This book is an anthology of short stories by different authors so I cant follow my standard format on this one. All of the short stories in this book follow the same theme: witches in suburbia. The various authors use their own take on witches of folklore, and project them into modern times in the suburbs. The result is hilarious and all of the stories were a lot of fun to read. This a great book to pick up when you don't have a lot of time to devote to a story but still want something good and funny to pass the time. It is also good for introducing you to many authors at once.
Witch Way to the Mall is the first book in a series of three so far and if some of the stories leave you wanting for more just pick up the next book. Many of them have sequel stories with different themes. The books in this series are Witch Way to the Mall, Strip Mauled, and Fangs for the Mammaries. I will be writing reviews for them next.
These books will appeal to people who enjoy modern fantasy, I would say urban but by their nature they are suburban.
The books can be purchased in print or as an e-book at www.amazon.com
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Monday, December 30, 2013
The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Steven Baxter
This book is a frontier style science fiction novel, but with a delightful twist. The frontier is all different versions of earth. This book explores the concept of many worlds in a new and unique way. It follows a protagonist on a journey of exploration, but unlike most many worlds science fiction he is not the person to discover stepping between worlds, and most worlds do not have humans already on them, but are instead unsettled wilderness.
My only complaint about this book is that it takes a while to get interesting and there is a lot of character building before anything particularly interesting happens. Despite this when the pace does pick up the book is well worth it, and the reason for the character building becomes apparent. I just wish that the process had been more interesting at the beginning.
The plot of this book is that of an exploratory journey into new frontiers. The main character, Joshua, is approached by an emancipated AI named Lobsang, who claims freedom based on being a re-incarnated motorcycle repair man, to accompany him on an expedition as a backup way of getting home. Joshua is one of the minority of people who have found they don't need a device to step, and he has traveled the worlds more extensively than most. During the voyage they discover non-human races of steppers who all appear to be fleeing back in the direction of our world, and eventually determine what they are fleeing from. This book is more about what is learned on the journey, and exploring the possibilities of a limitless frontier than the actual journey itself. It is a great look at how things could go in a modern frontier when the cost of travel is achievable.
This book will appeal to science fiction fans who enjoy world building, and colonization novels. I bought it because I enjoy reading both authors work, and I was not disappointed.
This book can be found in print or as an e-book at www.amazon.com.
My only complaint about this book is that it takes a while to get interesting and there is a lot of character building before anything particularly interesting happens. Despite this when the pace does pick up the book is well worth it, and the reason for the character building becomes apparent. I just wish that the process had been more interesting at the beginning.
The plot of this book is that of an exploratory journey into new frontiers. The main character, Joshua, is approached by an emancipated AI named Lobsang, who claims freedom based on being a re-incarnated motorcycle repair man, to accompany him on an expedition as a backup way of getting home. Joshua is one of the minority of people who have found they don't need a device to step, and he has traveled the worlds more extensively than most. During the voyage they discover non-human races of steppers who all appear to be fleeing back in the direction of our world, and eventually determine what they are fleeing from. This book is more about what is learned on the journey, and exploring the possibilities of a limitless frontier than the actual journey itself. It is a great look at how things could go in a modern frontier when the cost of travel is achievable.
This book will appeal to science fiction fans who enjoy world building, and colonization novels. I bought it because I enjoy reading both authors work, and I was not disappointed.
This book can be found in print or as an e-book at www.amazon.com.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Elysium Movie Review
Elysium is a truly classic science fiction movie in that it takes the biggest troubles of the time and uses a story about the future to talk about where those issues could lead. The movie is sad and hits very close to home in our recent economic recovery. The effects are very good and for the most part the science is even accurate.
The only problem I had with the movie is that I can't see how things would get as dystopian as they are presented in the movie. First it presumes that somehow the inhabitants of the space station Elysium completely disenfranchise most of the world including the people of the united states, after fleeing it. This seems a bit far-fetched considering that the major space powers would not allow the kind of technology that would allow that to happen without having similar technology to counter it. Second the people of Elysium seem too disconnected to be believable. Their hoarding of miraculous medical technology in particular seems particularly cruel.
The plot of this movie is a mixture of the Savior archetype, and the Prometheus archetype. Basically the richest people in the world have fled to the luxurious space station named Elysium. There they have robotic servants, and disease free nearly immortal lives brought about by medical technology that has the capability of completely rebuilding a body from the faintest spark of life. Cancer, Birth defects, and deadly radiation poisoning are all quickly and easily fixed. In contrast the people on earth are left with modern medical technology or worse, and must deal with massive overpopulation and a poisoned biosphere. Meanwhile the people of Elysium rule over and profit from the people of earth as a permanent lower class. The hero of the film is not a good man, but at the start he has cleaned up his act, gotten a job, and is trying to better himself. When he is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation on the job he is given pills that will allow him to function for the rest of his now very short life and fired. This is done despite the fact that the company has the means to cure him. Due to his criminal past he has contacts that allow him to do something about it instead of waiting to die like a good slave. A plan is launched to steal an Elysium citizens identity giving the underground access to billions of dollars. In the end the hack yields more than they ever bargained for, and he is presented with a choice. Save himself, or save the world by taking control of Elysium. In the end he decides to save the world by making all earth residents Elysium Citizens.
This film addresses some of the biggest issues facing America today. The rampant inequality and disparity of access to health care are currently dividing this country at an accelerating rate. While things have not gotten nearly to the point that the movie portrays, it is frighteningly easy to see parallels to our current problems.
Science fiction lovers and people who see the current inequality building in our society as a bad thing will likely love this film.
This movie can be purchased digitally or on disk from www.amazon.com.
The only problem I had with the movie is that I can't see how things would get as dystopian as they are presented in the movie. First it presumes that somehow the inhabitants of the space station Elysium completely disenfranchise most of the world including the people of the united states, after fleeing it. This seems a bit far-fetched considering that the major space powers would not allow the kind of technology that would allow that to happen without having similar technology to counter it. Second the people of Elysium seem too disconnected to be believable. Their hoarding of miraculous medical technology in particular seems particularly cruel.
The plot of this movie is a mixture of the Savior archetype, and the Prometheus archetype. Basically the richest people in the world have fled to the luxurious space station named Elysium. There they have robotic servants, and disease free nearly immortal lives brought about by medical technology that has the capability of completely rebuilding a body from the faintest spark of life. Cancer, Birth defects, and deadly radiation poisoning are all quickly and easily fixed. In contrast the people on earth are left with modern medical technology or worse, and must deal with massive overpopulation and a poisoned biosphere. Meanwhile the people of Elysium rule over and profit from the people of earth as a permanent lower class. The hero of the film is not a good man, but at the start he has cleaned up his act, gotten a job, and is trying to better himself. When he is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation on the job he is given pills that will allow him to function for the rest of his now very short life and fired. This is done despite the fact that the company has the means to cure him. Due to his criminal past he has contacts that allow him to do something about it instead of waiting to die like a good slave. A plan is launched to steal an Elysium citizens identity giving the underground access to billions of dollars. In the end the hack yields more than they ever bargained for, and he is presented with a choice. Save himself, or save the world by taking control of Elysium. In the end he decides to save the world by making all earth residents Elysium Citizens.
This film addresses some of the biggest issues facing America today. The rampant inequality and disparity of access to health care are currently dividing this country at an accelerating rate. While things have not gotten nearly to the point that the movie portrays, it is frighteningly easy to see parallels to our current problems.
Science fiction lovers and people who see the current inequality building in our society as a bad thing will likely love this film.
This movie can be purchased digitally or on disk from www.amazon.com.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
google chromecast review
For Christmas my wife got me a Google Chromecast. After I figured out that my tv has one working HDMI port it was a pretty neat device that let me stream from Netflix, Hulu Plus, or Youtube from my tablet.
Despite liking it there seem to be some big limitations to what it does. The biggest is that it does not seem to run any apps locally meaning that you have to stream from another device. Not only that but the application must be programmed to support it.
I also had some issues setting it up and using it. First when it says it wants you to set up the device with a phone or computer it means it. It would not set up from my android tablet. Probably it needs the Bluetooth to set up a connection to your WIFI. Another frustration was that android chrome will not stream to chromecast. Apparently that is beta and only available as a desktop chrome extension.
The thing that makes it really neat though is that the desktop version of chrome does have an extension that makes chrome chromecast enabled. Basically anything you can open with chrome is castable. This makes me hopeful for the future of the device. Chromecast is very new and in the future I could see android having the chromecast ability baked into the operating system, and all google apps supporting the feature. This device does not currently replace my Roku, but it also does something my Roku will not. It streams anything on the web to my tv.
I definitely recommend getting this device if you watch video on the web. It can be found at local retailers, or at http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromecast/.
Despite liking it there seem to be some big limitations to what it does. The biggest is that it does not seem to run any apps locally meaning that you have to stream from another device. Not only that but the application must be programmed to support it.
I also had some issues setting it up and using it. First when it says it wants you to set up the device with a phone or computer it means it. It would not set up from my android tablet. Probably it needs the Bluetooth to set up a connection to your WIFI. Another frustration was that android chrome will not stream to chromecast. Apparently that is beta and only available as a desktop chrome extension.
The thing that makes it really neat though is that the desktop version of chrome does have an extension that makes chrome chromecast enabled. Basically anything you can open with chrome is castable. This makes me hopeful for the future of the device. Chromecast is very new and in the future I could see android having the chromecast ability baked into the operating system, and all google apps supporting the feature. This device does not currently replace my Roku, but it also does something my Roku will not. It streams anything on the web to my tv.
I definitely recommend getting this device if you watch video on the web. It can be found at local retailers, or at http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromecast/.
Monday, December 23, 2013
1632 Book Review
This science fiction alternate history story is a fun adventure that makes you appreciate just how far America has come. By throwing together modern Americans with Germans in 1632 during the 30 years war Eric Flint can compare and contrast the societies in a very interesting way. The reactions on both sides serve to highlight both the good and the bad that can be find in the modern American system. It even gets into how you must act to keep and spread the freedom we all take for granted. I have read this book many times over the years and frankly there is nothing I don't like about it.
The story starts with the West Virginian town of Grantville being mysteriously transported to 1632 Germany in the middle of the 30 years war. It is the answer to the question "What if you dump a load of American Coal miners who self identify as rednecks into the mess of early Germany?". What is the answer you ask? They kick ass, take names, and spread American style freedom backed by modern firearms, vehicles, and political thought that's what. This does not mean that everything that the uptimers(What people from the modern era are called in the book) do is good because in a whole town there are bound to be some bigot's and intolerant people. The leaders of Grantville must deal with both internal and external threats, and work to ensure that the American melting pot mentality prevails. One of the big threats that the main character Mike Stearns sees is the trap of fortress America. If they are to succeed in making their new home a place they want to live they must resist the urge to hide in a bunker and instead spread their ideals to make the rest of the world more hospitable to their way of thinking. In this book Eric Flint is truly remaking the world of 1632 and he does a great job of it.
This book will appeal to alternate history fans, science fiction fans, and anyone who likes to see a new fictional world come to life. While there is quite a bit of violence the overall tone is positive, and while reading it there was never a sense of hopelessness that this sort of story could evoke if done poorly.
This book can be found on www.amazon.com in print or as an e-book. As of right now this book is free as a kindle e-book.
The story starts with the West Virginian town of Grantville being mysteriously transported to 1632 Germany in the middle of the 30 years war. It is the answer to the question "What if you dump a load of American Coal miners who self identify as rednecks into the mess of early Germany?". What is the answer you ask? They kick ass, take names, and spread American style freedom backed by modern firearms, vehicles, and political thought that's what. This does not mean that everything that the uptimers(What people from the modern era are called in the book) do is good because in a whole town there are bound to be some bigot's and intolerant people. The leaders of Grantville must deal with both internal and external threats, and work to ensure that the American melting pot mentality prevails. One of the big threats that the main character Mike Stearns sees is the trap of fortress America. If they are to succeed in making their new home a place they want to live they must resist the urge to hide in a bunker and instead spread their ideals to make the rest of the world more hospitable to their way of thinking. In this book Eric Flint is truly remaking the world of 1632 and he does a great job of it.
This book will appeal to alternate history fans, science fiction fans, and anyone who likes to see a new fictional world come to life. While there is quite a bit of violence the overall tone is positive, and while reading it there was never a sense of hopelessness that this sort of story could evoke if done poorly.
This book can be found on www.amazon.com in print or as an e-book. As of right now this book is free as a kindle e-book.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Oath of Swords by David Weber Book Review
This is the first book in the War God series by David Weber. As with his science fiction he creates a world, and populates it with extraordinary characters. This series is a fantasy epic that centers around the conflict between the gods of light and the gods of the dark. Unlike some fantasy stories however the main character does not want to be a hero, nor anything to do with gods. The war god actually has to go through significant effort to get noticed by the hero, and when he does he is basically told no, and questioned as to why a god would need him.
The only thing that I didn't like about this story is that it didn't have enough explanation as to how their religious system worked, but since the main character comes from a race that feels that the gods have abandoned them it is understandable.
This story is the beginning of a heroic journey for Bazhell and his companion Brandark. The two are unlikely hero's since they are Hradani. Hradani were originally an elf like race that lived in harmony with the land, but in the last wizard war they were twisted by dark wizards to have the rage, which manifests as murderous fits that cannot be controlled by the person afflicted. Because they are basically ticking time bombs the other races exterminated them where they could and the survivors by Bazhell's time are one step above savages. It has seemed that even their gods had abandoned them since they had not seen one since the war. Time heals all things however, and the gods have been working to change the rage to something that can be controlled. When Bazhell fights the servants of a dark god for the sake of a servant girl, the god of war and justice decides that the time has come to help Bazhell and the rest of the Hradani. The problem is that Bazhell doesn't want the help he is quite bitter towards the gods, and the war god must prove to him that he is a captain worth following. In the end when Bazhell is faced with an evil from outside his world he realizes that those who would stand for the light must stand together or be destroyed by the darkness. During the battle he takes the god up on his offer. The followers of the dark should be very afraid because when a Hradani that controls the rage is backed by the god of war the very world cannot help but change.
This book will appeal to fans of David Weber's science fiction work, Classic fantasy fans, and anyone who likes a good adventure. Bazhell is a fun hero to read about because he never set out to be one, he only wanted to do what was right.
This book can be found at www.amazon.com as an e-book or in print. It is currently free as an e-book since it is part of Baen's free library, which has many first books in a series. Their hope is to hook you and that you will buy the rest of the series, but a free book is a free book.
The only thing that I didn't like about this story is that it didn't have enough explanation as to how their religious system worked, but since the main character comes from a race that feels that the gods have abandoned them it is understandable.
This story is the beginning of a heroic journey for Bazhell and his companion Brandark. The two are unlikely hero's since they are Hradani. Hradani were originally an elf like race that lived in harmony with the land, but in the last wizard war they were twisted by dark wizards to have the rage, which manifests as murderous fits that cannot be controlled by the person afflicted. Because they are basically ticking time bombs the other races exterminated them where they could and the survivors by Bazhell's time are one step above savages. It has seemed that even their gods had abandoned them since they had not seen one since the war. Time heals all things however, and the gods have been working to change the rage to something that can be controlled. When Bazhell fights the servants of a dark god for the sake of a servant girl, the god of war and justice decides that the time has come to help Bazhell and the rest of the Hradani. The problem is that Bazhell doesn't want the help he is quite bitter towards the gods, and the war god must prove to him that he is a captain worth following. In the end when Bazhell is faced with an evil from outside his world he realizes that those who would stand for the light must stand together or be destroyed by the darkness. During the battle he takes the god up on his offer. The followers of the dark should be very afraid because when a Hradani that controls the rage is backed by the god of war the very world cannot help but change.
