1) EXTENDING LIFE FOR ISS? TechCrunch says: “The Trump administration is reportedly moving to privatize the International Space Station”. (“I’m sorry, Dave, but it will cost you $2.5 million to open the pod bay doors.”)
The Trump administration is planning to privatize the international space station instead of simply decommissioning the orbiting international experiment in 2024, according to a report in The Washington Post.
According to a document obtained by the Post, the current administration is mulling handing the International Space Station off to private industry instead of de-orbiting it as NASA “will expand international and commercial partnerships over the next seven years in order to ensure continued human access to and presence in low Earth orbit.”
The Post also reported that the administration was looking to request $150 million in fiscal year 2019 “to enable the development and maturation of commercial entities and capabilities which will ensure that commercial successors to the ISS — potentially including elements of the ISS — are operational when they are needed.”
(2) PALEYFEST. PaleyFest LA puts fans in the same room with over a hundred TV stars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood from March 16-25. This almost throws Comic-Con in the shade. Deaadline reports: “PaleyFest LA Sets Talent From ‘Handmaid’s Tale’, ‘Queen Sugar’, ‘Riverdale’ For TV Event”.
In addition to the previously announced opening night tribute to Barbra Streisand, the lineup at this year’s fest includes over 100 stars from some of the best shows making waves on television including Seth MacFarlane, Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Elisabeth Moss, Joseph Fiennes, Anna Faris, Allison Janney, Thomas Middleditch, Kumail Nanjiani, Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Iain Armitage, Zoe Perry, Freddie Highmore, Rutina Wesley, Ava DuVernay, KJ Apa, and Lili Reinhart.
PaleyFest LA 2018 gives fans access to special screenings, exclusive conversations, and behind-the-scenes scoops and breaking news from the stars and creative minds behind their favorite shows. This years shows include The Orville, Will & Grace, The Handmaid’s Tale, Silicon Valley, Supernatural, The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, The Good Doctor, Mom, Queen Sugar, Riverdale, and Stranger Things….
Click the link to see all the stars who will be appearing for these shows —
Friday, March 16: Opening Night Presentation: PaleyFest Icon: An Evening with Barbra Streisand (7:30 pm):
Saturday, March 17: FOX’s The Orville (2:00 pm):
Saturday, March 17: NBC’s Will & Grace (7:00 pm):
Sunday, March 18: Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale (2:00 pm):
Tuesday, March 20: CW’s Supernatural (6:45 pm):
Wednesday, March 21: CBS’s The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon (7:30 pm)
Thursday, March 22: ABC’s The Good Doctor (7:30 pm):
Saturday, March 24: CBS’s Mom (2:00 pm):
Saturday, March 24: OWN’s Queen Sugar (7:00 pm):
Sunday, March 25: CW’s Riverdale (2:00 pm):
Sunday, March 25: Netflix’s Stranger Things (7:00 pm):
(3) CHANGING THE CHANNEL. Abigail Nussbaum covers new TV shows in “Winter Crop, 2018 Edition”.
…I don’t know if I’m going to stay in love with all of these shows (three episodes in, I’m starting to lose patience with Counterpart, for example), but they have a hook that the fall’s carefully samey procedurals don’t even try for.
- Black Lightning – There’s a scene about halfway through the premiere episode of the CW’s latest DC superhero show that really made me sit up, and think that maybe we were about to get a genuinely revolutionary take on this increasingly problematic concept. Retired superhero turned school principal Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) has just rescued his daughter from the clutches of a gang boss, in the process causing panic at a nightclub. Wandering outside the club in a daze, he’s discovered by some cops, who immediately train their guns on him and order him to “get [his] black ass on the ground”. Jefferson could comply–as he did earlier in the day when he was pulled over for “fitting the description” of a liquor store robber–and his powers mean that he isn’t in any immediate danger. Nevertheless, a long litany of frustration, including from the earlier run-in with the police, takes its toll, and he clenches his fists and lets fly with his electric powers, leaving the cops alive but on the ground as he power-walks away.It’s a scene that feels important for two reasons. First, because of how rarely black heroes–and black superheroes in particular–are allowed to express anger, much less allow themselves to be overcome by it. Think, for example, of the MCU’s black heroes–Falcon, War Machine, Luke Cage, and Black Panther–and how often they’re positioned as the level-headed, or cheerful, counterpoint to a hotheaded or angsty white hero. Even as heroes of their own stories, these characters are expected to proceed with calm deliberation, and are rarely allowed to express rage or frustration–in Civil War, T’challa is seeking justice for the recent murder of his father, and yet he spends the film acting cool and collected, while Captain America and Iron Man’s every temper tantrum is indulged and excused. For Black Lightning to allow its titular hero to feel rage–to make that expression of rage our introduction to him as a person with powers–feels like a thesis statement, as well as a deliberate rebuke to the stereotype of the angry black man.
