They don't make 'em like they used to.
Monday 26 April 2010 at 10:44 pm
Via Michael Lee, this appears to be the official trailer for the "Mara Tales" dvd set, featuring two early eighties Doctor Who stories about an ancient evil what looks like a big snake. It's interesting to note that there are brief scenes in which the original Mara prop (which was about as scary as a sock puppet) has been replaced with CGI but that little else appears to have been touched. All of the truly scary bits in these stories were accomplished with sound, lighting and acting.
I'm not ragging on modern productions at all. In fact, I quite enjoy a story that leaves me unable to retain my disbelief. That said, the most highly-praised new episodes of Doctor Who seem to take their sound, lighting and acting cues from the old days when there was no budget and all the monsters were made of cardboard. Imagine how much better, or at least different (which, in some cases, couldn't be worse) some of the other franchise revivals and reboots would have been if they'd spent more time studying the effort and artistry that went into the originals, instead of just making a cash grab at nostalgic Gen-Xers. Yeah, Battlestar Galactica, I'm pointing at you.
Monday 26 April 2010 at 10:44 pm
Via Michael Lee, this appears to be the official trailer for the "Mara Tales" dvd set, featuring two early eighties Doctor Who stories about an ancient evil what looks like a big snake. It's interesting to note that there are brief scenes in which the original Mara prop (which was about as scary as a sock puppet) has been replaced with CGI but that little else appears to have been touched. All of the truly scary bits in these stories were accomplished with sound, lighting and acting.
I'm not ragging on modern productions at all. In fact, I quite enjoy a story that leaves me unable to retain my disbelief. That said, the most highly-praised new episodes of Doctor Who seem to take their sound, lighting and acting cues from the old days when there was no budget and all the monsters were made of cardboard. Imagine how much better, or at least different (which, in some cases, couldn't be worse) some of the other franchise revivals and reboots would have been if they'd spent more time studying the effort and artistry that went into the originals, instead of just making a cash grab at nostalgic Gen-Xers. Yeah, Battlestar Galactica, I'm pointing at you.
Hawking to Earth: Aliens probably want to kill you.
Monday 26 April 2010 at 5:59 pm
Stephen Hawking has a way of stating the obvious in ways we don't often think to state it. Namely, point blankly.
Put the possible existence of alien starfaring species into the same sort of terms by which we might one day decide to take to space, and what you get is the likelihood that any species out there who finally got round to notable space travel did so after they'd used up their own planet. Now they're out there looking for new resources and, if they're anything like us, they'll want ours. So they swoop in, take it all, and move on. Because after so many generations of living the space nomad lifestyle, they're not likely to settle down again.
Yes. I realize this was the plot if ID4. I can't help it if mediocre films sometimes hit the theoretical nail on the head.
Monday 26 April 2010 at 5:59 pm
Stephen Hawking has a way of stating the obvious in ways we don't often think to state it. Namely, point blankly.
Put the possible existence of alien starfaring species into the same sort of terms by which we might one day decide to take to space, and what you get is the likelihood that any species out there who finally got round to notable space travel did so after they'd used up their own planet. Now they're out there looking for new resources and, if they're anything like us, they'll want ours. So they swoop in, take it all, and move on. Because after so many generations of living the space nomad lifestyle, they're not likely to settle down again.
Yes. I realize this was the plot if ID4. I can't help it if mediocre films sometimes hit the theoretical nail on the head.
It's a Recipe Website! It's a Recipe Website!
Monday 26 April 2010 at 3:32 pm
Over at To Serve Fan, you can find an extensive listing of the various sci-fi/fantasy/horror/etc conventions going on. Also, if you read between the lines, there are instructions on how to cook attendees.
Monday 26 April 2010 at 3:32 pm
Over at To Serve Fan, you can find an extensive listing of the various sci-fi/fantasy/horror/etc conventions going on. Also, if you read between the lines, there are instructions on how to cook attendees.
It's Time Management Time
Monday 26 April 2010 at 12:20 pm
Many of you will have noticed the distinct lack of new chapters in the Prom Queen of the Damned serial. I think I'm something like two weeks behind now. The good news is there's a new chapter just about finished on my hard drive, so that should be out later today. The bad news is that I've still got to get caught up.
