Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All by Christina Thompson

Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All is both a history and a memoir wrapped in a unique little package. It's a story of both Christina Thompson's marriage to a Maori man and the history of the relationship between the Paheka (Europeans), Maoris, and other Polynesians. It's also an observation of how the perceptions the Paheka have of the Maori and vice versa have shaped those cultures since the first meeting of Maoris and Paheka.

The book succeeds quite well as a history. Thompson's approach to the history of the relationship of the two cultures is both informative and engaging. Where the book gets a little more shaky is as a memoir. At times I could relate to Thompson's description of the pull she felt towards the South Pacific as I too have felt a similar pull. But at other times when writing about her life, Thompson came across as so detached from what was going on that she seemed to be more an observer than a participant in her own life.

From an anthropological standpoint, this actually works quite well and certainly to Thompson's benefit. Yet at the same time it left me wondering whether she was actually living her life or was merely along for the ride, content to watch. While I felt a connection to Thompson early on, as the book progressed her writing style seemed to grow increasingly more detached. I almost felt as if I was watching the shift first hand, from participant to observer of one's own life.

There are certainly benefits to objectivity and for a history book, objectivity is certainly something to strive for. But in a memoir, generally readers prefer to feel some connection to or empathy for the author and when an author is too objective that connection becomes increasingly more difficult to make.

With all that said, this is still a book I would recommend as Thompson raises excellent and intriguing points and questions. In a letter to her three sons which she included in the book she even goes so far as to say:

“in each of you is a little bit of the conqueror and the conquered, the colonizer and the colonized.”

How does one reconcile being the child of both a culture that was ravaged by European conquest and the child of the European culture that ravaged them? And how do mixed culture parents raise children in such an environment?

In the end, as much as I enjoyed this book, I feel I would have enjoyed it considerably more had it been a bit more personal and a bit less detached. The connection I felt with Thompson early in the book faded as the book progressed. The history was intriguing, the questions raised were thought provoking, but in a memoir there should be a bit more of an emotional investment on the part of the reader. But it's the obligation of the author to create that connection. And while Thompson certainly created that connection, I found it to be much weaker than with other memoirs that I've read.

Related Links
Come On Shore (official website)
Come On Shore And We Will Kill and Eat You All (Amazon.com)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

This film is absolutely beautiful to look at. The cinematography is absolutely brilliant, nearly every frame is a work of photographic art.

The acting is exceptional. Casey Affleck's Oscar nomination was very well deserved. He appointed himself excellently in every scene in which he graced the screen.

That being said, I couldn't help but feel I was watching a western version of The Talented Mr. Ripley, Robert Ford came across as a bit of an overzealous, stalker/sociopath-- the equivalent of Matt Damon's Tom Ripley, with Brad Pitt playing the hair-trigger tempered Jesse James (Jude Law's Dickie Greenleaf).

The plot was plodding at best, even with speeding up portions of the film to 1.5 speed the film at times STILL felt as though it were dragging. Then again, the movie handicapped itself with its own title. Even if one didn't know the story of Jesse James, the very title gives away the ending. One can only hope that the filmmakers stop while they're ahead and forego a The Assassination of Robert Ford by the Coward Ed O'Kelley or possibly even The Assassination of Ed O'Kelley by the Police Officer Joe Burnett.

The film gets 2 stars: 1 for cinematography, 1 for Casey Affleck's acting. This is a great film to watch if you're suffering from insomnia and would prefer to avoid taking Ambien, Lunesta, or any other pharmaceutical sleep aids. In fact, I'm surprised Big Pharmaceutical didn't put the k'bosh on this film as it is a far more effective sleep aid than any of their medical alternatives.

Crazy '08 by Cait Murphy

Dynasty is not a word one would generally use to describe the Chicago Cubs. But in the first decade of the twentieth century they were just that...

Between 1906 and 1910 the Chicago Cubs appeared in the World Series four times (missing the series only in 1909), winning twice (1907 and 1908).

While the 1908 World Series was a bit of a snore with the Cubs handily defeating the Detroit Tigers in five games, the season and National League pennant race leading up to that Series was a nailbiter right to the very end with the Cubs, NY Giants, and Pittsburgh Pirates all in stiff competition for the NL pennant.

Crazy '08 is the story of that season.

Murphy's writing truly stands out. You can hear the cracks of the bats, the roars and jeers of the crowds, you can see in your minds eye the minutae of every game Murphy describes. You truly feel as though you're at the Polo Grounds or West Side Park (the predecessor to Wrigley Field). You can feel the wind on every pitch by "Matty" (Christy Mathewson) or "Three-Finger" Brown.

Crazy '08 isn't just a book, it's a time machine to the oft overlooked deadball era of baseball when the homeruns may have been few and far between, pitchers were iron-men who would not only pitch full games-- but sometimes even double-headers, and the game was much more fast-paced (some games wrapped up in as little as 72 minutes) and relied much more on offensive and defensive strategies as a result.

