Check out this interesting play on the before-and-after meme.

Take scenes from Hitchcock's 1958 movie Vertigo and retrace them in modern-day (2003) San Francisco with camera in tow.

I've posted a representative pair of pics grabbed from the site in the extended entry. Go check out all the others.
more...

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In case you forgot, in about a month and a half, John Scalzi will begin to accept manuscripts for potential publication in the Spring 2006 edition of Subterranean magazine.

As special guest editor of this edition, he has laid out some interesting ground rules. Namely, he wants stories of 5000 words or less that skillfully employ classic SF cliches.

I am thinking about submitting a short story or two, just for the fun of it. I have a couple of ideas for some cliches to work around. But I would also like to quiz the only non-captive audience I have yet found for my writing: what SF cliches annoy you the most, and why?

Please don't send me any plot suggestions or story ideas (write your own story for submission instead). But if there is a traditional plot device, stereotypical setting, or some other element of SF (whether in movies, TV, or written word) that annoys you through its overuse, please let me know about it.

Thanks.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:18 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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1 People on other planets speaking nearly-perfect American English (or even worse, nearly-perfect American English with a British or other European accent... can you tell I sometimes have issues with shows like Stargate SG-1?...)

Posted by: LDH at August 17, 2005 11:10 AM (bqPDz)

2 I've always had a problem with technologically AND morally superior aliens who suddenly appear to warn us that we'd better support the liberal cause du jour: (anti Nuclear War, anti Nuclear Power, Save the Whales, the United Nations as one world government, Rent Control in NYC, etc.) or we will destroy ourselves and our planet. Who asked them to butt in and run our planet? Frackin Interstellar Limousine Liberals...

Posted by: Ishy at August 17, 2005 02:45 PM (WIFkt)

3 The cliche from the Military SF genre is that no matter how outnumbered or outgunned we are, the anti-social monkey-boys from Terra are way more ruthless, deadly, innovative, or adaptable than the aliens and end up winning easily despite overwhelming odds. Fun to read but, like cotton candy, it does not stay with you for long.

Posted by: Ishy at August 17, 2005 03:02 PM (WIFkt)

4 Thanks for your input. Ishy, your second comment is actually one of my favorite cliches in SF, of which I will never tire. It would be too depressing I think to write in a universe where that weren't true. I'm sure there's an award-winning novel somewhere in that idea.

Posted by: JohnL at August 17, 2005 10:23 PM (gplif)

5 In that case, have you read Alan Dean Foster's The Damned trilogy [A Call to Arms, The False Mirror, The Spoils of War]? Two sides of an intergalactic war are looking for allies, and find humanity. Humanity kicks butt.

Posted by: owlish at August 18, 2005 11:33 AM (QiOeU)

6 As far as cliches, the "last man alive" thing often bugs me.

Posted by: owlish at August 18, 2005 11:34 AM (QiOeU)

7 Owlish, thanks for the feedback. I haven't read that Alan Dean Foster trilogy, but will have to check it out. I agree on the "last man alive" cliche, but don't mind "last people alive rebuilding civilization" a la The Stand or Lucifer's Hammer.

Posted by: JohnL at August 18, 2005 11:54 AM (Hs4rn)

8 The big cliche that annoys me is killing off un-known charecters on well-known shows. Countless away missions on any number of Star Trek shows did it. I just dislike a charecter created so they can be killed off in the most absurd manner possible, while the well known cast members miraciously escape harm. Eye-rolling ensues every time. I also favor Ishy's first problem with nosy-asss 'superior' alien races and wanting to come down here and start some shiite. You consider The Stand to be SF? Never thought of it that way myself.

Posted by: Rhianna at August 18, 2005 06:32 PM (W1iQw)

9 Rhianna, First, welcome back to the 'net. Agreed on your comments. And I don't really consider The Stand to be SF.

Posted by: JohnL at August 18, 2005 06:57 PM (dYzx6)

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I know that I have been remiss in posting the regular Sunday Aircraft Cheesecake around here, and for that I apologize.

I hope to get some decent images from the reports on the just-opened MAKS 2005 (the seventh annual International Aviation and Space Salon in Moscow).

Here are several articles to get up to speed on the events for the coming week.

Just one little pic so far -- the new MiG29OVT, the first twin engine jet fighter to employ multiaxis (versus 2D) thrust vectoring. At least according to this article, from which I grabbed the pic.

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The headline of this article made me think of Milliway's.

You know. Restaurant at the End of the Universe... Bar at the Center of the Milky Way. I wonder if they serve Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters there.

