Look to the Past to See the Future of Tech Support
By Tamara Wilhite
I read a Cracked article on how surprisingly prescient the movie Demolition Man was down to the wussification of the world and social justice mandates enforced by automated systems. We could argue that Heinlein’s group marriages are on the cusp of being legal when same sex marriage was immediately followed by lesbian throuples and polygamous families suing for recognition. Yet the future of tech support is found in even older works of science fiction. I think the future of tech support will be robo-psychologists like Dr. Susan Calvin in Isaac Asimov’s short stories and the Robots based on his 3 laws of robotics.
The Greatest Conservative Films: It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
By Eric M. Blake
Editor’s Note: In April of 2017 writer Eric M. Blake began a series at Western Free Press naming the “Greatest Conservative Films.” The introduction explaining the rules and indexing all films included in the series can be found here. Liberty Island featured cross-posts of select essays from the series during summer and fall 2018. This essay concludes the cross-posting series. (Click here to see the original essay on It’s A Wonderful Life. Check out the previously cross-posted entries on Jackie Brown, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Unforgiven, Hail, Caesar!, Apocalypse Now, Fight Club, Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice ULTIMATE EDITION, Wonder Woman, Kill Bill, Gran Torino, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.) If you would like join this dialogue please contact us at submissions [@] libertyislandmag.com.
‘Would It Be Nuclear? Where Would They Hit?’
Check out this excerpt from the Catholic thriller novel
By Peter Tanous
Pick up The Secret of Fatima: A Father Kevin Thrall Thriller by Peter J. Tanous for a Christmas gift this year.
Making Gotham Great Again, Part 1: The Media
Considering Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns as a Mirror to Today’s Politics
By Shant Eghian
To fans of comics, The Dark Knight Returns stands as one of the seminal works of the medium. Written and drawn by comics legend Frank Miller in 1986, the story revolves around an aging Batman coming out of retirement after an intolerable surge in Gotham’s crime. Known for its intense action, suspenseful plotting, and dark atmosphere, The Dark Knight Returns proved to mainstream audiences that comics could be more than cheap, disposable, kiddie fare, and could stand as its own as a serious form of entertainment and storytelling.
One distinctive aspect of the book is its sharp political satire. Miller takes aim at a bevy of institutions, from the police force, to politicians, to Ronald Reagan, to the media.
At first glance, Miller’s satirical remarks can be seen as the bloviations of an angry young man. Almost no one avoids his ire, and his statements can seem contradictory. On the one hand, he attacks the media as fake and soft on crime, so he sounds like a conservative. On the next page, however, he attacks Reagan as hollow and is critical of American actions in the Cold War, so he comes off as a liberal. Is there any real coherence to Miller’s attacks, or is he just flailing his arms around with no real positive political agenda?
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Treacherous Alpine Path
Deconstructing Canadian Culture, Part 8: The Traumatized Artist
By Josh Lieblein
After the sometimes unbearable lightness of Stephen Leacock and his Sunshine Sketches, it is time once again to return to the darkness. We’ll ease into it this time, however, with a quick study of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the creator of , a trailblazing Canadian writer, and a far more interesting personality.
Montgomery’s young heroines are precocious, sharp-tongued, deeply sensitive, not conventionally attractive, prone to tragically losing relatives and friends, and carry within them dreams of literary superstardom and an unbreakable core of innocence. The red-headed, pigtailed Anne is the best-known, and someone needs to do a compare and contrast between her and Little Orphan Annie of comic strip fame. But Emily of New Moon and her quest to develop her literary skills – her climb up the “Alpine Path“- will touch a chord with anyone who’s gone through the cycle of having to put their written work back together after having it pulled apart by an editor.
PreTeena: December 10 – December 16, 2018
Sunday Comics!
By Allison Barrows
You won’t want to miss these hilarious cartoons depicting the ups and downs of adolescence. Now each week’s strips will debut on Sundays as the lead strip of Liberty Island’s Sunday Comics feature. If you draw a comic and would like to have your work featured on Sundays, please contact us: [email protected] Check out Allison Barrows’ new PreTeena blog here.
The 3 Final Photos in the Galápagos Series: Cute Seals and More Cool Reptiles
By Michael Sheldon
*Submit your photographs of nature and the outdoor life to [email protected] to participate in this weekly feature exploring the natural world.*
The War of the Walking Dead Soldier Stories
By Tamara Wilhite
Stories, movies and books featuring reanimated soldiers are not common, but they aren’t unique, either. The “Universal Soldier” franchise managed to make four movies based on the concept of dead soldiers re-animated and moderately re-engineered to fight. “Old Man’s War” became a book series, though it has a somewhat different premise. In Scalzi’s book, your brain is downloaded to a genetically engineered, enhanced version of yourself.
The Greatest Conservative Films: Bridge Of Spies (2015)
By Eric M. Blake
Editor’s Note: In April of 2017 writer Eric M. Blake began a series at Western Free Press naming the “Greatest Conservative Films.” The introduction explaining the rules and indexing all films included in the series can be found here. Liberty Island will feature cross-posts of select essays from the series with the aim of encouraging discussion at this cross-roads of cinematic art with political ideology. (Click here to see the original essay. Check out the previously cross-posted entries on Jackie Brown, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Unforgiven, Hail, Caesar!, Apocalypse Now, Fight Club, Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice ULTIMATE EDITION, Wonder Woman, Kill Bill, Gran Torino, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Blazing Saddles, The Magnificent Seven, Shaft, Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, and The Enforcer.) If you would like join this dialogue please contact us at submissions [@] libertyislandmag.com.
Consider for Christmas Gifts: Keith Korman’s Eden: The Animals’ Parable
By Keith Korman
Perfect for a holiday stocking stuffer: Eden: The Animals’ Parable by Keith Korman.
