Book #1 of 2021: Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious: All Flesh is Grass by Una McCormack The second and final Time Lord Victorious novel offers a generally satisfying resolution to this sprawling Doctor Who multimedia experiment, although there are still a few open areas that will likely be shaded in by future releases of some …
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Book Review: Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
Book #303 of 2020: Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive #4) And so my 2020 comes to a close with another 1000+ page tome, the newest release in author Brandon Sanderson’s massive Stormlight Archive, which is increasingly inseparable from his even larger super-series linking together everything in the multiverse Cosmere setting. (Earlier …
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Movie Review: Soul (2020)
Movie #16 of 2020: Soul (2020) I’ve half-watched a lot of Disney movies this year — because of a certain pandemic and a certain toddler — but I haven’t paid close enough attention to most titles to feel as though I should count them or write a proper review. This new Pixar film is the …
Book Review: The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale
Book #302 of 2020: The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale (Princess Academy #3) This final Princess Academy novel improves in its back half, but for too long it doesn’t really feel organically motivated as a continuation of the first two volumes. There aren’t any lingering plot threads that get picked up here, and the most …
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Book Review: The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro
Book #301 of 2020: The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro A fascinating deep dive into the decades-long career of the official who designed and built many of the parks and highways around New York City and state. Robert Moses was a visionary architect who revolutionized urban …
Movie Review: Wonder Woman 1984
Movie #15 of 2020: Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) I like a few isolated parts of this superhero sequel (mostly involving Pedro Pascal and Kristen Wiig’s respective acting choices) but overall it’s a huge mess whose thematic incoherence at least keeps pace with all the plot holes. What exactly is the macro-goal of our villainous thinly-veiled …
TV Review: The Office, season 9
TV #57 of 2020: The Office, season 9 This final season recovers substantially from the weaker entries that it follows, and improves further as it approaches the catharsis of the series ending. At the end of the day I still don’t know if I can say that it’s great — this is, after all, the …
TV Review: Fleabag, season 1
TV #56 of 2020: Fleabag, season 1 This short British show about a woman with sex addiction, a dysfunctional family, and a dead best friend successfully mines some uncomfortable humor from those subjects, but… I’m frankly just not sure I really get it. Like, as funny and distinctive as the nameless protagonist’s audience asides can …
TV Review: The Mandalorian, season 2
TV #55 of 2020: The Mandalorian, season 2 Beyond even its debut season, this second year of the live-action Star Wars show is an outstanding achievement on every level. The spinoff program really does feel like it’s happening in the exact same continuity as the movies — something that Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and its …
Book Review: The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
Book #300 of 2020: The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue A heartbreakingly graphic depiction of an Irish plague ward during the 1918 influenza pandemic, told over a few days and mostly in one narrow chamber — a familiar constraint for Room author Emma Donoghue — for patients who are both infected and pregnant. …
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The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 