Book 2 of Kelly Brewer's Deepening Series gives us Water Witch. And again, in full disclosure, I was asked to provide a review.
Just like in the first book, Kyle Supplantis continues his adventures fighting space aliens with rock music. And the aliens are not happy. Now that they know Kyle is the Water Witch, they try everything to stop Kyle before he destroys them. But -- destroy them, how? Kyle still doesn't know how to use his newfound powers.
As most middle books of trilogies go, this book spends a lot more time pushing plot than world-building. And in this case, I may like the first book a little better. Now that the band has been separated this way and that, there's also a lot less music, at least at first.
Kelly Brewer gives us a lot more view into the alien side, now that we know they exist, and not all aliens are bad. But that doesn't stop the aliens from using their melting space zombies. Starting with Neptune, moving to Uranus, and then Saturn, and so on, the aliens push their way forward to Earth.
Brewer's quirky writing also continues strongly -- kind of a broken English, because -- that's well -- how these people talk. I like it, though it comes across as funny and different to me. I think it's intentional -- an attempt of quirky humor mixed with some action and horror elements.
At one place near the beginning, there was even a zombie-nado. Yeah -- I was on the floor laughing up a storm. Is there anything tornadoes can't do? But then again, later zombie scenes seem quite dire, and I have to keep reminding myself that it's just a book, and we're not really losing a war against the aliens.
The ending seemed to come quite sudden to me -- almost like stopping everything as something big happens, but then again, surprises are always like that. It was a nice twist. Of course -- like the usual middle book, it leaves us hanging. I suppose I'll have to pick up the final book as well.
So, give it a try. If you're looking for something completely different -- kind of funny, but also somewhat satisfying, check out these books. You can start with "First Contact" and continue with this book.
After a mostly disappointing tenth season in 2016, Chris Carter came back and redeemed himself. Instead of just six episodes, he delivered ten. And this time he provided a good mixture of standalone material and episodes that pushed forward the overarching plot -- even helping to bring things to a nice end in the finale.
2018 gave us more memorable episodes: the return of Langly, a hilarious exploration of the Mandela Effect, and one of my favorites of the season where automated machines went after Mulder and Scully.
Carter also (mostly) successfully removed my complaints from season 10 -- totally undoing that rushed and terrible ending (it turned out to be only a vision of one possible future -- Cockadoodie!!), and bringing us back to more believable plots.
And, the end of season 11 was somewhat satisfactory. It serves as both a series end and a possibility for a continuation -- just enough to have us wonder what comes next, but not too much -- so we can have a better sense of closure.
Will there be more episodes? As of now, it appears the answer is no. Carter would prefer not to do it without Gillian Anderson, the franchise is now owned by Disney, and some other forces appear to be killing the chances of a season 12. I'm not too disappointed, but would definitely watch if it came back. There's certainly plenty of juicy stuffs to pull from in the last couple of years!
Anyway, I enjoyed 2018, and until I hear otherwise, it feels like a great conclusion.
Today, I'd like to review a book suggested by a friend: The Universe Story by Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry.
I'll be honest -- at first I was intimidated by the lengthy subtitles: "From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era" and "A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos." And I'm thinking: say what? But never fear, the book explains itself.
But be aware, these two authors pull no punches with their long and fancy words. I knew I was in trouble when in the first few pages, there were words I didn't even know existed -- but still I was able to piece together what they meant by their roots (etymology). In some cases, I was impressed at how they were able to find a word that fit better than any possible alternatives. In other cases, I thought: there's an easier word for that. Overall, it took me a while to get used to the style, but then I was able to press forward.
In thirteen chapters, this book follows the history of the universe -- starting with the Big Bang (poetically called the Flaring Forth), the creation of the first particles, then dust clouds, then stars, galaxies, and finally our solar system. Then it explores the beginning of life on our planet -- how the first cell was likely to form -- then the first multi-cellular organism -- then oxygen breathing organisms -- then reproductive entities -- plants -- animals -- and finally humans. The story continues, focusing on the human history on Earth, and continuing on to today.
The last chapter alerts us to the fact that we are at a crossroads -- how we are now leaving the Cenozoic Era, and entering into two possible futures. The Ecozoic Era is where humans learn to work with the Earth and continue on in a thriving symbiosis. Or we could end up in the Techozoic Era, where we forsake our connection with the Earth and end up using up all its resources. Our future is entirely up to us.
Thomas Berry provides all the historian aspects of the book, as well as the idea of the Ecozoic and Techozoic Eras. He's also a religious historian -- which I found interesting -- this book on science was not willing to forsake religion, but rather embrace some of our more humanitarian aspects. He seems to believe that everything in the universe exists in a sort of community -- where everything is connected to everything else.
Brian Swimme provides more of the cosmology in the book -- how hydrogen came together to create everything else. Like Carl Sagan -- he's quick to remind us that we're all made out of starstuff.
While I appreciated the book as a whole, and found some parts to be intriguing, some parts -- in particular the human history section (about three chapters) were highly monotonous. Often, those sections jumped around in time -- back and forth -- following some kind of stream of consciousness, often relying on our already having known these historical facts instead of explaining them to us.
Also, there were several points throughout the book where the writer would go on for about five pages saying the same thing over and over with only immaterial variance. I usually ended up scanning those pages. With a little more editing, this could have been an excellent book.
But on the other hand, this book has provided me with new ways to look at the universe, and I almost feel like I can look at Everything and have a tiny bit more of an understanding of it All.
It also ends with a striking warning: which path do we want to tread? Will we continue the cell-phone, virtual world, ignoring the planet, etc., creating a false environment in a non-sustainable fashion (the Techozoic Era)? Or can we allow ourselves to become more "human," live more in reality, become more connected to the Earth, and continue to thrive?
Now we have another adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune, but is it good? Is it worth it?
I went in with high hopes after having seen other movies by the director, Villeneuve: Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049. And I was not disappointed. He delivered everywhere I had expected: excellent cinematography, intriguing execution, good acting.
The music was great, and not too overwhelming -- that is, it was Hans Zimmer without Christopher Nolan. The action was also perfect.
As far as being true to the original novel, I can't think of any other adaptation that gets even close. Think of the David Lynch version, remove the scenes that weren't in the book, and add in more scenes that were passed over, and you get this movie. Some parts still get left out, just because there's so much in the books. For example, Piter de Vries makes an appearance and does a few things, but I don't remember anyone ever saying his name.
The only complaint I have is that there was one boring part near the end. Perhaps it can't be helped, as there's a big boring section in the middle of the novel -- corresponding with this boring section. But then again, the two other Villeneuve movies I mentioned above seem to have boring sections as well. Perhaps pacing isn't his forte, but all scenes seem to be necessary.
For those who know nothing about the plot: The Atreides family is chosen to be the new stewards of the planet Arrakis (also known as Dune), and to be in charge of the spice production for the galaxy. The spice, melange, exists only on Dune, and without it, safe intergalactic travel is impossible. So, as you can imagine, this spice is very important.
The previous stewards, the Harkonnens, known for their brutality, concoct a plan to regain their stewardship and maintain their control of the spice.
Paul, the son of the Duke of Atreides, must remain strong on this new planet as he faces new challenges, which include prophecies from the Fremen (the indigenous inhabitants of Dune) and the Bene Gesserit (women throughout the galaxy with extra powers, who are trying to create a prophesied Messiah through genetic coupling). Yeah -- Paul lives in a very strange world full of interesting people.
The result is a very complex story.
I highly recommend catching this movie in IMAX -- its intended format. And I can't tell you how grateful I am that they're not pushing the 3D glasses version in the US. As I understand, it was not filmed in 3D, and I have yet to see a fully successful Fake 3D adaptation of anything -- there are always distracting artifacts. If I have to wear glasses over my glasses, the quality of the 3D has to make it worth the discomfort. So, thank you -- US -- for not ruining my IMAX experience.
Finally, this morning I've read a few reviews by "experts" and some of them made me cringe. They were basically whining about how this movie wasn't Lynch's version. So, let me set things straight. This movie is not Lynch's movie. I also loved that 1984 movie, but let's be honest -- Lynch's movie is for those who already know what's going on. Its minutes-long prologue is just terrible and beyond confusing. The extra scenes that were added to explain things just make it worse. My wife, who has not read the books, felt very confused after watching the Lynch movie, but after last night, she felt that this new movie cleared up a lot of questions. In other words, this new movie is likely to reach more generic audiences.
It you want a fun drug-trip filled adaptation of over-the-top confusing epic scenes, then catch Lynch's version. (A lot of those scenes are indeed fun to watch.) If you instead want to watch a movie that sticks much closer to the original material, does a better job of explaining what's going on, provides more of a realistic adaptation, and has Jason Momoa who's really awesome, then this Villeneuve adaptation is the one to catch.
So -- I say -- ignore those negative reviews and give this one a try. Fun for the whole family!
Isaac Asimov's Foundation series were among the first books I read as a teenager. As each new book came out, I would read and learn what happened next -- how that universe merged together with the Empire and Robots series. And TV/movie producers have stayed away from this epic for decades, until now. Apple TV+ presents the very first attempt.
The issue -- the whole series is just -- smart. The main concept is that super-genius Hari Seldon has created psychohistory -- a system of mathematics mixed with human behavior to predict the future based on patterns from the past. Hari predicts that the Galactic Empire will fall within a century, and that the galaxy would remain in darkness for 30,000 years. However, if the Empire embraces Hari's plan, it would bring the number down to 1,000 years.
Eventually, the Empire agrees begrudgingly. They exile Hari Seldon to Terminus, a resource-poor planet on the edge of the universe, and tell him to have at it. The catch -- Hari had predicted the Empire would do exactly this, and it turns out that Terminus really is the best place to build a Foundation -- a way to maintain knowledge, so that when the 1,000 years of darkness are over, the new Galactic Empire can rise up again without having to start from scratch.
What comes next is like a series of short stories from certain periods along the 1,000 years. So -- yeah -- kind of hard to capture this in a TV show -- lots of politics -- lots of smart witty discussions -- lots of smart twists -- and a very large and rich world. So, how do you capture all of this on TV?
By the way, some trivia about myself -- it was ultimately these books that inspired me to become an actuary in real life. Using patterns from the past to predict the future? Count me in! Of course, the math comes nowhere near psychohistory, but we're trying. I predict that most actuaries would love this show.
When I watched the first episode of this series, I was a little concerned. On the most part, that episode accurately captures the first vignette in the book. Hari Seldon picks up Gaal Dornick, a rising mathematical genius, and tells her: "My math predicts that we will be arrested tomorrow." We also get to see Hari's adoptive son, Raych. Ultimately, Gaal joins the expedition that later becomes the Foundation.
The first thing that concerned me was that the producers decided to make the Emperor clones of Cleon I (from the Foundation prequels). The original book trilogy doesn't really dive into who the emperors are and what their personalities are -- they're more like pieces on a chessboard -- you know they exist, but they aren't really part of the main story. Yet, the first TV episode seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time on the emperors, of which there are three. Brother Day is the "current" middle-aged emperor. Brother Dawn is the "in-training" adolescent emperor. And Brother Dusk is the "former" end-of-life emperor.
In other words: this stuff wasn't in the book, so why bring it in? And the answer -- it actually works! Using this tactic has several advantages. For one -- they can go 50 years into the future and still use the same actors, providing a sense of continuity throughout the show. Kind of convenient? But wait -- it also brings in the new idea that one man has decided to inflict the entire galaxy to HIMSELF for 400 years. Can you imagine the ego? And yet, each emperor is slightly different. I'm now 4 episodes in -- and I have to be honest -- I'm seriously enjoying this new addition. Watching these emperors react to different situations has actually been thought-provoking, and I believe it adds another level of richness to the story. We already know that the Empire is going to ultimately fail, so we're all waiting to see who will be the last, and how they go down. Or will they somehow continue the cloning over the next entire 1,000 years?
I was also concerned with a couple of snafus, such as an underground city counting levels from the bottom up instead of from the top down as in most sci-fi stories; the convenient artificial gravity; talking about making a trip thousands of light years away in a non-jump ship in less than a decade. But you know what? It doesn't really matter in the end. I'm already used to those distractions and can turn that part off. If I can enjoy Star Trek, I'm not going to let this ruin my Foundation watching. I'm at least excited that they used black holes to drive the jump ships! That was just cool.
Another concern was adding a convenient action scene in the first episode -- I suppose something exciting to get people to continue watching. To me it seemed to be too much of a coincidence (no way for Hari to predict it), but the writers used it effectively in the expanding plot. So -- I'll let them have it. Ultimately, it's the price that must be paid to help make the transition to the TV screen possible. It requires a lot of expansion of the original story -- but you know what -- keep going.
Overall, the original plot is preserved incredibly well (Episode 5 proves to be exciting). I may know what happens next, but I don't know how any of the subplots will develop.
My wife, who doesn't normally watch sci-fi (except for the fact that she's married to me), is happily captured by this presentation. She says that it catches her attention much more than the sporadic Star Trek: Discovery we recently watched. She appreciates that it's being written by just one writer -- which means much more consistent writing. We're both going crazy waiting for Episode 5 this week, when we might actually get past page 100.
At the rate the series is progressing -- yes -- it will take years to get through the whole story. And I'm likely to enjoy it all. The next Game of Thrones in space!
So -- check it out. It's available on Apple TV+, but nowhere else. I think it's worth the $5 a month. Plus -- I may try out some of these other shows. We'll see ...
I finally bit the bullet and ordered a subscription to CBS All Access (Paramount+) so I could watch "Star Trek: Discovery," the next installation to the Star Trek Franchise. This is a review of the first three seasons.
The first season starts out strong -- taking place a decade or two before the Original Star Trek, following the adventures of Michael Burnham, as she becomes a member of the Discovery, a science vessel that ends up being very important.
Burnham disgraces herself by helping to start a war with the Klingons. Captain Lorca is the only one who will take her on to his ship, the Discovery. Together they try to stop the war.
The ship is equipped with a spore drive that can instantly take the ship anywhere in the known galaxy. Yeah -- it's a technology that's far more advanced than anything we've seen in Star Trek, but don't worry, they take care of that toward the end of season two -- much like how C3PO gets his mind erased at the end of Star Wars III.
The first season held my attention until the writers decided to introduce the mirror universe. Yes -- insert eye-rolly things here. If it's one thing I hate, it's further mirror episodes beyond the Original Series. I know it's meant just to be fun, but if you think about it -- out of an infinite number of parallel worlds, they always end up in the same exact mirror universe? And everything is opposite -- evil and good switched? And yet the people look the same? How exactly can things be so opposite while at the same time preserving the genealogies?
