On the Coffee Table: Rawand Issa

Title: Inside the Giant Fish

Writer and Artist: Rawand Issa

In this graphic memoir, creator Rawand Issa describes her childhood in El Jiyeh, a seaside town in Lebanon.  She and her family were effectively shut off from her fondest, earliest memories when private resorts cut off access to what was once a public beach.

There's no shortage of stories about how much Lebanon has changed in recent decades.  Civil wars and military occupations by both Syria and Israel have devastated a once beautiful country.  Issa's tale is unusual for the fact that it mostly ignores the violence, focusing instead on how privatization and politics combined to separate the town's local population from an ocean that defined its culture for generations.

The book is neither long nor densely worded.  I read it in a single sitting - maybe half an hour.  The artwork is rather boxy, though boldly colored.  Inside the Giant Fish (Jonah's whale is the metaphor here) makes a simple point quite elegantly.  Solid work.

On the Road: A Long Overdue Statement on the Garbage State of the World

Hello America by Vincent Valdez

Our long weekend travels took us through our usual Western/Central Massachusetts stops: North Adams, Northampton and Worcester.  Our adventures helped me focus some of my thoughts about the state of the world, a subject I've been reluctant to address here - not because I'm not upset.  Indeed, I'm furious.  But I've been struggling to find the right words.  For months.  So, here goes...

"Why were we taught to fear the witches and not the people who burned them alive?"

That quote popped up on my Facebook feed a while back and it has stayed with me.  The Salem Witch Trials weren't really about religion.  That was just the excuse.  They were about power and social control.  That social control lives on in our mythology.  Mythology is social control on a trans-generational scale.  

Enter Professor James B. Haile III, Ph.D...  

In North Adams, we went to a reading by Dr. Haile at Research & Development, one of the retail stores at MASS MoCA (The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art).  He presented his new book, The Dark Delight of Being Strange, a genre-bending work combining both fiction and nonfiction elements.  Haile's philosophical charge for himself and for the reader is to challenge and reform our mythology, especially regarding people of color.  

If you control the mythology, you control everything. 

The political rhetoric coming out of Washington right now reinforces a mythology we've all been fed our whole lives.  For the MAGA crowd, the history of the United States - of "America" - is a story of white triumph.  People of color were to be conquered, subjugated and exploited.  The fact that any of them would with to be treated as human - never mind as equals - is intolerable.

The current immigration policies aren't about the law or economics as the policies are disastrous regarding both.  They're about race.  

You don't think so?  Fuck you.  

I'm not joking.  I'm tired of being nice about any of this.  If you're offended by what I'm saying, fuck off.  If you can't draw a line on this unacceptable shit, fuck off.  

If it were about the law, there would be due process.  People would not be snatched off the streets and out of their homes on suspicion alone.  Those arrested would not be hidden away in remote prisons in Florida or abroad in countries with appalling human rights records, even worse than Florida's.  

If it were about economics, there would be acknowledgement of how much even illegal immigrants contribute to our economy, never mind our society.  There would be acknowledgement of the fact that mass incarceration costs more than just leaving people the fuck alone.  But there isn't.  

It's about getting rid of brown people.

What is it MAGA fuckheads say to people they don't like?  "Go back where you came from!" or "Learn English!"  They just want people of color and their cultures to disappear.  Because if they have to see them, hear them, interact with them, share the community with them, then they have to accommodate them.  And I don't mean in the bullshit "Nanny State" sense.  The United States is only a nanny state for billionaires.  I mean they have to incorporate them into their reality, their normal.  They have to acknowledge their right to exist and that is intolerable.  

They have to incorporate them into the mythology.  As equal contributors.

There is a culture war, folks, and the good guys are taking a beating these days.  Why are people fighting so hard over what is visible in schools, libraries, sports, public spaces?  Because if you control the mythology, you control everything.  If LGBTQIA+ is presented as normal, they lose.  If the Ten Commandments are displayed in reverence, they win.  Because the mythology matters.

There's more but I need time to think it all through.  For now, I'll grant the last words to SNACKTIME, a funk/hip-hop/punk/thrash metal band we thoroughly enjoyed on Saturday night.  

They closed their show with the following message:

Fuck ICE!

Fuck Trump!

Free Palestine!

Star Trek: Investigations

Episode: "Investigations"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 2, Episode 20

Original Air Date: March 13, 1996

via Memory Alpha

A couple of subplots have been running through the last few Voyager episodes.  Crewman Michael Jonas has been sharing intelligence with the Kazon and Tom Paris has been acting like a jerk, even getting himself thrown in the brig and removed from duty.  Both stories come to conclusion in "Investigations" and - surprise! - they're connected.  Neelix gets to play investigative journalist with his new morning show, A Briefing with Neelix.

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was firmly against continuing stories.  To a point, it's an understandable objection.  In the 1960s - an era long before streaming or even home video collections - you would want a new viewer to be able to tune into your show any given week and be able to get caught up in the story right away.  Going back and binging from the beginning simply wasn't an option.  In the 2020s, the television industry has moved so far in the other direction that Roddenberry's objection seems archaic.  

