Triplanetary

Altering vector

2012-01-31T14:35:00.000-06:00

"Wahoo!"

What with Google megacorp's intrusive new policies I've decided to slip into my spacesuit, climb onto my crotch rocket and blast off for the other side of the solar system. I was all set to start a new blog over at Blogetery, but before I could even make my first post the account was suspended and I got the message, "Sorry, but this blog has been marked as spam as defined in our Terms of Service." Can you beat that? So obviously it'll be awhile before I'm back online. So anyway, this blog is going into suspended animation. Thanks to the baker's dozen of you out there who followed it, and to any of you who just dropped by for a peek. Per aspera ad astra.

Fly Me to the Moon

2012-01-28T17:09:00.000-06:00

"All your base are belong to us!"

In this latest episode of his weekly science show Explorations, Dr. Michio Kaku covers the danger of solar flares, the forty year struggle ahead of Japan to deal with the nuclear disaster, how global warming will bitch slap the U.K. (and Scotland, too), and welcomes special guest Dr. Michael Shermer to debunk conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, he doesn't touch on reactionary bully Newt Gingrich's recently declared dark dream of outer space imperialism. Gingrich, a politician who constantly demonizes "secular atheists", is blissfully ignorant of the irony of his naming Isaac Asimov, a signatory to the Humanist Manifesto, as an inspiration. Hopefully one day Earth will have a colony on the Moon -- an international colony established for peaceful, scientific purposes.

Explorations

"Danger, Will Robinson!"

2012-01-26T09:33:00.001-06:00

Dick Tufeld, who was the announcer on Irwin Allen sf shows like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and The Time Tunnel has passed away. But what he will be best remembered for is his role as the voice of the Robot on Allen's sci-fi farce, Lost in Space. So what better way to commemorate his career than enjoying an episode starring the Robot?

Happy Lunar New Year

2012-01-23T10:00:00.003-06:00

"Best rollercoaster ever!"

Happy Year of the Water Dragon to all. May all your wishes for the year be fulfilled. As the old year goes out and the new comes in how about we celebrate with Rural War Room Radio's meandering mixture of melodies, the"Young & Old Show"?

Young & Old Show Part 01
Young & Old Show Part 02
Young & Old Show Part 03
Young & Old Show Part 04
Young & Old Show Part 05

Non-Western Science

2012-01-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

As you've probably noticed, I listen to a lot of podcasts. So many, in fact, that I get behind in my listening all the time. That's why I'm just now getting around to this episode of Against the Grain. It's an interview with the philosopher of science Sandra Harding discussing non-Western ways of thinking. I know there's a tenancy among some to dismiss this kind of thing out of hand as some kind of Lysenkoism, but I think there is some merit to this viewpoint. Also, I think it's germane to sf given that the Western scientific perspective is the one that informs most of the genre.

While it's a stimulating discussion, I do have to quibble with her use of the word "science" as a sweeping generalization. That term covers such a broad spectrum that it's about as specific as "footwear", which can mean anything from sandals to waders. So while the points she raises may be valid in relation to ecology or medical science, I don't see how they would be applicable to, say, research into superconductors.

And I also find it interesting that although she never actually uses the term her philosophical approach is very close to that of Pragmatism. It always amuses me how often people hold de facto Pragmatist views, often without realizing it. Like that time William James wrote to H. G. Wells after reading one of his non-fiction books and not only claimed him as a philosophical kinsman but also declared, "You're a pragmatist!"

Non-Western Science (49 mins, 37 secs)

Stop SOPA

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-06:00

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Remember the bad old days when Star Trek fans were being threatened with lawsuits for using images of the show on their fan sites? Luckily that didn't last long, but things could get that bad again -- or even worse. Help stop internet censorship.

Conan's moon-face

2012-01-17T11:07:00.000-06:00

This is good for a laugh. Conan takes on a fan and explains how his set's moon can be in font of the clouds. But you don't need to be Phil Plait to see there's an even bigger problem with that moon. Look how many arc seconds of sky it covers. It's obviously much closer to the Earth than it should be. So close, in fact, that it might well be withing the Roche limit -- the point at which gravity will rip it apart. That means Conan's moon should probably look more like this:

(Art by Alex Schomburg)

I hope they have hardhats handy!

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today the U.S.A. celebrates the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the heroic activist for social justice -- and incidentally history's most renowned Star Trek fan. As Nichelle Nichols tells the story, she was thinking of leaving the show when she had a fateful meeting with a fan.

"One of the promoters came up and said someone wanted to meet me. He said he's my greatest fan," says Nichols, 78. "I thought it was some Trekker, some kid. I turned in my seat and there was Dr. Martin Luther King with a big smile on his face. He said, 'I am a Trekker, I am your biggest fan.'"

At that point, Nichols thought of herself as just a cast member on the show and hadn't fully grasped the racial implications of her part. She'd dealt with race all her life, of course, even on the set at Paramount, where a security guard hurled insults at her, but she hadn't grasped the importance of an African-American woman having a position of respect on TV.

Nichols thanked King and told him she was leaving the show.

"He was telling me why I could not [resign]," she recalls. "He said I had the first nonstereotypical role, I had a role with honor, dignity and intelligence. He said, 'You simply cannot abdicate, this is an important role. This is why we are marching. We never thought we'd see this on TV.'"

Nichols was at a loss for words. It was the first time the importance of being an African-American woman on television had sank in. She returned to "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry the next Monday morning and rescinded her resignation.

"He sat there and looked at me and said, 'God bless Dr. Martin Luther King. Somebody does understand me,'" Nichols says.

There has been a concerted effort to bury Dr. King's radical later years when he expanded his campaign to oppose not only racism, but also militarism and economic exploitation. When he denounced the U.S.A.'s war in Vietnam the establishment media turned on him, and to this day they do everything they can to circumscribe his legacy. So in honor of Dr. King's truly radical legacy here in its entirety is his 1967 speech, "Why I am opposed to the War in Vietnam".

Strange Stories (1884)

2012-01-15T07:57:00.000-06:00

Strange Stories (1884) by Grant Allen

"I may perhaps also venture to plead in self-defence that though these stories do not profess to be anything more than mere short sensational tales, I have yet endeavoured to give to most of them some slight tinge of scientific or psychological import and meaning."

Includes the stories "Pausodyne", "an early tale about Suspended Animation", "A Child of the Phalanstery", "about a future society's Eugenic practices", as well as "New Year's Eve Among the Mummies", "The Mysterious Occurrence in Piccadilly", "Our Scientific Observations on a Ghost" and others.

Produced by Annie R. McGuire. This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print archive.

Knight Blade

2012-01-14T09:39:00.000-06:00

Knight Blade with Robert Davi & Ray Wise from Robert Davi

Here's something for a laugh. It's a mock opening credit sequence that spoofs cheesy 80's sci-fi TV shows like Knight Rider.

[via AOTS]

A Universe from Nothing

2012-01-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

As a sort of followup to yesterday's post here's Lawrence Krauss talking about A Universe from Nothing at the Atheist Allience in 2009.

UPDATE: Hmm...the embed url just up and vanished. Fixed it, obviously.

It is 5 Minutes to Midnight

2012-01-11T09:28:00.000-06:00

If the the news that warfare has metastasized to include the assassination of scientists isn't grim enough then the news that the Doomsday Clock has ticked a minute closer to midnight should raise your eyebrows.

Lawrence Krauss, co-chair, BAS Board of Sponsors, commenting on the Doomsday Clock announcement, said:

"Unfortunately, Einstein's statement in 1946 that 'everything has changed, save the way we think,' remains true. The provisional developments of 2 years ago have not been sustained, and it makes sense to move the clock closer to midnight, back to the value it had in 2007. Faced with clear and present dangers of nuclear proliferation and climate change, and the need to find sustainable and safe sources of energy, world leads are failing to change business as usual. Inaction on key issues including climate change, and rising international tensions motivate the movement of the clock. As we see it, the major challenge at the heart of humanity's survival in the 21stcentury is how to meet energy needs for economic growth in developing and industrial countries without further damaging the climate, exposing people toloss of health and community, and without risking further spread of nuclear weapons, and in fact setting the stage for global reductions."

Which goes to show that anxiety about the future isn't irrational, although the populace often seems not to be able to deal with it except in an irrational way. Witness the popularity of "zombie" fiction, which seems to reflect a consciousness about the danger of virulent pandemics but can only conceptualize that unease as a ghoulish fantasy. Or more to the point, the current hysteria over the "end" of the Mayan calender in 2012 which some fringy few claim heralds Ragnarok.

While the hype around 2012 has more to do with a residual colonial exploitation of indigenous people, with imperialist authors illicitly appropriating native culture despite the protests of the Maya themselves (who won't see a dime of those dubious profits), it also reflects a society that recognizes that disaster threatens but which is unable to directly confront the problem and instead substitutes a fantasy. Quentin Cooper, host of the BBC science show Material World, recently illuminated these illusions, and sought to find out if there was any fact to be found in the fantasies. To hear the show click this link to open a pop-up player.(30 minutes)

RiffTrax - Plan 9 From Outer Space

2012-01-08T06:00:00.000-06:00

Just to prove that I haven't been abducted by aliens, here's the RiffTrax take on Ed Wood's chef d'œuvre. Originally titled Grave Robbers from Outer Space, the movie was most likely inspired by Alex Schomburg's cover for the September 1939 issue of Startling Stories.

SF That Could Have Entered the Public Domain

2012-01-02T06:00:00.000-06:00

The Center for the Study of the Public Domain has released their annual Public Domain Day reminder about artistic works that could have entered the public domain on January 1, 2012. "Under the law that existed until 1978 . . . Works from 1955." That would have included such sf works as...

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King, which would have made the entire Lord of Rings trilogy part of our common world heritage rather than the private property of the Tolkien estate.

Fredric Brown's sf comedy classic, Martians, Go Home.

Jack Finney's classic of Cold War paranoia, The Body Snatchers, which introduced the term "pod people" into the popular lexicon.

Leigh Brackett's post-holocaust classic, The Long Tomorrow.

Philip K. Dick's The Solar Lottery.

And Isaac Asimov's time travel novel, The End of Eternity, could along with his Foundation trilogy have entered the public domain.

Luckily there are some loopholes in the current restrictive laws. While stories like Robert Sheckley's humorous "The Lifeboat Mutiny" (1955) is not in the public domain, the X Minus One radio adaptation of it is. So until the law is repaired we can at least freely enjoy it in that form.

The Lifeboat Mutiny

RWR: Year End Clearance Show 2011

2012-01-01T17:07:00.001-06:00

"And a one, and a two..."

Radio4all is back online, so here's Rural War Room Radio's year end blow out show to ring in 2012.

Rural War Room Radio Year End 2011 Part 01 (57 mins 27 secs)
Rural War Room Radio Year End 2011 Part 02 (1 hr 01 min 48 secs)
Rural War Room Radio Year End 2011 Part 03 (56 min 32 secs)
Rural War Room Radio Year End 2011 Part 04 (1 hr 2 mins 3 secs)
Rural War Room Radio Year End 2011 Part 05 (38 mins 59 secs)

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-06:00

As the intergalactic band strikes up "Auld Lang Syne" I get ready for the new year. I'm not usually one for resolutions, but I will try to finish reviewing the rest of E. C. Tubb's Dumarest novels. I kind of got burned out about halfway in, but I think I've regained enough ironic detachment that I can make it through to the end. The hardest part about blogging is that every time I think of something to blather on about it seems like somebody else has done it first and done it better. It gets kind of discouraging sometimes. So thank you to all of you regular readers. I appreciate you dropping by to hear what I have to say, however out of date or wrongheaded it may be. I was going to leave you all with Rural War Room Radio's Year End Clearance Show, but it looks like Radio4all is offline. (I hope that's not an omen of the year ahead.) So instead Murgatroyd and I toast you with a hot cup of java and wish you all the best for the year ahead.

"Chee!"

Murgatroyd says I should at least play his favorite song from the eclectic RWR playlist, so here's Marilyn Maye's "Java". 謹賀新年!

Fukushima: Truth and Consequences

2011-12-30T14:39:00.000-06:00

radiation hot spots

One of the most significant events of the year was the natural disaster that struck Japan which precipitated a catastrophic triple meltdown at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Although the Japanese government has engaged in the charade of declaring a "cold shutdown" the crisis is far from over. In the most recent episode Radio Ecoshock host Alex Smith does a good job of cutting through the disinformation. The show cites Japanese blogger EX-SKF, who provides hard to come by details about the situation, and Kazuhiko Kobayashi who exposes the cronyism that is preventing the government from acting in the public interest. Smith also scrutinizes the sensational claim made in a recent scientific paper that 14,000 Americans were killed by fallout. As you know, correlation does not imply causation and the study does not establish a link between the meltdowns and the spike in mortality. As Alex rightly observes, "Given that doubt, I find the headline for the study press release misleading. We don't know Fukushima fallout caused 14,000 American deaths." We don't need overinflated claims like this distracting from the real tragedy. As a recent NPR report detailed, the damage caused by these meltdowns is so terrible and long lasting that it has turned Japan "into a nation of guinea pigs."

Radio Ecoshock - Fukushima: Truth and Consequences (1 hr)

Rusty Hevelin (1922-2011)

2011-12-28T08:45:00.002-06:00

Longtime sf fan Rusty Hevelin has passed away. If you ever attended an sf con you know who Rusty was. He was a fixture of fandom and his passing will be deeply felt by all. The first memory I have of him is of him sitting on a panel discussing noteworthy sf novels, and me taking mental notes for future reference. Goodbye, Rusty. We'll miss you.

The Star-Treader and other poems

2011-12-26T07:35:00.002-06:00

The Star-Treader and other poems (1912) by Clark Ashton Smith

Produced by David Starner, Matthew Wheaton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

MST3K - Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

2011-12-25T06:00:00.000-06:00

Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas!

Elly's Christmas

2011-12-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

Elly the robot (Hikari Mitsushima) learns the meaning of Christmas with a little help from Ultraman Max and friends. メリークリスマス!

Merry Christmas From Space Ghost

2011-12-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

A little Yuletide cheer, Space Ghost style.

Happy Hanukkah

2011-12-22T06:00:00.000-06:00

What better way to celebrate the Festival of Lights than with the traditional human centipede menorah?