The old model involved me working on a chapter whenever I got the time. That was fine at first, as I tended to get more time. Now, though, things have changed. My weekly quiz (which, I should mention, I write and host... so it's more of an obligation than if I were, say, just on a team) takes up the entirety of my Tuesdays. The freelance work that I do every day is a wonderful way to make a living but, unlike the old day job, doesn't give me any free time to work on side projects. When I'm writing a freelance article, that's all I can do. If I take a break from it, I lose money, so I can't take away from that.
I can, however, adhere to a strict schedule which allows me to work on freelance work most of the day and spend an hour or two in the evenings working on the serial. It'll cut into the amount of volunteer work I can manage (which means the tutoring will suffer, as will my occasional contribution to l'etoile) but it will allow me to get caught up, slowly, and then release future Prom Queen chapters in a timely manner.
So that's the plan. Thanks for bearing with me these past few weeks. You lot are the reason I keep writing.
Monday 26 April 2010 at 12:20 pm
Many of you will have noticed the distinct lack of new chapters in the Prom Queen of the Damned serial. I think I'm something like two weeks behind now. The good news is there's a new chapter just about finished on my hard drive, so that should be out later today. The bad news is that I've still got to get caught up.
The old model involved me working on a chapter whenever I got the time. That was fine at first, as I tended to get more time. Now, though, things have changed. My weekly quiz (which, I should mention, I write and host... so it's more of an obligation than if I were, say, just on a team) takes up the entirety of my Tuesdays. The freelance work that I do every day is a wonderful way to make a living but, unlike the old day job, doesn't give me any free time to work on side projects. When I'm writing a freelance article, that's all I can do. If I take a break from it, I lose money, so I can't take away from that.
I can, however, adhere to a strict schedule which allows me to work on freelance work most of the day and spend an hour or two in the evenings working on the serial. It'll cut into the amount of volunteer work I can manage (which means the tutoring will suffer, as will my occasional contribution to l'etoile) but it will allow me to get caught up, slowly, and then release future Prom Queen chapters in a timely manner.
So that's the plan. Thanks for bearing with me these past few weeks. You lot are the reason I keep writing.
The Ressurection of Fair Use
Friday 23 April 2010 at 2:55 pm
Over at BoingBoing the word is that Youtube has added a fair use plea option for any user who gets their content taken down due to a copyright holder's complaint. This is pretty sweet on the one hand, as large media companies have been bullying school kids who make Farscape tribute videos for far too long and with far too much ease. It's nice to know that if I want to watch some kid's favorite Aeryn Sun leather and spandex scenes spliced together over a Nickelback song, I can again. And if the copyright holder comes by and takes that away, the kid who made the video can simply click a button that will do two things. First, it will put the video back. Second, it will force the claimant to go to court and prove the infringement properly. So more fan vids and fewer bullies all around, I think.
Bit of a bummer for claimants with a legitimate case, though. Imagine the BBC having to go to court over every nine minute segment of a classic Doctor Who episode out there.
Friday 23 April 2010 at 2:55 pm
Over at BoingBoing the word is that Youtube has added a fair use plea option for any user who gets their content taken down due to a copyright holder's complaint. This is pretty sweet on the one hand, as large media companies have been bullying school kids who make Farscape tribute videos for far too long and with far too much ease. It's nice to know that if I want to watch some kid's favorite Aeryn Sun leather and spandex scenes spliced together over a Nickelback song, I can again. And if the copyright holder comes by and takes that away, the kid who made the video can simply click a button that will do two things. First, it will put the video back. Second, it will force the claimant to go to court and prove the infringement properly. So more fan vids and fewer bullies all around, I think.
Bit of a bummer for claimants with a legitimate case, though. Imagine the BBC having to go to court over every nine minute segment of a classic Doctor Who episode out there.
A look back at how far we've failed to go.
Thursday 22 April 2010 at 09:49 am
With the rise of AoL, those of us who belonged on the internet found ourselves burdened with the presence of the rest of you. In 1996 Michael Finley was on NPR's Futuretense providing an etiquette primer for new motorists on the information superhighway. Fourteen years later, let's see how things have shaped up. (Bold words are his. Italics are mine.)
He begins, "Newbies may be tolerated if they are sincere or appear educable..." One need only visit facebook groups devoted to running down bicyclists, lynching Somali high school students and assassinating the president to see the extent to which sincerity and educability have permeated the online masses. For many of you, this sort of behavior will seem normal. To some, it's the reason the internet was invented. To those of us who were online when the internet was still text, it's more like we were hanging around and minding our own business one morning on Pudding Lane, then some jackass ran by and flicked a cigarette into the straw. Instead of lasting a mere three days and ravaging most of London, the resulting fire has been turning our once-proud and useful network into socio-political ash for fourteen years and, as far as anyone can tell, is still in its early hours of spreading.
