Let me set a couple of things straight. First off, if you are looking for an exciting sci-fi movie that keeps you really engaged every second, this is not for you. If you’re looking for movies with simple yet effective plots, this is not for you. 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the most brilliant yet confusing movies I’ve ever seen in my life. But no matter what age you are, I highly recommend watching this movie. 2001’s story is about the evolution of mankind. Men discover a black monolith, which lead to the first sign of new alien intelligence. The signal leads to Jupiter, so five men head to Jupiter along with their robot HAL to figure out what’s there. But certain strange things happen along the way. This film is notable for many reasons, but the most important reason will probably be the brilliant special effects. This film, although it may not seem like it, was made in 1968, before man even landed on the moon! This film gave the concept of A.I, space travel, alien intelligence. All the good children’s books, like The Giver, The City of Ember, and Ender’s Game exist because of this movie. Even my own book, Three Days Till EOC, was inspired by this movie. This film is strange. It can never be fully explained or understood. There are many long scenes with nobody talking and just seeing the vast wonders of space. The ending, even five decades after this film came out, is still something nobody has understood. Even though it’s rated G, 2001 is one of the most cryptic and most engaging movies, told with almost zero dialogue, which I thought could never be achieved. It constantly keeps you excited, but not like other films or books. See, most books and movies have really exciting action scenes with characters jumping off buildings, or characters running for their lives and a monster taking over the town (The Alex Rider series, Godzilla and Alien are all great examples). But 2001 is engaging, without any of those elements. No exciting music, no dialogue, no sounds, no exposition and background to explain what’s happening. It’s a strange movie you have to really think about to understand. This film is directed by Stanley Kubrick, and he has directed really awesome films, but all of them require some thinking to understand. He always has ridiculous ideas and puts them on film (check out his other classic, Dr. Strangelove). Most of his movies are great, but this one is easily his best. HAL is a robot, but he is a creepy and weird character, as we see him slowly malfunction into madness. The opening called “The Dawn of Man” perfectly resembles human society in an interesting way, showing apes fighting, working together and acting curious when a very strange object leaps before their eyes. Unlike movies told with lots of exposition through a character or opening title sequence (e.g., Star Wars), 2001 tells the story through hidden details and little, cryptic hints. During a really easy-to-miss scene, a bone is turned into a weapon, which cuts later in just a brief second, into a spaceship. These cuts look perfect, brilliant and amazing. 2001 is strange and criminally underrated. When I hear most people think of “sci-fi movies ahead of their time,” they say Star Wars or Alien, but they forget about the most important movie of them all. Without 2001, we wouldn’t have Star Wars, Ender’s Game, Ready Player One, blah blah blah I can go on and on! It’s a very self-aware film about mankind, society, and predicted the future far ahead of its time. 2001 is a thrill ride I recommend everyone in the Stone Soup community to watch at least once, because it is the true definition of a great sci-fi film.
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance, Reviewed by Lucy, 13
Nikki Grimes’s book, Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance, tackles tough subjects with bold, heartfelt words in “the language of love”: poetry. The book is a collection of poems by both the author Nikki Grimes and women poets from the time of the Harlem Renaissance, which lasted from the 1910s to the 1930s. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a quick read that includes emotions and ideas intended to stay with them long after the last page is turned. I think that Legacy is important, insightful, and inspiring as the book’s poems consist of a wide range of topics such as nature, family, and childhood. The book even includes some of the current events that have been so important in 2020 such as racial justice and climate change. This book is not only a celebration of women and African Americans and the talents that they have contributed to the arts in the United States, it is a celebration of life itself. In Nikki Grimes’s poem, “Sweet Sister,” she celebrates the diversity in the natural world. Imagine a world without rosemary or rose, even for a moment. Where would the flavor or the fragrance be? How we’d miss the quiet pleasure earth brings to nose and tongue, of which we are not worthy. Earth, your generosity deserves to be met with love’s language. In Legacy, you’ll find poems about the city and the country, family and friendship and self, dreams and hopes and wishes, all of which make up the experience of life on Earth. As much as this book is pleasant and entertaining, which is how you might feel when you read the poems like “Earth, I Thank You” by Anne Spencer and “Rondeau” by Jessie Redmon Fauset, it is also full of poems that are important in today’s times. In the poem “Judgement,” author Nikki Grimes says that the “sole sin” of Black people is “being labeled disposable souls.” Throughout the Racial Justice movement this year, people all over the United States and the world have been taking to the streets to say the same thing: Black people shouldn’t be labeled disposable, because they aren’t disposable. Black lives matter. Another topic that Legacy touches on is climate change. You can tell that the author Nikki Grimes respects the earth and wants to convince others to take action in keeping it preserved for future generations, and she says so in her poetry, “We offer complaint without apology for the / years of desecration Earth has suffered… Nature shouldered / the brunt of man’s mistreatment too long.” Part II of Legacy is titled “Earth Mother” and focuses on the pleasures of spending time in nature, as well as gratitude for the gifts that the Earth provides for us. As Grimes writes, “…it is the way / of creation to be faithful. Notice: each dawn the sun comes up.” I feel like this section, Part II, is important because climate change is such a huge topic right now, and we need to focus on it because 2020 presents a unique opportunity to fix this crisis. But just like Grimes says, we also have to remember that “it is the way / of creation to be faithful” and that we need to be grateful for what the Earth does for us, even as we harm it. One of my favorite things about this collection of poems is the way Nikki Grimes skillfully blends historical and contemporary writings and themes. Grimes uses the Golden Shovel method to write her poems. This method takes a line or section of another poem, called a striking line, and uses each word of that poem as the last word in the right margin of the newpoem. For example, here is a short Golden Shovel poem I wrote using a line from “Dusk” by Angelina Weld Grimké. (Read Grimké’s entire poem in Legacy.) Drifting, dancing, and dreaming, the snow stirs about the dusk. As you can see, I used Grimké’s line “and the dusk” to create a whole new poem. I think that the way Grimes uses this method of writing is very powerful because it takes a poem written in the past, during one of the largest artistic and cultural explosions in United States history, and uses pieces of that poem to create something that resonates today. Grimes’s poems, as well as the way she explains the Golden Shovel method, inspired me to write my own Golden Shovel poems. That’s another thing I really enjoyed about this book–it is inspiring. I was certainly inspired to write more poetry after reading it, and I think that many readers, young or old, will be too. If you are looking for a book that is thoughtful and thought-provoking, gracious and graceful, smart and spirited and soulful, Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance is a book that you should most definitely check out. Packed with inspiring and important poems, the book also features art from some of today’s women African-American artists, as well as a section on the Golden Shovel method, a section on the Harlem Renaissance, and biographies of all of the poets whose work appears in this book. I highly recommend this book to everyone as it is truly a phenomenal read, and I think that everyone will find at least one poem that will speak to them, resonate with them, or relate to them. After all, isn’t that what poetry is all about? Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance by Nikki Grimes. Published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2021. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
