TV #38 of 2016: Deadwood, season 3 It’s surprising this final season works as well as it does, given that (as I understand it) it wasn’t originally intended to close out the series. The original plan was for Deadwood to run for at least four seasons, most likely culminating in the fire that burned down …
Author Archives: Joe Kessler
TV Review: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, season 2
TV #37 of 2016: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, season 2 Wow, Kimmy Schmidt really came into its own this season. The first season was very funny in a 30 Rock sort of way, but it didn’t really do much on the emotional level for me. Season 2 maintained that humor, but it also became very interested …
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Movie Review: Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Movie #14 of 2016: Star Trek Beyond (2016) This new Star Trek film feels exactly like a feature-length episode, which unsurprisingly works great as a showcase for the series. I think I still like the first movie in this new continuity the best, but Beyond is lightyears ahead of Into Darkness, and that’s really all …
Book Review: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Book #61 of 2016: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks The Sarajevo Haggadah is a real book, a 500-year-old illustrated manuscript depicting scenes from the Jewish Passover saga. People of the Book is a beautiful work of historical fiction, tracing a possible history of the Haggadah back through the centuries with a series of …
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Book Review: Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
Book #60 of 2016: Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie (Imperial Radch #2) Ancillary Sword is just as good as its predecessor, but with the added bonus that the reader now understands Leckie’s odd system of ancillaries, ships, and tea ceremonies right from the start. (I ended up loving Ancillary Justice, but that story took far …
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Book Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Book #59 of 2016: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Millennium #1) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a satisfyingly well-told detective story; I was quite surprised to learn after reading it that it was a first novel, found among the author’s papers and published after his death. I enjoyed that …
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Book Review: The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe
Book #58 of 2016: The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe (Tufa #1) The Hum and the Shiver was a really interesting premiere – although it definitely reads more like the pilot to an ongoing (but probably episodic) series than a standalone tale in its own right. This novel introduces us to the Tufa, …
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Book Review: Omnitopia Dawn by Diane Duane
Book #57 of 2016: Omnitopia Dawn by Diane Duane It wouldn’t really be fair to compare Omnitopia Dawn to Ready Player One, since that other book about a future dominated by an immersive MMO game actually came out after this novel by Diane Duane. And that’s a good thing for Omnitopia, since the game at …
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TV Review: Star Trek, season 3
TV #36 of 2016: Star Trek, season 3 Star Trek: TOS ended up faltering in its final season, which is a huge shame. There’s still stuff to enjoy in most of the episodes, but lazy clunkers are the norm and I’d be hard-pressed to name a single real classic. (Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, …
TV Review: Jane the Virgin, season 1
TV #35 of 2016: Jane the Virgin, season 1 Jane the Virgin is such a sweet, hilarious, and amazingly character-driven TV show. It comes roaring out of the gate with such an over-the-top premise that you’re worried the whole thing will just be silly, but its devotion to its characters and to the heightened reality …
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