(4) LOST AND NOT FOUND. An interview with a student of manuscripts in The Guardian: “‘I really want to find it before I die’: why are we so fascinated by lost books? “
Does the Book of Kells lose any of its allure when a mass-produced paperback version is available to buy just feet away, in Trinity College Dublin’s gift shop? No, says de Hamel: “There are things you’ll see in an original manuscript that even a microfilm or digitised surrogate cannot convey – drypoint glosses, erasures, sewing holes, underdrawing, changes of parchment, subtleties of colour, loss of leaves, patina of handling – even smell and touch and sound, which can transform knowledge and understanding of the text when its scribes made it and first readers saw it.” So, when we mourn lost manuscripts, it’s not just over the disappearance of words, we are also losing an understanding of the process of their creation – the author’s scribbles, their hasty additions, their fraught deletions.
There are many lost books that de Hamel hopes to one day see: “The Book of Kells had more leaves in the 17th century than it does now. Are they somewhere in someone’s scrapbook? The 12th-century Winchester Bible, perhaps the greatest English medieval work of art, had a number of miniatures cut out, possibly as recently as the 20th century: some, at least, probably do exist. I really, really want to find one before I die.”
(5) HEFTY TOME. If you want a hardcover of Rosarium’s massive Sunspot Jungle, pledge the fundraiser – see details at “Sunspot Jungle: Kickstarter Exclusive Hardcover Edition”.
On June 17, 2018, Rosarium Publishing will be turning five years old. So, we’ve decided to throw a little party. Since we like to say we “introduce the world to itself,” we just knew it had to be a global party!
Like any good party, we’ve invited some friends, acquaintances, associates, people we’ve heard good things about, and some complete strangers.
The end result is Sunspot Jungle!
A two-volume, spec fic anthology filled with stories from over 100 writers from around the world!!!
This campaign is for special hardcover editions of the anthology only available to you Kickstarter supporters.
(The paperback for Vol. 1 will be out in December while the one for Vol. 2 will be released in spring of 2019.)
(6) GAVIN OBIT. John Gavin (1931-2018): US actor who later became a diplomat, died February 9, aged 86. Screen appearances include the horror classic Psycho, the psychological drama Midnight Lace (both 1960), two episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1963/65). Reportedly signed up to play James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever until Sean Connery agreed to return to the role, but this apparent setback allowed him to fulfil a lifelong dream to become the US ambassador to Mexico.
(7) CATHEY OBIT. Reg E Cathey (1958-2018): US actor, died February 9, aged 59. Genre appearances include Star Trek: The Next Generation (one episode, 1993), The Mask (1994), Tank Girl (1995), Grimm (three episodes, 2013), Banshee (two episodes, 2014), Banshee Origins (three episodes, 2014), Fantastic Four (2015). He also provided a voice for the video game Star Wars: The Old Republic – Rise of the Hutt Cartel (2013).
(8) JONES OBIT. Mickey Jones (1941-2018): US musician and actor, died February 7, aged 76. Genre appearances include The Incredible Hulk (three episodes, 1978-81), Galactica 1980 (one episode, 1980), Starman (1984), Misfits of Science (one episode, 1985), ALF (one episode, 1986), Probe (one episode, 1988), Something Is Out There (six episodes, 1988), Total Recall (1990), It Came From Outer Space II (1996), Penny Dreadful (2006), Necrosis (2009), Deadtime Stories (one episode, 2013).
(9) TODAY IN HISTORY
- February 11, 2008 — Tolkien heirs file Lord of the Rings lawsuit
(10) WOODEN YOU LIKE TO KNOW? Another case where a gang of facts dismantle a wonderful story: “Did Abraham Lincoln sleep here?”
Visitors to a small log cabin in Kentucky are right to ask: Is it true that Abraham Lincoln slept here? On the eve of Lincoln’s 209th birthday tomorrow, Brook Silva-Braga has the answer:
Professor Henri Grissino-Mayer has come to Hodgenville, Kentucky to solve a mystery almost as old as Abraham Lincoln himself.
Silva-Braga asked, “So, someone pulls off the highway, sees you guys drilling into this cabin and says, ‘What are you doing here?’ what do you say to them?”
