You guys may have already read these, but just in case -- my two favorite thriller series, by far, are Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, and Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch/Micky Haller series. Fantastic, fun reads.

 

I just about got done writing a response, thought "Wait, something's not right here," and then realized I was thinking about Lincoln Child.

That having been said, Utopia (2002) was a good, if simple read.

 

Half way through One hell of a book - heavy, dark at times, profound, thought provoking and life changing for those who read for more than entertainment.

 

Movie: Icarus
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel Ep 255

 

Some good series I have enjoyed:

Robert Crais: Elvis Cole/Joe Pike
John D MacDonald: Travis McGee
Terry Pratchett: Discworld

Pretty much anything by Neal Stephenson, couple of favorites are Zodiac and Snow Crash.

I was reading a few pages back about The Princess Bride. The book was written (more accurately edited) by William Goldman. It is worth the read, he gives insight into the original and how it was written as social commentary of the time (can't recall just how long ago it was done).

 

+1

Kick *** cyber-punk novel. By the way, Altered Carbon is so much better as a book than the series, even though there is some eye-candy.

 

Has anyone read SevenEves? I enjoyed it but it bummed the **** out of me.

Basically the idea is that the moon is hit with an asteroid out of nowhere, cracking it in two (or more?) chunks. Humanity does the calculations and discovers that it will result in an extinction level event. Humanity bands together to send as many people into space as they can. This is for the most part using technology that exists today, so it's not ideal.

Part two is about what happens after they are in space.

Part three is when they try and return to earth. (5,000 years into the future)

 

Yup, I read that one a year or two ago. I agree it's somewhat depressing, but then again looking at the resiliency of individuals and groups under extreme conditions gives me hope for humanity.

 

If Moon was split, potentially, it would be much less of an issue than if it disappeared from our gravitational field. Lack of tides is something that nature will adjust to, same goes for shorter days, but the potential of axis shifting, and doing so with some regularity would wreck havoc on seasons and weather patterns.

 

In this scenario, the moon broke into multiple pieces. Over time the orbit decayed causing the pieces to fall to earth. Everything burned wiping out life (think what happened to the dinosaurs).

 

Not sure how I've missed this until now.



The art of editing trailers is under-appreciated.

Also, the Muppet version is actually pretty good.

 

Ready Player Two (book) was released today.

 

My wife and I are listening to it on our trip this weekend. We both have decided it is complete ****. It feels extremely rushed and forced in bad ways. The plot felt like it did not move for several hours. We will finish it, but mostly begrudgingly.

 

This saddens me.

 

2022 is shaping up to be yet another nostalgia-fest, full of "let's make movies for adults which directly connect with the movies we made for them when the were kids. Because people love that ****."

I mean... they're not wrong.

But the studios seem to be getting over their reboot / re-make phase, and are now starting to acknowledge the past as a bygone world, whose progeny are the present.

Case in point:

The year is 1995. Toy Story is in theaters. One of the more obvious underlying themes of that film is the distinction between traditional, old-school toys which were largely of a self-referential / open-world nature, and the newer toys designed merely as merchandising tie-ins to popular film & television franchises which encourage emulative rather than imaginative play.

So, in the year 2022, we look back at Toy Story, and ask "What was the movie which Andy saw 27 years ago, that made him want the Buzz Lightyear action figure?"

And so they decided to make that specific movie.

Which I think is just clever as hell.







I could sit here and listen to that specific composition of David Bowe's Starman for hours. It's pressing a well-targeted nostalgia button, exactly as intended.

 

I ended up finishing RP2 about 1.5 years after I started. The last few chapters of the book are the only part that is decent. It swung the story in a way I was not super expecting, that kind of sort of made of for the rest of the book being lack luster.