Many years back (9 years) when I really got into sci-fi I decided to use the Hugo Award for Best Novel list as a way to find interesting authors and read the classics. I’ve done pretty well! Continue reading
A Film Rumination: La Guerre est Finie, Alain Resnais (1966)
7/10 (Good)
Alain Resnais – most famous for his early French New Wave film Hiroshima Mon Amour (1966) and the impenetrable masterpiece Last Year at Marienbad (1961) — also has the ability to craft an astute political drama: La Guerre est Finie (1966). Sadly, in part because of the dated political situation, La Guerre est Finie Continue reading
Book Review: The Dueling Machine, Ben Bova (1969)
2/5 (Bad)
This novel feels like two separate stories connected by the presence of the dueling machine. The story when the dueling machine is a dueling machine and the story when the Bova decides that the dueling machine is also teleportation device and a therapy device and only occasionally used for duels. The first part of the novel Continue reading
A Film Rumination: Le Fils, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (2002)
9.5/10 (Near Perfect)
The Belgian Dardenne brothers (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne) are renowned (mainly in Europe) for their intense minimalist dramas. Following on the success of Rosetta (1999) which won the prestigious Palm d’Or and La Promese (1996), the brothers embarked on the rigorously stylistic Le Fils (2002). I must Continue reading
A Film Rumination: The Servant, Joseph Losey (1963)
8/10 (Very Good)
Joseph Losey’s film, The Servant (1963) is a profoundly unsettling experience concerning various class related themes (servitude, the British upper class life, etc). Losey – an American blacklisted communist who was forced to flee Hollywood in the 50s to England – gives an interesting take on this common cinematic theme. This film marks the first of three successful collaborations with the renowned playwright and screenwriter Harold Pinter Continue reading
Book Review: The Seedling Stars, James Blish (1957)
Overall score 3.75/5 (Good)
James Blish’s The Seedling Stars is a collection of three novelettes (Seeding Program, The Thing in the Attic, Surface Tension) and a short story (Watershed). Each is loosely connected by internal chronology and subject matter: pantropy (the modifications of humans for live on other planets instead of terraforming). The quality Continue reading
A (short) Film Rumination: Night Mayor, Guy Maddin (2009)
7.5/10 (Good)
Guy Maddin’s recent short film, Night Mayor, is a bizarre pseudo-documentary that looks at the life of an immigrant (and his family) from Bosnia who has invented a telemodium (a weird television Continue reading
Book Review: The Man Who Japed, Philip K. Dick (1956)
4/5 (Good)
“At seven A.M., Allen Purcell, the forward-looking young president of the newest and most creative of the Research Agencies, lost a bedroom,” and so begins The Man Who Japed.
This novel, published in 1956 (a product of the very early period of Philip K. Dick’s career) is an immense step forward from his inferior, disjointed, and amateurish novel, The World Jones Continue reading
A Film Rumination: A Zed & Two Noughts, Peter Greenaway (1985)
8/10 (Very Good)
Peter Greenaway’s A Zed & Two Noughts is a fascinating take (both visually and plot-wise) on the archetypal theme of coping with death. Greenaway’s technical abilities shine through — Continue reading
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 