In Sky, Mars And Venus Live
SCI FI Wire published a piece I wrote about SM Stirling’s upcoming novel, The Sky People, which posits an alternate history in which the Mars and Venus imagined in the pulp era are actually correct.
Lack of Updates
Sorry about the lack of real updates lately. Hope to post some more soon. But you can blame it mostly on the two following things:
(1) I’m remodeling my house (and today saw my bathroom completely demolished so as to start from scratch)
and
(2) I got a new Verizon XV6700 phone, which I’ve alternately loved and hated, and so it has occupied much of my time trying to figure out how to use it exactly (and to decide if I want to cancel my contract before my 15 day trial period ends)
Dream Mixes SF And Crime
SCI FI Wire published a piece I wrote about John Scalzi’s new novel, The Android’s Dream.
Continued Compiles Silverberg
SCI FI Wire just published a piece I wrote about Robert Silverberg’s new collection, To Be Continued, which is the first of a nine-volume series.
Rock Arrangement of Pachelbel’s Canon
If you like guitar at all, you have to check this out. Apparently, there was a whole internet phenomenon that I completely missed out on: this guy, known as funtwo, recorded audio and video of himself playing this kick-ass rock arrangement of Pachelbel’s Canon, and posted it to a Korean website (which was later then posted to YouTube by someone else).
It’s really amazing just watching this guy play. Some of the commenters on YouTube said that it’s not *that* hard to play, but it’s a pretty cool video, watching this guy just play this technically stunning guitar, while displaying almost none of the emotion typically displayed by guitar players.
And to add to the coolness factor: no one knew who he was for months. But now there’s a New York Times story about him.
This makes me want to hear rock arrangements of more classical music.
Free Music
I know, I know, it’s going to seem like I hate music. First, I’m giving away a piano, and now a couple of CDs. The thing is, I’ve already got these. When you order stuff from Century Media’s online store, they often give you free stuff, usually in the form of CD samplers. In fact, I’ve already gotten three sets of these; I’ve given one set away, but I don’t know who’d be interested in this other set, so it’s up for grabs.
Click here for a larger version of the image, on which you can probably read the track listing.
They’re both damn good compilations; I count about a dozen tracks between the two discs that I thought were very good or great; the others I mostly didn’t care for, or thought were decent, but nothing to get excited about. These two samplers resulted in me buying at least five albums (and might have resulted in more, except that I was already familiar with [and had the albums of] some of the bands who happen to have kick-ass tracks on the discs).
So anyway, first person to post a comment gets it. Be sure to include your email address in your post, so that I can contact you for your mailing address.
Update: CDs have been claimed (via LiveJournal comments).
Death and The Family Guy
Seeing as I recently read A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore, and I’ve been watching all the Family Guy re-runs that I’d previously missed, I can’t help but think that it would be totally awesome if Seth MacFarlane did a spin-off of Family Guy that revolved around Death. I mean, the one where Peter helps Death get a girlfriend is pure comic genius.
Free Piano
I’ve been trying to get rid of this piano for a while now, without luck. You want it? It’s yours. Just come get it. Location is Perth Amboy, NJ (08861). I recently tried posting a notice via Freecycle.org, but have been frustrated by the lack of communication with my local group moderator. I haven’t given up on it yet, but hey, might as well cast my net as far as possible. I just want to get rid of this thing.
It’s in fine working order, except that one key seems to be disconnected from its hammer. Easy enough to repair, I’d think. There’s no bench either, but other than that, it should be a fine addition to any music lover’s home.
Why do I want to get rid of it? Dude, because it’s in my library. I want to put books there.
Gully update
As I mentioned previously, Gully was a bit listless at first, but he’s come around. He’s bonded with me now, trusts me and all that. Still doesn’t play with toys or anything, or have any interest in fetching, but he likes hanging around me, and is always looking for me when I’m not around (so I’m told).
He’s very quiet; I’ve barely heard him make a noise. When a series of emergency vehicles went by one night, he howled along with them, which was kind of amusing. Other than that, the only noise I’ve heard him make happened the other night; I was petting him, and apparently he was full of energy or something, because he launched himself into some kind of game, which entailed him spreading his front paws out in front of him as if it pounce mode, barking, then taking off running away from me, at which point he’d stop, turn around, get into pounce mode again, bark, and run back toward me. He did this a couple times, then must have got tired out and went and layed down. This is apparently known as a “play bow.” I don’t know how to trigger it, but I’d love to capture it on film, because, man, it was *weird.*
Speaking of dogs, check out this blog post by Jonathan Carroll.
Fantastic Genres II
This weekend, I attended the Fantastic Genres II, a very small academic conference held at SUNY New Paltz, in New Paltz, NY. The con director was John Langan, a semi-regular F&SF contributor, and a friend of mine. The conference was held once before, two years ago. The first one was really great; this one was good too, though not quite as well-organized. Apparently they received a grant to put on the first one, but this time they did not, so there weren’t as many resources at their disposal.