A Song of Ice and Fire: Sprawling Suspenseful Storytelling

I've already discussed the HBO series Game of Thrones, but this post is about A Song of Ice and Fire, the series of books that form the basis for the show. George R.R. Martin's sprawling epic is meant to be a heptalogy, with five books released so far. Each book is a mammoth tome, which is why it has taken me a few months to get through them, but it's time well spent.

The series begins with A Game of Thrones and sets up a fantasy world with a bewildering array of characters and locations. Each chapter is told from the point of view of a particular character, and by the end of the fifth book, Martin has established 31 separate point-of-view characters. Besides these main characters, there are over a thousand named characters in the book, which presents quite the challenge for easily distracted readers. Many people find it difficult to read the books because they are overwhelmed by the number of names and locations to remember. To those people I can only recommend watching the excellent HBO series first. That way you can put a face to each name, get yourself better situated in the fictional worlds of Westeros and Esteros and begin your reading on a more informed footing. This might make it sound like reading A Song of Ice and Fire is a chore, but once you've become sufficiently immersed in the tale, you'll be breezing through these books and reveling in every bit of political intrigue and battle strategy.

The books describe a very medieval world, populated by Kings and Knights, where ancient families forge alliances through battles and marriages and everyone is using everyone else for political gain. However, as the series progresses, fantasy elements come to the forefront, with the advent of dragons, skinchangers, whitewalkers, and sorcerers. The plots are completely character-driven and unlike a lot of the fantasy genre, female characters are hugely influential. There are manipulative queens, swashbuckling tomboys, a woman who yearns to be a knight, and a teenager who discovers that her rosy visions of becoming a princess bear no semblance to the treacherous reality.

The series is violent, clever, and addictive. The structure of each novel means that every chapter ends with a cliffhanger, leaving you with no idea what's happened to that character until a few chapters have passed. (Or if it was the last chapter for that character, you'll have to wait until the next book). No character seems to be safe, with Kings and commoners coming to violent ends without a word of warning and throwing the entire story into disarray. Magic is used sparingly, but when it does come into play, it completely changes the rules of the game and messes with your mind in that special way reserved for fantasy novels.

A Song of Ice and Fire is a classic piece of fantasy storytelling and its breadth and scope means that there's just more material to sink your teeth into. The fifth novel, A Dance with Dragons, was released in 2011 after a five-year wait and there's no telling when the sixth novel might be released. But until then, you have the HBO series and thousands of pages of material to keep you entertained. I highly recommend getting the books in Kindle or other e-book format because lugging the books around poses a danger to your spine, but regardless of format, this is a must-read series for anyone who simply loves to read.

A Country Doctor's Notebook: Stumbling Through Snow & Surgery

Russia has a fine tradition of writers but they tend more toward tragic epic novels than humorous autobiographical essays. Thankfully in the 1920s, Mikhail Bulgakov, a Russian doctor-turned-writer, published a series of short stories based on his time in a remote village, just six months after graduating from medical school in 1917 revolutionary Russia. These stories were later compiled in the collection entitled, A Country Doctor's Notebook.

I first heard of these stories through the Sky Arts miniseries, A Young Doctor's Notebook that aired in the UK in December and starred Daniel Radcliffe and Jon Hamm. It's a darkly funny series and after enjoying its four-episode run, I proceeded to read the book. Bulgakov self-deprecatingly captures all the insecurities of a young doctor who has passed his exams with flying colors but has mostly just observed the practice of medicine. The Russians had a decent rural medical service, and the young doctor is thrown into a medical apprenticeship in the remote Muryovo Hospital, where he is the only doctor, in the middle of nowhere. There's no access to modern facilities, he travels by carriages and sleighs, the nearest electric light is thirty-two miles away, and there seems to be a perpetual blizzard raging around him.

Under these circumstances, our young hero attempts to treat stubborn villagers who seem to get into terrifying situations with unerring frequency. One of his first cases is a young girl who is caught in some farm equipment and is bleeding into oblivion by the time her father carries her over to the hospital. Assisted by a feldsher (medical assistant) and two midwives, the doctor spends some time fretting about why this girl won't just die already and finally decides to amputate her leg, an operation he has never personally performed. Somehow, all goes well, and although he thinks the girl will die at any minute, she survives against all odds. His assistants are impressed by his technique and ask how many amputations he has performed before. He lies and says two.

