For a long time, space travel in fiction was predominantly shiny. Long, slender, cigar-shaped rockets predominantly made of chrome blasted off towards the stars. More often than not, equally shiny flying saucers spun their way towards our suburban homes to shower our Sunday barbecues with death rays. I am exaggerating a bit, but what I’m… Continue reading The Lived-In Universe
Tag: sci-fi
Movie Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
I have a soft spot in my heart for what I and others call ‘big idea’ science fiction. You see, sci-fi is not always whiz-bang laser fights and exotic, distant worlds. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a work of science fiction, as is Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park. Without aliens, particle beams, faster than light starships or… Continue reading Movie Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
From the Vault: On The Fringes
The Friday 500 returns next week, when I’m not quite so wiped out. In the meantime, let’s talk again about character death in fiction! When I watch a good television program or film, one with a narrative that builds its characters and takes the plot in ways one might not expect, I feel the dichotomy… Continue reading From the Vault: On The Fringes
500 Words on Space Dandy
Space Dandy is a dandy guy. In space. One of the first anime directors I was introduced to many years ago was ShinichirÅ Watanabe. Folks who know the genre will likely recognize his name as the man behind Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. He’s worked with legendary anime studio BONES before – this is the… Continue reading 500 Words on Space Dandy
500 Words On Gravity
I finally got around to seeing Gravity, one of the most lauded films of last year. In fact, I’ve seen it twice. The first time I saw it was at a friend’s who has a 3-D television, and I have to say I’m a little sorry I missed seeing the film in IMAX. I don’t… Continue reading 500 Words On Gravity
500 Words On Two Movies
I missed yesterday’s review for several reasons. So let me break down the double-feature I did today in about 500 words. Including those last 20. Consider this a flash review. Robocop (2014) My initial reaction? “Meh.” It wasn’t terrible, by any stretch, but I wasn’t blown away by it. I liked some of the things… Continue reading 500 Words On Two Movies
Flash Fiction: Rapunzel in Orbit
Courtesy Hunt for Alien Earths This Terribleminds Fairy Tales Remixed challenge is right up my alley, and when the d20 rolled up “hard sci-fi”, it felt like Christmas all over again. The planet was desolate, inhospitable, and far from any civilization. Which meant it was pretty much perfect. Christopher Prince bent near one of the… Continue reading Flash Fiction: Rapunzel in Orbit
Flash Fiction: Mission to Sirius
This week, for The Subgenre Smash-And-Grab, the d20 Ring picked Space Opera and Technothriller. The intelligence report appeared one letter after another on Commander Dane’s data-pad, red letters turning green as they were decrypted by the star cruiser Intrepid‘s onboard AI. He frowned, and turned to the lieutenant keeping pace with him as he strode… Continue reading Flash Fiction: Mission to Sirius
Movie Review: Equilibrium
It seems that the general audience of dystopian fiction like action with their social commentary. From The Road Warrior to The Matrix, Fallout to The Last Of Us, many tales set in a world of ruin follow their heroes from one action sequence to another. Considering the less than favorable reaction that people had to… Continue reading Movie Review: Equilibrium
Movie Review: Elysium
The summer of 2013 has been a difficult one in terms of finding truly great films. Most of the fare out there is either sequels or trash, and sometimes trashy sequels. Original ideas seemed few and far between. For the most part, I was looking forward to two films that looked like they might breathe… Continue reading Movie Review: Elysium
