Monthly Archives: August 2010

Caption Contest Winner

Movieguy @ Comment 79 wins it! I’ll send you an email to which you can reply with your home address for the books! It was a really tough choice to pick the winner. Ultimately, Movieguy’s comment made me laugh as I thought about the famous scene between Jack and Rose on the ill-fated Titanic. Honorable Mentions […]

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The Big Idea: Harry Connolly

Monsters: you know, those big, hairy and scaly things with the claws and teeth and the overwhelming desire to do nasty bad things to you? But then there’s Harry Connolly. No, he’s not a monster (I mean, as far as we know), but he has definite ideas about monsters, and what they should be – […]

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The Big Idea: Mark Van Name

Fiction can inspire those who read it to do new and even possibly noble things with their lives – but fiction can also be cathartic and transformative for the writer as well. While writing Children No More, author Mark Van Name discovered he wasn’t just trying to write an efficient page-turner, he was working on […]

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First Day of School

From John: Today’s the first day of school for Athena — sixth grade this year — and normally I post a picture of her on the first day, so here you are: Yes, she’s quite the fan of Gir and Invader Zim. We wouldn’t have it any other way. Today is also the day I’m […]

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Playlist Confessions

In anticipation of my upcoming trip to DragonCon, I had to update my iPod’s playlist for traveling. As I searched the almost 40GB of music, I cringed. I don’t remember adding the entire Spice Girls album to my collection or “Ice Ice Baby”. In an effort to cull the list to prevent embarrassment, I found […]

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The Swell Season Ensure that Their Fans are Not Left ‘Alone Apart’

As if their abundant talent as artists weren’t admirable enough, in the wake of tragedy, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, who perform together as the Swell Season, yesterday provided another reason to admire and respect them. Perhaps you may have heard that tragedy befell the band a week ago when, in the midst of their […]

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Thought experiment: How do you react when you witness bigotry?

ABC’s show “What Would You Do” staged an experiment. They had an actor dressed as a Muslim woman enter a convenience store and had the clerk, another actor, refuse to serve her. Then they talked to the customers in the store. My hat is off to the gentleman close to the end.  While I’d like to think […]

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Grown Up Decisions

We all (most all of us, anyway) make decisions everyday. Lots of them. Whether it’s the choice between getting up with the first alarm or the fifth tap of the snooze bar, the choice between giving voice to your internal monologue or keeping your job, or any of a multitude of other choices, we’re usually […]

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Wish me luck…

…just do a better job with the wishing than this, okay? From Cake Wrecks, one of my favorite non-lolcat sites. I have a job interview today! Alas, I’m not quite as published as John yet, and thus not quite able to become a full time writer — although I don’t think I’d want to, even […]

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Kermit goes to the Smithsonian. Plus bacon.

Home! For nine whole days! While in the midst of catching up on things, I ran across this article about the original Kermit the Frog. The Henson family has just donated him and several of the other characters from “Sam and Friends” to the Smithsonian. I’ve seen video clips of the first Kermit but never […]

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The 2010 Summer Sci-fi Wrap-Up

It’s incredibly sad to think that the days of grilling out, sitting by the pool and enjoying the beach are almost over. With the end of the season upon us, John shares his thoughts on the sci-fi movies that kept us cool on hot days. Follow the link to his weekly filmcritic.com column, grab a glass of lemonade […]

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The Big Idea: Matthew Hughes

I’ve been a follower of Matthew Hughes’ work since Old Man’s War and one of his novels had the same “birthday,” and that following has been rewarded with a series of works that think deeply on a number of issues, along with enough plot twists and turns to keep things interesting along the way. Template, […]

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My New Ride

As photographed at the Barnes Airshow in Westfield, Mass. As the bus emerged on the far end of the runway, I turned to my friend and asked why. As it shot white smoke and left a trail of flame, the why turned into laughter.As it raced down a wet runway at 350 mph, I exclaimed […]

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John’s Worldcon Schedule

Hey, folks: For those of you coming to AussieCon4 in a couple of weeks and are wondering what my schedule will be, here’s what I’m doing and when. Thu 9/2 1500 Rm 201: Kaffeeklatsche Notes: This is where I sit around a table with about ten or so folks and talk about me me me […]

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Stuff I Like, Part XVIIVJKX!!IL

NukuNuku is annoyed with me, because lately I’ve been on an anthology kick. And when I find something good to read, I tend to ignore her a bit — until she comes over and swats the book out of my hand, that is, and yowls in my face. So much for the polite Canadian stereotype. […]

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Love ‘The Wire’ and ‘Toy Story’? This Post’s for You…

N.K.’s posting of Inception parodies the other day reminded me of what may very well be my favorite movie mash-up to date.  For my fellow fans of both The Wire and Toy Story, especially those of you who aren’t represented as being among the nearly 300,000 hits the video has seen to date on YouTube, […]

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Your Plan for the Zombie Apocalypse

So I was sitting in a Cracker Barrel restaurant a few weeks ago and instead of being involved in the conversation, I was lost in thought. Glancing at all the old and wickedly dangerous kitsch surrounding us on the walls, my musing turned into dreams of survival. I blurted out, “You know, this structure would […]

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