Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture and faith from the Antipodes.
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Picked up the following book from a sale pile today at a book clearance store. Hoping to find some time to flick through it at some point - perhaps on the train traveling to and from the SBL international conference in a week’s time. Must have a hunt through the conference programme book and see if there’s anything in there relating to popular culture.
“Living with Star Trek: American Culture and the Star Trek Universe” (Lincoln Geraghty)
Great little article by Sam J. Miller over at mental_floss Blog » Battlestar Galactica vs. Star Trek looking at the difference in anthropologies underlying Star Trek (pretty positive) and the new Battlestar Galactica (pretty negative). Worth a quick read.
Miller argues that Galactica doesn’t hide the warts or flaws in human nature and relationships, or paint a rosy picture of some kind of trajectory towards perfection achievable through the myth of progress. He says of that,
Galactica is sci-fi without that BS. Sci-fi with all the anger and stupidity and sadness that real people experience. Sci-fi without the conviction that we will conquer our own ugliness. Sci-fi for the age of peak oil and 9/11 and natural disasters compounded by climate change to the point where they can completely destroy major cities. Galactica’s message is that unless we come to terms with our own history, we are doomed. Mankind created the Cylons to fight our wars and to do our grunt work for us. Eventually they rose up and wiped out 99.999% of us. This basic lesson is one we still haven’t learned: that exploitation leads to exploitation, that if you oppress someone you sow the seeds of your own oppression. “You can’t play God and then wash your hands of the things you’ve created,†says the Galactica’s commander, William Adama. “Sooner or later, the day comes when you can’t hide from the things that you’ve done anymore.â€
It’s similar to the flaws in humanity that Joss Whedon brought out in Firefly or J. Michael Straczynski kept in Babylon 5.
Hat tip to Exploring Our Matrix: Around the Blogosphere (The End of the Banana Argument)
Related link: Greenflame · Science fiction as safe(?) space to explore unpleasant questions
As a child growing up there were certain TV shows that could only be watched from “behind the couchâ€. You wanted to know what happened, but at the same time the tension (and scariness) of the episode required that some form of retreat or protection was needed. These shows included the (Tom Baker) Dr Who ‘Pyramids of Mars‘ episodes, the UK series ‘Children of the Stones‘, and the New Zealand kid’s science fiction drama ‘Under the Mountain’, based on the Maurice Gee novel of the same name.
Today, we picked up the Under the Mountain DVD of TV series (filmed back in the early 80s). I’m looking forward to moving the couch forward a bit from the wall, and sitting down to watch it with the kids. Should be fun, especially as a couple of the kids have already read the novel.
Also, on a related note - the creator of ‘Black Sheep‘ is going to produce a movie version of the book aimed at teenagers. That should be worth seeing when it happens. More details here.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away Darren wrote in an email “i’ll do serenity asap…â€. That was June 2006.
Now, however, he’s started the great Firefly Study Series and you can find the first parts at:
He’s also noted the link (via Tensegrities) to a series of Firefly clips over at Cowgirl Jazz.
For those of you who are suffering from needing a Serenity or Firefly fix, then Dark Horse’s Firefly/Serenity mini-series “Better Days” is now out. I picked up issue 1 the other day, and it’s a good read if you’re a fan-boy or girl. Actually, it’s a good read for a comic in general - I’ve read some not so good comics recently from the library’s trade paperback/graphic novel selection. If you can do the character’s voices in your head while reading then it really rocks.
More details over at Dark Horse Comics > Profile > Serenity: Better Days #1 (of 3).
Oh, and I see the “Star Gate: The Ark of Truth” is already out on DVD in NZ. Seeing as I’m still finishing off Season 9 of Stargate SG-1 it’ll be a while before I get there, but it’s nice to know it’s waiting for me. Just like I’ll get to “Battlestar Galactica: Razor” when I’ve knocked the last few episodes of Season 3 off. I must admit I’m struggling to be enthralled with the end of BSG season 3 maybe it’s better watched one episode per week rather than three episodes at a time. Currently, I’m trying to avoid Season 4 spoilers - which seems to be harder than it should be - people keep putting them in their blog posts without spoiler warnings!
