1.20.15 ‘Something like 500 hours of radio and TV’
Who says science fiction can’t be funny? “Nothing really new has been created since the Overlords came… There’s nothing left to struggle for and there are too many distractions and entertainments. Do you realize that every day something like 500 hours of radio and TV our out over the various channels? If you went without…
Read MoreArisia 2015: My schedule, and how I’ll defy both time and space while there
Coming to Arisia 2015? Here’s where you’ll find me, hoping to be in two places at once….
Read MoreIt’s a Terrifying, Asphyxiating, Not-So-Wonderful Life After All
“It’s a Wonderful Life” aired again on TV recently, as it does pretty much every year around Christmastime. And whether you’ve actually watched it or not (and I do recommend you give it a chance), you probably know the story of George Bailey, whose life is upended one Christmas Eve when a big deposit from…
Read MoreHo-ho-hold the treacle: Most holiday movies stink. Demand better!
After much delay, at last I saw “Maleficent” the other night. And yes, while it is full of exactly what one expects from a Disney film – for (spoiler alert), example, a villain given grace by his vanquisher tries one last time for the win and ends up falling to his death – it took…
Read MoreWhen fantasy writers turn on TV, what turns fantasy writers on? (Hint: Breaking Bad)
On my way to the World Fantasy Convention in Crystal City, Virginia last weekend, I had a chat with an editor, who sighed with dismay that she’d initially packed only four or five books to bring with her for the long weekend. She wondered if that was enough. I began to wonder if I just…
Read MoreTake me now: The seductive nature of TV’s serial killers
TV can be a scary place, and some of its worst offenders are also the best-written and most seductive.
Read MoreFrom ‘Downton Abbey’ to ‘Law & Order: SVU,’ we’re all soap opera addicts now
Greetings! So glad you could make it. Welcome to the first in a continuing story … sorry, the continuing adventures of – no, that’s not quite right, either. All right, I’ll say it first: I’m a soap opera addict. I am a soap opera addict. I love stories that go on and on, with intertwining…
Read MoreFall previews suck — so here’s how, not what, to watch this coming season
It’s an old, beloved story known well by “Mad Men” fans: How their show got to air. Creator Matthew Weiner had an idea to tell the story about New York ad guys in the 1960s for years before it became a reality. He honed his skills at “The Sopranos” while “Men” sat on a shelf…
Read MoreNo paper, no pen: On the loss of Robin Williams, a great American writer
“What will your verse be?” — Robin Williams as John Keating, “Dead Poets Society” (1989) Just hours after the news that Robin Williams had killed himself broke on August 11, Bostonians opted to continue their dialogue with the late comedian. They went out to a bench in the city’s Public Garden, where Williams had filmed…
Read MoreWhiteboard company proves it: Weird Al was drawn that way
The array of "Weird Al" Yankovic videos that recently took over the Internet was an eight-day Al-palooza for fans of the parodist — and their devotion was rewarded when his 14th album, "Mandatory Fun," hit the top of the charts. But fans don't yet have to go into withdrawal — there's one unique video left to watch. …
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