DVDs I Watched in 2007

Mission: Impossible Season 3 ****
Pixar Short Films Volume 1 *****
Corner Gas Season 4 ****
The Last King of Scotland ****
Battlestar Galactica: Razor *****
Futurama: Bender's Big Score *****
Premonition *
Full Metal Jacket ****
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Season 3 Vol 2 **1/2
A Clockwork Orange *****
The Shining *****
2001: A Space Odyssey *****
Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5 *****
Queen Rock Montreal ***1/2
The Wild Blue Yonder *1/2
Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who *****
Hollywoodland ***1/2
Stargate SG-1: The Complete First Season ***1/2
Das Boot ****
The Godfather Part III ****
The Godfather Part II *****
The Godfather *****
Grindhouse: Death Proof ***1/2
Grindhouse: Planet Terror ***
Metallica - Some Kind of Monster ****1/2
Once Upon a Time in the West ****
My Name is Earl - The Complete Second Season ****
Batman - Mystery of the Batwoman ***1/2
Heroes - The Complete First Season ****1/2
The Elegant Universe *** 1/2
Take the Money and Run ***1/2
Unforgiven *****
Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice **
Slap Shot ****
The Office - Season Three *****
Jack of All Trades - The Series ***
The Tick vs. Season Two ****
The Simpsons - The Complete Tenth Season ****
Fracture *** 1/2
UFO - The Complete Series ****
300 ***1/2
Octopussy **
The Secrets of Isis ***
You Only Live Twice ***1/2
Zodiac ****
Dr. No ***
Batman - Mask of the Phantasm ***
Moonraker ***
Shark Week - 20th Anniversary ***
For Your Eyes Only ****
Jason of Star Command - The Complete Series ***
Jackie Brown ****
Live and Let Die ***
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Season 3 Vol.1 **1/2
Titanic (1996 tv-movie) **
On Her Majesty's Secret Service ***
Who Killed the Electric Car? ***
Music and Lyrics ***
From Russia With Love *****
Planet Earth *****
The Spy Who Loved Me ***
Mission: Impossible Season 2 ****
Ark II: The Complete Series ***1/2.

Movies I Saw in 2007

I Am Legend ****
The Golden Compass **1/2
Stardust ****
The Simpsons Movie ****
Harry Potter and the Gamesters of Triskelion ****
Transformers ***
Sicko ****
Ratatouille *****
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer **1/2
Spider-Man 3 ***
Pirates of the Carribbean - At World's End **.

Books I Read in 2007

Space Race by Deborah Cadbury ***1/2
The Assault on Reason by Al Gore ****
The Joke's Over: Bruised Memories, Gonzo, Hunter s. Thompson and Me by Ralph Steadman ****1/2
Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson *** 1/2
Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson ****
Forty Signs of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson *** 1/2
State of Denial by Bob Woodward *****
Nixon in China by Margaret MacMillan ***
Holding the Bully's Coat: Canada and the US Empire by Linda McQuaig ****
Marley and Me by John Grogan *****
The Making of Star Wars by J.W. Rinzler *****
Cell by Stephen King ***1/2
The Truth (With Jokes) by Al Franken ***1/2
Mammoth by John Varley ***1/2
Heat by George Monbiot *****
Harry Potter and the Mindharp of Sharu by J.K. Rowling ****
1491 by Charles G. Mann ***1/2
Who Let the Dogs In by Molly Ivins ***1/2
The Mess They Made by Gwynne Dyer ****
Outrageous Fortune by Tim Scott ***
Salt by Mark Kurlansky **
The Zenith Angle by Bruce Sterling ***
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson ****
JPod by Douglas Coupland *****
Field Notes From a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert ****
The Third Chimpanzee, by Jared Diamond ***.

