http://www25.brinkster.com/wasoxygen/home.asp Books, movies, and the odd grid. en-us wasoxygen@hotmail.com wasoxygen@hotmail.com http://hecat.org/albums/broken/BL22.gif http://www25.brinkster.com/wasoxygen/home.asp 170 40 by Alberto Moravia, 376 pages. -- Though I've seen the movie twice, reading the book reminded me how much I didn't remember about it. I initially had some misgivings about Moravia's style, but in the end it worked. -- Tony Pisarenkov 11/1/2009 books 2009-11-01T00:00:00-05:00 by Thomas Hardy, 468 pages. -- -- Steve Gadd 10/27/2009 books 2009-10-27T00:00:00-05:00 by Peter Ward, 292 pages. -- Ward challenges the Darwinian "orthodoxy" with his startling thesis that life on other planets may (or may not) use different chemistry from Earth life. -- Steven Krise 10/29/2009 books 2009-10-29T00:00:00-05:00 by Randy Penn, 273 pages. -- A fairly standard introduction to knots. It tries to go beyond just having diagrams showing you how to tie knots by having chapters on rope management, teaching knot tying, your continuing knot journey, but the author didn't really have enough material to support these additional chapters. So +5 for the idea, but -7 for the implementation. -- Steven Krise 10/22/2009 books 2009-10-22T00:00:00-05:00 by P. G. Wodehouse, 224 pages. -- -- Steve Gadd 10/19/2009 books 2009-10-19T00:00:00-05:00 by John Steinbeck, 224 pages. -- -- Steve Gadd 10/18/2009 books 2009-10-18T00:00:00-05:00 by Stewart Reuben, 160 pages. -- A fairly standard poker text, except for the unique "Try It Yourself" section at the end of each chapter, which is a short graded quiz with rated answers in the back of the book. -- Steven Krise 10/17/2009 books 2009-10-17T00:00:00-05:00 by Richard Fortey, 425 pages. -- Fortey's thesis is (to paraphrase Dobzhansky) that nothing in geology makes sense except in light of plate tectonics. He then takes the reader on a tour of a dozen or so locations around the globe with various geological formations that either were pivotal in providing evidence for the theory or which finally made sense when explicated tectonically. -- Steven Krise 10/13/2009 books 2009-10-13T00:00:00-05:00 by Belinda Levez, 106 pages. -- Probably the lamest poker book I've ever read. This is what passes for good advice: develop a betting strategy that maximizes profit whilst minimizing loss (with no explanation of how to evaluate a strategy to see if it meets that criterion) or bluff but not too much because when people call your bluff you lose money. -- Steven Krise 10/8/2009 books 2009-10-08T00:00:00-05:00 by Alex Kershaw, 288 pages. -- -- Steve Gadd 10/9/2009 books 2009-10-09T00:00:00-05:00 by Joe Fisher & Dennis Fisher, 89 pages. -- Like somebody created Cliff's Notes from the Cliff's Notes version of the New Complete Joy of Homebrewing. There's nothing to see here; move along. -- Steven Krise 10/3/2009 books 2009-10-03T00:00:00-05:00 by Anne Appelbaum, 677 pages. -- Let's face it: most of us will never have the fortitude to get through Solzhenitsyn's opus. This book is the best substitute. -- Tony Pisarenkov 10/3/2009 books 2009-10-03T00:00:00-05:00 by Chuck Palahniuk, 224 pages. -- Lessons learned: The movie can be better than the book, when the book is written like a screenplay. There's no line so good that it can't be used three or four times. It's still possible to use four-letter words like "butt wipe" without sounding lame. -- Steve Gadd 9/28/2009 books 2009-09-28T00:00:00-05:00 by Des Pawson, 176 pages. -- DK always publishes excellent books, and this handbook is no exception. It uses photographs for the various diagrams, which I find easier to decipher and use as a guide than illustrations. -- Steven Krise 9/28/2009 books 2009-09-28T00:00:00-05:00 by Richard Fortey, 284 pages. -- Fortey tells the vast story of what we know about trilobites and how we've come to know it and through that story shows how the