Dave Maass

I no longer write for SciFiWire.com.

The reason is this: Days before San Diego Comic-Con, the largest nerd gathering in the world, the web site suddenly changed its name to Blastr.com.

Now I write for Blastr.

In rolling out the new brand the editor’s explained that “SciFiWire” was something they invented during a brief hallway conversation 13 years ago without much thought:

Today, “Wire” feels old-fashioned and stodgy, only slightly better than if we were called SCI FI Telegraph. And there are now millions of sites that curate sci-fi entertainment news, so there’s no need for us to be shouting “Look! NEWS!!!! Over here!!!” Also, in the last few years we’ve grown well beyond news by adding things like the Bruce Campbell’s Soup Labels, the Image of the Day and the Periodic Table of The Empire Strikes Back. As we’ve tried out new stuff we’ve listened to your comments and kept track of what stories were most widely read, and it turns out people like fun stuff along with their news. Really, really, really like, as in it’s the most popular content on the site.

I was a bit shocked. Firstly, because no one bothered to tell the writers that everything was a-changing. Secondly, because two of the three pieces they highlighted were mine. I blogged awhile back about the Periodic Table of Empire Strikes Back Elements, but I don’t think I mentioned Bruce Campbell’s Soup.

I was pretty proud of this project, especially as I watched it go viral in real time on Twitter and Digg (of course, those Digg counts disappeared once the blog changed). Here’s what happened: Basically, the idea was this: Bruce Campbell is an actor with a huge cult following. Looking in my girlfriend’s cupboard for dinner ideas, I was suddenly smacked with this concept. Why not turn Campbell’s films into soup labels? This kind of pop-culture translation seems to be the new hot shit.

If you look at the design, you’ll notice that every little detail is a film reference and that’s something that seemed to resonate with the pop-culture bloggers.  I came up with the text and designer Chris Kalb did the rest. I can’t be the first guy to call this man a genius; In very short order, he produce more than I could have ever hoped. His designs were set at the right dimension to be cut out and wrapped around soup cans. Sure enough, people actually did just that and tweeted photos.

You can download all four labels here.

Tags: army of darkness, blastr, bruce campbell, syfy channel

Twice in the last 24 hours my stories have made it on the tube.

Last night, the local NBC affiliate ran a follow-up to my investigation of a laboratory containing hazardous materials that was abandoned by defense contractors. The NBC reporter did a fine job; the only problem is that my cuteness was upstaged by a puppy in rehab.

Then, this afternoon, a dream came true when one of my stories (finally) made it onto an MSNBC program. Chuck Todd, filling in for Chris Matthews on Hardball, did a short “Sideshow” segment on my story about Randall “Duke” Cunningham. It starts at about the 3 minute mark.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I should note that a couple of weeks ago Rachel Maddow mentioned a story that I had broken, but didn’t credit our paper by name. That’s the next goal: Must make Maddow.

Tags: defense contractors, duke cunningham, ego, hardball, san diego citybeat, sorrento valley, video

As we say on Twitter, here’s some recent #puppyporn featuring my dog, Marlowe:

Marlowe visits the beach (La Jolla) for the first time.

This is how dogs say, “What the hell, dude, why are you stopping?”

Marlowe visiting a giant bear sculpture at UC San Diego.

Tags: Marlowe, puppy porn

That’s me. On the left. It’s the summer after I finished kindergarten, I think, and I’m enrolled in day camp at the Jewish Community Center. For some reason, going on public access was part of the curriculum.

I look back at this video and realize that being fidgety and being distrustful of lawyers is just part of my nature.

Once again, I’m behind on blog posts. Sorry. It’s just the way things are. Busy busy busy. But, I thought I’d share a new side project I’ve picked up: Writing blog posts for SyFy channel’s SciFiWire.com, which, of course, is a bit of a nerd dream come true.

These aren’t news pieces or even reviews, but just fun lists and format busters involving sci-fi, fantasy and horror television and film. For example, here’s the Periodic Table of The Empire Strikes Back I conceptualized for the 30th anniversary of the Star Wars sequel:

Click to enlarge.

And here’s a piece on all the reasons why I still love Total Recall, two decades after the fact. And, in honor of the monstrous BP oil spill, here’s my list of sci-fi’s greatest (and silliest) grease and petroleum monsters.

More to come, though I might not get around to blogging it. Instead, click this link to see my author page or the new widget I’ve added to the sidebar.

Other than that, well… the CityBeat gig is friggin’ awesome…but I’ll blog about that some other time.

Tags: empire strikes back, fantasy, nerdiness, science fiction, scifiwire, syfy, total recall

Lynn Morris and Will Lorimer are two of the brightest people I’ve ever worked with–and what they’re doing just makes me beam with pride. It’s a green beam, because it brings out a little bit of envy as well as my inner environmentalist.

