Thanks, that sounds familiar now. I expect if we get to see more of the Citadel in The Winds of Winter this might all become clearer.

I'm extremely disappointed by Cumberkhan (awesome nick, btw). Khan worked in Wrath because he had history with Kirk. If Khan doesn't have the same history with Kirk, and if they're likely to throw out most of "Space Seed" and superman/Augment backstory, why have him be Khan? Why not create a whole new villain? Or use…

In ancient times on our world the year was tracked by astronomers charting the sun. The less-educated classes would have to count the seasons. But in Westeros, I've never seen any reference to Maesters or Septons doing astronomy, and the common folk probably wouldn't have access to that information anyway. So how do…

Who's keeping track of the years if they can't use the seasons as an accurate measure? I've never seen a Maester or a Septon refer to astronomical charts.

Most traditional high fantasy does take place on an Earth-like world. In this regard, Terry Pratchet's far more subversive than GRRM.

What's the famous quotation?

Kind of strange, eh? For centuries, English had no problems with borrowing words from other languages. But since the end of World War II, while every other language is borrowing from English, English is all of sudden standoffish.

Philosophically speaking, God is a "maximally great being" - along such attributes such as omniscience and omnipotence, having no cause is all another. If God had a cause, he would be definition, not be God.

+1

Even though I think this article gave me food for thought, I have to side with you. I've seen all those trends in my decade as a librarian, and there's sure to be more to follow.

The Axe Cop give you no break

How about Tracey Tormé? Co-creator of Sliders, wrote for Odyssey 5 and Carnivale, and the screenplay for Fire in the Sky.

I tend to dislike "hostile aliens" stories when no good reason for the aliens' hostility is given. (Titan AE does hint at one, but I dislike "evolve beyond this primitive flesh into pure energy" stories even more.) Also, silly 80s musical montage in a 90s movie?

You're absolutely correct, the back-to-the-land thinking is completely misguided. If anything, the opposite needs to happen: more people need to live in dense urban areas, with rural land reserved for agriculture and other necessary resources. Far less energy is expended if you don't have to worry about regularly…

The Adjustment Bureau? For me, that was just another stylish thriller using a science fiction premise but too focused on its style and thrills to examine its premise to its logical conclusions. It set itself apart by having characters I actually cared about and quality acting. Also, there are antagonists, but no real…

We don't usually do it on the site of the original city, though. Settlers from another land might name a new settlement "New ", but there are very few examples of calling a city "New" when rebuilding on the site of a previous settlement. generally either the original name is used or an entirely new one is.

I'm assuming it's a shorthand some pulp and Golden Age sf writers used to say "this story takes place in the future" in the shorter works they were usually confined to, and has just stuck around out of habit.

I liked the first one too. It was silly, but not any sillier than a typical episode of the 80s cartoon. I was only disappointed in the handling of some characters—especially the Baroness and Scarlett.

You better not be lying to me, JGL. Right now, Looper looks and sounds like yet another modern stylish sci-fi action thriller, built around a supposedly philosophical high concept idea. Most of them turn out to be superficial and not really think through their premise.

The Romanian film 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days is a good but extremely disturbing film about the culture of surveillance and silence surrounding illegal abortions under the Ceausescu regime, and the seedy subculture that facilitated them. Any "pro-lifer" should watch it and see if that's really the kind of society they…