50th Anniversary of “Help!”

So I think July 29th was the 50^th anniversary of the Beatles’ film “Help!” and the album of the same name.

I took this opportunity to rewatch that movie, and my opinion is pretty much the same. It’s literally just the Beatles running around high for 90 minutes.

There are some amusing scenes, such as everyone singing Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony and John pulling out his harmonica for the occasion, and that mishap where Paul shrinks and hides in an ashtray. Yeah, you read that right.

The plot is that a fan has mailed Ringo this ring that marks the human sacrifice for a fictional religion. Ringo now can’t get it off his finger and the religious people are following the Beatles around trying to paint Ringo red and sacrifice him. I have no idea who thought that was a decent plot.

The place where this falls apart is having the plot at all really. “A Hard Day’s Night” works pretty well since it’s literally the Beatles being the Beatles, here they put the focus on some ring and it just gets weird.

I have always found it interesting that most Beatles biopics and documentaries and whatever focus mostly on John (usually to the detriment of Paul particularly, but all of them in general are usually overlooked) but most films made with the Beatles in them tend to focus on Ringo. It’s cute.

Of course, if you are a Beatles fan then I highly recommend watching it since it is THE BEATLES running around high and that’s not to be missed, but just be aware of what you’re getting yourself into here.

The album on the other hand is a very good one. Most of the songs are originals, (the only covers being “Act Naturally” and “Dizzy Miss Lizzie”). It’s also the album that “Yesterday” and “Ticket to Ride” appear in. Not all of the songs are in the film, “I’ve Just Seen a Face” is one of my favorites but is sadly usually overlooked.

So go buy the album, find some method of watching the movie, but make sure you bring some Beatlemania back into your life!

“Nice Dragons Finish Last” by Rachel Aaron

I had this book recommended to me by a friend, and I wasn’t totally sure what to expect (not going to lie, I was in it for the dragons). The cover art’s nice, but it also has a YA vibe to it as well. Having said that, this was a great read and definitely one that I would recommend.

That was also the biggest thing that bothered me about the book. I couldn’t tell what the intended audience for the book was. It’s written with a style for YA readers, but the main character is 24 years old, and there are some adult elements and language in there. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it was a little strange to be reading this and not know where to place it.

As far as problems with books go though, that’s really not that big of a deal. The merits of this story outweigh the style issues (which you get used to as you go along).

The story combines elements of sci-fi with fantasy. The main character is a dragon, of course, and his best friend is a mage. But they’re also roaming around a city built over Detroit that was built when a meteor crashed into the earth in 2035 releasing magic back into the world. It’s a cool mix, works well for the story and gives it a modern feel.

There’s several references to other works in similar genres. Julius, the protagonist, describes a wardrobe as though it could lead to Narnia, and Bob quotes Star Wars at one point. There’s also the Lady of the Lakes, who rules Detroit, who reminds me of the Lady of the Lake who gave King Arthur a sword at one point, but that just might be me.

The nicest part of the book is the trope reversal that goes on. The two main characters are Julius and Marci, a dragon and a mage respectively. But their personalities are completely different from what you would expect. Julius never wants to get into a fight unless he absolutely has to, while Marci is the one eager to go in with guns blazing and take out someone. This is further extended by the fact that dragons are supposed to be manipulative and violent, which Julius is decidedly not. He grows into this throughout the course of the story, and it’s really well done overall.

The other characters are also quirky and amusing (think Rick Riordan-esque) and keep you interested in the magic going on within the pages.

Overall, it was a very nice read, and a good break from more serious novels that I’ve been reading. The best news is that the sequel “One Good Dragon Deserves Another” is coming out in August! So there’s that to look forward to!

Get Thee to a Watchman, or “Go Set a Watchman” by Harper Lee

This is probably the book that everyone’s heard the most about for the past year, since it is by the author who also wrote “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Interestingly enough, she wrote this one first, but was then persuaded by her publisher to write about Scout’s childhood instead. Which makes sense since the events of “To Kill a Mockingbird” lead undeniably to “Go Set a Watchman”.

I’m going to start by covering all of the hype and its effect on my reading experience, since there has been so darn much of it. Skip about halfway down if all you want is the book itself.

Funnily enough, it doesn’t feel like this book was written first to me. I felt like this was an author revisiting characters years later, since there’s so many flashbacks to Scout’s childhood and so many characters who get cameos simply because they were in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. And I don’t really love stuff like that since it makes it more dependent on the previous novel instead of standing firmly on its own.

So yeah, as a result you should really read “To Kill a Mockingbird” before “Go Set a Watchman” or you will be very confused indeed.

That aside, probably the other main thing most people heard about it is that Atticus is not as pure as he seems in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Which leaves people disappointed. But if that’s the general reaction to that information, then I would say that the book is a success. All of the fans of “To Kill a Mockingbird” are essentially Scout, as in they are young and have unlimited faith in Atticus to always do the right thing. And over the course of the novel that illusion falls apart piece by piece, until you realize that he is only a man.

So, of course, it’s a classic coming-of-age story. You realize that your gods are really only men.

The unique thing about this novel is that the generation reading it today read “To Kill a Mockingbird” probably in middle school, and now they’re grown up and in college. In which case, they are almost exactly in the same situation as Scout, which is pretty cool.

