Clad in a long dark coat and wide parson's hat, Neil Young sang an end to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics tonight with his classic "Long May You Run" as the flames were extinguished on the tops of the gigantic cauldron pillars above him (well... at least until the Paralympics get under way in a couple of weeks). Now the thing looks even more like a chunk of Superman's Fortress of Solitude.
I found myself waiting for General Zod and his cohorts, bedecked in black disco jumpsuits, to breeze in and dump a whining Gene Hackman on the stage before demanding, with a level of satisfaction bordering on the sexual, for the son of Jor'El to kneel.
Instead we got The Shat.
Canada's very own king of the ridiculous, William Shatner, kicked off a prolonged and playful segment highlighting the jokes and myths about the country and Canadians, like our legendary prowess at coitus in canoes. And it was fitting. Who better than the over-the-top actor who played Captain Kirk, who, despite his enormous ego, can withstand and participate in decades of jokes at his expense, to MC the ultimate self-deprecating in-joke. How utterly, wonderfully Canadian! To put on a glitzy show in front of the whole world, an event where most countries would aim to show themselves in utter flawlessness, and then do so something quintessentially Canadian like make fun of ourselves for half an hour. For that, only the Shat would do to get things started.
There was one ultra-geeky moment during Shatner's performance that had me wondering though... At one point, he referred (and was answered with a roar of approval from the audience) to Canada as "the undiscovered country". Clearly, with this being Captain Kirk at the mic, there's a direct reference to Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country. In it, the members of the Federation and the Klingon Empire, quoting Shakespeare, come to the conclusion that the undiscovered country is the future - and, given the end of the film, a future of hope. In tapping into this, Shatner, or the nerdishly savvy VANOC writers who put his script together, are implying that Canada is the future, and a bright one at that.
Now, I'll be the first to support that sentiment, but there's something not quite right about that reading. Granted, it's been a few years since the last time I reread Hamlet, but from what I remember of that soliloque, the undiscovered country mentioned by the tormented Danish prince refers to death. Granted, it represents peace and an end to struggle, betrayal, fear and doubt, but it's death none-the-less. Something that the Star Trek writers either didn't pick up on or chose to ignore, and, it would seem, the VANOC crew has done the same. Was this then supposed to be the last word in super-subtle in-jokes? A superbly quiet and coy acknowledgement and thus jab at those who would wrongly make fun of Vancouver, Canada, and Canadians as provincial and uninteresting to the point of being boring-to-death? Something to say "we know what you think of us and we're throwing back in your face because we've just proven you wrong, fuck you very much"? I'd like to think the intent was on that level of genius, but admittedly, it probably wasn't. No, it was undoubtedly just a happy-go-lucky straight Trek 6 interpretation.
But you know what? That's good enough.
babbling relentlessly about science fiction, fantasy, and all points in between
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Malpractice from The Doctor
I've been in pain for the past couple of days, and it's all The Doctor's fault - Doctor Who's fault that is. I've just had the misfortune of watching (part of) Doctor Who: Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150.
This 1966 installment in the franchise stars Peter Cushing (known for playing Grand Moff Tarkan in Star Wars, and for his roles in the Hammer horror films) as the Doctor, though not the Doctor as timelord, merely an old inventor adventuring with his neice and granddaughter. After a policeman (played by Bernard Cribbens - who would come back decades later as a different character - Donna Noble's grandfather) stumbles aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor and co make a trip to London in the year 2150, only to find the city in ruins with the Daleks running the show and a small band of human rebels fighting the odds.
What makes this feature so terrible? Where to begin?! Maybe it's the silly sequence of the lobotomized Robomen having dinner. Or the fact that the Daleks would keep humans alive to use as shocktroops in the first place, when the aliens are otherwise so committed to extermination! How about the Daleks using oh-so-scary fire extinguishers to subdue their human foes? Or the rebel seige of the flying saucer where the humans are able to easily grab the Daleks and spin them around like trashcans playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, or sending them rolling down the boarding ramp to overturn when they hit the soil? But the worst was the Doctor himself, with Cushing playing the character (or being made to play him) as a doddering geezer who seems incapable of doing anything other than wringing his hands and pursing his lips. Say what you want about his figuring out how to pick his cell's magnetic lock aboard the Dalek ship, but most of the time the Doctor was an ineffective, passive, non-entity who rarely made the effort to do anything more than try to summon up the energy to whine.
Now, I started watching Doctor Who as a kid during the Tom Baker years, so I wasn't around to see Cushing's abomination when it first came out, and I'm glad of that. How did hear about this then? My buddy Steve, a fellow fan of the Doctor who was around when this installment came out, decided it was time to expand my Whovian education with an example of when the series didn't work. Spectacularly. I appreciate the sentiment, but it was a hard, hard lesson.
Was it all bad? No. I'm sure if you were doing your own version of MST3K, then DWDIE2150AD would be an excellent choice to heckle.
For the time being though, I think the only way to heal from this visual illness is to get a shot of good Doctor storytelling... maybe something from the 9th or 10th Doctors, like The Parting of the Ways, or Tooth and Claw, or The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, or Gridlock, or The Family of Blood.
This 1966 installment in the franchise stars Peter Cushing (known for playing Grand Moff Tarkan in Star Wars, and for his roles in the Hammer horror films) as the Doctor, though not the Doctor as timelord, merely an old inventor adventuring with his neice and granddaughter. After a policeman (played by Bernard Cribbens - who would come back decades later as a different character - Donna Noble's grandfather) stumbles aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor and co make a trip to London in the year 2150, only to find the city in ruins with the Daleks running the show and a small band of human rebels fighting the odds.
What makes this feature so terrible? Where to begin?! Maybe it's the silly sequence of the lobotomized Robomen having dinner. Or the fact that the Daleks would keep humans alive to use as shocktroops in the first place, when the aliens are otherwise so committed to extermination! How about the Daleks using oh-so-scary fire extinguishers to subdue their human foes? Or the rebel seige of the flying saucer where the humans are able to easily grab the Daleks and spin them around like trashcans playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, or sending them rolling down the boarding ramp to overturn when they hit the soil? But the worst was the Doctor himself, with Cushing playing the character (or being made to play him) as a doddering geezer who seems incapable of doing anything other than wringing his hands and pursing his lips. Say what you want about his figuring out how to pick his cell's magnetic lock aboard the Dalek ship, but most of the time the Doctor was an ineffective, passive, non-entity who rarely made the effort to do anything more than try to summon up the energy to whine.
Now, I started watching Doctor Who as a kid during the Tom Baker years, so I wasn't around to see Cushing's abomination when it first came out, and I'm glad of that. How did hear about this then? My buddy Steve, a fellow fan of the Doctor who was around when this installment came out, decided it was time to expand my Whovian education with an example of when the series didn't work. Spectacularly. I appreciate the sentiment, but it was a hard, hard lesson.
Was it all bad? No. I'm sure if you were doing your own version of MST3K, then DWDIE2150AD would be an excellent choice to heckle.
For the time being though, I think the only way to heal from this visual illness is to get a shot of good Doctor storytelling... maybe something from the 9th or 10th Doctors, like The Parting of the Ways, or Tooth and Claw, or The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, or Gridlock, or The Family of Blood.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Walter Koenig's Son Missing in Vancouver
Actor Walter Koenig's (Star Trek's Chekhov & Babylon 5's Bester) son Andrew Koenig has been reported missing in the Vancouver area. 41-year-old Andrew, who also works in the TV/film industry, was last seen February 14th in the area of Stanley Park. To view a photo and for more information, visit Walter Koenig's website. Anyone who has information on Andrew Koenig's whereabouts is urged to contact the Vancouver Police Department.
Update:
Police and the Koenig family have announced that Andrew Koenig's body was found in Stanley Park yesterday. He'd taken his own life.
If you are depressed or suicidal, or if you know someone who might be, you can get help from your local crisis centre/distress line.
If you're worried that a friend may be suicidal, talk to them, and most importantly, listen. You can then assist them with contacting a crisis line or getting other help.
If you're a survivor who's lost someone to suicide, crisis lines are a good source of support for you too.
In Greater Vancouver in BC, contact the Crisis Intervention & Suicide Prevention Centre of BC at 604-872-3311.
Remember, you're not alone.
Update:
Police and the Koenig family have announced that Andrew Koenig's body was found in Stanley Park yesterday. He'd taken his own life.
If you are depressed or suicidal, or if you know someone who might be, you can get help from your local crisis centre/distress line.
If you're worried that a friend may be suicidal, talk to them, and most importantly, listen. You can then assist them with contacting a crisis line or getting other help.
If you're a survivor who's lost someone to suicide, crisis lines are a good source of support for you too.
In Greater Vancouver in BC, contact the Crisis Intervention & Suicide Prevention Centre of BC at 604-872-3311.
Remember, you're not alone.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
A Geek's Guide to Vancouver During the Olympics
Contrary to popular belief, some geeks enjoy sports. Pull us away from our musings on the impact of the New Wave authors or our Star Trek vs Star Wars feuds, and chances are you'll find more than a few members of the SF community watching football (and if they have taste, it'll be CFL rather than NFL), baseball or hockey, and quite possibly playing a sport or two as well.
