Category Archives: fantasy

My Best Friend is a Wookie: One Boy’s Journey to Find His Place in the Galaxy

November 14th, 2010 | Posted in fan cultures, fantasy, geek cultures, Star Wars

Being a person on a lifelong journey with the fantastic I am always interested in the similar journeys of others. One day while following the book promotion of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks by Ethan Gilsdorf I was pleased to hear of another writer who chronicled a similar journey. Tony Pacitti describes his story in […]

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WIRED: Is Being a Geek a Personality Trait or a Way of Life?

August 9th, 2010 | Posted in fan cultures, fantasy, geek cultures, science fiction

There is an interesting post that came to my attention today while checking my daily Google searches for topics related to the fantastic. The source for the post is in the WIRED blog “GeekDad.” The article is by Curtis Silver is titled “Is Being a Geek a Personality Trait or a Way of Life?”. In […]

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Raffle for Autographed Copy of “Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks” – Revised

May 14th, 2010 | Posted in fantasy, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks, fantasy role playing games

Readers may recall my previous post on Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms by Ethan Gilsdorf (The Lyons Press, 2009). This volume unfolds the personal quest of Gilsdorf as a teenage Dungeons and Dragons player and his later adult quest […]

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Article at Cinefantastique: “The Changing Face of Biblical Horror and Fantasy Films”

April 6th, 2010 | Posted in apocalypticism, fantasy, horror, post-Christendom, postmodernism

My latest contribution to Cinefantastique Online was recently posted. Below is an excerpt: In the post-Christendom context, this situation changes dramatically. I was reminded of this recently while watching 30 DAYS OF NIGHT. As the race of vampires continues its onslaught on the Alaskan town, they use an injured woman as bait to lure any humans […]

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Joshua Bellin: Battle for Terra and Environmental Apocalypse

March 19th, 2010 | Posted in apocalypticism, fantasy, Joshua Bellin

With all the national debate over healthcare in the United States these days it’s easy to forget the other national debate that will begin once the furor over healthcare legislation dies down, and that is the environment with cap-and-trade. Hollywood is fond of environmental apocalypse films these days, and while the reader is no doubt […]

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Review and Commentary: Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks

March 7th, 2010 | Posted in Dungeons & Dragons, fan cultures, fantasy, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks, fantasy role playing games, geek cultures

Not long ago while I was reflecting on the layers of significance underlying Avatar and its connection to fantasy, I first became aware, through Cinefantastique Online, of an article by Ethan Gilsdorf touching on these topics which he had written for Psychology Today. I was intrigued by the insights that Gilsdorf brought to the subject […]

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Clash of the Titans Remake: Contrasting CGI Creatures with Stop-Motion Artistry

March 3rd, 2010 | Posted in fantasy, Ray Harryhausen, stop-motion animation

Some of my favorite and formative influences of the fantastic as a child and teenager were the fantasy films of Ray Harryhausen. I was so taken by Harryhausen’s use of stop-motion animation to bring creatures to life that I saved my paper route money and purchased an 8mm camera with single frame capacity that allowed […]

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Avatar’s Success: Romantic Narratives and Dark Green Religion

January 27th, 2010 | Posted in Avatar, fantasy, religion, science fiction

Earlier this week various news outlets reported that Avatar has surpassed Titanic as the highest grossing film in history. (For a different take on its place in cinema box office see this article.) This tremendous response by viewing audiences might have gone the other direction. With all the pre-release hype coming from James Cameron, and […]

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Avatar’s Pandora Depresses Some Viewers: Utopia, Escape and the Realized Ideal

January 13th, 2010 | Posted in Avatar, fan cultures, fantasy, geek cultures, habitus, science fiction, utopia

A recent article at CNN Entertainment presents some disturbing viewer reactions to James Cameron’s Avatar. In a piece titled “Audiences experience ‘Avatar’ blues,” Jo Piazza reports that some audience members have become seriously depressed and even suicidal after watching the film when contrasting the real-world situation of Earth with the beauty of the science fiction/fantasy […]

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Disney’s The Princess and the Frog: Cartoon Fantasy and Social Reflection

December 30th, 2009 | Posted in animation, cartoon, Disney, fantasy

I haven’t seen Walt Disney’s The Princess and the Frog movie yet, but living in a neighborhood with young families many of them have, and they seem to have enjoyed it. The television advertisements for the film make me a little wary since it is supposedly the best Disney cartoon since The Lion King. But […]

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