Jimmy Santiago Baca Talks Poetry Behind Bars, Moon Zappa Considers Eat That Question, Judy Blume On Flying Saucers And Communists

**A Place To Stand: A conversation with Chicano Apache poet, Jimmy Santiago Baca. About this film which delves into his journey as survivor of the brutal prison industrial complex. And whose embrace of poetry behind bars was a source not just of inspiration, but to endure the dehumanizing assault on the human spirit of incarceration, and prevail. Baca phones in from his cabin in New Mexico.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE

**Moon Zappa Talks Eat That Question: Frank Zappa In His Own Words. A documentary focusing on the life and work of the 20th century unpredictable and irreverent rock musician. Moon Zappa is on the line reflecting on her late father going toe to toe with right wing pundits on CNN's Crossfire, Attila The Hun, Ben Franklin over at the Hellfire Club, and America moving towards a fascist theocracy,

**Book Corner: In The Unlikely Event. Novelist Judy Blume discusses her latest work, touching on memories growing up in New Jersey that both scared and inspired her. And connected to aliens, zombies, flying saucers, and communists. And aspiring as a writer to make trouble and be complicated.

**The BFG Movie Review: Tall Tale, Long Story

The second adaptation of the 1982 children's book written by Roald Dahl, following that 1989 small screen version, The BFG is now a Steven Spielberg hi-tech fantasy. A story transported from the past, The BFG also feels persistently out of place as well as time, just like its relatively speaking miniature British damsel in distress Sophie (Ruby Barnhill). Not to mention a somewhat implicit, bleak back story concerning the writer himself, with a darkly subconscious subtext possibly counting a personal history of institutional child abuse, school bullying, WW II PTSD - and Dahl himself of rather giant stature, attaining a height of six feet six inches.

A story crowded not just with an abundant concoction of dreams and nightmares, but populated by an uncomfortable assortment of red flags along the way in this journey of a lonely young orphan into a magical land of giants. Kidnapped by that Big Friendly Giant (Mark Rylance) one night after she discovers him lurking in the shadows outside her orphanage - because he fears having his identity revealed, Sophie is held inside his cave. But once overcoming her terror regarding both her situation and his enormous size, she forms a strange, affectionate bond with her captor.

Now at this point any parent, control freak or not, is likely to ponder that rather troubling thought - does my kid really need to see a movie where a little female child is kidnapped by a strange man that evolves into a kind of bizarre younger girl, older giant affectionate bonding situation? Along with a relationship based on a good giant, bad giant scenario of protecting her from mean, bullying fellow giants all around them. Let's just say, this is not exactly a healthy life lesson. Which today would more likely elicit a milk carton alert around town.

Then there's that peculiar back to the future 1980's Greed Decade era resolution propelling the story to its military upstaging magical finale. As the British armed forces are called in for an abrupt shock and awe battering the land, and carting away the giants shackled to the bottom of planes - and seemingly in violation of the Geneva Conventions. Which the alarmed Queen Of England has herself orchestrated, though first dialing up Nancy and Ron for advice - while inexplicably bypassing Thatcher.

Likely drawing from his own personal demons for this story, Dahl would seem to have been preoccupied with a self-consciousness stemming from his alienating height. Along with PTSD originating in his traumatic WWII years as a fighter pilot (followed by a government espionage stint), and ensuing violent conflict resolution impulses driven to battering away all perceived enemies.

But all these matters aside for those not into tainting their escapist pastimes with the intrusion of reality, The BFG even standing on its own merits, is problematic. This tall tale is a rather long story especially for children, where making it shorter would have sufficed. Along with thickly laden Brit accents, likely trying the patience and attention span of younger minds in the theaters.

Prairie Miller