I recently received some photographs from 1997. They'd been sitting in my father's files for 24 years. This takes me back... Although I received my Ph.D. in particle physics in 1996, I didn't formally graduate from Columbia University until 1997. For the occasion, my mother Beatrice and her husband Bob flew from California to attend the ceremony.…
I started reading the Wheel of Time series about 30 years ago. I don't remember much about the plot. When I got to the third book, I felt that the author was spinning his wheels and didn't know how to finish a story. By the time I finished the fourth book, I thought, "Well, at least I'm…
A mini-review: The Matrix Resurrections assumes that you are familiar with all the previous Matrix movies. If you haven't seen them, this movie will be meaningless to you. The movie is filled with call-backs, flash-backs, and fan service. This is absolutely deliberate on the part of the director, Lana Wachowski, because... This is the most meta and…
In 2012, I lost a ring that meant a lot to me. I spent most of the following year learning enough about 3D software and 3D printing to recreate the ring from photographs. I decided to use those newly-acquired skills to open a shop on Shapeways, which at the time was the premier 3D-printing service for people…
The TL;DR version: After playing one of the best console video games I've ever played, unfortunately I followed it up with one of the worst. In writing about Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, I feel I must make comparisons to an earlier game based on the characters: Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Game. To spare you…
The TL;DR version of this review: Ghost of Tsushima is now my second-favorite video console game, after Horizon: Zero Dawn. The (fictional) island of Tsushima is part of the shogunate of Japan. The Mongols have invaded, led by Khotun Khan. At the start of the game, an army of samurai is defeated by Khotun. You are Jin…
I reviewed the original Life is Strange three years ago. Since then, there are been a few more games released in the series, but I gave them a pass. While I like the original game, I didn't feel a need to explore any sequels or offshoots. I became interested in Life is Strange: True Colors when (a)…
This post consists of scattered thoughts by a fanboy on a media property from his youth. There are many who feel that any discussion of a non-Star-Trek SF TV series from the 1960s is a waste of time. Indeed, there are many who feel that any discussion of a Star-Trek SF TV series from the 1960s is…
Yesterday, after sitting through 1.5 days of physics talks, a thought occurred to me: Why not take a walk outside? I had to go outside anyway. I had some garbage to throw away and some recyclables to put into the appropriate bins. I don't go outside much these pandemic-ridden days. Why not take a half-hour walk? The…
To put my review of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla in context, I'm going back to the distant days of 2007, when we were all so young and innocent (or at least unindicted). I played the first two games in the Assassin's Creed series. The overall framework of the game hasn't changed in the past 14 years: You play…