"God, No" ...a book review

I've been reading Penn Jillette's new book, "God, No," and I'm loving it so much I just had to put it out there.

You'll know Penn Jillette as the big guy in the Penn & Teller magic duo. Penn is what he calls a "hard-core atheist." I'm stealing that one to describe myself too. His book is about being an atheist, so if that offends you, just don't read it. Or, maybe you should read it if atheism offends you, because you really need to get over that.

If you've ever seen Jillette rant on any of his videos (many of which can be found on YouTube), you'll know what I mean when I say he writes like he talks. His book is liberally sprinkled with the f-word and with a veritable feast of hilarious, pointed, brilliant metaphors, similes and descriptions. He meanders around his topic like an avid needleworker browsing the world's biggest needle crafts store, idly wandering from one story to the next, picking up a thread here and a thimble there, not always with any obvious connection, until coming back finally to his point. And all along the way you've been treated to a delightful, deliciously scandalous, funny ride with a point at the end.

The book is divided up into sections named after the ten commandments. In place of the real ten commandments, he offers his own versions, which I like very much. For instance, instead of "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy" and so on, Jillette's fourth commandment is:

"Put aside some time to rest and think (if you're religious, that might be the Sabbath; if you're a Vegas magician, that'll be the day with the lowest grosses)."

I like that.

If for no other reason than an appreciation of good humour, I recommend this book. I frequently laugh out loud while I read it. I shit you not. It constantly makes me wish I could write like that. It's funny, it's fun to read, and it has a lot of good points. But not only is it funny, it's often very touching too... as I found with his story about the orthodox Jew-turned-atheist who approached him after a show asking him to participate in a very special moment in his life. I actually found myself dabbing tears from my eyes as I read that story.

Great book. Read it.

"Great balls of fire - *hic!* - it's Rhett Butler!

Oh. Wow. I had no idea.

At the age of 48 I have just sat through an entire viewing of Gone With The Wind for the very first time, and I'm blown away. I really had no idea it was that good. It was amazing.

Just last night I figured out how to download and play torrents. I don't know what it was that inspired me to search for GWTW as my first download, but that's what I did, and I found it in two parts. Watched the first part this morning, and just finished watching the rest a few moments ago. I'm amazed. I knew it was an Academy Award winner. I knew it was one of the best-loved movies of all time - a classic. I knew all that stuff, and yet, having only ever watched bits and pieces of it here and there, and apparently having missed entire sections of it, I had never really appreciated how truly great it really is.

Back in 1939 - the year my mother was born - when GWTW was released, movies had a certain style, and acting had a very different flavour than it does today. As much as I love old movies, that old-style filmmaking and the melodramatic, over-done acting usually keeps me from really falling for old movies the way I do for contemporary ones. But there's something about GWTW that overcame that, and I fell into the film just as deeply as I'm sure audiences did when it first came out. Even with the over-blown acting - especially from Vivian Leigh - it swept me away and had me laughing and crying and loving the characters like they were my own family.

At the end, I spoke the final works along with Scarlett - "For tomorrow is another day." Hope. That's the theme of Gone with the Wind. In the face of impossible adversity and terrible pain, there is always hope - there's always another day. I loved the way the movie seemed to end on a tragic note, but then was saved by the final line - just like real life often does become bright again after a long stretch of darkness. It made you hope that there really is a future for Rhett and Scarlett together, that they'll have another baby and be happy for real this time.

There were a few scenes that really stood out for me. Being the visual person that I am, they were mostly scenes with Scarlett looking amazing. The dress she wore when she was caught holding Ashley at the mill. The incredibly statuesque picture she posed when she showed up at Ashley's surprise party in her gaudy red dress. Melanie comforting Rhett after Scarlett rejected him. Mammy's scene with Rhett in the parlor when he discovered she was wearing the red petticoat. All the gorgeous, gorgeous costumes (sometimes I think I should have been a costume designer for period pieces, they attract me so).

While it took Scarlett till the very last moments of that epic-length film to see sense, you still couldn't help but admire her strength and single-mindedness throughout the entire movie. She got what she wanted, that one - even though in the end it wasn't what she really wanted - and she did what she had to do to get it. For the most part, she was a shallow, grasping, self-centred, selfish little bitch. Not a very likeable character. But that's what good stories are all about - characters changing, evolving, learning and growing. And Scarlett's shortcomings are made up for by almost every other character in the film - except maybe prissy. Simpering little twit. Even Rhett - "varmint" that he was - had his own special brand of honour and was a very likable chap in spite of being a mercenary and almost as shallow and vain as Scarlett. I can't say I liked Ashley much either. Leading Scarlett on all those years, kissing her in spite of loving Melanie. If he'd been strong right from the start, things would have turned out very differently. But then...we wouldn't have had the story we have! I'd have to say Ashley is the fulcrum on which the whole story spins.

I think someone made a sequel to GWTW back in the 80s or early 90s. If I recall correctly, it wasn't very successful and people didn't like it much. Of course, without even having seen it, I can predict that it was watered-down gruel compared to the rich, delightful stew that was the original production.

Even so, now that I know how to find and download torrents, I think I may see if I can find the sequel and give it a go. I want to find out if Scarlett gets Rhett back!

*Subject line of this post comes from the scene where Scarlett gets drunk on branding after one of her husbands dies.

Theatre Review: "Fat Pig"

Tonia and I recently got free tickets from my work to see a play, and here's the review I wrote. They published it one of our websites :-)

"Fat Pig" cuts close to the bone

Fat pig. Beached whale. Blimp. Lardass. The list goes on and on, and Neil LaBute doesn’t shy from using these euphemisms in his almost-too-painful-to-watch play "Fat Pig," recently presented by Breathing Time Productions at Studio Léonard Beaulne.
As women who have sometimes been targets of these kinds of terms, my friend and I made our way to the theatre with perhaps more opening-night jitters than the actors. Both of us felt as if we were about to expose ourselves to something that might hurt.

Contrary to its name, "Fat Pig" is a very lean presentation. The set is nothing more than a tiny stage with a few plain-Jane pieces of furniture and a video screen hanging at the back. With nothing else to look at, the audience is forced to focus on the four characters in all their cruel, selfish and often unsettling honesty.

Tom is a young, hip executive trying to find a place to eat his dressing-on-the-side salad in a crowded café. The only open seat he can find is next to Helen, a fat, but far from frumpy young woman thoroughly grooving on her slice of pizza. They meet, and as their conversation deepens the two discover an unexpected pleasure in one another's company.

Before long, they're dating. Tom is completely smitten with his new lover and revels in her bountiful body.

Even so, Tom tries to keep his relationship with Helen a secret from friends. Though only one of the characters is overweight all of the four of them struggle with notions of body-image and self-worth – Tom wants to be loved and accepted, but isn't sure whose opinion matters most to him; beautiful, thin, neurotic Jeannie bases her self-worth on the decisions of others. And the slick friend Carter is far more damaged than he at first appears.

As Tom's crisis of self-worth reaches its peak, Helen proves to be the only one with any guts at all.

Claudia Jurt (Helen) and Jared Côté (Tom) seemed a little awkward onstage at many points, although their delightful bedroom scene redeemed them. Perhaps their awkwardness was only in contrast to the strong performances of Corry Burke and Dani Kind as Carter and Jeannie. Côté and Jurt, however, played much more understated and therefore difficult roles. Even so, the story and the subject matter overshadowed whatever hiccups there may have been.

But the reaction from the two fat chicks?

It was mostly positive. We found the epithets flung about Helen to be sweet nothings compared to what we've been subjected to by strangers. It's a harsh world out there, folks. We've both been dumped because of our size or judged unfairly by those who barely know us.

We both related intensely to the Helen character for obvious reasons, but we related to Tom and Jeannie and Carter as well, as they were so human in their pain, even when their pain came out as anger and intolerance.

In the end, it was a scene that wasn't even in the play that moved me the most. After the play’s end Côté walked to the back of the set to gather himself. When he turned around to join his castmates for their bow his eyes were haunted, almost stricken.

He looked as if he'd been crying not as an actor, but as a human being. I knew he was overwhelmed by the tragedy of "being" Tom.

I turned to see if my friend had noticed, and found her wiping tears from her eyes too.

Fat Pig runs August 1-11 at the Studio Léonard Beaulne.