The Hate U Give (2018)

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This movie comes from a book of the same title, and while there are a number of aspects of the presentation of the film that might increase defensiveness about racial bias in viewers, it is well worth watching.  The central event is a police killing of an unarmed black youth in a routine traffic stop.  Starr is the heroine, who witnessed the shooting and was the only witness for the grand jury investigation.  She is black and from a poor neighborhood where the drug dealers are the center of power and control.  She is from an intact family, but her father was in prison in the past, and had an affair that produced a child.  Her mother is committed to getting her and her brother out of poverty, and towards that, Starr goes to a private school on a scholarship.  So by day she is trying to fit in at school and at home she is trying to stay out of trouble.  The witnessing of a cop killing was part of the later, and it serves to focus her anger about being constantly judged based on the color of her skin.  Her uncle, who is black and a cop, tells her he also does the same racial profiling as the white cop who killed her friend.  She gets involved in activism around the violence in her community, but at the same time she feels more alienated from her peers at school.  It has all the elements of what the barriers are to change, and is very well done.

From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan

This was long listed for the Booker Prize, and is from an acclaimed Irish novelist. 
The novel is divided into four sections, the first three of which feature characters whose stories initially appear to have no relationship to each other. Farouk is a Syrian refugee, escaping his homeland with his wife and daughter for what he hopes will be a brighter future in western Europe. Ryan keeps the pace deliberately slow, with long, dense paragraphs that are as absorbing as they are convincing. An educated man and a doctor, Farouk’s story develops in a manner that I suspect is painfully familiar to anyone who has been forced to flee the country of their birth under cover of night.

The next two sections find Ryan on more recognisable terrain. A young man, Lampy, recovering from his first broken heart, lives with his mother and grandfather while working in a care home, driving old people to and from hospital on a private bus. The tone switches dramatically here but the reader quickly warms to Lampy’s brutally honest, moving and often hilarious narrative. Finally, there is the elderly John, an accountant and lobbyist filled with remorse over a failed relationship with a much younger woman. Ultimately he is not a good person.  The last quarter of the book ties the three of them together.  Beautifully written.

April Rain Song by Langston Hughes

Let the rain kiss you.

Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.

Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.

The rain makes running pools in the gutter.

The rain plays a little sleep-song on our roof at night—

And I love the rain.

For this April, I am hoping for not too much rain.  Not enough rain to cause flooding in our already saturated Midwest.  Enough to sprout flowers and to start the vegetables on their way to being bountiful.  Enough for the birds, but not too much for the rivers.  That is my hope for April.

Yulin Caves, Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China

 These caves are fewer in number and off the beaten path from Dunhuang.  They are very beautiful and distinctly different from the Mogao Caves.
The Yulin Grottoes, whose 1000-year construction spanned the Northern Wei (CE 386-533) to the Qing (CE 1644-1911) Dynasties, but the most interesting thing about the Yulin Grottoes is that they contain works belonging to the Western Xia (CE 1038-1227) Dynasty, aka the Tang Empire.   The painting of this period is distinctive in the prominent use of a light green pigment, and the combination of different cultural elements that might be expected of a non-native occupying force.

The Tanguts espoused a form of Buddhism that represents a hybrid mix of Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism, mixed with elements of animism, or the belief that all things, animate or inanimate, possess a spirit. The source of Tangut Buddhism's scriptures is the Chinese interpretation of Buddhism, translated into the Qiangic language of the Tanguts, though in practice, the Tanguts mixed elements of both the Chinese and the Tibetan interpretations of Buddhism, a development that is not at all surprising, given that the area occupied by the Western Xia Dynasty was formerly ruled by the Tibetans.

Mile 22 (2018)

As happens every March, the movies that i watch during this month are always just a little disappointing.  I have spent December, January, and February watching all of the Oscar nominees in every category, and some of the short listed movies that didn't quite make the final cut, and they are almost all really great.  I feel myself in touch with American pop culture for the briefest of times, and in love with going to the movies.  This year I even bought a refillable popcorn bucket, so excited was I by it all.
Then comes March, the month where even on the plane I look through the movies and I have seen practically all of them.  So on a recent Tanspacific flight I watched this movie--an action adventure movie that was perfect for the wine and dinner, soon to be followed by sleep and jetlag.  None the less, this was really just one long shoot out, where the object of protection is of somewhat dubious value and is unthankful for being saved and the lives it cost to do so.  Oh dear.  If one is seeking action, then this might fit the bill.  Otherwise skip over it.

