Monday, December 21, 2015

The White Rocket Podcast - Episodes List

UPDATED APRIL 29, 2016: Now it should include every episode.
A chronological list of some of the more popular topics we have covered on the White Rocket Podcast so far.
All are easily available at http://whiterocket.podbean.com and http://www.whiterocketbooks.com and the most recent episodes are on iTunes.
My eternal thanks to all of my guests and co-hosts on these episodes.

001 Prometheus (movie review)
002 Stephen King's The Dark Tower
003 Bobby Politte on Superhero Novels
004 James Bond in all media
005 Jeff Deischer on Superhero Novels
006 & 007 Marvel Cinematic Universe
008 Richard Stark's Parker novels & films
009 & 010 Movies of 2012 review
011 A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones
012 Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander novels & film
013 10 Favorite Movies Countdown with John Ringer
014 James Clavell's Asian Saga (Shogun, etc) novels & films
015 Steig Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo novels & films
016 Legion I: Lords of Fire (audiobook sample)
017 Awards Season
018 Babylon 5 (20th Anniversary)
019 War/Action Films of Alistair MacLean (Navarone/Ice Station Zebra etc)
020 Ian Healy Interview on Superhero Novels
021 Justified (tv series)
022 The Book Cave team interviews Van
023 DragonCon Memories with Keith RA DeCandido
024 Lucian: Dark God's Homecoming (audiobook sample)
025 Alabama Phoenix Festival
026 Star Trek & Star Trek Into Darkness
027 & 028 Warhammer 40,000 & Horus Heresy (w/Josh Reynolds)
029 Creating Audiobooks (Chris Barnes)
030 Jack "King" Kirby
031 Jim Beard interview
032 Space: 1999
033 Barry Reese interview
034 Hawk: Hand of the Machine (audiobook sample)
035 Larry Niven interview
036 Movies of 2013 review
037 & 038 Star Trek original movies
039 Ready Player One
040 Downton Abbey
041 Windy City Pulp Con Interviews
042 & 043 Novel Writing
044 The Cosmic Marvel Universe
045 Animated Superhero Shows
046 Guardians of the Galaxy movie review
047 Battlestar Galactica (original series)
048 Andrew Gaska interview (Space: 1999 graphic novels)
049 The X-Men Movies
050 Anniversary Show
051 Marvel Cinematic Universe  - Phase 3
052 David Wright interview
053 Frank Herbert's Dune novels & films
054 Avengers Assemble!
055 & 056 Sean Connery & George Lazenby Bond Films
057 Legion II: Sons of Terra (audiobook sample)
058 & 059 Roger Moore & Timothy Dalton Bond Films
060 Graham McNeill interview
061 Conan the Barbarian films
062 Krull & The 13th Warrior
063 Pierce Brosnan Bond Films
064 Daniel Craig Bond Films
065 Hugo Awards Controversy
066 Bond Villains
067 Avengers: Age of Ultron (movie review)
068 Roger Zelazny's Amber Novels, pt 1
069 Bruce Boxleitner & Mira Furlan interview
070 Superhero Smackdown
071 Parsec Awards Submission Show
072 Sci Fi Literature Jeopardy
073 Game of Thrones Season 5 review
074 Legion III: Kings of Oblivion (audiobook sample)
075 DragonCon Classic SF Track (w Gary Mitchel)
076 & 077 Roger Zelazny's Amber Novels, pt 2 & 3
078 Peter F Hamilton interview
079 Conventions
080 Thundarr the Barbarian
081 Roger Zelazny Memorial Panel
082 Harlan Ellison at Archon 2015
083 SPECTRE (movie review)
084 The Star Wars Phenomenon
085 Star Wars: The Force Awakens (movie review)
086 Daredevil (DragonCon panel)
087 & 088 Questions for Van About Everything
089 What are we Reading (w/John Ringer)
090 & 091 James Bond Opening Action Sequences Ranked
092 Where Do We Get Our Inspirations and Ideas? (Windy City Con)


Saturday, December 19, 2015

Ranking the Films of 2015

2015 movies I have seen, ranked in order of how much I enjoyed them:

1 Ant Man
2 Avengers: Age of Ultron *
3 Star Wars: The Force Awakens *
4 Spectre *
5 The Martian
6 Inside Out
7 Bridge of Spies
8 Minions
9 Hotel Transylvania 2
10 Mad Max: Fury Road
11 A Walk in the Woods
12 Woman in Gold
13 The Man from UNCLE
14 Monkey Kingdom
15 Spy

* All three of these had numerous issues that gave me problems, and could have been better, but what was there I still loved. They all represented properties I've loved most of my life, and all three attempted to bring something special in this particular film (Ultron; good old-fashioned Star Wars fun; Blofeld/Spectre organization). They only partially succeeded.



2015 Movies I haven’t seen yet but want to see, listed in the order they came out:

Blackhat
Ex Machina
Shaun the Sheep
Jupiter Ascending
Mr Holmes
Furious 7
Tomorrowland
Jurassic World
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
The Transporter Refueled
Steve Jobs
Where to Invade Next
The Hateful Eight



Thursday, December 17, 2015

Bernie Van Buren????

Here's a fun parallel that occurred to me as I was studying my ruler that has the presidents on it:
Then:
George Washington was a very popular 2-term president. When he left office, his vice-president, John Adams (whose son would also one day be president), was elected--but lost his bid for re-election to a Democrat and served only 1 term. He in turn was followed by a popular Democrat with "Jefferson" in his name (Thomas Jefferson) who served two full terms and remains popular, despite revelations about sexual improprieties. A bit later, the son of the earlier one-term president is elected (John Quincy Adams). He is followed by a controversial Democrat (Andrew Jackson).

When his second term ended, he was immediately followed by an intellectual older guy with unruly white hair (Martin Van Buren)...


Now:
Ronald Reagan was a very popular 2-term president. When he left office, his vice-president, George Bush (whose son would also one day be president), was elected--but lost his bid for re-election to a Democrat and served only 1 term. He in turn was followed by a popular Democrat with "Jefferson" in his name (William Jefferson Clinton) who served two full terms and remains popular, despite revelations about sexual improprieties. A bit later, the son of the earlier one-term president is elected (George W Bush). He is followed by a controversial Democrat (Barack Obama) whose second term is about to end.
...And Bernie Sanders is running now....!  Ha!






...