To that end, it's quite likely that a few geeks have come to Vancouver for the Olympics. If you're one of those people, by now you've had a week to find the venues, LiveSites and O-Zone and start to get comfortable with the layout of the city(ies). But having gotten your routine down, you're probably also now looking to branch out and see and do other things. And if you're a fanboy or girl, that means gettin' your SF fix on.
To help out-of-towners, I've assembled this list of recommendations:
Books (new)
White Dwarf Books
3715 West 10th Ave, Vancouver
-at 10th & Alma
Be sure you pay a visit to White Dwarf when you're in town. Walter & Jill have been an important fixture on the local SF scene for years with their great little store crammed with books to satisfy every kind of science fiction and fantasy (and to a lesser extent horror) fan. And there's Judd the basset hound to greet you as you come in the door. This place is like a second home to me. (when you're there, you may also want to wander up the street to the Cocoa Nymph for some chocolate)
Books (used)
Characters Fine Books & Coffee Bar
8419 Granville St, Vancouver
I don't buy used books often, but this is one of the stores in Vancouver I have been known to visit occasionally. Some good SF on the back shelves, and it's well organized, so you can actually find stuff. (If you take some time to poke around the neighbourhood [Marpole] and you're hungry, Mr Pickwick's Fish & Chips is a good stop, as is Chica's Latin American restaurant just down a block or two. Avoid Vera's burger shack though - the chain's other outlets are great, but for some reason, the Marpole location can't seem to do anything right.)
Lawrence Books
3591 West 41st Ave, Vancouver
High shelves crammed every which way with books crowding narrow aisles. Again, I don't frequent used stores much, but I do visit the local group from time to time, and Lawrence is one of the ones worth going back to.
Comics
Golden Age Collectables
852 Granville St, Vancouver
I practically lived at this place when I was a teen. Fantastic selection of new comics, big stock of back issues, and lots of other stuff to catch the eye. Interesting sports aside: a few years ago when I was still working in radio, I remember one of the sportscasters of the news/talk station I was working at made a bold move one weekend evening when he had to fill in as host of Sportstalk - there was nothing going on in the world of sports, so he brought in a couple of the ladies who worked at Golden Age to do a segment on sports memorabilia, trading cards, and other collectables. The phone lines virtually exploded with sports fans desperate to talk about their treasures. One of the best shows the program ever did. Back to the subject at hand though... if you're an Olympic fan in town looking to pick up the latest issue of your favourite comic, Golden Age is located on the Granville Mall, so it's very easy to get to from yoru Downtown hotel or one of the Downtown activity areas or venues.
The Comicshop
2089 West 4th Ave, Vancouver
While I haven't purchased anything here (haven't purchsed many comics at all in years - the odd graphic novel, but not a lot of individual comics, although I do like to look in the stores from time to time), I have been in this store a few times and have always been impressed with their stock. It's a regular haunt of my comic-lovin' buddy Steve, who does buy frequently there, and that's a very good recommendation in my books. It's in the trendy section of 4th Ave, so lots of eateries and stores of all types in the neighbourhood. Granville Island's close by as well.
There are, of course, plenty of other used book stores and comic dealers across the region, and I'd encourage you to explore them wherever you find them.
As for seeing the sites of your favourite shows and movies around town, there are just too many to list! For years now, shows like X-Files, the Outer Limits, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica and many others, as well as countless movies, have been shot around the Lower Mainland. Stand at the south end of the Granville St Bridge looking north across False Creek, and the city skyline is that of Caprica City from the opening sequence of BSG. The Burrard St Bridge was the site of a battle in the pilot of Highlander. Simon Fraser University's main campus in Burnaby has hosted episodes of BSG (not to mention the beginning of the execrable remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still). And on, and on, and on, and on. Like I said, too many locations used in too many shows and movies. However, if you want to check out some of the locations where Battlestar and Caprica have been shot, I'd encourage you to jump over to a local fan site called The 13th Colony.
In terms of great places to eat, waaaaaaay too many restaurants to mention. If you're looking for restaurant recommendations, reply to this thread and let me know what cuisine you're in the mood for, and I'll make a suggestion or two.
Welcome to Vancouver, fellow SF fans!
To that end, it's quite likely that a few geeks have come to Vancouver for the Olympics. If you're one of those people, by now you've had a week to find the venues, LiveSites and O-Zone and start to get comfortable with the layout of the city(ies). But having gotten your routine down, you're probably also now looking to branch out and see and do other things. And if you're a fanboy or girl, that means gettin' your SF fix on.
To help out-of-towners, I've assembled this list of recommendations:
Books (new)
White Dwarf Books
3715 West 10th Ave, Vancouver
-at 10th & Alma
Be sure you pay a visit to White Dwarf when you're in town. Walter & Jill have been an important fixture on the local SF scene for years with their great little store crammed with books to satisfy every kind of science fiction and fantasy (and to a lesser extent horror) fan. And there's Judd the basset hound to greet you as you come in the door. This place is like a second home to me. (when you're there, you may also want to wander up the street to the Cocoa Nymph for some chocolate)
Books (used)
Characters Fine Books & Coffee Bar
8419 Granville St, Vancouver
I don't buy used books often, but this is one of the stores in Vancouver I have been known to visit occasionally. Some good SF on the back shelves, and it's well organized, so you can actually find stuff. (If you take some time to poke around the neighbourhood [Marpole] and you're hungry, Mr Pickwick's Fish & Chips is a good stop, as is Chica's Latin American restaurant just down a block or two. Avoid Vera's burger shack though - the chain's other outlets are great, but for some reason, the Marpole location can't seem to do anything right.)
Lawrence Books
3591 West 41st Ave, Vancouver
High shelves crammed every which way with books crowding narrow aisles. Again, I don't frequent used stores much, but I do visit the local group from time to time, and Lawrence is one of the ones worth going back to.
Comics
Golden Age Collectables
852 Granville St, Vancouver
I practically lived at this place when I was a teen. Fantastic selection of new comics, big stock of back issues, and lots of other stuff to catch the eye. Interesting sports aside: a few years ago when I was still working in radio, I remember one of the sportscasters of the news/talk station I was working at made a bold move one weekend evening when he had to fill in as host of Sportstalk - there was nothing going on in the world of sports, so he brought in a couple of the ladies who worked at Golden Age to do a segment on sports memorabilia, trading cards, and other collectables. The phone lines virtually exploded with sports fans desperate to talk about their treasures. One of the best shows the program ever did. Back to the subject at hand though... if you're an Olympic fan in town looking to pick up the latest issue of your favourite comic, Golden Age is located on the Granville Mall, so it's very easy to get to from yoru Downtown hotel or one of the Downtown activity areas or venues.
The Comicshop
2089 West 4th Ave, Vancouver
While I haven't purchased anything here (haven't purchsed many comics at all in years - the odd graphic novel, but not a lot of individual comics, although I do like to look in the stores from time to time), I have been in this store a few times and have always been impressed with their stock. It's a regular haunt of my comic-lovin' buddy Steve, who does buy frequently there, and that's a very good recommendation in my books. It's in the trendy section of 4th Ave, so lots of eateries and stores of all types in the neighbourhood. Granville Island's close by as well.
There are, of course, plenty of other used book stores and comic dealers across the region, and I'd encourage you to explore them wherever you find them.
As for seeing the sites of your favourite shows and movies around town, there are just too many to list! For years now, shows like X-Files, the Outer Limits, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica and many others, as well as countless movies, have been shot around the Lower Mainland. Stand at the south end of the Granville St Bridge looking north across False Creek, and the city skyline is that of Caprica City from the opening sequence of BSG. The Burrard St Bridge was the site of a battle in the pilot of Highlander. Simon Fraser University's main campus in Burnaby has hosted episodes of BSG (not to mention the beginning of the execrable remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still). And on, and on, and on, and on. Like I said, too many locations used in too many shows and movies. However, if you want to check out some of the locations where Battlestar and Caprica have been shot, I'd encourage you to jump over to a local fan site called The 13th Colony.
In terms of great places to eat, waaaaaaay too many restaurants to mention. If you're looking for restaurant recommendations, reply to this thread and let me know what cuisine you're in the mood for, and I'll make a suggestion or two.
Welcome to Vancouver, fellow SF fans!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Final Issue of IROSF
Sad news in the world of critical studies of SF, this month marks the release of the 20th, and last, issue of the Internet Review of Science Fiction (IROSF).
As collections of essays and reviews, issues of IROSF were always thought-provoking, sometimes entertaining, occasionally annoying, but never dull. Publisher Blunt "Bluejack" Jackson and Editor-in-Chief Stacey Janssen are to be commended for providing a forum where members of the SF community could challenge each other to look at the genre(s) in ways we might not have thought of before. The study of SF is diminished as a result of the loss of this online publication.
Last summer, I signed-on as a volunteer Editor with the site. While various personal commitments prevented me from participating as much as I wanted to, I was able to pitch-in now and then with vetting new submissions and editing accepted works, and I'd like to extend my deepest thanks to Stacey and Blunt for the allowing me the privilege to support their team.
If you haven't checked-out IROSF before, I'd certainly recommend visiting the site and looking through its archives.
As collections of essays and reviews, issues of IROSF were always thought-provoking, sometimes entertaining, occasionally annoying, but never dull. Publisher Blunt "Bluejack" Jackson and Editor-in-Chief Stacey Janssen are to be commended for providing a forum where members of the SF community could challenge each other to look at the genre(s) in ways we might not have thought of before. The study of SF is diminished as a result of the loss of this online publication.
