Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett and Kate Beckinsale in the Martin Scorsese movie ‘The Aviator’

An epic biographical drama of United States business magnate Howard Hughes as directed by Martin Scorsese captures our attention today. Starring an ensemble cast portraying the business, government and movie star classes throughout Hughes‘ life, The Aviator (2004) was written by John Logan for the movies to dramatize a view of Howard Hughes from the late 1920s through the middle 1940s.

(From left, John C. Reilly as Noah Dietrich and Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in the Martin Scorsese movie The Aviator).

Starting with a foreshadowing for the path the Hughes story will take, The Aviator begins in 1913 Houston, Texas with 9-year-old Howard taught to fear the germs of of a cholera outbreak while bathed by his mother. Portrayed by Jacob Davich and Amy Sloan respectively, Howard‘s mother would have him spell quarantine. The stage was being set for the forming personality that would begin to be revealed to the audience with the 1927 film Hell’s Angels (1930) that Howard Hughes, now portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio, was directing.

(From left, Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes, Adam Scott as Johnny Meyer, Jude Law as Errol Flynn and Cate Blanchett as Katherine Hepburn in the Martin Scorsese movie The Aviator).

Noah Dietrich would begin managing the day-to-day business of the business empire that was growing for Hughes. It was upon seeing the movie The Jazz Singer (1927), a movie partially including sound, that Howard Hughes would begin reworking his movie to also include sound. Despite positive reviews without the sound, Hughes insisted upon bringing sound and realism to the movie in a manner that indicated an obsessive need to get there. Hughes became romantically involved with Katharine Hepburn during this period. Hepburn, as portrayed by Cate Blanchett, helped Hughes keep the symptoms of his obsessive-compulsive disorder in check.

(From left, Danny Huston as Jack Frye, Kelli Garner as Faith Domergue, Alec Baldwin as Juan Trippe, Emma Campbell as Helen Frye and Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in the Martin Scorsese movie The Aviator).

It was in 1935 that we are introduced to the Hughes H-1 Racer. The introduction comes with Hughes setting a speed record and crash-landing the plane when it runs out of gas. On the heals of flying around the world in four days in 1938, we learn of Hughes purchasing the controlling interest of Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA), later renamed to Trans World Airlines. A rivalry develops from here with Pan Am (Pan American World Airways), Juan Trippe, and Maine Senator Ralph Owen Brewster. With Hepburn having moved on, Hughes would date Faith Domergue and Ava Gardner while maintaining feelings for Katharine Hepburn.

(From left, Ian Holm as Professor Fitz, Alan Alda as Senator Ralph Owen Brewster and Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner in the Martin Scorsese movie The Aviator).

With a series of new construction contracts for the American military in the works, with the Hughes XF-11 reconnaissance plane and the Hughes H-4 Hercules / Spruce Goose flying boat converging into false arguments against the Hughes companies. A crash in Beverly Hills, California and the expense of the other plane converge with the airline industry inquiries and fundamental issue in Howard Hughes‘ personal life that speak largely to the true partner Hughes had in Noah Dietrich.

(From left, director Martin Scorsese and actress Kate Beckinsale in the Martin Scorsese movie The Aviator).

Five Academy Award wins would be granted to The Aviator, which was filmed in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Received well by critics and moviegoers alike, the movie was based on the book Howard Hughes: The Secret Life by Charles Higham. The sets felt period appropriate with excellent flourishes of cinematography include. I grant The Aviator as directed by Martin Scorsese 4.25-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Graham Sibley, Andre Jacobs, Jenny Stead and the Malcolm Venville documentary ‘Abraham Lincoln’

The American pay television network History (formerly called The History Channel) aired the three-part documentary series Abraham Lincoln (2022) from Sunday, February 20th, 2022 through Tuesday, February 22nd, 2022. Directed by Malcolm Venville, the documentary offers a biographical look into the life of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president on the United States. Doris Kearns Goodwin served as an executive producer for this Abraham Lincoln documentary. The Kearns Goodwin book Leadership: In Turbulent Times provided the basis for this documentary.

(Graham Sibley as Abraham Lincoln in the 2022 Malcolm Venville documentary Abraham Lincoln).

The three episodes of the documentary star Graham Sibley in the title role of Abraham Lincoln. Frederick Rendina had writing credits for all three episodes of the documentary, including The Railsplitter, A President at War and Saving the Union. Sundi Lofty had writing credit for A President at War. Rebecca Sue Haber had writing credit Saving the Union. The three episodes sought to offer insight into the formative and political thinking of Abraham Lincoln, the man, on the notions of slavery, race and the notion of equality. The record is not as romantic in this regard as one would hope, which is the mixed bag of truth about Lincoln and the country both then and now.

(The historical Abraham Lincoln before he grew his beard).

