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Steampunk Roundup
I’m a big fan of steampunk, due to a gothy fascination with Victorian culture and “retro-futurism.” I love the vibe of mass-produced mixed with one-off craftsmanship in the alternate-history technology that’s such a hallmark of the genre. If you’re a fan, here are some links you might enjoy. The Steampunk Home – This blog is…
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More Remakes
Alternate post title: “WTF, Hollywood?” The Website at the End of the Universe recently pointed to a list of remakes (and a couple of sequels) to classic SF movies that don’t actually need remaking, such as When Worlds Collide and Creature from the Black Lagoon. I could at least see why they were planning to…
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“Mad Scientist” Blocks
Here’s the perfect item for the young maniacal inventor on your gift list: Alphabet blocks lovingly engraved with a different mad scientific motif. Original pen-and-ink drawings are laser-engraved (natch) onto maple blocks, and they’re just gorgeous. The set of five includes all of the themes that any well-rounded mad scientist should explore: A – Appendages…
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What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
An opinion piece published online in Nature examines the illicit use of “brain-boosting” drugs like Adderall and Ritalin by college students, and concludes…that we should totally do more of that. The seven authors–at least two of whom are consultants for pharmaceutical companies–argue that we “should welcome new methods of improving our brain function,” and say…
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Comic Books to Movies
When Hollywood appropriates a genre, it really appropriates the holy living crap out of it. With the success of Iron Man and the various X-Men movies, it’s not surprising that other comic books are being adapted for the screen. What is surprising–at least to me–is that a whopping 84 titles are scheduled for production. Den…
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Forest J Ackerman (1916-2008), RIP
Forry died at 11:58 PM on December 4, 2008 http://www.sfwa.org/news/2008/fackerman.htm A major line to our SF history is gone.
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Science Fiction Worth Rereading
Shadow and I have a fundamental difference of opinion about revisiting favorite books: If I like a book, I’ll re-read it periodically until the pages fall out. Shadow sucks a book dry on his first reading and is always on the hunt for new prey. A recent SF Signal Mind Meld asked several authors to…
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Sapporo to Debut “Space Beer”
One of the few snippets of Lost in Space I ever managed to watch without losing consciousness involved June Lockhart serving various dishes, all prefixed with “space.” She presented “space soup,” and “space bread,” and “space potatoes” and it was right about then that I understood why Star Trek had such a hard time getting…
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Dr. Horrible on DVD
Joss Whedon’s “internet experiment” Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is finally coming to DVD. The release date is given as December 19, although Whedon says that they hope to have it available sooner. Over on Whedonesque, he talked it up thusly: Is it worth fifteen hard-earned dollars? Absolutely. In fact, I can say without reservation that…
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Just in Time for Life Day
The Star Wars marketing department consists of a mob of people whacking at the grease spot where a horse once was, so it comes as no surprise whatsoever that there are multiple cookbooks related to the franchise. These two, Wookiee Cookies and Darth Malt, are aimed at juvenile readers and feature dishes like Tusken Raider…