Over at InsideCatholic.com - Science Fiction and the Areopagus, Mark Shea contends that science fiction (and fantasy) are one of the last places left in the media to explore questions relating to philosophy and religion. And the intriguing proposition that fandom is similar to the Pauline Areopagus.
Such work is, it seems to me, vital. St. Paul did not wait around for the Athenians to come to him. He walked into a city where, as Luke marveled, “all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new” (Acts 17:21), and opened his mouth on the Areopagus. It’s a perfect description of the world of fandom.
Hat tip to The Sci Fi Catholic: Mark Shea Discusses Catholicism in Sci-Fi.
Related links:
I’ve just gotten around to starting to watch the third season of the new Battlestar Galactica. So far, so good - the planet-side setting adds a different dimension to the show for a bit, while the socio-political commentary continues.
Related to this are several links I’ve come across recently.
Firstly, FlowTV - ‘a critical forum on television and media culture published by the Department of Radio, Television, and Film at the University of Texas at Austin’ - recently had a focus on Battlestar Galactica with a selection of articles and posts about the new series. You can find it at FlowTV | “Battlestar Galactica” Issue.
Secondly, I found that link via Confessions of an Aca/Fan: Resources for Science Fiction Fans.
And lastly, Paul Walker, over at Out of the Cocoon had a post Out of the Cocoon >> Science Fiction and the emerging church. I’m not sure I’d agree with his comment that religion is toned down in the new version of BSG, rather that is has become more complex than the religious dualism - humans (religious) / cylons (secular) - present in the original series. Certainly, both human and cylon in the new series seem to have to wrestle with issues surrounding religion in interesting ways.
Related link: Greenflame · The Theology of Battlestar Galactica’s Cylons
Frantic here at the moment. Old job stuff to finish, new job stuff to think about, last week of the school holidays, conference abstract due tomorrow, and going to Dunedin early tomorrow for the bioethics conference (so packing now).
However, still time to note that Dark Horse are finally going to release their next Firefly/Serenity comic book mini-series. Excellent, I can’t wait. See Dark Horse Comics > Profile > Serenity: Better Days #1 (of 3).
The article, ‘Sleep Dealer’ Injects Sci-Fi Into Immigration Debate, is yet another example of how science fiction’s speculative nature provides a space for engaging with questions and issues that challenge and stretch us - in this case a (not-so) futuristic exploration of how Western consumerism might be supported by the creation of virtual ’sweat shops’.
Another recent article picking up this function of speculative or science fiction is Clive Thompson on Why Sci-Fi Is the Last Bastion of Philosophical Writing.
Kevin Kelly, over at Conceptual Trends and Current Topics - Doomsday Art, has an article reflecting on the continuing trend of exploring contemporary concerns through the apocalyptic genre.
The prospect of being the last person(s) on earth is weirdly seductive. It’s not about the end at all. It’s a romantic vision of rebirth, of starting anew, but with more assets and wisdom that the last birth. It’s a romance that will probably continue to generate works of art in all media every year from now on, until …. the end of the world.
Kelly’s musing are prompted by the recent movie, Cloverfield, and these articles, Apocalypse New - TIME and Life After People - TV - Review - New York Times.
I’d also throw in this for good measure: MONDOLITHIC STUDIOS - An Earth Without Us - A Mondolithic Monday Image.
