Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, the Caster Semenya Story

I read this incredible book a few months ago whilst on sabbatical (on my couch) and it blew my mind. And as soon as the Caster Semenya story broke a month or so ago I knew the story of the main character was the story of Caster.

Now to get this out of the way, I cringe whenever I hear the word hermaphrodite. Surely the journalist community is wise enough to know that this is a highly offensive term and it is like calling someone a nigger or a morphei or a stabane. The term is used to hurt and demean and should be stricken from any kind of reporting!!!

The correct term is intersexual, but I also think ‘middlesex’ is a little softer, less clinical and ‘androgynous’ a bit more endearing? To me androgynous means flexible and fluid in your identification. Who wants to be just one thing?

During my sabbatical I resolved to start reading all the Pulitzer prize winning novels and Middlesex was therefore on my list. It is a big book but because of the constant drama in the book it is very quick to read and totally engaging.

Middlesex is a story of Calliope and how she came to be and how she eventually found himself and continued to be, ‘in spite but not spiteful’.

The book suggests that the intersexuals develop that way because of a mix of genes that should not have happened. Calliope’s grandparents were brother and sister and I hate to ruin the beginning of the book for everyone reading this but there will be plenty other juicy bits in the book. The premise is that incest is the cause of this… (I don’t want to call it) deformity (because what you get from incest are people that resemble the characters in ‘Deliverance’).

The book proposes that because Calliope’s grandparents sinned when they got together, their punishment would be to have an intersexual grandchild. At least this is what the grandmother believes and she is very superstitious. In the world of the book you kind of buy into that and there is a scientific genetic drawing they do of why this is true.

Outside of the world of the book I am not so sure. Just as I have no capacity to grow eyebrows so too is the capacity to turn out one way or another.

But I get a feeling here in the outside world that Caster is getting punished for something that is not her fault, something that is not a fault, something that should be celebrated as getting closer to the ideal human. The chance to go through life and choose to do it not as a man and not as a woman but as someone far more measured and weighed with both sexes’ characteristics. I think it’s awesome and extremely sexy.

I suppose if Caster were to read this blog I would want her first to read the book, and then to know that she is supper sexy to me.

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Sorry

I've moved from Caoe Town to Jo'burg and have not had the time to watch District 9, GI Joe and the rest. If you are up to discussing it or have watched any interesting flicks lateley, post a comment on this post. Jo'burg sucks ass 20% of the time.

Knowing - the movie

Like Michael Bay below, has his style, I knew I’d seen the shades and angles in this thriller/sci-fi or sci-fi/thriller flick. Alex Proyas is the dude that came up with the incredible and never-seen-before, ingenuous, darkly refreshing ‘Dark City’ which, at the time (1998), really really blew my mind. A little more wiki-ing and I discover that he is also behind The Crow, also one of my top ten movies ever.

I almost did not watch this movie because I reckoned it was another Nicolas Cage pick which is sometimes just fun to watch but you feel yourself losing a few brain cells for watching them. The premise of ‘Next’ and the embellished-for-dramatic-expedience ‘American history’ of National Treasure left us all a little dumber and I just do not trust Nicolas’ choices.

So because there was a problem with Bruno reel at the cinema () I had to fall back on watching Knowing and I am soooo glad I did.


SPOILER BELOW!!!!

I have very mixed feelings about this movie though, mainly because it tries to cram so many ideas into it that these ideas do not always gel nicely together. There is loss, there is father-son relationships across generations, there is science, there are aliens there is time travel, there is family, there are people that see the future, there are stones and much much more. I am sure when I watch this again, all these bits and pieces will gel but on a first viewing it was too much to piece together.

This is an Armageddon movie, it is about the end of the world and how we as humans would face this prospect if we knew for sure that it was coming.

The movie follows an MIT professor’s discovery of this certainty and his way of dealing with his and the world’s end. This is where the sentimentality of the movie unsettles me a little. I get that sometimes this sentiment is often what is lacking in other flicks where the focus is on the special effects and the exquisite bodies of the lead characters. I get that and I think it was right for Proyas to spend a little time for us connect with these characters. The thing is though, even with this, I was unable to mist up at the end when all the investment is suppose to pay off.