This book will appeal to fans of David Weber's science fiction work, Classic fantasy fans, and anyone who likes a good adventure. Bazhell is a fun hero to read about because he never set out to be one, he only wanted to do what was right.
This book can be found at www.amazon.com as an e-book or in print. It is currently free as an e-book since it is part of Baen's free library, which has many first books in a series. Their hope is to hook you and that you will buy the rest of the series, but a free book is a free book.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Good Luck Girl Anime Series Review
Good luck girl is a hilarious comedy about a spoiled girl who has an overwhelming overabundance of good fortune, and the misfortune god who is sent to restore balance. Through the series the girl with the good fortune slowly learns to trust people and become a better person. The whole series is a good illustration of the yin-yang concept of balance because Ichiko ( the mortal with outrageous fortune energy) and Momoji (the misfortune god) have the same amount of opposing energies.
I really like this series, but as with many anime's there are a lot of dirty jokes, and quite a bit of sexual tension. This comprises a lot of the comedy, and while it is tame for its type it may offend some people which is a shame because it is a good story.
As I said the plot is about the conflict between Ichiko and Momoji and Ichiko's personal growth because of it. At the beginning of the series Ichiko is not easy to sympathize with. She seems to be extremely spoiled by everything always going her way, and she feels she is better than everyone else. It quickly becomes clear however that everything is not as it seems. While really bad things can't happen to her, she is very isolated and not well liked by any of the people around her unless they are worshiping her. About the time she realizes that she is lonely Momoji shows up and throws her life into an uproar, which turns out to be just what she needs. Since their energies are on par with each other Momoji must try to either trick Ichiko out of her fortune, bargain with her for it, or get her to distribute it voluntarily. They fight throughout the series, and have some awesome battles, but they come to be friends by the end even if Ichiko will not admit it. Through their interaction Ichiko becomes a good person, and makes lots of friends.
This anime is supernatural in nature so would probably be enjoyed by people who like fantasy and paranormal stories. It is not really the best show for young kids because there are a lot of dirty jokes and sexual humor, but it is fairly tame compared to some anime I have seen.
This series can be purchased at www.amazon.com on disk or as a stream.
I really like this series, but as with many anime's there are a lot of dirty jokes, and quite a bit of sexual tension. This comprises a lot of the comedy, and while it is tame for its type it may offend some people which is a shame because it is a good story.
As I said the plot is about the conflict between Ichiko and Momoji and Ichiko's personal growth because of it. At the beginning of the series Ichiko is not easy to sympathize with. She seems to be extremely spoiled by everything always going her way, and she feels she is better than everyone else. It quickly becomes clear however that everything is not as it seems. While really bad things can't happen to her, she is very isolated and not well liked by any of the people around her unless they are worshiping her. About the time she realizes that she is lonely Momoji shows up and throws her life into an uproar, which turns out to be just what she needs. Since their energies are on par with each other Momoji must try to either trick Ichiko out of her fortune, bargain with her for it, or get her to distribute it voluntarily. They fight throughout the series, and have some awesome battles, but they come to be friends by the end even if Ichiko will not admit it. Through their interaction Ichiko becomes a good person, and makes lots of friends.
This anime is supernatural in nature so would probably be enjoyed by people who like fantasy and paranormal stories. It is not really the best show for young kids because there are a lot of dirty jokes and sexual humor, but it is fairly tame compared to some anime I have seen.
This series can be purchased at www.amazon.com on disk or as a stream.
Epic Movie Review
Epic is an entertaining family movie that both kids and adults can enjoy. This animated good vs evil fantasy film hides some good lessons about balance, and interdependence. To be honest I cannot think of anything bad about this movie. It made for a very enjoyable family movie night.
The story is about the struggle between life and death in a forest, and about the relationships of parents and children. The main character MK is having issues with her father due to his belief, and obsession with, the tiny people who care for a nearby forest. She is forced to believe when she ends up getting caught up in the succession battle between life and decay in the forest, and is shrunk to the size of one of the tiny people. MK must ensure that the next ruler of the forest is on the side of life, and at the same time repair her relationship with her father who it turns out was right all along.
This movie will appeal to anyone who likes a good fantasy, and particularly anyone looking for a good movie on family movie night. The movie is very well animated and you find yourself wanting to believe in the world presented. The plot has plenty of action to keep even your three year old watching, but has enough deeper meaning to be interesting to everyone else.
This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a stream for rental or purchase.
The story is about the struggle between life and death in a forest, and about the relationships of parents and children. The main character MK is having issues with her father due to his belief, and obsession with, the tiny people who care for a nearby forest. She is forced to believe when she ends up getting caught up in the succession battle between life and decay in the forest, and is shrunk to the size of one of the tiny people. MK must ensure that the next ruler of the forest is on the side of life, and at the same time repair her relationship with her father who it turns out was right all along.
This movie will appeal to anyone who likes a good fantasy, and particularly anyone looking for a good movie on family movie night. The movie is very well animated and you find yourself wanting to believe in the world presented. The plot has plenty of action to keep even your three year old watching, but has enough deeper meaning to be interesting to everyone else.
This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a stream for rental or purchase.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Pacific Rim Movie Review
This movie is a fun, science fiction, giant robot vs monster movie. I rented it last night and really enjoyed watching it. The technology for the the giant robots, called yeagers, is a bit out there but the way the research was portrayed was interesting. I particularly liked the concept of there needing to be two pilots to share the load of running the yeager.
That being said I had real trouble believing that the yeagers( the giant robots) would be possible in the time frame that the story seems to portray. There is a reason we use tank treads instead of walkers. The sheer power and resiliency of the yeagers is more befitting an organic system than a mechanical one. Despite this the movie manages to be quite entertaining. The giant robots are cool, and the special effects are really good.
The plot of this movie is that the world is being invaded by giant monsters from another dimension, and the world built giant robots to combat them. The movie is a little different from other giant monster movies because they are being deliberately sent as an invasion force to destroy our civilization. The aliens who want colonize send giant monsters through a dimensional rift that they opened at the bottom of the pacific ocean. The humans responded by building yeagers to stop them. This works for a while but eventually more capable monsters are sent and yeagers start to fall. The governments of the world decide to build giant walls to hide behind at this point, and the remaining yeagers end up in Hong Kong fighting the monsters. The twist is that just as the yeager program is winding down the monsters break through the wall. It seems that they are preparing to send a wave of monsters against the world and destroy our civilization once and for all. The only thing standing between the world and its fate is a rag-tag group of the remaining yeagers, and their pilots.
This movie is a classic example of the giant robot/giant monster movie done in modern times. Most science fiction or action movie fans will like this movie. It is not however very original in its plot. basically it is neon-genesis evangelion meets independence day, so if you expect to be surprised by the twists you will probably be disappointed. If you want a great Friday night popcorn movie though this could be a winner.
This movie is available on disk or as a streaming rental or purchase at www.amazon.com
That being said I had real trouble believing that the yeagers( the giant robots) would be possible in the time frame that the story seems to portray. There is a reason we use tank treads instead of walkers. The sheer power and resiliency of the yeagers is more befitting an organic system than a mechanical one. Despite this the movie manages to be quite entertaining. The giant robots are cool, and the special effects are really good.
The plot of this movie is that the world is being invaded by giant monsters from another dimension, and the world built giant robots to combat them. The movie is a little different from other giant monster movies because they are being deliberately sent as an invasion force to destroy our civilization. The aliens who want colonize send giant monsters through a dimensional rift that they opened at the bottom of the pacific ocean. The humans responded by building yeagers to stop them. This works for a while but eventually more capable monsters are sent and yeagers start to fall. The governments of the world decide to build giant walls to hide behind at this point, and the remaining yeagers end up in Hong Kong fighting the monsters. The twist is that just as the yeager program is winding down the monsters break through the wall. It seems that they are preparing to send a wave of monsters against the world and destroy our civilization once and for all. The only thing standing between the world and its fate is a rag-tag group of the remaining yeagers, and their pilots.
This movie is a classic example of the giant robot/giant monster movie done in modern times. Most science fiction or action movie fans will like this movie. It is not however very original in its plot. basically it is neon-genesis evangelion meets independence day, so if you expect to be surprised by the twists you will probably be disappointed. If you want a great Friday night popcorn movie though this could be a winner.
This movie is available on disk or as a streaming rental or purchase at www.amazon.com
Thursday, December 12, 2013
The Quantum Connection by Travis S. Taylor
This book is the even more action packed sequel to Warp Speed. While it is a sequel it stands alone quite well. I actually read it first and was not confused at all. The book picks different characters to focus on and at the beginning they do not even know about the crew from the first book. The book is a fun read if you want a classic style science fiction story where the good guy wins, and the bad guys are left in the dust by the hero's mighty intellect and wise tactical or technological decisions.
This book's strength is also its weakness because the bad guys don't really have much of a chance despite having an initial advantage. This is really a geek, techno-fantasy, superhero style story with some real science at its heart.
The book is the story of how Steven Montana(the hero) saves the world. At the start of the book Steven is a gamer geek and college student studying computers when the warp war from the first book breaks out. In the fighting his entire home town with everyone he knows is wiped out and he is told it was because of a meteor. He slides into a spiral of depression and only begins to come back out of it when a chance encounter gets him a job working on reverse engineering a strange circuit that turns out to be a quantum supercomputer. When a background check fails due to him having no-one to vouch for him he has a major relapse and heads into the desert after taking all of his "happy pills". At this point the book takes a bit of a turn because he is abducted by aliens that have been experimenting on him for years and were the ultimate cause of his depression. Because of the pills he took he is able to wake up from their sedation and take over the ship. The research ship turns out to be run by a quantum supercomputer, the very thing Steven was just studying. Using the supercomputer and the nanotechnology on board the research vessel he enhances himself and a female fellow captive, and together they take off to save the world. Soon they meet up with the crew from warp speed, and god help anything that threatens earth from that point on.
This book will appeal to classic science fiction, and comic book fans. To be honest the writing reminds me of some of Heinlein's stories. The action in the book never stops, and there is not a lot of time spent on introspection. This book also has a little bit less explanation of the science behind whats going on than warp speed so it may not appeal to hard science fiction fans as much.
This book can be found at www.amazon.com as an e-book or in print.
This book's strength is also its weakness because the bad guys don't really have much of a chance despite having an initial advantage. This is really a geek, techno-fantasy, superhero style story with some real science at its heart.
The book is the story of how Steven Montana(the hero) saves the world. At the start of the book Steven is a gamer geek and college student studying computers when the warp war from the first book breaks out. In the fighting his entire home town with everyone he knows is wiped out and he is told it was because of a meteor. He slides into a spiral of depression and only begins to come back out of it when a chance encounter gets him a job working on reverse engineering a strange circuit that turns out to be a quantum supercomputer. When a background check fails due to him having no-one to vouch for him he has a major relapse and heads into the desert after taking all of his "happy pills". At this point the book takes a bit of a turn because he is abducted by aliens that have been experimenting on him for years and were the ultimate cause of his depression. Because of the pills he took he is able to wake up from their sedation and take over the ship. The research ship turns out to be run by a quantum supercomputer, the very thing Steven was just studying. Using the supercomputer and the nanotechnology on board the research vessel he enhances himself and a female fellow captive, and together they take off to save the world. Soon they meet up with the crew from warp speed, and god help anything that threatens earth from that point on.
This book will appeal to classic science fiction, and comic book fans. To be honest the writing reminds me of some of Heinlein's stories. The action in the book never stops, and there is not a lot of time spent on introspection. This book also has a little bit less explanation of the science behind whats going on than warp speed so it may not appeal to hard science fiction fans as much.
This book can be found at www.amazon.com as an e-book or in print.
The number of the beast by Robert Heinlein book review
This story is a non-stop adventure through space, time, and a whole bunch of parallel realities. As with any Heinlein book there is quite a bit of philosophy as well, but unlike his earlier books where the characters mostly state their philosophy, his later books (of which this is one) demonstrate it through the actions and reactions of his characters, and in bits and pieces of conversations they have. If you pay attention you can find it all over. This particular book explores the concept of parallel realities, and the idea that all possible things will happen in some universe. The story illustrates this point by linking many of Heinlein's story-lines, and a few other fictional universes together using a device that allows for dimensional hopping. There is even a trip to Oz thrown in there.
As with most Heinlein books there is not really anything I don't like about this book. That being said some of the technological concepts that it is based on have long since been surpassed particularly in the field of computers, and the way they operate. On the other hand the things that he has the outdated hardware doing are still largely out of reach today. Personally I think that the two things balance out, but it could be jarring for some if this is their first Heinlein book.
This book is a story about a group of people who discover a way to hop between dimensions. They are not the first to obtain this technology, and their excursions are almost immediately noticed. The main characters Zeb, Deety, Hilda, and Jacob are thrown into a fight of flight situation in Zeb's modified ( read armed) roadable aircraft. Jacob rigs the air-car for dimensional travel and they are off keeping one step ahead of the black hats. Whenever they think that they have lost them they show up again. As I mentioned earlier they make stops at several fictional universes along the way where they augment their capabilities and move on. In the end their problems start to get resolved when they meet up with Lazurus Long (from time enough for love), Mike(from the moon is a harsh mistress), and several other Heinlein hero's. Throughout the story the concept of parallel realities making all things be real things is explored. This book will really make you think about the reality you see around you, and ponder the 'what if's' of your favorite stories.
This book will appeal to any Heinlein fan, and any science fiction fan. It will also appeal to people who like action adventure or fan fiction since the book is full of references, and interactions with characters or worlds from other works.
This book is available at www.amazon.com as an audio book or in print. I could not find it in E-book, so if you see it in that format please let me know where.
As with most Heinlein books there is not really anything I don't like about this book. That being said some of the technological concepts that it is based on have long since been surpassed particularly in the field of computers, and the way they operate. On the other hand the things that he has the outdated hardware doing are still largely out of reach today. Personally I think that the two things balance out, but it could be jarring for some if this is their first Heinlein book.
This book is a story about a group of people who discover a way to hop between dimensions. They are not the first to obtain this technology, and their excursions are almost immediately noticed. The main characters Zeb, Deety, Hilda, and Jacob are thrown into a fight of flight situation in Zeb's modified ( read armed) roadable aircraft. Jacob rigs the air-car for dimensional travel and they are off keeping one step ahead of the black hats. Whenever they think that they have lost them they show up again. As I mentioned earlier they make stops at several fictional universes along the way where they augment their capabilities and move on. In the end their problems start to get resolved when they meet up with Lazurus Long (from time enough for love), Mike(from the moon is a harsh mistress), and several other Heinlein hero's. Throughout the story the concept of parallel realities making all things be real things is explored. This book will really make you think about the reality you see around you, and ponder the 'what if's' of your favorite stories.
This book will appeal to any Heinlein fan, and any science fiction fan. It will also appeal to people who like action adventure or fan fiction since the book is full of references, and interactions with characters or worlds from other works.
This book is available at www.amazon.com as an audio book or in print. I could not find it in E-book, so if you see it in that format please let me know where.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Conrads Time Machine Book Review
This book is a retroactive prequel to the adventures of Conrad Stargrad series. It is basically the story of how the civilization that made the time machine Conrad stumbled into began. It is a very good story about three nerdy friends who discover and develop time travel together. Like the Conrad series this book stays mostly upbeat and stays happy while still being interesting, but there are some very unfortunate personal consequences for the main characters from the development of time travel.
This book still has an element of everything going right for the main characters, but not to the extent that the Conrad series had. In fact there are some very sad parts for one of the main characters. The part I really didn't like was when in the course of the story advanced inter-dimensional aliens taught them how to do time travel right, so that they didn't pollute the alien's homes. I think that the story would have been better without it.
