Who knew? For a mere $5000, you can have your very own Speaker for the Dead!
Sunday, January 30, 2005
New Signs of the End Times
Why should I let Wednesday have all the fun with the Apocalypse?
After all, like Valen, I was taught by Jesuits. I know the vital role that Matthew 27:48 plays in the Culture Wars. I even understand the military history of the hill of Megiddo.
So don't bother me with the Mark of the Beast. Speak not to me of plagues and portents and the resurrection of the dead: For verily, I say unto you, I know the true signs of our impending doom.
After all, like Valen, I was taught by Jesuits. I know the vital role that Matthew 27:48 plays in the Culture Wars. I even understand the military history of the hill of Megiddo.
So don't bother me with the Mark of the Beast. Speak not to me of plagues and portents and the resurrection of the dead: For verily, I say unto you, I know the true signs of our impending doom.
Friday, January 28, 2005
The Circle Unbroken.
Sooner or later this had to happen: Trekkies, but for LOTR fans.
Far more entertaining than Alone in the Dark will likely be is watching reviewers meow about it. As I write this, its Tomatometer reading is 3%. (I especially enjoy watching the reviewers-- plural-- who START to call it the worst movie ever, then back away in horror from the precipice, realizing that making that claim would actually ENCOURAGE some people).
And Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing and NPR on James Cameron's Aliens of the Deep.
Far more entertaining than Alone in the Dark will likely be is watching reviewers meow about it. As I write this, its Tomatometer reading is 3%. (I especially enjoy watching the reviewers-- plural-- who START to call it the worst movie ever, then back away in horror from the precipice, realizing that making that claim would actually ENCOURAGE some people).
And Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing and NPR on James Cameron's Aliens of the Deep.
Fan Fiction Friday
...or, You HopedThought I'd Forgotten All About It, Didn't You?
From Making Light comes word of the inevitable Whedon/Tolkien musical extravaganza, Once More with Hobbits. So far, the only complaint I've heard about it is that it doesn't include the Scouring of the Shire.
After such an effort, what new worlds could there be for Joss to conquer? Well, he could always collaborate with another one of his favorite writers, Aaron Sorkin!
...Until he actually does so, however, you'll have to make do with these stories of a young, blond Slayer who was Called when Buffy had her sic transit Gloria moment: It's Donna the Vampire Slayer!
Expect lots of walking quickly through corridors and crypts, trading serve-and-volley quips.
If, on the other hand, you prefer catblogging, well, then, here.
From Making Light comes word of the inevitable Whedon/Tolkien musical extravaganza, Once More with Hobbits. So far, the only complaint I've heard about it is that it doesn't include the Scouring of the Shire.
After such an effort, what new worlds could there be for Joss to conquer? Well, he could always collaborate with another one of his favorite writers, Aaron Sorkin!
...Until he actually does so, however, you'll have to make do with these stories of a young, blond Slayer who was Called when Buffy had her sic transit Gloria moment: It's Donna the Vampire Slayer!
Expect lots of walking quickly through corridors and crypts, trading serve-and-volley quips.
If, on the other hand, you prefer catblogging, well, then, here.
噢，這真是個快樂的進展…㆒噢，这真是个快乐的进展!
In the spirit of the Buffy database mentioned earlier comes (via Electrolite) the Firefly Chinese Pinyinary, your comprehensive guide to all of those exotic Chinese phrases spoken by the crew of Serenity.
My favorite? Hard to say, but "我的媽和她的瘋狂的外甥都㆒我的妈和她的疯狂的外甥都!" ("Holy mother of God and all her wacky nephews!") is a strong contender.
(Boy, won't this test your browser's font rendering...)
My favorite? Hard to say, but "我的媽和她的瘋狂的外甥都㆒我的妈和她的疯狂的外甥都!" ("Holy mother of God and all her wacky nephews!") is a strong contender.
(Boy, won't this test your browser's font rendering...)
Cartoon Cartoons!
Good news-- albeit news you can probably already guess at-- for cartoon addicts.
And a webcomic made just for them, recommended by one "no one in particular." I like it... though I'd like it a bit more if it were designed to fit in my screen.
