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Putin’s Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy
By Anna Politkovskaya
274pp. Metropolitan Books. $25.00
Read this book. That is really all that needs to be said. Read this book and see if the issues that cause you grief and stress each day come within 100 fathoms in comparison to the tribulations today’s Russian citizen must endure every minute of their life.
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Even now, with “democracy” underway and communism replaced by skyrocketing capitalism, the lives of an average family in the most civilized of Russian cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg seem closer to living under the iron fist of Joseph Stalin during post WWII in the soviet empire than they do of living in a modern society. There are no freedoms in Russia and no one is safe from their own government.
By the mid-60’s Americans were living in fear of “the Reds.” As children we watched movies of precisely staged marches with stomping feet and the heads of army men turned sharply at 60-degrees to face the ruler of the USSR. Tanks, missiles and powerful speeches made it easy for us to understand why we needed to duck-and-cover below our school desks.
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While it was dubious our flimsy desks would provide any protection from a Soviet attack, it was all we could do to prepare. The Soviet Union was an enormous powerhouse and America had every reason to be concerned.
Jump forward less than four decades and the former Soviet Union, now Russia, is in shambles. People are wondering if they will have heat, electricity and drinkable water in their homes. The government pays its senior armed forces generals and admirals less than a city bus driver.
The mafia has fingers in every city, town and village across the entire Russian nation. And, perhaps most frightening of all, the Kremlin, Russia’s seat of government power controlled by Vladimir Putin, appears even more corrupt than it was during Stalin’s time.
No one knew this better than Anna Politkovskaya, the author of Putin’s Russia: Life in a Failing Democracy. She had seen the mafia influence, the rampant government corruption and the ever-worsening lives of people after Mikhail Gorbachev’s Perestroika.
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Politkovskaya watched and reported on the atrocities of the Chechen War. She interviewed the brave souls who would dare to speak out against President Putin. She visited decrepit and rusting nuclear submarines intended to defend the country despite the fact the seamen inside the subs are starving and cold.
Politkovskaya spoke to many who suffered from terrorist attacks within Russia such as the one at Moscow Theatre playing the musical "Nord-Ost" where hundreds died and the dreadful siege at a children’s primary school in Beslan.
While Politkovskaya never downplays the horrors that the terrorists brought to these two places, it is her careful research and analysis into the mediocre, failed and even ignorant attempts by the Russian government to counter the attacks and then later to completely cover-up the hundreds of civilian deaths caused directly by Russian special forces that makes her writing so frightening. Yet it was Politkovskaya’s own words, in fact, this very book, that brought a violent end to Anna Politkovskaya.
The author was murdered in her apartment building late last year. While the police consider it to be a random act of criminal violence, the Russian people and journalists worldwide know full-well that Ms. Politkovskaya pushed one too many buttons and wrote one too many critical words.
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Putin’s Russia is not a pleasant read. It will make the strongest man weak and bring tears to the eyes of all who turn its pages. This book will make you wonder what happened to the great and powerful Soviet Union. It will make you sad, angry and leave you with a sense of hopelessness.
Most of all Putin’s Russia will make you breath a sigh of relief when you realize that you are very lucky to live where you do and have the freedoms you now have.
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Written by SimonKing - Visit Website
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Weird how sometimes a good song by one group becomes great when done by another. That is not to say the songs of British post-punk revivalists, Editors, are merely good; quite the opposite. They are mostly great.
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That would explain the Editors’ non-stop touring, playing to filled auditoriums and packed outdoor festivals across Europe. But in the talented hands of Baltimore remix artists Rubber Bullets, the great has become even greater.
Editors (to be clear, there is no ‘the’ in their name) are a four-piece group from Birmingham, England who released their first record in early 2005. Heavily influenced by greats such as Joy Division, Depeche Mode and Echo and the Bunnymen, Editors have yet to release a song that is crap.
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DJ Dave Nada and Ris Richards, also know as Rubber Bullets, realized this and have recently remixed two of the best songs from Editors’ debut album, The Back Room.
The remixes of “Camera” and “All Sparks” are destined to become dance floor classics with their strong beats and sing-a-long lyrics. While the vocals on “All Sparks” are a bit weak, the beats and mix make up for this in spades. The songs are available as samples and for purchase on iTunes. The iTunes link is:
Located Here
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Written by SimonKing - Visit Website
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I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This!
And Other Things That Strike Me as Funny
By Bob Newhart
239 pp. Hyperion. $23.95
Who am I to critique Bob Newhart? The man is an icon; a sacred cow of the comedy world. Newhart has Emmys, Grammies, Peabodies and awards from places I have yet to visit as a tourist. He is still getting royalty checks from albums released while I was toddling in diapers. Public Television featured the comic in their American Masters series. This man is in the Television Hall of Fame, for God’s sake!