It turns out that the mirror universe plays a large part of season 1, but in the end, they make it all work out pretty nicely.
Season 2 seemed to be more of a big bag of Star Trek easter eggs. It features Spock and Captain Pike at a time shortly after the pilot episode from the Original Series. This is also when the shows starting becoming more hit and miss. Season 1 suffered a bit from this as well, but not so much.
I think the problem is when a show is written by committee instead of by a strong show runner. Many threads seem to be opened only to be ignored, or even contradicted in later episodes. Sometimes some of the minor characters behave different between episodes. Some characters play minor roles, only to have a whole episode devoted to them just prior to killing them off.
My least favorite episodes by far so far were the last two -- the closer -- for season 2. It was just bad writing, bad editing, and a lot of rushing. So many plot holes. And then some kind of crazy excuse to set up Season 3 in a totally different place -- so to speak.
And Season 3 has been the weakest so far -- kind of like Doctor Who recently, which has lately been more politics and less plot. I just thought the overall arch for Season 3 was weak and inconsistent.
Also -- not to mention that this series doesn't feel too much like the Star Trek I grew up with. For example, the writers decided to introduce F-bombs, even though it was established more than once that "colorful metaphors" were no longer needed in Roddenberry's future.
I'll most likely continue watching, but it might be a while for me.
Leviathan Wakes is the first of many books in the Expanse series. You may recognize the name from the Expanse TV show streaming on Amazon Prime (to the loss of SyFy who was dumb enough to let it go). I'll come back later to review the TV show, but today you get Book #1.
And I must tell you -- it's difficult for me to review this book separately from the show, as the whole overarching plot is phenomenal. After watching five seasons, I know what comes next and where this book fits in the whole scheme. So, I'm trying my hardest to ignore what I already know.
This book follows Holden and Miller as they travel across our solar system for various reasons. Holden starts on an ice trawler returning from Saturn to Ceres, and while on a shuttle, he witnesses the destruction of his own ship. Friends, loved ones, and associates he had known for years -- all dead. So, he begins a quest to find out who did this and make them pay.
Miller is a washed-up detective on Ceres who has to deal with the aftermath of the ice trawler's destruction -- in part because of the impending water shortage, but also because angers rile up. He's also asked to track down some rich guy's daughter, who's gone missing.
Holden and Miller don't realize yet, but they're really on the same mission, and something rotten is happening in the solar system. And yes -- it does involve vomit zombies. Sound crazy? Well -- it is, but it makes much more sense while reading.
And what's most awesome -- it is all mostly scientifically correct (even those vomit zombies). That is by far what attracted me to this series -- the fact that it is "real" sci-fi. Some people call this "hard" sci-fi. Think The Martian, Interstellar, or the 2001 series. "Soft" or "fake" sci-fi are other stories that only loosely use real science and just have fun with lasers and pew pew! Like Star Wars, Star Trek, and the Stargate series.
On top of this, the writers (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck under the pseudonym of James S. A. Corey) successfully create an entire world full of politics, intrigue, and science. It feels that something like this could actually happen 100 years from now.
However, I do have to be honest. As a standalone book, I didn't find the writing too compelling. Similar to how I find George R. R. Martin's writing in his Fire and Ice books -- only George is better. And possibly similar to Orson Scott Card, who's also good at keeping the narration out of the story (which I sometimes appreciate greatly). Of these three, I find Card's writing to be best, followed by Martin, and lastly Corey.
As an aspiring writer, myself, I easily picked up on all the newbie errors: telling instead of showing, clunky dialogue, cliche F-bomb use, and so on. They also decided to alternate between Holden and Miller for each chapter throughout the entire book -- even when the two converge. I don't think I've ever seen a book do this before, and I can't decide if it's good or bad.
If I hadn't already known how great the whole story is, I might have put this book down early on. But what I did like about the writing is that is indeed very easy to read through it quickly. They do indeed do a good job of having the narration stay out of the way. I figure that regular readers won't be phased by the newbie errors and will most likely enjoy this book.
Finally, I suppose I could end with a quick comparison with the TV show. This first book covers the first two seasons -- but only from Holden's and Miller's points of view. I figure the next book or two comes back later to fill in the gaps for the many other characters who have yet to be introduced. Either that, or the show writers added in a lot of stuff for the series. In some instances scenes in the show are more fleshed out (kind of like how Jackson did a whole movie out of a few paragraphs in The Hobbit). In many instances, it felt like I was reading a script to the TV show -- indicating that some of the dialogue is indeed lifted straight from the book (including one of my favorite interactive scenes). And in a few cases, the book gave a lot more useful detail that helps explain some things not covered in the show -- which probably gave me the most value in reading this book.
There you have it -- feel free to check it out. If you stick with it, supposedly the following books get even better. I'll definitely continue chugging through, but I got a lot of other books on my list. (It never ends!)
I did make it two seasons in. In an earlier post, I expressed my doubts -- that it looked like "a cross between Hogwarts for grownups and Alphas." But after one episode, it was clear that it was something bigger than that.
Brakebills is a college for magicians -- so you get the whole college scene mixed with something really bad going on -- well -- several really bad things going on.
All of the characters are interesting. A new freshman appears to have one of the strongest natural talent, but he has no idea how to use it and control it. His girlfriend is rejected from the college, even though she wanted it more than he did. Some of the older students are mean, manipulative, and vindictive, but somehow all these people become friends.
Overall, I loved the first season even though the writers seemed to have an overt obsession with sex. In fact - they wasted an entire episode on that -- something about sex bringing strength to magic -- some crazy nonsense. That episode was so bad, I think it could be skipped entirely without missing too much plot -- well, some big things do happen somewhere in the middle.
But other than that distraction, the first season seemed tight with good plot and strong direction. The season finale left me hanging -- making me have to wait till the next year to continue.
However, then -- the second season came out weaker. There were still some good parts in each episode ... but there was still that obsession with sex, and the tendency to convolute the plot to get the strangest people together and set up all kinds of love triangles, squares, and pentagons. That got boring with the exception of watching one of the characters get exactly what they wanted in that area.
That season explores the magical land of Fillory, which was kind of interesting ... but ... didn't seem to work. Almost like making stuff up as they went along to fill in the holes instead of first setting the rules, building the world, and letting it flow organically.
At the end of the second season -- I just lost interest. I could tell the show still had potential and could possibly redeem itself, but evidently I found other shows to keep me busy.
You can check out the show if you wish -- I read that it comes to a satisfying conclusion after five seasons. I gave up -- but you just might enjoy it.
It took me a while, but I finally finished off The Librarians on TNT. I had kind of lost interest the first time around -- evidently because TNT made it difficult at the time to catch shows on demand when the DVR failed. But since my DVR was set to catch any "new" episodes, it went ahead and captured those episodes when they became available again. So, over the next few years, I pretty much had the entire rest of the series waiting for me. And then when I had made the decision a couple of years ago to get rid of cable, I saw this series' existence on my DVR, and I finished it out.
So yes -- it's one of those shows that I had a hard time getting excited about, but it was interesting enough for me to finish. It's one of those shows where I got around to it after catching up on my other shows, but yet I was able to enjoy watching while I watched. Each episode was decent and funny. Every now and then there would be really good episodes that actually had me looking forward to the next episode.