This book tells the story of Conrad's Uncle Tom, and two of his friends Ian and Jim, who discover and develop time travel. Soon after its initial discovery the societies that the three of them will start show up to help, and the time travel paradoxes, antics, and tragedies begin. This book explores both what happens to a people when they know their future from the day they were born, and the havoc reckless time travelers can cause. The book also explores a lot of the spin off technologies that warping space and time creates. This story explains why Tom is so willing to help his relative Conrad in the Conrad Stargrad series. It is not just because they are related, but because he knows first hand the damage, and the good, a little bit of knowledge from the future can cause. He wants to make sure he helps the good come about.
This book will appeal to Leo Frankowski fans, and to people who like a good engineers tale. Large parts of the book are devoted to figuring out technical problems, and this may not be the sort of thing action adventure lovers would like.
This book can be purchased in print or as an e-book at www.baen.com or www.amazon.com.
This book still has an element of everything going right for the main characters, but not to the extent that the Conrad series had. In fact there are some very sad parts for one of the main characters. The part I really didn't like was when in the course of the story advanced inter-dimensional aliens taught them how to do time travel right, so that they didn't pollute the alien's homes. I think that the story would have been better without it.
This book tells the story of Conrad's Uncle Tom, and two of his friends Ian and Jim, who discover and develop time travel. Soon after its initial discovery the societies that the three of them will start show up to help, and the time travel paradoxes, antics, and tragedies begin. This book explores both what happens to a people when they know their future from the day they were born, and the havoc reckless time travelers can cause. The book also explores a lot of the spin off technologies that warping space and time creates. This story explains why Tom is so willing to help his relative Conrad in the Conrad Stargrad series. It is not just because they are related, but because he knows first hand the damage, and the good, a little bit of knowledge from the future can cause. He wants to make sure he helps the good come about.
This book will appeal to Leo Frankowski fans, and to people who like a good engineers tale. Large parts of the book are devoted to figuring out technical problems, and this may not be the sort of thing action adventure lovers would like.
This book can be purchased in print or as an e-book at www.baen.com or www.amazon.com.
Monday, December 9, 2013
The Adventures of Conrad Stargrad Series by Leo Frankowski Book Series Review
This is a very good science fiction world-building adventure series. Unlike some stories in this sub-genre this story stays upbeat even when things are grim. The main character has some flaws, but none big enough to bring the tone of the story down. Sometimes its nice to have a series that is just fun, but still has enough plot and action to keep you guessing as to what will happen next and engaged with the characters. For me this series filled that role.
There are only a few parts of the story that I don't really like. The first is the fact that everything seems to go just right for the main character. Part way through the series it becomes very clear why though and makes it believable again. It must be nice when your great uncle owns a time machine. The other part is that this book could be considered a bit of guys fantasy as it seems like all the attractive women in the book love the main character, and hes not shy about partaking. To be honest the second one doesn't bother me all that much but it does limit the audience somewhat. Despite these issues, and somewhat because of them, I really like this series and have read it many times. It is particularly good for when I am feeling down because the books never are .
The series explores what happens when you accidentally send a modern industrial engineer to medieval Poland ten years before a mongol invasion, and don't figure that out for ten years. That's exactly what happens to American educated Polish engineer Conrad Schwartz( hes from StarGrad) in this story. He was on vacation hiking through Poland when he got drunk at a certain inn and stumbled into a time machine searching for the bathroom. Once he figures out where and more importantly when he is he does what any good engineer would do: He jump starts an industrial revolution in medieval Poland to turn back the mongol hordes. This is quite a surprise to his uncle Tom, who is one of the inventors of the time machine used to send him back, when he showed up to observe the mongol invasion. Since he was observed at the battle that becomes a fixed point in time, and Conrad must stay in the past. The question is will he be able to turn back the mongol hordes, and more importantly if he does what just happened to history?
This book will appeal to science fiction and adventure fans. It is a very good world building story, and a lot of fun. Some people may not like it due to the main characters harem forming tendencies, but if you don't mind that I definitely recommend this series.
These books are currently a little difficult to find as I just discovered. I have some very loved but worn copies from years ago. The original series if you can find it is composed of the following titles in order:
I did a little digging and it appears the books can be purchased at www.amazon.com or www.baen.com in print or as an ebook as two compilations titled Conrad StarGrad :The Radiant Warrior, and Conrad's Lady. The original six book series appears to be out of print otherwise.
There are only a few parts of the story that I don't really like. The first is the fact that everything seems to go just right for the main character. Part way through the series it becomes very clear why though and makes it believable again. It must be nice when your great uncle owns a time machine. The other part is that this book could be considered a bit of guys fantasy as it seems like all the attractive women in the book love the main character, and hes not shy about partaking. To be honest the second one doesn't bother me all that much but it does limit the audience somewhat. Despite these issues, and somewhat because of them, I really like this series and have read it many times. It is particularly good for when I am feeling down because the books never are .
The series explores what happens when you accidentally send a modern industrial engineer to medieval Poland ten years before a mongol invasion, and don't figure that out for ten years. That's exactly what happens to American educated Polish engineer Conrad Schwartz( hes from StarGrad) in this story. He was on vacation hiking through Poland when he got drunk at a certain inn and stumbled into a time machine searching for the bathroom. Once he figures out where and more importantly when he is he does what any good engineer would do: He jump starts an industrial revolution in medieval Poland to turn back the mongol hordes. This is quite a surprise to his uncle Tom, who is one of the inventors of the time machine used to send him back, when he showed up to observe the mongol invasion. Since he was observed at the battle that becomes a fixed point in time, and Conrad must stay in the past. The question is will he be able to turn back the mongol hordes, and more importantly if he does what just happened to history?
This book will appeal to science fiction and adventure fans. It is a very good world building story, and a lot of fun. Some people may not like it due to the main characters harem forming tendencies, but if you don't mind that I definitely recommend this series.
These books are currently a little difficult to find as I just discovered. I have some very loved but worn copies from years ago. The original series if you can find it is composed of the following titles in order:
- The Cross Time Engineer
- The High Tech Night
- The Radiant Warrior
- The Flying Warlord
- Lord Conrad's Lady
- Conrad's Quest for Rubber
I did a little digging and it appears the books can be purchased at www.amazon.com or www.baen.com in print or as an ebook as two compilations titled Conrad StarGrad :The Radiant Warrior, and Conrad's Lady. The original six book series appears to be out of print otherwise.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Surrogates Movie Review
Surrogates explores the idea of tele-presence taken to the extreme. Its bleak vision of a future where people no longer interact or go anywhere for fear of getting hurt, but instead send out powerful androids controlled remotely through a virtual reality interface, is a frightening reflection of our growing fearfulness as a society. It is a trap that we as a people could all too easily fall into.
While I really like the depiction of the technology in this film, and the way that it highlights some potential problems with this type of technology, I do not like the one sided view this story portrays. It only explores the bad parts of the new society, not the beneficial parts.
The plot of this movie is that after society embraces surrogates for safety reasons someone is murdered by a virus uploaded to their surrogate that kills the operator. The action follows a FBI agent named Tom Greer, who is investigating the case. While investigating his surrogate is destroyed by anti-surrogate activists forcing him to carry on in real life. In the course of the investigation Greer reconnects with the real world and realizes how hollow his existence has been. In the end it turns out that the virus was created by the same man who made the surrogate technology. He now feels that it is being used incorrectly, and has decided to undo the damage he has done by destroying all surrogates and their operators. The climax of the movie is that this man uploads the virus to every surrogate, and Greer must find a way to halt it. In the end Greer opts to let the virus destroy all surrogates, but boots all users before they can be killed.
This movie was entertaining, but it could have been a lot better, and the ending was terrible. I would have liked to get a more complete picture of the effects of the technology on society. This movie will likely only appeal the science fiction, and crime drama fans. The action is ok, but takes a back seat to the investigation. It is basically a cop movie with a science fiction twist.
This movie is available at www.amazon.com on disk or streaming as a rental or purchase.
While I really like the depiction of the technology in this film, and the way that it highlights some potential problems with this type of technology, I do not like the one sided view this story portrays. It only explores the bad parts of the new society, not the beneficial parts.
The plot of this movie is that after society embraces surrogates for safety reasons someone is murdered by a virus uploaded to their surrogate that kills the operator. The action follows a FBI agent named Tom Greer, who is investigating the case. While investigating his surrogate is destroyed by anti-surrogate activists forcing him to carry on in real life. In the course of the investigation Greer reconnects with the real world and realizes how hollow his existence has been. In the end it turns out that the virus was created by the same man who made the surrogate technology. He now feels that it is being used incorrectly, and has decided to undo the damage he has done by destroying all surrogates and their operators. The climax of the movie is that this man uploads the virus to every surrogate, and Greer must find a way to halt it. In the end Greer opts to let the virus destroy all surrogates, but boots all users before they can be killed.
This movie was entertaining, but it could have been a lot better, and the ending was terrible. I would have liked to get a more complete picture of the effects of the technology on society. This movie will likely only appeal the science fiction, and crime drama fans. The action is ok, but takes a back seat to the investigation. It is basically a cop movie with a science fiction twist.
This movie is available at www.amazon.com on disk or streaming as a rental or purchase.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
This comedic live action take on the old mickey short is very good. It will make you laugh with and cheer for Dave the young Sorcerer's Apprentice. The classic scene is there, but there is much more to the movie. The story is really about Dave finding his self confidence and the will to use his power to resolve a centuries old conflict. Something I really like about the movie is that Dave grows up to be a scientist and that this plays an important role in the movie.
The only thing I didnt really like about the movie is that the villains are not complex characters. They are bad guys who like being bad guys. I would have liked to see more reason for them being the way they are.
The plot of this movie is that centuries ago Merlin and two of his three apprentices Balthazar and Veronica, attempted to defeat Morgana le Fey and Merlin's other apprentice Horvath. In the fight Merlin dies and Veronica sacrifices herself by merging with Morgana so that she can be trapped in a nesting doll. In the end Horvath is also trapped , and Balthazar is left to continue alone, searching for the heir Merlin spoke of that can defeat Morgana. The movie then skips to the near present day where Dave as a child runs into Balthazar right as Horvath escapes. Balthazar saves Dave, who he recognizes as the heir, by trapping himself and Horvath in a magic vase for a number of years. Dave's confidence is shattered when no one will believe him about what happened, and he is deemed to have had a mental breakdown. When Dave is older, and studying physics as a grad student, the two wizards finally escape and the story begins again. Balthazar begins teaching Dave Magic, with a few comic mishaps including the classic cleaning scene, but it goes to his head and he quickly ends up in a bind. His confidence is badly hurt by this latest failure on top of years of being thought crazy. In the end he must overcome his inner demons and combine science and magic to defeat Morgana and finally set things right.
This movie should appeal to fantasy fans, and would be great for family movie night. Its plot and side stories will keep the adults engaged and the kids will love the battles between wizards, and the good verses evil theme.
This movie can be bought on disk, or as a streaming rental or purchase on www.amazon.com.
The only thing I didnt really like about the movie is that the villains are not complex characters. They are bad guys who like being bad guys. I would have liked to see more reason for them being the way they are.
The plot of this movie is that centuries ago Merlin and two of his three apprentices Balthazar and Veronica, attempted to defeat Morgana le Fey and Merlin's other apprentice Horvath. In the fight Merlin dies and Veronica sacrifices herself by merging with Morgana so that she can be trapped in a nesting doll. In the end Horvath is also trapped , and Balthazar is left to continue alone, searching for the heir Merlin spoke of that can defeat Morgana. The movie then skips to the near present day where Dave as a child runs into Balthazar right as Horvath escapes. Balthazar saves Dave, who he recognizes as the heir, by trapping himself and Horvath in a magic vase for a number of years. Dave's confidence is shattered when no one will believe him about what happened, and he is deemed to have had a mental breakdown. When Dave is older, and studying physics as a grad student, the two wizards finally escape and the story begins again. Balthazar begins teaching Dave Magic, with a few comic mishaps including the classic cleaning scene, but it goes to his head and he quickly ends up in a bind. His confidence is badly hurt by this latest failure on top of years of being thought crazy. In the end he must overcome his inner demons and combine science and magic to defeat Morgana and finally set things right.
This movie should appeal to fantasy fans, and would be great for family movie night. Its plot and side stories will keep the adults engaged and the kids will love the battles between wizards, and the good verses evil theme.
This movie can be bought on disk, or as a streaming rental or purchase on www.amazon.com.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Thor Movie Review
The movie Thor is an adaptation of the Thor Comics by Marvel, and it exists in the same world as the Iron Man series, Captain America, and The Avengers. This movie serves as the introduction of Thor and the Asgardians including Loki, and Odin. I really like the fact that Thor has to find a reason bigger than his own ego to regain his power.
What I didn't like about this movie and the comic series was that while the asgardians take the name and some of the characteristics of the Norse gods there are also some issues that make this impossible. Things that very old Norse stories speak of are told as current events, and some of the relationships are not correct. If you ignore that the movie is very good.
In the movie Thor is presented as a very powerful warrior who has arrogance and ego to match his strength. When the frost giants attempt to retrieve their most powerful weapon from Asgard Thor is enraged and goes to their home to pick a fight, nearly restarting the war between Asgard and the frost giants. As punishment Odin strips his son of his hammer and his strength and banishes both him and the hammer to earth. Thor can regain his power, but only if he can shed his ego, and learn to be worthy of his power. On earth Thor runs into(literally) a young scientist named Jane Foster who is studying wormholes, which is the true form of the bifrost used to transport him to his exile. While Thor attempts to regain his power, and make Jane his girlfriend, on earth Odin Slips into a coma when Thor's brother Loki discovers that he is really a small frost giant that Odin stole. Being Odin's non-exiled son Loki takes power and sends a fire automaton to kill Thor in exile. This, combined with his humbling experience on earth, allows Thor to finally become worthy of his power by nearly getting killed defending a town from the rampaging automaton.
This movie will appeal to anyone who likes action adventure, Superhero and comic fans, Science Fiction fans, and Fantasy fans. It is an easy move to watch and the special effects are great. Except for the violence this would be a great movie for anyone. As it is anyone but very small children should enjoy it.
This movie can be found at www.amazon.com as a disk or for streaming rental or purchase. If you have Prime it is available as a free video right now. It is also available as an instant stream on www.netflix.com.
What I didn't like about this movie and the comic series was that while the asgardians take the name and some of the characteristics of the Norse gods there are also some issues that make this impossible. Things that very old Norse stories speak of are told as current events, and some of the relationships are not correct. If you ignore that the movie is very good.
In the movie Thor is presented as a very powerful warrior who has arrogance and ego to match his strength. When the frost giants attempt to retrieve their most powerful weapon from Asgard Thor is enraged and goes to their home to pick a fight, nearly restarting the war between Asgard and the frost giants. As punishment Odin strips his son of his hammer and his strength and banishes both him and the hammer to earth. Thor can regain his power, but only if he can shed his ego, and learn to be worthy of his power. On earth Thor runs into(literally) a young scientist named Jane Foster who is studying wormholes, which is the true form of the bifrost used to transport him to his exile. While Thor attempts to regain his power, and make Jane his girlfriend, on earth Odin Slips into a coma when Thor's brother Loki discovers that he is really a small frost giant that Odin stole. Being Odin's non-exiled son Loki takes power and sends a fire automaton to kill Thor in exile. This, combined with his humbling experience on earth, allows Thor to finally become worthy of his power by nearly getting killed defending a town from the rampaging automaton.