The Railsplitter episode that began this documentary looked heavily into the life of the sixteenth president of the United States during his formative years. As mentioned by the Internet Movie Database, the episode seeks to articulate Lincoln “[t]hrough a poverty-ridden childhood on the American frontier, [wherein] Lincoln is determined to leave his mark on the world.” Among other things, we are introduced to the president’s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, as portrayed by Jenny Stead. It is of interest to learn of the dynamics of the president’s childhood, including the relationships with his father (Thomas Lincoln as portrayed by Steve Larter), his mother (Nancy Hanks Lincoln), his stepmother (Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln as portrayed by Lucy Tops) and his neighbor Josiah Crawford. Deon Lotz portrayed Josiah Crawford, whose inclusion in the documentary offered an insight into personal responsibility for the young Abraham Lincoln. The history of lost political campaigns and the debates with Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas, as portrayed by Richard Lothian, were insightful.

(Graham Sibley as Abraham Lincoln in the 2022 Malcolm Venville documentary Abraham Lincoln).

The second episode of the Abraham Lincoln, titled A President at War, sees a newly elected Lincoln become president. The first surprise was in the first Republican Party candidate win his party’s nomination and then the popular vote over William Seward, Salmon P. Chase, and Edward Bates. Seward, Chase and Bates, as portrayed by Colin Moss, Dirk Jonker and Robin Smith respectively, became members of Lincoln‘s presidential cabinet. With Lincoln‘s election came the secession of the states of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas as well as the threat of secession by Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, the eleven states that formally made-up the Confederate States of America. Border states that were on the fence through the conduct of the war included Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.

(The historical Frederick Douglass).

The threat of disunion drove much of the politics through the war, as portrayed through friction evident between the president and abolitionist Frederick Douglass as portrayed by Stefan Adegbola; Douglass‘ escape from slavery to the north, as assisted by his future wife Anna Murray Douglass, was told during the opening two episodes of Abraham Lincoln with the portrayal by Nancy Sekhokoane. Friction between Lincoln and his generals, as this episode took pains to demonstrate included Lincoln learning to be commander in chief, included frustrations with getting George McClellan to take the military initiative through the course of the war. Sven Ruygrok portrayed McClellan. The portrayal of Elizabeth Keckley (alternatively spelled Elizabeth Keckly) by Megan Alexander gave depth beyond the Lincoln family anguish at the death of Willie Lincoln, as portrayed by Ben Smollan. Context for the Emancipation Proclamation was presented in this episode.

(Graham Sibley as Abraham Lincoln in the 2022 Malcolm Venville documentary Abraham Lincoln).

The documentary episode Saving the Union began with the second day of the Battle of Gettsyburg in Pennsylvania, having picked up from the recounting of the first day’s conflict with generals George Meade as portrayed by Nicky Rebelo and Robert E. Lee leading the competing armies. In Lincoln‘s estimation as demonstrated in the documentary, it was Meade‘s failure to promptly pursue Lee‘s defeated army before they crossed the Potomac River that prompted Meade‘s removal as general following the victory at Gettysburg. With the victory of forces led by Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Vicksburg granting commercial control of the Mississippi River to the north, Lincoln‘s perspective about ending the war then and there has merit.

(The historical Ulysses S. Grant).

Justin Salinger portrayed Grant, a future United States president who would assume command of the various armies of the Union war effort. The notions of slave emancipation, African Americans fighting in the army with delayed equal pay, and other abolitionist ambitions advocated by Frederick Douglass and others were given further context, with the narrative interpretations offered throughout the three episodes of this documentary, offered throughout. Other major themes addressed include the Gettysburg Address, the election of 1864 within the context of Grant‘s military leadership, Lincoln‘s second inaugural address, the president’s thoughts on Reconstruction and the period following the end of the America Civil War and finally the assassination of Abraham Lincoln five days after the surrender of Robert E. Lee‘s army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, in Appomattox County, Virginia.

(The historical Abraham Lincoln after he grew his beard).

Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, offered commentary and context interspersed with the dramatic presentations by actors. Historians Allen C. Guelzo, David S. Reynolds, Christy S. Coleman, Harold Holzer, Ted Widmer (aka Edward L Widmer) and Catherine Clinton, among others, added additional commentary and context through the three episodes of this documentary. The tone throughout the documentary felt even-handed and thoughtfully considered without being preachy, without reaching too far and offering context for where clear criticism and contextual problems with worldviews of the present day clearly exist. I give the documentary Abraham Lincoln as directed by Malcolm Venville 4-stars on a scale of 1-to-5 for its quality.

Matt – Wednesday, February 23, 2022

The Year 2021 in Books

Continuing with our year in review, Matt Lynn Digital invites you to look back at the last year in reviews of books, movies, music and television. We look at these with individual categories, one per day through Friday. Today we share book reviews offered by Matt Lynn Digital in 2021.

