MetaFilter posts tagged with genre

Sci Fi Songs

gemmy — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:47:37 -0800

John Anealio records songs inspired by science fiction and fantasy. Sing along about Cylons, Summer Glau (Firefly/Serenity), Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and about how "George R.R. Martin is not your bitch" (previously).

Now I Wanna Be Your Insightful, Respectable Rock Icon

Jon_Evil — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:57:42 -0800

You wouldn't expect Iggy Pop to be the poster boy for rock stars who age gracefully, but he seems to be doing a pretty good job of it. At the age of 62, he's released Preliminaires, an album steeped in French Literature and containing jazz standards, hardscrabble blues, and the Louis-Armstrong-meets-Tom-Waits hit, King of the Dogs. NPR's Fresh Air has this interview with a thoughtful, avuncular Iggy Pop

Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out

Artw — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:43:38 -0800

New Scientist kicks off it's science fiction special by asking "Is science fiction dying?", with answers by Margaret Atwood, William Gibson and Ursula K Le Guin amongst others. Meanwhile on the Nebula Awards site Geoff Ryman talks about Mundane SF, and how it was a reaction to a phenomenon he noticed in new SF coming through the Clarion workshop: A lot of it doesn't have much science fiction in it.

Don'tgive me no jibber-jabber

Artw — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:59:52 -0800

Man-up with Stephen King.

A Web of Geeks, Every One of Which Knows a Lot about Something

Navelgazer — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:32:38 -0800

Vegging Out vs. Geeking Out. Romance as the MSG of film. The bifurcated careers of Lucy lawless, Sigourney Weaver, and Hugo Weaving. Characters making smart decisions vs. stupid decisions. Neal Stephenson discusses Sci-Fi/Speculative Fiction as a literary genre at Gresham College. (Warning: requires Flash 9)

Into the Night

Navelgazer — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:59:44 -0800

Into the Night Films through the ages. "What’s an into-the-night movie? It’s essentially about one anxious character (or group of characters) embarking on an illicit adventure and emerging transformed. Most often, the stories take place at night, but not always. Sometimes they happen over a whole summer, in the blazing light of day. Sometimes they’re comedies, and sometimes mysteries. But what they have in common is an acknowledgment that somewhere, lurking in the shadows of polite society, there are people getting ridiculously freaky." With much... From the Article and off the top of my head... The 80's: Something Wild, Into the Night, Risky Business, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, After Hours, Summer Lovers, A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, Body Double, Body Heat, Blue Velvet, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Lost in America, Midnight Run, Repo Man, Down By Law, The Last American Virgin, Running on Empty, Adventures in Babysitting The 90's: Barton Fink, Playing God, The Big Lebowski The 00's: Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, Training Day, Almost Famous, Hostel, Moulin Rouge! Collateral, Touristas, The Girl Next Door, Superbad Did this venerable meta-genre all but disappear in the 90's? If so, why? If not, what am I missing? Does it simply speak to a charged thrill/fear of the unknown in times of pressure to abide by societal norms?

When Genre Zombies Attack!

gingerbeer — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:58:19 -0800

"Something woke her in the night." Genre fiction is rising from the dead to terrorize serious literature! In response to Michael Chabon’s (previously) new book, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Ruth Franklin wrote a review in Slate beginning with the line “Michael Chabon has spent considerable energy trying to drag the decaying corpse of genre fiction out of the shallow grave where writers of serious literature abandoned it.” Well, that didn’t go over too well with Ursula K. Le Guin, who bent her considerable imagination and skill to the task of envisioning the zombie corpse of genre fiction and wrote an entertaining response, which was then given a suitable cover. The whole thing is also available as a pdf linked to from Le Guin’s website. via

"All the writer's noise is finally an attempt to shape a silence in which something can go on."

anotherpanacea — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 09:29:37 -0800

Samuel R. Delany has become known for his Silent Interviews, where he responds to questions in writing. But many other interviews are available online: The Onion AV Club; Nerve; Science Fiction Studies; SF Site; K. Leslie Steiner [Delany's pseudonym]; Science Fiction Weekly. Some are not-so-silent: Blackbird; Smithsonian. He also writes fiction. [More Inside]

Best Radio Station Ever

RKB — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 19:27:57 -0800

Revolution Radio is a concept that died in Minneapolis years ago. It never had a chance to take off before being assimilated by the RadioBorg -- the idea that you play good songs, regardless of whether or not they fit under some canned "format." The Suburbs. The Beatles. G-Love and Special Sauce. X. Tori Amos. Adam and the Ants. Loretta Lynn. Trip Shakespeare.Their playlist definitely leans more toward the "alternative" side of the dial than anything else, but now, thanks to Minnesota Public Radio's brand-new station, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the musical variety. Submit a request online. Not fortunate enough to live in Minnesota? You can still listen along to commercial-free radio a couple of different formats. Viva la revolution!