Film: Only Lovers Left Alive

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

The vampire film as expression of early 21st-century ennui. A desolate, Gothic, brooding Detroit contrasted by a mazy, softly lit, sensual Tangier. Swinton and Hiddleston captivating as an ultracool, mysterious, devoted, centuries-old couple in love with each other and with human history, art, poetry, music, and retro-technology. Every frame and every shot is stylish, observant, meditative. The blood and fangs are rare, and more effective for being so. It's about the lovers, after all.

Running: Being Injured Sucks

I love running.

It's something I do that's truly for me –– my health, my mind. It's my meditation time, when I'm doing a run on my own. It's a constant source of tangible achievement and improvement, going farther and/or faster than the last time. It's being part of an incredibly motivating and inclusive community.

I started running regularly, as a habit, around four years ago. Then I found myself doing my first 10k race. Then it was my first half-marathon. Then, in October 2013, I did my first full marathon, the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon (or, the "Scotia full," as some of us say here in Toronto).

What a rush that day was. Definitely one of the most amazing days of my life.

In the finish area after the race.

Since that day, however, I've not been able to run very much, and not at all from January to March. I'd developed a stress fracture (and bursitis) in my right knee, likely during training for the marathon, and which was, of course, exacerbated by the race.

Read more . . .

Film: Lucy

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Fast, intense, visually striking, entertaining. A good performance by Johansson, with a few captivating moments (especially her call to her mother). Reaches for big questions about human nature, but ultimately feels thin. Ending a little abrupt, with too many narrative threads left dangling.

2011 Books Read and Films Seen

Again, for the sake of posterity, the lists of books that I read and films that I saw in 2011:

2011 Reading List (Out of 4 Stars)
China Mountain Zhang (Maureen F. McHugh, 1992) ***

• Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell, 2004) *****
• Cyberabad Days (Ian McDonald, 2009) ****
• Embassytown (China Miéville, 2011) ***
• Faust: Part One (J.W. von Goethe, 1808; trans David Luke, 2008)
• Filaria (Brent Hayward, 2008) ***
• Fleetwood (William Godwin, 1805)
• The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins, 2008) [reread]
• King Lear (Shakespeare, 1603-1606)
• Neuromancer (William Gibson, 1984) [reread]
• Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro, 2005) [reread]
• Paradise Lost (John Milton, 1667/1674) [reread]
• Rich Dad Poor Dad (Robert Kiyosaki, 2010)
• Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen, 1811)
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen R. Covey, 1989/2004)
• Spin (Robert Charles Wilson, 2006) *** 1/2
• Under Heaven (Guy Gavriel Kay, 2010) ***
• Walsingham (Mary Robinson, 1797)

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Favourites of 2011

Without further adieu, my lists of my favourite reads, films, and music of 2011!

Favourite Novels/Books Read in 2011 (Out of 4 Stars)
1. Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell, 2004)  *****
2. Cyberabad Days (Ian McDonald, 2009)  ****
3. Spin (Robert Charles Wilson, 2006)  *** 1/2
4. Embassytown (China Miéville, 2011)  ***
5. Under Heaven (Guy Gavriel Kay, 2010)  ***
6. Filaria (Brent Hayward, 2008)  ***
7. China Mountain Zhang (Maureen F. McHugh, 1992)  ***


Favourite Films Released in 2011 (Out of 4 Stars)
1. Drive  ****
2. Jane Eyre  ****
3. The Descendants  ****
4. Take Shelter  ****
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2  ****
6. Hugo  ****
7. Another Earth  *** 1/2
8. Martha Marcy May Marlene  *** 1/2
9. Midnight in Paris  *** 1/2
10. Rango  *** 1/2

Honourable Mentions: Hanna; Meek's Cutoff; The Whistle Blower.

Notable Disappointments: The Adjustment Bureau; The Ides of March; Melancholia; The Tree of Life.

Read more . . .

2010 Books Read and Films Seen

A new year has begun, so it's time to clear the Reading and Films Seen lists. For posterity's sake, the 2010 lists are transferred here.

For my favourite books, short fiction, films, and music of 2010, go to Favourites of 2010.


