Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 268 entries, all of them here in full.
March 3, 2010 · 645 words
Pretty Pictures, Lots of Chases
I got a chance to see a sneak preview of Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, and now I’m thinking about how franchises have got detached from the source of their inspiration.It certainly happened with Sherlock Holmes. Robert Downey played a character who shared a name and an occupation with his progenitor, but little else. T
Read entry →March 1, 2010 · 948 words
Reviews Too Late: Princess Tutu
Knowing my strange fascination with girly anime, Jane Lindskold told me I’d like this one. She was right.I liked Princess Tutu not only for itself, but for the fact that it constantly references Revolutionary Girl Utena, which— as we all know— is the Greatest TV Series of All Time. Tutu is a post-Utena arti
Read entry →March 1, 2010 · 268 words
Matters Quotidian
The Winter Olympics at least provided a pleasing distraction as I was preparing my taxes for the accountant. Hundreds of check stubs, hundreds of little receipts with cryptic scrawls on them. (What is “sprawk?” Is it deductible? Does it go on Schedule C?) And then I look up, and Canucks and Austrians and Chinese Commun
Read entry →February 26, 2010 · 739 words
The Condition of Atemporality
Y’know, Bruce Sterling thinks about this shit real hard. And a couple weeks ago he delivered a speech that shows how far ahead of us he really is. Now let me tell you how the atemporal Richard Feynman approaches this. The atemporal Richard Feynman is not very paper-friendly, because he lives in a network culture. [&hel
Read entry →February 26, 2010 · 1,195 words
28 Views to a Job
Inspired by Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules for Writing Fiction, the Guardian asked 27 other writers for their own contributions. The result is overlong, contradictory, but intermittently fascinating. I’ll reproduce some of the advice here, but only the bits I agree with. Using adverbs is a mortal sinNever use an adverb to m
Read entry →February 25, 2010 · 243 words
Fish-Faced Enemy of the Empire
A few years ago, the University of Mississippi canned their mascot, Colonel Reb, because, well, he looked like a stereotypical slave-owning plutocrat, and even Ole Miss is committed to diversity these days. But where to look for a new mascot? Especially if your team is called the Rebels? You look to a galaxy far, far [
Read entry →February 25, 2010 · 501 words
Das Energi
Two notes from the world of energy:Bloomenergy today rolled out its Bloom Boxes, new-generation fuel cells that can generate electricity in the home (or the factory, or the server farm, or wherever). The cells take in oxygen from one direction, natural gas (or biogas) from another, and produce kilowatts in exchange. Th
Read entry →February 20, 2010 · 664 words
Ideas. Execution.
Majorly big Twilight fan Kayla Patterson has written an open letter to Universal Studios, accusing them of, like, totally, ripping off Stephanie Meyer when they made a movie about a werewolf.I actually started to like werewolves after seeing Jacob Black and all his awesomeness on the big screen at the movies. That was
Read entry →February 20, 2010 · 65 words
Leaps and Bounds
Watching the skating at the Winter Olympics while improving my vocabulary. I’ve learned that many of the jumps are named after the person who invented them. The lutz is named after Alois Lutz, the walley after Nate Walley, the axel after Axel Paulson, and the salchow after Ulrich Salchow.And the toe loop, of course, is
Read entry →