pA:11, v8.32 — Arts & Entertainment

Arts & Entertainment

Mountain Views News Saturday, August 9, 2014

MVNews this week: Page A:11

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Mountain Views-News Saturday, August 9, 2014

Jeff’s Book Picks By Jeff Brown

SEAN’S SHAMELESS

REVIEWS:

THE HAPPINESS THAT NEEDS NOTHING:
POINTERS TO THAT WHICH IS ALWAYS HERE
by Colin Drake

This book is about the innate happiness and joy that can
be discovered on awakening by becoming ‘Aware of’ and
‘identifying with’ Awareness. This is to be achieved by
direct investigation of moment-to-moment experience
which readily reveals the Pure Awareness that underlies our
existence. This leads to discovering the happiness that needs
nothing external to ourselves, but which is revealed as we
undertake deeper investigations into this Awareness. “As the
witnessing background of all experience,I, Awareness,am
inherently free from all things;as the substance of all
experience,I am intimately one with all things.” Rupert Spira

TRAPPED UNDER THE SEA: ONE
ENGINEERING MARVEL, FIVE MEN, AND A
DISASTER TEN MILES INTO THE DARKNESS by Neil Swidey

The harrowing story of five men who were sent into a dark, airless, miles long tunnel, hundreds of
feet below the ocean, to do a nearly impossible job with deadly results.A quarter century ago, Boston
had the dirtiest harbor in America. The city had been dumping sewage into it for generations,
coating the seafloor with a layer of “black mayonnaise.” Fisheries collapsed, wildlife fled, and locals
referred to floating tampon applicators as “beach whistles.”In the 1990s, work began on a state of
the art treatment plant and a 10-mile-long tunnel,its endpoint stretching farther from civilization
than the earth’s deepest ocean trench,to carry waste out of the harbor. With this impressive feat of
engineering, Boston was poised to show the country how to rebound from environmental ruin. But
when bad decisions and clashing corporations endangered the project, a team of commercial divers
was sent on a perilous mission to rescue the stymied cleanup effort. Five divers went in; not all of
them came out alive. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and thousands of documents collected
over five years of reporting, award-winning writer Neil Swidey takes us deep into the lives of the
divers, engineers, politicians, lawyers, and investigators involved in the tragedy and its aftermath,
creating a taut, action-packed narrative. This is a story about human risk, how it is calculated,
discounted, and transferred and the institutional failures that can lead to catastrophe. Suspenseful
yet humane, Trapped Under the Sea reminds us that behind every bridge, tower, and tunnel behind
the infrastructure that makes modern life possible, lies unsung bravery and extraordinary sacrifice.

NO PLACE TO HIDE: EDWARD SNOWDEN, THE NSA, AND THE U.S.
SURVEILLANCE STATE by Glenn Greenwald

In May 2013, Greenwald set out for Hong Kong to meet an anonymous source who claimed to have
astonishing evidence of pervasive government spying and insisted on communicating only through
heavily encrypted channels. That source turned out to be NSA contractor Edward Snowden, and
his revelations about the agency’s widespread, systemic overreach proved to be some of the most
explosive and consequential news in recent history, triggering a fierce debate over national security
and information privacy. Greenwald fits all the pieces together, recounting his high intensity ten day
trip to Hong Kong, examining the broader implications of the surveillance detailed in his reporting
for The Guardian, and revealing fresh information on the NSA’s abuse of power with never before
seen documents entrusted to him by Snowden. Going beyond NSA specifics, Greenwald also takes
on the establishment media, excoriating their avoidance of adversarial reporting on the government
and their failure to serve the interests of the people. Finally, he asks what it means both for individuals
and for a nation’s political health when a government pries so invasively into the private lives of its
citizens,and considers what safeguards and forms of oversight are necessary to protect democracy
in the digital age. No Place to Hide is an essential contribution to our understanding of the U.S.
surveillance state.

By Sean Kayden

BOYHOOD

Filmed intermittently
over the course of 12
years, “Boyhood” is the extraordinary tale of
one ordinary boy’s life. Using the same cast
the entire time, Richard Linklater started the
project in the summer of 2002 alongside actors
Ellar Coltrane as Mason Jr., Patricia Arquette as
his mother Olivia, Lorelei Linklater as Mason’s
sister Samantha, and Ethan Hawke as Mason
Sr. The film chronicles Mason’s life from age
6 to 18. At a running time of two hours and
forty-four minutes, the film is epic in technical
scope, but never the less an entirely intimate
portrait of what life was/is during adolescence
for the majority of us. “Boyhood” doesn’t rely
on any trickery or the use of “big moments” to
capture your attention (and heart). It’s a steady
stream from start to finish, but the results are
clear. “Boyhood” is a thing of beauty. However,
its true avowal is it allows for one to believe that
life itself is the real thing of beauty.

It’s amazing to see the transformation on
screen. The way people become older, some
wiser, nearly right in front of your eyes for two
and a half hours plus. It’s as if you’re watching
a real family journey through these twelve
years. Arguably, these twelve years could be
considered the most crucial, imperative years
in a young man’s life. Newcomer Ellar Coltrane
was absolutely pitch-perfect for the role. He was
convincing, sharp, and magnetic on screen.
Both Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke
are sublime. I’ve noticed a lot of acclaim for
Arquette, even as going as far as touting her
as a best supporting actress nominee for next
year’s Oscars. Hawke, at least for me, stole the
show in his snippets throughout the course of
the movie as a 30-something year old guy kind
of wandering through life in the beginning,
to ultimately reaching his own version of
adulthood by middle age. He’s never been
so real, so heartfelt, and undeniably solid as
Mason’s weekend dad. “Boyhood” makes you
realize no matter what age you are, 17 or 40, life
is a series of events and mysteries that no one
could ever be completely equipped for as they
come your way.

Perhaps my only quibble is the redundancy
of having two stepfathers that are alcoholics. It
leans a bit more on the cliché side, which the
film generally stays clear of. Maybe a death
in the family during Mason’s life would have
been another way to go. However, despite that
very slight criticism, “Boyhood” could still be
deemed a modern day masterpiece. It’s a film
that resonated with me days after seeing it.
From the soundtrack (many songs I’ve enjoyed
growing up to) to the sharp direction and
completely natural presentation displayed the
four leads, Boyhood is one of those films you
have to see in theaters. Something of this nature
has never been shown before in the cinemas.
Experience a film that will have you reflecting
upon your own existence, your own upbringing
as oppose to wasting valuable time and money
on bloated, been there, done that Hollywood
mainstream garbage. This film draws you
in and holds you captivated. “Boyhood” is a
superlative motion picture for all ages, young
and old, on the meaning of life. And as we
all know, the definition of life is distinctively
unique to each and every one of us.

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

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On the Marquee: Notes from the Sierra MadrePlayhouse

“THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES,” BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND ON SEPTEMBER 7

This nostalgic show features music, dance and comedy from the World War II era and later
armed conflicts (Korea, Vietnam, Iraq) in a tribute to Bob Hope and the USO shows. A Theatres of
Vision production.

“Thanks for the Memories.” A program of music, dance and comedy. At Sierra Madre Playhouse,
87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, CA 91024. Ample free parking behind theatre. Sunday,
September 7, 2014 at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $30. Seniors (65+) $25. Veterans $15. Children 12 and
under, $10. Reservations: (626) 355-4318. Online ticketing: www.sierramadreplayhouse.org

“What a delight!”---Life in L.A.

“Delightful….May well perform forever.”---Theatre Spoken Here