Ark II – The Complete Series

On the scorched and polluted Earth of the 25th century, three young scientists and their hyper-intelligent talking chimpanzee roam the land in Ark II, a sophisticated mobile lab and research centre, to help rebuild and restore civilization. Led by Jonah (played by the late Terry Lester), every week he and his crew -- Ruth (Jean Marie Hon), Samuel (Jose Flores) and Adam (Moochie the chimp) – would help villagers and farmers fend off environmental scourges, scavengers, crazy computers or immortal demagogues in a non-violent manner.
It was Saturday mornings, after all.
In fact Ark II was the most expensive live-action Saturday morning kids’ show of its time. Produced by Filmation, it premiered in September 1976, and although only 15 episodes were produced, remained on the air until 1979. It featured some great guest stars – Jonathan Harris, Malachi Throne, Del Munroe, a very young Helen Hunt, Jim Backus and Robbie the Robot (uncredited, alas) – as well as some very cool vehicles.
The premise of each episode was often similar: the Ark crew would be assigned (by a never-seen headquarters) to investigate some strange happening in a village. The villagers would be often fearful of the Ark and its crew, Ruth or Samuel would get into trouble, but then the villagers would realize the error of their ways and everything would turn out okay. But not before Jonah would have to fly around in his jet-pack. (And no wires here, kids – it was a real flying jetpack. Is that cool or what?))
It wasn’t as cheesy as it sounds, although the production values are sometimes lacking (each episode was shot in only three days). Each episode contained a “message,” but viewers were never slammed over the head with it and the show never sank to the level of cliché. They even went out of their way to avoid the obvious cliché – Adam the chimp is never played for comedy relief; he was an equal member of the crew. Even if he was wearing a diaper under his costume.
The show was shot on 16mm film, so it’s never going to look great. That said, the newly remastered DVD release makes the series look pretty good. And for a 30 year-old series that only filmed 15 episodes, there’s a wealth of behind-the-scenes material: two episode commentaries, a new “making of” documentary, plus assorted photo and art galleries. But wait – there’s more! Also included is DVD-Rom material, including all the shooting scripts, plus the series bible.
Many of the Filmation live-action Saturday morning shows are due to be released on DVD in 2007.
Can a review of Jason of Star Command be far behind?

The Simpsons Movie

It’s ironic but the future of hand-drawn animation may have just been saved by the ugliest cartoon family in history. Consider that The Simpsons’ Movie opening gross of $74,000,000 is the largest opening of any hand-drawn animated film in history, and is a larger opening than any digitally animated film by Pixar (Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Ratatouille etc.). Only two of the digitally animated Shrek films have grossed more than Homer and his family.
On the other hand, The Simpsons has been a cultural touchstone for a generation and, as the tv-show enters its 19th season this fall, it’s hard to imagine that a big-screen version wouldn’t be a huge hit. As such, the movie plays it safe and doesn’t stray much from the formula that makes it work so well on television. Maybe a few of the joke are a little cruder, but they’re still tame compared to what passes as humour in the theatres these days.
And sticking to the formula ain’t necessarily a bad thing. It was the winning formula of balancing family sentimentality and dead-on self-aware satire that has made The Simpsons quite possibly the best tv-comedy show ever. While the later seasons of the show have often veered away from this formula, The Movie returns to the tried and true Simpsons story style of its glory years of the early and mid-1990s.
The first half of The Movie is classic Simpsons’ craziness, and is pitch perfect as it assails the audience with laugh after laugh. Itchy skewers Scratchy, Homer complains that The Bible has no answers, Lisa fruitlessly tries to encourage Springfield’s citizens to save the a lake, and Bart skateboards through town naked (which leads to the film’s biggest laugh as Bart is briefly glimpsed in all his glory). Eventually a plot develops and the laughs become a little less frequent. Homer falls in love wit a pig which leads to an environmental disaster for Springfield. The town is quarantined but Homer and family escape and move to Alaska. The family want to return to help their former town folks, but Homer has settled in to the Arctic lifestyle and wants to remain. (There a bar in Alaska called Eski-Moe’s.) They leave Homer to return to Springfield, and Homer must not only save his town, but he must also rescue the relationship with his wife and children.
This has always been the key to the success of The Simpsons, a balance between zany physical comedy, smart satire, and not being afraid to be sentimental and allow the family moments to play without undercutting them with a zinger. The oft-expressed belief the The Simpsons is “anti-family” is belied by the fact that no matter how dysfunctional this family is, it’s clear that they love each other and their relationship with each other is the driving force in their lives. Even “under-achiever” Bart has demonstrated again and again his deep ties to his family. (And how can conservatives complain about a tv family that is seen going to church regularly? Heck, the whole damn town goes to church every Sunday! And the first scene of The Movie is set in a church at Sunday Service! But I digress.)
This is by no means a ground-breaking film, but it is a witty reminder of why we’ve loved The Simpsons all these years. It delivers big laughs in abundance.
Plus we get to see Bart’s doodle.

The Dark Towers Diaries - Day Nineteen Ninety-Nine

To quote very fittingly from Star Wars, "The circle is now complete."
Roland has finished his quest to reach The Dark Tower, and I have concluded my quest to read all seven of Stephen King's The Dark Tower books in a row.
Book seven ends as Roland's band breaks apart. Some leave. Some die. And Roland alone faces the Crimson King at The Dark Tower.
No, wait. He's not alone. In fact. he's accompanied by someone he's met only in the last fourth of the book. It is this new character who defeats the Crimson King, although it is Roland who figures out how. (SPOILER WARNING: The previous sentence contained a major spoiler.)
This may be the only real letdown of the final book, how this new character comes in and plays such a vital role after Roland's faithful companions Eddie, Jake Susannah and Oy have moved on.
The ending may not please many people and King readily admits as much in his afterward, but he also notes that it is the right ending.
And it is.
I've enjoyed the last ten weeks with Roland and his merry band, and am saddened that there will be no more palaver with them. Mr. King, I say thankee, do ya ken.

The Dark Tower Diaries -- Day Two Hundred and Four

I'm past the halfway mark of the seventh and final volume. My pace was slowed as I was home sick for a couple of days but had left the book at work. Them's the breaks.
Anyway, King is taking pains to make sure that this is the final volume. He's killed off two main characters in the last 100 pages. One can never be sure in Stephen King's world if a character is going to stay dead or not, but these deaths seem definitive.
King has also written himself back into the story, making his near-fatal traffic accident in 1999 a major turning point in the story. This is making me wonder how much of The Dark Tower series he worked out in advance. He mentions in earlier volumes pre-accident that he figures the series will run to six or seven volumes when completed. And he begins referencing "19" from the very first page of the book. Yet post-accident, he (the character, not the author) mentions that he had an outline, one of the few times he's done one, but lost it. And "19" ties in with the date of his accident. So it's all hard to know what's what.
The first part of the book ties up some loose ends from book five, and frankly, I was really uninterested in this part. Or it maybe I was just getting sick. Anyway, now that Roland and Jake have returned to help Stephen King, the book has picked up.
Only 412 pages to go!

