Category: Sci-Fi

The Ender’s Game Controversy…

endersgame3If you’re the kind of person for whom science fiction is irrelevant, or if you’ve just been living under a rock for the past few months, it might come as a surprise that there are people who are looking to boycott the release of Ender’s Games. Granted, Card has been an opponent of gay marriage for some time, but its really only been with the release of the movie adapted from his 1984 novel that this has become an issue.

In response to the upcoming release, groups like Geeks OUT! have started the campaign called “Skip Ender’s Game”. Citing Card’s views, and his involvement with the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) – which supported the Defense Of Marriage Act – Geeks OUT and others like them are hoping to prevent Card from benefiting financially from the movie’s release.

enders_game_1Of particular concern is a statement made by Card in 1990 in an essay entitled “The Hypocrites of Homosexuality”:

Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society’s regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.

In 2009, he stated that homosexual individuals “suffer from tragic genetic mixups,” and that the term “homophobe” is used in order to imply that opponents of the “homosexual activist agenda” are mentally ill. Card stated in 2008 that “[t]here is no branch of government with the authority to redefine marriage.” On July 8, 2013, Card wrote in Entertainment Weekly that the gay marriage issue is “moot” due to the Supreme Court decision on DOMA, and that eventually, gay marriage would be legal in all fifty states

enders_game_2All of this has generated its fair share of controversy and has led to some degree of distancing and disavowal. For starters, Lionsgate Films – the studio responsible for the movie – announced that Card would not be taking part in the Ender’s Game film panel at San Diego Comic Con in July 2013 with the other principal cast and crewmembers of the film.

In addition, hoping to dampen the flames of controversy, Lionsgate released the following statement:

As proud longtime supporters of the LGBT community, champions of films ranging from GODS AND MONSTERS to THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER and a Company that is proud to have recognized same-sex unions and domestic partnerships within its employee benefits policies for many years, we obviously do not agree with the personal views of Orson Scott Card and those of the National Organization for Marriage.  However, they are completely irrelevant to a discussion of ENDER’S GAME.  The simple fact is that neither the underlying book nor the film itself reflect these views in any way, shape or form.  On the contrary, the film not only transports viewers to an entertaining and action-filled world, but it does so with positive and inspiring characters who ultimately deliver an ennobling and life-affirming message. Lionsgate will continue its longstanding commitment to the LGBT community by exploring new ways we can support LGBT causes and, as part of this ongoing process, will host a benefit premiere for ENDER’S GAME.

This is an argument that many have made, that since Card’s views on homosexuality don’t appear in the book itself, that it is not relevant to either it or the movie.

EndersGameAnd Card himself even made a statement in response to the proposed boycott, claiming the his story and his stances on gay marriage are two entirely separate issues:

Ender’s Game is set more than a century in the future and has nothing to do with political issues that did not exist when the book was written in 1984. With the recent Supreme Court ruling, the gay marriage issue becomes moot.  The Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution will, sooner or later, give legal force in every state to any marriage contract recognized by any other state. Now it will be interesting to see whether the victorious proponents of gay marriage will show tolerance toward those who disagreed with them when the issue was still in dispute.

Once again, Card has declared the issue open and shut and has asked for tolerance for his past stances. Personally, I can’t help but feel that the studio has missed the point entirely, and the Card himself is taking a rather hypocritical stance. Asking for tolerance for your opinions and beliefs are one thing, but he and his colleagues actively campaigned to deny equal rights to others.

enders_game5And though plenty of people have questioned whether or not a boycott is even likely to be effective, the issue seems to be snowballing. Not only is the studio taking notice, but Card’s own statements have only seemed to add fuel to the fire. And of course, a studio needs to reach beyond fans of the franchise and genre when doing adaptations, but given the way the controversy is growing, it’s not unreasonable to suspect they will have a hard time drawing people in.

