C.A. Jacobs

Book Review: a Series of Unfortunate Events 09: the Carnivorous Carnival by Lemony Snicket

Posted on April 1, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

This morning’s gym book was a Series of Unfortunate Events 09: the Carnivorous Carnival (Young Adult 286 pages) by Lemony Snicket.

“Dear Reader, The word ‘carnivorous,’ which appears in the title of this book, means ‘meat-eating,’ and once you have read such a bloodthirsty word, there is no reason to read any further. This carnivorous volume contains such a distressing story that consuming any of its contents would be far more stomach-turning than even the most imbalanced meal. To avoid causing discomfort, it would be best if I didn’t mention any of the unnerving ingredients of this story, particularly a confusing map, an ambidextrous person, an unruly crowd, a wooden plank, and Chabo the Wolf Baby. Sadly for me, my time is filled with researching and recording the displeasing and disenchanting lives of the Baudelaire orphans. But your time might be better filled with something more palatable, such as eating your vegetables, or feeding them to someone else. With all due respect, Lemony Snicket.”

The end of a Series of Unfortunate Events: the Hostile Hospital ended with Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire going from the frying pan into the fire. At the end of the Hostile Hospital, the Baudelaire orphans were thought to be not only murderers but now responsible for the destruction of the records library in the hospital. They’d started taking more questionable actions, such as stealing Hal’s keys, biting him, and setting fire to the records room. They’d used disguises to attempt to save Violet from being decapitated by Count Olaf’s henchmen, and run from the shopkeeper in the Last Chance General Store. All of the things they did in the last book that may or may not have been morally sound decisions are all ones which they feel badly for.

This book has a very different feel and a very different tone than its predecessors. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny finally reach their breaking point in this book where it’s obvious that they are more willing to take risks and to keep moving forward. I think it seems to me as though they’ve stopped being afraid or they’ve given up hope that things truly will get resolved in any sort of positive way. They’re worried because they seem to be doing more and more shady things and finding ways to justify those shady things and that they’re getting more comfortable doing things that they don’t believe is morally correct because they can’t see any other alternative.

I’m not sure how I, as a reader, feel about some of these events. When the Baudelaire orphans first encounter Madame Lulu, she is cruel and inconsiderate. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny get a job with the carnival as freaks because they pretend to be a two-headed person and a part man/part wolf cub. Count Olaf’s troupe and Madame Lulu get their enjoyment by making fun of people who are different than themselves, and they laugh as Violet and Klaus, disguised as Beverly and Elliot, attempt to eat corn on the cob. The other members of Count Olaf’s troupe all also have physical deformities, such as the hook-handed man, the man with the large nose, the two women with powdered faces, and the person who could be either a man or a woman. In the House of Freaks, the Baudelaires are introduced to Hugo the hunchback, Colette the contortionist, and Kevin who is ambidextrous. The book addresses periodically what might motivate people who could be good to do things that are decidedly wrong, and focuses on how people treat each other. The whole point of the House of Freaks for the carnival is to put people on display and encourage others to laugh at them, which left me feeling extremely uneasy because of the accurate reflection of real life portrayed in this book. In real life, people are bullied for the most ridiculous reasons and none of it makes sense to me because I am of the opinion that we should try and be as kind as possible to those around us and the mob mentality of this book didn’t show anyone attempting to be decent human beings. While Violet, Klaus, and Sunny do not participate in saying hurtful things to the rest of those who are made fun of, there are multiple times throughout the book when it’s made obvious that mocking others is ridiculous.

Madame Lulu/Olivia is a character who knows that she is helping villains and it’s not something that she ever thought she would be doing, but she likes giving people what they want. While she appears to be kind towards the Baudelaire children when their disguises are discovered, she is also weak in the sense that nothing she does is truly beneficial to Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. She spoke to the Baudelaires about being a noble person again, but in the end, she betrays their trust and ultimately gets eaten by hungry lions for not having the ability to stand up to Count Olaf. This is where I started getting a little uncomfortable as a reader because I’m not sure I was sad or disappointed that she was eaten. And at this point in the story, with all the terrible things Count Olaf has done, I’m not sure what the desired end state for him is, either. I don’t know that I would feel as though justice would be served if he is simply captured and imprisoned because I feel as though he would find some way to weasel out of it. I’m not comfortable with wishing an accident on him because with accidents, you don’t usually see the body, which means he’s likely to survive the accident and continue to cause death and destruction to random people and to the Baudelaire orphans specifically. And I very much don’t want the Baudelaire orphans to actually kill him, but these books have demonstrated very clearly that there are no adults with spines anywhere to be found, and those adults who have had spines wind up getting killed. Actually, everyone winds up getting killed. Maybe the underlying morale of this series is that you’re going to die anyway, so maybe you should die doing something to help someone else.

This is also the first book in the series where there wasn’t a “safe for now” end to the story. At the end of this book, the Baudelaire orphans are now in greater danger than they were at the beginning of this book and it’s not a very safe place. Not that the trunk of Count Olaf’s car was a very safe place for the end of the last book, but it sort of was. This time, not so much.

There’s a lot going on in this book and the books get more complicated the deeper into the series I get. I’m enjoying it greatly and overall, I’d probably rate this book as a solid three on my rating scale because I really like the writing style, the characters are unique, and the message is mostly a positive one (for all that the book is not a happy story). I’m glad that I own this book and will continue with the rest of the books in the series.

Works cited: Snicket, Lemony. A Series of Unfortunate Events: the Carnivorous Carnival. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2002.

