Professor Beej

Like every other woman who went through school with frizzy hair and the label “the smart girl,” I identify strongly with Hermione Granger. I have no illusions about how clichéd this is. It’s about as original as every non-Republican professional woman with glasses believing herself to be the real-life Liz Lemon.

Some writers can write anything. They’ll decide one day to sit down and bang out a Western — because they’ve never written a Western before — and POW! They’ve done it. Okay, I don’t know too many people like that — any, really — but I know lots of writers who think of themselves that way. But it’s not so easy to just pick a genre and immediately start writing.

By now sci-fi fans expect cancellation. They groan inwardly when SyFy cancels another awesome show, and yet they are not surprised. They saw Firefly beheaded; Dollhouse was murdered in its youth; Caprica went the same way; and the funeral procession for SGU has already been prepared.

If you weren’t already aware, May 4th is Star Wars day. So in honor of the Star Wars we are going to help you be prepared for possibly running into a Death Star.

The movie makes no apologies for appearing to be a rougher version of the shiny original. By showing the human condition at its best and worst, without making excuses or altering reality, the Coen brothers bring the essence of True Grit to the surface.