2026年6月14日 星期日

"The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus" by Emma Knight (2025)


"A large part of her wished she could stop caring about whatever it was that had come between her dad and Lennox.  Why this fixation on a past that wasn't even hers?  But she knew why.  She could see how easy it would be to relive her parents' lives without quite choosing to, the way a toboggan finds its way into the pre-compressed path of whoever went before.  She wanted to better understand the route they had taken, so she didn't fall into it by mistake."

Emma Knight is a Canadian author with only this novel to her credit.  Before turning to the writing of fiction she was a journalist and co-writer of cookbooks.  There's talk of The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus being adapted into a television series by MGM Television, but that series is far from being realized at the time of writing.

In the book Pen (short of "Penelope") ventures to Scotland to study abroad.  After doing so she forges a relationship with the Lennox family, a group of erstwhile aristocrats living in a restored castle.  She is immediately attracted to the Lennox's young son, Sasha, but her and Sasha's feelings for one another are undermined by both Pen's father's past dealings with the Lennoxes and family secrets on both sides.

What's a young, sexually inexperienced Canadian girl to do?  Well, if you've read as many of these "chick lit"-type books as I have, you'll know that yes, Pen and Sasha eventually hook up, and yes, all of the family secrets are brought to light in the concluding chapters of this novel.

Just don't ask me what the octopus present in the title is supposed to symbolize.  I'm still not entirely sure.  The Margot character attempts to explain that during her and Pen's outing at the aquarium, but it seems a feeble metaphor, and one not entirely connected to the narrative.

The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus is a clumsily written book by a first time author.  As such I'd give it a passing grade, but only passing.  It resembles any number of similar books now on the market, and the author needs to either increase her output or start taking serious chances if she wants to avoid drowning in a sea of literary mediocrity.

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2026年6月7日 星期日

(Japanese) Spider-Man (1978-1979) 2


"Spider Strings!"

"Spider Machine GP7!"

"Marveller!"

"Change Leopardon!"

Yes, it's time for another round of the Japanese Spider-man TV show, my lowkey sexual obsession with "Amazoness" continuing unabated.

This entry brings me up to 28 episodes out of 41.  That's all I could find on YouTube.  I'd love to watch the remaining 13 episodes, but alas, I couldn't find them online.  

(I even tried searching by スパイダーマン! )



Spider-man helps a boy with a heart condition.  Not much happens in this episode, even if Spider-man FINALLY figures out Amazoness' secret identity as the editor of his girlfriend's newspaper.



Professor Monster and his Iron Cross Army try to blow up a dam AND flood the city of Tokyo with gas that they plan on igniting afterward.  The Iron Cross Army be gangsta like that.

And that's one tough dog.  Not only does it walk off two bullets, but it later falls off the side of a damn and fights off several henchmen.

Not sure what the boy was doing in the mountains in the first place.  Maybe looking for his dad?  But how would he know where his dad was?



A pro wrestler wants to become "the strongest one there is," and ends up getting turned into a "machine bem" that resembles the Thing.



Spider-man helps a boy bullied by classmates while the Iron Cross Army, for inexplicable reasons, commits a series of extremely low level crimes across the Tokyo area.  Can't help but feel sorry for the mom accused of stealing 5 million yen.  That was a low blow, Amazoness, even for you!

And how many boys had fathers killed in car accidents in late 70s Japan?  Judging by this show it was A LOT.



Definitely one of the weirder ones.  I'd put this alongside the cat demon episode.  Spider-man meets an alien boy with mind powers who takes him to a secret village in the mountains where the locals (who can all fly) are planning to sacrifice the boy's sister to a monster in a lake.  Amazoness gets a new outfit in this one, and I'm not a fan of the new look.  Maybe they thought she was too drab in earlier episodes?



Funny how you bad guys keep running into Takuya, isn't it?  It's almost as if he's... Spider-man?

In this one the Iron Cross Army kidnaps a girl (so much kidnapping!) who might have the power of precognition. 



This is one of the more random ones.  An Interpol guy gets caught spying on the Iron Cross Army, and Spider-man helps him escape their clutches.  But why not carry the guy once he's injured?  Isn't Spider-man strong enough?  And why bother to commandeer the helicopter if they weren't going to escape in it?  And why not take the guy directly to the hospital, so he could see his son another day?



One of Professor Monster's more skeletal henchmen goes around stealing people's blood for his boss.  In the midst of that Spider-man rescues a blind little girl.  Can you guess who the little girl's father is?



