"The Time: The near future.

The Set: The set is a shabby, dimly-lit kitchen, the reflection of a run-down, high-tech world where everything is broken, and nothing gets fixed. This is tomorrow held together by a string.

A weak beam of sunlight slants through a narrow window. The light captures dust motes in the air. The sun itself is seen occasionally through a choking industrial haze; it tells us all we need to know about the scarcities, turmoil, and ecological problems of the world outside."

Quoted from the play "the last cardinal bird" by Neil Barret Jr. up on that great site called The Infinite Matrix which also used to host Bruce Sterling

"The Last Cardinal Bird in Tennessee is reprinted with permission from Neal's collection Slightly Off-Center (Swan Press. 1992). Neal's short-story collection Perpetuity Blues (Golden Gryphon, 2000) is already a classic and a collector's item, and it should be read by everyone who aspires to being funny and meaningful at the same time."

"To my mind, blogging is like stand-up comedy — it's a performance art. In that line of biz, you should always do your best to scamper off the boards while they still want more." -Bruce Sterling (from his "old" weblog)

"The cover-boy for WIRED's very first issue, way back in those legendary, romantic days of the cyberPleistocene," will start a new column for WIRED which does't have a name and it isn't active yet.

LINKS

"This glossy trade paperback reprints the full two Baker Street graphic novel arcs, some single standaalone issues and some never-seen-before illustrations.

The idea behind Baker Street is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche set in a world where WWI wasn't as devastating, where WWII never happened. The Victorian Age hasn't really died, and the technology isn't really up to the our present day standards. Most of all, the punk and gothic movement are in full swing, creating a subculture that clashes against the Victorian world they all live in, and Baker Street is in the centre of it."

From a review by Cindy Lynn Speer at sfsite.com

This is one of the finest stories of weird alternative history ever done and also a refreshing take on Sherlock Holmes. Ok, it's a comic, but Davis and Reed produced a book that appeals to fans of mystery, fantasy and rockmusic at the same time. The mix of references to the real world and the works of Arthur Conan Doyle works perfectly. It rolls the various elements into a completely original universe and tickles the mind with smart storytelling and great moments of suspense. Baker Street is highly recommended and it's been about time the paperback came out after having been in the making forever.

"Guy Davis is a self-taught writer/illustrator who has worked in the comics industry for over 17 years. He was the long-running artist on Sandman Mystery Theater with Matt Wagner and Steve Sagle for DC/vertigo. He designed and illustrated the Nevermen series for Dark Horse Comics and most recently worked as the artist on the Marvel series Deadline. He is currently working on his second creator-owned book, The Marquis.

Gary Reed was the publisher of Caliber Press, a specialty publisher of comics and books that released 1,500 issues in the 1990s. In addition to serving as President of Caliber, Gary was also publisher of Stabur Graphics and Vice President of McFarlane Toys during the inaugural launch of that company. He has written over 200 comics and books, including Baker Street, Renfield, Saint Germaine, Raven Chronicles, and others."

Taken from the description at amazon.com

Mike Hodel's Hour 25 has been broadcasted for Southern California since 1972, but now you can also tune in on the net. Lots of shows are archived and the page also features a section with space-news and stuff like that.

Unfortunately Microsoft's Explorer refuses to work with the sound-files....

"Four parents of Science Academy sophomores are determined to protect their children. From books.

The board of directors for the South Texas Independent School District is expected to decide tonight whether to ban two books — Aldous Huxley’s "Brave New World" and Robert Heinlein’s "Stranger in a Strange Land" — from the high school’s 10th grade English advanced placement curriculum. The books, part of the class’ summer reading list, may lead to "inappropriate sexual arousal of young teens," parent Julie Wilde wrote in her complaint to the district.

"We feel this is inappropriate for the ages of the students at (the) Science Academy or at any South Texas ISD High School," she continued in her letter, specifically citing "Brave New World."