Last summer, I signed-on as a volunteer Editor with the site. While various personal commitments prevented me from participating as much as I wanted to, I was able to pitch-in now and then with vetting new submissions and editing accepted works, and I'd like to extend my deepest thanks to Stacey and Blunt for the allowing me the privilege to support their team.
If you haven't checked-out IROSF before, I'd certainly recommend visiting the site and looking through its archives.
Friday, February 12, 2010
An SF Start to the Olympics - Or - Vancouver's Little Piece of Krypton
I don't normally associate the Olympic Games with science fiction, but watching the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympics on TV tonight, I couldn't help but get a strong SF vibe.
The pageant was full of the expected singing and dancing and other performances, special effects and speechifying. Some, like the light-show orcas and the poetry slam guy, were great. Other stuff... meh. And some, like a bloated KD Lang in a white suit looking scarily like Elvis (or, if that outfit had sequins, maybe Liberace), just downright surreal. But that's to be expected.
What I didn't expect to see was the full-blown in-your-face sci-finess at the lighting of the Olympic Flame. And I'm not talking about the multitude of flame-lighters that included The Great One and The Man In Motion. They weren't remotely SF. No, I'm talking about the appearance of the flame cauldron itself - or, at least once most of the hydraulic problems were corrected (but not all - only 3 of the 4 struts around the centrepiece ended up working) and it lurched into action. A towering centrepiece surrounded by three angled struts, shining like huge ice crystals (before they were set alight).
Did anybody else at that moment join me in saying out loud: Holy shit! That thing looks like the Fortress of Solitude from in Superman: The Movie!
And, if you didn't say it out lout, weren't you at least thinking it? Or getting a weird SFish sense of deja vu?
All you have to do is take a look at some photos or video. Here's a link to the Global BC news site, with Gretzky standing in front of the display. Now, click over to Youtube for a recap of the scene where young Clark tosses the green Kryptonian crystal into the ice. How could you not watch those struts heaving themselves up from the floor of BC Place stadium and not get a flashback to young Supe's new digs erupting from the ice of Canada's North Pole?
The whole time I sat there watching this thing lurch into place I was just waiting for a big giant holograph of Marlon Brado's head to appear and start mumbling: "It is forbidden for you to interefere in the course of human history."
Really? Even just a little? Just for a minute or two to get a gold medal in hockey? No? Well, okay then. Fine.
Let the 2010 Winter Olympic Games on Krypton - er, in Vancouver begin!
The pageant was full of the expected singing and dancing and other performances, special effects and speechifying. Some, like the light-show orcas and the poetry slam guy, were great. Other stuff... meh. And some, like a bloated KD Lang in a white suit looking scarily like Elvis (or, if that outfit had sequins, maybe Liberace), just downright surreal. But that's to be expected.
What I didn't expect to see was the full-blown in-your-face sci-finess at the lighting of the Olympic Flame. And I'm not talking about the multitude of flame-lighters that included The Great One and The Man In Motion. They weren't remotely SF. No, I'm talking about the appearance of the flame cauldron itself - or, at least once most of the hydraulic problems were corrected (but not all - only 3 of the 4 struts around the centrepiece ended up working) and it lurched into action. A towering centrepiece surrounded by three angled struts, shining like huge ice crystals (before they were set alight).
Did anybody else at that moment join me in saying out loud: Holy shit! That thing looks like the Fortress of Solitude from in Superman: The Movie!
And, if you didn't say it out lout, weren't you at least thinking it? Or getting a weird SFish sense of deja vu?
All you have to do is take a look at some photos or video. Here's a link to the Global BC news site, with Gretzky standing in front of the display. Now, click over to Youtube for a recap of the scene where young Clark tosses the green Kryptonian crystal into the ice. How could you not watch those struts heaving themselves up from the floor of BC Place stadium and not get a flashback to young Supe's new digs erupting from the ice of Canada's North Pole?
The whole time I sat there watching this thing lurch into place I was just waiting for a big giant holograph of Marlon Brado's head to appear and start mumbling: "It is forbidden for you to interefere in the course of human history."
Really? Even just a little? Just for a minute or two to get a gold medal in hockey? No? Well, okay then. Fine.
Let the 2010 Winter Olympic Games on Krypton - er, in Vancouver begin!
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Which Book from the TBR Pile Do You Think I Should Read Next?
As I mentioned in my previous post, I' ve somehow managed to accumulate way too many books in my To Be Read pile. The next that I'll be reading will definitely be the newest Wild Cards book - Suicide Kings, because it's an advanced publisher's copy that was given to me by a friend. But what about after that?
Here's the complete list (in no particular order) of what's in my TBR pile. Which of these books do you think I should read next?
Here's the complete list (in no particular order) of what's in my TBR pile. Which of these books do you think I should read next?
- Old Man's War - by John Scalzi
- Blind Lake - by Robert Charles Wilson
- Other Earths - edited by Nick Gevers & Jay Lake
- The Best of John W Campbell - edited by Lester Del Rey
- Riverworld and Other Stories - by Philip Jose Farmer
- Summer of Night - by Dan Simmons
- Very Bad Deaths - by Spider Robinson
- Accelerando - by Charles Stross
- Anathem - by Neal Stephenson
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
- The Star Rover - by Jack London
- Tesseracts 3 - edited by Candas Jane Dorsey & Gerry Truscott
- Tesseracts 4 - edited by Lorna Toolis & Michael Skeet
- Tesseracts 5 - edited by Robert Runte & Yves Meynard
- The Machineries of Joy - by Ray Bradbury
- The Chrysalids - by John Wyndham
- Tesseracts 6 - edited by Robert J Sawyer & Carolyn Clink
- On Spec (spring 1998)
- On Spec (summer 1998)
- Neo Opsis (issue 1)
- On Spec (fall 2000)
- Transversions 8/9 (spring/summer 1998)
- Shadows in the Sun - by Chad Oliver
- Stardust - by Neil Gaiman
- Claus Effect - by David Nickle & Karl Schroeder
- Tesseracts 7 - edited by Paula Johanson & Jean-Louis Trudel
- Emerald Eye, the best Irish Imaginative fiction - edited by Frank Ludlow & Roelof Goudriaan
- Future Perfect, American Science Fiction of the Nineteenth Century - edited by H Bruce Franklin
- Charles Dickens Best Ghost Stories
- The Best of Neo Opsis - edited by Karl Johanson
- The Prestige - by Christopher Priest
- Blindsight - by Peter Watts
- Starfish - by Peter Watts
- Far-Seer - by Robert J Sawyer
- Escape Clause - edited by Clelie Rich
- Land/Space, an anthology of prairie speculative fiction - edited by Candas Jane Dorsey & Judy McCrosky
- Future Welcome - edited by Todd Swift
- Gaslight Grimoire, fantastic stories of Sherlock Holmes - edited by JR Campbell & Charles Prepolec
- Land of the Headless - by Adam Roberts
- The Plot to Save Socrates - by Paul Levinson
- Crossing the Boundaries, French fantasy from Bragelonne
- Science Fiction, the best of the year 2006 - edited by Rich Horton
- North of Infinity, Futurity Visions - edited by Michael Magnini
- The Public Works Trilogy - by Matt Ruff
- Philip K Dick, Four Novels of the 1960's - edited by Jonathan Lethem
- The Sword and the Stone - TH White
- The Space Opera Renaissance - edited by David G Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer
- Harm - by Brian W Aldiss
- Enclave - by Kit Reed
- The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, volume two B - edited by Ben Bova
- The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun - by JRR Tolkien
- Hodd - by Adam Thorpe
- The Fortress of Solitude - by Jonathan Lethem
- Makers - by Cory Doctorow
How Do You Choose the Next Book You'll Read?
Not too long ago, SF Signal asked for its Mind Meld feature: What SF/F/H books are on the top of your "To-Be-Read" pile? That got me (and, from the looks of the 'meld, a few other people) thinking about a problem that plagues me often: How do you decide which of the books in your TBR pile (or In-box, or New Acquisitions stack, or Timmy, or whatever you call it) to read next?
If you're like me, this can actually be a problem.
I'll confess, I'm an SF book-buying addict. It's damn near impossible for me to go into my local SF specialty store, White Dwarf, and not leave without purchasing at least one book. While I'm not in there every week, the fact that I am in there every 4 to 6 weeks, and that it's not uncommon for me to buy 2 or more, the TBR pile can pile up pretty quickly. This really became an issue during the back half of 2009, when I was pushing to meet my 365 short stories quota and putting aside reading novels until I was done.
Now, there are some people who only buy or check-out from their library one book at a time and read it before they bother picking up another. If you're one of these people, that's fine, but you're from a different universe than I am, and this post ain't for you.
So the pile seems to keep getting bigger - at last count, there were 55. And when it's time to choose something to read, I'm confronted with the dilemma of whether to choose something old versus a more recent buy, whether to go with an author I've read before and know I'll enjoy or try someone new, a novel or short story anthology, etc.
Sometimes I've been waiting for a particular author to come out with a new book for a while, so when it finally hits the shelves, I'll buy it, make it the priority, and move it to the top of the pile. The latest Wheel of Time book is one example. Once I was done the 365 short story challenge, diving into Brandon Sanderson's continuation of Robert Jordan's series was non-negotiable. Similarly, when Patrick Rothfuss' new book comes out, or by some miracle George RR Martin's latest Song of Ice and Fire installment is released, those will take priority.
In the absence of that kind of clear leader of the pack, it can be a tough choice. Sometimes it's a random urge to read one type of genre or sub-genre over another, maybe because I'm looking for some diversity, like finishing SF and moving over to Fantasy for a change of pace. Or I might read a review of some author's latest work and realize I've got another of his/her books in the pile and be tempted to pick it up. But ultimately, I have to admit, it's pretty arbitrary.
So if you've got a big To-Be-Read pile, how do you decide what to read next?
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Passing Up the Chance to Pick Over a Carcass
Not too long ago, independent book dealer Duthie Books, an institution of the Vancouver book scene, announced it was closing it's last store location. Their final going-out-of-business sale started on Thursday and will last a couple of weeks, but while I've never met a book sale I didn't like, I won't be circling with the other vultures this time.
There's no arguing that it's getting tough out there for book retailers. SF Signal did a great interview with Alan Beatts, the owner of Borderlands Bookstore in San Francisco, a few years ago, where Beatts explains in detail the challenges faced by independents these days in the form of national big box chain competition and Amazon. Throw in last year's economic slump, and the general culture shift over the past few decades where the increasing story complexity and visual candy of video games are drawing more kids away who otherwise might have read more and grown into fandom, and bookstore owners (especially independents) have got some pretty impressive odds stacked against them.
While conditions here in Canada are somewhat different than in the US (our economy wasn't pounded anywhere near as hard because we know how to manage it better), our national big box, Chapters, with the Canadian wing of Amazon coming in pincus-like on the other side, have hit the little guys hard. Case in point: Winnipeg's McNally Robinson, a fine bookselling company with (at least when I lived there briefly back in the 90's) great selection, friendly staff who knew their stock, and beautiful dark green stores accented with wood; but ultimately a store that got hammered down by competition and a few wrong moves by management to the point where they're down to just a couple of stores, only one of which is in the 'Peg, their home town.
Now it's Duthie, except this time, this 53-year-old landmark for booklovers on the Lower Mainland is going down for the count.
To be fair, Duthie's been in a downward spiral for years. I can remember back at the end of the 90's when they had several locations in Vancouver, including one at Robson & Hornby (right in the heart of the Downtown shopping district) where I used to go. But then Chapters started rampaging across the region. Word came that the giant (which had evolved out of the Coles/WH Smith/World's Biggest Bookstore conglomerant - this was years before it was taken over by Indigo) was going to set up one of its megastores in the heart of Downtown. To protect its turf, Duthie shut down the Robson & Hornby store and opened its own big box a couple of blocks away at Georgia & Granville. Problem is, that didn't stop Chapters from proceeding with its plans and opening up shop a couple of blocks away at Robson & Howe anyway. Inability to keep up with Chapters' pricing, along with other factors no doubt, led to the demise of the Duthie big box, and over time, their various other small, pre-existing outlets, were closed too.
That left Duthie with their last location on Fourth Avenue in Kitsilano. And now, unable to compete, they're finally calling it quits.
But as I mentioned before, I won't be going to take part in their last hurrah by buying some of their SF leftovers.
And this isn't because I'm shocked and upset by Duthie being forced to close due to competitive market forces to the point where I feel I can't legitimize what's happened by participating in a going-out-of-business sale. Far from it. While I think it's unfortunate they're done, I have, in principle, no problem at all with taking advantage of a break in price on their books.
It isn't because their SF section is small. While it is tiny, many's the time that I've been in bookstores with small SF sections where I've found stock that no-one else is carrying yet, or that no-one else has carried in a long time and which might even be out of print. You can find some buried treasure when you take the time to check a bookstore to see if it has an SF section, no matter how small it may be at first glance. Besides, while SF may be my passion, I enjoy reading other types of books as well, and in theory it would be worth while to see what the other sections held.
It isn't because I don't support local small business. Quite the contrary, I'm a huge fan of neighbourhood businesses. Anyone who's read this blog long enough knows I'll sing the praises of White Dwarf Books - Vancouver's SF specialty bookshop - at the drop of a hat. Small business owners and their staff (for the most part) know their products very well and take the time to get to know their customers.
I'm not going to Duthie's swan-song sale because of bad customer service.
Back in the years before Duthie started to fall towards the retail event horizon, I used to be a somewhat regular customer at their Robson & Hornby location. Not every week mind you, but reliably every three months or so and on those visits I'd usually buy a couple of books. I'd go Downtown, go into the store, take a cursory glance around the small street-level shop, then head downstairs to their much larger basement section. The place reminded me a lot of the library basement in the opening of Ghostbusters. Even though the floor tiles, ceiling and walls were white to try to make the place bright, the ceiling was low, the stacks were close to one-another, and even when there were lots of people down there (and this was frequently the case, remember, prime Downtown business and shopping district - people were coming in all the time), you didn't really see them or hear them much... it always felt empty and haunted. And yet they had a fantastic selection. There was never a time when I went in there and couldn't find something new and interesting, or something old that I didn't know about - and this is despite the fact that between my visits to Duthie I was going to other stores every couple of weeks, so I knew the new stock fairly well. To top it off, the staff were always friendly and a couple of them knew their SF pretty well. It was a pleasure to do business with Duthie in the old days.
Fast forward to last year. The Duthie empire had crumbled with the Fourth Ave/Kits store left as its sole remaining outpost. I had some time on my hands one afternoon and spent a few hours walking up and down the strip, and in addition to checking out other stores, went in to see what Duthie had. I was immediately struck by the sour reek of exclusivity. To be fair, Kits is a place with its fair share of hipsters, university students, wannabe-artists, trend-chasers and assorted other hangers-on. But there are an equal number, if not more, of people who are generally talented, intelligent, creative, and cutting edge, but who are friendly and down-to-earth. On that day the store was staffed only by the former group. It's as though I'd walked through the door and some airport-like uncool detector had triggered a silent alarm, informing the Dieter-from-Sprockets brigade behind the counter and at the restocking carts that someone not of the scene had violated the sanctity of their store's pretension zone. I moseyed to the back (yep, the stereotype was in effect - gotta keep the SF section crammed away in the farthest, darkest - yes, the light above the section had gone out and not been replaced - back corner like twitchy cousin Skippy to make sure the neighbours don't see him) and found a book I hadn't seen anywhere else. Book in hand, I browsed around the rest of the store for a while before heading to the front counter to settle up. That in itself seemed to be quite an affront to the 20-year-old staffer who deigned to break off his conversation with one of his colleagues to punch through my purchase. He glared and sighed dramatically the entire time as though I was guilty of some intellectual offence by purchasing SF rather than the vegan cookbook of the week or the latest reprint of Satre. I laid down my cash, took my book, and left knowing that was the last time I'd go into that store.
Now, I'm sure that unrelenting competition from Chapters and Amazon ground Duthie down. I'm willing to believe they probably never recovered from the debacle of their attempt at superstoredom Downtown. I'm aware that real estate prices on the Lower Mainland are through the roof and rent or taxes on their business may have been a burden. But while that store may have had one or two good staffers (not that I saw them), I'm positive that if a reasonably normal-lookin' guy like me got treated as badly as I did last year, the same thing must have happened to plenty of other people. It's one thing for a big box retailer's staff to be impersonal, it's quite another for a neighbourhood store's staff to be snotty. If you treat people badly, your customer base will erode and with no customer loyalty, you won't be able to compete against the big guys, or even just hold your own in your own part of town. In the end, I have to wonder if, at least in part because of their staffing, they brought this on themselves.
I'm not going to the sale at Duthie's because even as they go out of business and need every dollar they can get, they don't deserve my business. Not anymore anyway. And now there won't be a chance to win it back.
There's no arguing that it's getting tough out there for book retailers. SF Signal did a great interview with Alan Beatts, the owner of Borderlands Bookstore in San Francisco, a few years ago, where Beatts explains in detail the challenges faced by independents these days in the form of national big box chain competition and Amazon. Throw in last year's economic slump, and the general culture shift over the past few decades where the increasing story complexity and visual candy of video games are drawing more kids away who otherwise might have read more and grown into fandom, and bookstore owners (especially independents) have got some pretty impressive odds stacked against them.
While conditions here in Canada are somewhat different than in the US (our economy wasn't pounded anywhere near as hard because we know how to manage it better), our national big box, Chapters, with the Canadian wing of Amazon coming in pincus-like on the other side, have hit the little guys hard. Case in point: Winnipeg's McNally Robinson, a fine bookselling company with (at least when I lived there briefly back in the 90's) great selection, friendly staff who knew their stock, and beautiful dark green stores accented with wood; but ultimately a store that got hammered down by competition and a few wrong moves by management to the point where they're down to just a couple of stores, only one of which is in the 'Peg, their home town.
Now it's Duthie, except this time, this 53-year-old landmark for booklovers on the Lower Mainland is going down for the count.
