I love the promo for Fringe, even though I have never watched an episode.
What a way to own a handicap.
Tag Archives: SF
Very cool
Here’s an alternate opening sequence to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and I really dig it.
(But then again I own a copy of Keep Watching The Skies)
Writing Workshops
One thing I would really love to do is to attend a high-level writing workshop for SF and Fantasy Writers. (Thought I am more of an SF and Horror writer to be precise.)
The problem is that the workshops are intensive in money and time and it’s really hard to see how I can make one of them happen for me.
This is an old, well established and very well though of workshop. It used to be back east, but move to the campus of UCSD recently.
Tuition: $4957
Length: 6 weeks
Housing: Included with tuition, but mandatory that participants stay in the workshops housing.
Airfare: None for me I live in San Diego
There is simply no way I can swing $5000 for a workshop and 6 weeks away from my day job. Never going to happen
Not as old as Clarion, but I hear good things about this workshop.
Tuition: $880
Length: 1 week
Housing: $155/night call it $1000 food not included
Airfare: $700 (trans continental.)
The cost are much better this with one, I’m looking at $2500 for room, tuition and airfare, plus likely another $500 for food and rental car. so call it $3000
I don’t know as much about this one, but the instructors are both very talented writers. (One being a favorite of mine and one of the best in the field)
Tuition: $3200
Length: 2 weeks
Housing: Included, but not food.
Airfare: $304
Food/Rental car: $800
So total cost is $4300 but two weeks of vacation time required.
Man I would love to do one fo these, but I just don’t think I can.
le sigh
Feeling Better
Well, the headaches from Sunday night have passed away and I am feeling better. Sadly it still meant that there was no Sunday Night Movie this week, but what the hell it’s a holiday week anyway.
My boxed set of Federation Commander: Klingon Boarder arrived Friday at work, but as we did not work friday I did not get it until yesterday. Federation Commander is a board game of starship combat in the Star Trek universe. It is very similar and can be compared to a cut down and simplified Starfleet Battles.
To comare the two look at one stat, Starfleet Battles has a rule book that is 400 pages longs, while Federation Commander has a rule book that is 60 pages long.
I used to play Starfleet Battles quite a lot, before it grew to the monstrous size it is now. It was a game that brought lots of enjoyment before the session stretched to teach its players the meaning of infinity. Serious it would take hours to resolve a single turn of combat, and trust me a single turn did not decide a game. Eventually me and my friends stopped playing and I disposed of all my material.
There was a brief flirtation Babylon 5 Wars, a board game of ship combat in the Babylon 5 universe, but I did not enjoy that game as much as I did SFB.
Federation Commander promises a return to the ship combat I truly did enjoy. I will find out for certain on Saturday. I have arranged a small game, 4 ships, 2 on each side fighting for possession of a planet.
We shall see, we shall see.
Mini-review Tron: Legacy
This weekend saw the release of TRON: Legacy, a sequel the the cult film TRON from 1982.
TRON did not become the blockbuster hit that Disney had hoped for in 1982 and so the film was relegated to home video when that appeared in the market. There TRON found a following and has become something of a cult hit.
Now twenty-eight years later Disney has released a big-budget sequel to the sleeper cult hit. There are those who have called this a remake but that is simply and categorically wrong. TRON: Legacy builds on the story laid down in the TRON. Surprisingly you do not need to have seen TRON to understand the story of TRON: Legacy. The screenwriters and filmmakers have done a pretty decent job of crafting a story that can be followed by people new the TRON universe and one that can be enjoyed by the fans of the original TRON.
There are those who would consider this film a science-fiction film, but I approach it as a fantasy. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of computers can see that the terabytes and terabytes of data and processing that would be required for such a real-time environment is simply beyond anything close to existing in our world. So if you are a computer literate person I would suggest that you leave your specialized knowledge in the lobby and accept TRON as fantasy and allegory.