minutiae about trilobites has informed all manner larger topics (including shedding light on rates of evolution, the nature of speciation, and reconstructing the Ordovician globe). -- Steven Krise 9/19/2009 books 2009-09-19T00:00:00-05:00 by John Gardner, 244 pages. -- Gardner crafts a poignant story about the death of a man in his prime as a means of showing us his aesthetic theory. -- Steven Krise 9/15/2009 books 2009-09-15T00:00:00-05:00 by Evelyn Waugh, 351 pages. -- Though it was a set of ten CDs and the book read aloud by Jeremy Irons, I am counting the pages I would have clocked with the paperback. -- Steve Gadd 9/11/2009 books 2009-09-11T00:00:00-05:00 by K M Leisner and D B Cook, 297 pages. -- Exactly as the title says: a programmer's reference to VAX DCL, so don't expect in-depth coverage on the topics. -- Steven Krise 9/11/2009 books 2009-09-11T00:00:00-05:00 by Jeffrey Bennett, 211 pages. -- The author is a professor and textbox author, so he's spent a little too much time dumbing down his prose for creationist college students (shudder) that end up in his Intro to Astrobiology class, which was annoying. However, the book was a serviceable overview of the topic. -- Steven Krise 9/10/2009 books 2009-09-10T00:00:00-05:00 by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, 345 pages. -- If you regularly read Scientific American there's probably not much new here (I don't so there was). Regardless, though, NDT is good at telling the story of science: in this instance the story of the origin of the universe and its evolution, culminating in the origin of life on Earth. -- Steven Krise 8/23/2009 books 2009-08-23T00:00:00-05:00 by Gabrielle Walker, 269 pages. -- Tells the story of the Snowball Earth hypothesis while telling the story (primarily) of Paul Hoffman, its chief proponent. -- Steven Krise 9/3/2009 books 2009-09-03T00:00:00-05:00 by Lemony Snicket, 162 pages. -- Reading this out loud to my youngest daughter. I'm enjoyed the book, but loved the time with her. -- Brad Snyder 8/30/2009 books 2009-08-30T00:00:00-05:00 by Stephen Colbert, 240 pages. -- So funny. -- Brad Snyder 8/30/2009 books 2009-08-30T00:00:00-05:00 by Matt Matros, 286 pages. -- Matt leads you through his path to a WPT final table-ist, using his experience as a guide to the beginning or novice player. -- Steven Krise 8/30/2009 books 2009-08-30T00:00:00-05:00 by Amanda Ripley, 288 pages. -- [audio] -- Steve Gadd 8/28/2009 books 2009-08-28T00:00:00-05:00 The Cato Institute, Washington, DC, 8 stars. A documentary on the Soviet Union, its collusion with the Nazis in 1939-1940, and, following its joining the Allies, the West's continued reluctance to indict the Soviets fully for the horrors they perpetrated throughout the country's existence. Occasionally didactic in tone, but highly recommended nonetheless, for its chilling archival footage if nothing else. -- Tony Pisarenkov 11/2/2009 movies 2009-11-02T00:00:00-05:00 Landmark E St. Theatre, Washington, DC, 5 stars. Had its moments, but on the whole couldn't decide whether it wanted to be about How To Communicate Your Great Art To The World Through Music or a guitar geek-fest. It also had more than a whiff of an ego trip for jack White about it. -- Tony Pisarenkov 9/14/2009 movies 2009-09-14T00:00:00-05:00 DVD, 4 stars. The glossy international scenes and shootout at the Guggenheim fail to make up for the synthetic story and wooden performances. -- Steve Gadd 6/11/2009 movies 2009-06-11T00:00:00-05:00 Flexplay DVD, 7 stars. Seven stars for the movie, which was nothing less or more than expected. And a 9.5 for the Flexplay DVD format. For the price of a rental, you get a pristine unscratched disc and two days to watch it, with nothing to return. The only downside is the barebones menu with no extras. -- Steve Gadd 4/4/2009 movies 2009-04-04T00:00:00-05:00 DVD, 8 stars. -- Steve Gadd 3/29/2009 movies 