Robert A. Black, Mathematical Storyteller

It was the most shocking anime plot twist I've seen in more than a decade, and for a time I wondered if the hand of Joss Whedon was at work. Two weeks ago, GeGeGe no Kitaro - a children's show - killed off its most popular character, out of nowhere and at the hands of another popular character. Let's see if I can give you a summary without running on too long. Neko-musume (the name literally means "cat-daughter") is a yokai , a Japanese fairy-like creature who looks like a stylish teenage girl most of the time but turns into more of a feral cat-like creature in order to fight (or when she smells fish). She is the best friend of Inuyama Mana, a middle school girl who serves as the audience's link into the world of the yokai . As the episode two weeks ago unfolds, the Big Bad tricks Neko-musume into attacking Mana's mother, just as Mana walks in to find her mother lying on the floor bleeding out. Mana reacts the way you might expect - only the Big Ba...

WARNING! WARNING! Danger, Will Robinson! I'm going to talk about Star Trek: Discovery , so if you're not up to speed on the latest episodes and don't want to be spoiled, turn back now! In fact, at the moment I'm just typing enough stuff so that the link on my Facebook page won't give anything away. Blah blah biddy blah, I'm so stuffy hand me a scone. And never eat pears. By the way, does anyone else think that spin-around thing the Discovery saucer section does is really silly? Okay, that should do it. Discovery is back from its midseason hiatus now. Actually, I'm a week behind, having just seen the January 7 episode last night. And what a surprise it was. Not all the stuff with the Mirror Universe, as I'd already read about that. I'm referring to the scene where Doctor Culber gets killed out of nowhere. Doctor Hugh Culber, one half of Trek 's first canon gay couple, partner of Lieutenant Paul Stamets. I found myself having ...

And just like that, the Whedon Wars are upon us again. This past weekend, Kai Cole, ex-wife of Joss Whedon, published a guest essay on the entertainment website The Wrap (full disclosure: an old college roommate of mine is one of their editors), accusing Joss of cheating on her multiple times over the course of their marriage. I'll spare you the details. You can look them up for yourself if you like. The point she was making, the reason she gave for telling her sad story, was to inform the world that Joss is not the feminist hero he makes himself out to be or that much of the media acknowledges him as. And that's where I come into the picture, because I'm one of many people who started questioning his feminist street cred a long time ago. A quick review: I was a fan of his Buffy the Vampire Slayer series from the very beginning. I learned how to switch from screenplays to prose by writing Buffy fan fiction. And what really drew me into the show was the story ...