Blog Posts

The Disquieting Guest — On Leonard Nimoy and the Anti-Spock

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Like almost everyone else, my first encounter with Leonard Nimoy was in his Spock role. But as I watched endless reruns of Star Trek in my elementary school years, I did not have much awareness of the actor behind the character. The names in the credit sequence meant little. They were less real than the characters themselves. I knew that Spock wasn’t real, of course, but imaginatively and emotionally he was. The real person behind the character barely registered in my consciousness.

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Review: Assassin (2014; dir. J.K. Amalou)

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You’d think from the cover copy for the Blu Ray release of J.K. Amalous’ Assassin (2014) that what you were about to watch was a character-driven crime thriller fed by crafty dialogue and compelling characters.  After all, by declaring that Assassin comes from the makers of Casino and Goodfellas, both Oscar nominated works, the copy implies a film of a certain quality.  It is unfortunate, then, that the film on offer is less like Goodfellas and more like a watered down Jason Statham movie. Danny Dyer plays Jamie, an assassin-for-hire who murders competitors and irritations on behalf of “reformed” criminals John and Lee Alberts (Gary and Martin Kemp, respectively).  On one such job, Jamie meets Chloe (Holly Weston), a drug-addled stripper, and falls for her.  Jamie soon discovers that his last target was Chloe’s father; when Chloe starts asking too many questions, she draws the attention of the Alberts, who demand Jamie kill her, too.  Failing to do so, they both become targets, putting Jamie in the sights of men just like him.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

258. On Leonard Nimoy

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode258OnLeonardNimoy/SandF%20–%20Episode%20258%20–%20On%20Leonard%20Nimoy.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSTaking a step back from our regular programming, Shaun, Paul, and Mike discuss the passing of Leonard Nimoy and his legacy. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note:  If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 258 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Leonard Nimoy (Wiki) Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks!  Thanks for listening.  See you next week.

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Book Review: The Buried Life by Carrie Patel

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The city of Recoletta is an artifact of the Catastrophe. Like the bomb shelters that saved humanity after the Catastrophe, most of the city is built underground, and most of its residents rarely see the surface. It’s a point of pride to those who manage never to do so. In this gaslight world of tenement and tunnels, the Council rules, openly in some ways, secretly in others. When murders and death stalk not the common man, but the high and mighty in Recoletta, the conflict and dangers run from those high and mighty to every aspect of society. Recoletta is a city, a world in miniature on the edge, and these murders are set to very possibly give it a very big push. Carrie Patel’s debut novel The Buried Life introduces us to Recoletta and its citizenry and gives us a picture of it and their lives in the wake of a series of shocking murders. Our points of view are primarily a pair of strong women characters.

The Skiffy and Fanty Show Podcasts

257. Baby Geniuses (1999) — A Torture Cinema “Adventure”

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http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode257TortureCinemaMeetsBabyGeniuses/SandF%20–%20Episode%20257%20–%20Torture%20Cinema%20Meets%20Baby%20Geniuses.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSRobot babies, creepy babies, and just babies, oh my!  Shaun, Julia, Paul, and Rachael join forces to talk about 1999’s Baby Geniuses, which one critic described as “about as endearing as unanesthetized gum surgery.”  You can guess how we all felt about it… We hope you enjoy the episode! Note:  If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 257 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Baby Geniuses (1999)(IMDB) Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0).  Additional music from “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 That’s all, folks!  Thanks for listening.  See you next week.

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Guest Post: On sniping, women, and SF by Brenda Cooper

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There’s a lot of sniping going on across genders in our field.  Vitriolic sniping.  Shame on us. Yes, science fiction is largely male dominated.  So are a lot of fields.  I know.  My day job is in technology, where I’m a c-level exec. It wasn’t necessarily easy to get here even though I live in the liberal bubble of the West Coast where it’s easier than it is in a lot of places.  I’ve been living this conversation my whole life across multiple fields of endeavor.  Yes, it sucks.  Yes, it needs to stop. But sniping isn’t the answer.  Mind you, I’d be fine with sniping if it worked.  It’s kind of fun.  But as far as I can tell, it’s not effective. Yes, there are truly evil men out there in the midst of the current social fights, like whoever issued the death threats to women writing about feminism in the game world.  This is not an article about how to deal with them.  Jail time would be a great start.

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