| Mostly SF |
[07 Oct 2008|04:18pm] |
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mood |
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 geeky |
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music |
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a Gerald McBoing-Boing cartoon |
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Black Cover isn't related to SF at all, despite how it sounds. It IS rather geeky in its own right though, being all about "the search for the perfect little black dress notebook."
( British cult SF television )
Despite how Arthur C. Clarke was British and how Stanley Kubrick lived in England from 1962 until his death, this last bit isn't really British SF anymore:
Remember that superhero I mentioned two entries ago? He has long asserted that he is America (not Captain America though he does wield the mighty shield). I've recently found out that he's no longer just American. He is now or will be...the future of humanity!
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| Make 'Im Laugh |
[06 Oct 2008|03:55pm] |
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mood |
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 cold |
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music |
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Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures |
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Some things Cole finds amusing:
- the sound of Dalek voices, as I've previously mentioned
- the way April and I squeal in dismay after he dribbles milk on his clothes
- my irritatingly nasal impression of a horn playing "The Internationale"
- watching the music videos of David Bowie (this I just discovered today)
- the main melody of the theme to The Guns of Navarone, which I whistle to him
You'll have to take my word for these, as I can present no evidence to prove my claims.
I can however point you to a video clip of Cole that I put together with an utter lack of technical finesse. I used the version of "The Guns of Navarone" that he knows and loves, the rendition made popular by the Skatalites. My son: youngest Skatalites fan ever!
Tired of my sister's teasing, Cole threatens to clobber her.
( Three More Pictures )
All pictures taken from this album.
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| Another Brainspew |
[06 Oct 2008|10:15am] |
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mood |
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 amused |
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music |
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"Hallo Spaceboy" by David Bowie |
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Rub your child on some carbon paper. Then cut up the paper and stick the pieces to the child's body. Question the child as an original. Question the child as a copy. Question the carbon paper as a construction.
That's from the "manual for postmodern childrearing." Translated from Swedish by one Sarah Death (!), the piece is a wonderful source of pithy gems that had me chortling.
Tell your child only short, incoherent bedtime stories that do full justice to cacophony. Stroke its hair and say, "In manuals like these, if you are operating at that level, once upon a thyme there was rosemary and she was sage, she said that they said, but in free indirect discourse, so to speak, informally, you do actually need a bit of spatiality."
The first time I had this much fun with something in the same spirit was ten years ago, when I picked up Life's Little Deconstruction Book.
Aside from listing the first fifty tips for you to read, the rest of author Andrew Boyd's Web site is loads of fun, despite not having been updated since 2002, it seems.
Issue 1 seems an appropriate name for a "publication" that itself has provoked several issues since it appeared on the Web. I don't know about you, but I just love the sheer insanity of the artifact: a 3,875-page PDF with 3,875 "poems" from 3,875 "poets."
That's only the premise, too, and here's the punchline of-sorts:
Said "poems" are not really poems at all but "algorithmically generated content" made to look like poems. Issue 1 is one of several playful little gestures to be found in the blog maintained by these people, appropriately named For Godot.
(And yeah, "gesture" I consider to be an appropriate term in this context.)
Some links of interest:
( Le Carre and memoir, greatest superhero ever?, the short story, agnosticism and the fear of death, Tom Ripley boxed set, etc. )
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| Blog Sandwich: Cybermen Bread + Spy Filling |
[26 Sep 2008|01:43pm] |
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mood |
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 contemplative |
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music |
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ABC's The Lexicon of Love |
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Hilarious, though it of course makes sense if one is familiar with this. I'm probably going back to my old desktop wallpaper again sometime soon, but for now, I've switched to Mr. Pewter and company.
( Spooks and Cooks + Good Ideas That Fail + Two Pictures )
The Cybermen return for this year's Christmas special:
CyberGoth?
I'm so excited, but...what's with the title? Oh. My. God.
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| Work and Leisure |
[23 Sep 2008|04:38pm] |
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mood |
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 exhausted |
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music |
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one of David Bowie's Berlin albums |
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Which of these YouTube clips is unlike the others?
Including Harriet Jones could have helped, I think, although one would have to specify the one who became PM, not the one who became President.