“What we’re trying to do is authenticate when this cabin was made by using the tree rings in the logs,” he replied.
(11) VESTED INTERESTS. In the past five years Disneyland has experienced growth in these social groups, and now two are in court — “They’re Disneyland superfans. Why a lawsuit is alleging gangster-like tactics against one social club”.
They stroll through Disneyland in packs of 20 or more, motley crews that resemble a cross between the Hells Angels motorcycle gang and a grown-up Mickey Mouse Club with their Disney-themed tattoos and their matching denim vests strewn with trading pins and logos.
Disneyland social clubs, by most accounts, are harmless alliances of friends and family who meet up at the park to share a nerdy obsession for all things Disney. With club names such as Tigger Army and Neverland Mermaids, how threatening can they be?
… But a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court has revealed a dark undercurrent to the pastime. The head of one club has accused another of using gangster-like tactics to try to collect “protection” money for a charity fundraiser at the park.
The lawsuit reads like mob movie set in a theme park. The plot revolves around the Main Street Fire Station 55 Social Club, whose leaders claim they have been bullied and terrorized by the head of the White Rabbits Social Club.
(12) LOOKBACK. The British Science Fiction Association’s Vector does a science roundup in “Vector’s pick of science news in 2017”.
First of all, water. Two new inventions for increasing the supply of drinking water caught our eye:
- one, using a graphene-enhanced membrane for desalination
- and another, using sunlight in a device that pulls water out of the air.
In other exciting news regarding fluids, albeit less immediately applicable: scientists have made a fluid with negative mass. But then, the usefulness of inventions is often hard to judge….
(13) I’VE BEEN TO OKLAHOMA, BUT I’VE NEVER BEEN TO KLINGON. Even people in Tulsa have heard about it now — the Tulsa World ran a story about the Swedish production Hampus Eckerman brought to our attention last month — “Brush up on your Klingon for a new vacation hotspot”.
In search of a new and different vacation spot, with great food and cultural delights? Look no further.
A theater in Stockholm is playing host to a Klingon delegation seeking to promote tourism to Qo’nos (pronounced “Kronos”), the home planet of the ruthless yet honorable race of warriors from the cult TV franchise “Star Trek.”
(14) DOESN’T LEAVE MUCH TO WATCH. At Superversive SF, Anthony M tells about the unrewarding experience of trying to “retake the culture” — “The Problem of the Scold” [Internet Archive page].
Right now those of us on the cutting edge of the coming revolution in the entertainment field face a very thorny problem: We are scolds.
Brian Neimeier has – correctly, in my view – pointed out that we should simply be refusing to see films and shows written by people who hate us and that direct their hate at us.
So no Star Wars. No Star Trek. It is looking increasingly likely that Marvel movies are just about done. Television? Forget it, pretty much. Netflix, the exceptions are few and far between. Should we be supporting Netflix anyway?
… They get annoyed at me. I’m a killjoy. I’m a wet blanket. I see politics in everything. I’m ruining their fun. And of course, in a sense, they are exactly right. Nobody wants to hear me bash “Frozen”, because it will ruin the movie for them. And they like the movie!
I have turned myself into a scold. Many of us have. Nobody likes scolds. We’re negative and we annoy people. And scolding so far has not worked outside of getting people who already agree to clap their hands.
(15) PRECEDENT. NPR looks at influences on the world of the new movie — “Black Panther’s Mythical Home May Not Be So Mythical After All” – and finds a similarity to a historic African empire built on trade instead of military might.
There are different theories about the real-life inspiration for Wakanda. Ta-Nehisi Coates, who authored a reboot of the Black Panther comic series, explained his in this post for The Atlantic’s website. But the actor Chadwick Boseman, who plays Black Panther on screen, told The New York Times that Wakanda is a fictional version of “the Mutapa empire of 15th-century Zimbabwe.”
So how does the mythical Wakanda compare to the real-life Mutapa?
Stretching from modern-day South Africa into Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia, the kingdom of Mutapa thrived from the early 1400s to about 1760.
“Mutapa operated on three basic levels: they had a capital city, provinces and little villages,” says Professor Angelo Nicolaides of the University of South Africa. Chiefs ruled at each of these levels under the supreme authority of the king, known as the Munhumutapa.
Like so many other kingdoms that believed in the divine right of kings, “the Mutapan people believed that their leaders were placed in positions of authority by the creator,” says Nicolaides. “The oral tradition tells us that they were involved in ancestral worship to a large extent, and the people believed that the kings had a very good relationship with the spirit world.”
