what Dave thinks about movies, books and everything
{4.5/5} “It was Christmas morning. I supposed that didn’t mean anything in particular to Julian or Sam, but I was poignantly aware of the date. The sky was blue again, but a squall had passed during the dark hours of the morning, and the snow ‘lay round about, deep and crisp and even.’ Even the […]
{5/5} “We got a misunderstanding, Jack. Your people, my people. So listen carefully. Right here there’s a line. You cross that line, we go from misunderstanding to something else.” We find out what’s in the hatch, what happened to the tail section of the plane, what Kate did to make her a fugitive, why Hurley […]
One more post from Life’s Little Mysteries. Are you more likely to get struck by lightning than win the lottery? Of course. You’re also more likely to be killed by a donkey. I’d like to encourage you not to waste your money on the lottery. $550 Million Powerball: What Are Your Chances?
Natalie Wolchover on the Life’s Little Mysteries web site tells us a bit about the future. The predictions come from an academic conference. Here’s a hint: human migration, urbanization, water wars, and mass extinctions. Also, something big will happen with energy. Either we’ll find new source(s) of energy and have enough — or we won’t. […]
{4.5/5} “Facing up to the truth ain’t always easy.” Frank is retired and his wife passed away a few months ago. His four kids were supposed to all visit on a particular weekend but they all cancelled. So he decided to take a trip across the US and visit them all — as a surprise. […]
{5/5} “To rule the heart of the Phoenix Lord — that was power. Yet what was power if one lived confined? Though the bars of the cage were of carved jade, banded with gold and hung with silk, they were still bars.” Linden and Maurynna have returned to Dragonskeep. Maurynna changed into a dragon once but […]
David Brin, author of books such as Startide Rising and Earth, has a thought-provoking article on Locus Online. It’s about why books and movies have most of their characters behaving as fools. One of his great points: “you never notice propaganda that you already agree with.” He argues that fictional worlds should be more like the real […]
{3/5} “I don’t care about your nicked knick-knacks. Your burgled baubles bore me.” Linda has taken care of Blu, a macaw, since he was a baby. A scientist came along to tell her that Blu is the last male of his kind and he wants to introduce him to the last female to try to keep […]
{4.5/5} “Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignified or […]
Gil is an eight-year-old boy who has a friend named Shandra and a nemesis named Morgan. Various strips show him at school, at home, or hanging out outside. Gil first appeared only on the web but it’s now in newspapers too. It’s written and drawn by Norm Feuti, who also does the strip Retail. I think it’s often […]