Bloody Quills
Monday, April 24, 2017
Tales of Poe
Saturday, April 15, 2017
The Killing Joke
Saturday, April 8, 2017
Joyride, Jack Ketchum
Monday, April 3, 2017
Seven, Directed by David Fincher
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Taxi Driver, Directed by Martin Scorsese
I thought it just okay.
So, we have Travis Bickle, who probably suffers from some sort of post-traumatic stress syndrome, trying to find his way in the big city. That itself is a huge contrast from the jungles of Vietnam. He spent so much time fighting for something he didn’t understand, that when he comes home he can only see the filth and decay wrought by those fortunate enough not to do the same. I’ll say it, I’d be pissed and a little crazy too.
Was this a great film? Probably. Is it one that I love? No. Not because it wasn’t good, but because it’s not what it’s marketed as. It should be marketed as a war movie, not a psychological thriller. I will say it's a far better film than Jarhead, which arguabley had the same message.
Monday, March 13, 2017
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, by Vincent Bugliosi
Sunday, March 5, 2017
Misery, by Stephen King
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Silence of the Lambs
Monday, February 20, 2017
Red Dragon, by Thomas Harris
Friday, February 17, 2017
Thus, I read this book because it was assigned
I spent more time on this in MS Paint and PowerPoint than Greg Funaro spent on characterization and plot. |
Sunday, February 5, 2017
The Church of Dead Girls, or "Stephen Dobyns Opens a Phone Book and Tells Us About Everybody In It. And, Oh Yeah, One of Them is a Murdering Pscho" by Stephen Dobyns
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis
Monday, January 16, 2017
Psycho, by Robert Bloch
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
30 Days of Night by Steve Niles
Friday, November 25, 2016
Relic, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Relic was one of the first books I remember reading as a kid. I read plenty others, before and definitely after, but it is one that stuck with me for nearly 20 years. I'll say that 15 year old me enjoyed the book, so it does hold a nostalgic place in my dark little heart.
What does 36 year old me think?
Yeah, I still like it.
But, it's not unqualified. There are issues with plot and pacing that did make the second half drag on. And then there's the worse epilogue I've ever seen this week.
Let's start with plot: A beast from South America comes to the New York Museum of Natural History and eats brains. Totally onboard so far. We go about halfway through the book watching scared scientists and cocky police make silly mistakes. I'm onboard with that, too: I love when hubris gets characters into hot water. There are some science-y things about this I take issue with, but I'm not a scientist so I don't know how valid my arguments are. The biggest is the creature's smell. Here is a creature that is an evolutionary marvel, with everything going for it to be the top of the food chain, but it gives itself away by being stinky. Seems to be a flaw that could be taken advantage of, especially since it needs lots and lots of brains to survive.
The pacing was good... Until it wasn't. It seemed like half the book was climax, and when we got to the payoff scene, it was fairly anticlimactic. Yes, Lincoln and Child cornered several groups with no way out to build tension, but when each group finally found a way to succeed, the conflict and tension lifted unceremoniously.
And then there was the epilogue. It took a good story with believable science and a good, believable monster, and kicked it all to the curb. I wish I had stopped at the end of the story and just left the epilogue alone. But sometimes I go against my best judgement.
Relic does introduce one of my favorite modern popular fiction characters: Agent A.X.L. Pendergast. He's a brilliant, Southern, Ivy League-educated FBI agent. When I look at Lincoln-Child books, I always check to see if it's a Pendergast Novel.
Overall, I though Relic was a solid read. No book is ever going to satisfy everybody, but this is one I can honestly say I can re-read once a decade... Hopefully I'll forget about the epilogue again.
Saturday, November 19, 2016
The Blob (1988), Directed by Chuck Russell
Sunday, November 13, 2016
The Outsider, Pickman's Model, and The Call of Cthulhu, by H.P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft |
"I call it, "Bowl of Fruit on a Midsummer Morning." |
Those Seaquest: DSV brats and their stupid dolphin
just can't leave well enough alone.
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