Geeky fanboy pedantry aside, the other clips are great fun, and I'm looking forward to the possibility of this fella doing an "Autons Through the Ages" sometime.
I never thought I'd say this, but the next time I teach the Television Studies course, I'm no longer doing Buffy but the Doctor instead. (Well, that sounded rather naughty.)
That book I was reading? I utterly loved it despite my limited exposure to the program, having become obsessed only with the Ninth and the Tenth Doctor adventures. I vaguely remember watching this many years ago, but vague remembrance is right, because I recall nothing else.
So: Dalek I Loved You I Love You. And so does my son, sort of:
I wish I could present video evidence, but during the times when my mobile phone is not on silent mode, its message alert of "Ex-ter-minate! Ex-ter-minate!" causes my son to laugh. If he's crying, he won't always laugh, but he'll often stop sobbing and start smiling.
As a self-proclaimed geeky fanboy, this is undeniable proof that April and I have been raising Cole right at his early age (just three months come October).
So much is eating my brain these days, but here's a go at choosing just one thing I've been furiously trying to figure out lately: What text(s) do I assign my Information Age students next semester?
( Decisions, Decisions... )
I mean, Fredric Jameson did write a critical essay on the novel that highlighted its many relevant issues (virtually all of which are covered in the Webster), and I really like how it has been described as "a beautiful novel because it is a beautiful way of seeing."
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| Book Fair 2008 |
[18 Sep 2008|05:07pm] |
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mood |
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 alive! |
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music |
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Dalek I Love You |
] |
...and other matters. But before anything else:
"It's hard to smile with a frog on your head."
I never thought I'd ever say this, but I'm on my way to being sick and tired of all the Nightmare Before Christmas merchandise available these days, mostly knock-offs, which might have something to do with how I feel. That said, this T-shirt design is so cute.
Despite his popularity and his acclaim, I've never read anything by David Foster Wallace. I do have his essay "Ticket to the Fair" as a reading assignment though. It's available online as a PDF, but my copy is from this mind-blowing anthology.
I liked Alex Proyas's film adaptation of The Crow but have little interest in any of his other films...except for Dark City, for which I've always had a soft spot. I was pleasantly surprised to discover how the film's tenth-year anniversary didn't pass without notice:
( Pictures, Book Fair Acquisitions, Etc. )
September 19? Arrr.
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| Family Picture + Random Links |
[17 Aug 2008|03:12pm] |
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mood |
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 restless |
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music |
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something from In the Dark Room |
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Click to enlarge.
That shot of April kissing Cole would have been greeting-card perfect, had he not seemed so annoyed at having been caught by my intrusive camera. I guess you can say that I put the "papa" in paparazzi.
Anyway, six links in search of a clicker:
- Not really shiny robots but Shining robots.
- k-punk's "Rebel Without a Cause" is a thought-provoking essay on the political interpretations of The Dark Knight that has itself generated more than a few thoughtful responses.
- "The Living Daylights" by a-ha always plays in my head in the mornings these days. Weird. I mean, I like the song a whole lot, but it's not among my favorite Bond themes. Anyway, here's an extended remix.
- Online music magazine DarkRoom celebrates its first anniversary with In the Dark Room, Vol. 1: enough music for two CDs, legally downloadable.
- A blog entry about Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box as rock novel, a topic that has fascinated me for some time now.
- How do you get 540 comments (and counting) on a single LJ entry? Hold a Neil Gaiman contest of epic proportions.
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| Social Networks, Smoking, Surprised Boy |
[01 Aug 2008|03:31pm] |
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mood |
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thoughtful |
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music |
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"Things That Dreams Are Made Of" by the Human League |
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In my Communication Seminar courses this semester, we've been talking about Web 2.0, especially the social networking Web sites that seem to most visibly define it.
While I do have accounts in sites like Friendster and Multiply, I'm not really excited enough to go on, say, MySpace or Facebook. I'm just too lazy to remember yet another username-and-password. But...I think I found a couple that might just be worth it:
- Hivemind
("for science fiction and fantasy fans"--while some horror might be considered a subset of the latter, I wish sites like this would actually mention it)
- Brand New Dad
(for advocates of standing on one foot as they simultaneously chew glass and play the accordion beside a bonsai tilting towards a southwestern direction)
Maybe I'll have time to join up and fix a profile sometime in between nappy changes, the checking of papers, and all the many other things that have to be done these days.
