Torture Cinema #86: A Special Holiday Torture Cinema Adventure – The Christmas Dragon (2014)
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFTortureCinema86TheChristmasDragon/Sandf-TortureCinema86-TheChristmasDragon.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSDarkspawn, shiny noses, and a new sex term, oh my! This one is DEFINITELY NSFW folks! Somehow the team, comprised of Shaun, Jen, Paul, and Becca, managed to turn this family friendly film into a total raunch fest. Proceed with caution. You have been warned! As with every Holiday Special, the crew brings a heavy dose of absurd and downright silly comedy to an otherwise totally normal discussion of film. They list the virtues and miraculousness of eye-liner, tackle some racist fantasy tropes, rip into a few dropped plot-lines, and wander aimlessly through the confusing logic behind the dragons in a movie about Scottish Santa and his almost-Johnny-Depp son. We hope you enjoy the episode and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Awards Eligibility: Our Stuff and All the Stuff We Covered in One Handy Place of Awesome
It’s that time of year. Awards Season. For us, that mostly means the Hugo Awards. And since everyone is posting their eligibility posts, we decided we’d do one, too. But instead of just telling you where we’re eligible, we’re going to do that and tell you about the cool stuff and peoples we talked to throughout the year who are eligible for something, too. If we missed anything, let us know! Note: to nominate works for the Hugos, you need a membership to this year’s Worldcon in Spokane by Jan. 31st. Full memberships are $140 until Jan. 31st. Supporting memberships (i.e., non-attending; mostly just for those that want to nominate and vote) are $40. If you were registered for last year’s Worldcon in London, you can nominate works for 2015, but you won’t be able to vote w/o at least a supporting membership. If you’re not attending, do consider getting a supporting membership so you can vote for your favorite sf/f stuff. It’s definitely worth it. Thanks to Gareth Kavanagh for the reminder. So, here goes:
Video Game Review: Civilization: Beyond Earth (2014)
At the end of all of the Civilization games, one of the classic winning endings is not to conquer the rest of the world or overawe the other civilizations with alliances and treaties; rather, it is to build a ship and send it to the stars. What would happen when that ship reaches its destination? In the Mid 1990’s, Sid Meier, creator of the Civilization franchise, explored that in Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, a turn-based strategy game with a transhumanist narrative, contacting and, in one of the win conditions, joining with Planet. It is probably the biggest budget videogame to ever explore transhumanism and science fiction, and one of the few to meld an external narrative into a strategy game. Now, Civilization: Beyond Earth treads into those waters again. Created by Firaxis, Beyond Earth takes the chassis of the Civilization V engine, with its one-unit-per-hex design, and transplants it onto an alien planet.
The Disquieting Guest: On “As Above, As Below” (2014) and Theatrical Horror in 2014
I didn’t get the chance to read as many books or watch as many films as I would like this year, and so any ruminations on my part about what might or might not constitute the best of the year should be taken with a Dead Sea’s worth of salt. My impression is that by and large, this has not been a stellar year for horror movies in the theatres. The box office returns tend to confirm that perception, which leads to Scott Mendelson’s gloomy appraisal of the situation here. But what needs to be factored in, regarding horror’s relatively poor showing in terms of numbers, is how few of this year’s films are actually any good. Compounding the problem is the fact that the two recent movies receiving the most glowing acclaim — Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook — have received criminally minimal distribution. Last I heard, The Babadook, which by all accounts is absolutely terrifying and would be leading my Best-Of list had I been able to see it, has only played in a single theatre in all of Canada. I hope to catch both of these films in 2015, but as I have yet to see them, I can’t say anything else about them in the context of this column other than express my anticipation. And here, have a trailer.
243. The Marvel Cinematic Universe Panel at CONvergence
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode243MarvelCinematicUniversePanelAtCONvergence/SandF%20–%20Episode%20243%20–%20Marvel%20Cinematic%20Universe%20Panel%20at%20CONvergence.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSKickass heroines, Marvel-ous universes, and ants, oh my! Recorded at CONvergence, this panel on the Marvel Cinematic Universe is akin to a blast from the past. Featuring the voice talents of Lyda Morehouse (a.k.a. Tate Hallaway), Allyson Cygan, Shaun Duke, John Seavey, and Neil Anderson, the panel discusses the current Marvel film canon, upcoming projects, and our hopes for the future (some of which Marvel has kindly answered). Here is the panel description: Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier have been out, and Agents of SHIELD, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Defenders, and Ant Man are on the horizon. How do they all compare? What do you want to see next? 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 243 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: The Panelists: Lyda Morehouse / Tate Hallaway Lyda/Tate’s Twitter John Seavey Neil Anderson Allyson Cygan Shaun Duke Shaun’s Twitter 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.
#25. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) — A Shoot the WISB Subcast (w/ fixed audio file)
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/ShootTheWISB25GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014/Shoot%20the%20WISB%20%2325%20–%20Guardians%20of%20the%20Galaxy%20%282014%29.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSSpace rodents, emo fanatics, and dancing Groots, oh my! In her first episode as an official member of the crew, Rachael Acks joins Shaun, Paul, and David to discuss the smash hit, Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). We hope you enjoy the episode! (Note: a previous version of this post contained two different mp3 files: one for Sherlock and one for Guardians of the Galaxy. That has been corrected.) 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. Download the episode here. [audio http://archive.org/download/ShootTheWISB25GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014/Shoot%20the%20WISB%20%2325%20–%20Guardians%20of%20the%20Galaxy%20%282014%29.mp3] Show notes (info about our contributors can be found on the about page): Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)(IMDB) Comment away!