"More often they are excoriated for being stupid, illiterate, uncivil and undoubtedly hailing from America Online, home of all that is ill-natured and half baked. " Replace America Online with Youtube Comments and nothing has changed.
"To avoid the shame of being a newbie, do not do the following things..." These days, you're considered a n00b until you do these things...
"Publishing fast money solicitations," This isn't just for the 419s anymore. The online offer of riches beyond your wildest dreams is there in your right column every time you log in to facebook. If that's not enough for you, just befriend someone who has actually bought into the pyramid scheme of the week and they will hound you for life to join every new MLM fraud that sucks them in. And there'll be many.
"blathering," Facebook status updates, tweets, blogs and see above, re: Youtube comments.
"or posting an urban legend as true." I look at the number of people I know who have a wikipedia article written about them, then I compare the number of them who have an entirely inaccurate wikipedia article about them. For example, Robyne Robinson is not gay. Dessa does not have a Masters and she can't play basketball. Notably, both of these errors have prompted folks who actually know the people to jump in and correct them (and, in the case of Cory Doctorow and Scott Sigler, have actually attracted the efforts of the articles' subjects to try and infuse them with actual facts) but the unaccountable mob known more colloquially as wikipedia editors raced forth from their hideouts deep within the Neighborhood of Makebelieve and deleted those corrections, citing "original research" or "self-editing" as grounds to strike facts from the record and restore the lies.
"Cross posting or spewing the following familiar message to all 12,000 newsgroups: ANYONE THERE. PLEASE RITE AS I LUV TO GET MAIL." This is, well... The entire internet today. That's about all I can say about it.
It's my birthday this morning. All day, actually, but it just doesn't seem the same since Roger Awsumb died so let's keep it quiet and mellow, shall we?
It's Earth Day today. Apparently fewer people believe that climate change is cause for concern now that we can actually see it happening than did forty years ago when it was mostly a worst-case-projection of things to come.
There are days that I wish a giant asteroid would just hurtle into the planet and end us once and for all. If you want to get me anything for my birthday, see about getting me that.
Thursday 22 April 2010 at 09:49 am
With the rise of AoL, those of us who belonged on the internet found ourselves burdened with the presence of the rest of you. In 1996 Michael Finley was on NPR's Futuretense providing an etiquette primer for new motorists on the information superhighway. Fourteen years later, let's see how things have shaped up. (Bold words are his. Italics are mine.)
He begins, "Newbies may be tolerated if they are sincere or appear educable..." One need only visit facebook groups devoted to running down bicyclists, lynching Somali high school students and assassinating the president to see the extent to which sincerity and educability have permeated the online masses. For many of you, this sort of behavior will seem normal. To some, it's the reason the internet was invented. To those of us who were online when the internet was still text, it's more like we were hanging around and minding our own business one morning on Pudding Lane, then some jackass ran by and flicked a cigarette into the straw. Instead of lasting a mere three days and ravaging most of London, the resulting fire has been turning our once-proud and useful network into socio-political ash for fourteen years and, as far as anyone can tell, is still in its early hours of spreading.
"More often they are excoriated for being stupid, illiterate, uncivil and undoubtedly hailing from America Online, home of all that is ill-natured and half baked. " Replace America Online with Youtube Comments and nothing has changed.
"To avoid the shame of being a newbie, do not do the following things..." These days, you're considered a n00b until you do these things...
"Publishing fast money solicitations," This isn't just for the 419s anymore. The online offer of riches beyond your wildest dreams is there in your right column every time you log in to facebook. If that's not enough for you, just befriend someone who has actually bought into the pyramid scheme of the week and they will hound you for life to join every new MLM fraud that sucks them in. And there'll be many.
"blathering," Facebook status updates, tweets, blogs and see above, re: Youtube comments.
"or posting an urban legend as true." I look at the number of people I know who have a wikipedia article written about them, then I compare the number of them who have an entirely inaccurate wikipedia article about them. For example, Robyne Robinson is not gay. Dessa does not have a Masters and she can't play basketball. Notably, both of these errors have prompted folks who actually know the people to jump in and correct them (and, in the case of Cory Doctorow and Scott Sigler, have actually attracted the efforts of the articles' subjects to try and infuse them with actual facts) but the unaccountable mob known more colloquially as wikipedia editors raced forth from their hideouts deep within the Neighborhood of Makebelieve and deleted those corrections, citing "original research" or "self-editing" as grounds to strike facts from the record and restore the lies.
