Blackout/All Clear Review

Blackout/All Clear is a Hugo award winning novel in two parts written by Connie Willis and published by Bantam Spetra. The story focuses on Willis’ time travelling Oxford historians who were featured in her previous works: Fire Watch (link to the short story), Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing ofthe Dog. In Blackout/All Clear, historians are travelling back to England in World War II to observe life during that chaotic, dangerous and heroic time and become unable to return to their original time. The novel tracks their efforts to blend into 1940s society, find a way home and keep themselves alive.

The novel is structured in a way that the reader is taken back and forth in time to the various parts of the narrative. This includes going from 1941 London blitz to 1943, 1945 and V-E day as well as to the “present” of 2060. As many of the characters have assumed identities to blend into the 1940s, the reader is left to figure out who some of the characters are and often, due to time travel, characters are in the same place but at different time points in their own narratives and thus don’t recognize or miss each other. I found this part of the novel to be great and provided a bit of mystery to unravel as you followed the struggle of the characters to get home before they are killed. Having read Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, I liked having some of the same characters back again. Two of my favorites are Professor Dunworthy, the chair of the History department in future Oxford and Colin Templer, who while too young for Oxford has a way of getting into the past to save the day. Both characters had important roles in Doomsday Book.

I did wait to buy All Clear, so it was about a year between reading Blackout and the second half of the novel. I think this lowered some of my enjoyment of the book as it took me a little while to get back into the time period and remember who the characters were. I would recommend reading both parts of the novel back-to-back as the author obviously intended.

The story in Blackout/All Clear is rich in details about World War II London and if that period is at all of interest to you, you should go read this story. If you like time travel and all the mind-bending possibilities that come with it, then you should read this book. I think this one is on the border between 4 and 5 Mick Happies and if I had read it back-to-back it would probably get a 5. In the end, Blackout/All Clear is a great time travel story and I give it 4 Mick Happies. Now where is my time travel machine?

Ready Player One Review

Ready Player One, released in August by Random House, is written by Ernest Cline. This is Cline’s first published novel, but he already has a lot of credibility with me by being the screenwriter for the fun movie,  Fanboys. The book is based in a dystopian future where fossil fuels are extremely scarce and most people spend their days in the ubiquitous online virtual reality system, OASIS. The book opens with the lead character introducing the reader to what happens when OASIS’s creator, James Halliday, dies.

Halliday, immensely wealthy, has been a recluse for several years and on his death everyone in OASIS gets invited to play in a scavenger hunt. The prize…his fortune including ownership of OASIS. To help, Halliday has left clues to help the players on a hunt that is influenced by his passion for the 1980s. The book is a romp through almost everything geeky and good about the 80s…John Hughes movies, video games, and Dungeons & Dragons and the like as players try to find 3 keys to open 3 gates to get the easter egg prize.

The book definitely made me think fondly of the movies I watched with friends as a teenager, the first video games I played, my favorite cartoons/anime and role playing back in the day. I felt the story was the recent successor to Neuromancer and Snow Crash (which if you haven’t read them, go do it now).  It blends the “real” world of the dystopian future with the virtual worlds of OASIS well and if you have played video games, you can easily picture something like OASIS coming in the future.

At the end, you will want more. That isn’t to say that the story isn’t complete, it is, you just want to have more time with the characters and the world. I really enjoyed this book both for the story and the reminder of all those great things we got to experience for the first time in the 1980s. Sure they were often cheesy, but they were completely new. I give Ready Player One 5 Mick Happies. You should read it or listen to the Wil Wheaton audio version of the book. Go to the Random House website to read the prologue. Check out Ernest Cline’s blog for more geeky goodness.  Once your done, you can wait with me and hope  for the Ready Player One movie, which Warner Brothers optioned earlier this year.

How Firm A Foundation Review

How Firm a Foundation was released in September 2011 and is the fifth novel in David Weber’s Safehold series. The Safehold series is set in a far distant future where mankind has fled Earth and the planets we had colonized after a devastating loss in a war for survival against an alien race, the Gbaba.  Safehold is a refuge planet far away from the areas of space the Gbaba have been seen and was planned by the colonizing leaders to be a world the Gbaba would never find (they destroy civilizations before they become threats by finding them via their electronic emissions).

