RoboCop Movie Review

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The Kickstarter project to get a RoboCop statue in Detroit amused me enough to go back and re-watch the movie. There were some critics when the movie came out who criticized the violence, but that’s missed the forest for the trees. The violence is used in the purpose of the story, not just to have violence. But my favorite story about Robocop is the sequels. After his success in comics, Frank Miller was approached to work on Robocop 2 and (as the rumor goes) his story idea was changed so much before being filmed that he was able to re-use the story proposal for Robocop 3. So, let’s revisit the future Detroit and find out who was RoboCop.

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RIP Dwayne McDuffie

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Horrible news today. Dwayne McDuffie, one of the co-founder (and editor-in-chief) of Milestone comics passed away Monday. With Milestone he co-created and wrote the comics Icon, Hardware and Blood Syndicate. He also helped out with others on a creative and editorial capacity. His voice was an important voice for minorities in comics and I’d hate to think how few minorities would be in comics without his help.

McDuffie also created the hilarious Damage Control comic book series. For those not familiar with it, Damage Control showed the cleanup crew that fixed up the city after the superhero battles destroyed it.

Dwayne McDuffie will be missed by all.

Sarah Connor Chronicles on Syfy

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The Sarah Connor Chronicles (my review) is moving to Syfy network.

EW can exclusively report that Syfy has gained the rights to all 31 episodes of the series, which ran for two seasons on Fox from 2007-09. This will mark the first time the show has aired off broadcast.

The news comes on the heels of Science Channel making waves by picking up Fox’s cult fave Firefly. Sarah Conner Chronicles will launch on Syfy on Thursday, April 7 at 9 p.m., with an airing of Terminator 3 for a lead-in. Its regular time slot will be Thursdays from 7 to 11 p.m. (So, yes, four episodes in a row!)

The Osiris Ritual by George Mann

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Our favorite steampunk detectives are back in George Mann’s The Osiris Ritual. First introduced in The Affinity Bridge, Sir Maurice Newbury and his assistant Veronica Hobbes are back in the late Victorian age, where Victoria survives due to a steampunk version of an iron lung. The book does a good job building on the excitement for Egyptian artifacts (set only a couple decades before the King Tut discovery excites the world) which makes it feel like it fits into history well. So, let’s see what Newbury and Hobbes are up to.

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The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe

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I’m back to Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun. I finished volume one and realized that I had another book that was due back to the library very soon and couldn’t renew it. So I finished that book before jumping back to the tales of Severian the journeyman executioner and The Claw of the Conciliator. Volume Two picks up almost right after Volume One and we find Serverian alone away from his group and in a new city. Let’s find out what happens.

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Tobolowsky Files is back

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After a two month absence due to technical difficulties, The Tobolowsky Files is back. Episode 44 follows Stephen and his ex-girlfriend Beth getting to meet people due to her Pulitzer Prize winning play, Crimes of the Heart including Jonathan Demme. Demme invited the two of them to view the new documentary he was putting together. This viewing led Stephen to a screenwriting credit and telling a story that led to a song which became the name for a band.

Also check out Stephen on the WTF Podcast with Marc Maron where Stephen tells the story of recording songs with Stevie Ray Vaughn and being there when Steve and his brother Jimmie reconciled and decided to do an album.

James Ellroy LA: City of Demons is canceled

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For the last couple of weeks, the ID network hasn’t shown the new episodes of James Ellroy’s LA: City of Demons. The speculation about the reason has been identified, it was canceled:

Mr. Ellroy’s early January tour was part of his selling of “James Ellroy’s LA: City of Demons,” a television series that aired on cable’s Investigation Discovery until it was canceled last week midway through its run due to low ratings. The series recounted Los Angeles crime stories, many from the 1940s and 1950s, through re-creations, interviews and Mr. Ellroy’s barked, almost yelling-at-the-audience narration. A talking, animated dog named Barko appeared in some segments with Mr. Ellroy, but the less said about Barko, the better.

But there is some hope for it coming back:

According to Investigation Discovery, the show was pulled due to low ratings but will hopefully be relaunched at another point: “We fully stand behind the strength and uniqueness of the show though and are hoping to find a new home for it later this year,” a spokeswoman said.

Congratulations George R.R. Martin

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George R.R. Martin announced on his blog yesterday afternoon that he got married.

So… back in 1981, Parris left Portland, Oregon for Santa Fe, and moved in with me in my old house on Declovina Street. We’ve been together ever since, for good times and bad, a move or two, more cons and road trips and adventures than either of us can remember now in our advanced old age.

After thirty years, we finally decided that maybe this relationship was going to work out after all.

So on the evening of February 15, we finally made it official, and married in front of our hearth at our home here in Santa Fe. The hearth is Lannister red, but the bride wore Tyrell colors. Unlike most Westerosi weddings, no one was killed and only tears of joy were shed.

Congratulations to the Martin family