In addition to chronicling the 1908 baseball season, Murphy also describes the events of the day to put the reader within the context of the times. Making the book not just a snapshot of the deadball era of baseball, but of the events of 1908 in general.

If you only ever read one book about baseball Crazy '08 should be at the top of your list.

United 93

This weekend my wife & I went to see United 93. I felt like I was reliving September 11th. Initially, I wanted to be there with those people before they got on that plane. I wanted to relive, even if just for a few minutes, what life was like before the world was turned upside down.

My wife & I were watching the people boarding and wanting to just scream "DON'T GET ON THE PLANE!" Watching with frustration as the Air Traffic Controllers tried to figure out what was going on with all of the hijacked planes and watching in shock as the 2nd plane struck the 2nd tower.

I still remember that day-- it was a Tuesday, I had the day off but for some reason I got up around 8:30 am, quite early for a day off. I remember I logged on to check my email and saw a Yahoo headline saying "click here for the latest on the World Trade Center Bombing." Which really puzzled me, "what latest? The World Trade Center was bombed back in 1993! What possible new information could there be now?" I thought to myself. So clicked on the link and saw a picture of the World Trade Center with smoke billowing out the top of it. I knew something wasn't right-- The WTC had been bombed from its base in 1993, I'd NEVER seen any photos with smoke billowing out the top of either of the buildings.

So I jumped, yes literally jumped out of my chair, ran to the TV and turned it on and watched in horror as they replayed the footage of the 2nd plane striking the second tower. And then the news of the Pentagon, followed by news that the State Department was being evacuated due to a suspected bomb threat there. "What the hell is happening to my country?" I'd never seen my nation in such chaos, such confusion and panic. I remember watching in disbelief as each of the two towers came crashing down.

My wife and I sat there and cried through most of the film, clutching each others hands with white knuckles wishing desperately for a different ending than the one which we knew was coming. We watched as the passengers of United 93 formulated a plan and prevented 9/11 from becoming an even more disastrous day that it ended up being. And as the film blacked out at the end-- dead silence at first followed by a few scattered sniffles. No one said a word. Everyone stayed in their seats letting it all sink in and then-- slowly, quietly, everyone stood and filed out of the theater. Everyone was a little red and puffy around their eyes, some people were just nodding in disbelief-- still in shock that this had actually happened. It's been nearly five years now, and it still seems so unreal... so surreal.

Some will say, it's still too soon. Not enough time has passed. But if we let too much time pass, we will forget... and if we forget what happened on 9/11/01 WILL happen again-- and next time it could be worse.

Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook by Martin Dugard

Captain Cook was the epitome of sea captains. He was also an anomaly in a nation of rigid class structure. The England of eighteenth century was one in which only those of noble birth could ever hope of becoming captains in the Royal Navy. Despite the odds being heavily stacked against him and turning his back on what would have been a far more financially lucrative career as a commercial sea captain, Cook started over from scratch in the Royal Navy.

He rose through the ranks, and against all odds, in a politically volatile climate he betrayed the odds and was given command of the HMS Bark Endeavour-- his mission, to find the Antarctic continent and to map the transit of Venus across the path of the sun-- an astronimical event which happens only once every century which would allow sailors to navigate by the stars with far greater accuracy than they ever had before.

A bit of an adventure junkie himself, Martin Dugard, chose Captain Cook as his subject matter in his quest to determine what drives men of adventure to forsake the comforts of normalcy, the wife, the kids, the white picket fence, in favor of a life of exploration and adventure to lands never before seen by western eyes.

It's Dugard's adventurer's perspective which makes Farther Than Any Man an incredibly compelling read. History books often come across as dry and boring, forsaking the humanity of history for the events, the facts, the dates, the times, and places. Farther Than Any Man does not fall prey to the same fate. Much like Laurence Bergreen's account of Magellan's circumnavigation, Over the Edge of the World, Farther Than Any Man reads like a novel. A story of man's against the odds rise to power and subsequent fall from grace. It also reads as a study in the power of our ego to both build us up and subsequently tear us back down-- how that ego is at times a blessing and at other times a curse.

At a mere 304 pages the book reads at a brisk and enjoyable pace and does not get bogged down by copious footnotes or endnotes. Although it's best to keep in mind that this is a journalist's account and not a historian's account of Cook's voyages, while it reads as briskly as Bergreen's Over the Edge of the World it's not nearly as well researched and thus one of the common complaints of the book is that many of the smaller details in the book are incorrect. As a result, unlike Over the Edge of the World which is likely to become the definitive book on Magellan's circumnavigation, Farther Than Any Man will only ever be considered an enjoyable and fanciful introduction to Captain James Cook. While it makes an enjoyable companion piece when reading of Cook's life and travels it is by no means a definitive work.

