Epinions Recent Reviews for mantis

Babylon 5: Our Last, Best Hope for Intelligent SF TV

Fri, 1 Jun 2001 06:47:32 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - It was the dawn of the third age of mankind, ten years after the Earth-Minbari war.

I came late to Babylon 5 -- the show had run for four seasons before I watched more than a couple of episodes. The show had just moved from...

A Two-Bit Hitler Wannabe's Mein Kampf

Thu, 31 May 2001 06:31:04 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - More than a novel, The Turner Diaries is a work of unabashed advocacy. Specifically, it advocates the violent overthrow of American democracy and the cold-blooded murder of every man, woman, and child on Earth who does not belong to the "White...

Science Fiction Adventure and Romantic Role-Reversal

Thu, 31 May 2001 05:22:21 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - In Catherine Asaro’s first novel, Primary Inversion, we learned that the heroine’s younger brother Kelric had recently been killed in battle. In The Last Hawk, Asaro reveals that the reports of Kelric’s death were premature; he was able to...

"Fuzzy" and "Techie" will both love this book

Tue, 29 May 2001 02:48:41 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - I once read a hilarious little essay called "Fuzzy meets Techie," based on a creative writing exercise in which two students pair up and write alternating paragraphs of a story. Unfortunately, one of them is a stereotypical female psychology major, and...

Comic Space Opera with a Heart

Mon, 23 Oct 2000 21:13:08 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - Note: this review was first published in the on-line speculative fiction magazine Strange Horizons (www.strangehorizons.com). It is no longer present there (though there is a link to this review page from the SH archives), and is now exclusive...

A good Highlander sequel?

Fri, 6 Oct 2000 23:02:08 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - Well, not exactly, but Rumiko Takahashi’s horror animes Mermaid Forest and Mermaid’s Scar do have some interesting parallels to Highlander -- immortal humans who can be killed only be cutting off their heads or completely burning...

Golden Turkey Material

Tue, 3 Oct 2000 03:54:55 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - Tammy and the T-Rex is quite possibly the worst movie I’ve ever seen. When you consider that it stars Denise Richards, it’s not surprising that it’s a lousy film, but this one may rank as the worst movie of Ms. Richards’ ignominious career. It’s...

This is a Rumiko Takahashi film?

Mon, 2 Oct 2000 18:14:13 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - Rumiko Takahashi, the most successful female artist working in the media of anime and manga, is best known for her light-hearted romantic comedies Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, and Urusei Yatsura. With Mermaid Forest, however, she...

13 Years Before Princess Mononoke....

Mon, 25 Sep 2000 15:02:59 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - ...There was Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Hayao Miyazaki’s second feature film, like his latest, is a complex and beautifully told parable of the conflict between humanity and nature. However, whereas Princess Mononoke takes place...

Free Mars!

Fri, 22 Sep 2000 02:12:22 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - Warning: Green Mars is the second book in a trilogy, and this review contains spoilers for the first book, Red Mars. If you haven’t read Red Mars yet, you should probably read my review of that one and decide whether or not you want...

The Martian Epic Begins

Thu, 21 Sep 2000 02:51:42 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy is among the best works of science fiction of the 1990’s. His sprawling saga of interplanetary colonization combines diamond-hard science, a huge cast of complex, sympathetic, and believable characters, and a lot of...

Miyazaki-sensei’s Directorial Debut

Thu, 14 Sep 2000 04:07:19 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - Japan’s most significant contribution to modern popular culture is undoubtedly the elevation of animation, or anime is it’s called there, to the status of a serious medium. Among the ranks of the artists working in that medium, no name shines more...

The Waltz King's Comic Masterpiece

Wed, 6 Sep 2000 03:02:04 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - I love opera, and Die Fledermaus ("The Bat") is one of my all-time favorites (along with Puccini's Turandot, Verdi's La Traviata, and Mozart's The Magic Flute). It's possibly the funniest opera ever written, and...

A response to mgreber's "rebuttal"

Sun, 3 Sep 2000 21:48:37 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - Mgreber, in his review "My rebuttal against The Matrix nay-sayers," asked, "C’mon, could you have come up with this – that machines have not only taken over the world, but are using human beings as batteries, and tricking them into...

Billy Joel at his Best

Sun, 3 Sep 2000 21:01:13 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - Judging by which songs ended up in his "Greatest Hits" collection, "Turnstiles" would seem to be one of Billy Joel's more obscure albums: only one track made it to the "Greatest Hits." However, such judgements can be...

Lovely Waltzes

Sun, 3 Sep 2000 19:27:11 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - Before I say anything else, I would like to clarify for those who might be confused that this CD has no connection whatsoever to Francis Hodgson Burnett's novel The Secret Garden, nor to any of the movies nor the musical based on it. I mention...

Heaven on Earth

Wed, 30 Aug 2000 13:30:05 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - My family has been going to Acadia National Park every summer for about ten years now. For most of those years we've been staying at the Woodland Park Cottages, a cluster of cabins situated on a quiet cove about ten miles west of Bar Harbor along the...

"Fighter pukes make movies....

Mon, 28 Aug 2000 23:58:49 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - ...Bomber pilots make history!"

That assertion, made by a drunken Intruder pilot to an equally drunken Phantom pilot in a seamy bar in Olongapo City early in Flight of the Intruder, leads to a major brawl. It's also not...

If you like fantasy, you've got to see this....

Mon, 3 Jul 2000 21:54:59 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - Warning: if you haven't seen the original "Record of Lodoss War" OVA series, you should go and watch it before reading the rest of this review. Now, I loved that series, but the last part of it (after the War of Heroes and the defeat of Karla)...

Star Dreck: Voyager

Wed, 10 May 2000 03:31:50 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - About once a year I watch an episode of Star Trek: Voyager to see if the show has gotten any better--and each time, it turns out to be even lamer than before. The sad thing is that it was a good concept, and even the cast isn't all that bad...

An Invaluable Resource

Wed, 3 May 2000 18:37:15 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - Note: Epinions has misplaced this book under philosophy; it would more properly be categorized as biology, and it is in that subject that I have academic experience (specifically, a bachelor's degree and a few graduate courses).

Scientists...

Behe's Empty Box

Wed, 3 May 2000 03:35:18 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - For numerous reviews refuting Behe's thesis, including many citations to papers in peer-reviewed journals which give evolutionary explanations of his so-called "irreducibly complex systems," go to the "Behe's Empty Box" site at...

Rand, Ayn: Objections to Objectivism

Tue, 2 May 2000 17:22:36 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - Most opposition to Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism, seems to come from religion. This is not surprising, as Objectivism is an atheistic, materialistic philosophy. However, belief in the supernatural is not the only basis for rejecting Objectivism...

The Literary Offenses of Walter E. Adams

Tue, 2 May 2000 05:23:32 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - On reading Walter E. Adams's appalling little novel The Rapist, one is left with a single, burning question: what can be done to stop this maniac before he writes again? The Rapist contains something to offend just about every one...

Sir Harry the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot

Wed, 26 Apr 2000 23:40:41 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author mantis - Many readers are probably familiar with the style of British novel exemplified by the Horatio Hornblower saga, in which a fine upstanding young Englishman rises through the ranks of the military and society through his hard work, courage, initiative, and...