Book Review – Mavericks

Mavericks: Life stories and lessons of history's most extraordinary misfits by Jenny Draper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can hear Jenny Draper’s voice in every word of this book. She writes with the same wit and expertise that she brings to her excellent Youtube videos. Further, she’s chosen a series of fascinating subjects: people throughout UK history whose nonconformity was both important and interesting in some way. If there’s a follow-up volume, I’ll definitely be waiting.

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Book Review – How to Hide an Empire

How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There just isn’t a good approach to imperialism. Manifest Destiny was a cruel power grab. Traditional colonization was a cruel power grab. The globalization that replaced it at the end of World War Two might have seemed better on the surface, but it too turned out to be a cruel power grab. Though the subject here is clearly depressing. Daniel Immerwahr tackles it with precision and wit, moving skillfully between the big picture and the small details. I particularly appreciated the anecdotes that illustrate the issues involved with the United States’ wide variety of territorial entanglements.

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Book Review – Beginning Illumination

Beginning Illumination: Learning the Ancient Art, Step by Step by Claire Travers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An excellent treatment of the subject, though sadly all too brief. Aspiring artists should find this fascinating and helpful, as it covers the technical side of illumination thoroughly and with excellent step-by-step descriptions and examples. I just wish it had been more in-depth, with more space devoted to history, a longer gallery with more extensive interpretive text, and perhaps a bit more on the interrelationship between text and graphics.

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Book Review – Kawaii Kitties

Kawaii Kitties: Learn How to Draw 75 Cats in All Their Glory (Volume 6) by Olive Yong
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fun! Olive Yong’s cat drawings don’t vary greatly in their basic design, which is helpful for beginners. But she builds in enough variety of themes to keep things from getting monotonous. Step by step instructions are easy to follow, especially if you’re working with flexible tools such as tablet and drawing app. As a personal note, this is the first time I’ve ever done all the lessons in a how-to art book.

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Review – Vlad the Impaler

Every once in awhile you owe it to yourself to watch a propaganda movie from another nation. That way you can clearly see the witless stupidity without the cultural pressure to uncritically accept the story and its morals. So if you don’t happen to be Turkish, this should be a good choice for you. A 15th century commando squad working for Mehmet the Conqueror goes in search of revenge against Vlad Tepes. Dracula is nobody’s notion of a benevolent ruler, which makes him a natural bad guy from the Muslim perspective. Still, this is so cartoonishly dumb that it almost makes him look good. See if desperate

Book Review – Vlad the Impaler

Vlad the Impaler: In search of the real Dracula by M.J. Trow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When this book is good, it’s very good. M.J. Trow’s prose is engaging, and the subject of course is fascinating. As long as the subject is Vlad the Impaler, that is. The first third of the book is devoted to vampires, which I found more than a little tedious (at least in part because I already knew almost all of it). The text occasionally hits snags, such as strange digressions (applying Chinese phrenology to a portrait?) and unfathomable barrages of names of people with little relevance to the narrative. Overall, however, this is a good attempt to reach into the murky depths of biased historical accounts and retrieve some sense of who Vlat Tepes was as a person, a prince and a monster.

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Review – The Unwilling

A rich old man dies, leaving his obnoxious heirs a box that, when opened, releases a supernatural force that’s equal parts evil, stupid and predictable. Bickering and bush league gore ensues. The cast includes a few faces – particularly Lance Henriksen and Dina Meyer – who used to have better agents. See if desperate

Review – Smile 2

I admit to skipping the first one (cat death), so if there’s something significant about characters occasionally grinning like idiots – beyond the explanation awkwardly shoehorned in toward the end of act two – then I may be missing the reference. Beyond that this is an exceptionally mopey piece about a singer slowly going nuts. Or is she? Or does it even matter? Honestly this spends enough time on centered shots to come across as Wes Anderson on PCP and horse tranquilizers. If your notion of horror is mostly just awkward, prepare to be chilled to the bone. See if desperate