Sunday, September 13, 2015

Byzantium

Yet another Netflix movie that you might not have heard of or seen. A refreshing break from the standard "vampire" fare that Hollywood has been regurgitating lately. It completely throws out the standard cliched storyline and replaces it with a much more unique script. Not to mention the excellent acting by the likes of Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan, two woman on the run through the ages who are just trying to get by. This is yet another "non-Hollywood" movie that just proves that Hollywood is in a rut, as films outside of Hollywood are consistently creating interesting/unique stories to tell. 
All in all another good flick worth checking out on a boring afternoon/evening.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Time Lapse

Time Lapse - (currently playing on Netflix)


Finally, a pretty decent Sci-fi movie with a nice little twist at the end. The premise of the film is that a camera spits out a future photograph of the living room in its line of sight, every 24 hours. The 3 people living in the apartment where the camera is directed find out about it and from there on in things begin to spiral wildly out of control.

This film was interesting in a similar way that "Primer" was interesting with time travel, in that it is done in an unique way not seen a hundred times before. In this, the future ends up dictating the present and making present events happen to correspond with the what the picture from the future shows.

Fair warning this is more of a drama-mystery-suspense than sci-fi. The only sci-fi element was the camera. Reminded me somewhat of an old Twilight Zone episode in that respect. That and the story seemed strangely familiar as well. As with pretty much all time travel films, there are plot holes. All in all... a good flick and definitely worth checking out on a boring afternoon/evening.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

OMNI Magazine


A while back I pointed out some interesting magazines that were available over at archive.com in this post. It seems that they still have the OMNI collection up.

From Wikipedia: OMNI was a science and science fiction magazine published in the US and the UK. It contained articles on science fact and short works of science fiction. The first issue was published in October 1978, the last in Winter 1995, with an internet version lasting until 1998.

OMNI was launched by Kathy Keeton, long-time companion and later wife of Penthouse magazine publisher Bob Guccione, who described the magazine in its first issue as "an original if not controversial mixture of science fact, fiction, fantasy and the paranormal". Before launch it was referred to as Nova, but the name was changed before the first issue to avoid a conflict with the PBS science show of the same name, NOVA.

 The magazine was initially edited by Frank Kendig, who left several months after the magazine's launch. Ben Bova, who was hired as Fiction Editor, was promoted to Editor, leaving the magazine in 1981. After Kendig and Bova, Editors of OMNI included Richard Teresi, Gurney Williams III, Patrice Adcroft, Keith Ferrell, and Pamela Weintraub (editor of OMNI as one of the first major standalone webzines from 1996-1998). Kathleen Stein managed the magazine's prestigious Q&A interviews with the top scientists of the 20th century through 1998. Ellen Datlow was Associate fiction editor of OMNI under Robert Sheckley for one and a half years, and took over as Fiction Editor in 1981 until the magazine folded in 1998. The very first edition had an exclusive interview with renowned physicist, Freeman Dyson, the second edition with American writer and futurist, Alvin Toffler.

 In its early run, OMNI published a number of stories that have become genre classics, such as Orson Scott Card's "Unaccompanied Sonata", William Gibson's "Burning Chrome" and "Johnny Mnemonic", Harlan Ellison's novella "Mefisto in Onyx", and George R. R. Martin's "Sandkings". The magazine also published original sf/f by William S. Burroughs, Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Carroll, T. Coraghessan Boyle, and other mainstream writers. The magazine excerpted Stephen King's novel Firestarter, and featured a short story, "The End of the Whole Mess". OMNI also brought the works of numerous painters to the attention of a large audience, such as H. R. Giger, De Es Schwertberger and RallĂ©. In the early 1980s, popular fiction stories from OMNI were reprinted in "The Best of OMNI Science Fiction" series and featured art by space artists like Robert McCall. 

OMNI entered the market at the start of a wave of new science magazines aimed at educated but otherwise "non-professional" readers. Science Digest and Science News already served the high-school market, and Scientific American and New Scientist the professional, while OMNI was arguably the first aimed at "armchair scientists" who were nevertheless well informed about technical issues. The next year, however, Time introduced Discover while the AAAS introduced Science '80.

 Advertising dollars were spread among the different magazines, and those without deep pockets soon folded in the early 1980s, notably Science Digest, while Science '80 merged with Discover. OMNI appeared to weather this storm better than most, likely due to its wider selection of contents.

 International editions of OMNI magazine were published in at least five markets. The content in the British editions closely followed the North American editions, but with a different numbering sequence and British advertising. At least one British edition was entirely unique and was shipped under the banner of "Omni UK". The Italian edition was edited by Albert Peruzzo and ran for 20 issues from 1981 to 1983. The Japanese edition ran from at least 1982 to 1989. German and Spanish editions were also published.

Monday, September 7, 2015

Star Wars: An Interactive Galactic Experience

In a galaxy far, far away
Since I'm both a fan of maps and Star Wars, I was excited when I found this site. An interactive galactic map that allows you to experience a certain 'galaxy  far, far away', planet by planet. Now why wasn't this around back when I was playing Traveler.



Sunday, September 6, 2015

Superhero Film Alphabet

Been a while since I posted the Sci-Fi Movie Alphabet poster, so I decided it might be time to share this, for those folks who haven't seen it yet.




For those folks who might not have seen all of these here are the answers;
a-Amazing Spider-Man b- Batman c- Captain America d- Daredevil e- Elektra f- Fantastic Four g- Green Lantern h- Hellboy i- Iron Man j- Jonah Hex k- Kick Ass l- League of Extraordinary Gentlemen m- Meteor Man n- Nick Fury o- Orgazmo p- Punisher q- Quicksilver r- Robocop s- Superman t- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles u- Unbreakable v- Venom w- Watchmen x- Professor X y- Yellowjacket z- Zoom

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Regional Alignments in Greyhawk

Since I've already done the regional trade resources map in Greyhawk, a regional alignment map only seems like a logical extension to that. Here it is;

Greyhawk Regional Alignment

Yvonne Craig (RIP)

Original Batgirl TV Star Yvonne Craig Passes Away At 78 

Comic book fans around the world mourn the loss of the 1960s Batman television series’ Batgirl, Yvonne Craig. Her sassy and independent portrayal of Batgirl would shape the character for decades to come (in both animated TV shows and comic books alike). Yvonne Craig had the distinct honor of being the first actress to ever portray a live action version of the Batgirl. However, this week on Monday her battle with cancer took her life quietly; she was 78 years old, at the time of her death. The 1966 Batman television series is the thing of campy cult legend. When Yvonne Craig joined the show it was beginning its third and final season on ABC. The production values and budget were being slashed drastically and the producers felt that they needed to inject something new into the series to make it more interesting. Craig’s portrayal of mild mannered librarian and daughter of the police commissioner Barbara Gordon by day and the strong and independent Batgirl by night would go on to make a huge impact on the fans and help to solidify the character of Batgirl, who had only debuted in the comic books six years prior. Her experience as a ballet dancer helped Yvonne Craig to do her own stunts both in fight scenes and on her motorcycle on the Batman TV show. Batgirl emerged on television at a time when the women’s lib movement was strong. Her character reflected the national mindset and her secret identity was never revealed to Batman and Robin. Batgirl always stood on her own two feet with her own costumes, gadgets and gear. Her final appearance as Batgirl came in 1973 when she was commissioned to do a public service announcement for the Federal Equal Pay Law.

Craig is also known by fans of the classic Star Trek series as the Orion Marta from the episode “Whom Gods Destroy”. Her Marta character is a green, and slightly unstable, Orion slave girl that accompanies Garth of Izar, a shapeshifting baddie that eventually kills her character. Yvonne also found her way into several other iconic series, such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E., McHale’s Navy, My Three Sons and The Wild Wild West. It was her role in Batman, however, that made her a feminist icon and would prolong her fame until the time of her passing.

A statement from Yvonne’s family has been posted on her official website:
Yvonne was a very private person, so from the onset of her battle with cancer, she decided to share with immediate family and very close friends. She wanted to spend all of her energy concentrating on winning her battle. She was adamant about this and wanted to tell her story when she was cured and feeling better. We all respected that wish. 
The statement goes on to say:
Fight as she did; however, over the past two plus years, she still lost her battle with metastasized breast cancer that had gone to her liver. Her operation right before Christmas, removed portions of her liver and some tumors as well as her gallbladder (not infected but in the way) and honestly she never totally recovered from that and more malignancies showed up again much to our dismay. She had been in chemo almost continuously for the past two plus years since being diagnosed and that had weakened her immune system as well as her body. This didn’t dampen her sense of humor or her spirit, she intended to fight and win this battle. In the end, her mind still wanted to fight but her body had given up. Please celebrate Yvonne in your own way and the work she has left behind for you to continue to remember her by and enjoy. 
The world has lost a legendary star of the small screen. The fan community has lost one of the kindest and most passionate actors to ever portray a comic book character. A great number of fans have had the pleasure of meeting Yvonne Craig on the convention circuit over the past few decades. (Yvonne felt so connected to her character that she even complained to DC Comics when the Joker paralyzed Barbara Gordon in “The Killing Joke”. ) Thank you Yvonne for your contribution to the fandom. Our deepest condolences to Yvonne’s family and friends. You can read her official obituary on her website.

R.I.P. Yvonne Joyce Craig: May 16th, 1937 – August 17th, 2015