Welcome back to News & Things. This is Kayleigh, your intrepid reporter for the week, and I’m thrilled to be joining the WWAC team. Enjoy, won’t you?
Kickstarter of the Week
The Choosatron: Interactive Fiction Arcade Machine by Jerry Belich
The Choosatron is an “interactive fiction game box,” where the decisions you make determine the outcome of a sharable, printed story. A homage to fondly-remembered Choose Your Own Adventure games, the Choosatron is Wi-Fi connected and features story contributions by a number of creators.
Read of the Week
On her blog, Seanan McGuire talks about San Diego Comic-Con, the myth of the Fake Geek Girl, and the double standards in demanding to see a fan’s “credentials.”
Seanan says, “Men—adult men—have asked me to defend my knowledge of and right to be a fan of My Little motherfucking Pony. My first fandom, the fandom that is arguably responsible for getting me into epic fantasy (not kidding), the franchise that I have publicly credited with teaching me how to plot long-term. A franchise that was, at least originally, aimed exclusively at little girls who enjoyed ponies and hair-play. I think that all fandoms should be for everyone, and I love that My Little Pony has finally found a male audience, but are you kidding here? Are you seriously telling me that the second men discover something I have loved since I was four years old, I suddenly have to pass trivia exams to keep considering myself a fan? Because if that’s the way things are going, I want to hear the Sea Pony song right fucking now.”
News
Grant Morrison Talks Wonder Woman: Year One
At USA Today, Grant Morrison talks about his creative process behind Wonder Woman: Year One, and shares details about his take on the iconic character and the “mother and daughter” story between Diana and Hippolyta.
A TV series based on the Barry Allen Flash is headed to the CW. The network wants to expand its DC universe, but confirms that the Wonder Woman-starring pilot Amazon is “on hold.”
Junot Diaz Annotates Oscar Wao Online
Author Junot Diaz is using social media to annotate his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, via Rapgenius.com. His notes expand on sci-fi and fantasy references from 2000 A.D. to Zardoz–making him probably the only Pulitzer Prize winner to ever reference Zardoz.
Official Trask Industries Site Launched
The viral marketing for 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past is in full swing, with photos and videos of Marvel’s mutant-hating robots, the Sentinels.
The Wolverine is Bechdel-Friendly Blockbuster
But swinging back to this year’s big X-Men film, The Wolverine, Vulture.com talks to director James Mangold about the film and its prominent cast of female characters: Mariko, Yukio, Viper, and Jean Grey.
Chris Claremont and The Wolverine from Page to Screen
Sean Howe interviews classic X-Men scribe Chris Claremont about his Wolverine miniseries with Frank Miller that inspired the new film, how the two works compare, and how he feels about not being credited in the film. Snikt, bub.
And Finally…
Put on your legwarmers: Kevin Wada’s posted four more pin-ups of Kitty Pryde’s classic costumes.