The Librarians are guardians of the Library, which contains a whole bunch of magical artifacts. Several bad guys try to destroy or take over the Library along the way. Noah Wyle plays the main Librarian, who trains three other uprising Librarians. Rebecca Romijn (of X-Men/Mystique fame) is also in there.
What I liked: the show had a lot of energy and kept my attention. It also doesn't involve much brain power to process, so it's good show to relax to. The characters were interesting enough to like.
What I didn't like: the show seemed to lack direction. Each season has an overarching arc, but it was still really "bad guy of the week."
There are four seasons, and the last one comes to a satisfying conclusion. There were plans for more episodes, but I'm not going to miss it very much. It was a fun memory and now I'm done.
My recommendation: if you're looking for something simple, low-level thinking, funny, energetic, and not much of a commitment -- then check it out.
I made it through four seasons of Fear the Walking Dead, and I've just had no inclination to continue. It was a fun ride for the first three seasons.
Season 1 started off strong, giving a glimpse into the beginnings of the zombie apocalypse -- the main aspect that attracted me to the show in the first place. But toward the end of season 1, the writers decided to skip a whole week, and it felt like the energy dropped -- now that everyone had a better idea of what was going on, it had, as several of my friends called it, turned into just another Walking Dead.
However, the writers kept things interesting with the whole plot of the government mishandling things.
Season 2 was okay, as the families journey on Strand's boat and end up in Mexico. It had a lot of slow parts, but there always seemed to be something to keep me going. Plus, it has lots of good Spanish to listen to.
Season 3 picked up big time -- definitely the highlight of the show -- IMO, building to an explosive finale.
But then Season 4 happened. Unfortunately, the writers decided to do a crossover, bringing in Morgan from The Walking Dead. I was most disappointed because this necessitated a gigantic time jump so the two shows could catch up. You remember all that energy that built up at the end of Season 3? It was all dispersed instantly with this poor choice of events. The main aspect that had attracted me to this show was the fact that it wasn't The Walking Dead, and again, someone thought it a good idea to crossover. Why?
The writing was still decent -- but it just got boring. I liked Dorie, and some of the new characters. Even that bad guy Melvin (almost the same as my name) was interesting. The overarching plot just felt forced to bend to some executive's whim, and it lost direction. So much so that when Season 5 started back up, I was all -- who cares?
If I hear that it gets better, I may pick it back up once the show is done -- we'll see. It was fun, and now I'm done.
Here's a quick update on Doctor Who. You can read earlier reports from nearly a decade ago here and here. Back then I was just starting the Clara episodes (Series 7), and Matt Smith had been around quite awhile.
Since then, I've loved practically all the Matt Smith episodes. And also the Impossible Girl (Clara).
Series 8 brought in the next doctor: Peter Capaldi -- again, strong episodes. I figured they needed to bring in an older-looking guy to explain River Song's comment about him being old. Heheheh! And talk about some really awesome plot twists with River and company! And possibly some of the best episodes. My favorite so far being the one where Capaldi is stuck in a time/loop castle with an awesome ending.
And then a fun exit for River Song and Clara -- will they be back?
Series 11 brought in our first female Doctor: Jodie Whittaker. She does an awesome job, but the quality of the episodes just dropped like a rock. It was almost as if the writers decided, "Now that we have a woman, we've cracked the 'political' suit and we can hit everyone with uber political episodes."
Though I loved Jodie's performance, and even Missy's character (the female Master), I always despise when writers sacrifice plot for politics. The episodes in Series 11 were thus hit and miss -- some good episodes among some bad ringers. It was good enough to keep me pushing through to the end of the season, and I seem to remember a decent closer, though I can't for the life of me remember what happened.
I do remember the worst episode: the one with the spiders. It was by all measures -- just bad. MST3000 bad. It featured one of the worst American caricatures I've ever seen -- "I love guns -- give me a gun. Let's kill everything. I'm going to become President of the US and destroy everything." I'm pretty sure they were going for some kind of Donald Trump. Maybe he wrote the episode? The plot was just so convoluted - designed to set up some really poorly done political statement.
Series 11 was overall so bad that I'm taking a break. I just have no desire to start Series 12 (the last one currently available), but I know one day I'll do it -- I haven't written off the show yet. Though I want to yell: "Give Jodie something good to work with like you did with Christopher, David, Matt, and Peter!" To give her crap is, I think, the worst insult one could give a woman Doctor. She can handle it -- just bring back the good writing you did for 10 series. You can still have the politics -- just introduce it organically and don't sacrifice the plot.
And there you have it ... we'll eventually see what comes next ...
In an earlier blog post, I explained how Carl Sagan's COSMOS changed my life. And now years later, I gave the book another read-through, and this a review of that book.
After finishing this recent read-through, I'm now pretty sure that in the early 80s when I received the original, I had not ever read through the entire book. I had only looked at all the many pictures that existed in that first hardbound edition. And the pictures had reminded me of the 13 episodes I had watched of the partner TV show: Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. So, it turns out, it was really the TV show that changed my life, and not the book.
The book, itself, is slightly different from the show -- maybe about 70% overlap, but then another 30% of stuff I hadn't heard before. The show also has some of my favorite pieces that are missing in the book.
Overall, Sagan's book is well-organized -- 13 chapters. He begins by defining the word Cosmos. It is the order in which we live -- our universe -- the opposite of chaos. He then describes our place in the whole. He explores how our understanding of the Cosmos changed throughout time, including our advances in knowledge and setbacks (he doesn't seem to like Pythagoras that well). He explores our planets, detailing our missions to explore them. He describes our own planet and how we need to take care of it. He muses on the possibility of life around other stars and how we may eventually meet others. He discusses a lot about how evolutional forces helped to shape our existence -- how it took billions of years to build what we have now. He explains how everything we see in space is a time machine back into the past.
And he finishes it all with the most chilling chapter: "Who Speaks for Earth?" If we are to survive, we must come together, but due to the "reptile" inner brains we have, we also have the disposition to destroy ourselves. He urges that we need to learn how to use our "mammal" outer brains to overcome our instincts to destroy, and then persevere into the future.
I, for one, am optimistic that we will figure it all out and survive this destructive period, even though these last few years have been very unsettling -- if Carl Sagan was worried in the late 70s, he would certainly be alarmed to see how worse off we are today -- how bad actors have used the internet to brainwash many unknowing victims to embrace their destructive natures and increase hate. Something I'm actively fighting, but not gaining much traction yet. Carl Sagan and others have inspired me to push our world as much as I can in the right direction -- as large as that world is.
There are definitely parts where I disagree with the man. For example, Sagan spends a few pages talking about how letting teenagers have unlimited sex would lead to more peaceful people as adults (based on the research of neuropsychologist James W. Prescott) -- and I'm all: "Say what? This is interesting but you're certainly spending a lot of time on this one." So -- he's not perfect, and sometimes he'll drift on some strange tangent.
Also, some parts are a little dated, but we can't really fault him on that.
However, more often than not, I find myself agreeing with him, and so I strongly recommend this book. 5 stars out of 5. There's a lot of history I didn't know before, and he made it all interesting. There are very deep concepts that make me think, and maybe it can get your brain working as well. So -- give it a try.
Here's another new guilty pleasure of mine: Cobra Kai, a continuation of the original Karate Kid movies from the 80s.
