My 2017 in books and movies

Before I start with the rest, the most important thing happened in 2017 is arrival of little Ema who is a daughter of dear friends, so it feels like new face in family. Even the parents are very young (they could be my kids) so I am turning into eccentric uncle and cherish the role. There are more babies to come next year and its all very exciting, it makes me very happy.

Books:

I started with Diana Gabaldon's sequel to "Outlander" ("Dragonfly in Amber") which was fine and at later point I even finished third part ("Voyager") but somehow I got slightly tired of Jamie and Claire, perhaps I should re-visit them again coming January. I read several books during my winter vacations, best of them being biography of Lena Horne (by James Gavin) and I liked quirky, feel-good novel about hundred year old man by Jonas Jonasson. The initial discovery of the year was Alice Hoffman whose "The Museum of Extraordinary Things" impressed me so much that I immediately continued with four more novels of her, I don't remember when this happened last time. Someone suggested old historical best seller set in medieval Japan by James Clavell so I felt intrigued to re-visit "Shōgun" which was so brilliant that I dived into serious research about history of Japan. (I didn't want to continue with Clavell immediately, because I wanted to savour my impression). Of all the classics on my list, I read exactly one and it was relatively harmless "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift so I am not completely convinced into logic of forcing myself into reading classics - I also started "Gil Blas" and had to postpone it, because it just bothered me too much. I enjoyed reading about history much more - Alison Weir and two books by Peter Ackroyd gave me invaluable glance at history of England, while The Flight of the Romanovs" was refreshing look at the destiny of other Romanovs besides crowned heads, during WW1. However, the crown of 2017 goes to Shirley Jackson whose novels "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" and "The Haunting of Hill House" were such masterpieces of psychological horror that my head was buzzing from excitement - I read five more horror novels and none of them came close to Jackson, however H.P.Lovecraft was another discovery so I could easily say this was the year when I discovered there is more to horror than Stephen King and Anne Rice. Knowing my weakness for show biz biographies, I kept it all carefully under control and besides Lena Horne, I read only another autobiography by Judy Collins and interesting Tammy Wynette bio by Jimmy McDonough but towards the end of the year couldn't resist delicious novel written by Joan Collins. (I could actually tell that I crave for a little celebrity biographies right now) Besides Graham Hancock, another writer whom I re-visited was Pearl Buck whom I enjoyed very much.

Conclusion: I did fairly well with reading - rediscovered some old favourites and found several new ones - but generally speaking this was year of Shirley Jackson and I was the most immersed in horror genre, once I gulped her novels. It seems like I will finish the year with H.P.Lovecraft so this will be my year of horror. Not completely sure is it worth to torture myself with self-imposed task of reading the classics, because frankly I am not enjoying them as much as I expected, finished only one in the whole year, perhaps I have to be in the different frame of mind.

Movies:

As I have already confessed, nothing thrills me as much as old black & white movies, although from time to time I share movie evening with friends and for the sake of them watch occasional current movie. So in 2017 I saw "Eye in the Sky", "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", "Allied", "Alone in Berlin", "Jane Eyre", "Atomic Blonde", "It", "Crooked House", "What Happened to Monday", "Lights Out", "Green Room" and "The Limehouse Golem" (amongst others, most of the current titles I don't remember later) but what I really, really enjoyed and where my heart is would be black & white classics: this is what I watch when I'm alone with myself and what inspires my dreams. I started the year with finale of Mr.Wong movies ("Doomed to Die") and immediately continued with another fictional Asian detective Charlie Chan but for some reason this didn't thrill me as much so I focused on classic B horror movies instead: "House on Haunted Hill", "The Bat" and "The Last Man on Earth" acquainted me with Vincent Price and I will see him several more times in various movies towards the end of the year. "The Day of the Triffids" and "The Ωmega Man" were watched in this same period. When after a long period of non-watching I finally returned to movies, the first one I checked was old black & white 1939 classic "The Women" which was so delightful that I even endured 2008. remake and found another Joan Crawford extravaganza titled "Autumn leaves" which would be perfectly fine if not, paradoxically, for its main female star. The second vacation of the year gave me the most enjoyable period of watching black & white classics, so this is when I saw "A Royal Scandal", "All This, and Heaven Too", "Behind Green Lights", "Dick Tracy", "Great Expectations" and "His Girl Friday"  but I have also enjoyed comical genius of Mel Brooks in "Young Frankenstein" and horror classic "The Pit and the Pendulum". The best of all were two silent masterpieces by F.W.Murnau - his "Faust"  and "Sunrise" might easily be two best movies I have seen in the whole year. Towards the end of 2017 I indulged myself in some more black & white dreams: I have seen 1943. version of "Jane Eyre", "Bluebeard", "Brief Encounter", "Dragonwyck", "Ladies in Retirement", "Leave Her to Heaven" and "The Song of Bernadette", even switched on TV just for "The Boys from Brazil" and ended the year with "Blanche Fury", "Letter from an Unknown Woman", "The Man in Grey" and two Basil Rathbone 1940s masterpieces "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes". 

