1. The Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard, J. G. Ballard (2009)
My girlfriend gave me this MASSIVE (1196 pages) newly released volume of all of Ballard’s short stories (arranged in chronological order) for my birthday. I’m extremely excited because I enjoyed my first Ballard work, High-Rise (1975). Does anyone have a particular story which I should start with? Continue reading
4.5/5 (Very Good)
J. G. Ballard’s High-Rise (1975) is a fascinating yet relentlessly mono-thematic novel inspired by the effects of class conflict and urbanization on society drawing on some ideas explored in earlier SF masterpieces such as John Brunner’s Stand on Zanzibar (1969) and Silverberg’s The World Inside (1971) (both of which I prefer to High-Rise). Continue reading
My old sci-fi book hunting grounds have proved abundant (again) — Half Price Books Austin, Texas….
1. Son of Man, Robert Silverberg (1971)
I’ve been on a Silverberg binge recently. This is not supposed to be one of his best Continue reading
Here are my favorite films and books I reviewed this year. They are all highly recommended…
Brian Aldiss, Non-stop (variant title, Starship), (1958)
Starship is a top-notch 1950s work: fast, action-packed, thoughtful, Continue reading
8/10 (Very Good)
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) is by far my favorite Rainer Werner Fassbinder film I’ve seen and like all of his films, an acquired taste. I’ve not always appreciated his works — I barely tolerated The Merchant of Four Seasons and managed to watch only half of The Marriage of Maria Braun (I did enjoy Veronika Voss). However, Continue reading
7.5/10 (Good)
The pseudo-documentary (docudrama) The Battle of Culloden––made for BBC Television––was the first feature film by the soon to be famous (in somewhat esoteric circles) radical pacifist Continue reading
7.5/10 (Good)
While ambling aimlessly on youtube looking for interesting short films, I discovered this forgotten gem by Hilary Harris. I’d never heard of this filmmaker nor are most of his films listed on Internet Movie Database (besides his oscar winning short subject documentary, ‘Seawards the Continue reading
The summer of learning how to read German (all of my language requirements FINISHED), science fiction books, medieval history, and films — 49 films total. There wasn’t much else to do — my fellow Continue reading
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
Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations 