Book Review: The Comic Book Story of Beer by Jonathan Hennessey et al.

The Comic Book Story of Beer written by Jonathan Hennessey and Mike Smith, art by Aaron McConnell, and lettering by Tom Orzechowski

Chronicling the history of beer (starting with per-historical archaeological evidence and speculation), this book gives a quick but detailed view of the origins of beer-making by ancient peoples and follows through to the modern micro-brewing revolution in the United States. The book is entertainingly written and occasionally touches on major historical events when they are in some way related to beer (like Hitler's Beer Hall Putch). The book also gives one page information sheets on all the major styles of beer (like pilsners, porters, IPAs, etc.), detailing their color, bitterness, and strength as well as good food pairings and readily accessible examples of each style.

I enjoyed the book--the style of illustration is fun and creative, as is the story telling. When new elements become part of the story (like hops), how those elements are used in brewing beer are described. The occasional digs against the Catholic Church, government authorities, and big business is a little off-putting. The author definitely comes from an "independent brewing is great/big brewing is bad" perspective (the publisher is from Berkeley!) and has an anti-establishment vibe that may not bother you but I at least noticed it. Otherwise it's a great read.

TV Review: The Bletchley Circle (2012)

The Bletchley Circle (2012) written by Guy Burt

Bletchley Park was a top-secret code-break office in World War II London. The office had a group of four women who worked well together--Susan could detect patterns, Lucy had a photographic memory, etc. After the war, they signed a secrecy act and went back to normal lives, which meant marriage and two children for Susan. She's not entirely satisfied as a housewife and begins to analyze the news reports about a killer who's abducted his fifth victim. All the victims were women abducted while traveling and found strangled to death in dark cellars. Susan has worked out a pattern to the crimes and has her husband pull a favor with the London police. She gives her deduction of where the latest victim's body has been left but is wrong. The police thank her and bemusedly send her on her way. Rather than let it go, she calls on her three friends from the Bletchley and they get to work. They treat the murders like a code that needs cracking. They gather data on the murders and the victims to find more patterns. They make a lot of headway but the police are interested in evidence, not theory. The police politely ignore their conclusions. The women take the investigation into their own hands. The closer they get to the killer, the more dangerous it becomes.

The plot is engaging and has enough credible twists to ratchet up the tension and accelerate the story. The frustration of the post-war women being moved back into "women's positions" and not being taken seriously in "man's positions" is obvious but not heavy-handed. The situation creates natural set-backs for the women, forcing them to risk their own safety. Believable tension is also found in the lives of the two women who are married. They can't tell their husbands what they are doing which naturally arouses suspicion and creates other problems. The story is engaging from every angle and well worth watching.

I'm sure to watch season two soon!

Movie Review: What We Do in the Shadows (2015)

What We Do in the Shadows (2015) written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi

Mockumentaries have been an extremely popular genre since the cult success of This is Spinal Tap. What We Do in the Shadows is a faux documentary following four Wellington, New Zealand, flatmates who are vampires. They have typical roommate problems: Deacon doesn't do the dishes, Vladislav made a mess of Viago's antique couch when he killed a victim, etc. They have trouble going out at night too: their various fashion senses haven't kept up with the times (they range from 150 to 900 years old), they can't even check themselves in the mirror, they can't get in anywhere unless they are specifically invited (makes it hard to go clubbing, or even to fast food joints). They try to help each other out by giving fashion feedback or having each other's backs when they run into a pack of werewolves. The vampires have the interesting, quirky challenges and character traits that documentary film makers love to chronicle. The show builds up to them attending the annual Wellington Unholy Masquerade (a gathering of vampires, zombies, werewolves, etc.).

The movie does a great job mocking vampire mythology, housemate problems, and documentary conventions.  Best of all, the characters come off as real people with likable and unlikable qualities. They have triumphs, set-backs, and tragedies. All are played with good humor. The movie moves quickly too (it's only 85 minutes long) so things stay fresh and fun.

It's a delightful, light comedy about vampires living in and dealing with modern day problems and people.

I heard about this movie at B-Movie Catechism which has yet to steer me wrong (I wouldn't have seen Ex Machina or It Follows with his recommendation-I-'m on the hunt for Bone Tomahawk now).

Book Review: English Catholic Heroines edited by Joanna Bogle

English Catholic Heroines edited by Joanna Bogle

English Catholic Heroines covers the history of Catholicism from the 600s up to the present day (the last woman, Helen Asquith, died in 2000). Readers get a clear historical picture, seeing the original evangelization, many key figures during Reformation, the intellectual rebirth of Catholicism in the 1800s, and the many different works accomplished during the 20th century.

The women are quite diverse. Some of the women, like Queen Margaret of Scotland and Queen Mary Tudor, are royalty who dealt with serious challenges. Some of the women, like Mary Ward and Margaret Hallahan, were pioneers in women's religious movements, the former applying the Jesuit model for women, the later organizing Third Order Dominican women into communities that pray together and serve in their community through education and charitable works. Other women were educators, like Mother Elizabeth Prout. Still others traveled far and wide spreading the Catholic faith from their English origin, like Caroline Chisholm who traveled to Australia in the 1830s. She did tremendous charitable work there and returned to England to raise awareness and helping relatives follow those who had gone to Australia as criminals or in search of fortune.

Their stories are inspirational and fascinating. They dealt nobly with crises both on a personal scale and often on a larger scale, either politically or ecclesiastically. The social upheavals begun by King Henry VIII still impact Catholics, even with the many reforms of the 1800s. Many of the women started new orders, always a challenge to find approval and assistance. They overcame such hardships with integrity and forbearance, qualities needed but not always appreciated in our day.

This book is a companion work to English Catholic Heroes which I have not read but am now very interested in reading. Highly recommended.

