ROOTS, Remembered and Finally Appreciated

I was far too young to understand or appreciate Alex Haley's ROOTS as a child. Even when I remember my Mom watching in the early 80s, as I flitted in & out of the room occasionally taking a morbid interest, asking what thumbscrews were– that was almost certainly a re-airing. But tonight, with the Holiday weekend upon us and the apartment to myself, I've begun watching.

Though it moves slowly, and I've had to acclimate myself to 1970s US TV standards, the sheer humanity of its story outweighs any occasional lapses in production value tenfold. It didn't take me too long to realize that I was watching a masterpiece.

After finishing, I agreed with a friend who said each episode "ripped his heart out of his chest" – it ripped my heart out too– there was always a familiar pattern of happiness followed by disappointment followed by tragedy, which then repeated.

I really liked the complexity of the characters; nobody was a heroic or villainous stereotype, but as in real life, everything was much more multifaceted and gray. Obvious metaphor ("It wasn't just black and white") is obvious. Not all the white characters are horrible; not all the black ones are admirable. There's even an interesting subplot involving a white couple who become like family to the black characters, both pre-and post-Emancipation.

In so many other films about slavery, we always hear from the anti-slavery side – Abolitionists, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Thaddeus Stevens, etc. There is always a feeling of hope, of possible escape, because somewhere else, we know people are fighting to end this great Wrong. But in ROOTS, we experience only the world of the enslaved, and the most we see of such faraway grand pipe dreams are whispered tales and rumors. The North may as well be as far and unreachable as Africa.

So many great actors - baby Levar Burton and John Amos as Young & Old Kunta Kinte, Leslie Uggams, Ben Vereen, not to mention a detestable Lloyd Bridges, a queasy Ed Asner (as the grudging captain of a slave ship), and OMG, Robert Reed– that's right, Mike Brady of THE BRADY BUNCH!– as a wealthy slave owner!

This should be required viewing for all Americans, black, white, and brown. White folks especially need to watch it, as I worry that there's a lot of historical ignorance going around. ROOTS makes the struggles (and joys) of black Americans relatable to all people. Even today as we celebrate our great nation's inception, we should not forget the sins of its past.

Learn and Advance is the rule. We must always Learn and Advance.

 

Highly recommended. Rating: A.

 

HIGHLAND REVENGE Audiobook available!

HIGHLAND ECHOES Audiobook completed– soon to be released

both by Ceci Giltenan/narrated by Paul Woodson

 Pleased to announce that my 2nd set of Ceci Giltenan's Highland Romance audiobooks are rolling out! This time I am voicing her FATED HEARTS series.

Already available: Highland Revenge (Fated Hearts Book 1), a novella that's also a part of the Scrolls of Cridhe Series , on which Ceci Giltenan collaborated with fellow well-known Highland Romance authors Sue-Ellen Welfonder, Suzan Tisdale , Kate Robbins, Kathryn Lynn Davis , Lily Baldwin, and Tarah Scott. (I've had the pleasure of narrating 2 of Lily Baldwin's books as well.)

The 2nd book in the series, Highland Echoes, is a full-length novel, and has its audiobook in the can and will be available on Audible any day! Watch for it on Audible (you can keep tabs on my current audiobooks by visiting my Titles Page - (http://tinyurl.com/paulwoodsonaudible). As usual, it was a pleasure to narrate Ceci's work!

Cheers, all, for listening!

I'm very excited to announce that my Featured Release of the Month, THE EFFICIENCY EXPERT , the 1921 novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs,  was #3 in the Audible "Classics" Category the week of its release (last week)! I never expected such interest so quickly, but it's a great feeling! I even got my wife to listen to the whole thing and she loved it (which is no small feat)!

By today, it's dropped to #5 in the last 7 days, but I managed to snag this screenshot last night:

Also, both EFFICIENCY EXPERT and Hawthorne's THE ARTIST OF THE BEAUTIFUL were, respectively, #14 and #33 in Classics over the last month! Feeling good about tackling these classics in between some of my other audiobook work (more about my newest projects in the next post.)

