Tag Archives: Science fiction
A Belated Farewell to Battlestar: Religion, Clarity, and War
To this point, I’ve avoided writing on the series finale of Battlestar: Galactica – partially because it’s not really over yet, and partially because the subject has been done better by others. Curse you Salon! But I’d like to revisit it, oh these four months later, however briefly. Recall that the original Battlestar series was […]
Who Speaks for Science? Salon’s Critique of Science in Popular Culture Goes Too Far
Here and elsewhere, progressive commentators have noted the downfall of America’s respect for science — all the more troubling because of the central role scientific leadership played in establishing and maintaining American hegemony throughout the twentieth century. In blaming popular culture in general, however, rather than a few bad apples, Salon, and the authors of […]
Updates on Conservapedia, Futurama, and Lost
Conservapedia: Andy Schlafly WILL seek state funding to provide Supplemental Education Services, and plans to submit his application today. I have an e-mail in to the New Jersey Department of Education asking where to send my list of “recommended reading” on Schlafly. I’ll update when (if) I hear back. Futurama: one of my favorite shows, […]
Is ABC’s “Lost” Becoming a Conduit for Pseudoscience and Proselytization?
Fantasy and science fiction are all well and good as art forms: as I’ve argued previously, the distance from reality both genres create allows for a certain objective analysis, permitting renewed and unencumbered evaluation of our world and all of its peculiarities. In this model, “magic,” advanced technology, etc., are all literary devices for creating […]
Moar Sci-Fi: Bring Back Star Trek!
Afternoon posts return with serious content tomorrow. To celebrate V-Confluence day, though, an impassioned plea to Paramount Pictures. When Battlestar Galactica goes off the air this spring (its last half-season debuts on Friday), a strange thing will come to pass: setting aside the niche-appeal new Stargate franchise, for the first time in nearly a decade, […]
Future History: Why Humanity is Ahead of the Curve
For much of humanity, 2008 was a rough year: war continued apace; terrorism remained a threat, with the world’s largest democracy witnessing a full-scale invasion; and the global financial market disintegrated overnight. When future generations look back on our lives, in global terms at least, 2008 may well be something of a write-off, the dusk […]
Understanding Art & Culture: You’re Doing it Wrong
“Human Events,” the internet’s intellectual toxic waste dump, has a blistering critique of Heath Ledger et al‘s The Dark Knight. Mindless violence, they say, and there they stop, refusing to even credit, as unredemptive, the movie’s (successful) attempt to convey a message about the nature of good, evil, and how the former ought to fight […]
Breathaking Work of Staggering Genius
Congratulations to Joss Wheedon for producing “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog,” an internet video that combines five of my favorite things: blogs, musicals, supervillains, Neil Patrick Harris, and ex-Firefly actors. Watch the blog here, read about it here, and buy the video on iTunes: don’t just mooch on Hulu, Joss needs to know he’s done good.
Foray into the Fundamentalist Blogs: Cruciform Molecules Prove Creationism!
Or, “Fundamentalist Christian Bloggers Read Too Much Dan Simmons.” According to Jason of “The Real Jesusland,” a protein in the human body, bearing a shape reminiscent of the cruciform, proves that the Christian God is the one true God, and that He “intelligently designed” the human body to bear witness to Him with its… molecules. […]
The Dark Knight, the War on Terror, and Science Fiction’s Moral Authority
Apparently I’m not the first one to notice the forceful allegory to the war on terror underlying Christian Bale & Heath Ledger’s The Dark Knight. While I’m sad that someone beat me to it, the New York Times’ cursory and shallow treatment gives me the chance to play Leibniz to their Newton, a chance other […]
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