Page 6 May 11, 2017 EL SEGUNDO HERALD Check It Out Film Review The Secret Life of Souls By Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee Reviewed by Roz Templin, Library Assistant, El Segundo Public Library This book is a twist on the old “a boy and his dog” story, though the main character is a girl. Delia is 11years old and she is already enjoying some success in the entertainment industry. Her big break has arrived! She might be cast as a series regular in a television pilot. With that role clinched, her family will have it made. Her mom Pat has “stage mother” tendencies, and her father Bart enjoys the toys he can buy with Delia’s money. She has a twin brother named Robbie, who seems totally immersed in video games and books. He doesn’t seem very impressed with his sister’s career. Delia’s best friend is her dog Caity. We get to peek into Caity’s personality from time to time when the authors allow us to live vicariously through the dog’s own eyes and experiences. There is no doubt that Delia’s feelings toward Caity are reciprocated. A freak accident derails the family’s hopes and dreams and soon the future looks precarious indeed. But Delia’s resilience and her special bond with Caity lead them down another path. There were a few odd plot turns and some of the characters’ (the main ones as well as the peripheral) actions seemed questionable Entertainment from time to time, but it has been quite a while since I have been moved to tears during certain passages from a book. Sometimes scenes and motivations seem beyond belief, but the emotion behind them feels real. The relationship that Delia shares with her dog is supernatural, but those of us who love animals and/or have pets can certainly testify that sometimes we share an awareness that can’t easily be explained. A standout is the talk show host Pearl, who tells it like it is. Pearl is on hand to do an episode of her talk show about Delia and her dog and winds up lecturing Delia’s mom in a hilarious scene in a bathroom. There are some disturbing actions that Delia’s family members take in the course of telling the tale, however, and some of it is hard for a reader to take. People can be violent toward innocents, but sometimes those who seem the least prepared can defend themselves in ways you can’t imagine. Reading this book is worth the effort, even though some of the action careens toward serious mayhem. The Secret Life of Souls is a story told in several dimensions and you will appreciate all of them. Visit the El Segundo Library and browse our new books and other materials. Our staff will happily assist you. • Chris Burden in Burden. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Roz Templin. The Secret Life of Souls by Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee. Douglass MORTUARY “Our Family Serving Yours Since 1954” B U R I A L - C R E M AT I O N - W O R L DW I D E T R A N S F E R P E T M E M O R I A L P RO D U C T S 500 EAST IMPERIAL AVENUE EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA 90245 Te l e p h o n e ( 3 1 0 ) 6 4 0 - 9 3 2 5 • F a x ( 3 1 0 ) 6 4 0 - 0 7 7 8 • F D 6 5 8 Sunday May 14 From all of us at Herald Publications Burden Tells the Story of Self- Tortured Artist, Chris Burden By Morgan Rojas for www.cinemacy.com If you’ve been to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, or the LACMA, on Miracle Mile, you’ve seen the exhibition “Urban Lights”– a cluster of lampposts just outside of the museum’s entrance. This installation, which consists of 202 authentic streetlamps from the 1920s and 1930s, has been a tourist attraction and talking point since its creation in 2008--some even calling it the symbol of Los Angeles. The documentary Burden explores the unconventional life of the “Urban Lights” creator Chris Burden, a former resident of Topanga Canyon and world-renowned performance artist whose career was made from controversy and shock value In this compelling portrait, filmmakers Richard Dewey and Timothy Marrinan delve deep into the artist’s past for a glimpse into the eclectic and eccentric life of Chris Burden. From his early days as an art student at UC Irvine, Burden was an unconventional guy. For his master’s thesis, he created the “5-Day Locker Piece,” which consisted of him caged in a 2’ x 2’ x 2’ university locker for five days. His peers thought he was crazy, but brilliant. His professors called him “a walking slap in the face.” And while his performances may have raised eyebrows both in and out of the art world, there was no denying that Chris Burden was a pioneer. He may have compared himself to da Vinci, Michelangelo, van Gogh, and other great artists of all time, but unlike the spectator approach we take in viewing those great works, Burden’s talent forced the viewer to be physically active in the experience. He gravitated toward avant-garde sculpture work, living on the edge of sadomasochism and coming close to death many times for the sake of his piece. He did it all, from being shot in the arm to nailing his palms to the back of a running car for hours (which David Bowie alludes to in his song “Joe the Lion” off his 1977 album Heroes), Burden was known for eliciting the energy in everyone around him. Burden is able to share many stories from the artist’s past through interviews with Chris himself and those who knew him well. Roger Ebert called him a “strange kind of importance” in a profile piece he wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times. His wife talked about her anxiety when Chris would selfharm in the name of art. In one art piece, titled “The Confession,” Chris confessed to an extramarital affair--a fact his wife was totally unaware of prior to watching his performance. The anecdotes relived by those who knew him, including past teachers, classmates and fellow performance artist Marina Abramovic, are entertaining, cringe-worthy and darkly humorous. Chris Burden was constantly asking, “What can art be? If art was violent, painful, or scared the s- - - out of you, is that art?” He set out to answer those questions through his various projects and crossed the boundaries of “appropriate” too many times to count, but in doing so, he made a name for himself. Chris hated the comparison of him to the stuntman Evel Knievel, a man he called “a trickster,” while he proudly considered himself as “real.” I have to admit that after watching Burden, I would have to agree that Chris Burden was indeed the real deal. Unfortunately, Chris died from cancer in 2015 at the age of 69 and just days shy of the unveiling of his last completed installation, “Ode to Santos Dumont.” His wild personality attracted attention, but it was his true talent that made him an artist. He left a legacy through his contribution of the LACMA’s “Urban Lights,” which is photographed almost as much as the Hollywood sign, but his true gift to the community has been his individuality and reminder to other artists to just be themselves. Burden is not rated. 88 minutes. Opening at the Nuart Theater this Friday and now available on demand, iTunes and Amazon Video. •
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