"Cross posting or spewing the following familiar message to all 12,000 newsgroups: ANYONE THERE. PLEASE RITE AS I LUV TO GET MAIL." This is, well... The entire internet today. That's about all I can say about it.
It's my birthday this morning. All day, actually, but it just doesn't seem the same since Roger Awsumb died so let's keep it quiet and mellow, shall we?
It's Earth Day today. Apparently fewer people believe that climate change is cause for concern now that we can actually see it happening than did forty years ago when it was mostly a worst-case-projection of things to come.
There are days that I wish a giant asteroid would just hurtle into the planet and end us once and for all. If you want to get me anything for my birthday, see about getting me that.
Jeremy Messersmith's New Album is Streaming for Free
Monday 19 April 2010 at 10:45 am
Click below for the new album, "The Reluctant Graveyard" streaming for free at the Current.
Monday 19 April 2010 at 10:45 am
Click below for the new album, "The Reluctant Graveyard" streaming for free at the Current.
Know Your Limits
Sunday 18 April 2010 at 10:35 pm
I will write for the rest of my life and, chances are, I'll get better right up to the end. Still, I think there are two things that've been done so well neither I nor any other writer that comes to mind will ever match them. One of them is the fight scene when Wesley and Inigo first meet. The second is the social satire of Monty Python. That said, I'll call it a night now, falling asleep with The Meaning of Life on the telly.
Sunday 18 April 2010 at 10:35 pm
I will write for the rest of my life and, chances are, I'll get better right up to the end. Still, I think there are two things that've been done so well neither I nor any other writer that comes to mind will ever match them. One of them is the fight scene when Wesley and Inigo first meet. The second is the social satire of Monty Python. That said, I'll call it a night now, falling asleep with The Meaning of Life on the telly.
Living the Dream
Friday 16 April 2010 at 10:23 am
Just over six weeks into this full-time writer business and it's odd. Sure, I'm doing exactly what I've wanted to do for years but, somehow, it finds a way to consume my time and seem like real work anyway. A good part of it, I think, is the other stuff. I live in a house that's pretty small but still just slightly bigger than I can manage to maintain and I've got myself a dog that likes... no, craves... no, can't function without constant attention. If I were still living in a one bedroom apartment with just the cat to feed and occasionally pet, I think I might find more time for the writing.
Not that I don't write an awful lot, but the nonfiction I do every day for pay has sort of crept up and consumed the time I'd rather spend on the fiction.
Still, we're only six weeks in. I'm sure I'll figure out the time-juggling feat soon enough...
Friday 16 April 2010 at 10:23 am
Just over six weeks into this full-time writer business and it's odd. Sure, I'm doing exactly what I've wanted to do for years but, somehow, it finds a way to consume my time and seem like real work anyway. A good part of it, I think, is the other stuff. I live in a house that's pretty small but still just slightly bigger than I can manage to maintain and I've got myself a dog that likes... no, craves... no, can't function without constant attention. If I were still living in a one bedroom apartment with just the cat to feed and occasionally pet, I think I might find more time for the writing.
Not that I don't write an awful lot, but the nonfiction I do every day for pay has sort of crept up and consumed the time I'd rather spend on the fiction.
Still, we're only six weeks in. I'm sure I'll figure out the time-juggling feat soon enough...
Final Thought for the Night
Thursday 15 April 2010 at 9:31 pm
When Jeremy Messersmith asked fans to fix up his wikipedia entry, they edited a very nice page together. I'm not saying his fans are any better than you guys. I'm really not... but if they were, this would be why.
Thursday 15 April 2010 at 9:31 pm
When Jeremy Messersmith asked fans to fix up his wikipedia entry, they edited a very nice page together. I'm not saying his fans are any better than you guys. I'm really not... but if they were, this would be why.
Faith in humanity... falling...
Thursday 15 April 2010 at 7:00 pm
There are exactly two things I do not now and never will miss about living in Minneapolis. The first is self-righteous idiot motorists who can't seem to grasp, let alone follow, the many laws designed so that cars and bicycles may share the roads without notable risk or nuisance to one another. The second is self-righteous idiot bicyclists who are otherwise identical.
I did always enjoy watching them throw tantrums at each other, though, which is probably why I can't stop lurking on this trainwreck of a facebook group.
