My Weekend - OSFest 7 - Omaha, Nebraska - August 1-3, 2014

My Weekend at OSFest 7
August 1-3, 2014

There are many conventions that are larger out there, but I cannot think that, at least for me, there are any that could be called better than the Omaha OSFest.  You may find that to be a debatable point, and that is your right.  As for me, I love OSFest.

It was a busy weekend for conventions when one takes into account that Shoreleave was taking place on the East Coast and STLV was raging out west.  Someday I might be able to get to one of those huge ones, but I really enjoy Omaha’s hospitality and being able to hobnob with friendly people the likes of which seem to be very common in Nebraska.

Anyway, it seemed that this year’s OSFest attendance was down a bit from last year’s event (read my blog post from OSFest 6 HERE).  As I visited with people also attending, there were many ideas, rumors, and speculations as to why this was, which I will not go into here because there is really nothing substantial to talk about.  The atmosphere was also more subdued then last year’s event; far more relaxed and not so hustled.  That, I am sure, is due in part to the fact that I had been there before and the experience wasn’t new as it was last year.  However, in light of what I just said, it is not to say that there wasn’t plenty to do.  There were wall to wall activities, displays, demonstrations, and panel discussions, and all on numerous subjects that should have been able to appeal to everyone.

On Friday night, I participated on a Dune panel that I had proposed earlier this year.  I was joined on the panel by John Shoberg of the IKSRaptor’s Heart group and at the last minute, was also joined by Patrick Kennedy of PoKoArt (if you are a Dune fan, Pat is an artist who produces some very beautiful art and due to how Dune has influenced him, much of his art reflects this).  The Dune panel was patterned after a panel discussion held at this year’s Farpoint convention by my Dune Saga Podcast partners David Moulton and Scott Hertzog (access that panel discussion HERE).  I designed the Dune panel to be a broad discussion with audience participation to discuss the books and films.  It was well attended and some of the audience did indeed participate.  It was fun and I am hoping to do another panel next year on the same subject, however, as my partner John suggested, it will be a bit more focused on one aspect of the Dune universe.

After the panel was done, I found a room party to attend where Pat Kennedy and I discussed Dune some more; a lot more actually.

Maggie Egan at Opening Ceremonies.

Saturday was another busy day.  The Media Guest of Honor was Maggie Egan of Babylon 5 fame.  If you are not familiar with Maggie’s work, she appeared as Jane, the Interstellar Network News anchor in ten episodes of Babylon 5 and also came back in the same capacity in the Crusade series.  She has also appeared in numerous other shows and about 600 commercials.  What a pleasant person she was to listen to as she told her stories.  I was able to score an interview with her in the afternoon which will appear in a future episode of The Babylon Project Podcast hosted by Raul Ybarra and me.  I also attended panels with Maggie and got two autographed photos, one for me and one for Raul (I couldn’t very well leave out my partner, could I?).

Troy Rutter with a license plate signed by Jason Carter

I also met with Troy Rutter.  Now his name may not be as familiar, but he was also (and continues to be) a part of the Babylon 5 family.  Troy was the man responsible for all of the internet media that was involved with the show.  Long before Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, he was pioneering what we now take for granted today.  I was also able to have an extensive interview with him which will also appear on The Babylon Project Podcast in the near future.

By Sunday, I was pretty wiped out.  I attended a panel on the Philosophy of Star Trek which we discussed the extension of sentience to beings other than humans.  This panel was hosted by Natasha Mohr and Matt McKeever.  After that, it was time to head home.

Maggie and Me

All in all, it was another amazing weekend.  I brought home some things to think about and am looking forward to next year’s OSFest 8.

Here are some of the other pictures I snapped during the weekend…

Chrissy holding a blaster and wearing a "Fett" helmet.  She had the right shirt.

I found Q shopping in the dealer's area.

Chrissy and I with Boba Fett. That is an amazing costume.

Another Great Costume.

Cat Woman!