Watch your back, Takuya, some dude's buying your girlfriend presents behind your back!

Shortly thereafter Takuya stumbles upon - I kid you not - a private club where people gamble on rabbit races, chick races and spider fights.  Go figure.  Was that really a thing in Japan at the time?  I kind of doubt it.

It should be noted that at this point in the series Spider-man not only has a spider sense but also X-ray vision and the completely inexplicable ability to know when someone's trying to contact him.  By this point his powers are pretty much all over the place.

And naturally the "sorceress" running the club turns out to be one of Professor Monster's Machine Bem.  She resembles a lower grade Mysterio.



Spider-man meets A BOY WHO THROWS COCKROACHES ON PEOPLE and who at one point PUTS A COCKROACH IN ANOTHER BOY'S MOUTH.  Yeah, if you enjoy that kind of weirdness this show is for you!

And as you'd expect the machine bem at the end is a cockroach.  Why wouldn't it be a cockroach?  Of course it's a cockroach!!



A former jewel thief is tortured to death by the Iron Cross Army, and they create clone (?) to trick the thief's son into divulging the location of a hidden gem.  But as you'd expect Spider-man shows up, and so much for the missing gem, the Iron Cross Army and their giant crab monster.

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2026年6月6日 星期六

Still More 00s Movies 4: 2007-2009

I'll be adding to this as I go along.  The movies below are ranked from "best" to "worst."


1. Vacancy (2007)

I'm pretty sure I'd seen this before.  Not 100% sure, but it did seem familiar.

Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson star as an estranged couple trapped in a motel room by psychopaths, with Frank Whaley doing a nice turn as the motel's manager.  It will probably remind you of a hundred other noir/suspense films but the script was watertight and the director clearly put a lot of thought into what he was doing.


2. Shrooms (2007)

Mushroom tourism?  Is that a thing?  And would Americans really journey all the way over to Ireland for that purpose?  I haven't done enough drugs to answer those questions.  Maaaaybe?

As you'd expect they venture into the Irish woods for their mushroom excursion.  And no, their trip is not a good one.

For the record I've ingested a hallucinogenic substance exactly one time, and I have absolutely no desire to repeat the experience.  What I felt and saw during that extremely unpleasant evening long ago I have no desire to ever feel or see again.


3. The House Bunny (2008)

I was prepared to hate this gender-flipped update of Revenge of the Nerds, but as it turns out it's very funny.  Anna Faris shows both great promise and great comedic timing in the lead role, and her costar Emma Stone was, in 2008, on the cusp of a storied career in film.

Fun Fact: Beverly D'Angelo is in this.


4. Hancock (2008)

I hadn't seen this since it first ran in theaters, and I'd have to say that it's improved a bit with age.  In 2008 most of us were measuring Hancock against films such as Batman Begins, The Dark Knight or even the first Iron Man, and Hancock definitely suffered by comparison.  This said, it's definitely not a bad film and it did try to do something new with the genre.

Fun Fact 1: Before Will Smith took on the lead role, Dave Chappelle was almost cast as Hancock.

Fun Fact 2: The original draft of the script was vastly different from the finished product.  It was a dark, harrowing account of a young boy helping an alcoholic (and suicidal) superhero.  Some of those who read it likened it to Leaving Las Vegas.


5. Fool's Gold (2008)

Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson trade on their collective sex appeal in this story of sunken treasure off the Florida coast.  Critics hated it, and it didn't make a great deal of money, but it passes by pleasantly enough.

I have to say, however, that the subplot involving Donald Sutherland and his (extremely attractive) daughter is far more interesting than the Spanish gold, McConaughey's faltering marriage, or whatever's going on with Kevin Hart and his goons.  Sutherland steals every scene he's in, and the actress playing his daughter is so hot she manages to make even Kate Hudson look average.


6. What Happens in Vegas (2008)

Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher get hitched after a night out on the town in Sin City.  It's dumb, it's borderline offensive, but it does muster up a few funny scenes and bits of dialogue.  Critics hated this one too, but it went on to make a lot of money regardless.

Fun Fact: Zach Galliafanakis is in this for a few minutes.  He'd appear in the first Hangover the following year.


7. Dead Mary (2007)

Lower budget Canadian film that's a cross between Evil Dead and The Thing.  The cinematography is better than the weak script and indecisive direction deserved.  The first half is promising, but the second half either fails to demonstrate its internal logic or the characters abandon this internal logic entirely.



