Ponderings of science, philosophy, history, society, and many other topics
My anime binge has expanded somewhat into a manga binge. A while back, I posted about the movie Alita: Battle Angel. I enjoyed it a great deal and was intrigued by the world that was presented, of a bifurcated society, with an elite living in the floating city of Zalem, and a hardscrabble lower class … Continue reading Battle Angel Alita
Yes, more anime. (For those concerned: no, I'm not turning this into an anime blog. Real life has been stressful lately, which hasn't left much mental energy for intellectual exploration. Rather than go completely dark, you're getting commentary on where my spare time is being spent. But I am slowly making my way through a … Continue reading Aldnoah.zero
The anime binge continues. The latest has been portions of the Gundam franchise. I was a little reluctant to even approach this collection, first because it's vast and it's not at all clear where the best place to start might be, and second because it looks like one of those superhero / toy adaptation series. … Continue reading Mobile Suit Gundam
My anime binge continues. I just recently finished the second season of Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These. The second part of the title means "The New Thesis". This series is a remake of an older anime series which itself was an adaptation of a series of novels and short stories by Yoshiki … Continue reading Legend of the Galactic Heroes: The New Thesis
I've been on something of an anime binge lately. When I was a kid, I enjoyed anime, but as an adult, for some reason, it ceased being appealing. I'm not sure why, but I developed an aversion to it. I made a few attempts over the years to power past the aversion, but with limited … Continue reading Catching up on anime
Last night I finished reading Ada Hoffmann's The Outside, a pretty strange but interesting space opera. In the far future, humanity is ruled by AI gods. Humans invented the gods, although there are hints it was more complicated than that, like maybe there was a singularity event or process of some kind. The gods now … Continue reading The Outside
I just finished watching the first three episodes of the new HBO Max series: Raised by Wolves. Lamentably, HBO made this difficult since they've been in a dispute with Roku, my preferred steaming platform, on getting an app into their environment. I had to watch it on as ASUS Chromebook mini I keep connected to … Continue reading Raised by Wolves
The Human is the third and final book in Neal Asher's most recent series, The Rise of the Jain, which I've discussed before. The series takes place in Asher's Polity universe, one where humans have expanded into an interstellar community ruled by AIs, and have interactions with numerous alien species. It's also a universe where … Continue reading The Human
I noticed today that it had been released for streaming, so I went ahead and watched. (I missed it in the theaters.) Based on everything that had been said about it, it was better than I expected. It was entertaining and Abrams managed to get the emotional high points right. It felt like a decent … Continue reading Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
I just finished reading J. T. Nicholas' Re-coil, a space opera novel. It takes place in the solar system, so it's not an interstellar story, although there are hints the series might go there eventually. It involves a future where everyone's mind can be backed up and instantiated in a new body if they die. … Continue reading Re-coil
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