"Rogue One" Q&A Review

Q. Should I see Rogue One?
A. Yes. Yes, you should.

Q. Star Wars has burned me before. Like, three times AT LEAST. Is Rogue One really good, or is it just "good for Star Wars"?
A. It's good, period, full stop. It's the best Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back. Certainly better than The Force Awakens.

Q. Okay, neat. So, how many Jedi does it have? Is it true there's a Busby-Berkeley style light saber duel on a rickety bridge over an infinite canyon while flying droids buzz overhead and zap things?
A. Umm, no. That's not

So, Robert Heinlein-

- by know you've probably figured out that I admire him as one of the great science fiction writers and an impressively competent man (holder of patents, predictor of the Roomba & breeder nuclear reactors, trained all-in fighter, influencer of the '60s counterculture, etc.) if not for some of his later political opinions.

So it pleases me to announce that there's a video clip of an interview with him on the only (?) movie he worked on, an adaptation of his own YA novel Rocketship Galileo. (And as an extra added bonus, visual SF greats Chesley Bonestell and George Pal are also there.)

And here it is!

I Met Tippi Hedren

For reals.

HBO's doing this docudrama about Hitchcock's abuse of her. Having met Ms. Hedren briefly, I'm on her side.

I was working as an electrician on a low-budget indie film (I never saw the finished product in theaters, but years later, in Vienna, I saw it running on a hotel TV under the title "Der Labyrinthen Der Leydenschaft"). Tippi was one of the supporting players. She still looked great, and she was gracious to everyone.

And that's it. Nothing more to say - although it was admittedly great for a recent film-school grad to be on the same set.