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged A Series of Unfortunate Events, A Series of Unfortunate Events: the Carnivorous Carnival, Book Review, Lemony Snicket | Leave a comment

Book Review: a Series of Unfortunate Events 08: the Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket

Posted on March 28, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

This morning’s gym book was a Series of Unfortunate Events 08: the Hostile Hospital (Young Adult 255 pages) by Lemony Snicket.

“Dear Reader, Before you throw this awful book to the ground and run as far away from it as possible, you should probably know why. This book is the only one which describes every last detail of the Baudelaire children’s miserable stay at Heimlich Hospital, which makes it one of the most dreadful books in the world. There are many pleasant things to read about, but this book contains none of them. Within its pages are such burdensome details as a suspicious shopkeeper, unnecessary surgery, an intercom system, anesthesia, heart-shaped balloons, and some very startling news about a fire. Clearly you do not want to read about such things. I have sworn to research this story, and to write it down as best I can, so I should know that this book is something best left on the ground, where you undoubtedly found it. With all due respect, Lemony Snicket.”

One of the interesting things this book addressed was treatment for people who are not exactly healthy. As the Baudelaire orphans wander around the hospital with the Volunteers Fighting Disease, there are several points when it’s made obvious that walking around singing happy songs and giving people balloons is not a very good substitute for actually healing sick people. The V.F.D. believe that “a cheerful attitude is a more effective way of fighting illness than painkillers or a glass of water” which is an interesting look at how some people in the real world actually live their lives. I’m not saying that a cheerful attitude isn’t extremely helpful, because it is, but it has to be combined with real, genuine help. The V.F.D. could have been doing actually constructive things to help the patients in the hospital while still handing out balloons and singing. While the group sang, one member could go and get a glass of water for the patient who requested it. In that way, they would be cheered both by being less dehydrated and also by having a happy song and a heart-shaped balloon. (And, to be honest, the main reason this topic is such an issue with me is because I see a lot of people putting on a happy mask or praying for someone when they could do something tangible like bring a glass of water instead of just trying to get credit for helping when they didn’t actually do anything productive).

This book also brought up a lot of interesting discussions I’ve had about a very interesting topic. On page 241, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny makes a series of comments about how they’re getting as good at tricking people, disguises, anagrams, and lying to people as Count Olaf. Violet says, “Maybe we’re becoming villains after all.” to which Klaus replies, “We’re good people. We had to do tricky things in order to save our lives.” The counter-argument to this, of course, is that most people will do just about anything to save their own lives.

I wrote about heroes and villains a long, long time ago and some of the discussions I’ve had with a variety of people since then have also been interesting in the terms of really looking at what makes someone a villain. One of the things I didn’t really discuss in that post is the motivation for action. I think that defining a person as a hero or a villain would come down to why someone behaves the way they do.

So what makes a villain?

In the post I mentioned earlier, I spoke a lot about sacrifice. I think that goes hand-in-hand with the motivation for the villain. A villain is most likely to be motivated by personal gain, influence, power, or greed. Potentially a combination of all of these. Count Olaf in this series is clearly after the Baudelaires for his own sense of individual greed – he wants their inherited fortune. Even Esme, who was the sixth most successful banker in the city, was after the Baudelaires to increase her own wealth. Since those are selfish goals, Count Olaf and Esme are both clearly villains.

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny all feel badly about tricking the mob so they can escape the hospital. They feel badly about running away from the Last Chance General Store shopkeeper. They feel badly for lying to the Volunteers Fighting Disease. And they definitely feel badly for tricking Hal and what happened to the Records Room. At this point in the series, the Baudelaire orphans have had zero luck with getting anyone to actually listen to them or take the appropriate action against Olaf and his accomplices. Mr. Poe is a self-absorbed banker who, in my opinion, is using the Baudelaire orphans in order to make himself and his bank more prosperous. He continues to get raises and promotions at his bank and it’s likely due to the increasing wealth Violet, Klaus, and Sunny continue to amass, as they move from one guardian to another. The law officials believe propaganda instead of investigating for true facts. And Count Olaf and his personnel continue to weasel their way into a variety of places where their role is very influential and people listen to them for no apparent reason. I think the Baudelaire orphans trick people in this book so that they can retain their freedom and stay alive and they do not genuinely wish to hurt anyone, while Count Olaf and Esme are both cruel, as are all the members of the performance troupe, and none of them care about what happens to people who get in their way. In fact, they enjoy causing pain and harm to people.

Being a villain is about motivation and treatment of others. I think that you can be motivated by the most noblest of causes and still become a villain in the end. Evil done in the name of good is still evil, just as good done in the name of evil is still good.

The Baudelaire orphans might now be on a very slippery slope. It might become a matter of continuous justification if they continue to have to bite good people on the hand because of misunderstandings and miscommunications. The tone of this novel shifts a little bit towards the end, where the Baudelaire orphans start wondering if they really are the villains everyone else is starting to see them as, which is going to be interesting for character development in the future, I think.

The last thing that I really appreciate about this book is the fact that the Baudelaire children don’t hide. What I mean by that is that they see things are wrong and they take action to fix it instead of hiding from the world or instead of attempting to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that their world is better than it is. They are constantly faced with choices where most people would give up and accept that there’s nothing they can do. But Violet, Klaus, and Sunny always look for something they can do to save themselves, each other, or even the Quagmires. They acknowledge that they are afraid of the situations they’re in, but they still continue to make choices and attempt to solve the issues they are presented with. I don’t see that much in the real world today. Most of what I see in the real world today is all about a disposable life. If your electronic device is not the newest and most popular, you ditch it and buy the newest version, even though your previous worked just fine and it’s extremely environmentally wasteful to continuously throw things away. If you find out your dream job requires years of schooling and experience, you give up because it’s too much work. If someone you care about hurts you, you ditch them. I don’t see that behavior in the Baudelaires and I appreciate their characters all the more for it.