Thanks, Mike Vendetti & Steven Jay Cohen!

APAC 2015!!!

2015 was my first APAC ( Audio Publishers Association Conference), and I had the joy of meeting and hearing a multitude of incredible talent in the ‪#‎audiobook‬ Industry! And I was able to thank Scott Brick personally for inspiring me to take that first step!

Also, an old dorm mate of mine from Boston, Peter Shankman, was the Keynote Speaker!

Here are some pics from APAC. (I was so busy I really didn't take many)

My recent interview with Audiobook Reviewer/Blogger Enikö Tolnai is now online!

https://seelkfireice.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/my-chat-with-paul-woodson/

Ms. Tolnai asked me some great questions that I couldn't just use stock answers for. I'm happy to have her as a listener, reviewer, and acquaintance!

(She also designed the lovely collage of my titles that appears at the top of this post.)

2 Classic Short Stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne, THE ARTIST OF THE BEAUTIFUL, and THE BIRTHMARK, are now available on Audible.com, narrated by Paul Woodson!

These 2 stories complement each other well, as they both feature the rich romantic prose of Hawthorne,  and address Hawthorne's much-visited topic of Man vs. Nature, delivered passionately and flowingly by classically trained actor and narrator Paul Woodson.

THE BIRTHMARK:

In this classic Hawthorne short story set in the late 18th century, the ambitious young scientist Aylmer cannot bear the fact that his otherwise flawlessly beautiful wife Georgiana bears a tiny birthmark on her cheek, an imperfection that he believes his scientific methods can cure. Devoted wholeheartedly to her husband, Georgiana allows Aylmer to work his scientific wonders upon her, so that the blemish no may no longer torment him. But tampering with nature can prove a fearful business….

THE ARTIST OF THE BEAUTIFUL:

Obsessive, reclusive, artistically inclined watchmaker Owen Worland spends his entire life trying to capture natural beauty in his scientific inventions. But he is frequently discouraged and set back by the interference of the townspeople, his former master, and the lovely Annie Hovenden. Will Owen ever fulfill his life's goal and create the ultimate perfection?

My EARGASMS Narrator Spotlight is online!

http://www.eargasmsaudiobookreviews.com/2015/05/01/narrator-spotlight-paul-woodson/

Thanks to April Holgate for a delightful interview!

Today is NATIONAL TELL A STORY DAY!

Or as we're calling it in the Twitterverse/Hashtag World,

#Listen2aBook Day!


A select number of people who contact me today (either via the contact box on this website, or via my Twitter account, clickable at the top of this website) can receive a promotional review copy of one of my audiobooks FREE through Audible.com! Tell me which of my books you are interested in (see the links at the top or side of the page) and specify a valid email (not shared or put on mailing lists) at which to receive the code for your free copy!

This is valid April 27, 2015 only. Not all of my audiobooks may be available as a free promotional copy.

Cheers, and enjoy listening to your book!

Here's a bit of a plug for my recent Young Adult Adventure ‪‎audiobook‬: Kirkus Reviews star-winner BLACKHEART'S LEGACY by Sally Copus! Enjoy! ‪#‎Lotsofaccents

BLACKHEART'S LEGACY at Audible.com

While I've always taken pride in my accent work, and tend to narrate books with a large ensemble of characters and multiple voices, many of them tend to have the same dialect (English, Scottish, American variations). Here, though, the adventure comprises a vast number of characters from all over the world. Everywhere from the USA to Scotland to Jamaica to China is represented. (Don't worry, no offensive stereotype voices here.) 

It was a joy to narrate, and I'm just listening back to Audible's final commercial version; audio quality sounds nice. Although aimed at 11-to 14 year-old audience, it's really a lot of fun for adults as well.

My latest audiobook,  the YA Fantasy Adventure RED by Jennifer Anne Davis, is now available!

Red - True Reign Book 2

by Jennifer Anne Davis

Fantasy/Young Adult

Just released on Audible.com!

