Hasslein Blog: January 2013

REFERENCE GUIDES BY GEEKS, FOR GEEKS

Hasslein Blog

Monday, January 28, 2013

Thoughts for Your Penny: Please Help Support BaconPalooza II

by Rich Handley

I am very pleased to announce my involvement in BaconPalooza II, a fundraising project to help children with autism. The event will be spearheaded by John Ordover, the founder and CEO of JJO Marketing and a former Pocket Books editor responsible for overseeing the licensed Star Trek novels. A "bacon-ized" version of a short story of mine, "Thoughts for Your Penny," will appear in the event's softcover program guide, titled Baconthology.



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Friday, January 25, 2013

GUEST BLOG: Rachel Helie Interviews Robert Venditti

Today, we turn the conch over to journalist Rachel Helie, who recently interviewed Robert Venditti, an American comic book writer known for his work on Top Shelf Productions' The Surrogates, adapted in 2009 as a Disney motion picture starring Bruce Willis. Venditti has also written the X-O Manowar series for Valiant Entertainment, as well as Demon Knights and Constantine (the upcoming New 52 Hellblazer reboot) for DC Comics.

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Thursday, January 24, 2013

Jim Beard's and Ed Erdelac's MONSTER EARTH—Now Available at Amazon.com

by Rich Handley

Two friends of Hasslein Books, Jim Beard and Edward Erdelac, have each contributed to a new anthology titled Monster Earth, for which Jim was also an editor, and which is now available at Amazon.com.


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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Yes... But Can It Reach 88 Miles Per Hour?

Great Scott! This DeLorean stretch limousine, with three full sets of gull wing doors, was created by Rich Weissensel over a span of 12 years. The way I see it, if you're going to build a limo into a sports car, why not do it with some style?





Photos courtesy the "It's Worse Than We Thought" blog.

 

Bond in Motion

by Rich Handley

Artist Pat Carbajal, whose artwork has adorned all of Hasslein Books' publications to date, recently visited the Bond in Motion exhibit in England, which is slated to run until 2014. After the show, Pat shared with us some photos.

For the first nine photos, Pat offers this explanation: "The one that's on exhibition is the FX model from the movie; the one that's outside is the actual amphibious car built by the Top Gear TV show in the UK. It's not an Esprit because it would have been very expensive to build it with the original car, so an Excell was used instead. It was just being parked and getting ready for the Motor Museum. Check the video; it's amazing!"

How many of the other cars can you identify?

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Friday, January 18, 2013

Part II of Dan Gillette's Back to the Future Lexicon Review


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Exclusive Interview With Back to the Future Scribe Bob Gale

by Rich Handley

On Dec. 10, 2012, screenwriter Bob Gale reached out to express his appreciation of A Matter of Time: The Unauthorized Back to the Future Lexicon, saying he was impressed at how it turned out. (Actually, what he said was that I'm insane.) Given Gale's public comments that same day regarding Mattel's fan-disappointing hoverboard replica (as reported in an interview with Beyond the Marquee), I was quite pleased to receive that e-mail. Naturally, I did what any writer would have done: I requested an interview. And graciously, Mr. Gale agreed.

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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

My Latest Articles Are Bleeding Cool

by Rich Handley

Coming next month from Avatar Press will be issue #3 of Bleeding Cool Magazine, edited by Avatar's James Kuhoric. This will be a special science-fiction-themed issue, covering Doctor Who, Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy and other popular sci-fi titles, and I'm quite pleased to be a part of it.

Plus, hey, STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS.
How bleeding cool is that?
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Thursday, January 10, 2013

Back to the Future Fan Puts Mattel Hoverboard to Shame

by Rich Handley

Many Back to the Future fans, as well as critics, were dissatisfied with Mattel's release last year of a highly priced but inaccurately made hoverboard replica. In case you're unfamiliar with this controversy, here's a pictorial breakdown of the problems, courtesy of Futurepedia's Steven Greenwood.

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Wednesday, January 9, 2013

YouTube Blogger Gives the BTTF Lexicon Some Love

by Rich Handley

Yesterday, a video popped up on my Google Alerts feed that brought a grin to my face, and I thought I'd share it here. Thanks to Dan Gillette for taking the time to create this enthusiastic review of A Matter of Time: The Unauthorized Back to the Future Lexicon. Visit his YouTube channel for more videos.

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Monday, January 7, 2013

BLU-RAY REVIEW: Star Trek: The Next Generation Season Two Remastered

by Rich Handley

One downside to doing something incredibly well the first time around is that it sets you up to disappoint in the future. The Matrix sequels, the Star Wars prequels, The Fly II, Escape from L.A. and both Ocean's films not ending in the word "Eleven" proved this all too well.

Last year saw the release of Star Trek: The Next Generation's remastered first season on Blu-ray, and the reactions were near-universally positive. Never had the series looked so amazingly vibrant, crisp and bright, and never had it sounded so clear. Suddenly, 25-year-old episodes looked as though they had been produced within the past year or two. That first season was brilliantly remastered, setting the bar remarkably high. I wish I could say that Season 2 maintains that level of quality, but for all of its positives, one negative stands out, and it's a big one: the remastered effects, which sometimes fall short of that bar.

Despite a writer's strike, the loss of Beverly Crusher and a 
clip-show finale, season two had a number of excellent episodes.

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Saturday, January 5, 2013

Sleepless in Not Portland (or "Vincent the Poor Lost Dog")

by Rich Handley

I've never seen this GIF before, but Paul Giachetti brought it to my attention today, and I haven't stopped laughing since. As much as I do love LOST, this is still one of the funniest commentaries on the show's frustrating nature that I've seen—and it's less than 10 seconds long. Bravo.


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Friday, January 4, 2013

Want to Buy Principal Strickland's House?

Well... you can, and for less than $290,000.

Eat lead, slackers.


(Thanks to BTTF.com's Stephen Clark for the heads-up.)

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Thursday, January 3, 2013

Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5: Remarkably Similar—Or Similarly Remarkable?

by Rich Handley

During the past two decades, fans of Babylon 5 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine have noted many similarities between the popular science fiction franchises. Such comparisons were inevitable, given the controversy involving the two series' genesis. It has been suggested by J. Michael Straczynski that Paramount, after considering his proposal for B5, passed on the project but then rushed to get a Star Trek-based version of its plot to television first. Paramount, meanwhile, denies this was the case.

B5 and DS9: Where species can settle their differences peacefully.
(Image courtesy sweetpaul.com)

It really doesn't matter which series was created first, however, or which production company may have swiped concepts from the other, as each was brilliant in its own right—plus, each borrowed elements of other tales predating both shows. Since this month marks the 20th anniversary of Deep Space Nine's premiere, "The Emissary," with B5's pilot, "The Gathering," celebrating its 20th anniversary in February, both shows deserve their proper place in sci-fi history.

The following list illustrates how closely the two shows mirrored one another in terms of concept and characterization. Although Walter Koenig, Majel Barrett and other actors appeared on both series, this list pertains only to story-related similarities, as it's quite common for actors to work on a number of different TV series.

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Flashback... Bond Flashback

Did you know that Roger Moore played James Bond back in 1964, on television, nearly a decade before he took over the film role from Sean Connery in Live and Let Die? Check it out:


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