calarco's Reviews (760)

If you can believe it, I read this for work. I am newly in charge of my program’s podcast and a co-worker kindly gave me a big ‘ole stack of “how-to-podcast” books, including this one.

Just as the FCC does not regulate podcasts, there is no managerial body regulating whether or not I can write a review for what is really just a user-friendly instruction manual, with some jokes thrown in for good measure. So I figured why not - here’s my brutally honest review of Podcasting for Dummies (the 2nd edition) - it’s okay.

Published in 2008, there are parts that are a bit outdated. Choices like the inclusion of long-form URLs are questionable, but I won’t fault someone for citing a source. Do keep these stylistic choices in mind if that ain’t your jam.

Given this was written a decade ago, it was hilarious to read how the authors were dumbfounded by the “new” tech of iTunes. Also funny are moments when they recommend utilizing social media by posting to sites that internet archaeologists would refer to as ancient virtual landscapes like “digg” and something called “MySpace.”

That said, because it was written prior to the emergence of massively popular podcasting platforms like SoundCloud that do technical work for you, they do provide good information on writing your own RSS feed.

Really, this volume is more effective as a history of podcasts than as an effective and relevant how-to manual. That said, I came to this book knowing nothing about podcasts, and now I am not the least bit intimidated by them, so there is that.

The book ain’t bad, but I’m sure there are more up-to-date volumes out there.

For a book published in 2005, it is actually quite useful and has a bunch of applicable information even now in 2018. Podcasting Solutions is one of a stack of books a co-worker let me borrow for a work project, and I was surprised by how much I have used it.

What this volume excels at is providing an intuitive, in-depth technical walk-through of recording equipment, the recording process, the audio editing process, and setting up a RSS feed. It uses images well to convey 'scientific' ideas and explanations. Perhaps my only critique is that the flow is a bit dry, and while I enjoyed its direct and technical way of communicating processes, I can understand how that could be unappealing to others.

Overall, if you have a need to learn more about the technical side to podcasting, this is a solid how-to book.

One part sci-fi, one part heist, and several parts suspense, Artemis makes for a fun, solid read.

While the story itself is exciting and well paced, my favorite part was reading about the world of Artemis itself. It is clear that Andy Weir did his homework on theme park micro-economies, and this made for an authentically fleshed out world. The logistics of living in a place with reduced gravity and a fully manufactured atmosphere also played in well to the escalating stakes of the plot. When world building adds to and enhances a story, that is when you know it’s done right.

The characters are also really entertaining. The moon here serves as a unique melting pot with every character coming from a different cultural background; in this sense it felt like Star Trek realized. As no one can be born on the moon without biological developmental consequences, everyone is an immigrant. They definitely play upon their cultural differences (often to comedic effect) and it is done well, without any awkward moments of tokenism.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this one.

John Steinbeck’s The Pearl, while short, made a lasting impact on my understanding of socio-economic injustice after first reading it as a kid. Now, revisiting it as an adult, I still find it to have great relevance.

That said, there were some stylistic choices I was not overly impressed with. I know most people are generally keen on Steinbeck’s inclusion of “music” in the tale, but it did not heighten dramatic elements for me, so much as pose as a distraction. That choice aside, I did enjoy the overall use of language and thought it worked well at setting the stage of the fable.

As for the characters, neither Kino nor Juana are exceptionally inspiring characters, but that choice plays a role in Steinbeck’s narrative focus on the lives and trials of ordinary people. They exist as male and female caricatures to facilitate commentary on elements that constitute masculinity and femininity. While I do not necessarily agree with the rigidity of this dichotomy, Steinbeck’s emphasis on the necessary balance of these diverse elements is something I can accept.

Now what is great about The Pearl, is the brutal and honest portrayal of the human struggle to raise oneself higher than the station they are born into. This is brilliantly illustrated with the passage,

“The loss of the pearl was a punishment visited on those who tried to leave their station. And the Father made it clear that each man and woman is like a soldier sent by God to guard some part of the castle of the Universe. And some are in the ramparts and some far deep in the darkness of the walls. But each one must remain faithful to his post and must not go running about, else the castle is in danger from the assaults of Hell” (50).

People are constantly trying to make sense of their place in the world and understand why the status quo is what it is. When it is a wide-spread cultural or religious assumption that to work and aspire to more is inherently bad, is when you know you’re living in a system actively working to justify its innate injustice and prejudice.

Righteous retaliation for work or luck should not be a natural assumption, but it is in both this tale and real life. That is why the fable still resonates with me today.