But the mid-'90s, there was still some resistance to the idea within the franchise.  Showrunner Jeri Taylor didn't like "Lifesigns" quite as much as I do, for instance, because she didn't like how the otherwise strong story was broken up by unexplained teasers from the two threads that culminate in "Investigations."  I think the format is clever, but I suppose I understand the purist point of view.

As for "Investigations" itself, I see positives and negatives.  On the plus side...

• The reveal of what's really going on with Tom is satisfying.  Very Trek.
• Pushing on the no one trusts Tom button is effective.
• Neelix's show within a show is an accurate parody of 1990s television.  

On the negative...

• I'm starting to feel the same way about Neelix episodes as I do about droid episodes in The Clone Wars - groan-inducing.
• The plan for getting Tom on the Kazon ship works too well.  I understand the press for time within a TV series but they still could have stretched that out a bit.
• Jonas's story is short-changed.  In an earlier installment, he is encouraged by his Kazon contacts to damage Voyager's warp coils (which happens by accident anyway) and he flatly refuses.  He makes clear he won't do anything to harm the ship or the crew.  Clearly, he's motivated by something other than anger or resentment and he's killed off too quickly for us to learn more.
• Making Chakotay the chump doesn't feel good for the long-term development of the character.  Tom's apology is meaningful but the implications for a trusting Janeway-Chakotay relationship are not encouraging.

Acting Notes

via Film and Television Wikia

Jerry Sroka played the role of Laxeth, a Talaxian who takes Tom on as a member of his crew as part of the scheme.  "Investigations" is his only Trek appearance but he has another fun connection with the franchise.  He has been married to Mariette Hartley, Zarabeth in the original series episode "All Our Yesterdays," since 2005.

His films include Godspell and Our Almost Completely True Love Story.  The latter is the tale of his romance with Hartley.  The two wrote, produced and starred in the movie.  Beyond Trek, Sroka's television appearances include Seinfeld, Murphy Brown and The West Wing.

Squid Flicks: 12th Fail

Title: 12th Fail

Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Original Release: October 27, 2023

My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Original book cover via Amazon

Manoj Kumar Sharma (Vikrant Massey) wants to be a police officer.  In order to get the job he wants - Indian Police Service (IPS) officer - he has to pass the civil service exam.  In fact, that's just the first hurdle.  The deck is stacked against him.  He grew up in poverty, then failed his Class 12 exams when his entire batch (class) was caught cheating with their teachers' assistance.  Based on a true story - and Anurag Pathak's book of the same title - the film follows all of his adventures and misadventures in pursuing his dream.  

12th Fail was a surprise commercial and critical success, earning more than triple its budget at the box office and winning five categories at the Filmfare Awards, the Hindi-language Oscars, including Best Film.  It's easy to root for Manoj.  Beyond the obvious underdog appeal, he strives to follow the example of his own father and also DSP Singh, two men determined to call out the prevalent corruption in Indian society.  Plus, he falls in love with Shraddha, a fellow civil service candidate.  So we get a romance to root for, too.  Massey's disarming smile doesn't hurt either.

The story is undeniably predictable - an inspiring civil service exam movie - but also undeniably charming.  From my under-informed outsider perspective, the social commentary is poignant if a bit heavy-handed.  Indian critics praised the film as a glimpse of reality for the hardships civil service candidates must endure.  I found it to be solid all-around.  Acting, writing and visuals were all strong.  Good pacing, too - a 2 1/2-hour film didn't seem it.

Star Trek: Rejoined

Episode: "Rejoined"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 4, Episode 6

Original Air Date: October 30, 1995

via Wikipedia

A Trill science team arrives at the station, led by Lenara Kahn (Susanna Thompson), complicating matters for Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell).  Lenara is a joined Trill and her symbiont Kahn's previous host Nilani was married to Dax's previous host, Torias.  Reassociation by later hosts is forbidden by Trill law so Lenara and Jadzia must keep their interactions professional.  There's a problem.  The two are clearly still in love.

In my post about the TNG episode "The Perfect Mate," I wrote about the television romances I truly believe.  Kahn/Dax is top of the list for me.  Their irresistible attraction is obvious from the beginning.  The build up of sexual tension is deliciously excruciating.  Then the kiss.  Wow!  It's not just the best Trek kiss or the best same-sex kiss or whatever.  It's one of the greatest on-screen kisses you'll ever see.  Evidently, Farrell asked Thompson's husband beforehand about what turned his wife on.  His advice was clearly helpful.

Within the context of the narrative, the fact that Jadzia and Lenara are both women is irrelevant.  Nobody cares.  This was intentional, of course.  Star Trek seemingly always has a cover ready in situations like this.  For instance, Kirk and Uhura shared their groundbreaking kiss in "Plato's Stepchildren" because they were under mind-control.  Avery Brooks, who directed the episode, and most of the creative staff have long downplayed the historical relevance of "Rejoined," claiming it's not really about homosexuality.  Terry Farrell, on the other hand, has always embraced it, celebrating the many LGBTQIA+ fans who have approached her over the years and told her how meaningful the story was to them.

In the real world, there was push back.  Paramount received plenty of angry correspondence from conservative fans, just as they had for "Plato's Stepchildren."  It would be another 22 years before Star Trek had a same-sex kiss between two men.  

