[ 
Mood: Silly ]
Did anyone catch last night’s The Brave and The Bold? It activated the simian recesses of my 12 year old brain!
Plastic Man… gorillas.. dinosaurs… Grodd… gorillas RIDING FRACKIN’ pterodactyls… Dinosaur Island…
It just don’t get any better than that!
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound.
Promo copy:
Vampires that, at will, can transform into wolves, panthers, insects, or fog invade the Slayer base of operations in northern Scotland, and not only walk away unscathed, but in possession of Buffy’s scythe, the symbol of Slayer power worldwide. Buffy and the Slayer-legion travel to Tokyo in order to learn more about their dangerous new foes, as Xander journeys to Transylvania to solicit the only person they’ve ever known to possess such power – Dracula!
(Collects #11-15)
Promo copy:
The sequel to last year’s top-selling HEROES hardcover is here! This stunning new volume collects the incredibly engaging online comics based on the smash-hit, Emmy Award-nominated NBC TV series Heroes! Collecting every online chapter from Season Two, this volume features the work of top TV and comics writers. Included are the stories "TheTen Brides of Takezo Kensei," "The End of Hana and Drucker," "The Golden Goose" and many more!
I’ve read about half of this and for the most part it’s better than anything in Season Two.
Promo copy:
The phenomenally popular Book of Lists series has sold millions of copies from coast to coast, enthralling trivia aficionados with fascinating infobits about simply everything! Now the latest edition turns an evil eye toward the strange, the blood-curdling, and the macabre with spine-tingling fun facts from the dark side of entertainment. Chock-full of creepy information from the netherworlds of movies, TV, literature, video games, comic books, and graphic novels, The Book of Lists: Horror offers a blood-feast of forbidden knowledge that horror fans are hungry to devour, including:
* Stephen King’s Ten Favorite Horror Novels or Short Stories—learn what scares the master!
* Top Six Grossing Horror Movies of All Time in the United States— which big shocks translated into big bucks?
* Top Ten Horror-Themed Rock ‘n’ Roll Songs—maybe it is ‘devil’s music’ after all!
* And much, much more!
Drawing on its authors’ extensive knowledge and contributions from the (living) legends and greatest names in the horror and dark fantasy genres, The Book of Lists: Horror is a scream—an irresistible compendium of all things mysterious, terrifying, and gory . . . and so entertaining, it’s scary!
The perfect bathroom book, this entertaining collection is both interesting and insightful. Sure to send you looking for many obscure movies and books.
In case any of us were wondering how bad things really are in the print publication universe, this sad news came across the wires today.
| Quote: |
| The country’s largest trade publisher, Random House Inc., has frozen the pensions of its current employees and eliminated them for future hires, the latest cuts in an industry hit by declining sales and anticipating, at best, a difficult 2009. |
Most likely this was in response to this disturbing information:
| Quote: |
| Earlier Thursday, Barnes & Noble Inc. reported a larger-than-expected quarterly loss. The superstore chain reduced its full-year sales and earnings forecasts, sending its shares down sharply, and said it would cut the number of new stores opening in 2009.
Sales for B&N stores 15 months or older, a key indicator of a retailer’s health, fell 7.4 percent from last year. |
and
| Quote: |
| Two other leading publishers, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins, have reported low earnings in recent weeks, citing an especially weak market for older, "backlist" books.
"What I think is happening is that you would have somebody who would go into a store and buy a front list title, and then … buy a second book. And now they aren’t buying that second book," says Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy. |
What this means is even less diversity of books and authors from the mainstream publishers. Fewer new authors or original ideas. Just rehashing of the same old shit.. over and over again. Also, fewer overall titles. This presents an even bleaker outlook than previously thought for the foreseeable future in the book world.
My review of Bradley Denton’s Laughin’ Boy appears in the latest San Antonio Current.
| Quote: |
| Throughout his riveting satirical novel, Denton successfully incorporates text equivalents of several early 21st-century mass communication modes, including video clips, newsgroup posts, sound bites, internet group chat, talk shows, and web pages alongside the more traditional-looking therapy transcripts and linear prose episodes. He wisely centers the story on the tragic tale of Laughin’ Boy, forcing us to take a hard look at contemporary media and its ability to derail society from the important to the trivial. |
[ 
Mood: Amused ]
This parody from CollegeHumor speaks to all of us that have struggled through the Windows reality. Make sure you stay for the ending which tickled this Open Source advocate to no end.
"Our free trial of kung fu has expired!"
Over at SciFi, they’re offering up their list of the 6 Scariest Environmental Doomsday Movies.
| Quote: |
| It’s Green Week here at NBC Universal, the parent company of SCI FI Wire: the time when thoughts turn to ways we can do our part to heal the planet and nurture the environment.