Wake, Watch, Wonder

2011-12-21T06:00:00.000-06:00

Speak of the devil. No sooner did I mentioned Robert J. Sawyer in my last post than I found this short Bookbits interview with him talking about the latest volume in his WWW Trilogy.

Wonder - The final book in Sawyer's trilogy about The Singularity (05 mins, 54 secs)

The Neanderthals who say "Ni!"

2011-12-20T08:40:00.002-06:00

Did Sawyer cover this in his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy? I can't remember. But at least the mystery of the Neanderthals' fondness for shrubbery has finely been solved.

[via Dangerous Minds]

Ultrasanta

2011-12-19T15:20:00.001-06:00

Even the kaiju are getting into the holiday spirit.

Trek Nation

2011-12-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

I did watch Trek Nation, but I haven't blogged about it before now because I wasn't overly impressed. Aside from a few celebrity interviews there wasn't much that we haven't already seen in Trekkies (1997). It was enjoyably, but not overly impressive.

The angle of the documentary is that Gene Roddenberry's son, Rod Roddenberry, explores his father's legacy. There are some short interviews with people like Seth MacFarlane, super-fan Bjo Trimble, Stan Lee, and George Lucas, et al. However, for the most part it retells stories we've heard before. Nichelle Nichols talks about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. being a fan of the show. They suggest that the shows' optimism appealed to people, etc. Rod does deserve credit for portraying his father warts and all. He covers his philandering and his clashes with screenwriters like Trek mainstay D. C. Fontana. In addition, some interesting trivia gets covered. Rick Berman, who took the helm after Roddenberry died, kept a blindfolded bust of Roddenberry on his desk to express his opinion that the Great Bird of the Galaxy would not approve of the changes being made to his franchise. The most intriguing new angle highlighted was the possibility that Wesley Crusher was something of a surrogate son for Roddenberry. As if he tried to compensate for his disappointment in his real son, Rod, by creating an idealized fictional child. Unfortunately that reading isn't explored in any depth, and Rod's meeting with Wil Wheaton is all too brief.

"How do you like me now?"

Another interesting bit of trivia clarified the notorious "Wagon Train to the Stars" thing. The way Rod tells it, his father's original pilot, "The Cage", was rejected by the studio. When Roddenberry asked why it was turned down he was told it was because they wanted a western. So he re-shot a new pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", added a fistfight at the end, and pitched it as "Wagon Train to the Stars". This time the studio gave the green light. For me this dispells the common opinion that Roddenberry set out to make a western set in space. On the contrary, it validates my opinion that calling it "Wagon Train to the Stars" was just a ploy to frame the show in a way that would appeal to studio executives. Unfortunately Rod immediately undercuts this interpretation by immediately repeating the tired saw that Kirk was a cowboy, the ship was his horse and the phaser his six-shooter. Then what about Forbidden Planet (1956)? Was that a western set in space? But it was based on Shakespeare's The Tempest. Does that mean Shakespeare wrote westerns? The way I see it Kirk has more in common with Horatio Hornblower than with Hopalong Cassidy.

The most disappointing thing about this doc was that there was little or no mention of the wider science fiction genre or even the science fiction authors who worked on the show. It's a baffling omission since one of the things that sets Star Trek apart from most TV sf is that Roddenberry hired professional sf writers to pen many of the episodes. And it was all the more aggravating because in the course of talking about how the show was aimed at an adult audience rather than being another kiddy show they flashed a scene from "Arena". Yet there was no mention that it was based on the classic story by Fredric Brown. And when you consider that it was Theodore Sturgeon who wrote "Amok Time" which did so much to define Vulcans it's really an inexcusable oversight. When Roddenberry was trying to bring the show back to the airwaves he solicited a script from Norman Spinrad, and for his record Inside Star Tek (1979) he sought out Isaac Asimov for comment. He seems to have had a respect for sf writers that's rare in Hollywood.

For the most part Trek Nation stuck to a familiar script. Not disappointing, but also not much in the way of new revelations. It's the kind of show that's most likely to appeal to those who are unfamiliar with the backstory of Trek or to die-hard Trekkers who can't get enough of Roddenberry's world.

The Lonely Ones (1953)

2011-12-15T08:50:00.000-06:00

If, July 1953

"The Lonely Ones" by Edward W. Ludwig

"The line between noble dreams and madness is thin, and loneliness can push men past it...."

Produced by Frank van Drogen, Greg Weeks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

We're Civilized! (1953)

2011-12-13T16:14:00.000-06:00

Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1953

"We're Civilized!" by Alex Apostolides and Mark Clifton

"Naturally, the superior race should win ... but superior by which standards ... and whose?"

Produced by Frank van Drogen, Greg Weeks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Here Comes Gojira Claus

2011-12-11T09:10:00.001-06:00

There's nothing like a giant, radioactive theropod rampaging through a shopping mall to get you into the holiday spirit, is there?

[via Disinfo]

The Now Show -- in spaaace!

2011-12-10T11:47:00.001-06:00

The discovery by NASA's of the planet Kepler-22b gave Britain's topical news program The Now Show an excuse get a little spacey. Get ready to laugh at some Star Trek and Star Wars references (and brace yourself for an unexpected defense of that clank-head Clarkson). The show will only be up for a week, so enjoy it while you can.

The Now Show 9 Dec 2011

Jerry Robinson (1922-2011)

2011-12-09T09:14:00.001-06:00

Jerry Robinson has passed away. He was one of the first artists to work on DC Entertainment, Inc.'s Batman title, and is widely credited with creating the Joker.

Here's a short video of him at New York Comic Con 2009 talking about the origin of his iconic villain.

10 Billion Days And 100 Billion Nights

2011-12-09T08:39:00.001-06:00

I was pleasantly surprised last night to hear NPR book reviewer Alan Cheuse covering "perhaps the greatest Japanese science-fiction novel of all time", Ryu Mitsuse's 1967 book 百億の昼と千億の夜 (Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights). (Usually the only sf he pays attention to is of the Stephen King/Michael Crichton variety.)

The premise of the novel is reminiscent of the kind of extravagant metaphysical drama that Roger Zelazny was known for, and its psychedelic overtones reflect the zeitgeist of the time. Here's how the publisher's blurb describes it.

Ten billion days—that is how long it will take the philosopher Plato to determine the true systems of the world. One hundred billion nights—that is how far into the future Jesus of Nazareth, Siddhartha, and the demigod Asura will travel to witness the end of all worlds.

Sounds trippy. This is one of the few works of Mitsuse-san's to be translated into English. Another is his novelette, The Sunset, 2217 A.D., which was included in Frederik Pohl's anthology, Best Science Fiction for 1972. Let's hope we see even more in the future.

10 Billion Days And 100 Billion Nights reviewed by Alan Cheuse

Darrell K. Sweet (1934 - 2011)

2011-12-07T12:28:00.001-06:00

R. I. P. Darrell K. Sweet (1934 - 2011). While he did many classic sf covers, in my mind he'll always be associated most strongly with Alan Dean Foster's "Flinx" books.

[pics via ISFDB]

Unstuck in Time

2011-12-06T14:17:00.001-06:00

Mind Over Matters recently featured an interview with Prof. Gregory Sumner, author of Unstuck in Time: A Journey Through Kurt Vonnegut's Life and Novels.