There’s a lot going on in this book and the books get more complicated the deeper into the series I get. I’m enjoying it greatly and overall, I’d probably rate this book as a high three on my rating scale because I really like the writing style, the characters are unique, and the message is mostly a positive one (for all that the book is not a happy story), and this book is starting to get into a lot more deeply philosophical issues, like what it means to be a villain. I’m glad that I own this book and will continue with the rest of the books in the series.

Works cited: Snicket, Lemony. A Series of Unfortunate Events: the Hostile Hospital. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2001.

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged A Series of Unfortunate Events, A Series of Unfortunate Events: the Hostile Hospital, Book Review, Lemony Snicket | Leave a comment

Book Review: the Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett

Posted on March 28, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

The next book I read for my Readings in the Genre: Mystery Classics class for Seton Hill University’s Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction was The Glass Key (mystery 147 pages) by Dashiell Hammett.

I have to admit that The Glass Key has been the hardest of the novels for me to get through so far. Usually, I can get through the readings in about a day or a weekend at most, but this one took me an entire week to get through.

This book really was almost fantastic. The story was interesting, I just couldn’t get very engaged in it. I never really thought that Ned was a decent guy just based on how he started the novel gambling and threatening other people. He did seem okay at first, convincing Paul to support Tim’s wife with everything they need until after the election is dealt with and Tim’s case can be resolved. He seemed smart and like he might be one of those characters who lives in the underworld but actually might have a sense of honor. I would have accepted him as the good guy protagonist except for what the last narrator did during The Murder of Roger Akroyd. Having read that so recently, I was skeptical of how much I trust the narrator of the mystery stories right now.

The point of view was very distant in this novel. I never knew what any of the characters were thinking or feeling and it frustrated me because I wasn’t positive about any of the motivations for any of the characters. Mystery is not my main genre that I read in and I’m more familiar with the close narration style used in YA. Without seeing any of Ned’s thought processes, it was difficult to understand why he would be so loyal to Paul all the way through the story. I thought they were actually brothers for a good portion of the story, but then I realized that was just a way of saying they were close.

According to Classic Crime Fiction, The Glass Key is part of the American detective stories, “born out of disillusionment with the increasing corruption of American social life and a feeling of disillusionment enhanced by the unhappy effects of Prohibition in big cities.” The Glass Key definitely demonstrated political life in America in the 1920s, with police officers paid off by politicians and those in the political circles able to do whatever they wanted. One of the weird things about this novel to me, though, was the fact that there was a massive amount of alcohol throughout the entire story. I realize the amount of alcohol was a statement against Prohibition and I also realize that clean water was not as easy to find in those times as it is now, but it really just seemed like there was a lot of alcohol involved in the story.

I think one of the things that made this story a little more time-consuming for me to read is that I couldn’t keep track of the timeline. I’m one of those readers who enjoys a chronological story and it felt a lot to me as though I had no concept of time as this story progressed. I didn’t know how long it would take Ned Beaumont to travel to all the locations he went to in order to talk to people or get his money back or whatever he was doing. This story, as a mystery, seemed to lack a sense of urgency at all to it. I had no idea when the election was supposed to happen, so I had no idea how long Beaumont has in order to actually figure out who really murdered Taylor Henry.

In The Hound of the Baskervilles, there was a clear and pressing sense of urgency. If Holmes and Watson can’t figure out the murder quickly, then someone else is likely to die. In The Murder of Roger Akroyd, the sense of urgency wasn’t really there, either, but the writing style was such that the last portion of the book went very quickly. In The Glass Key, I kept asking myself how long ago something happened and trying to figure out if anything that was mentioned in the story was actually relevant, if it was supposed to be a red herring, or if it was just an author attempting to make a publishable word count. I know that sounds kind of heartless and I’m usually a lot more supportive of books and their authors, but when I’m reading a mystery, I really want some sort of sense of urgency as to why the issue must be resolved and why it must be resolved quickly and/or soon. Without knowing when the elections were supposed to happen or the amount of time that passed as the story progressed, the sense of urgency in solving this case quickly just didn’t filter through.

This story was a fairly accurate imitation of real life, especially the life of America in the 1920s. Sometimes, people just die and it’s not pretty, and for a lot of people throughout history, violence is the only method of solving problems they can find. There was a lot of violence in this story and I’m not positive that I can remember or keep track of all the people who died or were beaten. Jeff beats up Ned and Ned winds up in the hospital. Jeff kills Shad. The story mentions several run-ins between police officers and the more criminal elements of the city where people are killed. In this sense, the story again portrayed and accurate representation of America in the 1920s.

I think one of the things that disturbed me the most about this book is how so many of the political games and plays for power are still prevalent in our political system in America today. People are still being bought and paid for and the politicians are still doing whatever it takes to get what they want. In this way, this novel is a success as far as writing popular fiction because it clearly demonstrates how you can write a novel that is true to your own time and understanding of the world around you and how it can still be understood and sympathized with generations later.

I think the dirty and chaotic aspects of this story are really well done and I did enjoy the realism presented in the fact that nothing was clean cut and the cast of characters didn’t necessarily have to be there, nor did they have to interact with other people. Just as in a real city, there would be so many people and those people would all complicate things whether they intended to or not. One of the things that I’ve noticed is that I read this book through the lens of the modern reader. This style of writing may have been rather popular or common when this story was published and it may have been awkward if readers picked up a story and didn’t have the complex, gritty realism as is demonstrated here with The Glass Key or others of Hammett’s works. So what seems like bad writing to us right now may have been very good writing back then. I don’t know. In another hundred years, maybe people will have forgone proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation completely and people will look back on our popular works from our current time and see many flaws and a good deal of bad writing.

This book had a much darker undertone than the previous two books. There was a lot to be said about the multiple deaths in this book and the way the violence and those deaths were just a run of the mill kind of day. Jeff doesn’t regret killing Shad at all. He just strangles him, then tosses the body. It takes a lot of work for Ned to be able to get Jeff held responsible, but even when the police are eminently on their way, Jeff isn’t panicked or anything because death was just a fact of life back then. I think that’s really well-brought out in this story. I think the appeal of this story in those times would have been a lot greater because the world was at war and their lives were so drastically different than our lives are today. I really took some time to think about what it must have been like to be a mystery reader back then and what kind of stories would hook me enough to motivate me to keep reading.

This is also the first of the mystery books we’ve read where the females in the story weren’t necessarily well-behaved or exceptionally proper. There were a number of named female characters in this story and each of them is very different, which is new from the standard females seen in the other mystery books we’ve read. Lee Wilshire is the exact opposite of proper while Opal and Janet participate in muddling with the investigation. There’s a lot of non-standard behavior and it’s actually rather refreshing.

There were a lot of characters introduced and I certainly found it difficult to figure out which characters I should pay attention to verses which characters are part of the story simply because real life is complicated and has a lot of “Non-Player Characters” who are part of the setting, but not part of the story. The grand truth there is that the real world has people who exist who have nothing to do with the current story in progress. So while I understand that perspective and it certainly added an element of realism to me, it also overwhelmed me with so many characters that I didn’t really pay attention to most of them. As far as the rest of character development goes, I noticed that every character was described in the same pattern, with age, height, weight, hair, then clothes. One or all of these things are described almost every time a character is introduced. Even with all this “descriptive” information, however, I still couldn’t picture these characters in my mind because they had physical descriptions but no actual characteristics. And there really were a lot of characters introduced especially early in the novel. I also wanted to see a little bit more about what the characters were feeling or thinking instead of just a running list of the visual descriptions in the world.

So while I didn’t particularly enjoy reading this book, there is a lot to discuss because of this book. I also thought that this story did a really good job of showing how the world is often more complicated than some stories would have you believe in that there are usually events that happen which are completely unrelated to the crimes committed.

Work Cited: Hammett, Dashiell. The Glass Key. New York: Random House, Inc., 1965. Print. Original Publication 1931.

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged Book Review, Dashiell Hammett, MFA, Readings In the Genre, Seton Hill University, SHU, the Glass Key, Writing Popular Fiction | Leave a comment

Book Review: a Series of Unfortunate Events 07: the Vile Village by Lemony Snicket

Posted on March 27, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

Yesterday morning’s gym book was a Series of Unfortunate Events 07: the Vile Village (Young Adult 256 pages) by Lemony Snicket.

“Dear Reader, You have undoubtedly picked up this book by mistake, so please put it down. Nobody in their right mind would read this particular book about the lives of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire on purpose, because each dismal moment of their stay in the village of V.F.D. has been faithfully and dreadfully recorded in these pages. I can think of no single reason why anyone would want to open a book containing such unpleasant matters as migrating crows, an angry mob, a newspaper headline, the arrest of innocent people, the Deluxe Cell, and some very strange hats. It is my solemn and sacred occupation to research each detail of the Baudelaire children’s lives and write them all down, but you may prefer to do some other solemn and sacred thing, such as reading another book instead. With all due respect, Lemony Snicket.”

One of the funniest things to me throughout this entire book was the continuous reference to the Littlest Elf, which was the deeply traumatic elf cartoon at the beginning of the movie Lemony Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events. That was the animated short at the beginning of the movie I watched several days ago that made me seriously wonder if I’d actually gotten the right movie. And the animated short was very, very traumatic. According to page 2, the Littlest Elf “tells the story of a teensy-weensy little man who scurries around Fairyland having all sorts of adorable adventures.” Of course, you’re encouraged to read that story often throughout this book, which I am now remarkably curious about, to see if it really exists. (Apparently, there is a book with that title, but it came out in 2012 and it’s by Brandi Dougherty and Kristen Richards, but I don’t think it was the one Lemony Snicket mentions repeatedly).

One of the points I have commented on for my previous reviews of this series is how much I enjoy the writing style. I like how the structure works and how the sentences flow. I think this is a great book for anyone, not just younger people because of how words are defined not just by the context but by a similar definition. The story, and the series, continues to subtly and not-so-subtly introduce new vocabulary to people who may want new words and to those who may not have a very extensive vocabulary to start with. There are many examples of words being used and also described in context and defined, which I think is a great way to improve a reader’s vocabulary. And it’s written in such a way as to not be condescending, but to also demonstrate the full meaning of the intent of the word when used in very specific context.

This novel’s kind and supportive character, Hector the handyman, actually does help the Baudelaire orphans and even the Quagmire triplets. It seems at first that he won’t be much use, since he doesn’t speak up for Violet, Klaus, and Sunny when they are attempting to tell the Village of Fowl Devotees (V.F.D.) that Jacques Snicket is not actually Count Olaf and that they shouldn’t burn him at the stake. There are several times when Hector might have had the chance to speak up the Baudelaire orphans, but doesn’t because the Council of Elders makes him feel skittish, and for good reason. With so many rules, especially rules against things Hector enjoys such as reading and inventing, it makes sense that the Council of Elders would make him uncomfortable. It’s also nice that he actually does something useful. He knows that the Council of Elders makes him skittish, but he’s still willing to use the hot air mobile home to help the Baudelaires and Quagmires escape from Count Olaf.

