John Dos Passos - The USA Trilogy (x-post amazon)

This trilogy is a definite must read for absolutely everybody. Seriously, if i could offer you one piece of advice it would be to start reading it for your kids around the time they learn to walk and then let it live next to them up into adulthood. Granted, that might be going just a bit too far, but i nearly mean it. The basic premise is America. Big, cruel, promising, energetic America. An America at the point of its ascendance to absolutely unrivaled power. And within this structure some lives will experience all that this great nation has to offer, from the ultimate lows to the ultimate highs. The books follow a varying set of characters, with a certain set as the main characters for the duration of one book, to be followed by other main characters in the other books. What is done really well is how these characters all live in each others shadows. Their lives overlap, but never excessively so. They exist as vague backgrounds in each others stories, or they might have some overlapping supporting characters who exhibit different aspects of their personalities and mannerisms in the different settings. This is very well done, and feels natural throughout. Other than that there is a slight aspect of experimentalism to these novels, as they are interspersed with (relevant and vague) stream of consciousness sequences and the occasional "newsreel" to provide readers with an understanding of the media and social environments of the time. It is so well done, and the experiences of the characters are so many-faceted and tumultuous as to make me sit at the edge of my seat whilst reading my way through these, by all accounts quite normal, lives.

Hiroyuki Okiura - Jin Roh (x-post amazon)

This movie is a charming mish mash of many tropes which have existed in anime for quite some time. Never underestimate the power of the eternal return of the same, or somesuch... Anyway. I was lucky enough not to have been exposed to anime at all before i saw this movie, and as an introductory foray into japanese anime it was really quite grand. If the tropes seem familiar to you, and you've seen a bajillizion japanese series and movies your mileage may vary, but for someone not accultured to such an expression it was indeed quite powerful. The setting is light-futuristic, and the reason for all the social turmoil is never explained. This works quite well, as you are left wondering, and working with the art style for clues instead of the statements of the characters. On the whole the society has a neo-germanic japanese feel. (How novel! Right? Back to my point about having this as an introduction to the entire anime-scene.) It is brooding and industrial, and it works perfectly for me. The story deals with the best soldier in a special anti-"terror" brigade and the repercussions of him seeing a girl blowing herself up right in front of him. This leads him on a circuitous route through conspiracies within the anti-terror unit itself and to an inevitable showdown i won't spoil here. For me, this movie is pretty much perfect, but i watched it at an impressionable age w/o any previous exposure to the many tropes within. The art is beautiful. The scenes are slow but meaningful. Action sequences are generally short, and if prolonged they are for a reason, not to stall time. The plot deals with concepts about order, mimicry, secrecy and trauma. All done in a respectful and intelligent manner.

Shirley Jackson - We Have Always Lived In The Castle

This book is at times very painful to read. It captures, in a seemingly natural manner, the way in which a girl lives with a selfish and manipulative self that has a very tenuous grasp on the workings of reality. In a way she can probably be compared to Lain from the series "Serial Experiments Lain" except that Merricat (this books lead character) is pure paranoid selfishness, whereas Lain is troubled, unsure and weakly, if determinately, grasping for truths. The link is in their very fleeting sense of reality. Whilst Serial Experiments Lain explores what happens when the world surrounding you goes wrong, We Have Always Lived explores what happens when you go wrong yourself. Traipsing alongside Merricat (the main character) it is impossible not to have a horrible feeling of unease. At first, the book reels you in by portraying Merricat's problems with the village she lives in, problems which are quite real. Only later, when what befell her family, becomes clear, do you start to see just how unhinged she really is in her interpretations and machinations. Not many books has me reeling with horror over what might befall the characters on the next page. This book sure did.

K.C. Cole - Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens (x-post amazon.com)

The story about Robert Oppenheimer is truly an inspiring one. Especially so for anybody wondering just how much can be done after having been rebuked by any form of the supposed establishment. It displays just how much a man can accomplish when made an outcast by a paranoid/secretive science research community, and how rewarding such a life can be. It is also an inspiration for anybody in education wondering about how to get children involved an excited about topics. It seems the solution is simple : let them actually try/use/build something. Highly recommended for anyone searching for inspiring tales from both the worse aspects of american hysteria in the late forties and early fifties and the world of conveying science understanding/excitement to the general populace.