If you've seen the first movie, you may remember the battle between Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. Johnny was a member of the ruthless dojo Cobra Kai, and Daniel took up with Mr. Miyagi. While Johnny took advantage and cheated, Daniel was just trying to make it through high school and overcome bullying. It all came to a head when they battled in the All Valley Karate Championships.
34 years later, Johnny Lawrence is a big wash-up, and Daniel LaRusso is running a lucrative auto dealership. When Johnny decides to bring back Cobra Kai, it rocks the entire community. Even Daniel decides to get involved -- doing everything in his power to stop a terrible dojo from coming back.
The show is surprisingly good -- even with it relying on 80's references up the whazoo and really cheezy plot twists. Most everything is organic. Nothing is black and white. Practically all characters are believable and likable. The dialogue is strong (most of the time). And the villains are also fun to hate. Boo -- villains!
However, there remain a few spots of convoluted plot twists and a couple of not-quite-organic character developments -- particularly in the third season. But in the heat of the moment, it's hard for me not to mind so much.
My one main complaint is -- what's up with all the language (F-bombs and related words)? There are some shows where that kind of speech fits perfectly, but The Karate Kid? Just like Star Trek, Designated Survivor, and The Tick, these cuss words just feel out of place. In those universes it feels cliche, inorganic, forced, and distracting. As such, it took me a couple of years to get into this show -- but then VidAngel came along and it was goodbye to the bad language. It's very difficult for me to recommend this show to most of my "family" friends unless you combine it with VidAngel (look it up if interested). And for me, the show became much more enjoyable.
I enjoyed reliving the Karate Kid moments, all the fun fights, all the plot twists, the cute romances, the 80's music and references. I can't wait to see what comes next in Season 4, but we'll have to wait until the last quarter of 2021.
Earlier this year I came across Cowboy Bebop, the original anime from 1998, and I fell in love. It's pretty short, so it was easy to get through all 26 half-hour episodes relatively fast. It also has one of the coolest introductions for an anime.
As it looks and sounds, it's a Western set in space. Spike is a bounty hunter traveling with Jet, going after anyone with a price on their head. Along the way, they come across baddies, corrupt police, syndicates, musicians, ex-girlfriends, and anyone else you'd expect to find in a typical Western. But this is set in the future when we have partially terraformed several planets and moons, and have set up a really cool gate system that allows everyone to instantly transport to different locations in our solar system.
The music is phenomenal in many of the episodes, covering a wide variety of different styles. Even the titles of each episode make some kind of musical reference.
The plots range from the insanely funny to outright heartbreaking -- and lots of action, plot twists, and rich characters. The bad guys are all interesting -- there's even a Joker/Penguin dude who may give you nightmares. And there's even half of a Wilhelm Scream if you can find it.
I recommend the English dub version rather than the Japanese with subtitles version, because the dub version really is better. Plus -- and get this -- I'm not sure how many people realized, but in the English version, it seems the sound technicians tried to match the reverb with the space in which the characters were speaking. Or maybe I was just imagining it.
The ending seemed to come a little abruptly, but it was very satisfying. It was as if they could have kept on building the world and providing more back story, but eventually it had to come to an end.
Netflix has a live-action version coming shortly, and it better not suck. It probably has no chance to live up to the original, but -- hey -- I'll give it a try.
This anime is a little on the adult side -- just be warned -- it's not really for little kids. But give it a try -- I enjoyed all the energy, story, and organic flow. Highly recommended.
The long awaited sequel, A Quiet Place Part II, has finally arrived. I think it was supposed to be released last year, but was delayed due to the pandemic. And now that it's come out, it has enjoyed the highest grossing domestic weekend since the pandemic began -- possibly a sign that people will again return to theaters.
I would have never guessed that the funny guy from The Office would ever turn out to be a surprisingly good writer and director. He continues his good work with this sequel, which picks up immediately after the first movie.
To jog your memory, the Earth has been invaded by aliens who can only find you by sound. As long as you're quiet, you survive.
As a result, this movie was so quiet, I could hear the music and some sounds from the theater one room over. Strangely, it seemed to add to the suspense. So funny. We also had some people in the theater who just had to make noise during the movie, and my first thought was, "Shhh! You're going to get us all killed."
Overall, the suspense was good. Some of the jump scares were actually effective, and not stupid. The effects were good -- the aliens believable, though by the end of the movie, I think my brain started to pick up on some of the alien patterns -- some artifact of the AI or the animation -- something that made them look less real.
Though, I did notice the usual classical tropes -- like Chekov's gun, and some dramatic coincidences. I was able to overlook most of these as I was having too much fun getting sucked up into the movie. And it delivered exactly what I was expecting.
So, go catch the movie as soon as you can, and have fun!
Disney+ has released its second limited Marvel series: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier -- this time centering around the Captain America side of the universe.
Overall it was decent, but the first three episodes had me concerned. After a strong opening with a fun chase involving planes, canyons, and plenty of explosions, things slowed down to a crawl -- possibly because it spends a lot of time setting the stage. At one point I thought of Beastmaster 2 with its strong opening followed by nothingness.
Also, I was getting annoyed with the chess-piece setup and movements -- where everyone feels like a pawn without much character, and many people exist only to help move the Falcon and the Winter Soldier along the story line -- giving the one clue they needed to push forward.
I also got a little confused with all the jumping around the world, while trying to stay awake.
Or maybe I was just spoiled after the strong and hilarious Wandavision.
And then when I was about to give up, a major plot twist turns the whole show around, and the last three episodes ended in a satisfying manner. Even the events from the first three episodes started coming together and making sense.
So, the plot? The Falcon doesn't want to be Captain America and gives away his shield to be put up for display. But then the shield goes to a new Captain America -- a patriot with no super powers, but a very capable and determined soldier. Not knowing this was going to happen, the Falcon regrets giving up the shield.
At the same time, a group of terrorists -- the Flag-Smashers -- people who had lived during the difficult five years after Thanos, only to be displaced by people returning and reclaiming their lands -- threaten to kill a lot of people.
With both of these plot lines, we get a healthy dose of "refugee" and "civil rights" politics -- some of which is a little heavy-handed, but yet reasonable and organic within the story.
And just like Wandavision, it appears to be setting the stage for further story telling in this universe.
My advice -- if you're a Marvel fan, this is required watching. It's worth soldiering through the first three episodes so you can get to the good stuff. Now I'm ready for the next installment -- whatever's coming next.
I finally finished it: The Legend of Korra, a sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender. You can read my first impressions here.
I had started watching it from the beginning and made it partway through the third season until Nickelodeon suddenly stopped broadcasting it. For some reason they moved it to their own Nickelodeon streaming website, which didn't work very well on our television, so I just stopped watching. A few years later, I noticed -- here it is, so I finished it out.
After Ang the Airbender dies, Korra, the water-bender, becomes the next Avatar. During the peace that Ang had brought, the people of the four nations had increased their technology and built Republic City -- kind of a steampunk version of an Asian New York City.
Korra comes to Republic City to learn her final skill -- air bending, but immediately finds herself in the middle of the City's life and politics. Someone is taking away the powers from benders, but Korra is young, impulsive, and inexperienced. Can she stop this new enemy?