Now, after many decades of stand-up, television and film, Bob Newhart has put comedic pen to paper and etched out his long-overdue autobiography. While, I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This! is the title of Newhart’s first book, it also reflects the guilty feeling I had while reading the text knowing full-well when I reached the last page, it was my responsibility to deliver an honest and critical review.
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Long before the comics of today were pulling down hundreds of thousands of dollars spewing foul-mouthed diatribes on only mildly funny topics, Bob Newhart was showing the world how it was done. He was not always successful in making a living with comedy so he relied on other talents to pay the bills, but along the way to greatness Newhart was befriended by the best in the business: Mort Sahl, Shelley Berman, Shecky Greene, Tim Conway, Don Rickles and Jonathan Winters. While some of these names may be meaningless to readers under 40 they are, like Bob Newhart, granite cornerstones of comedy.
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I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This! is slow-paced and steady; much like the author’s own delivery. Anyone who has never heard the careful, quiet and dry deliver of Bob Newhart will be disappointed by the overall crawl of this book. The written words, jokes and situations of any known comedian are far more funny and effective if the reader can hear the comic’s voice in his head.
For example, Woody Allen’s books are brilliant, but they take on a new dimension when Allen’s voice becomes the reader’s. Dennis Miller’s rants really come to life if his nasal, sarcastic wit echoes in the reader’s head. Comedy is all about timing and delivery—two things you cannot reproduce or control when the words are in print. A joke that gets people nauseous with laughter when delivered live on stage becomes lifeless and dull when read quietly by someone else.
While the life and times of Mr. Newhart make for interesting reading, I will admit the only time I laughed out loud was when he related a story about Don Rickles. This may be as much my fault as the author’s; perhaps I just need to wait for the audio version read by Bob Newhart himself.
I’m not sure anyone will learn the secrets of comic deliver from this book, but they will read the enchanting life story of a great comedian. And, if the reader has seen even a few of Newhart’s television shows, it is guaranteed I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This! will elicit many smiles of familiarity. In the end, I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This! delivers exactly what it should; the autobiography of a fine gentleman, a good Catholic and a wonderful comic who has entertained the world for more than half a century.
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Written by SimonKing - Visit Website
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The Essence of Chocolate
Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate
By John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg
383 pp. Hyperion. $35.00
Reviewed by: Simon King
442 Words
Perfection. From the standpoint of what a cookbook should be, The Essence of Chocolate is perfection. Gorgeous color pictures, informative public television-like chapters and, of course, recipes. Not just recipes, but recipes that defy description. The Essence of Chocolate is the work of retired physician Robert Steinberg and his former patient John Scharffenberger, who together launched the gourmet chocolate company, Scharffen Berger, in South San Francisco in 1996. Along the way the two men learned a lot about chocolate and used this knowledge to build an impressive product and a wonderful catalog of chocolate-based recipes.
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The book takes a unique approach with chapters alternating between collections of mouth-watering recipes that mere mortals can reliably produce and inspiring documentary-type lessons into the heart of cacao beans, fair-trade farming and the medicinal properties of chocolate. This book easily makes the trip between kitchen and bedside reading. Just remember to wipe off the chocolate smears before going to bed.
A gourmet cookbook without color photography is, well, useless. How do I know what I want to make unless I can see what it will look like when finished?
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Okay, maybe my results will not be as photogenic, but I need a starting point and The Essence of Chocolate gives me that. Whether it is an image of a sexy chocolate martini or the delicate cacao flower dangling from the tree, the photography in this book guarantees it will spend plenty of time on the coffee table.
The recipes cover the gamut from the basic, “That Chocolate Cake” to the more bizarre, “Three-Bean Chili” made with, who would have thought—cacao! In addition to the talents of the authors, the book includes dessert and savory dishes from over thirty professional chefs. Each recipe is carefully explained with the ingredients listed individually. The recipes I made were simple to follow and the results were delicious. As with many gourmet cookbooks, there is the occasional cooking term that is unfamiliar. However, the book contains a detailed glossary and resource list help to clear up any confusion.
If there is one area that The Essence of Chocolate goes above and beyond it is the background reading and related photography. By simply flipping the book open at random it is possible to learn intimate details about cacao genetics, cleaning and roasting beans and the lives of cacao farmers around the world. The book is informative and exciting in the way we all wish school had been.
At $35.00, The Essence of Chocolate is a fantastic value and will be enjoyed by cooks of all skill levels as well making a perfect gift for the person who just plain loves chocolate.
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Written by SimonKing - Visit Website
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