This Katamari Feels Scientifashionable!
(That’s probably because you’ve rolled up some weird outfits!) It seems Fashion is on the old SFnal brain lately, and I enjoy a good sartorial debate as much as … well, as much as the average person, at least. Which is to say, not enough to follow Project Runway, but enough to relish a well-rounded and amusing critique of pageantry at least. And what can be more fun than the meeting of SF and couture? Angry Trousers: So, Tansy Rayner Roberts won best fan writer at the Hugo Awards this year, and it’s pretty much because she’s awesome. I love her blog because she’s intelligent and passionate about genre, and she posts things like this list of 25 awesome urban fantasies, AKA The Angry Trousers Treatise. I love the idea of women in angry trousers as a catch all term for a certain subset of urban fantasy. Even before I read the treatise, I
Torture Cinema Poll: 2013 Christmas Special! (You Decide)
You know the drill. VOTE!
Movie Review: Mama (2013)
One of the things I enjoy about horror is its connection with fairy tales. Anyone who has actually read Grimm’s Fairy Tales is aware of this association. It’s one of the reasons why Andrés Muschietti’s 2013 film, Mama, attracted me. The story has a mundane, if tragic start fed to the audience in the form of a car radio news story — a dramatic stock market downturn results in the suicides of several members of a prominent investment firm. The abandoned car is parked in front of a beautiful house and there is a gunshot. The camera pans closer and the next scene is of a little girl named Victoria dressed for school. Her one-year-old sister is in her crib nearby. Their father arrives. His clothing is speckled with blood. Victoria asks, as all Fairy Tale heroines do, all the right questions, but her father, who is insane with grief, brushes her questions aside. He collects the girls and drives off into the wilderness with them. The car wrecks in the snow and they end up in an abandoned cabin, which is, naturally, haunted. Their
Announcement: Skiffy and Fanty 3.0 Begins Now!
A lot of things are happening around the Skiffy and Fanty compound. Big things. You’ve already heard about Stina Leicht joining the crew and the World SF Tour. Now it’s time to announce the next big step for the show: the 3.0 Upgrade. What is it? 3.0 is the next phase of The Skiffy and Fanty Show. It will involve a slightly revamped audio program and a complete content overhaul on the blog. We decided it was time to take this venture to the next level, and everyone who has contributed to this show in recent weeks jumped on board without much hesitation. When you have that many people enthusiastically jumping into the mixer, you just can’t ignore it! Here’s what you can expect from the podcast for the next few months (before the World SF Tour kicks off): 3-4 discussion/interview episodes of the podcast, including our Worldcon interviews and new interviews with Nick Mamatas, Emma Newman, Ann Leckie, Doug Lain, and more. The continuation of the Torture Cinema feature: September (Sharknado — recorded at Worldcon), October (The Gate — the Halloween Special), November (listener’s choice), and December (listener’s choice — the Christmas and Winter Holiday Special) 1-2 episodes of Shoot the WISB, featuring reviews of new movies and/or re-watches of movies (coming soon: The World’s End, the Riddick Trilogy, and a Babylon 5 re-watch) And here’s what you can expect from the blog: Almost daily posts, each one written by an S&F crew member. These will include discussions about recent SF/F-related events and reflections about genre fiction, geek parenting, the business world of SF/F, the wonders of horror, and much more. Our new “My Superpower” guest posts (Stina Leicht is the first victim)(authors are welcome to email us if they’d like to write one) A new monthly post: Recommend Reads (self-explanatory, I hope) A maybe, just maybe, a few more things! This is just the beginning for 3.0. Who is involved? The Skiffy and Fanty Crew’s contributions will be made by our regulars — Shaun Duke, Julia Rios, Paul Weimer, Jen Zink, and Adam Callaway — and by a whole bunch of new folks, including David Annandale, Stina Leicht, Mike R. Underwood, and Keffy Kehrli. Basically, Jen decided five people wasn’t enough for a single podcast, so she went ahead and added four more, bringing our total up to nine. We’re pretty sure it’ll turn out OK. How can you get involved? Join the Discussion! Leave a comment, email us your opinions about an episode, or share our stuff on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and wherever else you feel like. S&F is an open door. If you’ve got something to say, then say it. And if you want to help contribute to the show or the blog, let us know. Nothing like a crowd to make a blog and a show, wouldn’t you say? There may be more announcements in the future. For now, enjoy the beginning of what we hope will be a really good thing indeed!
#04 — World War Z — A Shoot the WISB Discussion w/ David Annandale & Jen Bosier
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/ShootTheWISB4WorldWarZ2013Reviewed/Shoot%20the%20WISB%20%234%20–%20World%20War%20Z%20%282013%29%20Reviewed.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSZombies! For this episode of Shoot the WISB, guests David Annandale and Jen Bosier join me to discuss World War Z. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments. Download the episode here. Spoiler Alert: the following podcast contains spoilers for the film being reviewed; if you wish to see the film without having it ruined for you, download this podcast and save it for later. Show notes: World War Z (IMDB) Shaun’s Post About His Movie Experience David’s Website David’s Twitter David’s Books Jen’s Forbes Profile Jen’s Twitter Furious Four Cast Note: We’re shifting over the Shoot the WISB segments from my personal blog to The Skiffy and Fanty Show. Why? It just makes more sense, I suppose. If you’ve never listened to the Shoot the WISB casts, you’ll likely see them pop up in your iTunes or RSS feeds over the next few weeks.
Thoughts About Years of Podcasting — Your Opinions Welcome
Over the last few weeks, I’ve had the inclination to look back at all the things we’ve done since we started this silly show in May 2010. Some of that thinking has been fueled by my own desire to see a better podcast come out of this page, but some of it has also come with direct criticism from folks like Fred Kiesche and Paul Weimer (one of our lovely hosts). Understandably, I am still learning about producing a podcast, representing myself fairly in public, and so on and so forth. Throughout the last few years, I’ve learned a lot from making mistakes or succeeding. And through thinking about the good and the bad of the show over the last few years, I think it’s time to consider making some changes to produce a better show. Some of those changes will include: Changing how we address controversial topics: We’ve taken on some scandals in the last few years. For the most part, we’ve jumped into the fray because the topics in question matter to us in some way (usually surrounding issues like sexism, racism, and ethnocentrism). After some brief discussions with folks, I’ve come to the conclusion that we often play the role of “shock jock,” which I did not want this show to become. Regardless of our intentions, I think it’s time we change how we address controversial topics. To varying degrees of success, I plan for us to aim for a more measured and thoughtful approach to the issues — where possible. This way, we can spend more time actually addressing the issues at hand, rather than our own personal investments in the emotions associated with a particular topic. Changing how we advertise this show: We’ve never really advertised this show. That might explain why we have a smaller listenership than other shows (or maybe because we are totally full of suck — but, hey, we have fun, so whatever!). I’d like to change that. Some of the things we’re going to do this year include creating audio spots and pushing our show on social media in a more effective manner. There are still a few things to work out with the hosts, but expect some new things over the next few months. Changing the blog into an actual blog: We’ve had this blog for three years now (roughly) and have never used it for much. Back in the day, we tried to maintain a steady stream of content, but that proved impossible for all of us, as we each have our own writing duties elsewhere (or jobs, etc. etc. etc.). But we think having an active blog is important for a weekly podcast. Something you can expect in the next month is a call for bloggers. We’d like to bring in a whole team of folks to contribute columns and possibly contribute to the show in some way (if you want, of course). Like other sites and podcasts, I think SandF should be more than just “a show.” I’ll probably make other changes too, but these are the big ones on my list. If you have any suggestions or thoughts, please don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments. Really. If it wasn’t for the constructive criticism we’ve already received, we wouldn’t have thought twice about some of the things we’ve done over the last few years. This show revolves around a happy listenership, after all :). Note: Most of these changes refer to things I’ve done with Jen, as Paul is a fairly new addition to the team.
