I used to give either thumbs up or thumbs down. I’m switching to thumbs up, thumbs down, or neither.
Microserfs — This is the kind of book I should just lap up, isn’t it? A geek novel? But I didn’t. It dragged.
J-Pod — More enjoyable than Microserfs. Douglas Coupland’s self-referential bits were a bit hard to take, but overall I enjoyed it a lot more.
Torchwood series 2 — Less gratuitious L/S/V, it’s calmed down a bit. The insertion of Martha and more Who references (especially in the penultimate episode) made it all more enjoyable to watch, though I didn’t think there was a stand-out episode this year, not in the same way I enjoyed Random Shoes. The finale was a bit of a let-down, but came up with some surprises. I’m not a hard-core Buffy fan, and don’t know what those that are would have made of Captain Spike. The BBC actually put out a PG-rated version, but I think even that is pretty dark for kids to see. I’d watch it again one day — it wasn’t brilliant, but it had its moments.
Fistful of Quarters: The King of Kong — Great stuff. Not so much about classic video games as about the personalities involved in the world of classic video games — so non-gamers will enjoy this. The people involved are geeks, and know they’re geeks. The trust from the score referees in the messianic Billy Mitchell, and their mistrust to his challenger is particularly interesting. Not surprised Mitchell wasn’t happy with the way the film portrayed him. Definitely thumbs up. (Maybe I should start giving the double-thumbs up where appropriate?)
Next I need to see Chasing Ghosts.
3 replies on “Books and TV and movies and stuff”
You didn’t like Microserfs? Hrm, havn’t read it for a while – but I liked it.
If you havn’t read it already, See if you can grab Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, it’s pretty heavy on the math, but the book is pretty good imo – a lot of funny moments.
I didn’t hate it, but no, I didn’t love it either. I loved Cryptonomicon.
“Fistful of Quarters: The King of Kong” is a great movie, but as is the case with any doco, what’s presented is basically one viewpoint – it’s not just Billy who took issue, but the Twin Galaxies people also found fault with it. That doesn’t stop it from being a highly entertaining film though. I love the drumming sequence with Wiebe, comparing his skill to mapping out the moves and strategies of the game. A wonderful film about obsessivenes, fame, honesty and ownership.