any desire to do anything other than lounge around was supremely frustrating to me.

Those are the top three things that really bugged me about this entire series. Granted, I haven’t read the books, though that is on my list of things to do at some point ever because I really do like forming my own opinions and not just regurgitating the ideas and thoughts of other people.

I can sort of see why these movies had such a vast appeal to certain audiences, though, especially women. I think the appeal of this series is having someone who loves you so much that they would do anything for you, including leaving you alone if they thought that you would be better off or safer without them. The additional appeal of a very old-school mentality of waiting until after marriage to engage in sexual intercourse and wanting to have a family are obvious, though perhaps slightly unrealistic in this day and age. I can also see the appeal of having someone want nothing more than just to spoil you and take care of you for all the rest of your days and also of being able to have a life where you don’t have to have a job and can just lounge around all day doing nothing. None of this is something I want in my life, but I can see where other people might find all these concepts greatly appealing.

I liked that the movies actually had a fairly diverse cast and I thought the lore of the American tribes fit into the werewolf mythology. I liked how the series wasn’t just filled with a bunch of white people and how there were even vampires of different ethnicities. I think that’s one of the things this series did fairly well is with including other cultures and other representations rather than just white-washing the entire cast like seems to be happening more and more in today’s entertainment industry. (White-washing is where Hollywood takes characters and even background characters and makes them all white instead of being an accurate representation of their source material or including cultural diversity amongst the cast). So while most of the cast was actually white, not all of them were and it showed a more accurate representation of actual populations in the world.

This entire series’ soundtracks are actually really fantastic. There’s a lot of music I really enjoy and even some solid piano and orchestral parts. A good portion of the music is by artists I recognize and songs I wouldn’t have otherwise if I didn’t have the soundtracks to these movies. If you can’t force yourself to watch the movies, I would actually encourage you to check out the soundtracks, if you enjoy that sort of music. The scores are pretty good and so are the actual “songs with words”.

Overall, I think I would rate this entire series as maybe a low two on my rating scale. I’m not sure I’ll ever have the need to actually watch the movies again and I might watch them if someone else was watching them, but I don’t feel the need to go out and buy the entire series with the extended cuts or anything like that. I have now watched the whole series and formed my own opinions as to what I think and why.

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Book Review: Jigsaw by Ed McBain

Posted on November 6, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

Apparently, I have some book reviews that I wrote during my last semester with Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction Master of Fine Arts program that I hadn’t posted. I found them while I was looking for some of my NaNo research. Jigsaw (mystery 176 pages) was a very different story than any we’ve read so far for this course. I think it’s the most realistic and the article from Classic Crime Fiction website about the “American Police Procedural” does a great job of discussing exactly why this story is so different from the Hound of the Baskervilles and the Murder of Roger Akroyd.

I saw during the discussion for this book an interesting correlation with the Saw movies, which I actually haven’t seen, but have been aware of the Jigsaw character for some time. I don’t know if maybe I subtly thought that maybe the Jigsaw character from the Saw movies might have been based somehow on this book or if my brain maybe wanted there to be a correlation which would have made this story a lot more like a psychological thriller with the police attempting to chase down a crazy serial killer. Obviously, that’s not even close to what we got with the book, as there was crazy mastermind intent on killing or torturing people.

The main focus of Jigsaw is not one white guy who has the intellectual genius of someone like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. The main focus isn’t another super spy white guy who is capable of blending with another culture after having his skin dyed and watching demonstrations of ninjustu like Bond. Nor is the main focus other white guys like Ned Beaumont and Philip Marlowe who are just trying to make a living and figure out things the Law isn’t capable of solving. Instead, Jigsaw demonstrates that it truly takes a team with solid resources to solve most complicated and mysterious murders. The main focus of Jigsaw is the team aspect of solving a case, just like the “American Police Procedural” website states.

I think the location of the money is the main mystery in this novel, for all that it started with a pair of dead bodies. The two murders in the beginning are very clear cut, especially when the results come back from the medical examiners office. I really liked how the book showed pictures of the pieces of the puzzle and how they fit together each time a piece was located and I also appreciated how it wasn’t just one, unrealistic character who worked to solve this case, but rather a true team effort. With today’s technologically advanced world, you have to have a variety of experts in different fields in order to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

Splitting the main focus between Detective Arthur Brown and Detective Steve Carella and how each of their investigations applied pieces towards the over-arching mystery worked very nicely. One person wasn’t magically at the exact right time and the exact right place to witness key murders or watch the villains discuss their plans, but rather each member of the team applied research and took turns following each of the clues. This is by far more realistic than some of our previous readings where everything just sort of magically worked in the main character’s favor.

Speaking of character, I have to say that I really respected and appreciated Detective Arthur Brown. On page three, he talks about how he thinks he’s hilarious but no one else seems to think so and that made the character fairly endearing to me and I actually did find the same things amusing as he did, which helped me like this character. What’s not to like? He’s professional and very good at his job and dedicated both to his job and to his family, which is evidenced when he thinks about them throughout the story and in his interactions with his wife and daughter at the end. I also laughed out loud on page 169 when he scares the information he needed from Suzanne Endicott by playing to her stereotypes and as soon as she says what he needs, “She stared at him in disbelief. Where had the rapist gone? Who was this polite nuclear physicist standing in his place?” And then there was the pun at the end on page 171 where he tells Irving Krutch, “Now you’ve got the picture,” which amused me because this whole mystery was about finding pieces of a photograph in the form of jigsaw pieces.

The best part about addressing Arthur’s race is that it’s never used in a derogatory manner. It’s simply statements of facts and then using people’s own, built-in racial prejudice against them. While I don’t believe he’s exactly a perfect character, he’s definitely human. He’s a father and a husband and he has a life outside the police force, which makes him more relatable as a human being.

One of the things that kept the story moving for me was the amount of bodies associated with each piece of the puzzle. I think that added a lot of the ticking clock we’ve discussed before to this story, since many of those with pieces of the puzzle wound up dead. At the same time, though the ticking clock wasn’t really urgent because the 87th Precinct personnel didn’t realize the photograph pieces would get people killed until Albert Weinberg’s body was found. And then once Geraldine Ferguson was killed, no one else was really in danger because they had all the rest of the pieces of the puzzle.

One of the things that bothered me about this book, though, was the section from page 67 through the top of page 70 where a whole bunch of random and terrible things are mentioned in passing that have nothing to do with the plot of this story. I didn’t see any reason for a graphic rape, a random murder, and a spousal assault to be a part of this novel. None of those involved were characters in this story, it didn’t move the plot forward at all, and it served no purpose.

I noticed a few places where the writing was a little awkward or where I had to read a sentence again because of things like people being chased by the street. I actually didn’t even catch the name of the city, nor did I notice that it wasn’t a real city after all. I suspect that has something to do with the fact that I, personally, don’t like cities at all and that all cities are pretty much the exact same to me, no matter whether they’re based on a real place or a fictional environment. To me, this setting seemed exactly like every other big city I’ve ever been in or heard about. For that reason, I didn’t associate anything specific to what kind of city it might be or what kind of world the city might exist in. It seemed just like real life and reminded me of any number of cop shows and detective shows that try and show a case getting solved in a single day, which is completely unrealistic. Though, this book also did something similar with a very shortened time frame for solving the case.

What I usually do when I find a book that doesn’t particularly inspire me is try to look back to when the book was written and see if I can see the book through non-modern eyes. That’s helped me get through some of the books I haven’t really enjoyed and then I try and work through what makes these books popular from their time frames. I always try and pull something interesting or useful out of every book I read because, whether I enjoy the book or not, these folks are making money writing novels, which is ultimately my own goal (and I suspect the goal of most people in the program).

In some ways, this book seems to be a bridge between the private detective stories. I think I like stories like this better than the stories we read from Hammett and Chandler because I’m of the opinion that it should be the police working to solve these crimes so I’m happy when I get to read a story that is about team work and not about individual glorification.

I’m not really sure I found a ticking clock for this book, either, except for the murders associated with the puzzle. To me, the book did actually feel like Arthur and Steve were racing against someone to solve the puzzle first. It was obvious that someone else was working to get the puzzle solved outside the law and it was interesting to read about something more realistic, like how it actually takes more than one person and a variety of resources to actually solve crimes.

It’s my understanding that those in specialized fields have a very different dialect than someone who is not part of those specialized fields. I think this is true whether your characters are cops, doctors, lawyers, or basketball players. So I guess I didn’t really see the dialogue as not particularly authentic because most authentic dialogue wouldn’t be readily understood by “average” people. And this was also written at a time with different slang, different colloquialisms, and different idioms. What dialogue there was seemed very precise to me, which I guess I would expect out of police personnel.

Anyway, I liked how this book broke all the stereotypes. The main investigators throughout this story were family men who weren’t super human, and the main character was refreshingly not a white guy. They didn’t drink on the job, they had realistic consequences from received injuries such as when Arthur gets hit on the head and loses consciousness, and they didn’t smoke like a chimney.

The book was definitely fast paced and I read it very quickly and the actual puzzle piece pictures were both a good visual reference and a lot of fun.

Work Cited: Christie, Agatha. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery. New York: William Morrow: Harper Collins, 2011. Print. Original Publication 1926.

McBain, Ed. Jigsaw. Las Vegas: Thomas & Mercer, 2011. Print. Original Publication 1970.

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