Prof. Sumner clearly has great respect for the author and makes a good case for his continuing relevance. Unfortunately he's also eager to conspire with Vonnegut in distancing him from the dreaded label "science fiction." Vonnegut had no problem publishing in magazines like Galaxy Science Fiction and If (then being edited by Frederik Pohl), but the minute he hit the big time he did everything he could to renounce any connection to the genre. It's an understandable if not entirely admirable stance to take, and it's too bad Sumner didn't do more to set the record straight. The fact is that Vonnegut relied on sf tropes throughout his career, no matter how hard he and his biographer may try to deny it.

Interview with Prof. Gregory Sumner

Futures

2011-12-02T08:09:00.001-06:00

As you may know, the prestigious science journal Nature features a science fiction story in each issue in a section called "Futures." The stories are always very good and are usually by people actually working in the sciences. In 2007 editor Henry Gee published an anthology of the short fiction, Futures from Nature.

Nature also has an excellent weekly podcast and they've recently added an extra in which Henry Gee reads the sf story from the current issue. This week it's "Gifts of the Magi" by Anatoly Belilovsky, who has been described elsewhere as "a New York pediatrician who learned English from Star Trek reruns." (You can find the previous podcast stories in the archive.) They're soliciting feedback from their listeners about this extra, so if you enjoy it and you want to hear more sf along with your science news shoot them an email letting them know.

Mystery Science Radio Bonus Show

2011-11-30T06:00:00.000-06:00

A follow-up to the Holiday 2011 show. "This is intended to be the final episode of Mystery Science Radio for now ..." I guess DJ Frederick wants to focus on his other show, Radio Thrift Shop.

Holiday Show Lost Tapes

The Biggest Freak Band in the Galaxy

2011-11-27T06:00:00.000-06:00

"It was like Star Trek with long hair and drugs." -- Lemmy

Tim Cumming's documentary about the anarchic collaborative that is Hawkind is full of great moments. Not only the unglamorous origins of the band's name - it basically means "loogie fart" - but also the night Michael Moorcock introduced Arthur C. Clarke to William S. Burroughs and they "got on like a house on fire." So even though Dave Brock refused to take part you'll want to watch it, and hear about the time Mick Farren helped tear down the fence at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, because music should be free for all the people. Right on!

[via Dangerous Minds, again]

Mystery Science Radio Holiday 2011 Show

2011-11-26T06:00:00.000-06:00

A Dalek Christmas, in search of The Shaggs, Ed Wood, and of course an off-beat cover of "Stairway to Heaven"...now that's what I call holiday cheer.

#21 - Holiday 2011 Show part one (59 mins)
#21 - Holiday 2011 Show part two (30 mins)

Farewell, Anne McCaffrey

2011-11-25T06:00:00.000-06:00

Popular sf Grand Master Anne McCaffrey died a few days ago. She's gave us such books as The Ship Who Sang (1961), Decision at Doona (1969), and Dinosaur Planet (1978).

(Cover by Michael Whelan)

Her most famous work is of course her award winning Dragonriders of Pern series, which skillfully blends the tropes of high fantasy with a believable science fiction setting. Although she continued to add to the saga throughout her career my favorites will always be the first three books, Dragonflight (1968), Dragonquest (1971), and The White Dragon (1978). The vividly imagined world of Pern is a remarkable achievement that ensures her legacy in the sf pantheon and one for which fans like me will always be grateful.

Thanksgiving Day

2011-11-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

William Burroughs' Thanksgiving Prayer from J. Sprig on Vimeo.

“Let all give humble, hearty, and sincere thanks, now, but the turkeys.” —Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar

[vid via Dangerous Minds]

The Humanoid Typhoon

2011-11-23T08:01:00.001-06:00

Today, some gratuitous Trigun. The movie, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, has been out for a month, but I haven't watched it yet. Maybe this weekend. But it's nice to have the whole TV series about everybody's favorite quirky, pacifist gunslinger available online. So here's the first episode of Madhouse's adaptation of Yasuhiro Nightow's Seiun Award winning manga.

What a Good Way to Go...

2011-11-19T19:21:00.001-06:00

Captain Lockheed & The Starfighters in action.

mr. atavist lays some Robert Calvert, Hawkwind, and other groovy tracks on us.

What a Good Way to Go... (2hrs)

PKD interview from 1979

2011-11-18T09:28:00.001-06:00

(Art by R. Crumb)

An in-depth interview of Horselover Fat by fellow sf author Charles Platt from the psychedelic days of 1979. PKD was also recently featured on the Science Channel's show, Prophets of Science Fiction. The show's pattern is to offer a potted history of an sf author's life and then interject segments tying their work to current scientific research. One of the better things about it is the commentary by Kim Stanley Robinson and, in the case of the PKD episode, David Brin. No mention of the Exegesis in that episode, though.

[via Dangerous Minds]

The World Masters

2011-11-17T07:20:00.001-06:00

The World Masters (1903) by George Griffith

When a device capable of controlling all the electricity on the planet falls into a young engineer's hands can he keep it safe from French and Russian imperialists and use it to bring about world peace? Bleiler comments, "An invention, exploitation, plots, peace vigilantes, and extended romances. More romance and less action than in the earlier works."

Produced by Malcolm Farmer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Side Effects of 6 Fictional Drugs

2011-11-16T09:16:00.001-06:00

Since at least the days of H. G. Wells' "The New Accelerator", sf has been prescribing fictional pharmaceuticals for literary purposes. Cordrazine, kalocin, kerasine - just of few of the many imaginary medicines that can have undesirable side effects. Gabe Habash of Publishers Weekly gives a rundown of 6 Fictional Drugs with Unintended Side Effects.

[via Disinfo]

Psyche

2011-11-14T08:07:00.001-06:00

(Cover by Jan Toorop)

Psyche (1898, trans. by B. S. Berrington, 1908) by Louis Couperus

A fairy tale like Maeterlinck's later play The Blue Bird, based on the ancient story of Psyche.

Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

2011-11-13T12:58:00.001-06:00

As a follow-up to my last post, here's The Last Man on Earth (1964) starring Vincent Price. Although the antagonists here are vampires this film is the direct inspiration for today's "zombie apocalypse" movies.

From The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction:

L'ultimo uomo della terra

Film (1964; vt The Last Man on Earth). La Regina/Alta Vista. Directed by Sidney Salkow, Ubaldo Ragona, starring Vincent Price, Franca Bettoia. Screenplay Logan Swanson (pseudonym of Richard Matheson, who disliked the rewrite), William P Leicester, based on Matheson's I Am Legend (1954). 86 minutes. Black and white.

This Italian/US coproduction was the first film version of Matheson's novel about the lone survivor of a plague whose victims become vampires, a metamorphosis for which the novel, unlike the film, provides an ingenious medical explanation. Each night the survivor is besieged in his house by "vampires", and each day he kills as many as he can while they sleep. Finally, however, they succeed in trapping and killing him. The film has a reputation as being dreadful, but arguably it captures the brutalization of its hero in the human world's last gasp better than the remake, The Omega Man (1971), and it is certainly truer to the novel. The film truest to the novel's spirit, though with a different plot, is Night of the Living Dead (1968). [PN/JB]

Panic in Year Zombie!

2011-11-11T06:00:00.000-06:00

Despite not being a huge fan of the carnivorous undead sub-genre that's all the rage right now I've been enjoying AMC's TV adaptation of Kirkman, Moore, and Adlard's The Walking Dead.

