This site is updated Thursday at noon with a new article about an artistic pursuit generally considered to be beneath consideration. James Schellenberg probes science-fiction, Carol Borden draws out the best in comics, Chris Szego dallies with romance, and Ian Driscoll stares deeply into the screen.

While the writers have considerable enthusiasm for their subjects, they don't let it numb their critical faculties. Tossing away the shield of journalistic objectivity and refusing the shovel of fannish boosterism, they write in the hopes of starting honest and intelligent discussions about these oft-enjoyed but rarely examined artforms. Click here for the writer's bios and their individual takes on the gutter.

Red Eye

15 hours on the road and I was my own red-eye on I-94's corridor of stripclubs, fireworks and roadkill, racing past dead deer in Michigan, then Gary, Indiana's steel mills and through Chicagoland, the Sears Tower in the distance waiting for its evil eye, till the highway gave out in Wisconsin. Yes, I went to WisCon 32, the world's oldest feminist science fiction convention. And there I felt deeper fatigue than 15 hours, 2 countries, 4 states and 2 time zones. Zombie fatigue.

Continue reading...

Prince of War

Prince Caspian, a lesser-known entry in the Narnia series, is a book with not much substance. The recent movie actually streamlines the story, eliminating flashbacks and so forth. What fills the running time back up? Why, war of course. Continue reading...

Peanut Butter and Jayne

No matter the genre or subject, every reader has her Absolute Favourite writers.  The ones whose books she’ll charge the stores to get, and drop everything to read.  Diving into those books is a particularly edifying treat, a gourmet of literary delight.  But there’s more than one kind of favourite. Sometimes a reader wants plain and simple -- sometimes the hankering for peanut butter wins out over a new gustatory adventure.  Occasionally, you just want something comforting, familiar, and, though it may not be the fanciest item to ever hit the palate, a taste you know you’ll like.
   
That’s pretty much how I feel about Jayne Ann Krentz.

Continue reading...

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Pitch in yours.

Tony Jaa's been bit by the mixed martial arts bug and Twitch has the proof. Plus a fight on elephants. (via Kung Fu Fridays).

~"Autism:  Blessing or Curse?" the trailer for Prachya Pinkaew's Chocolate asks. Instead of being a mathematical prodigy or cattle- whisperer,  Jeeja Vismistananda stars as an autistic woman who's learned "every fighting move recorded."  ~Everybody loves a supervillain. Especially a low-end one. Especially me. Here's a teaser for Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. And here's the crosspromotional Captain Hammer comic. ~It's a reprinted letters page from the Golden Age magazine, Planet Comics.(And more Futura scans).  ~Predictably enough, you get to see The Hulk smash. But he also pets a kitten. Recreates the Pieta. Feeds a deer. Is afraid of a bug. Whitewashes a fence. And does much, much, more - all for charity - at the 100 Hulks Charity Auction Gallery. Also, Part II. Also, Part III.~
View all Notes here.
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