2009-03-29T00:00:00-05:00 DVD, 6 stars. -- Steve Gadd 3/28/2009 movies 2009-03-28T00:00:00-05:00 Fairfax Regal Cinemas, 6 stars. Nothing really bad about the movie, but not all that much going for it either. -- Steve Gadd 3/13/2009 movies 2009-03-13T00:00:00-05:00 DVD, 7 stars. -- Steve Gadd 3/3/2009 movies 2009-03-03T00:00:00-05:00 bittorrent cinema, 4 stars. The best parts were the makings of a watchable film; can't quite make out how the rest got in. -- Steve Gadd 1/31/2009 movies 2009-01-31T00:00:00-05:00 DVD at home, 6 stars. -- Steve Gadd 12/31/2008 movies 2008-12-31T00:00:00-05:00 Regal Countryside Cinema, 7 stars. -- Steve Gadd 1/16/2009 movies 2009-01-16T00:00:00-05:00 DVD at home, 6 stars. -- Steve Gadd 1/20/2009 movies 2009-01-20T00:00:00-05:00 DVD chez C.&S., 1 stars. Rating of movie: 1 Rating of MST3K commentary: 8 I forgot how funny those guys could be -- Tony Pisarenkov 1/3/2009 movies 2009-01-03T00:00:00-05:00 DVD at the in-laws, 6 stars. Christopher Guest's send-up of Hollywood. Easy target, but has a wider appeal for it. -- Tony Pisarenkov 12/25/2008 movies 2008-12-25T00:00:00-05:00 DVD at home, 2 stars. Do you mean to tell me that this Dr. Lorenz is both a hypnotist and a horticulturalist?! -- Tony Pisarenkov 10/31/2008 movies 2008-10-31T00:00:00-05:00 Regal Cinemas Ballston, 7 stars. Typical Coen Bros. fare. -- Steve Gadd 10/24/2008 movies 2008-10-24T00:00:00-05:00 DVD at home, 6 stars. Nice visuals made for a good mood piece, but I forgot just how hokey and lame the dialog was. -- Tony Pisarenkov 9/16/2008 movies 2008-09-16T00:00:00-05:00 Regal Countryside Cinema, 8 stars. A love-tetrahedron that is anything but Platonic. For my date, the most dramatic moment in the movie occurred early on, when the director's name appeared onscreen. I thought she was going to break down in tears. I was more optimistic -- after seeing "Match Point" I held out hope for another European story with Woody Allen behind the camera. We were both pleased in the end. -- Steve Gadd 9/12/2008 movies 2008-09-12T00:00:00-05:00 DVD chez Pisarenkov the Elder, 6 stars. On me dit que j'ai vu ce film à l'age de six ans à Moscou, et que mon père m'a fait entrer clandistenement dans le cinema parce que j'etait trop jeune. -- Tony Pisarenkov 9/5/2008 movies 2008-09-05T00:00:00-05:00 DVD chez G&N, 5 stars. Initially, had its moments but didn't do much for me as a whole, until I realized that (a) I am simply not in the mood for comedies these days and (b) it got a lot more creative and funnier once I thought about it a bit and discussed it with others. -- Tony Pisarenkov 8/23/2008 movies 2008-08-23T00:00:00-05:00 My Basement (TiVo), 6 stars. Bruce Campbell - battling a bookshelf (oh, and some ancient Sumerian demons that possessed his friends). -- Steven Krise 6/15/2008 movies 2008-06-15T00:00:00-05:00 My Basement (TiVo), 7 stars. I was expecting a low-budget horror flick, but it turned out to be more of a psychological allegory. Other reviewers have panned its shallowness, but I liked the characters and found the visuals to be arresting. -- Steven Krise 6/5/2008 movies 2008-06-05T00:00:00-05:00 Brian's Crib, 4 stars. Jesus Christ battles the vampiric horde that is eating up all of Ottawa's lesbians by the power of his kung fu. I give it a 10 out of 10 for campy irreverence, but the production did suck exceeding hard...verily. -- Steven Krise 4/26/2008 movies 2008-04-26T00:00:00-05:00 DVD, 8 stars. Good cop, bad guy. -- Steve Gadd 3/30/2008 movies 2008-03-30T00:00:00-05:00 Landmark E St. Theatre, Washington, DC, 6 stars. Pretty decent documentary on Chet Baker, though some of the more impressionistic, "mood" footage comes across as a bit self-conscious. The film did not redeem Baker for me, and did not really help me understand his mysterious appeal, but was morbidly fascinating anyway. -- Tony Pisarenkov 3/7/2008 movies 2008-03-07T00:00:00-05:00