Book Review: Dear Me by Anthony Maria

Ah love. It’s an emotion that can make you feel like you’re that delicious maraschino cherry on the top of a mountain high ice cream sundae. On the other hand, love can be so heart-breaking that it is like a disease that slowly eats away at you, with an insatiable smile, until there is nothing left, but an empty soul.

In the novel, Dear Me, written by local author, Anthony Maria, he speaks of a love that you would think only exists in the romantic’s handbook, but in fact, we've all felt it. Mason Gallo has fallen deeply in love with a mysterious woman named Keats Cameron, while on a trip to Niagara Falls, but is devastated when she disappears from his life, only sending cryptic letters, and making brief phone calls to him, which makes him feel like he is on the brink of insanity.

Copyright: Anthony Maria

Returning back to Windsor, where he left the old days behind, Mason hopes to find answers. The recollection of how they first met and all the feelings that flood Mason every day because of Keats sudden disappearance are told to us. She’s his addiction, plain and simple. He is on a quest to find his beloved Keats, at any cost, at any length, even if that means he will search for her forever. 

Meeting many colourful characters along the way, he is faced with agonizing realization that not only the love of his life is slipping away, but there are far more skeletons in his closet that he could have ever dreamed of.

👉My thoughts:

A little on the twisted side, yet brilliant authors like Brett Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk, better take some notes because Anthony’s stylistic writing takes it to a whole new level.

The book is well-written, with subtle poetic sentiments that fill our hearts with hope, yet also laced with intense rawness and explicit language and subject matter, but will still send shivers down your spine.

I also love the fact that Windsor is the main focal point, where Caesars (in this book, known as Casino Windsor) is a prime location, along with Riverside Drive, Victoria Avenue, Hiram Walker, etc. There are also some highlights from our neighbouring city, Detroit Michigan, that are mentioned here, like  the Renaissance Centre and Joe Louis Arena.

I won’t mince words here. You’re in for a psychological mind-fu*k that keeps your heart pounding through every page. In the end, when you think that you are losing something so dear to you that you can’t seem to go on, remember that the truth is out there, you just have to be prepared to find it.

💜Anthony’s book is available online: Dear Me

💜You can also purchase his book by contacting him through IG page

 or by email: anthony.henry.joseph.maria@gmail.com

Movie Review: Range Runners – A Lesson of Survival

Range Runners may start out as the typical “I was never good enough, so I have to push myself to extreme limits and maybe have daddy issues” but take a long deep breath because you are really in for so much more, as you watch endurance runner Mel (Celeste M. Cooper) take on the ultimate challenge of what it truly means to survive.

Wayland and Jared, two peculiar pseudo-hikers, played by Sean Patrick Leonard and Michael B Woods, conveniently encounter Mel while she is on her running journey. They end up capturing her, and I use that term loosely because although she is tied up like a hog and treated like a piece of meat, reluctantly by one of them, the men underestimate what this woman is capable of and as a viewer looking at the screen, so do we.

The film doesn’t hold back with the amount of violence and brutality. There are some really disturbing and shocking moments. You can see the emotions pour out, both with the flashbacks of young Mel (Mariah Gordon), and swooped back to adult Mel. As every tear falls, she fights that vulnerability, as there is no place for weakness. She remains fierce and ready to fight with every core of her being, or will die trying.

My only real criticism of the film is towards the end, which I won’t spoil, but this “twist” is too obvious and I think puts a damper on the intensity and thrill of what the film initially set out to be.

Overall, a very riveting performance by Celeste Cooper and as singer Katy Perry once said, “I am the champion, and you’re going to hear me roar."

💠

You can also check out my review at 519 Magazine

Hot Docs 2014: Web Junkie

*For this particular film, since we both watched it., we did a his (Robert Stephen)/her (me, Melissa Arditti) movie review!  Hope you enjoy it!


Melissa's review

Life can sometimes be overwhelming and we need to escape for a while and indulge in something pleasurable. But when it gets to a point where the virtual world that you've escaped to blurs with actual reality, there is a problem. When you cannot remember the last time you washed your hair, let alone slept in your bed, World of Warcraft probably comes to mind; one of the most highly addictive online fantasy role-playing games.

In Web Junkie, directed by Hilla Medalia and Shosh Shlam, internet addiction is a growing problem in China, especially within the teenage population. To combat this issue, there have been over 400 treatment centres built with the hope to rehabilitate these adolescents before they lose all connection to the real world.

Like many who have addictions, denial is at the forefront, so parents will go to extremes to get their teen help. Some of the methods seem pretty morally disturbing.

These centres are anything but a walk in the park, with intense military-style physical training, group psychological counselling, and pretty much being under a watchful eye at all times. Parents relinquish their parental rights, which is relieving yet heart breaking for them, and in this film we follow three internet addictive teens during their three-month period of stay at a facility.

