When two worlds collide...

When my geeky interests and my writing life collide, I feel obligated to post about it here.

I have a couple of poems in a new anthology called The Beastly Bride, which includes work by Peter S. Beagle and Jane Yolen, among many talented writers, and I was interviewed about my work in the book here. Click here for more discussion of the book, including some cool imagery of the Fairy Melusine and The Fox-Wife.

In TV News...
Anyone else excited about the return of Futurama, despite lackluster movies? How about the pickup of Season 4 of Chuck, or the killing of Heroes?

Heroes, Lost...Andy Richter

So, Bryan Fuller is back at Heroes, and it shows. The newest episode, "Cold Snap," had his trademark whimsical visual details as well as above-average (at least for Heroes) dialogue. A terrific ending for a terrible character (Tracy, not Daphne.) Loved the bits with Angela!

Lost has gone downhill ever since Sawyer got together with Juliet. Blech and double-blech! And the show's depiction of Sayid was disappointing - I was really hoping they were moving him towards a redemptive end.

Andy Richter Controls the Universe is not, technically, a sci-fi show...but it does have technical writers! And likable managers of technical writers, much like me in a previous corporate career. At least I hope I was likable. And one of the guys who worked for me did look a lot like Andy Richter...
Anyway, it's out on DVD - do yourself a favor and buy it. No, they're not paying me to say this.

Dollhouse's "game-changing" episode was all right - but still left me feeling a little "meh." Plus, I could see all the "suprises" coming from a mile away. Notice though, I still haven't stopped watching...

Reasons to Watch Heroes

An amusing and compelling list of reasons to start watching Heroes again on Television without Pity. My favorite reason was "They just generally suck less." Right on!

New Heroes, Chuck in 3D

So, what did you all think of the new episodes of Heroes and Chuck Monday night?

I think the reset on Heroes is pretty interesting (although I was disappointed that HRG was once again playing on team evil) and hope it continues in an interesting vein, albeit one completely stolen from the X-Men plotlines archive. It definitely looks like we're heading towards the alternate future that was first featured, where the Heroes are hunted criminals.

Chuck 3-D was too bad, since NBC didn't do enough to distribute the 3-D glasses, but a good-enough episode.

Along with Lost, I'm glad these shows are back. I've been down with a broken foot, and good television is very important for healing! In other good news, Reaper is coming back a little bit earlier, around the beginning of March!

I'm finally going to watch a little Battlestar Galactica on DVD, too, though I have flashbacks to the seventies version that I tried to avoid as a tiny tot...

"Our Father" - Heroes Review

I want to like Heroes. I really do. In last night's episode, I loved how Claire and Hiro interacted to each other and to the scene from their childhoods. I loved Claire's sunny impression of a babysitter for her parents, Hiro's touching scenes with his dying mother.
And then the writers completely spoiled those wonderful previous scenes by having Arthur Petrelli appear in the past (who, as far as we know, has never shown time or space travel capabilities - or the ability to know where mutants (sorry, Heroes) are in space and time.) What the hell? It was like - well, we have no reason to believe Daddy Petrelli can do any of the things he just did to get here, but why do we care? We're the writers! Uck. Then poor Hiro gets defeated a second time by Arthur, just when his character was finally allowed to have some gravity again. Where's the love for Hiro's character, I ask?
And what's with the stealing of Buffy Season 4's "Initiative" plot line? Lame.
And you just know Sylar and Peter didn't really kill that Arthur character. Sure, they burn Elle, but they just leave Arthur on the floor like he didn't come back from a coma just a month ago?
In other words, writers of Heroes, really? Really?

New season of Heroes

So, what do you think of the new season of Heroes? Better than season 2, but sort of a mashup-rewind of Season 1? What do you think of the new "Dark Willow" Claire-o-the-future? Bad ass cool, or just insane? Is Peter as annoying as ever? Did you not love Sylar's "You drink decaf, right Noah?" Hee! I think they must have finally hired a writer with a sense of humor over there, because I've laughed out loud during the last two episodes, and if I complained about anything during Heroes season 1, it was because it lacked humor.

So, what else are you watching this season? Doesn't the apocalyptic tone of Heroes seem a little too apropos these days? How about season 2 of Chuck?

Witchblade News, Heroes finale

Hey all! Sorry for the long haitus, for which I have very little excuse, except I moved, came down with a bad case of bronchitis, and have since been hiding out in the new rental house.

But this news item, if not the lackluster "season finale" of Heroes, shook me awake:
TNT's Witchblade series, inspired by Top Cow's comic of the same name, is heading to DVD release, finally! This series, especially the first season, was unbelievably exciting - lots of interesting, high-budget special effects, and strong acting (if not from lead Yancy Butler) fr0m a lot of minor characters.
Here's more, but not much more, on this release: http://www.TVShowsOnDVD.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=8771

So, Heroes - Nathan getting shot was supposed to be a big surprise, but seemed sort of inevitable - Peter saves the world from the release of the virus (in older scripts, he did not) and bad old Kensai gets buried alive, a la Alias. This second season just didn't have the juice, the "wow" factor, or the first season, and I hope when it comes back it will be with renewed, more creative writers.

Anyway, that's all the news for now! Not watching much television due to the writer's strike, but looking into acquiring some Gaimon Sandman comics, among other things. Happy 2008!

The latest on Chuck, the penultimate epi of Heroes

First of all, congrats to Chuck - this excellent show has been picked up for when the writer's strike is over, for a full season. This show is like watching a wonderful movie (Office Space meets Alias?) for an hour every week. I love it!

So, this episode lacked the power, wit and grace of the previous one, had way too many plotlines, and just fell flat. Let's hope the next episode, which, if the writers don't get working soon, is going to be the season finale, isn't the big disappointment that last year's season finale was. I was pretty much looking forward to Hiro kicking Peter's butt in this episode, but, sadly, they're saving that for next week. Have you ever heard of an "idiot" plot? This means everyone has to be an idiot for the plotline to work. So, this week, Maya, Peter, Mohinder...Micah's cousin...wow, how incredibly easily manipulated are these characters? I hate losing respects for my imaginary friends.
On the plus side, it was nice to see Claire standing up for herself with Elle.

On a somewhat related note, if you love superheroes and poetry, or someone you love does,
This book makes a great holiday gift!

Four Months Ago...and Chuck, Meet Summer!

It's a sad story because you just know Chuck is going to get cancelled because of the strike. But when Chuck (ie Seth Cohen, the older-and-more-spy-like) met Summer in last night's episode (Chuck Versus the Truth) I just wished the show would go on forever. So much fun!

On Heroes, we finally got to solve some of the mysteries (How Peter wound up with amnesia, how Nathan was healed, how DL died) but others were left unsolved - like, how did the Bennett's get back together? This, again, is a show that is just getting back together just before the writer's strike will cause it to go dark.

And I am a writer, so I support fair wages for work performed, but at this point, I think they're doing themselves more harm than good. One of their key sticking points is getting paid for downloads of episodes, and I think that's still such a new revenue stream (ie not that successful a revenue stream) for companies that the big media networks aren't going to budge on it. I've always worked for a set-fee for my media contributions, and never got a per-download bonus or anything. That would be nice, though. How about it, MSDN?

Heroes Moving in the Right Direction, just in time...

Yes, the last two episodes of Heroes have moved towards the action, bringing the characters together, setting up a conflict and challenge for the Heroes to confront (Adam/the Virus.) Why did it take SO LONG to get going? One of my poetry professors told the class, people have short attention spans, your poems must provide constant rewards for the reader or they will stop reading. Applies to television too. Too little reward, and your loyal fans dissapate.
And now that the writers' strike is upon us, will it derail the momentum? Even worse, does this mean the end of "Chuck," "Reaper," et al and a deluge of reality television and game shows?

In other news, the Buffy comic (Season 8 - see Dark Horse Comics for more details) has been really wonderful. I heard that Joss Whedon and the actress that played Faith are going to team up for a weird "Dark Angel" type series where "blank" human superbeings are imprinted with memories and abilities for nefarious missions. Could be good, could be awful. I'm reserving judgement til I hear more.

Comic Con News...

The best news out of Comic Con...Futurama's first movie-on-DVD (which will be on Comedy Central next year as well) will be called "Bender's Big Score" and released THIS YEAR probably in November. I've already watched the clip (and the panel) on YouTube...

And Heroes will be back in only one long (and a few weeks) so I'll have more to chat about then - some cool-looking new tv shows on the way...

If any of you want to share any other Comic Con news...it will be welcomed!

Miyazaki News, Heroes Update

All righty, ripped right from the headlines of Nausicaa.Net, a fantastic-sounding update about Miyazaki's new movie, featuring animals that want to become human and a boy on a cliff:

March 19, 2007 Miyazaki's Next Film AnnouncedHayao Miyazaki's next film was announced today. The title is "Gake no ue no Ponyo" (Ponyo On A Cliff) and is scheduled for release in the summer of 2008.The plot revolves around the Princess goldfish Ponyo who wants to become human and 5 years old boy named Sosuke. Key words of the film are "father", "mother", and "a cliff". While not announced as the location Tomo-no-Ura in Seto-naikai is the likely setting as Miyazaki spent some time there last spring.The model for Sosuke is Goro Miyazaki (Hayao's son) when he was 5 years old.This film is expressed in a watercolor and pastel-like freehand drawing. Studio Ghibli President Toshio Suzuki mentioned, "70 or 80% of the stage is the sea. How will we express the sea and a wave in a freehand drawing, it's the director's challenge."Additional news and commentary from GhibliWorld.

The next epi of Heroes will be titled .07 percent, which I believe to be a reference to how many people will die in the NYC exploding man incident unless it is stopped. I hope HRG can get out of the clutches of his horrid company.