what Dave thinks about movies, books and everything
Here are the movies in the series that started with Ridley Scott’s Alien. The quadrilogy Alien 1979 -> 3/5 (+) Aliens 1986 -> 4.5/5 (+) Alien3 1992 -> 3.5/5 Alien Resurrection 1997 -> 4.5/5 The crossovers Alien vs. Predator 2004 -> didn’t see it Alien vs. Predator: Requiem 2007 -> didn’t see it The prequels […]
Here are my ratings for the Batman movies that aren’t part of the DC extended universe. It’s possible that I watched 1966’s Batman movie with Adam West decades ago but I have no interest in watching it again to rate it. The graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns and the TV show Gotham are both […]
{5/5} “For now let’s move on to President Trump, the silver lining for anyone who died in 2015.” Last Week Tonight season 4, aired in 2017 John Oliver continues to bring us stories we need to hear, in a funny-yet-serious way: Tibetan sovereignty and human rights gerrymandering net neutrality vaccines local news nuclear waste presidential […]
David Brin, on his blog “Contrary Brin,” describes what he calls the war against expertise and portrays it convincingly as the most important problem in the US right now. He points out that all fact-centred professions are under assault. How could “tens of millions of Americans — who benefited spectacularly from the rise of science […]
{5/5} “Your glasses are always dirty.” The Theory of Everything, released in 2014 Stephen Hawking is a physics student and Jane Wilde is an arts student at Cambridge in 1963. Just as they start to pursue a romance, Stephen finds out that he has motor neuron disease. The doctor gives him only 2 years to […]
{4/5} “I’m sorry, you’re a great driver. You’re the best driver in the entire universe.” Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, released in 2017 Valerian and Laureline are special operatives who undertake dangerous missions in the far reaches of the galaxy. They return to Alpha, a huge space colony, after another successful mission. […]
I went to DaCapo Chamber Choir’s concert titled “The Colour of Freedom.” This concert is the start of DaCapo’s “three-year series inspired by the global refugee situation. The series is organized around general themes of Displacement (this season), Resettlement (18/19), and Renewal (19/20). Motivating the plan is the conviction that art is necessary and possibly […]
Here are a couple of different perspectives on this topic. First, Rebecca J. Rosen on The Atlantic reports on research that suggests that reading SF can give inventors new ideas — and also anticipate the consequences of new technologies. A quotation from Dan Novy: “Fiction allows you to live more lives in the space-time of […]
Here’s an article from Heather Mallick from The Star. She points out the incongruity that taxes give us things that we treasure, yet no politician can ever say they’re raising taxes. In short, taxes are “the price we pay for civilization.” Why I love taxes — and so should you: Mallick We should be willing […]
Here’s a short but informative video about how people don’t necessarily respond to facts. But if you take into account where they’re coming from, you might be able to persuade them. Tali Sharot, neuroscientist, on Big Think uses the examples of climate change and vaccines: Facts Don’t Win Fights: Here’s How to Cut Through Confirmation […]