To help ensure that Safehold would remain secret, the founding leaders brainwashed the colonizing humans during their suspended animation into thinking they awoke on Safehold to a world created by God and the archangels (the leaders of the colonizing mission) and were given a book to guide them, which denounces technological progress beyond a certain point. That is the premise of the first book, Off Armageddon Reef, where we find that not all of the colonizing mission leadership agreed with that approach and some took matters into their own hands to ensure mankind would again rise to take on the Gbaba. This fifth book continues the story of how a group of a few people fight to overthrow the oppressive church on Safehold and bring mankind back from this imposed backward level. For more detail on the background, click the links above.

Those familiar with David Weber know that he is known for military science fiction with his Honor Harrington series. I came to read his work through the Dahak series, which I highly recommend and can be found online. The Safehold series has a nice mix of science fiction and historical “feeling” naval and political intrigue. In How Firm a Foundation, Weber really channels a Master and Commander feel in the beginning of the book as we are given a detailed account of a ship battling a storm. At the time it felt a bit too much of a venue for demonstrating a great knowledge of nautical terms, but later I realized that it was to let the reader know how skilled those sailors were as they are pivotal characters in this fifth book

The series is going to be much longer than five books, the exact number hasn’t been set as far as I know. However, the story continues to move along with some new reveals and twists and turns you don’t see coming. If you like gunpowder, ships and religious and political intrigue, this series is likely for you. The books come out once a year like clockwork (thank you Mr. Weber). I would give this book 3 Mick Happies. It is an enjoyable story, not the best book in the series, but worth a read. Catch it in paperback when you can.

X-Men: First Class Review

I have enjoyed the X-Men for many years. I know there are those that didn’t like some of the trilogy movies or only know the movies, but I have liked X-men since I watched the cartoon on tv and then went and read the comics they were based on. I had even heard good things about X-Men: FirstClass before it came to my home from Netflix.

X-Men: First Class stars James McAvoy and was directed by Matthew Vaughn. I have enjoyed several of Matthew Vaughn’s other films like Stardust and especially Kick-Ass. Here are some of the things I liked about X-Men: First Class:

·         The kids learning to use their powers

·         The cameos

·         Getting to see Professor X before he was Professor X

·         Getting to see the X-Men again in a movie

Okay, that doesn’t feel like a very long list. It isn’t. I am either becoming jaded on the whole superhero movie or it was just I was disappointed in this one. I think it was this movie. I had high expectations and it missed. I am male, so I understand and eye candy is enjoyable, but how many shots do we need in one movie specifically designed to show January Jones in her underwear? How many blow it up over the top explosions? The whole thing just fell flat for me and seemed a bit forced. There is potential there, but it never was realized in my opinion. That opinion was strengthened watching Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger soon after X-Men: First Class.

At the end of the day, I will wait patiently for the next Wolverine movie and give X-Men: First Class 2 Mick Happies.

Real Steel Review

It’s been a couple of weeks since the last review, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been stacking up things to write about. First off is Real Steel, the film starring Hugh Jackman and directed by Shawn Levy that is based on a short story by Richard Matheson. The movie is set in the near future where the sport of boxing has transitioned from human fighters to robots ala Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots on steroids.

I watched the film in IMAX and the visuals and sounds were great. The movie hits all of the right buttons when it comes to underdog sports stories. The parallels to Rocky and almost any other coming of age story with a kid who is reunited with his absentee father are definitely there. One of the amazing things about the movie was the complete lack of anything too overtly sexual. There is a love interest, but the PG-13 lines never even come close to being crossed. There is some violence, beyond the robot-on-robot action, but not too much.

Overall, it was an enjoyable movie that leaves you feeling good about where it ends. My main nit to pick here is the relationship between the son and Hugh Jackman’s character in the first half of the film. I don’t enjoy seeing kids treated bad by people who should be their parents, but that is just part of the plot and setup. This is a fun movie and falls somewhere between 3 and 4 Mick Happies.  We’ll call it 4 for the fun ride that it is and hope that the sequel gets the go ahead in the near future. Almost makes me want to get the Xbox Live Arcade game…almost.

2011 New Fall TV Reviews

If you have read my post about Apple TV a while back, you know that I don't have cable TV. Even so, I have been browsing several of the new shows this season. I have accessed the shows through iTunes free episodes or online viewing through the networks' websites. Either way, with internet access, new TV shows can be seen for free if you want them. Here are my impressions of a few of the new shows.

The Playboy Club:
If only I knew then what I know now, I would have written this post yesterday before this show was cancelled. I may also have not finished the second episode, which I did last night. I can sum this one up pretty quick.
Pros: Attractive women in tight, somewhat revealing clothing.
Cons: Is there like no trash bins in all of Chicago? Must be otherwise they wouldn't be keeping key evidence from a homicide (albeit self-defense) under the bed or in the vanishing cream jar of a boarding house full of women who might find them. C'mon, that is just dumb.
Rating: 2 Mick Happies, just for the eye candy.