Of course, there are plenty of women giving birth and some of the stories are concerned with his foray into obstetrics, a subject he aced in university without ever actually delivering a baby. Thankfully, he has his trusty midwives to dispense practical advice that he would be lucky to find in textbooks and he acquits himself admirably. He also muses on his physical appearance a great deal, concerned that his baby face makes him look like a student and not a respectable doctor. So he grows a beard in the hopes of being taken seriously by the hard-to-impress villagers. After all, no one trusts a clean-shaven doctor.

A Country Doctor's Notebook is a revealing look at turn-of-the-century rural Russian life and the travails of the medical profession at a time when surgery was the answer to almost everything with occasional prescriptions of mouthwash and ointment. Some of the stories are incredibly funny, others are dark and full of the dangers that this isolation and hopeless atmosphere can produce. Bulgakov survives this trial by fire (or perhaps trial by blizzard would be more apt), but some of his colleagues are not so lucky. It is both a fun and sobering read, but well worth it for the novelty of reading some harrowing and hilarious anecdotes from a humorous Russian.

A Briefer History of Time: The Universe Explained

Now that awards season is over, it's time to unglue your eyes from movie screens and pick up a book. So I got a copy of Stephen Hawking's A Briefer History of Time because it was time I got around to it. The book was a perfect complement to my recently-concluded Introduction to Astronomy course on Coursera, but is well worth a read if you are a complete novice to the world of theoretical physics.

The book was published in 2005 as an update to A Brief History of Time, which came out in 1988. This version condenses some material and spends more time explaining the more intricate matters of quantum mechanics and string theory that prior readers found difficult to grasp. With the discovery of the Higgs-Boson particle, I'm sure Hawking has plans for yet another update, but for now, this book serves as a marvelous introduction to the scientific concepts and theories that are increasingly being discussed in the media and popular culture.

A Briefer History of Time provides the history of physics and astronomy, introducing revolutionaries like Copernicus and Galileo who dared to suggest the earth moved around the sun, to Isaac Newton's discoveries about gravity, and the subsequent contributions of a man named Albert Einstein. After establishing the basic laws of physics and discussing our explosive origins via the big bang theory, the latter half of the book discusses the weird and wonderful topics of string theory, wormholes, time travel, the stuff of science fact and fiction. Are there multiple dimensions? Multiple universes? Can we bend space and time? The answer is, "Maybe, depends on who you ask." Hawking and his co-author Leonard Mlodinow have hit upon a writing style that is both concise and understandable, adjectives that can rarely be applied to any form of scientific writing. As a result, it is an incredibly quick read, but one that will leave you remarkably better-informed about the world you live in.

Theoretical physics sounds like the province of geniuses and intellectual giants, and it often is, but a basic understanding of it can be achieved by any layman. And in our increasingly science and technology-dominated world, it makes sense to consider what people are doing in their laboratories and whether those scientists at CERN are really going to kill us all with their Large Hadron Collider experiments. If nothing else, reading A Briefer History of Time might help you understand the science jargon that Sheldon Cooper spouts on The Big Bang Theory every week, or Spock's musings in the next Star Trek movie. Physics isn't just for physicists anymore. 

Fresh Guacamole: An Oscar Palate Cleanser

Every year I look forward to the Oscars, and then the actual ceremony is underwhelming, pompous, and overlong. There will be multiple digressions so that all of Hollywood can pat itself on the back, and many deserving films will be shut out because they didn't bother to go on the Oscar campaign trail and bribe Academy voters. But if you keep your focus squarely on the nominated movies and avoid all the background noise, you'll discover some gems.

I already discussed Paperman, nominated for Best Animated Short Film, and that same category features Fresh Guacamole, which has the distinction of being the shortest movie ever nominated for an Oscar. It is a delicious movie, silly and imaginative, showcasing all the bizarre and wonderful things that stop-motion animation can do. It features a simple premise about someone making a bowl of guacamole out of a series of weird ingredients. The avocado is actually a grenade, the onion is a baseball, and a golf ball is juiced as a lime. And all these seemingly unappetizing ingredients are tossed together to make the most delicious bowl of guacamole you'll ever see.

