Scott Dunbier, former Wildstorm editor, recounts on his blog one of my favorite Michael Moorcock stories. In the mid-50s, Mike worked for Tarzan Adventures, who had acquired the plates of the Burne Hogarth-illustrated Tarzan stories. Problem was that the plates were in Spanish.

I’ve heard Mike relate this story many times and I’m glad to see it in print. The only piece missing from Dunbier’s report is that Moorcock was actually 15 at the time!

Original text (Click on image to enlarge)

Text re-written by Michael Moorcock (Click on image to enlarge)

Moorcock on Tarzan was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

In order to present a more balanced assessment of the recently released Ratatouille DVD, panned by our very own Alan J. Porter, I present an excerpt from my SF Site review.

Course, unlike Alan, I liked the movie, as expressed in my RevSF review earlier this year.

Since Alan and I are obviously at odds, I suggest you watch the DVD, and make up your own mind. We’ll both be curious to hear what you think.

The Ratatouille DVD: My Take was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

[  Mood: Angry ]
"Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest."
– Lady Bird Johnson

So budget time has rolled around in my city. A new mayor was elected last year on a promise of a 0% tax increase, and the citizens fell for it.

After Mike Harris and Stephen Harper, you think they’d know what that really meant.

So to keep his promise, the proposal has the city shutting ten library branches. That’s right, ten. 1 followed by a 0.

One of these branches is my local branch. It sits in a typical inner city Ottawa neighbourhood. To afford to own a house in this area, you have to be firmly in the middle class. Mixed in with these lovely single family dwellings and condos are lots and lots of rental property. Those are the people I am worried about. Many of them are my students.

Within easy walking distance of this branch are two schools with huge lower income and welfare class populations. Many of them are recent immigrants. They don’t have the money for extras like books. The library is for them a lifeline. Every time I am in there, I see a student reading, working on homework or using a computer. They walk over after school on a regular basis.

Will it affect me? Yes, but I am middle class. I have a car and can drive to another branch. Many of my students, however, are not. Their parents are not going drive them to the next branch. And our bus system is set up to take people in and out of the downtown, not across town.

And that doesn’t take into account the fact that another proposal of the budget is to raise the transit fares.

One of the interesting things about our mayor is that he is a millionaire business man. Another millionaire business man, Andrew Carnegie, spent the latter part of his life building libraries. It seems our mayor is going to spend his golden years closing them down.

Somewhere, angels are weeping.

"The only true equalisers in the world are books; the only treasure-house open to all comers is a library; the only wealth which will not decay is knowledge; the only jewel which you can carry beyond the grave is wisdom."
– J. A. Langford

As many of you no doubt know, the long-awaited League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier was released today. I received a review copy and have read roughly two-thirds of what is easily the densest and most complex League tale yet attempted.

Written and drawn in a variety of styles, the Black Dossier is essentially the hidden history of the League and hence the world. In the first 2/3, I discovered the origins of James Bond’s boss “M”, “Q”, Orlando, the very first League, the 1910 German (lead by Dr. Mabuse!) and the 1911 French incarnations of the league. I learned how Mina Murray first met Nemo (remember they are both part of the team in the first issue.) Also, there is an excellent piece on occult history by Oliver Haddo that ties Melniboné, Hyperborea, and the Great Old Ones into our reality. Allusions to 1984 abound. How exactly do Gloriana, Fanny Hill, Harry Lime, and Shakespeare tie into the tale is quite amazing… and let us not forget Wilhelmina Murray and Allan Quartermain. I’m not even done with the book yet.

Thankfully in an attempt to make sense of it all, Jess Nevins has already started his annotations. The accompanying book will be published next Summer from Monkeybrain.

Not that the tome was published without some controversy. Comicscape discusses the controversy, Black Dossier, and the League in general in this fascinating interview.

Though plans are afoot for an Absolute edition, rumor has it that there will be NO paperback version. Since this hardback includes various paper stocks, a Tijuana bible insert, and a 3-d story (including glasses), a paperback would probably be in the $25 range. Given the excellent quality of the art and story combined with the fact that The League of Extraordinary Gentleman stories need to be re-read, at $30 this book is a steal. It will be the best $30 you’ve spent on a book in a long time.

Expect a more formal type of review soon…

Black Dossier was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

The Tunguska Event or Explosion fascinated me as a child. Glad to see some more information. Though it won’t stop the UFOlogists from spouting conspiracy nonsense regarding the incident, especially with bits like this in the article: “The basin of Lake Cheko is not circular, deep, and steep like a typical impact crater” and “lacks the rim of debris usually found around typical impact craters” and “the cosmic body, he added, which likely made a "soft crash” in the marshy terrain.“

Image from Kulik’s 1927 expedition of the explosion aftermath

The Tunguska Event Crater was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

[  Mood: Angry ]
[ Currently: Cause my husband has the day off in lieu of Rememberance Day ]
Lest you think this blog will devolve into a long litany of geek related pregnancy anecdotes, I bring to you a series of quick reviews!

Hot Fuzz
Finally saw this movie on the weekend and wow! Kick ass! The homage to the buddy cop genre with copious amounts of blood thrown in was wonderful. We also watched the US tour footage where the men stripped to their underwear during phone interviews. And cake flushing? Gross but hilarious!

Ruby in the Smoke
One of Philip Pullman’s early works, this Victorian thriller follows Sally Lockheart as she tries to unravel the mystery behind her father’s death. A fun read that lets you see Pullman’s writing style develop.

Trixie Belden and the Mystery of the Blinking Eye
I love Trixie Belden. When I was 8 or 9, my stepmother introduced me to this series. For years, I have hunted second hand bookstores and garage sales looking for the books I was missing in my collection. Imagine my joy when they started republishing the stories. This one follows Trixie and the gang to New York where Trixie buys a statue in an antique store. Immediately she is followed and harassed by two scary men. Full of twists and turns, and incredibly dated language, this was a fun book.

More later.

This is absurd. Punishing the universities because students are using their bandwidth is akin to punishing the cable company because a subscriber records a pay-for-view movie then shares it with their friends. Or holding the internet provider responsible for pirated software. Or the federal government at fault for speeders on freeways.

And exactly how does withholding education address this problem?

It is appalling the short-sighted avenues that the music and film industries are using to address this problem. Instead of attempting to create even harsher penalties, many of which affect far more than the guilty parties, the industries should embrace the p2p models and figure ways to use these new technologies to their advantage. The sharing of music and film will not go away. Get use to it.

House Embraces Music and Film Industry Stupidity was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

It all seems impossible, doesn’t it? But according to the latest installment of my favorite weekly comic book column, Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed (#128 for those counting at home), the Ghost Rider/Casper story almost happened.

After the success of the fun Archie Meets The Punisher and the popularity of the Ghost Rider film, this story doesn’t seem all that far fetched. Heck, I’d buy it!

Ghost Rider/ Casper, The Friendly Ghost Crossover? was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

In the latest Locus, Cory Doctorow has produced an excellent article on how to use the Creative Commons license.

The piece also offers a concise overview of copyright law.

I recommend this article highly for anyone who is thinking of posting their works online.

Cory Doctorow on Creative Commons was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

[ Mood: Shocked ]
Newsarama reports on the Comicbloc rumor that Time Warner, which is reported to be selling off its AOL assets, might be shedding DC Comics!

Doesn’t sound likely, but an interesting thought. I find it difficult to imagine any company ridding themselves of the lucrative Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman licenses.

Is DC for Sale? was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon