Category: News

The Lucky Seven Nod!

Well, it seems that there is a new award-meme making the rounds these days. Yes, after months and months of VBA’s, BBA’s, KBA’s, and whatever else they could come up with, the creative community of the blogosphere has invented one more award. And it seems I’ve been nominated! It’s called the Lucky Seven, and its actually a creative way of promoting aspiring authors and writers. Here are the rules as I understand them:

  • Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript (fiction or non-fiction)
  • Go to line 7
  • Post the next 7 lines or sentences on your blog as they are (no cheating, please!)
  • Tag 7 other authors to do the same

Of course, step one for me is to thank the person who nominated me, so an unreserved thank you to Richard of Richard’s Ramblings for the nod. Next step, the 7 lines from line 7 of page 77 of my manuscript, known as “Data Miners”:

Anyway, email me back, is your job really in trouble? I’ll help if
>I can, but I don’t know what is expected here.
>Anglmrk
>

Well, that was about as effective as a pin through the eye! His wounded ego, smarting from the effects of professional termination, has just taken another a blow in the romantic department. Now he’s got cupid’s and his former company’s shoes up his ass! His mind is too much of a mess to sort out how this email has categorically made him feel worse but if he could

Doesn’t make a lot of sense taken out of context like that does it? Oh well, who am I to question the rules of this award system? And now, my nominees, all of whom are awesome writers who are currently hard at work producing those manuscripts!

  1. Khaalidah Muhammed-Ali
  2. Goran Zidar
  3. Urbannight
  4. Audrey Johnson
  5. Erin Brady Pike
  6. Zencherry
  7. Lance Schubert

Keep up the good work, all y’all! Keep hammering those keys and if possible, get out there and get that manuscript published!

George W. Bush’s head appears on Game of Thrones

I came across this baby on Blastr recently. Yes, apparently the “Deciders” head was featured on GOT last season, and news of this has people tweeting, texting, facebooking, myspacing… you know, all that social media shit! In any case, after watching the video, I had to wonder how and where they came up with that. Was it something that the set cast noticed and sent out into the blogosphere? Probably. In any case, the story is simply that one of the head’s featured in season one of GOT, in the scene where Joffrey is showing Sansa her father’s head on a stake, looked a lot like the former president.

Lord knows the little Bush has never been one to not attract controversy, but I do wonder how he might react if he heard this. I can only assume there are plenty of pundits who would say this is some kind of liberal plot and that no one would dare do this with Obama’s head. Nevertheless, the set designers insisted that it was all a coincidence and that the heads were part of the props department. Can they faulted that one of them just happen to look somewhat simian? I mean have you ever really looked at W’s face? There’s a reason anthropologists believe we intermarried with Neanderthals, you know 😉

Follow the link below to the original article from I09 and see if you spot the head in the video:

george-w-bushs-decapitated-head-appeared-on-game-of-thrones

Robert Kirkman’s Zombie Car

“Be prepared” is the Boy Scout’s motto. And it appears this wisdom is not lost on Robert Kirkman, the creator of The Walking Dead comic series. In a recent interview, he shares his thoughts on his creation, and spoke candidly on what he thought needed to go into the development of a zombie car. This is a project that is very near and dear to his heart, and it seems like he’s finally going to get his chance to make one.

Apparently, Kirkman has already created a zombie-killing ride for the Walking Dead comic as part of a promotional deal with Hyundai and plans to debut the real thing at Comic-Con. Seriously, he’s going to draw it and Hyundai is going to actually build the thing! Where else but in the comic book industry, huh? I guess you gotta be a successful artist to get something like this made for yourself

Calling to mind something out of Mad Max or the souped-up bus from Dawn of the Dead, this vehicle incorporates a mean looking plough, some caged windows and big ass search lights, this vehicle is sure to protect its drivers while giving it the ability to run roughshod (literally!) over anyone that gets in its way. It also features a cage-like structure which is meant to protect the sun roof, giving a passenger the ability to look up and shoot out the top. Great for sniping while you’re out for a nice Sunday drive… during the apocalypse of course!

Kirkman shows off some sketches and explains the design process in the video below:

Source: robot6comicbookresources

Titan’s Tropical Methane Lakes!