They’re following the coast of the Atlantic—from Britain, down through Europe and Africa and back up through the Americas—in order to document the impact of rising ocean levels.  It’s called Atlantic Rising and it’s an interactive educational film project.

Right now, they’re more or less half way through the trip and have decided to veer off course to document deforestation in Brazil. In order to make it happen–and ship their jeep 1,000 miles inland–they need to raise $2,000 over the next 40 days.

I’m happy to say they’ve almost collected it all and it’s only been a few days. But they still need the go over the top. Please take a moment to check out their video plea here. If you’ve got $2 to kick in, that’s plenty.

Morris (left) and Lorimer (right) are both alums of the University of Manchester’s Granada Center for Visual Anthropology–which is where I was lucky enough to meet them.

Those of you on the East Coast might have a chance to meet them too: Their map shows it won’t be too long before they start documenting the United States’ Atlantic coast.

Tags: documentary film, granada centre, sea levels, visual anthropology

What’s a personal blog without a little puppy porn? In this video, Marlowe shows off her circus act, including her latest trick, jumping through hoops.

Tags: dog tricks, Marlowe, puppy porn, terriers

For Emily Alpert, Voice of San Diego’s virtuoso education reporter:

You get them wrong before you meet them, while you’re anticipating meeting them; you get them wrong while you’re with them; and then you go home to tell somebody else about the meeting and you get them all wrong again … The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It’s getting them wrong that is living, getting them wrong and wrong and wrong and then, on careful reconsideration, getting them wrong again. That’s how we know we’re alive: we’re wrong. Maybe the best thing would be to forget being right or wrong about people and just go along for the ride. But if you can do that—well, lucky you.

- Philip Roth, American Pastoral

Tags: journalism quotes, mistakes, philip roth

I admit I was worried. Now I admit I was wrong.

The world has not ended.

Before I go any further, I’ll just go ahead and issue a big, bold SPOILER ALERT. Doctor Who Season Five won’t premiere in the US until April 17, so if you’re planning on watching this on BBC America, you may want to skip this post.

I was worried about how young Matt Smith is.  I worried that, as an actor, he just isn’t seasoned enough. I worried that I wouldn’t relate to a younger-looking Time Lord. I worried that the 11th Doctor would be….hormonal.

I called Smith a dough-faced tosser.

And frankly he may be all those things, but it all adds up to a Doctor I can believe in: Goofy, wild-eyed, over-confident, totally oblivious and yet wise beneath his baby-flesh face.  What really sold me, though, is how head writer Steven Moffat introduced him in The Eleventh Hour.

Each incarnation of the Doctor has its own history, its own gestation, its own social development.  Smith’s Doctor is barely born before he’s hurting people he cares about: Amelia Pond, a young, neglected girl just looking for someone who won’t let her down.

The Doctor crashes into her backyard, promises to help, then vanishes for 12 years, leaving Amelia to become obsessed with her “Raggedy Doctor” and undergo years of therapy for her belief in an imaginary friend. After reentering her life as an adult and saving the planet from incineration, he disappears again for two years.  He returns the second time on the eve of her wedding night, a detail Amy (as she now calls herself) doesn’t disclose to the Doctor as she joins him in his T.A.R.D.I.S.

Now that is some dramatic conflict: The Doctor has no clue what devastation he’s caused to this girl and how much more he could do while trying to show her the wonders of the universe. And looking so young only compounds the tension.

Overall, the first episode was wonderfully shot and edited, with an extremely charming opening and, later, some stop-motion photographic effects to illustrate how the Doctor sees space and time (more of that I hope).

The only bones I have to pick with the episode:

- The plot revolves over-zealous prison guards who threaten to incinerate the earth if they can’t finda shape-changing fugitive alien who hides in, among other places, a hospital. This is pretty much the same exact circumstances in which the Doctor met Martha Jones. In Smith and Jones, intergalactic cops move a hospital to the moon in order to find a shape-changing fugitive; the staff and patients running out of air is reasonable collateral damage.

- Initially, the Doctor believes Amy’s a cop because of her uniform. She later explains that she’s a “Kiss-o-gram,” and also wears nun’s habits and nurse outfits. C’mon! Kiss-o-gram? Do people even do that anymore? And in a small town? I always thought that was a TV-created euphemism for a stripper. Why not just make Pond a stripper? That would be even more dramatic.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I probably won’t be blogging every episode–but then again, maybe I will.

Tags: doctor who, matt smith, steven moffat

The trailer makes Season 5 look incredible, though I’m not sold on Matt Smith yet. I’m waiting for the personality to burst through. So far, he just looks dopey. I keep telling myself: Have faith in Steven Moffat. If Smith sucks, he’ll only last a season or two. (Knock on T.A.R.D.I.S.)

Tags: bbc, doctor who, matt smith