The Invention of Lying movie review

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The Invention of Lying is a movie that I missed in the theaters (and on DVD), so I caught it on HBO this weekend. If you’re wondering why it’s reviewed here, it’s a movie which was set on a different world (that is much like ours, with minor changes to people). I enjoyed Ricky Gervais’s series (The Office and Extras) and thought that Ghost Town was under-rated. So how was the movie?

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Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds

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Terminal World is the new book by Alastair Reynolds. I’ve been a huge fan of Reynolds since I picked up Revelation Space at a used book store a few years ago. It was the first of several book in the same universe that are not directly linked together. He’s also written a few books outside that universe, including this one. My favorite Reynold’s book is Century Rain, which ties together a science fiction mystery with a noir mystery book. So, it was with great joy that I picked up his latest book. Unfortunately I put it down early disappointed and I don’t really know why.

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American Splendor movie review

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The American Splendor movie is a mix of biography and documentary. It shows Harvey Pekar the real person, Paul Giamatti the actor playing Harvey and cartoon drawings of Harvey to show the life of Harvey Pekar. It’s a great introduction to people who’ve never read American Splendor and an entertaining film for people who have read it. It won a well deserved award at the Sundance Film Festival.

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The Quitter by Harvey Pekar

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The Quitter by Harvey Pekar is probably as close to an autobiography as we have for Harvey Pekar. That’s kind of strange to say about a person who made their name writing a autobiographical comic book featuring stories from his life, but The Quitter lays out his early life for all to see in typical Pekar fashion. It’s American Splendor in a novel length story and it’s wonderful.

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Our Cancer Year by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner

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Our Cancer Year by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner is a novel length slice of life book that Harvey Pekar is famous for. This revolves around the year that Harvey had cancer (NOTE: He did have another flare up after he retired that wasn’t as bad as this one). Spoiler: He survived. At the same time as Harvey’s cancer was the first Gulf War and Joyce (a peace activist) was working with teenage peace activists from around the world. So how was cancer?

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American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar

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American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar is a good starting point for anyone who’s interested in what Harvey Pekar did. Many people have seen that Harvey Pekar died this weekend, but might not be familiar with his work. A really good way to find out who Harvey Pekar really was is to watch the American Splendor Movie. This book was released around the same time as this movie to capture the momentum, which is why it has the movie cover. But who is Harvey Pekar.

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RIP Harvey Pekar

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 American Splendor author Harvey Pekar died yesterday. Pekar was best known for his slice of life stories that he self published with a variety of artists including Robert Crumb. His book was made into a play and a movie, which starred Paul Giamatti as Pekar. He was such a Cleveland institution that when Anthony Bourdain brought his show to Cleveland, he had Pekar guide him around the city. He will be missed dearly by all and our sympathies to his wife Joyce and their daughter Danielle.

Despicable Me Review

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Despicable Me is the new 3-D animated movie by Universal Studios and the first animated feature by Illumination Entertainment (headed by Chris Meledandri, former big wig on the Ice Age movies). The previews have pretty much given everything away and the movie was converted to 3-D because every movie nowadays is converted to 3-D. But was it any good?

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Jaka’s Story by Dave Sim

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Jaka’s Story by Dave Sim is my favorite Cerebus storyline. The multiple storylines are at once depressing, yet full of life and hope in a unforgiving climate. Previously Jaka has been a talisman of hope for Cerebus. He would see her or call for her when he was at his most desperate. And the timing was never right. So, after the events of Church and State, Cerebus saw all that he had worked for was destroyed, so he once again went to Jaka. And this is that story.

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