I watched the new Babylon 5 DVD - Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales - tonight and really enjoyed it. Some other reviews I read said they didn’t enjoy the pace of the two interrelated stories on the disc, but I thought the pace was just right for the content being dealt with. The first story is a mix of theology and ethics, while that later concerns, perhaps, the qualities of mercy and kindness (again within an ethical context), and both connect plot-wise to the other. Nice to be back in the B5 universe, nice to see the updated CGI effects (no Amiga graphics here), and hopefully there’s a follow up in the near future (see Babylon 5: The Lost Tales - Wikipedia)
Of course, I’ll be back in the B5 universe for a while now after my folks gave me Babylon 5: The Complete Collection + The Lost Tales DVD set for my birthday. All the B5 seasons, the movies, the spin-offs - Crusade, Legend of the Rangers pilot, and The Lost Tales. A serious amount of shelf-space can be recovered when I get rid of my B5 VHS tapes, plus I also get to see/hear the commentaries and special features. Bliss, indeed.
One thing though. I’ve also having Star Trek cravings for Borg-related episodes. I shall have to borrow the Star Trek Fan Collective - Borg off someone sometime to fix that. Resistance appears futile.
Another thing - at some point I’d like to acquire the Jeremiah TV series. I really enjoyed Season 2 (esp. Mr Smith), but missed most of the middle of Season 1. Season 1 got released on DVD only in the US (Region 1) and season 2 is only available via digital download (and hence not to anyone outside of the US. iTunes link here - but strangely no Season 1 in iTunes. You have to get that via Amazon’s Unbox video). So I don’t think that will happen anytime soon.
Various books on the go at the moment. Some good, some not so. Random comments follow.
“Metal Swarm” by Kevin J. Anderson (Book 6(!) in the “The Saga of Seven Suns” series). Should be right up my alley - ancient powerful alien races continue ancient wars while plucky humans (with strange alien sometime allies) strive to survive. It’s Babylon 5 all over again - even down to the human politics and civil war. But it reads really badly - too many characters to follow and a million very short chapters focusing on different characters means it feels like watching a TV where someone’s changing the channel every 10 seconds. No time for empathy to develop with any of the characters, and by now it feels like it’s just going through the motions. On a plus side you can skip whole chapters and not miss much of the plot. Undecided on whether I’ll read the next book.
“The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief” by Francis S. Collins, the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Recommended to me by a non-scientist/non-theologian (in the professional sense) so I’ve picked it up from the library. As usual I’ve started reading from the back, in this case the first few pages of the appendix on bioethics which gives some nice summaries of that field. (See also: Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly . PROFILE . DR. FRANCIS COLLINS . July 21, 2006 | PBS)
“Saturnalia: A Marcus Didius Falco Novel” by Lindsey Davis. Falco novels are like a comfortable old pair of slippers for me. When I don’t feel like reading anything too heavy then I get the next one out of the library. I didn’t really like the last one (“See Delphi and Die”), but you know what you’re getting and I’ve always been interested in Ancient Rome. “Saturnalia” improved on the last book, but still missed something of the dramatic tension present in the early novels. (Related information: Second-born (9) has been devouring the children’s equivalent of the Falco novels - Caroline Lawrence’s “Roman Mysteries” - effectively a ‘Famous Five in Ancient Rome’)-
“Practical Theology: On Earth As It Is in Heaven” by Terry A. Veling. Because it was spoken highly of over at Simply Simon: Practicing theology and Simply Simon: Practicing theology II.
“The Blackwell Reader in Pastoral and Practical Theology (Blackwell Readings in Modern Theology)” by John Patton. Because it was near the Veling book on the shelf in the GSC library, and because it covers a wide range of perspectives on the field.
“Engaging the Online Learner: Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction (Online Teaching and Learning Series (OTL))” by Rita-Marie Conrad and J. Ana Donaldson. A book that collects a large number of different online learning examples and is really useful for showing you what other people have down and why, and also for helping design your own activities and assessements.
I have a real soft spot for Dan Dare (along with the old black and white Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon TV programmes). When I was a boy I remember my Dad finding some old Eagle annuals from somewhere and introducing us to the Dan Dare he grew up with in the UK. And then later I followed, for a while, the rebooted Dan Dare in the early 2000AD.
Now the quintessential British hero is getting year another reboot in a seven issue series. Looks good, though I’ll wait for the trade paperback before buying it. It’ll be interesting to see how the values of the 21st century get worked into the 1950s landscape Dare exists within.
