Canyons and Fires

Workers are clearing overgrown bushes and brush in the lush canyon where I walked this morning. Glad to see them chopping down the dry vegetation near the top, after fires raged through hillside canyons in Carlsbad last week, threatening hundreds if not thousands of homes along their borders. My development was spared. It was once a California ranch owned by TV and film  actor Leo Carrillo, with the original buildings and property around the homestead now maintained as part of a city park. A deep canyon runs right through the middle of the ranch, which includes thousands of acres of housing plus rolling hills dotted with low, crisp brush. Sure would hate to lose any of this, plus all the homes occupied by families. We're lucky since our house isn't right on a canyon or ridge, but with enough heat and wind, who knows what could happen.

Leo Carrillo Park

Last week was a wake-up call, with smoke clouds popping up in every direction during the blazing hot Santa Ana.  Temperatures rose to a hundred or more degrees in some parts of the County. What we know as May Gray, with a marine layer haze and cool temperatures, was nowhere to be seen. This morning the paper reports that the three fires at Camp Pendleton, just north of us, are mostly contained, but eighteen percent of the base, about 27,000 acres, burned.  San Marcos and Carlsbad fires are all contained, but firefighters continue to watch "hot spots." We were so blessed to have so many dedicated firefighters, but sad to have one loss of life, a homeless man whose remains were found in a canyon of the Poinsettia fire, closest one to our development. Here's to safer days ahead, with lots of brush cleared to reduce fire risk.  It will be a long hot summer, since we're in the third year of a drought.

Losing a Loved One

Since the character center stage in my unpublished novel, Abandoned, is still in grief from the loss of her brother when the story opens, early in the research and writing process I immersed myself in novels and memoirs that deal with the untimely death of a loved one. I wanted to see how other writers and their characters cope with death, especially when the character is a teen who's already navigating the turbulent years of adolescence.

Two exemplary young adult books which feature teenaged characters in search of new lives after an untimely family death are Jennifer Castle's The Beginning of After and Sara Zarr's How to Save a Life. Both describe their teen characters' heartfelt yearnings for a new normal in the midst of emotional chaos.

In Castle's book, 16-year-old Laurel is the sole survivor in her family after both parents and a younger brother are killed in a tragic automobile crash. The driver was Mr. Goldman, a neighbor and family friend who had a few drinks under his belt. He survives, barely, but his wife wasn't so lucky. Their 16-year-old son, David, like Laurel, was not in the car and is left to face the horror and cope with the aftermath.

While Mr. Goldman lingers in a coma, Laurel and David attempt to avoid each other at school and in the neighborhood, but eventually must face the cold hard facts of an event that changed their lives forever. Laurel's grandmother moves into the house and becomes the catalyst to temper her granddaughter's anger toward Mr. Goldman and David, who babysits his comatose father daily at the hospital. The two teens suffer through awkward encounters, and at least one disastrous one, before David bails on a road trip to "find himself." Eventually, they realize they must come to terms with their parallel lives and the anger and blame that wedge them apart.

Castle's portrayal of teen life is true to the angst, social pressures, academic demands, and romantic rawness that dominate the story. Difficult to navigate on their own, they blow up to monumental proportions when fueled by an undercurrent of grief. Laurel's story is heartbreaking, but she muddles through stages of grief with honest abandon. There is a light at the end of her tunnel, and maybe David's, too.

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr catches up with Jill and her mom, Robin, ten months after the death of their husband and father from a sudden heart attack. The story opens as they stand at the train station in Denver, waiting for Mandy, who responded to a note Robin posted on a website called Love Grows. Robin expressed a wish to adopt a baby and give it a loving home, and Mandy responded that she was pregnant and interested. They agreed that she should come to Denver a couple of weeks before her due date and deliver at a local hospital.

Unfortunately, Robin didn't consult her daughter before posting the note, so Jill, a senior in high school who works at a bookstore, is pissed. Still lost in grief, Jill rejects everyone who reaches out to her, including old friends, a boyfriend of two years, and her mom, whom Jill claims has a history of making impulsive family decisions. We learn that Jill was closer to her dad, with his looks and candid personality, but she worries she's missing "the piece (of her dad) that matters most: his heart."