Lance Henriksen cashes a modest check while the rest of the cast - to one extent or another - f&*ks around with spiders and finds out.  The CGI in this TV movie has not aged well.

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2026年6月1日 星期一

"A Memory Called Empire" by Arkady Martine (2019)


"'I appreciate the promptness with which Lsel answered my request,' Eight Loop said.  'It is admirable; that kind of cooperation will only help your people in the future.  I suggest you stick to it.'"

Arkady Martine is the pen name used by AnnaLinden Weller, a science fiction writer and academic specializing in the Byzantine Empire.  She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

A Memory Called Empire was Martine's first novel.  It was followed in 2021 by A Desolation Called Peace, a sequel to her first book.  Both books won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, with A Desolation Called Peace also winning the Locus Award in the same category.

A Memory Called Empire is a murder mystery set against a background of court intrigue and intergalactic conquest.  Its protagonist is Mahit, an ambassador sent to the heart of the Teixcalaan Empire to represent Lsel, the space station on the outskirts of this empire.  Residents of Lsel are in possession of a semi-secret "imago technology" which allows several personalities to inhabit the same body.

A Memory Called Empire reminded me of both Frank Herbert's Dune series and the recently reviewed Ninefox Gambit.  The parallels between the Dune novels (minus the messianism) and A Memory Called Empire will be obvious, but these parallels might simply be a function of the larger histories which underpin both books.  Dune and its many sequels were, in many ways, very Islamic books, while A Memory Called Empire invokes the glory of Byzantium (or Constantinople) at its height.

The resemblance to Ninefox Gambit relates to the two books' plots.  In both books a female protagonist carries a male personality around in her consciousness, and in both books the female protagonists are elevated to the highest circles of power, where they must fall upon their own resources and training to survive.  Where Ninefox Gambit is more focused on the military aspects of empire, A Memory Called Empire is more concerned with the political aspects.  Both books work, even if A Memory Called Empire is a decidedly less visceral affair, trained more on the vagaries of courtly life and ambitious individuals seeking royal favor.

Ninefox Gambit resonated with me a lot more.  A Memory Called Empire is an excellently written book by an author with an impressive command of words, but it's very slow in parts, and could have used more sex and violence to keep the reader invested.  As it is it's a little too cerebral for its own good.

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2026年5月13日 星期三

"Ninefox Gambit" by Yoon Ha Lee (2016)


"She had no idea how to respond to that, so she kept silent.  He was her superior.  He demonstrably knew how to break her.  And yet she was supposed to be able to judge him and kill him if necessary.  How did Kel Command expect a Kel to be able to deal with this?  The fact that he was always present, always watching her, only made it worse."

Ninefox Gambit is the first book in the Machineries of Empire trilogy.  After this trilogy Yoon Ha Lee would pivot to writing Young Adult fiction, a genre which has proven more financially lucrative for her/him/they.

I use the "her/him/they" above because Yoon Ha Lee is a trans man.  Wikipedia uses "he/his," but I'm not sure if the author would agree with how the personal and possessive pronouns ought to be used in his/her/their biography.  No, I'm not trying to get all "woke" here, but in the context of someone's life story these details do matter.

Besides, Yoon Ha Lee's status as a trans man is very relevant to the book under discussion, given that it involves a lesbian (or perhaps bisexual) character living with a bisexual male character "implanted" in her consciousness.  It's not hard to see questions of gender and sexuality explored in Ninefox Gambit, and it's easy to speculate on the author's own orientation with regard to his/her/their gender.

Other pertinent details from the author's biography are his/her/their experiences as a Korean immigrant (or near-immigrant) in the United States, his/her/their background in mathematics, and his/her/their presence at several Ivy League institutions.  All of these details play into the novel, and all of them make Ninefox Gambit feel both extremely autobiographical and extremely metaphorical at the same time.

In the novel Cheris, a psychologically conditioned soldier in the service of a galaxy-spanning empire, is promoted to the rank of brevet general and tasked with the recapture of a distant fortress held by a heretical organization.  As part of her promotion she is outfitted with the consciousness of Jedao, a disgraced general who's there to advise her.  The dynamic between Cheris and Jedao is very interesting, and the inner dialogues shared between the two characters add a lot of pathos to what would otherwise be a very, very dry novel dealing with military engagements and the human cost of war.

