Video Found: Captain Harlock (English Trailer)

Short, but sweet.  I had no idea they were making a Captain Harlock movie.  If you don't know who that is, it's because you don't watch enough anime.  You should start.  Immediately.

Anywho.  Despite the random almost-nude shot (so strange for anime to have a skin fetish, after all -- ha), it looks like a compelling film, no?  If by "compelling" we mean "two hours of gun battles, space battles, sword fights, and all the other cool trappings of genre," that is.

Here's the video (after the fold):

Rethinking Superhero Ethics and Myke Cole's Shadow Ops Series

On the recent Skiffy and Fanty Show podcast, my friend Jen and I interviewed author Myke Cole about Shadow Ops:  Fortress Frontier, the sequel to his 2012 hit, Shadow Ops:  Control Point (which we interviewed him about here).  During the discussion, we (Jen and I) sidetracked from asking Myke direct questions to actually considering the world he had actually created -- specifically, the ethics of that world and how it might actually happen in the real world.  I'd like to continue some of that discussion here (on top of this post by Myke on a similar subject).

For those that are unfamiliar with Myke's work, you'll need to know that Shadow Ops takes place in an alternate present where "magic powers" (a.k.a. superhero powers) are monitored and "controlled" by the various world governments.  In the case of the U.S., they have sought to control these powers and the people who have them by banning their use in the general populace and forcing people who discover that they are "latent" to join the military (or some related agency, depending on the need).  Much of the "forcing" isn't publicly acknowledged, which becomes apparent in this brilliant book trailer for Fortress Frontier:

Academic Spotlight: With Both Feet in the Clouds -- Fantasy in Israeli Literature edited by Danielle Gurevitch

A new feature around these parts!  The Academic Spotlight's purpose will be to draw attention to the wide range of new and old scholarship on genre fiction floating about on the net, from special issues of academic journals, to essay collections, to books, and so on and so forth.  In some cases, I'll offer some thoughts on the work in question -- particularly if I'm familiar with it.  Why am I doing this?  Because I think academia is important, even if it is sometimes inaccessible to the wider public ($75 for an academic book is a lot to ask for; additionally, the writing styles are often not conducive to general reading).

The first entry into this feature is Gurevitch's With Both Feet in the Clouds:  Fantasy in Israeli Literature.  The book came out on the first of January, though I only discovered it today through the World SF blog.

Personally, I don't know much about Israeli genre fiction.  My exposure to writers from that part

Death Star Economics and Ethics? (Or, What Would You Do With a Death Star?)

I find it amusing when smart people take science fiction concepts seriously enough to question their validity in the real world.  From rocket packs to hover cars to laser guns, the smart ones have destroyed our childhoods, one reality-based argument at a time.  The Death Star is no different (and I'm going to add to the hurt).

Earlier this year, Paul Shawcross, acting on behalf of the White House, released a statement on We the People in response to a petition requesting the U.S. government to build a real-life Death Star by 2016.*  Because petitions that receive 25,000 signatures require a response from the White House, there wasn't any way to avoid this humorous situation.  Thankfully, they took the issue with a heavy dose of humor and succinctly reminded us that such a project is pretty much impossible -- it would cost $850,000,000,000,000,000 (or, as we poor people like to say,

Video Found: John Simon vs. Siskel & Ebert (The Star Wars War)

There's something enjoyable about watching critics from the 80s battle over whether Star Wars is actually a good movie.  It's equally enjoyable to listen to a somewhat bitter man battle his inner child over whether to actually let loose while watching something like Star Wars, a series that, at the time, offered the world some of the best entertainment money could buy.

Class 1980s entertainment, this (after the fold):

The Hugos: Testing the Waters -- What will win?

In the interest of filling my blog with all your lovely voices, I want to know your answer(s) to the following question:

Which novels, novellas, short stories, films, fanzines/writers, fancasts, and so on do you think will win the Hugo Award this year?

I have a secret agenda for asking this question, which I will now reveal (thus stealing its secrecy) -- I am curious what I might have missed this year, for one reason or another, what others think were Hugo-worthy (which may reflect a particular taste), and so on.  In other words, you're going to give me a taste of a world I've never experienced (though I am attending Worldcon this year).

So have at it!

"You Haven't Read That, Teacher?" and Other "Not a Real Field" Fallacies (Teaching Rambles)

I just had a rather strange short conversation with a fellow about The Iron Heel by Jack London.  That conversation went something like this:

Guy:  Is that Jack London?
Me:  Yup.  The Iron Heel.
Guy:  I've never heard of that one.  I wonder if I have it on my reader.  (checks)  Yup!  I'm currently reading The Sea-Wolf.  It's a post-apocalyptic book.
Me:  I've never heard of that one.  Cool!
Guy:  Why are you reading The Iron Heel.  A fan?
Me:  I'm teaching it.
Guy:  Are you an English major?
Me:  Yup.
Guy:  And you're teaching a book you've not finished?
Me:  Yup.
Guy:  Good luck. (turns away as if annoyed)

I don't know anything about this individual.  Perhaps he's an England major or just an avid reader or a philosophy major or whatever.  But it was clear from his tone that he found it rather distasteful that one might teach a book they haven't read yet (if I didn't plan to read the book at all, then I'd deserve the tone -- keep in mind he had no idea when I planned to teach said book).

Of course, he might think this because many people don't know much about literature courses --