And a webcomic made just for them, recommended by one "no one in particular." I like it... though I'd like it a bit more if it were designed to fit in my screen.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
I Was Hoping It'd Be Named "Zaphod"
In the end of Peter David's Future Imperfect, one of his best comics stories, the time-lost, intelligent Hulk cremates the body of his now-aged best friend, Rick Jones. He spreads the ashes over Captain America's shield and hurls it into the air, where it travels for miles, disappearing from sight.
"Where do you think it'll land?" someone asks him.
"God willing," he replies, "somewhere exciting."
That's more or less how I feel about the naming of the asteroid Douglasadams.
Farewell again, you glorious nonsensicalist.
"Where do you think it'll land?" someone asks him.
"God willing," he replies, "somewhere exciting."
That's more or less how I feel about the naming of the asteroid Douglasadams.
Farewell again, you glorious nonsensicalist.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Postscripts
The glorious meta-narrative surrounding the Publish America article T mentioned includes (via Making Light), the newly immortal literary classic Atlanta Nights, by "Travis Tea," details of which can be had from Beth Bernobich and Sherwood Smith (via Crooked Timber).
Also, a passing aside in my post about Tom Whitmore and the Ordo Templi Orientis referred to the story of Jack Parsons, cofounder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (still sometimes called the "Jack Parsons Laboratory") and follower of Aleister Crowley. Lo and behold, today's Salon includes a review and interview about Astro Turf, a book about the early days and culture of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (subscription or free DayPass required).
Also, a passing aside in my post about Tom Whitmore and the Ordo Templi Orientis referred to the story of Jack Parsons, cofounder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (still sometimes called the "Jack Parsons Laboratory") and follower of Aleister Crowley. Lo and behold, today's Salon includes a review and interview about Astro Turf, a book about the early days and culture of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (subscription or free DayPass required).
This is What Jonathan Had in Mind When He Invented the Internet
via Victor Gonzalez at trufen.net comes word of Buffyology, a web site which features "Every Buffy character, episode, cast member, writer and director and every word of every show, in a searchable database."
Want to find the first use of the phrase "Scooby gang"? Want to know which episodes feature dairy products? This is the web site for you, then.
Want to find the first use of the phrase "Scooby gang"? Want to know which episodes feature dairy products? This is the web site for you, then.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Tall Tale Tuesday
Today's Tall Tale involves classic Science Fiction Fandom and a shadowy and controversial religious organization.
And no, the "shadowy and controversial religious organization" isn't the one you're thinking of; although, in an odd way, it nearly was anyhow.
The Hero of our story is Tom Whitmore, conrunner, fanzine fan, and owner of Berkeley's legendary The Other Change of Hobbit bookstore; and the shadowy and controversial religious organization is the Ordo Templi Orientis, the mystical order founded by none other than the infamous "Great Beast" himself, Aleister Crowley.
The fundamental scripture of the OTO is the Liber AL vel Legis, or The Book of the Law, which was originally written in longhand by Crowley on April 8–10, 1904, in Cairo, Egypt, allegedly as dictated to him by a spirit called Aiwass. This longhand original, along with numerous other significant documents and papers, disappeared sometime after the 1962 death of Karl Germer, Crowley's chosen successor as head of the OTO. When Germer died, the OTO was largely moribund, and there was no clear central authority. Eventually, though, a former student of Crowley's named Grady McMurtry stepped up and began reorganizing the OTO, albeit not without a certain amount of disagreement from other individuals and organizations which fancied themselves as the rightful heirs of Crowley's mantle.
And that's where things stood in 1984, when Our Hero entered the story.
Without further ado, then, I give you his tale, as originally published in Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden's fanzine IZZARD in 1987: "Raiders of the Lost Basement"
And no, the "shadowy and controversial religious organization" isn't the one you're thinking of; although, in an odd way, it nearly was anyhow.
The Hero of our story is Tom Whitmore, conrunner, fanzine fan, and owner of Berkeley's legendary The Other Change of Hobbit bookstore; and the shadowy and controversial religious organization is the Ordo Templi Orientis, the mystical order founded by none other than the infamous "Great Beast" himself, Aleister Crowley.
