The Dying Earth
{4.5/5} “A dim place, ancient beyond knowledge. Once it was a tall world of cloudy mountains and bright rivers, and the sun was a white blazing ball. Ages of rain and wind have beaten and rounded the granite, and the sun is feeble and red. The continents have sunk and risen. A million cities have […]
Towing Jehovah
{4.5/5} “‘Glad you’re here, Ockham,’ said the creature in the sort of thin, scratchy voice Thomas associated with early-thirties gangster movies. His skin was astonishingly white, beyond Caucasian genes, beyond albinism even; he seemed molded from snow. ‘I’m told you are at once devout’ — he stood on his toes — ‘and smart.’ Whereupon, to […]
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
{4.5/5} “In the lives of children, pumpkins can turn into coaches, mice and rats into human beings. When we grow up, we learn that it’s far more common for human beings to turn into rats.” Iris is a young girl just arrived in Haarlem in Holland. She fled England with her mother and sister because […]
Dragons: Riders of Berk (premiere)
{4.5/5} “An egg’s an egg, right ladies?… Until it explodes.” The Vikings and dragons are getting along fine, but even though dragons just eat fish the farm animals are spooked by the scary-looking fire-breathing dragons. The yaks aren’t giving any milk and the chickens aren’t laying any eggs. Stoick asks Hiccup to do something about […]
Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury, etc.
There have been three short films (16 to 22 minutes) that are sequels to How to Train Your Dragon, a movie I loved. The first appeared on the DVD with the original movie in 2010, and the other two appeared on their own DVD in 2011. A TV show, Dragons: Riders of Berk, has just […]
Counting Tadpoles
{4.5/5} “One heard of Flying Box People. They were ignorant, of course, of People’s ways, and did some awful things, not knowing any better. But they seemed to intend friendship. ‘No knowing what harm we may do them in ignorance,’ Levery said to Eblio. Eblio agreed. One could make awful mistakes through ignorance, even among […]
Angel & Faith 1: Live Through This
{4.5/5} “Now I get it. We get punched so many times our faces are one big bruise, so we blend in with the night. Best plan ever.” Angel and Faith are working together, helping the helpless. Angel is trying to bring you-know-who (I don’t want to spoil it if you don’t know) back from the […]
X2: X-Men United
{4.5/5} “Have you tried… not being a mutant?” A mutant gets extremely close to the President of the United States, an event that turns even more people against mutants. Stryker is a military scientist who’s trying to get rid of mutants — and although Wolverine has forgotten, Stryker is a figure from his past. When […]
Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1: Freefall
{4.5/5} “This is what I’m talking about, Buffy. You don’t realize how the destruction of the seed affected everyone. You only think about how it affected you. All the Slayers, even the demons with magical mojo. You all got to keep your power because it was inside of you. But everyone else got cut off […]
A Fine and Private Place
{4/5} “Caring about things is much more important to the dead because it’s all they have to keep them conscious. Without it they fade, dwindle, thin to the texture of a whisper. The same thing happens to people, but nobody notices it because their bodies act as masks. The dead have no masks.” Jonathan lives […]