Movie review: Oblivion

view date: 20 April 2013

The short version: Jack Harper is the repair tech of tower 49; tasked to keep the armed drones flying. The drones protect the hydrostations that are converting Earth’s seas to fusion power for the remaining population that has moved to Titan after the war with the alien Scavengers decimated the population and destroyed the environment.

Jack and his partner, Victoria, have had their memories wiped in standard procedure for their tour of duty, however Jack is haunted by dreams of a woman that he has never seen. When events conspire to bring the woman down … more

Oblivion Spoilers

This post contains spoilers from the movie Oblivion. If you want the review without the spoilers go here. You have been warned.

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There are several things in this movie that set off my bogosity meter.

1. We find out at the end that Jack is a clone, created by the Scavenger to be its soldiers in phase one of the invasion, then the repair techs in phase two of the rape of Earth. However, unless recent research has discovered that memory is stored in DNA, then a clone should … more

Fiction: With a Bang, Not a Whimper

Latest flash fiction challenge from Chuck Wendig: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/04/12/flash-fiction-challenge-choose-your-opening-line/

With a Bang, Not a Whimper

It’s always midnight somewhere.

It took both a witch and a physicist to destroy the world.

Frank stepped quietly into the kitchen.

Mary was bent over rummaging in one of the refrigerator drawers. He took a quick step and pinched her bottom.

She squeaked and jerked upright, whirling around. He stepped in close and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her thoroughly.

“Mmmm, much as I like this, I have to finish dinner.”

“Well, you just do that, because after dinner I have … more

“Anywhere touched by magic” – A Turn of Light by Julie E. Czerneda

I am new to the reviewing game, and so I’m still learning how to do it right. I tend to retell the book or movie, rather than telling about it. I’m going to do my best not to retell this book, because there is absolutely no way I could tell it as well as Julie.

As a general rule, I don’t like humungous books. The Wheel of Time soured me on that whole thing. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the first few, but the the next few I had to force myself to finish, not because the writing wasn’t … more

Oz: The Great and Powerful – movie review

There may be some spoilers below. I’ll try to keep them few.

I have never read any of the Oz books. My only previous exposure to Oz has been the original 1939 movie. It was a tradition in my family to watch that movie whenever it appeared on TV. This was before cable or satellite TV, so we were dependent on when the broadcast networks decided to show it.

Like the original movie, Oz starts in a small town in Kansas, and like the original the movie is black and white until the scene moves to Oz, where the color … more