Chickadees and Wolves
I finish a book, continue with another book and read a children's book. I play a round of Roulette. Readers get to decide what movie I watch next.
Non-Fiction, Fiction and Children’s Literature
I finished reading that book of Zen calligraphy at the rate of precisely one calligraphic meditation per day. I didn’t miss any days or readings.
I’m…making some…modest progress reading that Ellroy novel Widespread Panic. But I will admit that the first-blush enthusiasm has dimmed as the humor has ebbed and the book has taken on a more serious tone. It is becoming a slog. I wish I cared more about finding out how it ends.
I also read Granny Rex, a great children’s book from 2023 written by Kurtis Scaletta and illustrated by Nik Henderson, the premise of which reflects upon something I learned from reading Steve Brusatte’s book The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World back in 2018.
I grew up obsessed with Jurassic Park during the era of prominence of both the original novel and the film adaptation, and I recall a lot of pop-sci talk around that time of the idea that dinosaurs had “evolved into birds.” Brusatte, an expert paleontologist and lively writer, states clearly in his book that the current state of understanding is that birds in fact are dinosaurs: there is an evolutionary chain of development from certain kinds of dinosaurs which leads directly to all living species of birds. So apparently saying that birds are dinosaurs is really the most accurate way to describe this biological relationship that stretches back many millions of years, at least according to the current state of scientific understanding.
Granny Rex derives from this theory a new spin on a familiar type of feel-good children’s book about connecting with one’s heritage, making it about a tiny seed-scavenging chickadee being taught by her mother to trace her lineage back to “Granny Rex,” her “sixty-million-times great-great-great-grandmother.” This gives the chickadee the courage to stand up to tougher and more ornate birds and to think of herself as “QUEEN of the DINOSAURS!”
It’s a delightful conceptual riff rendered with playful designs and pleasing layouts; Henderson’s earthy pastels and adept feel for contrast give Scaletta the latitude to connect the schmaltzy mundanity of the chickadee’s daily struggles to a grandiloquent evolutionary hagiography. The message is timeworn but invaluable: the chickadee is told what she’s made of and learns what she’s capable of. It’s a novel spin on an archetypal story, executed with class and skill.
And it has dinosaurs.
Roulette
Starseeds by Charles Glaubitz, read in 2017. A spectacular neon-hallucination science-fiction graphic novel that combines the author’s facility for pseudo-spiritual high-concept design with old-fashioned superhero comics tropes. I never quite understood just what Starseeds is about, but its details reward scrutiny and it is certainly a visual delight to behold — perhaps the type of thing more people would enjoy leafing through than sitting down and reading. I suggest everyone try at least one or the other. Glaubitz subsequently produced a Starseeds 2, which I read in 2019.
Wolves by Emily Gravett, read in 2018. A children’s book about which I remember nothing. I only know it’s a children’s book from my color-coded genre-notation system on the complete reading list. I didn’t even remember that I had read it until the random number generator turned it up on the list. So…not a stirring recommendation on this one.
The Road to Hell by Matt Groening, read in 2016. I’ve mentioned a number of times before that Groening is one of my favorite cartoonists, that I’ve been privileged to meet him twice and that I enjoy revisiting his work regularly. I have no plans to stop doing any of this.
Polling Place
For reasons of which we’re all aware and which I’ve spent more time writing about than I ever wanted to over the last eight months, I have had some noteworthy discomfort about publishing this frivolous newsletter when there are more pressing existential and moral considerations consuming my attention.
One Could Argue has always been mostly just for me to practice writing and editing for fun and to generate conversations about books and movies as a way of keeping in touch with people. I keep all of the content of this newsletter free for all and don’t care who reads it (plus I have a fear of success and enjoy getting in my own way), but I did eventually turn on a paid option that allows registered subscribers to sometimes vote on what movie I should watch next.
I’ve decided to launder my conscience by giving myself permission to write about this fun stuff (which for therapeutic reasons I kinda need to do these days), keep the paid option switched on and simply donate all of the proceeds going forward to charitable causes. So that’s what I’m gonna do. I have already made the donation from the last two rounds of payouts and will continue to do so indefintely. Lemme know if you have any questions or concerns about this.
Here’s a new poll for paid subscribers to decide what I watch next.
Defending Your Life, directed by Albert Brooks, 1991. I’ve admired Brooks’s work as an actor on The Simpsons and in movies like Broadcast News. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of his work as a director and this is said to be a good movie. It also has Meryl Streep and she is a masterful actor.
Tremors, directed by Ron Underwood, 1990. I think this is like some classic B-movie monster comedy? And it’s about giant underground worm creatures or something? I’ve never really been clear what this picture is but I’ve been vaguely hearing about it and seeing it on video store racks for decades.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, directed by Jacques Demy, 1964. Legendary French musical drama picture starring the radiant Catherine Deneuve. Supposed to be a great film.
The Kentucky Fried Movie, directed by John Landis, 1977. I don’t know what the fuck this is. It’s some raunchy, harebrained sketch comedy picture from the outlaw Hollywood generation, right? Is it any good? Does it hold up? I have a feeling I’m not going to enjoy it. Thought it does have some creative overlap with Airplane!, and I dig that one.