Thursday 15 April 2010 at 7:00 pm
There are exactly two things I do not now and never will miss about living in Minneapolis. The first is self-righteous idiot motorists who can't seem to grasp, let alone follow, the many laws designed so that cars and bicycles may share the roads without notable risk or nuisance to one another. The second is self-righteous idiot bicyclists who are otherwise identical.
I did always enjoy watching them throw tantrums at each other, though, which is probably why I can't stop lurking on this trainwreck of a facebook group.
Video of last night's meteor-thingy
Thursday 15 April 2010 at 12:47 pm
This thing passed over Iowa and left not a single crop circle in its wake.
Thursday 15 April 2010 at 12:47 pm
This thing passed over Iowa and left not a single crop circle in its wake.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
A Personal Reminder
Wednesday 14 April 2010 at 9:29 pm
I really hope that when this comes out, it will be affordable, because I am getting tired of mobile devices that intentionally break my third party apps with forced updates.
Wednesday 14 April 2010 at 9:29 pm
I really hope that when this comes out, it will be affordable, because I am getting tired of mobile devices that intentionally break my third party apps with forced updates.
Space is an even lonelier place than we thought.
Wednesday 14 April 2010 at 8:34 pm
Hot Jupiters discovered rotating the wrong way around their respective suns have thrown their theoretical hats into the way we look at other solar systems and, for all intents and purposes, have left our vision impaired. It seems that if these large gas giants in close backward orbits got there the most likely way (by being pulled in across the expanse of space hospitable to smaller worlds) their gravity would have disrupted the formation of new Earth-like planets and, were any already underway, stood a high chance of devastating whatever early life might have been developing there.
From National Geographic: If hot Jupiters move into their tight orbits in a few million years, as previously suggested, rocky Earthlike worlds would have plenty of time afterward to form in more distant orbits. But if the hot Jupiter is on a slower migration, "you have a rampaging Jupiter on a cometlike orbit that's whizzing close to the star and then out again. ... ," Cameron explained. "It's going to be crossing the feeding zone where terrestrial planets would form, and its gravity means that the planetary debris [needed] to form terrestrial planets is going to be completely blown away."
"The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose." J. B. S. Haldane
Wednesday 14 April 2010 at 8:34 pm
Hot Jupiters discovered rotating the wrong way around their respective suns have thrown their theoretical hats into the way we look at other solar systems and, for all intents and purposes, have left our vision impaired. It seems that if these large gas giants in close backward orbits got there the most likely way (by being pulled in across the expanse of space hospitable to smaller worlds) their gravity would have disrupted the formation of new Earth-like planets and, were any already underway, stood a high chance of devastating whatever early life might have been developing there.
From National Geographic: If hot Jupiters move into their tight orbits in a few million years, as previously suggested, rocky Earthlike worlds would have plenty of time afterward to form in more distant orbits. But if the hot Jupiter is on a slower migration, "you have a rampaging Jupiter on a cometlike orbit that's whizzing close to the star and then out again. ... ," Cameron explained. "It's going to be crossing the feeding zone where terrestrial planets would form, and its gravity means that the planetary debris [needed] to form terrestrial planets is going to be completely blown away."
"The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose." J. B. S. Haldane
And the Yokels Are Up in Arms...
Monday 12 April 2010 at 1:15 pm
Meant to bring this up over the weekend, but who can find the time? The news is that UND will finally be forced to replace their Indian mascot. Yokels and rednecks across North Dakota seem upset by this, but not me. I used to work on it from the other side, that of people who don't like being seen as racist caricatures.
So I'm glad to see it go, at last, and hopeful that the other ethnic mascots will be soon to follow.
Monday 12 April 2010 at 1:15 pm
Meant to bring this up over the weekend, but who can find the time? The news is that UND will finally be forced to replace their Indian mascot. Yokels and rednecks across North Dakota seem upset by this, but not me. I used to work on it from the other side, that of people who don't like being seen as racist caricatures.
So I'm glad to see it go, at last, and hopeful that the other ethnic mascots will be soon to follow.
S. D. Hintz Gives Advice
Sunday 11 April 2010 at 2:43 pm
I'd like to direct your attention to a few helpful essays from a publisher friend of mine. First, there's the Top 5 Reasons Manuscripts are Rejected, which I think are pretty much just what I'd have said. There's also Why Your Book Signings Suck, which emphasizes the importance of salesmanship. Finally, there's So You Want to Publish Yourself, in which I'd like to think he included mention of the exception as a sort of nod to me.
