Every US Female Astronaut That's Been To Space.

Sandra Bullock in a screen shot from Gravity which is released tomorrow.

Gravity (2013), starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, and directed by Alfonso Cuarón, opens in theaters tomorrow. I'm expecting an intense and dramatic ride, since all the proper elements seem in place.

Now, this site is called Action A Go Go. We primarily focus on the lighter side of things, such as good guys taking out terrorists, good guys defending Earth from aliens, good guys in car chases, good guys blowing stuff up and so forth. 

There's much testosterone behind these pages, so we also tend to have pictorials the revel in the female form.

There was discussion on doing a pictorial of Sandra Bullock, but we did one not too long ago, and it can be found here. 

So what then in prep for the release of Gravity?

I'm the science fiction columnist for AAGG and the emphasis is usually on the fiction aspect of things. So, for once, will focus on the science aspect.

All indicators are that Sandra Bullock will be playing a character of strength, guts and intelligence. You know....the "right stuff." Therefore, decided to list real life examples of those very same qualities.

Please find listed below every single U.S. female astronaut that's been to space. If you click on their name, a link will take you to their Wikipedia page so that you can learn more about their amazing lives.

Sally Ride
First American woman in space.

 

Judith Resnik 

Died in the Challenger disaster.

 

 Kathryn D. Sullivan

First American woman to walk in space (Oct. 11, 1984).

 

Anna Lee Fisher 

 

Margaret Rhea Seddon 

 

Shannon Lucid

First American woman to fly on a space station (Mir, 1996).

 

Bonnie J. Dunbar 

 

Mary L. Cleave 

 

Ellen S. Baker 

 

Kathryn C. Thornton 

Marsha Ivins

 

Linda M. Godwin 

 

Tamara E. Jernigan

 

Millie Hughes-Fulford 

 

Jan Davis 

 

Mae Jemison

First African-American woman in space. (And she was an extra on Star Trek!)

 

Susan J. Helms 

 

Ellen Ochoa 

First Hispanic woman in space.

 

Janice E. Voss 

 

Nancy Currie 

 

Eileen Collins 

First female shuttle pilot and shuttle commander.

Wendy B. Lawrence

 

Mary E. Weber 

 

Catherine Coleman 

 

Susan Still Kilrain 

 

Kalpana Chawla 

First Indian-American woman in space. Died in the Columbia disaster.

 

Kathryn P. Hire 

 

Janet L. Kavandi 

 

Pamela Melroy 

 

Peggy Whitson

First female ISS commander. 

 

Sandra Magnus 

 

Laurel B. Clark

Died in the Columbia disaster.

 

Stephanie Wilson 

 

Lisa Nowak 

 

Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper 

 

Anousheh Ansari 

 

Sunita Williams 

 

Joan Higginbotham 

Tracy Caldwell Dyson

 

Barbara Morgan 

 

Karen L. Nyberg 

 

K. Megan McArthur 

 

Nicole P. Stott 

 

Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger 

 

Shannon Walker 

And since you were awesome by scrolling down and viewing every single one of these amazing women, here's one final pic for a laugh. It contains some truth, and I believe all the ladies above would approve.

Stephen Sumner is the science fiction columnist for Action A Go Go. He's proficient in Klingon swearing and has attempted the Vulcan process of Kolinar (with only mild success.) His favorite sci-fi series include Firefly, Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek. He can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/VierLights or on the Tumblr machine at http://vierlights.tumblr.com/.

 

Read More

AGENTS OF SHIELD 1X2 "0-8-4" Review

Better. Not as good as it needs to be to live up to its namesake. But better.

"0-8-4" largely tidied up a lot of the serious problems that the pilot episode presented; it wasn't a constant barrage of mind-numbingly awful witticisms (the barrage was only semi-constant this time). It didn't take itself too seriously to be likable. It also had a sense of focus, something the pilot seriously lacked. But the central problem with "SHIELD" remains: it has yet to develop its own personality. The reason I have enjoyed other new dramas this year despite their grievous flaws is because they had clarity of vision and dedication to an idea. "Agents of SHIELD" is an inkling of an idea that never got to mature into a satisfying concept before being pushed to pilot phase. It has it's charms, sure, but the characters are clichés, the stories are thin and it doesn't have a tone or style it can really call its own. But that isn't what makes "SHIELD" so consistently problematic, the problem is that it tries to fill the space where it's own personality should be with references to other things that they assume you enjoyed.

