Book Review #64: Batwoman: Elegy

Batwoman: Elegy (2010)

Written by Greg Rucka

Drawn by J.H. Williams

With all the comics I have read over the years, surprisingly, this was my first time reading a Batwoman title. I've come across her character from time to time, but never in her own book. And even though I knew of Batwoman, I know absolutely nothing about her origin and who is behind the mask.

I've heard some pretty good things about Elegy and most suggested this as the book to dive into to get my feet wet with Batwoman. So, was this book as good as most have raved about? No. First things first, I will say what I did like about the book. I thought the idea of Kate/Batwoman being a Lesbian was pretty interesting and grounded the book more in reality that even a Superhero can feel more like a real person, showing her struggles in maintaining a relationship, regardless of sexual orientation.

The other thing I liked was the art by J.H. Williams...for the most part, which also leads into what I don't like here. Williams seems to have a knack for jumping in and out of styles to service the story that's being told. To my eyes, when Batwoman is doing her thing, the art is very reminiscent of Travis Charest. The flashback sequences definitely take a page from John Byrne while the current stuff outside of the Batwoman costume is a completely different style. That's the good thing. The bad thing is Williams panel layouts. At times, it can come across as a thing of beauty and really adds to the story. But the rest of the time, it creates far too much confusion because it doesn't give a clear idea of how to read it and I guess I lay the blame with the one doing the Lettering for the series at fault here. It's not good.

Also, the rest of the story to me was just okay. For me there really wasn't anything all that compelling and the book just kinds of ends without a clear cut resolution. It's almost more like a cliffhanger...but not. 

Honestly, I can' recommend this one. Maybe one day I may re-read it and see if my opinions change. But right now, it's not likely.

Rating: 3 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1

Book Review #63: Ghost In The Wires

Ghost In The Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker (2011)

Ghost In The Wires is about one of the craziest, insane reads I have ever come across. Boy, was this a fun ride from start to finish. I originally came across this book while watching The Colbert Report and Kevin Mitnick was on the show promoting the book. And when Stephen Colbert ask him about why he was thrown into solitary confinement when he went to prison and Kevin responded with "...the defense argued with the Court Judge that I could start a nuclear war simply by calling into NORAD and whistling the code." I KNEW I had to read this.

So, did it live up to what I was expecting? Oh hell yeah! It's everything and more, plus the kitchen sink too. I swear, I was reading this fast and furious and I could not put the book down at all. The entire time I was reading it, I was picturing this as a thriller, a movie that is sure to happen. I can guarantee you that it will become a feature length film down the road. Contrary to popular belief, WarGames was not based on his life as a hacker. The similarities are there and that was the first thing that kept coming to my mind as I read the book.

There as some pretty wild stuff inside, like how Mitnick was able to elude the FBI, CIA and every known Government Agency simply by hacking into their phone lines and frequencies and setting up an alert for when they were closing in on him. Crazy. 

One of the best cat and mouse games in the book occurs when he meets up with a "world renowned" hacker by the name of "Eric Heinz", only to find out that he is in fact an FBI Snitch looking to take down Kevin. But it's the ensuing invesigation into Eric's background that truly leaves you spellbound in the ease in which he takes apart everything the FBI worked so hard to put together. He literally makes it look like a hot knife through butter. That easy. Just...wow.

Along with all this high octane thrill rides, there were some pretty funny pranks that he pulled like the McDonald Hack where Kevin is able to hack into the Drive-In Speaker box from across the street and watch the hilarity ensue with drivers pulling up to place their orders. Love the scene when a Cop drove up to the speaker box to place his order and Kevin at the other end of the radio frequency tells him they "don't serve cops and he will have to go to Jack In The Box"

The other funny one was when he tells this chick that if she shows her titties, her Big Mac was free, only to enrage her to the point of turning off her car, grabbing a baseball bat from the car trunk and heading inside the resturant. Priceless!! The rumor about Kristy McNichol was pretty funny too.

This is a definite Buy.

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1

Book Review #62: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

 On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000)

On Writing was the book that Stephen King was writing when he was run down by a Van one evening, leaving him hanging onto dear life. It would be a while before he would eventually complete this book. So, how does it hold up? It's okay. The book itself is one part semi-autobiography, one part "how to write" and one part "I got mowed down by a car and left in a ditch".

