Help a new Whovian

The first complete episode of Doctor Who I ever watched was the first episode of the Davies/Eccelston relaunch. I’m now hooked, lined and sinkered. I’m looking for guidance about when and where to start watching the classic run. Please vote in the form below, and I’ll try to make the results public so that other readers of a similar mindset can get the same information.
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Book Review: Chimerascope


Joe swore when he saw Cath doing a kid. He had left her for just a minute, to get a beer from the booth on the pier before it closed for the night…

…Kid’s not more than seven, he thought. Cath promised me no kids. She promised.
–“By Her Hand, She Draws You Down” (63).

Anthologies present a problem for our 42-point review system, even when they collect one author’s work. Rather than give Douglas Smith’s collection a score, I’m posting a review that tries to hit our usual categories along the way.

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Newspace

New evidence loosely supports popular SF tropes, lab-grown meat may be available soon, Russia (possibly) loses a satellite, Japan looks to cleaning up the mess we’ve made in space, and a teen’s death ray catches the Net’s attention.

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Weekend Review: Black Swan

“Take it from the vision.”
–Nina, to the pianist.

Black Swan? Really?

Black Swan has become one of the most discussed films of the last two months, and garnered Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress (Natalie Portman).

It’s also a thriller (arguably a psychological horror movie) and features some well-placed special effects.

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Anime – A FAQ for Parents

I have been approached by some parents on occasion with a fairly complicated question:

My kids are into anime and/or manga. What is it and what do I need to know so I can monitor what my kids are watching?”

The answer is complicated, and when I present it, it invariably provokes a lot of follow-up questions, so I’m going to present this as a sort of FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions. Hopefully this will clear up some of that confusion, and help parents make better decisions about their kids’ viewing material. Continue reading →