This movie will appeal to anyone who likes action adventure, Superhero and comic fans, Science Fiction fans, and Fantasy fans. It is an easy move to watch and the special effects are great. Except for the violence this would be a great movie for anyone. As it is anyone but very small children should enjoy it.
This movie can be found at www.amazon.com as a disk or for streaming rental or purchase. If you have Prime it is available as a free video right now. It is also available as an instant stream on www.netflix.com.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Pitch Black Movie Review
This movie is both a terrifying trip through a gauntlet of things that lurk in the dark, and a trip to redeem the soul of a man who at first identifies more with the monsters he faces than the people he is with. Through the trip the main character a criminal named Riddick finds some things that reinforce his disillusionment, but others that stimulate his sense of honor.
The story is good but I find it a little too dark and Riddick is always a little too cold for me to get comfortable with it. The fact is that Riddick is not a hero, and the story does not transform him into one. At the beginning he is a dangerous monster of a man, and at the end he still is one, but he has found people he feels worthy of living, and that he grudgingly cares about. It shows that in the end even a monster can help his fellow man.
The show starts out with a cargo ship being disabled and having to crash land on a deserted planet. One of the passengers is the dangerous criminal Riddick who escapes. The rest of the passengers find a deserted settlement, and signs that things did not end peacefully. The settlement has a spaceship, but no power cells. It turns out that the planet they are on has three suns, and they are heading into a rare time when night will fall. With the fall of night Monstrous creatures emerge, and Riddick, who can see better in the dark, rejoins the survivors, and begrudgingly helps them retrieve the power cells from the crashed ship. During the journey some of the survivors die, and fights erupt. At one point Riddick must step in to save a girl that was in disguise as a boy from being used as bait. In the end Riddick has decided to leave the planet without the people but the pilot says she is willing to risk her life for them when Riddick asks. This impresses him and he helps her save them. In the process Riddick is overtaken by the monsters, but the pilot dies trying to save him. He manages to win his fight with the monsters, decides to save everyone to repay her sacrifice, and regains some of his humanity in the process.
This movie will appeal to science fiction fans who like horror and suspense films as well. It will also appeal to action fans because of the fight scenes. This is not a movie for kids.
This movie can be found a www.amazon.com on disk or for streaming rental or purchase.
The story is good but I find it a little too dark and Riddick is always a little too cold for me to get comfortable with it. The fact is that Riddick is not a hero, and the story does not transform him into one. At the beginning he is a dangerous monster of a man, and at the end he still is one, but he has found people he feels worthy of living, and that he grudgingly cares about. It shows that in the end even a monster can help his fellow man.
The show starts out with a cargo ship being disabled and having to crash land on a deserted planet. One of the passengers is the dangerous criminal Riddick who escapes. The rest of the passengers find a deserted settlement, and signs that things did not end peacefully. The settlement has a spaceship, but no power cells. It turns out that the planet they are on has three suns, and they are heading into a rare time when night will fall. With the fall of night Monstrous creatures emerge, and Riddick, who can see better in the dark, rejoins the survivors, and begrudgingly helps them retrieve the power cells from the crashed ship. During the journey some of the survivors die, and fights erupt. At one point Riddick must step in to save a girl that was in disguise as a boy from being used as bait. In the end Riddick has decided to leave the planet without the people but the pilot says she is willing to risk her life for them when Riddick asks. This impresses him and he helps her save them. In the process Riddick is overtaken by the monsters, but the pilot dies trying to save him. He manages to win his fight with the monsters, decides to save everyone to repay her sacrifice, and regains some of his humanity in the process.
This movie will appeal to science fiction fans who like horror and suspense films as well. It will also appeal to action fans because of the fight scenes. This is not a movie for kids.
This movie can be found a www.amazon.com on disk or for streaming rental or purchase.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Independence Day Movie Review
This is an older science fiction alien invasion story, but in my opinion it is one of the best alien invasion movies I have ever seen. There are a lot of very sad moments, and great depictions of heroism in this movie. The way it shows humanity pulling together in the face of the threat is how I hope it would happen if something like this were to become reality. I really like that the aliens in this movie are here for resources and we just happen to be in the way. They are basically acting like colonial Europeans. This motivation is much more understandable than the motivation in some of the alien invasion movies I have seen.
What I didn't like about this movie was the depiction of computer technology, programming, and the reliance of the aliens on our own communication satellites for a synchronization signal. To me this is a flaw in the plot that almost breaks suspension of disbelief. First off nobody who has shields is going to use our satellites to bounce an important signal. They will drop off their own and have secure communications. This doesn't mean we can't intercept it and do some hacking, but using our own hardware makes it too easy. Second what kind of rinky dink invasion force lets a scout ship that's been MIA for 50 years with life signs aboard dock without communicating to the people inside? I mean that's some impressive hacking, programming, and translation that had to go into that. The time frame there is just implausible. In this movie the aliens are woefully stupid when it comes to information security. I suppose that this is plausible if their culture never came up with hackers. If this is the case then many of the issues with the plot disappear. These elements aside the movie was really good and they had to fit all the action in a movie somehow.
The plot of this movie is really simple. The aliens attack and destroy most of our major cities and military bases. We then regroup and counterattack using a trojan horse to disable their main advantages which lets us win. It has been done lots of times mostly badly. Independence day does it right however. It uses the human angle and follows small groups of survivors and combatants to give a good feel of what is going on, and the human cost of what has happened. The ending Trojan horse comes in the form of an alien scout ship that crashed in Roswell New Mexico, and a talented computer geek who learns how to break into their systems and shut down their shields. Once that is down our weapons are plenty destructive and the tables turn.
This movie will appeal to most Science Fiction fans, and some Action Adventure fans. It may not be the best movie to watch with small children because of the destruction of cities, and one creepy alien scene, but families with older children should enjoy the show.
This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a stream for rental or purchase.
What I didn't like about this movie was the depiction of computer technology, programming, and the reliance of the aliens on our own communication satellites for a synchronization signal. To me this is a flaw in the plot that almost breaks suspension of disbelief. First off nobody who has shields is going to use our satellites to bounce an important signal. They will drop off their own and have secure communications. This doesn't mean we can't intercept it and do some hacking, but using our own hardware makes it too easy. Second what kind of rinky dink invasion force lets a scout ship that's been MIA for 50 years with life signs aboard dock without communicating to the people inside? I mean that's some impressive hacking, programming, and translation that had to go into that. The time frame there is just implausible. In this movie the aliens are woefully stupid when it comes to information security. I suppose that this is plausible if their culture never came up with hackers. If this is the case then many of the issues with the plot disappear. These elements aside the movie was really good and they had to fit all the action in a movie somehow.
The plot of this movie is really simple. The aliens attack and destroy most of our major cities and military bases. We then regroup and counterattack using a trojan horse to disable their main advantages which lets us win. It has been done lots of times mostly badly. Independence day does it right however. It uses the human angle and follows small groups of survivors and combatants to give a good feel of what is going on, and the human cost of what has happened. The ending Trojan horse comes in the form of an alien scout ship that crashed in Roswell New Mexico, and a talented computer geek who learns how to break into their systems and shut down their shields. Once that is down our weapons are plenty destructive and the tables turn.
This movie will appeal to most Science Fiction fans, and some Action Adventure fans. It may not be the best movie to watch with small children because of the destruction of cities, and one creepy alien scene, but families with older children should enjoy the show.
This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a stream for rental or purchase.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
The Mummy Movie Review
This movie retells an old horror story as an action adventure thrill ride. The action never lets up and really bad things happen, but the main characters take it in stride and set about fixing the problem. The reaction of the characters to the challenges is what sets this movie apart. They make the movie more of an Indiana Jones style archaeological adventure than a horror film.
There isn't really anything that I didn't like in this movie. The special effects are pretty good even today. The story is engaging, and the characters have great chemistry. They have just the right mix or comic relief and confident action to make this into a great movie.
This movie tells the story around when adventurer Rick O'Connell ( Brendan Fraser) and young egyptologist Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) go to find the city of the dead Hamunaptra. O'Connell has been there before with his unit of the french foreign legion, but when Evelyn finds him he is in jail for a bar fight. She manages to get him our of jail, and he leads her to the city. While there Evelyn wakes the mummy of Imhotep by reading the book of the dead. Imhotep is a priest who was mummified alive and cursed for killing his pharaoh over his relationship with the pharaoh's concubine. The rest of the movie is about Imhotep's twin quest's to regain a working body by consuming the organs of those who actually opened his tomb (a competing archaeological team who are basically a plot device.) and to restore his lover to life. Rick and Evelyn oppose him in this quest because completing it begins destroying the world around them. Also it turns out he wants to use Evelyn as his lovers vessel. In the end Evelyn, Rick, and some friends set everything to right and escape with some loot as well.
This movie is great for anyone to sit and watch with a bag of popcorn. It may not be the sort of movie that has a deep thoughtful plot, but it is the kind that is just entertaining to watch. This is great for any action film lover, or someone who enjoys a romantic comedy since there is the budding relationship between Rick and Evelyn. This could also be a good candidate for family movie night if your children don't scare too easily.
This movie can be picked up on disk or streaming (for rent or for purchase) at www.amazon.com.
There isn't really anything that I didn't like in this movie. The special effects are pretty good even today. The story is engaging, and the characters have great chemistry. They have just the right mix or comic relief and confident action to make this into a great movie.
This movie tells the story around when adventurer Rick O'Connell ( Brendan Fraser) and young egyptologist Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) go to find the city of the dead Hamunaptra. O'Connell has been there before with his unit of the french foreign legion, but when Evelyn finds him he is in jail for a bar fight. She manages to get him our of jail, and he leads her to the city. While there Evelyn wakes the mummy of Imhotep by reading the book of the dead. Imhotep is a priest who was mummified alive and cursed for killing his pharaoh over his relationship with the pharaoh's concubine. The rest of the movie is about Imhotep's twin quest's to regain a working body by consuming the organs of those who actually opened his tomb (a competing archaeological team who are basically a plot device.) and to restore his lover to life. Rick and Evelyn oppose him in this quest because completing it begins destroying the world around them. Also it turns out he wants to use Evelyn as his lovers vessel. In the end Evelyn, Rick, and some friends set everything to right and escape with some loot as well.
This movie is great for anyone to sit and watch with a bag of popcorn. It may not be the sort of movie that has a deep thoughtful plot, but it is the kind that is just entertaining to watch. This is great for any action film lover, or someone who enjoys a romantic comedy since there is the budding relationship between Rick and Evelyn. This could also be a good candidate for family movie night if your children don't scare too easily.
This movie can be picked up on disk or streaming (for rent or for purchase) at www.amazon.com.
VoidHawk Book Review
VoidHawk is a book in a genre I wish there was more of. It is a star fantasy. Yes you have ships traveling between planets, but they are largely wooden ships that are powered by magic and they travel through the void rather than space. This universe is populated by all of the things you might find in a good fantasy universe. Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Demons, and other mysterious and ancient races. Fighting is largely done by spell and sword in person and with catapults and such ship to ship. The book is very fast paced, and fun to read. Captain Dexter SilverHawk and his motley crew make you wish you could go find a void ship and travel the worlds.
What I didn't like about this book was the quality of the editing. There were some mistakes I noticed and I am sure more that I did not. Since the book is largely available on Amazon, and this first one is free it was definitely worth checking out. In the end I forgave the editing mistakes and bought the rest of the series because the story was really good. This is the type of story you don't want to put down. In fact I just found out that there is a new book in this series and I intend to read the entire series again and buy the new one.
The story starts off with Dexter finding the VoidHawk wrecked and abandoned on an asteroid. He goes home and recruits his friend Kragor, a Dwarf, to repair the ship. Almost immediately after beginning to salvage the ship he is set upon by pirates while traveling back to base in his federation patrol craft. Dexter manages to defeat them, but looses his ship and winds up in jail for doing so. He cannot prove his innocence without producing the pirates ships and that would lead his greedy superiors to the VoidHawk. Kragor manages to bribe Dexter and a few friends he has made in jail out of trouble, and the adventure begins. Dexter and crew go from planet to planet finding new trouble wherever they land, and somehow making a profit along the way. The trials and tribulations bring the crew as close as family. Every adventure is a fun story and its own little mini adventure. I could describe them all, but the real story is how Dexter and his crew come together as a team that can accomplish just about anything.
This book will appeal to people who like either space or sailing ship adventures, and fantasy realms with sword and sorcery. Science fiction or fantasy purists may not like it unless they can accept the fact that it is a cross over genre. Also people who can't deal with some editing mis-steps may have issues. The book and series contains quite a bit of violence and sexual content so it is probably better for adults than children.
This book is available in E-book or print at www.amazon.com. It is free as an E-book, but the rest of the series is not.
What I didn't like about this book was the quality of the editing. There were some mistakes I noticed and I am sure more that I did not. Since the book is largely available on Amazon, and this first one is free it was definitely worth checking out. In the end I forgave the editing mistakes and bought the rest of the series because the story was really good. This is the type of story you don't want to put down. In fact I just found out that there is a new book in this series and I intend to read the entire series again and buy the new one.
The story starts off with Dexter finding the VoidHawk wrecked and abandoned on an asteroid. He goes home and recruits his friend Kragor, a Dwarf, to repair the ship. Almost immediately after beginning to salvage the ship he is set upon by pirates while traveling back to base in his federation patrol craft. Dexter manages to defeat them, but looses his ship and winds up in jail for doing so. He cannot prove his innocence without producing the pirates ships and that would lead his greedy superiors to the VoidHawk. Kragor manages to bribe Dexter and a few friends he has made in jail out of trouble, and the adventure begins. Dexter and crew go from planet to planet finding new trouble wherever they land, and somehow making a profit along the way. The trials and tribulations bring the crew as close as family. Every adventure is a fun story and its own little mini adventure. I could describe them all, but the real story is how Dexter and his crew come together as a team that can accomplish just about anything.
This book will appeal to people who like either space or sailing ship adventures, and fantasy realms with sword and sorcery. Science fiction or fantasy purists may not like it unless they can accept the fact that it is a cross over genre. Also people who can't deal with some editing mis-steps may have issues. The book and series contains quite a bit of violence and sexual content so it is probably better for adults than children.
This book is available in E-book or print at www.amazon.com. It is free as an E-book, but the rest of the series is not.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Iron Man Movie Review
This movie is very entertaining to watch. At the beginning of the movie Tony Stark is not a very likable character. He is a rich arrogant playboy with no real regard for anybody or anything. He is in the business of designing and selling weapons and he doesn't really care about what they do to people. I really like the fact that Tony allows his experiences transform him into a better person instead of making him even more mercenary and uncaring. By the end of the movie he is still a rich arrogant playboy, but he is one that cares and has become an irreverent hero.
Since this movie came from comic books the science can be a little iffy. It is never really explained exactly what an arc reactor(the power source for his super suit) is besides an incredibly powerful small electrical generator. Despite this Tony goes about creating his inventions in a scientific manor, and it is a good science fiction film in that way.
In this movie Tony is captured by a group of terrorists when he is on a trip to a war torn area where his weapons are sold and used. Tony is injured by one of his own weapons and has a piece of metal seeking his heart that is only kept at bay by an electromagnet. The terrorists have him and another captive, named Yinsin, working to make them weapons and Tony and his companion use this to construct an arc reactor to keep tony's heart intact, and power a suit of powerful armor Tony is building. In the end Tony escapes with the armor, but only by Yinsin sacrificing his life. When he gets back Tony decides to stop making weapons for sale and to refine his armor concept so that he can help people, and perhaps put some of his ghosts to rest. It turns out that his ambush was no accident however, and he ends up having to fight one of his managers named Obadiah Stane. Stane arranged the ambush and was selling weapons to the terrorists behind Tony's back. He has salvaged and upgraded Tony's original suit and stolen Tony's latest arc reactor to power it. Tony must use his first reactor which has a lower capacity to battle Stane, but wins by knowing the limits of his original design better than his opponent.