As I'm on the subject, I want to get an abridged history of my self-published short story collection out there. Here, as near as I can remember, is how it happened:
Summer 2003: Warren Ellis directed a ton of traffic to my website and I, in a hurry to get something on my website that would actually make it worth clicking through, threw together a Palmreader eBook collection of short stories and called it "Damaged Goods." I should note that I put it together and came up with the title in the span of about three minutes...
2003-2004: Some friends were hounding me to put a print book together so that they could read it. I discovered a new website called Lulu, which I used to appease my friends. I published a chapbook containing the stories from the original Damaged Goods eBook, first with an all black cover and then with cover art by Liza Domeier. Together, I think both versions of that book sold about thirty copies.
2005: I worked on some other stuff.
2006: Just putting out a print chapbook wasn't enough. A handful of librarians began bugging me to put out a book with an ISBN so they could get it in their collections. So I did, with a cover photo by mckenzee, introduction by MontiLee Stormer and about twice as many stories as were in the original chapbook.
2006-Present: Word spread and strangers started buying it. That's where we sit today.
Sunday 11 April 2010 at 2:43 pm
I'd like to direct your attention to a few helpful essays from a publisher friend of mine. First, there's the Top 5 Reasons Manuscripts are Rejected, which I think are pretty much just what I'd have said. There's also Why Your Book Signings Suck, which emphasizes the importance of salesmanship. Finally, there's So You Want to Publish Yourself, in which I'd like to think he included mention of the exception as a sort of nod to me.
As I'm on the subject, I want to get an abridged history of my self-published short story collection out there. Here, as near as I can remember, is how it happened:
Summer 2003: Warren Ellis directed a ton of traffic to my website and I, in a hurry to get something on my website that would actually make it worth clicking through, threw together a Palmreader eBook collection of short stories and called it "Damaged Goods." I should note that I put it together and came up with the title in the span of about three minutes...
2003-2004: Some friends were hounding me to put a print book together so that they could read it. I discovered a new website called Lulu, which I used to appease my friends. I published a chapbook containing the stories from the original Damaged Goods eBook, first with an all black cover and then with cover art by Liza Domeier. Together, I think both versions of that book sold about thirty copies.
2005: I worked on some other stuff.
2006: Just putting out a print chapbook wasn't enough. A handful of librarians began bugging me to put out a book with an ISBN so they could get it in their collections. So I did, with a cover photo by mckenzee, introduction by MontiLee Stormer and about twice as many stories as were in the original chapbook.
2006-Present: Word spread and strangers started buying it. That's where we sit today.
Nice
Friday 09 April 2010 at 2:34 pm
Over the last week I had gotten a little beaten up by the following recurring exchange:
"Hey, are you Rob Callahan!?"
"Why yes. Yes I am."
"OMG REALLY!?!"
"I sure am. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
"What is Dessa really like?"
So last night, at a friend's book launch (about which you'll soon hear more over at l'etoile) a charming young woman not only recognized me but didn't once ask me about my more famous acquaintance, the lovely Ms. Dessa. Score.
Friday 09 April 2010 at 2:34 pm
Over the last week I had gotten a little beaten up by the following recurring exchange:
"Hey, are you Rob Callahan!?"
"Why yes. Yes I am."
"OMG REALLY!?!"
"I sure am. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
"What is Dessa really like?"
So last night, at a friend's book launch (about which you'll soon hear more over at l'etoile) a charming young woman not only recognized me but didn't once ask me about my more famous acquaintance, the lovely Ms. Dessa. Score.
If you don't read the papers, you're uninformed. If you read them, you're misinformed.
Thursday 08 April 2010 at 6:19 pm
And no more obvious was that to me than yesterday when I caught the news that Jon Hunt and Diablo Cody were expecting a baby. Which is fine news except for the fact that Jon and Diablo have been divorced for ages and Jon has always seemed quite happy with his new lady every time I've seen him... so I went to put a WTF up on his facebook but he was already on it, letting everyone know that the paper didn't just get it wrong. They got it wrong, submitted it to the AP, and then every paper in the country got it wrong along with them.
As well-known as both of them are in this town, you'd think someone at the Strib would have had one of their numbers in an iPhone somewhere. A quick phone call for a, "Tell us how you feel about..." could have cleared the whole thing up. This sort of thing has more to do with the decline in newspapers' relevance than the oft-blamed trend toward paperless reading.