Fresh Guacomole is not just a visual experience. It seems to involve all your senses, where you can almost feel the squishy red dice tomatoes or taste the buttery creaminess of that avocado grenade. It's a delightful little film and I would have never seen it if it had not been nominated for an Oscar. So this Sunday when the Oscars are stumbling into their fourth hour and getting progressively more tedious, just remember that occasionally they do nominate some great work that showcases the whimsy and creativity of filmmaking.

Derek: Living on the Margins

Ricky Gervais is well-known for his comedies. The Office, Extras, and Life's Too Short all had moments of pathos, but ultimately they were focused on making people laugh. Gervais' latest series, Derek, is much more of a comedy-drama, with equal emphasis on making you laugh and making you cry.

Gervais plays Derek Noakes, a possibly autistic man who works in an old age home. It's patently obvious that Derek is "different," but Gervais has been clear that he isn't going to diagnose this character. Derek is 50 but still retains a childlike innocence and wonder about the world around him. And his predominant characteristic is kindness. He treats everyone like his best friend, particularly the elderly people he works with, and is a ray of sunshine in potentially gloomy surroundings.

The supporting cast includes Gervais' longtime collaborator Karl Pilkington who plays the home's caretaker, Dougie. Pilkington initially seems to be doing his usual shtick but as the series progresses, he is becoming a much more interesting character who is not afraid to speak his mind and stick up for Derek and the home's much put-upon manager, Hannah. Kerry Godliman lights up every scene she's in and imbues Hannah with all the grace and patience you would want in a manager of an old age home. Hannah is dedicated to the elderly people under her care and as the home faces budget cuts, she pours her heart and soul into her work, sometimes at the expense of her personal life.

Derek is concerned with examining the lives of people living on the margins of society. The last episode involved a young teenager who was forced to volunteer at the home after she was caught for shoplifting. Over time, Hannah manages to scratch away at the girl's tough exterior and discover a young woman who just wants to be told that she's good at something. The show also focuses on senior citizens and their desire to lead productive lives even if they've been forgotten by their families. Of course, people don't live forever and much of the drama in Derek is the result of a longtime resident passing away.

Derek is a sweet show about the everyday life of people you don't often see on television. It's currently airing every Wednesday on Channel 4, but US viewers will get to watch it on Netflix later this year. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's certainly worth a viewing.

Would I Lie To You? Why, Yes I Would

Would I Lie To You? is yet another brilliant British panel show, in the tradition of QI or The Big Fat Quiz of the Year. However, this program is not concerned with informing viewers about the news or trivia. Instead, it involves celebrity teams telling outrageous stories that could be either true or false and proving that sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction.

The team captains for every episode are Lee Mack and David Mitchell, two fantastic comedians with very different but equally hilarious comic sensibilities. Each week two celebrities join each team - they may be comedians, newsreaders or other famous folk, but they add a great deal of variety to the proceedings and bring some unbelievable stories with them. The host for the first two series was Angus Deayton, a TV presenter with a sarcastic and withering sense of humor, but the current host is Rob Brydon, who lends a cheerier tone to the whole affair and keeps launching into the celebrity impersonations that kept me so amused in The Trip.

The first round involves a celebrity picking up a card and reading off a statement. For example, "When I was younger, I has so many imaginary friends that we formed an imaginary gang." It is then the duty of the opposing team to relentlessly question and mock the celebrity and determine whether the story is a truth or a lie. Then they play "This is my," a round where a stranger comes up on stage and all three members of one team claim to know him/her. The other team has to figure out who's telling the truth. Finally they finish up with Quickfire Lies, which is similar to the first round but is supposedly more rapidfire. Usually it just devolves into giggles and mass hysteria.

It's hard to explain the magic of Would I Lie To You? just by describing it. So my advice is to go watch it - if you can't access it on the BBC iPlayer, there are plenty of clips on YouTube. And be forewarned: even though each episode is only half an hour long, you might want to set aside more viewing time for yourself. You won't be able to stop at just one. 

Wreck-It Ralph: It's Hard Out There For A Villain

Animated movies just keep getting better and better. Each year, the storylines get more intricate and the animation gets more sophisticated, until we have to accept that these movies aren't just for kids anymore. Pixar seemed to have a monopoly on award-winning animation (and Brave is still the most likely Oscar winner this year), but Disney's Wreck-It Ralph, which is also an Oscar nominee, proves that the Best Animated Film category is more hotly-contested than ever.

Wreck-It Ralph is set inside the world of video games in an arcade. Each game is inhabited by a cast of characters that follow the gamers' instructions, but when the arcade is closed, they are free to live their lives and hang out with characters from other games. Our hero, Wreck-It Ralph, is actually the villain in a game called Fix-It Felix, Jr. The game's premise is that Ralph indiscriminately wrecks the building that all the other characters live in, and the gamer has to help Fix-It Felix, Jr. use his golden hammer to repair all the damage. If the gamer succeeds, Felix gets a medal and everyone throws Ralph off the roof of the building.

Ralph is tired of being a villain - he doesn't get to live in the apartment building with the other characters and has to live by himself in the town dump. Everyone is scared of him and he is so big and clumsy that he can't help but break things whenever he tries to walk into the building. Things come to a head when Ralph isn't invited to celebrate the game's 30th anniversary, so he storms out of Fix-It Felix, Jr. to see if he can win a medal in some other game and return a hero.

Wreck-It Ralph weaves together several plot lines as Ralph wanders into different games, and features delightful references to classic arcade games. I am not a gamer by any stretch of the imagination but I was still able to appreciate the references to Pac Man, Mario Kart, and other games that have become pop cultural touchstones. The animation is splendid, recreating a varied spectrum of video games and completely immersing you in Ralph's strange but wonderful world. Of course, voice acting is a crucial element of any animated movie, and Wreck-It Ralph is chock-full of fantastic performances. John C. Reilly is sympathetic and hilarious as Ralph, Jack McBrayer is the obvious choice for the nice but naive Felix, Jane Lynch is marvelous as a strict sergeant from a violent alien-shooting game, and Sarah Silverman is adorable as Vanellope, a young "glitch" in a Mario Kart-esque game who becomes Ralph's unexpected ally.

Wreck-It Ralph occasionally gets bogged down in exposition but that is only to be expected when you are inventing a brand new world and have to make sure the audience is aware of all the rules and restrictions that are in play. The dialogue is whip-smart, full of puns and double entendres to keep both children and adults entertained, and every scene is loaded with inspired and creative situations. The movie's resolution is executed with flair, tying up all the loose ends and giving us a charming tale about how everyone has their part to play, even the villain of a video game.

House of Cards: Political Puppetry

On February 1st, Netflix charged into the world of original programming by releasing the first season of House of Cards. They released all thirteen episodes in one fell swoop, in deference to the growing culture of "binge watching." So I spent my weekend getting sucked in to the seedy world of Washington politics and only came up for air after episode 13 was done. Mission accomplished, Netflix.

The show is based on the eponymous 1990s BBC series but the action has been moved to Washington D.C. where Kevin Spacey stars as South Carolina Congressman Francis "Frank" Underwood, the Democratic House Majority Whip. He has a finger in every pie in Washington and knows how to get things done. In the first episode, Garrett Walker has just been elected as President and he is grateful for Frank's support and political maneuvering. Frank was promised the Secretary of State position, but is informed that he would be more valuable to Walker in Congress. Furious at being passed up in this manner, Frank embarks on a campaign to discredit the current front-runner for Secretary of State and get someone he approves of into the Cabinet. Frank is a man who likes to bestow favors upon people, only to remind them of it later and cash in. With one hand he giveth, and with the other he taketh away.

As the season progresses, Frank pushes for troubled Congressman Peter Russo (Corey Stoll) to run for Governor of Pennsylvania. There are a variety of sordid reasons why Russo owes Frank, but it is unclear what Frank's endgame is. In the meantime, Frank has struck up a relationship with Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara), a young reporter who is intent on furthering her career. She is happy to publish the information that Frank carefully doles out to discredit his opponents and support his own power plays. Frank is married to Claire (the remarkable Robin Wright), who runs the charitable Clean Water Initiative and is just as cutthroat and ambitious as her husband. They have an open and supportive relationship, which is oftentimes just as twisted and amoral as the rest of their actions.