Along with being an obvious pastiche of George A. Romero's Dead movies, I'm also struck by the affinities to the broader post-holocaust genre. Not only obvious works like Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend (1954), which got the whole ball rolling, but also with the more numerous fictions about the aftermath of nuclear war.

While the threat of nuclear annihilation has been replace by the menace of a plague of undead hordes the stories and the characters are otherwise surprisingly similar. The ruthlessness of otherwise civilized people in their quest for survival is a dominant theme, and was foregrounded in Ray Milland's Panic in Year Zero! (1962).

Even the "zombies" have their parallels in the mutants that threatened the survivors of the nuclear wasteland, as in Roger Corman's first film, The Day the World Ended (1956).

As the series progresses it will be interesting to see how it treats the tropes of post-holocaust fiction. Will it compose a new arrangement or simply play a familiar refrain?

2012 Isaac Asimov Science Award

2011-11-07T17:51:00.001-06:00

Congratulations to NPR’s Ira Flatow for winning The American Humanist Association's 2012 Isaac Asimov Science Award.

(Pic via UCTV)

"Ira Flatow is best known as the host of National Public Radio’s popular Science Friday and past host of Newton’s Apple, a television science program for kids. Science Friday hosts a lively , informative discussion on science, technology, health, space, and the environment. Flatow is also founder and president of Talking Science, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating radio, TV, and Internet projects that make science “user friendly.” He’s appeared on the Today Show, Oprah, and Charlie Rose, and he’s received numerous awards including the National Science Teachers Association Science Faraday Communicator Award. In 2009 he made a cameo appearance on the popular television show, The Big Bang Theory.In addition to Flatow, the AHA will be honoring the prolific journalist and activist Gloria Steinem with the 2012 Humanist of the Year award. Other awardees include actor George Takei, best known for his role on the television series Star Trek, and Debra Sweet, national director of the peace organization World Can’t Wait."

Half Lost in Nothingness

2011-11-03T10:27:00.000-05:00

mr. atavist subs on another show. Awesome music ensues.

Half Lost in Nothingness (01:56:47)

Mystery Science Radio - Post Halloween Bonus Show

2011-11-02T08:41:00.000-05:00

"The strange pirate radio adventures of the crew of the Jefferson Airship ... "

Daleks, MacArthur Park, and Torgo is taken to a play.

Post Halloween Bonus Show

Halloween Hootenanny

2011-10-31T06:00:00.000-05:00

(Art by Virgil Finlay)

Happy Halloween! The festivities may be over but since today is the actual holiday what better way to celebrate than jamming to some ghoulish grooves? First up is Niall O'Conghaile's Disco Argento 2: The Sequel, another collection of "horror/disco cash-in records." Then we have Rural War Room Radio's Monsters and Mayhem Show, an eclectic mix of off-beat spooky songs. From Sun Ra to Dusty Springfield to Mothra's Theme it's all here. And finally there's Gutter Satisfaction's punk-rock Halloween show, Spooky Juice. The Cramps, The Ramones, Messer Chups - this is a Halloween show for people who are too cool for Halloween shows.

Disco Argento 2: The Sequel! by theniallist

Monsters and Mayhem Show (02hrs04mins)

Spooky Juice (01hr57mins)

RiffTrax: Night Of The Living Dead

2011-10-30T06:00:00.000-05:00

In ancient times is was said that even the Olympian gods themselves were not safe from Momus, the god of mockery. Today the RiffTrax crew proves that goes double for critically acclaimed sf movies. George A. Romero's landmark Night of the Living Dead (1968) bit so deeply into the collective imagination that today "zombies" have infected every nook and cranny of pop culture. While some of his shambling imitators are more deserving of ridicule than he is it's still a treat to see this classic get the iconoclastic MST3K treatment.

The Dunwich Horror

2011-10-29T06:00:00.000-05:00

Before H. P. Lovecraft's novelette The Dunwich Horror (1928) was made into a campy film in 1970 it featured on 1940's radio. Staged as a live broadcast this radio play stars Academy Award winning British actor Ronald Colman and is much more faithful to the original story. The audio is a bit scratchy, but that works in the show's favor and lends itself to the feeling of hearing a remote feed.

Suspense (01 Nov 45) "The Dunwich Horror" 25m43s

[via the Internet Archive]

Hellsing Ultimate VIII PV

2011-10-28T01:43:00.000-05:00

Nothing says Halloween like a new chapter of the Hellsing Ultimate OVA. Hopefully we won't have to wait as long for the final two installments.The last chapter ended in a spectacular cliffhanger. As chapter 8 opens, the Nazi vampires have overrun Britain, the Vatican legions are preparing for a riconquista of isle, and the Hellsing Organization has been decimated. I'm going to watch this over the weekend to find out if even Alucard can overcome those odds.

Disco Argento mix

2011-10-27T08:54:00.000-05:00

It's the Halloween season and that means it's time to boogie. So shake your booty to Niall O'Conghaile's "Disco Argento mix, a compilation of late 70s and early 80s horror movie-inspired discomania put together for Glasgow’s Menergy club. It features dancefloor versions of the themes from Phantasm, Friday the 13th, Dawn Of The Dead, Amittyville and Demons, some score tracks and a few soul horror cash-ins." The danse macabre was never so funky.

THE NIALLIST Disco Argento Mix by Menergy Mixes

Full tracklist at Dangerous Minds

The Body Snatchers

2011-10-26T00:47:00.001-05:00

John Dickson Carr's radio adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Body-Snatcher" (1884). Gaslight notes that the promotional campaign for the story was quite sensational. "Unique and gruesome methods of advertising were used...and much attention was drawn to the story. In London, posters were displayed of so ghoulish and startling a character that they were suppressed by the police."

Suspense (24 Nov 42) "The Body Snatchers" 29m32s

[via the Internet Archive]

Mystery Science Radio #19 Epic Halloween Special 2011

2011-10-25T18:52:00.002-05:00

Epic Halloween Special

"When we last heard from our heroes they had abandoned the Yellow Submarine. Their strange offshore / underwater pirate radio adventure continues..."

The Signalman

2011-10-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

Before Agnes Moorehead made Darrin Stephens' life miserable she had a long career in film and radio. She appeared in more episodes of Suspense than any other actor or actress. The "first lady of Suspense," as she was known, stars here in an adaptation of Charles Dickens' "The Signal-Man." H. P. Lovecraft mentioned this story in his study, Supernatural Horror in Literature (1927), remarking that it is "a tale of ghostly warning...and touched with a verisimilitude which allies it as much with the coming psychological school as with the dying Gothic school."

Suspense (23 Mar 53) "The Signalman" 28m54s

Soul Eater

2011-10-21T11:12:00.001-05:00

If there's an anime that has a Halloween ambiance it's studio Bones ' adaptation of Atsushi Okubo's Soul Eater. Okubo has cleverly appropriated and redeployed the motifs of Western pop-culture Gothic in an amusing and unconventional way. (One unfortunate side effect of this is that the series perpetuates negative stereotypes about witches, without much concern for viewers of the Wicca faith.)