The first part is a semi autobiography in that Mr. King doesn't go into great detail about his upbringing. The sole purpose of this part is to highlight where and how ideas come to him, and how to not quit something, no matter how much you may hate what your writing, or the characters or whatever, because you never know what you may have in your hands. In this case, it was Carrie. Believe it or not, but he actually threw the story away and only by devine intervention that his wife would find it in the trash, was the story saved.

The second part is where most people will head to first as it's the sole reason why most people, myself included, decided to pick up the book in the first place. There are some pretty useful tips that he hands over to the reader in the hopes to make us a better writers, But a lot of the stuff that we get is just common knowledge. If you're wanting to become a writer, I would think you already have the basics of grammar and all that fun stuff down cold.

The last part is of course Mr. King recounting in great detail about the day he was run over and the ensuing rehabilitation that he had to endure to get back into shape...both physically and mentally before he could even get around to writing again.

It's a good book, just not a great one. 

Rating: 3 1/2 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1

Book Review #61: You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried

 You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried (2010)

You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried is kind of a "biography" about John Hughes, the creative genius behind the best teen films of the 80's. But it's really about the movies themselves and the influence that Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, Some Kind Of Wonderful as well as other movies like St. Elmo's Fire and Say Anything had on both pop culture as well as those touched by them. It also goes into detail the lasting legacy they have had over the past 25 years.

Even though a lot of the book is devoted to John Hughes and his movies, a sizable portion is dedicated to both Joel Schumacher and Cameron Crowe, as both St. Elmo's Fire and Say Anything get dissected in ways I've never thought of before with a lot of background stories, which I found very interesting. But as the cover of the book alludes to, the majority is about John Hughes films.

I thought I knew most of the background stuff regarding pretty much all the movies associated with Hughes. Boy was I ever wrong. The most revealing stuff had to do with Some Kind Of Wonderful and all the turmoil behind the scenes during the making of that movie. I never knew that Eric Stoltz and John Hughes almost came to blows during the first day on set during the table read.

The other eye opening info had to do with how Hollywood in a way "corrupted" Hughes. As he became more and more powerful in Tinseltown, he started to change, and not in a good way as he began to alienate those closest to him as his head began to get bigger and bigger. Even though we get a lot of dirt about the man, it's doesn't go into great detail about his life. I won't fault the book for this because it's about his movies and their impact and not about where he came from.

Also dissected is how the Brat Pack moniker came to come about and how it affected those saddled with that label and how careers and friendships were ruined because of it.

I may be a bit biased, but because I'm a huge fan of all his movies and enjoy reading about them, giving the book 5 Stars was easy.

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1

Book Review #60: Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea

Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea (2008)

As alluded to in My Horizontal Life, Chelsea Handler is a world-class liar. And we start off from the ground up in Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea in which she goes into great detail of her lying finesse. Only a brilliant mind, a girl still in elementary school, can come up with staring with Goldie Hawn in the sequel to Private Benjamin and pepper it with small details that actually sells the lie in a convincing way. Hell, even I started to believe it.

But what's funny is that even after being caught in the lie and being ordered by her parents to tell the other kids the truth about her Hollywood dreams, she comes up with an even better lie: staring in the newest Madonna video. I love the letter she wrote to Goldie, in hopes that Mrs. Hawn would aide her in keeping the lie going. 

The rest of the book is more of the same, my favorite stories being: her DUI arrest and stint in jail, her time back with her family in which her father tries to get her to start a clothing line with thongs as the only item to be sold and the re-gift Birthday party where she is invited to attend a party that no one wants to go to and more to the point, doesn't want to go out of their way to buy a present for someone they don't even know or like. Her street brawl with 3 fourteen year old girls was both shocking and funny as hell. 

I don't know if Chelsea really has a fetish for little people or not. But I have to wonder if her story about Kimmy and the way she describes certain attributes of small people and their form is legit. I mean, she really goes into great detail to say some pretty outlandish things about her and small people in general. My guess is that she is exaggerating to the nth degree to create controversy. Maybe to sell more copies of the book? I dunno. Whatever the case may be, the chapter about Kimmy was pretty damn funny. This is a very entertaining book, but it's not perfect. There were a couple of chapters that felt kind of light weight compared to the rest of the book and it would have been better to drop those chapters all together.

