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Archive December 16 - 28 2002

Saturday, December 28

I've been seeing promos for Animal Planet's The Future is Wild (airing Jan. 1 at 8PM) and thought it smacked a bit of Dougal Dixon's wonderful book After Man. I was pleased to learn that Mr. Dixon is heavily involved in the project.

The recent rash of all-CGI documentaries is quite possibly perfect TV programming. It gives you all the sense-of-wonder eye candy of monster movies without a criminaly thin hacked-out plot full of bad, poorly motivated characters. Plus, under the microscope, it holds up as true science fiction, creating scenarios speculated from actual theories and principles. The premise also has, so far, a killer track record and no shortage of potential subjects.

My ears are still ringing from this year's batch of great shows and already several tours are being announced for the new year. Just learned that Henry Rollins is doing a spoken word tour. Also, the Kodo Drummers return to the East Coast in 2003, as do Fairport Convention. Still awaiting dates for King Crimson, Ars Nova, and the return of Camel

Now how about a Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem tour?

Friday, December 27

Two neat sites from the fringe of science fiction: First off is a text list of SF References in Music. Very cool. I feel sorry for the guy running it because he must get tons of email recomendations. The other one is Langmaker.com, dedicated to artificial languages, including a large number of tongues and dialects from science fiction novels.

The Raelians (who are insane) and their puppet company Clonaid (possibly the worst company name in recent years) say that the clone baby has finally been born. The battle for scientific and reproductive freedom is hard enough ('cuz it can all go horribly awry, don'tcha know) without inept new-age Scientologist- wannabes claiming to be at the forefront. Actual scientists would love to look at the data, but the Raelians say their technology is of alien origin and, hence, proprietary. Y'know, it's a shame when fandom goes to your head.

Assorted Items:

Bruce Sterling posted a link to this strange Victorian science site.

Joe Bob Briggs has compiled all of this week's christmas-themed tales of idiocy on his site.

Chris Bishop has built an exhaustive biography page for the characters from Captain Scarlet. This is what the web was made for!

"The Ambler" Kevin Michael Grace has penned a piece about all the leftist revisionism surrounding Joe Strummer's death.

Jess Nevin's annotations for the new issue of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen are up.

Another soldier falls. Liberatrian news and information site Free-Market.net will be closing up shop.

Thursday, December 26

There's got to be a morning after...

Well, once again the National Weather Service got the details of a winter storm wrong. This puppy arrived late, stayed longer than scheduled, and left roughly twice as much snow as planned. So far this season they have yet to nail a "weather event" even close to its actual size. I am curious as to why there has been no outcry about this yet. Someone must be considering lawsuits.

Aside from that mess the holidays were good to me. Jennifer made a substantial donation to my swizzle stick collection and got me a sweet pocket watch. The jewel of the day, though, was a walking stick with a spylass as a handle. This thing is almost too cool.

As promised I did some catching up on my heavy reading. I mixed in a few lighter items. Leonard Peikoff re-posted his "Why Christmas Should be More Commercial" column. Cinescape has begun a multi-part retrospective of superhero christmas comics. The Boston Globe recently ran an interesting story about Stanislaw Lem. So far every "Music Year in Review" column I've read has been gawdawful with a few exceptions. Trust me, everyone has a list, but they are all inferior to mine. And finally we haven't had a dropshaft like Alyssa Milano's on the cover of TV Guide in a while. You could lose a limb down there. Yes, Alyssa, we're aware you have nice tits. We spent most of the early nineties downloading them.

Tuesday, December 24

I'll be off the web for a couple of days for Christmas. Gonna try and ignore the news and TV and all that. I've got a stack of books in serious need of reading piling up next to my couch. In the meantime the 2002 Bad Day Studio Holiday Card has been posted at the Card Archive. Feel free to spread the joy (and the URL). If you've received these in the past and didn't this year, email me and I will get it out. I delivered quite a few by hand this year, and everybody insisted on feeding me cookies. I am now bloated with empty calories.

To get into the holiday spirit, check out Cap'n Wacky's Gallery of Unfortunate Christmas Cards. And always remember, no matter how bad off you are during the season, it could be worse.

Someone exceedingly foolish is using up valuable bandwidth to protest the second LotR movie being called The Two Towers, claiming "I don't think you can put a price on sensitivity." Only a person of singular ignorance and touchiness can plumb these depths, people.

Monday, December 23

Bow your heads, children. Joe Strummer is dead.

The tiny mole that has plagued/adorned my left cheek for the better part of the last decade fell off last night. Just a "pop" and it was gone. It was small, but I'll miss it. I always thought it gave my face character. Now I have to depend on my sparkling wit and personality. Sigh.

Just in time for Christmas, Scott Shaw's Oddball Comics looks back at 1991's Hulk Vs Santa. In other comic news the uber-talented Colleen Doran will be drawing Warren Ellis' Orbiter.

Seyla Benhabib of the MIT Boston Review brings up some hard thruths about the state of philosophy in the culture. It is difficult to watch as ethics and metaphysics are co-opted to the point of redundancy by the "intelligencia" of the country, and each day brings another outrage from some mouthpiece with only good intentions. Fortunately the internet continues to stoke the flames beneath a modest crucible of ideas. Simon Smith of Better Humans discusses the moral basis for "playing god" in certain areas of science. It is my opinion that those social guardians who would subject the species to paltry lifespans and imprison our minds with false education should be chemically stripped of their immune systems and left vulnerable to the thousand shocks the flesh is err to. They are monsters, and they are responsible for the millions of lights snuffed and ideas unrealized in the world today. We are at least 1100 years behind our technological and mental potential because of religion, collectivist philosophies, and the grotesque concept of clinging to primitive traditions and mindframes because they somehow "complete" us and validate our humanity. That is sick.

Sunday, December 22

Ah, the children are off on Holiday break. remember, it isn't enough that kids be ignorant (thanks to outright retarded textbooks), they need to grow up unmotivated as well.

In response to the current popularity of Tolkien, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto of the Times Online says "fantasy is the opium of the ignorant and the indolent." The rest of his thoroughly fucked thoughts on the subject can be found here. On the other end of the spectrum Booksense has a good interview with China Mieville.

Here in the real world they have grown human kidneys in rats!

Doug Roberts of Mindjack reports from Supernova 2000 about the future of decentralizing information and the ascension of the blog. Exciting stuff.

The British have finished building a Martian Rover. Why am I afraid it's going to look like Mr. Bean's car? In other space news NASA is having difficulty debunking conspiracy theorists who claim that man never went to the moon. (Here's a hint, guys: you can't prove a negative.)

Friday, December 20

I hate to say it, but I guess we will not be getting a Warped Toy list from Reverend Rose this year. Sigh. Another holiday tradition gone. I'm certain he would have gotten a hoot out of Figures.com's preview of the awesome statues based on Wayne Barlowe's Inferno that Darkworlds is releasing.

Morally incomprehensible idiocy from the left and the right continues: A pro-lifer in England has single-handedly prevented a couple from using umbilical cells from an as-yet unconceived embryo to save thier dying child because the public wasn't consulted. Meanwhile, after a crippling defeat in congress and the ouster of Trent Lott to take advantage of, you'd think the democrats would have something better to do than condemn video games again. Democrats used to be fun, now they are just imbiciles.

New Scientist reports that Playboy Playmates have been getting more androgeous as the years go on. Ah, science. Exactly how did this grant proposal go? "Um, we're gonna look at a lot of pictures of naked women, over forty years' worth to be exact, study their measurements, and formulate a theory that has no applicable value in the real world."

Matt Drudge reports that Dr. Laura's estranged mother has died. Well, apparently she died months ago alone with only a bird for company. So much for the primacy of family for the sake of the kids.

