Reno Worldcon Announces Film Festival

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Mike Glyer

The Renovation Independent/ Fan Film Festival 2011 under the leadership of Nat Saenz will be a feature of next year’s Worldcon:

Films will be accepted in the following categories: Trailers, Short Film (under 10 minutes), Short Films (under 30 minutes), and Feature Films (over 30 minutes). All films must be appropriate for all ages audiences, must be accompanied by the official entry form and $20.00 (US) entry fee, and can be live action, animation, or a combination of both. There will be monetary awards for People’s Choice, 1st and 2nd places as well as specially designed Renovation Film Festival awards and certificates. All films must be postmarked by the deadline of July 1^st, 2011, and filmmakers with accepted entries will be notified around the beginning of August.

Saenz has a decade of experience as a film festival organizer, and his events have often attracted industry guests.

Film festival information including the Official Rules and Entry Form is available here.

The full press release follows the jump.

Continue reading →

GRRM Gets All the Space He Needs

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Mike Glyer

I remember being at a convention when fans passed around the good news that George R.R. Martin’s proposed tv series pilot had been approved. But “Doorways” met an unfortunate end. Will television treat George R.R. Martin better this time?

That’s the question on the table in Maureen Ryan’s lengthy and fascinating interview of George R.R. Martin for the April 29 Chicago Tribune.

Once Martin’s novels began climbing the bestseller charts, Hollywood film studios “came sniffing around,” he said.

“We got a number of inquiries and basically, I told my agents, no,” Martin said. “Because I didn’t see how they could possibly be done as a feature film.”

To do justice to the book series, film studios would have to commit to multiple films, “and that wasn’t going to happen,” he said. Most television networks were also not an option.

“I knew that the limitations of budgets and the censorship limitations. I know it’s loosened up some since I was active in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, but I can still remember the fights with Standards and Practices and censors about the sex and violence. And the books are full of sex and violence. I didn’t want some watered-down, bowdlerized version of this,” Martin said.

But when Benioff, Weiss and HBO approached him about a television series — and the current plan calls for each season to tell the story of one “Ice and Fire” book — he was interested.

Of course, as an L.A. Times blogger aptly points out, if TV had treated Martin better in the beginning we wouldn’t have these books:

If it hadn’t been for a bruising decade in the TV business, George R.R. Martin might never have started writing the epic fantasy novel series “A Song of Ice and Fire,” and HBO wouldn’t have a buzzy project in the pipeline that’s being referred to as “The Sopranos in Middle-earth.”

Terry Pratchett Edits May Issue of SFX

Posted on May 3, 2010 by Mike Glyer

Summer already? It is in the magazine business. The July issue of SFX goes on sale May 5. But here’s the exciting part — that’s when everyone will get to see what guest editor Terry Pratchett has done with the zine.

Actively involved in planning and guest editing the July issue, Terry Pratchett spent time with the SFX team, using his editorial privilege to commission a retrospective of Blade Runner, his favourite sci-fi movie – and personally penning a piece about Doctor Who for the www.sfx.co.uk website. Also in the July issue you’ll find the first part of an ambitious history of the most influential SF authors ever, a retrospective on the writings of John “Day of the Triffids” Wyndham, plus a behind-the-scenes report from the Sky1 adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s book Going Postal. SFX also interviews six of Britain’s up-and-coming female actors, leading with Doctor Who’s Karen Gillan.

Locally we’ll be celebrating the Cinco de Mayo, coincidentally held on May 5, but after I hoist a Corona and snack on some chips and salsa I may go looking for a copy.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]

Scithers’ Passing Noted in Philly Paper

Posted on May 3, 2010 by Mike Glyer

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s obituary for George Scithers whimsically explains that he gave up editing Asimov’s and Amazing rather than relocate, and edited the revived Weird Tales at home because…

If Mr. Scithers was going to live with ghosts and goblins, he wanted their sepulchral stench to be softened by the aroma of hot-from-the-grill cheesesteaks, sitting at his elbow.

