The Sicilian Connection
Ben Gazarra takes us on a tour of the heroin supply chain from Turkey to Sicily and finally New York. It has its moments but there is not much of a plot. It did have a sexy food eating scene not unlike this one.
Weapons
Like just about everyone else, I liked this movie. I do fall into the camp that thinks the ending is a tad bit too goofy.
Alice: Madness Returns on PC
I played the original American McGee’s Alice back in the early 2000s when I was easily impressed by just about any 3-D game. It was probably a $5 bargain-bin CD-ROM from CompUSA, and I managed to finish it even though it was pretty bad.
This sequel is definitely much slicker looking, but beneath the goth-girl art direction it’s still a fairly uninspired platform game. The biggest problem is straightforward and boring level design. For example, you are given the ability to shrink down, but you never use this ability for anything except walking into secret keyhole rooms. This is the sort of mechanism that a Mario game would build an entire world around.
And then there’s the combat, which consists of locking on to a target and mashing the left mouse button. Half the time the camera is positioned in such a way that you can’t see what you are doing anyway. There are a couple of larger enemies that offer a little skill-based battling, but most of the time combat is just an annoyance.
The game really wants you to care about its story, but it’s just an incoherent, mumbled mess of found “memories” and illustrated cut scenes. In the end, the whole affair feels like a Psychonauts rip-off, and, in hindsight, that game wasn’t really that great either.
Mysteries of the Unknown: Psychic Powers
With this I have finally finished reading all the Mysteries of the Unknown books in my collection. This one seemed to have a good balance between skepticism, history, and strange phenomena. it also has one of the better covers in the series.
The Red and the Black
Do you long for the iron-fisted rule of Napoleon? Do you seek glory in battle? Have you memorized the Latin Bible? Then you too will root for our protagonist Julien as he tries to gain glory and status in a world without heroes. That description of the plot sounds a bit more exciting than the book really is, but it does represent the general themes of the story. Although there is dueling and a sprinkling of political intrigue, ninety percent of the book is Julien seducing women of society as a means to his ends. The novel is a little too long for my tastes but it managed to keep this pulp novel loving idiot engaged through all the mushy lovey-dovey bits.
The Seven Who Were Hanged
A short Russian novella that details the final days of seven criminals who have been condemned to death. Most of the seven are from a group of terrorists who plotted to kill a minister. I guess we are supposed to sympathize with them but they all sound like brainwashed zealots to me. The point of the whole endeavor is probably to make a statement against capital punishment. Being as this book is over one hundred years old, I’d say, “Mission Accomplished?”
Flow
It’s the best movie about a cat since Milo and Otis and I’m pretty sure fewer animals were killed during the filming.
A Quiet Place in the Country
A famous modern artist is obsessed with an old Italian villa and the previous resident who died tragically. He spends much of his time brooding, then doing weird/dumb 60s cinematic artist stuff. Did all filmmakers in the 60s think artists would just have scantily clad models roll around in paint? Anyhow, it becomes a psychological drama/semi-horror film in the final act and, knowing the director, there is probably some sort of gobbledygook message about the working class and oppression. I liked it because it was goofy.
The Martian
It was a little better than Project Hail Mary. Hurrah!
Kinship Atlas
Here’s a silly little Web app that I had Claude.ai generate for me that will allow you to map out relationship names between family members and yourself. It arouse out of a discussion of what to call a grandparent’s brother’s grandchild. This app will clarify the whole first/second cousin once/twice removed thing and will allow you to family reunionize like a pro.