A Starfleet Officer tending her tribble.

The pictures cannot do the detail on these models justice...

John Shoberg of the IKS Raptor's Heart in full Klingon regalia.

Troy Rutter, Maggie Egan, and Mitch Obrecht at the B5+20 Panel

Art by Patrick Kennedy - Shai Hulud.

Also by Patrick Kennedy.

Chrissy chose R2.  A graphite drawing.

Autographed photo of Maggie Egan as Jane.

Well, there it is…

Q’aplaH!

Fluency - A Fresh Story by Jennifer Foehner Wells - Excellent Story From A New Author

Fluency by Jennifer Foehner Wells.

A few months ago, I cannot remember how, I learned about a new author, Jennifer Wells, was working on a new novel that was based on space travel.  I followed her on Twitter and friended her on Facebook in hopes of getting some idea on what the book was going to be about, and when it might be released.  A few weeks ago, I learned that the book had been released and immediately put it on my Amazon wishlist with the intention of reading it yet this summer.  A few days ago, Jennifer mentioned that her book was available for the Kindle at a very reasonable price so I snagged it since I was getting to the end of another book I was reading.

So I purchased Fluency on Monday and finished it this morning, Wednesday.  It isn’t because the book is short, it is about an average length, but when it comes to quality, in my opinion, it is well above average, especially for a new author.

A NASA craft called Providence is on a mission to Mars with a crew of five.  At least that is the story for the public.  Actually, the crew is on a mission to a huge spacecraft that was discovered in 1964.  It seems that most of the U.S. space program has been geared toward studying this mysterious ship that is just hanging, apparently not functional, in the asteroid belt near Mars.

The story revolves around one astronaut on this mission in particular; a linguist named Jane Holloway.  Jane is at the top of her field and was at the top of a very short list of linguists that NASA considered for the mission.  Being someone who can quickly understand languages, spoken or written, it is her job to act as an ambassador to whomever may be residing on the “Target” as the ship is called.

After a year of travel from Earth, the crew of the Providence reaches the Target.  Suddenly the heretofore thought to be a possible derelict ship comes to life.  Jane is inundated with images of her past as a child and soon hears a voice in her head from the navigator of the ship, Ei’Brai the last sentient inhabitant of the craft.  The remainder of her the Jane’s crew worry that she is being manipulated by the voice of the ship.  Some want to leave immediately while others want to stay and learn as much as they can.

As the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that Jane is being groomed by Ei’Brai for an adventure that no human has ever experienced before.

Jennifer has written one of the strongest female characters in science fiction, since Ellen Ripley of Alien fame.  Jane’s character is compassionate and maintains her humanity while establishing herself as a hero.  Jane doesn’t use violence as her tool for being heroic, but rather uses her intellect and wits to analyze and resolve the obstacles that are thrown her way.

Another prominent member of the crew, Alan Bergen is an engineer/astronaut that tries to aid Jane along the way.  Bergen believes in jane and somewhat reluctantly follows her lead to keep the rest of the crew on track.

Ei’Brai, the ship’s navigator was one of the most interesting characters written because as I read, I felt that at some points he was benevolent, while at others he was the real enemy to be feared and beaten.  It isn’t until the end that we find out which.  This was one of the most fun parts of reading Fluency

If there is a weakness to this story, it might be that the author, while doing an awesome job of developing her main characters, but I personally would have liked to known a bit more about the other members of the crew, particularly the motivations behind Walsh, the mission’s commander.

This story is a tapestry of action right from the opening lines. It never lets up with exception of some interludes and images of flashbacks caused by the ship’s navigator in the minds of some of the crew  The situation on board becomes desperate and seemingly hopeless a few times, but thanks to Jane, Ei’Brai, and Bergen’s level-headedness many of the situations are solved in some very interesting ways.

This story is very open-ended and would seem to be begging loudly for a sequel, which would be fun, but I personally think this story stands very well alone.  I wonder if Jennifer didn’t intend for the reader to use their imagination to continue the story.

