A Win for Big Blue

September 25, 2015 at 1:54 pm

The Giants won their first game of the season last night.

About time, I say. At this point they should actually be 3-0, since they went into the fourth quarter of the Dallas and Atlanta game with double-digit leads, only to blow both contests. Last night, thankfully, they hung on and won convincingly.

But I am not reading that much into this. It was a win, yes, but a home win over Washington, and the G-Men have owned the Redskins in recent years. Eli looked good last night, and Odell Beckham Junior continues to look great. Reuben Randal came up big as well, thank ghod. But I still have questions about the defense. In the fourth quarter, they had not one but two chances to end the game by stopping Washington on fourth-and-long, but gave up first downs both times. And the pass rush is just not there. Will JPP ever return? If he does, will he be the player he was, minus a finger and half his thumb? Who knows? But boy, the G-Men need him.

Victor Cruz will return next week, they say. That will be great, and should lift the offense to the next level. But how Spags gets the D to the next level, I don’t know.

Even at 1-2, the opportunity is there for the Giants, with the Eagles reeling and the Cowboys suffering devastating injuries to Dez and Romo. Whether they will be good enough to take advantage of the chance remains to be seen. There are sterner tests a-coming.

Tags: nfl

Coming to the Cocteau

September 23, 2015 at 2:59 pm

For all you New Mexican out there… and for travellers passing through the Land of Enchantment… we have lots of cool stuff coming to the Jean Cocteau Cinema these next couple of months, starting this Friday when we open EVEREST.

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We also have some cool special events and booksignings coming up.

On October 6, WILLIAM GIBSON, the father of cyberpunk, will be here for an interview and Q&A, and to sign copies of new novel THE PERIPHERAL. Reserve your copies early; we expect a sellout, as with many of our author events.

From October 9 through October 14, we’ll be hosting a WES CRAVEN RETROSPECTIVE, to honor the late great director whose death on August 30 saddened millions of his fans. I had the honor of working with Wes once — he directed one of my TWILIGHT ZONE episodes, though sadly the episode was gutted by CBS before broadcast. A great guy, and an immense talent. We’ll be showing several of his best known films, and hope to bring in some special guests via Skype.

On November 8, another author event. This time we are bringing in bestselling author DEBORAH HARKNESS. Harkness was originally scheduled a few months ago, but flight delays forced a cancellation… but this time we hope the airlines will be more helpful, and get her to Santa Fe on time.

We had sold-out houses for our burlesque performances earlier this month, so we’re going to do it again… this time with the SUICIDE GIRLS!

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Alas, our small (very small) stage at the JCC isn’t big enough to accomodate all the Suicide Girls, so we’ll be offering a somewhat downscaled version of their usual show… but that should still be pretty kickass, and there is something to be said for an intimate setting. And as everyone who has seen them knows, the Suicide Girls never disappoint.

That one should be a sellout too. Tickets are $35 (18 and over, please) and can be bought on the JCC website at http://www.jeancocteaucinema.com/event/suicide-girls-blackheart-burlesque/?instance_id=36360 . A portion of every ticket will be donated to our friends at the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary down in Candy Kitchen.

See you at the show!

Tags: jean cocteau cinema, movies, signed books, signings

Pugh Is Coming

September 22, 2015 at 6:02 pm

Blank walls beware!

Is there anything as boring as a blank wall?

The windowless back wall of 418-420 Montezuma, the old building that houses the Jean Cocteau Cinema, the Wheelhouse Gallery, Wild Hair Salon, and a dozen assorted offices has been largely featureless… well, for decades, since they knocked down the building that once attached to it, way back when.

Here’s the way it looked when I acquired the building in 2013:

Pretty ugly, I think you’ll agree. The back of the building fronts on the tracks of the Railrunner and the Santa Fe Southern Railyard, so there are often trains back there… but nothing else, aside from weeds, stumps, and some garbage. Not the most attractive scene to greet visitors arriving in our City Different for the first time on the Railrunner.

Of course, we cleaned out the garbage, cut down the weeds, and re-stuccoed when we took over the building, two years ago. After that the back wall looked like this:

Better, I think you’ll agree. Cleaner. But still boring, still blank.

I couldn’t let that stand. To me, “blank” means “blank slate,” and that means art. So I commissioned John Pugh, the world famous muralist and trompe l’oiel master whose previous work I blogged about downstream, to paint a mural for the back wall at Montezuma.