Overall, I enjoyed all four seasons. They were fun to watch, with epic battles, beautiful scenery, and good development for most characters. However, at the end, it seemed to pale in comparison to its predecessor, Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I think it's because the older series felt much more planned out. The fire nation was the one big enemy, and Ang still had to learn how to control all of his added powers. With Korra, each season (or book), was a whole new enemy, which had more of a "villain of the year" feel, with no overarching plot. Perhaps this is because it was only intended to be a one-season show -- and that first season taking on the bending theif was pretty awesome.
The second season gives us a glimpse of the spirit world and explains how the avatars work.
In the third season, Korra takes on some super-powerful benders.
In the fourth season, which might have been the weakest, story-wise, she takes on a tyrant.
Each of these seasons felt rushed near their ends (while some of the episodes leading up to each finale were sometimes slow).
It was all good and worth watching, but I think I was looking for more of an overreaching arch. It has a lot of good moments, and always seemed to get me to look forward to seeing more episodes. So -- give it a try.
Up next: a live-action version of Avatar -- it's just gotta be better than the movie. And possibly more movies and series coming from the newly formed Avatar Studios. It'll be interesting to see what comes next.
This is another one of my recent guilty pleasures: Designated Survivor. I started watching it when it first came on ABC, and you can read my impressions of the first season here. I caught the second season on Netflix -- and now you can catch the whole run over there.
The first season follows what happens after a terrorist attack takes out the Presidential staff and the entire Congress. Only one member of the staff survives -- the Designated Survivor (which is a real thing, by the way). Tom Kirkman, the director of HUD becomes the next president, but he has many enemies, and often feels underqualified for the position. Still, he chooses to rise to the occasion.
Since he is mostly an outsider, he decides to do things the "right" way instead of how the parties would have him act. And as you may guess, this upsets a lot of people. He describes himself as a moderate and an independent. However, throughout the first two seasons, he often pushes forward what may be considered to be liberal agendas today. And the preachiness certainly pushed away several of my friends from continuing the show. I guess it didn't bug me that much.
The funny thing is -- I think Tom Kirkman, if he existed in real life, would be exactly the type of person I would like to see running our country. So much so, that if Keifer Sutherland were to run for president, I just might have a hard time NOT voting for him. I liked his character that much. And didn't that happen in real life in the Ukraine?
The second half of the first season and most of the second season spend more time on the politics, which I think I may have enjoyed more than the terrorist angle -- though that part was fun as well.
The main thing that irritated me was how poor Agent Hannah Wells gets treated. She's very good and very capable, but for some strange reason, no one takes her seriously. So many times we see her superiors and peers sending her to her room without listening to what she has to say. It's a very convoluted way to build up artificial suspense. Though -- I must admit that it mostly worked. I did like following her character.
I was at first excited about a third season, exclusively on Netflix. I watched the first episode and realized I wasn't even going to try to finish it. The writers changed the formula -- as if some executive said, "I want to see a lot more House of Cards." So, we got introduced to F-bombs and affairs, unexplained changes to people's characters, and really bad writing and ... well ... it just ruined the whole feel and show for me. And it felt ... fake. Eventually I'll get around to watching House of Cards, which is probably good, but it did not fit in Designated Survivor.
I see that the show was cancelled for good after about 10 episodes in Season 3. Perhaps if enough people tell me it's worth watching I'll finish it out. But for now -- I got a lot of other good shows on my plate. For now I'll just pretend the 3rd season never happened and that it stayed cancelled after Season 2.
I strongly advise watching the first two seasons -- and then you can continue one at your own risk.
Here is another one of my guilty pleasures -- the series called Colony. It showed on the USA network for three seasons until they decided to cancel it. And funny thing -- I didn't find out about the cancellation until a couple of years later. I caught the first season on USA and then around that time I stopped watching TV in lieu of the streaming services. So, I didn't finish seasons two and three until they showed up on streaming. All three seasons are currently on Netflix.
And big warning -- when I finished the last episode of season three, I was all geared up to watch season 4 and resolve the cliffhangers only to discover that it doesn't exist and will likely never exist. Dang.
First off -- I really love these dystopian shows, like V (Original), Walking Dead, Revolution, Jericho, and so on. So, this show fit in well with me.
Will Bowman (Josh Holloway) and Katie (Sarah Waynes Callies) live in a colony that used to be part of Los Angeles. Aliens have taken over our world and are using us as slave labor, and for some reason the humans in charge are cooperating. Well -- they kind of have to, because it's help or die. But these human leaders turn to a fascist model to control the people.
Will is a detective who helps to keep order in the colony, while Katie is a member of the Resistance. So, Katie must keep her identity hidden from her husband. And Will does what he needs to do, reluctantly, in order to survive. The one thing the two parents have in common is that they want the best for their children.
One son is lost in another unreachable sector, and so Will decides to go after him.
In all, it turns out to be an enjoyable story. Sometimes the plot gets a little convoluted to set up conflict between the husband and wife, but I was able to overlook that and keep watching.
In the later seasons, it did seem to waffle some with filler episodes, but I think most of the original plot stayed intact. And fun plot twists along the way.
I wouldn't mind if they came back and finished off the story. Just one quick season?
If you don't mind ending on cliffhangers, you may enjoy this dystopian TV show, but if you know that unresolved loose ends are going to bug you -- then stay far away from this addicting show.
I would have missed this show entirely if it weren't for Netflix's insistence that I watch it, and now I present one of the best sleeper shows: The Umbrella Academy.
All around the world, 43 children are born on the same time on the same day from women who weren't pregnant at the beginning of the day. Seven were adopted by the mysterious Sir Reginald Hargreeves. Each of these children, except for one (evidently), has different superpowers. Sir Hargreeves raises them and trains them, preparing for an upcoming evil so they can save the world.
But as time passes, the family falls apart and each child develops his or her own failings. One is already dead, and one has disappeared.
When Sir Reginald dies, the remaining children reluctantly come together to attend the funeral. As such, the first two episodes are a little depressing and slow -- while each character is introduced -- but then it quickly picks up speed.
They come to learn that the world will end in eight days and only they can stop it -- and nobody has any idea what it is or how it will happen. And yes -- this show does depend on time travel -- and yeah -- it's not a strict treatment of timelines by any measure -- but then it again, it's only a device, and so it's easy to sit back, relax, and enjoy the story.
On the most part it's well-written, good acting, fun music, lots of energy, and lots of messed-up people. Sometimes I think the writers work a little too hard in pushing the kids in the wrong directions, but hey -- we humans do make stupid decisions sometimes. At least the characters seem consistent.
It also has crazy assassins, a talking monkey, and lots of things blowing up. What is there not to like?
The one question that has yet to be answered -- what ever happened to the other 36 miracle children? This story has so much untapped potential.
So -- if you have Netflix, give it a try. There are two seasons out, and in another year or so season three will drop.
Here we are -- the beginning of Marvel's "Phase Four," and it all starts with a TV show -- WandaVision. Officially, I believe this is the first TV show to belong to an official "phase." Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and all the Netflix shows evidently don't count for reasons I don't fully understand.
Instead of doing a long stretched-out TV show lasting several seasons, they gave us more of a mini-series -- nine episodes. It's kind of like a movie on the small screen with more time to flesh out the plot. And overall, I think it was a huge success. It does require a subscription to Disney+ -- and yes, it's all a big money machine, but they can take my money as long as they keep it interesting.