The character of Frank Underwood follows in the grand tradition of antiheroes that underpin all great TV dramas (e.g. Walter White in Breaking Bad or Don Draper in Mad Men). Frank is a corrupt and manipulative puppet master, pulling the strings and making unsuspecting people dance to his tune so that he can pursue his mysterious agenda. As House of Cards hurtles to its conclusion, the grandiosity of Frank's ambition and long-ranging foresight becomes clear and you can only marvel at this man's arrogance. He is engaged in terrible doings yet you are spellbound and want to know just how far he will go. Unfortunately, the best laid plans never work out as expected and Frank discovers that some of his puppets have cut their strings and may discover his intentions.

House of Cards is an addictive tour-de-force in storytelling. It is anchored by brilliant performances, particularly Kevin Spacey who constantly breaks the fourth wall by talking directly to the camera and draws the audience into Frank's twisted mind. Not all the plot lines work, but when you're watching it in one go, it's easy to forget the plots that go nowhere and focus on the gradual unfurling of Frank's grand schemes. The season finale is a nail-biter and suggests that it is only a matter of time before this House of Cards collapses.

The Office: The Walls Come Crashing Down

I have watched The Office for nine years and will miss it terribly when it ends in May. When Michael Scott (played by the remarkable Steve Carell) left the show in its seventh season, people complained that the show became too uneven. However, I thought the show just became more of an ensemble, playing with its host of crazy characters at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and offering up different permutations of wackiness that made for some especially memorable episodes. Now, in its final season, the show is breaking all the rules and delivering brilliantly compelling television.

The original UK Office popularized the "mockumentary" format, where characters are being filmed by some anonymous film crew and occasionally speak to the camera to discuss their motivations or thoughts. It's very familiar now, seen on Modern Family and Twenty Twelve to name a few, but The Office has always made particularly good use of this format. The "talking heads," i.e. scenes when characters are talking directly to the camera, aren't just used for exposition but are often the moments of memorable plot development. One moment that comes to mind is the Season 3 finale when Pam is talking about how she and Jim will never get together because their timing was always off, only to have Jim burst in to ask her out. In the Season 4 premiere, they deny they are a couple, only to be confronted with footage the documentary crew stealthily filmed of the two of them together. This one-minute scene alone is worth a few dozen Emmys.


So it is only fitting that the final season has raised the stakes for Jim and Pam. Their slow-burning romance that blossomed into a full-fledged relationship that led to marriage and a couple of kids has always been a cornerstone of The Office, the storyline that kept viewers coming back for more. Now that the show is ending, the writers are testing that relationship one last time. Two weeks ago, Jim and Pam had a big fight over the phone. Pam hangs up and starts to sob. The camera continues to film her until Brian intervenes. Who is Brian? He's the sound guy of the anonymous documentary crew that has been filming The Office for the past nine years.

It's astonishing that after nine years, the audience is only now acknowledging the existence of the film crew. Of course we always knew they were there, but they seemed like non-entities whose stories couldn't possibly matter as much as the stories of the characters who work at Dunder Mifflin. But it turns out they do. Because as last week revealed, Brian has been developing feelings for Pam over the past nine years, and now that she and Jim are skidding into a rough patch, Brian might become a part of their story.

Jim and Pam can't break up, because their relationship is the one constant on a show that has faced a lot of upheaval. Yet Brian is a pretty serious threat and I cannot wait to see how this story will unfold. More importantly, I cannot wait to see more of the film crew and discover how they have been interacting with the show's characters behind the scenes. As Pam and Brian's friendship demonstrates, the film crew are only unknown to us, the audience. The show's characters have been interacting with them for years and who knows where those relationships might lead?

If you stopped watching The Office in recent seasons, I can only exhort you to watch these final episodes. Start with this one and keep going. And tune in every Thursday night until the finale, because there is nothing more fascinating than watching a brilliant show deconstruct itself with balletic precision as it nears its inevitable conclusion.

Paperman: A Love Story in Six Minutes

Best Animated Short is an awards category that largely goes under the radar. But this year, Disney's Paperman is nominated for an Academy Award and they released it on YouTube where it quickly racked up millions of  views. In six and a half minutes, this black-and-white movie showcases the power of film and animation to tell a poignant love story.

The movie begins on a train platform in 1940s New York City. A young office worker gets hit by a piece of paper - a woman runs up to grab it. Another gust of wind blows one of the man's papers on to the woman's face. She laughs and returns it to him. The man, who is already entranced by this beautiful woman, is further enchanted by the piece of paper, which now bears a red lipstick mark. As he gazes at it, the woman boards her train and departs. 

Of course, the story doesn't end there. The man is in his office when he looks out of the window and spies the woman sitting in an office in the opposite building. He tries to catch her attention by throwing paper airplanes from his window to hers. Watch the video to find out whether or not he succeeds.

Paperman is a simple story, beautifully told. The animation is a marriage of the 2D drawings that made Disney movies so magical and computer graphics that make the film an immersive experience. It serves as a reminder that computer animation doesn't have to mean the death of traditional hand-drawn animation. Instead, the two can be combined and the result is a charming, Oscar-worthy masterpiece.

Life of Pi: Let Me Tell You a Story

I read Yann Martel's novel, Life of Pi, a few weeks ago and this weekend I finally saw the movie. Director Ang Lee has made a visually stunning movie, using 3D the way it was meant to be used. Like Hugo or Avatar, the 3D is deftly used to enhance the cinematography and never feels intrusive. In terms of the story, the movie is faithful to the book, which means it starts out strong, drags a bit in the middle, and poses a puzzle at the end. It begins in Montreal, with the adult Pi Patel telling a writer his story that will "make him believe in God."

Pi lives in Pondicherry, India. His family owns a zoo and he is surrounded by animals in idyllic surroundings. However, when he is a teenager, his father announces he is selling the zoo and moving the family to Canada. They board a Japanese freighter with a few of their most valuable animals and set off across the Pacific. One night, Pi hears a loud noise, goes above deck to investigate, and discovers that the ship is about to sink. He is tossed into a lifeboat, accompanied by a zebra and hyena that have managed to get loose from the cargo hold. A little while later, he unwittingly rescues Richard Parker, the zoo's Bengal tiger. An orangutan named Orange Juice also arrives floating on some bananas. By day break, the ship is completely submerged, and Pi is the only human survivor.

The first few days are what you would expect when you have a bunch of animals on a boat. The hyena first attacks the wounded zebra, and then goes for the orangutan. When it looks like he might attack Pi, Richard Parker intervenes. Now Pi is alone with a tiger and we follow the next 227 days of his journey. His primary concern is establishing control over Richard Parker, and there are numerous training sequences as he attempts to tame this carnivorous beast and sate their appetites with fish from the bountiful ocean. The lifeboat has a survival kit with various foodstuffs and devices that come in handy. There is a spectacular sequence at night as the ocean teems with phosphorescent jellyfish and Pi has visions of all the things he has loved and lost. Pi's deep religiosity means that he keeps alternating between hope and despair, as he and Richard Parker endure all manner of adventures on their ocean voyage.

Suraj Sharma is simply wonderful as Pi Patel and undergoes a jawdropping transformation over the course of this ocean voyage. Tabu and Adil Hussain, who play Pi's parents, and Irrfan Khan, who plays the adult Pi, are equally engaging for the short time that they are on screen. Richard Parker never feels like a CGI tiger (I believe a real tiger was used in some sequences, but certainly not throughout the movie), and the special effects team deserves all manner of awards. The middle section does feel overlong but really, that's as it should be. The scenes start to feel repetitive and unnecessary, but perhaps that is just a subtle way of putting you into Pi's shoes. If you can't endure a 2-hour movie about someone at sea, how would you endure 227 days of endless ocean?

The book has several graphic elements, but the movie only has a PG rating. It shies away considerably from the novel's darker moments and expands on the moments of beauty. That is a choice that pays off visually, but doesn't particularly work emotionally. I was disturbed by the book but the movie didn't evoke much of an emotional response. Watch Life of Pi in theaters and witness the visual marvel for yourself, then launch into a debate about the ending. The story ends with a twist that I will not divulge here. Suffice to say, it requires rearranging the way you view the entire story, and choosing which version of the tale you prefer. Like most things, it is a choice between reason and faith.