Gravity Lens Weblog

Saturday, September 11

James Randi looks at warnings about the dangers of "unorganized water" among other subjects in his weekly column.

In the meantime, it's safe to teach Darwin in Serbia again...

Friday, September 10

Assorted Items: Film Threat links to this teaser site for a live action Gigantor film.

Newsarama talks to Mike Baron about his new book The Detonator.

And big thanks to Senses Working Overtime for the link and the kind words about Lens.

Coudal links to this three minute film (WMV) of costumed anime festival-goers explaining who they are dressed as and what their powers are. Funniest thing I've seen this week.

Thursday, September 9

In reading about the crash of the Genesis space probe yesterday I couldn't help but remember stories about disastrous probe missions. The first one that leaps to mind is The Andromeda Strain. The Thunderbirds had to rescue a Sun Probe once. There was the Venusian Probe episode of Six Million Dollar Man, the Space: 1999 episode Voyager's Return, and the Star Trek: Voyager episode Friendship One. Probes were also a big factor in the films Yog, The Monster from Beyond Space and It Conquered the World, which featured the greatest alien ever. I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

Update: Mark on the comment board reminds me of V'Ger and Nomad.

I once knew a robot who swallowed a fly...

SF Signal links to two articles of note: A Globe & Mail piece that asks "Is Science Fiction Finished?" and a NY Times story about the slow death of Star Trek. Regular readers know I am all in favor of putting a quick and merciful end to the franchise so we can move onto something new.

Wednesday, September 8

Incoming Signals links to Green Arrow's Blog.

Oh Captain! My Captain!: Captain Video, Captain Midnight, Captain Future, Captain Nemo, Captain Kirk, Captain Picard, Captain Harlock, Captain Action, Captain Scarlet, Captain Beefheart, Captain Sensible, Captain Fantastic, Captain Jack, Captain Trips, Captain Lou Albano, Captain Marvel, the other Captain Marvel, Captain Atom, Captain Thunder, Captain America, Captain Britain, Captain Canada, Captain Canuck, Captain Euro, Captain Carrot, Captain Caveman, Captain Kangaroo, Captain Blood, Captain Ahab, Captain Queeg, Captain Hook, Captain Stubing, Captain Underpants, Captain Ribman, Captain Obvious, Captain Morgan, Captain Condom, Captain & Tennille, and Cap'n Crunch.

Yes, I'm aware there was yet another Captain Marvel.

Here's a list of The Most Famous Ships that Never Were.

Tuesday, September 7

Bruce Sterling takes us inside the unfathomable superhuman future after the "singularity" over at Wired.

Assorted Items: Godzilla's now starring in a Japanese Honda ad.

Eye of the Goof links to the Land of the Lost 80s Music.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is back on BBC Radio 4 with adaptations of the later books. Much of the original cast is back as well.

Diplomatic Solutions: Diplomacy tends to be sometimes overlooked in science fiction. Here's the Region One Alien Ambassador Corps and the Martian Embassy. The Klingons have both an embassy and an Imperial Diplomatic Corps online. Shows about aliens living among us, like Earth: Final Conflict and Alien Nation, had a lot of diplomatic undertones. The remake of Battlestar Galactica began with a diplomatic ambush. All of these stand in the shadow of Babylon 5, where many of the major characters are ambassadors. People also forget that Wonder Woman was originally the ambassador of the Amazons.

We can take comfort in the fact that The Raelians want to build an alien embassy...

Recommended Readin': SciFi Weekly interviews author Larry Niven.

Sam Harris dissects the myth of religious moderation in his new book.

Space.com looks at 100 people who made a difference in space exploration.

Keith Lockitch of the Ayn Rand Institute tallies the death toll of environmentalism.

Monday, September 6

The Mondolithic Image of the Week is the imposing Mademoiselle Chose.

My time at Noreascon is wrapped. I am exhausted but grinning. Big thanks to Bob Eggleton for leading a tour through the mind-boggling Retro Art Exhibit, where the original paintings of many classic book and magazine covers were displayed. Congrats to Randall Ensley, who nabbed a ribbon for his creepy picture Final Frontier. He also pointed me in the direction of the amazing preview art for Joe DeVito's upcoming Kong: King of Skull Island project. Also kudos to James Hughes, who spend endless hours manning the World Transhumanist table and selling neat bumper stickers. He's also about to release a book about our technological future called Citizen Cyborg, which you should all buy.

While I was gone the Blogospherics continued: Exclamation Mark links to this nice Ray Harryhausen appreciation site that includes a heart-breaking index of unfinished projects.

The Cartoonist sends us to study The Rules of Dueling.

Grow-A-Brain points to the very cool Russian Tank Museum.

Geekpress found this strange site where Spiderman reviews crayons.

Sunday, September 5

Recommended Readin': Steve Carroll of The Age looks at philosophy's recent popularity.

Simon Smith of Better Humans chimes in on the war on drugs.

Michael Belfiore of New Scientist examines the near-term future of space tourism.

Dave Barry tells us about the letters he doesn't print.

Taking a brief breather from frantic Noreascon activities. Jennifer and I spent Saturday hiking around the colossal innards of the Hynes Convention Center absorbing all manner of SF related madness. We also stumbled quite serendipitously into the line for a Neil Gaiman autograph. Big thanks to Colleen Doran for tolerating my stammering and grinning like a fanboy while she rendered a magnificent space shuttle in silver pen on the matte-black endpaper of my oft-read copy of Orbiter and letting me peruse advance pages from the upcoming Stealth Tribes (pdf). Ms. Doran has quite a bit of her original art for sale at reasonable prices. If you all love me you'll buy it for me.

Also thanks to Randall Ensley for the signed copy of his magnificent work, and for telling Jennifer there was free food. Finally thanks to Dave for the coffee.

And the Hugo Award winners are in.

As great and wonderful as the weekend has been so far I cannot help but seethe with petty jealousy that SF Signal landed an interview with author John C. Wright.

Once more into the breach...

Friday, September 3

This week the Hartford Advocate reports on what could be the last porn theater.

Library Journal has a piece on why people read (and keep reading) science fiction. I for one do it because everything else bores me to tears.

On that note, Noreascon 4 has started and I shall be in Boston for most of the weekend. I was there for part of Thursday, and got to spend a few minutes with the very talented Karl Kofoed, creator of Galactic Geographic, which inspired my own Visions of Xenolympus.

Postings may be thin for the next few days, but judging by the recent weekend hit-counts that won't affect most of you. Slackers. For the rest, there's a great blog of the convention as it is going on that you can check out.

Oh, and belated thanks to Grow A Brain for the birthday e-card. Laugh, ya bastards.

Thursday, September 2

Comic Stuff: Tony Whitt of Cinescape looks at the latest batch of releases from Humanoids.

Newsarama has a preview of the upcoming Wachowski Brothers book Doc Frankenstein.

Larry Young returns to Comic Book Resources to discuss the comics blogosphere.

Coudal Partners links to this proof that the moon landing was faked.

Space Stuff: Yesterday the news was abuzz with stories about extrasolar planets and searching for alien spaceprobes. There was also this Space.com piece about using "virtual astronauts" for exploration. Meanwhile, Kennedy Space Center is shutting down in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Frances.

Stephen R. Schmitt has posted a handy Relativistic Star Ship Calculator as well as a Warp Factor Caluclator,

FTL starships are fine, but if you want to really get around you'll need some form of Transgalactic Teleportation, like a TARDIS or a Stargate. I've always been partial to Metron's Moebius Chair, though the Boom Tube used by the New Gods is pretty sweet. There's the Farcaster Network from Dan Simmon's Hyperion, Frederick Pohl's Gateway system, and the Xeelee spacetime tunnels of Stephen Baxter. Spacing Guild Navigators hopped up on Spice can fold space, as can the Sikarians on Star Trek Voyager. The Borg use Transwarp Conduits. Gully Foyle was able to jaunt across spacetime with his mind in The Stars, My Destination. The greatest form of travel, in my opinion, is the Infinite Improbablity Drive.

