Category Archives: entertainment

Sometimes you read a book and it completely blows your mind. That’s what happened to me when I read Diaspora or Line of Resistence. Only Forward is not one of these books. There are books that simply tell a great … Continue reading →

I think that gender representation problems in popular fantasy settings is a topic that is too broad to cover in just one post. There is a lot to be said about the problematic way in which a lot of settings … Continue reading →

I wrote a lengthy post explaining why I do not find shows like The Big Bang Theory very appealing back in September 2010. Since then, not much has changed in the way geek culture is portrayed on TV. I find … Continue reading →

I play video games on a PC. I know this may come as a surprise to some of you – after all I typically don’t blog about gaming that much at all. I mean it’s not like I have a … Continue reading →

What is the difference between a modern day zombie and a walking corpse from a fantasy universe? On the surface they are both undead killing machines, but the underlying mechanics of how they came to be and how they can … Continue reading →

I believe I mentioned the fact I recently got back into Warhammer Fantasy, which is a tabletop miniature war game for adult man children that involves moving around big units of what amounts to fantasy styled army-men across the table. … Continue reading →

Along with a few of my buddies I have recently decided to get back into Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Some of you might already know what it is, but I feel that I probably need to explain the hobby to the … Continue reading →

I typically don’t review sitcoms (even very good ones), but Arrested Development is a little bit of a special case. Not because of it’s popularity amongst the digital denizens or it’s uncanny ability to generate memes and quotable catch-phrases. It … Continue reading →

Iron Man 3 is the first of the post-Avenger era Marvel movie. Joss Whedon’s epic super hero romp is a tough act to follow, both in terms of quality and box office success (which are not the same thing mind … Continue reading →

When I reviewed Illium and Olympos by Dan Simmons I was quite impressed by how he managed to seamlessly blend the legendary ancient epic with post-singularity science fiction while staying true to both. I gave Simmons a lot of credit … Continue reading →

Spoiler Warning! This post contains spoilers for Bioshock Infinite, including mid and late game details. It does not discuss the main plot or the end twist but it does spoil at least one major important game event which is pivotal … Continue reading →

Bioshock Infinite is a great game. You may remember that I had mostly positive things to say about the original Bioshock game. I have never played the sequel, because to be honest, it seemed like an incredibly stupid idea at … Continue reading →

I believe I have found a new favorite writer. His name is Greg Egan and he writes science fiction so hard you can’t consume it in hasty bites least you want to break your mind’s teeth on it. You have … Continue reading →

The trailers for Looper looked quite amazing but unfortunately I missed it when it was in theaters. I was pretty excited to finally see it, though the lack of Looper themed memes on the internet concerned me a bit. You … Continue reading →

In the previous installments of this series I tackled all kinds of fantasy tropes – now it is time to re-invent magic users. I want to come up with a slightly different, off-beat magic interpretation tying it to my old … Continue reading →

If you know me, you probably realize I’m a firm believer in the fact that aging is a disease that can, and should be cured. Our short lifespans and high reproductive rates have been instrumental in getting us where we … Continue reading →

In most fantasy settings Dwarfs are brave trustworthy and honorable but a wee bit greedy and selfish. They are known for never breaking their oaths, and always making good on their promises and also for holding life-long grudges against those … Continue reading →

A small town newspaper publishes a strange add in it’s classifieds section. It is one of those odd-ball ads that usually end up on reddit where they are proved to be internet jokes, or just silly pranks made by the … Continue reading →

Here is a very poignant question: what happens when you digitize a human mind and then bootstrap it and run it as a self aware software entity? How that virtual person relate to the original physical person from which it … Continue reading →

Welcome to the third and final installment of the exhaustive review of this remarkable (and remarkably long) book. The Social Tragedy of Post-Scarcity Imagine a world in which nano-assembly has been perfected and made super cheep. Imagine a nation in … Continue reading →

Zombies are not strictly a fantasy concept. In fact, they tend to be heavily under-utilized in that setting, perhaps for a good reason. In modern day or futuristic settings when the living dead show up, you can pretty much guarantee … Continue reading →

I’m usually not a huge fan of anthologies. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with collections of short stories – it’s just that when I buy a book, I prefer the more substantial experience of a novel, rather than … Continue reading →

Back when I was still actively playing World of Warcrap, one of the games’ many inside jokes were the pandas. According to the lore, somewhere in Azeroth there existed a race of pseudo-Chinese panda bears that were mostly known for … Continue reading →

So, how did you guys like The Hobbit? I found it a little bit underwhelming. Then again, I’m not sure what could have been done differently to improve it… This story and this movie… They are what they are, and … Continue reading →

Last weekend the penultimate season of Dexter wrapped up with an explosive cliffhanger finale. I discovered the show back in 2008 when I watched Season 1 and Season 2 in their entirety in about a week of time. I have … Continue reading →