The fundamental scripture of the OTO is the Liber AL vel Legis, or The Book of the Law, which was originally written in longhand by Crowley on April 8–10, 1904, in Cairo, Egypt, allegedly as dictated to him by a spirit called Aiwass. This longhand original, along with numerous other significant documents and papers, disappeared sometime after the 1962 death of Karl Germer, Crowley's chosen successor as head of the OTO. When Germer died, the OTO was largely moribund, and there was no clear central authority. Eventually, though, a former student of Crowley's named Grady McMurtry stepped up and began reorganizing the OTO, albeit not without a certain amount of disagreement from other individuals and organizations which fancied themselves as the rightful heirs of Crowley's mantle.
And that's where things stood in 1984, when Our Hero entered the story.
Without further ado, then, I give you his tale, as originally published in Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden's fanzine IZZARD in 1987: "Raiders of the Lost Basement"
Monday, January 24, 2005
Reading is Fundamedical!
I was at Greg Rucka's website, looking for any new information about the progress of the Whiteout movie, when I stumbled across the heart-warming story of ECW and WWE Wrestler Lance Storm, who believes he has found the cure to his career-ending back injuries in a Greg Rucka novel, Critical Space.
Hah! Take that, Brad Metzler! Take that, Michael Chabon! How many wrestlers have you cured lately?
As an aside, how cool is it that Lance Storm runs a Book Club for his fans on his web site?
Hah! Take that, Brad Metzler! Take that, Michael Chabon! How many wrestlers have you cured lately?
As an aside, how cool is it that Lance Storm runs a Book Club for his fans on his web site?
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Saturday, January 22, 2005
The rivers of Titan
More from Titan and the Huygens team: methane rain falling on the water-ice hills, carving out a river system and flowing out to mudflats. Two worlds playing the same song on different instruments.
Friday, January 21, 2005
Gimmick Time!
There is something of a tradition, in the blogging community, of taking a moment on Friday to relax and kick off the weekend with a little something different. Catblogging is probably the best-known expression of this; other blogs turn to science for a change of pace on Fridays.
That's too easy: cats are already as vital a part of Fandom as Jewish minutiae and chocolate; and science? Puhleeze! If all those other bloggers are going to be just like us, well, then, we'll just have to be even more like ourselves than they are. Hah! That'll showus! them!
With that in mind, I give you: Fan Fiction Fridays!
I was going to lead with my chin by starting with what internet connoisseurs have long held to be the ne plus ultra of fan fiction horror, the vanishing point towards which all things tasteless converge: Anne Frank fan fiction.
Unfortunately, as you can see if you click that link, in the two years plus since knowledge of this phenomenon spread across the internets, the folks at fanfiction.net have seen fit to purge that particular category from their listing. The near-universal reaction of shock and revulsion it caused may have had something to do with that decision, I suppose.
Now, before you rush off to scrub your brain clean with bleach, let me reassure you that at least it wasn't Anne Frank slash. Mostly, it seemed to be girls about Anne's age who, reading her diary, connected with it on a deep, personal level. In fact, the more I think about it, the more it seems like an understandable reaction, born of a surfeit of empathy. These were girls, it seems to me, who wanted to reach back through time and share whatever portions of Anne Frank's burdens that they could.
I wonder if any of them wrote alternate endings for Anne's story.
Actually, I wonder if any of them didn't.
At any rate, it's hard to get categorically upset at the notion of Anne Frank fan fiction and still praise things like Bill Mudron's astounding Anne Frank Conquers the Moon Nazis, isn't it? For that matter, my favorite song on one of the great albums of all time, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, is a love song to Anne Frank. Jeff Mangum wrote an album so beautiful and perfect that it scared him out of music entirely; and by 2010 it will probably have joined The Velvet Underground & Nico, Pink Moon, and Sister Lovers in the pantheon of obscure-at-the-time discs that get reverently namechecked by musicians in Rolling Stone and NME profiles.
So maybe there's something to Anne Frank fan fiction, after all.
But never fear! I have a replacement which, I think you will agree, represents a whole new evolution of the fanfic concept: Steve Perry fan fiction.
