Review of Fool by Christopher Moore

It's Monty Python meets William Shakespeare in Fool, a novel by Christopher Moore (Harper Collins 2009).  Moore retells the story of Shakespeare's King Lear from the perspective of Lear's court Fool, Pocket.  In doing so, Moore takes certain liberties with the plot, making the erstwhile insignificant Fool into a scheming behind-the-scenes political conspiratorial starter of wars and maker of kings.

The narrative style chosen by the American-born Moore is filled with amusing pseudo-British slang and spoof in addition to over-the-top lewdness bordering on outright pornography.  Shakespeare would have had a good laugh, though, I am sure--he was equally bawdy if much more subtle and witty.  Moore also mixes in some hilarious anachronisms and parts of the plots of other Shakespeare plays.

If you chose to read Fool, do not skip the informative Author's Note at the end entitled "You Cheeky Git."  There is some fascinating reading there about the history of King "Leir" (as the name was historically spelled) and the anachronisms to be found in the Shakespeare version of the story.  The Note also may make some readers feel better about the happy (well, happier) ending of the Moore version, as apparently there are other extant versions of the Lear/Leir story that share that particular plot point.

Review of The Tempest by William Shakespeare

I recently had the displeasure of reading a previously undiscovered (for me) Shakespeare play that was, to be charitable, subpar for the Bard (The Winter’s Tale, see my review http://stevesofgrass.blogspot.com/2016/03/review-of-winters-tale-by-william.html).  So, it was with a healthy bit of skepticism that I picked up yet another previously undiscovered (again, for me) Shakespeare play, The Tempest.  My edition was published by the Folger Shakespeare Library, edited by Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine.

While not a complete stinker like The Winter’s Tale, I still found The Tempest disappointing--certainly not Shakespeare’s best effort.  The main character, the betrayed and exiled Duke cum sorcerer Prospero, is the main source of this disappointment (all plays-on-words intended).  Shakespeare could not seem to make up his mind about Prospero’s motivation or basic character, and the play really does suffer as a result.

Prospero does not hesitate to use his own beloved daughter to the furtherance of his vengeance, even though it causes her psychological torment--this does not do much to make him loveable.  Using his magical powers, he enslaves an innocent island native, Caliban (an anagram cannibal--well, almost), as well as an innocent spirit and makes them do his bidding--the former hard labor, the latter paranormal pranks against his enemies.  This makes him unlikeable, even despicable, despite any sympathy for his unjust betrayal and banishment.

There might have been a chance for Prospero to become a sympathetic anti-hero or even a likeable villain, but then, bafflingly, Shakespeare has Prospero abandon all of his revenge schemes, forgive his betrayers, allow plotting assassins to go unpunished, and tops this off by having him marry his daughter literally to the first man she meets.  Pick a side, Shakespeare! 

Anyway, if you have a chance to see this one, it might not be worth your time.  I’m not sure it would have been worth my time to read it, but for my son having to read it for a college lit course.

Review of Melting the Ice King by Gerard Sarnat

I published a review of Melting the Ice King by Gerard Sarnat in Songs of Eretz Poetry Review today http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-editors-review-of-melting-ice-king.html.  I enjoy reading and reviewing modern poetry collections.  All I ask for is an autographed copy of the collection.  I do not promise a favorable review, but do not publish unfavorable ones.

Review of The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare

Until now, I had never before read The Winter's Tale or seen it enacted.  As a lover of Shakespeare, picking up The Winter's Tale was like discovering a previously unpublished book by a favorite author.  How thrilled I was as I glossed over the introduction in my Folger Shakespeare Library edition and plunged into the play!  In my gloss over of the intro, I learned that the story is an adaptation for the stage of a novel, Pandosto the Triumph of Time by Robert Greene (1592).  What an honor for Mr. Greene, thought I.

(I would say "spoiler alert" at this point were not The Winter's Tale already spoiled to begin with.  After reading this review, I doubt anyone will want to waste his time reading the play.  However, if you must, as my son had to do for an English lit class, you may want to stop reading here).

The play begins with King Leontes of Sicilia confiding in his servant Camillo that he suspects that his best friend King Polixenes of Bohemia has impregnated Leontes' wife, Queen Hermione.  I greedily turned the page in anticipation of the beginning of an interesting investigation ala Hamlet.

Alas, there was to be no investigation, no communion with ghosts, no play-within-play.  No.  Instead, Leontes orders Camillo to poison Polixenes.  Camillo informs Polixenes and escapes to Bohemia with him.  Leontes sees this as further proof of Hermione's guilt and imprisons her.  In a nod to the gods, he orders two servants to travel to Delphi to consult the oracle.  This painfully predictable, boring, and spoon-fed plot takes two entire snooze-festival acts!

In Act III, Leontes ignores the oracle that exonerates Hermione.  Predictably, Hermione dies in childbirth and, learning of this, Leontes' son dies of grief.  The baby, a girl, is declared a bastard by Leontes and sent to Bohemia to be abandoned in the wilds.  Predictably, the girl, Perdita (lost one) is found by shepherds and saved.

In Act IV, Father Time introduces a sixteen-year time skip and reminds the reader that King Polixenes has a son, as though a reminder were needed.  Guess who falls in love with whom and must run away to Sicilia?  Ho hum.

Having put up with all this disappointment, I was at least somewhat looking forward to the inevitable resolution in Act V.  The prodigal daughter returns!  The prodigal best friend returns!  What a scene this will make!  Nope!  The whole reunion--the best part of the plot--takes place off stage and is related to the hapless reader second hand through the conversation of three unnamed court gentlemen.

Then, in a final barf, Perdita et al go to the garden to pay homage to her wronged and deceased mother.  There, a just completed statue of Hermione awaits.  Much is made of the skill of the sculptor, how life-life the statue is, how the artist made the statue appear sixteen years older than the subject was at her untimely death.  Cheesily (and creepily), the statue comes to life to make the ending extra happy and extra sappy.

Predicable, boring, hackneyed, melodramatic, and poorly scripted, The Winter's Tale will be a big disappointment to anyone familiar with Shakespeare's more well-known works.  And heaven preserve the unfortunate reader for whom the Tale serves as an introduction to the otherwise great Bard.

Review of Superfood Swap by Dawn Jackson Blatner

One of my favorite things to do is to snuggle up on the couch with my wife and/or children and/or dog and munch away on a heaping bowl of high-fat snacks while watching a weight loss reality program on television.  The irony is just too delicious.

Recently, in the aforesaid manner, I watched My Diet Is Better Than Yours on ABC.  The winner, a plucky young lady with about 100 pounds to lose, followed the Superfood Swap diet.  The diet really sang to me.  So, when my wife ordered the complete starter kit, Superfood Swap by Dawn Jackson Blatner, RDN, I decided to read it.  It is more of a magazine than a book and about fifty pages in length.

Blatner boils down (pun intended) her weight loss program into three steps, which one is required to go through before preparing every meal.  

Step one is to ask oneself, "What do I need?"  Last night, the answer was, "I need a cheesy pizza."

Step two is "balance."  One tries to envision the coming meal as made up of 50% vegetables with a little healthy fat or dressing, 25% protein, and 25% whole grain/high fiber carbohydrates.  One must also remember portion sizes.  I envisioned a small cheesy pizza with no meat toppings.

Step three is the "swap."  Blatner stresses avoiding C.R.A.P., which I prefer to think of as P.A.R.C.:  preservatives, additives, refined sugar and starch, and chemicals.  I envisioned a bunch of little "pizzas" that I would create using high fiber English muffins for the crust; a chunky, low-fat tomato sauce kicked up with some dried oregano and drizzle of olive oil; and two or three low-fat mozzarella balls per crust.

I ate five of my little "pizzas" and did not gain weight!  On days that I make better swaps, I have lost weight--ten pounds in my first two weeks so far!  Another twenty-five pounds of loss will cut my risk for diabetes in half.  Take that, diabetes!

One fascinating aspect of Blatner's advice is that she admits that exercise plays just about no role at all in weight loss.  She cites "tough love" statistics that show that thirty minutes of exercise six times a week--about two to two and half more hours of exercise than I usually do--is good for disease prevention only.  Exercise "only" that much, and you will continue to gain weight.  That is depressing!  Double that amount of exercise to maintain a weight loss, and triple--yes, triple--that amount of exercise to get a slight "weight loss boost."

It is too early for me to recommend Superfood Swap definitively, but I appear to be disappearing at a good pace so far.  One word of caution--the book is ridiculously overpriced at $69.00 (my wife wisely did not tell me the price beforehand or you would not be reading this review).  The book may be purchased at www.DawnJacksonBlatner.com.  However, I would advise waiting until the price goes down before doing so.

Review of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Far be it from me to pretend to be able to add much significant to the volumes of commentary on the greatest love story of all time, for such is William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.  I had the occasion to re-read it for perhaps the fifth time in my life, as my daughter is currently reading it for her ninth grade English class, and, though I remember the tale vividly and can still quote passages of it by heart, I wanted to have the full story fresh in my mind in case she may need my help in understanding it.

In addition to my several readings, I have seen the play enacted numerous times on stage and on film. In this most recent reading, I noticed the side characters much more, and found their contribution to the play most diverting.  The opening of the play is a good example.  First, the chorus gives away the entire plot in an introductory Shakespearean sonnet.  Spoiler alert!  Then two minor characters, Samson and Gregory of the House of Capulet, enter the stage and engage in some witty and bawdy banter--a welcome distraction from the depressing prologue.  The sword fight that ensues with the arrival of Abraham and another unnamed servant of the House of Montague distracts to the point of causing the audience (or reader) to almost forget what is foretold in the prologue.

Another interesting plot point that I noticed for the first time is that Romeo is a bit of a hound dog!  Act I finds the soon-to-be-star-crossed lover moping about and pining for want of the love of one Rosaline!  Ironically, it was to purge his mind of thoughts of his unrequited love for Rosaline that Romeo reluctantly consents to crash the Capulets' masquerade ball where he falls in love at first sight with Juliet.  More interesting, the rash and ill-fated Tybalt quickly discovers Romeo hitting on his cousin Juliet and reports this intelligence to Lord Capulet.  Bafflingly, Capulet stays Tybalt from ejecting the interloper, remarking that he has heard that Romeo is a good boy with a good reputation, and allows the son of his mortal enemy to remain!

These new (to me) insights and observations notwithstanding, it is the power of the play that never ceases to amaze me.  Even though I know how it is going to end, even though the ending is indeed known right from the get go thanks to the chorus in the prologue, I still find myself hoping against hope that Friar Laurence's clever scheme will succeed just this once!

Steve Begins "Everyday Yoga" by Sage Rountree

In a departure from the norm, which is to say, a departure from waiting until I have completed reading a book or collection before announcing that I have done so or reviewing it, I am announcing that I have begun reading Everyday Yoga by Sage Rountree.  The book was published last year (it seems so weird to refer to 2015 as "last year") by velopress, Boulder, Colorado.  The pages are sturdy--almost like heavy construction paper--and the book is spiral bound, allowing for it to lie flat and stay opened, handy when one needs to refer to an illustration or description when learning a new pose.

The book is organized in four parts.  Part one, "Getting Started," is an prelude of about twenty pages which introduces the reader to broad yoga concepts such as balance, breathing, and the 6-4-2 principle. It also emphasizes how, unlike other exercise methods or sports, yoga should NEVER cause pain--in fact, performed properly, it prevents it.  I finished reading part one today.

Part two, "Find a Routine," introduces various yoga poses.  An analogy to cooking is made, in that individual poses may be made "spicier" or more physically challenging, "sweeter" or more relaxing and restorative, or may have added "seasoning" to introduce a neutral variation.  I learned the first four introductory poses today.  Pictured is a shot of me in "Standing Cat," or, in my case, "standing fat" pose.

Part three, "Practice," is devoted to linking poses learned in part two to form various routines.  Routines may be long or short, and concentrate on strength, balance, flexibility, and/or focus.

Part four provides balanced sample schedules for everyday yoga at home.  There is, as one might expect, schedules for doing yoga seven days a week, but there are also schedules for every-other-day and even twice-a-week.  Every-other-day is suggested for athletes to do on their "off" or "easy" days.  Twice-a-week is for those too busy to do more, but Rountree emphasizes that twice-a-weekers will still benefit from the practice.

I look forward to continuing with yoga this year and will periodically make a post about my progress accompanied by a stunning pose picture.  I suspect that many a poem will be inspired by the experience as well.

Review of "The Abolition of Man" by C. S. Lewis

I had the pleasure of reading The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis as part of the MOOC “An Introduction to C. S. Lewis:  Writings and Significance” currently being offered by Hillsdale College (for more information about the MOOC, see http://stevesofgrass.blogspot.com/2015/11/join-me-in-enjoying-mooc-introduction.html).  The “book” is really a series of three essays: “Men without Chests,” followed by “The Way,” and finally the titular essay “The Abolition of Man.”  The book may be read on-line for free here:  https://archive.org/stream/TheAbolitionOfMan_229/C.s.Lewis-TheAbolitionOfMan_djvu.txt.  The Abolition of Man is about 80 pages in length and may be read in one sitting, or better perhaps three sittings of one per essay.

The context of The Abolition of Man is worth mentioning.  The book was published in 1943 when England was fighting for its existence against the Nazis and their goal of creating a “master race.”  Lewis presented an argument against eugenics--whether it be Nazi-style or the more insidious liberal “progressive” style which he observed had been systematized into the state education system of England and elsewhere.  Far from improving Man, Lewis argued that efforts to “perfect” the race through progressive education would inevitably result in the ruining or “the abolition of” every virtue that sets Man apart from the beasts, those traits being bravery foremost, integrity, duty, honor, and not the least the appreciation of the difference between good and evil and the beautiful and the ugly.

Lewis presented an argument that all things have an inherent or objective value or beauty or goodness or the lack thereof.  He stressed the objectiveness of the quality, emphasizing that it is NOT up to the individual to decide for himself what is or is not beautiful, good, or virtuous.  This seemingly innocent philosophy would have been and still is seen as dangerous, subversive, and “not with the program” by progressive educators.  He used an example of a waterfall, claiming that a waterfall is inherently “sublime.”  This sublimity, he argued, was NOT up for debate.  A man could NOT decide for himself whether or not a waterfall is a thing of beauty, an awe-inspiring phenomenon to be preserved.  A good man, a “Man,” should be brought up to recognize such things--to listen to his heart.  Such a man would at least think twice before destroying the waterfall to make way for a highway, for example.  Such a man would be brave enough to make his opinion known or even to physically obstruct with his own body the bulldozers that would destroy the waterfall.

Once children are taught that they can and should make up their own minds about such things, they will naturally extrapolate this idea to every aspect of their lives.  The inevitable end result of an educational system based on this “progressive” idea, Lewis argued, is the creation of an elite few deciding what is for the good or good for the rest of us.  Sound familiar? 

The Abolition of Man should be required reading for every educator, politician, and parent.  Were it so, the world would be a happier, healthier, safer, peaceful, and more beautiful place.