King Solomon’s Mines (H. Rider Haggard)

Sorry dudes, I give this one a thumb down.

Relatively boring story full of attitudes and manners that are objectionable to a modern and enlightened mind. Some parts are fun, and I guess I can see why this is a classic, but if you are a reader who chooses his material based on my recommendations, as I will be from now on, I’d give this one a pass.

Read The Lost World (Doyle) instead, if you’re in the mood for this kind of thing.

But I’ve heard good things about the movie…

First Encounter:
“King Solomon’s Mines” was a nonsense phrase that I’d heard a few times in my youth. Eventually I learned it was the name of a Blues Club but presumed it also referred to something more famous given the contexts I’d vaguely remembered hearing the phrase in. Sometime between childhood and 2017, when I read this book, but probably closer to 2017, I learned that this was a book, “The Most Amazing Book Ever Written,” by some accounts, and the title was a literal reference to Mines, specifically those of King Solomon.

Johnny Mnemonic

This would be a nice movie to watch at a sleepover. So many excellent inside jokes could be developed; so many sweet catchphrases could be harvested. I almost want to watch it again with a notepad handy.

Check out those sick Data Gloves.

That picture above is of Johnny accessing the internet in the year 2021, which ought to be enough to get you excited about this flick.

First Encounter: I remember this movie being a recent release at Blockbuster video, and wishing I could rent it. It was the epitome of everything cool and edgy at the time (though maybe a little scary), and honestly it still kind of is–even though it’s not technically a great movie nor a particularly good one. Alas, at the time, it was not to be. But after finishing Mr. Robot recently, this caught my eye as I was browsing Amazon Prime for a late night calisthenics accompaniment. Thanks to the aforementioned memory, I couldn’t resist it, even while being apprised of the poor ratings.

The Equalizer

This genre of “older man witnesses brutality, successfully enacts vigilante justice” is satisfying fantasy fulfillment for guys like me. Simultaneously inspirational and emasculating, movies like The Equalizer, The Punisher, Death Wish, etc. scratch an itch that I occasionally forget I have. To some degree I’d suspect this is universal, but I’d expect these to be particularly appealing to stable family men who are especially constrained to the rules of good citizenship and acceptable behavior, who are perhaps tacitly hoping that by following Kant’s categorical imperative, the world will be safe and enriching for their families. Modern man has reluctantly realized that his own death is decidedly bad for his family; however much we’d like to go fight a war or stand up to local bullies, it’s generally better to retreat and circle the wagons. But we can dream.

First encounter:
I watched this yesterday while donating platelets, on the recommendation of a wise phlebotomist. It was nice watching something without even having heard of it before. It reminded me of being in high school, just sort of going to the movies and picking whatever, making the best of whatever you got, just expecting to appreciate it without even knowing the imdb rating or whether, were it a tomato, it would be rotten or fresh.