The Tobolowsky Files Review

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The Tobolowsky Files is a podcast by the SlashFilm folks starring veteran character actor Stephen Tobolowsky. You will remember Tobolowsky as Ned Ryerson (“Bing!”) from Groundhog Day or Bob the Company Man from Heroes or as Sammy Jankis from Memento and recently on Glee as Sandy (wink and nod to Groundhog Day) Ryerson. Most likely, even if you don’t remember him, you’ve seen him. He’s been in the movie and TV business for 25+ years and has worked constantly during that time.

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Freaks and Geeks review

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Freaks and Geeks is not really science fiction, but the Geeks are huge science fiction fans, so that’s close enough for this blog. If you have never seen Freaks and Geeks before, it’s started playing on IFC this week. You should still be able to catch the pilot in reruns, with episode 2 starting Friday. And sit back for a bumpy and wonderful ride with a number of actors who’ve seen since, all in one little show that no one watched.

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The Greatest American Hero

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The Greatest American Hero was an early 1980s superhero show. It lasted for 3 seasons and was better known for the theme song (which was on the Top 40 charts for 18 weeks and just missed being #1) than for the show. The shows was an action comedy and had more in common with other similar shows from around that time (such as The Fall Guy where there would be action chasing a bad guy each episode lightened up with some humor) then any previous superhero shows. I loved it when I was 10, but was it any good.

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A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick

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A Scanner Darkly is a book that could have only come from Philip K Dick in the 1970s. The book deals with Dick’s themes of alienation and identity. This was Dick’s last book before the vision that compelled him to write his VALIS books. It’s a wonderful view of a modern (well 1970s modern) small town and the effects of a drug war on the people chosen to fight on the front lines.

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DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore

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DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore is a compendium of Alan Moore stories that he did as one-offs (or 2 or 3 offs) with various characters in the DC Comics Universe. Some of these stories have been reprinted in other books and some are only collected here. There are a mishmash or full comic length stories and smaller backup length stories. Not all of them are great, but for an Alan Moore fanboy, this is a must have.

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The IT Crowd

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The IT Crowd is a series from BBC which is currently being shown on IFC in the US. It’s about a small three person IT Department at an unnamed company who are completely overlooked and unappreciated. It’s a success in an topic of TV programming that usually fails (anyone remember the Dilbert series or Dweebs). The fact that the creators were able to make a funny and sucessful show about an IT department is reason enough to watch.

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WWW: Watch by Robert Sawyer

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WWW: Watch by Robert Sawyer is the middle book in Sawyer’s WWW trilogy. Where the first book was about an emergent intelligence out on the web, this book deals with the consequences of this new life form. Sawyer also uses the book to discuss ethical issues that an emergent intelligence might face. But what is an emergent intelligence interested in?

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River of Gods by Ian McDonald

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River of Gods by Ian McDonald is a huge sprawling book set in India in the near future (with near future meaning 40 years). And it is a slow moving book at first and requires much patience before the plot starts up in earnest. Anathem had a similar buildup, but was easier to follow due to a single main character, where River of Gods has several characters and we jump between them every chapter. The book itself is good, if you have the patience to make it to the plot.

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Purple Rose of Cairo review

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Purple Rose of Cairo is not nominally a science fiction movie. But when you have a movie where the main character walks out of a movie and into reality, then I feel comfortable labeling it science fiction. It’s one of Woody Allen’s more depressing films (and set in the Great Depression). But it has an exciting premise and is very well done.

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Hero Happy Hour by Dan Taylor and Chris Fason

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Hero Happy Hour by Dan Taylor and Chris Fason is a delightfully loopy comic book about an after hours hangout for super heroes (we can’t call them super due to Marvel/DC Trademark issues). Set in a regular bar, the city’s hero’s come in after a hard night crime fighting to commiserate with each other and to drink a few beers before heading home. Is it worth reading?

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