Here are 11 developments of interest to fans. Oh, the humanity!
(1) Maggie Thompson knows why it is a “proud and lonely thing to be a fan” and wonders why today’s fans don’t.
“But, hey,” I said, “I know the references involved. They were common knowledge in the world of science-fiction fandom in the 1950s!” Weird thing: Apparently, common knowledge to a generation of people devoted to the wonders of the future has not been universally transferred from survivors of that generation to the future that is our present.
(2) In a move clearly aimed at neutralizing Finland’s challenge to Japan for the 2017 Worldcon, there are plans for a Moomin theme park in Japan:
First published in 1945 in Swedish, the Moomin books and comic strips were adapted into several anime properties, and remains popular worldwide.
(3) Tim Kreider asks in The New Yorker: “Kim Stanley Robinson: Our Greatest Political Novelist?” —
If historians or critics fifty years from now were to read most of our contemporary literary fiction, they might well infer that our main societal problems were issues with our parents, bad relationships, and death. If they were looking for any indication that we were even dimly aware of the burgeoning global conflict between democracy and capitalism, or of the abyssal catastrophe our civilization was just beginning to spill over the brink of, they might need to turn to books that have that embarrassing little Saturn-and-spaceship sticker on the spine. That is, to science fiction…
(4) Sharknado will not be the apotheosis of Western civilization explains Grantland’s Holly Anderson:
Sharknado will be surpassed, someday. Those who would say that’s impossible are forgetting the lessons of Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus. Humanity’s capacity for invention is limitless, as limitless as the possible combinations of dangerous animals and threatening weather spectacles.
(5) Tarpinian already understands this. I know, because he sent me a link to this photo of the most terrifying culinary creation of all time – the Cthurkey.
(6) No wonder I was in the mood to enjoy reading Matt Molgaard list of “Today’s Top 10 Horror Authors”.
07. Jonathan Maberry: Jon is probably the least appreciated artist to be featured in this list, which is a bit strange. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a very successful author, but the truth of the matter is, he deserves a wealth more respect than he’s already extended. The guy is damn good, to be blunt. A versatile author, Maberry’s pumped out some terrifying tales. Just check out the entire Pine Deep trilogy, his Joe Ledger series (Patient Zero is great) and if you dig the current zombie craze, don’t pass on Dead of Night.
(7) Let’s split California into six states urges technology investor Tim Draper: “It is about time California was properly represented with Senators in Washington. Now our number of Senators per person will be about average.” He plans to file a ballot initiative allowing voters to divide up California.
Just ignore party-pooper Rick Hasen who believes this is legally impossible to do through an initiative .
The California Supreme Court would almost certainly rule that such a measure cannot go on the ballot as an initiative because one can only amend, but not revise, the state Constitution. Under the state supreme court’s test for revisions (most recently in a case involving the Proposition 8 anti-same sex marriage measure), splitting the state into six would count as a revision.
(8) Then, after California is split, “Get ready to tie up your boat to Idaho” as the old song goes. Drownyourtown, a Tumblr site, visualizes cityscapes flooded as a result of icecaps melting. There are views for San Diego, San Francisco, and Oakland, among others.
(9) Chiller Theater an autograph convention with many washed-up celebrities, drew 13,000 to Parsippany, NJ last October.
“Keir Dullea, gone tomorrow,” Noël Coward once quipped about the handsome actor, who is probably best known for playing the astronaut in “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
But not only is Mr. Dullea, 77, still here, he was signing autographs not long ago with his “2001” co-star Gary Lockwood, greeting fans who paid to meet the sci-fi legends and walk away with a personalized still photograph from the film.
The competition, however, was stiff.
“He doesn’t have that much of a crowd,” a scruffy looking attendee noted. Well, it may not have been as big as Corey Feldman’s, but he seemed to be drawing more than the janitor from “The Breakfast Club.”
(10) Can you imagine bestselling author Dan Brown as a cartoon superhero?
The “battle action” story Bung? Stray Dogs centers around a league of literary figures with supernatural powers…. Brown himself will have the power of “Inferno” — the ability to compose a three-line poem that offers a glimpse of “hell.” The “hell” is actually a reflection of what the real world would be like, 33 minutes from now, so anyone who can decipher the poem can predict the future. Unfortunately, “only Brown himself has the historical and religious knowledge to decipher the poems.” (Not coincidentally, Brown’s latest novel, Inferno, debuted in English and Japanese this year.)
(11) But wait! This is how Star Trek: Into Darkness should have ended (superseding all previous attempts along that line.) Given the power, David Klaus would rename this HISHE video — Star Trek Into Torchwood: Miracle Day.
[Thanks for these links goes out to Dan Goodman, Willard Stone, Petréa Mitchell, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian and David Klaus.]
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MOOMIN anime has been done in Japan. It just isn’t well known, but done many years ago.
The Polish run of it comes to 100 episodes and uses stop motion animation/puppets.
Please note, the announced Moomin theme park in Japan won’t be the first.There’s already a Moomin World theme park in Finland.
I first read the Moomin books as a child in the ’60s. The books start out as pretty much your standard whimsical children’s fantasies. But the last two or three volumes are sort of what I would expect if Ingmar Bergman had tried writing books for children.
And isn’t there that long running performance group, Moomin-Schanz?
Mummenshanz. Swiss dance group. Uses masks. But it is unknown if masks for Moomin have been done by Mummen.
Since the map at the Six Californias site is clear enough to tell which counties are allocated where, I used the figures from the last census to tote up and find that the most populous state would be the one around LA and the south central coast, with over 12 million, the San Diego-Inland Empire one next with 10.5 million, and the least populous the one in the far north with 928 thousand, not quite as small as some actual states.
I don’t find these divisions to be entirely sensible. The one running in a strip from Marin to Lake Tahoe is particularly lacking in coherence as a separate entity from its neighbors. It looks like a gerrymandered Congressional district.
That entire piece of animation should be tattooed, frame by frame, on J.J. Abrams’ butt.
SHARKANADO isn’t the worst the movie industry has offered. I would say it is probably a better film than TROLL 2. Corman’s name tacked to a film doesn’t mean it will be good, but it might not be scraping the floor after you puncture the bottom of the barrel.
I saw as much of TROLL 2 as I could stand ( I stopped at the dinner scene), and this is one of the punctured barrels. I can barely imagine anything worse.