The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

Category: review

Reviews of books, movies, CDs, whatever.

  • Review: The Stonehenge Gate

    The Stonehenge Gate
    a novel
    by Jack Williamson

    InstaRating: 1 out of 5 … maybe less

    During those moments when I delude myself that I’m a writer, I pursue an odd oscillation in my reading. I like to read great works of fiction, to have something towards which to aspire. But I like to leaven that mix with bad writers, people so hackneyed or incompetent that I can realistically say, “Well, if even Writer X can get published, I have a real shot … at least my stuff is better than that.” After reading Oryx and Crake, I was in a bind, because I hadn’t read anything truly bad for a while and I felt the usual intimidation rising up again.

    Luckily, then I picked up Jack Williamson’s The Stonehenge Gate and now all is right with the world: This is a truly bad book.

    More details, including spoilers, follow the break.

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  • Review: Oryx and Crake

    Oryx and Crake (a novel)
    by Margaret Atwood

    InstaRating: 4 out of 5

    In brief: Snowman is the last (traditional) human alive in a world curiously empty. He bears the secret of what happened to civilization and slowly reveals it to himself as he watches over the successor species: humans carefully designed to thrive in the ecologically-devastated world of tomorrow.

    Spoilers and a more complete review follow.
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  • Review: Eragon

    Eragon (the movie)
    fantasy/adventure
    Cast details, etc., are in the IMDb entry.

    InstaRating: 2 out of 5

    Having little else to do while school is out, I decided to see Eragon, this season’s epic high fantasy. I went with some trepidation, as the commercials made it seem overwhelmingly, well, cheesy. In hindsight, I had no idea…
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  • Review: Interface

    Interface
    by Neal Stephenson and J. Frederick George
    (c) 1994
    Bantam Dell

    InstaRating: 3.5 out of 5
    An experimental biochip is implanted in a governor of Illinois after he suffers a massive stroke. Its stated purpose is to repair the connections in his brain, giving him access to speech and motor skills again. Unknown to many, the chip also gives him access to up-to-the-second live polling data, making him an unstoppable Presidential candidate. But more than that — the chip gives a shadowy network of power-brokers access to him — making him their perfect candidate…

    Lots of spoilers follow.

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  • Beyond the poundy drums

    BSG_S2I’m a fan of the new, “re-imagined” Battlestar Galactica on the Sci Fi channel. (Shamefaced confession: I am also a fan of the original schlocky BSG from 1978 — in fact I was one of those loudly decrying the new one as yet another unholy exploitation of the greats of my childhood. Oopsie.) I like the action, I like the characters, I like the surprising emotional depth. But one of the things that really makes the show for me is the soundtrack, arranged by Bear McCreary.

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  • Superman: Meh of Steel

    Last night I went to see Superman Returns by accident, sort of. (I went to see Cars but it wasn’t playing — curse you and your occasionally-inaccurate schedules, Yahoo! Movies!) Having slogged all the way out to the theater, and having expectations that I’d see this sooner or later, I bought a ticket to Bryan (“X-Men”) Singer’s attempt to revitalize the Superman mythos on the big screen. I am a fan of the comic book genre, so I had reasonably high hopes.

    Be warned: There will likely be spoilers in here.

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