I enjoyed this new movie version of The Jungle Book. We all grew up with the animated version that was a lot of fun. This CGI triumph brings the jungle and its inhabitants onto the big screen without any PETA problems. The characters are voiced by Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito and Christopher Walken. Neel Sethi plays Mowgli, the child raised by wolves. Mowgli becomes the target of Shere Khan, the ferocious tiger. Directed by Jon Favreau (of IRON MAN and IRON MAN 2 fame), The Jungle Book delights adults and children alike. I read Kipling’s The Jungle Book and reviewed it here. There are plenty of adventures for Mowgli to take if Disney wants to make some sequels. GRADE: B+

This science fiction novel from 1959 blends several themes. At the heart of the novel is a First Contact encounter with aliens called The Others. The First Contact doesn’t go well (no surprise there). A band of super secret scientists work to manipulate Earth and its colony worlds (a lot like Asimov’s FOUNDATION). A rogue billionaire threatens the entire Galaxy (shades of Donald Trump!). That’s a lot to pack into 159 pages, but John Brunner handles all of these conflicts with aplomb. If you’re in the mood for a pulpy SF novel with Big Ideas, give the The World Swappers a try.

I’m a big fan of Matthew Hughes’s faux-Jack Vance stories. Devil Or Angel & Other Stories contains some of those fun Dying Earth tales, but Hughes shows he can write a wide range of stories. The title story, “Devil Or Angel,” is a wild romp about the Afterlife. Many of the stories explore comic themes. “The Devil You Don’t” shows that evil is more complicated than you would think. But my favorite stories in this collection all have a Jack Vance flavor: “Grolion of Almery,” and “From the Discourses and Edifications of Liw Osfeo.” If you’re looking for an entertaining and provocative short story collection, I’d recommend Matthew Hughes’s Devil Or Angel & Other Stories. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Devil or Angel
Petri Parousia
The Devil You Don’t
Not a Problem
Grolion of Almery
Timmy, Come Home
Go Tell the Phoenicians
The Hat Thing
Hell of a Fix
Huckster
The Ugly Duckling
Shadow Man
Widow’s Mite
From the Discourses and Edifications of Liw Osfeo
So Loved
Ant Lion

Patrick Lynch worries that while our supply of available information grows, our wisdom in using it is lagging behind. Lynch believes that as people access the Internet more and more, they are becoming more “tribal.” People tend to read blogs they agree with. They tend to ignore information sources they don’t agree with. This helps explain the increasing polarization of American society, but this is also becoming a world-wide phenomenon. Lynch provides plenty of examples of how GOOGLE is manipulated so certain web sites come up first in a search. I found The Internet of Us to be a thought-provoking book. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Preface
PART I: The New Old Problems of Knowledge
1. Our Digital Form of Life
2. GoogleKnowing
3. Fragmented Reasons: Is the Internet Making Us Less Reasonable?
4. Truth, Lies, and Social Media
Part II: How We Know
5. Who Wants to Know: Privacy and Autonomy
6. Who Wants to Know: Crowds, Clouds, and Networks
7. Who Gets to Know: The Political Economy of Knowledge
8. Understanding and the Digital Human
9. The Internet of
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index

After seeing Dirty Dancing: The Musical I decided to rewatch the 20th Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray. It’s back to the summer of 1963 when innocent 17-year-old Baby (Jennifer Grey) vacations with her parents at a Catskill resort. One evening Baby visits the off-limits staff quarters because of the stirring Sixties music they play. There Baby meets Johnny (Patrick Swayze) the hotel dance instructor who is as experienced as Baby is naive. Baby soon becomes Johnny’s pupil in dance and in love. Great dance routines and great Sixties music. Classic! GRADE: A
SOUNDTRACK TRACK LIST:
1. Be My Baby – The Ronettes
2. Big Girls Don’t Cry – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
3. Merengue – Michael Lloyd & Le Disc
4. Trot the Fox – Michael Lloyd & Le Disc
5. Johnny’s Mambo – Michael Lloyd & Le Disc
6. (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life – The John Morris Orchestra
7. Where Are You Tonight? – Tom Johnston
8. Do You Love Me – The Contours
9. Love Man – Otis Redding
10. Gazebo Waltz – Michael Lloyd
11. Stay – Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs
12. Wipeout – The Surfaris
13. Hungry Eyes – Eric Carmen
14. Overload – Zappacosta
15. Hey Baby – Bruce Channel
16. De Todo un Poco – Michael Lloyd & Le Disc
17. Some Kind of Wonderful – The Drifters
18. These Arms of Mine – Otis Redding
19. Cry to Me – Solomon Burke
20. Will You Love Me Tomorrow – The Shirelles
21. Love Is Strange – Mickey & Sylvia
22. You Don’t Own Me – The Blow Monkeys
23. Yes – Merry Clayton
24. In the Still of the Night – The Five Satins
25. She’s Like the Wind – Patrick Swayze feat. Wendy Fraser
26. Kellerman’s Anthem – The Emile Bergstein Chorale
27. (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life – Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes

This musical version of the 1987 film starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey generates high energy and almost constant dancing. There’s plenty of Sixties music (the movie and the play are set in 1963) for the cast to dance to. This story of a young girl finding love at a Summer resort still has the power to engage. If Dirty Dancing shows up in your neighborhood, I recommend you see it. GRADE: B+
SONG LIST:
ACT ONE
1. Opening/This Magic Moment
2. Merengue
3. Time of My Life (Incidental)
4. You Do Something To Me
5. You’re the Cream in My Coffee
6. There Will Never Be Another You
7. Johnny’s Mambo
8. Do You Love Me?
9. Love Man
10. Honey Love
11. Infectious Cha-Cha
12. Penny’s Waltz
13. Viva La Quince Brigada
14. This Land is Your Land/ We Shall Overcome
15. Stubborn Kind of Fellow
16. De Todo un Poco /Wipe Out
17. Hungry Eyes
18. Overload
19. Hey! Baby!
20. Time of My Life (Incidental)/Johnny’s Tango
21. To the Sheldrake
22. De Todo Up Paco
23. Maybe
24. The Way Life Goes
25. These Arms of Mine
26. Cry to Me
ACT TWO
1. Dawn Interlude
2. Besame Macho
3. Save the Last Dance For Me
4. If You Were the Only Girl
5. Magic Hour Serenade
6. Duke of Earl
7. Love is Strange
8. You Don’t Own Me
9. Nunca
10. Lisa’s Hula
11. Yes!
12. In the Still of the Night
13. Summertime (Incidental)
14. Someone Like You
15. She’s Like the Wind
16. Kellerman’s Anthem
17. (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life

Captain America: Civil War kicks off the Summer Movie Season with a bang. Because of all the “collateral” damage the Avengers have caused, governments demand “accountability.” Ironically, Tony Stark (aka, Mister Independent and Diva) goes along with the “oversight.” Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, and the Falcon do not. As you can guess, this leads to a wild knock-down-drag-out fight at the Berlin Airport. Spider Man and Ant-Man show up. So does Hawkeye, War Machine and The Vision. I wish the Black Widow had more to do but with this large ensemble cast, screen time is at a premium. And, we’re introduced to Black Panther, too! Plenty of action and explosions! GRADE: A-

Alfred Bester’s first novel, The Demolished Man, won the first Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Novel of the year in 1953. That’s a pretty good start for a novelist! The Demolished Man is an inverted detective story. In a society of telepaths, how can you commit a murder and get away with it? Alfred Bester shows you how in this clever first novel. Bester went on to write some great SF stories and another terrific science fiction novel, The Stars My Destination. But for an Award-winning First Novel, The Demolished Man is an a class of its own.

A. O. Scott, film reviewer for the New York Times, says one of the motivators for writing Better Living Through Criticism was Samuel L. Jackson on Twitter criticizing Scott’s review of the blockbuster, The Avengers. Scott and Jackson traded tweets for a period of time. I think Jackson had the better of the exchange when he dropped this word bomb: “#Avengers fans” that “AO Scott needs a new job! Let’s help him find one! One he can ACTUALLY do!” A. O. Scott spends much of this book writing about what criticism is (and isn’t), how to write insightful criticism, and what critics do right (and wrong). I enjoyed this thought-provoking romp. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
• What is criticism? (a preliminary dialogue)
• The critic as artist and vice versa
• The eye of the beholder
• Self-criticism (a further dialogue)
• Lost in the museum
• The trouble with critics
• Practical criticism (another dialogue)
• How to be wrong
• The critical condition
• The end of criticism (a final dialogue).