This is a good action adventure movie that Comic Geeks, Science Fiction Fans, and anyone who loves a good adventure will enjoy. The movie is pg 13 and has a lot of violence so very young children may be a bad idea depending on the child, but they will likely enjoy it if it will not scare them.
This movie can be found at www.amazon.com for purchase on disk or as a stream.
Since this movie came from comic books the science can be a little iffy. It is never really explained exactly what an arc reactor(the power source for his super suit) is besides an incredibly powerful small electrical generator. Despite this Tony goes about creating his inventions in a scientific manor, and it is a good science fiction film in that way.
In this movie Tony is captured by a group of terrorists when he is on a trip to a war torn area where his weapons are sold and used. Tony is injured by one of his own weapons and has a piece of metal seeking his heart that is only kept at bay by an electromagnet. The terrorists have him and another captive, named Yinsin, working to make them weapons and Tony and his companion use this to construct an arc reactor to keep tony's heart intact, and power a suit of powerful armor Tony is building. In the end Tony escapes with the armor, but only by Yinsin sacrificing his life. When he gets back Tony decides to stop making weapons for sale and to refine his armor concept so that he can help people, and perhaps put some of his ghosts to rest. It turns out that his ambush was no accident however, and he ends up having to fight one of his managers named Obadiah Stane. Stane arranged the ambush and was selling weapons to the terrorists behind Tony's back. He has salvaged and upgraded Tony's original suit and stolen Tony's latest arc reactor to power it. Tony must use his first reactor which has a lower capacity to battle Stane, but wins by knowing the limits of his original design better than his opponent.
This is a good action adventure movie that Comic Geeks, Science Fiction Fans, and anyone who loves a good adventure will enjoy. The movie is pg 13 and has a lot of violence so very young children may be a bad idea depending on the child, but they will likely enjoy it if it will not scare them.
This movie can be found at www.amazon.com for purchase on disk or as a stream.
Escape from Planet Earth Movie Review
I picked this movie off of Netflix because I couldn't take any more kids programming, but wanted something my daughter could enjoy with me. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. The movie is fun to watch and funny for both kids and adults. I like that it has something for everyone, but keeps it simple enough that my three year old can follow it.
What I didn't like about the movie is that it is very predictable. There weren't very many surprise's as far as major plot points go. The film made up for this however with the family dynamics between the main characters that were woven around the plot.
Scorch Supernova, is the biggest hero on his world, and it seems that there isn't anything that he cant accomplish. He is very athletic and if something is possible it is likely he can pull it off. Unfortunately he has a tendency towards arrogance, impulsive action, and not thinking things through. Most of the time this is mitigated by his mission controller, his brother Gary Supernova, who is very intelligent, and can think his way out of most of Scorch's jams. One day Scorch is asked to go to the dark planet, which is earth, to answer a distress call. Gary counsels him to turn down the mission since nobody has ever come back from there. They argue and Scorch ends up doing the mission without Gary's help. When he falls for the inevitable trap Gary ends up trying to save him personally. This ends up with them both stuck on earth, and Gary being forced to work on a crazy super-weapon by a bitter US general along with some other trapped aliens. In the end Gary is able to disable the super-weapon, save the day, and escape earth with the help of his family back home and his brother Scorch. In the end Scorch and Gary realize that they both need each other and that their success comes from their teamwork not Gary's brains or Scorch's physical abilities.
This movie should appeal to people looking for a light Science Fiction Family movie, or people who like a good space adventure. The animation is done in such a way that kids will enjoy the show, but the dialog is geared more towards adults without being so overly complex that kids can't follow it. This is a science fiction comedy, but it is not what you would call hard science fiction. It does however emphasize the power of thinking, and the hero is an engineer.
This movie can be found on disk at www.amazon.com and can be found streaming as either a rental or purchase at www.amazon.com or for free with subscription at www.netflix.com.
What I didn't like about the movie is that it is very predictable. There weren't very many surprise's as far as major plot points go. The film made up for this however with the family dynamics between the main characters that were woven around the plot.
Scorch Supernova, is the biggest hero on his world, and it seems that there isn't anything that he cant accomplish. He is very athletic and if something is possible it is likely he can pull it off. Unfortunately he has a tendency towards arrogance, impulsive action, and not thinking things through. Most of the time this is mitigated by his mission controller, his brother Gary Supernova, who is very intelligent, and can think his way out of most of Scorch's jams. One day Scorch is asked to go to the dark planet, which is earth, to answer a distress call. Gary counsels him to turn down the mission since nobody has ever come back from there. They argue and Scorch ends up doing the mission without Gary's help. When he falls for the inevitable trap Gary ends up trying to save him personally. This ends up with them both stuck on earth, and Gary being forced to work on a crazy super-weapon by a bitter US general along with some other trapped aliens. In the end Gary is able to disable the super-weapon, save the day, and escape earth with the help of his family back home and his brother Scorch. In the end Scorch and Gary realize that they both need each other and that their success comes from their teamwork not Gary's brains or Scorch's physical abilities.
This movie should appeal to people looking for a light Science Fiction Family movie, or people who like a good space adventure. The animation is done in such a way that kids will enjoy the show, but the dialog is geared more towards adults without being so overly complex that kids can't follow it. This is a science fiction comedy, but it is not what you would call hard science fiction. It does however emphasize the power of thinking, and the hero is an engineer.
This movie can be found on disk at www.amazon.com and can be found streaming as either a rental or purchase at www.amazon.com or for free with subscription at www.netflix.com.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
How to train your dragon Movie Review
This movie is the story of a boy who made friends with a dragon and a dragon who came to trust a boy. I really identified with Hiccough the main character because he is a viking that doesn't like normal viking things. He is clumsy, weak, and clever. These are not exactly what his clan is looking for in a viking. I really liked how Hiccough's different way of looking at things allowed him to do things nobody else from his village had ever managed, and find his place among his people in doing so.
To be honest I cant really think of anything about this movie that I didn't like. Seriously I think its that good. I have watched it probably 50 times with my daughter and I still enjoy it. How many movies can you say that about?
The basic plot of this movie is that Hiccough's Island, Berk, has been at war with the dragons pretty much forever because the dragons burn down their houses and eat their livestock. It is so deeply entrenched that the right of passage in his village is to kill a dragon. Hiccough, being a clumsy and geeky sort of guy, comes up with an invention to help him kill a dragon. He ends up disabling a dragon known as a Night Fury, but because he shot it with his invention and nobody saw it, nobody will believe him. Hiccough finds the dragon in the forest but cannot bring himself to kill him and attempts to set him free. Unfortunately the dragon has lost a part of his tail and cannot fly. Over time Hiccough gains his trust and names him toothless due to his retractable teeth. Being clever he fashions a prosthetic tail piece and toothless and he teach each other to work as a team so that toothless can fly once again. Eventually things come out and Hiccough's father ends up using Toothless to navigate to the dragons Island. Hiccough tries to warn his father that there is something on the island making the dragons raid Berk, but his father will not listen and sets off with most of the clan. Knowing that his people will be destroyed Hiccough recruits his dragon training class, tames the captive dragons the clan holds, and flies off to save the day.
This movie should appeal to people of any age. It is a great movie to watch with your family. It should particularly appeal to anyone who has ever had trouble fitting in. It is a good parable for what can be accomplished when you change the way you look at and do things.
This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a streaming rental or purchase.
To be honest I cant really think of anything about this movie that I didn't like. Seriously I think its that good. I have watched it probably 50 times with my daughter and I still enjoy it. How many movies can you say that about?
The basic plot of this movie is that Hiccough's Island, Berk, has been at war with the dragons pretty much forever because the dragons burn down their houses and eat their livestock. It is so deeply entrenched that the right of passage in his village is to kill a dragon. Hiccough, being a clumsy and geeky sort of guy, comes up with an invention to help him kill a dragon. He ends up disabling a dragon known as a Night Fury, but because he shot it with his invention and nobody saw it, nobody will believe him. Hiccough finds the dragon in the forest but cannot bring himself to kill him and attempts to set him free. Unfortunately the dragon has lost a part of his tail and cannot fly. Over time Hiccough gains his trust and names him toothless due to his retractable teeth. Being clever he fashions a prosthetic tail piece and toothless and he teach each other to work as a team so that toothless can fly once again. Eventually things come out and Hiccough's father ends up using Toothless to navigate to the dragons Island. Hiccough tries to warn his father that there is something on the island making the dragons raid Berk, but his father will not listen and sets off with most of the clan. Knowing that his people will be destroyed Hiccough recruits his dragon training class, tames the captive dragons the clan holds, and flies off to save the day.
This movie should appeal to people of any age. It is a great movie to watch with your family. It should particularly appeal to anyone who has ever had trouble fitting in. It is a good parable for what can be accomplished when you change the way you look at and do things.
This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a streaming rental or purchase.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Lilo and Stitch Movie Review
Lilo and Stitch is a fun family movie that you can watch with your kids. This animated science fiction film is really all about acceptance and chosen family. The film does a good job of making you identify with both Lilo and Stitch, and under the comedy both of their stories are a little sad. I really like the fact that this can be seen as either a girl and her alien or as an alien and his little girl movie because it becomes very obvious through the film that the are good for each other.
What I didn't like about this movie is the Galactic Federation. The movie manages to portray the society as extremely rule-bound and formal, and sort of wild west at the same time. The reasoning behind why they would want to imprison stitch are flimsy and don't make a lot of sense for a cosmopolitan society.
Basically the story follows the life and meeting of Lilo and Stitch. Lilo is a little girl who lives with her sister because their parents died. she has trouble fitting in with the other kids in her town, and acts out violently at times. Stitch is a genetic experiment made by a mad scientist in the galactic federation. He is basically made to be a force of chaos and destruction. He is very hard to hurt, and highly intelligent. When Stitch's creator is put on trial he is used as evidence against him, and stitch's behavior at trial end up getting him banished to a remote asteroid. Rightly seeking to avoid this horrible fate stitch escapes confinement, steals a ship, and crash lands in Hawaii. Looking like a dog he is picked up and taken to the animal shelter where Lilo adopts him. Lilo is very understanding of his violent tendencies and tries, largely successfully, to help him overcome them. In the course of doing this Lilo comes to terms with her own situation, and deals with her own issues as well. Eventually Stitch is pursued, and ends up dragging Lilo into his problems. In the end they save each other. Stitch saves Lilo from being abducted by the Galactic Federation. Lilo saves Stitch by claiming him as a member of her family, and not letting the Galactic Federation take him away.
This movie makes a great family movie because it shows that anyone can be good, and that everyone has a place where they belong. It says that even someone who was made to be bad can overcome that with the right family, and an understanding environment.
This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a streaming rental or purchase. It is also available on Netflix if you have a subscription.
What I didn't like about this movie is the Galactic Federation. The movie manages to portray the society as extremely rule-bound and formal, and sort of wild west at the same time. The reasoning behind why they would want to imprison stitch are flimsy and don't make a lot of sense for a cosmopolitan society.
Basically the story follows the life and meeting of Lilo and Stitch. Lilo is a little girl who lives with her sister because their parents died. she has trouble fitting in with the other kids in her town, and acts out violently at times. Stitch is a genetic experiment made by a mad scientist in the galactic federation. He is basically made to be a force of chaos and destruction. He is very hard to hurt, and highly intelligent. When Stitch's creator is put on trial he is used as evidence against him, and stitch's behavior at trial end up getting him banished to a remote asteroid. Rightly seeking to avoid this horrible fate stitch escapes confinement, steals a ship, and crash lands in Hawaii. Looking like a dog he is picked up and taken to the animal shelter where Lilo adopts him. Lilo is very understanding of his violent tendencies and tries, largely successfully, to help him overcome them. In the course of doing this Lilo comes to terms with her own situation, and deals with her own issues as well. Eventually Stitch is pursued, and ends up dragging Lilo into his problems. In the end they save each other. Stitch saves Lilo from being abducted by the Galactic Federation. Lilo saves Stitch by claiming him as a member of her family, and not letting the Galactic Federation take him away.
This movie makes a great family movie because it shows that anyone can be good, and that everyone has a place where they belong. It says that even someone who was made to be bad can overcome that with the right family, and an understanding environment.
This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a streaming rental or purchase. It is also available on Netflix if you have a subscription.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Titan AE Movie Review
Despite the movie starting with the earth being destroyed this movie is a pretty upbeat science fiction story, about a people overcoming the loss of their home and at the same time a boy coming to terms with the loss of his father. What could be a fairly depressing tale ends up being goofy but inspirational. The film is animated so the there are no special effects to degrade, and the animation is pretty good.
The things that I don't like about this movie are that the destruction of earth does not hit very hard and it is never adequately explained why the antagonists the Drej are after us. The best I could get is that the technology we were developing was a long term threat to them, but it was never explained why. Despite these shortcomings I did really enjoy the movie as a basic hero's journey tale in space.
The story follows the main Character Cale who was a young child when he escaped the destruction of earth in the care of his fathers friends. His father piloted a spacecraft that is supposed to be the hope of humanity, but was never seen again. Years later Cale is working in a scrapyard when another of his fathers friends, Captain Korso shows up wanting Cale's help to find his fathers ship. It seems his father left a map in a ring with his son detailing where he planned to go. Eventually Kale accepts his destiny and takes up the search. Through the journey he sheds his bitterness and reconnects to humanity. Their quest has many twists and turns and Cale becomes good friends with Korso's crew. At one point Korso is revealed to be a traitor, and it is left to Cale and his new friend Akima to find the ship before Korso and the Drej can destroy it.
This movie will appeal to anyone who likes a good space adventure, but if you are looking for a hard science fiction film this is not for you. There is definitely the type of science fiction with more fiction than science. That being said this is a movie that you could potentially watch with the whole family if your children are not sensitive to mild personal violence, and the fact that the movie has the destruction of earth in the first scene.
This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or streaming for rental or purchase.
The things that I don't like about this movie are that the destruction of earth does not hit very hard and it is never adequately explained why the antagonists the Drej are after us. The best I could get is that the technology we were developing was a long term threat to them, but it was never explained why. Despite these shortcomings I did really enjoy the movie as a basic hero's journey tale in space.
The story follows the main Character Cale who was a young child when he escaped the destruction of earth in the care of his fathers friends. His father piloted a spacecraft that is supposed to be the hope of humanity, but was never seen again. Years later Cale is working in a scrapyard when another of his fathers friends, Captain Korso shows up wanting Cale's help to find his fathers ship. It seems his father left a map in a ring with his son detailing where he planned to go. Eventually Kale accepts his destiny and takes up the search. Through the journey he sheds his bitterness and reconnects to humanity. Their quest has many twists and turns and Cale becomes good friends with Korso's crew. At one point Korso is revealed to be a traitor, and it is left to Cale and his new friend Akima to find the ship before Korso and the Drej can destroy it.
This movie will appeal to anyone who likes a good space adventure, but if you are looking for a hard science fiction film this is not for you. There is definitely the type of science fiction with more fiction than science. That being said this is a movie that you could potentially watch with the whole family if your children are not sensitive to mild personal violence, and the fact that the movie has the destruction of earth in the first scene.
This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or streaming for rental or purchase.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Warp Speed by Travis S Taylor Book Review
This book is yet another story that was hard for me to put down. It was hard even though I read the sequel and knew everything in this book had to turn out alright in the end. Travis S. Taylor writes a good and engaging science fiction story that is also a pretty good adventure, and makes science seem fun again. Since Mr Taylor is literally a rocket scientist the science is pretty sound, and the projections are based on real theory even if not all of it is proved out just yet.
