This Week in Geek (9-15/05/16)

Buys

In the category DVDs, Fulltime Killer, Show Me a Hero, and Shakespeare Uncovered Series 2 (couldn't wait, see below). Under books, Kyril Bonfiglioli's Don't Point That Thing at Me (the first Mortdecai novel, I did say I was interested in the source material), Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman, YOLO Juliet, and Fate Worlds vol.2: Worlds in Shadow. And in the games column, the small expansion for Tsuro, Veterans of the Seas.

"Accomplishments"

At the movies: Captain America Civil War is the Avengers movie Age of Ultron sadly wasn't. Or it's BvS done right (or frankly, the movie the WB tried to make to cut the grass right under Marvel's feet). Or it's the comic book event rewritten by people who actually understand the characters. Bottom line, while Captain America still drives the film - as is proper - it's an incredibly well-balanced team-up story where some 18 characters each get not one, but at least two cool/important moments without pulling focus away from the main storyline and themes. The introduction of the new Spider-Man comes close, but he's integral, naively following Iron Man while espousing, and bouncing back at Tony, Cap's opinion. Most impressive to me was Black Panther, who I thought was going to get a perfunctory introduction to tease his upcoming film (as with Spidey), but no. He's as important as Cap, Tony and Bucky, a balancing element who works through the theme of revenge and comes out on the other side at peace with himself - something neither Zemo nor Iron Man are able to do. As with most "mastermind" plots, I'm not sure it all stands up to scrutiny - there are always contrivances and outright luck in this kind of story - but cool action, a somber tone well balanced with levity, and a host of characters we're already invested in keeps things bouncing along so that you certainly don't think about any of that while watching it (certainly not on first viewing). We might have a new entry in the MCU Top 5 here.

DVDs: In Veep's fourth season, Selina has become president, but with only a few months to work with, must run for a full term. And being the first female president isn't the only way the show's reality will "make history". The writers have gone out of their way to torture this woman with every bit of constitutional research available. Of course, she's a not a GOOD president. No one on this show is good at their jobs (by which I may mean good at ethically doing their jobs, depending). And therein lies the satire. Unafraid to give the characters new roles and functions, Veep remains as fresh as it was when it premiered, and the setting simultaneously keeps it from being a mere shadow of its UK equivalent, The Thick of It. The DVD includes deleted scenes for each of its 10 episodes, which might well have made the final edit.

I wasn't expecting PBS to do a second series of Shakespeare Uncovered, but boy am I glad they did. The premise is simple: Take a great actor, and allow them to explore one of the Bard's plays with experts, other actors, and film clips. The result is a thoughtful and often personal take on Cliff's Notes, and sincerely, I wish they could eventually do ALL the plays. And I dare say, this time they got bigger names. We have Morgan Freeman on Taming of the Shrew (my favorite episode), Joseph Fiennes on Romeo and Juliet, David Harewood on Othello, Hugh Bonneville on Midsummer Night's Dream, Kim Catrall on Antony and Cleopatra, and Christopher Plummer on King Lear. On the way, the series touches on the historical realities Shakespeare dramatized, and most interestingly, other versions of the plays "adapted" by playwrights in the intervening centuries, or precursors Shakespeare himself plagiarized for plot.

1988's Heathers is the Mean Girls of its time (and one of Tina Fey's obvious inspirations) and what a weird, weird film it is. A sort of high school revenge fantasy about mean popular kids getting their just desserts, it straddles the line between black comedy and impressionistic lunacy. You're never too sure what's real and what isn't; it's its own heightened reality. Winona Ryder and Christian Slater are engaging, even if few of the other actors turn in memorable performances, and the universal high school experience should dispel the dated elements (terrible fashions, synth music) before long. Heathers leaves you with more of a smirk than a grin, but I still let out a few giggles, and being a tough comedy audience, that should be considered a success.

Books: What If? 2 is the second volume of counterfactual historical essays by various historians, that lay down the knowledge about what really happened before indulging a little or a lot in what might have happened, and often, very nearly did. Historians get so grumpy when you play what if, but even the History majors reading this will get what they enjoy. It's really an exploration of those turning points in history, details on which everything hinges. The first volume was good, but perhaps too interested in military history. The second is better for the lack of such a focus. Take Socrates, or Incan potatoes out of history, see what happens. Turning points are more political (and sometimes religious, which in history is often the same) and look at the powerful effect of Great Men and Women on history. Cool stuff that makes me want to run a time travel RPG!

Canadian writer Mike Steeves' first novel, 2015's Giving Up is made up of three... I'll call them tirades, each just one paragraph long, each paragraph running for 50-75 pages. Once a character starts sharing, he or she just doesn't stop. It's a stream of reproachful consciousness, funny and snarky, honest in a way that's often self-deceiving. James and Mary, a married couple, are each trying to achieve something impossible - with him it's his unspecified "life's work", with her it's having a baby which simply isn't working - and refusing to come to terms with that impossibility. The book is about NOT giving up, even though all the signs are there and the reader may well be shouting "GIVE UP!" right through the page, but less as a manifestation of courage than of delaying the inevitable, of procrastinating, and justifying one's lack of success at either completing or abandoning the task. So the unending paragraphs are very important because they are a sort of futile momentum. The characters can't stop talking because if they do, they might not start again, and the many digressions they undertake are akin to the procrastination they routinely undertake. Over the few hours we spend with them, they'll each get a wake-up call, and perhaps have to address their relationship... Is it just like everything else, impossible? A fun read that just propels you headlong into two characters' psyches where, God save you, you might just find a little of yourself.