Thursday, November 21, 2013

Tau Zero book review!



Finally I got around to read this classic Science Fiction book.

And I wasn't disappointed.

What a ride- what a story- what an ending!

This really blew my mind.

The author Poul Anderson had some balls to pull off the ending that he did.

The story is bloody incredible with undertones of one of my all time favorite TV shows- Stargate Universe.

Recuperating from a long Nuclear War humanity has started to send ships to nearby stars, to explore and colonize.

One such ship with 25 men and 25 women on-board are sent on a trip to seek out a planetary system 32 light years away. Using a Bussard drive that harnesses the hydrogen between the stars to power the ship's constant acceleration. However a run-in with an unexpected obstacle mid-flight disables the ship's deceleration systems. Unable to slow down, the ship is forced to keep accelerating till it reaches billionths of a fraction under tau zero- light speed.

Time dilation effects cause billions of years to pass in the universe while within the passengers experience only minutes. Totally helpless they keep speeding towards the unknown, with no hope of ever returning.

This is definitely up there with the best SF I have ever read.

True Masterpiece.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

iPhone 5s noBS review!

Watch my hands-on review of Apple's latest and greatest.


Sunday, November 10, 2013

Man of Steel review

So here's my review of the new Superman movie. After considerable thought and meditation I have arrived at these views.

Its just crap.

Lets start with the actor. He's nice. Physically right, but somehow he doesn't have the acting ability or the character to pull of Clarke Kent or Superman IMO. He's just riding on his looks and doesn't have the ability to back it up with acting ability.

Lets check out the story.

They have done a few things right to improve things. Got rid of the stupid Lex Luthor villain and concentrated on the Genereal Zan or whatever. They have got rid of the stupid underpants on the outside costume. They have got rid of the soppy Lois Lane flythrough the skyscrapers bit- that fit perfectly with the original 70's version but would look retarded now. The all star cast does some good as well. Escpecially Laurence Fishburne.

I hate how how the story jumps back and forth between timelines- its jarring and doesn't fit the whole epicness of a SUperman movie. I hate how it doesn't have any epic save scenes like in the orginals or the 2006 reboot- such as saving the space shuttle prototype and the jumbo jet (only thing good about the 2006 movie)- whatever scenes they do have are pathetic and doesn't stick in mind or feel epic.

I hate the excessive obvious CGI. And the redundant scenes of city/building destruction that is required these days after The Avengers/Transformers movies (which did those far, far better).

I hate the overlong, totally stupid CGI battles on Krypton at the beginning, feels like the producers trying to justify Russel Crowe and his earlier Gladiator role, while trying to mimic Avatar.

And I hate the stupid CGI metalic displays of Krypton. Just cause you can do it doesn't mean you should. Reeks of CGI and utter stupidity. Like the producers were determined to be different and settled on something utterly stupid.

And Lois Lane is totally forgettable, probably due to the retarded casting and terrible acting.

So yeah, there's not a single moment in this movie which sticks in my mind in a 'Ooo, now there's something you don't see everyday' kinda way.

Which is very very sad indeed.