Recently, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft did a fly-by of Saturn and noticed something unexpected on its largest moon of Titan. In the so-called tropical area of the moon, where temperatures rise to a high point of −179 °C (or −290 °F), it appears that there are lakes of liquid methane. This is a surprise to scientists who previously assumed that liquid bodies could only exist near the poles.

Appropriately, this region is known as Shangri La, which appears to have some dark areas which showed up on Cassini’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer. One of the tropical lakes appears to be the size of Utah’s Great Salt Lake, and features a depth of at least one meter. When asked where these lakes came from, Caitlin Griffith – a Cassini team associate at the University of Arizona – speculated that the lake is being fed from an underground aquifer. “In essence,” she says, “Titan may have oases.”

Knowing about these lakes and where they come from is an important step to understand how weather works on Titan. Whereas the Earth has a “hydrological cycle” (aka. a water cycle), Titan has a “methane” cycle, where methane is circulating rather than water. What’s more, ultraviolet light is able to pierce through Titan’s atmosphere, causing it to break the methane apart on contact. This in turn results in a complicated chain of organic chemical reactions.

These finds are significant for two reasons. For one, it means that life might actually exist on Saturn’s largest moon. The chemical reactions in question involving UV light and methane gas might very well be able to produce organic molecules such as amino acids, the building blocks of life. And second, it could mean the planet would be a suitable candidate for terraforming some day. Liquid methane might not be suitable for humans, but with the right kind of equipment and chemical know-how, it could be converted into water and water vapor without much trouble.

Or we could simply use it as is, pumping it out as fuel. On the other hand, who’s to say we shouldn’t just sit back and watch the life grow. In a few million years, assuming humanity is still alive, Titan may very well join other moons like Europe is producing native life that will emerge from the primordial soups and look out at the stars. And if they then reach out, they might just find us in the mood to share with them. Who knows? It’s the prospects that are exciting!

Source: I09 Magazine.

The Dark Knight Rises gets test-screening, recieves standing ovation

Wow, third trailer today! But I just forward them to you fine folks, I got nothing to do with their production… unfortunately. And the big news is not the movie trailer itself, we’ve seen enough of those to know what’s going to happen by now. What is news is that The Dark Knight Rises recently got a test-screening by Warner Bros. executives in order to gauge audiences reaction to movie and its extended cut.

The full-length version ran for a whopping 4 hours, rivaling Kenneth Branagh’s massive movie production of Hamlet. And anyone who’s seen that one can attest to the fact that no movie, no matter how awesome, can ever expect to hold audiences for that long. Especially in this day and age! As such, it has since been cut down to 2 hours and 45 minutes. A good run time, but nothing the Dark Knight can’t handle.

And the audience reaction was nothing short of stellar. Apparently, the first group to see the final chapter of the Batman saga gave the film a standing ovation. The rest of us can therefore rest assured in the knowledge that it’s going to be a spectacular film and that we absolutely must see it! It has been confirmed that director Christopher Nolan will not be giving the film a press release screening, so the only way to get an advanced view of the movie is to attend the midnight screening of it on July 20.

That is the official release date, when the movie will be released all across North America, and the rest of the world shortly thereafter. Once again, I can’t wait! Only a week to go… Here’s one final trailer to tide us over!

Star Trek 2 Teaser Trailer

And wouldn’t you know it, it seems that the good people over at Movieclips have also released a teaser for the upcoming Star Trek 2 movie. Like all teasers, it doesn’t tell us much. But a few things are clear. For one, it’s likely going to focus on the discovery of some new alien species – or at least new from a prequel standpoint. Then again, since they established that the new movies take place in an alternate timeline, anything is possible. Second, it’s abundantly clear that Abrams will be returning the director’s seat and that the ensemble from the first movie will be reuniting.

On top of all that, it is revealed by the source that Benedict Cumberbatch, the British actor known for his roles in War Horse, Atonement, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit, will be making his Trek debut as the villain. It’s all set for release sometime in 2013. And since The Hobbit will be debuting around the same time, it’s sure to be a good year for movie-goers, and Cumberbatch! Check out the trailer below.