Robert Redford - The Company You Keep (x-post amazon)

This movie is nice. I'd say that much. Having been on something of a Redford-rampage lately i'd venture to say that it is a nice continuation on themes that have appeared previously in his career as well. The basic plotline, fugitive, question of guilt, the chase, the potentiality of loss, the detective, the old network. All aspects that work nicely together and is done in a respectful manner. Old secrets come to light at an amicable pace, and the movie manages to make at least certain reveals not completely obvious. The inevitability of Redfords character's redemption makes the movie lack a little nerve though. In the end it boils down to "conformist dad gets redemption and evil ideologue goes to jail, whilst intrepid journalist learns a lesson about why to keep secrets". Because all we want is a happy family life right, so please just shut up already. Which should be expected for this kind of movie, and which, dealing with the topic at hand is strictly speaking necessary for the movie to be in any way publishable. Fair enough, even with irritants as mentioned above it was an emotionally moving film that dealt with an aspect of american history worthy of attention.

David Drury - Rhodes (x-post amazon)

Back in the nineties i remember watching one or two episodes of this series. This left such an impression on my approximately 12 year old self that i spent the next 15 years waiting for an opportunity to revisit it. I have honestly no idea of what managed to imprint itself in me, but i kept periodically checking the web for any info about this series until it eventually appeared on DVD. This series is absolutely marvellous. The ambitions and the machinations of the british, at the time when they truly had the world at their feet, is incredibly fascinating material. Safe to say that it is treated with a view to accuracy in this series, and everything is as entirely believable as you would expect from british historical drama. Mr Shaw does a powerful performance as the ruthlessly ambitious, and incredibly talented Mr Rhodes. The series does in no way give him an easy time, and many of his dubious affairs come to light over the course of it. At the same time the series steers away from complete and utter vilification to give a complex and enlightening portrait of both the man and his time. For anybody with a shred of historical interest, or a shred of ambition in their being, this series is a must.

Liars

The greatest lie in the economy business : That "balance" is achievable.

Patrick McGoohan - The Prisoner (x-post amazon)

The basic concept of The Prisoner, and most parts of its execution is done really well. The premise of "lone man versus closed society" is functional, and for its time it must have been rather novel. And the allegories visible throughout the episodes in relation to everyday life in ordinary society are good, relevant and thought-provoking. The problem manifests (for me) rather late in the series, but as episode followed episode the nerve of the series seemed to taper off, leaving me less and less interested in the workings of both the village and the organization. These appeared also to be shoved to the back a little as the series went on, in order to focus on less and less plausible scenarios. < If the show had been more thorough in its conspiratorial leanings towards the end i would've been more positive. As it is, it has some wonderful insights into the nature of society and the individual, and the interactions between the two. It also brilliantly conveys the power struggle between the two by extrapolating to the near absurd setting with which we are presented. Some really powerful ideas and moments that will stay with me for the rest of my life occur within. Anybody who at a time in their life feels themselves at odds with society, and during that period watches this series, is bound to encounter their own important moments, allegories and ideas. Very few series manage to do this, so this is really one of the best.

Phil Alden Robinson - Sneakers (x-post amazon)

This movie is well made and enjoyable, though i can hardly call it critical. The good parts : Redford and gang make a charismatic and entertaining team of legal conmen. The personalities are well rounded for such a movie, and though a bit caricatured, all of them are respectfully portrayed. The manner in which they work with one another is entertaining to watch, though there are no surprises on the inter-relational level. The concept is as plausible as can be expected for a thriller of this type, and as long as that is accepted, a good time will be had. If you feel like dissecting the actual technological side of things too much annoyances will occur, but reality would be less cinematic, so it's best just to let it slide. (If you happen to have that decryption device be sure to let me know as soon as possible!) I really can't call it a suspenseful thriller, since the good guys are too obviously good and the bad guys too obviously bad to cast any doubt on the outcome. The suspense-setpieces are entertaining to watch, and the ways in which they infiltrate the places they need to be is pure funstuff. The villain is a bit deranged and his motivations/employers remain something of a mystery. Which i find rather annoying. He becomes too delusional and ignorant to seem like much of a threat. The organization to which he belongs remains completely invisible so that the movie can focus on the personal relationship between Redford and Kingsley. I would've preferred it if the movie was more focused on structures than individuals, but that is generally not what these kinds of thrillers are there for. All in all i had fun, and that is what counts.