John has been at work on it for a year and a half, and tomorrow he will arrive in Santa Fe to begin the process of installation. The official unveiling of the latest John Pugh “narrative illusion” will be next week, Tuesday, at 5:30 pm. Come and join us. There’s no charge, and a reception will follow in the Wheelhouse Gallery next door.

Coming into Santa Fe by train will never be boring again.

Tags: artwork, jean cocteau cinema

A New Record

September 21, 2015 at 11:16 pm

Back from the Emmy Awards in LA.

A night to remember.

GAME OF THRONES set a new record for number of wins by a series in a single year. Eight last week, and four more on Sunday. That’s twelve.

Pretty impressive haul when you line them up like that.

The previous record was nine, set by WEST WING.

Anyway… I will have more to say about the Emmys and all that, but we’ve only been home a few hours, and I’m still pretty tired (celebrating is hard work, and so is travel) so it will have to wait until tomorrow. I do have more to say, and a lot of people to thank.

For now, let it suffice to say that the Emmy looks very good in my TV room, and while it IS an honor just to be nominated (as I have been, six times before), it’s even cooler to win.

Tags: awards, emmy awards, game of thrones, hbo, television

Zombie Time on Z-Nation

September 17, 2015 at 5:44 pm

As some of you may well know our grand friend and one of the producer/writers of Z-nation, The Marvelous Mister Mike Cassutt (He's also writing for Captain Cosmos and HBO), talked us into being Zombies for his show while we were at WorldCon in Spokane this year.

What fun!

Don't miss GRRMs most interesting singing to date, featured on Season 2 of Z-Nation.

Now Showing every Friday at 10/9c on the SyFy Channel.

Here's a fun Picture of GRRM and some of us crazy Minions really getting into character before filming.

This Message was brought to you by the Minions of Fevre River.

RRrrrrrrAAAAAaaaaaRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRrrrrrraaAAAaH!

Tags: television

Book Signing and Interview with Melinda Snodgrass and Steven Gould

September 16, 2015 at 8:01 pm

[

Ogre Jenni speaks to you! Hi.

First and foremost—I have to clarify something. This might disappoint a few of you, but I am not George R.R. Martin pretending to be a real human female pretending to be an ogre—although that would be hilarious. I am, in fact, just a real human female pretending to be an ogre who works for and loves the Jean Cocteau Cinema. All the opinions expressed by Ogre Jenni are, in fact, only Ogre Jenni’s.

Disclaimer aside, science fiction authors Melinda Snodgrass and Steven Gould will participate in a Q&A and book signing at the Cocteau on Thursday, September 17th at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available here! Snodgrass will read from her newest novel, Edge of Dawn, and Gould will read from his latest book, Exo.

Melinda Snodgrass’ Edge series takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The protagonists of Edge of Reason, Edge of Ruin, and the latest from the series, Edge of Dawn, are humanist individuals who stand for a rational and scientific approach to comprehending the universe. They are locked in a desperate conflict with the “Old Ones,” ancient—and Lovecraftian—beings who use religious extremists and their superstitious methods to carry out their designs. Apparently there are even worse monsters in Albuquerque than Walter White! Anyway, the Old Ones ultimately seek domination over humankind through the vehicles of magic and dogma. The series’ main protagonist, an APD cop named Richard Oort, fights to save humanity from these dark iuences.

Steven Gould’s Jumper series is a great set of sci-fi novels about people who can teleport. The first Jumper novel follows a teen named Davy who learns he can teleport, or “jump,” when he is about to be brutally beaten by his father. Narrowly avoiding the belt, Davy suddenly appears at his public library. After a few more harrowing experiences, he learns to control his ability and use it at will. Exo, the latest novel in the Jumper series, features Davy’s daughter, Cent, as the protagonist. To avoid the malintent of certain government agencies, Cent explores the possibility of “jumping” into outer space.

Besides some incredibly mind-melting fun with quantum entanglement teleportation (have a fun time going down that rabbit hole—I’m stuck down here – SOMEONE HELP ME!!!), Gould knows that the teleportation of complex systems (like human bodies) isn’t really plausible. However, for the sake of awesome storylines and metaphorical possibilities, he develops an imaginative system for how teleportation could work in this world. This system is still based off of some very cool—and real—physics. If you’d like to hear a little bit more about how his jumpers jump, listen to this interview with Gould on Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy via Wired. Otherwise, visit us at the Cocteau on the 17th and get yourself a personalized book!