(16) CONFERENCE OVERLOAD IN DC. T.M. Shine has a piece in Washington Post Magazine about how many conventions he could go to in Washington in a week. Among the events he went to were Fortfest 2017, the International Fortean Organization convention, and Blerdcon, which started off as a con for “black nerds” and evolved into a con for people who like to wear superhero costumes — “Net neutrality, sex, falconry: In one week, I crashed as many D.C. conferences as possible”.
I’m romping around this convention, mingling with those dressed in costume, which is basically everybody. Blerdcon started as a celebration of black nerds, and then all minority nerds, but now it seems to be simply all of us — white, black, Hispanic, Asian. My costume is weak, I admit — just me with my various conference badges — but I begin to imagine everything from laser beams to android shrapnel bouncing off them. But what would my superhero name be? Evolution Man sounds too grand. I kind of like Symposium Man, but what would his powers be? Powerful personal anecdotes that freeze listeners in their tracks? The ability to spot a raised hand from 100 yards?
(17) WHAT DRONES CAN DO. The PyeongChang Olympics opened with 1218 drones filling the sky in the formation of the Olympic flag.
Good Morning America talks about how it was done.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, JJ, Steve Green, Chip Hitchcock, Martin Morse Wooster, Cat Eldridge, Will R., Carl Slaughter, Jeffrey Smith, ULTRAGOTHA, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Andrew.]
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First?
Over on Twitter, SFF author Erica Satifka has a running thread of works she has read and recommends.
(4) i enjoyed that article. I’ve put on my wishlist the book coming out in Oct, mentioned in the article, about lost and missing books.
14) I wish I could be as confident of being on the cutting edge of a coming revolution when my entire article was about how I’ve failed to get people to listen to me.
I mean, I could write a lot of articles about people not listening to me, but I’m not really confident that all my yelling about the Russet Burbank has placed me on the cutting edge of the potato revolution. I pretty much just think my friends are humoring me about the potato thing. But this writer is assured! There is a revolution and it is en route and he is the vanguard!
Must be nice.
(14) they really don’t like Frozen at Superversive
(14) Ironically, they can’t see the heavy political and/or religious messaging in their own work, and wonder why it’s not more popular, and why they can’t sell it to the mainstream publishers.
1) I’m sure McDonalds would be up for something.
What’s wrong with Frozen? Does anyone understand their objections so I can avoid their website? Is saying family is more important than boyfriends a leftist idea?
I tell my brother that if he spends time worrying about the politics of creators, he can never watch TV, see a movie or read a book. Everyone will disagree with you on something important.
Regarding original manuscripts versus digital reproduction, I remember reading years ago a column on this issue where the author mentioned a scholar tracing the great flu pandemic by smelling letters in various archives. Back in the day, they thought vinegar would keep the flu from spreading through the mail. The stronger the vinegar odor, the worse the pandemic.
There is a wider dislike of ‘Let It Go’ courtesy of Vox Day that regards it as a demonic hymn based on the teachings of Aleister Crowley. However, Superversive also regards it as flawed because Elsa does not learn her lesson and they also believe the plot is fatally flawed because the bad guy could have legit had Elsa murdered but didn’t when he had an opportunity to with full deniability and only later revealed that he was a bad guy.
I’d asked them for more details but they aren’t talking to me at the moment 😉
My comment above raises a question of who is more absurd: the alt-right of science fiction devoting so much effort into trying to rationalise their dislike of a Disney musical or me for spending time studying their rationalisation for disliking a Disney musical.
(3) I’ve been mostly pleasantly surprised by Black Lightning so far. It’s refreshing, especially compared to the other DCTV shows. I do hope that there are plans in the pipeline to incorporate him into the DCTV universe though, as it feels weird to sideline the only black main-character-superhero into a separate universe when they jumped through so many hoops to be able to bring Supergirl into the Arrowverse continuity.
(14) I read the whole article thinking it would actually go somewhere meaningful and…
@RedWombat: I keep thinking maybe they’re getting mixed up between “cutting edge” and “chopping block”
@Camestros Felapton: I’d say they’re more absurd, if only because the study of different cultural groups and their beliefs (even or possibly especially repugnant ones) is hella interesting.
World Weary: What’s wrong with Frozen? Does anyone understand their objections so I can avoid their website?
