Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick

I never read a lot of PDK before this year. I read some of his short stories, which I liked well enough, but I didn't like them enough to really pick up a full book and give it a whirl. That was until my friend John recommended Ubik. Then I fell into serious lust. I believe I went right out and bought another 5 PKD books the very next day after finishing that one. I was told to pick up Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? next. I have to admit, I loved it, but not as much as Ubik. Not that Androids wasn't exceptional, trust me. It was. But Ubik was such a mind fuck, I don't know that anything will top it.

I loved the movie, Blade Runner, so I fully expected to find many similarities between the two, but as most book adaptations go, it was not meant to be. Actually, I didn't mind that at all, which is unusual for me. Androids focuses on Rick Deckard, an android bounty hunter, his pursuit of some escaped androids, and his desire to own a real animal, which is some sort of status symbol/religous thing in this story's universe. Really, though, the whole story focuses on the question of what it is to be human, as many of the androids Deckard hunts maintain that he himself is more android, more machine, than they are, and what happens to our humanity once we rely on technology so much that we have to own a real animal just to feel a bond with another living thing.

I love the ending, which I can't go into here because it is really worth reading for yourself. Other than that, I must say Androids is definitely work reading, although Ubik is still my favorite. Of course, I think I have about 4 other PDK books to read, so something else might knock Ubik out of its number 1 spot. Maybe.

Rating: 4 Purrs

My Name Is Bruce

"Consider yourself officially exempt from my wrath sweetcakes, and if you're lucky a little later I'll let you play with my boomstick."

Okay, let's get one thing straight. I love Bruce Campbell. I'll watch him in anything. I'll watch Briscoe County, Jr. I watch Burn Notice because of him. I have even watched some of those really bad B-movies this movie makes fun of in droves. I.Love.Bruce.Campbell. After watching My Name Is Bruce, I can't help but love him even more. I mean the entore movie is pretty much him making fun of himself. His string of B-Movies. His string of C-Movies. His Hollywood "fame" or lack thereof. His ways with women. His chin. This movie felt like Drop Dead Gorgeous, where nothing was off limits, only instead of Lutherans, God, and beauty pageants, it's nothing is off limits in relation to Bruce Campbell & his career.

In My Name Is Bruce, Bruce Campbell is filming another one in a long line of C-Movies. He's a drunk and a womanizer. However, there is one true fan out there, and he needs Bruce's help. You see he awoke a Chinese demon in his small town, and that demon is slash happy. Who do you call? Well, Bruce Campbell of course. Unfortunately for Mr. Campbell, he discovers that the guy in the rubber suit is in fact a demon, and this whole thing is not a movie set like he thought. Will Bruce gather the courage to defeat the demon and win the lovely lady? You must watch to find out.

I fully acknowledge that this was a low budget, goofy, stupidly written movie. But come on - Bruce Campbell! Making fun of himself! It rarely gets better than that.

Rating: 5 Purrs - loved every stupid, god-awful, man-in-rubber suit minute of it.