Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 209

Reviews Too Late: Damages

Season One of Damages is the best first season of  dramatic television since Season One of Veronica Mars. Which, if you know me, is really saying something.I've been obsessively watching this three-year-old series courtesy of Netflix.  It apparently never quite found an audience on FX, and has recently moved to a network I never heard of, and suspect do not receive.  (Oh well— there will still be Netflix.)The first episode of the season opens with Ellen Parsons, the protagonist, half-naked...

Middle-East Mashup

So here's the viral video that's sweeping the Arab world, Muammar Gaddafi's speech mixed with "Hey Baby" by Pit Bull and T pain.  This sucker hit huge.
(Imagine their surprise when they found out it was created by an Israeli.)

Balkan Television is Very Exciting!

Molto vitelli!This is the sound of Young Szegerely!Hip-hop!  Ho-bob!  Spin-my-hat!We're dancing it all at the Crazy Loquat!(Well, that's the lyrics to "Fiz'n" as I understand them, anyway.)The Mystery Virus is raging through my veins and in my brain, and I am beginning to believe that I am in the Szegerely Town Hall Annex, perhaps in 1988.  It is the last concert before the band is smuggled away in refrigerators.  The event is covered by Balkan Television Service!  3 Mustaphas 3 plays...

Struck by a Virus!

I haven't been posting because I've caught a virus, and am having trouble writing simple sentences.
While waiting for my belated antibodies to swing into action, enjoy watching Laurel and Hardy dance to the musical stylings of Carlos Santana.

A Seat at the Table

There are still places available at Taos Toolbox, the master class in SF and fantasy to be held July 10-23!
Teaching will be Nancy Kress, Jack Skillingstead,  and Yours Truly.
Don't hesitate to apply!  We'd love to see you there!

Memo to Self

No no no.
I must not argue with the smug, pompous, self-infatuated jackass on Facebook.
Because that would make me just another smug, pompous, self-infatuated jackass on Facebook.

I Am Everywhere!

I've been off revising my online bibliography in order to better reflect current reality, so I thought I'd bring you up to date as well.Firstly, there's Deep State .  Which I'm sure you've read enough about, by this point, unless you haven't, in which case feel free to check out the online excerpt.Also appearing this month is my story "The Fate Line,"  in the anthology Golden Reflections. This is an anthology in honor of the late Fred Saberhagen, and includes an entire Saberhagen novel— Mask...

It Is Written

Well, I'll be damned!  According to the New York Times, the Egyptian revolt actually was the creation of a few highly-networked, tech-savvy insiders.. . . part of a remarkable two-year collaboration that has given birth to a new force in the Arab world — a pan-Arab youth movement dedicated to spreading democracy in a region without it. Young Egyptian and Tunisian activists brainstormed on the use of technology to evade surveillance, commiserated about torture and traded practical tips on...

Hubris

Anonymous is, of course, the hacker cooperative known for its online assaults against the Church of Scientology, white supremacist Hal Turner, anti-porn crusaders, the odd pedophile, anyone opposed to WikiLeaks, and the governments of (in no particular order) Sweden, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Australia, and Egypt.So what happens when an investigator publically claims to have infiltrated the group and to have acquired the real names of some of its leaders?The attack escalated from some odd DDoS...

"Egypt is Speaking."

Glorious!