Frozen’s Fatal Flaw Or The Unplotted Plot Twist
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:h6-igOnfZ3UJ:https://www.superversivesf.com/2018/01/22/frozens-fatal-flaw-or-the-unplotted-plot-twist
No, Elsa did NOT Learn her Lesson
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KxrzGfV7vWcJ:https://www.superversivesf.com/2018/01/26/no-elsa-not-learn-lesson
There are some definite plot holes in Frozen, but considering all the false starts and rewrites it went through over its years of development, I’m surprised it has any coherence at all.
I didn’t see it until last year, so, what, four years after it came out? But I loved it, my favorite Disney in a long time, maybe since Aladdin. I can cheerfully ignore any plot holes.
Of course, it has bad connotations here in 3701, where the sea rise makes deep freezes more treacherous than ever.
40 I recall in Stirling’s Draka universe, a whole cache of lost ancient manuscripts is found at one point, influencing Draka society.
11) Hunh. I know some people take Disney very seriously, but THAT seriously?
14) I get not liking a particular movie, or Disney movies, but that seems like a groupthink hate-on for Frozen by that crowd.
15) Ah, yeah, Great Zimbabwe!
Thanks for the title credit.
It’s a Small World-Stalk
@Oneiros: (Black Lightning and its place at The CW)
I’m also quite liking the show, for several reasons. One scheduling note, while I’m thinking about it: unlike most other genre TV programming, neither BL nor Legends of Tomorrow are currently in reruns. (With two exceptions, neither of which is genre, everything else I watch is on hiatus until the week of the 25th, when The Walking Dead returns.)
Anyway, BL recently mentioned Supergirl in dialogue and showed an issue of The Outsiders (traditionally a Batman team book) on screen. This raises the question of whether Supergirl is an active hero or a comic book character in that setting, and I suppose both could be true. However, I think the latter interpretation is more likely. ISTR some kind of statement being made a while back that BL was not going to be part of the Arrowverse, which is fine by me. I believe the story it’s telling would get undermined by tossing it into annual crossovers, so I’m happy enough to see it maintain its own identity in the same way that Lucifer and iZombie have.
Hey, here’s a random ArrowMultiverse thought: There is quite possibly a Martian Manhunter on the main Arrowverse Earth. If so, his human disguise almost certainly looks nothing like the one “our” Supergirl’s ally uses. A future crossover event could have both Manhunters meet up without resorting to special camera tricks.
(14) Sometimes they get so close to a breakthrough, only to swerve away at the last second…
5) Backed!
14) Who? From where? I’m sorry; I couldn’t hear him over how much fun I’m having reading The Fifth Season.
The Discovery finale was an incoherent mess, which by this point was exactly what I was expecting from the series.
I’m seriously so disappointed, though. I’m OK with flashy. I’m OK with adventure-y. I’m OK with modern, and with serialized, and with breaking from canon that’s based on SFX from the ’60s.
But honest to god, you couldn’t get any better writing than that?
Thanks Camestros and JJ!
I only saw the movie once and I didn’t see the twist their way at all. I saw a guy who had been perfectly willing to marry the princess as his best shot at what he wanted. When he ends up in charge and doesn’t have to marry anyone, that’s just an improvement for him.
The part that I couldn’t believe was that in a semi-feudal absolute monarchy under threat of war, the populace wouldn’t be absolutely delighted with a ruler who has magic powers that will help defend them.
@14, Wait, what? They think that Elsa was supposed to learn to lock down her magic again until it exploded uncontrollably?
No, the lesson that Elsa learned was ercerffvba qbrfa’g jbex! Fur unq gb yrnea ubj gb hfr ure zntvp cebcreyl. Juvpu fur qvq, va gung vpr pnfgyr. Jung, ur qbrfa’g guvax gung ohvyqvat na vpr pnfgyr naq znvagnvavat vg gnxrf fxvyy naq pbageby? Fur QVQ yrnea pbageby, va gur gvzr fur jnf njnl sebz gur pvgl. Creuncf abg cresrpg pbageby, ohg rabhtu gb yrg ure pbagvahr gb ersvar vg fnsryl nebhaq bgure crbcyr.
Naq nf sbe gur “cybg gjvfg” bs Unaf fnivat Ryfn sebz gur pebffobj, gjb guvatf. Svefg, gurer jrer jvgarffrf. Vs nalbar fnj uvz qryvorengryl qenttvat uvf srrg, gung jbhyq ehva uvf fpurzr. Frpbaq, vs gur evtugshy dhrra vfa’g FRRA gb or n qnatre, naq “evtugshyyl” vzcevfbarq, gura uvf bja fpurzr sbe nqinaprzrag snvyf.
