Now available, speaking of Warren Ellis: a sneak preview (original) of his upcoming hardcover graphic novel, Orbiter. It’s about a space shuttle disaster; it was written prior to the Columbia. There will be a paperback edition later.
If I still lived in San Francisco, I would go to Potlatch 12 this weekend. It looks distinctly like Readercon, an East Coast literary SF convention that started up after I left Boston. It seems to have good guests, there’s going to be a writer’s workship, it benefits Clarion West, and they make a good attempt to put panel notes online (original). Which is just so cool; I’ve always thought it’s a shame that SF cons don’t tend to preserve their panels. Wiser heads may realize that this is in fact a blessing.
Daniel Keys Moran is sharing his current novel in progress, The Sheriff of Shokes, on his forums (original). (If that link fails, try this.) You’ll have to register to read it. The Sheriff of Shokes is not set in the Continuing Time, but it is related. DKM explained this once (original). Who is this Moran person? He wrote four pretty good novels back in the late 80s and early 90s. You can get them today via QuietVision, and I recommend them. He’s one of the most graceful writers I’ve ever read, blessed and cursed with epic wit. Occasionally it gets in the way, but he’s just so much fun to read. ...
Well, I’m of three or four minds about this. OK, so Mike Meyers has struck a deal to do what he’s calling “film sampling.” I.e., he’s gonna insert himself or other actors into old movies. Remixes. See also Kung Pow. I want to see what Meyers does with this concept, cause I think he’s comedic gold, even after the last two Austin Powers flicks. But I hate the way the Variety story calls films “properties.” But I think that this sort of remixing will demonstrate the value of having more creative works in the public domain, since it’ll show what people can do given the right to edit. Except that Meyers isn’t gonna be working with public domain movies. And how the hell does this jibe with the whole ClearPlay issue? Are they really saying “It’s OK to screw with the director’s original vision as long as you own the rights to the movie.”? ...
Couple more Oscar tidbits: Donald Kaufman was nominated (along with his brother, Charlie) for Best Adapted Screenplay (original). That’s gotta be a first. Also, the meticulous kodi notes that none of the Best Picture nominees take place in the modern era. This shows that Miramax likes historicals. Joke! Except not really. Edit: fixed my gross misquote of kodi. I plead running out the door.
Surprisingly unobjectionable Oscar nominations this year. Yes, Two Towers more or less got stiffed. However, I’m rather glad to see Christopher Walken get a well-deserved nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and I’m glad to see John C. Reilly get the same on sentimental grounds even though I haven’t seen Chicago yet. (Note: Bill Condon wrote Chicago. Good talent involved in that there movie, and hey, Condon got nominated for Best Screenplay Adaptation!) I’m also very pleased about the Best Actor nods to Michael Caine and Nicholas Cage. And they noticed Julianne Moore in Far From Heaven. ...
News of the surprising: Sci-Fi Channel is gonna be airing a Riverworld pilot (original) on March 22nd. Alex Proyas, director of Dark City, is producing. The only notable name I see is Emily Lloyd. No Richard Burton in the story, either.
OK. This is the movie trilogy game. It’s really simple. Pick three movies that form a trilogy, but weren’t meant to. My personal favorite is this group: Henry V (the Branagh version), Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and Henry and June. The Henry Trilogy. See? It’s easy. You can go thematic, too. Heavenly Creatures, The Young Poisoners Handbook, and The Butcher Boy. The Children of the British Empire Behaving Badly Trilogy. It’s best if it’s a trilogy with a weird angle, which is why the Henrys beat the Children all hollow, but the Children are an OK entry because who’d ever imagine three movies like that? Also, they don’t share many other elements, although Ireland (where The Butcher Boy is set) is a bit close to England (where Young Poisoners Handbook is set). You want as little in common between the movies as possible other than the linking theme… no, that’s not quite right. Elements have to either be the same (the linking theme, the location, etc.) or different. You can’t have two movies set in swamps and one set in mountains, but if all three are in swamps, that’d be OK. ...
HKFlix.com has a new edition of Battle Royale in stock, which may be of interest to — well, it’s of interest to me. I’ve wanted to see this for a while. The plot is simple; a few dozen Japanese teenagers, all from the same high school class, are put on an island. Each one gets a weapon. Last one off wins. Refuse to fight and you die. ...
Hey, it’s about time for Richard Thompson to release a new album (original). There’s a sample song (in WMA format, boo hiss) here (original). (Thanks to Jim Henley.) The album looks pretty stripped down, just him and Danny Thompson and Michael Jerome, who was the drummer on his last tour. I saw one of those shows, and I thought Jerome was really good. The first track is titled “Gethsemane” — I can’t wait. ...