Off The Pink

at 9:05 PM

No strange videos recently, so here's one from the Weird Universe Weblog. (The URL onscreen is NSFW)

at 12:06 AM

Rick Griffin was a psychedelic artist who did a lot of posters as well as underground comics, back in the day. Stuff like this:

Note the little guys in the lower right? They're kind of a motif of his.

Apparently, someone at Coke started smoking the same stuff.

at 8:23 PM

Occasionally you discover that the time is just right for something. Things just bubble up in the common consciousness, suddenly bombarding you with some concept or image that pervades the ether and suddenly you've discovered that collective humanity has crossed some cultural Rubicon and it becomes literally impossible to imagine what life was like before. For your consideration, the following two videos, #1 from my brother-in-law, #2 from SF Signal.

at 12:40 PM

Warning: Cognitive dissonance ahead.

at 10:00 PM

Mixed bag today. This one is from the Smart Bitches, and is entitled the "Engineers Guide to Cats."

strange disturbing Agony Booth

Dostum Yealer
by DJ_FX

at 9:58 PM

My wife inflicted this upon me against my will, and to purge the damage this has inflicted on my soul, I inflict it upon everyone else. If you are of my generation, this will surely hurt you in your brain. . .

at 10:16 PM

The following clip raped my childhood (NWS audio)

Agony Booth

at 3:41 PM

at 10:19 PM

No, I can't explain it. (blame the Smart Bitches)

If that didn't weird you out, maybe you want to watch this.
Or not. (Blame Mrs.Giggles)

at 11:24 AM

at 7:48 PM

Now, some breaking news from those wacky Korean scientists:

fluorescent mice

at 9:36 PM

I guess this means that it's a shade more likely that Forests of the Night might make it to the big screen. I don't know if that's exactly a good thing.

at 11:21 AM

at 8:01 PM

Everyone's doing it. . .
SF Signal, Big Dumb Object, Whatever. . .
. . . so I have to post it too. Eddie Izzard, Lego, Darth Vader.

at 4:26 PM

. . .and provides an example of a point I was making over ten years ago. You may or may not have visited my home page, which predates this blog by about a dozen years or so, if you have, buried in the writing portion are a couple of essays I did on plot and world-building when I taught some classes on those subjects way too many years ago. While such writing advice, when it isn't market-specific, isn't prone to become dated (one of my favorites in my collection of writing books is a little compilation of essays entitled Of Worlds Beyond which was originally published in 1947. And Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses are as offensive today as when Mark Twain wrote about them in 1895.) it is true that specific examples used in such advice may date badly, especially if you are talking about SF and technological change.

Exhibit one from "Worldbuilding: Constructing a SF Universe" by your's truly:

Unintended consequences are especially rife when talking about technological change. Every piece of technology will eventually find niches other than what its developers intend. (Consider the identification of pagers with the drug culture.) [emphasis added] Making your world different can be as simple as locating it in that vast unknown territory, "The Future." But for every element of difference you introduce in a story, there will be a multitude of consequences rippling out from the point of difference. Consider one example: Once computer animation becomes cheap and detailed enough that a lone hacker can produce a feature film, what will this do to the major movie studios, television, advertising, intellectual property laws, politics, culture, and the nature of celebrity?Muppet re-mix of a Pulp Fiction trailer

at 9:34 PM

What do you get when you cross muppets with Quentin Tarantino?

Fraggle Rock

at 8:25 PM

Haven't posted a clip here in a while. Here's one I found via the SFWA blog. (Irony again.) Here we have Walt Disney characters explaining the concept of fair use and copyright. Made by professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University. For added fun, count up how many of the characters are based on prior work.

at 5:42 PM

For Star Trek fans who thought James T. should have gone out in more of a blaze of glory...

Got this from a thread on The Agony Booth.

at 10:10 PM

Ok, I think K/S has begun to reach some sort of apotheosis:

from Maureen McHugh's blog:

Oh, and if you liked that, you'll love this:

at 10:28 PM

This is not the blog you're looking for

I have moved, and you can find new entries, comments etc. at www.sandrewswann.com come over and check it out.

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