Most of this book would fall more under the heading of Speculative Fiction rather than Science Fiction.  Aside from glancing references to mathematical concepts, there's really no way to differentiate the technology in this book from magic, and in place of starships this novel could have easily taken place in a far away kingdom, where characters travel on horseback.

It's an excellent book, however.  In 2017 it won the Locus Award for Best First Novel, and yes, in comparison to most of the other first novels I've read this one is truly on another level.  I'll be sure to read the other two books in the trilogy if I happen upon them this summer.  I'm eager to see how Cheris proceeds against the Empire in those other two novels.

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2026年5月11日 星期一

Still More 00s Movies 3: 2005 - 2007

The movies below are ranked from "best" to "worst."


1. The Grudge 2 (2006)

I'm going out on a limb for this movie, but I think it's very underrated.  It's an American(ized) sequel to the Japanese original, but it retains the same director and tone as the first.  There are some great, spooky moments in it and I really liked how the plot collapses back into itself in the end.  Those more familiar with manga like Uzumaki might get more out of it than most of its intended (American) audience, but I really enjoyed it.


2. La Moustache (2005)

A Frenchman suffers from a bizarre type of retrograde (and anterograde) amnesia, he slips between timelines for no apparent reason, or none of the above.  Whatever this movie's really about, it's French surrealism at its best.

Fun Fact: The "friend at the dinner party," Mathieu Amalric, might seem familiar.  He played James Bond's adversary in Quantum of Solace.


3. Towelhead (2007)

A Lebanese-American girl experiences a sexual awakening in suburban Texas.  Like The Babysitters (below) I think this one deserves a reappraisal.  It deals in some very risky subject matter, and I applaud those involved for attempting it.

If you watch it be prepared - it gets AWKWARD.

Fun Fact: Mario Bello's in this one too!  She appears in The Dark, Flicka and this movie.


4. Proof (2005)

Searching account of a mathematician's daughter and her attempt to cope with grief.  Every now and then I'll see an (older) movie and think: "Gwyneth Paltrow was a pretty good actress," and this film is just another example.  She manages to hold her own against Anthony Hopkins in Proof, and while watching it I was again reminded that she'd probably have a more robust acting career if she wasn't so eccentric.

Surprisingly the weak link here is Jake Gyllenhaal, who isn't given enough to do.  Proof would have been better without his character and the attendant love story he represents.

Fun Fact: John Madden also directed Paltrow in the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love several years before.


5. The Babysitters (2007)

Hard to watch this in 2026 and not think about the Epstein Files.

Katherine Waterston, that near-Ripley from Alien: Covenant, stars as a high school student pimping out her female friends.  It resembles a gender-flipped Risky Business, but it works on its own terms and some of its scenes are very memorable.

Critics hated it, but I think it deserves a reappraisal.  It wasn't widely released and those damning scores on sites like Rotten Tomatoes only represent a handful of people.


6. The Dark (2005)

An old spooky house on the Welsh coast, a mother and daughter's strained relationship, and a vanished cult with suicidal tendencies.  There isn't a lot in The Dark that most horror fans won't have seen before (or recently, in movies like The Mummy), but there are a couple disturbing scenes and for this reason alone I recommend it.


7. Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006)

Extremely Canadian buddy cop movie set between Quebec and Ontario.  You might recognize Colm Feore from the thousand and one films he's appeared in as a character actor.  It covers very familiar territory, but there's a great chemistry between the leads and it never gets boring.

Fun Fact: This movie might be the highest-grossing domestic release in Canadian film history, but some claim that, adjusted for inflation, 1981's Porky's still holds that title.



Disney-produced film in which two bullied kids find release in a world of their own imagining.  Josh Hutcherson will be familiar to most moviegoers, and if his costar AnnaSophia Robb rings a bell it's probably because she also appeared in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as "Violet Beauregarde."


9. She's the Man (2006)

Yet another teen adaptation of Shakespeare, in this case the play in question being Twelfth Night.

Films like this require characters who are slow on the uptake, but it works well enough and there are some funny bits.  Amanda Bynes doesn't pull of "dude" so much as "obvious lesbian," but if you're willing to overlook that She's the Man is OK.

It's difficult, however, not to compare this movie to the much earlier Just One of the Guys.  Just One of the Guys wasn't, um... Shakespeare either, but I think it's a better film nonetheless.  "Where do you get off having tits?" is a funnier line than anything you'll see in She's the Man.


