Reviews by Al

The subtitle of Unhooked generation is — the truth about why we’re still single.  And while the author makes clear it’s only about straights, I naturally found it fascinating in its discussion about why it’s seems so difficult for straights to get hitched.  The exposition  shows a commonality to all modern relationships including gay ones.  There is these factors: (1) mate search by checklist, (2) unwillingness to compromise or sacrifice, (3) belief that marriage does not require work, (4) plethora of choice: "there’s always more fish in the sea", and a host of other modern issues which create ‘internal’ barriers to finding a mate these days.

[Portrait by Jacques-Louis David at left.]
I spent 45 minutes on a Sunday evening at the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art.  Nice thing is that street parking is free on Sunday and the museum is also free after 5pm (thanks to Target stores).  Parts of the Ahmansen building are closed for now, and I didn’t get a chance to see the Japanese or Contemporary art pavilions in that short visit, but the European paintings and art in the Hammer building were quite good.  The building exteriors are quite old and unimpressive compared to the new Getty further North.  However there is a renovation effort going on which will hopefully update at least some of the galleries.

At present, there is a small exhibition on-going for Jacques-Louis David who painted ‘The Death of Marat’, a famous painting of a French revolutionary in a bathtub.  That painting of course isn’t at LACMA, it’s currently displayed at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels.

McGreevey describes his parents a bit defensively, trying to debunk the parents of gay boy stereotypes — the distant father and domineering mother.  But one does get the sense he admires them even if they are a bit ordinary.  It is eye opening to read about his adolescence.  He says that he had an idea he was gay at 13 (seems about right to me — I was 11 or 12), but was frightened and hid it ever since and until his very public ‘confession’ at 47 when serving as governor of New Jersey and under the threat of lawsuit.  Not a great book or even a great story, but some might find it an education about how homophobia can keep normal people in the closet for great periods of time and how their unfulfilled sexual desires can cause them great anguish and to take great risks.

We’ve all heard about how self-centered this latest generation is, how maintaining their self-esteem was to those who raised them, and how they have a sense of entitlement.  The book talks about this more recent generation and puts it in historical perspective.

The movie is very open ended and up to interpretation.  A lot of explanation for the movie in the DVD bonus materials.  Interesting ideas from the filmmaker particularly about secrets, guilt and denial.  I like Juliette Binoche, but somehow in this movie I thought I could see through her acting.  Maybe because my French is okay enough, I could concentrate more on her facial expressions.