Acting Notes

via Live Action Wiki

Susanna Thompson was born in San Diego, January 27, 1958.  She graduated from San Diego State University.  "Rejoined" was her third of six Star Trek appearances.  Her films include Little Giants, Random Hearts and Dragonfly.  On television, she has had principal cast roles on Once and Again, Kings and Arrow.  

Star Trek: The Way of the Warrior

Episode: "The Way of the Warrior"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 4, Episodes 1 & 2

Original Air Date: October 2, 1995

via Memory Alpha

Garak episode!

A Klingon fleet arrives at the station, preparing for an attack on the Cardassian home world.  They believe - correctly, as it turns out - that Founder infiltrators have staged a coup, overthrowing the military regime on Cardassia in favor of civilian rule.  The Klingons want to attack in order to prevent further incursions in the Alpha Quadrant.  They do not take kindly to the Federation's efforts to interfere with their plans.

"The Way of the Warrior" marks a major turning point for Deep Space Nine for a couple of reasons.  Recasting the Klingon Empire in their original antagonist role is one.  More important, at least for the fans, is the return of Worf.  Captain Sisko recruits the NextGen alum to help with the situation and fortunately for all of us, Worf agrees to stick around once the initial crisis subsides.  He'll remain in the principal cast for the rest of the series.

This presents an interesting wrinkle to my little game of drawing character legacies back to the original series (read here).  Clearly, Worf should get his own chair back.  So...

Chekov = Worf = Odo = Worf

But this leaves the question of what to do with Odo.  After all, he's not going anywhere and we still have four seasons to go.  For me, the best solution is to give Odo a chair of his own...

Odo (née Chekov line)

Two principals in particular will benefit from the addition of Worf to our story.  Already, we can see that his relationship with Dax is going to be an interesting one.  It also frees up Odo to be more than just the grumpy guy around the office.  Now that Worf can share in that responsibility, Odo's story can take off in exciting directions.  And what a tale it is, unique in Star Trek (so far).  

Food Notes

"The Way of the Warrior" includes one of the most popular individual scenes of the entire DS9 run, only tangentially related to the main plot.  Quark and Garak commiserate over their dependence on the Federation, a glass of root beer serving as the perfect metaphor.

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

An important side narrative is the captain's effort to invest in a romantic relationship with freighter captain Kasidy Yates, played by Penny Johnson.  Johnson boasts 16 Trek appearances, including 15 as Yates.

Penny Johnson Jerald was born in Baltimore, March 14, 1961.  She graduated from The Julliard School in New York.  Her on-screen resume is absolutely stellar, particularly on television.  She has had principal roles on four high-profile shows: The Larry Sanders Show, 24, Castle and The Orville.  Films include Do the Right Thing, What's Love Got to Do with It, The Lion King (2019) and the upcoming Mufasa: The Lion King.

On the Coffee Table: City of Light

Title: Berlin, Book Three: City of Light

Writer and Artist: Jason Lutes

via Amazon

It's been 11 years since my last post about Lutes's extraordinary comic book series, Berlin.  In the time since, he has finished the series.  City of Light compiles issues #14-24.  We saw him give a talk at a local bookstore and he signed the copy I just finished reading.

Overall, the stories follow a group of characters - many of them only tangentially connected - from 1928-33, an extraordinary time in Berlin's history.  The tensions playing out on the streets will spill over to the battlefields of an entire continent before long.  The central character is Marthe, managing two romances: one with a woman, Anna, one with a man, Severing.  Neither works out, nor does her art career so by book's end, she gets on a train back home to Cologne - her story started on a train arriving, now ends on one departing.

In a secondary narrative, we follow 12-year-old Sylvia, orphaned by the May Day Massacre, taken in by a Jewish family.  She runs the streets with a group of Communist toughs who scuffle with both the police and the Nazis, an increasingly meaningless distinction.  As readers, we know those tensions won't completely resolve until decades later.

As Hitler rises to power, life is getting tougher, especially for the Jews.  Sylvia's foster family boards the same train as Marthe in the end.  Again, as the reader, we know more about what's coming than the characters do.  We're more worried for the Jews than they are for themselves.  We worry, too, for Anna and other homosexuals, knowing the persecution coming for them.

Over 24 issues, the tension gradually builds for the reader and the tension is never fully released, because we know what comes next.  Safer is not the same as safe.  That's life.

Berlin is excellent.  I wouldn't say it's on the same level as Persepolis, Maus or Showa but it's a solid addition to any historically-based graphic novel collection.

Squid Flicks: Joint Security Area

Title: Joint Security Area

Director: Park Chan-wook

Original Release: September 9, 2000

My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Amazon

Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and a South Korean soldier has confessed to the crime.  Swiss Army Major Sophie E. Jean, of Korean heritage herself, is brought in to investigate on behalf of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission.  The film is based on the novel DMZ by Park Sang-yeon.

To tell much more would be to spoil the story and I would hate to do anything to discourage anyone from seeking out this outstanding movie.  It reminds me of A Few Good Men in many ways except the narrative is told mostly from the perspective of the soldiers rather than the investigator.  The basic theme: people are basically decent.  War is the madness.  The madness runs deep when two nations are officially in a state of war for multiple generations.

