I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997): ⭐️⭐️⭐️: I’d missed this one (the entire series, actually) until now. Exactly what I expected from a late-90s teen slasher film, it kept me entertained.
Geekery
Whatever I’m geeking out about at the time.
🎥 Geostorm
Geostorm (2017): ⭐️⭐️⭐️: This is a “big dumb disaster movie” three star rating, not a “serious cinematic work” three star rating. Starts off with a scenario that now seems sadly ridiculously optimistic (faced with disastrous climate change, the nations of the world actually work together to do something about it), and then gets progressively more ridiculous as it goes. But then, you don’t exactly go into a Dean Devlin disaster movie expecting serious consideration of highbrow topics, you go in to see shit get blown up real good. And on that level, it’ll do.
📚 The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
35/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1981 Hugo Best Novel
Science fiction that somehow reads like fantasy (that’s not a complaint, to be clear). At times almost feels like a alternative take on Asimov’s Foundation universe, with a galaxy-spanning empire crumbling, and a repository of knowledge meant to rebuild civilization, only going in a somewhat different direction.
🎥 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022): ⭐️⭐️⭐️: The parts of the movie that were standard MCU stuff were, well, standard MCU stuff — enjoyable, just what you expect, nothing groundbreaking one way or the other.
The parts of the movie that were Sam Raimi doing his thing with a ridiculous budget to play with were great.
The end result (for me, at least) is an above-average entry in the MCU canon.
Difficult Listening Hour 2022.07.08
Unrehearsed, seat-of-the-pants, let’s-see-what-happens mixing. You never know what might fall into one of these!
Hey, this thing is still here! This is just an hour of goofing around, mostly just testing to make sure all my electronic wires were configured correctly and that I still remembered how to get a stream up and running properly.
🎥 Sing 2
Sing 2 (2021): ⭐️: Actually only made it halfway through before tapping out. While the first was cute and fun, this one just dragged. Pretty animation, and some occasional clever moments, but at an hour in and realizing it wasn’t quite halfway done, it was time to stop.
📚 Inception by S.D. Perry and Britta Dennison
34/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Set in the pre-TOS era, this explores some early relationships touched on later in the saga; one for Kirk, and one for Spock, who have yet to meet, though both end up involved in the framing story about the risks of environmental damage during technological and societal expansion.
📚 The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke
33/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1980 Hugo Best Novel
The story of the construction of humanity’s first space elevator, tied to the history of the (semi-fictional) island that serves as its base. An easy read, concerned primarily with exploring how such an engineering feat might happen, and without any real antagonist or great interpersonal dramas.
📚 The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
32/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The alien world and its creatures are interesting, as are the slowly degrading human cultures, but I had a hard time getting past the many unhealthy and frequently destructive relationships among the characters. Not a bad book, really, but not a particularly pleasant one.
🎥 Firestarter
Firestarter (2022): ⭐️: What was the point of re-adapting this in such a lifeless, boring manner?