chazbufe
Pima County Public Library
chazbufe's Completed Shelf
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To Sleep in A Sea of StarsTo Sleep in A Sea of Stars, Book
by Paolini, ChristopherBook - 2020 | First U.S. edition
chazbufe's rating:
1.5 out of 5 stars
Added Jan 11, 2021
chazbufe's rating:
2.5 out of 5 stars
Added Dec 27, 2021
Comment:
I wanted to like this one, largely because of the author's background and social views, and and this book does have some good things going for it: a sympathetic and well drawn main character, some believable secondary characters, a promising plot premise, and intriguing settings, one of which is a cult compound (seemingly modeled on the FLDS) set in the Sonora Desert.
Unfortunately, there are also a lot of not-so-good things, too. One is that the author is totally unfamiliar with our area: her descriptions of the desert are almost nonexistent, she has the main character at one point eating a heaping bowl of "cactus" (not nopales or saguaro or prickly pear fruits, "cactus"), and she includes Utah as part of the Sonora Desert. Scientific illiteracy is also a problem; there's one howler after another, including "hydration tablets" for when you run out of water in the desert. As well, the plot revolves around human cloning, which could be done now, so why set the story over 200 years in the future?
This could have been a really good book, but it isn't because of carelessness of the author and editor.I wanted to like this one, largely because of the author's background and social views, and and this book does have some good things going for it: a sympathetic and well drawn main character, some believable secondary characters, a promising plot…
Better Call SaulBetter Call Saul, DVDSeason Five
DVD - 2020
chazbufe's rating:
4 out of 5 stars
Added Dec 22, 2020
chazbufe's rating:
1 out of 5 stars
Added Dec 16, 2020
Comment:
This sounded promising -- interesting premise and potentially interesting plot -- but I only made it through the first few chapters. The writing was too self-consciously cutesy, the author apparently didn't even try to get the science right, and I found the voice irritating. Add to that a seemingly interminable and very ineptly written action sequence, and I bailed.This sounded promising -- interesting premise and potentially interesting plot -- but I only made it through the first few chapters. The writing was too self-consciously cutesy, the author apparently didn't even try to get the science right, and I…
chazbufe's rating:
3 out of 5 stars
Added Dec 12, 2020
chazbufe's rating:
2 out of 5 stars
Added Dec 12, 2020
Please Do Not Ask for Mercy as A Refusal Often OffendsPlease Do Not Ask for Mercy as A Refusal Often Offends, Book
by Davies, Paul BassettBook - 2020
chazbufe's rating:
2.5 out of 5 stars
Added Dec 12, 2020
Comment:
This has an interesting premise and the characters are well drawn, but it has problems. The first is that it's obviously the first book in a series, but that's indicated nowhere on the cover or in the book's front matter. So, the "ending" is very abrupt and just leaves the reader hanging.
The other two real problems are that a parrot is a key character -- no problem there, but I've lived with parrots for decades, and Davies gets some aspects of parrot behavior quite wrong.
Worse, use of a printing press is a key plot component, and the author very obviously has no more idea of how printing presses work than a dog does of how an electron microscope works (e.g., Davies has a press which hasn't been used in 10 years function perfectly as soon as an entirely unskilled operator turns it on). This is just sheer laziness on the author's part: he obviously didn't bother to consult a printer or even read about the printing process. (When a novelist screws up on factual matters, especially ones central to the plot, it takes the reader out of the story.)
One positive aspect of the book is that Davies managed to write all of the book's considerable amount of dialogue clearly but without use of quotation marks, which is a neat trick.
Still, I won't be reading this book's sequel(s).This has an interesting premise and the characters are well drawn, but it has problems. The first is that it's obviously the first book in a series, but that's indicated nowhere on the cover or in the book's front matter. So, the "ending" is very…
chazbufe's rating:
1.5 out of 5 stars
Added Nov 8, 2020
The Twilight ZoneThe Twilight Zone, DVDSeason One
DVD - 2020
chazbufe's rating:
2.5 out of 5 stars
Added Nov 5, 2020
The Ministry for the FutureThe Ministry for the Future, Book
by Robinson, Kim StanleyBook - 2020 | First edition
chazbufe's rating:
3 out of 5 stars
Added Oct 29, 2020
Comment:
This is a weird one. It opens with a horrifying, lengthy bravura chapter written in a close first-person p.o.v. describing living through a killer heatwave in India. It's some of the most gut wrenching writing I've read in ages. But in the second chapter Robinson switches to distant third-person p.o.v. and stays with it throughout the rest of the book.
To make things worse, the reader expects the narrator of the first chapter to be the primary character, but he's relegated to secondary-character status for the rest of the book in favor of a different and less interesting character (though this is partially the result of the distant third-person p.o.v.).
As well, though it's billed as a novel, it alternates narrative (fiction) chapters with factual chapters describing in some detail various ways of combating climate change, and also short (some as little as about a hundred words) chapters consisting of philosophical ramblings and miscellaneous comments, a number of which serve no apparent purpose.
As a result, it's neither fish nor fowl, and I ended up wishing Robinson had written two books instead of this single volume: an actual sci-fi novel on the political aspects of fighting climate change, and a nonfiction book on the various ways to do that.
