Reviews of books, comics, movies, and other random stuff.

Review: TRIBES by Seth Godin

Just do it.

Or, as Gandhi put it, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

That, in a nutshell, is the primary message of Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, Seth Godin’s masterful mini-manifesto on what it takes to be a leader and why YOU should be the one to take the lead.

“I can tell you this: leaders have nothing in common.

They don’t share gender or income level or geography. There’s no gene, no schooling, no parentage, no profession. In other words, leaders aren’t born. I’m sure of it.

Actually, they do have one thing in common. Every tribe leader I’ve ever met shares one thing: the decision to lead.”

Emphasis mine, but it’s a point Godin returns to several times throughout the book, illustrating it with numerous examples of people from various walks of modern life who didn’t take no for an answer: they rejected the status quo, risked failure to achieve success by being deeply committed to what they believed in, attracted like-minded people to their cause as a result, and led them forward.

“All you need to do is motivate people who choose to follow you…

This leads to an interesting thought: you get to choose the tribe you will lead.

Through your actions as a leader, you attract a tribe that wants to follow you. That tribe has a worldview that matches the message you’re sending.”

Through the wide range of instructive and/or inspirational examples he cites, from the requisite Steve Jobs and Starbucks, to the far more interesting Grateful Dead and Nathan Winograd — he even throws in a nod to Barack Obama, although unnamed, in a brief section sub-titled “Criticizing Hope is Easy” — Godin gets in front of almost every likely objection someone might have for why his premise doesn’t apply to them and knocks them down.

(more…)

Continue ReadingReview: TRIBES by Seth Godin

Review: The Incredible Hulk

The Incredible Hulk
The Incredible Hulk

I skipped The Incredible Hulk in theaters because I was fully expecting to be disappointed, but my son really wanted to see it and Iron Man was unexpectedly good, so we picked up the DVD and I was pleasantly surprised.

Ed Norton isn’t as dynamic an actor as Robert Downey, Jr., unlikely to carry a blockbuster superhero movie on his own shoulders, but he brings the right level of intensity to the Hulk’s conflicted alter ego, Bruce Banner, that combined with some precision casting — and, according to several rumors seemingly backed up by many of the DVD’s bonus features*, exerting influence far beyond his own character — makes for a movie that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Tim Roth and William Hurt shine in their roles, and Liv Tyler manages to escape the confines of the cliché “female interest” as she and writer Zak Penn (who takes an impressive step forward from Fantastic Four and X-Men: The Last Stand) make her character work as the emotional centerpiece of the story.

It’s a well-paced action movie with just the right dash of drama — many of the deleted scenes featuring psychiatrist Dr. Samson are deservedly so — and the CGI Hulk and Abomination are even more impressive than last year’s Transformers triumph, especially their final battle which is arguably the best balls-to-the-wall fight scene put to film in recent years.

(more…)

Continue ReadingReview: The Incredible Hulk

Breaking Ground

Bloomfieldguy

There are 8 million stories in the naked city, plus another 2-3 million, give or take, if you count the transplants who still commute in for work from the surrounding cities and towns in Long Island, Connecticut and, yes, New Jersey.

From Bloomberg to Bloomfield is my story, a native New Yorker on his third go-round living in the Garden State, now as a first-time homeowner in the town of Bloomfield, which is in Essex County, due West of the Lincoln Tunnel and just north of Newark and East Orange, which are effectively the Bronx to Bloomfield’s Mt. Vernon, the former being where I’m from originally, the latter where I lived for most of my high school years.

(more…)

Continue ReadingBreaking Ground

Go see Liberty City

Liberty CityI went to see Liberty City last night, April Yvette Thompson’s multi-layered, one-person account of her upbringing in the infamous Miami neighborhood during the chaotic 70s, told against a backdrop of the rise and fall of the Black Power movement, the Crack epidemic and the Liberty City Riots that led to Miami being declared a disaster area, literally and figuratively. Co-written and directed by an old friend of mine, Jessica Blank (The Exonerated; Almost Home), I went mainly to support her work but came away amazed by Thompson’s acting prowess.

I’ve seen a handful of one-person shows over the years — real ones by real actors, not the self-indulgent features-on-steroids many poets have put together* — and am always impressed by an actor’s ability to believably portray multiple characters with a minimum of props and costume changes, but in Liberty City, Thompson pulls off six major characters (and a few minor ones) without making a single addition to or subtraction from her attire to delineate them, relying soley on vocal inflections, body language and an amazingly expressive face that ages, de-ages and changes genders without ever missing a beat. Her story is a riveting one that weaves her family history with that of Libery City‘s into a 90-minute, intermission-less collection of increasingly emotional (though impressively restrained) anecdotes that lead to a conclusion that is simultaneously heart-breaking and hopeful, and more than a little bit timely.