This follow up to Podcasting for Dummies expands on many of the elements that the first one introduced in terms of planning, recording, editing and publishing a podcast series.

While less coloquial in nature than the previous book, it is especially good at laying out how-to information for a podcast on the move. This includes good anecdotes and case studies on out-of-studio recording practices. There is also some good post-production editing information that takes a greater number of variables into account.

A downside would be that the types of equipment, software, and social media platforms recommended are all out of date. So if you want a complete guide to follow 100% to a t, then this will not be the book for you. If you have your general setup sorted and want some info to help finesse your process, then it is okay.

While I am typically skeptical of new releases with massive hype, Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give is unequivocally an amazing read. Given the present political climate in the United States, I would even call it essential reading for 2018.

Admittedly, while I love this book I have struggled to write a comprehensive review for it. This is largely due to the fact that the book is difficult to describe beyond its subject matter. As far as a genre categorization, I would definitely call it a Y/A novel in that it is told from the perspective of a teenager and centers on her experience. I do not state this to in anyway belittle the gravity of the work, but rather to highlight how unique and groundbreaking it is. Thomas' prose is engrossing and accessible in the vein of Rainbow Rowell, yet the magnitude of the traumatic content is comparable to Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front at the other end of the Y/A spectrum. That balance of literary elements is no simple feat.

To highlight this point, I must share one of my most favorite moments from the novel, and as ridiculous as it will seem given the many profound moments of emotionally authentic truth telling, my favorite scene is the main character Starr just describing food at her brother’s birthday party. The young teenager is dealing with extreme levels of emotional trauma, but she takes a moment to have an internal rant about her great distaste for potato salad, “That’s the devil’s food. All that mayonnaise... I’m not touching that mess” (360). It’s such a simple slice of life moment; a teenager complaining about food preferences. But it is the little (and comedic) moments like this that help to establish Starr's voice outside of the trauma, and ground a story filled with so many difficult and heart-wrenching tragedies to one of a complete (and complex) life.

Most will probably (and rightfully) opt to highlight their love for the grand and beautiful exchanges on Tupac’s acronym “The Hate U Give” and the depth it demonstrates on how systemically ingrained socio-economic injustices lead to tragedies like unarmed black teenagers being cruelly killed. I do not believe it is a spoiler to state that the novel kicks off with Starr witnessing her teenage friend getting shot in the back by a cop. Such a tragedy would be difficult for even an adult to witness and live through, but it is especially heartbreaking to see through young Starr's eyes.

Starr is not yet an adult, but still such a bright, inquisitive, and intelligent voice of reason who works to make sense of the chaotic world around her. So as the aftermath of this tragedy builds around her, she grows to give voice to her truth with immaculate maturity. In so many cases this could come off as an inauthentic representation of such a young teenage girl or even a Mary Sue archetype, but Angie Thomas is so good with those little details that she does not allow for grand speeches and truth bombs to overshadow the character. At the end of the day Starr is still a teenager just living her life, and she just happens to hate both mayo AND injustice. I feel like so many so stories focus on one or the other, but it all comes together so well in The Hate U Give.

The novel will also make any reader reflect on current events. It made me think about hate as I receive it from others, but also on how I am capable of delivering it (even unwittingly) to others. It cut into my hate of living in a world where people have to actively defend their existence. Hate that parents of color have to have “the talk” with their children on how to behave with law enforcement so that their kids can make it home in time for dinner safe and sound. Hate that anyone would be unable to live without life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Hate that these ideals are broken promises for too many. In general, I hate that society can so easily allow for the erasure of any minority group's percieved humanity.

But what I love is that I got to read a novel about a young girl experiencing hate, surviving it, and growing from it to strive for better. Starr is not real, but she gave me hope, and when a fictional character makes you feel anything worthwhile is when you know you read a damn good book.

What on earth did I just read? I initially picked this book up knowing I was going to be re-reading William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and had heard that Marlowe's The Jew of Malta had inspired the later work, so I wanted to compare and contrast the two plays. Little did I know, Marlowe's play is not so much a sister text, as it is Merchant's demented cousin.

If you want to read this to try and glean similarities to The Merchant of Venice, or see how it may have inspired Shakespeare, you may be disappointed. The only similarities between these two plays are some similarities between the characters Barabas and Shylock (who are both Jewish), and the Mediterranean settings. The list of similarities ends there.

While Shylock is part of an ensemble cast, Barabas maximizes screen time (or stage time). While Shylock is pained by his daughter's choices, Barabas goes and kills his daughter without a second thought (along with some Christian nuns for good measure). While Shylock's character dialogue allows for some leeway for an actor's interpretation, Barabas is a cartoonish, mustache-twirling villain through and through.

