I saw the movie "Arrival" yesterday — for the second time. I plan to watch it at least once or twice more, depending on how many friends I can compel to join me. Before I saw it for the first time, I had certain preconceptions about what it would be, based on reviews I'd read. The reviews also told me that I would be surprised by what it actually turned out to be.… [more]
This is my review of the recently recalled picture book, A Birthday Cake For George Washington. For those who haven't seen it and will now be unable to obtain it, here's my page by page synopsis of the book with excerpts from the text and tiny, super low resolution thumbnails of the interior pages.… [more]
"Blue is the Warmest Color" is a groundbreaking movie that should be seen by anyone with an interest in new ways of telling stories through film.
The movie's primary innovation is its absolute commitment to the faces of its characters. I've read reviews criticizing this as a "preoccupation with closeups," as if this were a lack of directorial balance, but that's ridiculous.… [more]
When I was in high school, I memorized "The Waste Land" and recited it to my English class over the course of two class periods. It was my favorite long poem until I discovered Eliot's "Four Quartets" in college. Shortly after that, however, I was introduced to Basil Bunting's "Briggflatts," and it quickly became – and has remained – my new favorite.… [more]
Review: The Dazzle of Day, by Molly Gloss
This is my Favorite Science Fiction Novel, no contest, but it's an odd creation. It's like a historical fiction about a Quaker farming community, except that the community exists inside a multi-generational colony ship many centuries into a journey to a possible habitable world in a distant solar system. Oh, and each chapter begins with a quote from Walt Whitman.… [more]