Thursday 08 April 2010 at 6:19 pm
And no more obvious was that to me than yesterday when I caught the news that Jon Hunt and Diablo Cody were expecting a baby. Which is fine news except for the fact that Jon and Diablo have been divorced for ages and Jon has always seemed quite happy with his new lady every time I've seen him... so I went to put a WTF up on his facebook but he was already on it, letting everyone know that the paper didn't just get it wrong. They got it wrong, submitted it to the AP, and then every paper in the country got it wrong along with them.
As well-known as both of them are in this town, you'd think someone at the Strib would have had one of their numbers in an iPhone somewhere. A quick phone call for a, "Tell us how you feel about..." could have cleared the whole thing up. This sort of thing has more to do with the decline in newspapers' relevance than the oft-blamed trend toward paperless reading.
What do you call a smaller iPad? An iPod Touch.
Thursday 08 April 2010 at 5:13 pm
The Register has a thing up about the rumors that Apple will market a smaller iPad for about a hundred bucks less than the big model. I hope this is not true. What the revived tablet pc market needs is a tablet with a usb port and an sd slot that can start and run autonomously without the need to use another computer to get it working. Anyone who needs a smaller iPad can get one at Amazon
right now for under two hundred bucks. Rather than another choice in screen size, I'd rather see a tablet with the aforementioned inputs and independence or, even better, a working camera or video out port. Dell seem to have that in mind with their Mini 5, but if it actually costs the $1000 they're projecting, it's hardly a viable device. Consider that you can buy a new low-end netbook or an iPod Touch for $199 and the rest of this nonsense is just, well, nonsense.
Not that iPads aren't cool, cause they are.
They just need some advantage over the iPod Touch beyond screen size.
Thursday 08 April 2010 at 5:13 pm
The Register has a thing up about the rumors that Apple will market a smaller iPad for about a hundred bucks less than the big model. I hope this is not true. What the revived tablet pc market needs is a tablet with a usb port and an sd slot that can start and run autonomously without the need to use another computer to get it working. Anyone who needs a smaller iPad can get one at Amazon
right now for under two hundred bucks. Rather than another choice in screen size, I'd rather see a tablet with the aforementioned inputs and independence or, even better, a working camera or video out port. Dell seem to have that in mind with their Mini 5, but if it actually costs the $1000 they're projecting, it's hardly a viable device. Consider that you can buy a new low-end netbook or an iPod Touch for $199 and the rest of this nonsense is just, well, nonsense.Not that iPads aren't cool, cause they are.
They just need some advantage over the iPod Touch beyond screen size.
The Pictures of MontiLee Stormer Nude...
Friday 02 April 2010 at 12:55 pm
...are not to be found on this blog. Thank you for visiting, though, and while you may feel that you've been misdirected in your search for MontiLee Stormer nude pics, I hope you'll return from time to time to check in. Maybe, if you visit my site often enough, MontiLee Stormer will send me some nude pictures to post for you. So if you want to see MontiLee Stormer nude, visit my site often and tell all of your friends to do the same. Also, as I don't check my traffic stats, the only way I'll know you've been visiting is if you buy my books. I'll keep track of sales figures and use them to gauge the number of people who have visited this site in search of MontiLee Stormer nude pics.
But remember, you have to buy my books so I'll know you've been here. (Dictated, but not read, by MontiLee Stormer, who was nude at the time.)
Friday 02 April 2010 at 12:55 pm
...are not to be found on this blog. Thank you for visiting, though, and while you may feel that you've been misdirected in your search for MontiLee Stormer nude pics, I hope you'll return from time to time to check in. Maybe, if you visit my site often enough, MontiLee Stormer will send me some nude pictures to post for you. So if you want to see MontiLee Stormer nude, visit my site often and tell all of your friends to do the same. Also, as I don't check my traffic stats, the only way I'll know you've been visiting is if you buy my books. I'll keep track of sales figures and use them to gauge the number of people who have visited this site in search of MontiLee Stormer nude pics.
But remember, you have to buy my books so I'll know you've been here. (Dictated, but not read, by MontiLee Stormer, who was nude at the time.)
Rob Callahan is Off to the Con
Friday 02 April 2010 at 12:46 pm
When I was a kid, MiniCon was pretty much the only game in town and, as such, we simply called it "The Con." I'll be at The Con this weekend, tweeting and sending pictures up to facebook from time to time. Also, between panels, I'll totally be catching up on some writing. Take care.
