Moe Lane's Blog, page 138
October 26, 2024
Book of the Week: A Night in the Lonesome October.
I’ve been saving Roger Zelazny’s A Night in the Lonesome October for the last week of the month this time. And it is, indeed, time. The weather’s even cooperating…
#commissionearned
Well, [NONE of] the stranded astronauts are back safely.
Via Facebook. As you can see, they’re readapting to regular gravity. Which is a problem that we will need to fix in the long term, so at least we’ve gotten some observational data out of the whole sorry mess.
[UPDATE: I am reminded that the stranded astronauts are coming back down next year. This is just regular service on the ISS. We still need to work out a long-term solution, though.]
Moe Lane
PS: I love what SpaceX is doing, but the company really needs about three or four competent competitors.
10/26/2025 Snippet, NEVER RETURN.
Surprise tuckerization!
Patreon!I took another stool, and poured myself a cup of tea. “It’s not a ghost, for one thing. No focus.” That got his attention, I noted. “Yes. Quite. I’m assuming a murder spirit, if only to save myself some time.”
“Ah. Is this related to the David Shane case?” He shrugged at my raised eyebrow. “I dig through different passages than you do, Sun. Some of them are all abuzz with news of a ghostlegger being slain by his prey. If it’s any consolation, the general sentiment about that news was ‘good riddance.’”
“Not well liked then, was he?”
“Ghostleggers rarely are, even by their colleagues. Shane in particular was a bit vexatious. He had money and knowledge, but few ethics and even fewer scruples. And he was not especially personable. That can all be a highly unpleasant combination.”
“Ah.” I sipped my tea. “This sounds like a personal observation.”
“Oh, it is. I don’t partake of ghostweed — filthy stuff, that — but the man was a regular customer of mine. Shane fancied himself an antiquarian. I suppose I should be fair to the dead, and admit that he was quite sound on the history of Boston.” Gallagher sipped his own tea. “Certainly the man bought enough books from me, both preserved and reconstituted. He didn’t care much about how they looked, as long as they could be read.”
The Halloween chapbook Kindle sale has begun!
Five chapbooks, each with illustrations, now only 99 cents each! Horror, spookiness, all that good stuff. Tell your friends! …No, really.
#commissionearned
October 25, 2024
The Chapbook Halloween Kindle sale starts tomorrow.
Five chapbooks, each with illustrations based on the stories, all only 99 cents each. There’s horror and spookiness in each one of them, making them perfect for Halloween! But if you check them out today, I get paid more!
#commissionearned
My mini-review of VENOM: THE LAST DANCE.
Short version:
…MEL-O-DRA-MAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
Slightly longer version: if you liked the first two Venom flicks, VENOM: THE LAST DANCE will be fun. If they annoyed you, so will this one. Me, I’m a fan of spoken-word opera — and, again, MEL-O-DRA-MAAAAAAAAA!!!!! — so I was fine. It’s not nearly as over-the-top as LET THERE BE CARNAGE was, but that’s fine. You can do a movie like that once in a franchise.
…once.
Moe Lane
#commissionearned
Revisiting the Classics: “Has Halloween Become Overcommercialized?”
Ah, the Onion had their moments. A long time ago. Still, this skit holds up.
October 24, 2024
Tweet of the Day, The Doom That Came To Disney edition.
Alternate title: And Nothing Of Value Was Lost. I picked the first one because I don’t quite agree with the second one, but I respect that my readers will have a different opinion.
Disney is set to announce a major AI initiative that will transform its creative output.
— The Hollywood Handle (@HollywoodHandle) October 24, 2024
The initiative is said to involve “hundreds” of people at the company and will primarily focus on post-production and visual effects.
(Via: https://t.co/0wx0LT2e1n) pic.twitter.com/fOPhHoVTDQ
Via @Strangeland_Elf. The jobs that they’ll be killing with this one will be post-production work, which is one of those things that nobody thinks about. Right up to the moment when you encounter a movie whose sound mixing, video and audio effects, and color adjustments were done with literally nobody thinking about it. But it’ll be cheap! Solid B- work, too.
Well, C+, but grading is a value judgement, hey?
Anyway. When you notice in 2029 or so that every animated movie in a particular year feels like they were all made at the same studio, by the same staff, on the same weekend, this is gonna be why. On the bright side, at least the indies will have eyeballs. Maybe not any cash, but at least there’ll be eyeballs.
