The 21st Show

Chicago Writer Alec Nevala-Lee; Holiday Movies 2018; Producers as Experts

By Niala Boodhoo, Alan Montecillo, Libby Foster and Robin Linn
 

Courtesy of Alec Nevala Lee

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On the 21st: It’s our last live show of the year! We spoke to Chicago-area writer Alec Nevala-Lee about his new book, which delves into the history of science fiction. And, we heard from some of the folks behind the scenes as we turned the microphone over to The 21st producers. Plus, there are lots of movies out this holiday season. We dove into some of the best ones with movie critic Reggie Ponder.

This is the time of year when you can count on some big releases and lots of choices — whether you’re looking for something for the kids or a small little art film.

Reggie Ponder, otherwise known as The Reel Critic, is joined us from our studio in Evanston at the Medill School of Journalism to help us make our movie choices over the holidays.

Plus —

Science fiction is everywhere in 2018. Not just in the form of our favorite movies, books, or TV shows — but even in the actual technology we use in our daily lives.

But the story of sci-fi goes back decades — long before films like Star Wars or 2001: A Space Odyssey. The 1930s and 40s are known as the Golden Age of science fiction. This era, and the people in it, are the subject of Chicago writer Alec Nevala Lee’s latest book.

It’s called “Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction.”

And what tied all of these men together is the sci-fi magazine called Astounding, which in many ways helped create the genre.

Alec Nevala-Lee joined us from our studios at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Also —

All year long our producers look for newsworthy and interesting stories and conversations from Illinois and beyond to bring to you. But what you may not realize is that they’re also somewhat experts at various things that might surprise you.

Things that we don’t really get to talk about on The 21st. So we thought we’d spend the last few minutes of our last live show of 2018 to take advantage of this expertise. These are the names you hear in our credits, but more importantly, they are the people who do all the hard work to make The 21st a reality every day.

Alan Montecillo, Libby Foster, and Robin Linn join us as Niala welcomes the producers to The 21st!

Story source: WILL