Book reviews, etc...
Monday, February 16, 2004My reviews for this week...
Gridlinked, by Neal Asher
Ian Cormac is a man, but years of being gridlinked into the AI net have taken away much of his humanity. Usually that’s a plus when dealing with the scum of the universe, as he does as an Earth Central Security Agent, but in this case, his lack of human response destroys his cover, and the thieves he’s worked so hard to get in with think he’s an android plant. When Angelina Pelter, their leader’s sister, tries to kill him and gets killed instead, her brother goes mad, determined to get revenge.
Scaredy Cat, by Mark Billingham Please scroll down...it's been up a couple of weeks, but I actually wrote it a long time ago.
"She was nothing to me, the woman from the station. She was nothing to me and I squeezed the life out of her.
I'm so very sorry, and I deserve what is surely coming.
I hate to ask a favor, Karen, but if you see her, the woman I killed, will you tell her that for me?"
There were two of them, Detective Inspector Tom Thorne knew that. He knew it from the victims, how some of them would be killed slowly, to prolong the pleasure as much as possible, and some would be quick, as if a particularly nasty chore to be done with. But why? It goes against everything they know, or think they know, about serial killers...the first rule being that they almost always, always work alone.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
So, I watched way too much TV last night. I finally saw Shrek. I thought it was really sweet and funny. Too much toilet humor sometimes, (I hate that....really don't find it funny, tho' I laughed at the Muffin Man sequence, so that really shows you how mature I'm not.) and the moral of the story really does tend to slap you upside the head, straddle you with its hands around your throat and say, "Beauty is on the inside, get it, get it?!" but then it's for a younger audience so I suppose the fact that I really liked it despite these thinsg says a lot for the movie. And I always enjoy watching people play with fairy tales. (Seeing Snow White and Cinderella b**ch slap each other for the bridal bouquet made me laugh, too.) Also, am so looking forward to Shrek 2. Antonio Banderas is Puss in Boots!
Then I watched Alias. I've admired the show...sometimes less than others, but generally, I really admire how the story writing manages to push the envlop with lots of twists and turns, atisfying the audience in soem small ways while making us hungry for more. It is a story line that, without great care, could very well fall in on itself...but always manges to succeed.
Last night, seeing someone the build up, then seeing the trailers, has convinced me that Alias is gathering it's legs under itself in preparation for jumping the shark.
Last year this time I had no clue what jumping the shark is, so I'll tell you. it's when a show does something so horroble or lame that it's all down hill from there. You know that the show won't ever recover from it, and it's sort of ruined for you.
So if Alias goes through with the trailer promised Star Wars moment (Sydney, I am your father! says the evil bad guy...alright, it didn't say that in the trailers, but close, with a psychologist asking Sloan is that's what he was saying, and him smailing and nodding...) then it will have jumped the shark so darn hard for me, since half of the show's merit rests on the fact that Sydney's father is always so great, I will seriously consider doing something else with my hard earned Sunday night, thank you.
Argh.
Well, at least Dennis Hopper's on Las Vegas tonight. There's a show that's jumped the shark for me already, but I'm holding on. It's a show that really needs to live up to it's theme song, you know, a little less conversation, a little more action please?
Though maybe I'd get more done if life was like the good old days, when I just watched CSI? though I don't watch TV in the summer, (rarely watch repeats) and that doesn't seem to help...
Permalink Cindy scribed this at 5:47 PM
0 comments
|