By telling the story in two unique voices, Jill's and Mandy's, Zarr paints a picture of complicated relationships unfolding over the next several weeks (Mandy's due date is more than a month away when she arrives). While Jill struggles with her mother's decision to replace her father with a baby, Mandy strives to shed an abusive past, by relinquishing her baby to a better life. Robin becomes the mediator who helps Mandy though the last weeks of pregnancy and tries to support Jill in her dad's absence.

Mandy's innocent, tender retelling of her new, but temporary life in the comfort of Robin's home contrasts sharply with her own sad history and Jill's reactions to her. Faced with Mandy's honesty and courage, Jill is forced to reconsider her life and where she's headed. Like Mandy, she faces an uncertain future and must navigate it on her own.

Zarr is a master storyteller, layering shades of gray at every turn. Her leading characters are three-dimensional beings with human flaws who breathe authenticity into a story rooted in grief, but reaching for a better tomorrow. Mandy's voice is distinctly hopeful, even naive, but she refuses to go backwards. Jill's is filled with pain, resistant to letting go. Robin's steadfast grip on her own situation grounds the girls and her in an unlikely, but daring future brimming with possibilities. We can't help but root for all of them.

The Fault in Our Stars

For the past five years, I've been gorging on novels for teens and preteens as well as my usual diet of adult fiction. Not a relapse, well, maybe a partial one, but an important one. In January, 2009, I attended a writers conference at my alma mater, SDSU, and immediately started to draft a novel for teens. By fall, I enrolled in the first of many UCSD writing courses. Now, five years later, I've read dozens of young adult (YA) books, completed writing a teen novel, and drafted two more novels along the way.

I launch Book Nook to share some of my favorite reads, from current authors of adult and YA fiction who give up days and years of their lives to create stories that entertain, inform, and challenge us. As a result, we are terrified, fantasized, seduced, maybe educated, and sometimes transformed.

The following is a favorite book I read last year that will be released as a movie this summer.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
http://johngreenbooks.com/the-fault-in-our-stars/

It was on Amazon's Best Books of the Month list in January, 2012, and the rest is history. Time Magazine and the New York Times Bestsellers List loved this story about two high school kids who attend a support group for teens with cancer and discover a connection that goes far beyond their diagnoses. If they weren't such spunky smart kids, with clever brains and undeniable bravery in the face of illness, this might not have worked so well. But Hazel and Augustus (great names) transcend everything around them to spin a cocoon of their own making, with books, fantasy, friendship, romance, and ultimately, love. She's the one who's depressed, "a grenade" with advanced cancer and a breathing tube. Try making something positive out of that. He's the knight in shining armor and remission, with a prosthesis for one leg. His persistence leads to the gold medal, Hazel's reluctant heart, thanks also to good looks, fast quips, and irresistible charm. The irreverent dialogue and narrative embolden the story and characters to light up our hearts. Hazel tells us: (my) "diagnosis came three months after I got my first period. Like: Congratulations! You're a woman. Now die." When the pair sits side by side in his bedroom, during her first visit to his home, she explains that her hands are cold because they're "underoxygenated." He responds: "I love it when you talk medical to me." So the story goes, with inevitable ruts and bumps that make it all too real. But these lovebirds reject their predicaments and fly from the nest for an impossible dream come true. If only it could last. The ups and downs of life-threatening disease, the constant shadow of death, and the sheer joy of living make John Green's tale a miraculous gift for readers of all ages.

The movie trailer: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/video-fault-stars-first-trailer-675298

Oscar Worthy Contenders -- Part 2

Now that the Golden Globes and other awards programs have had their say, and the Oscars are chomping at the bit, time to weigh in again on Academy Awards contenders. See my November blog on earlier releases (Dallas Buyers Club, 12 Years a Slave, Captain Phillips, Gravity, The Butler, Blue Jasmine, All Is Lost, Before Midnight, Mud, and Blue Sapphires). Below is my take on a few year-end movies that are worth noting, some with and others without Oscar nominations.

