Five blogs you should be reading (and their friends)

So Livejournal is going down today for a few hours, leaving many fandomers bereft of one of their main sources of information. My Livejournal friendslist is one of the first things I read every morning and perhaps my main pipeline of internet goings-on (Which I then filter for you here! And here!) And by the time I wake up, it will be down for the duration.

But luckily, I also have about a bagillion bookmarks. So here, for you, are five blogs that are of vital importance to the cause, worth checking out while LJ is incommunicado. (And that you might not already know – for the obvious, just see the blogroll.)

Whatever
The Whatever is the blogging fortress of science fiction author John Scalzi. If you only read one personal blog of a science fiction personality, you could do worse. (Plus he’s supremely snarky – we love those types around here.) See also: Tor, Neil Gaiman, Antick Musings.

TV Tattle
The blog as information disseminator in the most basic form (it doesn’t even have an RSS feed!) Generally I have at least a half-dozen blogs for any given topic, but TV Tattle is quite literally the only TV blog I check on daily basis. See also: It’s all you need, really. But if you’re obsessed with just one particular show or creator, best look for a site devoted to the topic, ala Whedonesque.

io9
When Gawker starts a blog that covers your area of interest, you pretty much have to read it, at least on my end. Even if they do sometimes post some seriously stupid shit. See also: ‘The lady Gawker,’ Jezebel, Boing Boing, Topless Robot.

SF Signal
Serious about genre? This is the place. They are strong in the art of finding everything that could possibly be of interest, and their features are top-notch stuff. Seriously, no complaints, and sometimes they link us! See also: Big Dumb Object, Underwire, Binary Bonsai.

/film
There are a lot of movie blogs out there, but /film is my favorite. They hit the major stuff without making me having to slog through a dozen pages for a single day, with a great eye for video and random ‘cool stuff.’ And yes, this is fanboy territory. Be strong. See also: Cinematical, The Movie Blog, MTV Movies.

Want to contribute? Link your own favorites in the comments! (Yes, basic HTML works, though if you have a lot of URLs your comment may be held for approval.)

Press Screening Review Bonanza!

My internet is spotty today, so forgive me for not gathering all the press screening reviews before I started posting. I’ll be editing this post throughout the day as I find reviews, so keep checking back.

First, the fans:

Our own Supreme Chancellor’s spoiler-free review, of course.

TheForce.net: Scott Chitwood, Josh Griffen, Matt and Neely. Chitwood also has a review at ComingSoon.net.

The Movie Blog: 7 out of 10 stars.

Ain’t It Cool News: “I’m having a really hard time writing about this one. It’s just so damn big.

MovieWeb: “A dazzling pastiche of humanity mixed with the hi-tech which in the end shows the enormous heart of not only the creation but the creator.

Now the press:

Variety: “Entertaining from start to finish and even enthralling at times, “Sith” has some acting worth writing home about, specifically McDiarmid’s dominant turn as the mastermind of the evil empire.”

Hollywood Reporter: “The final episode of George Lucas’ cinematic epic “Star Wars” ends the six-movie series on such a high note that one feels like yelling out, “Rewind!””

San Diego Union-Tribune‘s sci-fi blog, The Disembodied Brain: “It is dark and moody, but the pace carries you along like a rampaging Wookiee.”

… And more at Rotten Tomatoes. (As of this edit, ROTS has ten reviews and is 90% fresh!)

Not the line you’re looking for

Remember the folks waiting for Revenge of the Sith at Grauman’s Chinese Theater? They’re in the wrong line.

“The telling thing is — for me, at least — if the film is not playing at the Chinese … I have zero desire to see it at all,” a fan who calls himself Obi Geewhyen posted on the message board at Liningup.net. “I’m in it for the lineup only and don’t give a darn about the conclusion of this lackluster, so-called ‘Star Wars’ series.”

How touching.

The story has been pretty widespread: Boing Boing, Metafilter, and Slashdot all blogged it and it’s pretty much spread all over by now. Nothing like laughing at a bunch of crazy geeks to bring the internet together.

UPDATE 4/7: The story’s made it to mainstream media, and Defamer is on the case.