Joint Security Area was a blockbuster hit in both South Korea and Japan.  It was, at the time of its release, the highest-grossing film ever in South Korea.  It also won four Grand Bell Awards, South Korea's Oscar-equivalent, including best picture.  Quentin Tarantino has claimed it as one of his favorites.

It's not just BTS, folks.  A lot of exciting creative work has been coming out of South Korea for a long time.  It was hard to see it coming when I lived in East Asia a quarter-century ago but this country historically overshadowed by Japan and China is leading the charge in the Asian Century.

Star Trek: Family Business

Episode: "Family Business"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 3, Episode 23

Original Air Date: May 15, 1995

via Memory Beta

Quark is in trouble.  More accurately, his mother Ishka is in trouble and Quark, as her eldest son, will be expected to shoulder the blame.  She has earned profit, one of many things Ferengi females are not supposed to do.  Quark shuts down the bar and rushes off to the home world of Ferenginar, hoping to sort things out.  Rom insists on tagging along.  

Meanwhile, Jake Sisko succeeds in setting his father up on a date with freighter captain Kasidy Yates.  The evening goes well then really takes off when Yates reveals her brother is a baseball player, the game being one of Benjamin's great passions, esoteric by 24th century standards.  Spoiler alert: while it takes a while for the relationship to achieve permanent status, Yates will be a recurring character for the rest of the series.

"Family Business" has a lot going for it.  Ferengi sexual politics are downright icky.  Females are expected to stay naked, to remain at home, to refrain from speaking to a male outside the immediate family, to not only prepare but also pre-chew the family's food and to refrain from business.  Ishka rebels against all of it, a source of endless frustration and embarrassment for Quark.  

Rom is ultimately the story's hero.  Rom adores his mother - only ever referring to her by the endearment Moogie - and she him.  We soon learn that the boys' deceased father had been a constant failure in business.  Ishka herself was the financial genius, teaching Quark everything she knew while accumulating her own well-concealed fortune.  Rom inherited his gentler demeanor and his devotion to family from dear old Dad.  Rom is the one who finally stands up to both Quark and Ishka, forcing them to reconcile and saving the day for all.

As I've said before, much of Deep Space Nine's strength derives from its deep bench.  Garack will always be my favorite recurring character but not for lack of other worthy candidates.  "Family Business" is a fantastic Rom episode and he only gets better over the rest of the series.  Yates herself will be essential to Benjamin's character development.  The episode also introduces Brunt, one of so many Star Trek characters played by Jeffrey Combs.  Brunt exits this story saying he hopes he never sees the others again.  He'll be back for six more episodes.

Acting Notes

via Hanna-Barbera Wiki

Andrea Martin (Ishka) was born January 15, 1947 in Portland, Maine.  She graduated from Emerson College in Boston.  She was the first of two actors to play the role of Ishka.

Though American, Martin built her early career in the company of Canadian comedy royalty.  After relocating to Toronto, she was cast in a production of Godspell with then-unknowns Gilda Radner, Martin Short, Eugene Levy and Victor Garber.  Later, she joined the legendary sketch show SCTV, appearing alongside Levy, John Candy, Dave Thomas, Catherine O'Hara, Harold Ramis and Joe Flaherty.  Martin was nominated for ten Emmys for her work on the show, one for acting, the rest for writing.  She won twice, both for writing. 

Martin made her Broadway debut in 1992 and has since been nominated for a Best Featured Actress Tony six times.  She's won twice, for My Favorite Year in 1993 and a Pippin revival in 2013.  As if all of that weren't enough, there have been films, too, including Wag the Dog, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Star Trek: Jetrel

Episode: "Jetrel"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 1, Episode 15

Original Air Date: May 15, 1995

via Memory Alpha

A Haakonian shuttle approaches Voyager, its occupant wishing to speak with Neelix.  The man introduces himself Dr. Ma'Bor Jetrel, a name which immediate horror into the Neelix's heart.  We soon learn the Haakonians had conquered Neelix's homeworld some fifteen years before and Jetrel had been the inventor of a horrifying weapon of mass destruction, an obvious Oppenheimer/atomic bomb parallel.  Jetrel claims Neelix is terminally ill, the long-term consequence of the weapon's wrath.

29 years after this episode aired, we are a year removed from the film release of Oppenheimer so our world society has spent some time recently confronting the same issues raised in "Jetrel."  It's a strong Neelix episode as he must navigate personal demons in regards to his own role in the war.  

As I write this, I have not yet watched Oppenheimer.  However, I've devoted significant personal time to learning about the bomb, mostly from the Japanese perspective.  In my early 20s, I visited Nagasaki, a city forever haunted by that horrible day but also determined to lead world peace efforts to help ensure it never happens again.  Here on the blog, I've reviewed books that deal with the subject, most meaningfully the excellent Barefoot Gen manga series by Keiji Nakazawa about the Hiroshima bombing and its aftermath (see Volume 1 and Volume 2).  I also reviewed Trinity, a graphic novel by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm about the creation of the first atomic bomb.

