“If a story begins by showing us a wizard, we understand immediately that we will see wizards and magic. If a story with no magic introduces a wizard with no hint that magic was coming, the audience rightly feels cheated.”
I literally could not have said this better myself. It’s a long article, but if the ending to BSG made you as angry as it made me, it’s worth reading.
”[…] These beloved pearls of modern-day culture have been painstakingly interpreted by a diverse team of hardcore nerds with their imaginations turned up to 11. Yes, this collection of mini-essays is by, for, and about geeks — but it’s just so surprisingly profound, the rest of us would have to be dorks not to read it. So say we all.”
Ughhhhh I want this so bad. Why is it only available as an eBook? :(
In today’s episode of Movie Trivia, Kate tests your knowledge of alien flicks. From Sigourney Weaver to Will Smith, how well do you know your UFO movies?
Just saw this movie last weekend and loved it. Definitely one of the best films I’ve seen this summer.
Too Much Time On Your Hands: I’m kind of over the whole infographic trend, but this analysis of Mega Shark’s air attack from Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus was too great to pass up. Click through for a high-res version.
“With his recent appearance on Doctor Who, Mark Sheppard cemented his place as science fiction’s greatest character actor. But we’ve been loving Sheppard for years…and we assembled this video of every last one of his scifi roles to prove his awesomeness.
This covers the greatest Sheppard moments, from his recent appearances on Warehouse 13 and Supernatural to his early work on and Star Trek: Voyager. It’s eighteen years worth of larger-than-life performances, snarky banter, and moral ambiguity, complete with at least a half-dozen different accents, multiple threats of bodily harm, and a couple of the most ridiculous face prosthetics we’ve ever seen.”
Who are Star Trek fans? They are not simply teenage boys who live in their mother’s basements as the stereotype goes. They are not the glimpses of costumed characters the media airs when the Trekkies come to town. They are a diverse and vibrant cultural entity. Star Trek fans are educated, with as many, if not more, female fans as male fans, and come to fandom from a broad spectrum of age and demographic. This phenomenon of fandom stems from the fan attraction to the meanings in the mythos of Star Trek. Myths are value-laden discourse that focus on the examination or explanation of the human condition, therefore Star Trek is indeed a powerful myth that has acted as the basis for the formation of the fandom culture. Star Trek represents modern/progressive myth, and as such it legitimizes fan participation in numerous activities. Myth explains the meaning which fans have assigned to both Star Trek and the archetype characters it has created. Star Trek acts as a secular myth for contemporary times by providing cultural symbols and meanings that serve as a model for the formation of a distinct culture.
So, I remember reading about LGBT and science fiction many moons ago, but I did not make the connection until re-reading it now.
Theodore Sturgeon wrote many stories during the Golden Age of Science Fiction that emphasised the importance of love, regardless of the current social norms. In his short story “The World Well Lost” (1953),[c] first published in Universe magazine, homosexual alien fugitives and unrequited (and taboo) human homosexual love are portrayed. The tagline for the Universe cover was “[His] most daring story”;[30] its sensitive treatment of homosexuality was unusual for science fiction published at that time, and it is now regarded as milestone in science fiction’s portrayal of homosexuality.[31] According to an anecdote related by Samuel R. Delany, when Sturgeon first submitted the story, the editor (John W. Campbell) not only rejected it but phoned every other editor he knew and urged them to reject it as well.[32][33] Sturgeon would later write Affair with a Green Monkey, which examined social stereotyping of homosexuals, and in 1960 published Venus Plus X, in which a single-gender society is depicted and the protagonist’s homophobia portrayed unfavourably.[22]
I went to his page and saw…
Sturgeon wrote the screenplays for the Star Trek episodes “Shore Leave” (1966) and “Amok Time” (1967, later published as a “Fotonovel” in 1978). The latter is known for his invention of the pon farr, the Vulcan mating ritual, the first use of the sentence “Live long and prosper” and the first use of the Vulcan hand symbol. Sturgeon also wrote several episodes of Star Trek that were never produced. One of these was notable for having first introduced the Prime Directive.
“BBC America will launch Doctor Who on Saturday, April 23 at 9 p.m ET. That’s Part One of a two-part opener penned by showrunner Steven Moffat (who also did the BBC’s Sherlock reboot — rent it if you’re a Holmes & Watson fan and haven’t seen it yet). This season also includes guest star Mark Sheppard (Supernatural, Battlestar Galactica). Alex Kingston (ER, Flash Forward) is returning for this round too.”
“Star Trek lives because there are a lot of people who respect good science fiction.”
Jump to 2:20 for Isaac Asimov’s thoughts on Star Trek, and to 3:50 for D.C. Fontana’s thoughts on how writing a show set in the future allowed her to comment on current events. Jump to 5:30 for Leonard Nimo—oh, just watch the whole bloody thing. It’s brilliant.
I worked long and hard to come to terms with the fact that I’m not a girly-girl, I don’t have any interest in haute couture and hair, high-heels make my feet hurt, and I’m terrified of shopping. My perfect weekend involves marathon watching reruns of Star Trek and Doctor Who. I like shoes, but only if they make me feel like an interplanetary explorer/Time Lord (it’s a tall order, I know). Those same activities that forever marked me a loser as a teenager are now things I can enjoy with unmitigated exuberance. As an adult, I finally feel comfortable in my skin, feel accepted for being the geek that I am, and thrilled that I can indulge in all my geek tendencies without fear of social repercussions. It’s a fantastic feeling, and I don’t want it to go away.
“Until advertisers, producers (of, say, The Big Bang Theory), and the larger society cease to assume that if you’re into sci-fi or videogames then you’re universally male; until the Big Two of American comics figure out that the way to get women to read comic books is not to pander to the demographic, but simply to make consistently good comics; until videogame makers finally figure out exactly why booth babes are flagrantly, shockingly sexist…the voice of the female geek needs to be heard.”
This is really cool! Syracuse University Professor Anthony Rotolo, who created the “Trek Class” is going to be guest blogging on StarTrek.com, sharing interesting insights from the classroom and inviting the internet to weigh in on class discussions. In his first blog post, he examines briefly how a situation seen in the hypothetical future portrayed by Star Trek is mirrored by the current Middle Eastern conflict.
“Much like residents of the episode’s “sanctuary districts” are kept from accessing “the Net” to tell their stories, students pointed to the government shutdown of the Internet in Egypt as an attempt at the same type of control. Discussions of global connectivity and Internet governance emerged, as well as an examination of the current debate over Net Neutrality (which I will share in greater detail in a future post).”
To sit in on the class via Twitter, follow @TrekClass or use the #TrekClass hashtag.
Rebecca. 24. Pittsburgh/NYC. Deputy Editor at Upworthy. Nerd. Feminist. Comedy fan. TV enthusiast. Ally. Hoping to make the world a better place by blogging in my pajamas.
I hope you find everything here
as entertaining as I do.
![Geek Wisdom by Stephen H. Segal | Quirk Books [via Reddit]
”[…] These beloved pearls of modern-day culture have been painstakingly interpreted by a diverse team of hardcore nerds with their imaginations turned up to 11. Yes, this collection of mini-essays is by, for, and about geeks — but it’s just so surprisingly profound, the rest of us would have to be dorks not to read it. So say we all.”
Ughhhhh I want this so bad. Why is it only available as an eBook? :(](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lptuz2lt0K1qbrzrzo1_250.jpg)
![Too Much Time On Your Hands: I’m kind of over the whole infographic trend, but this analysis of Mega Shark’s air attack from Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus was too great to pass up. Click through for a high-res version.
[Reddit]](http://i.imgur.com/SUOZo.jpg)
![The History of Science Fiction (click to enlarge)
[/r/scifi via brainpickings.org]](http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/wardshelley_scifi.jpg)
Rebecca. 24. Pittsburgh/NYC. Deputy Editor at 
