Gravity Lens Weblog

Friday, March 11

David Szondy's always-excellent Tales of Future Past has new retro SF features called Future Power and Underwater City. There is also a new short story contest.

Edgar Governo: Historian of Things that Never Were links to this nice chronology of the time-travelling Warren Comics mainstay Rook.

Thursday, March 10

More Fan-Film Fun: Retrocrush links to this amazing CGI student film called Batman: New Times (BIG Quicktime file). It's all done in Lego style, with the voices of Adam West, Mark Hamill, and Dick Van Dyke.

The BBC tells us of a built-to-scale model of the solar system which covers the whole U.K.

Gaze in horror at the trailer for The Miskatonic Acid Test, "the best damned Psychedelic Rock 'n' Roll Cthulhu movie ever made." Possibly the coolest idea for a film ever.

Wednesday, March 9

Recommended Readin': Leonard David of Space.com reports on future super-telescopes.

Roger Harris of American Scientist tells us about a tribe that can only count to five.

Joe Kaplinsky of Spiked-Online explains why the religious right aren't the only ones to blame for the spread of creationism in schools.

Steven Grant at Comic Book Resources begins a series of columns that track the process by which comics are created.

If you happen to be a member of Worldcon, either this year's or last year's, you are eligible to submit nominations for the Hugo Awards online. This includes "best website." Y'know, like the one you are currently reading... (Deadline is Friday)

Tuesday, March 8

"Whosoever drinks this vodka, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of THOR!"

My post yesterday about the new Dr. Who was incorrect: It doesn't air on the BBC for a couple weeks. However it has been (say it with me, now) leaked to the internet (thanks SF Signal). Here is Warren Ellis' review of it. Yes, I've watched it. Yes, it rocks. Between this and the new Captain Scarlet I am a very happy man.

Wil McCarthy at SciFi Weekly looks at the future of nuclear power.

Monday, March 7

The latest issue of Captain Gravity has a weapon that appears to run on zero-point energy. This theoretically unlimited energy source has also played a part in the current Adam Strange series, provided the chapter title for an issue of Planetary, as well as being the weapon of choice for Syndrome in The Incredibles. Learn all about zero point here.

Assorted Items: A reminder that Dr. Who returns to British TV this week.

The Guardian has a nice piece on comic artist R Crumb.

Wired shows us the next generation of cool freaky NASA explorer robots.

Sunday, March 6

Rob Salem of the Toronto Star looks at fan reaction to the cancellation of Enterprise, and suggests that Trek fans in general possess a "smug, blindly righteous sense of entitlement when it comes to their shared obsession."

Friday, March 4

Today is March Forth.

On my next holiday gift list: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang action figures. Give a disobedient child a creepy Child Catcher toy. And who doesn't want a Benny Hill figure?

Comic Talk: Warren Ellis talks about podcasting and Sturgeon's Law at Pulse, while Rich Johnston of Newsarama tells us why V for Vendetta is an important graphic novel.

Thursday, March 3

Geekpress links to this great piece Kiro5hin piece of how SF franchises shape personality.

Assorted Items: Tonight the winners of the What Would Bill Hicks Say? competition perform at the Bill Hicks Rant Off in Austin, TX.

While searching for information on Ronnie Schell (don't ask why) I stumbled across the awesome EncycloComedia website.

George Dvorsky of Better Humans looks at the future of human/computer chess matches.

The Mondolithic Image of the Week is this creepy aftermath of an attack on New York.

Watching the trials and tribulations of Ben Hawkins on HBO's Carnivàle, I've been thinking about fictional messiah figures. You got Valentine Michael Smith from Stranger in a Strange Land, Paul Atreides from Dune (and his comedic Doppelganger Pall Agamemnides), Julie Katz from Only Begotten Daughter, the Klingon Kahless (I don't believe in the Kuvah'Magh), and Neo. The closest thing to a comic book messiah I can think of is Rev. Jesse Custer from Preacher and the dreadful Celestial Messiah. Rock concept albums have given us Tommy, Rael, and Snow. I'd be remiss if I left out Brian of Nazareth, and, of course, Bob Dobbs. (UPDATE: Mark suggests Tyler Durden and Valen)

Wednesday, March 2

And we're back...

A link from the nice folks at Boing Boing brought all kinds of traffic and rendered the whole of Bad Day Studio temporarily unavailable. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Gary Westfahl of Locus discusses the unlikely similarities between Robert A. Heinlein and Philip K. Dick.

Comic Stuff: Steven Grant of Comic Book Resources and Kurt Amacker of Cinescape talk about movies this week. Cinescape also informs us that the Fantastic Four movie will be used as a teaching tool.

Jennifer M. Contino of Pulse looks at Marv Wolfman's novelization of Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Boing Boing links to this comic strip of Spiderman's Greatest Bible Stories.

Tuesday, March 1

Assorted Items: It is March. The God of the Month is Amphitrite, "Embracer that is the Sea."

The Molecule of the Month is Hexenal.

Tales of Future Past gives us more retro SF goodness with a feature on Future Transport.

Artist Doug Chiang has posted some amazing new animation based on his book Robota.

Geekbliss Fills Me: I've been very happy with the number and quality of science fiction comics coming out lately. Aside from Grimjack (which I've mentioned often), we've also seen the return of Adam Strange, which will lead to the Rann/Thanagar War this summer. Warren Ellis' stunning Ocean is currently coming out from DC, as is the very serious take on Space Ghost and the star-spanning Majestic. Michael Moorcock is currently writing Alan Moore's Tom Strong, and Moore's story Hypothetical Lizard is now being adapted by Avatar Press. The Wachowski Brothers' Burlyman Entertainment has begun releasing Doc Frankenstein and Shaolin Cowboy. This summer the mighty Hip Flask returns. Three books I look forward to seeing are Richard Hatch's Great War of Magellan , Robert Silverberg's The Seventh Shrine, and the epic Underlords. Howard Chaykin's Legend comes out this week, with his City of Tomorrow following soon. The anthology Event Horizon looks exciting. All I need now are some new issues of The Red Star.

Monday, February 28

Writing Stuff: Reason has posted its interview with author Neal Stephenson, SciFi Weekly talks with Ian R. MacLeod, and Revolution SF has an odd story about Hunter S. Thompson penning a new Babylon 5 movie.

Currently making the rounds: The Guide to Science Fiction Chronophysics. While we're at it, let's revisit the Time Travel Institute, the Nova Time Travel Page, and Everything You've Always Wanted to Know About Time Travel.

Friday, February 25

Locus reports that fantasy artist Zdzislaw Beksinski was found murdered in his home.