people

Randomness for

Standard

1) Now this is a brilliant film trailer: Baby trashes bar. Video.

2) Wildly successful self-published author Amanda Hocking on What It Takes.

3) An appreciation for a show I’ve been watching: The Adventures of Pete and Pete.

4) Samurai fights his own shadow. Video. This is really beautiful and well done.

5) The 50 worst band photos ever. I haven’t looked at all of these yet, but yikes.

6) Facebook ads in a superhero universe. The last one is priceless. I’m tempted to do this for urban fantasy universes.

7) I love this: What happened to the bullies at the end of THE NEVERENDING STORY? Video. Via Matt Staggs at Suvudu.

Quote of the day

Standard

“My fellow citizens. In this difficult time that the country is going through, President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak has decided to relieve himself of his position as president and the Supreme military council has taken control of the state’s affairs. May God protect us.” — Omar Suleiman

The Egyptian people have managed a (mostly) peaceful revolution. The path ahead will be difficult for them, but this is a moment for celebration. Good luck.

I have been planning a serious post, but this ain’t it.

Standard

The OK Cupid blog (which I don’t follow as closely as I should) regularly anonymizes and crunches facts about love, sex, and the usual mating rituals. It’s science! Unlike some of the annoying assertions about genre I keep running across.

Anyway, want to know if a potential mate will be right for you without coming right out and asking? Check this factoid out:

Getting a “yes” answer from a man to: “In a certain light, wouldn’t nuclear war be exciting?” has an 83% correlation with the likelihood that he’ll have sex on the first date. Grim meathook future, your abs are irresistible.

The find out the same information about a woman, or to surreptitiously discover something else, check out the whole post.

That NYer Scientology article

Standard

I have an awful lot to write about, but all I have time for at the moment is a link to this extremely long article about writer/director Paul Haggis and his public split with Scientology.

It just confirms my belief that all the easiest ways to become truly wealthy involve hanging around people I want nothing to do with and doing things that would make me physically ill.

Quote of the day

Standard

“I can’t find the quote but one of the historians of the French Revolution of 1789 wrote that it was not the product of poor people but of poor lawyers. You can have political/economic setups that disappoint the poor for generations – but if lawyers, teachers and doctors are sitting in their garrets freezing and starving you get revolution. Now, in their garrets, they have a laptop and broadband connection.” (emphasis in the original)

— Paul Mason, writing about the revolutionary movements in the Middle East.

Five things make a post

Standard

1) My wife just finished making an animation station for my son, and she’s currently working on a tall, narrow “standing desk” for me to use at home. She rocks.

2) If I owe you an email, please be patient. I’m having issues with it for the moment.

3) There’s fantastic news going on that I can’t really talk about. Not until some things are finalized. ::crosses fingers::

4) There’s some other news I can’t quite talk about yet that is only partially good. Again, I need to clarify some stuff before I’m ready to share, but share I will. Watch this space.

5) As of 2006 in the U.S.A. less than two percent of households earned above $250,000. That’s less than two percent of all households, not individuals. If your home brings in a quarter million dollars a year, you qualify as upper class. You’re wealthy. Embrace this truth.

Randomness for 1/25

Standard

1) A dating service for people who like white hats with anchors.

2) A hotel that’s free to stay at… but it’s decorated with beach trash.

3) You should date an illiterate girl.

4) From boiling water to instant fog. Video. Now that’s cold.

5) Casting the 1940’s version of Harry Potter films. Too many of the biggest stars of the day, but fun to think about.

6) Phelps family protests the movie RED STATE. A counter-protest breaks out. Some NSFW text.

7) Five Angry Birds status updates.

Norwescon, I guess

Standard

In 2009 at the beginning of December, I received an invitation to Norwescon. For whatever reason, my response to them wasn’t received and it’s very likely that was my fault. I interpreted the lack of response as a “Never mind,” and by the time it was straightened out I had family plans and couldn’t attend. Next year, I told myself.

Well, next year is here. I sent an email to the same person (at the same address) who contacted me before, inquiring about attending the convention, but so far I’ve received no response (again). It wasn’t one of these official contact addresses, though; it’s someone’s personal email address.

I plan to try one more time, but I’m not sure which of these addresses I should use. To be clear, I’ve attended the San Diego Comic-Con but I’ve never been to a “real” science fiction convention, and everything I know about how they work has come from skimming other people’s LiveJournals. So I’m turning to you good folks, because I know many people reading this have much more experience than I do: Which address, if any, should I contact? Or should I just take the hint?

Thanks.

Added later: Email sent! Thank you, everyone on my blog and LJ for the advice.

Randomness for 1/20

Standard

1) A Wrinkle in Time in 90 seconds. Video. So. Effing. Cute.

2) MEOW. Video. Zombies uber alles, yeah?

3) A jury of your peers, not a jury of your purrs. I deeply regret writing that previous sentence.

4) Before and after photos of the flooding in Australia. Mouse over the pics to change them.

5) Why I don’t pay much attention to reader reviews.

6) “Impossible” physics w/out special effects. Video. Trompe l’oeil made awesome.

7) Edgar Allen Pooh.

Randomness for 1/15

Standard

1) Why you shouldn’t text and walk. Video.

2) Five self-defense books for women who want to lose a fight. Comic Life put to good use, I say. via Martha Wells.

3) Casey Kasem might curse at me for following a funny bit with a sad one, but Reading as Comfort.

4) Perspective on the “Tiger Mother” book, via Douglas Triggs. It’s interesting to hear the way the WSJ edited Chua’s book to make it seem like she’d written a manual for creating “model minority” children. And by “interesting” I mean “fucked up.”

5) Nothing is Forgotten. A webcomic.

6) Pixar’s sculpture zoetrope. Wow. Video. via Tor.com

7) “But if you’re going to go there, you have to go there. If this feels safe, comfortable, or affirming, you’ve done something wrong.” Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Confederacy, but there’s a lot to think about for anyone who needs to do a little world-building.