Doc "California Typewriter" Tom Hanks, John Mayer Take on the Omnipotence of Old Fashion Typewriters

This mostly charming & engaging doc. film by Doug Nichol (music video Grammy winner) is at times fascinating but other times clattering.  Several famous celebrities from film to music to writing (Hanks, Mayer, David McCullough and the late, playwright Sam Shepard) are staunch advocates for the typewriter as a purposeful tool for deriving creativity, meaning & authenticity that cannot be achieved via modern technology.  Sam Shepard's measured commentary as to his reliance on a typewriter to create his art are reason alone for seeing this endearing ode to the typewritten page.  Shepard admits to preferring horseback riding versus flying but is cognizant of the pragmatic advances in technology.  Hanks tactile & auditory love for using a typewriter are infectious. Musician  John Mayer's thoughts on using a typewriter to churn his creative process are priceless.  And, McCullough admonitions on the loss to future historians & the world when all semblance of decisive editing are gone is vastly troubling.  All 4 men were endlessly fascinating.  Alas, the doc. was satiated by their introspections.  Outside the central orb of the sales & servicing family shop in SF "California Typewriter" & these 4 celebrities, the movie waned.  I did become invested in the plight to revive the diminishing use of typewriters in today's technologically advanced world.  However,  the movie spun off into tangents that were tedious & at times, creepy.  The owner of the shop, his family & his skillful & industrious employee are incredibly earnest & likable.  Somewhat off-putting is the quirky artist whose fervent focus is on sculpting from dismantled typewriters.  Although, he was sagacious in realizing the need for & futility of stalling technological progress.  The typewriter collector from Canada appeared creepy in his avarice pursuit of adding to his behemoth bounty of 19th C typewriters.  In summation, disseminated in smaller nuggets, the appeal of typing on a real page would've been more persuasive.  The cluttered accumulation of fans' fondness for a manual machine would have benefitted from some white-out.

"Whose Streets" Doc of Officer Killing of Michael Brown Sparking Righteous Protests and Violent Riotings

"Whose Streets" is an in-depth documentary of the "Black Lives Matter" movement that grew out of the St Louis' police officer killing of Michael Brown, Jr., Aug.  '14.   I take the liberty of using the term killing. The film's dir/producer, Sabaah Folayan, wisely avoids calling Brown's death a slaying.    Folayan covers the aftermath of righteous outrage at Brown's killing & the fury against the officer wrongly exonerated.  Folayan makes a fierce & in-depth doc. of despair, anger, grief, love & empowerment tragically born of yet, another unarmed young man of color being gunned down.  This is an intelligent & humane insight into the lives of Ferguson, MO residents who will not go quietly into the night and are taking a forceful & united stand against police brutality, racism & pacifism. The significance of Folayan's doc. conveys an indefatigable stand against police brutality & hatred.  With her directorial debut, Folayan has made a doc. with the powerful eloquence of Baldwin, Angelo, & Hughes.  Nonetheless, it is yet another retelling of the systematic & constant denial of humanity.  News footage captures the events as they occurred revealing the immediate aftermath of Brown's mother's grief and expands into the mounting, fearless movement advocating for justice & equality still being denied to all Americans; especially people of color.  Again we see rage boil over into destruction & looting as seen in the 1992 LA riots.   The media's coverage of military police and the nat'l guard is as disturbing as it is incredulous.  The film covers the timeline of events beginning in August 2014 and immerses itself into the lives of several individuals & their families who are relentless in asserting a movement "that is not my father's civil rights movement."  But it harkens back to discrimination & oppression.  "Don't shoot, hands up! Black lives matter." Don't doubt the power of this thoughtful & disturbing film to evoke change for justice too long in coming.  "Whose Streets" is to be viewed by everyone.  Everyone must claim the essential right for non-violent protests.   "We must love and support each other.  We have nothing to lose but our chains."

Small Town Book Club Builds Kinship with Discourse on Duo Memoirs "Lab Girl" and "M Train"

The total eclipse of the sun was an awesome day of celestial majesty.  At dusk,  the local bookstore in  CA held their monthly drop-in book group to discuss 2 fascinating memoirs:  "M Train" by Patti Smith winner of the NME Best Book Award & a Grammy for The Best Spoken Word Album."  The second autobio was "Lab Girl" by Hope Jahren.  It won the Nat'l Book Critics Circle Award.  Smith is an award winning-songwriter and a break-out punk rock artist.  Smith is also a poet & visual artist.  Her previous memoir "Just Kids" about her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe & their ascent from anonymity into celebrities as artists: Mapplethorpe for his iconic black/white photographs and Smith with her 1st breakout single "Here Comes the Night" co-written with Bruce Springsteen. "Just Kids" won the Nat'l Book Critics Award.  Jahren is a geobiologist whose extensive research & scientific studies are her lifeline.  Her dedicated research has contributed to advancing environmental conservation and observations.  These two women, an accomplished artist & scientist have made names for themselves in their respective fields & forged with great insight & skill into the literary world.  The book club meeting was a fortuitous scheduling falling on the eve of the solar eclipse.  Jahren's consuming fascination with botany & science was shared with millions who looked upward to the skies in jubilation at yesterday's celestial phenomena.  Smith, in addition to being a musical, visual and literary award winning writer is known for her social activism.  The small but in tune group shared their reflections on the lives of these remarkable women.  More importantly, yesterday was a day for sharing a universal wonder & the joys of exchanging viewpoints and regarding each other.  The solar eclipse is not something that comes around often in one's lifetime.  But coming together to share thoughts & listening to others can & should happen daily.