Michael G. Munz

The official website of Seattle sci-fi/fantasy author and geek Michael G. Munz

Archives for 2015

Movie Review: Terminator: Genisys

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Terminator: Genisys

Warning: Movie may contain Time Lords.

Come with me if you want to see a better movie than Terminators 3 and 4!

Before I tell you exactly what I think of Terminator: Genisys, here’s my nutshell review of each movie in the series so far, so you know where I’m coming from:

Terminator
An excellent sci-fi action movie teasing just on the edge of horror, and a true sci-fi classic. My favorite of the series.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day
An even wilder action ride, with a little more emotional depth, and ground-breaking F/X, though as time passes, I find I prefer the artistry of the first movie just a little bit more. (It’s a shame the trailer spoiled the biggest twist for most people.) Also the first R-rated movie I saw without permission. Sorry, Mom & Dad.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Not without its charm, and I did like the twist at the end, but ultimately forgettable.

Terminator Salvation
A disappointing, pandering waste of a film that I saw once and can no longer even really remember beyond the fact that, no sir, I did not like it. [Read more…]

My First Norwescon (Panelist!) Experience

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Rather than having a Guest Geek post up this week, I figured I’d do something weird and be my own guest! (It’s complicated. There are lots of forms, and I needed to apply to USCIS for a visa… You wouldn’t believe the paperwork.) I know, it’s terribly unusual. Just bare with me. This is something I’d written with the idea to submit to another blog, but I decided I’d just put it up here and cut out the middleman!

As you may know, I’m a lifetime geek who’s lived in Seattle since autumn 1992. Between then and last January, there were twenty-two occurrences of Norwescon, the Pacific Northwest’s premiere sci-fi/fantasy convention, and I’m ashamed to say that I missed every single one of them. Either I hadn’t heard of it, or each year I was reminded of its existence either as it was happening or a few days afterward. It was like the final episode of Farscape: “Bad Timing.” [Read more…]

Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Titan’s Curse – Ch 14

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It's time to read the dam chapter.

It’s time to read the dam chapter.

A strangely-named mystery girl, goddesses in elevators, and the return of sea-cattle! That’s right, it’s the dam fourteenth chapter of Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Titan’s Curse, a.k.a…

I Have a Dam Problem

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Farscape Rewatch: “Losing Time”

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Farscape

“This plan is so bad, it HAS to be ours.”

Season 3, Episode 9:
“Losing Time”
***1/2 out of *****

 “I am bleeding and I have no wounds, so I’m either St. John of the Uncharted Territories, or there’s something very, very wrong with me!”

Having spent an entire episode with black-T-shirt Crichton aboard Talyn in the last episode, it’s time to swing back to Moya to spend entire ep with green-T-shirt Crichton! (Well, almost an entire episode, but we’ll get to that later.) I’d say this is a weird one, but this is Farscape, and they’re ALL weird ones, right? That’s why we love it! [Read more…]

Guest Geeks: Eric Turowski and the D&D “Satanic Panic”

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Guest GeeksThe world of role-playing games is widespread these days, with games of every kind, in many different mediums, spanning genres and filling up convention after convention. While stigmas and stereotypes still exist for those who play, player demographics span nearly every age, gender, and class. (Did you know Roger Moore and Vin Diesel were adult Dungeons & Dragons players?) But it wasn’t always so. Like rock & roll before it, tabletop role-playing—and D&D in particular—had some, shall we say, wildly inaccurate perceptions in its early days. Today, Guest Geek Eric Turowski paints us a picture…

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Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Titan’s Curse – Ch 13

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I need a caption

It’s bad luck to go into the thirteenth chapter when there’s a prophecy of loss waiting to be fulfilled…

So it turns out that Bianca’s older than she looks, we meet another goddess (woo-hoo!), and a colossal junkyard throw-down leads to another aspect of the prophecy being fulfilled. All this, plus I get nitpicky in the thirteenth chapter of Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Titan’s Curse…

We Visit the Junkyard of the Gods

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Sign Up For Geek Notes Giveaways!

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The Simpsons - That's a paddlin'

Missing an opportunity to win free stuff?

Hey everyone! Did you know I sometimes hold giveaways for sci-fi/fantasy books and other cool stuff? If not, that’s probably because you’re not subscribed to my Geek Notes mailing list! (That, or you are subscribed but the Men in Black have erased the emails from your inbox in order to protect you from the Great Secret that lives in your linen closet, which you did not hear about from me.)

This week subscribers can enter to win one of the following: [Read more…]