Little Brother (2008)

Today I just finished reading my electronic copy of Little Brother, a 2008 Young Adult novel by Cory Doctorow.  I decided that I'm going to do a five-minute review of this book in my Five Minutes On segment of the Alternative Airwaves podcast, so this blog post will basically serve as the copy for that.

Little Brother (2008, Tor Books) tells the story of Marcus Yallow - AKA W1n5ton - a 17-year old high school student in San Fransisco who delights in outsmarting his school's attempts to keep tabs on him.  After a terrorist bombing of the Bay Bridge, the Department of Homeland Security institutes sweeping measures in an effort to stop any future attacks.  When he finds that he no longer feels safe in his own city, Marcus decides to fight the DHS and restore freedom to the country that he loves.

I really liked this story.  It's classified as a Young Adult novel, but it has some fairly mature themes for the age level that it's targeting.  And let me re-emphasize that I like the story, but not so much all the sidebars about all the hacks Marcus is able to implement.  I understand that these explanations are quite relevant to move the plot along, but it feels like a text book about cryptography and network hacking dropped in between a pretty intense story.

That's why I gave the book three stars over at Goodreads.  The story was good, but it was bogged down by a few too many detailed explanations.  I suppose that's Little Brother's version of TNG's technobabble.  Still, despite these small problems, I thought the book had a lot of neat ideas and presented a fairly convincing picture of what our society might look like five to ten years in the future.

Just a few notes about Little Brother: As if the title wasn't a dead giveaway, Doctorow drew plenty of influences for this story from George Orwell's classic 1984...If you read this book and are interested in making any of the cool things Doctorow mentions, check out this page: http://www.instructables.com/member/w1n5t0n/...There are a couple of afterwords at the end of the book by Andrew Huang and Bruce Schneier, some pretty big names in the field of hacking and security...Doctorow included a very comprehensive bibliography with some interesting reading material and various links; well worth checking out if this book gives you big ideas...Speaking of interesting reading material, one work that specifically sticks out from that bibliography is Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, surely a compelling read...And lastly, this book contains several references to some pretty cool historic events that ocurred in San Fransisco and of the people that made up the counterculture; definitely worth checking out that rich history.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011)

I've been anticipating this movie for quite some time - not because I'm particularly excited about the Harry Potter franchise (though it is a fascinating piece of work), but because it provides ultimate closure to the series (no matter what JK Rowling has to say about it).  I had some expectations, based both on what I saw of the previous movie and what I read in the book.  I don't think I need to address everything I feel about the movie, but I will do my best to give you a comprehensive overview of what I thought of the movie - both its strengths and weaknesses.

WARNING! If you have a particular allergic reaction to the phenomenon known as SPOILERS you should probably stop reading this until you've seen the movie - or read the book - because I'm not going to hold back on specific details.  I will, however, provide a page break in case you're just glancing at the main page.  Also, I apologize for the length of this.  I'm sure you'll understand the need for an epic review.

Network (1976)

A few weeks ago, the boys at Filmspotting.net did a special show about Sidney Lumet's films.  This prompted me to see what movies I could find at the library, and one of them was Network.  I'd heard about this film a few times, and only recently realized it's where the "I'm as mad as hell" speech comes from.  I was quite excited to finally see this movie.

Some first impressions: the DVD case (I got a 30-year special edition from the library) boasts how "frighteningly, hilariously prophetic" this movie was in 1976.  Right away, I tried to make an effort while watching the movie to completely ignore that quote.  I find that when there are sensational quotes like that, they're usually exaggerated (what a shocking insight!).

For the most part, my initial thoughts were correct - I'd hardly call this a prophetic movie (especially since it seemed to be reflecting the times as they were - so in other words, things have simply continued along the same path).  However, there were some lines that were just bang on and could easily describe the state of the world today; for instance, take this line from Howard Beale: "Right now, there is a whole, an entire generation that never knew anything that didn't come out of this tube!"

If you understand the Internet to be a series of tubes, well, then, sure, this was a very prophetic film.  Moving along, I think my favourite scene in the movie was Ned Beatty's speech to Howard Beale.  It was just beautifully shot, and the lines were awesome - especially the parallel to an earlier scene in the movie.

I think that's also what was great about this movie: it was all just a bunch of big speeches delivered impeccibly.  And the characters were brilliant, especially Diane, the PD.  She was as she was described by Max - "You're television incarnate, Diana ..."

Loved the movie.  So, am I the last person on Earth to realize that the basic structure of Anchorman was largely based on Network?

BSG S04E19 - Daybreak, Pt 1

Battlestar Galactica has never failed to let me down.  And I even mean those times where I didn't like where the show was going, and the episodes were really preachy, or nothing happened in them (see: Islanded in a Stream of Stars).  BSG just goes and ramps things up another notch, and delivers a killer episode.