To get on to the novel as a whole, (spoiler alert yo) it starts with Scout (or Jean Louise as she goes by now, but I’m going to call her Scout because I can) returning to Maycomb for two weeks from her home in New York. Several changes have taken place since we last saw her, first of all, Jem has been dead for about 6 months. I was pretty upset about this, but it does clear the stage for just Scout and Atticus to have it out. Scout is also now dating Henry, who surprisingly enough is not from “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Oh and the old home has now become an ice cream place. Breaking with the past does not come subtly.

The main discussion of the novel is when Scout catches both Henry and Atticus in a citizens’ council meeting listening to some old racist spewing stuff about keeping segregation alive. Scout is disgusted to find them in such company and leaves and boots up her breakfast.

What is essentially going on here is later explained by her uncle (a recurring character from “To Kill a Mockingbird” and full of literary references if you like that sort of thing (I do)). (Spoiler alert fo realz now) Scout has essentially welded her conscience to that of her father. She expected him to always do the right thing and all that stuff I’ve mentioned above. So the revelation that he’s sitting around with racists tears her apart. In the end though, she manages to stand up for what she believes and in doing so creates her own identity and her own person.

Naturally, a recurring image is he watchman himself. He’s first mentioned in church where the preacher says that everyone needs to set a watchman to make sure that they are doing the right thing. Scout imagines setting a watchman on the whole town since she feels so alienated now. Then Dr. Finch uses it again when he’s explaining Atticus to Scout. It’s a pretty clear symbol, not much to do about that.

I threw this in earlier, but there are a whole bunch of literary references in the book. Scout expects Atticus to turn into Dorian Grey at one point (from “The Picture of Dorian Grey” where Dorian has a picture of himself as a young and fabulous young man and then tries to destroy is when it’s no longer true to him but the servants find the painting intact and Dorian old and dead) since her image of him has broken from the reality that she sees. Dr. Finch also throws in a ton of references to literature and to history, no real point in pulling them apart here, just have fun with those on your own.

Yeah it’s a decent book. There isn’t much to it though, all the symbols are pretty clear (even to the characters themselves) and there is much less action than the legal drama of “To Kill a Mockingbird”. If you’re a fan of “To Kill a Mockingbird” then go nuts, but otherwise ehh. All the hype is really just riding on the tail of “To Kill a Mockingbird” anyways.

Why Am I Obsessed with the Beatles?

I have claimed the Beatles as my favorite band since I was about 6. And I’ve maintained that obsession throughout my life. Which always struck me as a little odd, although I’ve had no desire to change that. I mean, here’s a bunch of guys, half of whom died before I was born, that were active during my grandmother’s generation and now they’re my favorite. What up with that?

On introspection, there’s two responses to this question. The first is that they have been an active presence throughout my life. The first album I ever had and listened to repeatedly was the Beatles “1” album. And over time I’ve discovered the others, but gradually so I continually had stuff to listen to that never got old (also horribly out of chronological order). And the second response is that they were such a dynamic and changing group during the brief time that they were together (almost a decade, and they went from “Please Please Me” to “Abbey Road”).

And their interests overlapped with several of mine as well. John was into Christianity at one point, I was too (at one point). Then I swapped for Eastern religions and Buddhism, George got very into that. I also wanted to become a hippie when I was too young to actually understand what that meant (A+ for effort though), hello John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band.

The music too is also incredibly diverse. They played everything from avant garde to sappy love songs, and went from recording an album in a day to taking several months to churn out “Sgt. Pepper’s”. Not many other musical groups can say that. And as a result you don’t need to be in a specific mood to listen to the Beatles, if you want something to dance to, pick up an early album. If you want more introspection, try a later one. The best part is that not all of them are love songs, they were singing about paperback writers and yellow submarines fairly early on. There’s literally something for everyone.

Regardless of the fact that I still think this obsession is a little strange, it’s one that aligns with my life and has made me who I am today. It’s a part of me that connects with the past, and I'm not giving that up.

“Legend of Korra” is Basically the 1920s

Honestly, past the train wreck that was Book 1, “Legend of Korra” is a really good show! It needed more cameos from the original Avatar gang (like Sokka and Suki) but other than that it’s really good. I’m not sure how well it would do standing on its own, but with “Avatar: the Last Airbender” it’s very enjoyable to watch.

What I found most amusing about it was that they basically set it in the 1920s. First of all, awesome swing music is usually being played in the background. Their society has also gotten much more industrial, with factories, cars, planes, radio, among others. Cars in particular are often featured, showing also that modern city life has started up in Republic City. This means basically that there’s still a lot of poverty, but a middle class is emerging (shown by the shopkeepers). Then there’s also the fact that celebrities are emerging as well. This can be shown by the probenders or even the “mover” stars that Bolin becomes a part of. Speaking of, “movers” or movies are also happening in-universe. And of course, the city people are starting to dress in a similar way to people in the 1920s, and it’s not just because there are new animators.

During the 1920s, industry was booming. This was during the Coolidge days where “the business of America is business” became a thing. Transportation became much easier, allowing people to move around in search of jobs or whatever. There were a lot of people who were exploited in factories and such, but it was also possible to reach a middle class status. More people began moving to cities to try and achieve this, resulting in different cultures coming into contact with each other.

Using the Avatar universe to show this time period is an interesting concept, and one that I really like (speaking aesthetically, they don’t really show any political or historical connections to this time period). And utilizing these concepts to show where their society is and where it’s going is interesting too, because it shows how much it has changed between the two tv shows. I’m a fan.