Book #257 of 2017: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (Southern Reach #1) This was an unsettling sci-fi tale of delirium and paranoia, but there was a bit too much unresolved ambiguity for me to truly love it. The narrator is exploring an environment that’s known to warp perception and impede clear thinking, and that’s even before …
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TV #48 of 2017: The Mindy Project, season 3 This show is getting incrementally better, with the addition of Danny’s mom this season a definite strength. On the other hand, it’s still wildly inconsistent in terms of character logic and the type of show it feels like it’s trying to be. Like I’ve said before, …
Book #256 of 2017: End of Watch by Stephen King (Bill Hodges Trilogy #3) This last book in Stephen King’s Bill Hodges trilogy is unfortunately a bit of a mess. Partly that’s due to the tonal whiplash of following up two fairly straightforward crime thrillers with a story about hypnotic mind control, telekinesis, and bodyswaps, …
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Book #255 of 2017: Dangerous Women edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois Far more misses than hits in this genre-spanning short story collection that purports to be about ‘dangerous women’ but mostly delivers stale femme fatales from a largely male gaze. (Why did it not occur to George R.R. Martin and Gardner …
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Book #254 of 2017: Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive by Scott Tipton, David Tipton, Rachael Stott, and Charlie Kirchoff This trade paperback collects the complete five issues of a comic book crossover between Star Trek and Planet of the Apes, and I have to admit that I didn’t have very high expectations …
Book #253 of 2017: My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories edited by Stephanie Perkins This collection of holiday love stories from twelve YA writers makes for some cute seasonal fun. “It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown” by editor Stephanie Perkins was the clear highlight for me, but Holly Black’s “Krampuslauf,” Laini Taylor’s …
Movie #24 of 2017: Bad Santa 2 (2016) It’s hard to really justify this movie’s existence. The first Bad Santa movie (2003) wasn’t exactly a modern classic, but it was a funny spin on the darkness that can underlie the holidays with a surprising amount of heart to it. This one is mostly just mean …
Movie #23 of 2017: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) I really liked this movie, and am surprised that there’s apparently such a backlash against it. I know that a lot of it zigged where we might have expected a Star Wars sequel to zag – especially given all the trademark J.J. Abrams mysteries that …
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Movie #22 of 2017: Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) I rewatched this movie in anticipation of its new sequel, since I’m pretty sure I had only seen it one time in theaters two years ago. It holds up really well! Definitely the shot in the arm that Star Wars needed to explode back on …
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Book #252 of 2017: The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah” by Alan Light An interesting slice of music history, detailing how an obscure track from an obscure songwriter grew over time to become one of rock music’s most-covered songs. Author Alan Light recounts the sequence of …
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