Acting Notes

via WikiSein

Character actor Larry Hankin played the role of Gaunt Gary, a pool hustler in Tom Paris's Chez Sardine holodeck program in the light-hearted beginning of this unusually heavy episode.  Hankin was born December 7, 1937 in New York City.  He graduated from Syracuse University, then trained at Second City in Chicago.  "Jetrel" is his second Star Trek appearance, his first of three as Gaunt Gary.

via Friends Central

No one would call Larry Hankin famous, yet anyone who watched American television and/or movies in the 1980s and '90s would recognize him instantly.  Films include Escape from Alcatraz, Running Scared and Billy Madison.  He has appeared on numerous high-profile television shows in memorable roles, including Tom Pepper, the actor cast as Kramer in Seinfeld's "The Pilot," Mr. Heckles, the cranky downstairs neighbor on Friends and junkyard owner Old Joe on Breaking Bad.  He has an Oscar nomination to his name: Best Live Action Short Film in 1980 for Solly's Diner.

Squiddies 2024

The Armchair Squid turns fifteen years old today.  It's time to hand out some hardware.  The Squiddy goes to...

Biggest Surprise: The Cat and the Roomba

via Wikipedia

The premise of the Japanese manga The Way of the House Husband by Kosuke Oono is wild.  Tatsu, a Yakuza boss, leaves his life of organized crime when he marries a career woman.  Obviously, he doesn't have too many job skills beyond thuggery so he learns to cook and clean while his wife makes the money.  Manga, particularly the ones that make it into translation, are dependably high-quality compared to most English-language comic books.  So I wasn't surprised that it's good.  I was definitely surprised that it's so funny.  Humor does not always translate well from one culture to another.

In one issue/chapter, Tatsu attempts to vacuum via Roomba.  The family cat is not pleased.  Madness ensues.  Yes, it is the stuff of TikTok videos.  Somehow, it's way funnier in sequential art form.  I genuinely laughed out loud.

Biggest Disappointment: Queerphobia and Misogyny at Citizen Cider

Last year, our favorite local cidery released its first beer, an offering called Hey Bub.  In itself, it seemed a reasonable choice for expanding the brand.  The trouble came in the marketing campaign, clearly targeting straight, white, blue-collar men.  There were t-shirts of men doing manly things like riding a tractor or fishing with taglines like "Get Plowed" and "Approved for Hooking Up."  The company's own pub staff, specifically the female and LBTQIA+ employees who have to endure unwelcome advances from drunk customers all the time, took offense and refused to wear the shirts as directed by management.  During Pride Month, the staff decorated a chalkboard promoting the new beer and other products with rainbows.  The board was mysteriously erased.  Twice.  A company director was overheard saying "We can't have that shit" associated with Hey Bub.  

Not good.

Loads of people quit and the public backlash has been severe with a local boycott of the brand doing real damage.  The Boardroom, our local game cafe, sold their last keg of Citizen Cider at a reduced price and gave all the proceeds to LGBTQIA+ charities.  Obviously, Citizen Cider has tried to walk it all back but for those injured, it's too little too late.

I'm upset that it happened but I cheer for the whistleblowers who stood up for themselves.  And I'm proud of the Vermont public that backed them up.  It's the sort of thing that makes me glad we live here.

You can read the original Seven Days article here.

Best Read, First Time Category: Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast

via Amazon

I guess I'm a sucker for books about aging and death.  I still recommend Atul Gawande's Being Mortal to any and all.  In her graphic memoir Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, Roz Chast shares her experiences in dealing with her parents.  The story is neither pretty nor sweet.  There is pain, frustration and struggle at every stage.  As my own parents grow older, these are the sort of things I think about all the time.  Chast's book was a meaningful find.

  

Best Re-Read: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

via Amazon

I have a love-hate relationship with R&J.  On the one hand, I feel the double suicide is one of the great narrative copouts in all of literature.  On the other, it is the play that made me fall in love with Shakespeare and it didn't happen until I was in my late 30s.  This past fall, I read it for pure pleasure, neither scholastic nor professional responsibilities involved.  Without a doubt, it is a masterpiece.

Best Comics Find: Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast

See above.

Athlete of the Year: Bernie Casey (1939-2017)

via Amazon

Bernie Casey played the role of Calvin Hudson in the DS9 two-parter The Maquis (see parts 1 and 2).  Long before that, he was a professional football player and a successful one at that.  He had a seven-year career in the NFL, playing as a halfback, flanker and tight end, first for the San Francisco 49ers, later for the Los Angeles Rams.  He made the Pro Bowl in 1967.  In addition, he was a champion hurdler in college.  

Best Family Adventure: Hot Water

Last year's adventure at Scandinave (see same category last year) turned us on to the pleasures of hot water bathing.  This year, we had three trips where spas and jacuzzis figured in the planning: two visits to Porches Inn in North Adams, Massachusetts and one to the extraordinary Balnea Spa in Bromont, Quebec.  I expect our new hobby will be a prominent theme in our future travels.  

On the Coffee Table: Thi Bui

Title: The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir

Writer and Artist: Thi Bui

via Amazon

In an extraordinary work of sequential art, Thi Bui documents her family's history through much of the 20th century to the present.  She shares all of the struggles through the wars - first with the French, then between the North and the South with the US taking the side of the latter - and beyond.  Her family made it to the States in 1978.