Fluency is a real page-turner; I really hated to stop reading and found that even though I had other things I should have been doing, I kept drifting back to see what happens next.

I recommend this story for sci-fi fans that enjoy a good book that deals with humanity and how we might behave during an encounter with an unknown.  Jennifer has a good grasp on how a situation such as what is in the story might shake out.  I am very much looking forward to her future work

Well, there it is…

Q’aplaH’!

John Scalzi's REDSHIRTS - Good, But Not Great.

Redshirts by John Scalzi – 2012

Over the past couple of years, I have been hearing about Redshirts, mostly good.  There were those that said it was a fun book, others said that it was hilariously funny.  A Facebook friend of mine started reading it and posted about it a couple of times, so I thought I would give it a try.

First, what is a “redshirt?”  As a long time Trek fan, I know that they are the people from The Original Series that would beam down to the planet with Kirk and sometimes wound up getting killed in the opening minutes of the show.  Apparently, the title has been given to anyone on any television series, book, or movie that suffers the same fate as those in the early days of Trekdom.

In Redshirts, we follow a group of junior officers that have been assigned to the Intrepid, the flagship of the Universal Union.  One ensign, Andy Dahl, takes the lead as he sees that on every away mission from the ship, some junior officer meets an ill fate, while it seems that the senior officers, who are in the same danger, always seem to come out unscathed, with the exception of one.  The one senior officer that gets injured in some way always pulls through, usually through some heroic measures that are taken on his behalf.  Dahl notices all of this and begins to investigate what might be taking place.

With the help of others, Dahl determines that there is some sort of warp causing an old television show from our current reality to intrude on the Intrepid’s reality.  A junior officer named Jenkins has made this assumption based on statistics that he has compiled and by comparing his findings to science fictions shows that have aired in the past.  Dahl determines that he must go back in time and stop the production of the television show so that his reality is no longer being influenced by it.

Sounds kind of like Star Trek in the Twilight Zone doesn’t it?  That is what I was thinking whlile I read Redshirts. 

I have to admit that it took me quite a while to get through this story.  I would read a chapter and set it aside for a few days, and then I would read another chapter, and again set it aside.  At a few points, I would think about reading, and then find something else to do.  I did this until I hit about the half-way point of the book when the story really picks up in pace and gets interesting.  Before that, I seriously considered setting it aside for good; from that half-way point on, I finished the book in an afternoon because it was that engaging.

I think that my problem with Redshirts was that it seemed like the exposition was never going to come to an end.  The characters in that first half were slogging around trying to avoid being killed and the reason for the problem seemed to take forever to get to, then the solution to the problem took even longer.  But once it was determined what had to be done to resolve the dilemma, and the plan was put into action, the story moved at a rollercoaster pace, and was well worth the wait.

The author includes three “codas” that tell more about three of the characters in the story.  I found these last three appendices to be amongst the best part of the book.

Scalzi surrounded this story with a lot of dry humor that one might expect to find taking place in the midst of any group of people working together in jobs that are otherwise routine in nature.  Some exchanges are quite funny and unexpected, and would never appear in a television show.  It is the story of what might take place behind the scenes away from the main cast of a series such as Star Trek or other space opera.  While I would say this is a good book, I wouldn’t call it a great book.  It is worth the time to read, but don’t expect too much beyond it being good, fun entertainment.

Well, there it is…

QaplaH’!

Captain America: Winter Soldier - It Won't Leave You Cold - Awesome Entertainment From Marvel Studios

Captain America: Winter Soldier – 2014

The SPOILER light is on for this one.  Read on at your own peril.

Way back on June 15^th of 2013, I reviewed Man of Steel and stated that it was the best superhero film I had ever seen.  I stated that it had set the bar pretty high for that particular genre.  I stand by that statement, but I have to admit, happily I might add, that Marvel came back and not only met the standard set by Man Of Steel, but actually has raised the bar even higher with Captain America: Winter Soldier.

