Spoilers for recent episodes of Chuck below!

Spoilers below, as usual!

Spoiler warning!

I have a lot of good things to say about this week’s episode of Chuck, “Chuck Versus the Best Friend.” It had my favorite classic Chuck plot elements, but with plenty of variation and novelty, and though the overarching theme was plastered on with a very heavy hand, I’m always up for a round of “yay, friendship!”

One of the things that’s pretty much guaranteed to make me happy in any episode of Chuck is a subplot with plenty … READ MORE

Spoilers for this episode below!

My overall impression of “Cold Wars”: meh.

The promos for this episode implied that we’d be getting all new insights into Noah Bennet’s character, but it all comes down to the same old whose-side-is-he-really-on question, and all Noah himself has to say is that he’s comfortable with morally gray. Nothing new there.

In fact, we didn’t learn much of anything at all this episode. We knew that Noah was working with Nathan, and that Danko was … READ MORE

For the first time in my life, I’m actually watching current television shows and keeping up with storylines and such, instead of catching up once everything is in reruns or on DVD. So I thought it might be fun to do some quick reaction and discussion posts here every week, and invite those of you who are watching along to share your thoughts.

The two shows I’m watching right now are Chuck and Heroes, neither of which really impress me … READ MORE

Hello, fellow readers of the internets! If you haven’t perused it already, the 22nd Feminist SF Carnival is live at SpaceWesterns.com. It’s a three-parter this time around, with new content in the first part, highlighted previous carnival entries in the third part and a whole lot of links to articles here at Hathor in the second. Which is really flattering, and also reminds me that I need to get off my butt and do some more in … READ MORE

Hello again, internets! Did you miss me? I know I keep on saying that I’m going to be more consistent with IRtI, but this time around you’ll have more than just me to provide you with fresh internets reading material. I’ll be bringing you some internets to read once a month, and some of the other fine folks here at Hathor will be providing you with reading, too, so that you’ll have some links to look forward … READ MORE

I saw City of Ember tonight and really enjoyed it. It’s not the most fantastic film I’ve seen recently, but it’s got a good, solid adventure story, some really engaging characters and gorgeous visual design. It also has a few excellent things I’m not used to seeing in sci-fantasy films generally, or in films targeted at children:

1. Equal hero time shared between a male and a female lead. Doon Harrow and Lina Mayfleet are co-protagonists, and they … READ MORE

My latest favorite tv show is NBC’s sci-fi comedy Chuck, which delivers some of the things I love most in a show: an ensemble cast of quirky characters, wacky hijinks, pithy dialogue, and Adam Baldwin getting into fistfights. From a feminist perspective, the show gets points for interesting, well-developed female characters - but there are plenty of problems.

One of the main characters, Sarah Walker (played by Yvonne Strahovski), a female CIA agent and one of title-character Chuck’s handlers, spends a … READ MORE

Hello, internets!  I am at WisCon, the feminist sf convention.  I will be attempting (hopefully with success this year) to write up panel reports for all of the awesome programming I attend for the various blogs here at Hathor, and I’ll also be sitting on several panels myself.  Here’s a preview of what I’m planning on right now (subject to change, no doubt):

• Toys: The Other Childhood Fixation We Didn’t Leave Behind (I’m a panelist for this one)
• Not Enough Octopuses (best. … READ MORE