Pan Am:
Another throwback to yester-year. I watched the premiere and may watch the second episode as well. There were parts of the pilot that I enjoyed: the costumes, some of the stewardesses had interesting back stories and the captain and first officer were how I would imagine them to be in that day and age. I am not as sold on needing to add in the espionage angle in episode one. There was enough nostalgia and meeting people to have hooked viewers without the gimmick.
Pros: Costumes and that late 50s early 60s wholesome feeling.
Cons: The need to go to gimmicks early to add tension and drama.
Rating: 3 Mick Happies.

Up All Night:
Now I have to admit that I have watched a lot of TV and movies with Christina Applegate in it. I have enjoyed a lot of them: The Sweetest Thing, The Rocker, Hall Pass (to some extent), etc. I have not enjoyed most of Will Arnett's work. I gave this one two episodes to hook me and sadly it didn't. There are a couple funny moments if you have ever been a new parent, but mostly the writers seem to be trying too hard. Not nearly as good as my favorite family comedy, Raising Hope.
Pros: Some funny new parent moments.
Cons: The bleeped swearing just makes me think this would be a better comedy on a cable pay-tv network like HBO, Showtime or Starz.
Rating: 2 Mick Happies for the few laughs.

New Girl:
I didn't include it in the image above, but I did download and watch the pilot for The New Girl with Zooey Deschanel. I was hoping for quirky fun here. It was too quirky for me. I just was irritated by the Zooey's character and coupled with Fox TVs 8 day waiting period to see episodes online, I will have forgotten about this by the time a new episode hits the intertubes.
Pros: The guys do a good thing for her in the end.
Cons: Quirky and more than a little irritating lead character (and some irritating supporting characters as well).
Rating: 2 Mick Happies - generously.

Terra Nova:
Just watched the free download of the pilot 2 days ago. This completely kept my interest during the flight I was on. Enough that I was annoyed by other people in my row needing to get up to use the lavatory. The dinosaurs were awesome and scary. Kids in the future/past still do stoopid things and parents just will never understand. I would have liked to see more of the future. Wow, talk about dystopian. Hopefully we will get some flashbacks there. Not sure I needed the Commander's son foreshadowing side plot in the pilot. There was enough going on without it.
Pros: Time travel (okay possibly alternate reality), dinosaurs and, oh, dinosaurs.
Cons: Would have liked more time in the future before going through to the past.
Rating: 4 Mick Happies - I really liked this one.

Some honorable mentions:
I watched the first two episodes of Two and a Half Men. Amazing how little that show needed a second Alan character, but Ashton Kutcher's character seems to be Alan if he was handsome and rich. I am glad I don't watch this one regularly as I probably couldn't take it.

Great to have The Big Bang Theory and Raising Hope back. I love both these shows so much I bought the Season Pass on iTunes for them so that I would have them delivered directly to me and I could stream them to the big TV for viewing enjoyment.

 That's enough for this post. Back to watching more internet?

Moneyball Film Review

I was very interested to see how the book Moneyball by Michael Lewis would turn out on film. So on opening night for those of us who aren’t in the media and don’t have friends, I went to see it. And…it was good.

For those who don’t know, Moneyball was an interesting book published in 2003 about the Oakland A’s and their General Manager Billy Beane. The book looked at the statistical tools that Beane and his colleagues brought to their selection of players and how those methods helped them compete with teams who had much larger budgets.

The movie, Moneyball, directed by Bennett Miller and starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill covers the same topic with Pitt playing the part of Billy Beane. I read the book several years ago and enjoyed it, but didn’t have all of the details fresh in my mind, so I can’t say if the movie is veers far from the material in the book. I do think the movie creates a story out of the underlying premise of the book and the dialogue and character interactions are often funny. You feel for this team and these people as they try to compete. You also get a sense of the demons that have hounded Beane throughout his career in baseball through the flashbacks that intersperse the main story.

I enjoyed the interplay between Pitt and Hill and everyone in the theatre laughed many times at Hill’s straight man responses. This is a fun movie, with tension, humor and some seriousness all wrapped up together. There is no reason that you couldn’t wait to see this on home theatre, but the big screen does make the stadium and game shots more impressive. It’s the story that makes this movie and the interesting characters. Overall, I give Moneyball 4 Mick Happies. Play ball.

