I Love Your Work is a weblog about the filming of Adam Goldberg’s film I Love Your Work. Alternatively, it’s a promotional piece. One of the burning issues of the weblog world is whether or not webloggers are journalists. Many webloggers are very indignant about the possibility that they aren’t journalists. Many journalists roll their eyes at the entire question. Helen Yeager, who writes I Love Your Work, can’t talk about certain things she saw (original). She’s part of the promotional effort for the movie; she’s part of the crew (and says as much). It’s an interesting blog but I think that she’s damaged the cause of weblogs as real journalism; by allowing the medium to be coopted, she’s made it harder for other webloggers to be taken seriously. As Film Threat pointed out a while back (original), “the old press tends to be lazy and a little nearsighted when it comes to making distinctions between groups other than themselves…” Fair? Nah, but still true.

Mr. Sterling — no, it’s OK! This is a technology post, not a review. Read on. Mr. Sterling, which is continuing to be mediocre, had an interesting little moment last night. Senator Sterling was sitting in a committee meeting tilting at a windmill, while a press conference raged outside. One of his aides was at the press conference, keeping Sterling updated via BlackBerry. No explanation of what was going on, just a flash of one aide typing on a BlackBerry and the aide with Sterling getting the message. You know a technology’s becoming prevalent when it shows up in a TV show without explanation.

Saith Steve Lieber, comic book creator: Thanks for asking. I’m working with a novelist on his first comic book project, and doing the research for another one that’ll be all me. A fan replies: Sounds good… Any publishers lined-up, or is that much further down the line? (And any hints on the novelist’s identity?) And Lieber spills: No publishers lined up yet, but I guess there’s no reason to be coy. It’s Sean Stewart. He’s an s.f./fantasy writer, probably best known for GALVESTON, an amazing novel that won the World Fantasy Award in 2001. (Actually folks here might know him better as the story guy behind the webgame for the Spielberg film A.I.) He’s taken a serious interest in comics recently, and has a really good feel for how they work. ...

The FBI is warning of lone extremists, who “represent an ongoing terrorist threat in the United States.” Well, it’s a good thing we’re going after all those rogue states to eliminate terrorism, then.

This post is mostly about this, but also about this. For what it’s worth, I don’t find Gary Haubold’s comments very compelling. Let’s break it down. He presents no evidence that “If (2) did not exist… then odds are WE WOULDN’T ACTUALLY HAVE TO DO ANYTHING…” Unless you count all caps as evidence; I don’t. He doesn’t state his premises. Which is a shame, because one of them (whether he realizes it or not) is that there’s no reason for Saddam’s inner circle /not/ to defect if they know Saddam is going to lose power. ...

These [remixes](http://web.archive.org/web/20140605075002/http://web.archive.org/web/20140605075002/http://www.idlewords.com/biological.html (original) “Ready.gov - Be Informed - Killer Germs - Visual Guide”) (original) of the new government warning labels cracked me up harder than anything I’ve seen or done all week. New-clear’s knocking but no-body’s home! (Via regis.)

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.

Phew. I finally hit the Warren Ellis run on Excalibur. After all the really bad stuff, it was a total breath of fresh air. Ellis’ work on Excalibur is not of the quality of Stormwatch or Planetary, but it is very good superhero work. Despite his current distaste for writing ongoing superhero books, I think it’s an excellent form for him. Working within someone else’s continuity must be a pain in the ass, but the challenge seems to bring out his ingenuity. ...

What really amuses me about this review (warning: 100K GIF file) is how astoundingly accurate it is. I mean, yeah: In general, the concept and imagination involved is stunning. However, much more work, refinement, and especially regulation and simplification is necessary before the game is managable. The scope is just too grand, while the referee is expected to do too much in relation to the players. That’s the original three booklets in a nutshell.