Over the Edge of the World by Laurence Bergreen

In 1519 the world was a much different place. It was believed that the waters of the "Ocean Sea" (as the Atlantic Ocean was known at the time) boiled at the equator, that magnetic rocks existed under the surface of the water which would pull the nails from the wooden ships-- sinking them almost instantly. Some people even held onto beliefs of mermaids and sea monsters. Histories had been written of fictitious rulers of foreign lands like Prester John-- stories which were taken as fact rather than fiction. These ideas were accepted, not just by the illiterate masses, but also by the learned scholars and scientists of the day.

Contrary to the teachings of many grade school textbooks, most people did know that the world was round-- even at the time of Columbus discovery in 1492. However, the cosmologists of the era (astronomers/astrologists) grossly underestimated the size of the Earth-- many by as much as fifty percent.

After many failed petitions to King Manuel of Portugal to fund a westward voyage to get to the Spice Islands in the Far East, Fernand de Magallenes-- or Ferdinand Magellan as he later came to be known renounced his King and turned to King Charles V of Spain for the financial backing he needed for his voyage. And so begins Bergreen's exceptional account of Magellan's circumnavigation.

Bergreen's writing brings Magellan to life. He's not just a name in a textbook. Where Magellan once was just a name in a textbook, Over the Edge of the World gives Magellan a personality and gives a far greater appreciation of Magellan's accomplishment.

There were so many reasons that Magellan's expedition should have been unsuccessful, and some may even argue that it was. The Armada de Moluccas left Seville with 5 ships and 250 men in 1519. Only one ship and 18 men would complete the journey in 1522. Magellan faced and quelled two mutinies. He dealt with starvation, scurvy, fierce storms, wanton lustful orgies between his men and the native women they encountered in South America and the Phillipines and for his ambition he paid with his own life.

Bergreen, however, owes a tremendous posthumous debt of gratitude to Magellan's fiercely loyal Venetian chronicler, Antonio de Pigafetta. Pigafetta kept a remarkable journal and log of the voyage. Pigafetta took it upon himself to learn the tongues of the native Patagonians, Moluccans, and other peoples the expedition encountered. So much care was put into Pigafetta's research and studying of native cultures it can even be said that he was a founding father of the science of anthropology. If not for Pigafetta's accounts Over the Edge of the World might have been a very different book had it been written at all.

The implications of Magellan's circumnavigation are farther reaching than many realize. Put to rest were the myths and erroneus tales from antiquity which had been accepted as fact for so long-- there were no magnetic rocks or boiling equatorial waters nor were there mermaids or sea monsters as once had been accepted. While Columbus had and pursued the idea first, Magellan's voyage fully realized Columbus' dream. Columbus died never truly realizing what exactly he'd accomplished. Magellan actually succeded in accomplishing what Columbus had set out to do. And in so doing he changed the way people looked at and understood the world around them.

A testament to the accomplishment-- a follow-up expedition was sent out shortly after the return of the Victoria (the only ship of the 5 to succcessfully complete the voyage, one other ship, the San Antonio was succecssfully mutinied and turned back to Spain before ever reaching the Pacific) with 5 much larger ships and 450 men-- only 1 ship and 8 men survived the follow-up expedition. It wasn't until Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world in the Golden Hind nearly 70 years later that Magellan's achievement was matched.

Tigerland (1999)

Every once in awhile there comes a film that's simple and understated which manages to not only entertain you but also make you think. Such is the case with Tigerland. Before he was one of Hollywood's favorite "bad boys" and one of Jay Leno's most regularly expletive-laced and bleeped out guests, Colin Farrell got his start in this uncharacteristically low-key Joel Schumacher (ruiner of the early 90s Batman franchise) film.

The film is narrated by Private Jim Paxton (Matt Davis) who enlisted so he could write about the War first hand. A young idealist, the war for him holds the mystique and mystery of all the old John Wayne movies he grew up watching in his youth. The film starts as Paxton meets Private Roland Bozz (Colin Farrell). Bozz is the realistic counterpoint to Paxton's idealistic tendencies. Unlike Paxton, Bozz was drafted and has no interest in going to Vietnam.

Much to the chagrin of Bozz's superiors, he shows tremendous leadership skills and abilities that instead of using to lead the other privates in his group, he opts to use that cunning to help a few of the privates get discharged-- saving them from going overseas to serve in the war.

Despite their distinct differences Paxton and Bozz form a very close friendship and tight bond. And when given the opportunity to desert and flee to Mexico or stay and be shipped off to Vietnam Bozz is forced to choose-- if he defects it only means someone else will end up serving in his place-- a bullet that might be meant for him might instead take the life of another-- that someone could be his friend Paxton.

With as many movies as there are about Vietnam and despite the fact that this whole movie is set in the US before the soldiers even get sent over, this is easily the best Vietnam film I've seen since Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. Setting the film at Tigerland, the infamous final stop for training of US soldiers, before shipping off to Vietnam, sets it apart from many other films which tackled this subject matter, giving a tired genre a fresh voice and perspective.