Jim Smith takes to the stage of the Theatre Passé Muraille Backspace to pay homage and share his memories of science fiction writer Judy Merril. A writer, I’m ashamed to admit I had not heard of, especially when confronted by the list of titles she’d penned. Merril crafted tales during the heyday of pulp science fiction…
Tag: pop culture
Fringe Toronto: Swordplay – A Play of Swords
This festival has seen one night constantly topping the next, as I juggle job, studio, blogging and shows… Last night’s performance at the Al Green Theatre by the Sex T-Rex company was ingenious, filled with belly-busting, slow-motion, high-flying physical comedy in all the things we hold true in terms of sword stories, be it fantasy…
Fringe Toronto: Hamlet… A Puppet Epic
So this morning I took in a Fringe Kids event, I mean it was Hamlet. And puppets. Hamlet WITH puppets. How could I resist? Presented by the puppet company Shakey-Shake and Friends, here in Toronto, this company, both human and puppet, are making their home in the George Ignatieff Theatre for the course of the…
Jodorowsky’s Dune (2013) – Frank Pavich
The most influential science fiction never made. There’s no other way to put it. The names involved with this film resonate across all of pop culture, and specifically the sci-fi films that followed this film, that never shot a single frame… I wanted to see this one as soon as I heard about it,…
Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) – Randall Lobb
Back in the mid-80s, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird created a huge pop culture touchstone for many of the children growing up in the 90s… four turtles, named for Renaissance artists, taught by an aged rat, living in the sewers, living off pizza, and fighting for justice against a cadre of menaces, with the…
Pulp Fiction (1994) – Quentin Tarantino
Pulp Fiction, quite possibly the best film in Tarantino’s oeuvre, is the next title in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film comedy section for me to take a look at. While not necessarily a full-out comedy, it is neither a full-out drama nor thriller either. What it does have is a fantastic…
Battlestar Galactica (1979) – Take the Celestra & The Hand of God
And just like that, one of the series that helped influence my childhood, and generated my love for pop culture comes to an end… For me, Galactica, and it’s follow-up series, the less than stellar Galctica 1980 (except the one episode The Return of Starbuck) will always be joined in my mind with CFB Borden,…
The Mind Reels 