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First Impressions: Twitter Blue
Posted on November 9, 2021 4 Comments
“Twitter Blue” is Twitter’s new subscription service, which adds some new functionality and lets users try experimental features before anyone else. Here are some early impressions. Cut and pasted from Twitter using Twitter Blue’s threading app, with minor editing: “I discovered today that I have access to Twitter Blue, and as it happens I have […]
Reminder: Two Weeks (More or Less) Left to Vote For the Hugos This Year
Posted on November 8, 2021 5 Comments
Also, yes, the following is true. I do not encourage you to vote for The Interdependency in the Best Series category just to see me accept dressed as a Christmas Elf. However, if you after sober consideration decide that The Interdependency is your top choice in the category or somewhere close to it (remember, the […]
A Genuine Existential Quandary, If You Are a Dog
Posted on November 6, 2021 50 Comments
Before you lay a stick, and a ball. There is a human approaching to take them away from you. You can save only one from the human’s predations. Which will you choose: The stick? Or the ball? And why? Speculate on which was Charlie’s answer in the comments. — JS
A Pro Tip Regarding Frost on Grass
Posted on November 5, 2021 15 Comments
If there’s frost on your grass and your dog is out in the yard and doesn’t want to come in, resist the temptation to say “Oh, well, I’ll just walk across the yard in my bare feet to get her, how cold can it actually be” because the answer is, in fact, really friggin’ cold, […]
One Week With the Pixel 6 Pro
Posted on November 3, 2021 17 Comments
I’ve had the Pixel 6 Pro for a week now, and have used it as a daily phone and taken lots of pictures with it. I did a piece of (very) first impressions the first day I had it, so this is a follow-up having lived with it a bit. The verdict so far: I […]
Your Reminder to Exercise Your Franchise, If Applicable
Posted on November 2, 2021 41 Comments
Spoiler: It was me. I voted. This was one of the “off-off years” for voting, in that there were no national or state level elections; on the ballot this year were things like township trustees and local levies. But, hey, guess what? Those things directly influence my day-to-day life; the local levies included emergency services, […]
Deathloop Follow-Up, or, Hey, I Finally Got This Game To Work On My PC
Posted on November 1, 2021 6 Comments
Roughly six weeks ago I wrote a first impression/kvetch post about Deathloop, the new video game from Bethesda and Arkane Studios. In it I mentioned that I thought the game was pretty great, I just couldn’t really get it to work on my computer at all. In the interim, Bethesda/Arkane sent out a couple of […]
What, Is It Halloween Already
Posted on October 31, 2021 4 Comments
Well, then, here. This seems seasonal. And if that’s not enough on the nose for you, here’s the same band doing the day’s theme song: Have a happy Halloween, y’all. — JS
A Small Gallery of Pixel 6 Pro Photos, With Dogs and Plants
Posted on October 29, 2021 12 Comments
For those who were wondering what the photo quality of the Pixel 6 Pro is, I present to you a small collection of photos I just took with the new phone. Save for a small bit of cropping on a couple, these photos are otherwise as they came out of the camera; I haven’t done […]
Pixel 6 Pro: (Very) First Impressions
Posted on October 28, 2021 21 Comments
My Pixel 6 Pro arrived yesterday, and I switched everything over last night and have been playing with it since. I haven’t had enough time with it to do everything that it’s capable of, but in the time I have had it, I have formed some definite opinions and first thoughts. Let me tell you […]
Dune: A Review
Posted on October 28, 2021 49 Comments
Dune has a checkered cinematic history, as just about everyone at this point is aware of. There was the 1984 film by David Lynch that was, charitably, a real hot mess; Lynch was and is a brilliant director but he was overwhelmed by the scale of the production, the necessity of working with the De […]
First Frost
Posted on October 27, 2021 11 Comments
It was inevitable, and it happened this morning: The first substantial frost of the season. My entire yard is tipped in tiny ice crystals, which is beautiful, and also cold, and as you can see above, even the roses are rimmed with it. The frost won’t last — it’s already melting in the morning sun […]
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles
Posted on October 24, 2021 24 Comments
I’m in my ancestral county right now, the primary reason being to attend the delayed memorial service of a dear friend (it was last night and was bittersweet but also wonderful in its way), but also to see the living, sometimes at museums (see above), and to have meetings, because meetings are what Los Angeles […]
Signed SF/F Books to Support Charity
Posted on October 22, 2021 5 Comments
My good pal James Cambias, who not entirely incidentally here is a terrific science fiction author, passes along this note to me about a fundraiser for the town he lives in: “The non-profit Friends of Deerfield are conducting an online auction beginning October 22, with dozens of items including sports memorabilia, antiques — and signed […]
Yeah, Okay, So, Maybe I Bought Another Guitar, So What
Posted on October 20, 2021 30 Comments
I’d been thinking of getting a Les Paul, and this blacked-out special edition was speaking to me aesthetically, so, what the hell, I got it. I showed it to Krissy when it arrived and it spoke to her personal aesthetic sense as well, so that helps. That said, no more guitars for me I swear. […]
Happy (Approximate) Birthday, Charlie
Posted on October 20, 2021 27 Comments
We got Charlie on March 20, and we were told at the time she was about five or six months old, which means she was probably born around this time in October of last year. We decided for convenience that we’d pick October 20 to be her birthday, because it made sense to us and […]
How To Get Signed & Personalized Books From Me For the Holidays, 2021, or, The Supply Chain Is Messed Up Edition
Posted on October 18, 2021 5 Comments
As you all know, every year around mid-November, I do a thing with Jay and Mary’s Book Center, my local bookseller, where I encourage people to buy my books there as holiday gifts, and when they do, I come down to the store to sign and personalize them and then send them off by mid-December, […]
A Saturday Hibiscus
Posted on October 16, 2021 4 Comments
It’s a busy weekend here at the Scalzi Compound, for various reasons (most positive!), but I saw this hibiscus unfurling early today and thought you all might like to see it, too. It’s always nice to take a moment to appreciate beauty when you find it. — JS
The Winner of the “Kaiju” Contest Is…
Posted on October 15, 2021 21 Comments
I was slightly stunned to see the response to this giveaway: Nearly 2,400 entries, 1,000 of which came in the first two hours. Makes me feel all warm inside, it does. Nevertheless, it’s now time to declare the winner: Alan, who chose the correct number “867,” along with ten others. I then instructed Alexa to […]
Win the ARC of The Kaiju Preservation Society (and a Reminder That You Can Pre-Order a Signed, Personalized Copy From Subterranean Press)
Posted on October 13, 2021 2,386 Comments
Look! It’s an Advance Reader Copy of my upcoming novel The Kaiju Preservation Society! And also, Charlie, who is convinced that nibbling on a the ARC is a excellent way for her to get her roughage. It’s not! And also, I can’t let her eat this ARC, because I intend to give it away to […]
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