Naq guveq, ABOBQL VF GUR IVYYNVA VA GURVE BJA URNQ. Vg’f oryvrinoyr gung ur’q npg ba vafgvapg gb fnir n crefba. Vg nyfb przragf uvz nf n “ureb” va gur rlrf bs gur cbchynpr. Vg’f nyfb oryvrinoyr gung ur’q jnyx njnl sebz n qlvat crefba nsgre ur unf n punapr gb pbafvqre ubj gung npgvba jbhyq uryc uvz… rfcrpvnyyl fvapr gurer jrer ab jvgarffrf naq fur’f cebonoyl tbaan qvr naljnl.
(ROT13 for spoilers, although I seriously doubt many folks here haven’t seen Frozen)
Regarding 14, their thinking seems to be that if they can get conservative leaning fans to stop spending money on “media that hates them” (i.e. Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel comics, Disney movies, Tor books, etc…), those fans will instead buy their stuff. Because if you boycot all other SFF, you will obviously want to read that latest JCW book. It’s typical zero sum game thinking.
As for Frozen, I don’t particularly like the movie (but then I dislike most newer Disney movies), but their obsession with one essentially harmless film is a bit weird.
Cora says Regarding 14, their thinking seems to be that if they can get conservative leaning fans to stop spending money on “media that hates them” (i.e. Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel comics, Disney movies, Tor books, etc…), those fans will instead buy their stuff. Because if you boycot all other SFF, you will obviously want to read that latest JCW book. It’s typical zero sum game thinking.
Really bad logic. Even if they persuaded a small number of fans that like the Star Wars fils, there’s absolutely no reason to think they’ll decide to read more SFF, let alone the works of a given author.
I’m not watching video right now (severe head trauma has interesting effects) but I’m not reading more SFF as I’m trying the Marvel Unlimited streaming service which has both Guardians of The Galaxy and Rocket Racoon series.
Oneiros on February 11, 2018 at 11:43 pm said:
My first choice would be a team-up with (NOT a fight against) Luke Cage. (Yes, I know, not just different networks, but one’s DC, the other’s Marvel.)
So has anyone been watching the new Dirk Gently TV series? I watched the first episode last night and I’m not quite sure how I feel yet, but that’s at least partially because it felt like the entire episode was just setting up the rest of the series. The tone was very manic, and they introduced a metric ton (tonne?) of wacky characters who will, I assume, have larger roles to play as things progress.
(n.b. I should also admit I haven’t read the books. And I should hang my head in shame.)
11- That’s nuts, though I am legit excited for the Sons of Anarchy spinoff Sons of Ariel. Considering how much media they own as far as IPs and radio, etc I would also accept a dystopian novel set after Disney owns everything where rival themeparks send out their War Bambis to collect fight each other over any remaining IP they don’t own already to make Immortan Mickey happy. Or I can just read Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.
14- The time traveling Puritans having saved humanity from the CyberPaptists have arrived in time to save media from the Demons of merrymaking, otherwise known as the Froleks.
Re: Puppies and Culture they hate.
I suspect that in their heart of hearts, they think themselves the Moral Silent Majority and if they could break the spell of SJW fiction, then support for the properties they hate and loathe would collapse–Frozen, Marvel, Harry Potter. (a certain individual whom I shall not name has apparently decided that Harry Potter is a product of Satan, and I suspect his point of view is held by a number of other Puppies too)
14) Probably the saddest bit in in the comments, where one person went to see a stage show and because there was ‘virtue signaling’ (i.e they had a gay character), their family was afraid to discuss the show with them because they assumed it would set them off on a rant.
Really, when your family doesn’t want to talk about things because they expect you to go off on an unhinged rant is usually the sign that you’re the one with issues.
Hi, Internet – You may breathe normal now: The dispute about the Oxford comma has been, as they say, write, or tweet, settled.
Moby-Dick McDickface; or, the Pixel
@Camestros “There is a wider dislike of ‘Let It Go’ courtesy of Vox Day that regards it as a demonic hymn based on the teachings of Aleister Crowley.”
Please please please tell me you are serious.
@Cat Rambo:
If the Wayback Machine is to be trusted… Completely and utterly serious.
Standback–but you see full-on green Orion slave butt–female and male. Isn’t that going boldly where no Trek has gone before?
Frozen: it has a Gay Agenda, remember?
This isn’t to be confused with Tangled, which has an anti-stay-at-home-moms adgenda. I can’t find the main screed I read about that, as angry as the Frozen one, but here is a similar one.
A good rule of thumb is that nobody who talks loudly about plot holes on the internet knows what a plot hole is.
