House of Cards
This nasty British political thriller is well worth watching. At first it seems like a story of pure political intrigue (with a little cocaine and sex thrown in for titillation), but in the last episode (the 4th) the intrigue gets more and more evil. Ian Richardson is brilliant as the manipulative Francis Urquhart. And what a name!
Inception
A fascinating film: almost too recursively gripping at many levels (in the sense that the tension becomes overwhelming). And they never explained how the team popped off the last level of the stack. Nevertheless, a clever script with lots of good actors = fun movie. And the last shot was cleverly ambiguous.
Water
I finally was able to take this book out of the library (again) and finish it, given the reading time I have on the train. It is an impressive history of the world through the lens of water in its many forms: water for transport, for power, for drinking, for sanitation, and for ecosystems. At points it felt like a stretch to talk about water in its many uses as the same historical link in this manner, but the book was nonetheless entertaining and informative. The final section of the book, which talks about our modern water-shortage problems due to population growth, wasteful and inefficient usage, and poor management, is pretty depressing: many countries are looking at running out of water in several decades!
Torchwood 3
An interesting third "season" comprised of 5 episodes. A few thoughts:
1. Much higher resolution: couldn't tell if that was Netflix or better video quality from the BBC. In either case, the show had much higher production values across the board.
2. Sad to see Ianto die. All of the cast (except for Gwen) bit the dust over the last 2 seasons.
3. Another deux ex machina ending. I thought they might try and find out if the drug-dealing aliens were criminals in their own society, or something mildly clever. Instead, they copped out. Oh well.
Still, enjoyable except for the ending. They tried to close out the series (but apparently they are doing yet another season?).
1. Much higher resolution: couldn't tell if that was Netflix or better video quality from the BBC. In either case, the show had much higher production values across the board.
2. Sad to see Ianto die. All of the cast (except for Gwen) bit the dust over the last 2 seasons.
3. Another deux ex machina ending. I thought they might try and find out if the drug-dealing aliens were criminals in their own society, or something mildly clever. Instead, they copped out. Oh well.
Still, enjoyable except for the ending. They tried to close out the series (but apparently they are doing yet another season?).
Torchwood 2
I like this series, although it is somewhat silly (in much the same way that Star Trek is silly). Enjoyable fluff, nonetheless. The characters are generally more interesting than those in typical sci-fi fare.
Hospice Care
If I had more time to read regularly, I would subscribe to the New Yorker just to read Atul Gawande's articles on medicine. I wish we had discussed such issues in my family when my father's Parkinson's disease started to worsen.
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