(The 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner for Fiction winner, The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, tops our list of 27 books reviewed in 2021 when it comes to our assessment of quality).

Colson Whitehead‘s book 2019 novel The Nickel Boys received the highest rating of all books that we read and rated in 2021, having received 4.25-stars on a scale of one-to-five. The book is historical fiction based on uncovered horrors of the Dozier School for Boys, addressing specific race-based systemic inequities in the 20th century.

(Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein wrote Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment).

Two other books received a similar 4.25-stars in 2021. The nonfiction book Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein discusses sources of inaccuracy, bias and noise in the world of judgment. The counterterrorism book The Last Man by Vince Flynn establishes further narrative possibilities for the Mitch Rapp character following the death of character creator and author Vince Flynn.

(Matt Lynn Digital rated fifteen (15) books at 4-stars. Matthew McConaughey and his memoir Greenlights leads the memoirs with this rating).

Matthew McConaughey wrote the book Greenlights. The memoir looked through his past with recollections captured in journals, snippets of poetry, and having lived his life where and how he has. The positives and difficulties were positive and inspirational. I enjoyed this. Another pair of books that captured my interest included No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michael J. Fox and All In: An Autobiography by Billie Jean King with Johnette Howard and Maryanne Vollers.

(Another book receiving 4-stars was The Great Glorious Goddamn of it All by Josh Ritter).

The Great Glorious Goddamn of it All by Josh Ritter is a coming-of-age novel of a young boy’s experience during the last days of the lumberjacks looking back as an elderly man at his life, specifically that period as a young man following his father’s death. The Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction in 2019, The Overstory by Richard Powers, reflects a direct push against the notion of the work of lumberjacks and other efforts against nature in an impassioned work advocating environmentalism. The Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction in 2018, Less by Andrew Sean Greer, aims to see the world through the lens of awkward romantic entanglements filled with humorous situations, unexpected consolation and discovery, and, ultimately, a better sense of the experience of love for the older gay man aiming to make his way in the world.

(The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman begins another trio of three books earning 4-stars by Matt Lynn Digital).

 The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman begins with an emotionally heart wrenching decision around kids from the beginning of the story that throws much of the lives of the central characters into chaos. The moral struggles blur lines of love and loyalty to shocking degrees that lead to deeply resonant places. The dark corners of motivation in All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage, with the underlying motivation for the relevant action within the book operating from a completely different emotional and broken place. The notion of brokenness melts into class and racially based ugliness with The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe.

(The Joseph Conrad book Heart of Darkness pairs two books that ask the reader to consider motivation and belief within the book’s characters).

The Joseph Conrad book Heart of Darkness indirectly speaks of imperialism and racism. Diverse audiences debate whether the message Joseph Conrad aimed to offer was indeed itself racist; the question of moral superiority is raised through the eyes of Charles Marlow and his obsessive, perhaps mentally ill view of the arguably successful ivory trader Mr. Kurtz. The Survivor by Kyle Mills places the notion of country, loyalty and motivation based in part on notions of tribal instinct to the test. The questions are couched differently between Mills as inherited from Vince Flynn and Conrad, yet the questions do address questions of values and value in a specific view of life.

(Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson is one of a pair of relatively contemporary political books looking at the sociology of race in the United States that Matt Lynn Digital has rated as 4-stars).

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson makes an affirmative case for systems of caste existing on skin color in the United States. Equivalents are reviewed against the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany. The book Race Matters by Cornel West takes critical looks at eight essay length racial subjects that seemingly aim to promote thinking on race beyond the superficial; this aim is one that I see West sharing with Wilkerson.

(Wes Moore and Erica L. Green wrote Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City, which is one of two books about social unrest in the streets of America that Matt Lynn Digital gave 4-stars in 2021).

The book Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City was written by anti-poverty activist Wes Moore and education policy, civil rights and education equity reporter Erica L. Green. The book looks into the perspectives of eight participants in community uprisings in Baltimore, Maryland following Freddie Gray‘s death while in police custody. The David Zucchino book Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Zucchino‘s book looked into Wilmington, North Carolina race riot of 1898 that included racial intimidation and violence to literally replace the democratically elected government of that community.

(The Cider House Rules by John Irving is one of eight books to receive 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5).

 The Cider House Rules by John Irving uses historical fiction along with the notion of orphanages, abortion and the personal lives of people behaving poorly to see people as they are, arguably as broken people sometimes doing things against decent standards. A portion of the book is tedious before becoming more interpersonally engaging. Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel by Anthony Doerr uses parallel narratives bound together in a unique manner to cope with realities that tie to common narratives across distinct circumstances of tragedy, grief and loss. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles approaches the depths of human feeling, diminishing distinctions of social class and the aftermath of the Russian Revolution with his book. The notion of punishment is captivity through confinement in a hotel in Moscow, Russia where, in confinement, the central character faces moral ambiguity in family life.