I’ll take a possibly controversial stand and say that goddamnit, overplayed or not, I still love “Let It Go.”
Not entirely sure how one gets to Crowley from there, although now I am picturing a heartwarming Disney movie about Crowley with the musical number “Do What Thou Wilt” performed by little dancing crows. Disney, call me! We can make this work!
My great love of FROZEN honestly hinges on one point—Elsa keeps her powers. If you’re female and magical, they NEVER let you keep your powers and you’re also supposed to not want them so you can live a normal life, but there she is at the end, running the kingdom and making it snow.
RedWombat, and Frozen has the message that trying to suppress who you are DOESN’T WORK. You should be the best you that you can be; not try to be something else.
Which I think is also important.
@Joe: I’ve seen the first season of Dirk Gently; haven’t gotten around to the second yet.
It’s harmless fun, very manic, really fun actors. Any relationship to the original books is coincidental at best, and I’m A-OK with that.
Joe H: I’ve been watching it. The first season is a frenetic madcap run through weirdness that I quite enjoyed – I suspect not to everyone’s tastes, but if you liked anything about the first episode, you’ll probably enjoy it once it gets its real momentum up. The second season had a slower and more annoying start and the weirdness at first seemed even more insanely divergent. It looked like there was no way they were going to actually bring it all to one conclusion — but it pulled off the ending after all, which I thought made it worth the bits where I gritted my teeth.
(I do know one person who described it as the “Confidence of a mediocre white man” idea taken to extremes, which made me laugh, but didn’t seem wrong, and didn’t make me like it any less.)
@Standback and Lenora Rose: Thanks! I do plan to keep watching it — I enjoyed most of the individual bits from the first episode; I just kept waiting for them to cohere, which obviously takes more than one episode in this case.
Yes, the cast is great.
3) Black Lightning is so much fun so far. One reason I like more diverse TV shows is because different stories are told. I also love how much of a family man Jefferson Pierce is.
I am also loving Counterpart but I’ve had a crush on Olivia Williams ever since Dollhouse and The Ghost Writer and J.K. Simmons is outstanding. Parallel universes, spy drama, bleak European city-scapes: it has a lot that makes me happy.
14) I’ve never seen Frozen but plot holes rarely bother me. Or rather they are rarely the reason I dislike something. With rare exceptions, I only start looking for plot holes once something else has bothered me.
Finally, the Star Trek finale fell flat for me. I’ve sort of enjoyed most of the season–even if it was all over the place and kind of rough. Unfortunately the season felt frantic to me and I never became invested in the characters or had a good sense of who they were. There are definitely a lot of characters I want to know better so I’m looking forward to a second season. But I don’t yet know them better and as a result the emotional conclusion and Burnham’s speech didn’t work for me.
Who’s the leader of the club
Of Sci-Fi show and tell?
P-I-X, E-L-S, C-R-O-L-L!
Where do we look every day
For stuff we love so well?
P-I-X, E-L-S, C-R-O-L-L!
Pixel Scroll! (Pixel Scroll!)
Pixel Scroll! (Second Fifth!!)
Forever let us click that #@$%* box!
Fans and slans from many lands
Come join us, what the hell…
P-I-X, E-L-S, C-R-O-L-L!
(Fireworks go off as cartoon mascot Michael Mouse is cheered loudly.)
@World Weary: The part that I couldn’t believe was that in a semi-feudal absolute monarchy under threat of war, the populace wouldn’t be absolutely delighted with a ruler who has magic powers that will help defend them.
Well, they may well have, given a proper introduction. But they weren’t given a chance, due to the parents’ bad decision to hide Elsa away. And then all they knew is she blew up and ran away from her coronation, suddenly the kingdoms locked in a lethal winter, and a Guy With An Authoritative Voice is offering a solution. Under that situation, their unfortunate response is understandable.
Afterwards of course, they seem pretty happy with their Goddess of Winter (yeah, yet powers to much beyond ice creation). Much as Latveria is happy with Doom.
I really want for the second movie, to have other countries seeing Elsa as a threat. And they sponsor a bedridden mystic to assemble a team of magical misfits to combat her. Say, start with a girl with uncontrollably lethal vision, a young noblewoman with angel wings, a girl whose beastial strength and agility hides a brilliant mind, and a boy mentalist who can levitate things…
@Rose I’d so watch that.
Standback: Based on some passing comments, the Dirk Gently series is supposed to take place some time after the extant books, with those events having happened in some form while Dirk was running around hiding from his bigger TV show backstory, before he came (Back?) to the US.