The Who - Endless Wire

This week, I did something that I haven’t done in 24 years – I bought a new studio album by The Who. Recorded in fits and starts over the last four years, Endless Wire could have been an embarrassment, a lacklustre last kick at the can. Thankfully, it’s not, but neither is it a grand triumph either. It’s as good as the sum of its parts, it’s just that some of the parts seem to be missing.
The most obvious missing parts are The Who’s late and lamented rhythm section. With bassist John Entwistle four years gone and drummer Keith Moon’s death approaching its 30th anniversary, the survivors (guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend and singer Roger Daltrey) have done away with the bass and drums altogether on some songs, offering a mix of acoustic numbers and mid-tempo rockers, followed by a ten-song mini-opera, Wire and Glass.
The album opens with Fragments, which starts with a deliberate re-stating of the famous Baba O’Riley synth riff, placing this album clearly in the pantheon of Townshend’s work associated with his early 1970s Lifehouse project, his aborted follow-up to Tommy that has driven much of his work since, including Who’s Next, Psychoderelict, and The Boy Who Heard Music. When the song starts and the band kicks in, we are in true Who heaven, glorious Townshend backing vocals supporting Daltrey’s unearthly growl. It must be noted that while Daltrey’s voice live has certainly lost its punch over the years, he lets it all out on this set of songs, sounding almost as good as ever.
Next up is one of those acoustic numbers, Man in a Purple Dress, a scathing indictment of organized religion, followed by one of those mid-tempo rockers (and one of my favourite tracks) Mike Post Theme. Next comes In the Ether, a solo by Townshend where he affects his best Tom Waits impression. Townshend thinks this is one of the best songs he’s ever written. Daltrey thinks it’s crap. The truth is somewhere in between.
Townshend’s tendency to pray in public continues with the songs Two Thousand Years and You Stand By Me, while It’s Not Enough is a great, glossy rocker.
Then comes the mini-opera. In some ways, Wire and Glass is disappointing not so much for what it is, but what it could have been. The plot, such as can be discerned, involves three kids who form a band, post their song on the “endless wire” (a concept that dates back to Townshend’s Lifehouse in the ‘70s and predates the Internet), have a big hit, and then the band falls apart. Somehow the character of Ray High from Townshend’s 1993 solo album Psychoderelict figures in this, too.
The good news is that the songs in the opera are terrific, great little hook-filled nuggets. The bad news is that they are only nuggets. Most of the opera’s songs are only 90 seconds to two minutes long, and end just as they get going. And that’s such a shame because so many of them are so darn good. Extended versions of two of the best, We’ve Got a Hit and Endless Wire, are included as bonus tracks on the CD and demonstrate just how good this could have been if only these songs had had a bit more room to breathe. Still, there’s some remarkable stuff here. Townshend is at his sarcastic best on They Made My Dreams Come True, while Tea and Theatre, another acoustic number, is a remarkable closer.
This is not the high point of The Who’s career, but it’s pretty good nonetheless. I look forward to their next album in 2030.

The Dark Towers Diaries - Day One Hundred and Twenty-Eight

So now the Song of Susannah is behind me and we're on to the the final book of the series, which is entitled The Dark Tower funnily enough.
Susannah ends on a less than satisfactory note. In the previous books in this yarn, Kimg has at least tried to wrap up some of the loose ends in each book to at least give some credence to the idea that each novel can stand alone. Here, he doesn't even try; all the plot threads are left hanging until the next book. And that's an odd choice because one character's story (Father Callahan) comes to end with his death early in The Dark Tower, so by transplanting this bit to the previous book, it might have helped. [SPOILER ALERT: The previous sentence contained a major spoiler.]
This last book is a monster, about 1200 pages. I can't recall ever trying to read a book this long. Simon and Schuster are lucky that Bush never tried to invade them. This is literature of mass destruction. A planeload of these could bomb an entire city flat. I got a flat tire on my bike when I took my copy to work. I've found where all the trees from the Amazon rain forest went -- Chapter Five. Is that a Stephen Kimg novel in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

The Dark Tower Diaries -- Day One Hundred and Three

My crazy idea of reading all seven of Stephen King's Dark Tower books in a row continues, despite the fact some great unread books are piling up in my bookcase. The latest from Simon Winchester and Gwynne Dyer are there, along with the sixth Harry Potter book, and a Neil Armstrong biography. Plus I owe Neo-Opsis a book review; all I have to do is read the book!
I'm well into book six, Song For Susannah, and my first thought about is relief that it's 400 pages shorter than book five. I grant you that that sounds unfair, because King's prose and narrative skills are near the top of his game here, but still he does palaver on.
The wolves of book five were defeated, but Susannah, taken over by Mia, has escaped to 1999 New York to give birth to the, er, whatever that she is carrying. Meanwhile, the gang still has to save the Rose in 1977 New York. Meanwhile the second, Father Callahan discovers that his life was written as a novel by some guy named Stephen King. (This makes for some quiet and hilarious asides, as when Callahan notes that the novel was well-reviewed "...if you can believe all the blurbs on the jacket.")
Things are getting strange!

The Dark Tower Diaries -- Day Eighty-Eight

Now we're into the final 100 pages of Wolves of the Calla. It's very interesting, King's prose has never been better, but damn, this is a long book.
Anyway, Roland has his plan in place, the Wolves are just a couple of days from returning to town, and Roland thinks he's rooted out the traitor. Everything's coming together, so naturally it should all fall apart any page now.
I'm enjoying seeing Father Callahan from 'Salem's Lot return, and I'm interested to see where he ends up (dead is my guess).
I should finish this off today, then it's on to the next book, Song of Susannah (which, mercifully, is 400 pages shorter than this one).