Compared to an addictive drug, this particular “electronic heroin,” off which they are trying to be weaned, is just as deadly, especially with its psychological dependency. Although people must be responsible for their own behaviours and actions, the abuse, neglect, and the overall feeling of never being good enough are huge factors as to why cyberspace is far more pleasant.

It’s interesting to note not only the openness (or perhaps desperation) of some of the parents, as well as the confrontations that take place during the therapy sessions. In the Asian culture it is often frowned upon to “show face”. It relates to the idea of avoiding the expression of any kind of emotion.

Watching a father break down into tears over his son’s behaviour and his perceived failure as a father figure was quite powerful.

One thing that I take away from this film is that sometimes disconnecting from the virtual world makes you truly appreciate, and reconnects with, what you have right in front of you.

Robert’s review

There is a seductive element to Web Junkie: poor teens trapped by an evil addiction to the internet being more or less drugged and kidnapped by parents and sent to this particular Beijing internet addiction rehab centre.

Let’s step back a moment and put an historical context to this. China controls internet content that flows to its citizens. The Gang of Four and the Cultural Revolution are long gone and have been replaced by a pro-capitalist, anti-democratic Communist Party which controls internet access and filters out any China -negative content.

It reminds one of the Ontario Censor Board in the 1950’s. So, the internet is a suspicious activity in China. A few teenagers go over the edge and 400 internet addiction rehab centres are established. Is the internet in China sweeping the nation in some Reefer Madness fashion? Is there a distorted overreaction? Is there real addiction here or are the teens political dissidents imprisoned for bypassing state sanctioned limits on the internet?

Is the problem World of Warcraft or are those who threaten the rules and sent to re-education camps?

Is this another Cultural Revolution the authorities are bound to lose?
Interesting here is that the internet addiction rehab centre, Chinese Teenagers Mental Correction Centre, filmed in this documentary is administered by the Beijing Military Hospital, and the chief psychiatrist is a military doctor.

My reaction to the documentary was to trash it, and trash it I will, but with a bit of restraint as I know an internet junkie and I recall vividly watching a Polish Film, “Suicide Room.”

A bit of reality and fiction keep me narrowly from saying directors Medalia/Shlam were set-up on this film.

(Web Junkie, Israel/United Kingdom, Mandarin with English Subtitles, opens 30 May 2014, Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, Toronto)

Hot Docs: Sleepless in New York

Love is a complicated emotion that makes us do crazy things. Sometimes we are so in love that we forget ourselves. We may sacrifice our well-being and devote all our attention and energy for the hope that we’ll be loved back. When the break-up happens though, we are completely lost and left alone with only our ill thoughts of feeling like it’s the end of the world and what the hell did we do wrong to deserve this?

In the documentary, Sleepless in New York, directed by Christian Frei, we get to view broken-hearted test subject, Alley Scott, through a brief interview, followed by an MRI to understand the profound effects that rejection has on us on many levels. It was interesting to note that when you are rejected, someone could spend up to 85% of the day thinking about that person.

Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist, studies the brain circuitry of romantic love and has coined the term “frustration attraction.” It’s when the dopamine system doesn't get what it wants, and tries even harder. So, despite all best intentions, you love who dumped you even more. It seems a bit sadistic, doesn't it?

This documentary has an extremely melancholy feel to it which suits the subject matter rather well. It does have an artistic side as well, displaying a variety of people on a busy New York subway in slow-motion. They are obviously dealing with loss, in some form or another. There is also a lot of narration from the three main people: Alley Scott, Michael Harington, and Rosey La Rouge, who intimately share their stories and don’t hold back from revealing their emotional turmoil while trying to deal with life as a single person.

At times you want to give them a big, comforting hug, and sometimes you want to shake them and say forget about that $h!t!

If you’re in a situation where you've been rejected and are looking for a few healthy coping tips, it has been suggested that the best way thing to do is to get that person out of your head entirely. This includes removing the person from all your contact lists, getting rid of photos, e-mails, old love letters, and anything that sparks a reminder or memory. Time for a clean-slate. Treat yourself well (often termed as ‘self-care’), and go out and do new things. Get a hobby or hang out with supportive friends.

It’s not an easy road when you love someone and they throw your heart away. I think we've all been there.

The connection can be so strong that it almost seems impossible to pull away. You will go to any length for one last chance, even if that means stalking that person by driving by their house multiple times a night, showing up all the time at places with the hope that your ex will be there, checking their Facebook page hundreds of times per day, and more extreme behaviours.

As we continue this path of self-destruction, we lose a little more of ourselves each and every day.

Moving on can feel impossible, no matter if you have known someone for just a single day or if you've gone as far as actually starting to build a life together. For these three tortured souls in Sleepless in New York, and really for the rest of us in the world who may be mending a broken-heart, rest assure that there is some truth to the old adage that time heals all wounds.