To be fair, Duthie's been in a downward spiral for years. I can remember back at the end of the 90's when they had several locations in Vancouver, including one at Robson & Hornby (right in the heart of the Downtown shopping district) where I used to go. But then Chapters started rampaging across the region. Word came that the giant (which had evolved out of the Coles/WH Smith/World's Biggest Bookstore conglomerant - this was years before it was taken over by Indigo) was going to set up one of its megastores in the heart of Downtown. To protect its turf, Duthie shut down the Robson & Hornby store and opened its own big box a couple of blocks away at Georgia & Granville. Problem is, that didn't stop Chapters from proceeding with its plans and opening up shop a couple of blocks away at Robson & Howe anyway. Inability to keep up with Chapters' pricing, along with other factors no doubt, led to the demise of the Duthie big box, and over time, their various other small, pre-existing outlets, were closed too.
That left Duthie with their last location on Fourth Avenue in Kitsilano. And now, unable to compete, they're finally calling it quits.
But as I mentioned before, I won't be going to take part in their last hurrah by buying some of their SF leftovers.
And this isn't because I'm shocked and upset by Duthie being forced to close due to competitive market forces to the point where I feel I can't legitimize what's happened by participating in a going-out-of-business sale. Far from it. While I think it's unfortunate they're done, I have, in principle, no problem at all with taking advantage of a break in price on their books.
It isn't because their SF section is small. While it is tiny, many's the time that I've been in bookstores with small SF sections where I've found stock that no-one else is carrying yet, or that no-one else has carried in a long time and which might even be out of print. You can find some buried treasure when you take the time to check a bookstore to see if it has an SF section, no matter how small it may be at first glance. Besides, while SF may be my passion, I enjoy reading other types of books as well, and in theory it would be worth while to see what the other sections held.
It isn't because I don't support local small business. Quite the contrary, I'm a huge fan of neighbourhood businesses. Anyone who's read this blog long enough knows I'll sing the praises of White Dwarf Books - Vancouver's SF specialty bookshop - at the drop of a hat. Small business owners and their staff (for the most part) know their products very well and take the time to get to know their customers.
I'm not going to Duthie's swan-song sale because of bad customer service.
Back in the years before Duthie started to fall towards the retail event horizon, I used to be a somewhat regular customer at their Robson & Hornby location. Not every week mind you, but reliably every three months or so and on those visits I'd usually buy a couple of books. I'd go Downtown, go into the store, take a cursory glance around the small street-level shop, then head downstairs to their much larger basement section. The place reminded me a lot of the library basement in the opening of Ghostbusters. Even though the floor tiles, ceiling and walls were white to try to make the place bright, the ceiling was low, the stacks were close to one-another, and even when there were lots of people down there (and this was frequently the case, remember, prime Downtown business and shopping district - people were coming in all the time), you didn't really see them or hear them much... it always felt empty and haunted. And yet they had a fantastic selection. There was never a time when I went in there and couldn't find something new and interesting, or something old that I didn't know about - and this is despite the fact that between my visits to Duthie I was going to other stores every couple of weeks, so I knew the new stock fairly well. To top it off, the staff were always friendly and a couple of them knew their SF pretty well. It was a pleasure to do business with Duthie in the old days.
Fast forward to last year. The Duthie empire had crumbled with the Fourth Ave/Kits store left as its sole remaining outpost. I had some time on my hands one afternoon and spent a few hours walking up and down the strip, and in addition to checking out other stores, went in to see what Duthie had. I was immediately struck by the sour reek of exclusivity. To be fair, Kits is a place with its fair share of hipsters, university students, wannabe-artists, trend-chasers and assorted other hangers-on. But there are an equal number, if not more, of people who are generally talented, intelligent, creative, and cutting edge, but who are friendly and down-to-earth. On that day the store was staffed only by the former group. It's as though I'd walked through the door and some airport-like uncool detector had triggered a silent alarm, informing the Dieter-from-Sprockets brigade behind the counter and at the restocking carts that someone not of the scene had violated the sanctity of their store's pretension zone. I moseyed to the back (yep, the stereotype was in effect - gotta keep the SF section crammed away in the farthest, darkest - yes, the light above the section had gone out and not been replaced - back corner like twitchy cousin Skippy to make sure the neighbours don't see him) and found a book I hadn't seen anywhere else. Book in hand, I browsed around the rest of the store for a while before heading to the front counter to settle up. That in itself seemed to be quite an affront to the 20-year-old staffer who deigned to break off his conversation with one of his colleagues to punch through my purchase. He glared and sighed dramatically the entire time as though I was guilty of some intellectual offence by purchasing SF rather than the vegan cookbook of the week or the latest reprint of Satre. I laid down my cash, took my book, and left knowing that was the last time I'd go into that store.
Now, I'm sure that unrelenting competition from Chapters and Amazon ground Duthie down. I'm willing to believe they probably never recovered from the debacle of their attempt at superstoredom Downtown. I'm aware that real estate prices on the Lower Mainland are through the roof and rent or taxes on their business may have been a burden. But while that store may have had one or two good staffers (not that I saw them), I'm positive that if a reasonably normal-lookin' guy like me got treated as badly as I did last year, the same thing must have happened to plenty of other people. It's one thing for a big box retailer's staff to be impersonal, it's quite another for a neighbourhood store's staff to be snotty. If you treat people badly, your customer base will erode and with no customer loyalty, you won't be able to compete against the big guys, or even just hold your own in your own part of town. In the end, I have to wonder if, at least in part because of their staffing, they brought this on themselves.
I'm not going to the sale at Duthie's because even as they go out of business and need every dollar they can get, they don't deserve my business. Not anymore anyway. And now there won't be a chance to win it back.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Onward if Not Exactly Upward - Chuck season 3
With three episodes of the new season aired so far, I'm glad Chuck is back, but I have to admit I'm a little disappointed.
Season 2 left off with our intrepid geek having been loaded with version 2 of the intercept, endowing him (Matrix-like, if temporarily) with an astounding array of new abilities and knowledge with the potential of making him the uber-spy.
The problem is all of the qualifications the writers have put on Chuck's ability to use intercept.2. He has the potential for an increadible change of life, but it doesn't happen because frequently he can't make the thing work. Because of this, the addition of abilities like kung fu to his storehouse of secrets, doesn't much change his character. The only real difference is that now the others have added "Come on, Chuck, you can do it!" to their mantra of "Flash on it, Chuck!". It's like he's the Greatest American Hero doing well enough with the magic jammies, rather than excelling as much as he would if he hadn't lost the manual.
The consequence is that he flunks out of spy school and has to go back to his Nerd Herd double-life. His role in the team dynamic and in the field is pretty much the same as before too.
Moreover, his relationship with Sarah is, ultimately unchanged, with the two of them pining for one-another while pretending they're just friends and work associates who are pretending to be lovers.
So, at this point at least, season 3 is pretty much the same as seasons 1 & 2. There's been no significant character or plot development.
Which is too bad, because these things are possible in a geek-struggling-to-deal-with-being-thrown-into-a-big-dangerous-strange-life show like this. Look at Reaper. Sam's life got thrown into deep water, but he (and other characters) changed over the course of its two seasons. Sam got the girl, grew into his powers, and started to take the offensive in getting out of his contract with the devil. There were signs that had the show continued (and maybe it will, I'm not up on the latest gossip about whether it'll get renewed) he would have continued to adapt as a character and change his role.
Chuck hasn't done that.
That being said, Chuck is one of the most entertaining shows on the tube right now, and I'll certainly keep watching. I just hope that instead of serving us the same-old-same-old, the writers will allow Chuck to evolve a little.
Season 2 left off with our intrepid geek having been loaded with version 2 of the intercept, endowing him (Matrix-like, if temporarily) with an astounding array of new abilities and knowledge with the potential of making him the uber-spy.
The problem is all of the qualifications the writers have put on Chuck's ability to use intercept.2. He has the potential for an increadible change of life, but it doesn't happen because frequently he can't make the thing work. Because of this, the addition of abilities like kung fu to his storehouse of secrets, doesn't much change his character. The only real difference is that now the others have added "Come on, Chuck, you can do it!" to their mantra of "Flash on it, Chuck!". It's like he's the Greatest American Hero doing well enough with the magic jammies, rather than excelling as much as he would if he hadn't lost the manual.
The consequence is that he flunks out of spy school and has to go back to his Nerd Herd double-life. His role in the team dynamic and in the field is pretty much the same as before too.
Moreover, his relationship with Sarah is, ultimately unchanged, with the two of them pining for one-another while pretending they're just friends and work associates who are pretending to be lovers.
So, at this point at least, season 3 is pretty much the same as seasons 1 & 2. There's been no significant character or plot development.
Which is too bad, because these things are possible in a geek-struggling-to-deal-with-being-thrown-into-a-big-dangerous-strange-life show like this. Look at Reaper. Sam's life got thrown into deep water, but he (and other characters) changed over the course of its two seasons. Sam got the girl, grew into his powers, and started to take the offensive in getting out of his contract with the devil. There were signs that had the show continued (and maybe it will, I'm not up on the latest gossip about whether it'll get renewed) he would have continued to adapt as a character and change his role.
Chuck hasn't done that.
That being said, Chuck is one of the most entertaining shows on the tube right now, and I'll certainly keep watching. I just hope that instead of serving us the same-old-same-old, the writers will allow Chuck to evolve a little.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Kissing the Hand of Steampunk - Sherlock Holmes
Warning: Spoilers
(spoilage factor: about the same as a roast chicken spattered with red wine that had been thrown at a famous detective)
We went to see Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr as the great detective and Jude Law as his only somewhat faithful sidekick, last weekend and while this aint your typical, staid BBC evening special, on the whole, it's a fun romp.
