what Dave thinks about movies, books and everything
Here are what I think are the best fantasy novels of the year, going back to 1966. Prior to that notable books include Dracula by Bram Stoker, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, and The Dying Earth by Jack Vance. The […]
Here are what I think are the best science fiction novels of the year plus runner ups, going all the way back to 1949. Prior to that, notable books include Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, The Time Machine and War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells, and Brave […]
{4.5/5} “I spent the last 12 years of my life building rooms like this specifically to keep out people like us.” Meg, recently divorced, and her daughter Sarah move into a new house in New York. It happens to have a panic room, a safe room to hide in if there’s a home invasion. Meg’s nervous about the panic […]
{4/5} “Andrei and James had to do an EVA to repair the system. A bit like performing ballet and rocket science at 125 000 miles an hour.” On Europa, a moon of Jupiter, ice covers the surface — beneath the ice, water and heat signatures have been discovered. Scientists believe that microscopic life might exist […]
Here are what I think are the best soundtracks of the year, along with runner ups and honourable mentions. I’ve got a tie for winner twice, in 2009 and 1989. I stopped at 1977 because I don’t have anything for 1976. Prior to that notable soundtracks include The Pink Panther, The Godfather, The Good, the […]
My favourite actor is Harrison Ford. I’ve seen all of his movies all the way back to The Empire Strikes Back which was in 1980. He only films about one movie a year but he’s done an extraordinarily good job at picking movies — in 33 years he only made one movie that was truly bad. […]
{4.5/5} “So it was a time machine, if kind of a useless one. Unless you could find a way to reverse it — go up fifteen years and come back with the day’s stock quotations. Or a list of who had won the World Series every year in between. But simply putting yourself in the […]
{4.5/5} “The recruiting office was a small storefront in a nondescript strip mall; there was a state liquor store on one side of it and a tattoo parlor on the other. Depending on what order you went into each, you could wake up the next morning in some serious trouble.” John Perry joins the Colonial […]
I went hiking for a week in Algonquin Provincial Park. This vacation was similar to the one I took last year, to Killarney. What’s the difference between the two parks? Killarney has more rocks and Algonquin has more trees. They’re both beautiful places. I hiked most of the day trails — there are other longer […]
{5/5} “Clear skies with a chance of debris.” Ryan is a medical engineer who’s doing a spacewalk high above the Earth. Matt is the astronaut in charge of the mission. When some debris is accidentally sent their way, they’re cut off from the shuttle and have to make their way back. The debris leads to […]