Whatever charms Romancing the Stone possessed, are generally lacking in this bizarre, dated and probably offensive sequel.
The Bride Wore Black (1968, Francois Truffaut)
This has to be seen as the spiritual predecessor to Kill Bill, even if Tarantino insists he’s never seen it. The overall plot is just too similar, though Tarantino made far superior films. (I suppose it’s also possible someone just told him the plot, or he read the novel. SPOILER ALERT
The Nano-Fabricator Will Solve All Our Problems
The nano-fabricator (or molecular assembler, if you prefer) is coming in about half a century. It will totally transform our world. Are you ready?
Whitney (1987) by Whitney Houston
This is one of the most commercially successful albums of its era, so I guess that’s why I felt I had to listen to it. But if I learned one thing from this album, it’s that the things that I like about music and the things that most consumers like about music are not the …
Love Gun (1977) by KISS
I absolutely hated Destroyer, KISS’s most famous and ostensibly best record, so I had really low expectations for this record. Maybe that’s why I don’t hate it, but I think there are other reasons.
Fooled by Randomness (2001) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
This is an important, valuable book. It’s basically a must-read. It would go on my list of essential non-fiction only I have a few reservations (all of them stylistic). Still, very, very important stuff.
I Robot (1977) by The Alan Parsons Project
When I was young and obsessed with prog rock, people used to make fun of me. They would learn I loved prog and they would be bemused or even a little shocked/outraged. And I was confused because I really liked the stuff. Eventually, I realized that those who made fun of my tastes were often …
Western Philosophy Caused Alternative Facts
We are told that so-called “alternative facts” are a new threat to us as a society; to how we view and understand the world and how we make decisions about the world (policies etc). But I think the idea of an “alternative” fact is far older and, worse, rooted in the very basic ideas most …
I Stand Alone (1968) by Al Kooper
When I was younger, I was utterly fascinated by Kooper’s career: how he went from a successful songwriter to a less successful session guitarist to one of the best rock keyboardists of his era (or, perhaps, ever) and the major creative force behind some interesting ventures in the late ’60s. But, for whatever reason, it …
Passengers (2016, Morten Tyldum)
I feel like every single time I watch one of these legendary blockbuster bombs I find myself asking the same question: did I watch the same movie as everyone else? Make no mistake: this is not a good film. But once you’ve been told something is The Worst over and over again, your expectations get …
The Westing Game (1978) by Ellen Raskin
This is the kind of novel all kids should read. I am far too old for this type of book now but, as a child or tween, this would have been great. It feels like a legitimate game – it’s basically a far more complicated version of Clue, but with character development – and its …
Riley Goes to Saskatchewan Day 9 – Saturday June 10, 2017 Regina
I didn’t have a great morning as I don’t always sleep in when I’ve been up late drinking – more so now than when I was young – and the condo we stayed in was super bright. Then, shortly after 8, the in-laws called to inform us they would be there shortly for breakfast. We …
Riley Goes to Saskatchewan Day 8 – Friday June 9, 2017 Moose Jaw and Regina
On this morning we made a ridiculously heavy biscuits and gravy breakfast that we made once before this year (albeit with a few minor alterations). It’s great stuff, but it’s very, very heavy.
Riley Goes to Saskatchewan Day 7 – Thursday June 8, 2017 Manitoba again
This morning we woke up and ate our Riding Mountain National Park cinnamon buns. They were quite good but not as good as the ones from Saskatoon. Today we were supposed to go for a boat ride. So we got in the car and headed back to Manitoba to Lake of the Prairies.
Riley Goes to Saskatchewan Day 6 – Wednesday June 7, 2017 Manitoba
We woke up in Manitoba, to a weird situation: we had been informed the night before that our host couldn’t make us breakfast at our Bed and Breakfast because she had to look after her grand-kids due to an emergency. But she left us some farm eggs to microwave and she left us scones and …
Riley Goes to Saskatchewan Day 5 – Tuesday June 6, 2017 Manitoba
This morning we made pancakes and had a leisurely breakfast. That would prove to be a mistake.
