Ke Huy Quan was at the Santa Clara convention center. The Kepler’s Literary Foundation. With the premium ticket you got his book, Never Say Die (which was pre-autographed) along with a selfie. He talked about being a boat person, and the struggles coming to America. Really nice talk. Worth full price.

Avatar the Last Airbender the Animated Series (Netflix & others) Deeper than most cartoons. Truly bingeable story that does connect. The seasons follow the elements (water, earth, fire) Still has legs. Paramount+ has a feature film (to be reviewed later) and a new series on the way. Liked it a lot. Worth full price. American production, so technically not Anime.

Coyote vs. Acme (in theatres) 96 on RT! Wiley E. Coyote sues Acme. Animated & live action mix. Harmless fun. Usual Looney Tunes gang. Rescued by industry and fans. Plot is a bit forgettable. Coyote and Roadrunner were non-verbal.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Season four finale, Tomorrow’s Enterprise, went out on a high note. Could have worked as a series final episode. Uhura was a key figure in this. Time travel shenanigans, and a current and future crew. The non-corporial/non-linear being could be something that had been seen before.

• Yochanan: Liked it a lot. The wig designs and uniforms (scoop neck) were nice touches. Episode was a tad confusing, but fun. A very good episode. Worth full price.
• Ken: One of the best of the entire run. Please remember for Hugo nomination in the new year. Was not confused (nor Rick).

Lanterns (HBO) continues its first season. In the penultimate episode, it continues to be a twisty puzzle box. Absolutely delightful. Witty, with unexpected depth. Looking forward to the season finale.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Season fours penultimate episode, Once La’an a Time. Our heroes encounter medieval fantasy world with their doppelgangers from the first season story The Elysian Kingdom. Rather pat conclusion, but the entire plot was a cut-up that was amiable.

• Yochanan: Thought it was a cute episode. Many podcasts hated it because they loved the first one.
• Ken: I reviewed it last week…

Monster (Netflix) Normally he hates horror that doesn’t touch SF. Costume drama dresses it up. Series profiling murderers. The violence is sanitized. Pleasant scenes, interrupted by the horror. Captured his attention to keep watching. 3/3.5 of 5. Felt like horsdrves, not a meal. Sarah Paulson appears as Aileen Wuornos.

Using Interlinear Gloss (also called the [James] Hamiltonian Method) for language study is really interesting. Lingua Boost app really good for that as well. He’s also been toying with ChatGPT in this. Discovered that emojis also really help for learning.