All posts by ntbadmin

Books

2017 Hugos

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Winners of the 2017 Hugo Awards 

(presented on the evening of Friday, August 11, 2017 at a ceremony at the 75th World Science Fiction Convention.)

Best Novel

  • The Obelisk Gate, by N. K. Jemisin (Orbit Books)
  • All the Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor Books / Titan Books)
  • A Closed and Common Orbit, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager US)
  • Death’s End, by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu (Tor Books / Head of Zeus)
  • Ninefox Gambit, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris Books)
  • Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer (Tor Books)

Best Novella

  • Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com publishing)
  • The Ballad of Black Tom, by Victor LaValle (Tor.com publishing)
  • The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe, by Kij Johnson (Tor.com publishing)
  • Penric and the Shaman, by Lois McMaster Bujold (Spectrum Literary Agency)
  • A Taste of Honey, by Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com publishing)
  • This Census-Taker, by China Miéville (Del Rey / Picador)

Best Novelette

  • “The Tomato Thief”, by Ursula Vernon (Apex Magazine, January 2016)
  • Alien Stripper Boned From Behind By The T-Rex, by Stix Hiscock (self-published)
  • “The Art of Space Travel”, by Nina Allan (Tor.com , July 2016)
  • “The Jewel and Her Lapidary”, by Fran Wilde (Tor.com publishing, May 2016)
  • “Touring with the Alien”, by Carolyn Ives Gilman (Clarkesworld Magazine, April 2016)
  • “You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay”, by Alyssa Wong (Uncanny Magazine, May 2016)

Best Short Story

  • “Seasons of Glass and Iron”, by Amal El-Mohtar (The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, Saga Press)
  • “The City Born Great”, by N. K. Jemisin (Tor.com, September 2016)
  • “A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers”, by Alyssa Wong (Tor.com, March 2016)
  • “Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies”, by Brooke Bolander (Uncanny Magazine, November 2016)
  • “That Game We Played During the War”, by Carrie Vaughn (Tor.com, March 2016)
  • “An Unimaginable Light”, by John C. Wright (God, Robot, Castalia House)

Best Related Work

  • Words Are My Matter: Writings About Life and Books, 2000-2016, by Ursula K. Le Guin (Small Beer)
  • The Geek Feminist Revolution, by Kameron Hurley (Tor Books)
  • The Princess Diarist, by Carrie Fisher (Blue Rider Press)
  • Traveler of Worlds: Conversations with Robert Silverberg, by Robert Silverberg and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro (Fairwood)
  • The View From the Cheap Seats, by Neil Gaiman (William Morrow / Harper Collins)
  • The Women of Harry Potter posts, by Sarah Gailey (Tor.com)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

  • Arrival, screenplay by Eric Heisserer based on a short story by Ted Chiang, directed by Denis Villeneuve (21 Laps Entertainment/FilmNationEntertainment/Lava Bear Films)
  • Deadpool, screenplay by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick, directed by Tim Miller (Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation/Marvel Entertainment/Kinberg Genre/TheDonners’ Company/TSG Entertainment)
  • Ghostbusters, screenplay by Katie Dippold & Paul Feig, directed by Paul Feig (Columbia Pictures/LStar Capital/Village Roadshow Pictures/Pascal Pictures/FeigcoEntertainment/Ghostcorps/The Montecito Picture Company)
  • Hidden Figures, screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi, directed by Theodore Melfi (Fox 2000 Pictures/Chernin Entertainment/Levantine Films/TSGEntertainment)
  • Rogue One, screenplay by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy, directed by Gareth Edwards (Lucasfilm/Allison Shearmur Productions/Black Hangar Studios/Stereo D/WaltDisney Pictures)
  • Stranger Things, Season One, created by the Duffer Brothers (21 Laps Entertainment/Monkey Massacre)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

  • The Expanse: “Leviathan Wakes”, written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, directed by Terry McDonough (SyFy)
  • Black Mirror: “San Junipero”, written by Charlie Brooker, directed by Owen Harris (House of Tomorrow)
  • Doctor Who: “The Return of Doctor Mysterio”, written by Steven Moffat, directed by Ed Bazalgette (BBC Cymru Wales)
  • Game of Thrones: “Battle of the Bastards”, written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, directed by Miguel Sapochnik (HBO)
  • Game of Thrones: “The Door”, written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, directed by Jack Bender (HBO)
  • Splendor & Misery [album], by Clipping (Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, Jonathan Snipes)
Television

Veep 1.07

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Veep 1.07 – Full Disclosure

With the Veep and her staff taking flack over a pregnancy rumor and the firing of the Smiling Secret Service Agent, Selina, who had a miscarriage, orders a ‘partial’ full disclosure of all office correspondence. Selina dispatches Dan to make sure the Macauley Amendment (i.e. the toxic Clean Jobs bill) cannot be traced back to her.

And with the perception growing that her office is increasingly nonfunctioning, Selina threatens to fire a key staffer. Also Ted and Selina break up via Gary.

 

The miscarriage was a surprise. But it seemed inevitable that eventually Amy would be the one to ‘fake’ a pregnancy.

Okay. Thank you. All right, obviously it is not gonna be full disclosure. Okay? It’s gonna be partial disclosure light. We don’t want to have a paper trail on clean jobs. Nothing about Sidney Purcell having access to clean jobs, all right? We have to check Sue’s calendar, make sure there are no meetings there that I did-didn’t have.

