Announcement — 2010: A SFF Film Odyssey begins in February!
What is it? The SFF Film Odyssey (2010 edition) is the result of a twitter conversation I had last year, in which I remarked that it would be super cool if I could figure out a way to review every SF/F movie released since 2000 in one year. Unfortunately, that’s nearly 1,000 films, and I have three jobs…so clearly that’s impossible. Instead, throughout 2014, I will watch and review every science fiction and fantasy film released in 2010! A more reasonable goal, and one that will give me a reason to go through the years of SF/F film one at a time! What will it entail? Reviews, discussions, and rants about SF/F movies from 2010. I’m keeping away from a single format for these posts in order to add some variation, which will hopefully keep readers interested…and me. A couple caveats: Films that do not have English subtitles or dubs (where relevant) will be removed (I don’t think this will matter, but just in case). Films released straight to DVD do not apply, nor do films which appeared on television, but not in theaters. Films which are sequels will be replaced by the first film in the series (there are only a handful in the list right now). If I have time, I’ll review an entire series. I am sure to miss some films, as my list currently consists of what can be found here and here. There are roughly 63 films there, but if you know of any others that should be considered, leave a comment here or send an email to arconna[at]yahoo[dot]com Films which are not American in origin will be discussed on The Skiffy and Fanty Show blog, which is currently on a World SF Tour. When exactly will it start? It’s possible I’ll get things started next week, but since my laptop will need to go in for repairs on Monday, it may be a little while before I’m able to really dig in deep. On a more realistic note, this thing will likely start around the first or second week of February. And that’s that. So…time to get to work! —————————- *Thanks to Justin Landon for helping me with the name for this feature. He gets three gold stars for his efforts.
Top 10 Blog Posts for December 2013
Happy New Year! Here’s the list: 10. Why I Stopped Paying Attention to Feedburner Subscriber Numbers 9. The Diversity Pledge: Crunching My Numbers for 2013 8. Draft Post Bingo: What should I finish? You Decide! 7. Draft Post Bingo Winners: What I’ll Be Finishing Next 6. Crowdfunding Links of the Week: Kaleidoscope (a Diverse YA Antho) & War Stories (a MilSF Antho) 5. Star Trek: a Worf TV Show? (Some Thoughts) 4. Diversity is Not a Selfie (or, Amazing Stories + Felicity Savage = Here We Go Again) 3. Top 10 Science Fiction and Fantasy Anime Movies 2. Movie Review: Riddick (2013)(or, I’m Going to Mega Rant Now) 1. The Vigilante in American Mythology (Brief Thoughts) #monthofjoy Wee!
Top 10 Blog Posts for November 2013
November was obviously a fairly light week in terms of new posts, so this list is a reflection of all the stuff people were still reading from the months prior. And if you missed any of this stuff, you’ll have to catch up… Here it is: 10. Conventions: the Simple, Step-by-Step Approach for Handling Disability at Cons 9. Draft Post Bingo Winners: What I’ll Be Finishing Next (some of these have been finished!) 8. Crowdfunding Links of the Week: Kaleidoscope (a Diverse YA Antho) & War Stories (a MilSF Antho) 7. The Rubric of Apologies: Demanded Apologies 6. Link of the Week: “Conventions and Authors” by Tobias S. Buckell 5. Draft Post Bingo: What should I finish? You Decide! 4. Top 10 Blog Posts for August 2013 (this is a hilarious one…) 3. Oh, John Ringo and Your Silly Fantasies About People (or, I Now Like Redshirts) 2. Star Trek: a Worf TV Show? (Some Thoughts) 1. Movie Review: Riddick (2013)(or, I’m Going to Mega Rant Now)
Updatery and An Interview w/ Me: Postmodernism, Comics, SF/F, Podcasting, and Larry Nolen
Two quick things for readers of this blog thing: I’ve not been active on the blog throughout much of November for one very simple reason: this is the busiest month of the year for me, and more so because I’ve been working almost non-stop on exam materials throughout the month and the three months preceding it. I’m getting a PhD, after all. I also have a lot of other stuff to deal with: I’m grading a lot of papers (teaching three classes), I have three exams to write up and administer, and I’m teaching a bunch (four days a week). Add all that in with holidays and so on and you’ve got a not-very-active Shaun person. Granted, I’ve also been playing a bit of Starcraft 2 as a stress reliever, so… But there’s one interesting thing going on, and that’s this: Larry Nolen of OF Blog of the Fallen just posted a 5,500-word interview with me! I think it will be of interest to readers of this blog, as Larry asked me questions about blogging, podcasting, comics, postermodernism, fandom, and much more. I think it’s a pretty darn good interview. Feel free to read it and leave a comment over there. And that’s that!
Draft Post Bingo Winners: What I’ll Be Finishing Next
A whole bunch of folks tossed out their nominations, so here’s the stuff I’m going to finish in the next, say, month: FIN A post about ideological rigidity from a teaching perspective (with a side of SF/F) FIN A post of my hopes for SF/F in 2013 (which I can just update to 2014) FIN A post about whether fiction can be too gritty (dragging up something from a long while ago) FIN A post about the weird “homo/bi-sexuality as deviance” narrative in The Following FIN A post about why self-published books frequently get snubbed by mainstream literary awards A post on the top 7 geek-related hobbies/jobs I’d love to do for a living A post about five SF/F books that deserve to be considered classics FIN A post about the possibility of a Worf TV Show A post involving a poll for writers (asking them if they played RPGs as a kid, if they still do, etc.). A love letter to Zach Snyder and Christopher Nolan (for Man of Steel) FIN A post about upcoming remakes (Blake’s 7, The Black Hole, etc.) A post about note-taking and citation software (a huge monstrosity of a thing…) A graphic novel review of The Coldest City A movie review of Cowboys & Aliens A book review of Harbor by John Ajvide Lindqvist A post about five SF/F books I can’t wait to read…soon… FIN A post about the top 10 SF/F anime movies I’ve put them in order from “received the most votes” to “received at least one vote” and thrown out all the ones you didn’t vote on (which I’ll save for later). Though I will try to finish them in the order in which they are presented here, I’m going to leave that open enough so I can skip around if I feel inclined to do so (or for those posts that should be finished first because they’re about fairly recent musings). Anywhoodles!
Comment System Has Changed!
Quick note: I’m testing out a no-moderation, no-captcha commenting policy on the blog. I realize that captcha may be one of many reasons for low activity on blogs in general, so I wanted to see what would happen if I removed the barriers. So, consider yourselves my guinea pigs!