"Agents of SHIELD" acts like an unwanted step-father to the audience, it hasn't put in the time to grow with us or spend quality time figuring our relationship out, so instead it throws things it knows we like at us to distract from the glaring lack of any real connection. "Did you like "Captain America"?! Well here! Here's a Captain America reference that is completely unnecessary to the plot at hand but we know how much you like it when we say "CAPTAIN AMERICA!"" (Fitz even spells out the connection in that terminology in case the connection was lost on less astute viewers). "Did you like "Thor" and "The Avengers"?! Well Coulson happened to be stabbed in the heart by an "Asgardian" with a "Chitauri Scepter"! Remember? Remember that scene where that happened in that movie we know you liked because you all paid lots of money to see it? Good! Cause we'll have Coulson spell that out for you in that precise, needlessly awkward manner." "ALSO, do you like Samuel L. Jackson? Because we've got a Nick Fury cameo in this episode for some reason!"

The problem is that Agents of SHIELD isn't a particularly good show, at least not in its current state. It's not a labor of love, it's the result of smart marketing, and the writers know it. They know that their own show doesn't have the sufficient personality to carry itself, so while they scramble to find a justifiable reason for this series to exist they need to plug that hole in the soul of their show with something. And that something is extensive, obnoxious name-dropping. And that's what it is, name-dropping. Needlessly referencing titles in order to feign credibility that this show has yet to actually earn.

On the bright side, "0-8-4" did give me a glimmer of hope. The cast who seemed so lifeless last week started to groove a little bit. No, they don't have the chemistry I would have liked to see from square one, but they're starting to develop a sense of cohesion, and that is the first step to giving this show a heart. There is a bit of a trade-off though. Though the cast is falling into their roles (Chloe Bennett in particular is almost like night-and-day in comparison to her abysmal performance last week), the characters themselves are as thin as ever. In my review of the pilot I pointed at that the depth of clichés behind each of the characters falls almost into self-parody. Fitz and Simmons, the forgettable science geeks babble on in tech-lingo that the macho and bland Agent Ward doesn't understand, responding with the most appalling cliché possible: "Fitz, in English". It also doesn't help that all of the science BS that comes from Simmons' mouth sounds like exposition from "The Magic Schoolbus". Agent Melinda May is still all about that "Agent with a Dark Past" business; "Forgot I was working with The Cavalry" says Agent Ward, referencing some as-of-yet unaddressed event in May's past, "DON'T ever call me that" she responds harshly, in yet another example of shockingly amateurish writing. And don't even get me started on Skye, whose schlocky "Hacker" persona feels like it leapt straight out of a mid-nineties internet PSA. That all being said, while each individual part is dull and tired on their own, together they began to work as a unit in this episode. And while I definitely, DEFINITELY want to see more dimensional character writing in the future, group chemistry is a good starting point. For that I credit the cast, not the writers.

Another concern I had from the pilot returns full force in this episode. The lack of budget on this show is painfully, glaringly obvious. Now, ABC is notorious for under budgeting their shows, but for heaven's sakes, the CGI backdrops in this episode looked positively awful. Like really, really, really awful. It also doesn't help that this episode is basically a bottle episode, and while the format worked from a writing perspective, from a production perspective it made the show look extremely cheap. Not a good impression on a second outing. I'm concerned for the show's long-term viability in that respect. The pilot had some very cheap looking moments, but this episode looks like a hack job from the visual effects department.

As an episode by itself, outside of the context of the pilot, "0-8-4" is a mixed bag. Is it entertaining? Yeah, sure, mostly, kinda, sorta. But the writing really feels like its film-school level work, all the way down to the obligatory "good job today gang!" moment the cast shares together at the end while drinking beers and watching the sunset. A scene which begins to sound more and more eye-rollingly stupid the longer I type about it. "0-8-4" has all the narrative subtlety of a Saturday morning cartoon, and as much as I enjoy some cartoons, this just feels too silly and blunt to live up to it's legacy as Marvel's big foray into network TV.

"Agents of SHIELD" is a show that wants to have a quick wit but doesn't seem to understand that quick-wittedness doesn't sell when the rest of your narrative is so painfully obtuse. Word of advice to the writers: spend less time trying to think up clever one-liners, spend more time coming up with a clever story. That, or spend your time name-dropping crap that Marvel yes-men and dogmatic Whedonites will eat up endlessly. Either one will earn you wide-spread praise and probably viewership. Only one will make your show worth watching.

It's funny knowing that, were this show to get cancelled in its present state, people would still flip out about what an unappreciated gem it was. Such is the power of Joss Whedon.

Grade: C+

Read More

SLEEPY HOLLOW 1X3 "For the Triumph of Evil" Review

And the horror continues, except this time we get a dose of.... "Insidious"?

