Monthly Archives: July 2013
I Call This “Four Views of the Same Man in Need of a Haircut”
Posted on July 31, 2013 68 Comments
Four different looks, all of which scream: Time for a trim. Yes, well. Update, 3pm: And now, after the haircut: What a wholesome young man! You would totally buy a life insurance policy from him!
Reminder: Vote for Hugos by Midnight, Central Time
Posted on July 31, 2013 14 Comments
If you were planning to vote for the Hugos this year, today’s the day: The deadline for getting your Hugo ballot in is 11:59pm Central time. Here’s all the information, plus a link to the actual ballot. I suggest voting sooner rather than later, since there’s nothing worse than a last minute rush for the […]
Polygon Takes a Look at Morning Star
Posted on July 30, 2013 15 Comments
Video game site Polygon does an in-depth look at Morning Star and Morning Star Alpha, the video game and related graphic novel (respectively) that I’ve been working on. The focus is on Alex Seropian, the head of Morning Star’s studio Industrial Toys (and co-founder of Bungie and co-creator of Halo), although I and artist Mike […]
Queenie Needs a New Home
Posted on July 29, 2013
UPDATE, 7pm: New home found! Queenie is my mother-in-law’s cat, and my mother-in-law is moving to an apartment which unfortunately does not allow pets. So we are hoping to relocate Queenie to a new, loving home. She is an indoor cat between one and two years old, small (about eight pounds) active but not hyper, […]
Today’s Time Waster: Literary Figure Collective Nouns
Posted on July 28, 2013 288 Comments
Imagine there were more than one of your favorite literary characters (or film characters, or video game characters, or whatever). Like clones, or something. What would you call the grouping of the multiple instances of that character? What would be their idiomatically correct collective noun? Give your examples in the comment thread. To get you […]
Novel Writing and Related Topics FAQ
Posted on July 27, 2013 43 Comments
Hey, did you know I write novels? And yet, I haven’t done one of those FAQ articles to refer people to when they ask me the same questions I always get asked. Let me take care of that right now. Who are you and how many novels have you written? I’m John Scalzi. Here are […]
Because I Just Went and Saw “The Wolverine,” My Top Ten List of Comic Book Films
Posted on July 26, 2013 137 Comments
In order: 1. The Dark Knight 2. Superman (1978) 3. The Crow 4. Blade II 5. TIE: Men in Black and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World 6. V for Vendetta 7. Red 8. Sin City 9. Hellboy 10.TIE: Josie and the Pussycats and The Avengers Oh, don’t look at me like that. Josie and the Pussycats is a trashy […]
The Big Idea: Adam Schrager
Posted on July 25, 2013 10 Comments
I’ve known Adam Schrager since we were both college newspaper editors (me at University of Chicago, he at Michigan). While I eventually abandoned journalism for a career of making things up for a living, Adam’s kept at it, finding fascination in real life stories as an investigative reporter. In his latest book, The Sixteenth Rail, […]
Heads Up On Picture Outage, 7/25
Posted on July 24, 2013 14 Comments
Most of the pictures on Whatever, for reasons having to do with convenience and laziness, are hosted on Flickr. Tomorrow between 7pm and 1am Friday morning, Flickr will be undergoing maintenance and will apparently not be accessible. I suspect that means many if not most of the pictures here at Whatever will disappear during that […]
Fuzzy Nation Nominated for Spain’s Premios Ignotus
Posted on July 23, 2013 10 Comments
Twitter has come in handy once again as I was informed by Venezuelan science fiction writer Ronald Delgado that El Visitante Inesperado, the Spanish-language version of Fuzzy Nation, has been nominated for the Premios Ignotus, the Spanish equivalent of the Hugo, in the category of best foreign novel. I believe this is my first nomination […]
Athena in Black and White
Posted on July 23, 2013 21 Comments
Click on any of the pictures to get the full-sized pictures in a slideshow.
Geek Girls: Meet Your New Anthem
Posted on July 23, 2013 140 Comments
“Nothing to Prove” by The Doubleclicks. P.S.: The album it is on is now for sale. In addition to that link, you can get it on iTunes and Amazon and all the other places.
Crabapples, 7/22/13
Posted on July 22, 2013 46 Comments
I keep meaning to do something with the crabapples one day. Like make jelly with them or something. I really should be more handy with this stuff.
Flow Sweetly, Hang Heavy
Posted on July 21, 2013 9 Comments
Because I felt like it, I made a playlist of songs. If you hit play, it will run through all the songs automatically. Or you can go here and see the entire set. I should note the videos were selected for the songs, not the visuals. Enjoy.
Oh My God Look What Today’s Thunderstorm Did to the Trampoline
Posted on July 20, 2013 51 Comments
I mean, damn. But that’s not the worst part. The worst part? We don’t own a trampoline. That got blown into our yard from someone else’s yard. Which means that trampoline got pushed several hundred feet by the wind. So, yeah. Exciting weather day.
The Android’s Dream Wins the Seiun Award
Posted on July 20, 2013 17 Comments
That would be in the category of Best Foreign Novel. I am naturally delighted. This is actually the second Seiun Award for me, the first having come with The Last Colony in 2010. You may now insert your standard “big in Japan” jokes here. But in all honesty, I love that The Android’s Dream has […]
Today’s Reader Participation Post: Rank My Novels
Posted on July 19, 2013 534 Comments
Got an irate e-mail from someone last night who hated hated hated Redshirts, which is of course fine. It was followed almost immediately by a gushing e-mail from someone else who absolutely loved Redshirts and thought it was my best book yet, which is also fine. I admit to liking the positive e-mail better. I […]
The Big Idea: Chris Kluwe
Posted on July 18, 2013 63 Comments
Chris Kluwe kicks footballs for a living, which is nice work if you can get it, and also ponders life, the universe and everything a whole lot. He additionally has a fine knack for writing things on subjects that apparently people don’t expect NFL punters to be able to think cogently about, which is their problem, […]
Boycotts, Creators and Me
Posted on July 17, 2013 547 Comments
I’m getting pinged by folks who want to know what my position is regarding the boycott of Ender’s Game movie by people repelled by author Orson Scott Card’s social and political stances and actions regarding gays and lesbians and in particular his stance on same-sex marriage. With the notation that I am not in the […]
Note of Interest to Those Who Follow This Blog Via RSS
Posted on July 16, 2013 17 Comments
It appears that if I update older blog posts, they will sometimes post to the RSS feed as if they are new. Don’t ask me why; just be aware it might happen from time to time. If I can figure out a way to fix it I will.
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying