Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff

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One thing you can say about Matt Ruff is that his book are interesting and different. And Bad Monkeys is not an exception. The title is based off a South Parkepisode and is broken in a slightly different way than Sewer, Gas & Electric (my review). In that book, the plot goes completely off the rails near the end of the book. In this story, Ruff tries to throw in too much plot near the end. It goes from a (fairly) straight forward story with a whiff of confusion to a double/triple/quadruple switch where it’s not clear which of the many fronts is the correct one. But, it is a fun ride to get there. So, let’s see what the ride is all about.

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Embassytown by China Miéville

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After I finished reading (and somewhat enjoyed) The City & The City (my review), I thought I’d try another China Miéville book. So I picked Embassytown. I pretty much gave up after 100 pages. I had no idea what was going on and I didn’t really care. I know China Miéville is not to everyone’s taste, but he’s rapidly becoming an author that I’m not willing to attempt anymore. It’s just so far out of my wheelhouse that I don’t want to spend my time reading it. I have other books that I will have a better chance of enjoying.

The Guild Season 5

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The Guild announced the premiere of their new season:

Season five of The Guild will return to Xbox LIVE on the Zune video Marketplace and MSN Video on Tuesday, July 26, sponsored by Microsoft and Sprint. Picking up where season four left off, season five takes the Guild members out from behind their computers and throws them into the real world like the show has never seen before, with new locations, guest stars, celebrity cameos and more!

 Two more weeks and we’ll have some more Guild!!

Flashback by Dan Simmons

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Dan Simmons last few books (including Drood (my review), Black Hills and The Terror) were all focused on the past with Simmons spending quite a bit of time writing about the 1800s. So it’s a great pleasure to see Simmons coming back to the future with his new book Flashback. This book seems to be very inspired by Philip K Dick(especially The Man in the High Castle and A Scanner Darkly). The book is a mystery set in a science fiction setting (which is one of my favorite genres), so I probably enjoyed the book more than it deserved. I do feel the need (since I’ve seen complaints of this on other sites) that the book has overt political themes, mainly from a conservative POV, which some readers have found objectionable. If that is going to bother you, then don’t worry about reading the book. For the rest, let’s see what Flashback is about.

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Alphas TV show review

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Every year, the networks roll out some new superhero shows to see if they can catch fire like Heroes season 1 did. This past season we had No Ordinary Family and The Cape. Both had promise and both severely underwhelmed critically and with audiences. As Smallville rounds to a close, we are left with no superhero shows on TV. Into this void comes Syfy’s Alphas. So, let’s take a look at the show and see if it’s worthwhile.

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Torchwood: Miracle Day review

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Last year was my first year watching Dr. Who. Along with not having watched the Doctor previously, I also missed out on Torchwood. I had heard good things on the mini-series, Children of Earth, so when I saw that Starz was showing the new season, I decided to start watching. The good news is that it is easy to pick up even for a new viewer such as myself. And with the pilot of the new 10 episode season airing this past Friday, I finally got a chance to see what’s going on. Read on for more about Torchwood: Miracle Day.

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New Milk & Cheese book

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Evan Dorkin just announced great news:

MILK AND CHEESE: DAIRY PRODUCTS GONE BAD HC
On sale Dec 21
B&W/FC, 240 pages
$19.99
HC, 7″ x 10″
A carton of hate. A wedge of spite. A comic book of idiotic genius. The Eisner Award-winning dairy duo returns in this deluxe hardcover collecting every single stupid Milk and Cheese comic ever made from 1989 to 2010, along with a sh*t-ton of supplemental awesomeness. This has everything you need! Don’t judge it—love it! Or else!

 I have the original TPB: Fun With Milk & Cheese, but this is mighty, mighty tempting.

Lego Star Wars Cartoon

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With the success of the Lego Star Wars video games, not to mention the actual Legos, it was only a matter of time before they moved it to a cartoon:

Though The Clone Wars animated series has obviously garnered a big audience of Star Wars fans on Cartoon Network, the series just might be a bit too intense for some of the younger viewers who still want to journey into a galaxy far, far away. Therefore, children and parents alike might be happy to hear about Lucasfilm’s announcement of a new 30-minute animated special called LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace which will air on Cartoon Network on Friday, July 22nd at 7/6c.

Encylopedia of Science Fiction goes online…and free

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Great news:

The third edition of the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, the definitive reference work in the field, will be released online later this year by the newly-formed ESF, Ltd, in association with Victor Gollancz, the SF & Fantasy imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, whose support will enable the text to be available free to all users. This initial “beta” version, containing about three-quarters of the total projected content, will be unveiled in conjunction with Gollancz’s celebrations of its 50th anniversary as a science fiction publisher.

h/t IO9.com

New Ghibli movie in 2012

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The new Studio Ghibli movie Arriety (shortened from The Borrower Arriety) will be released in the US in February 2012. The movie is written by Miyazaki, but not directed by him:

The voice cast for the dubbing will include Bridgit Mendler, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, David Henrie and Carol Burnett (Mendler and Henrie both poached from Disney’s own Wizards of Waverly Place).

 I urge everyone to go see this movie in the theater. Not just because it’s promising to be a great flick, but because it could be the end of Studio Ghibli:

This from founder Hayao Miyazaki himself, who says that if the adaptation of Mary Norton’s Borrowers series of children’s fantasy novels doesn’t do well at box offices in the West, Ghibli could close up shop as a production studio and live on with a skeleton crew as a mere copyright management company. The film opened in Japan this past July.