(more…)

Continue ReadingGo see Liberty City

Monday Mash-up, 2/4/08

1) While a couple of good things happened in January (most notably an unexpected promotion at work to Online Ad Sales Director for all of our properties!), overall it was as bad a start to 2008 as I could have imagined. Nothing major, but a lot of bumps in the road that tested my constitution and nearly shook my resolve. I’m very glad that it’s February.

New Fossil Bag2) I’m not a big shopper but I’m a complete sucker for a handful of things, including bags and electronic gadgets. While picking up a new wallet from Macy’s on Saturday (one of those slim, front pocket types that I’m still getting used to, frantically patting my back pocket every couple of hours) I saw this great Fossil messenger bag that kept screaming my name, no matter how many times I said it was too expensive. I make fun of Salomé all the time about the many, many, many bags she owns (rivaled only, perhaps, by her shoes) but I can appreciate a good bag and this is a nice step up from the cheaper, smaller bag I’ve had for the past year or so. It fits all of my gadgets comfortably plus has plenty of room for all of the books and papers I’m invariably carrying around, whether I need them or not. We also came close to buying an HD TV as Best Buy had a great deal on a 32″ Westinghouse but I still couldn’t quite bring myself to pull the trigger. Soon, though. Probably when we get the Wii.

(more…)

Continue ReadingMonday Mash-up, 2/4/08

Review Roundup: 1/08

Last year I was invited to join Amazon Vine, the online behemoth’s slick new marketing program that enables publishers (and other companies) to provide free review copies of their books (and other products) for a group of Amazon-selected reviewers, pretty much ensuring a lot of independent user reviews for the participating products. The program lets reviewers select up to 2 products from a pretty varied list each month, and you cannot have more than 2 unreviewed products at any time, so while there’s no guarantees (or requirements) that the reviews will be positive, the setup ensures that the products are actually getting some buzz for the effort from “influential” users.

I’ve been casually reviewing things on Amazon since 2000, breaking into the top 5,000 a year or two ago — which is where I was when I got the invitation — and am currently ranked #3,872 for my 103 reviews and the 782 helpful votes they’ve received.

So far, I’ve reviewed four books through the Vine program — two very good and two not at all — all but one of which I chose primarily on the basis of the marketing copy and/or subject matter:

Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips (2 stars)
“Sitcom approach ruins intriguing premise”

Lush Life: A Novel by Richard Price (5 stars)
“Vibrant, compelling read”

Hundred in the Hand by Joseph M. Marshall III (4 stars)
“Excellent, despite a couple of missteps”

Franklin the Fly by R.O. Blechman (2 stars)
“Pretty pictures can’t save too slight story”

(more…)

Continue ReadingReview Roundup: 1/08

On Comics, Pokémon and Storm Hawks

Other than the occasional review at Amazon — or even less frequently, at PopCultureShock — it’s been a while since I’ve written about comics. After 2.5 years of being ankle-deep in the industry, writing reviews, interviews, commentary and the occasional news piece, I really don’t miss it at all. While I’m still reading comics, my weekly trips to Midtown Comics have become monthly trips, at best, and my pull list has shrunk considerably to the point where I barely meet their 10-title minimum. Last time I was there, right before New Year’s Eve, I picked up six weeks worth of comics, including the Satchel Paige graphic novel (review coming soon), and spent less than $25 with my discount, which my wallet definitely appreciated. (My liver, which is bearing the brunt of that redistributed cash flow, not so much.)

One thing I really don’t miss is tracking the 150+ comic book websites and blogs I used to read regularly to stay in the loop. Some of the best/worst highlights were the times when comics “professionals” would get caught up in some ridiculous flame war with a fan or pundit, usually over something incredibly petty and stupid. For instance, the apparently revived and reconceived MurderShow.net, tipped me off to a post at NEWSarama where notoriously thin-skinned Marvel Comics writer Dan Slott reveals he has a bit too much time on his hands.

As these things typically go, it’s a relatively minor dust-up, but it’s the kind of thing that certainly doesn’t win a creator any new fans and could prove off-putting to existing fans who are already frustrated with Marvel for myriad reasons. It’s also not the best approach for a B-list writer like Slott who has a small, rabidly loyal fanbase but is still looking for a breakout run on a top-selling series to push him onto the A-list. The thrice-monthly Amazing Spider-Man will presumably offer him that chance, but as one of four B-list writers who’ll be churning out editorially mandated storylines, partnering with much higher profile artists, that’s not really the best recipe for a breakout performance.

Other random thoughts on comic-related stuff:

(more…)

Continue ReadingOn Comics, Pokémon and Storm Hawks

No more posts to load