Monthly Archives: December 2008
Aw, Shucks
Posted on December 11, 2008 20 Comments
The folks at ThinkGeek say nice things about me here. For the record, I heart ThinkGeek, too. If I ever manage to rouse myself to make my planned BACONCAT™ line of T-shirts and accessories, I know where I want to sell them.
Sonic Cruelty Creeps In On Little, Tinkly, Piano-Laden Feet
Posted on December 11, 2008 50 Comments
Click this link for mp3-encoded audio horror. IF YOU DARE.
You Have Been Thanked, By More Than One Person
Posted on December 11, 2008 11 Comments
Vera Nazarian, the writer for whom so many of you donated after reading this story, has posted a long and fulsome appreciation to all those who have helped her, and you can find it here. If you were one of the people who gave to help her out, this is directed to you. Also directed […]
The Suckiest SF Movie of the Last Twelve Months
Posted on December 11, 2008
It’s Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. In case you were wondering. I explain why in my AMC column this week, and offer you a chance to nominate your own offenders for the title in the comments. Please do!
Apropos to a Previous Post
Posted on December 10, 2008 63 Comments
An ur-text of certain musical genre which shall remain nameless: Morrissey. What an amusingly miserable bastard. Incidentally, I hated hated hated this song when it came out. Now I think it’s probably one of the ten essential tracks of the 80s. Go figure.
Books I Didn’t Know I Wrote
Posted on December 10, 2008 62 Comments
Dude, check out this awesome book I apparently wrote: The title translates to “Between the Planets,” and I’m happy to say I remembered enough German from high school and college that I didn’t have to run it through Google Translate to understand it. The real question is: which book of mine is it? Because I […]
Emo: Older Than You Think
Posted on December 10, 2008 193 Comments
It comes as no particular surprise that my writing advice to teens occasionally irritates teenagers, many of whom do not take kindly to someone telling them their writing likely sucks and the only thing for it is to keep at it until it doesn’t suck anymore. They also occasionally get annoyed when you suggest to […]
Songs You Like That You’re Pretty Sure No One Else Does
Posted on December 9, 2008 193 Comments
Here’s mine: [imeem music=”7bNbfDQTVJ”] First the good news: It’s David Bowie. Now, the bad news: It’s David Bowie in Tin Machine, the inexplicable late 80s “Bowie’s in a band with session musicians, which is kind of like him being in Toto” misstep that’s widely acknowledged as Bowie’s creative nadir, which took some doing after the […]
Whoops
Posted on December 9, 2008 10 Comments
Thanks to accidentally overwriting an .htaccess script, I’ve introduced some errors to your viewing pleasure if you’re following old links (i.e., ones at “scalzi.com/whatever” rather than “whatever.scalzi.com”). I’m working to fix it now. Sorry. Update: Fixed. Thanks to Ryan Boren for his help extracting me from my idiocy.
Today’s Political/Chemical Question
Posted on December 9, 2008 97 Comments
What is in the water in Springfield, Illinois that causes its governors to get arrested and/or indicted on corruption charges? Honestly, Illinois, what the hell? Fund, like, Brita filters for the state capitol water fountains. Or something. This is getting silly.
A Holiday Tradition Here at Whatever
Posted on December 9, 2008 21 Comments
Because it’s that time of year again, let’s link back to my 2002 seasonal humor piece, “The 10 Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time.” Those of you who have read it before will enjoy it just like you do all those Christmas specials you’ve seen dozens of times; those of you who have not […]
Zoe’s Tale an RT Reviewer’s Choice Award Nominee
Posted on December 8, 2008 11 Comments
This is a nice bit of news: Zoe’s Tale is a Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award nominee, in the category of science fiction. This is the third consecutive year I’ve had a book nominated in the category (I was previously nominated for The Android’s Dream and The Last Colony), and you may recall that TLC […]
Fundraising Update
Posted on December 8, 2008 23 Comments
So, I put up today’s fundraising appeal + story at precisely the stroke of midnight, and here’s how much you’ve kicked in, as of 3:37pm Eastern time: $2,058.48 Bill Schafer of Subterranean Press promised to match the first $1,000 raised dollar for dollar — and he has. So this is how much we’ve actually managed […]
A Story For a Donation: Fiction to Help Save an SF Writer’s Home
Posted on December 8, 2008 69 Comments
Hey kids! I’m doing a holiday fundraiser! I’ll give a short explanation for those of you who can’t wait, and a longer explanation right after. Short Explanation: Science fiction writer and publisher Vera Nazarian is about to lose her home due to various medical and legal expenses. Various folks are fund raising to help her […]
Today’s Interesting Conversational Snippet, Presented Largely Context-Free
Posted on December 7, 2008 57 Comments
Me: Are we ready for the zombie apocalypse? Athena: We definitely need more guns.
What I Did This Afternoon
Posted on December 7, 2008 8 Comments
I signed these: Which made me quite happy. Thanks to everyone who is ordering books through Jay & Mary’s this holiday season; it’s nice to be able to help out a local bookstore. It’s also nice to get books to all y’all. I chatted with Jay today about how when people should get their orders […]
Guess the Exit Numbers
Posted on December 7, 2008 62 Comments
The LA Times notes that George Bush is getting a bit of a lame duck bump these days — his approval rating at the moment is 28%, up from a low of 24% — and suggests that our 43rd president’s approval rating may go up even futher in the next six weeks before he heads […]
Don’t Worry, It’s Not You
Posted on December 7, 2008 29 Comments
One semi-amusing thing that happens whenever I kvetch generally about things people are doing out there that annoy me in one way or another (example: here) is that afterward I will get a batch of e-mail from various people, apologizing. They suspect I was talking about them. To which I usually respond, well, no, I […]
Skulls!
Posted on December 6, 2008 8 Comments
Back at the Day of the Dead, I mused that it was cool to have some candy skulls, so my excellent friend Meeka went ahead and sent some along, because she’s cool like that. But it took until today for us to actually get around to painting them up. Athena’s is the one on the […]
The Most Depressing Blog in the World
Posted on December 6, 2008 38 Comments
It’s the AOL People Connection Blog, because nearly every single post is about some AOL community project or another being shuttered. CircaVie? Gone. Ficlets? Gone. AOL Pictures? AOL Hometown? AOL Journals? Gone, gone, baby, gone. I worked on several of these projects in their various incarnations, and I have to say it’s just a little […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying