8.27.2004
Look for new posts after I return from studying abroad at the end of September!
8.17.2004
Horatio Hornblower: The Adventure Continues Vol.1
~100 minutes
Amazon page
Overall Grade: A
Yea for more Hornblower! I don't know how much significance it has for you, but I didn't get any homework done this weekend because I watched this in my spare time. There isn't much happiness in this one because it really needs vol.2 to resolve it, I think. Basic premise here is that Horatio is 3rd lieutenant on the HMS Reknown, except that his famed captain is addicted to laudanum (an opiate) which they find out much to late to stem the tide of mutinous allegations endangering their ship. Ah, how 19th century naval discipline made for sure-fire tensions!
Amazon page
Overall Grade: A
Yea for more Hornblower! I don't know how much significance it has for you, but I didn't get any homework done this weekend because I watched this in my spare time. There isn't much happiness in this one because it really needs vol.2 to resolve it, I think. Basic premise here is that Horatio is 3rd lieutenant on the HMS Reknown, except that his famed captain is addicted to laudanum (an opiate) which they find out much to late to stem the tide of mutinous allegations endangering their ship. Ah, how 19th century naval discipline made for sure-fire tensions!
Labels: genre: historical, media: DVD, series: Horatio Hornblower
8.06.2004
Secret Shakespeare's adventures of freeman jones
edited by Michael Brame & Galina Popova
Amazon page
Overall Grade: D+
Okay, the premise of this work is that the work that is delivered in the first section was really written by the guy who wrote all the Shakespeare stuff, except that he is not the guy from Stratford, but some noblemen or courtier or something. While the actual piece in question is a good read (bawdy, Shakespeare-like escapades), the footnotes & second section are just too much. Seriously, every time the word 'ever' or 'over' is used does not mean the author is making some subtle reference to his initials or name or identity. Good grief! Their argument is viable without running it into the ground with these stupid supposed self-references pointed out every page or so. I can't really recommend this unless you haven't got a thing else to read.
Amazon page
Overall Grade: D+
Okay, the premise of this work is that the work that is delivered in the first section was really written by the guy who wrote all the Shakespeare stuff, except that he is not the guy from Stratford, but some noblemen or courtier or something. While the actual piece in question is a good read (bawdy, Shakespeare-like escapades), the footnotes & second section are just too much. Seriously, every time the word 'ever' or 'over' is used does not mean the author is making some subtle reference to his initials or name or identity. Good grief! Their argument is viable without running it into the ground with these stupid supposed self-references pointed out every page or so. I can't really recommend this unless you haven't got a thing else to read.
Labels: genre: fiction, media: book
8.01.2004
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
by Douglas Adams, 166 pgs, hardcover
Amazon site
Overall Grade: B
This series is starting to get more amusing as it goes along. This one actually got a couple of guffaws out of me. Though still predicated on sheer ridiculousness, 'Restaurant' some how seems to move faster, perhaps relying on the character base already created in 'Hitchhiker's Guide'. In short, the same old crew, Zaphod, Trillian, Ford & Arthur pick up where they left off, eating at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, where they then end up stealing/stowing-away on somebody's ship & getting transported to completely different locations in a last ditch effort to save themselves. Ironic and humorous passages on the origins of human life and the President of the Universe ensue.
Amazon site
Overall Grade: B
This series is starting to get more amusing as it goes along. This one actually got a couple of guffaws out of me. Though still predicated on sheer ridiculousness, 'Restaurant' some how seems to move faster, perhaps relying on the character base already created in 'Hitchhiker's Guide'. In short, the same old crew, Zaphod, Trillian, Ford & Arthur pick up where they left off, eating at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, where they then end up stealing/stowing-away on somebody's ship & getting transported to completely different locations in a last ditch effort to save themselves. Ironic and humorous passages on the origins of human life and the President of the Universe ensue.
Labels: genre: fiction, genre: scifi, media: book, series: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Einstein Defiant
by Edmund Bolles, 307 pgs, hardcover
Amazon site
Overall Grade: A
This book is definitely worth your time especially if you're a scientist. I think its billed as a history of science/physics book, but what its really about is the author trying to get inside the heads of Einstein & Bohr and other great thinkers behind the quantum revolution & figure out how they acted & reacted to each other. Pretty light on the actual physics, but a very fine supplement to a modern/quantum physics class. It makes the names behind the formulas much more vivid and real.
Amazon site
Overall Grade: A
This book is definitely worth your time especially if you're a scientist. I think its billed as a history of science/physics book, but what its really about is the author trying to get inside the heads of Einstein & Bohr and other great thinkers behind the quantum revolution & figure out how they acted & reacted to each other. Pretty light on the actual physics, but a very fine supplement to a modern/quantum physics class. It makes the names behind the formulas much more vivid and real.
Labels: genre: historical, genre: non-fiction, genre: science, media: book
One Knight Only
by Peter David, 373 pgs, hardcover
Amazon site
Overall Grade: B+
Another good one from David. In case you're waiting for the next Sir Apropos book, take a look at this fantasy sequel to 'Knight Life'. Although a little less focused & with trite cave-ins to current politics it still captures the essence and loyalty that his Camelot crew has. Nutshell: Arthur is elected president of the U.S. Enter terrorist problems ala 9/11. Add an assassination plot on the First Lady (Gwen) and then simmer the mix with more Basilisk, Percival, and legendary objects & heroes.
Amazon site
Overall Grade: B+
Another good one from David. In case you're waiting for the next Sir Apropos book, take a look at this fantasy sequel to 'Knight Life'. Although a little less focused & with trite cave-ins to current politics it still captures the essence and loyalty that his Camelot crew has. Nutshell: Arthur is elected president of the U.S. Enter terrorist problems ala 9/11. Add an assassination plot on the First Lady (Gwen) and then simmer the mix with more Basilisk, Percival, and legendary objects & heroes.
Labels: genre: fantasy, genre: fiction, media: book
