Tag: science fiction

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Critic’s Notebook: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies of the 1980s

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Introduction “Interest in film, pop and television stars and science fiction peaks between the ages of 12 and 13.” Media Genres and Content Preferences by Carmelo Garitaon and Jose A. Oleaga, Patxi Juaristi (The London School of Economics and Political Science). One of the most challenging aspects of criticism is Taste.  How is it formed?  What differences are there between Good Taste and Bad Taste?  Can these differences be investigated with an objective concrete analysis, or is it a phenomenon based entirely on subjective experiences? The creation of Taste occurs when we grow up, sifting through the various cultural products … Continue reading Critic’s Notebook: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies of the 1980s

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book reviews, books, Joe Bob Briggs, natureLeave a comment

Reservoir Gods by Brian Knight @ Joe Bob Briggs

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Dworshak was a body of water created by the Clearwater River. The dammed river created this reservoir that powers the town of Orofino. This project flooded a previously abandoned town and there are tales of desecrated Indian burial grounds. Amidst this stew of history, legend, and hearsay, Brian Knight brings us a “Big Fish Tale.” Remember the one that got away? Reservoir Gods is one of those stories. The story centers around the lives of various individuals spending their time around Dworshak. There is Commissioner Grant Lang, who enjoys the outdoors, camping with his underlings, and the occasional fourteen-year-old girl. … Continue reading Reservoir Gods by Brian Knight @ Joe Bob Briggs

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books, miscellaneous, Permanent Press, The Internet2 Comments

Self-Referential 100th Post

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Nothing like an arbitrary milestone for the blogosphere. This is the 100th post of the Driftless Area Review.  It’s been a fun experience thus far.  I’ve met new people and started receiving free review copies.  I have enjoyed the works of the Permanent Press and enjoy the publishing philosophy of co-founder Martin Shepard. For those interested, I will continue my two long term essay series: The Art of Reviewing and Essays on Capital.  I am currently half-way through Capital, Volume 2.  The work presents more of a challenge, since the text is more technical, dry, and math-intensive than the first … Continue reading Self-Referential 100th Post

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book reviews, books, Critical Appraisals, nature, TV3 Comments

Critical Appraisal: The Landscape of Hell

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The representation of Hell as a cartographic region has its origins in Dante’s Divine Comedy.  Dante adapted the imagery already present in medieval painting and sculpture to comment on his political situation and his own scientific and theological beliefs.  He populated it with real people, including political heroes and villains, good popes and bad popes, adulterous princesses, and monsters human and mythological.  On Dante’s spiritual journey, he traveled with the Roman poet Vergil down the various circles of Hell and then up Mount Purgatory.  Finally, led by his beloved Beatrice, he journeyed through the heavenly spheres until he was in … Continue reading Critical Appraisal: The Landscape of Hell

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Isabel at Midnight @ Joe Bob Briggs

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Isabel at Midnight by Ken Knight offers a fascinating world of organized crime, white supremacists, and “psycho-kink.” The novel centers on Isabel Marcano, a scion of a Virginia-based Mafia family. She suffers from helios-porphyria, meaning she would get serious burns if she exposed her skin to sunlight. With this ailment, Isabel worked various night shift jobs. The novel opens with Isabel winning a wrongful termination suit thanks to the work of an arrogant lawyer named Diego Tanner. Knight throws in a few more characters. Isabel’s friend Danielle Kenyon, a successful escort, has a hidden agenda. There is the corrupt cop … Continue reading Isabel at Midnight @ Joe Bob Briggs

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A Confession by Leo Tolstoy

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Near the end of his life, Count Leo Tolstoy wrote two lengthy essays on the topic of religion.  Hesperus Press includes these two essays, “A Confession” (1879 – 1882) and “What is Religion, and What Does its Essence Consist of?” (1902).  The edition includes a foreword by novelist and Orange Prize winner Helen Dunmore with an introduction by famed Tolstoy translator Tony Briggs. Tolstoy would revisit the religious theme in “Father Sergius” (written in 1890, published in 1898), an excruciatingly introspective tale of sensual temptation, religious duty, and personal mutilation.  With “A Confession” and “What is Religion?”, Tolstoy works within … Continue reading A Confession by Leo Tolstoy

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Critic’s Notebook: Unpopular Causes, Part V

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Two Personal Favorites: Spook Country (2007) and Domino (2005) Spook Country The toughest challenge for any author is to follow up a big hit with an equally big hit.  Following the epic genius of Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon released the misunderstood novel Vineland.  In the case of William Gibson, he experienced career resurgence with the release of Pattern Recognition, an “empathetic thriller” about advertising, intelligence, and an elusive video.  Gibson set the novel in the present and it reads like a strange relic, an artifact set in a world after 9/11 but before YouTube. Spook Country follows the same general … Continue reading Critic’s Notebook: Unpopular Causes, Part V

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Critic’s Notebook: Unpopular Causes, Part II

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Unpopularity as Popularity: or How to be a hipster. “Every aspect of hipster culture amounts to little more than an elaborate pissing contest.  …  Hipsters ignore rules because they think it will make them look like they don’t care. There is no end result, just a continuous cycle of mediocre indie rock and scruffy looking dudes. By basing their actions on avoiding the mainstream, they are in fact guided by the mainstream.” – “Cracked Topics: Hipster”, Cracked.com You’re not cool enough.  The bands you like aren’t unpopular enough. Hipsters, the annoying quasi-subculture, has its own uses and abuses of unpopularity. … Continue reading Critic’s Notebook: Unpopular Causes, Part II

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Critic’s Notebook: Unpopular Causes, Part I

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“In place of a hermeneutrics we need an erotics of art.” – “Against Interpretation” [1964], Susan Sontag Challenges and Non-Responses The job of the critic is, by turns, tastemaker, evangelist, and champion.  The best critics harness the powers of intellection and enthusiasm to inform his or her readership on a work’s merits.  If a work receives more merits than demerits, than, in a roughly mathematical fashion, the creator obtains a “good review.”  This reviewer finds works with “mixed reviews” or polarizing reactions (see Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones) most attractive, since “mixed reviews” are not sure things.  A tiny element … Continue reading Critic’s Notebook: Unpopular Causes, Part I

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Dollhouse Riffs: Special Edition: Victor’s Chin and Sierra’s Cheekbones: Dollhouse and the Reinvention of Beauty on TV

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Author’s Note: I wrote this for the Smart Pop Books essay contest featuring Joss Whedon’s beloved-but-canceled TV series Dollhouse.  Since they did not choose my essay, I am posting it here on my blog. Introduction “A mask is but a sum of lines; a face, on the contrary, is above all their thematic harmony.” – “Garbo’s Face,” Mythologies by Roland Barthes Dollhouse is revolutionary television in its depiction of beauty.  The beauty presented on the program encompasses the social, economic, and visual.  We get the exotic beauty of Sierra and Victor, Bennett Halverson’s nerdy beauty, the damaged Dr. Saunders, Alpha’s … Continue reading Dollhouse Riffs: Special Edition: Victor’s Chin and Sierra’s Cheekbones: Dollhouse and the Reinvention of Beauty on TV

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