Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson – Book Review

Featured image is The Mistborn by Hunter Bonyun The Final Empire is the first of the Mistborn trilogy, whose premise is an intriguing one for anyone who has enjoyed fantasy fiction: What if the “dark lord” had won? Imagine if Voldemort, Sauron, or Darth Vader had not been defeated. What would have become of the…

2014 Fall TV – Returning Shows

OK, so I might not be adding too many new shows to my watchlist this season, but at least my many faves are now returning with new episodes as well. The Big Bang Theory Last season ended a bit sadly, with Sheldon unable to cope with all the change going on in his life, deciding…

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins – Book Review

Featured image is The Mockingjay and the Rebels by Samuel Teixeira. With the third movie in the Hunger Games series not far away, you just know I’ve got to prep myself by catching up on the books. Despite the dramatic cliffhanger at the end of Catching Fire, I was able to hold off reading the…

2014 Fall TV – New Shows

It’s that time of year again. Beloved shows are back on air and new shows are vying to find their way into our viewing schedule (and our hearts). The premiere period seems to be pretty tight this year and a lot of shows have started or are starting again within a couple of weeks of…

Movie #19: Captain America: Winter Soldier

Even after his own first Captain America movie, followed by his major role in The Avengers, I still don’t really see Chris Evans as being a good fit for the title role. Don’t get me wrong, I think he is an awesome action star and leading man, but he just doesn’t really have that blonde,…

Movie #18: Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

As a kid, I grew up hearing Chinese folk tales as bedtime stories. The most well-known of them all is the Journey to the West: the story of the trickster-god Monkey King and his companions as they travel across an ancient China plagued by demons. When I heard that Stephen Chow, writer and director of…

Movie #17: Robocop

I was 16 when the original Robocop movie came out, but I can’t say that I remember it too well. One of the things I do recall about the Paul Verhoeven directed movie was that it was satirically tongue-in-cheek (which was kind of new for sci-fi). For a teenager in the audience, it wasn’t totally…

Movie #16: Coherence

First off, this sci-fi film is not the second in the Divergent trilogy. Rather, it’s a head-scratching indie-sci-fi (a growing sub-genre that I’ve loved ever since I discovered the movie Primer — check it out if you like tying your brain in knots). Anyway, set mostly over the course of a single evening’s dinner party,…

Movie #15: Amazing Spider-Man 2

I had really loved the first instalment of this latest reboot of the Spider-man series on the big screen. I thought the combination of director Marc Webb, along with lead actors Andrew Garfield (as Peter Parker/Spider-man) and Emma Stone (as Gwen Stacey) gave an indie-film freshness to the non-superhuman parts of the story. While all…