what Dave thinks about movies, books and everything
{3.5/5} “But research is an art, not a science, because anyone who knows what they’re doing can find the crumbs, the wheres, whats, and whos. The art is in the whys: the ability to read between the crumbs, not to mix metaphors. For every event, there is a cause and effect. For every crime, a […]
{4.5/5} “Do we have time to get to a motel or do we need to do it right here?” In a world where everyone tells the truth, Mark writes screenplays — of course, they’re all based on history. Unfortunately he was stuck with the 1300s and no one wants to see a movie about the […]
{4/5} “The closer you look the less you see.” A magician, an escape artist, a mentalist, and a pickpocket from across the country are all invited to New York at a certain date and time — they all show up. It turns out that some of them already know each other. A year later the […]
{4.5/5} “He tried to shunt aside his own fear so that he could see Jerrison’s face contort, see him recoil from some invisible blow or explosion, see him, the president of the United States, be the first person holding that office in decades to walk in a soldier’s shoes, share a soldier’s burden, and feel […]
Ted Chiang is one of my favourite short story writers. He’s not very prolific (a story every year or two) but his collection Stories of Your Life and Others is amazing and so are the stories he’s written since then. He’s got a new story available on the Subterranean Press web site, and it’s brilliant: […]
{5/5} “Detection is not just a skill, Watson, it’s a point of view. You need to train yourself to be alert to the bizarre, the unusual, that which has no place in any given picture.” Sherlock Holmes is just out of rehab and his father has hired him a sobriety partner, Joan Watson, who used […]
{4.5/5} “A truly great structure — one that is meant to stand the tests of time — never disregards its environment. A serious architect takes that into account. He knows that if he wants presence, he must consult with nature. He must be captivated by the light.” Kate is a doctor, and has just moved […]
{4.5/5} “If you ever have a free moment, you might consider checking out the travel brochures for the town in which you live. You might be amazed. You might not want to live there any more.” Tyler is obsessed with hair care products and is hoping to get a great job and make lots of […]
{4.5/5} “Chimps aren’t humans. You have to… understand chimps to be able to understand how to work with them and be with them.” In 1973 Herbert Terrace, a professor at Columbia University, decided to do an experiment to see how much sign language could be taught to a chimpanzee. Nim was given as a baby to […]
{4.5/5} “There are things you can get away with in this world and there are things you can’t.” Ellis and Neckbone are young boys who live near the Mississippi River — they like to take their boat out to an uninhabited island. The island has a unique feature — a boat in a tree. One […]