Tidbits

1. Rose, over at Refracted Light, has reviewed Jay Lake's Mainspring. She objects to the crazy monkey sex section (take that, search engines!), which did strike me as one of the weaker parts of the book, because it was somewhat gratuitous. And yes, you should take "monkey" literally - there is an intelligent apewoman involved. It reminded me of the interspecies stuff in one of the Ringworld books.

2. I finally got around to watching Sunshine. I didn't like it as much as Gabriel did. It had many striking visual moments, some interesting ideas, and I generally liked the actors.* But it couldn't seem to make up its mind: should it be a thoughtful, innovative sf film, with an indie vibe? You know, something off the beaten track. Or should it aim to be the stereotypical, nonsensical Hollywood blockbuster action movie featuring the painfully hackneyed villain who just won't die? The first half chose the first option, but the second half devolved into a clash between the indie vibe and the blockbuster. The blockbuster kept winning out until finally I reached the heckling, eye-rolling stage. I wished the sun would die, just so the movie would be over. But check out the well-written SF Gospel review, which points out some of the intriguing aspects of the film.

*Nice to see some real ethnic diversity, including the psychologist played by Cliff Curtis. Though (as usual) the white characters survived longer than the non-white ones. Sigh. It's like non-white characters are redshirts.