The story revolves around meister Maka Albarn and her weapon Soul Eater, who like other weapons is capable of taking human form. Both are students at the DWMA technical school, which is training them to prevent the reappearance of the Kishin, evil demon gods that once ravaged the world. The goal of the meisters is to have their weapons defeat and absorb the souls of 99 evil humans and one witch, which will turn the weapons into super-powerful Death Scythes.

While in general the story is rather conventional shonen fare of the Bleach variety, Soul Eater's distinctively stylized presentation and quirky characters help set it apart. The anime is mostly faithful to the manga, at least until the battle against Arachnophobia. The translation is adequate, but a few of the episodes refer to the Kishin as "Afreets" for some reason. And keep an eye peeled for a Twin Peaks allusion, although in this case instead of a dancing dwarf it's a dancing imp.

Update: I just thought I should mention that the Twin Peaks allusion comes in episode 12, not in the first episode that I posted here.

Mystery Science Radio Season 2 Promo

2011-10-20T07:19:00.000-05:00

Just when you thought it was safe to download mp3 files...

Mystery Science Radio: Season 2 Promo/Halloween

The Hitchhiker starring Orson Welles

2011-10-19T10:13:00.001-05:00

The talented Orson Welles stars in "The Hitchhiker." You'll probably recognize the story, which was later adapted for The Twilight Zone. In an entertaining introduction he promises the tale contains none of the "phosphorescent foolishness" of so many other spook stories.

Suspense (02 Sep 42) "The Hitchhiker" 29m17s

[via The Internet Archive]

Etidorhpa, or The End of Earth

2011-10-17T08:25:00.000-05:00

Illustrations by J. Augustus Knapp

Etidorhpa or the End of Earth (1896) by John Uri Lloyd

From The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction:

Lloyd, John Uri (1849-1936) US chemist, author of Etidorhpa, or The End of Earth: The Strange History of a Mysterious Being and the Account of a Remarkable Journey (1895; rev vt 1901), a metaphysical FANTASTIC VOYAGE in which the narrator – whose manuscript has been discovered by Lloyd – is led by a blind humanoid named I-Am-The-Man to a LOST WORLD in the interior of the Earth, which he excitedly explores while gaining occult enlightenment into the higher forms of love (the title is Aphrodite reversed). Etidorhpa, which went through eleven or more editions, is noteworthy for its bitter attack on the rational sciences. Like other notable HOLLOW-EARTH works of the period, the geography of Etidorhpa derives from the theories of John Cleves SYMMES. [JE/JC]

Produced by Pat McCoy, Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

The Pit and the Pendulum

2011-10-15T09:10:00.001-05:00

Another tale calculated to keep you in suspense - or at least get you into the Halloween mood. Today, the suave Vincent Price stars in John Dickson Carr's adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale, "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1843). Price was so talented that he could easily have carried the whole show with a straight reading of the story, but it's still an entertaining treatment.

Suspense (10 Nov 57) "The Pit and the Pendulum" 24m40s

[via The Internet Archive]

Riabouchinska

2011-10-12T08:34:00.000-05:00

In order to get into the Halloween spirit this year I've decided to post some old episodes of the CBS Radio drama Suspense. First up, an eerie mystery story from none other than Ray Bradbury.

Suspense (13 Nov 47) "Riabouchinska" 29m33s

[via The Internet Archive]

Wild Zero

2011-10-10T06:00:00.000-05:00

Director Tetsuro Takeuchi's Wild Zero (2000) is an off-beat, garage horror movie that perfectly captures the raw attitude of Guitar Wolf.

The film opens with a fleet of UFOs racing toward Earth. As the radio broadcasts news of a meteorite crashing to earth, young Ace (Masashi Endo) is combing Brylcreem into his pompadour. He's off to see his idols, Guitar Wolf, in concert. As for the Wolves, they've had enough of Captain (Makoto Inamiya), the eccentric and sleazy club owner who gave them their start. Ace interrupts the ensuing Mexican standoff, blurting out the unforgettable line, "Rock 'n Roll is NOT over, baby! Rock 'n Roll NEVER DIES!" After the resulting shootout, Guitar Wolf makes Ace his blood brother. He also gives him a wolf whistle, telling him to blow it if he needs help. For his part, Captain, who just lost several fingers, is out for revenge against the Wolves.

Meanwhile, three friends, Toshi (Yoshiyuki Morishita), Hanako (Taneko), Masao (Masao), are on a road trip to see the meteorite. They pull into a gas station where they find Tobio (Kwancharu Shitichai), a young hitchhiker. Suddenly, Masao snaps, pulls some knives and tries to hold the place up. Just then who should show up but Ace? When he opens the door it hits Masao in the face, and the three friends flee. Ace is glad to play the hero for Tobio, and the two take to each other immediately. Elsewhere, a soldier (Haruka Nakajo) waits by the roadside. She's planning to sell weapons to some yakuza, who unbeknownst to her have been ambushed by zombies. As the zombies rampage and the UFOs swarm the cities of Earth, all these characters will intersect in ways they might not have expected.

Like one of Guitar Wolves songs, this movie belts itself out with an energy all its own. Although descended from films like The Return of the Living Dead (1985), it has more of the underground feel of a cult classic like Repo Man (1984). It rides a wave of raucous garage punk by the likes of Teengenerate, Bikini Kill, Oblivians, The Devil Dogs, and of course Guitar Wolf themselves. What the Wolves lack in dialogue they make up for in presence, with Drum Wolf and the late Bass Wolf slicking back their hair every chance they get. Inamiya-san turns in a brilliant performance as the flamboyant Captain, and almost steals the show. And there's a welcome nod to George A. Romero when the characters begin asking if any of them has seen Night of the Living Dead.

The zombies here have a ghastly blue pallor, giving them a garish menace that only adds to the film. Rest assured that their heads explode with the the graphic regularity that zombie movie fans expect. And in a clever twist on conventions, Ace has a moment of erotic panic when he discovers that Tobio is a ladyboy. The spirit of Guitar Wolf appears to admonish him, "Love has no borders, nationalities, or genders!" For surprisingly this quirky splatter flick is ultimately about the power of love to overcome all obstacles.

According to Wikipedia, Guitar Wolf has begun looking for a sponsor for the sequel, Wild Zero 2. After the credits roll we see Captain rise for the dead, still set on revenge. If that second film ever gets made he just might get his chance.

Sentiment, Inc.

2011-10-08T07:47:00.000-05:00

Science Fiction Stories, #1 1953

Sentiment, Inc. by Poul Anderson

"The way we feel about another person, or about objects, is often bound up in associations that have no direct connection with the person or object at all. Often, what we call a "change of heart" comes about sheerly from a change in the many associations which make up our present viewpoint. Now, suppose that these associations could be altered artificially, at the option of the person who was in charge of the process...."

Produced by Greg Weeks, Dianna Adair and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

"I reach that, brother."

2011-10-07T08:10:00.000-05:00

B-movie character actor Charles Napier has passed away. I'll always remember him for his rôle as Adam in episode 75 of TOS, "The Way To Eden". That's the episode where a group of space hippies, led astray by the Timothy Leary-like Dr. Sevrin, try to subvert the the order and discipline of the Enterprise.