I last had a cigarette on July 01. It was around half-past six, and I had just finished supper. Two hours and thirty minutes later, April begins active labor. At 5:08 the next afternoon, life is changed when Cole is finally born.
( Yes, it's true... )
![](http://images.ispywithmy.multiply.com/image/11/photos/47/400x400/4/DSC00034.JPG?et=h%2CmUDwjHBSoWBzn%2Cj7wArA&nmid=107557309")
"I'm already going to be a month old tomorrow?
No way, dude, no way...no, really?
Whoa...dude...one month. Wow."
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| Posting About Fiction In Lieu of Actually Reading Any These Days, Etc. |
[24 Jul 2008|07:15pm] |
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mood |
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 groggy |
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music |
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"Stay Up Late" - Talking Heads |
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( in order: science fiction, spy thrillers, and horror (of-sorts) )
I love coffee and Kaffeeklatsche, but coffee-table culture is something else.
Those two pieces--one on film and the other on music--express in a far more eloquent way my longstanding opinions about how a lot of contemporary art cinema and alternative music display very little sense of, for want of a better term, danger.
Another reason why I'm happy about those articles has to do with how tired I am to actually explain my own take on these ideas right now.
I don't have a picture of Cole this time, but I do have a cartoon representation of what I've become these days.
(If I had a WordPress account--and I've been planning to sign up for some time now--I'd be able to access this blog entry entitled "Mombies and the Night of the Living Dad.")
The crazy thing is how this exhaustion (still!) feels so exhilarating and enjoyable at the same time. I think a baby's cuteness works like opium on parents, and that's goooood.
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| Cole, Vampires, and Spies |
[20 Jul 2008|11:40pm] |
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mood |
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 awake |
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music |
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"Drama!" by Erasure |
] |
I know it looks rather amateurish,
but I have neither the technical knowhow
nor the kind of imaging software
that would have resulted in a better picture.
Holy shit, I can't believe I only heard of this now:
( vampires + drama! )
As weird as it may sound, I think I'll be reading these aloud. In fact, maybe I could read them to Cole, his first bedtime stories, albeit ones he won't understand yet.
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| A Quiet Moment in a Restful Sunday |
[13 Jul 2008|04:24pm] |
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mood |
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relaxed |
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music |
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"A Growing Boy Needs His Lunch" by the Dead Kennedys |
] |
It's shocking how large a baby can grow in barely a couple of weeks:
I'm sorry, I couldn't resist taking a/that shot, even if the effect is somewhat spoiled by the way his hands stick up in his favorite sleeping pose.
Look, little boys are usually early bloomers when it comes to mischief and playing practical jokes on their fathers, and I just wanted to take what little opportunity I have left to do something like this. Call it a preemptive strike in making fun.
(Or you may say that I shot first, which makes Cole Greedo and me Han Solo. That's the way it happened after all, Special Editions be damned. Someday soon, my boy will call me by a far worse name than Greedo. Ah, but I'm now rambling...so sorry.)
Anyway, thank you so much for the comments, congratulations, and well-wishes many of you left in the previous entry.
For better or for worse, I'm probably going to keep posting more pictures and/or videos of Cole as time goes by, but just to be consistent with how I've been using this LJ:
- Aside from various how-to-swaddle-a-baby instructional clips, I've been using YouTube to repeatedly watch the teaser for Quantum of Solace.
- I'm still missing Uncle Zip's Window, but I'm so utterly pleased that the Ambiente Hotel is open for business. In other words: M. John Harrison is blogging again!
- April is as much a fan as I am, so this never happens between us. Still funny though.
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| 07.07.008 |
[07 Jul 2008|09:57pm] |
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mood |
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 paternal |
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music |
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"Love Plus One" by Haircut 100 |
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As April and I celebrate our first wedding anniversary today, we look back fondly on that special date of 07.07.007 and everything that followed. In particular, we think about '007 turning into '008, about this very special plus-one:
So yes, it's a great day (a great life!). No fancy dinners for April and I, no special events. We're just at home, eating leftovers and indulging in our final (for now) weekly fix. But above all, we're just sharing our love with Cole Anderson Rojales Ty...
