what Dave thinks about movies, books and everything
{4.5/5} “It hadn’t been tasked with reconnaissance. It had been tasked with termination. It was to kill, not study. Why did so many of Unit Four’s instincts contradict its direct orders?” Activation Degradation by Marina J. Lostetter, published in 2021 Unit Four is a robot who is periodically reassembled anew. It works at a mining […]
{5/5} “They have some of the best supercomputers in the world. I needed their supercomputers and engineers to try all kinds of scenarios and propagation models for how Astrophage could get around in the galaxy. Back to the point: These local stars have been dimming for decades. And the rate of dimming increases exponentially — […]
{4.5/5} “London can be a lot.” Last Night in Soho, released in 2021 Eloise gets accepted to college to study fashion design and moves to the big city of London. She’s not a big fan of her roommate and her friends who party all the time. She gets so fed up with them that she […]
{5/5} “With you, every day brings the possibility of magic, and I think we’re going to have a marvelous adventure together.” — Effie, to George Murdoch Mysteries season 15, aired in 2021-22 Murdoch is in Montreal searching for Anna Fulford and Harry, who is his son. Crabtree has been kidnapped by the twins Amelia and […]
{3.5/5} “Too bad. I’d started knitting you a wool scarf.” Big Bug, released in 2022 A few people have dropped by Alice’s house — her neighbour Françoise, who when her dog dies always clones a new one. And her ex-husband Victor along with their daughter Nina and his new girlfriend Jennifer. The house AI locks […]
{4.5/5} “If you aim at nothing, you hit nothing.” Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, released in 2021 Shaun does valet parking and sings karaoke with his friend Katy. When some guys come out of nowhere to attack Shaun on a bus, Katy discovers he is an incredible martial artist as he defeats […]
{4.5/5} “You’re so fluffy!” Turning Red, released in 2022 Meilin is 13 — she sometimes feels like doing her own thing, and sometimes feels like doing what her mom wants her to do. She does well in school, and has some good friends she hangs out with. She also helps her mom give tours of […]
Eddie Glaude, from Princeton, calls this moment when Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has been confirmed for the Supreme Court “an eruption of possibility… What we think is possible expands.” Fellow guest Joe Lockhart, former White House Press Secretary, points out no Republicans stood up to condemn their colleagues’ sickening behaviour during the hearings. This is […]
{5/5} “Watching women demure to men in public and suffer the consequences of their abuse in private, it was hard to believe we were at a transition point in history when women’s growing power could unsettle a long-established social order. But change is never linear or obvious. Often progress only becomes detectable when it inspires […]
{4.5/5} “For some time, Romulan ships have been coming across anonymous caches of survival resources and material, left near border worlds where the refugees have been relocated. Medicines, replicators, and the like. Deposited there by some unknown benefactors, who have diligently scrubbed out any evidence of their origin. Almost as if a handful of Starfleet […]