We’re nine days into 2025, and it’s already full of exhausting levels of controversy before we’ve even had a turnover in power in my home country of the United States. We’ve seen resignations of world leaders, wars continuing and getting worse and worse (you know where), the owner of Twitter continuing his tirade of lunacy and demonstrating why the billionaire class is not to be revered, California ablaze with a horrendous and large wildfire, right wing thinktanks developing plans to out and attack Wikipedia editors as any fascist-friendly organization would do, Meta rolling out and rolling back GenAI profiles on its platforms, and, just yesterday, the same Meta announcing sweeping changes to its moderation policies that, in a charitable reading, encourage hate-based harassment and abuse of vulnerable populations, promotion and support for disinformation, and other problems, all of which are so profound that people are talking about a mass exodus from the platform to…somewhere. It’s that last thing that brings me back to the blog today. Since the takeover at Twitter, social networks have been in a state of chaos. Platforms have risen and fallen — or only risen so much — and nothing I would call stability has formed. Years ago, I (and many others far more popular than me) remarked that we’ve ceded the territory of self-owned or small-scale third party spaces for massive third party platforms where we have minimal to no control or say and which can be stripped away in a tech-scale heartbeat. By putting all our ducks into a bin of unstable chaos, we’re also expending our time and energy on something that won’t last, requiring us to expend more time and energy finding alternatives, rebuilding communities, and then repeating the process again. In the present environment, that’s impossible to ignore.1 This is all rather reductive, but this post is not the place to talk about all the ways that social networks have impacted control over our own spaces and narratives. Another time, perhaps. I similarly don’t have space to talk about the fact that some of the platforms we currently have, however functional they may be, have placed many of us in a moral quagmire, as in the case of Meta’s recent moderation changes. Another time… ↩
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Christmas Gifts For 2010: Favorite SF/F Films/Shows for 2010 (and Some Extras)
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2010 has actually been a fairly decent year for science fiction and fantasy film. True, there have been some stinkers (like The Last Airbender, Caprica, Clash of the Titans, Dollhouse, and Prince of Persia), but the whole year hasn’t been a bust. A number of great movies have hit the theaters (and DVD) and there’s still hope for the field in the years to come.
With that in mind, I give you my Christmas SF/F film selections for 2010 (with a non-SF title and some just-out-on-DVD titles tossed in for good measure; in no particular order)(after the fold):
Inception
By far one of the greatest and most important science fiction films in the last decade, let alone the last fifty years. You can read my review here (and my various other columns here, here, and here).
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
My second favorite movie to come out this year, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is as imaginative as Inception, with a unique narrative structure. Considering the limitations created by Ledger’s death, Gilliam’s new masterpiece certainly turned out well. You can check out my review here.
Moon
I only recently got a chance to see Moon. While it’s not a perfect film, it is a fine example of serious science fiction. Deeply psychological and expertly crafted, Moon is one to see.
Pandorum
One of the creepiest science fiction films in the last ten years, Pandorum is just the right combination of terror and scifi goodness! It’s worth having in your collection if you don’t have it already.
How To Train Your Dragon
Need a great family movie? Why not try How To Train Your Dragon? It’s fun, cute, and strangely beautiful. See my review here.
Stargate Universe
I’m a tad behind, but the last time I was able to watch the show, I recall liking it quite a bit. It’s an attempt at filling the gap left behind by Battlestar Galactica (which Caprica failed to do), and it does so moderately well. Too bad they cancelled the show…
The Big Bang Theory
If you’re not watching this show, then you must immediately turn in your Geek and Scifi Cards. If you refuse to do so, you will be hunted down by the GIA.
V
I’m a little behind on this one too, but I’ve enjoyed it so far. Tea Party folks should like this show a lot, since it’s all about ridiculous conspiracies (only, they come true).
The Pacific
I’m only six episodes into this miniseries, but it has already proven to be a must have for any fan of war films. If you haven’t seen Band of Brothers (the series that preceded The Pacific), you should. Both are worth having in your collection, not simply because they are beautifully crafted/acted/written, but also because they are amazingly detailed (each episode is preceded by brief talks about certain events by people who were actually there). Watch it and pray that HBO will keep producing these kinds of series. I don’t want it to end…
And there you have it. What are some of your favorites for 2010?
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A Reading List of Dystopian Fiction and Relevant Texts (Apropos of Nothing in Particular)
Why would someone make a list of important and interesting works of dystopian fiction? Or a suggested reading list of works that are relevant to those dystopian works? There is absolutely no reason other than raw interest. There’s nothing going on to compel this. There is nothing in particular one making such a list would hope you’d learn. The lists below are not an exhaustive list. There are bound to be texts I have forgotten or texts you think folks should read that are not listed. Feel free to make your own list and tell me about it OR leave a comment. I’ll add things I’ve missed! Anywhoodles. Here goes:
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Duke’s Best EDM Tracks of 2024
And so it came to pass that I finished up my annual Best of EDM [Insert Year Here] lists. I used to do these on Spotify before switching to Tidal, and I continued doing them on Tidal because I listen to an absurd amount of EDM and like keeping track of the tunes I love the most. Below, you will find a Tidal playlist that should be public. You can listen to the first 50 tracks right here, but the full playlist is available on Tidal proper (which has a free version just like Spotify does). For whatever reason, the embedded playlist breaks the page, and so I’ve opted to link to it here and at the bottom of this post. Embeds are weird. Or you can pull songs into your preferred listening app. It’s up to you. Some caveats before we begin:
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2025: The Year of Something
We’re nine days into 2025, and it’s already full of exhausting levels of controversy before we’ve even had a turnover in power in my home country of the United States. We’ve seen resignations of world leaders, wars continuing and getting worse and worse (you know where), the owner of Twitter continuing his tirade of lunacy and demonstrating why the billionaire class is not to be revered, California ablaze with a horrendous and large wildfire, right wing thinktanks developing plans to out and attack Wikipedia editors as any fascist-friendly organization would do, Meta rolling out and rolling back GenAI profiles on its platforms, and, just yesterday, the same Meta announcing sweeping changes to its moderation policies that, in a charitable reading, encourage hate-based harassment and abuse of vulnerable populations, promotion and support for disinformation, and other problems, all of which are so profound that people are talking about a mass exodus from the platform to…somewhere. It’s that last thing that brings me back to the blog today. Since the takeover at Twitter, social networks have been in a state of chaos. Platforms have risen and fallen — or only risen so much — and nothing I would call stability has formed. Years ago, I (and many others far more popular than me) remarked that we’ve ceded the territory of self-owned or small-scale third party spaces for massive third party platforms where we have minimal to no control or say and which can be stripped away in a tech-scale heartbeat. By putting all our ducks into a bin of unstable chaos, we’re also expending our time and energy on something that won’t last, requiring us to expend more time and energy finding alternatives, rebuilding communities, and then repeating the process again. In the present environment, that’s impossible to ignore.1 This is all rather reductive, but this post is not the place to talk about all the ways that social networks have impacted control over our own spaces and narratives. Another time, perhaps. I similarly don’t have space to talk about the fact that some of the platforms we currently have, however functional they may be, have placed many of us in a moral quagmire, as in the case of Meta’s recent moderation changes. Another time… ↩
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