The first episode of WandaVision pulled me in immediately. It features Wanda and Vision starring in their own 50's show -- much like The Dick Van Dyke mixed with a little Leave It to Beaver. I was laughing, as it plays fun at all the tropes and issues that permeated most of the shows of the time.
The second episode moves on to the 60s, and so on. At the same time, the audience is trying to figure out what's really going on. Who's watching? Why is Vision alive again? Who is the influence behind it all?
Toward the end of the first episode, there's an awkward moment as Wanda and Vision try to remember their past, only to note that they can't, letting us all know that something is very wrong.
One of the biggest successes comes from all the funny Easter eggs that persist throughout the whole show -- inside jokes -- hidden meanings -- all kinds of things for Marvel fans to pick up on. It also manages to bring in characters from older movie series -- Ant Man, Thor, Captain Marvel, and so on. All to remind us that this show really does belong in the official Marvel universe.
It also sets the stage for future stories to take up the mantle -- a very successful formula in a franchise. Though, I understand that this show relies heavily on a known comic book series -- so some people already knew what was going to happen, and most likely know what's coming next.
Like all Marvel products, it's nowhere near my favorite show of all time, but it was very good in what it does. I may forget the details five years from now, but it was fun while I watched.
If you're a Marvel fan, it's worth catching this -- it does look like "required" watching so you can understand what's happening in later shows and movies. I know -- I usually hate that type of thing, but this time I'm really enjoying the new format. So, give it a try.
This week's review is a mostly-spoiler-free recap of The Good Place -- the entire series. (All four seasons are currently on Netflix right now.)
Eleanor Shellstrop is dead, and is introduced into the Good Place. She's given a soul mate, a place to live for eternity, and anything she could possibly want. However, there's one small problem. Eleanor knows she's a terrible person, so she wonders how she could qualify for heaven. She learns early on that another woman named Eleanor Shellstrop -- same exact name -- died the exact same time as she did, only the other Eleanor got sent to the Bad Place.
So, Eleanor is a mess. She wants to stay in the Good Place, but she also knows the other Eleanor deserves her spot. She tries to hide the truth from Michael the caretaker, while at the same time trying to become a better person with lessons from her soulmate, who also happens to be a philosopher.
As the story continues, it surprises with believable continuations, a compelling over-arching plot through four entire seasons, and a very satisfying conclusion. Angels, demons, a magic robot, dead people everywhere, the Good Place, the Bad Place, and even a Middle Place make for a hilarious and intelligent heavenly comedy. It also comes with a heavy dose of philosophy (real philosophy -- but watered down) that makes you think while Eleanor totally breaks every philosophical concept.
The writing is tight, the music is hilarious, and the shots are all gorgeous. But what makes it all work are the six main characters.
Eleanor Shellstrop -- as I mentioned before is trying to stay in heaven. Sometimes she's known as Fake Eleanor.
Chidi Anagonye -- Eleanor's soulmate. He is a philosopher who studied how to be a good person his entire life. However, he is notorious for not knowing how to make decisions -- lest he make a bad one. He really wants to help Eleanor, but sometimes he thinks that she is just a terrible person beyond anyone's help.
Jason Mendoza -- a monk who has taken a vow of silence. Small spoiler near the beginning -- he's really in the same boat as Eleanor -- another case of mistaken identity -- he's not a monk, but really someone who loves video games, music, and crazy living. Possibly my favorite character of the whole series (most like me).
Tahani Al-Jamil -- a rich benefactor -- nearly perfect, and Jason's soulmate. You can imagine what happens when she learns who Jason really is. And she has her own baggage -- a family on Earth who never appreciated her.
Janet -- a magic robot thingy -- "I'm not a girl" -- she can conjure up whatever anyone desires. She can also answer any questions, such as what Mr. so-and-so is currently doing on Earth. There's also a Bad Janet -- same actress -- pretty funny stuff.
And last, but not least, Michael, the Caretaker. This is his first assignment, and his biggest desire is for it not to fall apart. He must often answer to his superior, but when things start going wrong, he starts worrying, and he tries to fix things before his superior comes to visit.
Lastly, I should mention that this shows currently earns an 8.1 on imdb.com. I believe it should be higher -- I think a lot of the more intelligent material and dialogue goes over a lot of heads, but there is plenty of Good Stuff for everyone. Michael Schur did an awesome job with this series. Some individual episodes are rated 9.5 or higher -- in particular the season finales.
I'm sad it came to an end, but the overall story is a good length, and well executed. So, give it a try, and enjoy it.
Looking for a funny tale set in the west? I may have just the book for you. Trouble in Taos: Or the Lowdown, Dirtiest, Boring Gunfighter is a story of the most famous gunslinger from Taos, New Mexico. Turns out the city is real, but the gunslinger is fictional.
And I should mention -- the main reason I chose this book in the first place is because I'm actually in this book -- or at least a fictionalized version of me. I'm in there, somewhere, proselytizing to the drunks in the bar, chasing them away from drink. The author, Headley Hauser, did not ask me to review this, nor has he given me any freebies. He probably doesn't even know that I picked up a copy of his book after so many years!
When I review books of friends, I tend to limit myself to 4 stars out of 5 to help offset any natural bias I may have. But this time, I just enjoyed this book greatly. As a self-published book, it really stands out among its peers. I would give it 4.5 stars, which rounds up to 5 on Amazon.
In a way, this book reminds me of the movie, The Life of Brian. After a series of misunderstandings and coincidences, Slimy Beach becomes a notorious gunslinger. But all he wants to do is to excel at his real job: an outhouse digger -- and he is very good at his job. He knows exactly where to dig such that the people can't smell it from their house, and won't pollute any of the water sources. But dagnabit -- people keep trying to kill him!
The story is told by his long-time friend Walter Bego, who is an artist of some type. He's really good at woodworking, and a funny character by himself. He tells the tale from his 80s. Along the way, he mentions the things he's doing in the early 1900s -- getting used to the newer technology. He picks up a book called "Slimy Beach, the Tornado of Taos," which is complete trash, but nonetheless, Walter reads to us some excerpts, and then corrects practically everything in there -- he tells what really happened with his friend Slimy.
Hauser also throws in some actual history in there as well. Some other famous gunslingers make appearances. Taos, and (I'm surprised to learn) even several of the places in Taos are real. So, while you get in a funny story, you'll get in some history, too.
The book has a good mixture of action, humor, story-telling, and plot. It comes to a satisfying conclusion -- and also make sure to catch the funny forewords and epilogue material. Plenty of laughing out loud. And I really loved their horse -- it was definitely messed up.
Who could pass up a quirky stop-motion animation by Wes Anderson? Not me! When I saw it come up on the one of our streaming services, I was quick to check it out.
After a deadly pandemic of canine flu, Mayor Kobayashi decrees that all dogs of the city must be moved to the nearby Trash Island. But what people don't know is that Kobayashi just hates dogs, like his father did, and his father, and so on back for generations. And now Kobayashi plans to create a no-win situation for all dogs and dog-lovers.
But then, Kobayashi's ward, Atari, enters the island in search of his own bodyguard dog. Five mutts help him along the way, all the time running from Kobayashi and his tech.
I was pulled in instantly with the Japanese music -- pretty intense -- and the overwhelming depiction of Japanese culture -- it almost felt like I were actually in Japan. I loved every minute of it.