Still, the nonfiction material on ways to combat global warming is well worth reading. Despite it's obvious and irritating warts, I'd recommend "Ministry for the Future": It's the most thought provoking book I've read in ages.This is a weird one. It opens with a horrifying, lengthy bravura chapter written in a close first-person p.o.v. describing living through a killer heatwave in India. It's some of the most gut wrenching writing I've read in ages. But in the second…
Losing RealityLosing Reality, BookOn Cults, Cultism, and the Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry
by Lifton, Robert JayBook - 2019
Added Oct 20, 2020
Comment:
This book (a collection of old material interspersed with new) was a bit of a disappointment. Lifton is most famous for his early book, "Thought Control and the Psychology of Totalism," a study of Chinese Communist "re-education" methods, and "Losing Reality" excerpts the most important chapter from "Thought Control," that on the essential components of "re-education" (brainwashing, if you will). The new material on Aum Shinrikyo and Trump's cult-like following is of interest, though it's nothing new -- others have already thoroughly analyzed the cultish aspects of Trump and Trumpism. The final chapter, on safeguarding ourselves against cult-like authoritarianism, is weak: it's more assertion than argument, and in some places the writing is so obscure that you have to read it twice to tease out Lifton's meaning. If you've already read "Thought Control and the Psychology of Totalism," there's no good reason to read "Losing Reality"; if you haven't read that book, I'd suggest reading the chapter in "Losing Reality" excerpted from "Thought Control" plus the material on Aum Shinrikyo and Trump.This book (a collection of old material interspersed with new) was a bit of a disappointment. Lifton is most famous for his early book, "Thought Control and the Psychology of Totalism," a study of Chinese Communist "re-education" methods, and…
The IrishmanThe Irishman, DVD
DVD - 2020 | Director approved two-DVD special edition
chazbufe's rating:
4 out of 5 stars
Added Oct 13, 2020
Das bootDas boot, DVD
DVD - 2014 | Director's cut | German
chazbufe's rating:
5 out of 5 stars
Added Oct 13, 2020
chazbufe's rating:
2.5 out of 5 stars
Added Oct 13, 2020
Mr. JonesMr. Jones, DVD
DVD - 2020
chazbufe's rating:
3 out of 5 stars
Added Oct 7, 2020
The Space Between WorldsThe Space Between Worlds, Book
by Johnson, MicaiahBook - 2020 | First edition
chazbufe's rating:
2 out of 5 stars
Added Oct 2, 2020
chazbufe's rating:
1 out of 5 stars
Added Sep 16, 2020
Comment:
The title is misleading -- at least judging from the first 40 or 45 minutes, which is all I watched. It's in no way a history or even a story, and the only organization seems to be loose categories, such as "aliens." It all but ignores written sci-fi and instead concentrates on (mostly) crappy blockbusters, with its contents consisting almost entirely of uninsightful comments about those flicks mixed with clips from them. Simply awful -- an utter waste of time.The title is misleading -- at least judging from the first 40 or 45 minutes, which is all I watched. It's in no way a history or even a story, and the only organization seems to be loose categories, such as "aliens." It all but ignores written…
chazbufe's rating:
1.5 out of 5 stars
Added Sep 16, 2020
Comment:
I was in the mood for mindless, distracting, bedtime-reading trash, and Rollins certainly delivered: "Sandstorm" is great, as in a great sleep aid.
A Canticle for LeibowitzA Canticle for Leibowitz, Paperback
by Miller, Walter M.Paperback - 2007 | Bantam mass market pbk. ed.
chazbufe's rating:
1 out of 5 stars
Added Aug 16, 2020
Comment:
Vastly overrated. While some of the episodes are entertaining, there's not much of a plot. It's an ode to a carefully sanitized version of the Catholic Church, and will appeal to those who are unfamiliar with the Church's actual history during the Middle Ages.Vastly overrated. While some of the episodes are entertaining, there's not much of a plot. It's an ode to a carefully sanitized version of the Catholic Church, and will appeal to those who are unfamiliar with the Church's actual history during the…
UnholyUnholy, BookWhy White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump
by Posner, SarahBook - 2020 | First edition
chazbufe's rating:
4.5 out of 5 stars
Added Aug 10, 2020
chazbufe's rating:
3 out of 5 stars
Added Aug 8, 2020
chazbufe's rating:
2.5 out of 5 stars
Added Jul 27, 2020
Comment:
A well written quest tale with an inventive background. Unfortunately, the conclusion is very anticlimactic.
IdiocracyIdiocracy, DVD
DVD - 2007
chazbufe's rating:
3 out of 5 stars
Added Jul 19, 2020
Terminator: Dark FateTerminator: Dark Fate, DVD
DVD - 2020 | Widescreen ed
chazbufe's rating:
1 out of 5 stars
Added Jul 19, 2020
Comment:
Just godawful. Same old endlessly recycled crap from the other Terminator films, and it's far too long. Even the interminable, cartoonish ultraviolence is boring.
This is close to being a direct, but vastly inferior, ripoff of T2. Linda Hamilton is awful; the only good thing about this terrible flick is that it was nice to see Schwarzenegger reprising his signature role, and that he gets off one or two funny one-liners. Beyond that, watching paint dry would be more entertaining.Just godawful. Same old endlessly recycled crap from the other Terminator films, and it's far too long. Even the interminable, cartoonish ultraviolence is boring.
This is close to being a direct, but vastly inferior, ripoff of T2. Linda Hamilton…
The LighthouseThe Lighthouse, DVD
DVD - 2020
chazbufe's rating:
2 out of 5 stars
Added Jul 19, 2020
Comment: