Not quite too late for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwHyuraau4Q
Category: PERSONAL
Happy Christmas (or Whatever)
I’ve always been a little suspicious about wishing people a happy Christmas and then following up with a list of holidays that they might be celebrating instead. Especially when someone is saying it on the 24th or 25th of December. So I’m just going to say, whether you’re celebrating this particular holiday or not, that I hope you have a good one. (And if you can’t have a good one, well, you’re not alone, but make it as good as you can.)
Korean Who?
No, Korean Rush. You know, the horrid prog-rock band? Actually, I haven’t sighted a Korean version of the whole band, though, doubtless, somewhere on the peninsula, such a thing exists. But I have sighted a Korean doppelganger of their lead singer, Geddy Lee. (Incidentally, I know someone who saved Geddy Lee’s life, by the way. They were driving along in a van, if I remember right, and they sighted Lee up ahead, crossing the road with his arms full — with boxes, I think. This person I know stopped his friend from driving over Lee for his sins against music.) …
What’s So Special about Madoff?
The whole system is a mess, Madoff is just a slightly more extended case. Slightly. Paul Krugman has more. Ha, finally, the world is catching on? On, no, just parts of the world. And some people have been saying this whole system is crazy for years now.
RIAA Stops Suing Deaf Grandmas Who Have No Computer For Downloading Music… for now
We’ll see how long it lasts. Now they’re working with ISPs instead, which means… can you say, workarounds?
Roughing It…
While I’m no big fan of CanLit in general — it’s come up lately online with another Canadian or two, and I’ve decided it’s a genre unto itself (the mainstream stuff, anyway) and one not mostly to my liking — I still want to give a shout-out to my literary friend Alexis Kienlen who is one of the people running a new CanLit blog called Roughing it in the Books.
Speaking of Global SF…
Here’s a piece on Indian SF, via, er, I’ve lost the source among my millions of windows. (Sorry!) Apparently, it’s a much bigger market in various regional languages, but some SF authors also see developing an English-language readership as a key to a bigger audience. And here’s a recent piece on SF in China. Interestingly, SF entered China in 1902 in the same form it did South Korea (or, well, the Korean language, at least) in 1907 — that is, in the form of a translation of a novel by Verne. (In China, the respected literati Lu Xun translated Verne’s …
Must Sleep, But…
Though I never did finish the book I tried out (which is actually the book he’s reading from in this book), I still really enjoyed this talk/reading by Pico Iyer: The section of that book titled “The Multiculture,” which deals with Toronto, was what I discussed with my class last week. Good stuff, well, for those who actually read and discussed. Neat essay, and an interesting interrogation of the idea of multiculture/multiculturalism as a way of being, as a policy, and as a not-quite-utopia. I especially enjoyed his comment (during the question period) regarding moving beyond fears of cultural homogenization …
Low Point, High Point
Low point of the day: Smarmy Campus Bureaucrat Dude entered my apartment without knocking. Since the house was rather hot (we’re still working on getting the hang of the ondol controls here, which are old-fashioned valves instead of digital controls like modern apartments have), I was at my computer in boxers and a t-shirt, typing away, while Lime was sprawled asleep on the bedroom floor. Smarmy Campus Bureaucrat Dude didn’t even think to apologize for coming in without knocking until I pulled some clothes on and told him it was unacceptable to enter people’s homes without at least knocking or …
Optimism, Anyone?
Jetse de Vries is looking for a little optimism to include in his upcoming Shine anthology of optimistic, relevant, smart, near-future SF. If you have a story that grapples with the problems that face our planet, and that shows how things could indeed improve, then send that puppy straight to him. Or write one now — the deadline’s still half a year away!