My SoundCloud Page, v. 2.0, is Live!

Visit https://soundcloud.com/paul-woodson/sets/audiobook-samples to hear my latest Audiobook samples!

Cheers!

FX's Fargo Finally Reviewed

 Jesus, people, the ‪#‎Fargo‬ TV series is AWESOME. If you missed it (as I did), check it out. Like the Coen Bros.' 1996 film, it straddles the line between thriller & dark comedy.

Billy Bob Thornton deserves every award he wins for this (Is Malvo in fact the Devil incarnate or just the most diabolic man alive?), and the all-star ensemble as a whole was excellent:

Martin Freeman (also doing amazing work), Colin Hanks (once more playing a nice-guy cop), Oliver Platt, Bob Odenkirk, Glenn Howerton, Key & Peele (you read that right), Adam Goldberg, Keith Carradine, Joey King, Rachel Blanchard, Stephen Root, and last but certainly not least Allison Tolman in a star-making role as the Marge Gunderson-ish small town cop.

Neither a remake, reboot, nor spinoff, the new FX series takes place in the WORLD of the Coen Bros' film FARGO (set some years later), with none of the same characters, but all of the same tropes. As in the film, the actual Fargo, North Dakota, appears but briefly in mostly peripheral scenes, and the rest of the action hovers around Bemidji and Duluth (one small city and one medium/large-sized one in the frozen northern third of Minnesota.

Rather than a slow startup to let us familiarize with the town & the characters, the premiere episode is a doozy and features several horrible crimes (to say more would spoil). Once hooked, you're all but obligated to watch Devilish B.B. Thornton and the Faustian Freeman wrangle over the wrongdoings they've become complicit in.

Although throughout, I always knew I was watching FARGO, the series seems to owe just as much of a debt to NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, since Thornton's villain immediately reminds one of Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh (even down to the page-boy bowlcut, though less severe here) – a primary difference being Thornton's loquacity and ability to "blend", while Bardem remained taciturn and stoic. A bit of style seems also borrowed from David Lynch's TWIN PEAKS days, although FARGO's dark humor is in far greater supply than Lynch's projects ever were.

Looks like the series has been renewed for a 2nd season, you betcha! With mostly a cast of brand new gals and fellas. Seriously, check it out.

Grade :A.

• A friend of mine mentioned that today is the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp, which got me thinking.

   

  I've been listening to a great podcast called Dan Carlin - Hardcore History. You might find it captivating; I do. At the moment he's on World War I. He covers other fascinating and controversial topics like American Expansionism in the 1890s, the Reformation, Ethics of the Atomic Bomb, etc.

   

  Specifically regarding his episode on the Ethics of using the Atomic Bomb first, and how at that point, the firebombing that both sides (but mostly the Allies) had been perpetrating on civilians in large cities a) was actually just as bad or worse, carnage-wise, than the 1st atomic weapons– the A-Bomb just facilitated doing it faster; and b) reinforced the fact that the greater the distance from your intended target/victim, the more impersonal it becomes, the easier it is to pull the trigger/drop the bomb/incinerate noncombatant civilian women & children. Heavy stuff.
   
And on the Auschwitz front, thank God the Russians were victorious and all, but the crimes, rapes, murders, etc. that they committed essentially as revenge against the Nazis when the tide turned, are just as horrific. Madness was at its full tilt at that time.

By comparison, the Western Front was almost a "gentleman's war". I think the main reason we don't see more films or stories about the Eastern Front is that it's too freaking horrific.
 
This is a bit of a rambly blog post; sorry about that. Just some jumbled thoughts on this frozen night in New York, after the Blizzard That Wasn't (Here).

Honestly, I didn't expect the documentary ROOM 237 to be so nutty.

Man, I thought *I* read too much into films sometimes, but some of these theories about what Stanley Kubrick really MEANT to convey via his film of Stephen King's THE SHINING have me scratching my head and thinking, "Oof. Get a life."

