Iron Giant: Up close with Kuratas, the $1.4 million, 4-ton mech robot

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So Amazon is trying to get on the ‘online studio/streaming’ bandwagon with a number of new pilots – most of which I haven’t paid attention to, but The Man in the High Castle is of particular interest, given that it’s based on a PKD book, one for which he won the Hugo back in the 60’s.

This the story of an alternate history where the Axis won WWI and divided up the world (specifically the USA for the plot of the book) between them. The story flips between the East Coast (dominated by Nazis), West Coast (run by the Japanese) and a central ‘neutral zone’ (I think it was called the Colorado Free State in the booK).

After some stupid tech issues, I finally got the video to run – the first episode is free, although it does make you log in with your Amazon account. Not sure if they are doing a miniseries (like the initial return of BSG was before it became a full-on series) or trying to extend the original story beyond that of the novel, but it’s an interesting start, and well-made so far. I liked the several Seattle ‘architectural cameos’ in it – nice touch, Bezos – and I liked that the actors aren’t big names – for a series like this, I think that in many ways detracts from the story, especially with an ensemble cast.

Definitely interested to see more – although now I may need to take a spin back through the original book too, as it’s been so long since I read it. Hoping they do this justice like A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report or Blade Runner – and NOT like the recent adaptations of The Hobbit (for which JRR T must be doing backflips in his grave about now) but time will tell….here’s a clip:

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and let’s get BACK into space!

Purple glistening plasma, you say? Orion plummets back to Earth

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In the effective winding-up of my recent ‘read all the John Scalzi books‘ quest (I tried Redshirts, but bailed out), I just finished Lock In, and really liked it.

This is a buddy-cop story with a number of interesting twists and nuances. Suffice it to say one is human and as always, the other is something else (modified human but fairly alien at the same time – this character, Chris Shane, is the central protagonist).

I won’t really discuss the plot because it would be easy to spoil it – but per usual with Scalzi, I liked the semi-regular doses of humor and humanity he gives his characters. And I liked the novel’s setup and back story – which I could easily see getting put into several sequels (hint).

Another angle on this book is that often in buddy-cop plots i’ve seen a tendency to have one be the sane one, one be the edgy one – but here, i’d argue there are nuances of each in both main characters. Clearly one is more edgy but it’s not the one you’d think and if there are more books, i’m confident Scalzi will explore this more as to the other. He’s usually not content to just treat things in a ‘Marvel Comics’ way where the super power makes up for or partially covers character flaws to produce a person we can still identify with – there’s more going on here, but it will take definitely more than one book to explore.

The pacing of the book is well done too, Scalzi is able to introduce the detailed backstory without bogging down in expository details for chapters on end (Dune sequels, I’m talking to YOU).

I guess a basic qualifier of a good book to me, anyway, is if I want to read more or hear more stories about these characters. Unlike Kerewin, I’m not as big a ‘cop story’ guy, despite keen interest in Ghost in the Shell and similar – yet here, I definitely want to read more. Bring on the sequels!

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Asteroid Blues: The Lasting Legacy of Cowboy Bebop

What they said. And what we said.

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the one rival to Nolan Bushnell for the ‘father of videogames’ crown…..RIP.

Ralph H. Baer, father of video games, passes away at 92

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While I’m not as stoked for this as I was for the second coming of TRON – and was somewhat disappointed – doh! – I have to say, this looks pretty good. Now to avoid watching any other trailers to avoid spoilers for just over a year……

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I’m on a John Scalzi kick – catching up his past several books I hadn’t got round to reading yet. So after the recent Human Division read, I just finished Agent to the Stars, actually his first full-length novel that he originally published for free, but then later after he’d had some success, his publisher found the book online on his site and asked to publish it.

Pretty good story, engaging even if a bit predictable. And as seen in later books, he’s not above scatological humor by any means – this may have been where it all started. And there are other funny bits in here, if you like your pop culture references. But I liked the characters, too and it’s definitely an interesting premise, even if it seems to have been inspired in part by The Simulacra and The Star Beast in parts, with a bit of Clans of the Alphane Moon thrown in (one of the main characters here definitely reminds me of Lord Running Clam in the earlier PKD book).

But none of that is bad stuff, and it’s an entertaining read. Check it out – you can still read it online here.

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The original Lord of Kobol has passed away – R.I.P.

‘Knight Rider,’ ‘Battlestar Galactica’ creator Glen Larson dies

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