World War Z

A few years ago I heard someone say that America's current obsession with zombie mythology would eventually culminate (before its inevitable decline) with Pitt's World War Z. Turns out he was right.

Many interesting things about this movie. I like that it is a "serious" zombie movie that isn't afraid to throw around the word "zombie". I like that it wasted approximately 7 seconds before throwing Brad Pitt into the fray. I like that it was a political but not heavy handed. And I liked the ending—not bleak, but not Hollywood.

I appreciated the surprise action catalysts (in a zombie film, these are usually loud noises that draw the undead whilst the heroes are sneaking around) like Gerry's wife calling him on the phone I forgot he had, or citizens of Jerusalem rejoicing. However, there were typical predictable ones as well. How many times in a single mission can the same person "accidentally" kick a can, step on a glass bottle, and smack a filing cabinet with their crowbar? C'mon Welsh scientist.

Rating: 4 out of 6 zombies

Proposing a Return to Analog

I usually read a lot every day, so at night I need to read something completely unrelated to help me fall asleep. It needs to be theoretically interesting but packed with so much unnecessary detail so as to put me to sleep. Dyson's tale of the simultaneous rise of atomic weaponry and digital computation does just that. He spends a lot of time on the complete genealogical backstory of every person who had anything to do with computers, so if that is your thing, this book is incredible.