I really liked the way the Quagmires used rhyming couplets to give clues to the Baudelaires and how it’s a very neat puzzle. The puzzles in these books are some of the reasons that I enjoy this series so much. I know that there is a puzzle and that the solution is usually quite plain, but I constantly find myself having that “Ah-ha!” moment where I figure out the puzzle and how clever that puzzle was.

Works cited: Snicket, Lemony. A Series of Unfortunate Events: the Vile Village. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2001.

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged A Series of Unfortunate Events, A Series of Unfortunate Events: the Vile Village, Book Review, Lemony Snicket | Leave a comment

Movie Review: Jamaica Inn

Posted on March 23, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

I’m not really sure what motivated me to pick up Alfred Hitchcock 4 Spine Tingling Films from the Master of Suspense when I was at my local library the other day, but I decided to watch something completely outside my normal movies. Maybe it’s the Readings in the Genre: Mystery Classics class I’m taking right now. Maybe it’s repeated clips from Arsenic and Old Lace. Regardless of why, the first of these is Jamaica Inn.

“When her parents die, Mary is sent to Cornwall England to live with her Aunt Patience and Uncle Joss. Uncle Joss is the owner and proprietor of the Jamaica Inn, a seemingly normal business. However, Mary soon discovers that all is not what it seems: her uncle is the leader of a gang of pirates who lure ships to their doom on a rocky coast. When Mary discovers the truth, though, she begins to fear for her life. This early classic from the Master of Suspense is adapted from a novel by Daphne Du Maurier and features screen legend Charles Laughton.”

Jamaica Inn is obviously in black and white and sometimes that makes it sometimes more difficult to tell what’s going on or to see the differences between characters. However, this movie actually did a pretty good job of showing unique characteristics of each of the pirates, as well as the two women. I think the movie-makers of this time were aware of the limitations of black and white movies and that’s why some of the characters are a little over the top. The main villain is a very overweight rich man who basically controls the entire area and makes a profit off of everyone. He uses the pirates to do his bidding and he uses the townsfolk to get whatever he wants and to maintain control and power in the area. He’s a bully (and oddly reminds me heavily of the current U.S. Presidential election).

I have to admit that Mary is rather brave and resourceful for a woman of those times. She sees a man about to be hung from the rafters and breaks through the wall so that she can use a knife to saw through the rope. She then helps this man escape and he saves her life by protecting her from the pirate group he was attempting to get information on as an undercover man of the law. Watching movies from different eras makes me continuously happy that I didn’t grow up then because apparently it’s common to drag a tied and gagged woman through the streets and take her unwillingly onto a boat and kidnap her. She the really bad guy, Humphreys, forces Mary into some very uncomfortable situations.

I think the really weird and or hard part about this movie was towards the end when Mary tried to vouch for Humphreys and say that he’s not well and doesn’t know what he’s doing. Eventually, he jumps off the top mast on the ship. Which is just eerie.

So does good win in the end? It’s hard to say, since the pirates are all captured at the end and the large mastermind behind the whole thing commits suicide. I think I’m supposed to believe that this was an example of things ending correctly, but I still somehow don’t exactly feel as though justice was served. I’m not sure that the villagers lives will be made better with Humphreys no longer controlling the Jamaica Inn, but at least more sailors and sea-goers will survive by not having their ships purposefully crashed into the rocks so the pirates could steal all the cargo and kill all the crew.

Older movies really are a lot different than modern movies. They had to do a lot more with a lot less and I respect that greatly. So while I understand where this movie came from and I appreciate having watched it, I think I’m going to have to rate it as a very low two on my scale because I don’t think I ever need to watch it again.

Posted in Movie Reviews | Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Jamaica Inn, Movie Review | Leave a comment

Movie Review: Tron Legacy

Posted on March 22, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

I feel like I should have written a movie review of this movie when I saw it the theater years ago. It feels like I’ve written a movie review for Tron and for Tron Legacy, but I couldn’t find it in my log, so I guess I’m just going to write a review for Tron Legacy now.

“When Flynn, the world’s greatest video game creator, sends out a secret signal from an amazing digital realm, his son discovers the clue and embarks on a personal journey to save his long-lost father. With the help of the fearless female warrior Quorra, father and son venture through an incredible cyber universe and wage the ultimate battle of good versus evil.”

I remember decades ago when I first saw Tron and what a huge impact that had on my life. Tron was way ahead of its time and I’m not really sure that the current generation will get as much out of Tron Legacy as I did because I don’t think they have the same kind of background. When Tron came out, computers weren’t common. A computer had a black screen with green and white text. Computers weren’t connected to the internet, though the internet was created, it just wasn’t common. Interestingly, the major bad guy in Tron wanted to control all the information and the good guys believed that information should be free and available for everyone. I don’t really remember Tron as well as I do Tron Legacy because I’m typing this review while Tron Legacy plays. I also remember that I splurged on the movie tickets for my brother and I and we got the new special D-Box seating that moves with the movie. This kind of movie was great for that, especially with the grid chases and the games. All the parts with the lightcycles and the vehicles were pretty fantastic.

