It’s essentially illegal. My latest column, about NASA in the movies and in real life, at USA Today.
Category Archives: Popular Culture
Why People Hate Hollywood “Liberals”
Movies like “Truth.”
When you’ve lost Vox…
Also, reminder. Mary Mapes, still stupid after all these years.
Fictional Characters’ Names
Here’s news you can use: You’re pronouncing them wrong.
I’ve never had a problem with Don Quixote, but shouldn’t “quixotic” be pronounced “Key-ah-tik”? Because Brit Hume said “quix-o-tic” the other day.
Journeys Through Time And Space
There’s a new, free downloadable anthology out. Looks potentially interesting.
Gary Gygax
Thoughts on his suggested reading list:
Ideological diversity in science fiction and fantasy was a given in the seventies. We are hopelessly homogenistic in comparison to them.
The program of political correctness of the past several decades has made even writers like Ray Bradbury and C. L. Moore all but unreadable to an entire generation. The conditioning is so strong, some people have almost physical reactions to the older stories now.
All part of the reason that I don’t read anywhere near as much SF as I did as a kid.
How Red Was My Hollywood
Yes, those on the blacklist really were communists, and were trying to subvert the culture. And yes, there was something wrong with that.
Now, of course, you’re blacklisted in Hollywood for opposing socialism.
More Thoughts On Mars
…from George RR Martin:
Mariner’s findings thrilled scientists around the world and gave us a detailed and accurate picture of the nature of the inner planets, but for the readers and writers of science fiction, the excitement was mingled with disillusionment and dismay. This was not the Mars we wanted. This was not the Venus of our dreams.
I never wrote that Mars story. Nor any stories on Venus, or Mercury, or any of the worlds of the “lost” solar system of my youth, the worlds that had provided the setting for so many wonderful tales during the 30s, 40s and 50s. In that I was not alone. After Mariner, our genre moved to the stars in a big way, searching for the colourful exotic settings and alien races that could no longer be found here “at home”.
I think that there’s still too much romanticism about the planet.
Hollywood And Mars
[Monday-afternoon update]
Even the film-makers had doubts:
“If you had told me two years ago when we were walking into Fox to pitch the approach and what this movie would be, if you told me I’d be on the phone talking about how this is a big spectacle movie, I would have been delighted,” he tells Esquire. “At the time, we knew it was going to be expensive, but we thought it would be more niche than Ridley made it.” Nope.
What made The Martian unique also made it a difficult sell. It was not an action movie. The film’s star would spend his time farming potatoes harvested from his co-astronaut’s feces. The Rock would not show up to blow away aliens halfway through the second act. Mind would prevail over muscle. And that’s not easy to write for the masses.
I hope it will break some of the stereotypes, and make it easier to make these kinds of films.
[Bumped]
Rose Of The Titanic
On Kate Winslet’s 40th birthday, it is pointed out that she was History’s Greatest Monster.
Space Pirates
Michael Listner explains in excruciating space-law detail why Mark Watney isn’t one.