“the awards have been slowly drifting away from the opinions and tastes of the mass audience, to the point where there is today almost a complete separation between the two.”

I’d change that to “the awards have drifted away...” something that was apparent in the 80s when I was active in fandom. One of the things that…

It’s the answer to that classic Firesign Theatre question: “Why does the porridge-bird lay his egg in the air?”

“What you’re looking at there is a giant vice that [The Winter Soldier’s] metal arm has been purposefully trapped in,”

It’s well-known that Nero Wolfe is Sherlock Holmes’ bastard by Irene Adler. His physical and psychological traits parallel those of Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, and Wolfe’s name, obviously a pseudonym is a concealed homage to his father: Sherlock Holmes.

The acting is what really hurts the movie. Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law seem to have been shown a couple of classic, “feisty woman bickers with heroic male constantly, but they really love each other” movies from the Tracy-Hepburn era, but it didn’t take for either of them.

In fact, Jude Law’s Sky Captain/Joe seems to…

Bought circa 1970 for $0.75. Appropriately enough, the only book I carried during my hitch in the Army. I used to open the book at random points during breaks and read a chapter or so. The back cover had a quote from the book in glaring 24-point type: “Bugs, Mr. Rico! Zillions of `em!” and I was nicknamed. “Mr. Rico”…

Readers who want to know more about Spade Cooley might be interested I wrote back in 2008. http://www.dreamtimepodcast.com/2008/05/episod…

“X-Men Apocalypse Set Pictures Offer A Glimpse Of The New Jean Grey” combined with ...

Agreed. His (unproduced,) "Alien 3" script is another example. The studio hired him in the hopes that they'd get a Neuromancer-like script. Instead, as one of the producers noted, they got a mediocre script that could have been written by any journeyman acreenwriter.

Wernher von Braun, whose biography was titled, "I Am at the Stars." Or, as Mort Sahl said, should have been titled, "I Aim at the Stars, but Sometimes Hit London."

Sea Monkeys have a fascinating backstory. They were the marketing brainchild of a Harold von Braunhut, a very strange man who also invented the X-Ray Specs Even though Jewish, Von Braunhut had close ties to the Aryan Nations. Sea-Monkey eggs went to space with John Glenn in 1998 and they were featured in a live-acti…

Released today. Varley can be inconsistent, but when he's on, he's writes SF as good as it gets. This is the fourth and last of his "Thunder & Lightning" series, a homage to Heinlein juveniles.

Probably covered in the 247 other replies, but either 6 (a) or 12 (a)

Hear hear

Thanks! Listening to it now

I so much want a "Do not urinate on this building" sign

The endless debate over "who" RAH was aside (and personally, I think Heinlein is the Bob Dylan of SF; he tends to reflect the reader's own prejudices or predilections), Patterson's biography is great and highly recommended to anyone interested in Heinlein. I would have preferred more analysis of Heinlein later works.…

When reporters asked [Alan] Shepard what he thought about as he sat atop the Redstone rocket, waiting for liftoff, he had replied, 'The fact that every part of this ship was built by the low bidder."

I was 11 years old when I first read Sunjammer in Boy's Life and, although I didn't realize it at the time, I had just entered the Golden Age of Science Fiction.