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My review of American Girl's new book, "Is This Normal?" by Erin Falligant was published in today's edition of The Birmingham News.
"Girls have a million questions about puberty, many of which are too embarrassing to ask. It isn't easy to think about breasts and bras, especially when your body is growing in ways you never thought possible."Is This Normal?," edited by Erin Falligant, teaches girls how to care for their changing physiques."
Tearing Down the Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector
by Mick Brown
Alfred A. Knopf, 2007, 464 pages. 2007.
For those of us born several decades later, Phil Spector might be a has-been and a "who again?" wrapped in an enigma. But anybody familiar with music from the '50s and '60s will tell you that Spector created a new technique of record production called "The Wall of Sound." It's lush sound was created through using layers of instrumentals in such a way that listeners would get happily lost in the music. Think of "Good Vibrations" sung by the Beach Boys or "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" from the Righteous Brothers. Both were produced by Spector using his Wall of Sound techniques.
Spector's version of that Righteous Brothers hit was declared the "most played song of the 20th Century" by BMI, Inc. It's hard to reconcile the 20th Century Phil Spector with the 21st version. It's not the same man. Or is it?
It's a question that Mick Brown considers in his book, "Tearing Down the Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector."
A view of a Wolf Spider hanging out on our bathroom window in Alabama. I estimated that it was about one to one and a half inches long.
Oh, and it was on the *outside* part of the window.
The Day We Lost the H-Bomb: Cold War, Hot Nukes, and the Worst Nuclear Weapons Disaster in History by Barbara Moran
Ballantine Books, 336 pages, $26.00. Release date: April 28, 2009
On January 17, 1966, an American B-52 bomber carrying four unarmed thermonuclear weapons exploded during an airborne refueling operation. Three bombs landed in Palomares, a farming village on the southern tip of Spain, but where was the fourth? Barbara Moran's new book, "The Day We Lost the H-Bomb: Cold War, Hot Nukes, and the Worst Nuclear Weapons Disaster in History" deftly describes a military operation fraught with terrifying consequences.
Out of the three top-secret H-Bombs that fell on land, only one was found in relatively good condition. The two others had cratered the earth, spreading pieces of the weapon along with contamination for hundreds of yards. "The SAC's final report of the accident said that most of the weapon was so mangled 'that you couldn't tell what is was or where it came from.'"
Authorities expected fury from the Spanish villagers. Instead, they were greeted with concern. Men from the village helped recovery body parts from the seven airmen who died in the explosion. Others, like Pepe Lopez, found one of the bombs near a small brush fire and stomped it out with his foot. Francisco Simo Orts, a fisherman, witnessed the explosion and tried to help the military recover the fourth bomb.
The Spanish government, under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, worked with the U.S. military to cover-up the incident. They never wanted to see the word "nuclear" in connection with the accident, lest it call into question why Americans were flying over Spanish airspace in planes loaded with nukes. As Moran explains, the Strategic Air Command performed flyovers to deter a sneak attack by the Soviets. Both the military and the public agreed that peaceful coexistence with the Communists could only be achieved through strength.
The international press, however, knew a cover-up when they saw it. News leaked out about the flyovers, a missing bomb and men in radiation suits testing the soil. The military continued plodding along, despite the attention. Engineers tried to calculate the location of the device by running formulas through an IBM 7090 computer.
Continue reading "Book Review: The Day We Lost the H-Bomb by Barbara Moran" »
I'm with my Mother this week in Myrtle Beach. We're on the other side of town, but it was hard to avoid the plumes of smoke coming from North Myrtle Beach. I took some pictures, but stayed far away from the area that's burning.
In Part Two, Len Kody discusses his work is Chicago: 1968, a weekly webcomic featured at Image/Shadowline. Jenny Frison andKurt Hathaway are also working with him on the project.
In Part One of my interview, Len talks about the art of comics, collaboration and Chicago: 1968. In Part Two, Len gave background on Chicago: 1968.
How did you Father react to your Grandfather's experiences?
That's a tough call. My dad is more conservative than me. But then, almost everyone to the right of Dennis Kucinich is more conservative than me. He voted for Bush twice, then voted for Obama in '08. And I'm certain he's got a few Clinton and Reagan votes in his closet, too.
