You’d think it would be easy to take on the Fifty Book Challenge, wouldn’t you? Read fifty books in a year, and blog about them? I’m a slow reader, though. We’ll see. I’m thinking of taking up the challenge anyway, but it’ll mean cutting down on a few other things… then again, that might be good for me. via Crescat Sententia
Category: REVIEWS
Chinese SF mags
A while back, Cory Doctorow posted about one of his stories being pirated for a Chinese magazine. Well, it seems there’s a boom in SF magazine publication now, and Jeremy Goldkorn of Danwei is on the story: here’s a post about new mags, and an interview with the editor of one of them. I wonder if any non-Chinese authors are getting more than just authorial credits… but I figure if it’s popularlizing SF in China, it might be worth the loss. As an added bonus, here’s the blog of the editor interviewed, who goes by zhwj; it has all kinds …
Paani
Hear of this new Indian movie? Water, the movie. A film by Shekhar Kapur: Thirty-five years in the future in a city of 20 Million, when the Water Wars have begun between those that have it and those that don’t, a young, impetuous renegade falls in love with the one girl he seemingly can’t have. Ah, yes, I dooooo want to see that. Water wars, man. Water wars!
Wong Kar-Wai rocks
I wondered what this movie was all about when I saw it advertised in the Now Playing poster racks near the theaters here in Jeonju. I’m quite sure I’d have understood nothing if I’d seen it at a cinema here, but this trailer for Won Kar-Wai’s 2046 is very, very promising. I love his work already, and I can’t wait till this is out on DVD so I can check it out at a local DVD-방.
They’re Made out of Meat
I’m not sure which of the SF blogs in my blogroll I found this on, but anyway, it’s a good little short story that explains why we’re all alone in the universe. Well, it’s one explanation. Me, I favour the notion of galactic-scale natural disasters as a likely explanation, since very simple and not-uncommon cosmic events could wipe out life on a huge scale, and rather regularly, too. But They’re Made out of Meat by Terry Bisson is a much more amusing possibility.
Because I love film…
A silly quiz via Adrienne: You scored as Artistic. Congratulations, you scored Artistic. You’re looking for the unique movie in the bunch. You’ve probably watched a lot of movies that nobody has ever heard of, and good for you. You also know good filmmaking when you see it. You just get it, no questions asked. Check out: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Amelie, Garden State, Lost in Translation. Artistic 100% Mindfuck 90% Sci-Fi/Fantasy 70% Sadistic Humour 65% Drama/Suspense 60% Romantic Comedy 25% Mindless Action Flick 25% Movie Recommendation.created with QuizFarm.com
The President’s Last Bang
Remind me when it comes out… I want to see this movie.
Daniel Hsia
An unusual entry in the film category, this is a link to a page with several very amusing short films by a fellow named Daniel Hsia. I especially liked “Generation Gap”, but I won’t link to the films directly because you should sit down and watch them all.
Bugsmusic Dabang
I know it’s a little late since I quit the band a while ago, but some of you haven’t heard the songs from the more recent CD. I walked into the office to hear one of the songs, which was playing on the office PC. It was being streamed from Bugsmusic, and this is the page where all the tracks can be viewed and streamed from. UPDATE 20 January 2005: That link above doesn’t display all of the songs we have online there, but this one does. And here are links to where you can check out some of my …
Movies I’ve watched recently
During holidays, one such as myself has a much greater amount of time to devote to such a pastime as movie-watching. Well, I’ve gotten through a few films this holiday and thought I would share my thoughts: Trainspotting. Okay, it was the third time I’ve seen it since its release. This things that hit me the strongest were the absolute sarcasm of the soundtrack—the way it’s used with the images, something I’d forgotten about—and the way that still shots are used near the beginning and at a couple of moments later on. It reminded me of some other films composed …