Space Viking Review

Space Viking by H. Beam Piper was first published as a serial in Analog Science Fiction Magazine from November 1962 – February 1963. Since that was before I was born, my first exposure to the book came with the 1983 reprint by Ace Books. I enjoyed the book thoroughly when I first read it in my early teens and have re-read it (and re-purchased it) several times since that first read. The book is currently available in printed form through Amazon or for free through Project Gutenberg on iBooks or Kindle.

Space Viking is set in the distance future after man has populated the stars. At the point where Space Viking starts, mankind have seen galactic empires have rise and fall and a small number of planets and systems enjoy civilization while most of humanity has devolved back to various degrees of pre-space flight cultures – from barbaric to worlds similar to ours today. The story revolves around one man’s quest for revenge and where his trek across the stars takes him and those around him. I won’t give any other details about the plot since there are a couple good twists and turns along the way. What I like about this book is the action and world-building aspects of the story as the main character tries to rebuild himself and the world around him as time passes.

H. Beam Piper authored several books and many short stories before he ended his life in 1964. Of his stories and books, the Fuzzy Series is probably best known. Today, more and more authors are mining the worlds Piper left behind with John F. Carr publishing authorized sequels to Space Viking (The Last Space Viking and the forthcoming Prince of Tanith) and John Scalzi rebooting the Fuzzy Series with Fuzzy Nation.

There are a few aspects of Space Viking that don’t hold up today. Things like smoking by the main characters and people on spaceships picking up phones to speak with others aboard ship. The underlying commentary on man and our struggle to develop and/or devolve as a community are still relevant today. I give Space Viking five Mick Happies.

Quick Update

You can follow MickHappyReviews on twitter. Due to character limitations, the twitter name is MickHappyReview. Tweets are currently being limited only to notes about reviews posted on the site, which should reduce the chatter.

I am currently finishing a re-read of Space Viking by H. Beam Piper. A review should be up soon. After that, I have How Firm a Foundation by David Weber and The High King of Montival by S.M. Stirling in the queue. Who knows, maybe there will be a movie or tv show in there somewhere too.

Crimson: Steam Pirates Review

In June 2011, Bungie, the developers of HALO, announced a new venture to help small independent developers launch their social/mobile games. This past week saw the release of the first game from this venture, Crimson: Steam Pirates. Crimson was developed by Bungie Aerospace and Harebrained Schemes. Harebrained Schemes is the latest company from game industry veteran, Jordan Weisman (FASA, Wizkids).

Crimson is a free iPad (iOS) turn-based strategic naval battle game following the exploits of Thomas Blood as he begins his notorious career as a pirate. The world of Crimson is set in a steampunk version of the Caribbean of 1888. As Thomas Blood, you will work through 8 missions that make up the first chapter of his story. At launch, the game has an additional chapter of 8 missions available for download for $1.99. A third chapter is planned, but not yet available.

The game uses the iPad touch interface well, giving you the opportunity to choose each ship and move your finger to direct where the ship will move or to give specific instructions. Each ship has multiple special actions that can be taken each turn based on the abilities of your crew. Actions like full steam, increased speed and movement, or the lash, increased rate of fire. During a mission you can also select your ship to see more of its weapons and details on the specific crewmembers. The crew actions and the size and number of ships at your disposal vary from mission and can include both naval and sometimes air ships. The missions move you along the engaging plot of Thomas Blood’s journey to become a notorious pirate.

The game is beautiful and plays very well on an iPad 1. The first chapter of Thomas Blood’s saga will take you about 2 hours to play. There is some replay-ability through trying to improve your score on missions or playing one of the two “pass-and-play” multiplayer missions. You can also connect to Bungie.net for stats and leaderboards. The only minor downsides for the game are the relative ease of the missions in chapter 1 and the short amount of gameplay for each chapter. I assume chapter 2 will be harder and it does promise additional ships and actions to try. Hopefully it will be a little longer as well.

For an iOS game and a free one to start, Crimson: Steam Pirates is great. Beautiful, intuitive and with a good story as well. I highly recommend you pick it up and play even if you never download chapter 2. I give Crimson: Steam Pirates 4.5 Mick Happies. Arrr, download on iTunes, me matey.

Star Blazers: Quest for Iscandar Part I Review

If you are old like I am and were a kid in the late 1970s, your first introduction to Japanese anime may have been Star Blazers. The first season of the Star Blazers tv series was called The Quest for Iscandar and aired weekday mornings. I remember the series very fondly as it was the gateway drug for other shows like Voltron and, of course, Robotech.