My dad was no hippie. Being the son of Chicago cop, he couldn't grow his hair any longer than a crew cut during his teenage years in the mid to late 60's, when long beards and flowing manes of seldom washed hair were all the rage in the counterculture. Today, he has a mustache, if that just doesn't say it all. But in '68 I hear he drove a yellow VW Beetle for a while, with a McCarthy flower stuck on the back. Groovy. Sounds like something I would have done.
Continue reading "More with Comic Writer Len Kody and Chicago: 1968" »
In Part Two, Len Kody discusses his work is Chicago: 1968, a weekly webcomic featured at Image/Shadowline. Jenny Frison andKurt Hathaway are also working with him on the project.
In Part One of my interview, Len talks about the art of comics, collaboration and Chicago: 1968
Your Grandfather's experience at the '68 convention puts you in a unique position. How did that influence your decision to write this project? Did your Grandfather ever talk to you about his memories and feelings about the riots?
My Grandfather was a storyteller. That's for sure. So my first exposure to the '68 convention was through his stories.
My Grandfather's views on the entire peace movement of the 60's was tainted by his encounters with the protesters in '68. Part of the Yippie code was to "freak out the squares" and to "shock the bourgeoisie." Shock them they did. My Grandfather, a man of simple, down-to-earth Midwestern values and a member of what Tom Brokaw called "the Greatest Generation," who were reared during the Great Depression and came of age in the thick of World War II, was deeply offended by the peace movement.
He passed in 2004. Our last spirited discussions were about the Iraq War, which was just beginning in those days. And that's when I first started typing the early drafts of what would eventually become "Chicago:1968." At first I tried telling the story solely from the policemen's point-of-view. But it slowly grew as I found it necessary to incorporate other perspectives into the narrative.
Continue reading "Comic writer Len Kody on his latest project, 'Chicago: 1968'" »
Comic writer Len Kody creates content for movies, comic books, video games and other media. He created the Cisco Kid: Gunfire & Brimstone miniseries, published by Moonstone Books and Cisco Kid vs. Wyatt Earp.
His latest work is Chicago: 1968, a weekly webcomic featured at Image/Shadowline. Jenny Frison and Kurt Hathaway are also working with him on the project.
In part tne of my interview, Len talks about the art of comics, collaboration and Chicago: 1968.
What attracted you to comics? How did you decide that this is what you wanted to do with your life?
That's a really hard question to answer. It's like trying to explain why I'm straight.
I believe that comics are linked to humankind's earliest forms of writing - cave paintings and hieroglyphics - in which visual symbols represented ideas. The roman alphabet that most of the western world uses today represents sounds, which represent words, which represent ideas, so there's a greater distance between signifier and signified than there were in those ancient pictograms; we've sacrificed a purer, more visceral mode of written communication for the ease and precision of the standardized alphabet.
So, I think that everyone has an intrinsic attraction to comics, or to visual communication at the very least. Certainly our culture has become more visual as the Internet has brought the means of producing and transmitting images to the masses. Even before the age of the personal computer, the 1960's saw the proliferation of color television, which correlated with a change in the consciousness of those who grew up during that time - the "Baby Boomer" generation. I don't suppose it's any coincidence that it was also during the 1960's when famous comics writer Stan Lee joined artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko to create the Marvel Universe of characters that spawned the summer blockbusters that've dominated the box office this entire decade. At the same time, the 60's were the golden age of the underground comix movement when iconoclast cartoonists like R.Crumb and Spain Rodriguez were busily and brilliantly subverting every shred of American culture they could get their hands on.
Of course, I wasn't aware of any of this in the late summer of 1989. I was 8 years-old and my mom had just bought me a copy of Marvel Tales #227 from the spinner rack at the local 7-Eleven - "When Iceman Attacks!" As soon as my eyes hit those multi-colored, paneled pages, I decided, at that moment, that I wanted to be Spider-Man.
A little later I set more realistic goals and decided that I wanted to spend my life making comics.
It is widely assumed that people who create comics are also artists. I see that you work alongside artists when creating different projects. What is that process like?
