Dan's Excellent Capsule Reviews

Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, a trilogy of novels by Tad Williams, including The Dragonbone Chair, The Stone of Farewell, and To Green Angel Tower.

Good old-fashioned storytelling, with hidden motivations, noble knights, mysterious princesses, cryptic clues, and good-natured trolls. A highly-enjoyable read. If I had been smart enough to limit myself to a chapter a day, I would have been easily able to fill the void in my life that I will have until Bablyon 5 starts up again in October.

Die Hard with a Vengeance

The villains weren't as cool as Die Hard I, the movie didn't look as good as Die Hard II, and the plot relied too heavily on coincidence and happenstance. Nice effects, but 84 Charlie Mopic did much much more with much much less.
[Fri May 26 19:35:02 1995]

Blue Belle, a novel by Andrew Vachss.

Gritty. Seamy. Squalid. For those that like that sort of thing, this is the sort of thing that they like. Third in a series after Strega and Flood.
[Fri May 26 19:35:02 1995]

The Rolling Thunder series of books by Mark Berent.

No great shakes as far as characterization or plot, but the chapters on combat flying over Vietnam are gripping. It's also interesting to see his widely differing viewpoints of Johnson (who he hates for getting lots of his friends killed with the on-again off-again hands-tying of the early Rolling Thunder days of the war) and Nixon (who he likes for allowing the Son Tay raid and for invading Cambodia).

He seems to think that the Soviets interrogated our Wild Weasel pilots, as does Clancy in Without Remorse.
[Fri May 26 19:35:02 1995]

Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy.

The scope of this one is a bit big for Clancy, and he doesn't really pull it off as well has he has done in the past. I think The Sum of All Fears is a much better book; this one and Without Remorse are starting to show Clancy's limits.

Edge Cities, a book by Washington Post reporter Joel Garreau.

Excellent, and what's more, important. Some people will probably criticize him for being too in favor of the general trends discussed in this book (``breathless boosterism'' might be more accurate), but his description of the laws of human behavior as discovered by real-estate developers is hilarious and uncomfortably telling.

Disclosure, a novel by Michael Crichton.

Barely satisfying. I was way ahead of the plot; I figured there was a tape of the incident right away when he dropped the phone (though I guessed wrong as to who had the tape); I figured out who tipped off the newspaper; I figured out who was trying to reach Sanders on his answering machine before the guy actually said his name. Not a really deep book.

Aaarrrr! Pirate Legos for Sale!, a subject line seen on rec.toys.lego.

It became my favorite random exclamation.

Prozac Nation, a memoir by Elizabeth Wurtzel.

My friend Heather's sister Kate (the friend who owns the dog that eats leather hotdog treats) actually snarfed this book and started reading it. This is very significant because Kate doesn't normally read anything that's not a school assignment. Heather likes the line, I feel like a machine that came out of the factory flat-out fucked. Indeed, this became her anthem for a while. I haven't ben able to read this yet.
[Mon Jan 9 16:43:49 1995]

Pizzeria Uno

A decent place to go if you're already tired of Friday's, Bennigan's, Chi-Chi's and the rest of the Maple Strip. Part of the chain.
[Thu Dec 15 16:21:45 1994]

you have too much free time

A mail message and assorted harassment from desterly@mail.vt.edu. Weak premise; even weaker spelling.

How To Live With Deer

A booklet mailed by the Town of Amherst to all town residents. Goofy title; nice map. John and I want to scan this one. GIF! GIF!

From One To Zero

A book about the development of systems of numeration. An excellent read; a fascinating excursion through history, anthropology, and mathematics.

The Young Americans

Low-budget British thriller, starring Harvey Keitel (of all people). Attractive visuals, weak plot. See it if you like Harvey Keitel.

Harvey Keitel

Actor; notable roles in Taxi Driver, Reservoir Dogs, The Piano, and Pulp Fiction. Sometimes he's wasted, in roles like Victor the Cleaner in Point of No Return, but otherwise he has a smouldering intensity that keeps me watching.

Bad Lieutenant

Probably the world's most squalid movie, starring Harvey Keitel as the LT himself. I'm not sure why this movie got made.

No Escape

Big-budget action thriller with Ray Liotta, Lance Henriksen. Lord of the Flies meets Escape from New York meets The Road Warrior. Utterly forgettable.

Innumeracy

A book about how lack of mathematical knowledge will let people be swindled by the unscrupulous and trolled by the sneaky. A bit shrill after a while, but mostly entertaining.

Paintball Unlimited

A paintball place out on Military Road in Tonawanda. Most stompin' good time I've had in a long time; it was well worth the welts and aches and pains. Paintball is an expensive sport; $10.00 admission and you can easily blow another $30 on paint pellets in an afternoon. I suppose a more experienced player shoots less and hits more, though.

The Macaroni Company

A restaurant at the corner of Maple Road and Millersport Highway. John and I went there one time during my first year here at UB and were offered more soda -- and then we discovered that they were charging us $1.20 a glass! No free refills! We never went there again. Two years later, the place is closing. REVENGE IS SWEET!

Freezies

Syrupy Kool-Aid in a blister-pak. You freeze them. Much fun.