Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 272 entries, all of them here in full.
August 22, 2009 · 175 words
Canadian Scientists Prepare for Zombie Attack
The Canadians remain far ahead of us in the realm of public health. They’re preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse. Professor Robert Smith? (the question mark is part of his surname and not a typographical mistake) and colleagues wrote: “We model a zombie attack using biological assumptions based on popular zombie movies.
Read entry →August 20, 2009 · 57 words
More Childhood Nightmates
Another insane cartoon from the Fleischer Studios! Betty Boop kidnaped by cannibals! Bimbo sweats away! KoKo menaced by Giant Floating Louis Armstrong Head! Exploding volcanos! Inappropriate racial stereotypes! The question isn’t whether this sort of thing warped me for life. The question is: How did people grow up wat
Read entry →August 20, 2009 · 186 words
Privacy Violations
Five California Facebook users are suing Facebook, claiming that Facebook violated their privacy by allowing them to use Facebook. The list of offenses against the aggrieved is truly egregious. Take the plight of “accomplished actress” [redacted]. After posting her photos to Facebook, [redacted] was quite surprised to
Read entry →August 20, 2009 · 949 words
Reviews Too Late: Jodhaa Akbar
Jodhaa Akbar (2008) is an epic Bollywood film dealing with the relationship between the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great (former child star Hrithik Roshan) and his wife Jodhaa Bai (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, known to her fans as The Most Beautiful Woman in the World). What we have here is a chick flick, albeit one with [&he
Read entry →August 17, 2009 · 499 words
Revisiting the Classics: The Invisible Man
I hadn’t ever read The Invisible Man, so I thought I’d give the audio book a try. I had two initial impressions: (1) American audio book readers really shouldn’t try to read an entire book in a British accent (the reverse also being true, I’m sure), and (2) I hadn’t expected all the slapstick.The Invisible […]
Read entry →August 15, 2009 · 62 words
The Chart of Fantasy Art
Well, the most commonly seen element appearing on fantasy books published last year was, it seems, the sword. Closely followed by glowy magic, castles, and dragons. I suspect a few covers contained all these elements. Meanwhile, fans of unicorns, maps, and stilettos had a disappointing year, and perhaps were lost to ot
Read entry →August 14, 2009 · 84 words
Serious: the New Black?
One of the things I sensed about Worldcon was a longing on the part of the fans for seriousness.The program items featuring Paul Krugman were packed. Panels on political subjects were well-attended. A panel on the Drake Equation did well. Panels on social media were full— but then you’d expect that, with everyone
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