...who arrived on our planet last Wednesday, 02 July 2008. He's 6.13 pounds and 19.4 inches of absolute cuteness. (And oh yes, he's rather loud, too.)
You'll see from the links at the bottom that he often sports a rather grim and serious facial expression, but I'm quite sure he'll soon run through the entire spectrum of emotional experience, taking April and I along, too.
Anyway, more details to follow about what it was like in the hospital, but for now:
Welcome to the world, little buddy, and may the rest of the world--at least those who read this--welcome you as well.
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| Coming Soon |
[29 Jun 2008|01:52am] |
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mood |
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excited |
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music |
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"July, July!" by the Decemberists |
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"There's an 85% chance you'll be heading straight to the hospital after our appointment on Tuesday afternoon. Expect your son to be born anytime from Tuesday night to Thursday morning."
Actually, to be honest, when our doctor told April that today, her tone of voice wasn't quite so sober. Neither was the way April and I reacted to the news.
(I think it's more accurate to use "Woohoo!" to describe the mood at that moment, which my wife and I still feel right now, of course.)
Although I still manage to escape being crushed by the 9-to-5 grind, it has been rather exhausting for me recently, since I no longer have the free days I used to enjoy.
I've been spoiled by eight years of working no more than four days a week, it seems. Already three weeks into the new semester, and I'm still having a tough time adjusting to a schedule that now demands I step out of the house six times a week.
This tiring schedule is also pre-Cole, of course, and I'm almost afraid to imagine how that will change things. But what my wife just told me right now seems to make some sense to me: "I think Cole will give you an energy boost, Andrew."
Even if my wife and I turn out to be wrong about that, and my life becomes the extreme sport it's threatening to become, it ultimately doesn't really matter in the long run.
He's my son. And he'll be here soon. And I, for one, welcome our new infant overlord.
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| A Chuckle and a Wow + Some Baby Updates |
[22 Jun 2008|10:26pm] |
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mood |
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 impatient |
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music |
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something from the early Bad Brains albums |
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My leisure reading these days--what little of it I still do--have been more spy fiction than horror, but I still got a kick when this turned up in my inbox last night:
( Baby Updates )
On a wholly unrelated note, if I wasn't too busy and/or lazy, I'd go through all the LJ entries where I mention Penguin Books and tag them properly. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Penguin is the major publisher with marketing practices that wow me...
...such as these wonderful ads.
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| You Could Have Spared Us This Time |
[13 Jun 2008|08:14pm] |
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mood |
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terrified |
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music |
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nothing at all...don't want to risk calling them close |
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It's only been four days since the new semester began, but I've been a bit tired since Day 2, which felt like Week 2 to me. Still, it wasn't the bad kind of tired. On the contrary, it was the rather satisfying exhaustion that comes when I immerse myself into work I truly love doing.
That said, I wish I had a bit more energy today. After all, Cole will be born sometime really really soon--as early as next week, or so our doctor says. April and I are almost at the point where we needed to bite down on our knuckles just to curb our excitement about our son.
Ah, dammit: "bite down." I could of course delete and re-write whatever I type in this entry, but just to keep ole Sigmund happy--in case he comes back today--let that Freudian slip stand.
Denial is close to ignorance, I think, both bearing the promise of bliss. If I try to be pleasant about things, hiding the way I really feel today, then maybe I will end up truly okay. And so will the rest of the world, I hope, the world into which April and I are bringing our little boy.
Maybe. Yeah, I can hope. But that comet. "Eccentric comet"? More like a fucking catastrophic comet, paying us another visit after what happened last year. Damn you, Comet GR-Z. Or damn you back, since you've already damned us first, it seems.
( Oh God, Not Again )
If you're reading this right now, you are safe for the moment.
If you're reading this right now, it means that you are ensconced somewhere with the power still on, with an Internet connection still linking you to the rest of this insane world.
If you're reading this right now, it means you're currently enjoying the luxury of not running for your life at the moment, and that's good. The only thing you have to worry about is the fear of how things are going to end this time.
I wish you all the best. Try to hold on to what you know of your life lest they come upon you, rotting flesh and gnashing teeth, trying to turn your life into something else that's only a cruel mockery of it.