Nebraska is one man's last-ditch effort to claim elusive joy from a mediocre existence that finds him wandering the mental and physical highways of his loneliness in old age. Bruce Dern brings a lifetime of acting experience to a role that fits like an old pair of jeans, for a film set in director Alexander Payne's home state. The main character's hesitant delivery, aging frame, and unflinching determination to claim a million-dollar prize by walking to another state drives the story right into our hearts. Poignant, humorous scenes keep us laughing and nearly crying at the same time. We want something wonderful for Woody Grant, who could be our uncle, grandfather, or former neighbor. And it does finally come, but with no thanks to the relatives and former acquaintances who buzz like vultures, eager for handouts to fill their empty lives. The loyal son joins the journey his father refuses to abandon, and seeks to understand and eventually deliver the simple joys of his father's dreams. Like an unfulfilled life, Nebraska is slow at times. In the end, we're reminded that the journeys we take may not lead to what we seek, but to what we truly desire. (As a final note, June Squibb offers a wonderful portrayal of the curmudgeon wife, Kate, whose cemetery scene is sure to become a classic.)

The Wolf of Wall Street vibrates, undulates, regurgitates, and activates.... I could go on. If there is a sensory passion or urge to be imagined, it most likely found its way into this slice of cinematic genius. In other words, the film is a roller coaster ride through the historic debacle of the Wall Street collapse on Black Monday in the late 80s. But the true story emerges when one clever shark circles the prey and devours everything within reach -- without remorse, relief, or much retaliation from his victims, other than his wife. The Scorsese-di Caprio marriage has given birth to a family of blazing successes over the years, this one no exception. The pacing and no-holds-barred style is reminiscent of the director's gang genre films, like The Departed and Goodfellas. Instead of guns, bullets and corpses to move the story along, TWWS employs bogus stocks, coupled with excessive sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, to keep the bucks and victims rolling in. Exhausting? Yes. Repulsing? For sure. Entertaining? Up to a point. Big chunks we're cut before release, but some scenes still run too long, and some excess is gratuitous.  Nevertheless, Leo delivers an amazing performance -- full of physicality and brawny exhilaration displayed in vivid scenes that startle and stun. Jonah Hill is more than worthy as his ready sidekick. The duo and Scorsese are deserving of nods and maybe a statuette or two if the competition wasn't so stiff.

Inside Llewyn Davis is a quiet movie that rambles through the tough reality of the artist's life in America where rewards are meager and hits are few. Probably the same for artists in most other countries and genres. The film is a departure for the Coen brothers, but not all that surprising if you recall the earnest depictions of small town characters in past films. A sonnet dedicated to struggling musicians in the Big Apple and beyond, the melodious story follows the protagonist through a couple of performances, more than a couple of nights on friendly couches, news of an unexpected pregnancy, and his accidental relationship with a cat. A chance encounter with a promoter played by John Goodman offers a glimpse into the business behind the ramble, but no promises or offers to secure a future. Unfortunately, Llewyn Davis ends where he began, in limbo, and so do we.  Not the most satisfying conclusion, but maybe that's the point. The actor is so mellow in his performance that I wondered if I was watching a documentary, if he was the true balladeer, and this was his actual life. Worthy of recognition perhaps. But again, there's the competition...

American Hustle takes us straight back to the 70s, with bell-bottom pants, permed hair, plunging necklines for women, and gold necklaces for men. Apply that fashion mix to a dry cleaners owner, FBI agents, and a couple of dames played by Amy Adams (the girlfriend) and Jennifer Lawrence (the wife), and we have the perfect concoction for cooking up a heist. Bradley Cooper's character still lives with his mother when he cajoles his boss into footing the bill for a major sting operation that will take advantage of a couple of free-wheeling swindlers and bring down a batch of Congressmen to boot. The winding tale spins wilder and wilder before pairs change partners and the finale ends in a surprise twist based on the historic plot. A top winner so far, this one could be on a roll that doesn't stop until the Oscars have spoken.

Her is a magical movie that takes us beyond the parameters of film as we know it and lulls us into a hypnotic trance with a major character who never appears on screen. In the process, we see ourselves and where we're headed, if we haven't already arrived. Joaquin Phoenix does appear, and for most of the film we hang out in his head, hearing what he hears and hoping he gives up his obsession with an artificial character for the real deal. After his heart is broken, and he's penned a few more romantic notes for the day job, he wanders into the realm of the living, breathing, walking, talking reality that may just offer what he's been missing. Joaquin is cast as the sensitive, vulnerable guy seduced by Scarlett Johansson’s velvet voice. Amy Adams grounds the story with a wholesome portrayal of the girl next door, or at least in the same LA high-rise, to remind us that human relationships may just have the potential to fulfill where technology fails.