Riley Goes to Saskatchewan Day 4 – Monday June 5, 2017 Yorkton and Melville
This morning we had the Kuchen (Kowach?) that we bought at the Farmer’s Market, which was pretty great. Then we went for a walk down to the end of the road, and then back to the other end of the road. I was not expecting all the trees as my idea of the farming part …
Riley Goes to Saskatchewan Day 3 – Sunday June 4, 2017 Saskatoon to Yorkton
This morning we woke up early again and went to the Park Cafe Diner in the formerly bad part of downtown. It was a solid diner breakfast and I got to try a kind of bacon I’ve never had before: schinkenspeck.
Riley Goes to Saskatchewan Day 2 – Saturday June 3, 2017 Saskatoon
We woke up pretty damn early on account of the time change and headed over to the Saskatoon Farmer’s Market probably not much longer after it opened. We wandered around, looked at the vendors, and had some snacks. We had not very good (too dense) scones and an absolutely amazing croissant. It was so good …
Jason Bourne (2016, Paul Greengrass)
Why there’s another Bourne movie I don’t know. This one hits all the marks you’d expect: Bourne is mad at the CIA and is taking some kind of action, there’s someone on inside helping him out. (Actually 2 people, but whatever.) The cast is too good for the material, as is usual with these films, …
Riley Goes to Saskatchewan Day 1 – June 2, 2017 in Saskatoon
On Friday June 2, I went to Saskatchewan for the third time in my life. Why I went is sort of a long story. The short version of that story is that I was supposed to be in Europe for most of May but had to cancel my trip. Saskatchewan became the alternative because my …
Jung: A Very Short Introduction (1994) by Anthony Stevens
When I was a teenager, some adult told me about Jung’s collective unconscious. I didn’t read a thing about it, but took whatever they told me and created my own elaborate theory about our thoughts influencing others (which has nothing to do with Jung). Ultimately, that theory was a responsible for a lot of mental …
Roxy Music (1972)
On their debut, Roxy Music appear to have stumbled upon a unique take on art rock: it’s borderline prog at times but Ferry’s songs and croon are just way too rooted in popular music conventions (whether they subtly overturn them or not) for this to be mistaken as King Crimson or some Canterbury scene band …
The Golden Bowl (1904) by Henry James
At long last I am done with this tedious novel. But, I shouldn’t start this on a bad note, so let’s start with the positives:
The Fate of the Furious (2017, F. Gary Gray)
It occurred to me after I watched this latest of the Fast franchise films that these movies have the Bond license: back when Sean Connery and then Roger Moore made Bond films, these films could be filled with the most ridiculous nonsense and nobody cared. In fact, people celebrated them. You put that crap in another film and …
Glee (1997) by Bran Van 3000
I love genre-bending. A number of my most favourite bands are bands that can play a wide variety of genres well, and make these genres sound like their own – or, alternatively, convince you they are an entirely different band. So I should like this. I should like this even though it is based in …
Full Circle (1997) by Pennywise
I don’t love ’90s punk, I generally find it too polished and too formulaic for my tastes. I’m not sure what it adds to the legacy of hardcore and frankly it’s all too one-note. You can get away with one-note when you’re doing something brand new, but when you are doing a slightly more polished …
The Life of Graham Greene Volume 3: 1955-1991
Finally, at long last, I am done with this book. If this isn’t the longest English-language biography of a novelist, I don’t want to read the longest one…
Shit Town (2017)
Shit Town, known as S Town in its marketing because the US is a country full of prudes whose heads will explode if they hear the word “shit” in public, is a remarkable new podcast from This American Life. It is unlike any other podcast I’ve heard so far, in fact. If you were one of the …
At the Drive-In Live at Rebel, Toronto, March 29, 2017
When I was young, band reunions were thought of as really awful: just a bunch of washed up musicians trying to make money. But times have changed: reunions are now viewed as normal and often something to be cherished. I think I’ve changed too, I’ve grown up a bit. When I was young, I had …