Huh? Wha? They made another Transformers movie?

“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Much of Chicago is wiped out. And where did those toys learn all those bad words?

The redoubtable A.O. Scott, who is quickly becoming my favorite N.Y. Times reviewer, has some fun things to say about this movie, even going to so far as to praise it as "by far the best 3-D sequel ever made about gigantic toys from outer space."  

"Mr. Bay’s lax notions of coherence and plausibility — I’m sorry, I mean his utterly nonexistent notions of coherence and plausibility — are accompanied by a visual imagination that is at once crazily audacious and ruthlessly skillful."

"Mr. Turturro and Ms. McDormand (who plays a snappish government big shot, as you will know within her first five seconds of screen time) may be the only parts of the movie you want more of. But “more” is Mr. Bay’s watchword, and so you will get a whole lot of everything else. An Autobot with the voice of Leonard Nimoy. Shia LaBeouf running around and shouting at people. Annoying sidekicks (apart from Mr. LaBeouf, who is his own annoying sidekick). A bunch of muscly dudes with big guns who are not robots. (Two of them are Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson.) A bunch of muscly dudes who are."

http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/movies/transformers-dark-of-the-moon-theyre-at-it-again-movie-review.html?ref=arts



Roger Ebert, however, takes out the flamethrower:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110628/REVIEWS/110629981

"Michael Bay's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" is a visually ugly film with an incoherent plot, wooden characters and inane dialog. . . . The series exists to show gigantic and hideous robots hammering one another. So it does."

"There is more of a plot this time. It is a plot that cannot be described in terms of structure, more in terms of duration. When it stops, it's over."

"I have a quaint notion that one of the purposes of editing is to make it clear why one shot follows another, or why several shots occur in the order that they do. "Transformers 3" has long stretches involving careless and illogical assemblies of inelegant shots. One special effect happens, and the another special effect happens, and we are expected to be grateful that we have seen two special effects."

Caitrina Gordon's Silver Crescent

Lucan Rex and Jana Regina, to all and sundry our lieges, subjects and others to whom it pertains, greetings. Having perfect knowledge by good proof and experience of the honorable, true and faithful service and duties rendered unto us and our ancestors by Caitrina Gordon, We do now, with the advice and consent of the three estates of this present parliament, ratify, approve, confirm and, by this act allow the aforesaid Caitrina to assume the title, status and renown of membership in the Order of the Silver Crescent. And that the aforesaid Caitrina may possess and enjoy in all time coming all the privileges and commodities and emblems of the aforesaid Order, We have caused the present charter to be drawn up in writing and strengthened by the authority of our signatures. Given under our great seal and subscribed by us upon 18 June A.S. XLVI.
 

Text by Mistress Alys Mackyntoich based on the statute of 19 March 1567 from the parliament of Mary of Scotland.

52 in 2011

50.  Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery by E. W. Ives

Although one wouldn’t expect it from the title, this book is actually a dense, meaty history book, replete with primary sources and meaningful analysis. The operating premise of the book is that Mary Tudor’s defeat of Jane Grey was not a foregone conclusion, despite how it may seem to modern eyes. Jane Grey was a legitimate candidate for the throne. Ives examines and refutes the classic stereotypes of Edward VI as a weak and manipulated boy king, and of Northumberland as the mastermind plotter. Ives also makes an effort to delve into what little is actually known
about Jane herself, who left surprisingly few artifacts and records for someone who was very nearly Queen of England.

This book is not a casual or quick read.  It's solid and dense.  Ives manages not to be excruciatingly dry, but take that comment as coming from someone who adores doing research.  I highly recommend this to anyone interested in Tudor politics.


Other than Lady Jane, I've been doing a lot of re-reads, mostly of things that fall into my category of reading comfort food.  I haven't been reviewing books I'm re-reading, but I don't think I've actually reviewed this one before now:

51:  Search the Seven Hills by Barbara Hambly

This is one of Hambly's first published books (possibly the first one ever).  It's a historical mystery set in Rome during the reign of the Emperor Trajan.  The hero, a young Roman noble disowned by his family for studying philosophy, is trying to find his sweetheart, whom he believes has been kidnapped by Christians.  The novel accurately paints Christianity as a splinter religion whose members are regarded as crazy by the mainstream.  The internal bickering of the Christian factions is particularly amusing for anyone like me who had to sit through an entire semester of Christian theology in college. 

This book features one of my favorite Hambly characters: Sixtus Julianus, former military governor of Antioch and a sort of Roman Sherlock Holmes.  I would love to invite Sixtus over to dinner.   He's why this book is comfort food for my over-stressed brain.