This story is simple. Sam Flynn, orphaned at a young age, discovers a clue that his father may not have died or abandoned him. He seeks out this clue and ends up in a realm of fantastic imagery and dangers, both for Sam and for our world at large. Sam must learn to navigate this new and threatening world with a bewildering array of allies and enemies. During the course of the adventure Sam learns about forgiveness and the dangers of arrogance.
My friend Bear and I saw this film during the matinee show this morning and we both enjoyed ourselves. The story moved along, the characters were convincing, and once the ground rules were established the world of the story behaved in a consistent and logical fashion. The 3-D effect was well used to portray the world of the computer-grid and the director resisted the temptation top thrust items repeatedly at the audience. (Though I will say that this film will play perfectly fine in2-D.)
Bear commented on what appeared to be fairly obvious Christian symbology in the film, and his argument for it is not a weak one. However, I think it could be taken too far. I cannot discuss the weakness and the Christian allegory without giving out too many spoilers. What is central to Christian theology, the sacrifice to wash away another’s sins is missing and so I do not think this was a direct Christian allegory.
This is a movie worth watching in the theaters, particularly if you were a fan of the first film.
a busy week
Well sorry I haven’t been around to blather at the internet but it has been a busy week here.
I have gotten the actual scripting started in the next version of Cawdor and the first draft if the first chapter is finished. Now only 29 or so more to go.
I had to deal with my xbox dying over the weekend, just two months after the warranty expired. It turns out that buying a refurbished xbox 360 is cheaper than repairing one. So, that is the route I took. In a strange way it worked out well because this Xbox, though refurbished, is newer and has a better graphic out than my older one.
Saw my rheumatologist and things seem to be going well on that front too.
It seems I am getting sucked back into the world of SFB gaming. For those who do not know SFB stands for Star Fleet Battles and in the 80’s it was a pretty fun game for starship combat in the Star Trek Universe. (Romulans, Klingons and the like.) Sadly the game kept expanding with new rules and new weapons which required new rules and rule for how the new rules worked with the old rules until the game collapsed under it own weight like a radiation enlarged ant. I gave up on the game because it turned into just who knew the rules better and it took fricking long to play.
Well, apparent retailer told the company that they would no longer carry the game because it was too complex. A game that can not attract new players is a dead game. So the game designer stripped the game down and made a new game out of it. I’ve read through the rule and it seems pretty playable again. I found a used set for more than half off the retaile price. (A used set that had never been played.) and I went ahead and ordered it.
Ahh the Gorns will fly again.
Sunday Night Movie: Forbidden Planet
Commander J.J. Adams has got problems. Firstly, he’s in command of 18 highly-competitive physically perfect specimens of manhood who have been cooped up inside a tiny spaceship for 370 days. Next, the twenty members of the Bellerophon expedition he has been sent to relieve are all, save one, dead. Slaughtered by a mysterious and unstoppable entity. The sole survivor the enigmatic Dr. Morbius refused to divulge the secrets of the ancient and dead world orbiting Altair. If all that wasn’t enough, Commander Adams finds himself competing with his own First Officer for the affection of Morbius’ beautiful and intelligent daughter, Altaira.
Forbidden Planet is truly one of the great films of Science-Fiction. I selected it as my Sunday Night Movie to honor the passing of it’s star, Leslie Nielson . (see action pose to the left, and thanks to Forbidden Planet’s The Daily Planet for the image.) If you are 30 or under it is likely that you know Leslie Nielson only as a talent comedic actor, but that was his second career as an actor. From the 50’s through the 70’s Leslie Nielson was primarily a dramatic actor. Forbidden Planet is one of his first leading man roles and he was selected to be a dashing, romantic lead. That said, he found moments in the script where is comic timing could come to the fore.
This is a movie about power, the corruption of power, and how that corruption can take place even with the best and noblest of intentions. It is a warning that the powers of a god does not make a god. A warning that all of us have a nasty dark and dangerous side that is best kept chained in the basement of our minds.
