A strange film that gets kudos for venturing into unfamiliar territory but remains unrecommendable due to its inability to accomplish much of anything while wandering through said territory.

Good clean fun in a spirit surprisingly non-Disney for a Disney movie. Inevitably, the sap flows heavily at the end of the film but not so much that one leaves the theater feeling sticky and let down.

This film introduced me to pansori — a sort of Korean solo opera — and Cho Sang-hyun in particular, who was absolutely brilliant. The story was excellently told, with brilliant sets and costumes. A sterling movie watching experience if you’re into classic tales and exotic sounds.

For the so-called “greatest console game ever,” I found MGS to be not to my liking. I suppose I don’t much go for the running around and shooting things (or trying to avoid being shot as the case may be), but even the plot and voice acting left a lot to be desired. The game only serves to strongly emphasize how far off the mark game developers are when it comes to creating a compelling dramatic experience. I’m not saying that the industry should stick to abstract, puzzly games, rather that designers need to learn to be better story tellers and better “screen” writers. MGS feels like a poorly conceived Schwarzenneger film; when the industry produces games that feel like a film by Lynch or Cronenberg, then we’ll truly have arrived.

Not knowing much of the life of Mozart, I was fascinated. While I’ve since discovered that this portrayal of his life may have taken more liberties than some think necessary, I remain inspired and enriched by an outstanding film about an outstanding individual.

Once again, Egan delivers. This novel is chock full of fantastic ideas. Advanced technologies set the backdrop for drama in a credible future where the universe has taken a turn for the peculiar. I’m continually amazed at Egan’s ability to extrapolate the cutting edge of modern science into a future that feels so right yet boggles the mind.

The True Names novella is fascinating; many of the various papers can be skipped.

Antiseptic, white halls, fifties-style science fiction. I found the general concept to be sufficiently interesting to make up for the extent to which the details have become seriously dated.

A worthy addition to the Warioland series and one of my favorite GBA games thus far. It has all the great platformer elements of the GBC Warioland games and more. The domino level, the pinball level and the toy factory level were inspired. To top it off, the music is fantastic as well. Pure jumping goodness.

Having read Peter Hessler’s memoirs on his first two years in China, I feel that many of the questions I would have asked were answered, rocks that I would have peeked under, lifted. I’m also left with great respect for the effort expended to build a bridge over the linguistic and cultural gap strong enough to support the development of meaningful friendships and the deeper cultural understanding that they afford. I couldn’t have asked for a more intimate peek into China’s fascinating people and culture.