Hi-Sci-Fi

This week we are joined by Danny O’Brian of Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) who gives us the goods on EFF’s upcoming lawsuit naming most of the George W. Bush cabinet as involved with illegal surveillance and wiretapping.

That, and we give you the goods on the newest of TV Fall shows - Knight Rider, worth it or not? Fringe, and Stargate Atlantis. Hold on to your hats, and do send us your love.

Sincerely,
Irma Arkus

Susan and Mike Walsh, aka the Walshes, are giving us the preview of VCon this year - we are about to be stricken with a flood of writers, and volunteers in crazy outfits, reciting their favorite lines from Buffy,
calling upon Cthulhu, and singing those fave Filk numbers.

For more information you can check out the VCon website and see what they have prepared for this year.

I would like to point out that VCon is unlike a lot of other conventions, and I guess we can wax poetics about it, but realistically it is a smaller convention of both nerds, and professional nerds.

One thing I always found it to be is an excellent source of (protein?) resources for budding writers. Whether you’re into writing for TV, film, or developing your new horror, fantasy or sci-fi book, VCon is really the place to be. For one, many guests of honour, mostly and usually writers of highest caliber (the ones who “made it”!) are actually willing to spend an enormous amount of time and effort sitting close to your smelly self, and giving you pointers on how to earn some dough and get somewhere with your wits and talents alone!

This may not seem like much until you check out who’s who of VCon this year. For one, my favorite Can-lit figure, Robert J. Sawyer, is a constant presence at VCon. Even though he threatens every year that the funds are limited, he keeps on coming back, which means that either he has a mistress we don’t know about, or he really digs the atmosphere.

This year, Kelley Armstrong and Patrick Rothfuss are joined by a horde of authors, some of which are even going to use the opportunity of this strange Surrey, BC gathering to launch a book or two.

We are talking Don DeBrandt, Lynne Fahnestalk, Eileen Kernaghan,Robert J. Sawyer, Lisa Smedman and wait for it….Jeanne Robinson & Spider Robinson!

Another welcome (and super-cool) addition is the appearance of Dr. Jaymie Matthews who will be bringing the strange world of science to this year’s VCon. There is a rumour that even intelligent design will be addressed during workshops - this smells like trouble, and fun.

There is even something to sweat about - training with swords (and those things will cut you and kill you) and even something about Electric Fencing?!!! Whatever that is, I just hope it makes noise.

This year’s VCon is even getting cozy with the kinky side of life with “Bedroom RolePlaying for Beginners.” Which reminds me that I should dust off that Princess Leia costume.

All in all, this small, delicate flower we call VCon is going to be a party. The best part is - we are broadcasting live directly from the party, so in other words, HiSciFi will be VCon…for your ears.

This week we give you a little taste of The Watchmen, Alan Moore’s legendary graphic novel, considered not only a visual, but literary accomplishment. I highly suggest you bite into it, read it, love it…and get ready for the movie.

Great thanks to Adam of Grey Haven Hobbies in White Rock, BC for being an incredible contributor (as always!) and his insider knowledge of all things drawn.

Between news on Octocat, water on Mars, Captain Planet and more, we have Colin Stewart with his new fantasy novel, A Question of Extremes.

This week Irma and Greg get to sit with Adam Gold, writer of Greg Milne’s upcoming feature film Without Light. We start off well, but quickly descend into feelings of elated success, promote the film shamelessly and giggle a lot.

That and news. Hold on to your seats. Time for HiSciFi

Check out Without Light HERE
Or just outright buy it and support our Greg Milne, indie filmmaker, savant and radio personality - to get a copy click HERE

Music provided by James Reyna aka melodywhore - Reyna is the composer for Without Light and you can find more of Melody Whore HERE

Love us? Have comments? Email us at hiscifi@gmail.com

This week we got to interview Joseph Romm, who is a “big cheese” gnawing at “bigger cheeses” in Washington. Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, Joseph Romm runs the blog, ClimateProgress.org, and is an expert in field of environmental sciences.

That, and we get really into Dr. Who and adventures of the fourth season, which is, in my humble opinion, the best one thus far.

This week we are joined by Stanley Hyde, North American leading experts on…(wait for it)…Godzilla!

Get ready for the “man in rubber suit” extravaganza, as we get Stanley to tell all live from G-Conference (yes, that would be the Godzilla conference *nod*), and gives us the goods on past and future of the greatest of monsters - Godzilla.

HiSciFi- Irma talks chainmail bikinis and loincloths wielding large swords - yes! Time for revelry in Conan and Red Sonja. Also, we give the lowdown on MDI’s first commercially produced Air Car, a personal vehicle running on an air-compression engine. That and we kill with DNA…literally…

Love us!? Have questions or comments? email us at hiscifi@gmail.com

Irma & co. discuss Hulk, interview Geoffrey Gluckman, an ex-CIA operative and a techno-thriller novelist, talk to Scott Wood of The Interview Show, who gives us the bottom line of how artists relate to copyright laws, and then discuss many of fun news…including AIDS.

To all of those who sent us whiny messages about severe deficiency of Dr. Who discussions - please be patient. Upcoming show is all about you :)

Send us love: hiscifi@gmail.com

This week’s big news is all about copyright in Canada. We discuss Bill-C61 with Jesse Betteridge, and we are joined by Nina Munteanu to discuss some knowns and unknowns on water resources in Canada.

