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Terrestrial Human

Hugo Nominee Shortlist posted

The short list for this year’s 2012 Hugo Awards was posted online this weekend, and includes a ton of great authors and programs. But I have to say, as much as I am excited about books from my favorite authors, it is the authors I don’t know about who made the list that excites me more. There are really good stories out there that I have never read, and most of those authors will have still more stories I might enjoy that I never would have known were there if not for these awards. And, of course, it is not just the written word that is being celebrated here. The category Best Graphic Story brings images to add a dimension to the storytelling, but I am so long out of touch with that field that I don’t recognize a single title or artist. Again, something new and interesting to explore. But then I hit Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, and I have seen every one of them, and would be really hard pressed to choose a single one as best; although I suspect I would lean to either Hugo or Captain America. And on Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, three of the five are from last year’s Doctor Who season. The awards will be handed out at Worldcon as always, which this year is the ChiCon, AKA Chicago 7, the 70th Worldcon convention.

UPDATE: If you want to read the novels online, all have now been released to the public, and Worlds Without End has the links. And congrats on their two nominations to the great team at SF-Signal, who will probably have links to all the nominees that can be read online in any category fairly soon now.

Something to Do: Movies

Lockout hits the big screens this weekend. Written and directed by Luc Besson, who obviously loved Escape From New York, since this is pretty much the same story except it takes place in an orbital prison. This one looks like good mindless fun from the guy who brought us things like The Fifth Element and Angel-A.

Something to Watch: DVDs

The Darkest Hour has five teens in Moscow when alien invaders take over the Earth, and they spend the movie trying to survive. It is not a bad little film, but I think they made a mistake when they opened it in theaters on Christmas day, as it was not exactly holiday fare.

A rather amusing family oriented TV miniseries this time is The Witches of Oz, where best selling author Dorothy Gale discovers the stories she has been writing are based on suppressed childhood memories, and Oz is real.

The other TV choices are all older programs now available for the first time, starting with Night Gallery: Season Three. Joining Rod Serling in Season 3 were Vincent Price, Mickey Rooney, Sally Fields, Sandra Dee, Bill Bixby, and Leonard Nimoy, amongst others. Logan’s Run: The Complete Series ran on TV for the 1977/1978 season and also comes out this week.

Finally, Dark Shadows: Fan Favorites pulls all the way back to the 1960s for its episodes. Dark Shadows ran for five years, but as a soap opera it ran every weekday during that time, so it had over a thousand episodes. Besides being the first TV series to focus on the emotional needs of Vampires, Werewolves, and Witches, it was also one of the few shows of its time to include time travel and alternate universes as regular plot devices in its ongoing story arc. Every one of those details is represented in this small collection.

In western animation, Marvel Knight’s Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous becomes available this week, the second release in the series.

The new release in Anime is Naruto Shippuden: DVD box set 10, which I am not going to bother to describe, on the theory that if you liked the series enough to watch the previous 9 box sets you probably already know the story thus far.

The other anime releases this week are consolidations or Blue Ray or just plain re-releases. Oh! Edo Rocket – Complete Series is a consolidation, previously available in a box set per season, now with both seasons in a single box. Infinite Stratos is a re-release, except it also includes the OVA Infinite Stratos Encore, a short sequel, together for the first time.

Geek and Sundry went live this week!

In fact, it went live this past Sunday, over at the Geek and Sundry Channel on YouTube as well as the Geek and Sundry home page. Felicity brought The Guild over for season 5 (plus the archives), and has launched a video blog. Wil will be hosting a gaming show with a lot of great guests and actual board games, playing his guests while interviewing them. Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt have brought their podcast into the video age and joined the team, and Paul and Storm bring their own brand of silliness to the mix. And that’s just the folks I was already following, there is more going on there you will want to check out.