Haldeman on Syriana
Joe Haldeman on Syriana: “I saw it as a kind of modern interpretation of the James Bond film… I don’t think the viewer is supposed to totally understand it, either; you sort of absorb it.”
Red Prophet now a Graphic Novel
Orson Scott Card’s alternate history of the American frontier, Red Prophet, is soon a graphic novel (preview at Newsarama): “We felt that a book set in history like Red Prophet should have a ‘Great Illustrated Classics’ kind of feel to it.”
Ninjas vs. Pirates
It’s an idea whose time has come: Ninjas vs. Pirates! Sounds homebrew too: “Almost all scenes in NVP were shot in front of 9 sheets of 30-cent green posterboard in a 12’x13′ apartment living room, lit with $12 Wal-Mart halogen work lights.”
Japan’s first nude superheroine
I first became aware of the Japanese cult-sleaze-comedy phenomenon known as “Kekko Kamen” (1991 aka Kekko Mask) while looking through a grey market video dealers catalogue — you know, one of those photocopied “hard-to-find movies from many lands” tracts that were the only way to find a lot […]
Getting Riel with Chester Brown
When I visited him in 2003, he was living in a posh, modern mid-rise, its lobby ablaze in polished surfaces that gleamed like gold teeth. A waxed baby grand languished near the concierge’s desk. His apartment on the 10th floor seemed an affront to the cool gloss below: […]
His Dark Ending
I call it a bait and switch. The first book in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, The Golden Compass, was an adventure fantasy that was fast-paced and written in an incredibly smooth style. Intrigue, danger, children in peril, armoured polar bears, witch clans at war with each […]
The Cultural Gutter 