The website of John C. Snider
I was tapped to write this for the January 2010 “Decade in Review” issue of print mag INsite: Atlanta’s Entertainment Monthly. The challenge: do so in 500 words of less. Here’s a scan of the original article, trimmed so it’s easily legible. Enjoy!
Here’s a review of the movie Blindness, which I wrote for the October 2008 issue of print mag INsite: Atlanta’s Entertainment Monthly.
[Originally posted on January 3, 2008 at AmericanFreethought.com. A slightly different version appeared in 2006 in Volume 12, No. 3 of the magazine Skeptic.] It has been nearly four centuries since Galileo Galilei lost his legendary showdown with the Catholic Church’s Court of the Inquisition. Threatened with imprisonment, torture and certain death, Galileo backed down—officially, at …
An Interview with actor Doug Jones (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Fantastic Four 2) [This interview originally appeared in SciFiDimensions.com in February 2007.] You might not know his face, but if you’re a fanboy or fangirl, chances are you know Doug Jones. For nearly two decades Jones has flown under the media radar, parleying his physical abilities (he has …
How the Japanese Destroyed Tokyo Themselves and Unwittingly Unleashed a Trans-Pacific Collaboration that Helped Mend US-Japanese Relations The early 1950s was not an easy time to be Japanese, especially if you were trying to please Americans. Despite winning the Pacific War and exacting vengeance by firebombing Tokyo and subjecting Hiroshima and Nagasaki to nuclear annihilation, …
[This review originally appeared at SciFiDimensions.com in June 2004, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary edition published by Beacon Press. You can also read my interview with Ms. Butler here.] Life is good for Dana, a young black woman living in California. She and her husband have just moved into a new home, and …
[This interview originally appeared at SciFiDimensions.com in June 2004. Ms. Butler died in 2006. This interview was included in the 2009 book Conversations with Octavia Butler, edited by Consuela Francis, published by University of Mississippi Press. You can read my short review of Kindred here.] Octavia E. Butler has been an inspiration to a new generation of writers …
[This review originally appeared in SciFiDimensions.com in November 2003.] Everything that has a beginning has an end. Sort of. When Larry and Andy Wachowski introduced audiences to The Matrix back in 1999, it was the beginning not only of one of the most lucrative film franchises of all time, it was also the beginning of a fresh …
[This review originally appeared in SciFiDimensions.com in May 2003.] Reality isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The Matrix is a vast computer simulation feeding the minds of humanity, whose bodies (housed in row upon row of nutrient-filled cocoons) provide energy for the Machines who have conquered their creators. As far as everyone “trapped” in …
The Dilemma of Shutting Down the Matrix [This essay originally appeared in SciFiDimensions.com in May 2003, just before the first sequel to The Matrix—The Matrix Reloaded—was released. Obviously, the franchise went in directions that completely negate my speculations, but I think they’re interesting enough to warrant revisiting. –JCS 12/27/2021] Millions of science fiction fans have May …