Theater Review: Truth Values by Gioia De Cari

April 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Truth Values: One Girl’s Romp Through MIT’s Male Math Maze by Gioia De Cari, one woman show about a female PhD student in the 80′s dealing with MIT’s still rampant sexist issues 

So I don’t usually do theater reviews, but I haven’t had a lot of time to read recently and went to this show at the local college campus. I really enjoyed the show and think it is an important thing to be discussed, since women still face a lot of both overt and covert and even subconscious sexism, especially in the hard sciences at this level of education. It is especially important to me since I’ll soon be starting a PhD in computer science, though the lab I am going to be in is a lot more welcoming than De Cari’s since it is pretty much an even gender split.

Title: Truth Values: One Girl’s Romp Through M.I.T.’s Male Math Maze
Writer and Actress: Gioia (JOY-A) De Cari
Length: ~90 mins
Genre: Non-fiction Feminist Comedy
Premise: De Cari pursued a PhD at M.I.T. in the 80′s and faced rampant sexism ranging from the Dean of Women saying one stalker was good since “some women have five or more” to various professors and advisers suggesting she should be raising children and asking her to bring the cookies to the meeting since that’s what she’s good at. Delivered in a black box set up with only a chair and table for props, De Cari takes the audience through many short stories about her experiences during that time and how she ultimately found her true calling: theater.

Strengths:

  • De Cari is very good at impersonations and brings many people from her time at MIT to the show
  • The show was written very fluidly and it smoothly transitions from one quick story to another, while still painting a full picture of De Cari’s MIT career
  • De Cari is very animated and energetic, easily keeping the energy up through the whole hour and a half
  • On a similar note, the time flew because of that enthusiasm even though she’s obviously done this show many times
  • Very funny despite the infuriating material

Weaknesses:

  • When De Cari is speaking for herself, she pitches her voice strangely high at times which I honestly found grating and distracting….
  • Despite the frequent jokes, the show is obviously meant to bring up the issues of rampant sexism in our higher education, and many of the stories leave a bad taste, especially because not much has changed
  • There’s a sad part about suicide that might affect some people severely

Summary: I really enjoyed the show, and recommend it to people who think they would enjoy this sort of show. If you are interested in bringing her to your theater Unexpected Theatre’s website has the information about Truth Values. I also found the review by a current MIT student to be very interesting, because apparently De Cari’s comments on MIT’s atmosphere are still accurate unfortunately….

Has anyone else had a chance to see this show? Anyone go to MIT and want to comment on the current atmosphere there for women in the sciences?

-A

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Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

April 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I got Good Omens on loan from one of my friends this summer and read it pretty quickly due to a combination of plane flights and good writing. She actually lent it to me to convince me to read more Terry Pratchett and to try to convince me that I’ll like Neil Gaiman. For someone who claims to not like Gaiman, I do seem to read a lot of him, ha.

Title: Good Omens
Author: Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Pages: 412 paperback
Genre-ish: Apocalyptic comedy
Setting: Our world for the most part, but demons and angels hang around drinking wine together and there is a book of prophecies that are quite nice and accurate according to the witch who wrote it. Oh and it’s sometime in the future, exactly one week before the apocalypse.
Premise: The main characters include an angel trying to avert the apocalypse, a demon who realized he kind of likes the Earth the way it is, and the son of Satan who got mixed up when he was a baby and might not be as evil as was planned.

Strengths:

  • Very well written, couldn’t put it down, which was convenient since I was reading it on a plane
  • Laugh out loud funny at times, as you would expect from these authors
  • Clever, they incorporated a lot of the mythical apocalypse stuff in fresh ways, such as the four horse(wo!)men riding motorcycles and not quite being the original myths
  • If you like Gaiman’s cooky characters and ideas, then you won’t be disappointed

Weaknesses:

  • I didn’t get very attached to the main characters, partially because they were all male, and partially because I just can’t get attached to characters that Gaiman writes apparently
  • I had a strange feeling of “Huh, why did I just read that?” when I was done, because again Gaiman has a style of characters and world that I just don’t care about, despite the fact that the writing was very compelling
  • It does stomp on modern day religious beliefs a bit, so if you will be insulted by that, probably not a good idea

Summary:
Like I said above, I read this book quite quickly over the course of a vacation and a few days, because the writing is very compelling and funny. However, I feel absolutely no wish to re-read the book ever or read sequels if there were any because I simply didn’t get attached to the characters or the world at all, though I think this is just something that happens when I read Gaiman. The plot is interesting and rich, the writing is good, and if you like Gaiman then you should definitely read this book. If you don’t like Gaiman, like me, you’ll probably still enjoy it, but maybe not LOVE it like a lot of people do.

What did you think? I know a lot of people have different opinions about this book so I’d love to hear yours. Also, I should probably return this copy that I’ve had for several months now, oops :-).

-A

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Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich

April 22, 2011 by 3 Comments

Sci-fi and fantasy novels are all well and good, but I do read other books. One example is the hilariously funny Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich. Now, Evanovich is a prolific writer and so has a lot of series, some better known than others, but the Stephanie Plum novels are a must read for anyone looking for a good laugh. I have listened to a number of them on CD, and I highly recommend listening to the later ones since the narrator definitely adds to them. The earlier ones have a different narrator and I might be biased (since I listened to the later ones first) but I don’t like the earlier narrator nearly as much. Also, these books really don’t need to be read/listened to in order! There are a few over-arching plots in Stephanie’s life, but each book easily stands on its own.

Title: Stephanie Plum novels (first one is One for the Money)
Author: Janet Evanovich
Setting: New Jersey, not quite our world from what I can tell of the spin offs, but very nearly
Premise: Stephanie needed a job so she became a bounty hunter for people who skip bail after getting bonded out. She has a tendency to wind up in ridiculous and hilarious situations and handles them with jokes and dumb luck.

Strengths:

  • Really really really really funny! You will be laughing out loud.
  • Brave and fairly intelligent but mostly lucky and witty female character
  • An endearing boyfriend and complicated friendship with a really hot guy
  • Hilarious minor characters, including a cross-dressing stoner
  • Light and easy mysteries

Weaknesses:

  • Warning, there is some swearing *gasp*
  • It can be a bit grisly sometimes despite the humorous setting. There are murders.
  • Not always very realistic :-)
  • I’ve never been to New Jersey, but I’m suspicious about how accurately it is portrayed :-)
  • I have a tendency to crave donuts after reading these books…

Summary: Really excellent books to pick up in the airport or whenever you need a good laugh and an easy read, as long as you don’t mind a bit of a darker side to the humor once in a while. They are also great to listen to while driving, since they don’t take much brain power to follow.

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