"This is pornographic literature and we do not feel it has a place in any school funded by taxpayer dollars."

full story in the Valley Morning Star

"Stephenson's very long historical novel, the first volume of a projected trilogy, finds Enoch Root, the Wandering Jew/alchemist from 1999's Cryptonomicon, arriving in 1713 Boston to collect Daniel Waterhouse and take him back to Europe. Waterhouse, an experimenter in early computational systems and an old pal of Isaac Newton, is needed to mediate the fight for precedence between Newton and scientist and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, both of whom independently invented the calculus. Their escalating feud threatens to revert science to pre-empirical times. Root believes Waterhouse, as a close friend to both mathematicians, has the ability to calm the neurotic Newton's nerves and make peace with Leibniz. As Waterhouse sails back to Europe (and eludes capture by the pirate Blackbeard), he reminisces about Newton and the birth of England's scientific revolution during the 1600s. While the Waterhouse story line lets readers see luminaries like Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton at work, a concurrent plot line follows vagabond Jack Shaftoe (an ancestor of a Cryptonomicon character, as is Waterhouse), on his journey across 17th-century continental Europe. Jack meets Eliza, a young English woman who has escaped from a Turkish harem, where she spent her teenage years. The resourceful Eliza eventually rises and achieves revenge against the slave merchant who sold her to the Turks. Stephenson, once best known for his techno-geek SF novel Snow Crash, skillfully reimagines empiricists Newton, Hooke and Leibniz, and creatively retells the birth of the scientific revolution. He has a strong feel for history and a knack for bringing settings to life"

From Publishers Weekly, Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Order it at amazon.com

"A drug created by the former KGB to keep its agents sober so that they could drink opponents under the table before stealing their secrets is being sold on the internet to Hollywood stars as a defence against hangovers." Full story in the The Guardian

Found at Shithappens.

Here's a nice site to hang around in the afternoon.

"Michael Moore is on a mission in his new book: Regime Change. The man who slithered into the White House on tracks greased by his daddy's oil buddies is one of many targets in Mike's blistering follow-up to his smash #1 hit Stupid White Men, the biggest-selling nonfiction book of the year. Now no one is safe: corporate barons who have bilked millions out of their employees' lifetime savings, legislators who have stripped away our civil liberties in the name of "homeland security," and even that right-wing brother-in-law of yours (yes, we all have one) who manages, year after year, through his babbling idiocy, to ruin Thanksgiving dinner."

taken from the promo-page over at Michael Moore's excellent site which is always worthwhile checking out every once in a while

"Doctor Who has been voted the show people would most like to see back on TV in a Radio Times poll. The survey of 12,000 viewers found that 31% of them wanted to see the cult sci-fi BBC series revived."

fully story at BBC.

Trailersworld.com has a nice collection from the past, including Citizen Kane, Abbott and Costellor or the Rambo Trailers.

Yawn, it's about time again. Another Star Wars comes out and the internet goes crazy. Well, here's the first picture:

"Producer Rick McCallum clapped the final slate on the last take of principal photography for Star Wars: Episode III, wrapping at Fox Studios Australia at 6:42 pm Wednesday, September 17." quoted from Star Wars.com

No, the movie is not based on this fan-script, the guys at ILM said.

Obi Wan on the set

" I don't think I've ever seen it commented on, but there's a great affinity between writing poetry and SF. As with poetry, quality speculative fiction demands great skill with language and invites linguistic invention. As with poetry, good SF delves deep into metaphor while sliding lightly on the surface of its own joy of telling. As with poetry, quality SF demands a much greater collaboration on the part of the reader -- a greater sensitivity to detail, word-meaning, texture, and nuance, as well as a greater involvement in ferreting out meaning. "

from a Conversation with Dan Simmons over at The SF Site

This site is a resource for anyone who wants to talk about writing and publishing SF. The website is run by Cory Doctorow, author of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom which is still available as a download.

"Cory Doctorow is the most interesting new SF writer I've come across in years. He starts out at the point where older SF writers' speculations end. It's a distinct pleasure to give him some Whuffie."