And I admit to being heavily conflicted. While Card’s views were known to me before the movie was announced, his involvement with NOM and the many statements he’s made, not to mention his perception of the issue as being “moot” and over with, have led me to seriously reevaluate my opinion of the man. Like many sci-fi readers, I read and enjoyed Ender’s Game thoroughly. Had I know where the man stood at the time, would I have still bought it or enjoyed it nearly as much?

orson_scott_cardNot an easy question to answer, and it raises the uncomfortable specter of multiple, overlapping issues. Amongst them are censorship, free speech, hate speech, endorsing intolerance, and precedent. Personally, I think I’m going to skip the movie now. Too bad too, I was interested in seeing what they did with it. And as you can see, I can’t resist posting some of those stunning visuals! But on certain matters, I am just not flexible where intolerance is involved.

And given the way Card espoused tolerance and humanity in his classic book, even towards one’s enemy, I think it would be reasonable for him to reconsider his past involvements. After all, tolerance is about accepting the things you don’t approve of. If you expect people to extend that acceptance to you, you better be willing to show some yourself.

Sources: blastr.com, (2), IO9.c0m, skipendersgame.com

Futurama does 3D Printing!

benderIt’s a good day when a show like Futurama begins turning out new episodes. This past week’s featured a story where Bender began taking advantage of 3D printing to create a famous folk singer’s one-of-a-kind guitar. Naturally, things got out of control, and the story was chock full of social commentary and the concept that the printing revolution might actually be ushering an age where artificial replicas could infringe on the real thing.

For the life of me, I can’t find clips of this episode anywhere. Guess it’s too soon to expect anyone to upload it to Youtube, lazy piraters! But I found the next best thing: a time-lapse video of a Bender figurine being printed out on a Maker Bot. It’s set to the extended cut of Futurama’s theme, and the result is a pretty cool replica of the jive-talking, amoral alcoholic robot himself!

New Trailer: Elysium!

elysium_posterLast weekend, while the wife, our friend and I were all watching the new Star Trek movie, a number of trailers came on that made us antsy for other “coming attractions”! One of them was one I instantly recognized and began saying the title of long before they flashed it across the screen. Months back, when this movie was first announced, I posted the trailer here because it looked to have all the things I love in sci-fi story. And they have since come out with a longer, more detailed trailer which I share now…

Elysium tells the story of a dystopian future, set in 2154, where the wealthy and privileged live in an orbital colony that is peaceful, serene, idyllic, and sees to all their needs (and looks a lot like the station from Space Odyssey). Meanwhile, the remaining 99% of humanity live planetside, where pollution, environmental collapse and economic ruin have made Earth into a veritable hellhole.

elysium_stationEnter into this Max De Costa (played by a cueballed Matt Damon), a man who is near death who comes to learn of a secret that could topple the whole system and achieve a degree of social justice. In order to do this, he has to break into Elysium, a facility that is heavily guarded and run by Secretary Rhodes (Jodie Foster), and undergoes a radical surgery to get an exoskeleton and some powerful weaponry permanently attached.

Directed by Neil Blomkamp – the South-African director who brought us District 9 and provided visual effects for such shows as Star Gate: SG-1, Smallville and Dark Angel – this movie clearly boasts the same kind of gritty, realistic texture he has come to be known for. And after the 2008 Financial Crisis and the subsequent Occupy Movement, it’s message is pretty timely and likely to be well-received.

elysium-1As for me? You can keep your social commentary and comparisons to other movie franchises, I wanna see me some exoskeleton battles! Enjoy the trailer:

The Future is Here: The Electric Hover-Bike!

flyingbikeInventors Chris Malloy and Mark DeRoche turned quite a few heads back in 2012 when they displayed their hoverbike prototypes to the world. But, you know how it is with cool, new ideas. Its only a matter of time before  it catches on and others are coming up with their own versions of it. And that’s exactly what happened at Prague convention center this week, where a design firm unveiled their own concept of the hoverbike.

The design firms goes by the name of Design Your Dreams Flying Bike, an amalgamation of three Czech engineering firms who joined together to fulfill a shared childhood dream. Last June, the firm shared their design specs for the electric bike which would be capable of vertical takeoff and hover-flight. And less than a year later, their efforts have resulted in something functional, and very, very cool!

flyingbike_conceptGranted, the prototype isn’t quite as sleek and sophisticated as the original drawings themselves. But the project is still in the early phases, and already it has shown that the concept works. Using six horizontally mounted propellers, the 220-pound electric bike was able to lift itself into the air while an engineer on the ground controlled it with a handheld remote.

According to Milan Duchek of Design Your Dreams, the prototype will fly remotely with a dummy on the seat for now, but a version that can be piloted by a human will be ready this fall. In addition, the design team said that the final product should be as easy to maneuver as a regular bicycle, but will also have the ability to fly for between three and five minutes, using solely electric power. It will include “foolproof” stability control for takeoff and landing, and a fly-by-wire system that isn’t susceptible to outside interference.

speeder_bike1 Though the prototype bike looks like a homemade version of something out of Star Wars, the designers told the press that their inspiration came from two Czech works of science fiction: a series of books by Jaroslav Foglar about a boy with a flying bicycle, and a 1966 Karel Zeman film based on a Jules Verne novel.

Bad news though: even when the flying bike is complete, it won’t be available for commercial use. According to the engineers who built it, the purpose of the project was to bring a flying bike to fruition to see if the technology would work. Or as DYD engineer Ales Kobylik said:

Our main motivation in working on the project was neither profit nor commercial interest, but the fulfillment of our boyish dreams.

Hard to argue with that kind of logic. But for those who absolutely must own one, early indications put the cost of the prototype in the low five-figures – say, anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000. Make the team an offer, we’ll see what they have to say 😉 In the meantime, check out this video of the hoverbike performing a demonstration in Prague:


Sources: wired.com, (2)

 

Star Trek Into Darkness

StarTrekIntoDarknessIMAXposterPTParamountHello folks! This weekend, I finally managed to get my butt to the movie theater to catch a summer blockbuster. It was the first time in months, perhaps a year, that the wife and I caught a movie on the big screen. And as my geekiness demanded, the movie we caught was the second installment in the J.J. Abrams relaunch of the classic franchise: Star Trek Into Darkness. And while I am obliged to provide a review, I am also bound by the spoiler code, so what I am about to say shall be as vague as I can possibly make it.

As I’m sure you all know, the second act in any series is meant to be the dark one. And while it is hard to top an event like the loss of an entire planet – Vulcan getting obliterated in the first film – this movie really did revolve around a certain downturn in the series. In addition to their being the concept of the enemy within, there is also the prospect of impending war, of vengeance overpowering good reason, and people sacrificing who and what they are in the process.

StarTrekIntoDarknessNot only did all this call to mind some of the larger ethical concerns arising out of the “War on Terror” – such as vengeance vs. justice, preemptive violence, and being rulec by fear – there was an even a dedication at the end of the film to all veterans who have served since September 11th, 2001. Apparently, this was because the makers knew the movie would be released in 2013, when many soldiers overseas would be returning home.

And of course, the movie was also an homage to the second installment in the original series. As I was forewarned going in, though not in any detail, this movie pays tribute to The Wrath of Khan in many places. While this was to be expected – I too suspected as much from several early hints – it did get a little tedious at times. After awhile, it didn’t so much feel like a wink and a nod as much as a repetitious pattern.

Still, the pace of the film, the big reveals, and the way it all played into the original story arc, but again with changes due to the temporal shift that took place in the first movie, all made for a very exciting and awesome experience. A couple of times I looked over to my wife and whispered “I knew it!”, and I quietly screamed my applause at the end. She laughed, I explained things to her, it was all good!

So if you haven’t seen it yet, and consider yourself a Trekkie, geek, fan of action sci-fi, or all of the above, get on out and catch this movie before the summer is out!

Video Breakdown of Fahrenheit 451

fahrenheit_451Hello all, and welcome to another glorious Friday! I feel fortunate today, due largely to the fact that yet another person who is dedicated to media literacy, science fiction, books and issues has chosen to get in contact with me and asked to be featured on this site. It’s always good to hear from people and know that what you are doing is garnering attention. But when they ask permission to share their message in your forum, well that’s just the bee’s knees!

F451Apparently. it was my tribute to Ray Bradbury which got this particular gentleman’s attention, and for good reason too. Through a site known as Academic Earth, where one can create and post educational videos on a variety of subject, Mr. Jack Collins created a video breakdown of Fahrenheit 451 that was both educational and insightful. In his brief but poignant segment, he takes a look at the major plot points, themes and motifs of Bradbury’s enduring classic.

To quote from his description of the video:

Ray Bradbury wrote his dystopian classic Fahrenheit 451 at the height of McCarthyism and Cold War paranoia. In the novel, Guy Montag is employed as a fireman who burns books. The whole of American society has descended into a zombie-like stupor of instant gratification, and books are seen as challenging and disruptive relics, which must be destroyed at any cost.

Today, with the increasing proliferation of surveillance equipment in American cities, the spread of digital books and the decline of attention spans the world over, Fahrenheit 451 remains a startlingly relevant work of fiction today. Watch this video and be instantly gratified (irony alert) with your knowledge of Bradbury’s most famous novel.

Trust me when I say it’s a fine educational short, one which I would definitely use if and when I got the chance to teach this novel. And after watching it, I couldn’t help but reflect upon a certain irony. More and more today, educators find themselves taking advantage of new media and video breakdowns in order to help students make sense of complex subject matter and lengthy texts. A few decades ago, they would simply be expected to read it, internalize it, and report on what they read.

One could easily argue that all this sort of trend really is a part of our society’s growing preoccupation with sound bites and easy accessibility. But then again, in our quest to maintain attention spans and promote thoughtfulness, we’d be fools to not take advantage of the very technology that is making it quicker and easier for people to do the opposite in the first place.

Enjoy the video! As you can tell, it got me thinking, and that’s not always the easiest thing for someone else to do 😉 Check out the video by following the link below, and be sure to comment!

academicearth.org/electives/tldr-fahrenheit-451/

Barely Political’s Star Trek Parody

Star-Trek-universeHere we have the hilarious satire group that produces musical parodies under the name “The Key of Awesome”, back for more with a parody of Star Trek. Most likely made in honor of the honor of the successful relaunch of the franchise, here we see Spock and a lady Vulcan subordinate come together for Pon Farr. And of course, its all done to the tune of a particular slow jam, with hilarious results!

I have yet to see Into Darkness, but I’m lobbying hard to accomplish this that weekend. How can I be expected to do reviews and keep up with the latest in pop culture and science fiction if I don’t occasionally get out to see a vastly overpriced relaunch??? Enjoy the video:

More Terminator 5 News!

terminator1Despite rumors that T5 was stuck in a development phase known as “development hell”, Mr. Terminator himself recently came forward to offer an update which set the record straight put fans of the franchise in a much better mood. In a recent interview with Metro magazine, Arnold Schwarzenegger claimed that the movie was on track and that they are busy writing the script for it as we speak.

In addition, he claimed that other projects which will be involving him in the next few months were green lighted and getting the go-ahead. This included the much-anticipated T5, as well as some other sequel/relaunches:

We’re writing it now. There are three projects being written that involve me. One is Terminator 5, the other is a Conan movie that Universal is doing and there’s the sequel to Twins, which is called Triplets. We’ll all look quite different in that. The third triplet is Eddie Murphy, so figure that one out.

