Miki has recently read The Handmaid's Tale and watched the series. Now the discussion (Warning: Spoiler alert!).

Pete: You’ve recently read The Handmaid’s Tale and watched the recent television series. Which one did you like better?

Miki: I thoroughly enjoyed both. One of the differences is that the television series leaves things open for a sequel. I am very much looking forward to that.

Pete: Do you think the plot is plausible, that fertile young women could be held against their will, held in order to provide babies in a future time when conception is quite difficult due to environmental and political factors? 

Miki: Some aspects of this are beginning to come true, so yes.

Pete: I concur. After the last presidential election I think anything is possible. I’ve also read where male fertility is at an all time low. Maybe there’s another story out there as well. 

Pete: What do you think is the most compelling part of the book? 

Miki: The companionship between the women, the sisterhood despite difficult times.

Pete: How about the television show? 

Miki: When the Handmaid has to hand over her baby just after delivery. Also, when they made the character Ofglen watch as her girlfriend was hanged. Another scene I loved is when the Elizabeth Moss character is walking back home with the Handmaid’s after defiantly refusing to maim one of their own. It reminded me of Elizabeth Moss’s famous scene as Peggy in Madmen. All she does is carry her stuff down the hall to her new office, but it’s completely badass. One more scene of note is when Elizabeth Moss is under the covers with Luke and they’re talking about her new pregnancy, her hopes and dreams for the new baby. Very good writing.  

Pete: I was really touched by the final scene between Moira and Luke. Moira seemed to have some problem with Luke near the beginning, yet he still had her on his list of family when she made it to the refugee shelter. Their embrace was touching. 

Pete: What did you think of the performances in the television show?

Miki: Elizabeth Moss was spot on as Offred, as were Samira Wiley as Moira, Alexis Bledel (Rory from the Gilmore Girls!) as Ofglen, O.T. Fagbenle as Luke, and Max Minghella as Nick. The most surprising characters were Joseph Fiennes as the Commander and Yvonne Strahovski as his wife. In the book they’re described as older and arthritic, but in the television series they are just a little bit older than the rest of the cast and as physically attractive. 

Pete: Did you have any sympathy for the Commander and his wife?

Miki: In the book, yes, but in the television series, no. They come off as cruel and manipulative. 

Pete: Do you feel like they may have any regrets about the society they helped to create? I thought they may have but are in too deep to go back. They’d be exiled, imprisoned, or killed.

Miki: In the book, I didn’t get much of an impression about any of that, but in the show, I really felt like Serena Joy had regrets. Pete, do you think you will read The Handmaid's Tale?

Pete: After having seen the original film version and this television series, I’m not sure I could go through it again. That said, I never thought I’d be interested in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, but recently picked it up on a whim and absolutely loved it. It’s in my top ten for sure. So I never say never when it comes to books.

The movie classic High Noon has quite a backstory. Read this review:

High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic by Glenn Frankel

High Noon is one of my favorite western-themed movies along with The Searchers and both versions of True Grit. What I didn't know about High Noon was that many of its principle developers -- producer, actors, screenwriter, etc...-- were involved either directly or indirectly in the Hollywood blacklist scare of the 1950's. Many concerned citizens and lawmakers alike had great fear of communist influence in American industry and culture, and came down brutally hard on Hollywood in particular. If you had any personal history with the Communist party or were even left-leaning, your career was in great jeopardy. There were even whispers of new concentration camps being developed if the scourge of communism could not be eliminated. Basically, you lived in a free country -- but perhaps not quite as free as you once thought. 

Many of the great Hollywood legends appear in this book, from Gary Cooper to John Wayne to Bogie & Bacall to the powerful studio heads and two future Presidents of the United States. Some individuals distinguished themselves with great courage while others caved under intense pressure and named their friends and associates to government investigators. Under all of that suspicion, however, High Noon was made and became a Hollywood classic, mirrored the times in many ways. It's been nearly seventy years later and yet the film still resonates. It's timeless. It's High Noon.

Early Halloween arts and crafts...

Dark Houses series: The Bride, the Groom, and the Milkman

Dark Houses series: Halloween