The story of Star Blazers starts in 2199 with the Earth dying from radioactive pollution caused by bombing by an alien race, the Gamilons. Just as things seem most bleak for Earth, its last major space fleet defeated by the Gamilons near Pluto, a message is received from another alien culture from the planet Iscandar. The message states that if Earth can reach Iscandar, they will provide a cure for Earth. To help humans reach Iscandar, the message also provides details on a technologically advanced engine. Earth forces build the engine and place it in a sunken battleship from World War II, the Yamato. After rebuilding the Yamato for space, the newly formed Space Force takes off for Iscandar with only 1 year to get there and back to save Earth.

A year ago, my wife bought all three seasons of Star Blazers in DVD box sets and I hadn’t taken the plunge to watch them. However, the addition of season 1 on Netflix instant watch made it silly to wait any longer. The first season is split into six parts (DVDs) and the first part covers the first five episodes of the series. You can find a plot synopsis of each episode on Wikipedia or watch the shows on your own.

Star Blazers is an adaptation of a famous Japanese anime called Space Battleship Yamato. I have never watched Space Battleship Yamato, so I am unsure what, if anything, changed between the original anime and Star Blazers. However, on this re-watch after over 30 years, what stood out for me was how much more adult the show seems than most “children’s” shows. There are deaths, though mostly from a distance, and the characters in the story deal with those deaths emotionally. Characters have depth and everything isn’t just great and easy, there is tension and a little suspense. Additionally, the theme of a ravaged dying earth and some of the dialog seems more adult than Y-7 focused.

Watching the first five episodes, I noticed that some of the animation is dated and some of the visual effects are jarring compared to what we would find today. Overall, the plot and story are holding up and interesting and I am looking forward to revisiting the rest of the series. If you have Netflix instant watch, put it in the queue. If you don’t, the DVDs are a little steep at ~$135 for season 1 on Amazon or you can get the full season through Amazon instant video for ~$22. I give Part I of Star Blazers: The Quest for Iscandar 3.5 Mick Happies for the great nostalgia, more adult themes and decent plot. Only 361 days left for the Star Force to save Earth.

Nightside Series Books 1 & 2 Review

Something from the Nightside and Agents of Light and Darkness are the first two books in the Nightside series by British author, Simon R. Green. The books were published by Ace in 2003 and are collected in an omnibus edition in the UK called Into the Nightside from Solaris Books. The best way to describe these books would be a bit of a mixture of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden set in Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere.

The Nightside series follows private investigator, John Taylor, as he takes on and solves cases in a hidden dark inner city part of London called Nightside. The Nightside mixes past and future with the strange and fantastical. It is possible to run into vampires, werewolves, sorcerers and aliens in the Nightside. The baser instincts are indulged there and you always have to watch your back. To help, most everyone in the Nightside has an ability.

John Taylor’s ability is that he can find anything. He uses this skill as a private investigator to locate missing items for his clients. The skill, when used, appears as a special power that John taps into to find what he is seeking. In Something from the Nightside, John is searching for a woman’s missing daughter. In Agents of Light and Darkness, he is looking for a mystical chalice. 

Throughout both of these books, the reader follows John as he moves through the Nightside running into friends and enemies from his past as he tries to solve the case he is working. The books are enjoyable and for me, combined some elements of stories I have liked in the past in a somewhat new way. As we follow John, he relies on his ability and resourcefulness as well as support from several of his friends to get the job done. The characters John works with are interesting, like one friend, a bounty hunter named Suzie Shooter. She likes to shoot things with shotguns.

As I read the first two Nightside books, I noticed several similarities between John Taylor and Harry Dresden. I also liked the setting of a hidden area within London that you might fall into if you made a wrong turn while taking the train. However, some of the elements seemed a little rushed and would have been nice to have them unfold with a slightly slower pace to build suspense. Additionally, a couple of the plot elements were clear very early on, which made their pay-off when revealed a little less satisfying than they could have been. That is likely due to these being the first two books in the series and I expect the intricacy of the story and characters to develop as the series continues.

In the end, I give the first two books of the Nightside series 3 Mick Happies each. They are a fun read, familiar if you like urban fantasy and combine several elements of the genre in unique ways. I read them books on the iBooks app and can recommend them in that format as well. If you happen to pick one of these books up, enjoy your trip to the Nightside.

Take Me Home Tonight Review

Take Me Home Tonight is a comedy about a smart college graduate, Matt Franklin, played by Topher Grace. In the movie, Matt is uncertain what to do with his future and spends one memorable night out with his best friend, Barry, played by Dan Fogler as they chase down Matt’s high school dream girl. Take Me Home Tonight is set in Los Angeles in the late 1980s and is directed by Michael Dowse. Anna Faris also stars as Matt's sister, Wendy, and Teresa Palmer as the dream girl, Tori.

