Mountain Views News     Logo: MVNews     Saturday, August 9, 2014

MVNews this week:  Page A:11

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