Thursday, August 13, 2015

Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

Raising Hope, Season One:
This sitcom by the creator of My Name Is Earl tries to recapture the feel-good humour of the predecessor show, but never quite reaches its goal. The most entertaining part is watching Garret Dillahunt in a comedy role after years of being the villain (The 4400, Burn Notice), but there's ultimately not enough here for me to keep on watching the next season. Free on Netflix.

Final Grade: C+

Ex Machina (R):
This movie about artificial intelligence manages to be both compelling and suspenseful while also serving up some sound science and easy-to-follow technical explanations. It's sort of the same genre as Her but with more ominous overtones. It's fairly cerebral and talky, but I wasn't bored once in any of the extended conversations between the three main characters.

Final Grade: A

No Place in Heaven by Mika:
Mika's fourth album is slightly mellowed out, but has some strong hits and catchy pop devices. It continues to grow on me.

Final Grade: B+

Kindle Paperwhite:
I purchased the new and improved Kindle Paperwhite at the end of June to finally replace my second generation Kindle from 2010 (which did not support content sharing with Rebecca). It has a streamlined footprint, a noticeably smooth resolution, and a speedy interface. The touch screen makes it much easier to navigate, and the brightness settings are perfect for all ranges of ambient light. The official case is sold separately, but is sturdy and has the nice feature of turning off the Kindle when you close the case.

I took the Paperwhite on my European Vacation (reading Physics of the Future, Gone Girl, and Snow Crash), and it performed admirably with a battery life measured in weeks. I got the version with no ads (because I'm a yuppy with disposable income) and 3G (because it's really convenient to be able to buy a book from anywhere, even in Europe).

Final Grade: A

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