Happy Independence Day! And you can tweet that!

From Wikipedia.

To my fellow Americans, happy Independence Day! I doubt there will be an alien invasion like what happened in the 1996 "Independence Day" movie, but, hey, I can't think of a better Fourth of July science fiction reference. Comment below if you can!

To those of you from other countries, I hope you have a great day as well!

And to everyone who tweets (or just follows them), check out my newly created Twitter page. You are welcome to tweet my blog entries.

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Reid Picks: 'Anthem' by Ayn Rand

Image from Wikipedia.

I came across an article that mentions author Ayn Rand. The article, "Science fiction meets Disney in author’s first book" by Isabela Morales, was published online today, June 29, 2011, in the The Crimson White, which apparently is a student publication of the University of Alabama. To clarify, that article is about author Cory Doctorow, but Rand is mentioned.

The website also has another article on Rand ("Ayn Rand wrote science fiction?") that was published June 8.

Since I had already planned to blog about Rand's science fiction novella "Anthem," I find it ironic that I happened to randomly see an article mentioning the author. Anyway, here's what I have to say about the story:

Is Green Lantern Movie Worth Watching?

"Green Lantern" recently came out in movie theaters. I haven't seen it yet but have heard mixed reviews by those I know who've seen the movie. A fan of the comics disliked the film while another not so familiar with the comics liked it.

Below are two trailers for the movie. If you've seen the film, is it worth watching? If you haven't seen the movie, what are your impressions?

Free Music by John Anealio: The Angry Robot Remix Album

John Anealio has some free remixes of his "Angry Robot" song on his blog, Sci-Fi Songs. The remixes were created by others as part of a competition. The songs below were remixed by Dale Chase, Denis Cherryman, David Ritter, Mike Crooker, and Chooch Schubert, respectively.

Check out the songs below or click here for the posting on his website and for more information.


Here's Anealio's original song:

Reid Picks: Top Three Video Games

Alex J. Cavanaugh, author of the science fiction book titled CassaStar, is hosting a blogfest today called: "It's All Fun and Games Blogfest." Participants are asked to list their "three most favorite games and why. Board games, card games, RPG, video games, physical games - even mind games!"

I'm not too excited about board games, so I'll scratch that out as a topic. Card Games? Not really. Role-playing games (excluding video games)? Nope. Physical games? I guess not. Mind games? Cool, but no. That leaves video games for my favorite list.

Since I hardly have the time to play video games as I used to, my picks are going to be some older titles (but not as far back as the Sega Master System and NES era). Here are my top three video games:

Reid Review: 'Star God' Novel By Allen L. Wold

There have been so many science fiction books published that it's impossible to read them all (unless you're really an android). So I'm going to highlight a little-known book by a big-time publisher. It's called Star God by Allen L. Wold, published in 1980 by St. Martin's Press. Although I believe Wold considers his Planet Masters series better, I haven't read those. Also, it's been a while since I read Star God, so I'm mainly going to discuss what the story is about rather than get into minute details.

Image from Amazon.com

Frankly, one of the reasons I bought the book is because I liked the title. That and I've met the author at a convention. The short blurb on the back of the book didn't interest me. It says, "There is a strange force at work in the universe. It must be stopped. But first, it must be understood." It seemed too generic and vague, but after reading the novel, I realized how true that phrase is.

Here's the review:

Happy Birthday, George Lucas

Today (May 14, 2011) is George Lucas' 67th birthday. He's widely known for creating Star Wars, but THX 1138 was the first feature-length film he directed. It was based on a short film he did in 1967 as a student at the University of Southern California.

So let's wish him a birthday blast with some THX 1138!

THX 1138 costume from moviemaker29 on photobucket.com.

Here's a trailer of the director's cut version of the movie:


And here's part 1 and 2 of his student film version, titled THX 1138 4EB: