Warren Ellis's Blog, page 308

Received Goods 8dec09

Oops, bit late with this, so I'm backdating it to before midnight, haha. Fuck the future.

I came across this book a few months back, and was reminded of it yesterday. CYCLONOPEDIA: Complicity with Anonymous Materials, by Reza Negarestani. So I did a little look, and found the website. And, if the author will forgive me, here's the entire, mental description of the book:

The Middle East is a sentient entity – it is alive!' concludes renegade Iranian archeologist Dr. Hamid Parsani, before...

Some Notes On RED

I've had a bunch of questions on the forthcoming movie version of mine and Cully Hamner's graphic novel RED, which starts shooting next month (I think). Let me try to field a couple of them.

First off: RED, the book, is 66 pages long. If you were to film 66 pages of comics, you might, might just about get 40 minutes of film out of it. If you added a musical number. The comics-page to film-minute ratio is pretty bad. A straight adaptation of a 150-page graphic novel might, if you squint...

Links for 2009-12-08

Global Guerrillas: JOURNAL: Fighting an Automated Bureaucracy
"When the Taliban arrive in a village, I discovered, it takes 96 hours for an Army commander to obtain necessary approvals to act."
(tags:war )California gives green light to space solar power – space – 08 December 2009 – New Scientist
"On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission gave its blessing to an agreement that would see the Pacific Gas and Electric Company buy 200 megawatts of power beamed down from solar-power...

Comic Book Signature

Emma Vieceli's been up to something:

I…(was) asked to provide some images that would work in a sketchbook style artbook… The clever bit is that you get to browse the full range of images available and then pick and choose a customised art book!

Some of the images I chose are illustrations you'll have seen prints of before, some are reproduced with special permission from publishers and would certainly not be available any other way (including in progress shots of Much Ado and my Phonogram

Old Record Covers From Merlin In Rags

I love the blog Merlin In Rags, not just for the obscure and ancient music it digs up, but also for the wonderful record covers it finds. Here's a selection of images posted there over just the last few days:

(more legible larger size)

Me In FILAMENT Magazine

The editor of FILAMENT magazine thought it'd be funny to have me answer several reader questions on the general subject of Etiquette. Apparently my written responses made her proofreader cry. The issue in question, number three, is out now (preview page) and can be purchased at this link here for a very small number of pennies for such a clever and classy-looking object.

And, before anyone asks: no, my piece isn't online. FILAMENT are in business to sell copies of magazines. But I will give...

Socialising With Bears In Chukotka

Fun little photo essay at English Russia:

DO ANYTHING 023

Back after a short break:

Alan Moore once told me that, in conversation with Julie Schwartz, it has come up that Schwartz, who started out as a literary agent during the pulp years, had met HP Lovecraft. As Alan retells it, he couldn't help but ask Schwartz what Lovecraft was like. And Schwartz said, "y'know, when I met him, I said to myself, I gotta remember what this guy's like because in fifty fuckin' years Alan Moore's gonna ask me…"

Links for 2009-12-06

Scientists discover tsunami on the Sun
"In what is a surprising discovery, scientists have found tsunami-style towering waves that race across the face of the Sun."
(tags:space )Ancient Volcano's Devastating Effects Confirmed

(tags:history )

Controversial Signs of Mass Cannibalism | Wired Science | Wired.com
"At a settlement in what is now southern Germany, the menu turned gruesome 7,000 years ago. Over a period of perhaps a few decades, hundreds of people were butchered and eaten...

flickrgeist 7dec09

A snapshot of what friends and acquaintances have been doing and looking at, via their Flickr accounts:

1. League of Extraordinary Steampunks, 2. Crane, 3. All Good Mermaids Have Jazz Hands, 4. super suit.jpg, 5. About to fly home., 6. Private pod