I suppose in Marlowe's defense, this play is supposed to be a dark comedy and the prologue does state, "I count religion but a childish toy, And hold there is no sin but ignorance." If the play is supposed to be an ironic or meta condemnation of religious bigotry, I'm not sure it succeeds in relaying these points.

Moreover, the writing is kind of lazy. The Merchant of Venice may not be the greatest of Shakespeare's work, and it might not convey the most nuanced interpretation of moral ambiguity (I clearly do not put it on a pedestal by any means), but at least the prose was well-written. On this point alone, I find it hard to believe that Marlowe had any kind of significant influence on Shakespeare.

Lois Lowery's The Giver is a solid novel with an interesting plot and serves as a pretty good introduction to dystopian narrative themes. I would recommend it to any middle school aged kid and above.

Initially, I read this book when I was a kid and absolutely loved it; that version of myself would have definitely given this book 5 stars. That said, re-reading it as an adult, I did not find it nearly as surprising or mind-blowing as I did half a lifetime ago. The story is okay and entertaining, but it is nowhere near as illuminating as I once found it to be.

Plot points that once ignited dredd to violently drop to the bottom of my stomach as a kid, seemed almost predictable as an adult. There are also simply better authors out there that have written better dystopian books (e.g., Octavia Butler, Kazuo Ishiguro, Margaret Atwood, etc.), so I think I've been spoiled.

I had to think hard about what truly irked me though, and it came down to the lack of personality in the characters. Without giving away major plot points, there are at least two characters that could have been written with more individuality than the others. All in all, the most interesting (and heroic) character was Rosemary, who is also the only character I remembered from my first read-through as a kid.

My nitpicking aside, this is still a solid read, so decide for yourself.

"Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?"

I don't normally start a book review off with a quote and no immediate context, but this famous line lies at the root of my overall thoughts of the The Merchant of Venice and bears highlighting right off the bat. The first time I read this play I was a teenager and thought it was an amazing piece that shed light on the hypocrisy of bigotry, and in this case antisemitism. I even wrote my first high school research paper on these sentiments (and got an A, so my argument was fairly well-reasoned).

Now that I re-read this play nearly half a lifetime later, I have realized just how naive that perspective was. Moreover, I realized how much Al Pacino's portrayal of Shylock, and his delivery of Shakespeare's lines significantly colored my initial interpretation of the overall meaning and tone. In the hands of a great actor who can illicit sympathy and find emotional vulnerability, morally vague dialogue can be transformed into an impassioned speech disavowing bigotry. Al Pacino did just this in the 2004 film adaptation.

That said, reading it without an actor's specific characterization in mind, the text takes on a slightly different meaning, especially when compounded with Shakespeare's treatment of Jewish characters and religion throughout the play. This is highlighted with the second half of Shylock's speech:

"...And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge! The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."

The first time I read this, I understood the end of Shylock's bleak speech to mean he was merely a human who had been pushed too far by society. Reading this passage in the present and in context without someone's emotional interpretation, the pronouncement came across as a twisted justification for Shylock's quest for a pound of flesh. It cemented him as a one-dimensional villain, rather than revealing a complex character.

Perhaps I am more pessimistic with age (I definitely am), but I felt that the text was not as exceptional as the first time I read it. Can the play still be moving and nuanced? Yes, but I now realize the outcome is highly dependent on the actor's interpretation of the material, rather than it being transcendent source material. Shylock will not always be played by an Oscar winning actor.

Overall, it was alright, and I guess the cross-dressing was cool. Eh.

Let me preface this by saying, Bianca del Rio is an amazing stand-up insult comic, and she is worth seeing in a live performance. Her comedy is hilarious, clever, and absolutely brilliant. Sadly, none of these adjectives could be used to describe Blame it on Bianca del Rio.

Really, this was a disappointment. It could simply be that her brand of comedy just does not translate well to a printed format, but I don't find that to be the case here. Many of the jokes were obvious, common denominator duds; more cringe than anything. Bianca is many things, but I never thought she could be "lazy" until I read this book.

She says it all, "Enjoy. Or don't. You already bought the book; I don't care." Yes, that much is obvious. I know her schedule is crazy, but I think the book suffered from lack of time and effort, that much was obvious. Again, it's a let down that is not an accurate representation of just how funny and clever she really can be.

If this book was your introduction to Bianca, don't let this be what sets your opinion of her.