Conclusion: As I have stopped visiting the cinema, my enjoyment of the movies is now focused on either what I watch with friends & neighbours (current titles, often forgotten soon afterwards) or old classics that I lovingly collect and than watch when the right time arrives. Because of my work, where during sailings I usually prefer to read before falling asleep (instead of trying to stay awake long into night with a movie), it seems I am watching movies in bursts during my vacations, this is usually the time when my blog is at its busiest as well. I have truly enjoyed black & white classics this year but the best of all were two 1920s silent masterpieces by Murnau, whom I knew and loved from before, its just strange that it took me so long to explore more of his work. Obviously there have to be the right moment for everything.

Josipa Lisac celebrates

To my biggest joy, I discovered that my all-time favourite singer, Croatian über diva Josipa Lisac gets a lot of media attention recently because of highly publicised celebrations of 50 years in the business. Earlier this year I noticed with alarm that she is getting a little bit long in the tooth (she is approaching 70th birthday slowly) and wondered what does it mean for her personally, being such veteran in the show business focused on young people but I shouldn't have worried because Croatians apparently love her more than ever these days and it seems that finally majority of people accepted what I knew from the start - that she is out national treasure. 

Several things happened almost simultaneously: Lisac was guest performer in another high-voltage collaboration, this time with cutting edge band "Chui" which was surprisingly strong song indeed. It actually reminded me on her early 1970s collaborations with group "Mi", that's how good it was. Than she got award for being on a scene for half a century from Croatian Musicians Union (HGU) and this comes from her colleagues. Recently she released another compilation, this time long-awaited double CD thematically divided between her various collaborations with almost entire Croatian pop scene and ethno recordings recorded trough the years. (I have almost all of them, of course and could add several more numbers to the list) but to me this feels more like a tiding up the archives than a new project. If you ask me, my dream project would have been luxurious CD box with completely unheard music, like her recordings from the choir days or demo tracks for rock operas composed by her late husband Karlo Metikoš (she sang on demo tracks) or live recordings from USA, these all exist and just wait for someone to wrap them up in a proper cellophane. (I have actually dreamed once that there is whole unreleased LP from mid-1970s somewhere in the vaults and I never heard of it - you can imagine my confusion when I woke up and realised it was only a dream) Simultaneously with this new compilation, Lisac guested in another high-profile cameo appearance, this time with rock band "Hladno pivo" and to top it all, she sold out Zagreb's concert hall "Vatroslav Lisinski" without any posters or promotion (except on the web) in only 48 hours for two nights in a row.

The interest for one & only homegrown rock icon was so huge that surely several different generations filled the seats and naturally Lisac did not disappoint when it came to extravagant stage outfits and supersonic vocals. I was on another part of the world but present in spirit. 

"The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins

Here is a rarity - the book I read without a joy or pleasure. 

Generally I always enjoy reading and in many cases love to immerse myself in a completely fictional world - one of the best things I have read this year was "Shōgun" and it kept me completely spellbound and fascinated with Japan for quite some time. But I do need to find something likable in the book, be it the evocative descriptions, characters, the writing style or simply gripping story. I knew Paula Hawkins as author of "Gone girl" which I haven't read but saw a very interesting movie, this particular novel was all over the place few years ago and somehow I got impression it must be very successful and probably interesting crime thriller since I see it in every single bookshop around the world. Successful yes, but not for me.

