Viewfinder

Viewfinder: A Memoir of Seeing and Being Seen by Jon M. Chu (2024) 304 pages

I've seen the movies Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights that were directed by Jon M. Chu. And I'm very excited for the musical film of Wicked, the first part of which will be released this year with the second part next year. Jon is now in his 40s and the memoir covers his life so far with clear introspective eyes. He grew up in Silicon Valley with his parents running a local Chinese restaurant. He got into being an entertainer and maker of videos in his teen years. He studied film at USC. He talks a lot about his heroes Spielberg and Steve Jobs and the relationship between tech in Silicon Valley with Hollywood's long history. Straight out of college he has a lot of potential, but his film career seems to stall. He ends up making several sequels and a couple music documentary projects. It is through exploring his parents' story of coming to America that he decides he should be more selective in the stories he brings to movie screens. He offers tips and lessons for others considering a career in filmmaking. Despite the rise of Netflix disrupting Hollywood and the pandemic he finds beauty and hope to continue forward.
 

Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant

Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant by Iman Vellani and Sabir Pirzada (2024) 120 pages

I've loved Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel's adventures since reading G. Willow Wilson's ten volume run of graphic novels. Kamala is a Pakistani-American teen in New Jersey navigating school, home, and superpowers. The Marvel TV show is pretty great too although it is not lifted directly from the stories on the page. Now the young star of the show, Iman Vellani, with one of the writers from the show, is given the chance to write the script for a new comic adventure. Kamala's family isn't present for much of this adventure, since she is going to New York City for a summer college program. Her best friend Bruno tags along, and their platonic relationship is one of the best, consistent things established from the beginning of the characters. The origin of Ms. Marvel's powers keeps revealing new layers. There is an element of mutant in her so she has now joined a group of X-Men. There is a new wave of anti-mutant prejudice across campuses led specifically through the science corporation that owns the university where Kamala is preparing herself for the next chapter of her life. Through her nightmares, with science and heroics reliably at hand, Kamala lives to fight another day.
 

My Latest Grievance

My Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman (2006) 242 pages

Frederica Hatch is the only child of two university professors at a small women's college in Massachusetts. The family lives in one of the dormitories; Frederica's parents are houseparents, as well as active union leaders. Dorm life is the only life Frederica has known, other than the times she's at her friends' houses, or her grandmother's house during breaks when the dorms are closed. Frederica, from a young age, has been like a mini-adult; her parents have always been very open with her about life. 

Except for one thing: When she is almost 16, while staying at her grandmother's house, Frederica happens upon a photograph from her father's first wedding. No one had ever mentioned that her uncool father had been married to someone else before, especially not someone like Laura Lee French, who was glamorous and worldly, traits that are very different from her Frederica's mother.

When Laura Lee ends up arriving on campus to serve as a houseparent in another dorm, the small college is upended by her out-sized personality, manner of dressing, and unconventional behavior. Life will never be the same for Frederica, or her parents, for that matter!