The movie is a good walk down memory lane for anyone who was in high school or college in the ‘80s. Major party, Preppies, Yuppies, Goths and drugs are all in attendance along with a seriously ‘80s-tastic soundtrack. Take Me Home Tonight hits all the right notes for a high school/college romantic-comedy that will make you think back on other films from that era like Sixteen Candles, License to Drive and Say Anything.

There are some cringe-worthy moments that may make you want to fast-forward just to stop the pain. However, they are few and if you remember the '80s like me, you will likely be singing along to the soundtrack again in no time. There is also some predictability to some of the plot points, but you won’t mind since the whole package is quite fun.

In the end, I give Take Me Home Tonight 4 Mick Happies. If you catch it on DVD, be sure to look at the special features and watch the Take Me Home Tonight music video. Challenge yourself to see how many films you can name.

Nerd Trivia Review

Nerd Trivia is a great, free Twitter-based trivia game created by Laura Massey (@lauralollipop). The game is run in seasons lasting a few weeks with questions being posed every hour from 8 am – 5 pm PDT via the Nerd Trivia Host (@NerdTrivia) on Twitter. To play, you simply follow @NerdTrivia, the host will follow you as well. Then every day, NerdTrivia will tweet a question and you can message the host directly with the answer.

The game, now in its third season, is constantly evolving. This season saw the addition of the Nerd Trivia website containing directions on how to play, a list of your answers and Achievements. The game also has prizes to win.

Nerd Trivia was a personal project for creator, Laura Massey (Gamertag: Lollip0p on Xbox Live). Ms. Massey is a programmer working for Microsoft as part of their Xbox team. You can also hear Ms. Massey talking about Nerd Trivia on the Major Nelson podcast, where she is a co-host.

I really enjoy Nerd Trivia and in a world where Twitter is mostly about sharing what you are doing right now, it is nice to have something competitive to play on a daily basis. I highly recommend following @NerdTrivia if you are active on Twitter. I give Nerd Trivia 5 Mick Happies…fun trivia, simple to play and free, what is better than that?

Source Code Review

Having the DVD of Source Code in hand, I sat down for a late night action film. The movie is written by Ben Ripley, directed by Duncan Jones, and stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an Army helicopter pilot, Colter Stevens, who wakes up disoriented on a train. Within the first several minutes of the movie, as Colter tries to figure out how he got on the train and the people around him, a bomb goes off destroying the train.

The story really begins there as we quickly learn that Colter is part of a government project that allows them to place a person’s consciousness into another person who recently died and experience the last 8 minutes of their life. What follows is a gripping action film with Colter bouncing between the train and current time trying to determine what happened on the train.

What I liked about the film were the nods to time travel and alternate realities. I am a big time travel fan and thought that the premise of going back and viewing/experiencing events of someone else’s life to be intriguing. The movie has several twists and turns and doesn’t hold off on giving you answers along the way. No holding off to the end for everything to be revealed all at once, there are twists and turns all throughout the film. In some cases, the trips back to the train had a Groundhog Day feel to me. As I don’t want to spoil the movie, I will stop there.

I liked Source Code and found that it was engaging and didn’t seem to have huge, gaping plot holes. Though that could be a result of watching it at Midnight. Overall, I give the film 4 Mick Happies. Definitely worth renting or getting from Netflix to watch at home.

A Dance With Dragons Review

George R.R. Martin at Mysterious Galaxy book signing
July 24, 2011

It is with some sadness that I review A Dance With Dragons knowing that it was only just released and I will have to wait for the next installment in the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. For any long-time fans of the series, this one has been a bit of a wait, a little over 5 years, since A Feast for Crows was released. I can say that the book was worth the wait, thank you Mr. Martin.

A Dance With Dragons, the fifth book in A Song of Ice and Fire, is in some ways the second half of A Feast for Crows as well as its sequel. A little over half of the book is dedicated to the characters and story lines that were relatively absent from A Feast for Crows due to decisions made by the author and his editors to help get book four out to readers back in 2005. Together they cover all the myriad of characters in A Song of Ice and Fire and extend the story along the winding path from the first scene of A Game of Thrones to the ultimately conclusion of the series.

I have only read A Song of Ice and Fire once. Rather than re-read A Feast For Crows, I went to Tor.com’s posting that lists where everybody is before A Dance With Dragons begins. This helped bring the high points for key characters into focus before I began reading the book.

