The Frisco Kid (1979)

It seems like nobody involved in this movie had a firm idea on how funny it should be, where the humor would come from, what kind of character Wilder should play, or how to develop the characters' relationships, and so even tho it's great seeing Wilder and Ford at the height of their powers, the movie itself is a total dud.

White Noise by Don DeLillo

I liked a lot of the dry humor and some of the poetic language, but I found the book overall to be solipsistic and dull.

Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)

Herzog’s trick of taking this POW to revisit / relive his worst experiences is dark, scary, fascinating and funny, pays off tremendously - I was fully engrossed from the first minute. 

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

I guess I could finish this but I don’t feel compelled to; PSH is amazing as always but I find the plot and pacing and general concept solipsistic. 

The President’s Analyst (1967)

This old flick has some fun actors and scenes but it is exceedingly silly. 

Widow’s Bay season 1

Great new show out of Apple exhibiting a deft blend of horror and comedy managing to be both actually scary and actually funny. 

Glass House by Charles Stross

I love the sci-fi lore in this book as a loose sequel to accelerando, I love the world building, I think Stross still played a little loose with the consistency of his technological world, but the characters are much deeper and better defined than Accelerando which is great. 

Accelerando by Charlie Stross

On this my third read thru i’m struck by how good the futurology is, how much it shares in common with Rajaniemi, and of course how paper-thin and silly the characters are.

Apollo 11 (2019)

Hey what if we take all this documentary footage of the moon landing mission and put it together into a coherent story with a soundtrack and no extra commentary but then what if we make it like super, super stylish?

Don’t Look Now (1973)

Insane and hard to watch movie with good actors and sort of bad acting, and such a weird concept. 

The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi

A worthy conclusion to the "hard sci-fi" series by this Finnish phenom, I put that in quotes because I think the glorious world-building is actually more poetic than self-consistent, so sometimes the story feels a bit calvinball, but nevertheless it's great writing, great reading, highly recommended.

The Quantum Prince by Hannu Rajaniemi

The second entry in this series is so challenging and confusing that it sometimes shades into complex sci-fi poetry, and I come away thinking that with a teensy bit more editing and hand holding it would be a better time, but I still enjoyed it greatly. 

The Martian (2015)

This is a great space movie with an exciting ending and an addictive story but I do wish (because I can never help wishing) it was a little heavier on the science and lighter on the hollywood.  

Asad by Patrick Seale

I greatly enjoyed this tome from the late 80s for its depth and broad strategic explanations of 20th century middle east politics, although at times the book feels dated (because it is dated) or under-researched (because Seale's main sources were very focused in Syria).

The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi

I think this is my third read thru this dense, complex sci-fi mystery, so you can tell I like it, and tho its complexity gets a little messy at times, its pace and panache make for great entertainment, and I love anything “prisoner’s dilemma”- themed. 

Bugonia (2025)

Effectively stylish and different comedic horror movie that I nonetheless found quite boring; guessed the point from minute 10 and so although the payoff was superbly done the journey there was tedious.