Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin – Book Review

Some of you fellow pop-culturists might be like me, enjoying the preparation for movie sequels or new TV seasons by re-watching past instalments or (better yet) reading the next book in an adapted series. I decided to prepare for Game of Thrones season two by reading the second book in George R.R. Martin’s epic series,…

Mirror, Mirror – Movie Review

Since Disney has long cornered the market on fairy tale adaptations, it’s actually hard to know what to expect from one that isn’t full of singing birds and pixie dust. After watching director Tarsem Singh take on Greek mythology with The Immortals, I was willing to bet that his adaptation of the Snow White story…

The Hunger Games – Movie Review

Happy Hunger Games! In adapting a book to screen, living up to the expectations of readers about how the characters look and act is not the only challenge. If you can make viewers tear up when a scene is moving, or jump when a scene is surprising even though they already know what’s coming, that’s…

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen – Movie Review

In Lasse Hallstrom movies (like Chocolat, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, and now Salmon Fishing in the Yemen), special individuals originally thought of by normal society as outsiders eventually draw the so-called “normal” people in and help them bring imagination, passion, and joy to their staid lives. In this movie, it’s a super-wealthy Yemeni Sheikh Muhammed,…

Kraken by China Mieville – Capsule Book Review

A literate novel about odd, cleverly-conceived cults who worship ancient gods and primal forces; a magical reality right under our noses (set in London, no less!); an epic end-of-days scope worthy of Joss Whedon; not to mention a squad of occult police officers — these are all the crazy elements that I’d love in a…

The Secret World of Arrietty – Movie Review

Studio Ghibli (like its American cousin/rival, Pixar Studios) has such a flawless reputation for producing beautiful, magical, creative, and original masterpieces of feature animation that audiences are predisposed to liking any new movie that they produce. The Secret World of Arrietty is the latest from these Japanese animation masters and for me, while it is…

Oscar Schmoscar 2012

Last year’s nominees had a few pleasant surprises that I would have regretted missing out on if not for the noms. This year, nothing really compelled me and it’s unfortunate that I didn’t find the Best Picture nominees to be much of a checklist for exploration. Even the critics don’t love them all, since Hugo…

Five Reasons to Love Downton Abbey

It all started when I was keeping an eye out for shows to recommend to my friend who was really into the British series Lark Rise to Candleford. There was another much-hyped series from the UK called “Downton Abbey” that I told her to watch. Set in the early 20th century, the show follows the…

Midseason TV 2012

After a fall season that was full of promise but failed to deliver many instant classics (Revenge being perhaps the only exception), I had high hopes for midseason. It seems that lately a lot of cool stuff shows up in midseason (since the networks are probably reluctant to take chances with off-centre series and a…