Though -- a warning -- it does live up to its PG-13 rating. Though it looks kind of like a kid's movie, it may scare smaller kids. As you may tell from the trailer, the dogs are made to look really scrawny and suffering from malnutrition, so if you're a pet lover, it can certainly sadden you.
I love the movie's pace and dark humor. It's nearly difficult to predict what's coming next and Wes was really good at catching me off guard.
My only complaint ... in the title, the word "Isle" is on the Chinese character for "dog," and the word "dog" is on the "isle" character. My OCD goes bonkers every time I see it.
If you can find it, check it out. It was a pleasant surprise from 2018 -- something different, and I'm glad I caught it.
After a Christmas hiatus, it's time for me to get back to my weekly reviews. This time, I'm finishing out the TV Show 12 Monkeys that I caught on the SyFy channel, which ran for four seasons and completed as planned in 2018. This overview will have minor spoilers, but nothing that bad.
Near the beginning of the show, I previously reported on the first four episodes. I complained that the show was different than the movie (still one of my faves). In the pilot episode when Cole scratches a watch from the past, that same watch in the present develops the very same scratch in front of a couple of witnesses. This cannot really happen in any kind of "real" time-travel situation -- there's no reason for "present" people to just now see a scratch form on a watch that had been there since the scratch was delivered in the past. This type of thing only makes sense in "Audience Time," or -- as the audience watches.
At first this was a disappointment and a gigantic departure from the movie, but as I reported before -- if you divorce the show from the movie, it actually becomes a good show on its own. The first few episodes were a little shaky, but then it gets really good.
The plot? Cole is sent back in time to try to save the world from dying from a dangerous plague. There he tries to meet up with Cassie, the scientist who originally sent the call for help -- though she hasn't done it yet. And along the way, they meet up with Jennifer Goines -- an insane girl who has a knack of accurately predicting the future. (She's basically the same character Brad Pitt played in the movie, if that helps.) Add in a lot of plot twists and interesting supporting characters and you get a fun show.
The first season closed out very strong and made me excited to watch for more. One new plot point introduced in this show is the concept of the Red Forest, which is some kind of time paradox meant to destroy the world.
Somewhere around the second season, the plot seemed to get weak to me. At least I think it was the second season -- when the time storms started threatening the 2040s time compound -- getting closer with each episode. Perhaps it was just me being a purist -- the idea of a "time" storm carrying itself out in "real time" just sounds stupid. The whole concept of "hurry up in the 1900s so we can save the 2040s" just doesn't work -- I'll let you think about this on your own as to why it doesn't work -- but then again, maybe not -- sure it's "Audience Time" and the writers are just trying to build tension -- maybe don't think about it that much. It was enough to make me temporarily stop watching, but something pulled me back -- something made me want to see how it all ended. Season 2 did have a very strong season closer.
I believe in the third season, things started coming back together and the heroes were making actual progress, and I was able to overlook the "Audience Time." The fourth and final season was very satisfying. I might go ahead and watch this show again. The plot is very convoluted, and that's probably what attracted me. In some cases, it really got the feels going.
I see that the whole show is available on Hulu -- so if you have that service, try it out. You just might like it.
Disclosure: This is review of my friend's book. He didn't ask me to do this, and he didn't give me any freebies. I just liked it and think it deserves to be reviewed.
The Ride Of My Life by Nick Bowenis a break from my usual science fiction. This time it's a coming-of-age story with some Christianity mixed in.
Larry is in high-school, and because of his cleft palate, he's subject to bullying. He tries to avoid the bullies, reason with them, and nothing works. He always gets beat up. So, his parents have an idea. They could let Larry read his deceased Grandfather Bill's journal.
At first Larry resists the journal -- why should he read about a person he had never met? However, when he acquiesces he's pulled in to the story.
Grandfather Bill writes about how he was a kid in high school with his own cleft palate and bullies, how he befriended a new poor kid, Jason, and how Jason changed his life. One day when Bill visits Jason's trailer, he sees a picture of Jesus, and you can imagine what comes next.
The whole book reads like a series of vignettes -- almost like a collection of short stories with one common thread -- Bill and Larry learn how Jesus can make your life better. Each vignette concentrates on some aspect or parallel of Jesus' life. Overall, it's a good collection showing boys becoming great men, and also exploring through allegory the traits of Jesus.
The vast majority of the book concentrates on Bill's stories, but Larry also applies what he's learning into a few adventures of his own.
My only complaint is that I wish each of the vignettes could have been fleshed out more -- some seem to be quite short. In some instances, I think the stories could have been layered in -- have several things going on at the same time. But then again, it's written like most journals, which tend to be short in real life.
I love the stories themselves and the characters. Even the bullies are interesting and believable. Sometimes I wonder from all the detail if Nick, the author, is relaying actual stories from his own life.
It's a good read, and fast, and gives plenty of warm fuzzies. If you love stories about coming-to-age and Christianity, this should be a nice relaxing book, from which you may actually learn something.
During the pandemic, we now get to watch some theatrical movies from home, and this time I caught The Midnight Sky on Netflix. The trailer's pretty good, so I had to watch -- it looks like good hard sci-fi.
Overall I have good reactions to the movie. I understand where it was going, and I like the ending. But the science turned out to be pretty bad. More on that in a minute.
Disaster has struck the world, and nowhere is safe. Everyone is going to die. Augustine (played by George Clooney), a scientist, is stationed at an arctic observatory. He's got a terminal disease and no one waiting at home, so when his team decides to evacuate, he stays behind alone to hold down the fort. However, he doesn't know that someone else got left behind.
At the same time, Aether, a spacecraft, is returning from K-23, a habitable moon of Jupiter that Augustine discovered. He decides that he needs to contact the spacecraft and warn them to stay away from Earth.
The movie has pretty imagery and cinematography. Most of the acting is top notch, with Clooney carrying most of the cast. The music is okay.
But then there's the science, and what feels like a convoluted setup so we can have the good scenes.
You may already have questions after reading just my synopsis. "But wait ... why should Augustine need to warn Aether to stay away? Don't they already know what's going on?" Good question! It turns out that when you're too far away, you can't talk to Earth. You have to be within range.
Yeah ... what? We can still currently talk with our ancient Voyager probes that launched into space decades ago. I know there's that square-inverse law thingy, but believe me -- we already got this. We've been able to send and receive signals anywhere in our solar system for a very long time. You may remember receiving pictures of Pluto a few years ago. Well, if you believe this movie -- such a feat would be impossible!
And while Aether is traveling back to Earth, they suddenly go off course -- with no explanation. Does our solar system have hidden gravity wells? And then they must do fancy calculations to get back on course, and go through ... get this ... uncharted territory!!! Ugh. We've got every major asteroid in our solar system mapped. I believe we've got the whole thing covered. There exists no uncharted territory. And when asteroids attack, they look more like big rocks slowly bouncing off the ship rather than super fast piercing all the way through the hull. Also, any moon of Jupiter large enough to support our kind of life would have already been discovered as well.
But hey -- I got to be nice. At least they did get gravity right. That is, it's facing in the right direction, and we even get to see a character changing directions in the middle of the spin. That's a step in the right direction.
Then again, if you don't know that much about science, this stuff probably won't bother you. I was able to turn off the science alarms and enjoy the movie -- the story and the imagery. It's not one of my faves, but at least it kept my attention with no boring parts, and some good story.
So, while you're stuck at home, give it a try. You may like it -- you might not.
