Okay, technically it was yesterday, but since it is meant to coincide with Issac Asimov’s birthday and no one is quite sure when that was, what the hell.
Anyway, if you want your own rocket party hat to celebrate, here is where one buys them.
Where’s My Silver Jumpsuit?
•January 1, 2013 • 3 Comments
Yes, I know the typical complaint in twenty-first century year kick-off posts, is more along the lines of “where’s my flying car?”, but I’m a maverick, you know, and the silver jumpsuit thing is more along the lines of what got me thinking of this whole thing: the latest test of the Space-X Grasshopper rocket. It seems like just yesterday we were all chuckling indulgently about pulp sci-fi depictions of space travel, with gleaming silver rockets taking off and landing hither and yon. Star Wars and the space shuttle made it obvious that spacecraft would look more like aircraft, except maybe grubbier and more beat up. Rockets were single-use things, just the first primitive step.
But now we’re back to reusable rockets, apparently. So obviously, I think we can all be expecting to wear shiny jumpsuits soon. Which means I’d better make a resolution to hit the gym. Which ties this back to being a New Year’s day post quite nicely, doesn’t it?
Rest Easy, Canada
•December 27, 2012 • Comments Off on Rest Easy, Canada
Well, I somehow managed last time, but now that the strategic maple syrup reserve thieves have been brought to justice, I have been unable to find a single news story about it that doesn’t use at least one pun. But, after all, the situation is pretty sweet. And it could have been a sticky situation for Canada. I suppose I’d have to be quite the sap to deny giddy pancake lovers their puns. I don’t know what will happen to the thieves in question – knowing how important maple syrup is to Canadians they might find themselves taken to a shack in the country and boiled for hours on end. Still, I wonder what kind of sophisticated pipeline the thieves might have used to get their ill-gotten gains to the black market – possibly one made of blue tubing that snaked for miles through the forest. But let’s not start in on any saccharine platitudes about how great this all is, or even Acer Saccharum ones.
My Christmas Revelation
•December 25, 2012 • 1 Comment
My Dog
The Grinch and Max
I would like to assure readers that I only rarely dress my dog in antlers and have her haul a sleigh, and never for the purposes of stealing Christmas presents from the village below. More importantly, I always wear pants.
Well, This Is Christmassy
•December 20, 2012 • Comments Off on Well, This Is Christmassy
It seems that this newly-discovered species of spider constructs larger decoy versions of itself out of bits of leaf and pieces of things it has eaten. Heck, I’ve got a neighbor down the street, a short fellow, who is always strolling around with a large decoy of himself that he shakes and waves around to intimidate people. It works, too – most people give him a wide berth. I’m pretty sure he just uses cow and coyote bones, though, not people bones. Pretty sure. If I’d known how unusual this behavior was, I would have reported it to the scientific journals.
I’m Wicked Confused
•December 18, 2012 • 3 Comments
The touring company of the Broadway musical Wicked recently came to nearby Syracuse, and the event inspired a great deal of punning on the name. Now, I understand why a musical with a name that is an adjective is a tempting target for this sort of thing, but this particular adjective is kind of tricky for this. For instance, the “wicked opportunity” for a local understudy detailed in one newspaper article. I don’t think a “wicked opportunity” is a thing, really. Now, if the Musical had been called Golden, that would have worked (note to producers of James Bond films: call me about my idea for an adaptation of Goldfinger). Worse yet, I saw a newspaper refer to the arrival if the touring company as “something wicked this way comes”, which is just confusing, literary-wise.
They really would have been better off embracing a South Boston ethos and just using it as an adverb – there are all sorts of opportunities there, since you could just insert a word like “awesome” and make everything fit. That would have been wicked smaht.
The Pose-Off, It Is On!
•December 11, 2012 • Comments Off on The Pose-Off, It Is On!
You’ve all no doubt been following developments in the pose-off challenge/fundraiser between Jim C. Hines and John Scalzi, wherein Jim Hines challenged John Scalzi to pose in the manner typical of female protagonists on the cover of science fiction and fantasy novels. Well, after the choosing of a cover, the pose-off is complete. I think you’ll all agree that Jim nailed the pose, right down to the tilt of the shoulders and the improbable leg positioning. But John really did create a pose to haunt the dreams. Also, as a cyclist I have to say he has surprisingly good legs.
Serial Saturday: The Figurine, Part 31
•December 8, 2012 • Comments Off on Serial Saturday: The Figurine, Part 31“What are those things, Quinn?” Gantry asked.
“Don’t know,” Jefferson replied, watching the creatures approach. They wore clothes, and had a little bit of hair and everything. There was something odd about the hands, and they hunched strangely, but that was it, beyond the feeling they gave off. “Something further along than these other folks, maybe?”
“Well, what do-” Gantry broke off as two of the creatures suddenly lunged into a run. He fired twice, hitting each of the things in the head. “You planning on goddamn joining in, here?” he asked as he took a step backward. Jefferson retreated with him, firing a shot at another of the things that had just started to move quicker.
The two began to move through the cedars, firing occasionally. Jefferson noted that the things they were shooting were showing an unsettling tendency to get up after they were put down, disappearing as they fell in the shadows only to appear again a few moments later, staggering toward them and ignoring their wounds. Continue reading ‘Serial Saturday: The Figurine, Part 31’
Remix!
•December 5, 2012 • Comments Off on Remix!
And if you do not love maps, like Levar, well, I don’t know what to do with you.
Why Didn’t I Think of That?
•December 4, 2012 • Comments Off on Why Didn’t I Think of That?
Helen Sword, ready to test writing
E.B. White appears skeptical
I had a post a while back about this test of how well one writes, and I ran a few authors through it to see how they measured up. But I never thought of running old E.B. White, of Elements of Style fame, though the test. The results are about what you’d expect. So the question becomes, was E.B. White a bad writer (hard to believe if you’ve read Charlotte’s Web), did he suffer from a case of “Do as I say, not as I do”, or has Dr. Sword (not a super villain, so matter what you may think) do a poor job of quantifying the rules that define good writing?