Book Review – The Plutonium Files

The Plutonium Files: America's Secret Medical Experiments in the Cold War by Eileen Welsome
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is an impressively thorough study of the US government’s experiments in which human subjects were dosed with radiation without their informed consent and often without regard for the danger to their health. Journalist Eileen Welsome follows multiple paths taken by the Manhattan Project, Department of Defense, Atomic Energy Commission and other agencies to figure out what happens when radioactive materials find their way into the human body. The author adds an important extra dimension to the study by including the personal backgrounds of many of the victims, transforming a disturbing history from statistics to tragedies. This is a must read for anyone interested in the functions of science in the absence of morality.

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Review – Do Not Enter (2026)

Because if you spend some money making this kind of movie, this is still what you end up with. A social media production crew breaks into an abandoned hotel, and the additions of a rival gang and a Descent-esque plot twist don’t contribute anything interesting to the story. Some of the production design is surprisingly good, but otherwise this could have been made by a guy with a camcorder. See if desperate

Book Review – How Comics Are Made

How Comics Are Made: A Visual History from the Drawing Board to the Printed Page by Glenn Fleishman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Glenn Fleishman possesses an impressive amount of knowledge about the historical relationship between printing and cartoon creation, a subject I find fascinating. And yet I found myself disappointed by this book. It’s poorly written, with far too much time and space devoted to points that have already been made or points he hasn’t gotten to yet. But more surprisingly, the layout is also awful. The main flow of the text is chopped to bits by side bars, pull quotes that look like sidebars, illustrations that don’t appear on the same page with their descriptions, and interruptions that hit in the middle of paragraphs and sometimes go on for pages before the narrative resumes. The book is also plagued by technical glitches including shifting font sizes and words that run together. The author has plenty of interesting facts and important insights to share, so it’s a real shame that the bad design work gets so thoroughly in the way.

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Book Review – The Knights Templar

The Knights Templar: A History Strange and True by Dorsey Armstrong
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m in an awkward spot with the media here. “Audible Audio” was the only format option for this title on Goodreads. However, I actually watched the Great Courses video series and read the companion book. Regardless of delivery method, Dorsey Armstrong’s excellent expertise and witty delivery are the main appeals. She runs the gamut on the Templars, from historical context to rise and fall to cultural impact (including some fun and some not-so-fun conspiracy theory stuff). If you’ve any interest in the subject, this series is worth your attention.

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Review – The Great Wall

Because the title would be too long if the movie was called The Great Amount of Money We Can Make If the Cast Appeals to Markets in Both the United States and China. Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal and (briefly) Willem Dafoe supplement an otherwise mostly Asian cast in what would otherwise have been a standard, big budget Chinese fantasy action movie. Mildly amusing

Review – Zombie School

This comes so close to being so bad that it becomes charming. Amazon’s AI dubbing didn’t help matters, though I suspect the dialogue wasn’t exactly Oscar bait even in Korean. For the most part I was able to sit back and let the sheer plotless stupidity wash over me. Unfortunately a handful of scenes involve violence against animals, including some B roll of pigs in which they appear to actually be harmed. Cut that crap out and the rating would have gone up. See if desperate

Review – Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes

This is one of those dramas where you hope against hope that it isn’t going to go the way you know it will. And then of course it does. The inclusion of Max von Sydow as a German Jesuit priest went a bit overboard just to find a way to get a white actor into the cast. On the other hand, I appreciated the inclusion of stories that didn’t have happy endings; anything else would have been blatantly dishonest. The filmmakers do a good job of recreating the disaster as best they were able with the budget they had. Mildly amusing