"The Girl on the Train" is psychological thriller told from perspectives of three different women who seemingly have no connection at first glance. Later when the story unfolds, it turns out they are very connected indeed. Since I read in the evenings, after work (which means after midnight) and most of the time I am just relaxing before falling asleep, no wonder something went terribly wrong with my concentration - at certain point I noticed that something is wrong with names and characters, like perspective is all confused but I assumed the authoress is playing with our attention. Halfway trough the book I came to realise (to my biggest annoyance) that every chapter has plainly stated name of three different women, it wasn't one person at all. Honestly, I have no idea how I missed that point, perhaps I must have been very tired. Hawkins weaves her story skilfully and that's all OK but unfortunately I just couldn't warm up to a woman she chose as main protagonist - Rachel is a desperate (and depressing) alcoholic who just can't get over the divorce and chapter in and out she rolls around drunken, not remembering what happened previous night and wondering where this bruises and blood came from. Since Rachel is very important part of the story, its not possible to skip her chapters and I became painfully aware that I am saddled with extremely unlikeable main protagonist all trough the book. This was not a pleasure at all. Its Hawkins book and she did what she probably thought it was good idea but I just didn't care for someone so obviously self-destructive, morose and beyond help. Basically Rachel roams around pretending she goes to work but in fact she was fired for drunkenness months ago, has no money and no perspective, thinks only about her ex-husband and how she will get sloshed secretly in the evening. Her friend/landlady patiently suffers trough Rachel's vomiting and bleeding all over the place. There is a fairly interesting plot but Rachel annoyed me so much that I sighed with relief when I finally finished the book. 

So far, from the top of my head, this was the third time I ploughed trough the book with extremely unlikeable main protagonist - Margaret Atwood's "The Blind Assassin" and Umberto Eco's "The Prague Cemetery" also had one, but they are completely different writers so at least there was stylistic beauty to them. Hawkins is a crime writer with one eye turned towards Hollywood so in my mind this is no better than paperback pulp fiction + cases of missing wives gets repetitive + I am already allergic on stories with subjects like this, seriously if I ever see or read another crime story with police involvement and CSI digging under the victim's nails I will just give up, I don't find it entertaining or interesting or anything worth my time. If I am on deserted island, I would not touch another book by Paula Hawkins.

This one seriously annoyed me.

"Star quality" by Joan Collins

And now, something completely different!

As a teenager I read some novels by Jackie Collins - I clearly remember enjoying her "Hollywood Wives" instead than obligatory school reading at the time - it reminded me on similar gripping work by Harold Robbins and Sidney Sheldon but even than I could tell this was a guilty pleasure, pulp fiction served under different name and created with possibility to make movies out of them. Sweet, old Barbara Cartland was allegedly against this kind of smutty books but Jackie continued to pile them up with greatest success and rode New York Times Best selling lists for decades, writing about "rich and famous" while several of her novels served as inspiration for movies (older sister Joan played in two of them) and TV series. Curiously, I have never seriously continued with Jackie's novels - although they were fast-reading stuff and very entertaining - after one or two I probably had idea what to expect. Mind you, I can't tell Robbins or Sheldon from each other as well. Not that I am against this type of best-sellers, they can be very entertaining if you are in the right frame of mind, its just that usually I would prefer something more substantial.

And now, the novel written by her massively popular, older sister, actress (and official Dame) Joan Collins - whom, like the rest of the world I know from "Dynasty" but was not aware that she also dabbled in writing, besides autobiography and beauty tips book. Although I have tons of books in my virtual library, combing trough collection became a drudge so I rather peek at what's on the ship's library shelf and voilà, this is how I found out about this one.

"Star quality" is extremely easy read, you can finish it in two days - no wonder somebody left it around here, because its a perfect escapism and vacation read. Its actually much better than I expected. Nothing deep or serious, in fact, the novel is deliciously fluffy and superficial - concerned more with description of protagonist's costumes, hair and make up than psychological analysis or motivations - but Collins seems to know what people expect from her and she also know the world she describes: its a century of showbiz, from vaudeville to Broadway, Hollywood and beyond, naturally we end up in 1980s big time TV series. Since it covers the four generations of women in one family, Collins treats the readers with walk trough the century - the novel starts in 1917 and as it progresses, it describes fashions, stars, celebrities and ever-changing morals (at one point, ladies agree that each of them was considered very scandalous for their times). It's not the greatest novel ever written, nor it tries to be - both Collins sisters understood that fame itself sells products and cleverly used theirs for launching successful careers. There is always a huge audience soaking in everything about lives of "rich and famous"  - obviously even myself I couldn't resist to have a peek and enjoyed it as escapism. But can she write?  Yes, she surely can - there is something about her vitality that I always found very endearing and even the fact that novel feels touchingly earnest at times don't diminish the fact that I gulped it instantly, while celebrated classics usually demand far more attention and headache. I have one of them at the back-burner for months now, because it bothered me so much, while this frou-frou I finished without noticing. 