More details on the release here at DAN DARE #1 - NEWSARAMA (with some sample pages).
Official release information at Virgin Comics brings back DAN DARE: PILOT OF THE FUTURE with GARTH ENNIS « Virgin Comics Blog
Reviews of the first issue here at Sunday Slugfest - Dan Dare #1 (of 7) Review - Silver Bullet Comics.
One of the reviewers asks some good questions about these sorts of reboots:
Most of the revivals (thinking of Flash Gordon, Tarzan and Buck Rogers here) fall flat, even with reshaping to new cultural conditions, though some, like the rebooted Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica series seem to get it right. Something to think about.
I’m the only one in my household without a dedicated lunchbox. These look so cool that my situation could soon be a thing of the past.
Dark Horse Comics : Serenity Lunch Box
Dark Horse Comics : Serenity Lunch Box: Fruity Oaty Bar
Now, if only I could get one of these to go with it.
Following on from the animated Clone Wars short format television shows Lucas announces the continuation of animated/CGI developments and a live actor Star Wars spin-off for TV.
I liked the animated Clone Wars series - though it worked better as a series of short episodes rather than all the episodes viewed in one hit as a ‘movie’. However, the only live actor Star Wars TV I ever saw was the horrific Star Wars Holiday Special. Even as a child who was a huge fan of Star Wars I could see how bad it was. (See YouTube for excerpts of it). So who knows how this new series will turn out. Hope it works out.
See E! News - Star Wars TV Series Coming Soon - George Lucas
Ugh! Just remembered the extremely bad Galactica 1980 series too.
As someone who finds the plots threads of new Battlestar Galactic series intrigues (and intersecting with my own research in some ways) I’ve been interested in the various religious themes that come up from time to time (Cylon religion, reincarnation, transcendence). So it was nice to find this Beliefnet interview with a creator of the series: The Theology of Battlestar Galactica’s Cylons — Beliefnet.com
Hat tip to Kevin Kelly — The Technium — Holy Technology
A couple of books on the go at the moment that I borrowed from the library after seeing them on a couple of blogs.
Firstly, A Case Of Conscience by James Blish, which is centred around a Jesuit biologists struggle with finding the perfect, moral alien society that doesn’t have any understanding of God. In a similar vein to later books like Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow and Children of God, and to a certain extent Orson Scott Card’s Speaker for the Dead.
The book is part of the excellent SF Masterworks for Gollancz, a series of reprinted classic or significant science fiction works.
Other related links:
I’ve read some other of Blish’s work before but had never come across this one until I say it mentioned on The Sci Fi Catholic: The Sacred & the Profane (with the follow article The Sci Fi Catholic: The Sacred & the Profane Part 2, Christian Tragedy?)
The second book is As Far As We Know: Conversations about Science, Life and the Universe by Paul Callaghan and Kim Hill, with excellent complementary illustrations by Dylan Horrocks. It’s a collection of edited transcripts of the conversations about science between physicist Paul Callaghan and Kim Hill on Radio New Zealand National: Saturday Morning with Kim Hill.
Found via Physics illustrations published - Dylan’s blog
I’m enjoying both books, and the ‘As Far As We Know“ book is good for dipping into for a quick chapter or two.
As a fan of the Doctor from way back (I think I started watching around 1974) I’m intrigued by this: ‘Christlike’ Dr Who in church service | Metro.co.uk.
Out shopping for birthday presents at the weekend when I stumbled across a copy of Cult Themes - ITV 50 - Classic TV Show Theme Tunes which somehow had to find it’s way into the shopping basket. Some of the tracks are the original TV themes music, others are very good covers (not some guy in his garage with a synthesizer). I’m not particularly interested in many of the non-UK shows (though the Mission Impossible track seems a good rendition), but I’ve been looking for a copy of the Stingray theme music for a while now and there it was (along with the extended version of the UFO theme complete with clicking teletypes).