This week we get another standardly procedural episode where victims start piling up in Sleepy Hollow and some pissed-off demon with a vengeful agenda is responsible (speaking of which, how many murders can happen in this quiet, small town before people start noticing that the murder rates are higher than Miami during the 80's?). By episode three, the format which more or less worked in the first two episodes is starting to get a bit too predictable: demon makes brief appearance in cold open, begins prancing about town and begins knocking off people on its supernatural hit list. While I'm a fan of format (I love my comfort-food procedurals), the complete lack of any twist on format has become something of a bother, a distraction from the flow of the episode. It's rigid and stifling, "Sleepy Hollow" does get some leeway given that we're only three episodes in, but I can't say it's entirely encouraging that the writers are already banking on one, singular way to construct their stories.

Our killer-demon-of-the-week is a rather morbid spin on the Sandman myth. He's a faceless, pale monster (reminiscent of the style of Guillermo del Toro) who haunts the dreams of those who have betrayed another person, and makes them pay for their sins by tormenting them to the point of suicide. The best part of "Sleepy Hollow" from a week-to-week standpoint has unanimously been the villains. I can't tell you what a pleasant surprise it is to see cinematic quality creature design making its way onto network television. The Sandman is the most inventive creature thus far, he's interesting to look at, and best of all, he is very, very creepy. Almost no TV shows have genuinely frightened me (my bitterness towards "American Horror Story" in this regard is still a sore issue), but "Sleepy Hollow" does the trick. It's no "Conjuring" mind you, but it's some solid horror work that television has been sorely lacking.

One big reason this episode didn't entirely gel with me was the lack of defined logic in the demon's MO. And yes, while I'm entirely aware that logic and this show mix about as well as a bitterly divorced couple, but this felt like a stretch even for "Sleepy Hollow". Does the Sandman brutally murder every last person who screws another over, ever? Because I'm fairly certain every last person on this planet should have their eyes turned into exploding sand bubbles if that is the case (oh, btw, he turned their eyes into exploding sand bubbles because Sandman). And since that clearly isn't the case, why is he just now popping up, and why specifically in Sleepy Hollow? He doesn't seem to bear any affiliation with the overarching antagonists of the show, so his presence doesn't really make any real sense. The lack of a coherent background for the character became distracting during the final act, not enough to sink the episode, but enough to seriously dull it's potency. 

We get some a mild amount of further development on the relationship between Abby and her sister, Jenny, and why Abby is out being a cop while Jenny is in a mental asylum. While it was nice to get some further background on Jenny, the episode largely felt like it was treading water on this thread. A lot of the backstory covered felt like it had been implied strongly enough back in "Blood Moon" that reiterating it in such an overt way felt like redundancy. The subplot did manage to tie into the main case in a satisfying way, so it served its purpose well enough in the long run, it just should've been handled more smoothly in its early stages. Speaking of the final act, the entire thing works as a sort of demonic "Insidious" type-deal where Abby and Ichabod get dosed with drugs and Scorpion venom and go into the spirit world to face the demon head-on. Or is that more "Inception"? Or is it both? Whatever, originator of the concept aside it was still pretty cool, so I'm not complaining.

As it is, "For the Triumph of Evil" works well enough as a third outing of a network sci-fi still in its infancy. Is it a mess? Sure. But the messiness of it still has enough genuine talent and creativity behind it that there's something sorta endearing about it. As I've noted in weeks prior, "Sleepy Hollow" is one of those shows that teeters on the edge between dumb, creepy fun and genuine, bothersome stupidity. But the continued strength of the shows best elements even into its third episode gives me a bit of hope for its future. I like this show and I hope it finds it's footing at the writers table. There's a lot of potential to work from here, there just needs to be a storytelling that can hold those pieces up.

Also, that Sandman was super cool.

Grade: B-

 

Read More

Tom Clancy, legendary thriller writer, has passed away at 66.

 

Tom Clancy, one of the most prolific and business savvy novelists of the modern era has passed away. He died in his hometown of Baltimore at age 66.

 

It's hard to describe the impact this man has had on popular culture. His detail oriented and military centric novels built their own niche on American book shelves and influenced countless writers who emulated his style. In other words, he built modern military storytelling.

 

His novels were also turned into a series of successful movies, such as The Hunt For Red October (1990), Clear and Present Danger (1994), and The Sum Of All Fears (2002).

 

He's also just as well known for investing in video games with surprising success. With the Rainbow Six and Splinter Cell series being some highlights, with each edition of the game having "Tom Clancy's" plastered above the title as a signature of approval.

 

R.I.P Tom Clancy. You will be missed.

 

Source: BI

Read More