It's still pretty amusing as a way to re-visit the masterpiece, but a better way to do that is just to watch the original and draw your own conclusions. It's one thing to argue for potential symbolic interpretations of a work of art, but another to conclude that this is what Kubrick "Obviously MEANT", whether it's arguing that he was apologizing for faking the Moon Landing, or that the Hotel Manager was purposely framed (with a paper tray, for about 1/4 of a second) to look like he had a boner pointing at Jack Nicholson.

A good example: One theorizer points out that the room key for Room 237 shows only the capital letters R, O, O, M, and N. "And the only words you can make from those letters are Moon and Room. He's referring to the 'Moon Room' where the Apollo landing was faked."

Well, #1: You CAN spell several more words with those letters ("Moor", "mono"), but #2: Sadly, you overlooked the only word that uses all 5: MORON. ;)

A WALK IN THE WOODS, the film, is coming, but how will it depict the Appalachian Trail, and Bryson's memoir of his own experience? My 2¢ has always been that Redford & Nolte are too old for the parts, but I'm willing to reserve judgment until I've seen it.
Many of you probably know I've put in 700-odd miles on the AT myself over the years.

Redford has always been great, and single-handedly carried ALL IS LOST last year. But for AT and WITW aficionados, changing the age of the protagonists from their 40s to their 70s fundamentally changes the narrative. (When I first read it, I was in my early 30s, but now I am basically the age of the protagonists in the book.)

There are plenty of retirees hiking the AT (after early 20s, they are the 2nd highest demographic), but that's a different tale than that of the guys just realizing, by virtue of an attempt at an Herculean physical feat like thru-hiking the AT, that they are no longer freewheeling, robust young men, but early-middle-aged guys somewhat out of their depth.

When you hike the AT in your 60s or 70s, you've already come to grips with that. It must fundamentally be a different story. And yet, I'm still intrigued. Downside: after its release, the AT will get a WHOLE lot of overuse again.

Come to think of it, late 30s-early 40s may be the loneliest AT group. In my recent section hikes, there have been very few men, and ZERO women, that I've encountered in my own demographic.

1984's THE COMPANY OF WOLVES Explores the
Little Red Riding Hood Mythos

Sarah Patterson is innocent but curious as Little Red (Rosaleen).

While Fairy Tales are on my mind (thanks, INTO THE WOODS), allow me to recommend the daringly confusing, yet fascinating British film, THE COMPANY OF WOLVES, from 1984, which comes at the Little Red Riding Hood tale from about 5 different angles, using multiple narratives-within-a-dream and stories within stories to accomplish that daunting task.

The linked review provides good insight into the movie's background. All the different allegories and symbolisms of Little Red are in this film somewhere, and Sarah Patterson does a marvelous turn as the flowering girl on the cusp of teenhood who is both enchanted and repulsed by "wolves".

Venerable starring actors also include Angela Lansbury, David Warner, Terence Stamp, and Stephen Rea.

http://www.cutprintfilm.com/features/the-company-of-wolves/

If you missed EDGE OF TOMORROW back in June, like a lot of America, don't fret. It's on video now, and you should see it. Seriously.

I usually blame trailers for divulging the plot, but by NOT doing so, EDGE's publicists probably locked out their target audience! And your best memory of it is probably a loud, aggressive preview to which your numbed reaction was, "Oh. Tom Cruise and aliens again. Pass."

Except here's the thing: it is so much more than that. It's both those things, yes, but here's what the previews omitted: it's also GROUNDHOG DAY. Dipped in WAR OF THE WORLDS and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Plus all the humor that implies. Director Doug Liman began with indie darlings like SWINGERS and GO before going big time with BOURNE and MR. & MRS. SMITH, but his wry sense of humor pervades his career.

Cruise plays Cage, a slick but cowardly Media Relations military officer who is in London on the eve of a major counterattack against an invincible Alien force that has already conquered much of continental Europe. A gruff, crusty General of a multinational United Military Force (Brendan Gleeson) attempts to thrust Cage into the front lines to promote it to the media, but when Cage balks, eventually resorting to blackmail, the General punishes Cage by stripping him of his rank, branding him a deserter, and pushing him into the front lines as a mere Grunt, almost certainly condemning him to death.

