July Words of Wisdom

Every morning you have two choices: Continue to sleep with your dreams, or wake up and chase them. (Erling Haaland) 

 

Fill your house with stacks of books, in all the crannies and all the nooks. (Dr. Seuss)

 

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. (Marcus Aurelius)

 

Man cannot stand a meaningless life. (Carl Jung) 

 

There is such a thing as evil, and if you do not fight it, it will eventually triumph. (Ann Widdecombe) 

 

Recent reading: "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd"

 

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie 

 

I'm still behind on #ReadChristie2026 and haven't been reading much the past couple of weeks, but I finally finished The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (June). 

 

Poirot has retired to the village of King's Abbott to grow vegetables and live in anonymity,  but the murder of a wealthy local brings him back to the detecting business. His next door neighbor, Dr. Sheppard, a personal friend of Ackroyd's, helps out due to his knowledge of the players and fills the Hastings role, as Poirot admits to missing his long-time friend, now living in Argentina. But Dr. Sheppard is no Hastings, and not only is Poirot's revelation of who killed Roger Ackroyd a shocker, but so is how he treats the guilty party. As usual, it's a treat to learn how Poirot unravels the mystery.

 

I first read this years ago, and knowing the identity of the guilty party made for a different experience than the first read. Once you find out, you'll want to go back and re-read it to see how Christie sprinkled hints and issues that lead the legendary Hercule Poirot to the killer. The book is rightly famed for its twist ending.

 

I do remember that when this story was produced for Poirot, for some reason the producers felt the need to turn the quiet, confessional ending into a chase that could not have been further from how Christie resolved the story, and it was quite a disappointment. So it was nice to go back and read this again. Just one of the best mysteries ever.

 

From the book:

 

Poirot, too, was smiling, and at the same time shaking an eloquent finger at me. "Have I not told you at leasst thirty-six times that it is useless to conceal things from Hercule Poirot?" he demanded. "That in such a case he finds out?"

  

Three months

Still missing her.

 

I was really hoping we could get him back in L.A.

Smart move by the Rags: NY Rangers Hire Jonathan Quick as Director of Goaltending Development.

 

I was sort of hoping we could have gotten Quick back here in L.A. to work with Kings goalies, but his trade by the Kings resulted in some bad blood between him and the front office, so it was probably a longshot. Add in that Quick is an east coast native and childhood Rangers fan and he seems to have a good relationship with NYR, so it was probably inevitable that he'd stay with that organization. And good on them for keeping him. Wish the Kings had been as smart.

 

So I'll have to settle for memorieeeeees!!!!

 

Well that was quick: Cinerama Dome and Arclight to be restored and reopened

Sony didn't waste any time. They've just made it official: they will restore and reopen the Cinerama Dome and the Hollywood Arclight.

 

As I suspected, the Dome needs some work and because of that it will not open until 2028. Alamo Drafthouse, owned by Sony, will turn the now former Arclight into an Alamo Drafthouse.

 

I have to say, it's so good to see a piece of Hollywood/Los Angeles history being preserved instead of razed and replaced by soulless modern construction, which is what usually happens. I may even need to mosey over to Hollywood in 2028. It's been years since I was in either of these theaters.

 

Well done, Sony. 

 

Sony to save the Cinerama Dome and Arclight Hollywood?

Given Los Angeles's propensity for destroying its historic buildings, this is wonderful news: Sony Pictures Looking to Bring Cinerama Dome and Arclight Back to Life. 

 

A few points to consider before I get too excited:

• According to some of the comments, Sony also recently bought the Alamo Drafthouse chain and the commenters didn't seem impressed with what they've done with it, so there's some concern they would do the same thing with the Dome and Arclight.
• Speaking of Arclight, due to its current owners filing for bankruptcy, the name cannot be used in the future, so the Arclight would get a new name (although locals would probably continue to refer to it as the Arclight, at least for a while. I know I would.)
• The theaters have been closed since the COVID shutdown in 2020, so we're probably looking at a lot of work needing to be done, not just a simple reopening. Depending on what it will cost to get them up and running, this could be a deterrent. 

But for now I'm choosing to stay hopeful. Both L.A. and Hollywood could use some good news for a change.

 

So basically, hockey

Brilliant idea from Chasing the Puck on FB:

 

Also, penalize the hell out of them for their over-exaggerated injury performances when someone barely touches them. That alone is a big turn-off. As a hockey fan, I find it comically pathetic. That would never fly in hockey.

Hollyweird and how to survive it

The other day I posted about The God of the Woods and looking at the casting for the upcoming Netflix series. Because it takes place at a kid's summer camp, there are by necessity child actors involved and as always I wondered why people put their kids in show biz. It's a tough business for adults; I wonder how many kids have to be ruined by it for people to keep theirs out of it. And it's not just children, apparently.

 

Billy Bob Thornton was discussing life in LaLa Land and what got me was the last sentence in this conversation (bold mine):

 

Billy Bob Thornton says a Hollywood party conversation made him realize he was truly an outsider in Los Angeles. A woman found out he was from Arkansas and asked...

 

But she said it was fascinating to me, and she goes, "And you came out here from, what is it, Alabama or something like that?" And I said, "Arkansas." She goes, "Arkansas." And with a straight face, said to me, "What do you people do down there?" 

 

"Well..." (Joe Rogan continues laughing) ...and I said, thinking she would get the joke, I said, "Uh, we mostly lay around on the porch with our hound dog and swat flies." She goes, "Oh, interesting, interesting."

 

"...but that was one of the moments where I realized that I really was an outsider out there, you know? And people ask me about my longevity in this business, and I always say it's because I stay out of it.”

 

Fascinating indeed. The difference between working in Hollywood and surviving Hollywood is not living in it.

Recent reading: "The God of the Woods"

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

 

This book has received absolutely rave reviews and I recently picked it up at Barnes & Noble, although I found the length (558 pages) concerning. So how good is The God of the Woods?

 

I read it in one day. All 558 pages of it. I decided to take it with me yesterday morning to my hair appointment and was hooked from chapter 1. Later that day I read some more and then after dinner I went back to it, finally finishing at 11:30pm. The cover features a quote from Maureen Corrigan of "Fresh Air"": "Extraordinary. I barely came up for air." It had the same effect on me. I couldn't put it down. I had to know how things would play out, and play out they did.

 

It's 1975 and troubled thirteen year old Barbara Van Laar vanishes from the Adirondacks summer camp owned by her wealthy family. To make matters worse she isn't even the first child in her family to disappear - the same thing happened to her brother, Peter Van Laar IV (nicknamed Bear) fourteen years earlier, and no trace of him was ever found. And this is just scratching the surface - there are webs of secrets, betrayals, and social machinations that will eventually be revealed, as well as the collision of the rich and powerful versus the often struggling working class.

 

The story is told from multiple points of view. Among them: Louise, a Camp Emerson counselor who becomes a suspect in Barbara's disappearance, Tracy, a lonely camper befriended by Barbara, Alice Van Laar, the emotionally damaged mother of the missing children, Jacob Sluiter, a recently escaped killer with a history in the region, Carl Stoddard, a gardener on the Van Laar estate who becomes a suspect in Bear's disappearance, and most prominently, Judyta (Judy) Luptack, a recently promoted young investigator who will become key in determining what happened to both Barbara and Bear. 

 

There is also a vast cast of additional characters - the Van Laar's and others of their elite social circle, attractive young men that many of the girls - including Louise, Tracy, and Barbara - are attracted to and invariably disappointed by, Vic Hewitt, the former estate groundskeeper and camp director and his daughter T..J., who has taken up her father's roles and grew up alongside the Van Laar children, and Denny Hayes, the investigator mentoring Judy.

 

The story also moves back and forth between timelines: Barbara and Tracy's blooming friendship in June and July of 1975, followed by Barbara's vanishing that August, all the way back to Alice's 1950's marriage to Peter Van Laar III, scion of a rich banking family, Bear's 1961 disappearance, and finally, Judy's day by day August 1975 investigation into Barbara's case.

 

The God of the Woods is in production as a drama series for Netflix and having finished the book I was interested in the casting. Maya Hawke is playing Judy. Kerry Condon (Oscar nominated for The Banshees of Inisherin and better known to me as Mike Ehrmentraut's widowed daughter-in-law Stacey in Better Call Saul) is Alice, and Tracy Letts is Peter Van Laar II, the grandfather Bear tells Carl he doesn't like (followed by Bear disappearing under his watch). The rest of the cast I'm not really familiar with, but it's looking like I'm going to have to start subscribing to Netflix again, at least for a while. Moore herself is involved in the writing and production and I'm really interested in seeing how this translates to the screen.

 

The God of the Woods is one of the best things I've read in years. It will reel you in and not let you go. Just an amazingly plotted thriller and I can't recommend it enough. 

 

Fourth of July memories

According to my Facebook memories a couple days ago, I posted this on my feed in 2015:

 

 

I don't even remember doing this, but I'm glad to have it now. This was Sophie in her prime (she would have been 9 years old at the time), this is one of my favorite pictures of her, and this is what I've been missing for the past two months plus.