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Be sure to check out the lovely job that Lynn has done with the 11th Carnival of Music.

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Awesome collection of business cards for characters from the original series of Star Trek.

(Via BoingBoing).

A sample below the fold:
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This is very much an inside-baseball kind of post, so I apologize in advance to any casual readers...

Even though Kathy asserts that she didn't write this entertaining (and disturbing) portrayal of Rob the Llamabutcher (pointing the finger at Bill Ardolino instead), I bet Rob and Steve will take a good, hard look at their generous password policies and revoke someone's posting privileges.

I do have to admit that I'm relieved that Kathy didn't write it, as parts were just a bit, well, mean. But that's perfectly OK if it's Bill writing about the Llamas.

You know, Princess Cat recently asked about a NoVA/DC blogmeet. I think Rob, Ted, Bill, and all you other DC bloggers should get together and set up a Rob v. Bill cage match for your entertainment. Take lots of pictures for our reading enjoyment.

Bonus points if there's a vile-tempered Scottish dwarf involved.

(Seriously, Bill, was the dwarf your idea, or something Goldstein came up with??)

Posted by: JohnL at 11:13 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I had never heard (or even heard of) jazz pianist Ted Howe until two mornings ago.

The local University radio station plays an all-jazz format (except for Saturday morning mariachi music and some classical on Sunday). Driving into work on Tuesday I was really digging a solo piano version of It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) by Duke Ellington. I had never heard the arrangement and was visualizing myself trying to learn it by ear. (Ha.)

Anyway, the announcer came on and, instead of blabbing about something else, immediately and helpfully shared the name of the performer and CD: Ellington, by Ted Howe.

When I got home from work that night I downloaded the song from iTunes and previewed the rest of the album. What a wonderful discovery! Excellent piano technique and original arrangements of Duke Ellington standards.

Buy this album. Here's a link to assist you (and I'll leave the link in the sidebar for a while, too):

Posted by: JohnL at 10:54 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Must read. (via Vodkapundit).

Or, for another thousand words, just look at the picture in the extended entry...
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Via James Taranto, I learned that the American Political Science Association will hold its annual convention in Washington, D.C. in just a few weeks. On the program is a panel discussion entitled "Is It Time to Call It Fascism?"

Do you think the good scholars will finally take an honest look at the parallels between the Ba'ath Party in Syria and the NSDAP in Germany?

Oh, don't be silly. The email forwarding the conference announcement states:

The panel, which is cosponsored by the Conference Group on Theory, Policy, & Society, the Latino Caucus, New Political Science, and the Women's Caucus, emerged from a question that Kathy Ferguson started asking last winter-spring (at ISA and WPSA) to focus on both substantive aspects and strategic/tactical ones: is there theoretical-definitional grounding to make a claim for the present US administration as fascist, and is it useful, critically, to use that language at this point in time? One of the original intentions was also to create a teaching tool out of this discussion--a handout that presents these questions and offers relevant information to students to think about it for themselves. (Emphasis added).

I would love to get my hands on one of those handouts. I wonder just how much they will encourage students to "think about it for themselves."

Here's a political science experiment: Establish how long a culture can survive philosophical poison like this.

Too bad we live in the experimental society and not the control group.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:41 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Take the quiz: "Which Holy Grail Character Are You?"

Sir Bedevere
Well, now, uh, Launcelot, Galahad, and I, uh, wait until nightfall, and then leap out of the rabbit, taking the French, uh, by surprise. Not only by surprise, but totally unarmed!

(via the Maximum Leader, whose site has been nicely remodeled. Check it out.)

Posted by: JohnL at 09:50 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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What happens when you inject a medieval culture into a modern one?

(Hat tip: Bryan).

Remember how VMI was made co-ed last decade? Why don't the same principles of law apply here? Where's NOW now?

Simple. Cowardice. An academic and political left that has become so accustomed to blaming western culture for all the ills of the world, it cannot find the indignation required to condemn a backwards, misogynistic society.

Shame on Virginia Tech. Shame.

For a lighter perspective on this dead-serious issue, check out Iowahawk.

Update: Lest you think I paint with too broad a brush, check out the words of Abd Al-Sabour Shahin, head of the ShariÂ’a faculty at Al-Ahzar University, the most prestigious academy in Sunni Islam. He is a lecturer at Cairo University, and not some cave-dwelling terrorist firebrand.

Remember that shari'a is the legal system that our enemies want to subject us to. The same system that requires the separation of the sexes.