Caprica (Before the fall)

"Daybreak" is no exception.  While not much happened in this episode, it didn't happen in style.  If you know what I mean.  This was purely a character development episode - yes, that's right, the second last episode was developing characters.  We got to see some of the heroes (and the not-quite-heroes) in their original element as the episode opened with scenes from Caprica, likely only a few weeks (or months?) before the Cylons attacked.  We got to see what drove the characters before it was all about simply surviving.

Other than that, it was another pure setup episode.  No answers yet, but I am hoping we get those in the next episode (which is really sort of two episodes, as it's a two-hour long finale).  And it seems like BSG is ending the series on a strong note, going back to one of its core strengths from the early seasons: the impossible mission.

They have to go rescue Hera, in what is likely to be a suicide mission.  Galactica's last hurrah, I suppose.  Anyway, I really enjoyed this episode, even though it was just meant to set up the last part.  Like I said, it was really cool seeing the characters pre-war, worrying about things like Baltar's dad stabbing nurses (yes, this happened!).  Oh, and it was great to see Lee back in his Colonial uniform at the end.  'Bout time he ditched the suit, as good a story line as that is (or was).

Bring on part two...although bring it on when I have two hours to spare, please.

BSG S04E18 - Islanded in a Stream of Stars

Alas, poor Galactica. I knew her, Saul!

I know I'm almost at the end of the series, because this episode was pure set-up.  Nothing actually happened in the episode itself except to set the stage for the finale.  We learned a couple of things, but nothing of importance.  The episode was just filler, the show runners giving us just a taste of things but delaying the final answers.  If you haven't figured it out by now, I didn't really like the episode.

Well, I liked parts of it.  I liked that Kara finally came to terms with the fact that she really DID die and come back - and that it was confirmed in the same episode that she's not a Cylon.  Unfortunately, the best answer we get as to what she is was that she's an Angel - which I don't think is the case; there's a larger, better answer coming up in the finale, but again, this is just a tease to set it up.

I think that's why I didn't like the episode.  Everything was just so blatantly prepared for the finale.  We learn that Sam, while hooked up as a Hybrid, controls the Galactica's systems (AND its FTL drive) because of the Cylon technology.  So they unhook him; but then guess what!  Kara hooks him back up at the end; of course she doesn't know that it's possible he can make the Galactica jump into FTL.  She just wants answers.

And of course Adama just decided to evacuate the Galactica moments before Sam is reconnected.  It's all a little too perfect, at least for my liking.  I don't know what I would prefer though, because you do need to set things up somehow.  I think I would have preferred something a little more subtle, maybe?

Maybe something more like what Doctor Who manages: insert a tiny clue early, and then completely blow your mind when it becomes evident how important that clue really is.  Yeah, I think BSG is a little short on mind blowing than its earlier seasons.

Still, looking forward to the last two episodes.

Quick Reviews

I recently read a couple of short stories, so I thought I'd give my thoughts on them.

First up, is Hunter, by Wil Wheaton.  I've obviously written about this story a short while ago, but unfortunately I couldn't read it the minute I downloaded it because I couldn't figure out how to get the story onto my Blackberry's e-reader app.  Thankfully I remembered that I have Stanza on my iPod Touch, and I reconfigured the settings on that thing and had the most amazing small-screen e-book experience in a long time.

Anyway, the story was good.  It starts off with a character in his element: a bounty hunter, I suppose you could call him, chasing prey in a futuristic world ruled by a mysterious alien race.  Mysterious only because we know very little about them other than that they are invaders.  And they invaded Earth.

The story quickly reveals that this hunter really ISN'T in his element, and, well - I don't want to spoil it, but his world does get flip-turned upside-down.  A very brief glimpse into a possible future by Wheaton, and it was good.  I want more.  So I give "Hunter" an A+.

Second story: I, Robot by Cory Doctorow.  This story originally appeared in a short story collection, so I'm not exactly sure how I downloaded JUST "I, Robot" and not that particular collection - but I did.  I started reading it a LONG time ago; it was sort of just something to fill time.  Unfortunately, I got a bit bored of it at the time because I didn't know where it was going.  Determined to finish it though, I opened it up again in Stanza and I remembered where I left off.

The story starts out simply enough: an experienced Detective in Toronto is on the chase for his daughter, who disappears following an explosion in a mall.  It's a futuristic world along the lines of the classic sci-fi novelists, so some of the descriptions might seem "familiar".  For instance, references to Eurasia and the Social Harmony remind me immediately of 1984 - but it's fairly apparent that this is a completely different world (which is a good thing).

I wasn't getting why it was titled "I, Robot" until the payoff at the very end.  I thought that was well-done.  However, for losing me a little at the beginning (I thought I was given a little too much information to handle), I'm going to have to give Cory a B+ on this one.