Rather more newsworthy is the Inquirer’s report that Scithers’ funeral service will be at Arlington National Cemetery on a date yet be determined.

[Thanks to Martin Morse Wooster for the link.]

Ulrika’s Dr Who Scarf

Posted on May 2, 2010 by Mike Glyer

I’ve been wanting to mention that I enjoyed Ulrika’s post about the Doctor Who scarf she’s knitting, a project she started as a means of putting to good use a stash of yarn that belonged to the late Anita Rowland.

I am knitting a Tom Baker Dr. Who scarf. Specifically, an original, Seasons 12-14 Dr. Who scarf…unless I decide to keep going and make it a Season 16 scarf. Yes, it was apparently a different scarf for many of the different seasons of the show. Who knew? As it were.

When it’s done the scarf will be auctioned off for the benefit of a fannish cause.

The work is not only fannish and charitable — it’s a cool excuse to use new online gadgets. DoctorWhoScarf.com has images of the different scarves Tom Baker wore playing the Doctor for seven seasons, and information about how to make each one. And she can report her progress using the Dr. Who Scarf scarf-o-matic progress bar widget. Ulrika was 66% done when I looked.

[Thanks to David Klaus for the story.]

Ebert Gives 3-D an F

Posted on May 1, 2010 by Mike Glyer

Could any fan who lived through the 1950s fail to cherish the memory of theaters packed with people wearing those red-and-green 3-D glasses to watch It Came From Outer Space or House on Haunted Hill?

Whether or not Roger Ebert had warm, fuzzy feelings about 3-D in those days, he’s given readers of Newsweek a long list of reasons not to like it today in “Why I Hate 3-D.” My favorite is:

When you look at a 2-D movie, it’s already in 3-D as far as your mind is concerned. When you see Lawrence of Arabia growing from a speck as he rides toward you across the desert, are you thinking, “Look how slowly he grows against the horizon” or “I wish this were 3D?”

Our minds use the principle of perspective to provide the third dimension. Adding one artificially can make the illusion less convincing.

Just an Innocent Question

Posted on May 1, 2010 by Mike Glyer

David Klaus was inspired by the passage of Arizona’s new immigration law to ask, “Does this mean it’s time for another Phoenix worldcon bid? Innocently yours…”

Opponents of the new law are already at work organizing boycotts of Arizona businesses, beginning with Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. And these news stories are obviously reminding David — in all innocence — of the time a Phoenix Worldcon appeared in the crosshairs of an earlier Arizona boycott.

In 1978 Worldcon GoH Harlan Ellison refused to stay in the con hotel, parking a rented RV at the curb, and spent no money while in the state because Arizona legislators hadn’t voted to approve the Equal Rights Amendment.

Ellison’s historic gesture is remembered in Helen Merrick and Tess Williams Women of Other Worlds: Excursions Through Science Fiction and Feminism:

Debate about the issue surfaced in [the fanzine] Janus with the publication of ‘A Statement of Ethical Position by the Worldcon Guest of Honour’, Harlan Ellison (1977). Ellison was torn between his position as GoH (accepted before the NOW campaigns began) and support for the ERA, which he felt meant he should boycott the con. Boycotts were not new to fandom; Ellison, along with others such as Marion Zimmer Bradley had boycotted the Miami Worldcon to protest against the activities of Anita Bryant. After consulting with writers and fans such as Le Guin, Russ, McIntyre, Bradley and Susan Wood, Ellison decided to attend the con, but ‘in the spirit of making the convention a platform for heightening the awareness of fans’, and promised to coordinate with NOW and other pro-ERA elements to publicize the situation….

The only fan I ever heard say out loud that Harlan’s activities changed his mind about ERA was…me. Of course, the fans who already agreed with him didn’t need their minds changed, so it’s hard to say how many fish there were in that pond for him to catch.

Update 05/01/2010: Changed to “rented RV” based on the comments of fans whose memories I trust.

File 770

Mike Glyer's news of science fiction fandom

Monthly Archives: May 2010