As I watched this movie again, I remember how neat and imaginative this entire storyline is. It became a huge plot element for a variety of storylines and different series, with shows like Reboot about computer programs and a lot of shows and movies about artificial intelligence and the role of computers in our lives.

One of the parts I don’t think younger viewers will really empathize with is how the programs all have disks with all their stored information. When Tron first came out, computer programs used giant, 5.5 inch floppy disks to store and transfer information. Eventually, programs were upgraded to a 2.5 inch floppy disk that was a lot more stable. Inside either version of the floppy disk was an actual very floppy spinning disk. Decades later, we would move to solid state hard drives and the idea of a spinning floppy disk would be another invention from the past. That’s why the disks are so important in this movie and in the predecessor.

I particularly enjoyed the part where Daft Punk made an appearance and chose a variety of rather fantastic fight music. I remember how much I enjoyed the soundtrack and it was a birthday present when it came out.

Because this movie brings up a lot of thoughts and memories, I think I will rate it as a solid three on my rating scale. It’s not necessarily a movie I need to own, but I would watch it again and I still listen to the soundtrack when I need fast-paced writing motivation music.

Posted in Movie Reviews | Tagged Movie Review, Tron, Tron Legacy | Leave a comment

Movie Review: Lemony Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events

Posted on March 22, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

So I’ve been very actively reading the books from a Series of Unfortunate Events and I found the movie while I was in my local library, searching for my next mystery reading assignment.

“Dear Viewer, If you enjoy movies filled with singing rabbits, exploding spaceships, or cheerleaders, you are holding the wrong DVD entirely. This movie is extremely alarming, an expression which here means ‘a thrilling misadventure involving three ingenious orphans and a villainous actor named Count Olaf who wants their enormous fortune.’ It includes a suspicious fire, delicious pasta, Jim Carrey, poorly behaved leeches, an incredibly deadly viper, Meryl Streep, and the voice of an imposter named Jude Law. The only things that could make such a spectacle more upsetting are special features, such as commentary by me or outtakes involving nervous laughter. I am bound to continue my research into the lives of the Baudelaire orphans, but you are free to seek lighter fare, like bleu cheese fondue. With all due respect, Lemony Snicket.”

It’s interesting to me that the back of the DVD reads almost exactly like the back of the books and it was interesting that the producers obviously cared enough to stay as close to the tone of the books as possible. A lot of movies which share the same title as books don’t care as much about being extremely close to the source material. The movie is even broken up several times to clearly show the narrator at a typewriter.

The movie starts out with one of the absolute creepiest animated short I’ve seen in a while. Little dancing elves in the forest and happy chirping birds and I sat on the couch rather stunned for several solid minutes, feeling my intelligence lower and lower with every passing chirp. I wondered if the library had put the right movie into the DVD case and whether I had somehow managed to get another preview instead of pressing play on the movie. But as the creepy elves and their music continued, they were eventually properly replaced by a dismal atmosphere, the three Baudelaire orphans, and the nefarious Count Olaf.

Whew. I was worried there for a second. But I can still never get those brain cells back.

Meanwhile, this book covers the events of the Bad Beginning, the Reptile Room, and the Wide Window, which are the first three books in a Series of Unfortunate Events. The timeline was a little compressed from the one in the books, but, to be fair, the timeline in the books isn’t exactly clear either, as it’s never really mentioned how much time truly passes during the books. Since I haven’t finished the books yet, I don’t know if the underlying option about a secret society the Baudelaire parents were founders or leaders of and how all the people the Baudelaire children wind up staying with were members of that society or not. But I am thinking from what I’ve read in the books so far that the fire that destroyed the Baudelaire mansion and killed their parents was set on purpose, likely by Count Olaf.

What do I think about the movie itself? Hm. I think that’s a bit harder since I don’t really think this movie would stand alone as well if I hadn’t read, been reading, and wanted to continue reading the books. As with many things, when books and movies share a title, I’m often of the opinion that whichever came first is often better. While the inventions in the movie were very creative and the situations were definitely similar to how the books happened, they were not the same. I think in this case, that’s probably a good thing because it might encourage people to read the books. I am a huge proponent of people reading more books, especially these books. So I will rate this movie as a high two on my rating scale because I like the books a lot better, but the movie is okay. It’s not likely that I will watch the movie again and I really like the books.

Posted in Movie Reviews | Tagged A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket, Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events, Movie Review | Leave a comment

Book Review: a Series of Unfortunate Events 06: the Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket

Posted on March 21, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

This morning’s gym book was a Series of Unfortunate Events 06: the Ersatz Elevator (Young Adult 259 pages) by Lemony Snicket.

“Dear Reader, If you have just picked up this book, then it is not too late to put it back down. Like the previous books in A Series of Unfortunate Events, there is nothing to be found in these pages but misery, despair, and discomfort, and you still have time to choose something else to read. Within the chapters of this story, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire encounter a darkened staircase, a red herring, some friends in a dire situation, three mysterious initials, a liar with an evil scheme, a secret passageway, and parsley soda. I have sworn to write down these tales of the Baudelaire orphans so the general public will know each terrible thing that has happened to them, but if you decide to read something else instead, you will save yourself from a heapful of horror and woe. With all due respect, Lemony Snicket.”

One of the two passages I marked from this book was on page 91: “Morning is one of the best times for thinking. When one has just woken up, but hasn’t yet gotten out of bed, it is a perfect time to look up at the ceiling, consider one’s life, and wonder what the future will hold.” In my own personal life, I’ve taken to using the mornings when I don’t have somewhere I have to be to stay in bed and stare at the ceiling and daydream. I didn’t used to do this, but it’s become something of a habit to have those few moments in the mornings to imagine how fantastic my life might be someday in the future and how thankful I am for everything I have right now. So this passage was very fitting to me, even though it then went on to discuss some of the more random parts about the over-arching mystery plot that’s becoming apparent in this series.

