J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek: An Addendum (to my review)
Some time ago I posted a scathing review of the new Star Trek movie. That post has since become one of biggest traffic and comment drivers on this blog. Thinking back, I do have some additional thoughts on the movie, and one thought in particular that I think may explain more about why I really […]
The West, Science Fiction, and No Future
Over at Genreville (on the Publisher Weekly’s blog), Josh Jasper asks a very intriguing question: Perhaps the future really belongs to people who’re hungry for it, not the ones who take it for granted. Does western culture take the future for granted these days, whereas rising cultures don’t? I think this really depends on who […]
How (Really) Thinking About Star Wars Can Make You Feel Uncomfortable (i.e. Terrorists!)
How do you feel about terrorism? You don’t like it very much, do you? Most of us don’t, and for good reason. It’s bad, right? No matter what! Damn those evil terrorists! On the opposite end of things, there’s Star Wars. Most of us like that, right? Well, at least the originals. The prequels have […]
Scifi Squad’s Top Scifi Rapist
Last month, Scifi Squad posted a top ten list of scifi couples. The usual suspects show up there (Han and Leia from Star Wars), with a few modern additions (Zoe and Wash from Firefly and WALL-E and Eve from WALL-E). But then there’s #3: Rick and Rachael from Blade Runner. I wasn’t aware that being […]
A New SF Manifesto of Bologna: Jetse de Vries and the Literature of Change (Part Three)
Now for the final post in my response to Jetse de Vries’ post. You can read the previous two parts by clicking the following links: part one; part two. Here goes: Point Five – SF dismisses actual science This one is easy to deal with: what consumers want is what they get. You want more […]
A New SF Manifesto of Bologna: Jetse de Vries and the Literature of Change (Part Two)
I started this series of posts the other day and will now continue. You can read part one here and part three here. Point Three – SF is WASP-ish By that, de Vries means that SF allows for the perpetuation of white-privilege, which is true on some level, but also somewhat ignorant of what WASP […]