Writer-artist teams are actually pretty common in comics. And almost all comics - regardless of whether they are created by a solo cartoonist, or by a small staff of editors, writers, pencilers, inkers, colorists and letterers - begin as a script. As a comics writer, it's my job to write the comics script.
Comics scripts read a lot like hyper-detailed screenplays. They are written in the present tense and they describe in very visual language everything an artist would need to know in order to draw the comic correctly, including descriptions of characters, settings, camera angles and action. The action in comics is divided into pages, and those pages are further subdivided into panels. So a comics script is basically a panel-by-panel description of the entire comic book.
And the dialogue, too. I also write the dialogue.
There's a certain magic to collaborating with an artist. The first couple scripts are pretty verbose. But once there's a trust and a unity of vision achieved, the cues are understood, and we start playing jazz and riffing off each other. Collaboration is an alchemy where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I'm very pleased with the rhythm my "Chicago:1968" artist - Jenny Frison - and I have fallen into.
How do you select the artists you work with?
I've done work-for-hire gigs where the publisher plays matchmaker between the writer and artist. Otherwise, creative teams are put together like garage bands. You post some ads, you mingle in the community, then two or more people agree to some terms, pool their skills, and start rockin' out.
Jenny Frison originally responded to an ad I posted looking for a colorist. But I really liked the pencil and ink line work she has up on her website. So I asked her if she wanted to work on this "Chicago:1968" webcomic with me. I'm glad she agreed.
Tell us about your "Chicago 1968" webcomic.
"Chicago:1968" is a weekly webcomic that dramatically presents the historical events of 1968 in Chicago. It's a web-based "docu-graphic novel," to borrow a description from your own "Project 1968," Laura. It's a tragedy in the classic sense.
It begins in January, '68, with the birth of Yippie! and the Tet Offensive. Jenny and I are currently approaching the halfway point, with the assassination of Martin Luther King in April, and Bobby Kennedy in June. Things culminate at the Democratic National Convention and the theater/violence in the streets of Chicago.
The plot follows four different sets of characters, most of whom are real people, each with a unique perspective and experience in Chicago in 1968. What I think I do differently than most who've approached the topic before is that I do my best to fairly represent all the sides of this political drama. In addition to following the exploits of Abbie Hoffman and his Yippies, or the earnest, young intellectuals of the Students for a Democratic Society and the Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam, I also try to reach beyond the heretofore cardboard cutouts that've passed as characterization for the blue collar, working class Chicago Police, and Chicago's most iconic mayor, Hizzoner Richard J. Daley.
The tension that exists at the heart of the story is the tension that exists within my own soul. I grew up in ethnic enclaves and savory neighborhoods of Chicago's bungalow belt. And my grandfather and namesake, Capt. Leonard Kody of the Chicago Police, was actually on duty during the '68 DNC, standing in front of the Conrad Hilton Hotel when the shit hit the fan on national TV. My own politics, however, lean pretty far left. I opposed the invasion of Iraq just as much as I would have likely opposed the Vietnam War 40+ years ago. With the additional benefit of being a generation or two removed from the bitter divisions of that time (I was born near the end of 1980), I think I'm in a unique position to judge the virtues and the vices of both the protesters and the police.
My aim is not to lionize the New Left, who, while on the side of righteousness, only succeeded in alienating constituencies, rather than building them, which may or may not have been directly responsible for electing Richard Nixon. And, let's face it, a lot of them came to Chicago looking for a fight. Nor is it my aim to apologize for Daley and his police. History has judged them correctly; the violence of Convention Week has been described as a "police riot," and that just about sums it up. But I think most rational people of any political stripe would agree with my contention that the Chicago Police are decent, hard working, family men who only wanted what's best for their city and their country. They are the working class with nothing to gain and everything to lose from an ill-conceived Southeast Asian campaign against communism. And most of them were New Deal Democrats who, up until 1968, voted for the Donkey in every election of their lives. So I think it's worthwhile exploring their often overlooked narrative, as well.
Because "Chicago:1968" is not propaganda. It's a quest for truth. And the truth, as they say, lies somewhere in between.
Tomorrow: Part Two of my interview with Len Kody
The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement by Jean M. Twenge, PhD. and W. Keith Campbell, PhD.
Free Press, 352 pages, $26.00. Scheduled to be released April 21, 2009.
