Asking the Wrong Questions

You may very well be right about "The Island," Ale...

2009-12-30T23:32:58.339+02:00

You may very well be right about "The Island," Alexander. Besides it, the only other piece of writing by Watts that I've read is Blindsight, but even so I could see the similarities between them, hence my point that "The Island" felt like quintessential Watts. I can certainly understand feeling jaded by this repetition, though I think that for a new reader "The Island" is a great way to become acquainted with this author.

Thanks for the recommendations, a lot of new stori...

2009-12-30T19:48:00.048+02:00

Thanks for the recommendations, a lot of new stories to look at. The two on this list that I'd read before--True Names and the Island--I found interesting, but didn't enjoy nearly as much as you appear to. I found True Names intriguing and well plotted, but too in love with it's own clevereness and the characters--getting past all the strangeness of setting--to be overly stock. "The Island" struck me as far too predicible and familiar from Watts' other stuff: the excesive pessimism on humanity covered old ground, the intrigue seemed to be just filling space and I knew as soon as the narrator launched that long praise of the alien lifeform that it would prove to be malevolent, would die, or both. Watts seriously needs to vary his stock patterns more, I see him as doing a similar base story and identical theme in every work since Starfish. He has the potential to be one of the most innovative voices in the genre, but as is he's one of the more predicitlbe--picking up a Watts story I know I'll get cynicism, despair, paranoid intrigue, an Outer Limits Ending twist and lots of details based on aquatic environments. I see only the last element as worthwhile in itself, and everything would benefit from more real story.

My only problem with the Torque Control club was t...

2009-12-30T03:27:28.599+02:00

My only problem with the Torque Control club was that I felt like one of the grumpy old man characters on the Muppets, always complaining about each week's story, so it's nice to be able to say: I hadn't seen the Keeble story until now and wow, that was fantastic.

With regards to the last sentence in the review: i...

2009-12-27T11:28:13.378+02:00

With regards to the last sentence in the review: interestingly, though science fiction was always a solid money-making genre for Hollywood cinema, space opera never seem to have been a major part of it. The serials of the 1930s and early 1940s had their share of space operas (mostly inspired by newspaper comic strips like "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers"), but interest in it seem to have pretty much died afterwards - we had alien-invasions, and apocalyptic visions, but very little space operas per-se (of course, there were films like "Alien" and its sequels that borrowed elements from the space opera, but I'm not sure they'd qualify as such). There were exceptions like "Forbidden Planet" and (of course) "Star Wars", but the success of these films, especially Star Wars, appears to have been influential in every respect OTHER than their genre. I can think of exactly one post-Star Wars cinematic space opera that made a big enough splash - "The Fifth Element" - and even this one, although a Hollywood production, has more to do with the director's French background than with anything American.
On television (and its cinematic spin-offs) space opera is a little bit more successful, and still you can count maybe 4 or 5 shows in the genre that actually made a really big cultural impression. It's a lot less than what you have in (say) the Japanese media.
So, even though space opera is considered very much a Hollywood genre, it really doesn't have such a strong presence in the American media.

Just saw it, very beatiful of course, but little t...

2009-12-27T05:26:09.105+02:00

Just saw it, very beatiful of course, but little to no emotional impact. I did like the scene of Neytiri and Sully discussing flying; it felt spontaneous. The only scene that really made contact for me was Sully's first jaunt in his avatar. I was grinning at his joy in walking and running again and I wish they had spent more time on this stage.

Whatever the reactions are, the movie is a must wa...

2009-12-26T19:56:54.091+02:00

Whatever the reactions are, the movie is a must watch due to its larger than life special effects and story line.

I couldn't agree more: Jar Jar Binks Meets Pocaho...

2009-12-26T18:35:15.422+02:00

I couldn't agree more:

Jar Jar Binks Meets Pocahontas

I totally agree with this review, its basically Da...

2009-12-26T09:25:10.392+02:00

I totally agree with this review, its basically Dances with Wolves without memorable or interesting characters, without a soul. Why is it that these days people can be satisfied by these impersonal and shallow character portrayals, I found the characters extremely wooden and formulaic.

I think in general Neytiri is the most successful ...

2009-12-26T01:35:20.012+02:00

I think in general Neytiri is the most successful aspect of the film's script, the point where it comes closest to the kind of movie I expect from Cameron (the actress has a lot to do with this too, of course), and that scene is one of the few instances in which she's allowed simply to be - and to be fun and awesome - rather than playing the role of Sully's enabler and love interest. Of course, the downside of scenes like this is that they throw an even sharper light on the fact that Avatar is the first of Cameron's film's in which the most prominent female character, even if she isn't the lead or co-lead, doesn't at least have her own story - even True Lies was as much about Jamie-Lee Curtis's journey as it was about Arnold's.

I agree with this pretty much entirely, although I...

2009-12-25T16:03:07.233+02:00

I agree with this pretty much entirely, although I'll give the movie one moment or sequence where it really felt joyful to me, the part where Jake and Neyteri are first flying around on their respective bird thingies and mock dogfighting/flirting. Especially in a sliver of a scene where they're just sitting together on the ground and Neyteri is swooping her hands around going over some clever maneuver. The joyfulness of the flight, the sense of freedom, plus the general beauty and the whole "perfect first date" vibe made this the emotional high point of the movie for me.

I have been googling for reviews of The Magicians ...

2009-12-25T07:21:49.361+02:00

I have been googling for reviews of The Magicians since I finished at 2:30 a.m. this morning. I posted a review of what I took away from the book on my site.

I like your review as well as what hit me was how much of me I saw in Quentin (something I did not like to admit). What struck me as anti-Narnia and somewhat bold was the unhappy ending. Sure Quentin seems content on returning to Fillory, but Alice is gone, he has not had a meaningful relationship since her self-sacrifice and is still suffering some form of PTSD.

That being said, perhaps if he had drank less, trained more for the journey into Fillory, and kept his fox in the hole when it came to Jane, he would not have lost what was obviously so important to him in the end: Alice.

Of course I am a hopeless romantic and the Quentin/Alice storyline was what kept me up way past my bedtime.

On another note I really am glad that I stubmled upon your site and have added it to my links (however I am having some difficulty getting my links to appear on the theme I am using). Keep up the good work.

"Yes, you're supposed to fit in and act normal, bu...

2009-12-22T08:25:18.681+02:00

"Yes, you're supposed to fit in and act normal, but this doesn't mean marrying and having children."

I think that's it. In the first season Rita is repeatedly referred to as camouflage, and it's stated that Dexter chose her because he thought she was too damaged and traumatized to demand a meaningful relationship. I took Harry's point during season four to be that it's one thing to sham a relationship, and another to be in a real one, and that the latter was bound to get Dexter caught sooner or later.

Let's also not forget that Harry isn't Harry but an expression of Dexter's subconscious and the part of his that has imbibed Harry's belief that Dexter can't have a normal life. So if Dexter is worried about failing as a husband and father or hurting his family, naturally the Harry in his head is going to harp on those points.

Most importantly, will Dexter commit fully to Harr...

2009-12-22T06:35:49.895+02:00

Most importantly, will Dexter commit fully to Harry's code, cutting off all human contact, or will he reject it completely and become a full-fledged monster?

Somebody check my memory on this. All this season, I've been finding this to be revisionist history. Wasn't part of Harry's code in the first season that Dexter was supposed to fake normality and emotions to fit in? Isn't that why he was with Rita in the first place? Then, all of a sudden this season, we're led to believe that Harry's code requires Dexter to be a loner. I don't want to make too much of this, since I believe it can be easily reconciled. ("Yes, you're supposed to fit in and act normal, but this doesn't mean marrying and having children.") But it's niggled at me all season long.

did not read the essay for fear of spoilers. will ...

2009-12-19T18:53:12.457+02:00

did not read the essay for fear of spoilers. will come back once I'm done viewing the season. just wanted to drop a line to say the blackadder reference was not lost on this reader.

Thank you for this. I was really upset with the en...

2009-12-18T20:00:04.486+02:00

Thank you for this. I was really upset with the ending for a number of reasons and you've put some of them into better focus.
I love reading your thoughts on tv and have been lurking for a long time!

I actually liked the book, but you make a lot of g...

2009-12-14T06:27:39.839+02:00

I actually liked the book, but you make a lot of good points. After having read "In Great Waters," though, I think "Benighted" is the better of the two, which doesn't seem to bode well for your liking the former. Premise-ridiculousness problems return, although neither of the protagonists of "In Great Waters" is nearly as out there as Lola. Pacing gets worse.

It's funny, I thought the opposite, that is - the ...

2009-12-10T23:11:32.733+02:00

It's funny, I thought the opposite, that is - the Eternal Sunshine ending seemed completely bleak (due to the pattern of failure between the main characters), while the ending of 500 days seemed to be at least marginally hopeful.
All attitudes are influenced by personal experience.