Wednesday, September 1

It is September.

The God of the Month is Amaterasu, Goddess of the Japanese Sun.

The Molecule of the Month is Ubiquitin.

The Fungus of the Month is The Vomiting Russula.

I, your friend and humble narrator, turn 42 today, and continue my descent into full-blown curmudgeon-hood. 42, as you all know, is Deep Thought's answer to the great question of life, the universe, and everything. It is also the atomic number of Molybdenum, an element mentioned in the title of one of my favorite albums. I happen to share my birthday with Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Assorted Johnnys, Most with Unlikely Last Names: Johnny Thunder, Johnny Lightning, Johnny Storm, Johnny Blaze, Jonny Quest, Johnny Mnemonic, Johnny Dollar, Johnny Quick, Johnny Speed, Johnny Zoom, Johnny West, Johnny Dangerously, Johnny English, Johnny Canuck, Johnny Astro, Johnny Apollo, Johnny Future, Jonni Future, Johnny Five, Johnny Bravo, the other Johnny Bravo, Johnny Theremin, and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.

Now I'm hungry for Johnny Rockets.

Tuesday, August 31

To all my friends in Broadcasting, a Gallery of Television Test Graphics.

The Sci Fi Webguide links to this audio archive of the radio show X Minus One, as well as this Goth dating service.

Cyborgs have been around since long before William Gibson's Neuromancer and cyberpunk made them sexy. Among my favorites are the Scanners of the Cordwainer Smith stories and Man Plus by Frederick Pohl. There's also The Six Million Dollar Man (based on Cyborg by Martin Caidin) and his counterpart The Bionic Woman, Deathlok, Cyborg of the Teen Titans, Robocop, and, of course, the Borg. Much to my chagrin I can find no online info for Torque from A Man Called Sloane. Very sad.

Stelarc is a real live cyborg performance artist.

Here's a piece on Cyborg Ethics, The Cyborg Manifesto, and the Cyborg Name Generator.

Monday, August 30

Three Words: Jet Powered Wheelchair.

Newsarama previews Jimmy Palmiotti and Mark Texeira’s upcoming Conan and the Daughters of Midora. Let's hope the Cimmerian brought plenty of singles...

Monster Zero has links to several mirrored sites hosting preview footage of the upcoming Godzilla: Final Wars. Please note that Monster Zero has been notorious lately of coming up as "page not found" or "forbidden." It's there, trust me. Hit refresh.

Assorted Items: SciFi Weekly interviews author Neil Gaiman.

Frank Furedi looks at the dumbing-down of culture in the Sunday Herald.

The Cartoonist links to this excellent gallery of space station concepts.

Nancy Gohring of Wired reports on the return of the supercomputer.

Sunday, August 29

A shiek is claiming that Allah sent giant spiders to battle US soldiers. Ah, giant spiders.

Memepool links to this Japanese Starship Enterprise scooter, which rivals the X-Wing car and the gothic Carthedral for geek chic.

Saturday, August 28

MSNBC reports that, in keeping with the spirit of the X-Prize, there is now a cash incentive for developing space elevator technology.

Friday, August 27

James Randi looks at the required ingredients of eucharist among other subjects in his weekly column.

Here are some indexes of known eccentrics: We don't have any true old-school eccentrics in our culture anymore, at least none worth mentioning. Sure there are tinfoil hat-wearers, but nobody on par with Ludwig II of Bavaria, Nikola Tesla, Emperor Norton, Hetty Green, Howard Hughes, Salvador Dali, and William John Cavendish Bentinck-Scott, 5th Duke of Portland.

Meet the robot doctor, the robot interpreter, and the robot cockroach.

The Guardian had a special science fiction section yesterday. Among the items were Philip Pullman's discussion of The Science of Fiction and Alan Rutherford's look at mad geniuses. There's also a preview of Warren Ellis' Stealth Tribes.

Thursday, August 26