Amnesia

He was one of the 24 students accepted into the high profile writer’s workshop: Viable Paradise. He’ll get to spend an entire week with the likes of some of the most influential people in science fiction/fantasy publishing. Oh, how I wish I could go!

I always knew he could do it. If you haven’t visited Pete’s site before, take a look. He’s got some finished stories over there and both his commentary and interviews have been picked up by SFSignal. While he and I may lean a bit away from each other when it comes to politics, Pete is an extremely intelligent and talented man sure to go far once his stories are published. With VP, it might happen sooner than later. Here’s hoping!

Congrats Pete. Knock ‘em dead.

(But it’s totally ok. His is better and comes with visuals.) Also, I’m sure it was less of a ‘copy’ thing and more of a smart minds think alike type of thing.

Here’s the link to my original post, which someone took and posted on the xkcd forums. So far, I’ve had almost 100 new visitors in the past two days. So welcome visitors and worshipers of Randall Monroe. Feel free to try the cake.

But it might be a lie.

If you’re a parent, you’ve had to sit through your share of bad children’s movies. In all the mass-produced garbage out there these days, it’s tough to find the diamond in the rough. The upcoming Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie from Disney is definitely being avoided as I’ve had my fill of stupid talking dogs. (Why Edward James Olmos, why?!) Both the Garfield  movies also go to the incinerator if I ever rule the world, along with every single reel containing any episode or special of Yo Gabba Gabba.

So I admit, when I first saw the preview of WALL-E, I was rather skeptical. The only thing that made me pay the 7.00 fee for the three of us, was that so far, PIXAR has had really high quality movies. I still have yet to see CARS, but that’s only because I can do without Larry the Cable Guy.

WALL-E was excellent. Probably one of the best “kids” movies since The Incredibles. As with all Lassiter movies, there is plenty of slapstick comedy that will enthrall your children while throwing in little things that will amuse the adults.

For instance, when WALL-E has to charge his battery via solar panels, the bar ticks up fast and finishes with the sound of a booting laptop that is run with a Mac OS.  The geek in me chuckled considering the story takes place almost 850 years into the future. There is also what looks like an early generation IPOD in WALL-E’s collection as well. Nice to know that APPLE is still running the world in the future.

I will warn you. This movie comes with strict warnings should we stay our current course. In fact, the opening 10 minutes of the movie was probably more depressing in any children’s movie I’ve ever seen. I’m sure it doesn’t look that way to a child, but if you didn’t get the message and you were over 15, your heart is definitely in the wrong place and you’re missing a few brain cells.

As it is bordering on the science fiction, what starts as a wholly depressing dystopia does sprinkle in the ingredients which make you leave the theater with determination and yet a smile on your face. If I had a ratings system here, I would definitely be giving WALL-E  a 10 out of 10.

The one thing I will diss is the fact that we were given cheap plastic watches for the kids from Disney that were most likely made in China. While they had the WALL-E logo on them, they were to serve the purpose of marketing the talking dog movie mentioned above.  If you go see WALL-E, you’ll find out why it’s so terribly ironic and rather sad that the distributors didn’t even get the point. Who said marketing ever had brains to begin with anyway?

Go see it.

Now.

I stole this from Pat’s blog, but I had to just share it here! I see Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day and Nathan Fillion.

I can not wait for this!

Teaser from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

Yeah, I got sucked into doing another group story. (Actually I volunteered.)

I posted my chapter yesterday. (Tom actually posted the story for me, because apparently I’m too incompetent on formats other than Wordpress to accomplish anything.)

I worked very long and hard on the piece. (I pumped it out in 8 hours, after I got the writing bug.)

I hate doing research. It’s such a pain in the ass to find things that aren’t wiki-related. Couple that with research on women in the 1940’s during WW2, and I was starving for information. (Actually, I found some very intriguing articles about the war movement. There are some very neat, authentic videos on Youtube by the US War Department in relation to women doing their part. )

I am too lazy for real punctuation in this post. (Yeah, what she said.)

Enjoy the story. (Or I will cry buckets of salty tears that will overflow and drown small helpless kittens.)

Think of the kittens. (I meant it about the crying.)

Let me know what you think! (Unless it’s bad.)

This up and coming artist has been accepted to the UConn art program, and her items are currently for sale via the Deviant Art site. If there is significant interest, we might move her gallery here where she’d be able to keep the bigger chunk of profits. College is expensive don’t you know! I am very lucky to have her as a cousin.

Here are a few of my favorites:

It’s up ovah here.

We follow Michael Collins deeper into enemy territory, watching the Solarian Marine Corps at their deadliest. The fate of a Rak’lan alien is dealt with as the skirmish ends an in turn sparks a debate about our own grasp of humanity.  

A Loss of Innocence  - Part Two
Story by Peter Hodges
Dramatic Reading by Kate Baker
Music: “Zombie Space Armageddon” & “23rd Century Monk” by Kate Baker

If you haven’t done so already, please go here and listen to the new version of “A Loss of Innocence” written by Peter Hodges and read by yours truly.

I am going to have a lot of fun doing this audio book, oh yes.

Michael Collins was a marine. He should have been a doctor. 

Michael Collins was like any other high school senior. He wanted to get even with the Rak’Lan for destroying San Francisco and Shanghai. He wanted to know the truth about the disastrous first contact with an alien race around the orbit of Jupiter…and he was willing to put his life on the line in the service of humanity much to the dismay of the people who loved him the most.

His parents.

A Loss of Innocence  - Part One
Story by Peter Hodges
Dramatic Reading by Kate Baker
Music: “Leaving Home” by Kate Baker

Science fiction author, S.M. Stirling is interviewed over on Pete’s site this morning and next friday. S.M. Stirling’s long list of published works include:

The Protector’s War

Island in the Sea of Time

Dies the Fire

T2: The Future War

The Sky People

A Meeting at Corvallis

Conquistador

The Domination

The Sunrise Lands

and more!

Remember about two weeks ago when I told you that I would be on the radio? Well thanks to Vince O’Connor, I have the recording of the show! I have to admit, it was a little odd having an entire 25 minutes of the show dedicated to my music, and I can’t be held accountable for any delusions of grandeur it may have caused in my head.

So yeah people, bow down!

I mean, enjoy! You can access the file below by streaming it, or dl’ing it. Thanks again, Vince!

Also, a huge thanks to John Scalzi, for allowing Vince to play “Why Don’t You Love Me”, the song to which John wrote the music and I hijacked with permission, (read, “collaborated”) to write the words and sing. You continue to rock, John!

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download