 

Recent reading: "The Labors of Hercules" (Intro and Stories 1, 2 and 3)

The Labors of Hercules

by Agatha Christie 

 

I'm way behind on #ReadChristie2026. I'm currently still working on May's assignment, The Labors of Hercules, a series of short stories where Hercule Poirot accepts cases based on the Greek legend. Here are the introduction and first three cases: 

 

Introduction:

 

Dr. Burton expresses surprise that Hercule Poirot has not spent time studying classic literature and the discussion prompts Poirot to dive into Greek mythology. He isn't impressed, but it does give him the idea to devote the rest of his career to cases that correspond symbolically to the actual Labours of Hercules. 

 

1. "The Nemean Lion"

 

Hercules: Tasked with and succeeded in slaying a lion in spite of it having fur that was impervious to arrows.

 

Poirot: Sir Joseph Hoggin asks Poirot to look into the case of his wife's stolen Pekingese (Pekinese in the story) dog. The dog has been returned safely after a two hundred pound ransom had been paid, but Hoggin is angry at the fact that his wife paid it without consulting him and he wants his money back. Poirot discovers that this dog isn't the only stolen and ransomed Pekinese.

 

This is one of the cleverest short stories I've ever read. There's actually two cases at the end and the way Christie sprinkled clues and red herrings throughout was so not obvious, but when Poirot solves the case everything falls into place perfectly. It's a master class on how to do that. There's a reason she's referred to as the queen of mystery. There was an extra twist at the end that was just brilliant. This story was a great start to the series.

 

Symbolic relationship: One of the characters refers to the breed's origin myth, "...according to the legend, Pekinese were lions once. And they still have the hearts of lions!" Apparently during Christie's time period the Peke was a favorite of rich women, which makes them potential targets for ransom.

 

2. "The Lernean Hydra" (Lernaean in the myth)

 

Hercules: Tasked with slaying the multi-headed Hydra, a task complicated by the fact that every time he cuts off a head, two new heads grow back. 

 

Poirot: A year earlier and after some years as an invalid, Dr. Charles Oldfield's wife passed away, since then he has been beset by local gossip that he poisoned his wife. He feels helpless to refute the rumors due to the sheer volume and being outnumbered. He also doesn't think the police can't help him and so approaches Poirot as a last resort.

 

Poirot believes a jealous woman is involved and Dr. Oldfield finally admits that his relationship with his demanding invalid wife had been strained, and also to being romantically involved with his much younger pharmaceutical dispenser, Jean Moncrieffe. And while the guilty party was telegraphed a little more than usual for Christie, it was still, as always, fascinating to see how Poirot finally identified the murderer, and how he exploited the very town gossips that plagued Dr. Oldfield to solve the case. 

 

Symbolic relationship: As Poirot describes it, "Rumour is indeed the nine-headed Hydra of Lernea which cannot be exterminated because as fast as one head is chopped off, two grow in its place." Poirot solved the dilemma by explaining, "...my task, like that of my namesake Hercules, was to reach the first - the original head." In other words, "Who had started the rumour?" 

 

3. "The Arcadian Deer" (Ceryneian Hind in the myth)

 

Hercules: Tasked with capturing the Ceryneian Hind, a stag-like creature sporting golden horns that is so swift of foot it can outrun arrows shot at it. Hercules captures it alive by throwing a net over it as it sleeps. After he presents it to King Eurystheus (who gave him with the task in the hopes it would cause him to run afould of the goddess Artemis), Hercules thwarts the king by returning the beast to Artemis rather than letting him keep it for himself, angering the king and pacifying the goddess.

 

Poirot: Hercules Poirot's car breaks down in a small country village, where the handsome young mechanic who is repairing the car requests the great detective's help in finding the lady's maid of a Russian ballerina who was visiting a local estate, but who mysteriously disappeared seemingly without a trace.

 

The young mechanic, Ted Williamson, is described as, "...one of the handsomest specimens of humanity he (Poirot) had ever seen, a simple young man with the outward semblance of a Greek god." And this sweet, simple young man is desperately in love with the young lady's maid, in spite of only meeting her a couple of times. He doesn't even know her last name, just her first: Nita. Poirot takes pity on Ted and goes above and beyond the call of duty to track down the missing girl. When he does, we learn that Nita was no lady's maid, but someone putting on a performance.

 

Symbolic relationship: The obvious tie of Ted being described as a Greek god. Poirot having once seen the ballerina dance the role of a hunted hind. Nita's golden hair being described as flipping up on each side of her face "like wings" (the Hind's golden horns). At the end there is also the hope that "Nita" might return to Ted as the Ceryneian Hind was returned to Artemis, with Poirot suggesting, "And why should you not be the wife of a garage hand in a country village? And have children as beautiful as gods, and with feet, perhaps, that will dance as you once danced."

 

I have to say that although (at least so far) these stories have been pretty short, quick reads, Christie packs an amazing amount of information and red herrings in them. This is really the first time I've read her short stories and in addition to her amazing novels, she was also a gifted short story author. The woman really could do it all. Looking forward to the next batch of Poirot's labors.