Sabrina by Nick Drnaso

This book was long listed for the Booker prize this past year, which is of note because it is the first graphic novel to get the nod.  It didn't make the short list, but still, it is a start.
The world is a dangerous place we discover pretty quickly in this densely drawn novel.  It opens innocently enough, with a young woman cat-sitting for her parents. Her sister, Sandra, arrives for a brief visit, reminiscing about their parents, asking about her boyfriend, and soliciting some help with a crossword puzzle. Sandra mentions to her sister if she’d like to take a bicycle vacation along Lake Michigan later that summer. The two make a half-promise to do so and Sandra leaves. It will be the last time Sandra sees her sister.
From there, we are catapulted to a town in Colorado, where Calvin, an Air Force soldier, meets his childhood friend Teddy in the airport. He’s offering to put Teddy up for a while because, as we learn, Teddy’s girlfriend went missing a month before. Teddy, a quiet man-child who peers through shoulder-length blond hair, is shell-shocked and has little to say.  We go back and forth between the sad lives of each of the men, grappling with their problems in dysfunctional ways. 

Mogao Caves, Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China

On the edge of the Gobi Desert there are about 700 man made caves that have been dug into the hill side, about 400 of them painted inside, like this one on the left, with Buddhist altars within. 
These are truly amazing to see.  Photos do not capture their beauty.
We were only able to go into 14 of them, but they are larger than life and awe inspiring.  From the 4th to the 14th century, hundreds of caves were painstakingly hand carved out of the alluvial conglomerate rock cliff face, under the sponsorship of Buddhist monks, local officials, and wealthy families who wished to build karmic merit and perform an act of veneration. Although a Buddhist site, the art and objects found at Mogao reflect the meeting of cultures along the Silk Road, the collection of trade routes that for centuries linked China, Central Asia, and Europe. Discovered at the site were Confucian, Daoist, and Christian texts, and documents in multiple languages including Chinese, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Old Turkish. Even Hebrew manuscripts were found there.
 The Library Cave (Cave 17), which was unsealed by Wang Yuanlu, contained nearly 50,000 ancient manuscripts, silk banners and paintings, fine silk embroideries and other rare textiles dating from before the early 1000s, when this cave and all its contents were concealed for reasons still unknown. The Diamond Sutra, the earliest and complete printed book with an attested date (868), is among the most notable documents found in the Library Cave. Using carved wooden blocks, the book was printed onto strips of paper that were then pasted together to form a scroll.

Small Foot (2018)

Viewed as purely entertainment, this is a fun animated movie that follows on the heels of some great animated movies that were nominated for an Academy award in this category.  I was not disappointed in it.
If viewed on a larger scale, one where there might in fact be a message for all underneath, it is less successful.  The movie urges kids to think for themselves. To question what they’ve been taught. To challenge authority. It takes place in a mountaintop society of yetis where the rules are literally etched in stone and must be followed for fear of banishment. It could be viewed as a statement on the restrictive nature of government, religion or both. It’s a bold and exciting thematic choice for a film aimed at mainstream audiences of all ages.  But somehow it really doesn't deliver on that kind of promise, when all is said and done.  But there is nothing that I wouldn't watch with my young granddaughter in it either.

In Our Mad and Furious City by Guy Gunaratane

While I still have three of the Booker Prize long listed books to go after this one, this is the year that sees me reading the most nominees in the shortest period of time.  There are other great book awards, and I really do follow them, but the Booker Prize remains for me the one where I find every book is well written and makes me think.

This book reflects a 48 hour period of time in London through the eyes of five residents.  These characters — a group of young men and their parents — live in and around council estates. They all have an immigrant point of view, a sense of otherness about them,  and an intimate knowledge of a history of colonial violence. When a fanatical recent convert to Islam hacks an off-duty soldier to death in the street (echoing an actual event), the young men are startled by a sense they could identify with the killer. He wore the same sneakers they do. He spoke the same slang.

Yusuf, the son of Pakistani immigrants, is doing his best to avoid the attention of local Muslim extremists hoping to recruit him. His knowledge of Islam comes mainly from Nas lyrics, and he would like to keep it that way. He is happiest at the football pitch with his mates: Ardan, a would-be rapper whose mother, Caroline, fled Northern Ireland during the Troubles; and Selvon, an obsessively disciplined athlete desperate to escape the neighborhood. Selvon’s father, Nelson — mute and wheelchair-bound — is the historical consciousness of the novel; he was part of the “Windrush generation,” the Caribbean workers enlisted to rebuild Britain after World War II.  It is through these eyes that we come to see a London that is grittier than what the average tourist passing through is likely to perceive.

Giant Buddha Temple, Zhangye, China

The Giant Buddha Temple (Dafo Temple) in Zhangye city, about 600 kilometers west of Gansu's provincial capital Lanzhou, is named after a statue worshiped inside. The temple, also known as "Wofo Temple" (Sleeping Buddha Temple), is very famous because it contains the biggest indoor sleeping Buddha in all of China. The buddha is 34.5 meter long and its shoulder spans across a width of 7.5 meters. Up to eight people can stand on the ear of the reclining Buddha.  It has a wooden interior that is five stories tall.
Established in 1098 (Western Xia Dynasty), it was rebuilt during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912)--this happens a lot, and is unfortunate, because it is not the most artistic time in China.  Due to its extensive history, it is listed as an immovable cultural relic under state protection. 
Truthfully, the newly painted exterior buildings around the temple are just as beautiful as the Buddha itself, and it is a lovely place to walk around.