Katharine Hepburn, rest in peace.
Population: One
Dave’s shut it down.
So I’m shutting down Scripting News now, to give me some time to think, and to give you all a demo of what it would be like if it weren’t here. These last few days have been really awful. You can’t imagine what it’s like to have so many people screaming at you. It’s inhuman, especially considering that my health isn’t that good. The only conclusion I can come to is that I shouldn’t be doing this.
You know… I don’t like seeing people feel bad. But the current situation came about in part because people felt Dave was using Scripting News in order to unduly affect certain technical issues. Retreating is one way to say “OK, I’ll stop.” I’m not sure Dave’s gonna get the desired effect here.
Also, as a technologist (and as someone who’s recommended Dave’s protocols in a business setting), watching a site vanish does not give me warm fuzzies. Sure, it’s still there as http://scriptingnews.userland.com/, so I can still get to archived posts and so forth. But man, how do you rely on a spec which can vanish at any moment?
Pensive times.
The 2003 Origins Awards ceremony is over and done with, without too many surprises. I’m quite happy to see Z-Man Games picking up a Vanguard Award for Warchon — nicely done!
As happens every year, we demonstrate our fascination with the Origins Awards by talking about how irrelevant they are. (Sorry, but Celtic Age was actually pretty good; particularly noteworthy are the experience rules for weapons.)
Jimmy Breslin is pissed off. Who can blame him? He says he’s thinking about getting out of the news business. Hope he doesn’t.
This government’s kidnapping of Faris/Rauf violated the laws handed down by Madison, Jefferson, Marshall. A small religious zealot, John Ashcroft, takes their great laws and bravery and using our new Patriot Act, turns it into Fascism.
He could do this openly because news reporters go about the government like gardeners, bent over, smiling and nodding when one of the owners shows up. You only have to look at a White House news conference to see how they aggressively pursue your right to know.
The newspeople stand when the president comes into the room. They really do. They don’t sit until he tells them to. You tell them a lie and they say, “Sir.”
The thing that really strikes me about this is how conservative it is, in the non-political sense. Here’s a guy who’s seen a lot. I mean, a lot. He’s recorded half of the twentieth century for us. He’s not writing so scathingly about a return to conservative values; he’s not protesting the act of living in the past. He’s talking about how dangerous the changes are.
T-Mobile is removing the games from the color Sidekick (via Boing Boing). That’s pretty much the suck. I don’t know that I like having a provider who removes functionality from my cell phone. Apparently it was a licensing issue, but guys — suck it up and pay for the license.
Hrm. Palm Tungsten? Treo? I have a portable cell phone number now, so I can switch when my current plan expires.
Big revelation of the night: Bill Simmons sounds exactly like any random 16 year old fan. I caught him calling into 1510 on the way home, and he really is the voice of the Boston fan. To a tee. I think that’s a compliment.
Notes on the NBA draft follow in real time. I’m shamelessly ripping off Bill’s format, by the way. Just saying.
In an orgy of sporting expenditure, I find myself with four tickets for each weekend 11 AM session in the 2003 Reebok Pro Summer League. There’s a chance LeBron James will be playing, and even if he isn’t — hey! It’s summer basketball! How cool is that? I also got one ticket for the evening session on Sunday.
Hopefully I’ll be able to drag my brother and his wife and my nephew along; if not I’m sure I can find a good home for the excess tickets.
It’s a victory for masked politicians everywhere! The Great Sasuke just won the right to sit in the Iwate Prefectural Assembly while masked. Good on him.
CafePress sez:
Books are closer than ever to completion! We are currently running a beta test to make sure that we present the best product possible. As soon as we tally the results and make improvements where necessary, books will go live! For our first release we will be offering the following size and binding combinations.
Wire-O binding (like a journal):
4.18” × 6.88” mass trade paperback
5” × 8” tradeback
6.625” × 10.25” comic
7.5” × 9.25” manual
8.5” × 11” the standard
Saddle-stitched binding (like a comic book)
5” × 8” tradeback
6.625” × 10.25” comic
7.5” × 9.25” manual
8.5” × 11” the standard
This is not as exciting as the perfect-bound stuff they’ll be doing later. If the saddle-stitched versions are cheap enough, there are interesting possibilities, though. I can actually see doing something like Into The Sunset in a saddle-stitched version for Gencon.
Now, that’s a truck.