As a recent reader of TYPU, I looked forward to th...

2009-12-08T23:18:39.543+02:00

As a recent reader of TYPU, I looked forward to this, but it turned out to be a review of a critic rather than a review of the novel! re the novel itself, dare I suggest that there's something in it for everyone, and that it doesn't have to be about Jewishness per se?

If worldbuilding is so important to this novel I a...

2009-12-08T21:32:32.999+02:00

If worldbuilding is so important to this novel I am inclined to ask a couple of questions about it. For example, why is Environment trying to keep CO2 emissions down? They cannot plausibly expect that Thailands own emissions will have much effect on the global climate, and therefore on Thailands own climate problems.

And if the worst thing that the Evil Biotech Companies can do to someone is charge him a high price for his rice seeds, in what way is Environment benefitting people by banning them from buying said rice seeds from the Evil Biotech Companies?

Very thoughtful. I've never read Austen that way, ...

2009-12-08T17:22:36.338+02:00

Very thoughtful. I've never read Austen that way, but I think it's a fair assessment.

While I'll agree that the nation of Israel is getting in the way of its people, I'd like to point out that many American secular Jews embrace the holidays meaningfully. Some, like your Austen heroes, put them to more consideration and appreciation than those who simply accept them as required.

Alexander: I do agree that Bacigalupi does a good...

2009-12-08T10:30:22.450+02:00

Alexander:

I do agree that Bacigalupi does a good line in moral ambiguity, though again, in the Hock Seng and Lake plotlines I felt that he'd done better work in the short stories. What I should have mentioned in the review was how rounded and interesting Jaidee and Kanya are despite the horrible things they do or tolerate (and not to harp on a point, but I think it's significant that these two characters don't have antecedents in Bacigalupi's short stories).

I'm a Hugo nominator this year, and I'm already debating with myself whether I'm going to nominate The Windup Girl for best novel. I think I will - not only because, as you say, it hasn't been a very strong year (and anyway I haven't yet read many of the year's genre novels) but because despite being weaker than the short stories and despite my problems with its ending it is a worthwhile novel in its own right.

Interesting review. I think you're ultimately too ...

2009-12-06T23:24:55.721+02:00

Interesting review. I think you're ultimately too harsh on this work though. I found it a lot more coherent, exciting and satisfying than you appeared to, in line with your critique perhaps it has something to do with my not having read the prior short stories set in the same universe.

I liked the pace and underlying story of the novel, and thought there was a lot of intelligence put into setting up different twists to be surprising while credible. On the different arcs I'll agree that Hock Seng's was underwhelming and didn't hold much interest by the end, but I found other sections engaging. In particular, the ability to make representatives from both corrupt multinationals and brutal isolationists human and sympathetic without downplaying the severely unethical sides of both. While Bacigalupi's priorities aren't in much doubt, he's able to frame his narrative with enough moral ambiguity to make it more than preachy, and above all he's able to show a grim but authentic world. I'd say the two elements go together--many things done by the characters and experienced in the setting are abhorrent, but they're also complex and believable enough that they can't be purely dismissed.

Best genre novel of 2009 that I've yet encountered, and not just because of weak competition. Hope it wins lots of awards.

Someone please tell me wat chapters 9 10 11 and 12...

2009-12-03T03:32:38.187+02:00

Someone please tell me wat chapters 9 10 11 and 12 were about seprately i have to know tonite

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed this review ...

2009-11-30T01:03:31.134+02:00

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed this review & analysis. I didn't see this movie because I had heard Summer wasn't much of a character--but now reading this, I feel like I got something out of it nonetheless.

It would be interesting to look at male-centered rom-coms as a genre in light of the problems you raise here. I do think rom-coms tend to focus more on one member of the couple, often flattening the object of desire, but the results aren't always as troubling as what you describe here.

Slightly off topic, but I always thought that the ...

2009-11-26T14:23:56.371+02:00

Slightly off topic, but I always thought that the actual ending of Eternal Sunshine was better than the original idea of an endless cycle; we "feel as hopeful as we do at the end of Eternal Sunshine" because, just like real relationships, we are living in the hope that, although we will almost certainly fail, we might not. Joel and Clem's new "eyes open" relationship will probably self destruct even faster than before as the weight of things said that can't be unsaid (on the tapes) are brought back, but by not showing us that we can cling on to their hope against hope that it just might work out after all. What more could we ask for than that?