Keep yourself updated, while we all wait to find out whether or not we survivors are the lucky ones. I suspect the answer to that question is forthcoming, though I have absolutely no idea what it may be.
Signing off. I'm spending time with April now, whatever we have left. The life she's carrying, representing the lives we will share with each other, is the only life that fills me with hope today.
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| Resisting This Meme Was Futile |
[07 Jun 2008|04:11pm] |
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mood |
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crazy |
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music |
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"Sister Ray" (I'm already practicing) |
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You are in a mall when the zombies attack. You have:
- one weapon (real or fictional; assume endless ammo, if applicable)
- one song blasting on the speakers
- one famous person (real or fictional) to fight alongside you
My answers:
- A
katana katamari.
- "Sister Ray" (on endless repeat)
- April called dibs on Ash, and I considered Lionel or Father McGruder.
April would have thrown me to the shambling hordes if I said Buffy Summers...unless I give her Spike.
I stopped short from picking Jason Bourne: I'd rather he was my actual weapon than my sidekick.
In the end, I guess I'll go with Simon Pegg: either as Shaun or Nicholas Angel.
Yours? Leave a comment or a link to your entry.
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| Mid-Week Spew |
[28 May 2008|10:43am] |
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mood |
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awake |
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music |
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something by Heaven 17 |
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Viral videos can be hit or miss, but here are a couple that are worth watching (or re-watching if you've already seen them from many other blogs out there):
Thanks to ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) carbocisteine for pointing me to GraphJam: Pop Culture for People in Cubicles. Funnily enough, I just visited the new location for my Department yesterday with April and was able to glance at my cubicle ("Big enough for a crib!" I exclaimed at first sight).
Anyway, lots of neat stuff on that site, but if you're curious, the first graphs I was sent were on the likelihood of birds suddenly appearing and moving objects to watch out for when crossing the road with Morrissey.
( Guillermo del Toro, technothriller nostalgia, Christianity in unlikely places, neat artwork, sex and technology, the cute side of Japanese poltics, etc. )
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| Six Items in Search of a Reader |
[21 May 2008|10:15am] |
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mood |
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awake |
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music |
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see LJ-cut text |
] |
A few recent points of interest:
Two on book design, inner and outer.
Two on "literary horror," including some absolutely! wonderful! news!
Two bits that respectively killed my brain and brought it back to life. ( Itchy finger finger trigger trigger click click...click-click-click! )
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| Yet Another Brainspew Entry |
[20 May 2008|10:07am] |
| [ |
mood |
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awake |
] |
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music |
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something from the first Human League album |
] |
This Web page was open on my wife's browser a few days ago. My excitement over these sights borders on the erotic, just as it does with these steampunk watches.
( Quotes, David Byrne's "Marcos Musical," toys for Cole and I, creepy photography, baby news, theme songs from old anime, and an anthology I dug up from my old room... )
Not Quite About Worldbuilding
I'm bummed that M. John Harrison's blog is gone now. Uncle Zip's Window was one of my favorite places to visit on the Web; even after he stopped updating it, I kept revisiting anyway. Sadly, it's gone, all gone.
I only discovered its closure now, because I wanted to re-read the highly contentious and insightful series of entries Harrison wrote about world-building. Anyway, here's an amusing essay by Tim Pratt, which is NOT really about the issues Harrison raised, despite its title:
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| Thomas Ligotti |
[16 May 2008|11:02am] |
| [ |
mood |
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Ligotti-esque |
] |
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music |
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"I Have a Special Plan for This World" by Current 93 |
] |
Two new Ligotti mass-market releases this year, and the covers are fantastic!
Virgin Books UK is releasing his most recent collection on paperback this July, and September brings the second of The Nightmare Factory graphic novels released by Fox Atomic.
(pgmcc, I'm not sure you're going to buy the latter, given how disappointed you were with the first volume...but if there are still going to be introductions by Ligotti for each adaptation, would that tickle your collector's fancy?)
( What? Oh, the covers! )
I thought it was rather strange that, as much as I'm enjoying Gene Wolfe these days, I had a sudden urge to re-read Thomas Ligotti's Sideshow, and Other Stories a few days ago.
( Quotes... )
"There is something in all of us that has always been dead," I said. "If only because we know that eventually we will die. All of us except the smallest children."
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