Geekklesia

Here we are, closing in on the end of the first quarter of 2013. It has been an interesting year so far, full of busy-ness that I hadn't expected. However, I did have some expectations for what I wanted to accomplish by the end of this year, so I thought it might be a good time to review progress so far on my resolutions I made at the first of the year. For review's sake, Here is the original post of my Goals and Resolutions . 1.   Lose at least 15 pounds . Not a good report here. Although I have been monitoring my weight weekly, I have not lost an appreciable weight.  Of course, I have not gained any appreciable weight either.  I'll take maintenance as a positive thing, and since the weather is warming up, I'll start walking my neighborhood soon. 2.   Read through the Bible in a Year . I can't say that I have been terribly consistent with this either, but I rather than beat myself up over the lack of consistency and then quit, I have found that with th e...

On a recent episode of the podcast The Sci-Fi Christian , the hosts (Matt Anderson, Daniel ‘The Other Guy’ Butcher and Koby Radcliffe) spotlighted their “Top 5 Childhood Influences.” It was a pretty cool episode and got me reminiscing about some of my favorites from my not-quite-misspent youth. I list them below, honorable mentions first, followed by the top five, ranked from five to one*: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: The prototypical steampunk adventure movie. It was also my favorite ride at Disneyworld. Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Spielberg's classic movie about an alien invasion that turn out to be benign. Incredible Hulk: This was the second superhero series I saw. I think the recent movies (except for The Avengers) fail to capture the pathos of the character. Mission: Impossible: I loved this uber-cool spy series that relied a lot on misdirection. Six Million Dollar Man: The series about transhumanism before transhumanism was ever in the public consciousness. ...

I am the wild blue yonder. The front line in a never-ending battle between good and not-so-good. Together with my stalwart sidekick, Arthur, and the magnanimous help of some other folks I know, we form the yin to villany's malevolent yang. Destiny has chosen us. Wicked men, you face The Tick. Just the other day, I recently watched the entire series run (minus one episode) of the live-action version of The Tick, starring Patrick Warburton.  I was not familiar with the character, and had never seen either the original comic, the animated series or this version.  My initial reaction was unprintable; not because it contained bad language, but because I couldn’t find the words. In short, it is a funny, silly take on the superhero genre.  I loved the absolutely blithe innocence that the title character has. He has only one drive and that is to fight crime, wherever he finds it. Along with his trusty sidekick partner, Arthur. Arthur, whose moth-inspired costume gets him confu...

Let me begin by stating up front that I am not a ballet guy. One reason I started this blog was so that I could explore the themes and tropes that I find in in the stories within the geek culture and see how they relate to what Tolkien referred to as “the True Myth.”  So I enjoy speculative fiction – science fiction, fantasy and the like.  Those themes are indeed present in many, if not most of the great stories – redemption, self-sacrifice, heroism the overwhelming power of good over the seductive yet ultimately self-defeating temptation of evil. Speaking of Tolkien, he found much of the inspiration for his great masterpieces from what he called “fairy stories,” tales told and retold by Andrew Lang, the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson.  One Anderson story, The Snow Queen, has been adapted by a troupe called Ballet Magnificat , a group based in Jackson, Mississippi by Kathy and Keith Thibodeaux. Kathy is the 1982 Silver Medalist at the II USA International Ba...

LiveJournal Tags: Christianity , Health , Creativity , Travel , Bible , Writing , Resolutions , New Year This is a list of the things I’d like to accomplish by the end of this Year of Our Lord, 2013: 1.  Lose at least 15 pounds.   In order to do that, I need to pay more attention to my diet and get off my rumpus and move (i.e., exercise); 2. Read through the Bible this year.   I will be using a reading plan and Rob Lacey’s edgy Word on the Street paraphrase. Yes, I know its cheating, sort of, but I gotta start somewhere, right? 3. Be more creative.   I like to write some, and I’m drawn toward fiction. I’d like to write some short stories for the Ranger Co. X setting that has been recently published by Asparagus Jumpsuit. I’ve also started what was known in the pulps as a ‘novellette’ featuring my favorite characters from three of my favorite Old Time Radio series, Rocky Jordan , Chandu, the Magician , and The Ghost Corps . I really want to finish this one this...

LiveJournal Tags: Max Headroom , Cyberpunk , SF , Sci-Fi , SciFi , Science Fiction , TV , Television , Michael Cassutt , Interviews Michael Cassutt is a writer and producer of a number of television series, including THE TWILIGHT ZONE (1985), THE OUTER LIMITS (1990), and EERIE, INDIANA (1991). But he can also take credit for his work on MAX HEADROOM (1987), and during this 25th anniversary celebration, I am thrilled that he agreed to an interview on what is now regarded as “the first cyberpunk television series.” GK: Thanks for subjecting yourself to this interview- this is very exciting for me, as I was in college, majoring in Radio/Television/Film when MAX HEADROOM debuted, so you can imagine how it resonated with me. And that affection has only grown over the years. So, to begin, how did you become involved in the MAX HEADROOM TV series? MC: I got hired on MAX because of Phil DeGuere, who was my boss on TWILIGHT ZONE. A vastly experienced network showrunner, Phil had bee...

This one will not be pretty or fun. It may not even be safe for work.  But I believe it needs to be said. Yesterday, I read a brutally honest, incredibly painful confession of a tech writer at the Verge. It seems that Paul Miller has decided to try an experiment wherein he lives without internet for one year.  As a consequence (I’m not sure if it was intended or not), he found that it was a way to help him deal with his porn addiction.  Now you might want to stop at this point because yes, I went there.  This one is about porn.  Mr. Miller also “outed” himself as a Christian.   Reading through the comments, Mr. Miller received a great deal of mocking.  This thing is, I couldn't tell if it was because he was admitting to a porn addiction and wanted to do something about it, or because he admitted to being a Christian and understanding that there was something wrong with pornography. In the article, he shared a his doctor’s medical opinion on th...