I won’t go into details about the plot as this is intended to be a spoiler-free review.  If you want spoilers, you can go here. Otherwise, the thing I enjoyed in the book was the opportunity to immerse myself in a wonderfully crafted world that feels broad and rich. You get a sense of just how large the world is and the depth of the history as well. The thing about the story that will stick with me is that bad things happen to just about anyone.

All in all, I highly recommend A Song of Ice and Fire and give A Dance With Dragons 4 Mick Happies. It is a good book and a strong addition to the overall series. It doesn’t feel as complete as some of the earlier books due to the splitting of storylines with A Feast For Crows, but that is a minor issue overall. If you haven’t read any of the series, pick up A Game Of Thrones and get started. Once you are all caught up, you can wait with the rest of us for book six and look forward to season 2 of A Game of Thrones on HBO and hopefully a new Dunk and Egg novella in the meantime.

Apple TV Review

About 2 months ago, I ditched cable tv. One of the key factors in doing that was the powerful combination of Netflix streaming and the Apple TV. Apple TV is a small box that you can connect to your TV through a HDMI cable in order to stream content from select web sources or from your home computer.

The Apple TV, version 2 was released in 2010, is less than 4 inches x 4 inches and less than 1 inch tall. It comes Wi-Fi enabled or can be connected directly to the Internet using an Ethernet cable and can connect via HDMI to most high-definition TVs. It is capable of 720p video output maximum.

The Apple TV will connect to your iTunes library through the Home Sharing function allowing you to wirelessly stream any content in your library directly to your television. You can access iTunes directly from the Apple TV to stream movie or tv show rentals to your television as needed. Additionally, there are several services that can be streamed to the Apple TV such as YouTube, MLB.TV, NBA.com League Pass and Netflix.  The user interface is straightforward and once you have completed setup of the device, you can jump right in. The setup mainly consists of connecting to your home Wi-Fi network, logging into your iTunes account and logging into Netflix if you have a streaming account. Once done, you are on your way.

In my home, I have three Apple TV devices plugged in and with the 3 DVD and streaming plan with Netflix, I can be streaming different shows to each box at the same time. The ability to stream shows and movies from Netflix to any tv in the house using Apple TV has allowed me to dump my cable provider’s $100+/month services. At $99, the Apple TV will help pay for itself in just a few months in the savings on cable tv alone.

There are some drawbacks to the Apple TV to be aware of. There is no power button. To reset the box, you have to hold the down arrow and menu buttons on the remote or pull the power cord from the back of the device. This is important to know as the Apple TV will go into sleep mode (depending on the settings you choose) and sometimes will not reconnect to the wireless network upon waking. I have found that by restarting the box (by remote or power cord) always solves the problem, but it is annoying.

Based on the ease of use, relatively low cost ($99), small size, ability to stream content from my computer or Netflix and relatively few drawbacks, I give the Apple TV 4 Mick Happies.

The Green Hornet Review

I went into The Green Hornet movie with no preconceptions. I hadn’t seen the tv series (before my time). All I knew was it was a superhero movie of sorts with some action and a cool car with gadgets. That, along with some good dialog, should be enough to keep me interested. Unfortunately, The Green Hornet couldn’t do that.

The movie is about a playboy son of a media mogul who takes a hard look at his wasted life when his father dies. From there, Britt, played by Seth Rogen, joins forces with the enigmatic Kato to take on crime in Los Angeles. They do it by posing as bad guys and driving around in a gadget-filled car called Black Beauty.

The movie started off just fine, but quickly I became uninterested in what was happening on screen. I found the dialog forced and the acting, in some places, was uneven and took me out of the film. Kato, played by Jay Chou, was the highlight of the parts of the film I did see and I would have stopped watching earlier, if not for him. In the end, I lasted about a third of the way through the movie before stopping. Cameron Diaz hadn’t even made an appearance by then.

I have to give The Green Hornet 1 Mick Happy. I would avoid this movie; it isn’t worth your time. Rather than watch the whole film, I went to Wikipedia and read the synopsis of the plot and moved on with my life.

Sasha- A Trial of Blood and Steel Book One Review

Sasha (A Trial of Blood and Steel Book One) is the first book in a fantasy series by Joel Shepherd. The book was published in October 2009 by Pyr books. I learned about this book from Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist when Pat posted that the book was currently available for free in a Kindle version. Prior to reading Sasha, I had already read one of the Cassandra Kresnov books by Joel Shepherd, Crossover.