The Vietnam War had an enormous impact on American society.  Obviously, those who fought were affected deeply.  Television brought the battlefield right into civilian living rooms, affecting millions more.  Countless books have been written.  Academy Award-winning films and documentary mini-series were made.  Vietnam is, for many in the Baby Boomer generation, the defining event of their young adulthood.  

What is lost through nearly all of this storytelling is the Vietnamese perspective.  In American history, Vietnam is painted as the first war we lost because the expressed objectives were not achieved.  But who won, exactly?  Yes, thousands of American soldiers were killed.  But the Vietnamese deaths - both North and South - counted in the millions.  Never mind the long-term, catastrophic damage the American military brought to a primarily agricultural country in the form of napalm and Agent Orange.  Sure, the Communists marched into Saigon anyway but the damage exacted by the United States exceeded that suffered by the United States many times over.

Bui's narrative lays plain the realities.  She also makes clear, her family was fortunate to survive.

Her story isn't all war trauma.  The books starts with a quick, two-page history of Vietnam from 111 BC to 1975 AD.  Then we're taken to the labor ward of a New York hospital where Bui awaits the birth of her first child.  Throughout, the tale shifts back and forth between present and past.  It is the rare memoir that lives simultaneously - and successfully - in the personal, the familial, the local and the global.  For anyone interested in history, Asia and/or the immigrant experience, The Best We Could Do is highly recommended.

On the Coffee Table: Talk to My Back

Title: Talk to My Back

Writer and Artist: Yamada Murasaki

via Amazon

In 1981, Yamada Murasaki created a manga series for Garo magazine, an influential platform for alternative and avant-garde comics.  Talk to My Back depicts a woman navigating her difficult, though hardly unusual, relationships with her husband and their young children.  Murasaki accomplishes quite a lot with a little.  The artwork is sparse in the extreme.  Facial features are notably absent in many panels, enhancing the loneliness of the protagonist's world.

Feminism has a much quieter voice in Japan than it does in the West.  Women wanting to be more than wives and mothers has been a central message of American feminism at least since the publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique in 1963.  Even by the time I was in Japan in the mid-to-late '90s, typical views were archaic.  

Quiet, however, does not mean subtle.  Talk to My Back is a powerful work.  There's no mistaking the resentment and isolation revealed.   And I'm confident there are women throughout the world who often find themselves in similar emotional circumstances.  Unreasonable expectations are placed on women, period - in the home, in the workplace, in society at large. 

Don't think so?  What was one of the first criticisms leveled at Kamala Harris when she became the presumptive Democratic nominee for President?  She has no children.  No politician would ever dare hold that against a man.  Harris is a woman so evidently it's okay.  It's disgusting.  Thankfully, the Republican ticket seems to be suffering a political price for their idiotic and hateful rhetoric.

Yeah, I know I've promised to keep the Squid apolitical but seriously, if you're not yet convinced that Donald Trump shouldn't be President, I don't even know where to start with you.  Hate mongering is not politics.  It's just gross.

I'm getting off topic (sort of).  Talk to My Back gives you a lot to think about regardless of your sex, gender or political affiliation.  Or at least, it should.  It's the sort of work that should make you uncomfortable.  I won't ever claim to be a perfect husband.  I know my wife feels unappreciated at times and she's right to, not because I don't try but because too often, I don't think.  Reading a book like this is an important kick in the pants.

If this sort of book "offends" you, well, I'm not sure where to start.  It's a book I feel everyone should read.  It gets to the heart of why families - all families - are difficult, and likely more so for the women involved.

On the Coffee Table: Manga Yokai Stories

Title: Manga Yokai Stories: Ghostly Tales from Japan

Original Author: Lafcadio Hearn

Adapted for manga by: Sean Michael Wilson

Artist: Inko Ai Takita

via Amazon

In the early twentieth century, Irish-Greek writer Lafcadio Hearn compiled and translated Japanese folk tales for an English-language readership, an important development in conveying Japanese culture to the West.  Hearn favored yokai tales, essentially ghost stories.  Sean Michael Wilson and Inko Ai Takita have adapted several from his collection to manga form.

Death is a taboo subject in Japanese culture.  The worst swears and insults refer to death in much the way they pertain to bodily functions in the Anglo world.  So even though I'm not into horror stories per se, I appreciate these for the perspective on Japanese views of death.  Themes include guilt, obsession and lust.  The most vengeful ghosts are the ones who were dishonored in life - not so different from Western tropes.  

The real treat is Inko Ai Takita's stunning artwork:

via Amazon

I would love to be able to read the stories in the original Japanese.  I always wonder what is lost in translation.  Alas, I have not the skills.  I guess adaptations will have to do.

On the Coffee Table: Yani Hu

Title: Udon Noodle Soup: Little Tales for Little Things

Writer and Artist: Yani Hu

via Amazon

Udon Noodle Soup is a graphic-novel collection of short stories by Chinese-born creator Yani Hu.  As clearly indicated by the subtitle, the subjects are the simple objects that connect people in a life: the flavor of a soup, the warmth of a hand-knit sweater, a used toothbrush, a thoughtful gift, a soccer jersey.  