But we here at SCI FI Wire like to take a different approach to environmental concerns. Let others come up with suggestions for low-energy light bulbs and energy-efficient washing machines. We prefer to ask: What if? What if you all screw up and the planet dies a horrible death, leaving the few survivors to scrabble among the wreckage, fleeing mutant, flesh-eating zombies, watching cities fall to massive tidal waves, forced to eat the corpses of the dead just to live another bleak day? |
No Silent Running? No Blade Runner?
What else is missing?
[ 
Mood: Shocked ]
Sadly, this Guardian article reads like a bad sf parable.
| Quote: |
| Hypothetical question: You’re heartsick about global warming, so you’ve just paid $25,000 to put a solar system on the roof of your home. How do you respond to news that it was manufactured with a chemical that is 17,000 times stronger than carbon dioxide as a cause of global warming?
It may sound like somebody’s idea of a bad joke. But last month, a study from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography reported that nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), with a global warming potential of 17,000, is now present in the atmosphere at four times the expected level and rapidly rising. Use of NF3 is currently booming, for products from computer chips and flats-screen LCDs to thin-film solar photovoltaics, an economical and increasingly popular solar power format. |
wow… that sucks!
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound.
Elsewhere by William Peter Blatty
Promo copy:
This incredible haunted house novel from William Peter Blatty, the legendary author of The Exorcist, is disturbing, unsettling, chilling, and laced with a nasty streak of dark humor. Elsewhere is a must-have for all fans of dark fiction and sure to become a time-honored classic in the genre.
Promo copy:
The sneak attack on Pearl Harbor is widely regarded as a major defeat for the U.S. Navy. However, if Japanese Admiral Nagumo had only followed his orders, the results would have been catastrophic. Nagumo was supposed to launch a final attack, but decided he couldn’t afford the few hours necessary to hit the mundane remaining targets. In the alternate history audio 1942, Nagumo’s mind is changed and he attacks. Pearl Harbor is no longer viable as a base and Hawaii cannot be reinforced, which leads to a Japanese invasion of the islands.
Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game
Promo copy:
Based on the epic and widely-acclaimed new Sci Fi Channel series, Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game is an exciting game of mistrust, intrigue, and the struggle for survival. In the Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game, players play one of ten of their favorite characters from the show, each with their own unique abilities and weaknesses, and must all work together in order for humanity to have any hope of survival. However, one or more players in every game secretly side with the Cylons, and players must attempt to expose the traitor while fuel shortages, food contaminations, and political unrest threaten to tear the fleet apart! The game comes complete with 10 character cards, 32 highly-detailed plastic ships, high-quality card board tokens, hundreds of cards, and a game board with resource counters.
Sometimes life is not fair. I had plans to play this for the first time tonight but I’ve developed a cold. Hopefully, I’ll feel better by Sunday, when I’ll be able to play again. Looks cool and the initial reviews have been stellar. More on this later…
In my recent review of Quantum of Solace, I worried that I was being overly critical when I called the film "a mediocre addition to the Bond mythos" or when I declared "the most disappointing movie of the year." But after reading Robert Wilonsky’s review in City Pages, I realized I wasn’t critical enough.
| Quote: |
| At 106 minutes, it’s the shortest of the Bond films, but it feels like one of the longest as it bounces hither and yon only to wind up stranded in a Bolivian desert, where baddie Dominic Greene (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly‘s Mathieu Amalric) is sucking the sand dry of its underwater river. Yawn. Used to be, Bond villains were larger-than-life Evil Geniuses who at least had Grand Aspirations to take over the world, bwah-haw-haw; now, the bad guy’s just a phony environmentalist with a thing for deposed dictators and dry wells. |
And you know what? He’s right on. I should have been far more critical but I allowed my love for Bond and Casino Royale to unduly influence the review. I soft pedaled it.
Some more spot on critiques courtesy of Wilonsky:
"Quantum is a spastic, indecipherable, unholy, and altogether unwatchable mess."
"[It is as though they] filmed Quantum on a roller coaster and cut the movie with a food processor set on ‘unintelligible.’"
"[T]here’s no need to worry about where Quantum of Solace fits in the Bond pantheon—it’s easily one of the worst."
Ouch.
While I realize this will fall on deaf ears, wait for the video. Stay home… read a book.. play some games… do whatever else and save your hard earned money. Quantum promises nothing but disappointment.
Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound.
Promo copy:
The first ten issues of the award-winning series written by Brian K. Vaughan (EX MACHINA, Lost) are collected in an oversized hardcover with a new cover! Don’t miss the amazing SF epic that Stephen King called "The best graphic novel I’ve ever read."