Hah! Take that, Jasmine and Inkblot! Take that, Emerald Ash Borer! Your puny powers of Friday distraction are nothing compared to the awesome power of Steve Perry fighting an immortal, wraith-like assassin!
That's too easy: cats are already as vital a part of Fandom as Jewish minutiae and chocolate; and science? Puhleeze! If all those other bloggers are going to be just like us, well, then, we'll just have to be even more like ourselves than they are. Hah! That'll show
With that in mind, I give you: Fan Fiction Fridays!
I was going to lead with my chin by starting with what internet connoisseurs have long held to be the ne plus ultra of fan fiction horror, the vanishing point towards which all things tasteless converge: Anne Frank fan fiction.
Unfortunately, as you can see if you click that link, in the two years plus since knowledge of this phenomenon spread across the internets, the folks at fanfiction.net have seen fit to purge that particular category from their listing. The near-universal reaction of shock and revulsion it caused may have had something to do with that decision, I suppose.
Now, before you rush off to scrub your brain clean with bleach, let me reassure you that at least it wasn't Anne Frank slash. Mostly, it seemed to be girls about Anne's age who, reading her diary, connected with it on a deep, personal level. In fact, the more I think about it, the more it seems like an understandable reaction, born of a surfeit of empathy. These were girls, it seems to me, who wanted to reach back through time and share whatever portions of Anne Frank's burdens that they could.
I wonder if any of them wrote alternate endings for Anne's story.
Actually, I wonder if any of them didn't.
At any rate, it's hard to get categorically upset at the notion of Anne Frank fan fiction and still praise things like Bill Mudron's astounding Anne Frank Conquers the Moon Nazis, isn't it? For that matter, my favorite song on one of the great albums of all time, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, is a love song to Anne Frank. Jeff Mangum wrote an album so beautiful and perfect that it scared him out of music entirely; and by 2010 it will probably have joined The Velvet Underground & Nico, Pink Moon, and Sister Lovers in the pantheon of obscure-at-the-time discs that get reverently namechecked by musicians in Rolling Stone and NME profiles.
So maybe there's something to Anne Frank fan fiction, after all.
But never fear! I have a replacement which, I think you will agree, represents a whole new evolution of the fanfic concept: Steve Perry fan fiction.
Hah! Take that, Jasmine and Inkblot! Take that, Emerald Ash Borer! Your puny powers of Friday distraction are nothing compared to the awesome power of Steve Perry fighting an immortal, wraith-like assassin!
Fulfilling a Vital Need. I Guess.
I can't. I just can't.
As single as I am...
I can't bring myself to Ask Deirdre for advice to the lovelorn comic-book geek.
I just can't.
(It's like sending Ann Landers material to Maxim, you know?...)
As single as I am...
I can't bring myself to Ask Deirdre for advice to the lovelorn comic-book geek.
I just can't.
(It's like sending Ann Landers material to Maxim, you know?...)
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Futuropolis UK
Dreams of a future British megacity running from coast to coast across the Pennines, Liverpool stretching out to sea on stilts, and The Stack: a skyscraper in the shape of, um, things in a stack. The readers' comments aren't universally supportive. The giant Manchester teddy and Rubik's Cube might be controversial, but I have to say I like the look of the Bradford park and lake.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Dancer, Will Robinson! Dancer!
I tend to avoid repeating Slashdot, because so many people check it already, but this story just ties in too damned well with my last post: Agence France-Presse is reporting that Japanese scientists, including Tokyo University's Katsushi Ikeuchi, have taught the Kawada Industries HRP-2 robot the steps and movements of traditional Japanese dances, in an effort to preserve that aspect of their cultural heritage for posterity.
Japan: Land of the Dancing Robots.
Oh, did I mention that the robot was designed by Yutaka Izubuchi, creator of RahXephon, and designer of mechas for Assemble Insert, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, and Gasaraki, among others? That probably explains why it flies and comes equipped with a giant freaking sword, right?
Japan: Land of the Dancing Robots.
Oh, did I mention that the robot was designed by Yutaka Izubuchi, creator of RahXephon, and designer of mechas for Assemble Insert, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, and Gasaraki, among others? That probably explains why it flies and comes equipped with a giant freaking sword, right?
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