The film opens with Steve Rogers and his friend, Sam Wilson going for a run together, well kind of together.  While Sam is struggling to get one lap around the Capital, Steve does three laps passing Sam numerous times.  When they stop running, Steve and Sam talk about how Steve is managing to cope in modern society.  He actually seems to be doing quite well educating himself on the ins and outs of being a man decades out of his own time.  Steve then receives a message calling him to a mission to rescue a number of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents being held hostage on an agency ship.  Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow, arrives shortly after to join Steve on his mission. 

During the hostage rescue, Steve finds that Natasha has another mission to extract information stored on the ship’s computer and return it to Nick Fury.  Steve confronts Fury about this and is briefed on Operation Insight.  Insight consists of three helicarriers that are linked by satellite to be a preemptive measure against threats to national security.  Nick unsuccessfully attempts to access the information that came from the ship causing him to be suspicious of Insight.

While Fury is on his way to meet with another agent, he is ambushed by a multitude of hit men being led by a masked assassin known as the Winter Soldier.  Fury is shot, but manages to escape to Steve’s apartment, where fury gives him the flashdrive and tells him that shield has been compromised, so he should not trust anyone.  Steve is then called to meet with Secretary Alexander Pierce, part of a council that works to insure world security.  Pierce asks Steve to tell him what information he received from Fury.  When Steve refuses to tell him anything, he tags him a fugitive and orders his arrest.  Steve manages to escape and contact Natasha.  The flashdrive direct them to a bunker in New Jersey.  In the deep subbasement of the bunker was an old computer that surprisingly has a flashdrive interface.  When they plug the flashdrive in, it activates a supercomputer that contains the disembodied consciousness of Arnim Zola, who as you should remember was the scientific assistant to the Red Skull.

Zola explains that after World War Two, an organization called HYDRA whose sole purpose is to create chaos all over the world to the point that everyone is willing to give up their freedoms in favor of security.  He further explains that HYDRA has infiltrated all levels of every government, including S.H.I.E.L.D.  Not only has HYDRA infiltrated governments, but it has also gotten their man in on the World Security Council in the person of Pierce.

Even with the spoilers I have mentioned above, there are still many surprises, twists, and turns.  Some that made me want to stand up and cheer right there in the theater.  This is a great movie.

It was a great pleasure to see all of the elements come together in this film to make something very special in Winter Soldier.  The script and the cast really was artfully blended by the director to make a film that didn’t go over the top.  While Captain America was the center of the attention and the action in this film, all the other parts played very well developed and strong roles.  There was humor in the script, but just the right amount for enjoyment while not calling undue attention to itself.  There were some very poignant moments where one could feel the emotion of the characters.  The visual effects were stunning while, again, not overdone and complement the story and do not become the story.

It was probably put best to me on Facebook from my good friend Hank Davis of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Podcast when he said, “They humanized a super soldier in my opinion. This movie could have been done without any superheroes at all. I loved the theme of the movie!”  One doesn't need to be a comic fan to appreciate this film; you might be a little out of the loop as far as character background is concerned though.

A real treat for the fans of Marvel movies was the introduction of the character Sam Wilson; the Falcon.  Brilliantly played by Sam Mackie, I am hoping to see him in many future films in the marvel universe.  He is very easy going and I liked him from the first moment he was on the screen.

I really enjoyed was seeing Robert Redford on the big screen again in his role of Pierce.  Redford was a really hot property during the 1970’s and 80’s playing many different roles in several hit films.  It has been said that his role in Captain America was in homage to his film Three Days of the Condor.

And what of the character that has his name appear in the title, Winter Soldier?  It is revealed who the character is and how he came to be, but this film is not the end of his story.  I'm not going to reveal who he turns out to be, but please be sure, if you aren't familiar with the comic book Captain America, that you at least see the first film in the C.A. Saga, Captain America: The First Avenger before you see Winter Soldier.

 

Well, there it is…

QaplaH’!