"Tudors: The History of England Volume II" by Peter Ackroyd

Sometime previously this year - during the summer, to be precise - I purposely searched Peter Ackroyd as antidote for my than-current obsession with horror genre. I enjoyed horror very much to the point, but honestly there was nobody around who could even kiss the hem of Shirley Jackson's garment so I needed a break and decided to check out this celebrated writer whose body of work actually appealed to me greatly, since I am a bit of history nerd. First I listened the BBC radio episode of Desert Island Disc with Ackroyd as a celebrity guest and liked what I heard, than read the first title of his "History of England" ("Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors") which was actually surprisingly delightful - Ackroyd managed to somehow clear up the mess of centuries, kings, emperors and long forgotten names, making it all slightly easier to understand (if not necessary remember) and I promised myself to continue with this saga eventually. Well, the time has come - I had very unusual month-long absence from reading (first time in my life, as much as I can remember) where I just didn't have interest in books at all and now since I am comfortably nested at work again, reading before sleep is again my favourite pastime. Naturally I had to face the consequences of hoarding e-books in my virtual library so it feels like Ali Baba's cave, instead of choosing for days between 1597 titles, I simply picked up sequel to Ackroyd's "Foundation" and this one concerns exclusively Tudors - it continues exactly as the previous volume ended, with death of Henry VII and now the first chapter deals with coronation of his seventeen year old son Henry VIII who will eventually become history's most famous Bluebeard.

So far it has been the most enjoyable surprise, because tons of books I have read previously were too fascinated with Henry VIII and his numerous wives - this book actually takes a wider perspective and deals with what was going on during his reign - religious reformations, political machinations, uprisings, wars and such. Wives are mentioned but they are not necessary the main focus, in fact they are in the background just as they were in the real life ("The wives of kings were generally considered to be little more than brood mares." notes Ackroyd, matter of factly) With Henry's passing, his underage son (who sounds dangerously obsessed with religion and could have been grand inquisitor in making) Edward VI was manipulated around by various powerful dukes from the Regency Council and perhaps its better that he died as young as he was, because the friction between him and council would surely lead to a civil war. Right now I am exactly at the point when his long-suffering half-sister snatches the crown from would-be-usurpers, but she is still not known as "Bloody Mary" as posterity would remember her later. Elizabeth is somewhere around but not in the centre yet, so far only Thomas Seymour shows great interest in her buttocks - which would lead to his beheading (signed by his brother!) and Elizabeth herself will get so close to danger that the traumatic experience will forever make her increasingly cautious when it comes to any kind of relationships. Tudors were naturally extremely well covered in popular culture so yes, I am familiar with many of the stories here but Ackroyd still weaves very interesting story, gripping and fresh enough to enjoy like we hear it for the first time. 

I see Asia

Dear reader, I have actually stepped my foot in Asia for the first time - not just passing trough some international airport on my way elsewhere, or accidentally from one ship to another but actually, genuinely arriving in Asia. Its quite a big deal because I have been travelling for work more than fourteen years now and the routine kind of killed my excitement, I really had enough of same old Caribbean, Mediterranean and Baltic itinerary year in & out, even occasional new place like Iceland soon becomes old news so yes I was really thrilled upon hearing that this time I will sail somewhere else.

First, my arrival in Singapore was extremely traumatic. 

Not because the length of the flight (fourteen hours) since I was prepared for this, but because local immigration grilled me for another four hours for not having some very extra special documents that no other country in the world demands except Singapore - not having them, I actually faced deportation, which already happened to some of my colleagues. After several tense hours and desperate attempts to contact officials in Miami, I was eventually let go trough the border but my documents were still not in order and I was grilled again upon embarkation on the ship. On top of it all, this ship just finished so called "dry dock" so the crew area was in total disorder - apparently it takes some time to get everything working out properly as it should - so not only there was a dust, dirt and pieces of carpets & furniture everywhere but my own accommodation was not ready: the cabin door could not be closed, half of a carpet was missing, there were no bedclothes, no pillows, no air condition, no towels, no wc paper, shower not working, sink blocked... and Jet Lag just hit me so I had to lie down and snore on the bed the way it is, sheets or no sheets. Surely I reported all of this but guests cabins are priority and we will deal with crew later. On the fifth day the captain came to inspect crew cabins and when he saw my blocked sink, he kneeled down himself and used his Swiss army knife to fix the darn thing. 

