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Best and Worst Genre Movies of 2008?
Your opinion counts! Also, it’ll win you $10.
I think Cloverfield was one of the best movies I saw this year.
I don’t go to many movies.
Taking Stock
So, things are looking un-good for a lot of publishing houses right now and more than one person has commented that it really sucks to be a debut novelist at this time. But Justine notes that children’s books are still doing okay, comparatively, and not just the Twilight series. I guess this means I should put a pause on the Egypt book and get to rewriting my YA novel.
I hope the agents I query are into gay sex…
SF Social Network?
Several months ago someone posted a list of 20 things SF could do to be better (or something liek that) and one of the suggestions was creating an SF-centric social network. I believe they suggested Ning. A few people pointed out that social networking is great, but Ning is somewhat lacking.
Now, this was all before Tor.com, so perhaps that need has been filled. (Plus we have 42Blips now. I wish more people were on it, though…) But in case people still feel we need some kind of SF SM, perhaps BuddyPress is a step forward. BuddyPress is a set of plugins and perhaps a theme one can apply to an installation of WordPress MU (the version of WP that allows for multiple blogs, just like WordPress.com). This way everyone can have their own area complete with WordPress blog and also profile, but connect with others, make friends, all that.
I am not totally convinced that SF needs its own separate social network since we seem to be pretty good at carving out spaces in the existing ones like LiveJournal and FaceBook. (Yes, I’m on Facebook now. sigh) Still, BuddyPress looks like it would be awesome for other folks interested in building this type of thing easily and on software that is intuitive and customizable.
Still wondering
About the question I posed here. I assumed the number would be low, but I didn’t think it would be non-existent.
Just Wondering: How Many Webzines Offer Downloadable Versions?
Like the title says. I’m a mobile gal, and most of my reading is done on my commute or while out. I don’t mind whipping out the netbook for reading, but doing so on my phone would work, too. I’d like to read more short fiction, therefore I’d like more of it to be mobile. So, this got me wondering how many online magazines even offer a downloadable version of their fiction. Anyone wanna enlighten me?
Do you use a netbook? I need your informed opinion…
I know several of you out there are writers and have, in the past year, bought a netbook (mini-notebook). Do you have a minute to answer a few questions about how and how much you use it? It can be done over email and all that jazz. If so, email me. (And if you don’t know my email, use my handy contact form.) Thanks!
Social Studies
Do you all know about 42Blips, the new SF-centric Digg-like social bookmarking site? Looks worthwhile and includes voting buttons and suchlike. I’ve been putting Fantasy Mag stuff on there and it looks like a couple of other prominent bloggers and newshounds are also over there. Considering how non-trendy SF stuff tends to get buried on the bigger sites, this might be better for people who actually care about SF news and posts.
Nostalgia!
There really wasn’t enough sex in Star Trek: TNG. So these kind people went and put some in.
NSFW in any way.
WikiSurfing!
WikiSurfing — don’t know if that’s an actual term, but that’s what I call it when I look up one thing on Wikipedia that leads me to another, another, and another until it’s 4 hours later. I was wikisurfing a character from Star Trek when I ended up at the page for a classic Trek episode: Assignment: Earth. According to the entry, this was meant to be a pseudo-pilot for a new show (of the same name). It would be about the adventures of Gary Seven, “an Earth human from a far more advanced world. His ancestors are humans taken from Earth over 6,000 years ago and trained to intercede on Earth to help it survive.”
Gary utilizes some very advanced technology, like long-range transporters, talking computers, and a “servo” pen that does whatever he wants it to do when he points it at a person or thing.
It was the servo pen that pinged it for me.
Having not seen the episode itself, maybe my perception is skewed a bit. But it sounds to me like this was meant to be the American answer to Doctor Who. (I did note that the wiki article actually compares him to James Bond, and it could be that he has more similarities there.) It never became its own show, though.
Perhaps this is the fangirl in me, but I think it would have been more awesome, back then, to have the Doctor run into the crew of the Enterprise. I’m sure this has been done to death in fanfiction. Still, I can dream.