The Dark Tower Diaries -- Day Sixty-Nine

I'm finding Wolves of the Calla a tough slog. I am enjoying it, but it's long. The main narrative gets sidetracked by lengthy flashbacks and it seems to suffer for it. While the flashbacks are interesting (and important plotwise), they interrupt the flow of the main plot. And one character has decided to not even finish his flashback, at least not until a more dramatically convenient moment. Still, King has set up an interesting situation here: a small village where most pregnantcies result in twins, but once a generation raiders (wearing wolf masks) come and take away one child from each set of twins, returning them a month or so later after they have been made into drooling idiots. "Roont" as the townfolk say.
Needless to say, Roland and company have rolled into town just before the next attack by the wolves.
How will it end? Who can say. Only Stephen King (and the millions of people who have the read the book before me) know for sure.

The Dark Tower Diaries -- Day Forty-Two

Finally knocked off Wizard and Glass, and moved onto book five, Wolves of the Calla. Calla checks in at a whopping 931 pages. Is bigger better? We'll find out.
It's ten years and one near-fatal accident later when King decided to finish off the last three books of the series in one go (close to 2500 pages).
Interestingly, there is a stylistic difference between the books over the 30-plus years King wrote them.
But now, it's time to find out who the wolves are and where the Calla is.

The Dark Tower Diaries -- Day Twenty-Nine

The end is in sight. The end of the fourth book, anyway.
With Wizard and Glass, King is telling a flashback, the long, very long telling of the story of Roland's long-gone first love Susan. After Roland became a gunslinger, he and two friends were sent away by Roland's father to a far off village where they found strange goigns-on that threaten their homeland. Roland also finds his first love with Susan Delgado, who has "sold" to the local mayor as a consort, since his wife is barren, alas.
King has dropped enough hints about Susan that we know that it will not end well. With about 150 pages to go, Roland's and Susan's illicit liasons have been revealed, and Roland and his friends have been captured, framed for the murder of the mayor, who was actually killed by the dark forces that have infiltrated the town.
This is the first book of the series when I started to think that King was padding things a bit. Mind you, padded King is better than many authors' tight prose, so that's not much of a complaint.

The Dark Tower Diaries -- Day Thirteen

Alright, we've knocked off The Waste Lands and are now 82 pages into book four, Wizard and Glass. This one was written five years after book three and checks in a whopping 694 pages.
They ain't getting any smaller, these books.
The Waste Lands ends on a bit of cliff hanger. Roland and company have fought there way into an old city and found a train (actually a monorail) that will take them on their next step towards the tower. But (and there's always a "but") its AI unit is hundreds (thousands?) of years old and has gone bananas. It agrees to take them to their destination, but it plans to commit suicide at the end of the line by crashing, taking Roland and co. with it. It agrees to spare the group only if they can tell it a riddle that it cannot solve.
Wizard and Glass opens with the crazy monorail driving them to their doom, and the group doing their best to our riddle-it. Surprisingly, it is Eddie who ends up Kirk-ing the monorail whose mind goes up in a puff of its own illogic. But where Roland and gang end up is the flu-ravenged world of King's earlier novel The Stand.
There is something I've always found eminently readible about the best of King's work, and certainly this is his magnum opus. It should be fun to see how he starts tying all this into his other works.

The Dark Tower Diaries -- Day, er, um, er, Eleven...?

Now I'm deep in the meat of the last half of The Waste Lands. It checks in at 588 pages and fits in quite nicely with the previous book.
Turns out that I was correct, Roland is slowly going mad because of the paradox he created by saving Jake. Turns out that Jake, back in his world, is also going mad because he's living out the other end of the paradox -- he should have died, but he's alive.
Neeless to say the paradox will be resolved, sort of, and Jake will join Roland's merry band of gunslingers.
They'll also be attacked by a giant robot bear, travel through ancient ruins, and encounter artifacts far beyond the current technological abilities of Roland's world. I keep thinking of Atlantis as I read these passages, that Roland and his pals have discovered an ancient civilization.
But the roads must roll, and I must keep reading.

