Quantum Leap – Last Call at Al’s: A Tribute to Dean Stockwell

One of the best actors in Hollywood passed away in the past couple of days at age 85. Dean Stockwell, the actor/artist/environmentalist/cigar-enthusiast, is notably remembered for his role as Al Calavicci in the ’80s/’90s TV time travel show Quantum Leap. I had always intended to talk about Quantum Leap here somewhere since it is one of the most influential productions I have ever spent time with, “within my own lifetime.” With the news about Mr. Stockwell, I guess maybe this is a good time. Here in the Waiting Room First of all if you just need to know what Quantum… Read the rest

“Cyberpunk” as a Genre And Not Just 2077

It’s everywhere now. It’s downloaded into your cortex. Drips off the neon katakana of your tube hotel vacancy sign. It’s hidden in the channel tuned to static on your peripheral, cyphered, cybernetic headset. It provides the foundation as well as the motivation for things high above its pay grade, but it is still only a literary genre–beyond video games. “Cyberpunk.” I’m talking sim stim, black mesa stuff here, not Grand Theft Hovercar. It’s very surreal to me concerning some of the things which have happened since my primordial soup sleuthing sci-fi books as a teen–with next title suggestions in the… Read the rest