There is a nice article about the talk jms gave to aspiring writers at Comic Con on July 23rd

His overarching theme: the importance of writing what you deeply care about.

IO9 Article

and here is a video link to his MIT lecture from earlier in the year.

jms MIT lecture (link taken down, sorry  It will be available on DVD some time in the future.)

The Babylon Podcast is a finalist for a Parsec Award, in the category of “Best Speculative Fiction Fan Podcast”!

We’re up against The Signal, The 9th, The ScapeCast, and Tuning Into SciFi TV, with the winners to be announced at Dragon*Con.

See the website for a list of all finalists in all categories.

Many thanks to those who voted to get us nominated, and wish us luck!

This coming weekend, July 2-5th, Westercon 62 (FiestaCon) is being held in Tempe AZ, at the very nice Tempe Mission Palms Resort and Hotel.

When I saw that they were including a Babylon 5 panel (for the first time in a long time), I knew I needed to be the moderator!

BABYLON 5: THE ENDURING LEGACY: It’s been over 15 years since Babylon 5 debuted. Our panel looks back at the series and how it has influenced the
genre and looks ahead to what there might be in the future.
Fri 6-7p, Abbey South room. Summer Brooks (moderator), Lee Whiteside, Eytan Kollin

I’m going to try to record the panel, and if I’m successful, it’ll eventually be posted here.

Jonathan Wright, a blogger at The Guardian, wrote an article last week about “Torchwood: Children of Earth” and it’s 5-part story arc. He laments the fact that all of the scifi he loves has become more heavily laden with story arcs, and at first glance, this fact irks him, and he lays blame at our feet:

I’m sorry, but what’s so bad about five not-so-epic-but-nevertheless-carefully-crafted-individual stories shown over five weeks –or possibly even six if you need to re-jig the schedules because of a major sporting event? How did telly get so complicated?

Personally, I blame J Michael Straczynski. Back in the early 1990s, Straczynski, or JMS as fans know him, created Babylon 5. When it was first shown on Channel 4, it looked like a science-fiction series about a space station. The CGI was a bit shonky, but it passed the time.

Inexorably, though, it became clear that JMS, a control freak who wrote 92 of the show’s 110 episodes himself, had an overarching vision. It involved a portentous brew of big themes – politics, destiny, war, peace, love. If you tried to start watching Babylon 5 with series three, you were left hopelessly confused.

He goes on to point how how the arcs of Buffy and Alias had only increased the perceived “need” for grand overarching visions in sf and fantasy television, and while he does grumble about it, he finally admits that he doesn’t see a way not to be hooked into continuing to watch, because by the time you realize there’s an arc at play, you’re already deep into the story and don’t want to let go.

Is he complaining, or is he grudgingly handing out compliments to writers and producers for making him watch more TV?

Discuss amongst yourselves, both here and over at the Babylon Podcast forums

Link: Guardian: Torchwood has succumbed to the story arc craze
Link: io9: Did JMS Ruin Television SF?

From the producer of “Grizzly Man,” comes “Dreams with Sharp Teeth” on noted curmudgeon and general genius Harlan Ellison.

Perfectly suited for iPhone viewing, the film was creatively designed in content, framing, text, cinematography and musical score (solo guitar by other genius Richard Thompson) to be enjoyed on this format.

The film itself is composed of brilliant, dense and short audio bites, readings and interviews, with all exposition conveyed in type. The fact that Harlan is an avowed technophobe who proudly writes on a manual typewriter adds to the irony.

“Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth” is available on the iTunes store for download ($9.99): http://www.itunes.com/movies/harlanellisondreamswithsharpteeth

Synopsis:
Crackling with infectious energy, DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH pays homage to the dark prince of American letters, Harlan Ellison. Master of his craft, Ellison has heroically produced over 75 books and more than 1,700 classics of fiction and non-fiction on one of his Olympia manual typewriters, including the single most popular Star Trek episode (”City on the Edge of Forever”) and brilliant, award-winning short stories, some written in bookstore windows, on very public display.

Wildly imaginative writer, flame-tongued provocateur, unholy fusion of Lenny Bruce and Mark Twain, Ellison’s remarkable personal journey is lovingly rendered by director Erik Nelson.

The film draws on over 25 years of exclusive video footage that captures Ellison at his most inspiring and irritating, curmudgeonly and lovable. See Ellison rant about the idiocies of geekdom, confess to mailing a dead gopher to an executive at a publishing house, recall his rebellious childhood, and speak about the joy (and craft) of writing. The film features candid interviews with famous and surprising friends, including actor Robin Williams, author Neil Gaiman and Ron Moore (Battlestar Galactica), who flesh out Ellison’s prodigious contributions to the worlds of literature and popular culture, as well as their very personal encounters with this unique Force Of Nature.

Whether a die-hard Ellison fan or someone tragically uninitiated, DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH will amuse, inspire, infuriate, and edify.

This is the only news coverage Tim was able to find… anyone else find any mainstream coverage of the lecture?

‘Babylon 5′ creator speaks about failure, future of media at MIT
By Jeanne Amy
GateHouse News Service
Mon May 25, 2009, 10:13 PM EDT

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Middle-aged, irreverent, innovative and bold, J. Michael Straczynski is no joke, even though he doesn’t hesitate to make a few. Creator of the popular sci-fi TV series “Babylon 5,” known to many as his initials, JMS, Straczynski spoke to a packed MIT lecture hall Friday for the second annual Julius Schwartz Lecture, hosted by the school’s comparative media studies department.
Known best for his writing on “He-Man,” “She-Ra,” “The Real Ghostbusters” and most recently for the major motion-picture “Changeling,” Straczynski spoke briefly on the value of failure.

“If you don’t fail once in a while, you’re not doing it right,” Straczynski said. “But you can’t fail all of the time and achieve anything, unless your dad was the President or something.”

Through several personal tales of failure and distress, Straczynski inspired his fans and challenged them to take risks.

“You have to do what scares you, even though, especially though, it scares you,” he said.

Read the full article here: ‘Babylon 5′ creator speaks about failure, future of media at MIT

J. Michael Straczynski with Henry Jenkins at the Julius Schwartz Lecture
Friday, May 22 7:00p
at MIT Building 10, Room 250, Cambridge, MA

The second annual Julius Schwartz Lecture brings J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of the cult science fiction hit Babylon 5.

The Julius Schwartz Lecture is an annual event held to honor an individual who has made significant contributions to the culture, creativity and community of comics and popular entertainment..

The lecture is hosted by the Comparative Media Studies program at MIT and was founded to honor the memory of longtime DC Comics editor Julius “Julie” Schwartz, whose contributions to our culture include co-founding the first science fiction fanzine in 1932, the first science fiction literary agency in 1934, and the first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939. Schwartz went on to launch a career in comics that would last for well over 42 years, during which time he helped launch the Silver Age of Comics, introduced the idea of parallel universes, and had a hand in the reinvention of such characters as Batman, Superman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman and the Atom.

The event is typically structured as a short lecture presented by the honored speaker, followed by a question-and-answer discussion between the speaker and the head of the Comparative Media Studies program, media scholar Henry Jenkins III. This will be followed by an open question-and-answer session between the lecturer and the audience. The inaugural speaker for the series was New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman.

Link: The Julius Schwartz Lecture
Link: Julius Schwartz Lecture Guest Speakers

It’s an auspicious day, May 12.

It’s Tim Callender’s birthday, and also Bruce Boxleitner’s birthday.

Gary sent along a link to a picture that Melissa Gilbert posted to Twitter Pics

Link: http://twitpic.com/51f4p

Here’s the latest from the moderated newsgroup that should bring a smile to a lot of faces: 

In 1999, J. Michael Straczynski allowed his original notes on Babylon 5 to be released via his Last Word column in the Babylon 5 Magazine (Vol. 2, Issue 9). These notes were the first written record of Babylon 5, made moments after he had his inspiration for the series while taking a shower.

Though the magazine is long gone, on this, the 10th anniversary of this column’s publication, he wanted to share the origins of Babylon 5 again. While many fans saw them when they were originally published, he realizes that many more have not.

In addition to the notes, there is a brief introduction that formed part of that column.

Click here to read the column