The only problem I had with the book is that his characters can be somewhat over the top, and the scrapes they get into and out of stretch belief at times. This doesn't take away from it all being a good story, and I moved past these issues quickly. They are easy to gloss over because you want to find out what happens next.
The plot focuses on Dr. Neil Anson Clemons, his research team, and US Air Force Colonel Tabitha Ames. Dr. Clemons is working on a warp drive system, and an energy source to power it, and Colonel Ames secures funding for his project after seeing his preliminary work. Despite some very bad lab accidents Clemons is successful, and plans go forward for a warp probe to be built in orbit. Other countries, however see this new technology as a threat and after stealing his work, sabotaging his probe, and trying to kill both him and Colonel Ames they use his stolen work to launch a pre-emptive strike using weapons made from his own stolen technology. Clemons however knows his technology better than anyone, and has a few trump cards that allow him to partially defend against the attacks, and strike back at the launch sites allowing the United States to win in the end.
This book should appeal to science geeks, hard science fiction fans, and people who like a good action adventure story and don't mind the science talk.
The book can be purchased in print or in E-book format at www.amazon.com.
The only problem I had with the book is that his characters can be somewhat over the top, and the scrapes they get into and out of stretch belief at times. This doesn't take away from it all being a good story, and I moved past these issues quickly. They are easy to gloss over because you want to find out what happens next.
The plot focuses on Dr. Neil Anson Clemons, his research team, and US Air Force Colonel Tabitha Ames. Dr. Clemons is working on a warp drive system, and an energy source to power it, and Colonel Ames secures funding for his project after seeing his preliminary work. Despite some very bad lab accidents Clemons is successful, and plans go forward for a warp probe to be built in orbit. Other countries, however see this new technology as a threat and after stealing his work, sabotaging his probe, and trying to kill both him and Colonel Ames they use his stolen work to launch a pre-emptive strike using weapons made from his own stolen technology. Clemons however knows his technology better than anyone, and has a few trump cards that allow him to partially defend against the attacks, and strike back at the launch sites allowing the United States to win in the end.
This book should appeal to science geeks, hard science fiction fans, and people who like a good action adventure story and don't mind the science talk.
The book can be purchased in print or in E-book format at www.amazon.com.
WebMage by Kelly McCullough Book Review
This book is a very fun and fast paced read. It has just the mix of fantasy/mythology and modern or futuristic setting that I really like. This story navigates through a cyberpunked version of Greek mythology where the fates run giant magical computer networks to keep track of all the threads, and the fury's are Necessitiy's system admins for reality.
If there is anything that I don't like about this book it is the fact that you don't want to put it down to go to sleep at night. There is always something going on in the book and it kept my interest the whole way through to the point that it was hard to find a good place to stop. Be warned you may want to have the time to finish this book in one or two sittings if you are anything like me. Thankfully the book is not too long.
The main character in this story is named Ravirn. He is literalally a descendant of one of the fates, and he is a hacker of reality. He has a webgoblin familiar that helps him with his magic or code named Melchior that can shape shift from goblin to laptop. Ravirn's special bit of divinity is to find the loopholes, and cracks in any spell or code, which makes him a great hacker but his clan matriarchs(the fates) see him as the ultimate debugger. When Atropos asks him for help he has no choice but to see what she wants. It turns out she has a bug in her latest program to remove that pesky free will from the world which would make the fates jobs much easier. Before he can say no and send out a warning she lays the Pandora curse on him as the ultimate non disclosure clause. Sure he can tell people whats going on but nobody will believe him. So he sets off to save free will with Melchior and the few friends who will help him no matter what. In his quest to save free will Ravirn bounces all around the multiverse and makes a lot of enemies and a few friends along the way. In the end its hard to catch or stop the demigod of loopholes, and with the help of Eris and a webgoblin underground he manages to save the day.
In my opinion this book is appropriate for anyone who likes a great adventure story with a few exceptions that I can see. First science fiction or fantasy fans who don't like to see the two genre's mix are not going to like this. Second people who are fans of Greek mythology will either love it or hate it depending on their perception of who and what the Greek gods are. Ravirn does not treat the gods with much reverence, but to him they are family so it makes sense to me. Most of us don't revere our great uncles and aunts very much either.
This book can be bought in print or in e-book form at www.amazon.com or check your local bookstore and ask them to order it.
If there is anything that I don't like about this book it is the fact that you don't want to put it down to go to sleep at night. There is always something going on in the book and it kept my interest the whole way through to the point that it was hard to find a good place to stop. Be warned you may want to have the time to finish this book in one or two sittings if you are anything like me. Thankfully the book is not too long.
The main character in this story is named Ravirn. He is literalally a descendant of one of the fates, and he is a hacker of reality. He has a webgoblin familiar that helps him with his magic or code named Melchior that can shape shift from goblin to laptop. Ravirn's special bit of divinity is to find the loopholes, and cracks in any spell or code, which makes him a great hacker but his clan matriarchs(the fates) see him as the ultimate debugger. When Atropos asks him for help he has no choice but to see what she wants. It turns out she has a bug in her latest program to remove that pesky free will from the world which would make the fates jobs much easier. Before he can say no and send out a warning she lays the Pandora curse on him as the ultimate non disclosure clause. Sure he can tell people whats going on but nobody will believe him. So he sets off to save free will with Melchior and the few friends who will help him no matter what. In his quest to save free will Ravirn bounces all around the multiverse and makes a lot of enemies and a few friends along the way. In the end its hard to catch or stop the demigod of loopholes, and with the help of Eris and a webgoblin underground he manages to save the day.
In my opinion this book is appropriate for anyone who likes a great adventure story with a few exceptions that I can see. First science fiction or fantasy fans who don't like to see the two genre's mix are not going to like this. Second people who are fans of Greek mythology will either love it or hate it depending on their perception of who and what the Greek gods are. Ravirn does not treat the gods with much reverence, but to him they are family so it makes sense to me. Most of us don't revere our great uncles and aunts very much either.
This book can be bought in print or in e-book form at www.amazon.com or check your local bookstore and ask them to order it.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Men In Black Movie Review
This science fiction comedy takes the previously sinister boogeymen of the UFO sighting community and turns them into the hilarious hero's of humanity. This movie stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones and the two play off of each other very well. The special effects are a little dated but very good considering the movie came out in 1997. The science in the film is thin at best and there is definitely more fiction than science. It is however a great movie with futuristic gadgets, and colorful aliens.
The plot follows a NYPD police officer named James Darrell Edwards III, Played by Will Smith. when pursuing a man on foot he sees that man do things that are not human making him a witness that the MIB(Men In Black) must deal with. His actions gain the notice of MIB agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) who is looking for someone to recruit. Though it takes some convincing James eventually joins the MIB and becomes Agent J erasing his former identity in the process. J and K are immediately on a case to save the world, but that's just another day for the MIB. Throughout solving the mystery J plays comedy Relief to K's Straight Man. In the end they save the world, and K reveals that J is to be his replacement not his partner.
The story in this movie is a pretty common one for its type, but the jokes keep on coming, and the chemistry between the actors is great. The movie is fun to watch. It never gets too serious, but at the same time explores the isolation of an absolutely vital job that must be kept from everyone. In the end K can give it up because he has found a worthy replacement in J.
This movie can be found on disk at www.amazon.com. It is also available there as a streaming library purchase.
The plot follows a NYPD police officer named James Darrell Edwards III, Played by Will Smith. when pursuing a man on foot he sees that man do things that are not human making him a witness that the MIB(Men In Black) must deal with. His actions gain the notice of MIB agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) who is looking for someone to recruit. Though it takes some convincing James eventually joins the MIB and becomes Agent J erasing his former identity in the process. J and K are immediately on a case to save the world, but that's just another day for the MIB. Throughout solving the mystery J plays comedy Relief to K's Straight Man. In the end they save the world, and K reveals that J is to be his replacement not his partner.
The story in this movie is a pretty common one for its type, but the jokes keep on coming, and the chemistry between the actors is great. The movie is fun to watch. It never gets too serious, but at the same time explores the isolation of an absolutely vital job that must be kept from everyone. In the end K can give it up because he has found a worthy replacement in J.
This movie can be found on disk at www.amazon.com. It is also available there as a streaming library purchase.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Bedazzled Movie Review
First off let me say this review is of the 2000 movie starring Brendan Fraser, and Elizabeth Hurley not the earlier film. This movie is a comedy about the temptation of Elliot Richards by the devil who happens to be wearing the form of a beautiful woman. Brendan Fraser plays Elliot Richards, and Elizabeth Hurley plays the devil.
Elliot is hoplessly and silently in love with his co-worker Alison, but can't seem to ever tell her how he feels. He is a very shy and geeky man and clams up whenever an opportunity presents itself. The devil approaches him and offers to basically let him skip to the point that they are in a relationship. At first he doesn't believe her, but being the devil she eventually gets him to sign a contract with the payment being his soul. The devil seems to be nice about the whole thing and gives him several wishes to get things right. The problem is that every time he makes a wish she gives him everything he asks for but screws him with the details.
In the end he tries to just not make the last wish but the devil ups the ante by getting him thrown in jail. With the advice of his cellmate he is able to resist making the last wish to get out of jail, and when he gets out he confronts her and asks her to tear up the contract. In the end when it seems that he cannot win he makes his final wish. His wish is that Alison be happy. This triggers a selfless act clause in the contract making it void. In the end Elliot seems to end up right where he started. But it becomes clear that he is a changed man from the experience.
Going up against the devil and winning has led Elliot to find the self confidence that nothing else in his life could. He moves on to make his own luck and win the things he wants without any wishes.
At the end of the movie you see him and his new girlfriend (not Alison) passing the devil, and his cellmate dressed all in white. They are playing chess and talking about the couple. I at least got the feeling that both the devil, and the man in white (presumably god), were both happy with the outcome.
This movie takes you on a hilarious ride through murphy's law because everything that can go wrong in Elliot's wishes does. It is a modern tricksters tale where the trickster, in this case the devil, takes someone through a series of ordeals in order to bring out what they could see in them from the beginning. Like all Trickster lessons the danger is very real, but there is always a way out if you are clever enough to find it.
This movie is available at www.amazon.com on disk or as a stream for free on prime. It is also available for streaming rental or purchase if you don't pay amazon almost $100 dollars a year for free shipping and other benefits (including some free streaming movies).
Elliot is hoplessly and silently in love with his co-worker Alison, but can't seem to ever tell her how he feels. He is a very shy and geeky man and clams up whenever an opportunity presents itself. The devil approaches him and offers to basically let him skip to the point that they are in a relationship. At first he doesn't believe her, but being the devil she eventually gets him to sign a contract with the payment being his soul. The devil seems to be nice about the whole thing and gives him several wishes to get things right. The problem is that every time he makes a wish she gives him everything he asks for but screws him with the details.
In the end he tries to just not make the last wish but the devil ups the ante by getting him thrown in jail. With the advice of his cellmate he is able to resist making the last wish to get out of jail, and when he gets out he confronts her and asks her to tear up the contract. In the end when it seems that he cannot win he makes his final wish. His wish is that Alison be happy. This triggers a selfless act clause in the contract making it void. In the end Elliot seems to end up right where he started. But it becomes clear that he is a changed man from the experience.
Going up against the devil and winning has led Elliot to find the self confidence that nothing else in his life could. He moves on to make his own luck and win the things he wants without any wishes.
At the end of the movie you see him and his new girlfriend (not Alison) passing the devil, and his cellmate dressed all in white. They are playing chess and talking about the couple. I at least got the feeling that both the devil, and the man in white (presumably god), were both happy with the outcome.
This movie takes you on a hilarious ride through murphy's law because everything that can go wrong in Elliot's wishes does. It is a modern tricksters tale where the trickster, in this case the devil, takes someone through a series of ordeals in order to bring out what they could see in them from the beginning. Like all Trickster lessons the danger is very real, but there is always a way out if you are clever enough to find it.
This movie is available at www.amazon.com on disk or as a stream for free on prime. It is also available for streaming rental or purchase if you don't pay amazon almost $100 dollars a year for free shipping and other benefits (including some free streaming movies).
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Hancock Movie Review
Hancock is not your average superhero movie. Sure Hancock, played by Will Smith, is bullet proof, super strong, can fly, and has other power's. On the other hand he is also down on his luck, lives in a beat up travel trailer, and is constantly drunk. Compounding these problems he has amnesia and does not seem age.
This movie explores what happens when a superhero loses everything and spirals into depression, and what it takes to pull them out. Hancock still basically cares, but because of his depression and drinking his control of his power's is not what it should be. In addition he has also largely lost his faith in humanity. When he tries to help he ends up causing millions of dollars in damage, and people call him names.
When Hancock saves a man named Ray Embry, at the cost of a train derailment, Ray decides to help him by working on his public image. It turns out that Hancock cleans up nicely, but his inner demons are harder to deal with. When his past catches up to him, and puts his new friends in danger he is forced into examining what he is doing and the effect it has on the world around him. He realizes that being a hero is built into him, cleans up his act, and becomes the hero of legend that he had forgotten he once was.
I like this movie because it shows superheros that are not necessarily loved and have major flaws. It portrays a man searching for redemption that just happens to have incredible gifts that magnify any self destructive urges he may have. Superpowers have a lot of mental traps that are often overlooked. A single superhero would have a lot of isolation issues, and an immortal one has all the issues old people have with changing attitudes and customs but on a larger scale.
In the end while Hancock may have superpowers, and immortality he still understands what it means to be human, and that makes it much easier to relate to him. This movie can be found at www.amazon.com as a stream or on disk.
This movie explores what happens when a superhero loses everything and spirals into depression, and what it takes to pull them out. Hancock still basically cares, but because of his depression and drinking his control of his power's is not what it should be. In addition he has also largely lost his faith in humanity. When he tries to help he ends up causing millions of dollars in damage, and people call him names.
When Hancock saves a man named Ray Embry, at the cost of a train derailment, Ray decides to help him by working on his public image. It turns out that Hancock cleans up nicely, but his inner demons are harder to deal with. When his past catches up to him, and puts his new friends in danger he is forced into examining what he is doing and the effect it has on the world around him. He realizes that being a hero is built into him, cleans up his act, and becomes the hero of legend that he had forgotten he once was.
I like this movie because it shows superheros that are not necessarily loved and have major flaws. It portrays a man searching for redemption that just happens to have incredible gifts that magnify any self destructive urges he may have. Superpowers have a lot of mental traps that are often overlooked. A single superhero would have a lot of isolation issues, and an immortal one has all the issues old people have with changing attitudes and customs but on a larger scale.
In the end while Hancock may have superpowers, and immortality he still understands what it means to be human, and that makes it much easier to relate to him. This movie can be found at www.amazon.com as a stream or on disk.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs Book Review
This book is a a paranormal urban fantasy novel set in a world a step away from our own. Not only are there werewolves, vampires, and other paranormal species, but the Fae have gone public with their existence. The history of this world before that point is largely the same as our own, and so far the Fae are the only group to come out.
We are introduced to this world by Mercedes Thompson who is a VW mechanic trying to get by in the Tri-Cities area of Washington state. Her former boss is a gremlin that moved to the fae reservation when the the fae came out. Mercy also has some secrets. She is a walker who can shift into a coyote, and she was raised by werewolves. While she puts on a good front she is very well connected to the local supernatural community, and can call in some big guns when she finds herself in a fix.
