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The Suicide of Claire Bishop
Book
Greenwich Village, 1959. Claire Bishop sits for a portrait—a gift from her husband—only to...
By All Means Necessary: How China's Resource Quest is Changing the World
Elizabeth C. Economy and Michael Levi
Book
In the past thirty years, China has transformed from an impoverished country where peasants...
EH
Energy Humanities: An Anthology
Book
Energy humanities is a field of scholarship that, like medical and digital humanities before it,...
Penhall Plays: Blue/orange, Dumb Show, Wild Turkey: v. 2
Book
Penhall's 1994 play Some Voices was described as 'the most thrilling playwriting debut in years' by...
David McK (3251 KP) rated Jurassic Park (1993) in Movies
May 26, 2020
I've just realised (at the time of writing) that this movie is nearly 30 years old.
Man, I feel old.
Taking some liberties with Michael Crichtons's source material (Hammond dies and was not a very nice man; Grant likes kids), this is a disaster movie with stunning effects (that still hold up pretty well today) for the time, even if our understanding of the 'headline' dinosaurs has changed somewhat in the intervening years since its release (Raptors were the size of chickens, had feathers, and were NOT pack hunters. or so we now think).
Set on a tropical island hit by a storm just as the owner is given a pre-release tour to special invited guests to show off his scientific breakthrough - cloned Dinosaurs, because that's ALWAYS a good idea … - a series of events leads to the power going down, and the 'exhibits' breaking free to wreak havoc amongst those guests. And, lets not kid around the bush here, despite having the likes of Samuel L Jackson, Richard Attenborough, Sam Neil, Laura Dern and - uh- Jeff Goldblum ("life, uh, finds a way") amongst the cast - the real stars are those dinosaurs.
All the sequels (4 so far, with a 5th ion the way in Jurassic World: Dominion) pale in comparison.
Man, I feel old.
Taking some liberties with Michael Crichtons's source material (Hammond dies and was not a very nice man; Grant likes kids), this is a disaster movie with stunning effects (that still hold up pretty well today) for the time, even if our understanding of the 'headline' dinosaurs has changed somewhat in the intervening years since its release (Raptors were the size of chickens, had feathers, and were NOT pack hunters. or so we now think).
Set on a tropical island hit by a storm just as the owner is given a pre-release tour to special invited guests to show off his scientific breakthrough - cloned Dinosaurs, because that's ALWAYS a good idea … - a series of events leads to the power going down, and the 'exhibits' breaking free to wreak havoc amongst those guests. And, lets not kid around the bush here, despite having the likes of Samuel L Jackson, Richard Attenborough, Sam Neil, Laura Dern and - uh- Jeff Goldblum ("life, uh, finds a way") amongst the cast - the real stars are those dinosaurs.
All the sequels (4 so far, with a 5th ion the way in Jurassic World: Dominion) pale in comparison.
Rachel King (13 KP) rated Feast of Fools (The Morganville Vampires, #4) in Books
Feb 11, 2019
This book picks up right where the previous one left off, right in the middle of the action. I love when books do that. I flew through this book as quickly as the previous three, barely taking time to eat or sleep. I would compare the infamous Mr. Bishop to Dracula - minus the romantic leanings. Nothing about him is remotely appealing, and he has no interest in making himself appealing, unlike the other two power players in town, Oliver and Amelie. Lots of subplots are developed, but this one felt like more time could have been devoted to these other elements and lengthened the novel a bit without sacrificing the quality of the text, such as exploring how Claire could wield the power of Glass House, the effect that Michael had on others when he performed, Claire's problem with her professor, or even Claire's parents reaction to the truth about Morganville. It feels as if there are too many characters in the script and not enough pages to give them all adequate time in the spotlight. I find the character of Myrnin even more fascinating in this book - he seems sort of like the dark town jester. I was also disappointed in Claire's lack of interest in her classes, given that she was so happy about her schedule change in the last book. The funeral of Eve's father seemed forced, like it was inserted in the plot as an afterthought, especially since we did not see her mother at the ball at the end of the book, even though it seems logical that Mrs. Rosser would try to use the occasion to make a specticle of herself, not unlike Monica Morrell. Wow, so I had alot of nit-picky things to say about this book, but I still really enjoyed it and I really like this series, especially the character of Claire, who has more courage and daring than anyone in the book. I look forward to the next one, Lord of Misrule.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Vice (2018) in Movies
Jan 31, 2019
Adam McKay's attempt to reinvent himself as a sort of non-documentarian version of Michael Moore is not so much a hatchet-job as a machete-job - no, make that a chainsaw-job - on the reputation of Dick Cheney, Vice-Prez under Dubya. Christian Bale vanishes under layers of make-up and the Cheney who emerges is a disturbing, totally unprincipled monster, consumed by the acquisition and use of power, responsible for (amongst other things) the invasion of Iraq and the rise of ISIS. Potentially quite heavy stuff going on, then, but McKay takes care to cheer things up (relatively speaking) by including big performances from Sam Rockwell and Steve Carell, along with a few Monty Python ideas repurposed for this movie.
Highly entertaining in a ghastly sort of way, and illuminating with respect to the twisted logic employed by the Bush administration and the role they played in facilitating the current civic nightmare engulfing the USA. Unlikely to appeal to the Republican base, for obvious reasons, but the film inevitably has some jokes to make about its own liberal bias, too, as well as being smart enough to allow Cheney the chance to justify himself, which he does in a disturbingly persuasive way. Still probably a bit too partisan for its own good, but still very impressive and a lot of fun; thought-provoking too.
Highly entertaining in a ghastly sort of way, and illuminating with respect to the twisted logic employed by the Bush administration and the role they played in facilitating the current civic nightmare engulfing the USA. Unlikely to appeal to the Republican base, for obvious reasons, but the film inevitably has some jokes to make about its own liberal bias, too, as well as being smart enough to allow Cheney the chance to justify himself, which he does in a disturbingly persuasive way. Still probably a bit too partisan for its own good, but still very impressive and a lot of fun; thought-provoking too.
TT
The Truth About Trump
Book
In the summer of 2015, as he vaulted to the lead among the many GOP candidates for president, Donald...