Dude With Thoughts: The Book

Well, I always had it in mind. And now, it's happened. This blog is now a book.

Chock full of updated and expanded essays taken from this blog and other sources, this 120 page book  also includes full color pictures and a list of selected websites.

Published on the CreateSpace platform, it is printed on demand and is also available on Kindle.

So, if you still believe in the power of an old fashioned book, pick up Dude With Thoughts: The Book! Available now for $17.00 for the book and Kindle for $3.00.

Movie Review: Mitt

When I started this blog, I promised myself that I would  purposely keep it non-political; there’s enough of that in plenty of other places.  With this writing, I will endeavor to keep that promise and simply do a movie review.  

With that said, Mitt isn't about politics. It’s about a family man, Mitt Romney, trying to successfully complete the most time-intensive, expensive, and grueling job interview in the country.

In this fly-on-the-wall documentary,  produced by One Potato Productions for Netflix, director  Greg Whiteley  gives us an inside look at the family life of a presidential candidate. We on the outside see only the glamour---the lights, cameras, and private planes. But behind all that is a long running string of take-out food, hotel rooms, and sleeping in buses.

The film follows Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts who first came to national prominence after taking over leadership of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, on both of his presidential campaigns. We also meet his wife Anne, sons, and daughters-in-law. Various campaign workers and others make cameos.

Family means everything to the Romneys. The entire clan is in on almost every decision from deciding to run through writing concession speeches.  Mitt owes it all to his father, George. While looking over Romney's notes for the first debate with President Obama, eldest son Tagg asks why he writes 'Dad' at the top of the page. "It's to remind me of my father, " Mitt answers. "Where I came from. Dad grew up poor but worked up to own a car company and then governor [of Michigan].  I have to remember that."

Whiteley does very little interviewing, he just lets the raw footage speak for itself. One interview, however, results in one of several comedic moments in the film.  During a South Carolina campaign stop in 2008, the hotel desk clerk is asked if they knew which candidate was staying in their hotel. He and a co-worker look through the records and eventually figure out it’s Romney. “I never heard of him,” he says.

Another funny scene takes place the night of  the  2012 Correspondent's Dinner, the annual tuxedo-and-ball gown Washington tradition where all the politicians and other Washington elite gather to make fun of themselves and the press. First, Romney tries to iron his tuxedo shirt cuff----while he's wearing it. Then, at dinner, he gets a big laugh: "You wear many outfits on the campaign trail, " he says. "Maybe jeans in the morning, a suit in the afternoon. But it's nice that Anne and I get a chance tonight to wear what we wear around the house."

After the good times of the dinner, we cut to Election Night 2012. Things are looking good, but then they look bad. Mitt and family watch as one state after the next is called for the president. And so it goes late into the night. Romney is getting nervous.

Although the West Coast polls are still open, they realize that statistically, it all comes down to Ohio. A few minutes later, the news comes in......Ohio is lost. The family is both relieved and disappointed--relieved that it's over; disappointed that Dad lost....again.

After writing the concession speech, there's only one decision left to make:  What to do about the Secret Service. It is decided that they will drive Mitt and Anne home, and that's it. "I wouldn't feel comfortable with them doing any more after that." Mitt says.  And so the film ends. Anne and Mitt carry their own bags into the house, and Mitt goes into the living room, a man alone with the rest of his life ahead of him.

The film won't change any minds on the politics of Romney, you either love him or hate him. But it is a very well done documentary.  It is an unprecedented look at what life is like on the campaign trail through the eyes of not just the candidate, but his family.  It's a very select group that gets to have such an experience, and thanks to  Whiteley and his crew, we get to experience it too.

Book Review: The Casual Vacancy

JK Rowling
The Casual Vacancy
Pub. Little, Brown & Co., 1st Ed. Sept. 2012
Hardcover, 503 pages


Rowling starts her first novel in the post-Harry Potter era with a death in a parking lot: Barry Fairbrother, a council member of the Parish of Pegford. Fairbrother, who was going into a restaurant with his wife Mary, has an aneurysm. This creates the "casual vacancy"--a sudden opening on the Parish Council. The news quickly travels through town, and thus the story begins.

The election of Fairbrother's replacement will have an effect on  the parish for generations to come. It all started 60 years before, when the local estate deeded some land to Pegford. On that land a housing development, called The Fields, was built and over time The Fields had become a slum. The problem is this: Under the unusual deal, The Fields is under Pegford jurisdiction, and therefore the parish is responsible for the social services; meanwhile, the neighboring city of Yarvil has responsibility for the infrastructure. In the economic downturn, Pegford can no longer afford to keep The Fields on. A border war has broken out, and at the same time a civil war wages on in the Council over this question: Keep The Fields, or redraw the border and make it part of Yarvil? This is what the election is all about: Will the new councilman be Pro- or Anti- Fields?

Ultimately, the novel--using the vehicle of the election campaign and other secondary stories--is about the people of Pegford and The Fields. We learn everything about them....everything....and that is my biggest issue with the book. The character detail may be useful for the author doing prep work sketches, but for the reader there is almost too much story. Perhaps if Rowling had stuck with the election and it's central issue--keep The Fields or cut it loose-- this would be a tighter book. I do believe she is a great storyteller who has created interesting characters, but it is overwhelming here. With careful editing, the novel could easily lose 20 or 30 pages and still have a strong enough plot. (For instance, cut everything about Andrew's crush on Gaia. As realistic a take it may be on how a 16 year old boy's mind works, it has no bearing on the main point.)  Rowling could always have come back to Pegford in future work.

The other thing, and this did take a little getting used to, is this is not your kids' Harry Potter. Billed as Rowling's first novel for adults, these pages are full to the brim with curse words, OCD issues, computer hacking, marital infidelity, rape, drug addition and recovery (and the funding of both), pedophilia, suicide, cutting, binge drinking, sex (both adult and teenage), domestic violence, and teenage pregnancy. It is almost as if Rowling had held so much back in trying to create a unique and relatively kid-friendly Potter universe, that the dam broke and it all spilled out here.

It is interesting to note, however, that the BBC has commissioned a TV series based on the book. I am curious to see how that turns out, as it may play better on screen than on paper. In fact Rowling herself has said that she thinks the best adaptation would be for television.

Overall, the election storyline is interesting--especially given that the US release was a mere two months ahead of our own election. But Rowling didn't need to put everything in one book. I can understand trying to do something different after living with Harry Potter for 10 years, but she should have paced herself a little. Good effort, but my final grade is...C.