The story pits Holmes against the sinister Lord Blackwood, a man claiming to have supernatural powers who is bent on taking over the world. England's finest (and probably grimiest) has to connect the dots between a series of murders and chase Blackwood and his minions from the dirty underbelly of London (where Holmes is quite at home) to the halls of high society before his nemesis can execute his fiendish scheme.
Downey does a wonderful job playing the dishelveled Holmes as distant, calculating and occasionally cruel, as well as slovenly, depressed and needy to the point of being pathetic. Again, not your run-of-the-mill portrayal of Holmes, but one that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would probably have approved of if his rumoured dislike of the character was true. It's also a rendition that certainly works for a modern audience not interested in being shown the exploits of a Data-like robot, but rather a fallible genius who has to claw his way to success.
Kudos also to Law for his portrayal of Watson - steady, eminently Victorian in his demeanor, thoroughly fed-up with Holmes and his antics, and yet still unable to seperate himself from the man.
So where does steampunk come into play? Only very slightly through the appearance of a hand-crank-powered taser during a cracking good fight scene, and a radio/electronically-controlled bomb at the end. Certainly not over-the-top League of Extraordinary Gentlemen retro-Victorian high-tech, but just the same, and not enough to throw mainstream viewers off the rails, but enough to give SF fans a bit of a giggle.
If one were thinking of attending the cinematograph of an evening, one could certainly do worse than to witness Sherlock Holmes.
(spoilage factor: about the same as a roast chicken spattered with red wine that had been thrown at a famous detective)
We went to see Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr as the great detective and Jude Law as his only somewhat faithful sidekick, last weekend and while this aint your typical, staid BBC evening special, on the whole, it's a fun romp.
The story pits Holmes against the sinister Lord Blackwood, a man claiming to have supernatural powers who is bent on taking over the world. England's finest (and probably grimiest) has to connect the dots between a series of murders and chase Blackwood and his minions from the dirty underbelly of London (where Holmes is quite at home) to the halls of high society before his nemesis can execute his fiendish scheme.
Downey does a wonderful job playing the dishelveled Holmes as distant, calculating and occasionally cruel, as well as slovenly, depressed and needy to the point of being pathetic. Again, not your run-of-the-mill portrayal of Holmes, but one that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would probably have approved of if his rumoured dislike of the character was true. It's also a rendition that certainly works for a modern audience not interested in being shown the exploits of a Data-like robot, but rather a fallible genius who has to claw his way to success.
Kudos also to Law for his portrayal of Watson - steady, eminently Victorian in his demeanor, thoroughly fed-up with Holmes and his antics, and yet still unable to seperate himself from the man.
So where does steampunk come into play? Only very slightly through the appearance of a hand-crank-powered taser during a cracking good fight scene, and a radio/electronically-controlled bomb at the end. Certainly not over-the-top League of Extraordinary Gentlemen retro-Victorian high-tech, but just the same, and not enough to throw mainstream viewers off the rails, but enough to give SF fans a bit of a giggle.
If one were thinking of attending the cinematograph of an evening, one could certainly do worse than to witness Sherlock Holmes.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Awesome BTILC Christmas Present
It's a big Christmas present here in the other Little China my friends... My wife's present to me, which has been on order for awhile, finally arrived today!
Behold, fellow Carpenter fanboys and fangirls, the Dragon of the Black Pool jacket:
It may not be a six-demon-bag, but this coat rocks!
Thanks to the Wing Kong Exchange for pointing the way to this find. Thanks most of all to my wife, who not only indulges my geeky passions, but feeds them as well.
Monday, January 04, 2010
End of an Era - the 10th Doctor Hands Over the Keys to the TARDIS
Warning: Spoilers
(spoilage factor: about the same as a Christmas turkey after The Master has been at it)
On Saturday night we sat and watched as Doctor Who died - again.
After going nose-to-nose with both The Master and Rassillon, the 10th incarnation of the Doctor pulled a Spock, stepping into a chamber that would be flooded with lethal radiation in order to save Donna's grandfather.
Well, it was supposed to be lethal, anyway. But for an apparently killer dose, the Doctor was moping around for quite some time after. And that robbed his transition to #11 of a good deal of its punch. Sure, I'm all for letting a favourite character have a last speech that'll make us smile or weep, but #10 just dragged on and on and on and on. In the time it took for him to give gramps a hug, take 'im home, and then solemnly schlep around space and time to give final longing stares at Companions past (including a trip to the 'hood to pine over Rose one last time - it would have been a far more powerful, far more adult piece of writing to have him pop in on Martha, see that she'd married Mickey, and realize what a huge mistake he'd made taking her for granted and losing out on what would have been a more equal and thus enriching and stimulating relationship than the teenage hero-worship angst crap of the Rose affair ever was or could have been. The same if he'd gazed at Donna through the window. Really, the show over the past couple of years has been about missed opportunities for grownup relationships, but rather than having the Doctor come to this realization, rather than have him come to an adult state of mind, the writers defaulted to the easy, childish Rose plot of old. They made him the loser who couldn't get over a failed highschool romance. Sigh.) he could have lept aboard the TARDIS and zoomed off to a luxury hospital on some high-tech world (maybe the hospital at New New New New New York before the human guineapig disaster or the tragedy that led to the virus release and the ultimate traffic jam) and got his microwaved ass fixed. Maybe. But no, the writers went with the BSG ending that was self-indulgently long to the point of being kinda boring.
And then they tossed the show to the kid.
I'm trying hard, really hard, to give Matt Smith a chance. But my ability to cut the 11th version of the Timelord some slack was sorely tested when his voice cracked (granted, this was obviously a deliberate squeek to have a bit of fun with the fact that he's very young this time around) but most especially when he started racing through his dialogue in what was clearly an effort to sound like David Tennant. What make the Doctor interesting is not merely that there's a different face for every incarnation, or that he has a change of wardrobe, but that each actor puts a different twist on the character's mannerisms right from the start of their tenure. Why do we say that one Doctor is our favourite rather than another? It's because of his unique contribution to the character's behaviour. It was a mistake of cosmic proportions for Smith to try to imitate Tennent's frenetic pace, and doubly so for the director to allow him to do it. I hope they come to the realization that they've got to let him reinvent the character along new lines when they start the new season.
Beyond that, there's my worry that because he's young, and the new Companion, from what I've read, isn't much older, that we're going to be served some kind of Dawson's TARDIS here. Granted, Doctor Who is classified as a kids' show in the UK, and having a younger cast is a gamble to bring in more viewers in that age bracket and hold onto them so they'll become legacy fans, but there's also a large portion of the audience that's above 18 years old, and the producers risk losing us if the show becomes some kind of Twilight Through Space and Time.
That being said, I certainly didn't hate Doctor Who: The End of Time. It was fun to see Donna's grandfather finally get the chance to go through his paces as a Companion, if only for a little while.
I quite enjoyed the 10th Doctor's last words. They were frightened, they were childish, and they were entirely appropriate.
And I thought it was really clever the way the sound of drums that have plagued the Master throughout his existence were explained as a last-ditch bail-out attempt by the Timelords on Gallifrey.
Better still was the Doctor's willingness to admit that as much as he hates being alone in the universe, the Time War had had such a negative effect on the collective psyche of his people, had hardened them so much, had made them so self-absorbed and callous towards the rest of existence, that he wouldn't want them coming back - at least not as they were at the end of the war. They had become as much the enemy as the Daleks. In a series (and especially an episode) that's been known to flinch away from hard views of life sometimes, this was a pretty adult portrait of what war can do to a people.
While I wish Tennant's final stint as the Doctor had been up to par with some of the episodes of series three or four, on the balance this was an adequate way to say farewell.
Now we, as fans, have time on our hands as we wait to see whether the 11th Doctor will be able to prove himself.
(spoilage factor: about the same as a Christmas turkey after The Master has been at it)
On Saturday night we sat and watched as Doctor Who died - again.
After going nose-to-nose with both The Master and Rassillon, the 10th incarnation of the Doctor pulled a Spock, stepping into a chamber that would be flooded with lethal radiation in order to save Donna's grandfather.
Well, it was supposed to be lethal, anyway. But for an apparently killer dose, the Doctor was moping around for quite some time after. And that robbed his transition to #11 of a good deal of its punch. Sure, I'm all for letting a favourite character have a last speech that'll make us smile or weep, but #10 just dragged on and on and on and on. In the time it took for him to give gramps a hug, take 'im home, and then solemnly schlep around space and time to give final longing stares at Companions past (including a trip to the 'hood to pine over Rose one last time - it would have been a far more powerful, far more adult piece of writing to have him pop in on Martha, see that she'd married Mickey, and realize what a huge mistake he'd made taking her for granted and losing out on what would have been a more equal and thus enriching and stimulating relationship than the teenage hero-worship angst crap of the Rose affair ever was or could have been. The same if he'd gazed at Donna through the window. Really, the show over the past couple of years has been about missed opportunities for grownup relationships, but rather than having the Doctor come to this realization, rather than have him come to an adult state of mind, the writers defaulted to the easy, childish Rose plot of old. They made him the loser who couldn't get over a failed highschool romance. Sigh.) he could have lept aboard the TARDIS and zoomed off to a luxury hospital on some high-tech world (maybe the hospital at New New New New New York before the human guineapig disaster or the tragedy that led to the virus release and the ultimate traffic jam) and got his microwaved ass fixed. Maybe. But no, the writers went with the BSG ending that was self-indulgently long to the point of being kinda boring.
And then they tossed the show to the kid.
I'm trying hard, really hard, to give Matt Smith a chance. But my ability to cut the 11th version of the Timelord some slack was sorely tested when his voice cracked (granted, this was obviously a deliberate squeek to have a bit of fun with the fact that he's very young this time around) but most especially when he started racing through his dialogue in what was clearly an effort to sound like David Tennant. What make the Doctor interesting is not merely that there's a different face for every incarnation, or that he has a change of wardrobe, but that each actor puts a different twist on the character's mannerisms right from the start of their tenure. Why do we say that one Doctor is our favourite rather than another? It's because of his unique contribution to the character's behaviour. It was a mistake of cosmic proportions for Smith to try to imitate Tennent's frenetic pace, and doubly so for the director to allow him to do it. I hope they come to the realization that they've got to let him reinvent the character along new lines when they start the new season.
Beyond that, there's my worry that because he's young, and the new Companion, from what I've read, isn't much older, that we're going to be served some kind of Dawson's TARDIS here. Granted, Doctor Who is classified as a kids' show in the UK, and having a younger cast is a gamble to bring in more viewers in that age bracket and hold onto them so they'll become legacy fans, but there's also a large portion of the audience that's above 18 years old, and the producers risk losing us if the show becomes some kind of Twilight Through Space and Time.
That being said, I certainly didn't hate Doctor Who: The End of Time. It was fun to see Donna's grandfather finally get the chance to go through his paces as a Companion, if only for a little while.
I quite enjoyed the 10th Doctor's last words. They were frightened, they were childish, and they were entirely appropriate.
And I thought it was really clever the way the sound of drums that have plagued the Master throughout his existence were explained as a last-ditch bail-out attempt by the Timelords on Gallifrey.
Better still was the Doctor's willingness to admit that as much as he hates being alone in the universe, the Time War had had such a negative effect on the collective psyche of his people, had hardened them so much, had made them so self-absorbed and callous towards the rest of existence, that he wouldn't want them coming back - at least not as they were at the end of the war. They had become as much the enemy as the Daleks. In a series (and especially an episode) that's been known to flinch away from hard views of life sometimes, this was a pretty adult portrait of what war can do to a people.
While I wish Tennant's final stint as the Doctor had been up to par with some of the episodes of series three or four, on the balance this was an adequate way to say farewell.
Now we, as fans, have time on our hands as we wait to see whether the 11th Doctor will be able to prove himself.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
My 365 SF Short Story Challenge Is Done!
It may not look like it on the list on the left side of the screen (that will be updated shortly to include the most recently-read titles), but I've finally finished my 365 SF Short Story Challenge for 2009! - Good thing too, because I had only about an hour and 40 minutes left in the year when I finished the 365th short story this evening!
The last story of the tally: Oliver Morton's "The Albian Message" in Futures from Nature, edited by Henry Gee.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: FFN was my ace in the hole when time was getting tight (meaning just a day or two left). If you're taking on a 365 challenge yourself and the clock is running out, make sure you have this collection of 3 page stories as your backup. Lots of submissions in it from heavy-hitters like Arthur C Clarke, Ray Bradbury and Robert Charles Wilson make for some good reading. Sure those gems are balanced out by a fair number of dry submissions that made me wonder why they would run 1 page, let alone 3, but on the balance it's a solid collection.
FFN was one of the few anthologies I'd read before that I included in this year's challenge (the holiday collections Christmas Stars, edited by David G Hartwell, And there were a couple of one-off stories that I re-read along the way to help write some piece or other. But the rest were new - or, new to me, at least. The Hugo Awards were helpful, making the nominated stories available to voters online, there was my quarterly subscription to On Spec (which I need to renew - d'oh!), and a ton of anthologies I've picked up this year and previously along the way.
Some of my favourite anthologies of the year's challenge included Ray Bradbury's We'll Always Have Paris - admittedly not Bradbury's best collection, but hey, it's Bradbury, so on the balance it was a treat to read. Peter S Beagle's We Never Talk About My Brother was also enjoyable. And I was really glad I picked up the Wildcards series from George RR Martin et al again with Inside Straight, which picked things up a year or two ago after a hiatus of more than a decade, I think. Lots of fun to see how they brought that world forward. Nick Gevers' steampunk compilation Extraordinary Engines was cool. But probably the anthology that'll stand out most in my mind from this year was The Oxford Book of Fantasy Stories from Tom Shippey. I was going through it round about the time of Anticipation, the World Con in Montreal this summer. I remember reading Larry Niven's brilliant "Not Long Before the End" one morning before heading over to the con, then seeing the man himself a few seats away from me in the back of a room where a panel was discussing...something (can't remember on what). I thought about asking him for his autograph on his story, but decided not to - he was sleeping through the session and I didn't want to wake him.
Anyhow, it's New Year's Eve and while I'm still not feeling very well (lucky me, I caught bronchitus while on vacation in Hawaii over Christmas), it's a time for celebrating, not blogging.
Thanks to all of you for being with me in 2009, and all the best to all of you in 2010 - The Year We Make Contact (I'll bet ya Peter Hyams has been waiting years for that joke to ripen).
The last story of the tally: Oliver Morton's "The Albian Message" in Futures from Nature, edited by Henry Gee.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: FFN was my ace in the hole when time was getting tight (meaning just a day or two left). If you're taking on a 365 challenge yourself and the clock is running out, make sure you have this collection of 3 page stories as your backup. Lots of submissions in it from heavy-hitters like Arthur C Clarke, Ray Bradbury and Robert Charles Wilson make for some good reading. Sure those gems are balanced out by a fair number of dry submissions that made me wonder why they would run 1 page, let alone 3, but on the balance it's a solid collection.
FFN was one of the few anthologies I'd read before that I included in this year's challenge (the holiday collections Christmas Stars, edited by David G Hartwell, And there were a couple of one-off stories that I re-read along the way to help write some piece or other. But the rest were new - or, new to me, at least. The Hugo Awards were helpful, making the nominated stories available to voters online, there was my quarterly subscription to On Spec (which I need to renew - d'oh!), and a ton of anthologies I've picked up this year and previously along the way.
Some of my favourite anthologies of the year's challenge included Ray Bradbury's We'll Always Have Paris - admittedly not Bradbury's best collection, but hey, it's Bradbury, so on the balance it was a treat to read. Peter S Beagle's We Never Talk About My Brother was also enjoyable. And I was really glad I picked up the Wildcards series from George RR Martin et al again with Inside Straight, which picked things up a year or two ago after a hiatus of more than a decade, I think. Lots of fun to see how they brought that world forward. Nick Gevers' steampunk compilation Extraordinary Engines was cool. But probably the anthology that'll stand out most in my mind from this year was The Oxford Book of Fantasy Stories from Tom Shippey. I was going through it round about the time of Anticipation, the World Con in Montreal this summer. I remember reading Larry Niven's brilliant "Not Long Before the End" one morning before heading over to the con, then seeing the man himself a few seats away from me in the back of a room where a panel was discussing...something (can't remember on what). I thought about asking him for his autograph on his story, but decided not to - he was sleeping through the session and I didn't want to wake him.
Anyhow, it's New Year's Eve and while I'm still not feeling very well (lucky me, I caught bronchitus while on vacation in Hawaii over Christmas), it's a time for celebrating, not blogging.
Thanks to all of you for being with me in 2009, and all the best to all of you in 2010 - The Year We Make Contact (I'll bet ya Peter Hyams has been waiting years for that joke to ripen).
Monday, December 14, 2009
In the Home Stretch
With just a couple of weeks left in 2009 - just 17 days to go in my 365 SF Short Story Challenge, today I've entered the home stretch. Arthur C. Clarke's "The Star" puts me at 266. That means I've only got 99 to go!
Woohoo!!!
But can I clear 99 stories in so little time? Well, I think I've got a good shot at it.
The two anthologies I like to read around the holidays, Christmas Stars and Christmas Ghosts will be good for a couple of dozen to get a good pace going.
After that, it's a choice of whether to dive into a new anthology or two, or make the safe bet and read a few old anthologies that I know contain stories that are fairly short. Seeing as how some of the older collections like Asimov & Greenberg's "The Great SF Stories" series are ones that I haven't read (at least not cover-to-cover) in 10 to 25 years, I don't fee guilty about including them in the challenge over a newer book or two. Nothing wrong at all with getting reacquainted with old friends.
Then there's the travel time that'll work in my favour. We'll be out of town for a week over the holidays, and while airtravel these days is lacking in so very many ways, one of the benefits it does offer is plenty of time for reading. There's nothing like a 5-hour flight to chew through a book. Sure I won't get much reading done when we're actually at our destination, but the flights will more than make up for it.
And when we get home, I've got another week off of work, which should give me enough time to finish things off.
I hope.
Woohoo!!!
But can I clear 99 stories in so little time? Well, I think I've got a good shot at it.
The two anthologies I like to read around the holidays, Christmas Stars and Christmas Ghosts will be good for a couple of dozen to get a good pace going.
