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Let’s talk about TAFF. There’s a TAFF race going on right now. It’s pretty awesome! There are three reallygood candidates, but one goes over and beyond what a TAFF delegate should be.That man is Mr. Warren Buff!The other nominees are Jacq. Monahan, a Las Vegas fan who you can read in a lot of the Vegas zines. Hernominators include John Purcell (who nominated me once!), former TAFF winner Steve Green, The Lord of AllThings Awesome Nic Farey, Curt Phillips, and Sandra Bond. She also edited Alan White’s new eBook The ZombieEffect. I have to remember to look into that one!Kim Kofmel, who I usually refer to as Kim Komfel, is a Canadian living in Texas. She’s good people who ishelping out seriously biggly with the London in 2014 bid. I believe she helps run ApolloCon, which is one of theones I’ve wanted to get out to over the years. She’s got Brad W. Foster, who has an art piece in this issue!, JeanneGomol (who I believe has won TAFF herself), Flick, Pat Virzi and Alice Lawson.And then there’s Warren Buff. Warren runs cons, including the 2010 NASFiC that was so much fun. He’sworked on tons of other cons and bids, is a pillar of Southern fandom, is far better read than I am, has writtenstuff for all sorts of zines (including a piece in this issue!) and is an all-around good guy. We shared a room atFenCon this year, and on the final night I was staying with him and Glug, it was my turn to take the floor. I made alittle nest using almost all the blankets in the room. Warren was such a great guy, he didn’t even fill the remainingpillcase with doornobs and beat me into Kingdom Come!Warren’s got a pretty amazing bunch of nominators. I’m one of them, so that’s one TAFF winner on hisside. James Bacon’s another, and he’s won TAFF himself, along with a Hugo and a Nova. Paul Cornell writes com-ics and episodes of Dr. Whop. He’s a great guy and follows the sportcoat/jeans/sneakers theory of dressing like awriter, much as Warren himself does! Tim Illingsworth is a Brit come to the States and is a great guy. I had hopedto have a a chance to sit down with him at FenCon, but alas, I was too busy hogging all the covers. The last of theWarren Commission is Canadian Mad Man Lloyd Penney. That’s a good set, I think!Waren’s a great guy and I’d love to see him win TAFF because he’d make an amazing delegate and I knowhe’d bounce all over the country and get to visit with as many fans as possible (and hoppefully get a Sno-Globefor me). He’ll certainly bring a good deal of Southern Radness into the Radisson Edwardian!So, y’all should go to Taff.org.uk and get the ballot or find the PayPal info and go and vote! SupportingTAFF is a good thing and as a guy who has been on his trip, I can say it really changes lives.So go and join the The Warren Commission!
 
52 Weeks to Science FIction FIlm Literacy -The Rocky Horror Picture Show 
It is easy to write about Rocky Horror as a cultural phenomena, as a musical, as a reaction to the excessesof the 1970s, but it’s not exactly easy to write about it as a science fiction film. That’s exactly what it is, and if youasked most of the folks who are at the midnight screenings, most probably wouldn’t even mention it (despite thefact that one of the songs is Science Fiction Double Feature). It’s easily the longest-running science fiction film of all-time. There’s been at least 100 theaters showing it in the US for more than 35 years, which is pretty amazing if you think about it. A science fiction film, around which a massive cult of fans has grown, has been playing throughseven Presidencies.Also, they started shooting it on the day I was born. Not the date, the DAY I was born. Not as cool as thefact that the day they go back to in Back to the Future is my Mom’s birthday, but it’s a cool connection!OK, let’s start at the beginning: the story. Two young former students of the great Dr. Scott, Brad and Janet,are out for a drive after getting engaged and their car breaks down. They get out and go to the nearest building, acastle where there’s some sort of party going on. The host of the party is Dr. Frank N. Furter, a scientist who hasbuilt himself a new plaything named Rocky, a buff plaything for the doctor. It turns out that the Doctor and theservants, Columbia, Magenta and Riff-Raff, are from the planet Transylvania in the galaxy Transexual. Or maybe it’sthe other way around. Hard to say. I can’t remember everything! The good Doctor Furter has had other playthings,Columbia and her biker boyfriend, Eddie, part of whose brain was used to make Rocky. Riff-Raff and Magentawant to go back home, and they bitch, bitch, bitch! Dr. Furter then beds both Brad and Janet. Eventually Dr. Scottarrives, announcing that he’s looking for Eddie, who happens to be his nephew. Janet bangs Rocky, which leads tothe only time I’ve ever thought Susan Sarranden was hot while she was singing Touch Me, Touch Me, Touch Me,and it also leads Dr. Furter into using a science-y thing to control the group into doing a floor show (and leadingto one of the truly great numbers in musical history, I’m Going Home) and then Riff-Raff and Magenta re-emerge
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