04
Feb
Last week saw the launch of an enormous resource for science fiction fans, the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction by lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower. The site includes 1,800 entries going back to the dawn of the 20th century, the dictionary contains not only definitions but also earliest known uses, biographical information about the writers, and over 1,600 scans of the original pages where these words first appeared. It’s a fascinating time-suck of a website which brings some real revelations about the history of everyday science fiction phrases such as ray gun, transmat, flying saucer, and droid (not Star Wars as it…
30
Oct
If push came to shove, I’d choose my PC over a PS5 or Xbox Series X over the next five years or so. It just comes down to personal preferences. I love mods, I love a mouse and keyboard, I love being able to relatively easily access decades of PC gaming history, and I’m excited about the increased support of the PC platform by studios like Sony and Sega as well as Microsoft’s commitment to bringing most of their games to PC via Game Pass. You may notice that I didn’t mention graphics: one of the cornerstones of most PC…
21
Oct
Smokey and the Bandit, the 1977 comedy classic that cemented the superstardom of the late Burt Reynolds, will soon make an audacious attempt to smuggle itself back into the pop culture picture, with a television series now in the works at Universal Content Productions. David Gordon Green (Halloween, The Righteous Gemstones) has been tapped to develop, write, executive-produce and direct the prospective pilot for a new small screen take on the Southern, car-chase-centric, antihero-hailing Universal film franchise on behalf of studio subsidiary UCP. Green will write alongside Brian Sides, a frequent collaborator of Green’s who also directs and produces documentary…
16
Jul
Drive-in theaters may be a solution for movie-goers while social distancing, but they’re not here to stay in the long run. “All at once, the few drive-in theaters left have found themselves with the perfect storm: Americans can’t sit close together, but they’re dying to get out of the house. Alongside high-tech modern lifesavers like Zoom and apps that bring you food, the humble, retro drive-in theater has likewise found itself in the awkward position of benefiting from a global pandemic: the venues are “making a comeback thanks to coronavirus” and “just might save the film industry.” But drive-in movie…
20
Apr
Hunter S. Thompson liked to say “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” And monstrous times call for monstrous measures. As the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on the movie industry, forcing major indoor theater chains to close and new movies to be released in miniature through streaming, the classic B-Movie film Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971) will be seen on the big screens. Veteran producer and B-movie showman, Sam Sherman, will take his newly restored reissue of the Independent-International Pictures library of B-Movie drive-in films on a retro roadshow. The camp classics tour will be screened across the nation…
08
Apr
Highly Recommended The unique pleasures of the Drive-In movie theater experience are hard to come by these days. Prolific in the 1950s, usually out in the sticks where they nixed hick pix, their numbers have dwindled from more than 4,000 to less than 300, most of those barely hanging on. One such venue, the Mahoning Drive-In, located in Lehighton, in rural Pennsylvania, is the subject of Alexander Monelli's excellent documentary At the Drive-In (2017). Movies had been exhibited outdoors since the early silent days, but the first official drive-in theater is generally thought to have been one built by chemical…