Thursday, December 19

SciFi has announced an upcoming seies based on the short-lived 80's comic book Strikeforce: Morituri. Let the race for obscure comic properties begin. An OMAC movie perhaps? How about The Omega Men? And where the hell's the Shade The Changing Man movie they promised us ten years ago?

What the Fuck? Part One: The Malaysian Government is banning an ad campaign featuring Brad Pitt because he isn't asian enough. Wow. If that ever happened in the U.S. there would be rioting. An uptight people, the Malaysians, but they make great drinks.

What the Fuck? Part Two: Barbie's married and pregnant friend Midge is stirring protests from certain parents. Welcome back to the fucking 50's.

And because it was only a matter of time: Lord of the G-Strings!

David Brin has written a thought-provoking piece on The Lord of the Rings and fantasy in general for Salon.com. It has led to some heated letters from readers.

Warren Ellis has announced that Ordering Comics is going under after the current edition. Too bad. This was a nice site, where a lot of hidden gems buried in the back pages of the Diamond Comics catalog were brought to light. It was a public service for both readers and creators.

Wednesday, December 18

One little victory: When I saw George Dvorsky's "Ending Biblical Brainwash" column at Better Humans.com on Monday, I forwarded it to the Infidels Newswire (in keeping with my vow to spread the word of godlessness). They posted it almost immediately. The esteemed Mr. Dvorsky wrote me a nice email Tuesday saying that the column got close to 1400 hits in the first 48 hours.

Bringing new meaning to the word "godhead": If you go to the Amazon page for Pat Robertson's book Six Steps to Spiritual Survival, and scroll down to the "Customers who shopped for this item also shopped for these items" section, the first link leads you to Going Down: the Instinct Guide to Oral Sex. If this was a stunt pulled off by a hacker, they have my undying devotion and a place to hide if they are on the run. (Update: This has apparently been fixed by Amazon.com recently. Trust me, it was funny as hell.)

Do you hate clowns? Hmmmmm. How to you feel about clowns that preach the gospel?

Tuesday, December 17

With Chief Justice Moore gearing up for another war to combine church and state in Alabama, I was pleased to see that someone had posted a transcript of George Carlin's very funny and chillingly logical take of the Ten Commandments.

Film Threat reports that things continue to look grim for Forrest J. Ackerman. The infuriating part of this story is that his legal bills add up to $200,000, a fee that Steven Speilberg, Stephen King, or any number of purported "fans" that Forry inspired to play in the genre could erase without pain. Hollywood, an institution that makes bogus leftist ribbon-wearing mandatory for any of its visible representatives, hasn't raised a finger to assist and preserve one of the finest collections of movie memorabilia. Then again, these are relics of a time when Hollywood had artistic vision, integrity, and tried to make a quality product. I can see why they might want the collection forgotten.

Rolling Stone.com reports that guitarist Zalman Yanovsky of The Lovin' Spoonful has died.

In other strange music news, Ghostland reports that Chris Botti, late of Bill Bruford/Tony Levin's Upper Extremities, has been hired on as bandleader for the Caroline Rhea show.

Monday, December 16

Alright, now I'm just pissed off. I just learned that The Objectivist Center Summer Seminar, The World Transhumanist Conference, and the North East Art Rock Festival are all happening at the same time next year, and all within a few hours drive from me. I'll bet if I try hard enough I can get a Comic Convention, an Air Show, and a Brewers' Fest set up on the same weekend.

The sub-title of George Dvorsky's new column at Better Humans.com says it all: "it's time we classified religious fundamentalism as a psychological disorder." I forwarded this to several news services in hopes of getting it a wider audience. This is an important piece that needs to be thrown into the cultural mix now. I personally think the diagnosis should be expanded to include people who put credence in psychics. Mr. Dvorsky has it dead-right when he says we need to engineer fundamentalism out of the human mind.

And Lovecraft is laughing from his grave as scientists head to the South Pole in search of dark cosmic energy. This cannot possibly end well.