Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Genre Mash Up and Philosophy Building: Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower IV) by Stephen King



One of the things I love about the Dark Tower series (so far) is that you never quite know what's coming next.  What will Roland and company find after they disembark from the maniacal, riddle-loving supersonic train?  I don't want to spoil it, but I thought it was cool.  What if King spent 600+ pages on a flashback to Roland's youth in the fourth book in the series?   How could that possibly work?  The crazy thing is that it does work (for the most part).  Although Wizard and Glass, the fourth installment in the series, isn't perfect, it might be my favorite Dark Tower book yet.  (See my reviews of the previous books here and here.  I was perhaps one of five people that liked the Dark Tower movie that came out last year, which you can read about here.)

Friday, May 25, 2018

Non-Spoilery Reactions to Solo: A Star Wars Story



It seems like it was just five months ago that I was writing up some non-spoilery thoughts on Star Wars: The Last Jedi.  Apparently this is because it was just five months ago.

Is it too soon for more Star Wars?  A couple years ago I remarked to a friend that I was worried Star Wars was going to reach Marvel levels of over-saturation.  His response was, "But what if they keep making good ones?"

So, is the latest entry into the Star Wars cinematic universe, Solo: A Star Wars Story, any good?

I can honestly say I really enjoyed it!  By way of elaboration, I present my non-spoilery reactions to Solo: A Star Wars Story!

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Review Bonanza, Part Three: The Frankenstein Chronicles, Three Virgins, Are Prisons Obsolete?, and More!

The Frankenstein Chronicles
Welcome to Part Three of my Review Bonanza!  See also Part One, which covered Annihilation, The Laplace's Demon, River of Teeth, and Moreand Part Two, which covered The Expanse, The X-Files, Infomocracy, Navigators of Dune, and More.

Here in Part Three, I've got The Frankenstein Chronicles, Three Virgins and Other Stories by Manjula Padmanabhan, Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis, The Aztecs: A Very Short Introduction by David Carrasco, and What Kind of Creatures are We? by Noam Chomsky. 

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Review Bonanza, Part Two: The Expanse, The X-Files, Infomocracy, Navigators of Dune, and More!

The Expanse

As I mentioned in "Review Bonanza, Part One" I haven't been blogging quite as regularly in the last few months, so there are a lot of things I've meant to review that have sadly gone unreviewed on this blog.  In Part One I reviewed movies (Annihilation and The Laplace's Demon), fiction (River of Teeth), and non-fiction (The Island of Knowledge and Africa, Asia, and the History of Philosophy).

This time I've got two TV shows (The Expanse and The X-Files), two novels (Infomocracy and Navigators of Dune), and one work of non-fiction (What the Buddha Taught).  I even have a few more for Part Three, so stay tuned!  And despite my antipathy toward the superhero genre, I've also seen a few recent Marvel movies (Black Panther, Infinity War, and Deadpool 2), which I've decided to review in a separate Marvel Round Up post coming soon.

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

The Laurel/Yanny Debacle: A Skeptic’s Amusement



As someone who's partially color blind, regularly mishears things, and has read a lot about philosophical skepticism, the thing I find most amusing about the Laurel/Yanny debacle (and the 2015 iteration: the Dress) is that people are so certain that the world has to be the way it appears to them.

Sunday, May 13, 2018

Review Bonanza, Part One: Annihilation, The Laplace’s Demon, River of Teeth, The Island of Knowledge, and More!




The universe has conspired against me as of late when it comes to regular blogging.  Sad, I know!  But the good news is that this means I have enough of a backlog for a bonanza of reviews!  In this installment I've got two movies (Annihilation and The Laplace's Demon), a novella (River of Teeth), and two works of non-fiction (The Island of Knowledge and Africa, Asia, and the History of Philosophy).  Stay tuned for part two coming soon.