And note how closely the good professor's rhetoric tracks the fevered paranoia of the loony left - blame the Jews -- it's all about the oil. Do you think perhaps our cowardly leftist politicians, academics, and journalists have provided rhetorical cover for this kind of garbage? What can we do?

Just asking.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:37 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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(From the latest edition of Movie Monkey, via Owlish).

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Please note that I have added a musical section to my blogroll. In addition to moving a couple of long-time residents of the general part of my blogroll, I have included several new music bloggers with whom I have become acquainted thanks to the Carnival of Music.

Please check out all of these fine bloggers:

• The Fredosphere


• Mixolydian Mode


• Musical Perceptions


• Musicircus


• Podcast Bumper Music


• The Rambler


• Reflections in d minor


• solitude.in.music

Update: Late addition! A Monk's Musical Musings.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:31 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I note with some pleasure that John Hood, a contributor to National Review Online's Corner expressed exactly the idea I framed last week about "brain life" being a way to start to untangle the emotional mess around abortion.

Not surprisingly, the dynamic half of the dogmatic duo, Ramesh Ponnuru (the other half being the grammaticaly-challenged but equally dogmatic Katherine Jean Lopez) leapt into the fray to defend the life-begins-at-conception idea. He did acknowledge the possibility that there is a distinction between human "life" and human "personhood" and even gave a nod to the idea that the key issue in Hood's (and my) proposal is a functioning cortex, though he wouldn't want to go too far down that road.

An emailer to "K-Lo" then criticized the whole concept of "brain birth" as fetishization of the brain. The same mailer later stated through Lopez that (paraphrasing) defining humanity based on brain function would lead to harvesting organs from people in comas. This is typical emotionally-charged sentimentalism that the mystics use to oppose human cloning and embryonic stem cell research (e.g., likening the harvesting of stem cells from a blastocyst to carving up people for spare parts).

In any case, National Review's pundits have taken up the issue and there is a good deal of civil, well-stated discourse. Just click to Hood's original post and scroll up.

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I have yet to see Firefly, though it is in my Netflix queue. I would like to check it out before going to see Serenity, which is getting a great deal of buzz on SF and libertarian blogs.

Today an article about Serenity at Reason's Hit and Run led to some very interesting commentary about the libertarian themes in the original Firefly series. I am really getting psyched, and eagerly await the movie.

More fun than that, though, is this hilarious look at a fictional libertarian film festival, linked by Stevo Darkly in the comments there: Oscar Shrugged: The First Galt's Gulch Film Festival. You probably won't get it if you haven't read Atlas Shrugged.

If, however, you have. Click over there NOW. It is hilarious (and also led to me adding about 7 more movies to my queue).

Posted by: JohnL at 10:38 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Another reason to love the Internet: a gallery of movie posters and video art for each of the movies lampooned by the brilliant MST3K series and movie.

Via SFSignal.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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My oldest son is really into calligraphy. He is mastering several different types of formal script. Who knows, maybe he will design a new font someday.

Today, fonts seemed to be a recurrent theme in my blog-surfing.

God, how twee is that? “Slightly irritated by a typeface.” Put that on my tombstone.

- James Lileks, 8 August 2005 Bleat

Lynn muses about the emotional impact of fonts on a reader. She is seeking some input on what fonts you like, what color, size, style. Leave her a comment and let her know what you think.

I like sans-serif fonts the best. I use Verdana for most everything I write. It makes for wonderfully readable legal forms, not too busy and easy to fax or scan without too much clutter. For web style, I prefer dark text on light backgrounds, though there are some well-executed blogs that pull off the opposite.

If I had to use a serif font, I would choose alatino, 'Palatino Linotype';font-size:150%;">Palatino, which is simply beautiful. I don't care for Times New Roman, as I associate it (and Courier) with poorly-drafted legalese. I see way too much lawyer work-product drafted in Times New Roman 12 pt., 1.25 inch margins (i.e. MS Word default settings).

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Lemuel reveals himself to be a sans-serif man. I would think he would be a sans-blog man by now, since he keeps threatening to delete the thing.

On a wholly-unrelated note, I wonder whether anyone can guess the source of this post's title?

Posted by: JohnL at 11:06 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Check out these stunning optical illusions. Number 3 is extremely tricky.

Via Zoe Brain.

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The tenth Carnival of Music is happening at solitude.in.music this week.

Check it out for some melodious bloggy goodness.

As always, check the archive page to visit past carnivals, to scope out future hosts, and to submit articles or volunteer to host.

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