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John Taylor recommended Monterey Pop (1968) in Movies (curated)

 
Monterey Pop (1968)
Monterey Pop (1968)
1968 |
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"Take great care with this documentary film of an all-day concert staged by John Phillips in small-town Monterey, California, for it holds within it the greatest single performance by any electric-music instrumentalist you have ever seen, or are likely to: the U.S. debut of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Known as the man who revolutionized the electric guitar, Jimi Hendrix appears onstage in this film a man possessed. As David Bowie sang in “Ziggy Stardust”: “He could lick ’em by smiling/ He could leave ’em to hang/ They came on so loaded, man/ Well hung and snow-white tan/ . . . He was the nazz/ With God-given ass/ He took it all too far/ But boy could he play guitar.” Never will you see a performance so sensual. There are many great films to be found of Jimi playing, but none to rival this. In Monterey Pop, there are many performances worth watching, seminal, even—Janis Joplin, Otis Redding among them—but they are all just warm-up acts to Jimi, the greatest rock-and-roll star to ever tread the boards."

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Boy, Snow, Bird
Boy, Snow, Bird
Helen Oyeyemi | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A girl named Boy, a girl named Snow and a girl named Bird. Three unique names for three unique individuals. It's 1953 and Boy is living in New York, the daughter of a rat catcher. She has never known her mother. Boy "was a girl with a white-blonde pigtail hanging down over one shoulder..." When life with her father got to be too much, she packed her stuff and moved to the farthest place she could get on the bus, Flax Hill, CT.

Quickly, Boy made friends and met a man, Arturo Whitman. Arturo has a daughter named Snow, who the whole town adored. Shortly after Arturo and Boy are married, she becomes pregnant. When she gives birth to her daughter, Bird, the Whitman family secrets soon come to light.

There is an underlying theme in this book with mirrors. The women claim that they do not "see" themselves in them. Is it because they are ghosts? Or is it that their family secrets run so deep that they find it hard to see themselves as they really are?

This book reminded me of books I had to read for school. I enjoyed the storyline as a whole, but reading it, I felt as though there were questions I was supposed to be searching the answers for instead of just enjoying the book. There are so many secrets throughout the entire book with the biggest secret coming at the end. Told in three sections by Boy, Bird, and then Boy again, this is very interesting story about race in the north in the 50's and 60's.
  
Boy, Snow, Bird
Boy, Snow, Bird
Helen Oyeyemi | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A girl named Boy, a girl named Snow and a girl named Bird. Three unique names for three unique individuals. It's 1953 and Boy is living in New York, the daughter of a rat catcher. She has never known her mother. Boy "was a girl with a white-blonde pigtail hanging down over one shoulder..." When life with her father got to be too much, she packed her stuff and moved to the farthest place she could get on the bus, Flax Hill, CT.

Quickly, Boy made friends and met a man, Arturo Whitman. Arturo has a daughter named Snow, who the whole town adored. Shortly after Arturo and Boy are married, she becomes pregnant. When she gives birth to her daughter, Bird, the Whitman family secrets soon come to light.

There is an underlying theme in this book with mirrors. The women claim that they do not "see" themselves in them. Is it because they are ghosts? Or is it that their family secrets run so deep that they find it hard to see themselves as they really are?

This book reminded me of books I had to read for school. I enjoyed the storyline as a whole, but reading it, I felt as though there were questions I was supposed to be searching the answers for instead of just enjoying the book. There are so many secrets throughout the entire book with the biggest secret coming at the end. Told in three sections by Boy, Bird, and then Boy again, this is very interesting story about race in the north in the 50's and 60's.
  
Snow like Ashes
Snow like Ashes
Sara Raasch | 2014 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
7
8.4 (14 Ratings)
Book Rating
The world-building in this book is fascinating. At first, it seems like yet another YA novel about displaced royals trying to win back their kingdom, but this royal is in much more dire straits than most. Meira is a refugee living on the run with seven others, one of them her rightful King. All the rest of their people have been enslaved by the conquering country, and their kingdom's link to the magic inherent in the land has been broken.

A little backdrop is needed. In Meira's land, there are eight countries. The Rhythm countries, where seasons proceed as normal, and the Seasons - 4 countries locked in one season each. The rulers of each country have a magic conduit that lets them feed magic to their people - but the conduits are gender-locked. In four of the countries, only women can use the conduit; in the other four, only men. Meira and her little band are all that's left of the free people of Winter. Spring invaded sixteen years ago, killed Winter's queen, broke the locket that was their magic conduit (each ruler has one) and enslaved their people. Because the queen only had a son, he can't wield Winter's magic anyway. They're still trying to find the two pieces of the locket so when he has a daughter, she can wield it. You'd think at this point, since he's of age, he should be trying to get as many women pregnant as possible to up the odds of getting a royal heir who can wield the magic, but that...doesn't come up.

The book does delve into the country's people being oppressed, used as slaves, and being incredibly abused by the conquering country, and this is where I ran into a quandary. The Season's people reflect their countries: Autumn's people have copper skin, Spring's citizens are blond-haired and green-eyed - and Winter's people are white. Pale skin, snow-white hair, blue eyes. Writing white people as the oppressed people just rubs me the wrong way. (In that false "help I'm being oppressed because other people want equal rights!" kind of way.) Yes, this is fantasy, yes, it has nothing to do with our world's politics - but it bothers me. It's at least not white-savioring, as Meira's trying to save her own people, but I don't know. Is it better or worse to write white people as the oppressed protagonists?

That question aside, this was a well-written novel of fighting against an oppressor. There is definitely still work to be done at the end of the book, and there are two more books, as well as two short stories. While I am a little curious what ultimately happens, I don't know if the series has earned more time on my reading list.

You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
  
This is supposed to be a Snow White retelling but I really couldn’t see it. Regardless, it’s an erotic fairytale retelling which is right up my alley. It’s heavy on the erotica while still having enough plot to push the story forward. Normally I would be aggravated that this story is divided into three parts but I knew that going in and already had the rest of the story so I didn’t have to wait for the rest.

I love friends to lovers stories, especially childhood friends. I would like to say I enjoyed the premise to this story but honestly I thought it was stupid. I wish I had better word but there it is. Now you may be saying “but you knew that going in!” Honestly, I was hoping it was going to be a menage. I guess it was just wishful thinking, because what I got instead was the age old “hey let me ask my male friend how to seduce this other male but wait my friend wants me” trope.

All in all, definitely worth the read.