Congrats to 365 Days of Astronomy for taking home a Parsec Award, handed out for excellence in science fiction podcasts (see their award here). If it seems a bit strange that an astronomy podcast won this award, don’t panic (and keep your towel handy), because it was for the category Best “Infotainment” Cast, things that entertain as they educate. As part of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy project, 365 Days certainly does that. If you or your kids have an interest in astronomy, be sure to look into the Galileoscope, a low-cost replica of Galileo’s original telescope that you can build and use for your own. There were a lot of other winners, including PseudoPod for Best Speculative Fiction Magazine or Anthology Podcast, the ScapeCast for Best Speculative Fiction Fan Podcast, Stranger Things for Best Speculative Fiction Video Podcast, Cool Shite on the Tube for Best Speculative Fiction News Podcast, and The FuMP for Best Speculative Fiction Music Podcast. There are a lot of other categories, you can catch the latest roundup of them at Wander Radio, or download the full report here. And then there are the Masquerade Winners for 2009, another group you should be familiar with. And my favorite author post from DragonCon came here by way of Suvudu, with the correct attitude!
The first full day of Dragon*Con has ended, not because people have gone to bed for the night, but because we crossed the line into Saturday in its time zone. The best real-time reporting I have found so far is the aggregate at the Dragon Con Twitter filter; it’s 2:30AM here (and there), and in the time it took me to type this 58 new Tweets have arrived. Most of the Dragon Con tweets come with links to some wonderful pictures like this one of strange Cosplay, or the Doctor Horrible cast, perhaps performing live like they did last year? One of the tweeters contributing is Fancy Fembot, and the latest episode of her podcast, SciFi Party Line #31 just went live yesterday. A ton of other podcasters are there, like Escape Pod, and a ton of authors, including Scott Sigler, bringing his Rookie Tailgate Tour to the Con.
Since I can’t be there this year, my plan was to hit the movies It Might Get Loud and Gamer tonight. It didn’t quite work out that way; I managed It Might Get Loud, which is undeniably the best rockumentary of the last few decades (longer if you are a guitar player). The scene where Jimmy Page picked up a guitar and started belting out Whole Lotta Love, U2’s guitar guru The Edge jumped up, electrified, riveted, and all but foaming at the mouth, and White Stripe’s Jack White also jumped up, staring at Jimmy’s hands like he was memorizing the secrets of the Universe, was worth every penny of the ticket price. The other hundred minutes of the film were just bonus, glimpses of history, genius, style, attitude, and everything that goes into creating people that much larger than life. Just because that wasn’t good enough to make up an entire movie (or for whatever reason they like; I enjoyed it to much to care), the three of them kept jamming together on songs they each had written. The film started with Jack White building a guitar from some spare lumber, a coke bottle, and some wire he had hanging around; when it ended, they went out jamming on the Dylan/Band classic The Weight. How perfect is that? To see when it plays by you, check the release dates. I also saw Cold Hearts tonight, and plan to see Gamer tomorrow night; but those reviews can wait until the next Blog entry.
This week saw a few important birthdays in the evolution of Nerd and Geek culture which I thought I should mention. To start, on the 1st of September, 1902, the very first science fiction movie ever made was released: La voyage dans la Lune. I find it fitting that it was based on two stories about human space travel, one written by Jules Verne and the other by H. G. Wells. After all, between them they invented modern science fiction as a written art form, so it is appropriate they would inspire the first movie (and ironic that Wells would also become the movie critic for a British newspaper who panned Metropolis in 1925). One day after the birthday of Sci-Fi films was the birthday of the Internet; on September 2nd, 1969, two computers in two different locations exchanged packets over some twisted-pair copper. So Happy Birthday, all of us Nerds and Geeks! I think I’ll celebrate by voting for the Scream Awards nominees I like best, and then going to see It Might Get Loud, and follow that up with Gamer. Sounds like a party!
The second season of True Blood, and the show has gotten downright intense! There are only two episodes left, and I don’t know how they can crank it up any harder. If you have missed it, no problem; the entire season is available through Video On Demand or download-able from ITunes. If you are a fan of J-Rock, one of the best sources I have found is Japanator Radio. The podcast has over 100 episodes so far, and covers a range of artists including High and Mighty Color and Base Ball Bear; the site also runs concert reviews and covers all things Otaku (anime, gaming, cosplay, etc.). Another good J-Rock site (leaning a little heavier on the Rock is ZB’s A to Z of JMusic.
Word from SciFi Scoop is that the live-action movie Blood, The Last Vampire will be out on DVD in the US on October 20th. Considering how few theaters had the movie, this is great news for all the Anime fans who missed seeing it on the big screen. On the small screen (although nowhere near as small as it was a decade or so ago), two Tales of Television this week. Scott at Wired reminds us all why we need to fight Friday night Death Slot programing decisions and save some quality SciFi, while io9 talks about the Television that Ate Our Brains and shaped our lives. I loved District 9, which for me worked seamlessly on all levels. That may be why I had forgotten how riveting the music was; it was integrated to the experience, but sounds just as intense standing on its own.