Tag: review

Books I’ve read lately

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goldGold: The Final Science Fiction Collection by Isaac Asimov

I’ve only read one other short stories collection by Asimov before, so this bunch of previously uncollected stories probably wasn’t a great place to start for a relative Asimov beginner. The stories are rather hit-and-miss; there’s a couple which are more like sci-fi jokes culminating with rather unfunny puns; while others are really good, like the first story in the collection called Cal, about a domestic robot who wants to be a writer just like his master.

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Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief – Film Review

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I was once involved with Scientology for a brief period in my early 20s. I knew absolutely nothing about it at the time, and ended up joining by chance: I got handed a flyer on the street about a free personality test, and decided to take it on a whim. My teens and early 20s weren’t always the happiest of times; I suffered from major social anxiety and inability to relate to my peers, which wasn’t helped by my family moving to Australia when I was 15. So I guess I was drawn by the promise that these people could help me out.

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This Charming Man by Marian Keyes – Book Review

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I read a few novels by Marian Keyes (a.k.a. the Irish Queen of Chick Lit), but while I enjoyed them all to various degrees most of them fall into the “read once and forget” basket. This book had stuck with me though, I’ve just re-read it for the second time in two years and loved it as much as when I first read it. At nearly 900 pages (set at a pretty large font mind you), it’s a breeze and pleasure to read.

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Jurassic World – Film Review

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22843-jurassic-world-will-there-ever-be-a-good-jurassic-park-video-game-jpeg-201748spoilers ahead

I haven’t watched the original Jurassic Park in ages, but like millions of people around the world I have very fond memories of it. My particular memories are of re-watching that movie endlessly with my younger siblings during our stay in Moscow just before we emigrated to Australia (along with The Lion King, dubbed hideously into Russian by some hack with little grasp of English who made it up as the movie went along). No matter how many times we watched it, the dinosaurs just never got old. I remember enjoying The Lost World when I first watched it at the cinema, but I can’t remember a thing from it other than the scene with the raptors in the field, and I haven’t even bothered with the third movie. The latest Jurassic World was a mixed bag; on one hand it was fun and definitely didn’t feel like a cynical cash-grab I’ve been half-expecting, but it also had major problems which ultimately made it feel rather throwaway.

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Far from the Madding Crowd – Film Review

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far-from-the-madding-crowd-mulliganMy brother hasn’t been to the cinema in four years and sometimes I can understand why. When my Mum and I saw this movie yesterday there was an old guy in the row in front of us who, even after several shushings from the people around him, would not shut the f*** up. Seriously why do people like this go to the movies? If you’re a social caveman with no manners or regard for other people, just stay at home and watch the bloody Netflix and talk to your wife all you want. Because I was seething with irritation for a good half an hour before the guy finally stopped with the running commentary, it took me out of the movie for a while, but luckily it was good enough to pull me back in.

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