When a stray (not attached to the local pack) werewolf approaches her shop looking for a job, she knows exactly what he is, and that something is very wrong. The boy is terrified, and seems to have been abandoned by his makers, something that she knows is not accepted among the werewolves, and would not be tolerated by the local pack ( their alpha is her next door neighbor). Having a soft spot for strays of any sort Mercy takes him in and gives him a job. His past catches up to him quickly and Mercy has to call the local pack when he turns up dead.
From her conversations with him she knows that there is more going on than it appears, and with someone under her care dead Mercy will not give up until she has uncovered all of the secrets. With an angry coyote on their tail no secret is safe, and when the coyote is friends with werewolves the secret keepers will not be in good shape either.
This book is the first in the Mercedes Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs. I will warn you that this series is addicting, and you may end up buying all the rest of the current series as well. It can be found at www.amazon.com in print or e-book format.
We are introduced to this world by Mercedes Thompson who is a VW mechanic trying to get by in the Tri-Cities area of Washington state. Her former boss is a gremlin that moved to the fae reservation when the the fae came out. Mercy also has some secrets. She is a walker who can shift into a coyote, and she was raised by werewolves. While she puts on a good front she is very well connected to the local supernatural community, and can call in some big guns when she finds herself in a fix.
When a stray (not attached to the local pack) werewolf approaches her shop looking for a job, she knows exactly what he is, and that something is very wrong. The boy is terrified, and seems to have been abandoned by his makers, something that she knows is not accepted among the werewolves, and would not be tolerated by the local pack ( their alpha is her next door neighbor). Having a soft spot for strays of any sort Mercy takes him in and gives him a job. His past catches up to him quickly and Mercy has to call the local pack when he turns up dead.
From her conversations with him she knows that there is more going on than it appears, and with someone under her care dead Mercy will not give up until she has uncovered all of the secrets. With an angry coyote on their tail no secret is safe, and when the coyote is friends with werewolves the secret keepers will not be in good shape either.
This book is the first in the Mercedes Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs. I will warn you that this series is addicting, and you may end up buying all the rest of the current series as well. It can be found at www.amazon.com in print or e-book format.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Path of the Fury/In Fury Born by David Weber Book Review
This story is a mix of greek mythology, and military science fiction. It takes place in a future star empire of mankind. Humans now possess faster than light starships, weapons that can destroy worlds, and bioenhancement technology that would make greek gods take notice. Well it would if anyone could find them.
This story starts out with Tisiphone, the fury, being breifly awoken several times by a bright spark in her mind until finally she is awoken fully from her slumber to find herself horribly alone. She can find no trace of the gods or closer to home her sister selves. What she does see is the bright spark that awoke her flaring and dying. Its need for vengance has woken her from her slumber, and when she examines it she sees that the mortal it belongs is worthy of her help.
Alicia DeVries was once an elite member of the Imperial Cadre, A group of technologically enhanced special forces soldiers, and one of the best they ever trained. Due to political reasons she finds herself retired long before she planned, and moves to a new colony world with her extended family. The pirates came when she was out hunting one of the large predators on her world, and she came home to find her outpost being raided and her family dead. With just a hunting rifle she manages to take out the entire raiding party, but is badly injured in the process.
This is when Tisiphone finds her and offers her vengance, at the possible cost of herself. When Alicia accepts the pirates will wish they had never set foot on her world, and the galaxy may never be the same.
Though the topic is grim, the book does have its light moments. Tisiphone really doesn't get the implications of modern technology, and this leads to some funny situations. The Empire is also not prepared for things like Tisiphone, and the author plays this up to lighten the mood at several points.
This is a great adventure story that really explores the difference between vengeance and justice, and the lengths that grief will drive people to. I recommend this novel to anyone who likes space battles and paranormal entities. It can be found at www.amazon.com in print, or in the collection In Fury Born as an Ebook or in print. In Fury Born is this book together with more stories about Alicia to give you better background.
This story starts out with Tisiphone, the fury, being breifly awoken several times by a bright spark in her mind until finally she is awoken fully from her slumber to find herself horribly alone. She can find no trace of the gods or closer to home her sister selves. What she does see is the bright spark that awoke her flaring and dying. Its need for vengance has woken her from her slumber, and when she examines it she sees that the mortal it belongs is worthy of her help.
Alicia DeVries was once an elite member of the Imperial Cadre, A group of technologically enhanced special forces soldiers, and one of the best they ever trained. Due to political reasons she finds herself retired long before she planned, and moves to a new colony world with her extended family. The pirates came when she was out hunting one of the large predators on her world, and she came home to find her outpost being raided and her family dead. With just a hunting rifle she manages to take out the entire raiding party, but is badly injured in the process.
This is when Tisiphone finds her and offers her vengance, at the possible cost of herself. When Alicia accepts the pirates will wish they had never set foot on her world, and the galaxy may never be the same.
Though the topic is grim, the book does have its light moments. Tisiphone really doesn't get the implications of modern technology, and this leads to some funny situations. The Empire is also not prepared for things like Tisiphone, and the author plays this up to lighten the mood at several points.
This is a great adventure story that really explores the difference between vengeance and justice, and the lengths that grief will drive people to. I recommend this novel to anyone who likes space battles and paranormal entities. It can be found at www.amazon.com in print, or in the collection In Fury Born as an Ebook or in print. In Fury Born is this book together with more stories about Alicia to give you better background.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
The Faculty Movie Review
This science fiction movie is a story about an alien invasion that is more like a disease. The main character Casey Connor, played by Elijah Wood, finds a strange creature at school one day, and takes it to his science teacher. They do some brief studies and find out that the creature is very strange, and Casey leaves with his science teacher promising to send the creature off for study. After that things start to get a little crazy as the faculty and students start to have drastic personality changes overnight. Knowing about the strange creature Casey correctly jumps to the conclusion that the two things are related
Being an unpopular photography geek Casey finds it difficult to get people to believe him, but in the end he manages to get several fellow misfits, as well as some isolated popular students on his side as things go from bad to worse in their town. As the crew of misfits, and screw-ups seeks help it becomes clear that all the adults and many of the popular kids in town have been converted. The only people left untouched are socially isolated for one reason or another.
In the end it becomes clear that if this is not stopped soon then it will spread to the whole world. At this point the converted people begin to target the misfits, and it is made clear that what they have on their hands is a collective alien intelligence that has been targeting those with the most power first. The misfits have a secret weapon however. Zeke the school bad boy has been making an selling a synthetic drug at school that the alien organism's cannot tolerate, and Casey manages to garner his help to save the town and the world.
In the end it comes down to a battle between Casey and the alien collective. Casey must also battle his own inner demons as the queen of the collective offers him what he has always wanted, A chance to belong. All he must give up is his pesky humanity. In the end he overcomes this temptation, and prevails. This has the effect of raising his status, and his new self confidence allows him to get the things he wants out of life.
I really enjoyed this movie because the enemy doesn't come in guns blazing with starships filling the sky, but rather chooses to take over the planet one person at a time functioning much like an epidemic.
This movie is available on disk or streaming at www.amazon.com , and prime members can watch it streaming for free.
Being an unpopular photography geek Casey finds it difficult to get people to believe him, but in the end he manages to get several fellow misfits, as well as some isolated popular students on his side as things go from bad to worse in their town. As the crew of misfits, and screw-ups seeks help it becomes clear that all the adults and many of the popular kids in town have been converted. The only people left untouched are socially isolated for one reason or another.
In the end it becomes clear that if this is not stopped soon then it will spread to the whole world. At this point the converted people begin to target the misfits, and it is made clear that what they have on their hands is a collective alien intelligence that has been targeting those with the most power first. The misfits have a secret weapon however. Zeke the school bad boy has been making an selling a synthetic drug at school that the alien organism's cannot tolerate, and Casey manages to garner his help to save the town and the world.
In the end it comes down to a battle between Casey and the alien collective. Casey must also battle his own inner demons as the queen of the collective offers him what he has always wanted, A chance to belong. All he must give up is his pesky humanity. In the end he overcomes this temptation, and prevails. This has the effect of raising his status, and his new self confidence allows him to get the things he wants out of life.
I really enjoyed this movie because the enemy doesn't come in guns blazing with starships filling the sky, but rather chooses to take over the planet one person at a time functioning much like an epidemic.
This movie is available on disk or streaming at www.amazon.com , and prime members can watch it streaming for free.
Friday, November 15, 2013
The Matrix Movie Review
The Matrix is a science fiction cyberpunk film that really makes you think. It hooks into the feeling that many people have that there is something is wrong with the world, and rides that for all its worth. In the end I left this movie questioning whether the reality I had lived my whole life in was in fact reality at all. To be honest I am still not sure, but if this is not reality I do not have a way out like the characters in the film so the point is moot.
The first part of this movie is a new take on Plato's allegory of the cave. The main character, Neo, and the whole world he lives in exist in the cave. The first part of the story is his journey out of the cave and into the real world with the help of hacker/freedom fighter Morpheous. The science fiction cyberpunk twist to this is that the cave is a giant MMO of modern life that everyone is neurally jacked into.
The harsh reality outside the cave is that most of humanity has been enslaved as biological energy sources for the AI's we made in the distant past. It turns out that Neo's savior's think that he is in fact their savior. The rest of the movie is Neo finding the answer to the question "Is he this savior figure that his new companions believe him to be?". In the end the answer is complex. For most of the movie Neo is not the savior, but during all of that time he is on the journey to becoming what everyone thinks he is. It turns out that the biggest challenge he must face is within himself.
Apart from all of the philosophy hidden in this movie it is also a great action adventure film. The people who are freed from the matrix and come back are granted powers based on their knowledge that the reality they see around them does not have set rules. They can push themselves harder and do amazing things, but if they die in matrix their mind self destructs because it accepts the lie of death. They have adversaries in the form of system agents (who look like secret service), and the conflict between the hackers/freedom fighters and the system agents frames and goads Neo's inner conflict.
In the end this is a great movie that causes you to really think about what reality is, and on the limitations we as humans put on ourselves that may not have any basis.
This movie can be purchased on disk or as a digital stream for rent or purchase at www.amazon.com.
The first part of this movie is a new take on Plato's allegory of the cave. The main character, Neo, and the whole world he lives in exist in the cave. The first part of the story is his journey out of the cave and into the real world with the help of hacker/freedom fighter Morpheous. The science fiction cyberpunk twist to this is that the cave is a giant MMO of modern life that everyone is neurally jacked into.
The harsh reality outside the cave is that most of humanity has been enslaved as biological energy sources for the AI's we made in the distant past. It turns out that Neo's savior's think that he is in fact their savior. The rest of the movie is Neo finding the answer to the question "Is he this savior figure that his new companions believe him to be?". In the end the answer is complex. For most of the movie Neo is not the savior, but during all of that time he is on the journey to becoming what everyone thinks he is. It turns out that the biggest challenge he must face is within himself.
Apart from all of the philosophy hidden in this movie it is also a great action adventure film. The people who are freed from the matrix and come back are granted powers based on their knowledge that the reality they see around them does not have set rules. They can push themselves harder and do amazing things, but if they die in matrix their mind self destructs because it accepts the lie of death. They have adversaries in the form of system agents (who look like secret service), and the conflict between the hackers/freedom fighters and the system agents frames and goads Neo's inner conflict.
In the end this is a great movie that causes you to really think about what reality is, and on the limitations we as humans put on ourselves that may not have any basis.
This movie can be purchased on disk or as a digital stream for rent or purchase at www.amazon.com.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Avatar Movie Review
This is a firmly science fiction movie that has a tried and true plot with enough twists to make it interesting. I have heard it described as a science fiction version of dances with wolves and I can definitely see the similarities, but this description glosses over some of the major points of the movie. This movie seems like dances with wolves because the main character essentially "Goes Native" but that is because the two movies have similar themes in that the "Less Advanced" culture has many things to teach our society. That similarity is where these movies diverge however since the Na'vi are in fact not that much less advanced than the world the hero is from. It just looks that way.
The natives of Pandora, the Na'vi, have solved many of the problems we use technology for with biology. They have flying mounts as strong as the helicopters they face, and their options of ground transportation is anything on the planet that can hold their weight. They have nighttime lighting via bioluminescent plants, and they can mentally connect to not only the animals of their planet but the plants and the entire ecosystem as well. In fact looking at the Na'vi as a race is a bad way to think of them as they live on a thinking world named Eywa by the Na'vi. On Pandora humans are faced with not just the Na'vi, but everything in the environment with the Na'vi serving as a thinking planetary immune system.
This story is a familiar one of mankind expanding to a new area and exploiting the resources found there. The resource in this case is "Unobtainium", a term often used as a placeholder in science discussions for materials that are not available, but have a certain set of properties. Unobtainium in the film is a material with gravity shielding properties. The humans want this material, but the Na'vi are in the way. Their hometree happens to sit on a giant deposit of it. In order to better study the Na'vi the humans have developed avatars that look like them and can breathe their air. They are so good that biologically they are Na'vi with traits modeled on their human operator. To use these avatars operators climb into a sensory deprivation pod and transport their consciousness to the avatar. The whole process reminds me of the anime "Ghost in the Shell: Stand alone complex", or the movie "The Matrix".
The story is told from the point of view of one of the operators, named Jake Sully, who is a military veteran. Unlike the scientists he approaches the Na'vi with the attitude that he is willing to learn from them to learn about them, and has much more success than his traditional scientist counterparts. This is also in part because Eywa recognizes something different and valuable in him, and sends signs to Neytiri who stands as sponsor and mentor for him.
The company running the operation just wants the Na'vi out of the way and uses the avatars, particularly Jake, to gather intelligence on them. In the end the Jake decides that the Na'vi are in the right and decides to help them. His task is made more difficult because they have found out he was a spy. This is made personal to him by the fact that his Na'vi mentor and lover Neytiri rejects him for his treachery. To regain their trust he must step into their culture as a legendary hero, by taming the toruk, a massive, wild, dragon like beast. Having regained their trust he seeks to unite the clans to fight the humans, but he fears that it may not be enough. On the eve of battle he speaks to the world consciousness Eywa and asks for help. In the final battle when the tides have turned against the Na'vi Eywa does intercede in the form of stampedes, and roaming predators joining the battle side by side with the Na'vi. After the battle the humans are largely ejected, and Jake, his surviving human friends, and the Na'vi are left in control of the planet.
This movie is available streaming or on disk at www.amazon.com
The natives of Pandora, the Na'vi, have solved many of the problems we use technology for with biology. They have flying mounts as strong as the helicopters they face, and their options of ground transportation is anything on the planet that can hold their weight. They have nighttime lighting via bioluminescent plants, and they can mentally connect to not only the animals of their planet but the plants and the entire ecosystem as well. In fact looking at the Na'vi as a race is a bad way to think of them as they live on a thinking world named Eywa by the Na'vi. On Pandora humans are faced with not just the Na'vi, but everything in the environment with the Na'vi serving as a thinking planetary immune system.
This story is a familiar one of mankind expanding to a new area and exploiting the resources found there. The resource in this case is "Unobtainium", a term often used as a placeholder in science discussions for materials that are not available, but have a certain set of properties. Unobtainium in the film is a material with gravity shielding properties. The humans want this material, but the Na'vi are in the way. Their hometree happens to sit on a giant deposit of it. In order to better study the Na'vi the humans have developed avatars that look like them and can breathe their air. They are so good that biologically they are Na'vi with traits modeled on their human operator. To use these avatars operators climb into a sensory deprivation pod and transport their consciousness to the avatar. The whole process reminds me of the anime "Ghost in the Shell: Stand alone complex", or the movie "The Matrix".
The story is told from the point of view of one of the operators, named Jake Sully, who is a military veteran. Unlike the scientists he approaches the Na'vi with the attitude that he is willing to learn from them to learn about them, and has much more success than his traditional scientist counterparts. This is also in part because Eywa recognizes something different and valuable in him, and sends signs to Neytiri who stands as sponsor and mentor for him.