After that, it's a choice of whether to dive into a new anthology or two, or make the safe bet and read a few old anthologies that I know contain stories that are fairly short. Seeing as how some of the older collections like Asimov & Greenberg's "The Great SF Stories" series are ones that I haven't read (at least not cover-to-cover) in 10 to 25 years, I don't fee guilty about including them in the challenge over a newer book or two. Nothing wrong at all with getting reacquainted with old friends.
Then there's the travel time that'll work in my favour. We'll be out of town for a week over the holidays, and while airtravel these days is lacking in so very many ways, one of the benefits it does offer is plenty of time for reading. There's nothing like a 5-hour flight to chew through a book. Sure I won't get much reading done when we're actually at our destination, but the flights will more than make up for it.
And when we get home, I've got another week off of work, which should give me enough time to finish things off.
I hope.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Awesome Space Promo - What Not to Get a Star Wars Badguy for Christmas
It's not often that I have something nice to say about SPACE, Canada's SF specialty TV channel. In fact, over the last 4 years, I can count the number of times I've said anything remotely positive about the station on one hand - and have fingers to spare. But that's another story.
There is one thing I will openly admit that SPACE excels at - promos. They may be making all the wrong moves in programming these days, but ever since the station's inception back in the 90's - right from the start - SPACE has done station ID's and special programming event promos that are smart, guaranteed to grab the attention of any geek, and will have you falling on your ass laughing.
Their latest work of genius: the promo for SPACE-mas - the channel's holiday-season 12-day marathon of movie marathons (Trek movies one day, the Star Wars franchise another, you get the drift). The theme for this nerdtacular presentation: what not to get a Star Wars badguy for Christmas.
I will say this one time only: Bravo, ladies and gentlemen of SPACE. Bravo.
There is one thing I will openly admit that SPACE excels at - promos. They may be making all the wrong moves in programming these days, but ever since the station's inception back in the 90's - right from the start - SPACE has done station ID's and special programming event promos that are smart, guaranteed to grab the attention of any geek, and will have you falling on your ass laughing.
Their latest work of genius: the promo for SPACE-mas - the channel's holiday-season 12-day marathon of movie marathons (Trek movies one day, the Star Wars franchise another, you get the drift). The theme for this nerdtacular presentation: what not to get a Star Wars badguy for Christmas.
I will say this one time only: Bravo, ladies and gentlemen of SPACE. Bravo.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
The 9th Beatle
CBC is reporting Christopher Eccleston will be playing musician John Lennon in a new BBC bio pic.
Eccleston played the 9th incarnation of Doctor Who, relaunching the series in 2005. Too bad he couldn't have done another season or two on the show. While I enjoy Tennant's performance as the 10th Doctor just a little bit more, there's no doubt Eccleston gave a powerful and entertaining performance as the Timelord. Anyway, it would have been a lot better than being associated with the train wreck known as Heroes.
Eccleston played the 9th incarnation of Doctor Who, relaunching the series in 2005. Too bad he couldn't have done another season or two on the show. While I enjoy Tennant's performance as the 10th Doctor just a little bit more, there's no doubt Eccleston gave a powerful and entertaining performance as the Timelord. Anyway, it would have been a lot better than being associated with the train wreck known as Heroes.
Victoria Group Rides Desert Bus into Fundraising Success Again
Congratulations to Victoria-based comedy troupe LoadingReadyRun for surviving another fundraising odyssey involving the infamous video game Desert Bus!
According to a local news station, the group raised more than $132,000 for Child's Play (which buys video games and toys for hospitals) by enduring the Penn & Teller-designed bus driving simulator for more than five days.
The game, simulating a real-time bus trip between Tucson and Las Vegas, is said to be the most boring video game ever made.
This is the third year the group has done the fundraiser.
According to a local news station, the group raised more than $132,000 for Child's Play (which buys video games and toys for hospitals) by enduring the Penn & Teller-designed bus driving simulator for more than five days.
The game, simulating a real-time bus trip between Tucson and Las Vegas, is said to be the most boring video game ever made.
This is the third year the group has done the fundraiser.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
What the Star Wars Gang Would Post on Facebook
A friend pointed me in the direction of this awesome bit collegehumour.com put up a couple of days ago: 5 Star Wars Status Updates.
I shouldn't have read this in the mall foodcourt today at lunch - I was smirking away doing my damndest to prevent myself from roaring with laughter when I was going through the updates from Luke and from Wes Janson.
True, it reminded me a lot of the dialogue from Family Guy: Blue Harvest, but it was very, very funny.
Many thanks to Nicole Yamanaka (aka Cole The Post-Apocalyptic Adventurer) for passing this along.
I shouldn't have read this in the mall foodcourt today at lunch - I was smirking away doing my damndest to prevent myself from roaring with laughter when I was going through the updates from Luke and from Wes Janson.
True, it reminded me a lot of the dialogue from Family Guy: Blue Harvest, but it was very, very funny.
Many thanks to Nicole Yamanaka (aka Cole The Post-Apocalyptic Adventurer) for passing this along.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
What's a Jedi Warrior? The Men Who Stare at Goats
Warning: Spoilers
(spoilage factor: not as bad as leaving a burger in the sun all day to try to cook it)
We went to see The Men Who Stare at Goats this past weekend. Not necessarily SF per se, but containing enough in the way of SF-related jokes and references, not to mention characters who take the paranormal to be perfectly normal, to merit a mention on this site (unlike, say, Pirate Radio, which was really good, but had nothing to do with SF, so sadly it couldn't fit into the focus hereabouts).
The story follows the misadventures of Bob Wilton (played by Ewan McGregor), a college-town journalist who gets dumped by his wife and sets off for Iraq - to prove himself to his wife and maybe win her back, and to try to land a good story. Stuck in Kuwait and wishing he could run with the big time war correspondants, Bob falls-in with the intense Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who claims to be heading into Iraq to sign a deal to provide garbage cans. That all changes on the road when Lyn tells Bob he's actually a secret operative, trained by the military to use paranormal powers, and on a mission to find his old commanding officer, Bill Django (played by Jeff Bridges as a version of The Dude spiced with Tron's Kevin Flynn and Dr. Mark Powell from K-Pax). As the pair get deeper into trouble, eventually running afoul of Lyn's nemesis, Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey), a failed SF writer (in what has to be slap against Hubbard) who gets off on mind control and power, Bob begins to belive that Lyn might not be entirely full of crap.
The Men Who Stare at Goats was deeply weird and, while not consistantly fall-out-of-your-seat hilarious, was funny enough to be worth watching. In fact, hearing a wide-eyed McGregor ask Clooney "What's a Jedi warrior?" was worth the price of admission. Other touches like the editor with the prosthetic arm who betrays him were nice little half-allusions to Star Wars and other SF. It's a film that has its points of menace and, in the hands of a cynic, could have become a very dark and disturbing tale about an unprepared journalist heading into a war zone, or about the lengths military and spy agencies will go to create new assets or to surpress opposition, but the tone is kept, appropriately, I think, light and it ends on a kind of fairy-tale note.
While I certainly didn't regret paying full price to see it, I think in terms of recommendations that the best value for staring at the screen for The Men Who Stare at Goats is to rent it.
(spoilage factor: not as bad as leaving a burger in the sun all day to try to cook it)
We went to see The Men Who Stare at Goats this past weekend. Not necessarily SF per se, but containing enough in the way of SF-related jokes and references, not to mention characters who take the paranormal to be perfectly normal, to merit a mention on this site (unlike, say, Pirate Radio, which was really good, but had nothing to do with SF, so sadly it couldn't fit into the focus hereabouts).
The story follows the misadventures of Bob Wilton (played by Ewan McGregor), a college-town journalist who gets dumped by his wife and sets off for Iraq - to prove himself to his wife and maybe win her back, and to try to land a good story. Stuck in Kuwait and wishing he could run with the big time war correspondants, Bob falls-in with the intense Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who claims to be heading into Iraq to sign a deal to provide garbage cans. That all changes on the road when Lyn tells Bob he's actually a secret operative, trained by the military to use paranormal powers, and on a mission to find his old commanding officer, Bill Django (played by Jeff Bridges as a version of The Dude spiced with Tron's Kevin Flynn and Dr. Mark Powell from K-Pax). As the pair get deeper into trouble, eventually running afoul of Lyn's nemesis, Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey), a failed SF writer (in what has to be slap against Hubbard) who gets off on mind control and power, Bob begins to belive that Lyn might not be entirely full of crap.
The Men Who Stare at Goats was deeply weird and, while not consistantly fall-out-of-your-seat hilarious, was funny enough to be worth watching. In fact, hearing a wide-eyed McGregor ask Clooney "What's a Jedi warrior?" was worth the price of admission. Other touches like the editor with the prosthetic arm who betrays him were nice little half-allusions to Star Wars and other SF. It's a film that has its points of menace and, in the hands of a cynic, could have become a very dark and disturbing tale about an unprepared journalist heading into a war zone, or about the lengths military and spy agencies will go to create new assets or to surpress opposition, but the tone is kept, appropriately, I think, light and it ends on a kind of fairy-tale note.
While I certainly didn't regret paying full price to see it, I think in terms of recommendations that the best value for staring at the screen for The Men Who Stare at Goats is to rent it.
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