"Every culture is shaped by its fundamental core beliefs, and in America today, there are few values more fiercely held than the importance of self-admiration," write Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell in their new book, "The Narcissism Epidemic." The authors provide a solid case that American culture is driven not only by greed, but primarily by love of self.
Television celebrates the bratty reality TV star. Plastic surgery has descended from the upper class to the average teenager, who wants to look like Hollywood stars. Pop singers brag about their awesomeness in songs. Telling people how hot you are is a cottage industry - just ask Paris Hilton.
Narcissism allows Americans a sense of entitlement. In school, a 4.0 average isn't the same as in years past. Grade inflation now ensures that many students will not have their self-esteem damaged by their laziness. Helicopter parents ensure that their children will not suffer the effects of their irresponsibility. True accomplishment is devalued.
Narcissism also gives us a culture of meanness. "Even apart from the search for fame, narcissism is a significant risk factor for aggression and violent behavior ... However, narcissists are aggressive exactly because they love themselves so much and believe that their needs take precedence." The authors believe that the rise in school shootings is directly linked to the upswing in cultural and individual narcissism. If children rule over their parents in the home they must also have all of their demands met in other facets of society.
On the Internet, tirades against those who dare to disagree are commonplace. "There is a stubborn insistence that 'my opinion matters,' yet, at the same time, the stubborn insistence that other people's opinions are wrong or irrelevant." Anonymity allows narcissists to say what is truly on their minds, and what most readers will find is this: They believe you suck.
Americans have been under the mistaken belief that bullying is caused by people with low self-esteem. The authors provide ample evidence to the contrary; bullying is caused by people who honestly believe they are entitled and you are not. Narcissists already believe they are special, they don't need to be told. They deserve to have their "self-expressions" treasured because they wrote/composed/acted it.
Self-esteem has become the cure-all for everything that ails humanity. But not everyone suffers from low self-esteem. Telling children that they are special over and over again reinforces how different they are. The authors believe that differences are what drive people away from each other. Emphasizing similarities fosters empathy and compassion.
This is an important book, one that will change the way your perceive your country and your culture. One has to admire the authors, who are certain to face a terrible backlash from a culture that refuses to engage in introspection. People who haven't accomplished anything special don't deserve applause, but Twenge and Campbell deserve an ovation for giving Americans a wake-up call.
My review of Jodi Picoult's new novel, "Handle With Care" is today's edition of The Birmingham News.
"Months before their daughter is born, Charlotte and Sean O’Keefe learn that she suffers from a genetic disorder called osteogenesis imperfecta. Because of a collagen deficiency, Willow will fracture hundreds of bones in her lifetime.
Jodi Picoult’s new novel, “Handle With Care,” vividly depicts a family emotionally and financially challenged by the daughter’s disease. "
The story worked for me, up until the very end. Read about it in my review.
Washington Post's Metro Columnist John Kelly wrote a column protesting the end of the date-due stamp at his local library.
It's a funny article, but I had to keep double-checking the date on it. 2009, right? Because I honestly thought that the library date stamp had been retired a long time ago.
But evidently not... At least not in Montgomery County, Maryland. Again, I had to check the map. Montgomery County is in Maryland, right? It's not in a weird place, like Mississippi?
Upon further investigation, I discovered that the due date stamp was alive in well in all the wrong places. Only recently has the Milwaukee Public Library stopped using it.
The University of Washington ceased stamping in 2007.
The Bucks County library quit using date stamps a year ago, much to everyone's dismay.
A call to the Birmingham Public Library revealed that they stopped using it "seven or eight years ago," according to one librarian I spoke with.
I'm not sure what to make of all this, except that I'm pleased that for once, Alabama is not on the bottom of a list.
My review of Match Day: One Day and One Dramatic Year in the Lives of Three New Doctors by Brian Eule was published in today's Birmingham News.
An excerpt: "After four long years of studying medicine, new doctors enter residency programs to train under the watchful eyes of experienced colleagues. Pairing new physicians with these programs is a complicated process in which neither the students nor the hospitals have ultimate control.
Brian Eule's new book, "Match Day: One Day and One Dramatic Year in the Lives of Three New Doctors," is a dynamic look at three female physicians beginning their careers."