(Ill Will by Dan Chaon enters a psychological mystery territory with this work of fiction that earned 3.75-stars).

Ill Will by Dan Chaon connects parts of people’s past and present in showing tricky ways that the mind works to protect itself in the moment. The story takes some dark turns through external manipulations, leading to exceptionally scaring outcomes in the present. Pursuit of Honor by Vince Flynn is the third Mitch Rapp book to land in our review this year. The counterterrorism sensibility coupled with the meddling congress angles remain as strong as ever. Like with Ill Will, I found Pursuit of Honor entertaining.

(Thunderstruck by Erik Larson brings the string of fiction books reviewed in 2021 by Matt Lynn Digital to a close).

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson earned 3.75-stars for the narrative nonfiction telling of the creation of wireless communication across water coupled with the international capture of a murderer through the use of that technology.  The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After by Julie Yip-Williams uses narrative nonfiction to share herself with her children and husband beyond her 2018 death from colon cancer. Henry Adams uses a story telling approach more in the memoir camp with The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography. Adams is the grandson and great grandson of former United States presidents who used his unique perspective as an American historian, diplomat, and posthumously awarded the 1919 Pulitzer Prize winner for biography with this book to offer something engaging.

(George Vecsey wrote Stan Musial: An American Life, a biography awarded 3.5-stars by Matt Lynn Digital).

Stan Musial: An American Life by George Vecsey earned 3.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5. The biography tells an interesting base narrative of the man without firsthand interviews with the man. That the story included a bit of a heavy regional slant could have worked better for me, though the information in telling me about the man was helpful.

Matt Lynn Digital appreciates your continued interest in the content we offer. Should you have albums that you’d like us to review, or similar work to that mentioned above, please be sure to let us know.

Matt – Thursday, December 30, 2021

Billie Jean King and the book ‘All In: An Autobiography’

Billie Jean King is the first female athlete to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A tennis star from Long Beach, California, King was known as Billie Jean Moffitt when an amateur player. The biography of Ms. King is first a story of the services rendered by King in the sport of tennis. The book secondly explores questions of gender equity and equality as a social construct in America and South Africa, along with King‘s personal experiences with these items personally and from an activism perspective. The force for change is a central focus of Billie Jean King‘s All In: An Autobiography written with Johnette Howard and Maryanne Vollers.

(From left, Illana Kloss, originally of Johannesburg, South Africa and Billie Jean King, originally of Long Beach, California).

Billie Jean King first and foremost had tremendous tennis skill that, with much effort aligned by men and culture to deny the mechanisms of compensation, worked diligently to make it possible to have professional tennis tours featuring women. Where things are today involves professional tours, singles, doubles, mixed doubles, and even tennis leagues that support the game. When Billie Jean King, then Billie Jean Moffitt, was an emerging player, there was slim space for amateur play for women. The story of the service King offered in developing the professional tennis opportunities for a sport she loved and grew within, and the support of the likeminded, proved successful when an audience came along for the ride.

(From left, then husband Larry King and Billie Jean King in a press conference defending the couple in a lawsuit raised by Marilyn Barnett).

Billie Jean King adopted the last name King after marrying attorney Larry King, a man completely distinct from the one-time employee of the Cable News Network (CNN). Both shared a similar sensibility around the notion of what was fair in the tennis world and other places for women, which translated to support in the face of unfounded and refuted in court palimony claims raised at a personal level by Marilyn Barnett, a one-time romantic interest of Billie Jean King. The circumstances for how Ms. King revealed her personal romantic interests in women, including Barnett and later Illana Kloss, were shared at length in All In: An Autobiography.

(From left, Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs around the time of the 1973 Battle of the Sexes tennis match at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas).

The 1973 Battle of the Sexes match between Bobby Riggs of Los Angeles, California and Billie Jean King took place at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. The event ostensibly was initiated by Riggs under the auspices of proving that women’s tennis could not compete at a professional level alongside or near men’s tennis. The notion that there wasn’t a potential market for women’s topflight tennis with the infrastructure to support women as girls in developing towards such goals was a point that King wished to refute in accepting the contest. King would defeat Riggs in three straight sets to win the event, garnering 50 million viewers in the United States and 90 million viewers worldwide.

(From left, Johnette Howard and Maryanne Vollers were co-writers of All In: An Autobiography with Billie Jean King).