My very first port was place called Laem Chabang in Thailand. Alas, dear reader, I was on port manning duty (don't ask - one of the extra duties everybody on board has on top of regular job) so couldn't go anywhere further than just top of the ship, from where I took this pictures of very picturesque and magical industrial terminal that stretches for miles around - in fact, there is a shuttle bus service to Pattaya and Bangkok but it takes hour or two if you are interested. What I expected previously (experience talking) proved to be true, some of our ports are simply extremely far away from any civilisation so there is absolutely no way one can simply walk out into town, shuttle buses and taxies are necessary. Even if I could go out, I probably wouldn't because at this point I have $15 and shuttle bus was $10 so why bother with driving two hours somewhere just to have tea and drive back again. Unfortunately both me and my roommate were on the same duty, so we were both dying from boredom in that stuffy cabin with no air condition. 

I asked all of my colleagues about the next port in Cambodia but they all appear completely uninterested. 

"I don't know", "I was sleeping", "It was raining", "Nothing to see there". Listening to them one wonders why on Earth these people applied for this job where travelling takes them around the world, if all they do is sleeping and drinking in crew bar. I was also a bit shaken with official message from the ship - warning for the crew to keep in groups and not to go out alone because of the noticeable crime rate in town - but decided that I need to poke my nose outside or else I will become too grumpy, locked inside all the time too long. Even the official Wikipedia page about Sihanoukville is not very flattering, warning about chaotic traffic ("Drivers of motorbikes often do not wear helmets, drive indiscriminately on any side of the street and it is common to see motorbikes with more than two passengers or vehicles driven by children and under aged people. Traffic lights are often ignored.") and lots of crime everywhere. I bravely took the shuttle bus along with several other cruise guests and we all laughed when we met on the same bus in roughly fifteen minutes - all we saw was ugly and smelly local big market, very exotic looking but all sorts of non-appealing food was mixed with inexpensive items like luggage and clothes, the odours were distinctively nauseating and of course beggars were pulling my sleeves at every step. The city looked ugly and desperately poor, there was no sidewalks - they are all taken with local "businesses" or should I call them what precisely they are, cheap stalls - which forces you to walk directly on the road, behind the cars and motorbikes. I perfectly understand that one can't expect same standards all over the world but this was not appealing - I saw it and quickly assessed the situation, decided this is not for me and went back to the shuttle bus. I really wonder will I enjoy my Asian adventure at all, because I am creature of comfort and all this dirt, dust and poverty don't appeal to me at all. As for the celebrated beaches, I am not interested in beaches or suntanning so it all sounds relatively depressing. Even the food I have seen was all deep fried and unhealthy looking - having a serious conversation with my doctor I changed my diet completely so the only food I am eating these days is fruits and vegetables - all this oil dripping from everywhere was just alarming. Strangely, people seems to eat absolutely everywhere on this heat and out of any old plastic container. I have no idea why in the world would any tourist want to visit such a dirt-poor place like Cambodia if not for bragging later. You might as well go to Albania instead, at least its in Europe. 

Next port was Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam - at least this is how it was advertised - unfortunately we are nowhere near that place, in fact we are docked in a port from which you need to travel two hours to town. There is absolutely nothing outside of the ship, no sign of life except hawking cab drivers who demand $ 85 for a drive so forget about Ho Chi Minh City, not only that I don't have money for that kind of excursions but after driving around all day long I still need to work in the evening & there's nothing that I need so desperately to drive four hours. As much as I heard, tomorrow is another place in Vietnam (Nha Trang) where its possible to simply walk out from the ship to town, so I will skip Ho Chi Minh City indefinitely. 

Conclusion: 

It might be too early to say, after all its been only a week but for now I can tell that this is far from what I expected. Where in Europe and in Caribbean ships were docked in spots relatively near to cities (so it was possible to just walk outside, no matter how ugly these docks and terminals usually are) here in Asia for some reason shipyards are extremely far from any human habitations, I mean, there's nothing and nobody around unless you are ready to empty the wallet every day for a cab ride or tourist excursion somewhere. In my first week I have seen only one place (which makes what, four times going out in a month?) and it was such a dirty, smelly shit hole that I thoroughly scrubbed my sandals upon return to my cabin. If this is how it's going to be, than I'm not looking forward to the next six months. At all.