I was born a sentimental old fool so stories like these tug at me.  I don't let go of anything or anyone easily.  Held onto tchotchkes for way too long because they remind me of people?  Yes, I've done that.  Remembered old friends decades past the point when they've likely and understandably forgotten all about me?  All the time.  There are morals in Hu's tales, too, reminders of how cruel we can be to those who are unexpectedly generous.  It's easy to feel sorry for oneself in life - put upon, even victimized.  It's important to remember the moments we've been on the receiving end of more kindness than we've deserved.

Udon Noodle Soup is a soothing, quick read with beautiful, manga-style artwork.  It's Hu's first work in English.  I'll keep an eye out for more.

Star Trek: Ex Post Facto

Episode: "Ex Post Facto"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 1, Episode 8

Original Air Date: February 27, 1995

via Memory Alpha

Tom Paris has committed murder, or so the Banea would have us all believe.  While visiting the Banean homeworld, Paris and Kim meet a physicist, Tolen Ren, and asks him for help in repairing Voyager's collimator.  The accommodating Dr. Ren invites his new friends to his home for dinner where they meet his beautiful wife, Lidell.  Playboy Tom instantly falls for her and naturally, that's where the trouble begins.  The doctor is killed and Tom stands accused on the strength of damning evidence.  The victim's own memories of the crime are replayed at the trial.  The punishment is cruel.  Those same memories are implanted in Tom's brain where he will experience them every 14 hours for the rest of his life.

Obviously, all of this eventually gets sorted out cleverly and Tom is absolved.  Tuvok plays the Holmes/Poirot sleuth role.  The final clue is derived directly from Arthur Conan Doyle's 1892 short story, "The Adventure of Silver Blaze," included in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.  

"Ex Post Facto" is, in many ways, a rehash of the NextGen Season 3 episode "A Matter of Perspective," in turn inspired by Rashomon, the Kurosawa masterpiece.  However, there are important differences.  There's no attempted rape element this time which significantly reduces the ickiness.  Also, while Riker is technically acquitted, Manua, who accused him of trying to rape her, genuinely believed she was attacked.  Even Counselor Troi acknowledges that.  So his "innocence" is not 100% clear.  While Tom certainly comes off as a cad in this week's story, no one accuses him of rape.

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Ethan Phillips (Neelix) was born in Garden City, New York, February 8, 1955.  His father was the owner of Frankie & Johnnie's a Manhattan steakhouse, originally a speakeasy.  Phillips studied at Boston University and Cornell.

Phillips's stage resume is impressive, even by Star Trek standards.  During a revival of Eccentricities of a Nightingale, legendary playwright Tennessee Williams wrote a new monologue for Phillips.  He performed in Measure for Measure with Kevin Kline.  He was in the Broadway premier of My Favorite Year.  His stage work has continued post-Trek, appearing in the premier of David Mamut's November, Best Play Tony winner All the Way and the Broadway premier of Junk: The Golden Age of Debt.

Before Voyager, Phillips, like René Auberjonois, was in the principal cast of Benson, playing Pete Downey for five seasons.  He also made guest appearances on L.A. Law, JAG and Star Trek: The Next Generation as the Ferengi doctor Farek in "Ménage à Troi."  Films include Ragtime, Lean on Me and Green Card.  

Star Trek: Defiant

Episode: "Defiant"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 3, Episode 9

Original Air Date: November 21, 1994

via Memory Alpha

Will Riker comes to visit the station!  Or does he?  When the handsome man asks Major Kira for a tour of the Defiant, he attacks and kidnaps her, then steals the ship.  It's not Will at all.  It's Tom Riker.  Will's transporter-generated clone is with the Maquis now.  Neither the Federation nor the Cardassians are the least bit pleased that the terrorists now hold such a powerful weapon.

While the Tom Riker story is a good one, for me, the real fun of the episode is the ensuing chess match that plays out between Commander Sisko and Gul Dukat as they work together to rein in the Defiant.  Though truly, it's a four-player game involving Sisko, Dukat, Tom and the Obsidian Order, represented in the Cardassian War Room by Korinas (Tricia O'Neil).  Sisko's role is based on Henry Fonda's character in the 1964 movie Fail Safe.  Unfortunately, Star Trek has never brought Tom back again, despite promises to the contrary by Kira.

For the record, their kiss at the end is completely gratuitous.

Acting Notes

via Scandal Wiki

Shannon Cochran plays Kalita, one of Tom's Maquis collaborators.  "Defiant" is her second of four Trek appearances, her second and last as Kalita.  She was born in Savannah, Georgia, August 7, 1958.  Beyond Star Trek, she has made guest appearances on NYPD Blue, Full House and The Office among others.  Films include The Babe, The Ring and Star Trek: Nemesis.

During filming of "Defiant," Cochran met her future husband, Michael Canavan.  Canavan played Tamal, Kalita's Maquis shipmate.  The couple were married in 2003.

On the Coffee Table: Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Title: Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories

Author: Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

via Amazon

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa is generally regarded as "the father of the Japanese short story."  His legacy was further strengthened by filmmaker Akira Kurosawa whose masterpiece Rashōmon combines the story of "In a Bamboo Grove" with elements (including the title) of "Rashōmon."  The film has had enormous impact, including on Star Trek's "A Matter of Perspective."  