Listening to the CDs begged the question - did the BBC release a CD with the various incarnations of the Doctor Who theme? There are various MP3 clips over at BBC - Doctor Who - Sounds but no theme music.
Oh, and I’m really enjoying Season 3 of Doctor Who which is finally playing here. Nice to see the Season 2 episode ‘Girl in a Fireplace’ pick up a Hugo Award, and I’ll be trying and track down a copy of my favourite Doctor Who (Tom Baker) story Pyramids of Mars to watch again. Spent most of those four episodes watching it from behind the couch, if my memory serves me right. Far more creepy in places than similar Stargate episodes.
A couple of blogs that explore science fiction and popular culture from a religious perspective that I’ve come across recently.
Books on the go at the moment.
I like the genre of Steampunk - which fuses the historical setting of 19th century Europe with advanced technological visions. Think steam-powered spaceships or Sherlock Holmes stories with mechanical computers thrown in. Elements of it crop up in comic books - the 2000AD series Nemesis was set for a while in a alien society that modelled itself on Victorian Britain and in Star Wars: Dark Empire II there’s a cool steam-powered spaceship - and also in movies like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (based on the comic series), Wild Wild West and Steamboy. Primarily it’s located in books though - Philip Reeve’s Hungry City Chronicles is an example of it for young adult/adult readers, while Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age mixes nanotechnology, AI and neo-Victorianism.
Basically, think airships, goggles, steam-powered computers, clockwork robots and difference engines.
Wired has a nice selection of pictures of contemporary steampunk inspired projects with current technologies - I love the steampunk laptop.
See Steam-Driven Dreams: The Wondrously Whimsical World of Steampunk.
Of course, Wikipedia has an extensive section on Steampunk. I tried Britannica Online, but alas, no information there.
The Warner Brothers BABYLON 5 web site has the trailer up for new B5 movie due out in a month or two. Also available at: YouTube - Babylon 5: lost tales.
There’s also a two part article on the new movie available at:
Gwyneth Jones on developing robot technology | Features | Guardian Unlimited Film talks about how much more prescient the genre of cyberpunk was/is at looking at the future, as opposed to more general science fiction. The article also takes the slant that technology is a value-neutral instrument that only achieves moral dimensions when humans choose to use it in certain ways. I’m not convinced, because I think the socio-cultural forces that shape technological development contain values that are incorporated into the output of that development.
Anyway, the article fitted well with the book below that I’ve just finished reading. I’d give the book a C+, though. Apart from William Gibson’s short story ‘Burning Chrome’ and Philip K Dick’s short story that inspired the movie ‘Total Recall’ I wasn’t gripped that much by it. Maybe get Gibson’s own collection of short stories, also called ‘Burning Chrome’.
Lynn Schofield Clark - While I’m here, update on LOST is a interesting look at how religion has been seen by viewers of the TV show LOST. I don’t watch the programme (the TV ads they had here promoting its arrival turned me off), but I found the article intriguing.
(Hat tip to Tensegrities » Back from oblivion)
Paul Teusner’s ‘What should we read about mass media?“ lists includes this one on his site as well: fishers, surfers and casters » Top 5-10 list from Lynn Schofield Clark.
A page has appeared on Amazon for the first installment of the new direct-to-DVD Babylon 5 series: Amazon.com: Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales. So, it should be here sooner rather than later (at least for Region 1 release). Will it stand up to watching in the post-Firefly universe though?
More information over at:
Update
Damaris have released some study resources for Firefly to go with the Serenity resource,
Time Magazine’s Top 10 graphic novels of 2006 - TIME 25 Top Ten 2006
Locus’ lists for 2006 - Locus Online: Locus Magazine’s Recommended Reading: 2006:
Link here to some photos from the set of the new direct-to-DVD Babylon 5 stories currently being produced. In theory, they’ll be out in the US in the second quarter 2007 (and who knows when in Australasia?). The page has some comments at the bottom from JMS too. See J. Michael Straczynski - B5:TLT Pre-Production - Babylon5scripts.com.
