what Dave thinks about movies, books and everything
I didn’t happen to read many new authors in 2015. I spent a fair amount of the year reading 4 series by authors I’d read before — Dune, The Quintaglio Ascension, Spin, and Old Man’s War. The big winner is Charles Stross for Accelerando and the runner ups are Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson […]
{5/5} “People who couldn’t live without story had been driven into the concents or into jobs like Yul’s. All others had to look somewhere outside of work for a feeling that they were part of a story, which I guessed was why Saeculars were so concerned with sports, and with religion. How else could you […]
{4.5/5} “The thing about a mirror is this: The one who stares into it is condemned to consider the world from her own perspective. Even a bowed mirror works primarily by engaging the eyes, and she who centers herself in its surface is unlikely to notice anyone in the background who lacks a certain status, […]
{5/5} “Imagine a far away place, Hank, where people value your opinion. Now go there.” The Judge, released in 2014 Hank is a big city lawyer who returns to his home town for his mom’s funeral. He hasn’t had much contact with his family in the last couple of decades — his daughter hasn’t even […]
{4.5/5} “Once upon a time when the woods were young, they were home to creatures who were full of magic and wonder.” Pan’s Labyrinth, released in 2006 In Spain in 1944 Ofelia moves with her mother to the home of her mother’s new husband. Ofelia doesn’t particularly like him — he’s super serious and always […]
This list continues from part 6. Peter S. Beagle Beagle also wrote the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Sarek.” Masterpiece The Last Unicorn Good book A Fine and Private Place Christopher L. Bennett Bennett’s Star Trek books are always worth reading. Great books TOS: Ex Machina TNG: Greater than the Sum TITAN: Orion’s Hounds […]
This list continues from part 6. Marc Forster Forster’s movies are all very different, but they’re worth watching whether they’re funny or tragic. Masterpieces Finding Neverland The Kite Runner Great movies Stranger Than Fiction World War Z Ron Fricke Fricke directs movies that have no plot or dialogue — they show you the world in […]
Collections Best of the best I, Robot – Isaac Asimov Nightfall – Isaac Asimov Virtual Unrealities – Alfred Bester The Golden Apples of the Sun – Ray Bradbury Keeper of Dreams – Orson Scott Card Maps in a Mirror – Orson Scott Card Stories of Your Life and Others – Ted Chiang Expedition to Earth […]
{4.5/5} “Even in the face of potential danger, should we bar the way to them? For here was an alien life, the first alien life we’d met. Here was the chance for the human race, if it would take the chance, to gain new knowledge, to find new attitudes, to fill in the gaps of […]
The tie-in books that I will continue to read come from the worlds of Star Trek, Babylon 5, and Battlestar Galactica. Ones I’ve tried in the past include Star Wars, The X-Files, and Indiana Jones. Novels Best of the best B5: The Passing of the Techno-Mages #1 — Casting Shadows — Jeanne Cavelos B5: The […]