The Dark Towers Diaries - Days Six and Seven

I've finished off The Drawing of the Three, and have moved into The Waste Lands.
After picking up Eddie, Roland has gone through the second door and picked up Odetta, a black woman from 1964 whose legs were cut off when she was pushed in front of a New York subway train. She is damaged in other ways, too, and this plays a key role in the story of the third person Roland must meet. I'm not going to give that part of the story away -- suffice it to say, that King pulls some unexpected rabbits out of his hat. (Eddie also makes reference to having seen the movie version of The Shining. I'll save that piece of info for later.)
By the end of the book, Roland and Eddie are joined by a "new" companion, Susannah, and the story segues into The Waste Lands. It seems that at the end of Drawing, Roland may have prevented the death of Jake (the boy from The Gunslinger that Roland had to sacrifice) in our world. This creates a paradox, of course, since if Roland had saved Jake, Jake would never have been drawn into Roland's world and his quest would have ended.
This fact doesn't seem to be sitting well with Roland. And since the first part of the book is called Jake, one suspects that something is up.

The Dark Tower Diaries -- Day Five

Eddie has his showdown with the mob bosses who think he's turned over for The Feds, then he well and truly joins Roland on his quest.
And after all this talk about the "man in black," it had to be only a matter of time until some reference was made to Johnny Cash. And a pretty fun one it was, too.
I'd forgotten how time can stop when reading novel. The best of King has always done that to me. Sucked me in, wrapped me in up a blanket and fed me cookies
sour milk and poisoned cookies, of course, with maggots in them
and made time simply disappear. Subjectively, of course. Objectively, time has not halted its relentless march and suddenly the lunch break has vanished without a trace.
Einstein was right. Time is relative.

The Dark Towers Diaries - Day Four

Now I'm 100 pages into book 2, The Drawing of the Three.
The first door appeared to Roland, and it was a nice bit of business, how Roland could see the door from one side, but not the other.
We also meet the first of the "three," Eddie Dean, drug dealer and user. Interestingly, he has a family member (brother?) named Henry Dean. Named after Harry Dean Stanton?
Nice stuff on the airplane, through customs and Eddie's police interrogation.
Back to the quest!

The Dark Tower Diaries -- Day Three

Now
Has this ever happened to you?
You're reading a book at work. It's going to be a photo finish to see which finishes first, the book or your lunch hour. You find yourself skimming quickly, trying to squeeze every last second of readable time out of your break, a desperate race to beat the clock. But in the end, you just run out of time (much like Jake did a couple of pages back).
That's where I am with The Gunslinger. Page 292 out of 300.
Maybe I can sneak a quick glance at the book at my desk. It's not like I have any real work right now. Wait -- is that the boss? Gack!
It appears that the end of The Gunslinger is not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning. I know this because Roland says it, the man in black says it, the narrator says it, heck, I think even Jake says it.
Thanks to the man in black's explanations (of which he has not yet finished -- curse that lunchroom clock!), Roland appears to live on a parallel earth, one that may have suffered some sort of plague, possibly man-made. Hmmm, some tie-in to The Stand here? Anyway, it appears that Roland's quest will take him to the Tower, some sort of nexus point of all these parallel universes.
Well, d'uh. The series is called The Dark Tower, after all.

Later
Okay, I've finished off The Gunslinger and moved onto book two, The Drawing of the Three. At 463 pages, this is more like a typical length for King, as opposed to The Gunslinger's rather scant (scant for King, anyway) 300 pages. And it reads like a more typical King book. Drawing was published in 1987, five years after Gunslinger, and seems less stylish and more assured in its narrative voice. King had also just finished an amazing run of releasing four novels in a year, including two of my favourite King novels, It and Eyes of the Dragon. The other two were Misery, not exactly a slouch itself, and The Tommyknockers (as Meatloaf might have said, three out of four ain't bad).
Anyway, I'm not too far in. Roland has just gone sleepwalking in the surf and has had bits of himself eaten by the giant lobster.