Direct beam comms #1

TV

The SyFy series The Expanse and Childhood’s End premier Monday night this week. The Expanse takes place several hundred years in the future where space travel is common but something found in the depths of space might spell doom for humanity while Childhood’s End is an adaptation of the Arthur C. Clarke book of the same name where seemingly benevolent aliens visit the Earth. And if sci-fi has taught me anything it’s that aliens are almost never as benevolent as they first appear!

I’ve already watched the first episode of The Expanse, SyFy released it early a few weeks ago. The show’s pretty good, it seems to be a cross between the aesthetic of, say, a Stargate and storytelling of Battlestar Galactica. Which means it’s slick, but with substance.

X-Men the Age of Apocalypse poster
X-Men the Age of Apocalypse poster

Movies

The third week of December marks the traditional start of Star Wars, where the fans line up in droves and wait hours to see a movie we’ll all be able to watch for ourselves at home in a few months.

Books

I recently picked up the art books The Art of John Bolton, The Fastner & Larson Gallery and The Art of Brom at a local used book store. I really like Bolton and Fastner & Larson’s styles, but was surprised just how much cheesecake art these two books contained. I’ve got nothing against cheesecake, but the sheer amount of scantily clad women in these books… wow! And I’ve been on the lookout for a Brom book for years now ever since my brother picked one up many moons ago where I fell in love with his art.

On the Horizon

Currently, I’m working on articles for “The best of the rest of 2015” which is due out January 1, one about The X-Files which should be out January 15 and Better Call Saul for February 5. I really need to start watching and reviewing the back half of Space: Above and Beyond in order to finish up my series since this is the dark, shut-in time of year, but I’ve been really lazy of late and haven’t been able to bring myself to do it.