The Salton Sea

But first-I'm wending my way through Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle-it's quite good. Well-written and interesting-with all sorts of intrigue and plotting-the sort of thing that happens when a woman from Earth goes as an envoy to a pre-tech planet. But are they pre-tech? Evidence survives that seems to show that they are post-tech, and living through the aftermath of a devastating rule by a cruel race who used them as slaves. My only quarrel with this book is the title (come on-no one could do better? And as usual-the oh-so-cheesy cover. I swear, I'm going to start a company that designs decent covers for these books so no one gets embarrassed by reading them in public). And the sequel to the Berlin Noir trilogy (The One From The Other) was also good, except for the fact that I thought Bernie Gunther was acting like an idiot. I saw what was going to happen and how he was being used-how did someone who lived though the Nazis and a Russian POW camp, was both a policeman and a private detective and in the German Army, be such an idiot? Bernie was relatively smart in the Berlin Noir trilogy, so him being relatively stupid in the book was disappointing. For all that, it was well-written and evocative of its time-and I still liked it.
The movie I watched last night was The Salton Sea and I got it because I like Val Kilmer. I think he can be a very good actor-and I try to ignore the bizarre stories of how he behaves on the set-it gets tiresome, hearing all those stories about how Method actors stay in character the whole time and won't let anyone look at them or talk to them-how pretentious can an actor be? Regardless, I will always love Val if only for Real Genius and The Doors. Yes, he was hot in Top Gun and practically the best thing in a really stupid movie but it did not showcase how good an actor he can be-but The Salton Sea really gives him a chance to shine. This is not a movie for people who like a nice, linear plot. It's confusing and difficult to follow-with some random and creepy scenes of meth users, with some violence thrown in as well. And yet, I liked it. Val's character is two-fold. Is he the detective trying to find out who killed his wife and playing the trumpet in a jazz bar? Or is he the speed freak punk rocker who uses for three days straight? Is he both? Neither? The speed freak is also a spy for the police-looking for meth dealers and the detective is still covered with the speed freak's tattoos. Kilmer does a great job playing both-he looks just as home in the user's leather pants as he does in the detective's suit and tie. I also give props to Vincent D'Onofrio as the violent, drug-dealer Pooh Bear. He was almost unrecognizable with a covering on his nose, some weird prosthetic teeth and a southern accent-only the voice gave him away.You can't watch this movie and hope for a tidy resolution (the beginning really gives the end away) but it's still a very good story.