Spec fic edition

In case you have been living without a TV (like me), you may have missed the hype leading to the new series Dollhouse, created by Joss Whedon and starring Eliza Dushku (Faith from Buffy!). I did hear a great interview of Joss on Fresh Air (NPR). Unlike most directors, he is genuinely interesting, and mentioned, among others things, that he had consulted informally with a feminist group while creating Dollhouse. By the way, Joss is a fan of Battlestar Galactica (also available online) whose early seasons are definitely on par with the best of Buffy. In fact, hearing the creator's commentary on Battlestar Galactica only served to remind me how much I enjoyed Joss' commentary on Buffy (the BSG commentaries are not that insightful).

The premise of Dollhouse is an illegal operation that recruits volunteers, wipes their memories and personalities, implants new ones according to customer specs, and rents out the dolls for usage. I saw the first episode, available online; although I wasn't completely sold on the show, I am definitely willing to watch more to see where they go with it.

The Fresh Air interview reminded me Joss' other recent project, Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog. Apparently the DVD version has a sing-along commentary with the directors, etc, singing their commentary! Clearly these are people who like their job; Dr. Horrible was actually made during the writer's strike. (If they stopped paying you, how hard would you work?) By the way, the actor (if he looks familiar to you) is Neil Patrick Harris, who also played Doogie Howser.


Today Mike and I went to Boskone, the New England Sci Fi Assoc's annual convention in Boston. It was really fun! The best part was seeing so many speculative fiction fans (who on average are and look like nerds) being totally un-self-conscious of wearing a warrior's cape, chain mail, or a zillion scarves, and just having fun in a supportive, positive atmosphere. We saw Geoffrey Landis, who is actually also a real scientist, read some of his poems and a short story. We were two of six people in that room! The most entertaining poem was 'Gulliver's Boots', about a pair of Exponential Boots that always takes its wearer twice as far as the previous step. We also heard some filk, browsed a lot of books and artwork (see left for a tie containing the Tardis), and sniffed a lot of spice concoctions. If you visit me, look for the print 'Cave Cooking with Chef Dragone'. Any takers for next year? :)

Mike recently introduced me to some sci fi that made me doubt my love for the genre (Dr. Who: Logopolis). However, now I must say that it was not all in vain, for I readily recognized the blue phone booth on the Tardis tie. It's true that the idea of the Logopolians is cool (they are human calculators who compute the form of the universe, which is too difficult a calculation for computers), but the production, the writing, the soundtrack, the acting... ack!

Here are two of my current favorite authors: Lois McMaster Bujold, who writes space odyssey and epic fantasy (awesome storytelling); and George RR Martin, who writes truly creepy under-your-fingernails short stories ('The Pear-shaped Man' and 'Sandkings') and apparently also writes great fantasy, although I haven't read those books yet.