More details too at the Babylon 5 Lurker’s Guide page “Voices in the Dark”.
See also the entry on Wikipedia - Babylon 5.
Wired News: Firefly Reborn as Online Universe.
I’ve tended to avoid MMORPGs, but this one might be irresistible.
Some of these are very clever. Some are very funny. Wired Magazine asks various authors to supply six (6!) word short stories. See Wired 14.11: Very Short Stories.
Russell Kirkpatrick is a geography lecturer and writer of fantasy novels from down the road in Hamilton. I’ve just finished reading his “Fire of Heaven” trilogy, which was a good read for the stage I’m at in the thesis (i.e. something with no robots in it that is easy to read). An interesting mixture of “classic” fantasy geography and cultures (e.g. Nordic, Oriental) but will some Maori and Polynesian landscapes, characters and culture woven into it. The books have an element of gentleness to them, amongst the grand epic fantasy stuff, and the characters flaws weave their way into the story well.
Each of the books has some maps in them. As a lover of maps it was great to see the detail in them, and a more realistic view on the way geography shapes the speed and path that journeys take. In the books the black and white printing loses some of the detail but the web site below has them in glorious colour. Excellent.
When I started the books the theistic slant to them was apparent, and by the end of the books there’s places where Christian imagery and allegory are obvious. But they probably wouldn’t be so obvious to someone brought up in a post-Christian world, and the reader isn’t beaten over the head with the imagery like some other authors like to do.
There’s bits of the books, maps and diagrams on the web site plus a blog (to add to my RSS feeds from other fantasy and sci-fi writers) all at RussellKirkpatrick.com.
Now that’s a pretty awesome looking cake - Discworld Cake
Joff alerts me (via email) to the news that JMS will be coming to the Auckland Armageddon in October. See pulpexpo.com - Joe Straczynski - Film and Comic Writer. (Curses! The link disappeared over the weekend)
Related links:
Joff’s experiences of the Wellington expo.
Greenflame: Post-Armageddon.
2002 article - Wired News: Of PowerPoint and Pointlessness on Powerpoint in schools. Via slacktivist: PowerPoint sucks.
Undeniable Facts: Undeniable Friday- a fact a day - Levitating screw.
The announcement of JMS producing new Babylon 5 material on DVD. Series of new short movies/stories set in the B5 universe, using new and existing characters. Can’t wait. See Ain’t It Cool News: New B5
Looks like the new Serenity comic book series from Dark Horse will be called “Better Days”, and will be set before the Serenity movie. It will explore some of the unresolved plots from Firefly and will be written by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews (who did the first series). Can’t wait.
Random links - with a geeky theme, of course.
William Shatner Rocketman - Google Video. Inspirational.
Leonard Nimoy - Ballad of Bilbo Baggins (MZK) - Google Video. Unforgetable.
More from Nimoy and Shatner at Frogstar - Star Trek Fan Page. Outstanding.
Shatner’s rendition of “Rocketman” reminded me of this version, Socketman, written by Unix hackers (available from MDFS::Docs.Humour.Computing.Songs). Unless you’ve been involved with porting code from BSD to SysV (and vice versa) it’s probably lost on you. Still remember the trauma of starting a new job working with SVR3.2 on AT&T 3b2’s, typing “emacs” and it not being there still lives with me.
Also, if you’re up for something really impressive check out Starlords:
Starlords juxtaposes similar pieces of familiar media structures.It experiments with sampling what is normally seen in entirety and in context (the films) and then linking them in time and space to a popular music track normally heard sampled, here played in its entirety. These cultural entities, two of the biggest juggernauts of global propaganda, share similar plots, soundtracks, characters, creatures and actors (Christopher Lee). They have large monetary and business interests as convoluted as the epic digital graphics engines, weaving fantasy worlds of white heroes from humble origins and dark lords with all-encompassing surveillance and power structures.