On the other hand the effects in this, like we had in Dark City, are not your every day Michael Bay explosions (I am sorry but I am going to use Mr Bay as a reference for all over the top bad action movies from now on) with no meaning. The big effects scenes were incredible and there was one specific scene that I swear was straight out of my nightmares. I have this recurring nightmare where I actually witness a plane crash and the way that Proyas shot this particular scene instantly took me back to that nightmare of mine. The plane crash scene we see in the previews is spectacular and I thought this would be the highlight of the movie but it was not. Moments following the crash are incredible. Having just had the two recent plane crashes in the real world it is a wonder they did not delay the release of this movie.

Also, there is another nightmare scene where the little boy in the movie sees somebody in his room in the middle of the night and is paralysed unable to scream or run. I am sure you’ve had that dream as well. This scene was so perfectly shot that you instantly remember your own personal nightmares.

So ya, on style, look and feel, Knowing gets 5 spoons. On the idea, premise and plot flow of the movie, I give it 3.

My issues with the movie, The main character of the movie is an MIT professor and he struggles to convince people that the numbers uncovered in the time capsule predict the future. If people do not believe an MIT professor, who the hell is there to believe?! That’s like not believing Einstein if he says the square root of 4 is 2. They should have made the character a high school teacher or something because even in the opening scene, he is suppose to be giving a lecture to MIT students, the lecture was more on the level of philosophical questions for dummies.

BET Awards!

I'm reading all that good stuff about how all the black artists at the 2009 BET Awards paid a tribute in some form to the kind of pop - MJ...and I'm sitting here wondering why in the hell we never get to see this on the multitudes of channels DSTV has us paying for?
I mean, we get the Oscars, the Grammys...you name it. Why not BET!
Come to think of it, I've been craving to see these awards for as long as I can remember...why don't they show 'em?

There is the slim chance ofcourse that our satellite television providers did show them...and that I just am not in touch with my satellite offering? Brokensword?

I'm reading about how Jamie Foxx (the host) was doing the moon walk and thinking to me self, I NEED to see this me-self!

Terminator Salvation

I probably was not going to see this film, mainly based on what Barry Ronge and Alan Silverman said on their Sunday morning show a few weeks ago. Barry was saying that it was too loud and they both said too religious. Given their misgivings, whatever they were, I enjoyed it. Much more than I enjoyed the Transformers which they raved about. I think having heard what they had to say I was a little bit prepared for Terminator. I chose the middle seat away from the speakers and opened my mind to whatever religious suggestions there may be.

I must say, this was a cool flick. It was the escape from the MJ tragic and lamented saga I needed. Escape from delayed job offers and my four walls that I needed.

Yes it was loud. Yes it had religious undertones. But that did not spoil it for me. If anything it made the story more solid. The greatest ever told.

And Christian Bale, the Bat Man?? Even with the recorded outburst (and I am kinda thinking this was a preview to the movie? Who knows) on the set, you want to enjoy this flick, you want to see the next installment of the Terminator saga that started with our California governor, who they cleverly replicated (I am sure Arnie did not have anything to do with this movie) to fight another day. I thought (and hope a little) that it was a kind of middle finger to Arnie and his republicans to reproduce him in the movie. After all, they did not reproduce the scariest terminator, that mercury dude. He was scarier than Arnie but not scarier than a Republican led United States. Bush, Arnie, they are the ultimate antagonists.

Suspension of belief is key to enjoying these types of movies. You need to say, yes it is okay that only Arnie was up for the fight against Connor, that the fact that they were and had, manufactured a thousand other Arnies does not fit. You have to let go of the consequences of a father meeting, his yet to be conceived son, in the future. You have to wonder who the little girl is and why Kyle is tied to her. You have to wonder why there would be capital punishment in the future (or was it the past?). All this has to be sacrificed for the enjoyment of the flick and it is, utterly enjoyable.

I give it 3 spoons with much of that going toward the new Terminator, he is just gorgeous!

Oh and Christian also got to ride his bat-cycle again. That was cool this time around as well!

all the single ladies - Vodacom

I had to tell the world how much I adore this new Vodacom advert. It is truly fantabulous. A true masterpiece. Creative brilliance most especially for its simplicity!

Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen

What an obscene show of budget! Explosions and fights and explosions and CGI and explosions and for what? For What? There is just so much money oozing out of this blockbluster show-off of a movie that I am beginning to really dislike Michael Bay and his Bruckheimer and his Spielberg backing. Really now… There are, I am sure, 20 indie films that could have been made with a 10th of this $300 million budget and I am sure the indie movies would have had a far more positive, enjoyable and collective sense of ‘whatever’ (fill in to what you think is cosmically appropriate) impact. (Okay so I watched the Screening Room on CNN about struggling African film makers today as well).

Never mind that! We go to the movies to escape and for a film like Transformers 2 (the first one I thought was a bit juvenile) that escape should last the mandatory 90 minutes. Anything beyond that is just too tiring and you start wanting to escape from the escape.

And so, yes, if you’ve seen Michael Bay movies you recognize his signature shots on various movies. You see Pearl Habour, Bad Boys etc. These were huge budget films and in each one there are unique shots that, if you did not know it was a Bay movie, those shots would smack you across the face as if Mr Bay himself was doing the smacking. (I suddenly need to cleanse myself)

Whereas typical movies have that one whimsical, quirky character that provides comic relief, most characters in this movie had that role, which was a little bit lame. The John Turturro character who is looking to die for America at every opportunity but does not manage to meet this demise, the ditzy mother whose role it is to embarrass her son when ever she can and is also an under ground dagga fiend. The cowardly college room mate who has conspiracy theories only to see them realized. The two Autobots painted to parody Chris Tucker’s character in Rush Hour. Even the main character is a kind of a side kick who has a nervous condition that makes every single situation in the movie a life or death one. Pity he did not stay dead in the end.

All in all, I either was going through nicotine withdrawal or I was getting extremely impatient with this movie. I would, nonetheless, discourage people to go see it, there are far worthier films out there (worth your 2.5 hours, if you go see this one you allow Mr Bay to make yet another obscenely over budgeted blockbuster which fills plot with explosions), I am sure of it!

Transformers 2 gets 1 spoon, choo chooing towards my rectum.

If you are thinking of having a Bay festival, here is your definitive list: Bad Boys; The Rock; Armageddon; Pearl Harbor; Bad Boys II and then; Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

No ‘Doubt’

Meryl Streep is master. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is her bitch. Great, great presentation in all aspects.

Not quite understanding nor comprehending this debate, but lets please have a discussion.

I tend to have a very severe and unambiguous view of what is right and what is wrong. It is wrong to have a relationship with a minor, but what is minor? It is right to speak up, expose and act against what you deem to be wrong, but is your definition of wrong, right?

The movie was dedicated to a Sister Margaret McEntee, so if this is somehow, reflecting a story that may be true, then this is not a philosophical debate, I would have to, unambiguously, support the actions of the nun. BUT, if this is hypothesis, my feelings would remain clouded, especially, given the boy’s situation at home, positive role model and all that.

This is a significant movie, watch it and ruminate.

Out on DVD, and it gets 4 spoons.

The Secret Life of Bees

I had my fingers on the keyboard for a while wondering what to say about this movie.
I guess it is one of those that get you all upset because you just can't understand how things could have been that way. How it could have been allowed. It just boggles my mind really.
There's a part where the old white man character says, "is she one of them dumb niggers or is she a clever nigger." When Jennifer Hudson's character answers back she gets a back slap right across her face. When she continues to defy this white man, she gets a couple of kicks and a couple of fists wacked on her face.
It is infuriating.
We've come a long way but for me that history, that it exists at all infuriates me. How could that time have existed at all?

I loved Sophie Okonedo in this. Her character is just the way I feel some times. Just so very sad and disappointed with the world that some of the things that happen, happen. So many injustices, all of it can be so overwhelming sometimes that you kind of feel like you want to leave this world. I loved her character.
I loved everybody in this movie. Alicia Keys can act, she was spectacular I thought...atleast for a musician. And Dakota Fanning is so grown in this movie.
Two and a half spoons