• Rudy Rucker

Bonus-Link for writers: "A Writer’s Toolkit", Rudy Rucker's transcript of a speech given at Readercon in Burlington, Mass on July 12, 2003

“[I]t’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.” — Judy Blume

Open Your Mind to a Banned Book

One great website with the collected works available online and stuff like an MP3 of "The Dunwich Horror" as a "Suspense" Radio Show from November 5, 1945 (5.6MB, right-click and download with this link). And don't forget to check out Cthuugle, the complete HP Lovecraft Search Engine And while you are it, here are the Tales of the Plush Cthulhu!

"One of the things that reveals Harry Potter as pure escapist fantasy, rather than - as with the best (children's or not) fantasy - an attempt to imagine a different organization of the world and our relationship to it, is the use of magical artefacts purely as commodities. The wizard world is our world, but with better stuff. The sweets are better. Football is better, because it's on broomsticks. The postal service is better, because there are cute owls who don't go on strike. This is not creating an alternative way of looking at the world; it's inventing gimmicks. Just as some apparently anti-capitalist actions fall back into a capitalist model through a reliance on "ethical shopping", Harry Potter is "magical shopping".

taken from a story by Deva at Barbelith

They got some interesting book discussions over there, friends!

Universal Pictures is working on a realistic movie based on this great 60s-show with it's marionette-actors and those great model-kits instead of boring computer graphics. Not too much is known about this production yet, but it sounds like it's gonna be really, really lame.

"Set in the year 2065, this is the story of ex-astronaut and USAF Colonel Jeff Tracy (Paxton) and his five sons who form a rescue team called International Rescue (nicknamed "The Thunderbirds") that uses a fleet of vehicles, from rockets to boats, to race into action whenever their unique services are required. Helping the Tracys are Brains (Edwards), a technological genius who invented the amazing rockets used by International Rescue; Jeff's assistant Kyrano and his daughter Tin-Tin; the lovely Lady Penelope (Dahl), and her driver, Parker. In this adventure, Tracy Island is attacked by an evil mastermind, Aristotle Spode, AKA The Hood (Kingsley), who wants to use the International Rescue vehicles to commit acts of crime. The emphasis of the story will be on Alan (14-year-old Corbet), the youngest of the clan at 12, who will have to rescue his father and brothers from Spode's villainous clutches, with the help of two of his friends." -quoted from Yahoo! Movies

The first picture

Directed by Jonathan Frakes and starring Bill Paxton (Jeff Tracy); Ben Kingsley (The Hood); Anthony Edwards (Brains); Sophia Myles (Lady Penelope); Philip Winchester (Scott Tracy); Lex Shrapnel (John Tracy); Dominic Colenso (Virgil Tracy); Ben Torgenson (Gordon Tracy); Ron Cook (Parker).

Expected Release Date U.S. : 23rd July 2004 (Subject to change)

Lady Penelope with her new car

PICS FROM THAT BBC-WORLD EXCLUSIVE 15 sec uncompleted FX shot of THUNDEBIRDS 3 taking off from TRACY ISLAND.

By the way, whatever happened to Matt Stone & Trey Parker's (South Park) R-rated Marionette Action Epic called TEAM AMERICA? Can't wait to see it after reading the announcement.

"Our Cast will be deliberately made of wood, but that will only be taking to the extreme what is evident in many Hollywood movies right now," said Stone. "I hate all these new Hollywood films that are CGI-driven. Trey and I loved that 'Thunderbirds' series because of the artistry of the marionettes. It's amazing that a studio would make a movie out of it and take out the only thing that was good about the series." -quoted from Variety

THUNDERBIRDS LINKS:

based on the description of Hell found in Dante's Divine Comedy. Answer the questions below as honestly as you can and discover your fate. Based on your answers, your purity will be judged and you will be banished to the appropriate level of hell. Abandon all hope.

The Singing Detective with Robert Downey Jr. is coming up which made us think about bringing back the tv-nights, starting with screenings of the original BBC-series from 1986 and bringing back old faves like The Prisoner or Twin Peaks later on.