Continuing this series of trailers on movies Howard Waldrop and I will be reviewing is The Avengers, which comes out May 4th. We liked the Iron Man movies, but weren’t particularly wild about Thor.
Films Howard and I Will Review: The Avengers
February 11th, 2012Films Howard and I Will Review: John Carter
February 9th, 2012Second up for Howard Waldrop and I to review in 2012 is Pixar’s first live action film, John Carter (based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars) due out March 9.
The first trailer had me worried, because there were no four-armed green dudes. This trailer? Four-armed green dudes everywhere. Also, since Michael Chabon had a hand in the script, I’m really looking forward to it.
Just for the record, I should note that the John Carter of Mars in this film is not my U.S. congressman, John Carter of Round Rock.
Films Howard and I Will Review: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence
February 7th, 2012Howard and I signed up to review a number of films for Locus Online this year, and I thought i would put up some trailers for them. First up on the list is Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, due out February 17.
We’re review it because: A.) Someone has to, B.) We reviewed the first one, and C.) I’m hoping with Crank directors Neveldine/Taylor at the helm it will be good, stupid, over-the-top, sleazy exploitation fun.
Shoegazer Sunday: Dead Mellotron’s “I Hate The Way Things Are”
February 5th, 2012I thought last week’s dose worked out so well that we should go back for a second helping.
What Should I Read in 2012?
February 4th, 2012Better late than never!
In the Before Time, the Long Long Ago (i.e., before I started this blog), I would ask The Vast Wisdom of Usenet (i.e. rec.arts.sf.written) what books I should read this year. Now that I have the blog, I’m posting the question here.
Below are 100 books (or a few more, counting multiple titles by a single author) of fiction I’m considering reading in 2012. With a few exceptions (like forthcoming books), they’re pretty much all books I already own in first editions. Most likely I’ll get to considerably less than 100. The first few are books I’ll probably get to (or are already reading), whereas the rest are a little vaguer (and in alphabetical order by author). That’s where you come in. Tell me which of the books below I should or shouldn’t read, and why. If a book’s not on the list, it’s probably because I’ve already read it, or have no interest in it, won’t get to it this year, etc., so save your electrons instead of suggesting alternates (there are plenty of other places for that). And if I list Book #2 in a linear series, rest assured I’ve already read Book #1.
I don’t promise I’ll read all the highest rated works, but those most highly praised are considerably more likely to be added to the reading stack, which is what’s happened the previous years I’ve done this.
William Shatner on the Mike Douglas Show
February 2nd, 2012The first segment has Shatner talking about difficult acting jobs he had to perform on Star Trek. The second features him singing. Guess which one I watched all the way through?
Book Signing and Party for Three Messages and a Warning
January 29th, 2012I attended a signing at BookPeople for Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic, co-edited by Turkey City’s own Chris Brown (formerly Chris Nakashima-Brown, now renamed after a long and painful de-Japanization process).
The event was fairly well attended, with about 40-50 people showing up.
Two of the authors flew up for the event: Pepe Rojo of Tijuana:
And Bernardo Fernandez of Mexico City (who also works as a graphics artist and teacher, as well as a crime writer):
(I’m not sure if you can tell, but Bernardo’s shirt features a robot (or possibly an android) and an electric sheep.) I believe he mentioned that he was working on a graphic novel about William S. Burrough’s time in Mexico. I bet it ends with a bang.
I also found it interesting that both of their fathers were engineers.
In attendance were also many members of the Austin SF community, including a few that my pictures of weren’t completely awful:
Stina Leicht and Sara Felix.
Jessica Reisman, a few moments before the police arrested her for the Hollywood scriptwriter they found dead facedown in her pool.
On Saturday, there was a party at Chris Brown’s newly opened East Austin hipster-pad-cum-1970s-science-fiction-movie-set. Sadly, none of my photos of the house (taken at dusk) came out well. But I did get a few pics of the party attendees:
Don Webb, who co-edited one of the most influential Spanish-language anthologies of speculative fiction, for which he was paid $50 and three bottles of Tequila.
Stina and Jessica redux.
The rest of my pictures were various degrees of crappy. (Hopefully Jayme Blaschke, who was there with a bigger, better camera, will put some up.) Sadly, one picture that didn’t come out was that of Bernardo wearing a t-shirt depicting Mexico’s most famous science fiction character: Bender Bending Rodriguez.
Finally, no expects the Spanish Steampunk Zeppelin!
Shoegazer Sunday: Dead Mellotron’s “I Woke Up”
January 29th, 2012Love the band name.
Much More Important Than ABBA
January 27th, 2012The surviving members of Monty Python are reuniting for a science fiction film farce called Absolutely Anything.
I am so there.
In Which The “No Disco” Rule is Temporarily Lifted
January 27th, 2012I doubt I’ll live this one down. Let’s just call this Guilty Pleasure Friday.
I read on Bill Crider’s Blog that ABBA was releasing their first new single in 18 years. Now keep in mind I’m firmly in the “anti-disco” faction. I lived through the 1970s, and disco was right up there with inflation and the Pittsburgh Steelers among things right-thinking suburban teenagers in Houston hated in the 1970s.
So ABBA was never going to be among my favorites. But despite all that, I still remember liking “Take a Chance on Me” when it came out, so I thought I’d give it a listen again.
Whoa.
The refrain is pure disco vapidness, the “sexy” winks are ridiculous, and the 1970s video production values are non-existent. But those first few seconds of high female acapella harmony still send shivers down my spine. Maybe it’s because such harmonies are so underutilized in pop music today, a point I’ve made before.
Say what you want about ABBA, but this was before the age of digital desuckification and autotune, and those girls could really sing.