The Five(ish) Fangirls Podcast: Episode 8 - It's Fandom Christmas!

It's Fandom Christmas and we have been very good fangirls this year! San Diego Comic Con treated everyone to casting announcements, trailers, sneak peeks, panels and interviews with our favorite casts and creators, release dates, and Robert Downey, Jr. giving everyone roses! (well, in Hall H, anyway). Though your humble correspondents watched the action from the comfort of our computer screens (and sometimes from the floor when we squee so much we fall out of our chairs - okay, maybe that was just me), there's still plenty to enjoy!

Also - news not out of SDCC, plus a way to support the Five(ish) Fangirls and help us get on iTunes!

Full show notes and an mp3 download link can be found here: http://thefiveishfangirlspodcast.blogspot.com/2014/07/fiveish-fangirls-episode-8-its-fandom.html

The Preemptive Critic - The Giver

This book tops my Greatest Books Written in All Of Our Lifetimes and Beyond list (that I made up). While not necessarily the granddaddy of all dystopian fiction - it's more like a beloved aunt. Certainly it's an intro to dystopian novels for younger readers (I first read it in fourth grade and LOVED IT). The book is much more homespun and personal - a moral tale about the power of memory and remembering the bad things as well as the good and having the ability to make your own choices and taking responsibility for those choices - leaving the great and the grand world-building for future franchises to tackle.

This book was one of the first books that I CHOSE to read for myself (other books I read in elementary school, while fantastic and lovable and enjoyable, were actually given to me by my parents or teachers). I read my first copy of it to pieces - literally! It completely fell apart and I had to get a new one - which is about the same time I found out that there were sequels (while not as compelling as the original, were still very good). I hold The Giver in such high esteem in not only my bookworm career, by my entire life! So, when I heard that a movie of The Giver was going to be made, my very first thought was "Please for the love of all that is good and holy do NOT screw this up!"

Well... having only seen the trailer, I'm not saying that they did screw it up. But I'm not not saying it either (hovercraft? motorcycles? daily injections? WTF???)

I preemptively do not like this movie. But I'll probably still see it in the faint hopes that they did not just totally crap all over my childhood.

(In a completely unrelated subject, io9 has an article about terrible movie trailers for movies that are awesome).