SGUI had some technical problems trying to watch SG:U, but these have since been overcome.  (If you, like me, had the first two episodes expire out of your Hulu queue without warning, you can now find the first four episodes here on the show's static Hulu page.)  I spent the weekend catching up on the first four episodes, and I have to admit I'm impressed.

I had never been much of a Stargate watcher, either of the first show or of Stargate Atlantis.  Although oddly enough I have seen the same episode (which details how the team found Ronan) at least five times.  (in "American Gods," Neil Gaiman mentions this as a rule for television shows you hardly watch.)  Somehow whenever an episode came on television, I found something better to do after about ten minutes.


Read more >

Kara Thrace: Way Too Girly For Some People"Of course the BBC gave [Russell T.] Davies another show called Torchwood, which is basically "slash fiction" on television"

Dude, you say that like it's a bad thing.

So on the one hand, we have an appalling rant about how women are ruining science fiction for men.  (And also, gay men apparently don't count as "men.")  Entirely unsurprising, given that the rant is published on a self-declared "anti-feminist" website called The Spearhead, and the author's name is "Pro-male/Anti-feminist Tech."  (Honestly I think this dude has gotten enough attention at this point, and I'm not going to link to him.  The last thing he needs is more attention.)

On the other hand we have famed, acclaimed, and (if you ask me) god-like science fiction writer Charles Stross slamming the entire Star Trek oeuvre for being insufficiently science-y.  And you know, dude's got a point, but so what?  


Read more >

Cyberpunk is usually seen as one of the science fiction genres which was most accurate in its forecasting.  But we're not quite there yet!

1.    Cyberspace Without Typing

Famously, the concept of cyberspace (particularly as seen in William Gibson's Neuromancer) is said to have come to life as the internet.  Well I'll tell you something, that is just not true.  Except for your parents, who probably feel that anything that happens in a "browser" is exhilarating, and that the mere act of "Googling" a thing is just futuristic beyond belief.


Read more >

Night Watch

Since we are getting closer and closer to the release of Unseen Academicals – the brand new book by Sir Terry Pratchett – perhaps it is time for a review of one of his books. And what better book than Night Watch, my all time favorite?

All of you who are fans of Pratchett, especially those who love the Sam Vimes storylines, will be familiar with the Night Watch. Unlike some of his lighthearted ones, this one is more indepth, it makes a lot more social comment (if that is even possible with Pratchett) and it reveals some important details about the beloved Discworld cop.

This is the novel where we learn about Vimes, where we find out why Vimes thinks the way he does. Think of it as a fictional semi-biography of Commander Vimes, if you will.

Read more >

Do click the image for the larger, readable version. It's pretty funny, in or outside of geekhood, or SF fandom.

There's a remarkable juxtaposition between old and new, to create a kind of meta-commentary about media and entertainment.

And also, it's just fun.

District 9 Fails To Deliver The Awesomeness Promised By The PostersI loved "Alive in Joburg" so much when it was released.  I'm afraid that filmmaker Neill Blomkamp did more in that original six minute short film than in the whole of "District 9."  Some ideas just don't expand well, I guess.

I had difficulty with "District 9" on two fronts:

1.     Logic.  I know it's churlish to point out logical inconsistencies, but they were SO HUGE.  And so central to the point of the entire movie.  We are told that the aliens' space ship broke down over Johannesburg.  After a few months we broke into the ship and found all the aliens stumbling around half dead from starvation.  We airlifted them down to the ground, where they lived in refugee/concentration camps for twenty years.


Read more >

The SFnal concept of ABC's Defying Gravity initially seemed very promising. This new show from James Parriott of Grey's Anatomy and Michael Edelstein  of Desperate Housewives, puts an ensemble cast into the pressure-cooker environment of an international spacecraft for a six-year mission in the near future. In Joss Whedon's or Joe Straczynski's hands, this could be an amazing show.

Read more >

Scientists at Oxford University have reportedly created a new kind of aluminum by bombarding ordinary aluminum with emissions from the world's most powerful "soft" x-ray laser.

Read more >

This is the second year in a row Stephen King is releasing a book just in time for my birthday, and I consider it to be one of the best gifts a girl could ever receive from one of her favorite authors!

Under the Dome, which may be over 1,500 pages, is supposed to revisit themes covered in The Stand—though, King says, more allegorically. It takes place in Chester’s Mill, Maine, a normal town that’s suddenly divided from the rest of the world with an invisible force field, for no apparent reason.

Read more >