Like his Cassandra Kresnov books, there is plenty of action in Sasha and a female lead character with superior martial skills. Sasha, one of several children of the current King has been trained as a warrior, something unheard of in her lands, and must prove herself to most she meets. Additionally, you are presented with a society where there are two main peoples struggling through religious differences while maintaining a somewhat peaceful existence. The religious differences of the characters are the main source of the conflict in the book and drive many of their actions. To make things even worse for the titular character of the book, Sasha, her home of Lenayin is a typical male run feudal society where women are expected to stay out of the decision-making and business of men. 

As is often the case with the start of a new fantasy series, Sasha starts a little slowly. It took me almost the whole first chapter to really start to become interested in what was going on and begin to see this as a story I might read all the way through. It is possible that this was partially due to reading the book on an iPod Touch using the Kindle app, where it requires more effort to flip to maps and previous information. However, once the story moved past the obligatory introduction of several main characters, you begin to be drawn in by the complex society and interpersonal conflicts between the characters. It should be noted that when you open the Kindle version of the book, it will go to the first page, but there are maps and a list of key characters prior to the start of the book that you should bookmark and use as reference.

All in all, this was a good read, especially if you opt for the free Kindle version. The banter between characters rarely feels forced or an info dump and the action is well written and crisp. After finishing the book, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there are three other books in print in the Trial of Blood and Steel series. I will probably be picking up the next, Petrodor, once I finish with A Dance of Dragons. I give this one 3 Mick Happies.

Hall Pass Movie Review

            Hall Pass, released in 2011 by directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly, stars Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis. It is the story of two married men who are given a week off from marriage by their wives who have become frustrated with their husbands behavior. True to form, this is an over-the-top film with cringe-worthy and disgusting moments that leave you not wanting to continue but unable to look away.

            As with any comedy movie of its type, there are pretty women to be chased, horrible pickup lines and turnabout as fair play for the wives. The problem with this movie is that the humor is uncomfortable more often than funny and the truly funny parts are too few and far between. I can say that the scenes that stay with you after the film is over fall more into the category of things you can’t un-hear or un-see than memorable for being LOL funny.

            I watched the film on DVD from Netflix, so I can’t comment on DVD extras that come in the commercial DVD. If they are just more of what was in the movie, you shouldn’t rush out to buy it.

            If you need to see a gross-out comedy of this ilk, I would recommend 2002’s The Sweetest Thing or even the Farrelly brother’s There’s Something About Mary over this one. I give it 2 Mick Happies, you may just have to pass this one by.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Review

Michael Bay’s third installment of the Transformers franchise, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, continues the formula that has drawn people to see the previous two movies - robots, over the top action, some eye candy and blowing up a lot of things. Not necessarily in that order and sometimes all at once. The main problem is that like a meal of mainly rice, it fills you up, but only for a while.

I went to the movie with my family on July 4^th and saw the feature in 2D. Two and half hours, five or six trailers and $39 later, we all left with pretty much the same conclusion. Yes, all of the awesome robots are back. Yes, there are even more of them, though you don’t really know where they came from unless you pay close attention. Yes, the action is so frenetic that you will be tired after its all said and done and you won’t be able to catch it all even if you watch the movie three times. This is great and the movie works if you are only looking to switch off your brain and just experience the spectacle. It is only after you step out and start discussing it that you realize that you aren’t feeling as good about it as you thought.

What we liked was the return of Wheelie and the introduction of another small Autobot, Brains. The overall banter in the movie was pretty good and did bring out laughs and smiles, but these two little bots had some of the best. Even Sam’s parents are back and provide more cringe-worthy commentary to embarrass their son. I won’t go into things we didn’t like; I don’t want to spoil anything for you. However, here are a couple things that would make the next Transformers movie better:

1.     Have a love interest, or leading woman who can actually do more than be there for the male characters to look at or fight over.

2.     Have a rationale for where the new ‘bots have come from and have it fit into the overall plot rather than be explained away in a single line of dialogue.

3.     Don’t have another cranky, drunk on power, government agent.

4.     More Cybertron, please.

5.     Slow down the action or reduce the amount going on at any one time, you just can’t see it all.

The only nit I will pick about this movie is that it’s difficult to believe that after saving the world twice and graduating college that Sam would be unemployed rather than working for the government with the Autobots. Not a spoiler per se as this comes up in the first 5 – 10 minutes of the movie.

Final rating for this one is 3 Mick Happies. It works as a brainless spectacle, but the thinness of plot may not hold up for multiple viewing. It is worth seeing (robot on robot action always is) but watch it on your big screen at home, if you can wait that long.