Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 226 entries, all of them here in full.
September 7, 2012 · 168 words
Back From Chicago
I’ve got back from Worldcon in Chicago. Sorry to be absent so long from this vicinity, but I had a choice to make. I could go on having fun with the fun people I was having fun with, or I could go by myself to my hotel room and write about it. Which choice would […]
Read entry →August 28, 2012 · 494 words
Reviews Too Late: Margin Call
Somewhere between the end of Bubonicon and packing for Chicon, I found time to watch a movie. Lucky it was a good one. Gotta say, this little independent film brought out the heavyweights. Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci, Paul Bettany, Mary McConnell, Zachary Quinto, Simon Baker, Demi Moore. All acting the fu
Read entry →August 28, 2012 · 161 words
Emotivation
“Scientists,” who are always nameless in these kinds of reports, claim that they are now able to “hack” the brain with a $299 off-the-shelf mind-machine interface. Using an Emotiv interface, “researchers” (as they are also known) could read the P300 signal coming off the brain. When showing the subjects images of banks
Read entry →August 24, 2012 · 153 words
Bubonicon and Chicon Schedule
The next two weekends I’ll be successively at Bubonicon 44, in Albuquerque, and at Chicon, the World Science Fiction Convention, in Chicago. Here’s my schedule, should you be at either of these events and want to meet me. Bubonicon 44 Friday, Aug 24. 9:30PM. Panel # 6 – PUMP UP THE VOLUME: WRITING BIG SCIENCE […
Read entry →August 22, 2012 · 175 words
The Kickstarter War
Two veteran freedom fighters have begun a Kickstarter campaign to finance their trip to Syria, to participate in the rebellion against the government of Bashar al-Assad. Libyan Masood Bwisir and American journalist and filmmaker Matthew vanDyke participated in the Libyan rebellion, and vanDyke spend six months in one o
Read entry →August 21, 2012 · 932 words
Missed Opportunities
So I finally saw The Dark Knight Rises— two or three weeks later than most of you, I’m sure— and I was inspired, both by this movie and Spider-Man 3, to create the following rule: “Directors, if you’re helming the third installment of a superhero franchise, for God’s sake don’t let your brother write the [&
Read entry →August 20, 2012 · 798 words
Pussies in Prison
(No, this isn’t a post about Paul Ryan’s views on family planning. Or a review of Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS. This is about art, dammit!) Last February, the Russian all-girl punk band Pussy Riot initiated a 30-second demonstration in a Moscow cathedral in which they called upon the Virgin to save Russia from Vladimir [&h
Read entry →August 15, 2012 · 189 words
I Am On Vacation
I’ve come up the mountain to Snow Bear for a few nights. And you know what I have to do while I’m up here? Absolutely nothing! I’m on vacation. My first actual vacation in a long time. I’ve been doing a lot of traveling this year. I’ve been to D.C. twice, to Seattle, to San […]
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