Friday 02 April 2010 at 12:46 pm
When I was a kid, MiniCon was pretty much the only game in town and, as such, we simply called it "The Con." I'll be at The Con this weekend, tweeting and sending pictures up to facebook from time to time. Also, between panels, I'll totally be catching up on some writing. Take care.
Because This Seems to Generate the Most Interest in the Event...
Thursday 01 April 2010 at 12:54 pm
...DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA! (Dessa is one of the judges.)
Thursday 01 April 2010 at 12:54 pm
...DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA DESSA! (Dessa is one of the judges.)
It's April 1, 2010
Thursday 01 April 2010 at 11:57 am
The last couple of Aprils, I've put together an online Rob Callahan extravaganza in which I allowed people to buy my books directly from me, at the me price (which is a couple of dollars less than that on, say, Amazon) from anywhere in the world and I signed them before shipping them off. It was responsible for the majority of my sales in 2008 and sold only slightly fewer books last year than I sold at CONvergence. So I'm pretty sure I should do that again, but I forgot to stock up on books in time. I may have to start doing this in mid-April or even May... Then again, I could ask for pre-orders. Hmmm. We'll see.
Today is April Fools and l'etoile have done their annual joke issue featuring a bunch of friends of mine making made up news. I really like two things about this. First, when I was a kid in the early nineties, we had this weekly paper called City Pages what was the what's what on everything and everyone noteworthy in the city. It was a wonderful, informative and snarky (before snarky was cool, nonetheless) rag that I looked forward to reading every week. The City Pages is still around, but it's changed over the years and under its various managements. There are still some pretty cool features, but they're interspersed now within articles that read like Chuck Klosterman's less talented sibling wrote them, so what I once revered as the central hub around which the city's best writers and most notable coolhounds revolved I now tend to see as a tooth-cutting ground for upcoming writers who would rather have been writing for Spin or in Hollywood...
l'etoile, by the way, have taken up the slack and recreated the glory years and the dream team of the City-Pages-of-Old. So I like them a lot. Plus I've fallen in with the very scene and in-crowds who keep the city's culture and lifestyle alive, so chances are I'm going to go read l'etoile on any given day and find out something new about a friend of mine. Sometimes, I even learn something new about me. Not only have they filled the gap left by the Pages' various regenerations, but they've done it all for free. Everyone at l'etoile is a volunteer.
Oh, and City Pages just hired l'etoile Editor-In-Chief Kate Iverson to blog for them, which both gives Kate a little extra income and potentially pushes the Pages a little closer to their roots. I, for one, am looking forward to the outcome.
Thursday 01 April 2010 at 11:57 am
The last couple of Aprils, I've put together an online Rob Callahan extravaganza in which I allowed people to buy my books directly from me, at the me price (which is a couple of dollars less than that on, say, Amazon) from anywhere in the world and I signed them before shipping them off. It was responsible for the majority of my sales in 2008 and sold only slightly fewer books last year than I sold at CONvergence. So I'm pretty sure I should do that again, but I forgot to stock up on books in time. I may have to start doing this in mid-April or even May... Then again, I could ask for pre-orders. Hmmm. We'll see.
Today is April Fools and l'etoile have done their annual joke issue featuring a bunch of friends of mine making made up news. I really like two things about this. First, when I was a kid in the early nineties, we had this weekly paper called City Pages what was the what's what on everything and everyone noteworthy in the city. It was a wonderful, informative and snarky (before snarky was cool, nonetheless) rag that I looked forward to reading every week. The City Pages is still around, but it's changed over the years and under its various managements. There are still some pretty cool features, but they're interspersed now within articles that read like Chuck Klosterman's less talented sibling wrote them, so what I once revered as the central hub around which the city's best writers and most notable coolhounds revolved I now tend to see as a tooth-cutting ground for upcoming writers who would rather have been writing for Spin or in Hollywood...
l'etoile, by the way, have taken up the slack and recreated the glory years and the dream team of the City-Pages-of-Old. So I like them a lot. Plus I've fallen in with the very scene and in-crowds who keep the city's culture and lifestyle alive, so chances are I'm going to go read l'etoile on any given day and find out something new about a friend of mine. Sometimes, I even learn something new about me. Not only have they filled the gap left by the Pages' various regenerations, but they've done it all for free. Everyone at l'etoile is a volunteer.
Oh, and City Pages just hired l'etoile Editor-In-Chief Kate Iverson to blog for them, which both gives Kate a little extra income and potentially pushes the Pages a little closer to their roots. I, for one, am looking forward to the outcome.
