Culture

Shelby is the sort of indie pop I like a lot. I will want to buy their albums at some point; this is my reminder. (At this precise moment, you can listen to a stream of their music here.)

There is a certain irony in the fact that the Crank Dot Net weblog is maintained using m4, make, and perl. What kind of a crank uses UNIX macro languages and makefiles to produce a weblog? But never mind that; it’s a very useful weblog if you’re searching for crankery.

Sure, spammers are scum of the earth, but the plight of the guy who made death threats kind of warms the cockles of my heart. Welcome to the real world, in which making death threats is not considered a normal element of discourse. I’ve been on the company’s of that sort of thing a little too often to feel sorry for Mr. Booker.

The Guardian lists the 40 best directors and is fairly good. David Lynch should be swapped with David Cronenberg, however. Also, Ridley Scott is missing from the list (he ought to be somewhere between 30 and 40), and Peter Jackson’s absence is wholly inexplicable.

Neil Gaiman, co-creator of Medieval Spawn, made some provocative comments recently (original). (Scroll down through the rest of the mail till you get to the bit where some fanboy yells at Neil for holding up new Medieval Spawn merchandise.) Todd’s currently appealing the jury verdict to the 7th Circuit court of appeal. I thought it would be simpler for everyone if I waited until the appeal was done and the jury decision was confirmed before licensing out Medieval Spawn toys, statues, games, comics, novelty condoms, or whatever. ...

Best eBay auction description ever (original). Read it quick before it ages out. In my heart of hearts I figure this is a clever scam, since the seller does a big trade in vintage items, but it’s still very funny.

Hal Clement has passed away. Another of the greats… may he rest in peace. Tributes here (original).

While Sean Stewart’s web site has been redesigned, there’s not really much new information. Still just the brief note about The Glass Coffin. Alas. He has added a section on “The Beast,” also known as “That big Web game designed to promote A.I.” There’s a very good introduction to the game (original). Reading it, I keep wondering what he’s been up to, and I wonder a little if he’ll ever write a novel again.

This post is pretty much for Patrick. Others may be amused as well. Chapter 11 of Dan Simmons’ new book, Hard Freeze, starts like this: “How’s the book?” asked Kurtz. He squinted at the title. “Isn’t that the same guy you were reading twelve years ago, before I got sent away?” “Yeah. His detective fought in the Korean War, which makes the old fart in his late sixties at least, but he still kicks ass. A new book comes out every year, if not sooner.” ...

Remember that huge Straight Dope thread a year or so ago in which countless people rewrote Lord of the Rings in another author’s voice? Now it’s been collated (original). Imperfect but amusing.