Tags: edge of dawn, exo, jean cocteau cinema, jumper, melinda snodgrass, steven gould

Eight Is NOT Enough

September 15, 2015 at 5:09 pm

HBO and GAME OF THRONES dominated last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys in LA.

HBO took home 29, way more than any other network. GOT accounted for eight of those, more than any other show.

Awards were given in every category. For the full list of nominees and winners:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/creative-arts-emmys-2015-winners-822621

The rest of this year’s Emmys will be given out this Sunday. I’ll be flying out to LA once more for the ceremony. GAME OF THRONES is nominated for directing, writing, and acting… and of course, for Best Drama. So cross your fingers, cross your toes.

Meanwhile, congratulations to all of our Emmy winners from last week. Well deserved! A hearty round of applause, please… and for the losers too. Not everyone can take home the trophy, but you all did great work.

Tags: awards, emmy awards, game of thrones, hbo

The NFL Returns

September 15, 2015 at 10:24 am

The NFL is back. Was I ready for some football?

Ah… er… not really. The season somehow snuck up on me. Too busy, I guess. I only managed to watch one preseason game, hardly paid any attention at all, and suddenly the first game was upon us.

The Jets were pretty impressive, thumping the Cleveland Browns and Johnny Football.

The Giants… oh, ghod, what can I say? That loss to the hated Cowboys was excruciating. I can’t deny that Tony Romo was brilliant on that final game-winning drive, especially in the absence of Dez Bryant… but Dallas did not win the game. It was given to them. First by the ref, who made an absolutely bogus pass interference call that resulted in a Cowboy touchdown. And then by Eli Manning, who lost track of the Dallas timeouts and actually told Rashad Jennings not to score when the G-Men had the ball on the Dallas one, first and goal, with under two minutes left.

One timeout, two timeouts, does it matter? Jennings gets that ball in, the game is over. A TD there makes it a 10-point game, and the Cowboys would not have had time enough to score twice.

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Overall, the Giants D and the Jets O both looked better than anticipated.

I do wonder if the G-Men can bounce back from a gut-wrenching loss like that. One that they inflicted on themselves.

Tags: nfl

One Alfie, Two Hugos

September 12, 2015 at 9:25 pm

John Joseph Adams was one of the winners at Sasquan.

As part of the LIGHTSPEED editorial team, he took home a Hugo for Best Semiprozine.

But he also won one of our Alfies as Best Editor, Short Form.

Though I searched for JJA in the aftermath of the Hugo ceremony in Spokane, I was never able to find him (he was in the bar, as it happens) to give him an invite to the Hugo Losers Party. So he was not on hand to accept his trophy.

We shipped it to him instead. It’s finally turned up on his end, and he was kind enough to send a picture of the Alfie sandwiched between his two Hugos (from Sasquan and Loncon).

The Alfie doesn’t have a name plate yet, you’ll notice. Since we had no way of knowing the winners until after the Hugo nominations were released, we could not get them engraved ahead of time. But the plates are being engraved now, and will be shipped out shortly.

John writes, “The Alfie just arrived — it looks so fabulous! Thanks again so so much! I’ve attached a picture of it in between my Hugos. It’s extra cool to win an Alfie for me — THE STARS MY DESTINATION is my favorite book, and is kind of responsible for becoming an editor in the first place. I even invoked it in the opening of the foreword to volume one of BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY.”

(( As an ironic footnote, Bester won his Hugo for THE DEMOLISHED MAN, though many people consider THE STARS MY DESTINATION his masterpiece. Including me and John Joseph Adams, clearly. However, the year that THE STARS MY DESTINATION would have been eligible, worldcon was in London, and for reasons incomprehensible to me they dropped the Best Novel category. So Alfie was a Hugo loser too, and in a unique manner. ))

Anyway, John, congrats, and thanks for sending the picture.

Tags: alfies, hugo awards

Trompe l’oeil

September 12, 2015 at 2:45 pm

Any other fans of trompe l’oeil out there?

I love the work of John Pugh, master of the art style called “narrative illusionism.”

Take a look:

I have seen the one in Winslow, Arizona in person.

Lots more examples of his work can be found on his website at:

http://artofjohnpugh.com/

Enjoy.

Tags: artwork

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