Skyfall – Official teaser trailer

Good news everybody! The people who brought you Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace have finally released a teaser trailer for the new Bond movie. I know this doesn’t quite fall into the category of science fiction, but I love the new Bond films. And if it’s of interest to me and to others, I’m sure to post about it!

Named Skyfall, the new movie is apparently going to involve revelations about M and an attack on MI6. In the course of it all, Bond’s loyalty will be tested, and he will have to make more sacrifices to save the only home he’s ever known and only job he’s ever been good at. Check out the trailer below.

25,000 Hits!

Wow! It seems like only yesterday I was celebrating the big 2-0… times 1000! But as of this evening, my stock ticker rolled over yet again, this time at 25,000. Unfortunately, the mood is less than festive over here. Sure, this is good news, but there’s bad news too.

Good News: Well, I’ve reached this milestone a little ahead of schedule. Back when I hit 20,000, I figured I’d need a few more weeks before the next 5k. But a recent upsurge in traffic has made this possible sooner. Ah, which brings me to…

The Bad News: This upsurge in traffic has been due to a single post in my lineup. One which involves a certain incident involving drugs and sick, ghoulish behavior. Know which one I’m referring to? No? Think flesh eating bacteria, minus the bacteria. Still need a hint? Zombies, dammit! It seems that more than half my traffic in the last few days has been people coming by to read about “Bath Salts” and the recent upsurge in cannibalism.

So you see my predicament. On the one hand, my little blog is growing in popularity. Why just the other day I got my first hate mail! But it’s not good to benefit from bad news, especially the kind that involves people dying. Only two kinds of people do that – weapons makers and oil barons, and I assure you, I am neither. If I was, I imagine people would be hitting me up for money more often 😉

But I guess this just proves what I said before, about zombie-ism being big in the news right now. And hey, I’m certainly not immune. Hardly a day has gone by lately that I haven’t talked about zombie weapons or wondered when the hell Walking Dead was coming back to TV (October 2012, according to IMBD). But the fact that this all involved that creepy murdering weirdo makes me feel like I’m kind of profiting off of tragedy.

So here’s what I plan to do. Henceforth, that crazed, weirdo, batshit-crazy Canadian fellow who shall remain nameless will receive no free publicity from me! However, I shall continue to talk about the possible (translation: totally fictitious) connection between Bath Salts and the coming Zombie Apocalypse. I have a duty to mankind to help them prepare! So in the days that follow, perhaps we should address strategy, fitness, and the little things we can do to stay alive in the event of a zombie attack.

Good stuff! So stay tuned and remember: don’t give murderers publicity, cannibalism aint cool, and say no to Bath Salts!

My First Troll!

Wow, this is what it feels like to experience hate mail! I gotta say, I’m kind of flattered. It was in reference to my article “Dune and Its Descendents”, one of many in which I praised the late Frank Herbert for his amazing work over the years and bashed the work that has followed in his wake. Like many fans of the original books, my love for them is matched only by my disappointment with how the series ended.

Plenty of times I have encountered fans of the new books, and we’ve been able to have some spirited debate. Hell, I even conversed with Kevin J Anderson himself and managed to keep a civil tongue, partly out of sympathy because this guy gets TONS of hate mail! But this person, who goes by the name of Carlos, he really took the cake. Here’s what he said:

“Of course your the big idiot ever, since the creation of the universe. And you don’t understand the work of frank Herbert, or the deep: spiritual, scientific, artistic and philosophic work of this avatar, also the reality of science fiction (reality). Frank Herbert is a genius, like Tolkien, and if you don´t understand it, its because you don´t have brains or the intelligence needed to see it. Au dare you to say something so idiot from others work, in what brainless basis of yours? It makes no sense or logic, i only see envy, some ow, and a very small brain, even smaller than a desert rat.

Carlos”

How nice, he even signed his name. It’s like F*@@$% you, you unbelievable bastard! Sincerely, Troller. Well,  I would be inclined to reply to this… um … comment here, except for two things. One, the man’s name doesn’t provide a link that goes anywhere. And two, I don’t have the slightest freaking idea what the hell he’s on about.

