Gravity Lens Weblog

Sunday, May 23

After successfully exhibiting artwork at conventions this year, Bad Day Studio now has it's own page at ConceptArt.org.

The Weekly World News Bat Boy action figure is coming.

io9 gives us a brief history of Batman-themed pornography (NSFW).

Thursday, May 20

Quantum teleportation achieved over ten miles of free space.

Sunday, May 16

A moment of silence for Mr. Ronnie James Dio.

io9 gives us a Japanese couple married by a robot. Japan is also launching a solar sail this week.

Friday, May 14

7 Cool Things You Didn't Know About Space Shuttle Atlantis. (I knew 3 of them)

Because there is No Such Thing As Too Much Free Time, here's Here On The Island - by Lewis Napper: A Scholarly Critique of the Style, Symbolism and Sociopolitical Relevance of Gilligan's Island. Via Coudal.

Sunday, May 9

My interview with Bob Fingerman about his new post-apocalyptic collection From the Ashes is up over at SF Signal.

And Happy Mother's Day.

Thursday, May 6

io9 is doing a nice series of posts on Posthumanity. Included so far are the essential posthuman science fiction reading list, 10 characters/things you might not know were cyborgs, and the top 10 killer body mods.

Meanwhile Centauri Dreams ponders artificial intelligence among the stars, while Michael Anissimov proclaims that Transhumanism has already won.

Monday, May 3

Technology Review asks "will quantum money breed quantum crime?"

George Dvorsky gives us five reasons why Stephen Hawking and everyone else is wrong about alien threats.

Centauri Dreams looks at astrobiology's far future.

Taylor Dinerman at The Space Review considers the post-American moon.

Saturday, May 1

It is May.

The God of the Month is Eris.

The Molecule of the Month is yummy Diacetyl.

Tuesday, April 27

Dark Roasted Blend gives us a gallery of jet packs.

Technovelgy shows us a robot sketch artist, and a robot chess player.

Centauri Dreams chimes in on Stephen Hawking's view that we shouldn't talk to aliens.

Thursday, April 22

The Economist looks at changing how we search for extraterrestrial civilizations.

Relatedly, Seed interviews Dirk Shultz about his position that we have already life out there.

Meanwhile on Earth, we are entering the age of the shit-powered home...

Sunday, April 18

The Iceland volcano's effect on European and global travel could go on for a while, as the last time this volcano erupted for over a year.

This would be prime opportunity to usher in a new age of airships. Imagine colossal propellered machines plying the ashen skies! How about personal blimps?

And while we are at it, let's get some airborne airports aloft, like the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Spectrum's Cloudbase (lovely cutaways here), the Valiant, or the carriers from Sky Captain.

Monday, April 12

Coming soon: Shirtless Kirk Cologne.

The Long Now Blog tells us there are 84000 people in the US who are 100 years old or older. That number will probably increase.

That's also far more than the number of fictional centenarians.

Friday, April 9

Both Blue Man Group and Walking with Dinosaurs are touring this year.

Any chance we can get the Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds tour in the US in my lifetime?

Wednesday, April 7

Warren Ellis writes in Wired UK about the need for human space flight.

Larry Klaes tells us of a plan to transmit information about ourselves to the stars.

Tuesday, April 6

Space.com gives us a gallery of NASA's most offbeat posters.

Dark Roasted Blend continues its glorius tribute to monsterous aviation.

Claude Lafleur at The Space Review gives us some spacecraft stats and insights into who launches what into space.

We live in a world where robots fold laundry, smile and frown, and act as late night talk show sidekicks. There are robot skateboards, robot racecars, and robot spacecraft.

Now we have robot babies.

Monday, April 5

The Hugo nominees have been announced.

Thursday, April 1

It is April.

The God of the Month is Inari.

The Molecule of the Month is Glycine.

Locus' annual April Fools tradition continues.

Monday, March 29

Taylor Dinerman at The Space Review explores the role of water in a spacefaring civilization.

Centauri Dreams looks at the recent Cosmic Evolution Survey and what it tells us about dark matter and the expansion of the cosmos.

And while the future of the US space program is currently in question, NASA is funding research into new forms of propulsion. They also spent a lot on snacks.

