I was arranging my CD collection recently and came across the soundtrack album for Tom Hanks’ 1996 film, That Thing You Do! TTYD! tells the story of the Wonders, sometimes spelling Oneders, pronounced o-Need-ers, an Erie, Pennsylvania garage band of 1964 who write a hit song, hit the big time, and then break up. TheContinue reading “That Thing You Do!”
Ringworld’s Children
In September 1993 I read Ringworld for the first time. I had turned twenty that June, just gotten my driver’s license, and I was starting my third semester at Central Virginia Community College. By Christmas I had read all of Niven’s Known Space work (except The Patchwork Girl, which took about a year to trackContinue reading “Ringworld’s Children”
An Invitation
I received in the mail today an invitation from the University of Richmond Alumni Association. It seems that towards the end of July they are holding a function in the Raleigh area at a Durham Bulls baseball game. I’m tempted. I didn’t finish my degree at Richmond, so I don’t consider myself an alumnus, butContinue reading “An Invitation”
One of those days….
It’s always nice to see my company in the news for good things–Profits up. Stores opening. Stock price climbing. It’s never nice to see my company in the news for bad things. Today is one of those latter days. Sigh. (ETA April 2007): I went through the archives, adding tags to old entries. Some ofContinue reading “One of those days….”
The Practice – The Series Finale
The Practice, a show I’ve loved watching since its second season, went out with a whimper, not a bang. Knowing that some of the characters will carry on next season–in Fleet Street, the Alan Shore-centered legal drama, and the untitled sitcom featuring Ellenor Frutt–tempers the disappointment, but only some of the disappointment. Spoilers, obviously.
Sherlock Holmes against the Irrational
Yesterday I received in the mail the latest Faction Paradox novel, Philip Purser-Hallard’s Of the City of the Saved….. The novel takes place in the City of the Saved, essentially a secular heaven after the Big Crunch where humanity in all of its forms, from Homo habilis to post-human intelligences that bear no physical relationContinue reading “Sherlock Holmes against the Irrational”
Van Helsing
Friday afternoon I asked people, several times over, what they thought of Van Helsing as they left the theatre. “Better than Hellboy!” some said. “Better than LXG!” others said. I loved Hellboy, enjoyed LXG for the most part. It seemed, then, that my fears that Van Helsing would reveal itself as a disaster were unfounded.Continue reading “Van Helsing”
Van Helsing – The Short Review
What a stupid fucking piece of shit. A longer review will follow in a day or two, once I’ve had the time to digest the colossal monstrosity that is Van Helsing.
A Recent Acquisition – Arthur Wontner as Sherlock Holmes
Alpha Video released over the past few months onto DVD several Sherlock Holmes films made in the 1930s starring Arthur Wontner—The Sign of Four, The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes, and Murder at the Baskervilles. I chanced across The Sign of Four at Suncoast Video a few weeks ago, then ordered the other two direct fromContinue reading “A Recent Acquisition – Arthur Wontner as Sherlock Holmes”
The Third Age
Today EA Games announced their new Lord of the Rings video game, The Third Age. Speculation had been rampant since the release of the Return of the King game, which ended with a “James Bond Will Return”-style notice that Lord of the Rings: Trilogy would be coming in 2004. The Third Age is, from allContinue reading “The Third Age”