RevSF was in on this from the beginning:
| Quote: |
| Y : The Last Man #4 (DC Comics/Vertigo, $2.95)
After reading the first issue of this series, I think this book could be Vertigo’s next major hit. Y tells the story of Yorick Brown, the last man on earth. Brian K. Vaughn’s script for the first issue was smart, funny, thoughtful and engaging. You will be kicking yourself later if you miss out on this great series in the making. |
From Evan Cantrell’s Two-Cent Review: August 2002 Preview (August 8, 2002).
Succubus Takes Manhattan by Nina Harper
The sequel to Succubus in the City. I don’t think I’m quite their target market.
The Caryatids by Bruce Sterling
Promo copy:
In the vein of William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition and Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, The Caryatids looks at the near future and forecasts not just our problems, but incredible solutions using technology currently under development. The caryatids are three identical clone sisters: Vera, a pollution expert who’s dealing with worldwide cleanup efforts; Mila, media star extraordinaire and member of the most powerful family-firm in southern California; and Sonja, a medical specialist stationed deep within China’s Gobi Desert. All three have the brains and the talents desperately needed to save a world suffering from global warning, runaway pollution, and uncontrolled political maneuvering. Too bad their explosive family history has left them hating each other…
Dragonheart by Todd J. McCaffrey
Promo copy:
Todd McCaffrey’s first solo novel in the classic Dragonriders of Pern series, Dragonsblood, was hailed by critics and embraced by the countless devoted readers of the landmark science fiction saga created by his mother, Anne McCaffrey. Now the chronicles of Pern take another captivating turn as the embattled planet, the brave pioneers who call it home, and the magnificent flame-breathing creatures who fly high to protect it confront a dire new challenge.
The grim specter of sickness looms over the Weyrs of Pern, felling fire-lizards and posing a potentially devastating threat to their dragon cousins, Pern’s sole defense against the deadly phenomenon that is Thread. Fiona, the youngest and only surviving daughter of Lord Bemin, is just coming of age, and about to assume the duties of a Weyrwoman, when word spreads that dragons have indeed begun succumbing to the new contagion. With the next season of Threadfall quickly approaching, and the already diminished ranks of the dragons once more under siege, every Weyr across Pern is in crisis mode. It is hardly the time for disturbing distractions–such as the strange voice Fiona suddenly hears in her mind at the darkest and most urgent moments.
Circumstances and the mood of the weyrfolk worsen when advance patrols relay the dreaded news that black dust–the unmistakable herald of falling Thread–has been sighted. As more dragons sicken and die, leaving only a new generation of weyrlings too young to succeed them, Weyrleader B’Nik and queen rider Lorana arrive from Benden Weyr to comb Fort Weyr’s archives in a desperate search for clues from the past that may hold the solution to the plague.
But could the actual past itself prove the pathway to salvation for Pern’s stricken dragons and the entire imperiled planet? Guided by a mysterious ally from a wholly unexpected place, and trusting in the unique dragon gift for transcending time, Fiona will join a risky expedition with far-reaching consequences for both Pern’s future and her personal destiny.
Promo copy:
The highly acclaimed director of FINDING NEMO and the creative storytellers behind CARS and RATATOUILLE transport you to a galaxy not so far away for a new cosmic comedy adventure about a determined robot named WALL-E.
After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, the curious and lovable WALL-E discovers a new purpose in life when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. Join them and a hilarious cast of characters on a fantastic journey across the universe. Transport yourself to a fascinating new world with Disney-Pixar’s latest adventure, now even more astonishing on DVD and loaded with bonus features, including the exclusive animated short film BURN-E. WALL-E is a film your family will want to enjoy over and over again.
1. BURN-E Hilarious, All-New Animated Short Bringing Light To The Galaxy Eventual-E, 2. BnL Shorts An Amusing Peek Into The Inner Workings Of The Buy n Large Corporation, 3. Lots Of Bots Storybook This Imaginative Storybook Comes To Life Loaded With Fun Games, 4. Making Of Featurettes, 5. Bot Files Get To Know WALL-E’s Robot Friends, 6. DisneyFile Digital Copy Watch Your DVD In The Living Room And Your DisneyFile Digital Copy On The Go, 7. Presto Amazing Animated Theatrical Short Film, 8. Deleted Scenes, 9. Sneak Peek WALL-E’s Tour Of The Universe WALL-E Takes You On A Real Ride Through Space, 10. Animation Sound Design: Building Worlds From The Sound Up Legendary Sound Designer Ben Burtt Shares Secrets Of Creating The Sounds Of WALL-E, 11. Audio Commentary With Director Andrew Stanton, 12. The Pixar Story By Leslie Iwerks An Award-Winning Filmmaker Tells The Riveting Story Of The Innovative Company That Revolutionized Hollywood, 13. Additional Deleted Scenes, 14. WALL-E’s Treasures And Trinkets Hilarious Moments
Considering Wall*E was the most entertaining movies of the year, I’m looking forward to watching these extras and seeing the film again.