Miyazaki’s female leads offer a far more complex picture of what it means to be a person. They often have agency outside of their relationships to men. Read More
Back in the eighties, we loved sci-fi thrillers set in the “real” world with just one technological twist to build an exciting story around. High-schoolers building nuclear bombs, runaway killer robots, and recording full-sensory input were just a few of … Read More
Parents are always concerned about the media their kids consume and the messages it codes on their developing minds. So when it comes to the grand animated stories, who does a better job at delivering the messages you think are … Read More
Ah, the age-old question: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? Wait, age-old? Until I ran across this poster at Comic-Con this summer I confess I hadn’t ever given it a thought—but I immediately knew I needed this book. … Read More
For the past three years, convention-going geeks have had to choose: Dragon*Con or PAX. Two conventions on opposite ends of the United States, each with its own unique programming, occurring during the same Labor Day weekend. What’s a geek to … Read More
San Diego Comic-Con International (SDCC): Started in 1970, grown so large that LA is trying to convince it to move venues. It began as a comic book convention and now encompasses video games, movies, TV shows, non-comic books, toys, and … Read More
It seems that the big book-related debate these days is paper vs. digital. Everyone wants to be the next Kindle, and there’s no shortage of opinions on whether the iPad is a better book reader than an e-ink version. Even … Read More
Some questions have such clear answers that you know your answer the moment you hear or read it. These are of the “Who was the better James Bond: Connery or Dalton?” sort. You might even blink a few times to … Read More
You’ve heard of the old debate about what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? Well, since that question is unanswerable, starting as it does from a logically impossible premise, I won’t be tackling it. I will, however, … Read More
In the current world of smart phone technology the two major players are the Blackberry by Research in Motion and the iPhone 3G by Apple. Which makes for a great geek debate. Iphone vs. Blackberry. Read More
To the casual observer, Star Trek and Star Wars look a lot alike, beyond the obvious similarity between their names. Each has a lot of spaceships, strange worlds, ray guns, and aliens, many of whom look startlingly like humans with … Read More
The English language has a wonderful capacity for nuance. Doctoral dissertations could be, and I’m sure have been, written about the semantic differences that evolve between words that started out meaning much the same thing. Specifically, of course, I want … Read More
If you’re a Star Trek fan, you’ve surely considered the differences between the captains in the various series, even if you don’t have a favorite. And, while Sisko, Janeway, and even Archer have their fans, the quintessential Star Trek debate … Read More