Correct if I’m wrong but it sounds like he thinks I’m bashing Frank Herbert, not the work of Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert. And what the hell is this “avatar”, does he even know what that means? That would imply a stand in, which makes me think he IS defending these two authors. But their names never come up, and rarely do their works ever inspire such heartfelt defense of the words “genius” or “deep”. Mainly people just say that they’re alright and entertaining and not hurting anyone.

Ah well, I’m clearly over thinking this. Mainly, I’m just intrigued because this is the first hate mail I’ve ever received here, which makes me think I’m coming up in the world! And second, the vociferous and confused nature of it kind of amuses me. It’s good to believe that attacks against you are the result of misunderstandings and confused emotion, and not the result of disapproval you can actually understand and get behind.

Ah well, kudos Carlos. You will always be my first hater! I just wish I knew what the hell you were talking about.

Nominated for a VBA!

Well, this is awkward. It seems I’ve been nominated for a VBA for the third and fourth time… by two people… in the space of two days. I’m not sure what to do… I can’t imagine there’s a protocol for something like this, but I assume that the practical thing to do would be to roll them into one and acknowledge everyone who made it possible.

For starters, thanks to Dave W at theroadmarathon and Richard at Richard’s Ramblings for the nomination. You guys both rock!

And of course, seven things about myself… going to be hard to think up things I didn’t say the last two times.

  1. I have a notorious love for the color green. An inordinate amount of my clothes are this color. It’s embarrassing when they clash!
  2. I’m a historian and English teacher by training, for high school students. How I got into writing sci-fi and teaching elementary kids is kind of a long story.
  3. I am obsessive. When I want to learn about something, I kind of OD on it before moving on. It’s how I got into the history of WWII, Star Wars, cool-looking guns, and sci-fi literature.
  4. I don’t do organized sports. Though I’ve been doing Taekwon-Do for over two decades, I have no real love for organized sports outside of martial arts and MMA. Some people don’t get this, can’t say I blame them.
  5. I have more girl friends than guys. Though my oldest and best friends are all men, the one thing we all have in common is in being SNAG’s (Sensitive New Age Guys). We all tend to get along better with girls than guys. Probably because there’s no dick measuring involved.
  6. I’ve inherited a slew of health problems from my ancestors. These include baldness, high cholesterol and other heart problems. As such, and despite the recent advances in the field of medicine, I’m likely to die at the age 65, bald and as a result of a heart attack.
  7. I don’t tan well either!

And now for my nominees!

  1. Khaalidah – Indie author and fellow grim5Next contributor Khaalidah Muhammed-Ali. In addition to being a fantastic writer, and a faithful friend, she’s also a working wife and mother. I know eh?
  2. ramiungerthewrter – Rami Ungar, a college student who’s passion for anime, horror and science fiction are a constant source of inspiration for my own work.
  3. Sotet Angyal – The dark angel, or as she’s known to her friends, Nina D’Arcangela. I recently pledged my thanks for her constant follows, but today, I would like to acknowledged her hard work as writer, publisher and a social media anarchist!
  4. Kotev1000 – The dedicated soul who runs the site European Scientist and Journalist, a site dedicated to capturing history in words and photographs.
  5. hnsieverding – Esteemed (and published) fantasy writer Mrs. Sieverding, a relatively new acquintance of mine, but one who’s extensive credentials have not failed to impress me!
  6. VictorsMovieReviews – Film buff, movie reviewer and cinematic guru, definitely a man to be consulted on the latest releases, but not someone you want to cross while waiting for tickets on opening night!
  7. jazfagan – The website of catseyesk, a notorious lover of music, practitioner of Buddhism, and lover of all things existential. If its musical, life-affirming, and spiritual, chances are she’s posted about it.
  8. nicolahigginsfiction – The home of Nicola Higgins, fellow science fiction writer AND martial artist. She is also a working woman and a wife who somehow finds the time to also run two brownie packs. Though I can only nominate 7 people, I would be derelict if I didn’t acknowledge her too.

Well, that about does it for me. Thank you all for the ongoing support and recognition. Rest assured, I am not letting it go to my head… much. If I got paid to do this, then I might start going batty. So… we’ll see how that goes 😉