Speaking of Scotsmen, let me say that as a general rule I am quite a fan of Hal Duncan’s blog–especially those gigantic blog entries where he intellectually swashbuckles his way through certain philosophical issues with verve and panache, using academic jargon like Mrs. Parker used wit. In particular, I have been intending for a while now to write an appreciation… Read more →
Tag: Books
Something Good: Kenny Blyth reads Christopher Brookmyre
I had occasion to discuss my position on audiobooks recently while driving around Melbourne. I don’t think I’ve written about those positions here before, and indeed the extent to which I make use of audiobooks might surprise people who expect me to be a purist in my love of fiction. Actually, I am a bit of a snob about it.… Read more →
If I Were Nebu-lord
For what it’s worth, if I were picking the winners of the Nebula Awards right now (not the ones I think will win, but rather the ones I thought were the best) from the preliminary ballot the winners, according to my arbitrary and would be: For novel, either Hal Duncan‘s brilliant mess Vellum, or else Peter Watt’s “no, this is… Read more →
Can Not Process Data
You know those hoary old SF stories where the hero defeats the robot/intelligent energy matrix/computer/whatever by giving it information that can not be logically processed–isn’t “Is the following statement true? ‘This statement is false.’” the classic one?–and thus causing the super-powerful processing of the robot/intelligent energy matrix/computer/whatever to burn out, usually accompanied by a nice visual of electrical explosions? Well,… Read more →
I’m Excited: Shadow Unit
Well, this is certainly the best “online entertainment” news I’ve read in a while. I’ll let one of the participants explain: Shadow Unit is, more or less, the website for a serial drama in internet form. Or possibly it’s a fan site for a TV show that doesn’t exist. Over the next couple of months, the site will be updated… Read more →
2008 And The Public Domain
Well, it’s another year, and consequently there’s a bunch of new works falling into the public domain. You can read all about it at copyrightwatch.ca. Some highly relevant examples to me: in life+50 countries (like Canada and most of the world) the published works of Dorothy Sayers, Lord Dunsany, Nikos Kazantzakis, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and lots of others are all… Read more →
On cross-border shopping and smuggling
So, during a particularly boring meeting today, I ran the numbers on the recent smuggling effort. I ordered 32 items from Amazon.com and had them shipped to a friend in Boston. Of those, one item is one that for some reason isn’t available from Amazon.ca (and indeed, can’t be ordered from Amazon.com to a Canadian address!), so we’re going to… Read more →
The foetid taint of Hollywood
Why does Hollywood have to taint everything good? I mean, if they’re going to screw up Radio Free Albemuth, and apparently VALIS as well, (both of which I am fairly sure are unfilmable without dramatically transforming the work, and not for the better), what is safe? (Maybe I’m being cynical, although Dick’s history in Hollywood supports me. And “very close… Read more →
Last bit of Cintra
If the earlier quotes on L.A. didn’t sell you the book, I’m going to take one more shot at convincing you, and then I’m going to shut up about it. Promise. France’s Surya Bonaly, the beautiful black ice skater, has gotten screwed by the judges every time I’ve ever seen her compete. Surya Bonaly is a blazing star, she is… Read more →
Cintra on L.A. (Three)
Picking up from here: What men routinely get away with in L.A. would get the tips of their noses sliced off in most of the social channels in New York. Women are different in New York; their methods of womanly operation are different from those in Southern California: more brains, more independent wealth, less sexual Uncle Tomming. New York women… Read more →
Holy Crap
My daughter read me a book today. She’s been “reading” me stories for months now, but until today that meant her telling me stories of her own invention about the characters in the book. These stories usually lacked a narrative throughline and some thematic consistency, but they made up for that with mad innovation and exciting events. Tonight though, the… Read more →
Cintra on L.A. (Two)
Picking up from here. There are a few hair-raising quality-of-life issues in Los Angeles, such as the fact that attitudes towards racism, instead of getting more enlightened with education and time, are rampantly degenerating—a retrogression completely supported and for all intents and purposes whipped further backwards by the torch holders of Hollywood status quo. Racism, which you don’t see an… Read more →
Really Old Books In The News
I noticed a couple of interesting–at least to me–stories in the news recently about some really old books. By far the more sensational story was the one about Codex Gigas, or Devil’s Bible, being put on display in Prague. That fact that it’s on display is perhaps less interesting than the fact that it exists at all. There’s quite a… Read more →
Cintra on L.A. (One)
You may recall my mention that I’m really enjoying my couple-of-pages-a-day reading of Cintra Wilson‘s book. Well, here’s a quote about Los Angeles that stood out for me while reading the book, presented for your amusement: The “Ha-ha, Satan lives in L.A.” jokes are not really funny anymore, because they’re too eerily true. There’s so many hoof tracks and triple-6… Read more →
The Farouche Assemblage
If you read this blog closely, you will have noticed a few mentions of Matt Hughes, particularly including my mention of being startled at finding out there was a Hughes chapbook forthcoming from a publisher I had previously never heard of. Well, you can be sure I’ll be paying a lot more attention to Payseur And Schmidt from now on.… Read more →