My favorite idea of the past week was Mesofacts: facts that change very slowly over time.

My second favorite idea was the concept that gravity emerges from quantum information.

Wednesday, March 24

A South Carolina filmmaker makes a movie. Then learns there's another film with the same name.

Tuesday, March 23

The headline reads: Swiss robot performs virtual autopsies, preserves bodies digitally.

Dark Roasted Blend gives us a sexy retrofuture transpotation showcase gallery.

io9 lists 20 great infodumps from Science Fiction novels.

New photographs of a Soviet lunar rover are causing a legal stir over who can own what on the Moon's surface.

Sunday, March 21

Lunacon was fun. I hung my prints on Friday afternoon, then found out I'd be sharing print shop space with Alan F. Beck and the great Donato Giancola. It was a tad unnerving seeing my stuff next to his, especially the beautiful print of The Mechanic which graced the cover of Asimov's and is the subject of his recent technique DVD.

There were a lot of talented artists at the show. A highlight for me was seeing some of Russ Manning's original Star Wars newspaper strips. Another was meeting William O'Connor, who let me grill him about his magnificent painting Paladin's Charge which I studied for quite a while.

By Sunday I had sold two prints before the Art Show closed for auction. As I was taking my stuff down I sold a third (a copy of this, in fact) to a guy named Jay who actually reads this blog. Mr. Giancola informed me I sold more prints than he did!

Friday, March 19

I'll be trying my hand at selling prints at Lunacon this weekend in Rye Brook NY.

Wednesday, March 10

Charlie Jane Anders at io9 asks Is Science Fiction Humanism a Contradiction in Terms?

Monday, March 8

Greg Burgas at Comic Book Resources gleans the political leanings of superhero comics.

Brit Mandelo at Tor.com begins his new feature The Great Comics Read-Along.

If neither is to your liking, watch a Penthouse Pet burn comics. (NSFW)

Monday, March 1

It is March.

The Gods of the Month are the Gods and Goddesses of Death.

The Molecule of the Month is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate.

The recent auctions of the first appearences of Superman and Batman got me thinking: what do they say about the sad state of superhero comics today? My column exploring this idea is up at SF Signal.

Saturday, February 27

Dark Roasted Blend gives us the Hallucinatory Architecture of the Future.

io9 presents a gallery of the days when Monkeys Ruled Comic Books.

Which is as good a reason s any to revisit Comic Book Gorillarama.

Next January an ocean cruise called 70000tons of Metal will become the largest floating heavy metal festival. It's 4 days long between Miama and Cozumel aboard the Majesty of the Seas.

Tickets start at $666. Why they are not passing through the Devil's Triangle is beyond me.

Now if we can get a metal festival on a ship heading into the Hollow Earth, that would be something...

Saturday, February 20

Cinematic Titanic is going on tour!

io9 gives us Science Fiction Apologies and How to Create a Male Sex Slave.

Geekpress links to this insanely deep fractal zoom.

Wednesday, February 17

My piece on my time at Boskone this past weekend is up at SF Signal.

Friday, February 12

Happy Darwin Day.

I was stuck at work for three days due to the snow. Fun. Now I am off to Boskone. If you're there, don't forget I'll have a small exhibit in the art show.

Assorted items:

Technology Review gives us the Drake Equation for the Multiverse.

io9 lists People Who Have Sex With Spaceships And Other Awesome Vehicles in SF.

Dark Roasted Blend posts part three of its glorious retro-future gallery.

Technovelgy gives us a guy who wants to grow circuits in trees, which they link to Hyperion and Avatar, but which was best explored in the Nevada Garden.

Monday, February 8

A moment of silence for William Tenn/Phil Klass.

Gaze upon Robonaut!

Isn't it funny how now that the Large Hadron Collider is working properly it doesn't get nearly as much coverage?

Monday, February 1

It is February.

The God of the Month is Ayauhteotl.

The Molecule of the Month is Heavy Water.

I will be losing my SF Con art show cherry when I display at Boskone in two weeks.

It'll just be half a panel. Baby steps, y'know.

Supercomputing simulations of the universe can now be networked.

Oh, and the heat death of the universe is apparently happening sooner than scheduled.