2010 Reading List (Out of 4 Stars)
Absolution Gap (Alastair Reynolds, 2003) *** 1/2
Asimov's Science Fiction (Jan. 2010) *** 1/2

• Asimov's Science Fiction (Feb. 2010) ***
• Asimov's Science Fiction (Mar. 2010) ** 1/2
• Asimov's Science Fiction (Apr./May 2010) *** 1/2
• Beggars in Spain (Nancy Kress, 1993) ***
• Blue Mars (Kim Stanley Robinson, 1996) ****
• Boneshaker (Cherie Priest, 2009) **
• The Burning Skies (David J. Williams, 2009) *** 1/2
• The City & The City (China Miéville, 2009) *** 1/2
• Dreaming in Books: The Making of the Bibliographic Imagination in the Romantic Age (Andrew Piper, 2009) *** 1/2
• The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins, 2008) *** 1/2
• I Am Legend (Richard Matheson, 1954) *** 1/2
• The Left Hand of Darkness (Ursula K. Le Guin, 1969) ****
• Little Brother (Cory Doctorow, 2009) ***
• The Machinery of Light (David J. Williams, 2010) *** 1/2
• The Mirrored Heavens (David J. Williams, 2008) *** 1/2
• Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro, 2005) ****
• The New Space Opera 2 (Dozois and Strahan, eds., 2009) ***
• The Quiet War (Paul McAuley, 2009) ** 1/2
• Redemption Ark (Alastair Reynolds, 2002) ****
• Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson, 1992) ***
• The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (David Mitchell, 2010) *****
• The Windup Girl (Paolo Bacigalupi, 2009) *** 1/2
• Wordsworth Translated: A Case Study in the Reception of British Romantic Poetry in Germany 1804-1914 (John Williams, 2009) ** 1/2
• Year's Best SF 15 (Hartwell and Cramer, eds., 2010) ***

Read more . . .

Favourites of 2010

This is the Great Post of Lists! Yes, my lists of my favourite reads, films, and music of 2010! Ordered and ranked, no less!

To the listmaking, then . . . .

Favourite Novels/Books Read in 2010 (Out of 4 Stars)
1. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (David Mitchell, 2010)  *****
2. Blue Mars (Kim Stanley Robinson, 1996)  ****

3. Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro, 2005)  ****

4. Redemption Ark (Alastair Reynolds, 2002)  ****

5. Autumn Rain Trilogy (David J. Williams): The Mirrored Heavens (2008), The Burning Skies (2009), The Machinery of Light (2010)  *** 1/2

6. Dreaming in Books: The Making of the Bibliographic Imagination in the Romantic Age (Andrew Piper, 2009)  *** 1/2

7. The Windup Girl (Paolo Bacigalupi, 2009)  *** 1/2

8. Absolution Gap (Alastair Reynolds, 2003)  *** 1/2

9. The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins, 2008)  *** 1/2

10. The City & The City (China Miéville, 2009)  *** 1/2

Honourable Mention: I Am Legend (Richard Matheson, 1954).

Notable Disappointments: Boneshaker (Cherie Priest, 2009); The Quiet War (Paul McAuley, 2009); Wordsworth Translated (John Williams, 2009).

Currently In Progress (i.e., Could Get Finished By the End of the Year and So Might Affect the Above Top 10): Under Heaven (Guy Gavriel Kay, 2010).

Favourite Short Fiction Read in 2010 (Out of 4 Stars)
1. Charles Oberndorf, "Another Life" (2009)  ****
2. Peter Watts, "The Island" (2009)  ****

3. Stephen Baxter, "The Ice Line" (2010)  ****

4. Sarah Genge, "Malick Pan" (2010)  ****

5. Allen M. Steele, "The Jekyll Island Horror" (2010)  ****

6. Geoff Ryman, "Blocked" (2009)  ****

7. John C. Wright, "The Far End of History" (2009)  *** 1/2

8. Mary Robinette Kowal, "The Consciousness Problem" (2009)  *** 1/2

9. Chris Roberson, "Wonder House" (2010)  *** 1/2

10. Carol Emshwiller, "The Wilds" (2010)  *** 1/2

Honourable Mentions: Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette, "Boojum" (2008); Stephen Popkes, "Jackie's-Boy" (2010); Michael Swanwick, "Slow Life" (2003); Rachel Swirsky, "Eros, Philia, Agape" (2009); Peter Watts, "The Things" (2010).

Notable Disappointments: Neal Asher, "Shell Game" (2009); Peter M. Ball, "On the Destruction of Copenhagen by the War-Machines of the Merfolk" (2009); Damien Broderick, "Dead Air" (2010); Marissa K. Lingen, "The Calculus Plague" (2009).

Read more . . .