Posted by barb on May 24, 2005 in
Books by Greg Bear
I wasn’t going to pick this book up, since I wasn’t very happy with the last part of Darwin’s Radio; however, I found it on the free book-exchange shelf at work, and figured the price was right.
I’m glad I did pick this up. The book picks up 15 years after the Sheva virus first struck. Kaye, Mitch, and Stella (their “virus daughter”) are still on the run. Most of the “virus children” are in special schools (most of which were formerly prisons), and they are approaching puberty, which is making a lot of ignorant politicians nervous.
The book is pretty good — certainly better than the last quarter of Darwin’s Radio, and almost to par with first three-quarters.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on May 24, 2005 in
Books by Peter David
Calhoun and the USS Excalibur visit a planet that has been embroiled in civil war for centuries. Calhoun is worhipped as their savior from war, and, of course, things go wrong.
Standard stuff for ST:NF — fun, fast, and quickly forgotten.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on May 24, 2005 in
Books Edited by Gardner Dozois
This is a collection of pieces published in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine during the 80s. A few notable stories:
- “The Peacemaker” by Gardner Dozois: The editor apologized for including one of his own works in this collection, but I was glad he did. It was a powerful story about a post-catastrophe US. We learn about the catastrophe through a young boy, and about what a community will do to stay prosperous.
- “Fire Watch” by Connie Willis: In this story, historians travel back in time to observe history as it happens. We follow a historian as he joins the fire watch at St. Paul’s cathedral during WWII.
- “Her Furry Face” by Leigh Kennedy: This one was just disturbing. The story is about an orangutan researcher working with orangutans who have learned to communicate. The researcher falls for one of the orangutans…’nuff said.
- “Hardfought” by Greg Bear: This is one of those stories that starts long before it needed to and includes far more than it needed to tell the story that was there. I was bored before the real story even began.
The other stories were good. Overall a decent book, but not one I’d go out of my way to find.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on May 19, 2005 in
Movies 4/5 stars
Yes, I’m one of the millions of Americans who took time off from work to see this on the first day. It was worth it! I wanted to be a “virgin” going in — I avoided all of the previews and tv promos (much to Andrew’s annoyance). Why? Well, going in, we already know the major plot points: Anakin turns into Darth Vader, Luke and Leia are born, the Jedi are decimated, Yoda and Obi-Wan go into exile, Palpatine takes over the republic and declares himself emporer. Since I already knew what the major plot points had to be, I wanted the “how” of them to be a complete surprise.
I really enjoyed this last installment of Star Wars. It was far better than Episode I, and better even than Episode II. I can’t compare it to A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, or Return of the Jedi — those were so integral to my growing-up years, that nothing will ever compare to them. However, it was a very strong finale for the series.
< Spoilers Ahead >
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Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on May 17, 2005 in
TV I can’t be the only person who enjoyed Enterprise, because it did stay on the air for four seasons, and I was a bit sad to see it go. I was more sad to see it go with such a sucky finale.
< Possible spoilers ahead >
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Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on May 15, 2005 in
Movies 3/5 stars
I never said I only watched intelligent movies. I loved The Brady Bunch growing up, and really liked the first movie. This one was fun too.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on May 14, 2005 in
Movies 4/5 stars
With reviews of this movie all over the place, Andrew and I didn’t know if we’d enjoy it or not. Turns out I loved it; he hated it. I have read the book, several times, but not for many, many years, so I’m not burdoned by remembering the exact story. Not all of the “funny moments” worked, but there were enough that I had a lot of fun.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on May 13, 2005 in
Movies 2/5 stars
This film noir parody just didn’t do it for me. There were many moments where I could tell that something was supposed to be funny, but it wasn’t. I did laugh a couple times, but more often I rolled my eyes.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on May 8, 2005 in
Movies 1.5/5 stars
This documentary charts the path of Enron from conception to its downfall in 2001. I was lost for the first 15-20 minutes of this documentary. Granted, I don’t know much financial jargon, and don’t have much clue when it comes to financial matters and institutions, but then this film is not geared toward those already sophisticated in these matters. I sort of followed the goings-on after that, but in talking with Andrew afterwords, found that the film didn’t really highlight some of the most egregious things done by Enron. In addition, they misrepresented the weather-options that Enron had started to get into (the way it was portrayed in the documentary was that Enron was going to either control the weather or “trade” weather among regions).
Stylistically, I was bothered that every single interview was set up so that the camera cut off the subject at the forehead. Every last one of them. And, for some reason, 99% of the zooms on a photograph also cut the subject off at the forehead. Why? What purpose did that serve? One purpose was to bug me…
Can’t say I recommend this one — the information is likely better obtained through a book.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on May 1, 2005 in
Movies 4/5 stars
Nicole Kidman plays Silvia Broome, an interpreter at the United Nations who overhears a threat against a soon-to-be-visiting dignitary. The secret service begins an investigation, headed by Tobin Keller, played by Sean Penn, and as they dig deeper, we learn more and more about Broome’s questionable past.
I’m never sure if I’m going to like a Nicole Kidman film, but the promos for this one sucked me in. I’m glad I went, because it was rather good — there were a lot of twists, as there should be in a good thriller. I’m not sure that I saw the end coming, though there were certainly clues there (again, as a good thriller should have).
Tags: reviews