The other passage I marked was on page 136, where Violet says to Klaus and Sunny, “but if we wait until we’re ready we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.” And this was another really great example of how having the courage to do something you know must be done, no matter how frightening you find that event, is extremely brave and how much that bravery and courage can and will change your life. When Violet, Klaus, and Sunny investigate the elevator shaft, they find friends who they believed were lost. They inspired hope on both sides and even though their friends were again lost to them, there now remains the possibility that the Baudelaire orphans and the Quagmire Triplets might meet again in better circumstances at some point in their lives.

It seems to me as though there is one supporting character in all of these books so far that is a fairly nice and decent human being, but ultimately doesn’t help the Baudelaire children very much. In the first book, there was Judge Strauss, who cared for the children and had a wonderful library, but who ultimately couldn’t take the Baudelaires. In the second book, there was Uncle Monty who was a fantastic guardian for the orphans because he had a library as well, but he also encouraged Violet, Klaus, and Sunny’s strengths and treated them like valuable members of his team and family. Until Count Olaf murdered him. Aunt Josephine in the third book attempted to pretend to try, but in the end, she was too afraid of her own fear and wound up getting killed by Count Olaf because she lacked the courage to stand up and do what’s right. In book four, Charles the assistant and one of the Lucky Smell Lumbermill works, Phil, were both kind to the Baudelaire children, but neither of them helped the orphans in any sort of tangible way. At the Austere Academy in book five, both of the teachers meant well for the Baudelaires, but weren’t willing to risk their own careers and lifestyles in order to help the Baudelaires, though the Quagmire Triplets became solid friends and risked their lives to help the Baudelaires. In the sixth book, there’s Jerome, who is an incredibly caring person who wants to buy things the Baudelaire orphans would actually like and get their pinstripe suits tailored correctly, but he also doesn’t like arguing, so he fails the children in a number of small, but crucial, ways.

I think one of the very interesting parts of this book is that each book is hinting at a larger mystery. This mystery has been an interesting factor to my reading of this series since I found out over the weekend that there are more books in this series, namely an Unauthorized Biography, which someone who has read the series and enjoyed it greatly recommended to me that I don’t read that book until after I’ve finished the main series. Naturally, this encouraged me to investigate the library nearby and see if they have that particular book, and they do, which means I shall definitely borrow it as soon as I am finished with the main series.

Oddly, these books fit fairly well with the Readings in the Genre: Mystery Classics course I am currently taking for my Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Some of the thoughts I’m thinking about mystery as a genre are about how mystery seems to have a lot of elements of question. What is the real motive? Who is really involved? How did this stuff happen?

The over-arching mystery here that seems to be growing a little bit more with every book is something along the lines of figuring out who Lemony Snicket is, because he keeps saying that he loved Beatrice more than anything, but in the sixth book, Mrs. Esme Squalor mentions Beatrice and indicates that Esme believes Beatrice stole something from her. Lemony Snicket also seems to be running from a lot of law enforcement personnel and finding himself in some very odd situations, none of which are given much detail throughout the series except in passing. We also find out in this book that the Baudelaire parents were killed in the same fire that killed the third of the Quagmire Triplets. Another interesting development is that there is a secret passageway from the building at 667 Dark Avenue into the Baudelaire’s house that was destroyed in the fire. And the same initials of V.F.D. that the Quagmire Triplets discovered in the last book and attempted to warn the Baudelaire orphans about in this book is starting to be a reoccurring motif.

Works cited: Snicket, Lemony. A Series of Unfortunate Events: the Ersatz Elevator. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2001.

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged A Series of Unfortunate Events, A Series of Unfortunate Events: the Ersatz Elevator, Book Review, Lemony Snicket | Leave a comment

Ebb and Flow

Posted on March 20, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

I don’t often do very many personal posts, but ever since I returned from my most recent travels and things in my life have not changed (I honestly didn’t expect them to, but hope is kind of my motivating factor in just about everything in my life).

This goes something along the lines of a letter I’ve been thinking about writing to a friend whose life I am no longer a part of. It’s a letter that will never be truly written or sent and a letter that would likely be burned, unopened, upon receipt. I may very much want to write that letter and to send it with all the contents of my heart, but the truth is that I don’t have the right to force someone else to receive it, nor do I have the right to force my words into someone else’s face. If someone wants to read my words, that’s one thing. If someone doesn’t want to read my words, I haven’t the right to force them to, no matter how much better it might make things.

To you, the friend I miss,

I hope that your life is filled with laughter, joy, happiness, friendship, amusement, and love. I hope that you’re getting everything you want out of life and that you are surrounded by everything you need. I freely acknowledge that I wasn’t in the best place when we were friends and there were probably multiple times when you attempted to discuss things with me and I just didn’t listen. I bottled everything up and took it out on you and that wasn’t what I should have done.

You changed absolutely everything about my entire life. Everything. You changed how I view myself, you forced me to get the help I needed and even though it took a year and a half to finish my treatment, it worked. One of the last discussions I had with the behavioral health specialist was somewhere along the lines of how I was knocked flat on my face and kept getting kicked to stay down, but once I rebuilt and rebuild correctly, nothing can ever bring me down like that again.