Hardware Wars (1977), the Star Wars parody that was played in cinema around the world, is now available at HARDWARE WARS - Google Video. (I definitely remember classmates of mine seeing it in Wellington cinemas in the late 70’s.)
Other related links: Grocery Store Wars | Join the Organic Rebellion, Fanboys (2003 NZ short film), and Feel the Force: The Jedi Street Preachers of Auckland (2004 NZ short film). The last two from Peter Haynes at www.haynesfilm.com.
Sitting in the tea room today (drinking coffee) I flicked through a recent issue of the Spiritual Growth Ministries journal Refresh and saw this article - Spirituality and the Science Fiction Atheist by Adrienne Thompson. (SGM Journal Refresh Vol. 5 No. 2 (Summer 2005-6), 14-17).
It’s a brief reflection on the writing of Ursula Le Guin and has a nice quote in it about stories. LeGuin says,
What you get out of that story, in the way of understanding or perception or emotion, is partly up to me—because, of course, the story is passionately meaningful to me (even if I only find out what it’s about after I’ve told it). But it’s also up to you, the reader. Reading is a passionate act. If you read a story not just with your head, but also with your body and feelings and soul, the way you dance or listen to music, then it becomes your story. And it can mean infinitely more than any message. It can offer beauty. It can take you through pain. It can signify freedom. And it can mean something different every time you reread it.
(from interview at CBC Magazine: Meet the Author/Illustrator: Ursula LeGuin)
Thompson’s article didn’t transfer well to the web - some formatting is lost - but the content’s all there.
See also:
Well, it’d be interesting if they get it going, but I imagine it’d have US-only stamped on the delivery mechanisms. See Joss Whedon’s Firefly Season 2.
A click on the “Publish” button in Ecto instead of the “Save” button will have given a odd posting. Apologies to all and sundry.
I’ve been reading several of the books from the British Film Institute’s Modern Classics series while I revised the introductory chapter to the thesis. Skimming through the books on The Matrix (Joshua Clover) and Blade Runner (Scott Bukatman) was helpful in straightening out some examples I wanted to use of cinema serving as an arena for public concerns about technology to be expressed within.
The books are shortish and easy to read - though in a couple of places I needed to decode the film/media studies jargon. Well worth having a look at, if only briefly.
Damaris’ Culture Watch have two new articles up online. The first is a brief study guide for the movie Serenity, and the second a more in depth reflection upon the anime film Ghost in the Shell 2 : Innocence.
See Culture Watch - Serenity and Culture Watch - Ghost in the Shell 2 : Innocence.
Stephanie posts some good thoughts on why there should be no more Star Trek series at TV: The Failure of “Star Trek: Enterprise”.
On my favourite Star Trek movies - definitely ST II : The Wrath of Khan and ST : First Contact.
Least favourite - ST V : The Final Frontier. Every time I’ve seen it I’ve wonder how they could have made Star Trek so bad. Still it does have that great line of Kirk’s - “Excuse me… Excuse me… I just wanted to ask a question. What does God need with a starship?”
Did the quiz “Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in?” which put me in Matrix. Obviously there were no questions about important things like whether you can speak Narn or Vorlon, and whether you’d invite a Reaver to tea.
 |
You scored as Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix). You can change the world around you. You have a strong will and a high technical aptitude. Is it possible you are the one? Now if only Agent Smith would quit beating up your friends. |
|
Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) |
|
81% | |
|
Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) |
|
69% | |
|
Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) |
|
63% | |
|
Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) |
|
63% | |
|
Moya (Farscape) |
|
63% | |
|
SG-1 (Stargate) |
|
63% | |
|
Serenity (Firefly) |
|
63% | |
|
Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) |
|
56% | |
|
Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) |
|
56% | |
|
Enterprise D (Star Trek) |
|
50% | |
|
FBI’s X-Files Division (The X-Files) |
|
44% | |
|
Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) |
|
44% |
Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics)
created with QuizFarm.com
Just found out that Andreas Katsulas, the actor who played