Fifty Years Ago Today

I can't believe I'm writing two posts in one week, after a year of mostly no posts. But this has been a week of anniversaries, not just any anniversaries, but ones that feel especially personal to me. The newspaper is full of articles today about the Kennedy assassination. I read every single one. It was a compulsion, to see what this one and that one said or remembered. They took me back, tears and all.

I was in eleventh grade, a junior in high school. It was fourth or fifth period, Mr. Taylor's chemistry class, when three girls rushed into the room after the bell rang to signal next period. "The President's been shot in Dallas," they reported, like they couldn't believe it. Half of my classmates were on their way out the door and the other half scattered between chairs, still stacking books in their arms to leave. I was one of the stragglers who overheard the news.

My feet led me along the crammed, bustling hallway, but my head was lost in a fog. Maybe I met my boyfriend who  walked me to my next class, maybe not. Some details are lost. Surely, the President will survive, and everything will return to normal. He can't die. That would be too much of a fluke, a shock, in the rock-solid realm of things that just don't happen. Not in America where we live.

The whole Irish-American Kennedy clan was committed to public service and overcoming injustices in society. At the time, Jack Kennedy appeared to be perfect. The epitome of a good-looking, all-American guy from a filthy rich family with homes in Boston, DC area, and Cape Cod. He was a WWII hero, sailor, played touch football, went to Harvard, was close to his family, started the Peace Corps, hung out with Hollywood stars (Marilyn Monroe popped out of his birthday cake!), and his brother Bobby was Attorney General, for goodness sakes. Jackie was gorgeous, elegant, mysterious, had impeccable taste in clothes and White House decor, was a mother to two perfect children (lost a newborn only weeks before), and was poised beyond anything you'd ever learn in charm school. Upper crust too, the wedding in Newport. Together, they were a youthful, vibrant symbol of hope and promise for our futures, and the future of our country. We knew they would succeed, and so could we.

But it wasn't to be. Over the public address system, during Ms. Sipple's American History class, Mr. Bruce, our principal, announced that "President Kenney died today, in Dallas."

In that instant, Camelot vanished. The whole country was in collective mourning, watching TV for hours on end, for days. First came reruns of Walter Cronkite's impossible news flash, then LBJ swearing in as the new president on Air Force One, Jackie in the blood-stained pink suit that she refused to change, Jack Ruby shooting Oswald, the casket in the Capitol Rotunda, the widow in black, a veil over her face, Caroline and John-John in winter coats holding their mother's hands, and him saluting the horse-drawn carriage that held his father's body. There was the procession...masses lined up to watch the march through the streets of our nation's capital, all the way to Arlington National Cemetery and the eternal flame. She asked for that, and it was delivered.

For whatever it's worth, we learned a lot more about Jack through the years -- his shortcomings, affairs, failures, and triumphs. His presidency was cut short, only 1,000 days. Countless books have been written, movies made, and theories promoted to explain the assassination. The simplest is the one I buy. The sheer shock of it all is forever etched in my memory, just as Pearl Harbor was for my parents, and 911 has been for my children. Each led to a loss of innocence for our generation. And that, perhaps, is the reason we mourn -- for ourselves, as well as the country as a whole, and why it feels so personal.

An Anniversary of Words

One-hundred-fifty years ago this week, Abraham Lincoln stood at Gettysburg to deliver a speech that has become part of our national identity. A man of simple means who was born in Kentucky and lost his mother when he was nine years old, Abraham Lincoln became a president of extraordinary intelligence, humanity, and eloquence. Visiting Gettysburg, the first time about fifteen years ago, and again in 2011with friends from New Zealand (see photos below), I walked the battlefield and witnessed the place where President Lincoln spoke the words that we celebrate today. It was an humbling experience to be there, and it is equally humbling to read and recall these words again. The spirit of the Gettysburg Address is relevant to all battlefields where people have given their lives for freedom, wherever that may be in the world, however elusive the goal.

The Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg National Cemetery was dedicated by President Abraham Lincoln a brief four months after the Battle. Lincoln's speech lasted only two minutes, but it went into history as the immortal Gettysburg Address. 

"Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . . can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . . we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us. . .that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . . and that government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people. . . shall not perish from the earth. "

More information about President Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address.

The Big Screen Contenders

There have been so many amazing films in 2013 that I can't wait until year's end. I have to talk about some of them now, in preparation for the March Academy Awards party we'll host for family. Ballot cards include all the Oscar categories. The person with the most perfect picks wins the prize!! So here goes…and the nominees are...

Dallas Buyers Club: A very gaunt Matthew McConaughey dominates as Ron Woodruff, the HIV/AIDS- stricken wheeler dealer from a hometown Dallas trailer park where rodeos and sex trios reign supreme and sometimes overlap -- i.e. the opening scene, so don't miss it. The guy has guts. He  overcomes homophobic instincts to reject all the wallflowers, sunflowers, and other flowers who suffer from HIV/AIDS, to advocate for meds and vitamins that allow him (and them) to survive years beyond his original death sentence of thirty days. This after a near death experience from high doses of AZT that he bought on the downlow from a hospital orderly who's paid handsomely for his trouble. Desperate for a cure, Ron finds a clinic south of the border dishing out cocktails of safer drugs and vitamin regimens to raise T-levels and keep patients alive. Determined to survive and make some bucks while he's at it, he travels the globe for drugs and signs desperate AIDS patients up for the Dallas Buyers Club. Drugs are guaranteed as long as you pay your monthly dues. There's no end to the challenges along the way -- FDA officials, customs officers, good and bad cops, good and bad docs, the old hometown gang, and of course, death. Poignant, riveting, informative. Maybe a best actor nomination.

12 Years A Slave: A shocking, painful journey of an educated African American man who's plucked from his comfortable family life in the northeast and tricked into slavery in Louisiana.  The person on whom the film is based wrote the book by the same name in the late 1800's. The cinematography, like the closeup of the Mississippi steamer's paddlewheel that forces water through its blades in rhythmic bursts, matches the harsh reality of the main character's many predicaments. The slave owners of the South are depicted as cruel, crude and opportunistic toward their human property. Slaves are bought,  sold, beaten, and raped without any consideration for families, bodies, or humanity. The plantation scenes are raw as we bear witness to them 150 years later. The characters jump off the screen -- a refined, educated black man whose fortitude allows him to endure until justice catches up and he's saved by a white man, his friend from home; a crazed white owner whose dark, delirious passion drives him to abuse a young black girl repeatedly; the young black girl whose physical wounds are second only to the psychological damage that has taken hold; and another white owner who shows short-lived compassion, but fails to deliver when push comes to shove. Several award nominations are guaranteed.

Captain Phillips: Played by Tom Hanks, this guy kept me on the edge of my seat the whole entire movie, and I knew the ending, so it wasn't as if I feared the worst.  Surviving to the finale was an exercise in patience amid terror. The fact that this was based on a true story, although depicted through the lens of a Hollywood movie director, gave it even more zeal and blood-curdling power. So what if a certain scene was fabricated? We know it's all in the realm of possibility for anyone captured by Somali pirates who are beholden to warlords in a country without a heart, soul, or credible leader. So, for that reason, I don't hold it against the producers who brought the story to life. The basic story and reality of terror is believable. The zinger, however, came after the movie was out. According to the New York Daily News (Oct. 7, 2013), crew members are suing the shipping company because they wandered within 260 miles of the Somali coast. They were instructed to stay at least 600 miles out. Many hold the good captain responsible. That sequel will air in court in December!

Gravity: Who doesn't like watching two beautiful Hollywood actors float around in space and maneuver in the intimate quarters of a celestial cockpit until things go wrong, get fixed, go wrong again, get fixed again, yadda, yadda, yadda? The mostly quiet ambience of the film and performances delivered by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney was so mesmerizing that I found myself pulled into the surreal universe beyond planet Earth without any hint of takeoff. I was there, with them, contemplating the next invasion of cosmic debris. Bullock is surely worthy of an Oscar nomination, but Clooney's time on screen is limited. He did his usual, and left the girl behind. No nomination for him.