Not only was it a typically zany third season installment, but like the earlier pro-Vietnam War episode, "A Private Little War", it illustrates that despite a general Wellsian sense of progressiveness the show never strayed too far from the conservative shibboleths that were de rigueur for 1960's US TV. Even so it's fun to watch Spock get funky in a space hippy jam session. An interesting bit of trivia is that it was originally planned that one of the hippies would be Dr. McCoy's daughter. But since they'd recently added the character of Chekov to the cast to increase the show's youth appeal they changed her into his old girlfriend, Irina.

[via Dangerous Minds]

Rock 'N' Roll JET-Movie

2011-10-06T07:19:00.000-05:00

Here's something for the weekend's viewing. Wild Zero, a grindhouse zombie flick starring Japanese rock 'n' roll rebels, Guitar Wolf.

I haven't seen it yet myself, but I can't imagine being disappointed. There's nothing quite like a Japanese zombie film. And in my book zombies + Guitar Wolf = win. The soundtrack alone makes it worth watching.

[via Dangerous Minds]

Pick and choose

2011-09-30T13:00:00.000-05:00

There's nothing quite like going to a big used book sale. Weaving your way through the aisles, squinting at the crowded spines and dodging the (sometimes dodgy) other bibliophiles. Then there's that little thrill, that minor exultation, at finding a real treasure. This time there were a couple of gems wedged between the innumerable Star Trek and Dragonlance volumes.

I was pleased to find a copy of the The Best of Henry Kuttner (1975) and even more pleased to find it was in near-mint condition -- for just 50¢! Nice. I also picked up The Startling Worlds of Henry Kuttner, also in fine condition (though not quit as cheap).

I found a few others to add to my collection, like Aldiss' Cryptozoic!, Davidson's Peregrine: Secundus and Forrest J. Ackerman's collection of A. E. van Vogt stories, Monsters. I even grabbed Lin Carter's early study of hobbitry, Tolkien: A Look Behind "The Lord of the Rings". None of these were in the best of shape, but they weren't too tatty, and the Carter book is a first edition.

The real find of the day took me by surprise. It's so rare to find books by him. Even among the fancy-schmancy trade paperbacks they're as rare as hen's teeth. But there it was and in excellent condition. The Dell paperback edition of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s Breakfast of Champions.

Okay, so it's not a first edition, it's the seventh printing. But just finding a Vonnegut, let alone one in great shape is good enough for me. So it goes.

Dragon Spooker

2011-09-24T23:03:00.000-05:00

Some gratuitous Slayers, just because Hajime Kanzaka's humorous take on the fantasy genre is one of the funniest there is. All of the TV series are available online, Slayers, Slayers NEXT, Slayers TRY, Slayers REVOLUTION, and Slayers EVOLUTION-R.

Huge NASA Satellite Falling to Earth

2011-09-21T08:25:00.000-05:00

A classic bit by John Belushi on why we shouldn't worry about NASA satellites plummeting earthward.

[via NPR]

The Great War in England in 1897

2011-09-19T07:42:00.000-05:00

The Great War in England in 1897 (1894) by William Le Queux

Another reactionary future war story of the kind Michael Moorcock anthologized in Before Armageddon (1975) and England Invaded (1977). The author makes no bones about his intention.

"In writing this book it was my endeavour to bring vividly before the public the national dangers by which we are surrounded, and the absolute necessity which lies upon England to maintain her defences in an adequate state of efficiency."

He forgot to add "Harrumph"! Bleiler dryly comments, ~~"Routine adventure, not remarkable for geographical accuracy or much else."~~

I accidentally quoted Bleiler's comment on The Eye of Ishtar (1897) there. What he said about this book was that it is "By no means as significant as the author's later The Invasion of 1910."

Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Tiger & Bunny 25

2011-09-18T10:59:00.000-05:00

Episode 25, "Eternal immortality"

As the first season draws to a close, Maverick's evil schemes have been thwarted, but at what cost? What will become of our heroes now? Will they ever solve the mystery of Ouroboros?

Comet's Burial

2011-09-18T07:10:00.002-05:00

Science Fiction Stories, #1 1953

Cover by Alex Schomburg

"Comet's Burial" by Raymond Z. Gallun

"A man may be a scoundrel, a crook, a high-phased confidence man, and still work toward a great dream which will be worth far more than the momentary damage his swindles cost."

Produced by Greg Weeks, Dianna Adair and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Need a Solid Year Removed From Solid Light

2011-09-17T11:02:00.000-05:00

mr. atavist rocks us with another jamtastic installment of The Sunrise Ocean Bender featuring a few songs with sf overtones, like "Zombie Warfare" by Chrome, "Spice Melange Spectrum" by The Cosmic Dead, and "Moonjuice" by Radar Men From the Moon.

The Sunrise Ocean Bender 01
The Sunrise Ocean Bender 02

Voyage Trekkers

2011-09-13T10:13:00.000-05:00

There's no shortage of Star Trek parodies out there, but this one is funnier than most. Squishy Studios' Voyage Trekkers follows the misadventures of Capt. Jack T. Sunstrike and the crew of the G.S.V. Remarkable as they explore strange new worlds and all that. The first season is set to run for ten episodes, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a season two.

"Is it wrong that I can't tell them apart?"

"At least it's not another stupid Cowboy Planet."

Tiger & Bunny 24

2011-09-11T18:46:00.000-05:00

Episode 24, "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained."Can Kotetsu and Barnaby defeat the H-01 and save the other heroes, or have they met their match?

Fukushima nuclear crisis, six months later

2011-09-09T16:41:00.000-05:00

With the six-month anniversary of the natural disaster and subsequent triple meltdown that struck Japan approaching, Nature magazine has a special section covering the crises. There's lots of good information there, including important facts about Fukushima.

As NHK World has reported, there's no end in sight to the the nuclear crisis. Even if it is eventually brought under control there will be a Chernobyl-like exclusion zone.

"The bottom line here is that Fukushima and Chernobyl are comparable, and a comparison really helps underscore the differences. Fukushima's heavy containment vessels limited the spread of some dangerous isotopes, but the coastal location makes marine contamination a much bigger issue than it ever was for Chernobyl. The latest maps suggest that there will be a permanent exclusion zone to the northwest of Fukushima, but it will likely be quite a bit smaller than the one at Chernobyl."

I know the Japanese people are resilient enough to overcome this, but the crisis will linger for a long time to come.

League of Space Pirates

2011-09-08T08:32:00.001-05:00

League of Space Pirates "Constant Reminder"

All footage via Archive.org from the public domain film Assignment Outer Space

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Tiger & Bunny 23

2011-09-04T09:41:00.000-05:00

Episode 23, "Misfortunes Never Come Singly"

You're a Complicated Girl, Smiling Down on Planet Earth

2011-09-02T20:11:00.000-05:00

mr. atavist and taco dish out 3 hrs. of wicked tunes, including Hawkwind's "Robot."

The Sunrise Ocean Bender 01
The Sunrise Ocean Bender 02

Having a Wonderful Time

2011-09-01T16:22:00.002-05:00

I know I've already posted links to the Canadian radio drama series Vanishing Point adapting J.G. Ballard's stories, but "Having a Wonderful Time" seems so relevant to the current world financial situation that I can't resist posting it again.

