Counterpoint: After reading The Three Body Problem I had no desire to continue with the next two books. Despite the inventive premise, I found it condescending in tone, heavy handed in message, and unimaginative in execution.

Quite.

Going back an episode, The Battle of Winterfell was a perfect example of why you don’t let amateurs handle battle tactics. If the enemy is coming at you and you have a perfectly good fortification with both protection and height advantage, why are you putting your troops outside it? And outside the moat you dug,…

Good point. Even large flying objects like airliners are very hard to spot in the sky from any distance, unless there’s a contrail.

There are several guides to “essential DS9".

smörgåsbord

It’s a pretty quick read. Only about 250 pages. And not at all weird like Dhalgren. The narrative is non-sequential but not in an unclear way. More like flashbacks than timey-wimey stuff. In any case, the location and time period for each section is clearly stated at the start of that section.

The cryptic trailer for Midsommar suggests a kind of Wicker Man-style vacation from hell, as a couple traveling in Sweden encounters a pagan festival in a small town.

I’ve read a few McDevitt’s but I find him very dull. I can never bring myself to care about the characters or the story. The blurb always sounds interesting but then you’re stuck on a starship with characters setting up amateur theater pieces that have no connection to the plot, even thematically.

Seconded. Really hit me out of left field.

I remember reading Nova as a teenager. I started in the early evening and stayed up until about two in the morning. Finished it the next day. Still one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Priceless episode. Some of the smoking scenes made me laugh so hard I cried.

They’re just petite and thin. Not really uncommon among athletes, acrobats, stunt doubles.

I can only speak for myself but I have a job I enjoy going to. And I know that if I did not have that job I’d just sit at home and be unhappy.

I also noticed a couple of Star Wars references.

After some time living in the East Asia, hearing that 88 is verboten seems quite weird to me. In Chinese culture, the number 8 is lucky and double numbers are lucky. So 88 is very lucky.

Parking lot... That brings back memories. I don’t miss living in the states and having to drive everywhere... I just walk to the metro in a covered passage. ;)

It wasn’t that bad, though admittedly I only had one small drink during the movie and I had managed my hydraulics carefully in the hours prior.