Show #28: Pre-show Discussion

Show #28, due out mid-March, will be on Vernor Vinge’s Hugo Award-winning “A Fire Upon the Deep”.

Start reading now… it’s about 600 pages of space-faring adventure!

For those of you who are curious what our upcoming topics are, and what we’re considering for Ninja topics, don’t forget to check out our Future Topics section!

Show #27: Pre-show Discussion

Whoops! This is going out a little later than I’d planned, but not to worry, it’s an easy one.

The Ninjas plus guests will be discussing Highlander, the 1986 Russell Mulcahy feature film. Chock full of mythic heroes and villains, and an abundance of swordplay, this movie not only spawned a successful and fun TV series spinoff, but it’s achieved “classic” status. We may even touch on the series a little bit, but it all depends on how caught up we get talking about the movie.

And remember, there can be only one. Movie. No, seriously… those other movies? Never happened.

KAMN Show #26: Far-Seer

Welcome to Show #26!

Joe Murphy is back, joining Dave and Summer in the discussion of Robert J. Sawyer’s 1992 novel, Far-Seer. This is the first book in the Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, and it features a planet of intelligent and advanced dinosaurs. Book 1 follows the quest of a Copernicus/Galileo of his planet. Book 2 is Fossil Hunter, fashioned after a Darwin-like discoverer, and Book 3 is Foreigner, following a Freud-like main character.

Joe selected this book as a topic quite some time ago, and now we’re finally able to all get together and chat about it. Joe reviewed it for Dragon Page Cover to Cover when the reprint was published in 2004, and loved the story from the jump.

Dave and Summer aren’t feeling as much love for it as Joe does, but they don’t hate the book either. It’s well-written and opens up a richly detailed world for the characters to discover, like most Sawyer stories are, but David isn’t pleased with how fast the main character Afsan makes great leaps of intuition and scientific assumptions, and Summer just couldn’t connect with the characters and learn to care about their adventures and their fates.

We have a fun discussion about a number of points.

Voicemail: Rob from Alberta with well-wishes for Joe, who wants less innuendo and more follow-through on implied action; Curt from St George with well-wishes for Joe, and comments on “The Day the Earth Stood Still”; Cisco comments on “Buckaroo Banzai”, and on Hollywood censors back in the 1950s; Wally from CA lets us know about the Sherlock Holmes references we missed in “Buckaroo Banzai”; Eric in NY wants to know more about the Buckaroo Banzai comic books; Dwight from Ottawa likes us, thanks us for talking about “Day the Earth Stood Still” and completely forgot what book he called in to recommend to us.

Don’t forget to donate to the Kill Kuato Fund, and help Joe out (second Paypal button on the right sidebar), and you can call the special voicemail line, 206-202-5179, and leave a message for him.

Listener Feedback: Give us some! You can leave comments here for the show, or at the Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas Forum. If you want to leave a voicemail comment on anything we’ve discussed, you can call us at 206-666-5266.

Books mentioned:

Promo: ADPOV: Support TD-0013 in the Arizona MS Walk, April 14, 2007
Link: Robert J. Sawyer: Novels
Link: Far-Seer
Link: Fossil Hunter
Link: Foreigner

 

 KAMN Show #26: Far-Seer [45:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (6293)

The post-surgery Kuato update

Sorry, I should have posted an update a while ago.

For those who haven’t heard, Kuato has officially kicked my ass. The doctors couldn’t remove the tumor, as there was not one, but six of them, and they were all in love with some major organs of mine. They took enough to verify that the cancer is indeed Leiomyosarcoma.

So, I’m at Mike’s and Lorrie’s, vegging out and slowly getting better. The doctors were unable to do much when then performed the surgery, which sucks beyond belief, but makes the recouperating easier. My main complaints are constipation and very, VERY swollen legs.

I’ll be staying here for the next three weeks or so. Then I have NO idea what’s happening next. Since we know now that this is inoperable, my options are a bit limited. I’ll be working on getting an oncologist this week, and a general physician. I’ll probably go back to work, perhaps in Tucson, perhaps in Phoenix, as a position with Sonus just opened up here.

My further care depends on whether chemo is an option for buying more time, or if the best course of action is to go for comfort and just ride the wave as long as I’ve got. I’ll let you know how those discussions go.

I can’t believe the outpouring of love and generocity you have given me through all this. You have no idea how much it has meant to me. Thank you.

Show #26: Pre-show Discussion

It’s catch-up time. Show #26 will be about the Robert J. Sawyer novel, “Far-Seer”.

Joe chose this one for us… sort of an allegorical tale about Galileo, only set in a world of intelligent and technologically advancing dinosaurs.

You can read the opening chapters over at Rob’s website: Far-Seer

It’s Book 1 of the Quintaglio Trilogy, Book 2 being Fossil Hunter, and Book 3 being Foreigner.

KAMN Show #25: Buckaroo Banzai

Welcome to Show #25!

Joe Murphy is out, still dealing with Kuato, and Brian Brown sits in to help with the analysis for this show. Don’t forget to donate to the Kill Kuato Fund, and help Joe out (second Paypal button on the right sidebar), and you can call the special voicemail line, 206-202-5179, and leave a message for him.

Two Ninjas plus One discuss the 1984 cult classic film, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. I apologize ahead of time for the audio quality.

It’s a little hard to classify this movie because it pulls elements from so many different genres: a smattering of extraterrestrials, a lot of swashbuckling action, a little rock-n-roll, and a little romance. It’s a busy film, both in terms of how much is going on visually in each frame and sonically with background effects and conversations, and it appeals to most geeks on several levels, which is why it’s a cult classic that still entertains today.

Did you know there’s a new comic coming out, from Moonstone Books? You do now. It’s a new story, “Return of the Screw”, written by Earl Mac Rauch and picks up right where the movie left off.

Voicemail: Will the Computer Guy comments on the audio levels from Show #24 (it’s not Mike, it’s Summer); Cisco from OK with some trivia about “The Day the Earth Stood Still”; Bill in the Bronx on Show #24, mentioning another difference between the original short story and the movie, and has an upbeat message for Joe; Curt from St George comments on Show #22, “The Omega Man” and relays some Charlton Heston trivia, and David tells us about traffic being rerouted in Manhattan for filming of Will Smith’s version of “I Am Legend”; CA in Phoenix comments on Show #24, particularly the boring car chase scenes, and the flatness of the extra characters in the boarding house, and Summer still recommends the 90min documentary that comes on the newest DVD release.

Listener Feedback: Give us some! You can leave comments here for the show, or at the Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas Forum. If you want to leave a voicemail comment on anything we’ve discussed, you can call us at 206-666-5266.

Movies mentioned:

Promo: The Butcher Block
Promo: ADPOV: Support TD-0013 in the Arizona MS Walk, April 14, 2007
Link: Buckaroo Banzai Frequently Asked Questions
Link: The Banzai Institute

 

 KAMN Show #25: Buckaroo Banzai [1:16:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (6310)