The next day's battle on the beaches of France (evoking strong parallels to D-Day at Normandy) is even more disastrous than Cage expected: his new Squadmates (led by smirking, sardonic Master Sergeant Bill Paxton) are all slaughtered almost immediately. Even super-badass legend, "Full Metal Bitch" Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) is slain, and Cage himself perishes violently while blowing up a rare variation of the Alien Race, an "Alpha", which oozes goo onto him in his final moments–

–before Cage wakes up screaming, exactly where he was on the British military base one day prior. He's back to the exact moment he woke up after being tasered by the General's guards and railroaded into combat duty. He goes through the whole thing again, trying to warn all that it will be a slaughter, to no avail. He tries playing things slightly differently, but not for long, as he dies again. Boom, he wakes up on the base. Or as the film's original title stated, "Live. Die. Repeat." (Which would have been a much better title, too.)

You might think the above formula would be a recipe for repetitive doldrums, but the film never slows down enough for that. In fact, it does the opposite– once the film knows its audience is following, it rockets off at full speed and never condescends. It knows we don't have to see EVERY loop, every death, every variation. Sometimes we witness Cage attempt something the first time, other times it's revealed that this is his 50th. The too-clever-by-half screenplay has 3 names on it, which is usually a recipe for a hack job, but the opposite seems to have occurred here to result in a brilliant Mindmeld of ideas.

The movie picks up speed when Emily Blunt becomes a key player. Ms. Blunt has really impressed me this year, between her endearing musical performance in INTO THE WOODS, and this tough-as-nails-but-heart-of-gold warrior in EDGE. She's surprisingly physically toned and agile here, a side of her I hadn't seen before. Rita & Cage become a rocky duo for awhile, and Cage's secret ability/curse is of particular interest to her for reasons explained later. There is of course some sexual tension/flirting, but the film wisely plays it close to the vest. 

Tom Cruise is more or less perfect as Cage, proving once again that he gives 100% in every performance, and disproving the claim that he's just another Action-Star Pretty Boy. His beats are played perfectly for humor, pathos, or tragedy when the story calls for it, and his chemistry with  Blunt is believable and moving. Of course we watch Cruise transform from self-serving coward to self-sacrificing hero, but it always feels organic and true, and the film makes clear that Cage has gone through A LOT to get there– we often feel the exhaustion of this man's failures.

Overall, a smart, fast-paced, brassy, fun, sci-fi/action/military/comedy. Cruise & Blunt bring their A game, and the effects are great too, including the slightly futuristic military weaponry. A-.

UNBROKEN edges out FURY as WWII Drama

If you see only one WWII movie this season, I recommend UNBROKEN over FURY.

Fury had some really compelling scenes, great acting, intense battle sequences, and occasional moral questions, but I had the same problem with it that I had with the director's previous movie (END OF WATCH): It feels like a "Bro" movie. It feels like the Frat Boy with a degree in History, who really liked SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, decided to make a WWII film. It almost touches greatness, but every time it almost gets there, it takes a douchey turn. Brad Pitt essentially plays the "serious" version of Lt. Aldo Raine from BASTERDS– in other words, if FURY had been released first, Raine would be the satirical version of Pitt's serious performance here (that's not a bad thing; Pitt is excellent, as are ALL the cast).

UNBROKEN, OTOH, has the advantage of actually being a True Story, stars virtually all unknown but seriously talented Actors, and lets you actually empathize with the characters in a way you can't with the FURY crew. Set in the Pacific Theater of the War, the air combat scenes are unrivaled by any I've seen in recent film. Both the elation over survival and the sorrow of losing comrades are given equal due, and while sentimental, it's never preachy. The flashback sequences to the hero's youth are a bit on the nose, but essential and vital. This film will probably make its lead, Jack O'Connell, a movie star. And director Angelina Jolie with her 2nd feature is starting to (believe it or not) take up the mantle of Clint Eastwood as the next great actor-turned-director. If you're worried that this somehow feminizes it, you're wrong. The cast is almost exclusively male, and they are just as macho as men should be, but unlike the soldiers in FURY, they still understand the concept of dignity and honor even under the most painful and degrading of conditions.  See it.

P.S. The 2 women to my right at this Academy screening were much more shocked at the heroes killing birds and fish to SURVIVE while adrift at sea for weeks with no other food, than they were at the many human deaths and suffering. Ain't people funny? :)

CLOVERFIELD was pretty amazing in the cinemas– a truly immersive experience and you feel you are "in" the movie with the characters– although for that very reason, it loses a little something in a home viewing by being shrunk down. Watch on a big screen with a good sound system and try not to pause too much. The whole idea of the film is to be immersive.

Because it's "found footage" it's easy to lose sight of how intensely difficult and expensive it ACTUALLY was to make, to insert monsters and collapsing buildings and other effects into a jerkily-moving home camcorder frame. This is not a "Blair Witch" shoestring.

Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I actually cared about the characters. And Lizzy Caplan (before she became a HUGE star) is very likeable and endearing. And hot.

I was also an extra in it for 2 nights, covered in fake dust!

The lost musical number (and ending) from the film musical, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS– and I don't mean "Don't Feed the Plants!"

I've been rediscovering one of my favorite film musicals of all time lately, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and it just seems to get better as I get older and more capable of discerning the classical elements of its story. LSOH (in its original cut, anyway) is a combination of Faust and Greek Tragedy, dolled up in an early 60s-B Movie package. The moral dilemmas, and statements on the human condition, are what make this film stand the test of time.

Well, that and the kick-ass score. And Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene in the best roles of their lives. IMO, the film version had the opportunity to be the best possible incarnation of this story. I've seen the play onstage and still longed for Frank Oz's glorious production instead, with its giant soundstage, its stylized use of our Greek Chorus (NYC Street) girls, its truly unparalleled puppetry of the various sizes of Audrey II plant, and the stupendous pipes of Levi Stubbs giving voice to the vegetable.

For those not in the know, the original ending from the play was filmed and shown to test audiences in 1986. The ending, while tragic, also left a very specific moral message. Seymour's wrongdoings eventually snowball out of control, continually strengthening the plant, until it is past the point of overpowering, he and those he love pay the price.

Test screenings in San Jose and L.A. were spectacularly ill-received with this ending, even though audiences loved it up until the final 15 minutes. So director Frank Oz and producer David Geffen returned to the studios and shot a new, upbeat finale in which our romantic leads survive, defeat Audrey II, receive a barrel of money, and avoid any consequences for Seymour's transgressions. This ending was better received at the time, but Geffen held on to the original finale, hoping to rerelease it one day– until the first DVD version came out and, without his knowledge, included the full original ending, in B&W and mediocre quality. Geffen ordered the DVD recalled, and for years this "lost" item was an expensive collector's item.

Flash forward again to 2012. A NEW Blu-Ray, with Oz's approved "Director's Cut", was released with BOTH endings, in full color and high quality. It would seem that fans now had all they could ask for –

EXCEPT for one musical number, "The Meek Shall Inherit" that was shot in its entirety, featuring a nightmare sequence that includes Seymour feeling the full guilt of his involvement in the deaths of two characters, his near-decision to destroy the plant, and his reasons for ultimately not doing so. There are some truly creepy moments in this sequence (especially Seymour staring up at a gigantic bleeding funeral portrait of Mr. Mushnik), and it's some of Moranis's best singing. But this was not included on the Blu-Ray.

However, somebody had access to a workprint version of this scene, as well as several others. For you LSOH completists, I offer this link to you. This number had been on my soundtrack to the film as a teenager, and I always lamented its omission from the film, and figured it was lost forever. Thanks to the uploader at YouTube for this amazing addition to this film's lore!

THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT (full number) from the workprint of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

(There are a host of other lost scenes in this video, and its Part 1 counterpart, too!)