Space the Nation

Ana and Dan have never felt scared like that -- and they've never felt more alive. Our third Alex Garland or Garland-adjacent movie (after Ex Machina and 28 Days Later) prompts some grim assessments about the state of our union (not great!) and the condition of our Fourth Estate (it's not good either!). It's one of the most thought-provoking films in recent memory and we have even more to say... so we're doing a second episode about it for Patrons only and it'll be up next week. There's IR, a lot of IR, in this movie. Oh, and Ana is hyper-fixated. You can subscribe to her free, limited edition Civil War newsletter at civilwars.substack.com 

Ana and Dan get off their oblongs long enough to debate this Very Serious Book about a kind of dim Artificial Friend (ironically, a sun-worshipper!). It is also a sneak entry into our Obama or O'Bummer series, but I'm only going to put one special stamp on the cover at a time!

Ana and Dan hack their governor modules and put down their visors to enjoy some Sanctuary Moon without dealing with humans and their annoying real-world emotions. Oh, what's that? Ana and Dan have to deal with each other. The idea was so painful I've dropped to 97 percent efficiency. This is technically part of the AI-des of March, since Murderbot is an artificial intelligence who is not a man. Can a robot be "on the spectrum"? Is terraforming as cut-throat as all that? Is there IR in this novella? I don't care.

Dan was in Serbia this week! Enjoy this refresher course in donning your stillsuit slip-fashion.

Ana and Dan drank the water of life... at Cosmic Coffee in Austin, TX, for our first-ever tiny desk live show. This show has a lot of ambiance (background noise) and even some audience Q&A (none of which are more like comments). We hope you love it as much as we did. Or, you know, can stand it.

It was as if thousands of podcast listeners suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. We disappeared from Apple Podcasts, because AI. If you listen via that method, there are now literally dozen of new-to-you episodes to enjoy! Please do enjoy. If you want to avoid missing *any* shows, including our special episodes, consider becoming a Patron! We love you either way.

Ana and Dan will take those noodles to go while they ponder what they'll do about that turtle on its back. The great grand-daddy of scifi noir, Blade Runner's visuals still resonate even if the script clunks more than it sings. There is IR and a critique of capitalism in this movie.

Ana and Dan open up some Keikaku beers and ask this movie if it knows it's a movie. This gorgeous exploration of power, identity, gender, and self-awareness is a decade old but of the moment, with its sexy AI and Joe Rogan billionaire. It has IR, a critique of capitalism, and Oscar Isaac disco dancing. (This did not get posted last week; technical difficulties -- many apologies.)

Ana and Dan accede to the superior analysis and portfolio acquisition of cats. We've been meaning to do a Scalzi book for some time -- but which one? Then the decision was taken out of our hands, because talking (typing) cats. There is IR in this book.