My Superpower and Mini-Interview: James Dashner
My Superpower is a regular guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. Today we welcome James Dashner to talk about how his power of movie watching relates to The Kill Order. ————————————————- Like any person (at least any nerdy person, which are the only ones I care about), I love superheroes. I love Superman. I love Spiderman. I love the X-Men. I even love Bruce Willis in Unbreakable. I love the dude who invented Mountain Dew and Abraham Lincoln. All superheroes. And yes, I am one myself. I know this may shock you, but it’s true. I, James Dashner, am a superhero. And now I will tell you what my secret power is. Are you ready? I’m really, especially, fantastically good at watching movies. That’s right. Make fun all you want, but I’m much better at it than you are. In fact, no one on the planet of Earth (I can’t vouch for those other planets we keep discovering) is as brilliantly brilliant at watching movies as I am. I can enjoy any movie on any level at any time. My biggest pet peeve in the world is this new thing where all the “smart” people on the Internet rip every single movie
The Disquieting Guest — RIP Mike Vraney
On January 2, Mike Vraney, the founder of Something Weird Video, passed away. You can read his obituary here. I would like to offer my condolences to his family and his friends and to comment briefly on the importance of his archival work. Because though Something Weird is, of course, a business, it is one with a mission, and Vraney has been responsible for both the preservation and the dissemination of films and voices that would otherwise be no more than entries in film histories, or forgotten entirely. Something Weird is essentially the Criterion of Grindhouse, relentlessly seeking out and preserving the B and exploitation film. Its mandate goes far beyond horror — the nudie cutie, the roughie, and the rest of the carnival sideshow of cinematic sleaze are at play here. And, sticking to the focus of this column, this is as it should be. Horror is the disquieting guest of the fantastic not just because of the darkness of the tales or the unpleasant emotions it seeks to create, but also because it is disreputable, and always has been. From the Gothic onward, horror has been regarded with suspicion,
The World SF Tour Begins on Monday (1/13/14)
And here’s what’s on the docket for the month of January (dates may shift, but are otherwise firm): 1/13: Hebrew SF and Translation w/ Didi Chanoch (translator) and Rani Graff (publisher) 1/15: Interview w/ Lavie Tidhar on The Violent Century (Hodder & Stoughton) 1/17 1/18 1/19: Shoot the WISB discussion on The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) 1/21: Interview w/ Shimon Adaf on Sunburnt Faces (PS Publishing) 1/24 1/12: Shoot the WISB discussion on Babylon 5 (Season One, Disc Two) 1/27: Our Favorite Things from 2013 1/28 2/1: Torture Cinema “review” (film to be selected tomorrow) 1/31 2/2: Interview w/ Myke Cole on Breach Zone (Ace) February: New Zealand and Australia (dates and specifics being firmed out this month)! And there you have it. There’s a lot to look forward to this month, and much more to come. Thanks for listening! Note: As we previously mentioned, some episodes will not be specific to our theme, such as the Shoot the WISB sessions or Torture Cinema.
