Category: Elsewhere on the Internets

Oh, and over at my other job…

By:  TempestElsewhere on the Internets
Oh, and over at my other job...

Brilliant post today from Genevieve: 10 Fantasy Movies That Ruined It for the Rest of Us.

List includes Willow, Labyrinth, Somewhere in Time, and Excalibur, among others. Excalibur will always hold a special place in my heart, as Scott McPartland had us watch that movie when doing a lecture on Arthurian myth. It was fantastically bad, and included a scene where Merlin made it so Uther coulkd ride across the sky on a pony to reach his lady love. As it was the early 80’s, the effect is as bad as you’re imaginging it. Possibly worse.

My First Geek Post!

By:  TempestElsewhere on the Internets
My First Geek Post!

Many of you now know that I have a new job as a web content producer (yay!) which involves a lot of dealing with content management systems, cropping images, and writing.  Sounds familiar, right?  Except this time I get to do it with little laptops and other mobile technology.  SWEET.

My first post went up last night and you sholuld all click over to see (and then Digg it).  It’s a poll about battery life and tiny laptops.  I think batteries should last 5 hours or more, but certain powers that be disagree.  Tell them they’re, like, so wrong, God!

25 Top Black Superheroes of All Time?

By:  TempestElsewhere on the Internets
25 Top Black Superheroes of All Time?

Naamen wrote a great piece taking BlackVoices.com to task for their list of top black superheroes.  I can’t say I’m surprised about that, though, as BlackVoices is an AOL joint, so it’s mainly about commercial interests.  But I thought it would be fun to come up with an alternate list.  So go read Naamen’s column and nominate your favorite black superheroes.

Not being an afficionado of the genre myself, I don’t know that many to begin with.  I do like John Stewart from the Justice League cartoon and, of course, I think Storm is pretty damn awesome.  Other than that, I am woefully ignorant.

Blog for that beer, y’all

By:  TempestElsewhere on the Internets

Warner Brothers is suing a Bollywood film company because the title of their film is ‘Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors’ and Warner Bros. thinks that name is too much like Harry Potter.

Seriously.

Yet the film has nothing to do with wizards or magic. It is a Home Alone-style story. And according to the article, Hari is a common Indian name, and “puttar” means son.

And also, Jake Gyllenhaal is going to be the Prince of Persia.  Oh world.

Go win some money.

Want to know what’s going on this week at Fantasy?

By:  TempestElsewhere on the Internets
Want to know what's going on this week at Fantasy?

Perhaps you should sign up for our newsletter.  It goes out on Friday mornings, tells you about all the great content that went up that week, and also points you toward Blog for a Beer.  Someday soon, there will be contests that only subscribers can enter.  Doesn’t that sound fun?  Subscribe!

Cuz I can’t tell you every week, now can I?  I have stuff to do!  Though I will say that the article on “The 99” is excellent and Naamen’s piece on Stargate: Atlantis almost made me want to watch it again…

IBARW & Fantasy Magazine

By:  TempestElsewhere on the Internets

This week’s Blog For A Beer is a special IBARW edition.  Readers of this blog may find J T Glover’s essay on Bias in American SF interesting and the BfaB post uses that as a jumping-off point.  The crux is this:

…for those who would prefer a different SF: what do you want, and how are you going to get it? My frustration with Mr. Banker’s post was exceeded only by my curiosity. What sustainable alternative exists, now or in future, and how will it come about? Can it be created without alienating most of SF, and if not, does that matter? Even as the writer in me is most concerned with writing well and getting published, the reader in me wants both literary challenges and comfort food. The librarian in me believes that we must make room for everyone, whoever they are and whatever they believe, else we abandon the promise of speculative fiction.

Read the full essay and comment on it here.

We have two other pieces up this week that that fit into the theme.  As I mentioned yesterday, there’s a clip of Ghetto Man roasting the Superfriends.  Oh 1979, you were so crazy.  Also, N K Jemisin’s really, really excellent review of the latest Temeraire book that illuminates some of the big themes Novik explores in the books and also ties in why her fanfic roots make the series so amazing. And there’s a reprint of Broken Mystic’s essay on Dust, a Muslim character in the X-Men comics.

I love my job.

I Have The Power!

By:  TempestElsewhere on the Internets
I Have The Power!

I was looking at my stats when I discovered that some people found my blog by searching for “xkcd kansas politician”.  I googled myself and found that I am #2 for that (without quotes). #1 is the Digg article.

Um, when did this particular blog get that much juice?  ABW has a high rank, I know, but this thing?  I’m boggled.

(Sidenote.  When I posted about that guy around noon yesterday he had about 1400 donors tallied.  When I checked at 1am, he had 2,894.  Wow.  Of course, this was more to do with getting links on BoingBoing and the front page of Digg than anything I did.  I just find it amazing that the internet brought in double the donors in 12 hours.  Awesome.)

I also seem to be high up in rank for any search containing the words william, sanders, rejection, and helix in combination.  At least one person searched for “pantiwadulous definition”.  Unfortunately, s/he did not find one here.

Since I now have all this power, I will use it in evil ways.  Since now this post will bring in hits from all that, I will nefariously redirect you to Fantasy magazine content this week.

We have a great story up: Watermark.  Really one of my favorite stories I’ve read all year in any venue.  You can also hear the podcast.  The author, Michael Greenhut, is answering questions about his story here.

For more fictiony goodness, check out the first chapter of Ekaterina Sedia’s amazing new book, The Alchemy of Stone.  It’s steampunky.

In reviews, my bud Mercurio D Rivera liked WALL-E. Plus we have an article about a fantasy game princess that isn’t a stereotype (those be my favorite).

As I mentioned, i have a column up about the Doctor and how he’s a jerk.  Some interesting discussion going on there (please contribute to it!).  And check out this video of firespinners, because firespinning is cool.

No Blog for a Beer this week, but you can talk about how much you love our new design.

That’s it.  Have a pandiwadulous weekend everyone!