My first wife (and mother of my children) Denise is a smart and talented author. I still remember the first time she asked me to read an early copy of her work. She never let me do it again.
That being said, she recently released a new book, Earl, Honey. The book is loosely based on the real story of her family history. I enjoyed it. It's a southern coming-of-age story set in the 1920s - which is not my typical genre. Nevertheless, it's a poignant story with insight into the human condition, and its dramatic realities remind us how good we have it.
It's a story she learned, first via her grandmother, long after the events of the book take place. Those events shaped the lives of generations of her family.
It's a tough and heart-wrenching Southern Gothic read that covers incest, domestic abuse, and more. Check it out.
Here's the book's blurb from Amazon:
"Ever since Pa hit him in the head with the two-by-four, Earl had lived with blinders on. Not real blinders, of course, because that would be foolish. It was his own brain that blinkered him."
Earl Hahn is slow, the last one to catch on to things. Since the day his father hit him in the head with a 2x4 of loblolly pine, he's struggled with a "thickness in his brain." It takes him longer to make the connections others arrive at easily. When his father is prosecuted for the crime of incest, it feels like deliverance for Earl, his mother Lizzie Belle, and the entire Hahn family. Unfortunately, his father's abhorrent actions are not done exacting a price.
Everyone in the household will pay for their patriarch's crimes - no one more than Earl.
So begins a powerful coming-of-age tale about a shy, damaged boy who must overcome unimaginable personal tragedy - both as its victim and its perpetrator. Raw, honest, and filled with heart, Earl, Honey recounts an extraordinary search for redemption amid the perilous world of the 1920s American South.
AI Meets Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss was recently in the news for stopping the release of 6 of its books.
Whether it was a marketing ploy or not, I've been seeing a lot more Dr.Seuss content.
To start, here's a video of an A.I. written Dr. Seuss book with animation.
via Calamity AI
In addition, here's an A.I. remastered World War II cartoon written by Dr. Seuss with a character named Private Snafu. It's one episode of a series of shorts that were banned post-WWII, and it's one of the more tame episodes. For an extra piece of trivia, the name of Private Snafu and his series of shorts was based on the military acronym for "Situation Normal: All F***ed Up".
It's an interesting piece of history ... enjoy.
via Adam Maciaszek
While produced by Warner Bros., these shorts which were made for the US military did not have to go through the Production Code Administration and thus got away with raunchier humor, foul language, and what we would today categorize as racist propaganda against the Japanese and Germans.
While it's okay to acknowledge that we should be doing better today, I also think it's interesting and informative to watch older materials in the context and time period they were written.
Racism isn't okay, but if you don't know history, you're doomed to repeat it, and art can be discussed and enjoyed within that context as well.
Posted at 03:05 PM in Art, Business, Current Affairs, Film, Ideas, Just for Fun, Market Commentary, Movies, Television, Writing | Permalink | Comments (0)
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