‘I feel the presence of Antoine Rouge.’

The words bizarre, artful, and daring spring to mind. Cronenberg’s scripts complement the avant-garde style of his work in a truly flawless way – Crimes of the Future, representing some of his earliest work, speaks to filled potential for genius.

Cronenberg’s film adaptation of J. G. Ballard’s controversial 1973 novel is a bit of a grab-bag. Although intensely disturbing, I found it thought provoking and engaging on a certain level. The sex scenes are presented in as tasteful a way as possible.

This one was pretty wishy-washy, all-in-all. Despite being based on the excellent Philip K. Dick short story Second Variety, it doesn’t manage to be much more than an average film. The acting is bad, but not too bad. The production values are bad, but not too bad. Despite being penned by Dan O’Bannon (Alien, The Resurrected), the best thing going for this film is its source material.

This sounded like such a promising novel but turned into a tough slog. Maybe I just don’t enjoy 80s American SF, but the prose style and, at times, content just didn’t seem worthy of my time. Maybe I’ll give another Bear novel a chance someday, but I sort of doubt that will happen anytime soon.

Andrea and I saw this at the Drafthouse ‘Music Monday’ event. It was basically about one of the first cable access TV programmes in NYC which took television ‘where it had never been before’.

I enjoyed the irreverancy (for its time), and the fact that they had David Bowie as a musical guest once.

Another ‘Terror Thursday’ selection at the Drafthouse. Definitely hilarious as hell, but shot in an innovative way. I left the theatre thinking ‘What The Hell?’ about more than just the film.

This really isn’t at all bad – definitely a listenable play. It’s very much in keeping the the Tom Baker era feeling of Gallifrey (one I’ve come not to favour too greatly). The story would have benefitted from some tighter science (especially concerning the use of the Eye of Harmony) and less of a copout ending.

Yet another (delightfully!) stupid Weird Wednesday film screened at the Drafthouse.

This story definitely had a neat atmosphere, and the music was among the best in Big Finish history, but it just failed to engage me. The setting was good, the plot was a bit cliche, however. I did enjoy the performances and the characterization of the 6th Doctor. Just not worth it in the end, for me, though.

Bester is definitely one of the finest authors in all of SF. Oddly, and to his credit (or detriment, depending), his work is always so full of hope.

Although not as good as ‘The Stars My Destination’, the plot hooks you early on and The Demolished Man offers an ending that will surely prove explosive. Just give Bester a chance.