The company running the operation just wants the Na'vi out of the way and uses the avatars, particularly Jake, to gather intelligence on them. In the end the Jake decides that the Na'vi are in the right and decides to help them. His task is made more difficult because they have found out he was a spy. This is made personal to him by the fact that his Na'vi mentor and lover Neytiri rejects him for his treachery. To regain their trust he must step into their culture as a legendary hero, by taming the toruk, a massive, wild, dragon like beast. Having regained their trust he seeks to unite the clans to fight the humans, but he fears that it may not be enough. On the eve of battle he speaks to the world consciousness Eywa and asks for help. In the final battle when the tides have turned against the Na'vi Eywa does intercede in the form of stampedes, and roaming predators joining the battle side by side with the Na'vi. After the battle the humans are largely ejected, and Jake, his surviving human friends, and the Na'vi are left in control of the planet.
This movie is available streaming or on disk at www.amazon.com
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert Heinlein Book Review
This book is a good adventure story that also makes you think. As with many of Heinlein's works the main characters in this story are forced to keep moving, and adapting or die where they stand. This book will also challenge your beliefs about what is good, what is evil, and what is just propaganda. Any evangelical Christians will probably not enjoy this book as Jehovah is a character and does not come out in a good light.
Basically the plot of this story is that the original testing of Job was a bet with the Devil, and Jehovah wants to prove to his peers that his followers are still the biggest fanboys around. The problem is the Devil still feels bad about last time so he refuses, and Jehovah finds someone who will take the bet.
The main male character Alex is an Evangelical christian who is taking a cruise to try and de-stress from a life that he doesn't realize he finds deeply dissatisfying. The female lead is Margrethe who works on the cruise ship and is a follower of the old Norse ways. Alex is just starting to form a relationship with her when the whole world literally changes around them. As both of them bounce around different world lines their affections for each other grow, and Alex's prejudices begin to soften and change. Every time that they start to improve their situation their progress is destroyed by yet another world shift. The one rule they have been able to observe about the shifts is that if they are in contact with each other they will remain with each other. The shifts seem to be inteligently directed, and really do happen to keep them from getting ahead, or taking a breather. The one exception to this is when they meet a nice man with a strange family in Texas. While in his home they are safe.
Jehovah, noticing that his chess piece is changing, decides to cheat and end the game early by calling for the rapture. In the process Alex is forcibly separated from Margrethe since pagans don't go to heaven, and in the end he will move heaven, hell, and a few dimensions in between to get her back. It turns out that the nice gentleman from Texas he befriended earlier was much more than he seemed, and is willing to offer substantial help in finding his lost love.
In the end this book shows us that good and evil aren't always the way they seem, and with the help of good friends, and more wit and determination than many people possess, it is possible to find your own personal paradise. Even if it doesn't look the way you thought it would or should.
Personally I think everyone should read this book, but you should be warned that just like Alex is changed throughout the story, this book could change the way you see the world. To me that is a feature of most Heinlein books.
This title can be found at www.amazon.com in print format.
Basically the plot of this story is that the original testing of Job was a bet with the Devil, and Jehovah wants to prove to his peers that his followers are still the biggest fanboys around. The problem is the Devil still feels bad about last time so he refuses, and Jehovah finds someone who will take the bet.
The main male character Alex is an Evangelical christian who is taking a cruise to try and de-stress from a life that he doesn't realize he finds deeply dissatisfying. The female lead is Margrethe who works on the cruise ship and is a follower of the old Norse ways. Alex is just starting to form a relationship with her when the whole world literally changes around them. As both of them bounce around different world lines their affections for each other grow, and Alex's prejudices begin to soften and change. Every time that they start to improve their situation their progress is destroyed by yet another world shift. The one rule they have been able to observe about the shifts is that if they are in contact with each other they will remain with each other. The shifts seem to be inteligently directed, and really do happen to keep them from getting ahead, or taking a breather. The one exception to this is when they meet a nice man with a strange family in Texas. While in his home they are safe.
Jehovah, noticing that his chess piece is changing, decides to cheat and end the game early by calling for the rapture. In the process Alex is forcibly separated from Margrethe since pagans don't go to heaven, and in the end he will move heaven, hell, and a few dimensions in between to get her back. It turns out that the nice gentleman from Texas he befriended earlier was much more than he seemed, and is willing to offer substantial help in finding his lost love.
In the end this book shows us that good and evil aren't always the way they seem, and with the help of good friends, and more wit and determination than many people possess, it is possible to find your own personal paradise. Even if it doesn't look the way you thought it would or should.
Personally I think everyone should read this book, but you should be warned that just like Alex is changed throughout the story, this book could change the way you see the world. To me that is a feature of most Heinlein books.
This title can be found at www.amazon.com in print format.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
A Knights Tale Movie Review
This is a very fun movie that manages to be both uplifting and action packed. The name of the movie is a reference to the knights tale by Chaucer, but it is not that story. Chaucer is however a character in the movie.
This story is set in medieval Europe and follows the journey of a young, peasant born, squire named William Thatcher played by Heath Ledger. William, his knight, and two other squires tour Europe competing in the most popular sport in their world, Jousting. The squires serve as the knights pit crew in this sport and do not compete themselves. When the Knight dies in a tournament, William decides to carry on in his place as without him they are stuck somewhere in Europe without money or a way to get home. He puts on the armor, assumes his identity, and somehow wins the match. Having had a taste of success he hatches a plan to continue it. He becomes a great jouster, but the question is how long can he keep his origins a secret.
This is a story of a boy who becomes a man by smashing through the ultimate glass ceiling of his world. In addition to his two fellow squires he picks up Chaucer, who is down on his luck at the time, and a woman blacksmith who makes incredibly light but strong armor. It turns out that with the team he has put together can overcome almost any hardship placed in their path, and as his fortunes rise so do theirs. In the end despite severe obstacles William attains his dream with the help of his companions, and even finds a noble lady that loves him.
The plot of the movie is basically the same as many underdog sports movies with a semi-medieval setting and class system thrown in as an additional obstacle. I say Semi-medieval because the soundtrack is classic rock, and the jousting tournaments and social events, are deliberately done in a very modern way. I really enjoy this movie and admit I have watched it many times.
I own this movie on dvd and it can be bought in this format or as a digital stream at www.amazon.com
This story is set in medieval Europe and follows the journey of a young, peasant born, squire named William Thatcher played by Heath Ledger. William, his knight, and two other squires tour Europe competing in the most popular sport in their world, Jousting. The squires serve as the knights pit crew in this sport and do not compete themselves. When the Knight dies in a tournament, William decides to carry on in his place as without him they are stuck somewhere in Europe without money or a way to get home. He puts on the armor, assumes his identity, and somehow wins the match. Having had a taste of success he hatches a plan to continue it. He becomes a great jouster, but the question is how long can he keep his origins a secret.
This is a story of a boy who becomes a man by smashing through the ultimate glass ceiling of his world. In addition to his two fellow squires he picks up Chaucer, who is down on his luck at the time, and a woman blacksmith who makes incredibly light but strong armor. It turns out that with the team he has put together can overcome almost any hardship placed in their path, and as his fortunes rise so do theirs. In the end despite severe obstacles William attains his dream with the help of his companions, and even finds a noble lady that loves him.
The plot of the movie is basically the same as many underdog sports movies with a semi-medieval setting and class system thrown in as an additional obstacle. I say Semi-medieval because the soundtrack is classic rock, and the jousting tournaments and social events, are deliberately done in a very modern way. I really enjoy this movie and admit I have watched it many times.
I own this movie on dvd and it can be bought in this format or as a digital stream at www.amazon.com
Monday, November 11, 2013
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein Book Review
This book is a classic science fiction story by Mr Heinlein. As with some of his other work the technology, particularly computer technology, in parts of this story is a little dated, but at the time it was written was a good guess as to how it would go. That being said the concepts, and main story of the book are still relevant today.
On the surface the story is about a lunar colonies quest for independence. The moon was settled as a penal colony and is still ruled by the "Warden" at the time the book starts. This is true despite the fact that a good chunk of the population on the moon happens to be either prisoners who have served their time, or their children. You see living long term in the lower lunar gravity makes it difficult for prisoners to go back even if they can save up enough for passage. For their children the situation is even worse since their bones never did develop enough to hold up to earths gravity for very long.
As you can imagine there is considerable unrest among the lunar population and everyone is essentially living in a police state. The narrator of the story named Mannie, was born on the moon and is the moons computer technician. To get this job he endured the torture of going to technical school on earth. His job is to maintain the computer that runs the moon. Instead of buying multiple computers for different systems the warden has decided to just keep upgrading and adding on to the one they have. When a certain level of complexity is reached the system wakes up and luckily Mannie is the one to notice. Over time Mannie and the computer become friends, and the master computer becomes aware of the tyranny his friend lives under.
The master computer takes the name Mike and decides that the only way for him to survive, and for his friends lot to get better, is lunar independence. The pair meet up with some friends and quickly take over the budding resistance. Mike becomes the leader of the group, but most people don't even know that he is a machine.
In the end this book is about what it means to be a person, what it means to be a friend, and what it means to be free. Mike goes from being a cold system to understanding all of these so well that he doesn't blink at their cost, and his friends come to realize that one of the best men they ever knew wasn't a man at all.
I would recommend this book to anyone, but you might not enjoy it if you are not a science fiction adventure fan. Ironically for a book with an accidental AI for a character this does not appear to be available in e-book format, but you can pick it up at www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com in print.
On the surface the story is about a lunar colonies quest for independence. The moon was settled as a penal colony and is still ruled by the "Warden" at the time the book starts. This is true despite the fact that a good chunk of the population on the moon happens to be either prisoners who have served their time, or their children. You see living long term in the lower lunar gravity makes it difficult for prisoners to go back even if they can save up enough for passage. For their children the situation is even worse since their bones never did develop enough to hold up to earths gravity for very long.
As you can imagine there is considerable unrest among the lunar population and everyone is essentially living in a police state. The narrator of the story named Mannie, was born on the moon and is the moons computer technician. To get this job he endured the torture of going to technical school on earth. His job is to maintain the computer that runs the moon. Instead of buying multiple computers for different systems the warden has decided to just keep upgrading and adding on to the one they have. When a certain level of complexity is reached the system wakes up and luckily Mannie is the one to notice. Over time Mannie and the computer become friends, and the master computer becomes aware of the tyranny his friend lives under.
The master computer takes the name Mike and decides that the only way for him to survive, and for his friends lot to get better, is lunar independence. The pair meet up with some friends and quickly take over the budding resistance. Mike becomes the leader of the group, but most people don't even know that he is a machine.
In the end this book is about what it means to be a person, what it means to be a friend, and what it means to be free. Mike goes from being a cold system to understanding all of these so well that he doesn't blink at their cost, and his friends come to realize that one of the best men they ever knew wasn't a man at all.
I would recommend this book to anyone, but you might not enjoy it if you are not a science fiction adventure fan. Ironically for a book with an accidental AI for a character this does not appear to be available in e-book format, but you can pick it up at www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com in print.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Waterworld Movie Review
I can't really call this movie anything besides a post apocalyptic action adventure movie even though it is billed as science fiction. I have heard this movie referred to as Mad Max on the ocean, and to an extent that is fair. The question is whats wrong with Mad Max on the ocean? The movies have a similar setting in that they both take place in an essentially broken world.
Waterworld is set in a future where the earths surface is seemingly covered with water. The main character Mariner, played by Kevin Costner, is a drifter traveling the world on his boat. Mariner is very well adapted to the waterworld having a set of supplementary gills, but this causes problems whenever he meets with other people.
The story picks up when Mariner docks with an "Atoll" which in the film is a floating artificial island. He runs into trouble when the locals discover that he is a mutant and has gills. He is saved by the shopkeeper Helen who needs his help to try and find the home of her adopted daughter Enola who has an enigmatic tattoo that ends up being directions to dry land. The complication of the story is that Mariner and his friends aren't the only ones interested in finding dry land. The local pirates called smokers, who got the name because of the smoke that comes from their motorized boats, also want Enola so that they can use her to find dry land, and use it as a pirate base.
This story is an adventure tale of a drifter who can't trust anyone learning to make friends and ultimately finding the key to save humanity. If you don't look to hard at the setting it is a very good story, and yes it is a bit like Mad Max on the ocean, but that's ok.
I own this movie on disk and you can pick it up that way at www.amazon.com, or watch it on amazon instant streaming as either a rental or purchase.
Waterworld is set in a future where the earths surface is seemingly covered with water. The main character Mariner, played by Kevin Costner, is a drifter traveling the world on his boat. Mariner is very well adapted to the waterworld having a set of supplementary gills, but this causes problems whenever he meets with other people.
The story picks up when Mariner docks with an "Atoll" which in the film is a floating artificial island. He runs into trouble when the locals discover that he is a mutant and has gills. He is saved by the shopkeeper Helen who needs his help to try and find the home of her adopted daughter Enola who has an enigmatic tattoo that ends up being directions to dry land. The complication of the story is that Mariner and his friends aren't the only ones interested in finding dry land. The local pirates called smokers, who got the name because of the smoke that comes from their motorized boats, also want Enola so that they can use her to find dry land, and use it as a pirate base.
This story is an adventure tale of a drifter who can't trust anyone learning to make friends and ultimately finding the key to save humanity. If you don't look to hard at the setting it is a very good story, and yes it is a bit like Mad Max on the ocean, but that's ok.
I own this movie on disk and you can pick it up that way at www.amazon.com, or watch it on amazon instant streaming as either a rental or purchase.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Evolution Movie review
This movie is a science fiction comedy that takes place in the modern world. It explores the theory of panspermia, and evolution in a small town in the American southwest. The main character Ira Kane, played by David Duchovny, is a former army biologist who has fallen from grace due to some unfortunate side effects of his medical experiments on enlisted personnel. He is now working at a small community college.
When the geology professor Harry Block, played by Orlando Jones, gets called to look at a local meteor he has Ira tag along in case there is any science stuff as he puts it. When it turns out the meteor has brought some microscopic visitors to our world Ira sees his chance to get his carrer back if only he can study them first.
Everything is going well until it turns out that the microbes evolve incredibly quickly, are rapidly spreading throughout the cave system under the town, and spawning ever more complex creatures along the way.
This movie starts out slowly, but ramps up quickly as the heroes have to fight various creatures spawned from the new underground ecosystem. To keep it from being too depressing or serious there are quite a few gags along the way. The science is not treated too seriously, but the film can be used to illustrate the concepts of evolution, panspermia, and invasive species.
This movie is available at www.amazon.com on disk or streaming. It is a fun movie, and the special effects are dated but passable. I enjoyed watching it several times and own it on dvd myself.
When the geology professor Harry Block, played by Orlando Jones, gets called to look at a local meteor he has Ira tag along in case there is any science stuff as he puts it. When it turns out the meteor has brought some microscopic visitors to our world Ira sees his chance to get his carrer back if only he can study them first.
Everything is going well until it turns out that the microbes evolve incredibly quickly, are rapidly spreading throughout the cave system under the town, and spawning ever more complex creatures along the way.
This movie starts out slowly, but ramps up quickly as the heroes have to fight various creatures spawned from the new underground ecosystem. To keep it from being too depressing or serious there are quite a few gags along the way. The science is not treated too seriously, but the film can be used to illustrate the concepts of evolution, panspermia, and invasive species.
This movie is available at www.amazon.com on disk or streaming. It is a fun movie, and the special effects are dated but passable. I enjoyed watching it several times and own it on dvd myself.
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