Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 242
August 20, 2009
More Childhood Nightmates
Another insane cartoon from the Fleischer Studios!Betty Boop kidnaped by cannibals! Bimbo sweats away! KoKo menaced by Giant Floating Louis Armstrong Head! Exploding volcanos! Inappropriate racial stereotypes!The question isn't whether this sort of thing warped me for life. The question is: How did people grow up watching this kind of thing and turn out normal?
Privacy Violations
Five California Facebook users are suing Facebook, claiming that Facebook violated their privacy by allowing them to use Facebook.The list of offenses against the aggrieved is truly egregious. Take the plight of "accomplished actress" [redacted:]. After posting her photos to Facebook, [redacted:] was quite surprised to discover her photos had been posted to Facebook. Outraged, she's charging the
August 19, 2009
Reviews Too Late: Jodhaa Akbar
Jodhaa Akbar (2008) is an epic Bollywood film dealing with the relationship between the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great (former child star Hrithik Roshan) and his wife Jodhaa Bai (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, known to her fans as The Most Beautiful Woman in the World). What we have here is a chick flick, albeit one with sword fights and enormous battle scenes. We open with a lengthy genealogy of
August 18, 2009
Bimbo's Initiation
"Bimbo's Initiation" scared the dickens out of me when I was little. Maybe it was the spanking. Maybe it was the sex. Maybe it was Betty Boop with spaniel ears.Or maybe it was the notion that Mickey Mouse might push me down a sewer.
August 17, 2009
Revisiting the Classics: The Invisible Man
I hadn't ever read The Invisible Man, so I thought I'd give the audio book a try. I had two initial impressions: (1) American audio book readers really shouldn't try to read an entire book in a British accent (the reverse also being true, I'm sure), and (2) I hadn't expected all the slapstick.The Invisible Man is a book with a cast of stupid people, for all that one of them is a scientific
Eddie Izzard Explains Imperialism
. . . with Legos.
August 14, 2009
The Chart of Fantasy Art
Well, the most commonly seen element appearing on fantasy books published last year was, it seems, the sword. Closely followed by glowy magic, castles, and dragons. I suspect a few covers contained all these elements. Meanwhile, fans of unicorns, maps, and stilettos had a disappointing year, and perhaps were lost to other genres.Tim Holman posts some of his market research.
Serious: the New Black?
One of the things I sensed about Worldcon was a longing on the part of the fans for seriousness.The program items featuring Paul Krugman were packed. Panels on political subjects were well-attended. A panel on the Drake Equation did well. Panels on social media were full--- but then you'd expect that, with everyone networked and urging their Twitter-friends to show up.But even the philosophy
Return of the Swedish Sea-Vikings!
The freighter Arctic Sea is missing, after allegedly having been boarded by a mysterious group of armed Swedes. The Russian Navy has been called in, and is looking for the ship with submarines. (I'd try a pair of binoculars first.)This article sums up many of the current conspiracy theories, though they seem to have left out UFOs. UFOs are always brought into conspiracy theory sooner rather
Nine Votes
The stats released from the Hugo voting at Worldcon have shown that Implied Spaces came just nine votes short of getting a Hugo nomination. Of course that also means that Implied Spaces came but nine votes short of being turned into an asphalt angel by Neil Gaiman's Invincible Award-Winning Steamroller--- but then if that happened, I'd find myself in pretty good company. I would like to offer
