The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker
Adam Gopnik, David Remnick and Robert Mankoff
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The book that Janet Maslin of The New York Times has called 'indispensable' and 'a transfixing study...
Melville: Fashioning in Modernity
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Melville: Fashioning in Modernity considers all of the major fiction with a concentration on...
Motherless Child: The Definitive Biography of Eric Clapton
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Timed for release around Clapton's 70th birthday, MOTHERLESS CHILD will be the ultimate celebration...
Leading Ladies
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Comedy / 5m, 3f / Unit set. In this hilarious comedy by the author of Lend Me A Tenor and Moon Over...
Notorious: The Immortal Legend of the Kray Twins
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Ever since the Kray twins invited John Pearson to write their 'official' biography more than forty...
Legend: The Notorious True Story of the Kray Twins
6.0
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Book
Ever since the Kray twins invited John Pearson to write their 'official' biography more than forty...
The Mammoth Book of Great British Humour
Book
A doorstopper of a collection of the very best of both contemporary and classic British wit and...
Hadley (567 KP) rated Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse in Books
Aug 19, 2020
Overall, there were a few good stories inside this book, but some of them seemed out of place, and there were ones that were just boring or not written well (like ending the story just to make it a short story). I only recommend this book to people who absolutely love dystopian stories, but for those who are just light readers of it, I don't think you'd enjoy it.
Being that this is a review for a handful of short stories, I am only going to mention the ones I really liked.
"Salvage" by Orson Scott Card
A long time after atom bombs have destroyed most of the Earth, a young man named Deaver finds out that there may be gold hidden within a Mormon temple, and he's willing to risk everything to get it.
I loved the story, the characters, and the playful banter between them.
"Bread and Bombs" by M. Rickert
During war time, children become curious about an odd neighbor who moves in. Parents demand that their children stay away from them because the neighbor's people are the reason so many people have died.
I liked that the story is through the childrens' eyes, not the adults.
"Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels" by George R. R. Martin
In the story that follows, you'll meet Greel. He is a scout of the People. He's penetrated the Oldest Tunnels, where the taletellers said the People had come from a million years ago. He is no coward, but he is afraid, and with good reason. You see, he's very used to being in the dark, but some visitors have come to the tunnels, and they've brought light with them...
I really liked the whole idea of people tunneling underground when nuclear war happens; there are not enough stories written about this!
"Never Despair" by Jack McDevitt
'Never Despair' tells the story of Chaka Milana, a woman who leaves her hometown in search of a storied place that holds the secrets of the Roadmakers, the almost-mythical builders of the concrete strips that cover the land, and the ruined cities with towers so high that a person could not ascend one in a day.
The story was so good that I wish it were a novel.
"Artie's Angels" by Catherine Wells
A post-apocalyptic society involving bicycles and young men.
This was probably my most favorite story out of the entire book!
"Inertia" by Nancy Kress
A story about the victims of a disfiguring epidemic who are interned in the modern equivalent of leper colonies.
Kress was able to make such a big picture out of very few characters, and in just a few pages. Really well-written.
"The End of the World As We Know It" by Dale Bailey
A lone survivor of an apocalypse attempts to grapple with the emotional dimension of his loss.
Just a really good story.
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Captain Fantastic (2016) in Movies
Sep 29, 2021
“Captain Fantastic” starts with a dramatic hunting expedition introducing us to the unusual Cash family. Dad Ben (Viggo Mortensen) is bringing up his six kids – Bodevan, Kielyr, Vespyr, Rellian, Zaja and Nai – in the wilds of Washington state. Ben takes home-schooling to a completely new level, with intense study and examinations in quantum physics, philosophy and politics matched with a militaristic approach to weapons-training and physical fitness. Ben also teaches extreme self-sufficiency, most evident during a dramatic rock-climbing sequence.
Where is their mum in all of this? That would be a spoiler (so don’t watch the trailer either) but is central to the plot as the family board their old camper van – “Steve” – on a road trip back to the ‘real world’ and the children’s grandparents – the crusty and assertive Jack (a marvellous Frank Langella) and Abigail (Ann Dowd). What follows is filled with black humour, tragedy, not just one but two amazing funeral services and one of the most extraordinarily black and comic laying-to-rests ever seen on the big screen.
Viggo Mortensen is… well… fantastic in his portrayal, getting to run the full gamut of joy, grief, self-doubt, guilt and despair during the movie’s run-time. He’s clearly not going to win the Oscar on Sunday – surely Casey Affleck must be a slam-dunk for that – but this is a well-judged nomination by the Academy.
While the focus is on Mortensen, this shouldn’t overshadow the performances of some of the rest of the young cast, and I would specifically call out those of George MacKay and young Shree Crooks as the youngest of the kids. MacKay has been building up an impressive run of UK-based films with “Sunshine on Leith” and “Pride” but with this (and his key role in the recent TV mini-series “11.22.63”) he should see a break-through to more mainstream feature roles. In “Captain Fantastic” his socially-inept proposal to the delectable Claire (Erin Moriaty) is one of the high-points of the film. He is a name to watch, for sure.
And young Ms Crooks should be given a special honorary Oscar for the ability to learn such dense portions of script and deliver them so faultlessly!
The whole cast in fact was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture – one of my favourite award categories, but beaten by “Hidden Figures”. And it is that sort of film: a really great ensemble effort.
The film is written and directed by Matt Ross, only his second feature since 2012’s “28 Hotel Rooms” (which I was not aware of, but would now like to seek out). I thought it was terrific; deeply comedic; riveting from beginning to end; a roller-coaster of emotion and ultimately a feelgood classic on the value of family that I will remember fondly for a long time. Once again, the second film this week, that would have made me reconsider my “top films of 2016” list. I strongly recommend that you seek this out on download or DVD and give it a try.
LearnEnglish Kids: Playtime
Education and Entertainment
App
Read and watch fun animated songs and stories to help your child develop in key areas in English:...