Krzysztof Kieslowski - Trois couleurs (x-post amazon)

I had a lot of fun watching these three movies, though i must admit to not considering them masterpieces. The basic stories of all three movies are charming. All three are in some way about human relationships, and they manage to convey the intensity such relationships can take in an interesting way. The problem is that the stories at times veer over in what i feel is unreflective self-parody. In a sense, they become too self-referential and the plausibility of the situation is lost in the process. This is not as apparent in the first movie as in the second and third. But by the third movie it becomes slightly annoying. At the same time the narrational outline of the third movie was the one i found most appealing. Apart from the excessive self-referential symbolism the imagery is quite powerful, and the stories are incredibly charming. (Though that might just be my like of french and polish influencing me.) It is also quite entertaining to watch the esthetic of the early nineties from a polish/french perspective.

Neal Stephenson - The Baroque Cycle (x-post amazon)

This book, and the two other books in the trilogy, is the most fun i've ever had in historical fiction. I am quite fond of both history and science, and this book makes both more fun than they've ever been before. As far as i can remember the first book takes place in Europe and America, and you get some nice insights into the workings of society at the time. The main characters are in some cases pure adventurers, at times opportunistic self-improvers, and at other times close to mad scientists. A charming mix if there ever was one. As in Cryptonomicon the character named Shaftoe deals with the adventure-part whilst the character named Waterhouse deals with the science-part. This is a nice arrangement, and works really well for this kind of book. The shifts from character to character, and scenery to scenery are well done and makes the novel feel like a journey, not a presentation. If you've ever wanted a fly's view of the weirdness of the 17'th century then this novel is for you.

Oliver Sacks - Musicophilia (x-post amazon)

This book is a marvel to read. Oliver Sacks is an unafraid, and intelligent presenter of ways in which the brain and music interact. It is quite probably the best introduction to how your brain and music work together available, and it is also filled with stories of different ways in which the gentle balance our brain requires can be distorted. The way in which he presents facts is easy-going and often supplemented with a story about specific individuals, making it easier to set the functions he describe into context. He also presents himself in a friendly manner throughout the book, without succumbing to the trap of making himself the central theme of the book. His presentations of the abnormalities encountered in humanity when it comes to processing and using sound/music are almost always interesting, and they make you think about just how differently perceived this world can be. That such great changes require such little physical alteration is incredibly fascinating, and it becomes obvious throughout the book just how great of a tool the human brain, and for that matter, music, really is.

Serial Experiments Lain (x-post Amazon)

We're all connected, or so this series says. And in oh what a way it does so! So, as always the near future is upon us, and as always some light extrapolation on current trends (remember, this is 1996/7-made) leads us into an unnerving play on what is real and what our consciousness can end up experiencing. The fury of technological reality and the unreality of everyday reality can seem a bit trite at times, but at no point in Serial Experiments Lain did i feel a suspension of disbelief. The pacing is slow and beautiful, and the mannerisms of the characters reinforce the unnerving nature of the topic without becoming parodies of themselves. If you have any interest in the potentialities inherent in our current technological developments then i highly recommend watching this series.

Joseph D. Moreno - Mind Wars (x-post Amazon)

This is a rather important book if you happen to be interested in how your brain works, and what other people can do with it if they should want to. It tells as much as it can about the world of brain research in the defense industry. A topic which by its nature will be somewhat obfuscated. The book will as a given be somewhat lacking due to this, but that is permissible, and the odds are quite high that much of what Moreno describes will be news to the reader. This book is quite free of scaremongering and hysteria, and that is good. An objective analysis of what has been going on in the field needs to be. Certain, rather dubiously grounded, personal extrapolations on current trends can be enjoyed whilst reading it if one so desires. I sure enough had mine.