The script is dated and there is no mistaking that this was a story and characters populated in the 1950s. It might take place in the year 2500 or something, but the culture and the characters are pure Americana in the mid 1950s. That said it is still one of the handful of SF films that I would urge all serious fans of the genre see. The story is still compelling, the science is still spot-on and the vision still bold .
If you watch this movie you might feel flashbacks to the original series of Star Trek and that would be understandable. Gene Roddenberry’s show was clearly following in the footsteps on this film. This is one of the pivotal movies influscing film and Tv producers until today.
Every now and then someone tries to get this remade, and in my opinion that is a bad idea. Last I heard there were considering a three picture remake, ’cause hey that makes more mulla. If they make it, it won’t be as good. It will not be as bold and as original. This movie is not flawed and it is not forgotten, it should be left alone.
Back From Convention
We got back last night from Loscon 37, the Los Angeles Area SF convention. This was a good Loscon and I had a great time. There were lots of interesting panels and presentations plus Saturday night I enjoyed the parties so much I stayed out past my knees’ endurance.
I would chat more about the convention, but I’ve been headachy today and am so now. This is going to be a brief post before bed.
It does, however, look like there is a road trip in the near future. The Mojave Air and Spaceport has an open house event every third Saturday they call Plane Crazy Saturdays, and on those Saturdays Xcor — a private enterprise rocket company — hosts open-houses. Xcor is a cool company staffed by cool people and if they stay on schedule they’ll be flying their sub-orbital spaceplane next year.
Not a dropship like Spaceship one and Two, but a craft that takes off like an airplane, scoots above the atmosphere into space — briefly — and then return to the spaceport to be readied for another flight.
Super Saturday
So I picked up Call of Duty: Black Ops for my Xbox 306 and that has proved to be a very enjoyable game. I love a couple of the new feature, such as theaters where you can watch and clip your past games as movies and I love that you can now take a friend on-line as a guest. (Shame it doesn’t allow two friends.)
Tonight I’ll be heading out to San Diego Vintage SF for a screening of Them!, so tonight is looking good.
Sunday Night Movie:Rollerball (1975)
Jonathan E. only wants two things out of life, to have his wife back and to play Rollerball. He’s played Rollerball for the Houston team on behalf of the Energy Corporation for nearly ten years. Longer than any other man has ever player the brutal and often deadly sport. Now the Corporation, one of seven that rule in a world without nations, has told him to retire. Jonathan, one man, stands against the corporate machine in defiance and the corporation will not be defied.
Rollerball is one of the first stories that can be called cyberpunk. Made in 1975 the film depicts a world without want, without suffering, with war, and without freedom. A world where the nation-state has withered away, but communism did not rise rather corporations did. They manage the world and provide for everyone’s needs, all they ask is that people keep out of managerial decisions.
Rollerball stars James Cann as Jonathan e, the best Rollerballer the world has ever seen, and that is a danger to the corporation. The game is both gladiatorial bloodsport to keep the masses happy and entertained and symbolic message that one man can not make a difference.
This is a brand of SF filmmaking from the 70’s that I truly miss. Before Star Wars, the Sf films of the 70’s by and large had important themes and messages. They were concerned with ideas and the implications of those ideas. Thanks to ground breaking films before them. 2001, The Planet Of The Apes, The Day The Earth Stood Still, SF films were beginning to be seen as a fully adult medium for story telling. this fully matured in the 70’s until Star Wars.
Don’t get me wrong I love me my fun action filled Star Wars, but it displaced by the massive box office it generated, the idea of the small thoughtful SF movie. Science Fiction at the theater became the domain of the block buster, the wanna be blockbuster, always with more and more elaborate special effects.It is like the SF buffet was now comprised solely of Ice cream and Cookies.
We’ve seen a few thoughtful Sf films post Star Wars, but by and large the spectacle has ruled the day.