Having A Wonderful Time

The City in the Clouds

2011-08-30T06:59:00.000-05:00

The City in the Clouds (1922) by C. Ranger Gull

"A stirring story of love, crime and adventure by the author of 'The Air Pirate'"

Produced by Mark C. Orton, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

The Invaders (1967-1968)

2011-08-29T06:00:00.004-05:00

"Three brief promos for The Invaders ABC-TV series from 1967-1968." I read somewhere that the aliens were originally going to have an eye in the center of their palm, but by the time the series went into production they just had stiff little fingers.

[via the Internet Archive]

Tiger & Bunny 22

2011-08-27T20:05:00.000-05:00

Episode 22, "Bad Luck Often Brings Good Luck."

Cornered, can Kotetsu make the heroes remember who he is -- and what will he do about Bunny?

Interkosmos

2011-08-25T13:59:00.000-05:00

Psychedelic space rock from Europe. Far out, man.

(Run time: 63:30)

[via the Internet Archive]

The Colour Out of Space

2011-08-23T13:56:00.000-05:00

Mark E. Smith of The Fall has a beer and reads Lovecraft's "The Colour Out of Space" (March 1927).

If you don't know who The Fall are you automatically lose 25 punk points. Here they are doing "How I Wrote Elastic Man."

[via Dangerous Minds]

The Image and the Likeness

2011-08-21T10:40:00.000-05:00

(Cover by Ralph Joiner )

IF Worlds of Science Fiction, November 1952

The Image and the Likeness by John Scott Campbell

"Up from the horror of Hiroshima came a god. He gave the people hope and for this they killed him—as they have always killed their gods."

Produced by Greg Weeks, Dianna Adair and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Tiger & Bunny 21

2011-08-20T20:27:00.000-05:00

Episode 21, "Heaven Helps Those Who Help Themselves."

Framed for murder, Kotetsu is on the run. Who can he count on when no one remembers him?

The title of this episode of course refers to Aesop's fable, "Hercules and the Waggoner."

A Waggoner was driving his team along a muddy lane with a full load behind them, when the wheels of his waggon sank so deep in the mire that no efforts of his horses could move them. As he stood there, looking helplessly on, and calling loudly at intervals upon Hercules for assistance, the god himself appeared, and said to him, "Put your shoulder to the wheel, man, and goad on your horses, and then you may call on Hercules to assist you. If you won't lift a finger to help yourself, you can't expect Hercules or any one else to come to your aid."

Heaven helps those who help themselves.

"Jedi" in chief

2011-08-19T06:00:00.004-05:00

Why Did We Stop Dreaming About Outer Space?

2011-08-18T06:00:00.001-05:00

Neil deGrasse Tyson does a spot on Real Time with Bill Maher and explains how science suffers as a result of the warped economic distribution in the U.S.

[via Disinfo]

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's...Some Dude?!

2011-08-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

Jon Ronson, our Boswell of 'the part of no part', turns his gaze upon the RLSH movement.

Phoenix Jones, center

I'm rather ambivalent about all this. I have no problem with people wearing what they want, but when they start acting as vigilantes that's a horse of a different color. What if they mistakenly harass or injure an innocent citizen? What happens if some of them go after "illegal immigrants"? What if they go full-on Death Wish?

"The real-life superheroes like to portray their motives as wholly benevolent, but if they were driven purely by altruism, they'd have become police officers or firefighters or charity volunteers. Something else is evidently propelling them—a touch of narcissism. It's an odd sort of narcissism, of course, when the narcissist disguises his face, but the lust for fame and glory is unmistakable."

I can't help thinking that before long we'll see "supervillains" appearing and this will all degenerate into a street level Pro-Wrestling match.

"Walking the Hog"

2011-08-16T06:00:00.005-05:00

Transmitted over the æther comes the news that Michael Moorcock has new story coming out, "Walking the Hog." It features none other than my namesake, Jerry Cornelius. As Reinart der Fuchs informs us,

"Correct me if I am wrong, but we are looking at the first ever published direct to Kindle and eBook Moorcock with a brand spanking new Jerry Cornelius no less. Jerry finds himself yearning for ages past while under the modern oppressive brandocracies. Michael has done it again by producing the very first 3D HD 4G fully digital Cornelius original short. Oh what will he think of next?! Walking the hog indeed! It will be the tastiest 3,500 words you'll ever download and yearn to see in print.

But that's not the only thing you get when you buy Kizuna: Fiction for Japan! You'll get 74, count them, 74 short stories across numerous genres by know and unknown writers. Mostly original stuff, much of which has been translated from Japanese and other languages to an all English anthology for charity. Most pieces are about 1,000 words in length, perfect for reading during a short break, bus ride or bio-break.

Also, Mr. The Fox, Herr Fox, Reinart AKA Berry Sizemore contributed The Feast of the Fly, my very first stab at original Japanese mythology.

For all the details visit Kizuna: Fiction for Japan or just click on the Moorcock's Miscellany logo above and scroll down a bit.

Oh, and please help us spread the word so we can help ease the suffering of kids affected by the terrible earthquake and tsunami. "

A fine contribution to a worthy cause. Not to be missed, as they say. Yet I can't help pointing out that buying something, purchasing a commodity for charity is exactly the kind of ideological mechanism that Slavoj Žižek has identified in his writings and talks like this one.

Which shouldn't discourage you from getting the book. As Žižek emphasizes, "I'm not against charity!" Just be aware of the hypocrisy at work in the system.

Supergods

2011-08-15T08:51:00.002-05:00

Comicdom's grand shaman Grant Morrison did an interview last night on NPR to promote his new book, Supergods.

Comic Books' Secret Identity Revealed In 'Supergods'

He has an interesting take on things, especially his juxtaposition of the solar Superman with the nocturnal Batman. However, I don't think his suggestion that the dichotomy was intentional holds up. Superman didn't originally derive his powers from the sun. That was a Mort Weisinger innovation. And Bob Kane originally envisioned his character as a blonde guy in red tights. But it's still a provocative perspective.

I'm sure by now you've already seen his performance at Meltdown Comics last month. Supposedly "...Morrison was given this song by the spirit of John Lennon, which Morrison communed with in a magic ritual while writing The Invisibles." Ever since the Fox sisters heard that rapping people have been getting new works from deceased artists. New plays by Shakespeare, new poems by Keats, new arrangements by Mozart. Usually they don't compare well to artist's existing work. You can judge for yourself how this compares to Lennon's other songs.

The Adventures of Superman

2011-08-14T08:33:00.000-05:00

Mystery Of The Lost Planet Part 09
Mystery Of The Lost Planet Part 10
Mystery Of The Lost Planet Part 11
Mystery Of The Lost Planet Part 12
Mystery Of The Lost Planet Part 13

As our story concludes, Superman defeats the evil Zaran's plans to invade the Earth.

This is going to be the last of my posts on Superman. For more classic Superman check out the podcasts Golden Age Superman and The Thrilling Adventures of Superman.

Tiger & Bunny 20

2011-08-13T19:31:00.000-05:00

Episode 20, "Full of Courtesy, Full of Craft"

Because Kotetsu knows too much he becomes caught up in Maverick's schemes.

Klaatu Barada Nikto

2011-08-12T00:58:00.000-05:00

I always knew Klaatu was a punk-rocker.

*insertnoisehere* *Ep00046 schreinachhilfe*

The Meaning of Time In Science (1973)

2011-08-09T09:51:00.000-05:00

Groovy.