FanFare

In an alternative 1990s, lonely Wyrm grieves his recently-deceased older brother, and struggles to complete a unique school requirement in which students wear electronic collars that detach only upon engaging in their first kiss, with little help from his distant parents. Expanded from a 2017 short film; available to watch on Hulu and several other streaming services. Heavily reminiscent of Napoleon Dynamite, but more melancholy. Written and directed by Christopher Winterbauer. Includes a short Rhea Seehorn appearance.
posted by brainwane on Nov 23, 2022 - 0 comments

The AI from Kritzer's Hugo Award-winning short story "Cat Pictures, Please" is back at novel length -- along with "a group of teenagers who have found friendship and community online, never realizing that one of their online friends is actually an artificial intelligence." The author describes it as a "technothriller YA (young adult) novel about friendship, online community, AIs (artificial intelligences), robots, hacking, sex ed, and road trips". (I'd add: queerness, monstrous humans, art, dealing with cops, and being embarrassed by your parents.) Here's an excerpt (the second chapter of the book).
posted by brainwane on Nov 30, 2019 - 3 comments