July 2010

What Dan Brown symbolizes to me

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It's easy to make fun of Dan Brown.

Literary types -- and I do sometimes fancy myself something of a literary type -- can look down their noses at his overwrought sentences, his dissertationesque dialogue, his conspiracy-theory plots. And, of course, his popularity. Anyone who makes that much money from his books can't be a real writer, can he?... »Read more »

The Summer of the Dumb Movie? Or is that every summer?

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Ah, summer. Time for tee ball, fresh blueberries, sandals, kids at camp, slip-n-slides killing the grass in your lawn, reading thick novels you might be embarrassed about in the winter, and of course a multiplex full of popcorny blockbustery big-budgety cinematicy offerings. A little while back, while the fam was out of town, I had the chance to take in a quartet of action (or at least action-ish) flicks.

My overwhelming reaction to these four Hollywood gems? Meh. Shrug. Like, whatever, mostly.

At any rate, I'm finally getting around to posting the reviews. Read on!... »Read more »