I don’t remember the books that well, but they’re not so much incompatible with the tv show as irrelevant to it.
Rose Embolism: I dunno. I think that plot’s been done. (It also ties directly to the How it Should Have Ended for Frozen, which I think was one of the best of that hit-and-miss series.)
I think the main beef they have with Frozen is, that its popular and feature strong women as protagonist.
The same plot, but with Sven as the hero who safes everyone and nobody would care about plotholes. About the rest of (14) Im with Cora.
Re Dirk Gently just watching 1st series. Right mixture of being completely bonkers and coherence to follow the plot without trying to be anything else than entertained. I disliked Frodo for most of the series though, but that was a deliberate choice from the producers I guess, so its Ok.
(14) I suspect they’re convinced that the puppies got Noah Warded because of politics, rather than on the basis of (lack of) quality. Which means that us evil SJWs have proven that judging works based on politics is a viable approach.
Until they get past this disconnect (and I seriously doubt they can), I wouldn’t expect to see much rational thinking out of that corner.
Although, to be fair, there is some equally illogical thinking on the other side. Humans in general tend to be not as smart as they like to think they are.
Not too long ago, we had someone (X) here telling us that we had to stop enjoying the works of a particular creator (Y) because Y was insufficiently negative about another (truly awful) creator (Z)! The end result, of course, was simply that I lost all respect for X. My opinions of creators are not transitive. Y liking Z more than he should doesn’t mean Y is Z. And the threat offered by X (“if you dare to enjoy Y’s work, I’ll judge you”) cuts both ways. I can, and did, judge X by that statement.
So anyway, yeah, fight stupidity no matter what its political alignment. 🙂
@Cassy B
I haven’t seen Frozen, but if that’s the case, I think everyone discussing why the far right hates the movie (superversivesf included) has been tiptoeing around the elephant in the room.
1) & 15) Valid criticisms notwithstanding, commercial interests have been the single greatest motivation for the advancement of humanity and the human condition. So neither should be much of a surprise.
14) Perhaps related, but one reason why I watch a lot less of what comes out of Hollywood is that they are openly hostile towards me and some of my values. For most of the last 20 years, fathers have been portrayed as useless buffoons. Films like “American Sniper” are rare. Films that are critical of the U.S. are frequent.
Criticism is a fine thing. But they seem to shy away from stories that focus on what the US gets right as well as movies that are critical of left of center ideals. Basically, I’m tired of a subculture that shelters people like Weinstein/Polanski/Woody Allen all while lecturing and hectoring middle America about being awful people.
While I enjoyed (and still enjoy from time to time) “Frozen” quite a bit, some of the criticism is valid. Elsa never really learns to control her power. She is told to keep it under wraps (not good) or she “lets it go” (also not good). We never see her learning moderation within the context of the movie.
Regards,
Dann
My 2018 Hugo noms – in process
For most of the last 20 years, fathers have been portrayed as useless buffoons.
Before that, we had positive role models, like Dagwood Bumstead and Darrin Stevens.
“We never see her learning moderation within the context of the movie.”
Except for the part where she reverses the damage inadvertently did, takes hold as Queen, welcomes her people into her home and creates a free summertime ice skating rink.
A few notes on things:
Dirk Gently – really enjoyed both seasons (really liked how they worked all the stuff together in season 2) and I’m sad there won’t be more. The IDW comic series ended up as sort of a prequel to the TV series (establishing parallel timeline/universes that would have been nice to see explored if the TV series continued). I can see where streaming/binge watching would be a plus since watching it on a weekly basis you got very impatient for the next episode to happen.
RE: Paleyfest – If you can make it to one of those events for a favorite show, do so. Back when it was still in its infancy I made it out to LA for a number of shows (Lois and Clark and Angel in the 90’s), and really enjoyed them.
@Kip
Which sort of illustrates my point in two ways. First of all, the bumbling dad archetype was one of many present at the time. Over the last 20 years, that archetype has significantly grown more prominent. Secondly, even within his bumbling, Darrin is presented as having useful aspects within his family and at work. The modern bumbling dad is more frequently presented as only being useful as a humorous family diversion.
@Msb
We see the before and the after. What we do not see within the context of the movie is the motivation and action of “learning”. It is a problem similar to seeing a car plunge off of a cliff and then seeing it resting safely at the bottom of the gorge, but not seeing what happens in between. It isn’t a fatal flaw in the movie. It is a flaw, nonetheless.
Regards,
Dann
I miss Taglinator….