Archive for November, 2015

MST3K Kickstarter Hits $3.3 Million/6 Episodes Goal

Monday, November 30th, 2015

I’m happy to see that the Bring Back Mystery Science Theater 3000 Kickstarter has hit $3.3 million, meaning they’ll produce at least six episodes.

At $4.4 million they’ll make nine episodes, but at this point $5.5 million (twelve episodes) is looking like it might be a stretch.

Also Patton Oswalt is joining the cast as TV’s Son of TV’s Frank, a move I’m pretty “meh” on (though I can see the physical resemblance between Frank Conniff and Oswalt).

Shoegazer Sunday: The Cherry Wave’s “Suncrushed”

Sunday, November 29th, 2015

For your Sunday dose of Shoegaze, here’s The Cherry Wave’s “Suncrushed” off their Avalancher album:

The Annual William Shatner Warning Not To Set Yourself on Fire Frying a Turkey

Wednesday, November 25th, 2015

In the now-annual tradition, I bring you a public service announcement from William Shatner: try not to set yourself on fire while frying a turkey.

Behold the Shatner!

For those with low Shatner thresholds, the advice is:

  • Don’t overfill the pot with oil.
  • Turn off the flame when lowering the turkey into the oil.
  • Use the metal dingus to lower it in.
  • Always fry your turkey away from your house.
  • Properly thaw the turkey before cooking.
  • Use a grease-approved fire extinguisher.
  • If you’re going to fry a turkey, this is pretty sound advice.

    Kung Fury

    Tuesday, November 24th, 2015

    Sunday I saw Kung Fury, the crowd-funded parody of every cheesy 80s cop show, science fiction movie, and fighting video game, rolled into one absurdist package.

    It has everything you could ever ask for in a short film featuring a kung fu cop traveling back in time to stop Hitler, including dinosaurs, Tron-era grid computer graphics, obviously fake video compositing, and a soundtrack that sounds like it was composed by Giorgio Moroder after a 72-hour Jolt Cola binge.

    Rael Bob says check it out…

    Felicia Day to Be the Next Mad on MST3K

    Monday, November 23rd, 2015

    I was worried that the MST3K Kickstarter might not make it to the full 12 episode total.

    Not anymore.

    Felicia Day is going to play Kinga Forrester, the next evil mad scientist overlord on the new MST3K.

    My first thought on reading that was an extremely inappropriate Krieger quote from Archer.

    My second was that they’re going to blow past that $5.5 million barrier.

    Dunno how they’re going to top this short of announcing they’ve signed up George R. R. Martin and Neil Gaiman as staff writers….

    Shoegazer Sunday: Luna Covers “Sweet Child O’Mine”

    Sunday, November 22nd, 2015

    I’m not a big fan of Guns & Roses, but certainly “Sweet Child O’Mine” has to rank among their best, with one of the all-time great guitar hooks. Here’s Luna with a nicely chill, twangy rendition of it.

    Bring Back MST3K Kickstarter Hits $2 Million Goal

    Monday, November 16th, 2015

    The Bring Back Mystery Science Theater 3000 Kickstarter has hit their $2 million goal, which means it’s funded and they’ll do at least three new episodes.

    Everybody Smile!

    And they still have 25 days to go! Now let’s hope they make it all they way to their 12 episode $5.5 million stretch goal…

    Library Addition: Philip K. Dick’s World of Chance

    Monday, November 16th, 2015

    I picked the following up as part of a swap:

    Dick, Philip K. World of Chance. Rich and Cowan, 1956. First hardback edition and first thus under this title (the first hardback edition of Dick’s first published novel, published earlier in the U.S. as the paperback original Solar Lottery), an Ex-Library copy with tape ghosts to inside covers, slight signs of pocket removal from FFE, inner front hinge half-cracked, slight dust staining to page block edges, in a dust jacket that has about 1/8″ trimmed from top and bottom, and a larger amount (possibly 1/4″ to 1/2″) trimmed from inner flaps, not removing any text, but trimming the flap edges right to the edge of the text block, plus tape ghosts and a touch of edgewear; call it a Very Good-/Good+ Ex-Library copy, though it presents much better than that list of flaws would lead you to believe. Currey (1979), page 159. Levack, 38b. One of the rarest Dick hardcovers.

    World of Chance

    Shoegazer Sunday: Luna Tango Covering Slowdive’s “When The Sun Hits”

    Sunday, November 15th, 2015

    Here’s a nice cover of Slowdive’s “When the Sun Hits” by Luna Tango.

    Who are Luna Tango you ask?

    As far as I can tell, they’re not even a musical group, they’re a music circle at Japan’s Chuo University.

    Library Addition: Signed Isaac Asimov Limited Chapbook

    Thursday, November 12th, 2015

    This is one of the many things on my want list, since I always thought it was a neat little book, and I finally found a copy I could afford.

    Asimov, Isaac. Three By Asimov. Targ Editions, 1981. First edition hardback, one of 250 signed copies, a Fine copy in a Near Fine- tissue paper dust jacket with a 7/8″ semi-closed tear on the top right front cover, with associated wrinkles (the white streaks at left and top are reflection glare from the dust jacket protector). All the pages seem to be made of hand-made paper with ragged edges. Bought for $107.79 off eBay.

    Asimov3

    William Targ was a former editor at Putnam who ran a one-man small press in his retirement. This and the Ray Bradbury book Beyond 1984 were, as far as I know, the only SF Targ Editions published.