Neil Gaiman's NANOWRIMO 2007 pep talk. I fortunately didn't have this with Bladesman.
The Tolkien estate has officially jumped the shark. edited Nope, seems Zazzle's people don't know that names of famous people aren't protected (and in either case, was a clear fair use). That's okay, there's some politicians who don't know this either. (Grokked from Dan)
Some weird vintage ads. Don't' pass up the "wife" ads. Ah, those pleasant old days when all was right with the world. If only the conservatives could take us back there (sorry, I tried not to be political, and yes, they are trying their hardest). Understand, these weren't fringe ad placements, many of these ran in major markets. It's easy to forget the world wasn't all that rosy colored back then. (grokked from Jay Lake)
Snakebots with lasers! I, for one, welcome our Skynet Overlords. (Grokked from John)
The Straight Dope with an evil genius plan to melt the earth's ice caps. Yeah, nobody would ever buy that as a movie premise.
An article on the invisible dead. Do the poppies still grow in Flander's Fields? On how far we've come, mostly. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
2 comments:
Check the update on the Tolkien link - the estate didn't pull the product, Zazzle did.
One of my all-time favorite movies, Local Hero, had a character talking about melting the icecaps and turning the world into a tropical paradise. That, and the lack of cellphones, date the movie, but it remains a classic to me.
That invisible dead story is beautiful - well written, educational. Something I found most intriguing was not what was written, but what was not. The little girl seeing her slave ancestors' graves was described as having light green eyes, and the photo, shot from the back, shows pink skin, not brown. The usual markers of race - skin tone, eye color - made me think about how insignificant the colors of race are; we are all humans. Yet we persist in thinking it more important than any other part of a person. It is only the first noticeable; it is not the definition.
That father was doing a tremendous service to his children, showing them both sides of their family tree.
Thanks for that link - it also brought to mind some coverage I saw of the abuse of a veteran's memorial in the Wisconsin capitol building. Those veterans were invisible to the protesters - how easy it is to forget the dead. As far as I know, poppies still grow in Flanders Field.
Anonymous Cassie
Cassie, yeah, they did an update. Give the other moves by the estate, it was easy to make the leap that it was them.
I hadn't heard of the abuse of the veteran's memorial. And looking at the video, I can see how some people may feel it's disrespectful. However, it was permanent, nor did it impede the message of the memorial. And the argument could be made that by camping out in the capitol building the protestors are being disrespectful and a nuisance (see the tussle over our Ohio State House). It depends on where you draw the line.
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