10. Memory (2006)

Billy Zane, that movie star that almost was, stars as a doctor who relives his parent's memories after coming into contact with a South American powder that's definitely not cocaine.  I have the feeling that the script was very good, but it was indifferently directed, with several tonal shifts that don't accommodate the story it's trying to tell.  In better hands this movie could have been a hit, but as it is it's a watchable film in which good ideas are squandered.

Fun Fact: Anne-Margret is in this.


11. Just My Luck (2006)

On par with She's the Man above.  Lindsay Lohan stars as a New York girl with good luck, with Chris Pine as a New York boy with bad luck.  OMG they kiss and their luck switches!  You may be able to anticipate the rest.



Cillian Murphy stars as a straitlaced video rental store owner with Lucy Liu as his quirky if manipulative love interest.  They should have cast Murphy's costar Jason Sudeikis in the lead, and as it is this movie goes nowhere fast.

Watching the Detectives went straight to DVD after a a screening at the Tribeca Film Festival.  It is in some ways an interesting failure, but a failure nonetheless.


13. Fun with Dick and Jane (2005)

Jim Carrey tones himself down too much while the rest of the cast desperately tries to make up the difference.  It's a remake of a much better 1977 movie about a husband and wife who turn to crime after losing their jobs.  I laughed maybe twice and kept checking the timer to see how much more of the film remained.


14. Man of the House (2005)

Texas ranger Tommy Lee Jones watches over a house full of cheerleaders for reasons that are never made clear.  The best thing I can say about this movie is that the black and Latina cheerleaders are hot.  I could see it going down better in Texas, but the rest of the country was probably wondering why they bothered.

Just about any gag or joke in this film will have been seen in some other, better film long before.

Fun Fact: One of the writers, Scott Lobdell, is the same Scott Lobdell who wrote all those X-Men comics in the 90s.


15. Peaceful Warrior (2006)

Chicken soup for the soul meets men's gymnastics.  Not sure why men's gymnastics is so particularly meaningful at the protagonist's university but whatever.  Once this movie advanced into astral projection and telepathy I had difficulty taking it seriously.

My dad was a big fan of Way of the Peaceful Warrior, the book that inspired this film.  I haven't read the book, but I have the feeling I'd have a hard time relating to it.


16. Flicka (2006)

If you're the kind of person who grew up (or who is growing up) in the kind of place where people consider cowboy boots, where people deal with livestock, and where people attend rodeos you might relate to this movie.  If you're not then you probably won't.

Maria Bello, who plays the mom in Flicka, also stars in The Dark above.

Fun Fact: This movie has a long, long history.  The film My Friend Flicka was released in 1943, and was based on a novel published in 1941.  The film spawned a TV show which ran from 1956-57.


17. Deepwater (2005)

Movies like this always prove to be the end of someone's career.  In this case it was the end of the line for director David S. Marfield, who doesn't even have his own Wikipedia page.

It was amusing to see the guy from Friday Night Lights and Tokyo Drift (Lucas Black) in another movie, but he struggles against his Alabama drawl and this attempt at film noir is way, way off the mark.  By the time the plot twist came around I couldn't have cared less.


18. I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (2006)

...and I've already forgotten what they did last summer, even though I just finished the movie.

"The Fisherman" strikes again.  I guess.  It's worth noting that the fourth installment in the series completely ignores this one.


19. The Sandlot 2 (2005)

A sequel to a movie I never liked.  Even so the original is much better than this aborted attempt to recap whatever "magic" the first one had.  James Earl Jones aside, the cast needed a few more acting classes before stepping in front of a camera.  Some of them perform so badly they take you right out of the movie.

For 1972 the soundtrack is a bit off.  "Taking Care of Business?"  Wasn't a hit until the following year.  That kid in the "Sweet" shirt?  Assuming it's a reference to (The) Sweet, they were nowhere near popular enough in the States to warrant a T-shirt at the time.

If you've got kids into baseball just show them The Benchwarmers instead.  It's way sillier, but satisfyingly so.


20. The Man (2005)

Anyone else remember that movie in which Sam Jackson and Eugene Levy starred together?  The one that somewhat resembled 48 Hrs.?  Anyone?  Anyone?

The Man is a trainwreck from start to finish - the single, solitary laugh being the scene where Levy farts in the car.  There are unfunny comedies, there are less than funny comedies, and then there's The Man, which Samuel L. Jackson probably wishes we could all forget.

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