Review: Just Go With It (2011)

For Valentine's Day, Vanessa and I decided we'd do dinner and a movie.  Picking a movie yesterday was pretty hard, because there wasn't anything out that really jumped out and interested us.  I mean, there was True Grit, but we wouldn't have made it to the theatre in time to see it.  We ended up narrowing it down to two choices: The King's Speech, or Just Go With It.  In a shocking move that will surprise anyone who hasn't read the title of this review, we chose Just Go With It, an Adam Sandler / Jennifer Aniston rom-com.  Gee, I feel like a professional reviewer already!

If you're not familiar with the movie, here's the basic premise: a guy tries to get a girl to date him by pretending to be married to his office assistant.  And they go to Hawaii for some reason (it actually is a funny and somewhat believable reason in the movie, so I won't spoil it.  Not yet anyway.).  Shakespearean hilarity ensues.

To clarify, this isn't based on any Shakespeare play of any kind; I just mean that there's technically disguises and hidden identities and what not going on in this movie, so in a way it's basically based on every Shakespeare comedy out there.  Moving on to the one important bit of the review: I liked the movie, and laughed.  It hit the right points and avoided the typical low Adam Sandler humour you'd find in something like 50 First Dates or Happy Gilmore.  Let us rejoice: Rob Schneider was NOT in this movie.

The movie established some "rules" for the story pretty quickly: Sandler's character had his heart broken in the 80s, and quickly discovered a way to sleaze his way into any woman's bed.  He became unlimitly (is that a word?) rich, and throws money where he wants - BUT, he recognizes that rich people stay rich because they don't just give money to people.  It kind of gets questions like "well how can he afford to just go to Hawaii on a whim?" out of the way so that the story can take over.

Without spoiling anything I can tell you that Sandler of course ends up with Jennifer Aniston's character - that's the trope that's at play in this movie.  There's no question from the start of the film that they're going to end up together; I mean it's pretty much spelled out in the trailer, because we've all seen movies like this before.  But the strength of the movie are the subtle one-liners (and the not-so-subtle jokes too), and the kids.  The kids are really good in this movie.

Other features included a pretty funny-if-not-disturbing cameo appearance by Kevin Nealon, and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo from Heidi Montag.  It's fitting that she appears in a movie where the main character is a plastic surgeon - and also good that she appears to have a sense of humour about herself.  I assume, anyway.

I definitely recommend this one over No Strings Attached.  I didn't see No Strings Attached, but watch the trailer of both movies - I am fairly certain you'll be able to tell which one is the one to see.

Review :: The Social Network

This review is flagged for "Possible Spoilers" - ye be warned.


Finally saw what is likely the most talked-about movie of the Fall film season.  People have been generally saying very good things about it, and I was already fascinated after seeing a short trailer a while back.  Some of the talk about The Social Network has had "Oscar buzz" thrown in there - and honestly I can see it winning some Oscars for acting, but maybe not anything like "Best Picture".  MAYBE best Screenplay Adaptation, or whatever the category is for that one - since this was adapted from a book which was adapted from court depositions.

I found few flaws in this movie, to be frank.  Actually, I found no flaws.  I can't name off any one of them to you without watching it a second time (which I fully intend to do once this is available on DVD).  The relationships in the movie seemed real, despite the fact that virtually no time was spent setting them up.

The thing I liked the best was that this was a movie about the people and about ambition, rather than about "the making of Facebook".  In fact even in the scenes we're shown of them making Facebook (which do not take up very much screen time at all), the focus isn't really on making the website.  This movie is all about what happened to the people while the site was in its infancy.

I could go on quite a bit about the movie, but there is a Filmspotting podcast that really does all the talking for me, at least about the more deeper meanings of the movie.  Some of the other things I really liked were the twins - apparently played Data/Lore style with one actor - and the little touches.  By that I mean the Windows XP screen savers, the old Facebook layout, Livejournal, and so forth.

And lastly, this paragraph is devoted entirely to Jesse Eisenberg.  I'd only seen him previously in Zombieland, in which he gave off a definitively Michael Cera vibe.  I still thought he was good, but he felt too much like a Spider-Man clone of Cera.  He most definitely comes into his own in this film!  And after seeing pictures of the real Mark Zuckerberg, they really lucked out in getting somebody who can really act and also look like the real Zuckerberg.  Oh, and Justin Timberlake looked a lot like Sean Parker, apart from showing how well he can act (Best Supporting Actor, anybody?).

Overall it was a great movie.  Don't miss out on seeing it - though if you're not a "going out to the movies" type of person, it's not really necessary to see it on the big screen.  DVD will do.  Either way, it is a must-see.