The stories are highly varied.  Some are set in feudal Japan.  Others are more modern, some realistic, some with magical realism elements (an important influence on Haruki Murakami for one).  Many of his later autobiographical works are included in a section entitled Akutagawa's Own Story.  

Akutagawa was likely schizophrenic, though he was never officially diagnosed as such.  He certainly suffered troubling hallucinations and finally killed himself.  He was quite frank about his mental illness struggles in his writing.  Many of his earlier works reveal a deep morbid fascination, unsettling in light of his eventual self-inflicted death.  The most memorable story for me, Hell Screen, is also the most disturbing.  Master painter Yoshihide insists on seeing the images he must paint, no matter how horrible, including watching his own daughter burn to death in a carriage.

Akutagawa's work is certainly compelling - high quality literature, though in light of the disturbing content, I was glad to finish.

Star Trek: Tribunal

Episode: "Tribunal"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 2, Episode 25

Original Air Date: June 5, 1994

via Memory Beta

The O'Briens are going on vacation.  Unfortunately, en route, they are stopped by a Cardassian patrol.  Miles is arrested, charges unknown, and brought to Cardassia Prime.  As we know from earlier stories, criminal trials are mere formalities for the Cardassians, the accused already deemed guilty in advance.  In time, we learn that Miles is being charged with smuggling photon torpedoes to the Maquis.  His friends back at the station have to work quickly to prove he's been framed.

"Tribunal" provides our first meaningful visit to the Cardassian homeworld.  The repressive society is inspired by George Orwell's 1984.  As expected, the trial (based on Franz Kafka's The Trial) is a sham.  Truth and justice are irrelevant.  Instead, the exercise, broadcast to the masses, is orchestrated to bolster pride in the state.  Miles's Public Conservator (attorney) is not expected to prove anything.  Instead, he coaches his client through the theatrics: when to cry, when to beg for mercy, etc.  Thankfully, Odo elbows his way into the proceedings to provide what one would expect for a defense - or at least to stall long enough to make it to the Perry Mason-esque reveal that saves the day in the end.

Worthy of note: one quite reasonably expects that once Odo is on the scene, he'll use his shapeshifting abilities to help Miles escape but that's not how it pans out.  Of course, the Cardassian authorities would know of Odo's particular talents already so they might not provide the advantage they would under other circumstances.

The episode has a lot to recommend it.  There's meaningful development for Miles, Keiko and Odo.  The glimpse of Cardassia Prime is important.  Colm Meany gets to flex his thespian muscles.  The guest actors are strong.  It's also the DS9 directorial debut for Avery Brooks.

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Fritz Weaver played the role of Kovat, the Public Conservator.  Weaver was born in Pittsburgh, January 19, 1926.  He was a conscientious objector during World War II, working in the Civilian Public Service.  He started acting in the '50s.  

Weaver was especially successful on stage, winning a Tony in 1970 for his performance in Child's Play.  He also got a Tony nomination for The Chalk Garden in 1956.  In 2010, he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame - I didn't even know there was one.  

Weaver's television career spanned four decades, particularly in science fiction.  Beyond Trek, he made guest appearances in The Twilight Zone (in both the '60s and the '80s), Night Gallery and The X-Files.  He was nominated for an Emmy for his performance in the miniseries Holocaust in 1978.  Films include Fail Safe, Marathon Man and The Thomas Crown Affair (1999).

Fritz Weaver was married twice.  He had two children from his first marriage.  He passed away in 2016 at the age of 90.

On the Coffee Table: Mohsin Hamid

Title: Exit West

Author: Mohsin Hamid

via Target

Nadia and Saeed are young professionals in an unnamed, predominantly Muslim country (Hamid is Pakistani though he never identifies the nation as such).  The two meet and fall in love just as civil war breaks out.  Eventually, they are forced to leave through magic doors to lands far distant: first the Greek island of Mykonos, then London, finally northern California.  Through them, we see the broad view of the refugee experience.

There's no shortage of harsh tales about refugee camps.  I highly recommend the work of Joe Sacco, for instance.  Exit West isn't like that.  The story follows the two lovers as they do their best to live a normal life through it all.  There is poverty and plenty of violence.  While the protagonists occasionally walk into difficult situations, the author always pulls the punch before they come to any real harm.  It can feel like a cop out but in a way, it's refreshing.  The refugee life is not painted as disastrous.  It is a difficult path millions tread every day.  But it's not a death sentence.

That said, the instantly teleporting doors themselves - really the only element of magical realism in the book - do feel like a shorthand so Hamid doesn't have to write about the migration experience itself.  The same basic narrative could have been told without them.

Through it all is the story of young love.  The two fall in love and eventually fall out of it.  That story, too, could have been told without the trappings of the refugee experience.  I suppose the reverse is also true - their story could have been told about a family, a pair of friends, a single person, etc.  But in this case, the love story contributes to the sense of normalcy.  While their migration complicates things, they are still also just two people figuring out how/if to fit into one another's lives.  

I've tabbed the post as "children's literature" as our child was assigned to read it their senior year of high school.  Both sex and drugs are part of the couple's experience though nothing is graphic or explicit.  So, it's a good read for an older, thoughtful teenager on up.