You showed me so many new things, including abstractly introducing me to Asexuality. You made one, tiny, off-hand comment in passing about us being the most asexual people on the planet and because of that comment, I did research and found an entire community of other asexual people. I’m not alone and I know that I’m not broken. I know there are other people like me who fall on the asexual spectrum and that lifted a huge burden from me that I didn’t know I was carrying.

You introduced me to so many new books, increasing my diversity as a reader and as a writer. Books by different authors from different places. New stories with completely different concepts. You introduced me to the Green Lantern series, which has had a huge impact on my life today. I’ve been rereading all the Green Lantern comic books starting from the 1990s and there were a lot of really good characters, storylines, and underlying morals to those comics. The Green Lantern stuff also introduced me to the Blue Lantern Corps, which is fueled by hope. For the longest time, I said that I’d survived most of my life on sheer willpower alone, but now, more than anything, I am fueled by hope. Because there is very little more powerful than willpower supported by hope. And I wouldn’t have any of this background right now if it weren’t for you introducing me to new books, movies, and music.

I messed up. Though I can’t speak for your feelings, I can say it’s likely that what happened between us hurt us both. You asked me for time and space and I didn’t understand. There were a lot of mistakes. I owned up to mine and learned a lot. I wouldn’t be who I am today if everything hadn’t happened the way it did. And I am thankful for all that I have right now.

I have an apartment filled with books and Legos and it makes me happy to live here. I can walk to the library, the grocery store, the nearby department store. I bought a couch and you were there the day it arrived and I was so happy to finally have purchased my own real furniture. You were the one who taught me how to cook eggs because you looked it up on the internet. You introduced me to tea and now I’m a huge tea drinker.

You changed absolutely everything about my entire life and I can’t thank you enough for that. Seriously, thank you. If you ever need anything, no matter where you’re at in life, no matter what you need, just ask. I’ll help you however I can and I’ll always be there for you. I know we’re walking separate paths right now and I think time apart has been beneficial for both of us. I know I didn’t respect you or your wishes and I apologize for how I treated you when I wasn’t okay. If I had only one request, or one hope, it would be that you’d be willing to give our friendship another try someday. Whenever you’re ready and on your terms.

I understand now that you get used to the ebb and flow of people in your life after a while. The two important parts to know is that there will always be someone around for you – it just may not be who you would wish, or who you would think. And you have to be okay on your own when the tide flows out because people come and go, like waves on the tide. Sometimes, they’re there and you interact. And sometimes they’re gone and you miss them and you hope good things for them, but you can’t drag them back, even if you wanted to or had the right to.

I miss you, but I hope only good things for you and that someday, you’ll be willing to give our friendship another chance. Regardless of anything else, you changed everything about my life. Thank you for everything. You’re amazing.

Posted in Randomness | Tagged personal | Leave a comment

Book Review: A Series of Unfortunate Events 05: the Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket

Posted on March 20, 2016 by C.A. Jacobs

I have decided that a Series of Unfortunate Events are the perfect books for my morning cardio routine at the gym. Friday’s book was a Series of Unfortunate Events 05: the Austere Academy (Young Adult 221 pages) by Lemony Snicket.

“Dear Reader, If you are looking for a story about cheerful youngsters spending a jolly time at boarding school, look elsewhere. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are intelligent and resourceful children, and you might expect that they would do very well at school. Don’t. For the Baudelaires, school turns out to be another miserable episode in their unlucky lives. Truth be told, within the chapters that make up this dreadful story, the children will face snapping crabs, strict punishments, dripping fungus, comprehensive exams, violin recitals, S.O.R.E., and the metric system. It is my solemn duty to stay up all night researching and writing the history of these three hapless youngsters, but you may be more comfortable getting a good night’s sleep. In that case, you should probably choose some other book. With all due respect, Lemony Snicket.”

My favorite example of the writing style for this particular book was on page 138-139: “As I’m sure you know, a good night’s sleep helps you perform well in school, and so if you are a student you should always get a good night’s sleep unless you have come to the good part of your book, and then you should stay up all night and let your schoolwork fall by the wayside, a phrase which means ‘flunk.'” This passage made me laugh because I have spent many nights reading until almost the time when my alarm goes off, which makes me curse the author (in the best way possible for ensnaring me so completely into the story and the characters) and I spend the next day not as coherent as is normal for me. I hope to someday be one of those authors who creates such an engaging world that readers simply must keep going.

As the Baudelaires discuss their situation with the Quagmire Triplets, Violet mentions a great inventor named Nikola Tesla and Duncan mentioned a great journalist named Dorothy Parker and I thought both of those references were absolutely spectacular. I enjoyed the Quagmire Triplets and I have no desire to give any spoilers away about this book for those who may not have read it. I liked the interactions between Violet, Klaus, Sunny, Duncan, and Isadora because it was refreshing to see that even in a place you don’t belong, you can find others who will help you dream and make your life better. The Quagmire Triplets changed the lives of the Baudelaires and that was a very good thing.

Another section that I found particularly amusing happened on page 200-201 where they are discussing how “there’s nothing wrong with athletics, but they shouldn’t get in the way of your schoolwork” and I just laughed because these books are the exact opposite opinion of so many athletic people from my youth.

Overall, I’d probably rate this book as a solid three on my rating scale because I really like the writing style, the characters are unique, and the message is mostly a positive one (for all that the book is not a happy story). I’m glad that I own this book and will continue with the rest of the books in the series.

Works cited: Snicket, Lemony. A Series of Unfortunate Events: the Austere Academy. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2000.

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged A Series of Unfortunate Events, A Series of Unfortunate Events: the Austere Academy, Book Review, Lemony Snicket | Leave a comment