Blue and Gold Dinner 2016

My son's Cub Scout Pack had their annual Blue and Gold Dinner. The dinner is a celebration of the founding of Scouting in 1914 and of the scouts' accomplishments this year. Most boys in the pack have completed their requirements for promotion to the next level. The party had a Star Wars theme.

The food had thematic names--Padawan Pizza, Hoth Dogs (both meat and veggie), light saber sticks (carrots and celery). Boys had the option to decorate cakes for sale. There were only three entries but they were impressive.

Cake with extras

Two well-decorated cakes

A bunch of stations were set up around the room. I was in charge of the Light Saber station, where the boys were paired up and had to toss rings around each other's light sabers.

Getting ready to work together

Son and daughter on the same side (of the table--so they weren't partners)

On the down low

Other stations included blaster training, lava rock jumping, and making Endor trail mix.

A nice remix

The awards ceremony saw the Arrows of Light (the oldest Cub Scouts) finishing the Cub program and moving on to Boy Scout troops. My son received his Wolf Badge so he is ready to move up to Bears in June. For some reason, parents had to toss awards into a vent shaft (much like destroying a Death Star) using Force-like prowess.

Like a ring toss

I didn't win at that. We did come home with one of the door prizes, a pair of droids standing around.

These are not the children you are looking for

We also brought home one of the cakes which was delicious as well as pretty.

I want the slice with Boba Fett's face!

Eating the Falcon

X-Wing in trouble!

Book Review: Captain Marvel Vol. 1: In Pursuit of Flight by Kelly Sue DeConnick et al.

Captain Marvel Volume 1: In Pursuit of Flight written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, art by Dexter Soy and Emma Rios with others

Earth's Mightiest Hero, Ms. Marvel (real name Carol Danvers), got her superpowers from a Kree device that makes wishes come true. At the time, Carol was a pilot in the United States Air Force (with the rank of colonel) who wanted to be an astronaut and have the powers of the alien who was attempting to save her, Captain Mar-Vell. When the machine exploded, she was granted Mar-Vell's near invulnerability and super-strength, which among other things let her fly into outer space unharmed. She fought alongside Mar-Vell on Earth and in the cosmos. He eventually died and in this issue, Captain America convinces her to accept Captain Marvel's legacy by taking his name (she's already wearing a new costume more like his). She's reluctant until he dares her, which pushes her into the decision.

Another of Carol's heroes, legendary pilot Helen Cobb, dies and leaves her plane to Carol with a mysterious note. Carol tries to replicate one of Helen's many altitude records in the plane but doing so sends her back to World War II. She battles alongside the Banshee Squadron (an all-female group of US Airforce pilots) against some Japanese soldiers who have Kree ships. She makes another time hop to 1960s Texas where a young Helen Cobb and some female friends are trying to become astronauts but NASA is reluctant to train women. Captain Marvel has plenty of opportunities to change history, but will she?

Time travel stories are a bit of a pet peeve for me. Often, they are incoherent, sometimes blatantly so. The more consistent ones are better (like the first Terminator film), though the best are stories that don't focus on the time travel so much as another interesting story (like Back to the Future films throwing Marty in with various generations of his family). This book falls in the later category. Carol discovers bits of the Kree device which made her superpowered and assumes they were scattered through time when the device exploded. As she's trying to undo that damage she has the chance to undo the accident that gave her powers, but does she really want to do that? The time travel is just there to provide an interesting existential crisis for Carol along with some fun adventures and an interesting puzzle to solve.

Carol Danvers is an interesting character. She has a gung-ho attitude and is able both to work together with other heroes (super or regular) and to go it alone if the situation requires it. She'll take the time to think out a problem but is decisive under time constraints. Her main interest is helping others and she isn't afraid to sacrifice herself in doing so. She makes a great role model.

She's a great character and this is a fun story, so I recommend it heartily.

Hershey's Chocolate Tour

The main attraction of Hershey's Chocolate World is the Chocolate Tour. The tour provides an overview of the candy-making process on a sit-down ride through an automated and often animatronic presentation. The entrance is very unassuming.

The tour entrance

The line winds its way through the building Disney-style, hiding its length until it is too late to turn back. Happily, we visited in February, far from the peak season, and were able to enjoy the emptiness of the switchbacks.

A ramp up too...

...the main queueing area!

The "info" part of the infotainment

At the end of the line is a rotating platform that lets visitors get in and out of the constantly running ride. I bet the workers get a lot of steps in on their pedometers!

Family in their cart

Happily, I made it in the cart before we went inside the barn

The first step was seeing cows who produce milk and were the hostesses of the chocolate-making process. They appeared again and again as we rode along.

Business end of the cows

Later on they sang to us!

After a brief overview of the agricultural part of the process, most of the ride involved the creation of the candies, starting with the processing of cocoa beans.

Entering the factory

The beans are roasted and the various beans from various countries are blended together to make a homogenous flavor.

Cleaning the beans

Mixing beans from different sources

Chocolate blocks at bottom about to be mixed with milk and sugar

Blending (a variation on the mixing theme)

The chocolate is refined on rollers, creating a smoothness and delectability that is highly desirable.

Entering the refinery

 One sign showed the average production of various candies during the day.

1.3 million kisses--let me in on that action!

The final section of the faux factory was making bars, sweets, and other treats for shipping across the country and the world!

Bars of chocolate

Making individual treats

The famous chocolate syrup!

How they make Kisses on an industrial scale

Mini-munchies!

The tour ends with a quick walk back to the retail floor, but not before an employee hands out chocolate samples. We received KitKat bars of which there are no pictures because we consumed them rather quickly.

The tour is fun to do and quite informative on how Hershey's is made in their factories.