And yes…we are all about Hulk too :)

This week, we have Gregory Milne, a jack of all trades, including co-director and producer of a new feature film “Without Light,” who gives us an insight into what life holds for an independent film producer in Canada.

Adam McCormack of Gray Haven Hobbies tells all about release of D&D 4.0. And as we look forward to the release of sequel to Dark Knight, we revisit Batman in his drawn form.

This week we are joined by Jeff, Crystaline, and Julie, all major local experts on LARP. What is LARP? For those who do not know, this is a worthwhile listening material as we explore how tabletop D&D gaming jumped onto live action stage in many people’s back yard.

On the other hand, recent efforts in Canadian Parliament on Canadian Copyright issues are very much abuzz with some stringent and frightening suggestions (DRM gone wild…like those girls with low self-esteem who walk topless during spring break, but with CDs?!)

Join us. Listen in and write us: hiscifi@gmail.com

Love,
Irma

This week we had Lauren Weinstein join us for a discussion on issues of Net Neutrality and Deep Packet Inspection - the latter being a subject of much debate as, if utilized by Internet access providers, is not only illegal (the law just hasn’t caught up with those guys yet) but deeply disturbing as it is akin to a kind of “data wiretapping.”

Weinstein is a columnist for Wired Magazine, co-founder of PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility, co-founder and moderator of the new NNSquad (Network Neutrality Squad) and the founder of the PRIVACY Forum, which he created in 1992. Weinstein has been involved with Internet and other technology issues for over 30 years, starting in the early 1970s at the first site on the ARPANET (proto-Internet) at UCLA.

I do encourage you to join as many Net Neutrality petitions as possible and get your neighbours and family to do it too. Do it. Keep on doing it. And you can translate that however you’d like.

Love,
Irma

Today Irma and Jevon are joined by Jesse Betteridge, the blogger and newsman behind Zannen Canada and we discus anime, the new and fantastic Saturday Morning animated Spectacular Spiderman as well as a host of news, and we finally air a wonderful interview with the good folks at the Akiba Blog, who are now offering their goodness in English!

Today’s show is a bit of a comics spectacular as Free Comic Day was this weekend, so to celebrate we interviewed some comic people. First, was an interview with Lillian Diaz-Przybyl from the North American manga and comic company Tokyopop, and then we have Adam, our comic guy who runs Grey Haven Hobbies in White Rock, BC, Canada. We talk manga, gender and comics, the Iron Man movie, The Skrulls, Yaoi, and bunch of other stuff, so enjoy!

Today we talk about some interesting news in Science, react to the juggernaut that is “The Hobbit,” and talk net neutrality with Timothy Denton, a renowned thinker and writer on the topic.

An author twin bill! Today Irma and Jevon Interview Dr. Cheryl K. Olson, one of the authors and part of the team behind the interesting book and study on youth violence and video games entitled, Grand Theft Childhood? It is out now so go read it. We also talk with another author, Dennis Dufour, the author of Dead World about all things zombies! Go read his stuff too. We also talk about tv shows and some of the new anime that is coming out including the most excellent Allison and Lillia . Also, yes… BSG still rocks.

How do you combine video games, environment and politics? This week, we get some answers.

We feature two special guests: Aerlyn Weissman and Stephan Danic, who are participating in a project for the Department of Fisheries - they are doing no less than creating a virtual model of the ocean itself.

The idea is for policy makers to use this sophisticated tool, which allows for visualization of long term consequences of their actions. The model is one of few new tools in struggle to generate appropriate ecological measures, as recent developments indicate a global crisis for fish population. Moreover, it is a method of making sound and accountable policies, and is a prime example of using new technologies to potentially change the very nature of political process.

Today we have two special interviews for you. Nina Muteanu the author of Darwin’s Paradox joins us in the studio and discusses her novel and we speak with Roland Kelts over the phone about his new book Japanamerica. Also Jevon gives a quick rundown on Sakuracon 2008, and plays the hot new nerdcore album he picked up by Ultraklystron entitled “Open Souce Lyricist.”

1. Ultraklystron - Hikikomori
2. RIAA - Chicken Slacks
3. Keenhouse - Deep in the Forest
4. Jurgen Paape - So Weit Wie Noch Nie
5. Tim and Eric - Beaver Boys (PJ Puterhoots Remix)
6. Revolte - Ironical Sexism (GRUM Remix)
7. Gonzales - “Working Together” (Boyz Noise Remix)
8. DJ Magnet - Shop Around if You Are Horny
9. Hercales and Love Affair - You Belong (Riton Remix)
10. Pink Skull - Gonzo’s Cointreau
11. Computer Club - Bizarre Love Triangle
12. Judi Chicago - Chick Feel A
13. Maral Salamassi - Back Up Your Ass (Trashtalk Remix)
14. Housemeister - INORDERTODANCE

Michael Geist joins us live to discuss the bandwidth throttling by Canadian Internet Services Providers, Net Neutrality, rise of new and death of old media. Jevon reports live from Sakura-con, giving us the taste of anime and cos-play-a-plenty, and Stephen Danic from Centre for Digital Media, on rise of new digital media disciplines.