Really? Still doing the Conan relaunch, huh? And Twins too? Wow, these are a few candidates for download! I can see the Conan relaunch making sense, given how poorly the last relaunch did. But isn’t there a statute of limitations on how many times you can relaunch a series? Or did I just make that up?

terminator2In any case, no indications have been given yet as to what role Arnie himself will be playing. No doubt that is a detail which the studio will keep closely guarded until they finish hammering out the script, or figure it out for themselves! But we can safely assume that he was referring to Patrick Lussier and Laeta Kalogridis when he referred to the writers.

One thing is clear. Whatever they make couldn’t be much worse than the last two Terminator movies. Let’s just hope they ditch the continuity thing and go back to their roots on this one. That’s what Superman Returns did and I can’t recommend it enough. Though not everyone liked that relaunch, it did present a good idea for franchises that were tired and washed up: Make a movie that picks up where the last good one left off and pretend like the abortive sequels never happened.

And while they’re at it, do you think could Hollywood should relaunch Predator and Alien, preferably to a point before AVP was spawned? There’s a concept that has huge potential, but for some reason can’t seem to express it on the silver screen!

avp-alien-pov1Source: IO9.com

Dredd 2.0: A Fan-Made Sequel

judge_mintyIt really says something about the world we live in, specifically about the democratic nature of media and technology, when fans can step up and make the movies that conventional studios fail to produce. That’s what happened with this 27 minute short known as Judge Minty, the fan-made sequel to last year’s Dredd relaunch. Despite its poor performance at the box office, the remake of the comic book classic garnered some positive reviews and attracted a fan following.

dredd_10And this sequel is already on its way, following the trail blazed by the first. Based on the minor character from the 2000AD comic series, this fan film tells the story of an aging Judge forced to face his own weakness. After being injured on the job, he is forced to take the long walk into the Cursed Earth and finish his days as all Judges do, bringing law to the land of the lawless.

Though it is only 27 minutes short, the makers managed to pack a hell of a lot of action into that space of time. And for a fan film, the production values are quite high. Granted, it doesn’t quite capture the same dirty, gritty feel that the first did so successfully. But then again, we’re talking about a fan-made film. You gotta take what you can get!

And clearly, the people at 2000AD think it’s great because they signed off on it. And the makers are even planning some screenings at a few fan cons. Sure, we may not be able to look forward to an official sequel, but this sure as hell beats having to watch the Sylvester Stallone adaptation! Enjoy…


Source: Blastr.com

 

 

 

 

The Phosforce: A Real-Life Lightsaber?

phosforceSure, it may not be able to cut your hand off or deflect blaster shots, but this invention has geeks and engineers all experience a collective fangasm! In honor of Star Wars Day this year, the company known as Wicked Lasers debuted the Phosphorce, a laser-turned flashlight with the power to both illuminate and incinerate. Now tell me that doesn’t get your adrenaline pumping and make you wonder if it comes in designer shades and in both the single and double-bladed form!

As the video below shows, the Phosphorce is the company’s most powerful handheld laser married to a special lens. Attached, the lens turns the laser into a flashlight that produces some 500 lumens of power, making it the most powerful light on the market. Once removed, the device is back to being its usual, single-watt Spyder 3 Arctic laser, which is capable of projecting a beam up to a distance of 10km and incinerating at close range – just balloons, in case you were worried.

phosforce1And if case that’s not enough, the company also designs handles like the SABER, an attachment that turns their Arctic or Krypton lasers handhelds into the most stunning approximation of a lightsaber available. Already, BMW is in talks with Wicked Lasers to use the technology to fashion laser headlamps for their cars. The laser goes for a hefty $299.95, while the lens is available for a comparatively modest $79.85.

Yeah, not the cheapest lightsaber replica on the market, but at least it comes in Arctic blue. Tell me that doesn’t bring the Jedi’s weapon to mind! And be sure to check out the video, it is sure to pop your eyes!