It’s the secret service, for Christ’s sake.  Secret as in shut the fuck up. And service as in you work for me, okay? So why don’t you shut the fuck up? We have an enemy and I want a name and a severed head that answers to that name, or would if it could still talk.

Selina.Quote

 

Books, Movies

Witches

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The Witches is a 1990 British/American dark fantasy horror film based on the children’s novel of the same title by Roald Dahl. It was directed by Nicolas Roeg and produced by The Jim Henson Company for Lorimar Film Entertainment and Warner Bros., starring Anjelica Huston, Mai Zetterling, Rowan Atkinson, and Jasen Fisher. It is the last theatrical film to be produced by Lorimar before the company shut down 3 years later in 1993.

As in the novel, the story fantasises witches who masquerade as ordinary women and kill children, but are foiled and exterminated by a boy and his grandmother after the boy is turned into a mouse. The film was very well received by critics but performed poorly at the box office.

A simple story about a boy who becomes a mouse and takes on a gaggle of witches. It’s fun and entertaining. As expected from Roald Dahl, things get dark and slightly scary. The ending is a disappointment as it’s not the same as the book and provides an unnecessary “happy” ending.

 

Television

Veep 1.06

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Veep 1.06 – Baseball

Selina hosts a conference to promote healthy eating at Baltimore’s Camden Yards baseball park, but her pitch is balked at by some foul-tempered fast-food executives, where she also confides a secret to Amy concerning Ted.

Meanwhile, Mike holds a press briefing for local reporters; and Amy and Dan do their best to entertain students at an elementary school before the vice president arrives. Selina discovers she is pregnant.

Patrick Fischler, who plays Ken the photographer, is Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s brother-in-law, being married to Lauren Bowles, her half-sister. So Selina is pregnant. My bet is that Gary stuffed something up and it’s not true. But it did bring the best moment, Selina listening to children and processing this information.

 

Television

Veep 1.05

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Veep 1.05 – Nicknames

Bloggers’ nicknames for Selina become her next obsession; Dan goes on a fact-finding mission after his boss is snubbed by the president that includes spending time with Jonah; it’s make-or-break time for the clean-jobs bill.

Selona gets to shout, swear and be even more obnoxious in this episode. And it makes things funnier. Julia Louis-Dreyfus just makes these things more of a character flaw than something off-putting.

That’s like trying to use a croissant as a fucking dildo! It doesn’t do the job, and it makes a fucking mess!

Selina.Quote

 

 

Books

Dead Guy

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Space Team: Return of the Dead Guy
(Space Team #6)
by Barry J. Hutchison (2017)

They may have recently averted a full-scale galactic war, but Cal Carver and Space Team just can’t stay out of trouble.

When a ‘Weird Space Thing™’ threatens to destroy planet Earth, Cal is determined to stop it. But when they get there, they find the place is still swarming with parasitic extra-terrestrial bugs, and that there isn’t a whole lot left to save.

Cal takes on the multi-verse…… and wins.
How, I don’t know. Little of this book makes and sense. Sure, it’s comedy Sci-Fi, but the author could have at least tried some science. This makes it the least successful of the series. (so far).

Television

Veep 1.04

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Veep 1.04 – Chung

Following an interview on Meet the Press, a slip of the tongue by Selina is misconstrued as a racist dig at one of her political rivals. The VP and her team go into recovery mode, trying to take the spotlight off Selina by visiting the sick and injured at a local hospital. Gary and Amy make a startling discovery about Selina’s romantic life.

This was aired just a week after Joe Biden endorsed gay marriage.
Probably the most famous was Reagan’s quip about bombing Russia.

And another great rant.

 

 

Television

Veep 1.03

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Veep 1.03 – Catherine

Sarah Sutherland, daughter of Kiefer Sutherland and granddaughter  to Donald Sutherland plays Selins’a daughter Catherine. This was her first role.

Kate Burton, daughter of Richard Burton and Sybil Burton plays Barbara Hallowes.

The VP and her team discover that her appointee for the Clean Jobs Commission is unacceptable. Selina celebrates 20 years in Washington, D.C., but tries to keep a low profile after a newspaper article paints her as a diva and rumors float about her feud with the First Lady. Meanwhile, Selina’s college-age daughter arrives for a visit, and is surprised that her mother is looking for a dog but appalled by her reaction to “Selina” being on the list of names for hurricanes.

 

Movies

Madagascar 3

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Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted is a 2012 American 3D computer-animated comedy film, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures.1 It is the third installment of the Madagascar series and the sequel to Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008). It is also the first in the series to be released in 3D. The film is directed by Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, and Conrad Vernon.

In this film, Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria are still struggling to get home to New York. This time, their journey takes them to Europe, where they are relentlessly pursued by the murderous Monaco-based French Animal Control officer Captain Chantel Dubois (Frances McDormand).

As a means of getting passage to North America, the animals join a circus, where they become close friends with the animal performers, including the new characters of Gia (Jessica Chastain), Vitaly (Bryan Cranston), and Stefano (Martin Short). Together, they spectacularly revitalize the business and along the way find themselves reconsidering where their true home really is.

They say that a good villain is important to a heroic story. Here we have one of the best. Capt Dubois is relentless and funny, despite not making any jokes. She drives the story forward and forces the characters to change. Also great are the penguins, they come up with the most amazing hair-brained schemes that work on first try.

Zippy, funny and ultimately rewarding everyone should enjoy this.