December, 24, 2005 archives

excession by iain m. banks is probably the most hard-core science fiction i have read in a long while. an example, from the beginning of chapter five:

the double-sun system was relatively poor in comets; there were only a hundred billion of them. however, many of them had orbits well outside the elliptic and that helped to make the search every bit as difficult as it would have been with a greater number of comet nuclei but in a more planar cloud. even so, it was impossible to check all of them; ten thousand ships would have been required to thoroughly check every single sensor trace in the comet cloud to make sure that one of them was not a stricken ship, and the best the break even could do was briefly fasten its gaze on the most likely-looking candidates.

as scifi goes, it is an okay book. many of the main characters are actually the minds that control the spaceships, and the way that is handled is surprisingly effective. but the human characters are pretty much consistently unlikable, the main non-human race is close to a one-note joke (thankfully a funny one), and some of the main plots really end up not amounting to anything.

(i guess this is just one of a number of books that involves “the culture,” the civilization that is sort of at the center of the action. looking through the amazon reviews, this book appears to be the one that focuses the most on the ships and their minds.)

let my people go surfing: the education of a reluctant businessman by yvon chouinard, founder and owner of patagonia, is as good as i thought it would be. he lays out the history and core philosophies of patagonia, and they are certainly admirable.

one idea that i especially liked is his explanation of how zen archery has influenced what he does — focusing more on the process than the goal. and thus by perfecting the process, perfecting how the goal is reached.

another is why they devote one percent of their sales to environmental causes: if given a chance to allocate how their taxes were spent, people would jump at the chance, and by taxing yourself you can do exactly that.

the station agent is a quiet movie filled with awkward silences. just my sort of film. there are also some beautifully composed shots, and the acting is top-notch.

the family trade by charles stross is book one of a new fantasy(ish) series, and it unfortunately is the sort of book one that totally fails to resolve anything significant. the central idea seems a little well-worn, but the execution is very tight, so it works anyway.

king kong is too long, but i am not sure what you could really cut out without losing something worth keeping. naomi watts does a great job as the beauty taming the beast of kong, and it is almost possible to accept jack black as the producer who brings king kong to broadway (but, unfortunately, only almost). and the effects are amazing, of course.

harold & kumar go to white castle is one of those movies that is exactly what you expect going in, and hits all the right notes. neil patrick harris has a hilarious cameo as himself.

and this aside from roger ebert’s review of the movie is genius: “Many people believe the names of In 'n Out and Steak 'n Shake perfectly describe the contrast in bedroom techniques between the coast and the heartland.”