Ian Murray of the Competitive Enterprise Institute makes this analogy between our current situation and the Lord of The Rings [HT: Instapundit]: [W]ith even liberal anger against the President growing, perhaps the analogy at the end of this Daily Show segment is worth considering further. The orcs who are despoiling the free enterprise system draw […]
Archive | Science Fiction/Fantasy
Spock Retires
Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock in the original Star Trek series and movies, is apparently retiring, and hanging up his famous Vulcan ears: Leonard Nimoy, the actor who has famously portrayed “Star Trek’s” original alien Spock for over 40 years, has announced he’s officially hanging up the pointy Vulcan ears for good. Nimoy, 79, […]
The Ongoing Debate Over Jewish Fantasy Literature
Jewish Studies Professor Michael Weingrad’s essay “Why there is No Jewish Narnia,” touched off a massive debate over the validity of his claim that there is no Jewish fantasy literature, including my own humble critique. Abigail Nussbaum has posted a helpful roundup of the debate. Weingrad himself responds to his critics here. Like Nussbaum, I […]
A New Rebel Mascot for a New South – Admiral Ackbar May Replace Colonel Reb at Ole Miss
Students at the University of Mississippi have started a campaign to replace the school’s longtime mascot Colonel Reb with Admiral Ackbar, leader of the Rebel Fleet in Star Wars. Colonel Reb was retired in 2003 because “coaches and athletic boosters concluded that C. Reb and other symbols of the Confederacy hurt the school’s recruiting prospects.” […]
Is there Really No Jewish Fantasy Literature?
Jewish Studies professor Michael Weingrad claims that Jewish fantasy writers are “strikingly rare” and tries to explain their absence. Farah Mendlesohn, a prominent academic scholar of fantasy literature, points out that there are in fact quite a few prominent Jewish fantasy writers. Israeli science fiction and fantasy critic Abigail Nussbaum has other objections to Weingrad’s […]
Diagnosing Gollum
This article has an interesting psychiatric diagnosis of Gollum’s possible mental illness [HT: Eric Crampton]: Sméagol (Gollum) is a single, 587 year old, hobbit-like male of no fixed abode. He has presented with antisocial behaviour, increasing aggression, and preoccupation with the “one ring.”… …His forensic history consists of Deagol’s murder and the attempted murder of […]
David Boaz on Avatar as a Defense of Property Rights
In a recent LA Times op ed, David Boaz of the Cato Institute joins economist David Henderson in interpreting the blockbuster film Avatar as a defense of property rights: Conservatives have been very critical of the Golden Globe-winning film “Avatar” for its mystical melange of trite leftist themes. But what they have missed is that […]
Cities in Flight
Instead of a Stendhal post this week – I missed Saturday lost in the DC snow – and further to my Foundation post below, which has garnered some very interesting comments … do we have any fans of James Blish’s Cities in Flight novels? As an exercise in future history social theory, I actually think […]
“The New Foundation”
By Kenneth Anderson on January 29, 2010 11:48 pm in Literature, Popular Culture, Psychology, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Peggy Noonan notes in her weekend column that President Obama’s SOTU address worked in a name for the new program – in the tradition of the “New Deal” or Kennedy’s “New Frontier. For the Obama administration, it is the New Foundation. She is skeptical: They’ve chosen a phrase for the president’s program. They call it […]
What Kinds of Crime Might Dungeons and Dragons Inspire?
In response to my post on the 7th Circuit decision upholding a Wisconsin prison rule forbidding inmates to play Dungeons and Dragons, Joe Carter of First Things speculates about the kinds of D&D-inspired crime that the prison authorities might be worried about: What crime could they have committed by acting out a D&D storyline? Did […]
7th Circuit Upholds Prison Rule Forbidding Inmates to Play Dungeons and Dragons
In a decision issued today (here is an alternate link to the decision), the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a Wisconsin prison’s rule forbidding inmates to play Dungeons & Dragons or possess D&D publications and materials [HT: Josh Blackman]. The prison’s rationale for the ban is that playing D&D might stimulate “gang activity” […]
Avatar and Property Rights in China
By Ilya Somin on January 14, 2010 2:13 am in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Property Rights, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Most commentators have interpreted the movie Avatar as having an anti-capitalist message. Libertarian economist David Henderson, however, claims that it is actually a defense of property rights. Though I must reserve judgement until I see the movie, I am skeptical that Henderson’s interpretation is either the message intended by the producers or the one most […]
Captain Picard Knighted by the Queen
Patrick Stewart, the British actor most famous for playing Captain Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation, has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.H He becomes one of the very few people knighted primarily because of his achievements in the science fiction genre (Arthur C. Clarke is the only other case that comes to mind, […]
Han Solo and the Economics of Rebellion Against Repressive Regimes
By Ilya Somin on December 22, 2009 3:20 am in Public Choice, Public Opinion, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Economist Daniel Hamermesh has an entertaining game theoretical analysis of Han Solo’s decision to fight for the rebels against the Empire back in the first Star Wars movie. The analysis is a bit of a joke, but there is a serious point here. And not the one that Hamermesh emphasizes: In the original Star Wars […]
Space Law and the UN, Retro Edition
The UN Secretary General … circa 2050, Earth, talking with Kip who, along with Peewee, has just saved the Earth from invading aliens who were using the Moon as a forward base: “Russell, I heard on your tape that you plan to study engineering – with a view to space.” “Yes, sir. I mean, ‘Yes, […]