In this review, I have offered some flavor of the subject matter that you will encounter in Billie Jean King‘s All In: An Autobiography. There is much nuance and compelling story to keep you interested and engaged in the larger narrative of the life and times of Ms. King, should you be interested in the book. I give All In: An Autobiography 4-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, September 1, 2021

George Vecsey and the book ‘Stan Musial: An American Life’

Engaging in sports themed subject matter while additionally getting into seasonally specific baseball themed biography makes me happy. Landing on the George Vecsey biography Stan Musial: An American Life from May, 2011 brings me to an enjoyable summer read.

(Stan Musial grew up in Donora, Pennsylvania, about an hour’s drive south Pittsburgh. Musial played professional baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals.)

National Baseball Hall of Famer Stan Musial grew up in Donora, Pennsylvania. Donora is roughly an hour’s drive south of Pittsburgh. Besides being famous for being Musial‘s childhood home, the Deadly Donora Smog of 1948 also put this town on the map in environmental circles. Musial would make his Major League Baseball debut with the St. Louis Cardinals of St. Louis, Missouri on September 14, 1941, roughly two-months short of his twenty-first birthday.

(George Vecsey wrote Stan Musial: An American Life, which was published in May of 2011).

Stan Musial: An American Life was written from a perspective of reverence, memory and with a native New Yorker’s perspective and personality. George Vecsey grew up in Queens, a borough of New York City in New York. Born in July of 1939, there was a generational awareness for Vecsey that came with knowing that Musial had a reputation for not being a gambler or drinker while also being a good hitter and ballplayer. Musial‘s smoking, attitude about supporting the effort during World War Two, and integration of Major League Baseball in a city like St. Louis, Missouri were raised.

(From left, Stan Musial and Albert Pujols. The two are possibly the most revered St. Louis Cardinals to play the game of baseball).

The book Stan Musial: An American Life doesn’t follow the traditional narrative structure some look for in a biography. That is, the book doesn’t follow a chronological approach in seeking to fill in factual information that gives you a sense of the man and his struggle. The storytelling follows a more topical approach, with arguably a bit more of the author’s personal reasons of time, place and the prevailing culture of the age being reasons for revering Stan Musial. Judging Musial as a man by the prevailing norms of the period, with some of Musial‘s military service record coming up in something less than the most flattering light in those terms, being as hard hitting as the author gets.

(Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Stan Musial in 2011).

Vecsey going into the respect between Albert Pujols and Musial. Making arguments of relative reputations and respect among Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees, Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox, and Stan Musial of the Cardinals came up, as did the Presidental Medal of Freedom awarded to Musial by United States President Barack Obama in 2011. The biography that is Stan Musial: An American Life by George Vecsey earns 3.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, July 10, 2021

Brian Jay Jones and the biography ‘Becoming Dr. Seuss’

Many in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have experienced the books written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss. Theodor Seuss Geisel, born in Massachusetts and dying in California, was the subject of the May 2019 Brian Jay Jones biography named Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination.

(Brian Jay Jones, left, and Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss. Jones wrote the book Becoming Dr. Seuss).

As biographies go, Brian Jay Jones offers what feels like a rigorous treatment of the man that became Dr. Seuss. We see Theodor Seuss Geisel growing up in the northeastern United States during the period leading up to and through World War One, Prohibition, and through a college period where being of German ancestry and from a beer brewing family were not without difficulties in the United States. Dr. Seuss wasn’t a particularly studious college student, though he was capable when interested. We learn how Dr. Seuss grew up, some intent to become a teacher without the ambition for the work, and ultimately a path that led Seuss to use his unique drawing style as an advertisement man and political cartoonist.

(The biography Becoming Dr. Seuss among books written by Dr. Seuss).

In college at Dartmouth and in some advertisements and political cartoons drawn in his youth and through his time in the army during World War Two, Dr. Seuss struggled with drawing in racist and sexist stereotypes of the day. To his credit, Brian Jay Jones did not shy away from addressing the fact of these points in Theodor Seuss Geisel‘s background. When asked about this later in life, Dr. Seuss would acknowledge their existence and speak to the fact of there being objectionable things in addition to having matured and changed. Dr. Seuss was challenged from a feminist perspective, a Japanese American perspective, and generally from his early use of stereotypes in his material. As a children’s literary book writer, these subjects are raised through a general absence of female protagonists as well as in the book Horton Hears a Who! Read this Mental Floss depiction for more detail.

(Dr. Seuss holding a copy of his book The Cat in the Hat).

It was as a result of relationships during World War Two as a member of the United States Army that the children’s writer we know as Dr. Seuss really emerged. Seuss learned to write concise stories that moved action along quickly and concisely. In fact, his notion for not condescending to kids led to a pair of principles that should apply. First, the story should be “all meat and no filler.” Essentially, this meant that like a metaphoric train, a story for kids should ramp up like the sound of wheels on a train. At first things are slow like a train leaving a station. Within a short period of time, the motion of the wheels should be consistent and continuous.

(A United States Postal Service stamp for Dr. Seuss and some of his famous characters, circa 2004).

The second main principle for children’s books is that they should address some but not all the needs of a child. Not every story needs to include all or even most of the following needs of kids, but a story will not succeed if not addressing the following needs for security, to belong, to love and be loved, to achieve, to know, for aesthetic satisfaction, and/or for change. That list of seven items formed the basis of Dr. Seuss‘ books for children.

(Dr. Seuss‘ last book, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!, circa 1990).

Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, aimed to write for children without condescending to them. In writing in the manner he did, Dr. Seuss meant to write for kids in a manner that treated them as emotionally fuller people than did books Seuss did not like, such as Dick and Jane books. Dr. Seuss believed in writing for people, and the last book he wrote, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!, may be the best example of just such a book. The book is largely populated by people, and was the going away present to celebrate Theodor Seuss Geisel‘s career. The biography Becoming Dr. Seuss by Brian Jay Jones gave me what feels like a fair sense of who Theodor Seuss Geisel, that is Dr. Seuss, was. The narrative included as definitive a telling as I have seen. As a result, I give the book 4.25-stars on a scale of one-to-five stars.

Matt – Wednesday, June 19, 2019

The book ‘Bernie Kosar: Learning To Scramble’

Bernie Kosar was a quarterback for the Cleveland Browns football team from 1985 until getting cut in the 1993 season by then coach of the Browns, Bill Belicheck. Kosar would win the Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys following the 1993 season before playing three more seasons as a backup for the Miami Dolphins.

(Bernie Kosar among fans seeking autographs).

Craig Stout and Bernie Kosar co-wrote the book Bernie Kosar: Learning To Scramble, which was released in September of 2017 through regional publisher Cleveland Landmarks Press. Learning To Scramble follows an autobiographical bent that covers parts of the college and professional career of Kosar, some of the adventures or misadventures in business, family, and football that Bernie Kosar the man had in navigating interpersonal relationships while trying to produce results in his life that reflected his values.

(Bernie Kosar, left, with repeated Super Bowl champion coach Bill Belicheck).

Through February of 2018, Bill Belicheck had won five Super Bowls with the New England Patriots. Back in 1993 when Bernie Kosar was released mid-season by Belicheck and the Cleveland Browns, none of this success was anticipated or really mattered to the fans of the Browns‘ franchise. In Learning To Scramble, Kosar treads carefully on this relationship in acknowledging that his (Kosar‘s) health had been hampered by broken bones, ankles, ribs, and other injuries to the point that the famous explanation of diminished skills for Kosar‘s release were justified.

(Jimmie Johnson, left, with Bernie Kosar after the Miami Hurricanes beat the Florida Gators in Tampa circa September of 1984).

Kosar would join the Dallas Cowboys as coached by his former University of Miami coach Jimmie Johnson, where both would win a Super Bowl. After having played for Johnson at the University of Miami and then the Dolphins, Kosar was a backup for the Miami Dolphins when Johnson coached there. In the intervening time, Kosar had success quarterbacking the Cleveland Browns, who he had taken to the playoffs in his first five seasons in the National Football League (NFL).

(Gary Danielson, left, and Bernie Kosar, right).

Gary Danielson served as a player and mentor to Bernie Kosar during the rookie season of Kosar‘s career in Cleveland. Kosar credits Danielson for being an aid to him during his early years, which included Danielson serving as a backup for at least two seasons beyond that rookie campaign. Kosar would recount this and the football values of tenacious commitment to focus that he and his teammates shared when the Browns‘ teams were winning.

(Left to right: Earnest Byner, Kevin Mack, and Bernie Kosar).

Kosar spoke of the trust players have on the field, which included how he communicated authoritatively with players. This included with runningbacks Earnest Byner and Kevin Mack, wide receiver Reggie Langhorne, and tight end Ozzie Newsome. The trust and authoritative tone were borne of an obsessive commitment based on that shared value along with obtaining what Kosar called the discretionary effort of competition that presses through individual walls of pain or unreasonable exhaustion.

(Left to right: Reggie Langhorne, Bernie Kosar, and Ozzie Newsome).

The notion of commanding trust in football meant thinking the same way on how to run routs, when to move from one defensive read or offensive play call to another, or not freelancing a route change that hasn’t been practiced hundreds of times before. These values applied in football, though did not translate to matters of the heart.

(Bernie Kosar against Houston during the playoffs following the 1988 season).

By not applying football principles of interaction to family matters, Kosar explained many several inherently reckless familial matters involving his father, his brother, and the relationship he had with his wife and his mother-in-law. The relationship goals were different and driven largely in a world of dysfunction, though this is me placing my interpretation upon the anecdotes, personal outcomes, and motivations described through the book. In part, the familial tales and business relationships serve not so much as a story about football as it was a tale about even big tough football players are subject to human mistakes.

Overall, I found the narrative style of Learning To Scramble refreshing, candid, and concisely stated. The nineteen chapters were divided into themes that rolled up into value statements that included anecdotes that contributed to the larger purpose of the stories shared. I recommend the book to fans of football from the mid-1980s through the early-1990s, fans of the Cleveland Browns, and ultimately fans of the game as played largely at its highest level. Further, I recommend the book to high school and college kids looking trying to figure out how to navigate the world using the life experiences of someone who didn’t have all the answers or best influences yet did the best he could.

I rate Bernie Kosar: Learning to Scramble at 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-star to 5-stars.

Matt – Saturday, February 2, 2019

‘Unmasked: A Memoir’ by Andrew Lloyd Webber

The memoir of English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber was released on March 6, 2018. I have grown up listening to the stylings of the musicals of Lloyd Webber from an early age (I am slightly older than the composer’s first child), and was interested with the autobiographical thoughts of musician that I would come to learn. Disappointed in Unmasked: A Memoir I was not.

(English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber).

The release of Unmasked: A Memoir last March coincided with the composer’s seventieth birthday. The book takes us with wit from his birth near London through his school days, early compositions, the release of his first musical with Tim Rice in 1972, and finally through the release of The Phantom of the Opera in 1986.

(The Phantom of the Opera iconography).

Before getting there, the book takes us through the wayward educational experiences of Lloyd Webber as a history student and son of the musical director of the London College of Music. Partly through the connections afforded by William Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice and Andrew released Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 1972. The musical telling of the Old Testament story of the Coat of Many Colors from the Book of Genesis was geared to children, gained success, and has grown over time.

(English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and English lyricist Tim Rice).

The pair of Rice and Lloyd Webber followed that initial success with the musical version of the passion and trial of Jesus Christ with the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. The music evolved first as an album’s worth of music that later evolved into the play and film. The work came as Lloyd Webber was dating Sarah Hugill, who would would become his wife, mother of two children by Lloyd Webber, and later his first ex-wife.

(English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and his first wife, Sarah Hugill).

During their more than 11-years of marriage, Lloyd Webber gives a mostly favorable account of the life of a composer, husband, and father in Unmasked: A Memoir. From the telling, the story of the marriage was happy if not complicated a bit by Sarah’s diabetes coupled with the medical advice surrounding that diagnosis coupled with pregnancy. A lesser musical came during this period, followed by a successful collaboration between Rice and Lloyd Webber on the musical Evita, the telling of Eva Perón’s early life, rise to power, charity work, and eventual death. Lloyd Webber also had solo project Variations during this period.

It was toward the end of that period, when the professional collaboration between Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice began to end. Lloyd Webber would have success with the T.S. Eliot and themes offered through the work Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. With some relationship mishandling and the use of source material outside Tim Rice‘s camp, Lloyd Webber began finding success outside the collaboration with Rice. As the show was staged and Lloyd Webber had risked much to get it working, his love interests also began to seek alternative expression.

(English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and his second wife, Sarah Brightman).

The composer and husband took a mutually keen interest in the soprano singing, dancing, acting, and then-married Sarah Brightman. It was a professional review of another that helped focus Andrew Lloyd Webber on Sarah Brightman. It was Lloyd Webber who would choose to cheat on Sarah Hugill and then announce that he would be leaving his first wife for his second. Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the leading role in the musical The Phantom of the Opera for Sarah Brightman.

(The most well-known musicals of English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s career during the period covered by Unmasked: A Memoir).

The man that is Andrew Lloyd Webber is, perhaps, revealed in a bit more vibrant quality of “technicolor” in Unmasked: A Memoir than he likely would prefer. There is much to Lloyd Webber‘s life after the book concludes, including a third marriage with three additional children, that simply are not covered for concerns around brevity. If nothing else, we certainly have gotten to see an intimate portrait of one of the most commercially successful composers of our lives, if not longer than that.

As a fan of some of his musicals, I found enjoyment in reading this memoir while learning more about the man. My overall rating is 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5 stars.

Matt – Saturday, January 5, 2019

Walter Isaacson’s biography of ‘Leonardo da Vinci’

The interesting and robust biography of Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson takes a look into the history of the man, as much as possible, based on the notebooks and contemporary sources of information as could be done by a scholar publishing a work on the influential painter, inventor, and polymath. The book Leonardo da Vinci was published in hardback form in the fall of 2017.

(Leonardo da Vinci biographer Walter Isaacson)

My journey into reading Leonardo da Vinci began with the awareness that he was an Italian Renaissance painter influential largely from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century famous for such paintings as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. I had some sense for his larger influence into more scientific inquiries, which led to the Vitruvian Man drawing, though not much else.

(The Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci)

Isaacson takes us into a review of Leonardo da Vinci  that explores not only the facts and relevance of the man, but as much as possible into how he thought and experienced the world. The portrait of the man comes through, likely as much as is possible from roughly 525-years after much of the history for the man began.

(The Last Supper painting by Leonardo da Vinci)

Da Vinci, as an illegitimate son of a Florence legal notary. Da Vinci largely self-taught in early life, having also been alienated from much of the legitimate offspring of his father for much of his adult life. That the influences for becoming a Renaissance painter was less about returning to past forms of high art in his time through an appreciation of the past was largely an accident. The patronage opportunities and shifting sense of timing and loyalty shifts for da Vinci were parts of his genius.

(The Vitruvian Man drawing by Leonardo da Vinci)

Independent wealth was never a largely comfortable proposition for Leonardo da Vinci, though he did find ways to have intimate relationships through his adult life. One of the earlier known relationships was with an that later became an intimate named Salai. Salai was the name used throughout the Isaacson biography, though the name itself was a nickname that loosely to thief, liar, glutton, and other less than flattering terms. Upon death, half of Leonardo da Vinci‘s estate was passed to Salai.

(A Salai drawing by Leonardo da Vinci)

Much of the further biography delves into how Leonardo da Vinci explored curiosities to the point of obsession. Much of the knowledge that da Vinci explored could have made the man significant and memorable in its own right, even if the heavily famous and significant paintings included within this review never occurred. In part, the fame of da Vinci owes itself to these obsessions and their expression in the painting Mona Lisa.

(Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson)

The innovation of the polymath da Vinci were well expressed and clearly understood to me as I read this biography of the man. The level of detail probably isn’t for everyone, though I personally took no exception to the investigation and analysis. I feel that I am the better informed and more appreciative for this experience. I recommend the reading of the book Leonardo da Vinci.

My overall rating is 4.0-stars-out-of-5.

Matt – Sunday, September 9, 2018

Vision Overcomes Hardship in ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ by Viktor E. Frankl

Man’s Search for Meaning introduced me to the writing of Viktor E. Frankl, a 20th century psychiatrist and holocaust survivor. In the mood for seeking larger meaning, vision, and an inspiration for a recent testimonial for overcoming adversity with psychological strength, I was drawn to Frankl‘s best-selling work.

I found the reminders and echoing of philosopher Søren Kierkegaard in the treatment of Frankl‘s Man’s Search for Meaning reassuring. Frankl builds his logotherapy with an awareness of Kierkegaard‘s will to meaning. That Frankl further counterpoints Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler by arguing not for drives of pleasure or power but for meaning strikes me as a truly remarkable accomplishment.

(Viktor E. Frankl)

The book itself starts first with not so much of Frankl‘s experiences in the concentration camps throughout Europe during World War II as an exploration of some of the personality profiles of those that experienced the concentration camps. The editorial consideration here was not as much to downplay personal narratives of those that had come. The decision was to offer something different.

Man’s Search for Meaning then introduced the psychiatry of logotherapy. The edition that I was reading was a later version that aimed to make modifications based on the learning and growth within this branch of psychiatry, which again advanced upon focusing on meaning rather than “not the drive to sex or pleasure, as Freud theorized, or power, as Nietzsche and Adler argued” (www.goodtherapy.org).

Friedrich Nitezsche was a philosopher in his own right that focused in no small part on human drives and passions as central to a meaningful human experience.

(People define meaning!)

A powerful aid and benefit that I took from Man’s Search for Meaning came with the exploration of logotherapy. In discussing self-actualization and experiencing meaning, Frankl mentioned three different ways to discover meaning:

1. By creating a work or doing a deed.
2. By experiencing something or encountering someone.
3. By the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.

The first of those is self-explanatory. Offering the world a new thing like a smartphone, or a best-selling book, or the means for two friends that later become husband and wife, are examples.

The second could involve experiencing the goodness of an act of kindness, the truth of an uplifting statement of gratitude, or the beauty of the autumn colors as leaves change from green to golden, brown, or red. Loving another person offers meaning and connection of its own.

When facing circumstances that you cannot change and which cause tangible pain, anxiety, or both, your approach to that pain can transform the experience of suffering into bearing witness to that pain and transforming it into a human achievement. The example Frankl offered on this score was that of an aging medical doctor who had been suffering greatly after his deceased had died. There was comforted when he realized that his wife’s passing first meant she would not suffer the grief that he was feeling.

I came away with the reward of new insight and encouragement. Viktor E. Frankl further rewarded me with a deeper structural understanding of psychiatry along with distinctions between Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.  I give Man’s Search for Meaning 4-stars out of 5.

Matt – Sunday, October 15, 2017