Some People Call’em Space Cowboys

An introduction to Firefly/Serenity Set in a future where humanity has left behind the “Earth-that-was” and spread out across the galaxy, the short-lived show called Firefly focused on the rag-tag crew of the Firefly-class spaceship called “Serenity”. Preferring to avoid the law, they travel among the numerous desert moons where people live a “wild west”…

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Fall TV 2005: Everything New is Blah Again

Kids go back to school, leaves start to change colour, and the networks roll out their new shows—fall is an exciting time for TV geeks (or at least it should be). After last year’s success of several hot new shows, this year seems less promising. They still walk (or float or swim) among us You…

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Alvin Gets His Geek On: SFX Convention 2005

When I arrived at the Metro Convention Centre on Friday afternoon for my first-ever science fiction convention, it was a bit overwhelming. There were tons of people (many in costume) and lines everywhere. I wondered to myself, “Am I as much of a sci-fi fan as these Wookie-fur-wearing, Klingon-speaking folks?” As I overheard conversations in…

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Fifteen Flicks for Fall

Summer’s coming to a close. Blockbuster season (such as it was) is over. As we gear up for the battle of the Oscar contenders, there are still plenty of awesome offerings that aren’t necessarily all about going for the statuette. Here are my most anticipated films for the rest of the year. By the way,…

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Capsule Movie Review: Mean Creek (2004)

“When a small town kid gets beat up by a school bully, his brother and his friends decide to teach the bully a lesson.” It sounds like the plot to an afterschool special. When the prank goes tragically awry, it starts to sounds like a coming-of-age melodrama. I think this film actually comes somewhere in…

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Not your father’s Galactica

The brave new series that no one should miss I just finished watching the season one finale of Battlestar Galactica and I have to say that this is a totally awesome show. Conceptually it starts off in an interesting place—not that robots taking revenge on their creators is a new concept: everything from Frankenstein to…

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Capsule movie review: The Forgotten

This title is so ripe for punning: “If only this terrible movie could be so easily forgotten!” Julianne Moore stars as a mother who is having trouble letting go of the memory of her nine-year-old son, who is presumed dead after his plane went down. She’s constantly looking at photos and videos of him to…

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What I Watched On My Summer Vacation

For TV fans, summer is typically a dead zone of reruns. Most people might take the opportunity for some fresh air or sun tannage, but I intended it to be a time for catching up on the movies that I missed while my eyes were glued to the latest episode of Lost or Desperate Housewives….

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Podcasts: An infotainment buffet

When the new iTunes version 4.9 came along, I and thousands of other iTunes users suddenly discovered the wild and wonderful world of podcasts. They are an amazing additional source of content, and if I didn’t already love my iPod for the music I might get one just for listening to podcasts. What’s a podcast?…

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