A Few Quick Reviews

Inception:
Beautiful and deals with interesting concepts. Worthwhile and gripping even though I spoiled myself on the whole film before I went. (I was concerned about whether the level of violence in the film would be too much for me. It wasn’t.) Provoked a lot of thoughtful discussion in the group I was with, upon exiting the theater.

History 5: European Civilization from the Renaissance to the Present
This was a class taught by Prof. Margaret Lavinia Anderson at UC Berkley in the Spring of 2008. It’s available via ITunes U, and I’ve been listening to it while knitting, and I’m finding the lectures flow and are quite interesting, in addition to being chock full of information. The course covers a lot of time and space and sub-topics in history. Each lecture has a particular focus (sometimes it’s one person, sometimes it’s religion, science, commerce, etc.). More information on Prof. Anderson and on the individual courses she teaches is here.

Primeval
Okay, so, I like cheesy T.V. as much as the next person. In fact, I probably like it more than many. This show falls into a very comfortable zone, for me. Pretty people (in that television way) with sexy accents (to me) fend off various threats from earth’s history that are coming through portals around present-day London to snack on the populace or otherwise wreak various forms of havoc. Who knows if any of the paleontology is remotely accurate? Who knows if the zoology is correctly applied? How come issues of paradox and alternate reality seem to matter only when convenient for the story? And who cares, anyway? It’s madcap hi jinks, it’s stupid fun action with a coating of specfic lite. Just don’t count on the writing or internal logic to wow you. Keep looking at the pretty, pretty cheese. This is one where I get about an equal amount of mileage out of mocking it as I do out of watching it.