This is definitely a Buy. I do believe you should read the book first before the show comes out.

Book Review #59: My Horizontal Life

My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands (2005)

My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands. Based on the title of the book, you would think it was a very salacious read. It's a little misleading. We are led to believe that it's about all of Chelsea Handler's one night stands: Doing the "deed". But the fact is, it's more about her wanting to get laid, going out looking for a man and heading back to his or her place with the intention of getting laid. But it usually ends in some crazy, far out scenario that usually has her cock blocking herself either by her own means or the dude she is with is just weird, crazy and everything in between. You could basically say this book is Penthouse Pet Letters gone horribly wrong.

This is all great stuff and makes for an extremely entertaining read. She paints a picture rather well, which is a testament to her writing skills. The stories are so out there, that at times I have to question it's legitimacy. Whether they are real or not, it doesn't matter. It's extremely funny. After reading this book, it's clear that she is definitely "one of the guys".

Chelsea is a master liar and can tell whoppers at the drop of a hat to snare her man or just embarrass who she is with. The best incident was when she and her friend Nathan went to his high school reunion where she played his girlfriend/wife so that people wouldn't know he was gay and she would be able to find herself a lay there, if not a relationship with someone at the party. But it was the escalating lies they were telling, trying to one up each other that had me howling.

Rating: 4 1/2 Stars out of 5

Book Review #58: Stories I Only Tell My Friends

Stories I Only Tell My Friends (2011)

Talk about leading a charmed life. I've had my run-ins with a lot of celebs in random places over the years going all the way back to when I was still in elementary school. But hearing Rob's encounters are pretty mind blowing. He wants to be an actor and finds out that Liza Minnelli is in a hotel and all he has to do is ask the desk clerk "what room is Mrs. Minnelli staying in?" and next thing he knows he is eating chocolate candy with her. Or when he moves to Malibu and stumbles across a kid shooting his own war movie with friends, which turns out to be Chris Penn and invites him to pal around with Sean, Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. Or when he writes a random letter to Aaron Spelling and gets invited to the studio. Or when Rob and his brother Chad are getting heckled at a Dodgers game for wearing a Yankees cap and are saved from a stranger who turns out to be a puppeteer for the Muppets and ends up meeting Jim Henson. Or how he is invited to The Tonigh Show and ends up meeting his future manager who in turn invites him to an SNL VIP party where in comes face to face with John Belushi. All of this happens before he even acts in one single movie. Sheesh!!

But if you ever want to say "blessed" when it comes to just being like Forrest Gump and running into moments that altered America by way of movies, than nothing tops Rob's Aunt inviting him and Chad down to watch them shoot special FX footage for a little movie called Star Wars. Remember, Rob isn't even an actor in Holloywood yet, and here he is with all these amazing moments. Damn man! Quit hogging it all and spread the wealth around!! Sheesh!

His introduction to Martin Sheen was pretty damn funny. Hahaha.

But the biggest shock for me reading this book are not all the celeb run-ins. It's in how well the book is written. This isn't a knock against Rob himself. It's just that I went into this book with low expectations with the hopes it would have some entertaining moments. But having just read Stories I Only Tell My Friends, I came away with a better understanding of the man and how smart he is. He never comes off as full of himself in the book like most people do when writing their memoirs. And with everything inside the book he has every right to brag.

A lot of ground is covered on the pages, with the biggest chunk dedicated to The Outsiders. If I remember correctly, 5 Chapters on nothing but said movie and I still wanted more. Everything from his humble beginnings to the debacle that was the Oscars with Snow White to his time on The West Wing is dissected. The one thing that I was curious about before reading, was if he would bring up the subject of his Sex Tape scandal that derailed his career for a short time. And just as I suspected, it only gets maybe half a page mention. That's it. And this is the only reason why I don't give the book a perfect score. There's more to the story and it will remain a mystery from here on out. It feels incomplete in a way. 

Other than that little oversight, I totally recommend this book to anyone. I know that I will reread this one again sooner, rather than later.

Rating: 4 1/2 Stars out 5

Review by Chiprocks1