The Butler: In the tradition of old Hollywood movies, this one has it all -- a sympathetic boy who's forced to tolerate the brutality toward his parents at the hands of a white slave owner (one is raped and the other is killed); a heroic climb up the segregated job and social ladders that leads to the White House, marriage, a family, and a comfortable life; the deep divides of the 60s, which take their toll on his family; and the history of the civil rights movement demonstrated by presidents who occupied the White House. Forrest Whittaker delivers, Oprah shines, and the film sparkles from beginning to end. Call it whatever you like, I loved it, twice. It's my history. I lived those years. I fought those injustices. I nominate both leads.

Blue Jasmine: Cate Blanchett's performance as the wife of the New York stockbroker Alec Baldwin who takes everyone down the rabbit hole with him when all Hell breaks loose in the economic crush of 2008 is superb. Classic Woody Allen against the bright lights, tall buildings, and upscale lifestyles of New York City. She'll be a sure nomination boosted by the final scene of her in the park.

All Is Lost: I sat riveted during the entire voyage in the South Pacific, fascinated by a man's sheer determination and strength to survive the elements and hope for rescue, first on his sailboat, and later, on his lifeboat. It would be less than truthful to omit that I was hypnotized by Robert Redford's performance, but I've always been hypnotized by him. Other than that, I don't have a lot more to say. Is that the mark of a four-star movie?  Maybe. Will he be nominated? Surely. The movie? Probably.

Before Midnight: It's been so long since we saw this little gem, that my moment-by-moment reactions to it are dulled by time. But the ones that linger in memory are worth noting. This is a relationship that has matured beyond the one first seen in Before Sunrise (1995) when the couple meets on a train in Europe, and later in Before Sunset (2004) when they meet again at a book signing for him. Same actors different decades. But in the spirit of full disclosure, I didn't' see the earlier versions, only read the reviews and recall the chatter. Judy Delpy and Ethan Hawke starred in all three, the latest one set in a seaside Greek village where they vacation with their children and friends at a family home overlooking the sea. More comfortable and less enamored with each other, the couple is gifted a night at a hotel in town without the kids. That's when the brutal argument erupts. What married couple hasn't had one of these? Something small simmers below the surface until it explodes into something gigantic. Eventually (hours, days or weeks), it fizzles into the comfort of time, history, and place. The sumptuous backdrop of the charming European countryside and the midnight table by the water is intoxicating. The mature love and enduring romance ring with authenticity. Not likely for Oscar nods, but worth the rental.

Mud: A gritty fugitive meets two ragamuffin teen boys, each with his own fantasy about the secretive Robinson Crusoe deserted island that's a boat ride away from the Arkansas river town where life is not so perfect and much of the action emerges. Throw in a thwarted romance that inspires the boys to somehow reconnect Matthew McConaughey's character with the Reese Witherspoon love of his life, and you have plenty of complications. That's because the fugitive is on the most wanted list of the local authorities for a string of minor to major run-ins with the law. It's an honest, well-honed performance by McConaughey that has even more power because of the contrast to the innocence of the boys whose lives could easily go in his direction, given just enough wrong moves. Not sure, but maybe a nomination somewhere in those Mississippi swamps.

The Sapphires: This was the sleeper of the year for me, my Searching for Sugarman. Aborigine girls from down under win a contest to entertain soldiers in Vietnam. Before the journey begins, however, they're trained by a would-be opportunist promoter played by Chris O'Dowd, who blew me away in this role. He's the guy who takes these  diamonds in the rough, singing country music, and turns them into blazing hot sapphires belting out soul tunes with all the right notes and moves. He's roguish, charming, adventurous, spirited, hilarious, and beguiling. Heart and soul. The perfect foil to the girls' innocent, spunky, tenacious, adventurous, sensual, and courageous hearts and souls. It's a story that's born against the backdrop of the white man's injustices toward the native population in Oz, and plays into the 1960s era of missteps in Vietnam that leave too many dead, too many addicted, too many wounded, and too many confused by the fog of war. The girls are triumphant and O'Dowd is the hero. MUST SEE MOVIE based on a real story. I nominate O'Dowd and the movie for Oscar consideration.