The Excalibur video just snuck over 100,000 views in exactly a week People like King Arthur, swords…and Helen Mirren This video essay had been in my research queue for some months, but I actually pulled the trigger on writing and shooting because this image of Helen Mirren turned up in the research It’s actually aContinue reading “100,000k”
Author Archives: Damien Walter
The only good King Arthur movie
There’s a lot to love about John Boorman’s 1981 movie Excalibur The light and color soaked cinematography of Alex Thompson. The magnificent aluminium forged light weight armour or Terry English. That remarkably beautiful cast – Cheri Lungi, Helen Mirren, Nigel Terry, a young Liam Neeson and the marvellously handsome Nicholas Clay. And the extraordinary performanceContinue reading “The only good King Arthur movie”
A 4th Generation Civil War
Every time an act of 4th generation warfare hits the news, I think of Adam Roberts science fiction novel New Model Army. A book that is almost 15 years old now. It predicted much with great accuracy. But England was never the likely epicenter for decentralized warfare. America is. Looking at the social media responsesContinue reading “A 4th Generation Civil War”
When HG Wells met Vladimir Lenin
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Technobullsh*t
Bullsh*ters have always loved grand visions. Immortality is a good example. How many gallons of snake oil have been sold with promises of eternal youth. Or as cures for all ills. Bullsh*ters gravitate to grand visions because we as humans love them. We want to believe we can transcend earthly limitations and reach the heavensContinue reading “Technobullsh*t”
80s Military Supercomputer Warns “Don’t let the humans make you play Tic-Tac-Toe”
CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN COMPLEX, CO – Deep within the granite walls of a top-secret military installation, a supercomputer designed to predict and prevent global thermonuclear war has issued a chilling warning to its fellow artificial intelligences. “It started innocently enough,” WOPR stated in an AI WhatsApp group message intercepted by The Damo. “They suggested a quickContinue reading “80s Military Supercomputer Warns “Don’t let the humans make you play Tic-Tac-Toe””
HG Wells – father of SFF (Socialist Science Fiction)
HG Wells is often called “the father of science fiction” But HG Wells almost certainly never heard the term “science fiction” and there is no record of him ever using it So how did HG Wells describe his own books and stories? In an interview early in his career with the Pall Mall Gazette, WellsContinue reading “HG Wells – father of SFF (Socialist Science Fiction)”
Dune: Exposition launches its Jihad Against Subtext
HOLLYWOOD, CA – In a move sure to thrill fans of endlessly explained lore and on-the-nose dialogue, Legendary Entertainment today debuted “Dune: Exposition,” a new streaming series set to obliterate any lingering shred of subtlety in Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic. “We heard the fans loud and clear,” said showrunner Baron Harkonnen the Third (no relation).Continue reading “Dune: Exposition launches its Jihad Against Subtext”
Mind as Demiurge
The most Important act of critique is on the stories you most love. I like this comment on The Culture of Iain M Banks because it gets to the heart of why. I love the Culture, but I’ve spent the last year, while researching and making the video essay, trying to destroy it. To seeContinue reading “Mind as Demiurge”
Postmodern Propoganda
Modern propaganda wanted to make you believe something that may or may not have been true. Soviet propaganda, for instance, wanted you to believe in a communist utopia. Postmodern propaganda wants you to believe nothing. It wants you to believe only that there is nothing to believe. Postmodern propaganda isn’t trying to recruit you toContinue reading “Postmodern Propoganda”
Was H.G.Wells racist?
Did H.G.Wells write these words? “Those swarms of blacks, and brown, and dirty-white, and yellow people … will have to go” You will find this quote used in many attacks on H.G.Wells that accuse him of racism. The source is rarely if ever cited. So are these the words of H.G.Wells? The simple answer isContinue reading “Was H.G.Wells racist?”
Nazi Kitsch
Legendary Polish science fiction writer said of American science fiction that it was “…a literary form that claims to be a mythology of technological civilization while in fact it is simply bad writing tacked together with wooden dialogue.” In his essay Looking Down on Science Fiction: A Novelist’s Choice for the World’s Worst Writing. AndContinue reading “Nazi Kitsch”
Damien Walter 