Monthly Archives: August 2008

Clipping Service: Mark Leeper on iPod Ads

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Mark Leeper writes in the 8/22/08 issue of MT Void: 

There is the problem that if you go through life with iPod buds in your ears people tend to assume you are a mentally-deficient anti-social techno-dweeb. It does not help that the Apple ads for the iPod seem to picture silhouettes of what appear to be mentally deficient techno-dweebs dancing like crazy to music only they can hear. And I am glad only they can hear the music. Before the iPod people carried these huge “boom-boxes,” awkward but portable stereo systems and they would inflict their so-called music on all who surround them. The iPod is a whole lot better technology. But the ads give the impression that the listener is engulfed in orgasmic, frenzied musical nirvana. And the person in the ads does not look like the sharpest cheddar in the cheese shop.

Not Ready for Mythcon Players

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Not Ready for Mythcon Players

Diana snapped this photo of the Not-Ready-For-Mythcon-Players in action at Mythcon XXXIX last weekend. Adhering to a long-standing tradition, the troupe always appears in bedsheets, worn either as togas or cloaks. Their legendary comedy has even warranted a mention in the pages of the New York Times.

The Players in the photo are: Autumn Rauscher (in mask), Ellie Farrell, Bonnie Rauscher (behind microphone), Carl Hostetter, Marion Van Loo, Lee Speth (seated), Edith Crowe, Berni Phillips, Chris Gilson, and David Bratman (narrator).

Update 8/24/2008: Thanks to Wayne Hammond for the full, corrected list of Players, and his description of the action (see his comment below).

Return of C’Mell?

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Readers of the Bastion, the Yahoo group for science fiction and fantasy cat-lovers, recently heard from Cordwainer Smith’s daughter, Rosana Hart. She had updated her website about her father and wanted them to know it includes “a piece about a telepathic experience I had with one of my own cats, ‘The Return of C’Mell,’ sort of.”

The gallery of family photos also has one of Cordwainer Smith with Melanie, the cat after whom C’Mell was named.

The site update has already been praised on The Crotchety Old Fan.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]

Melanie the cat

Space Station Realpolitik?

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A few years ago Nasa announced plans to retire the aging space shuttle fleet by 2010, four years before it has a replacement craft ready:

The retirement will leave the US without orbital capacity for at least four years, until the Ares booster programme is complete. European and Russian launchers will service the space station in the meantime.

The Shuttle’s planned successor is “Project Constellation,” using Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles and the Orion Spacecraft. According to the United States Vision for Space Exploration, the Orion should conduct its first human spaceflight mission in 2014.

Now a reader of Chaos Manor has connected the dots between America‘s imminent dependence on Russian and European equipment to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, and the current crisis over Georgia. A strained relationship between the U.S. and Russia would produce all kinds of problems, including some detrimental to the space program.

Accused TN Church Shooter
Faces New Charges

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Jim Adkisson, the man accused of shooting eight people in a West Knoxville, Tennessee church, is facing new charges:

A ten-count indictment was released Wednesday afternoon that includes charges of first degree murder, felony murder and attempted first degree murder.

The grand jury said there was enough evidence suggesting Adkisson intentionally killed church member Greg McKendry with premeditation, as well as Linda Kraeger, and that he attempted to kill six others.

The Shrinking Worldcon?

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Emily Mah, an sf and fantasy writer (who’s also published as E. M. Tippetts) found Denvention 3 a cause for mourning, for a couple of reasons:

And sadly, WorldCon seems to be shrinking. This one in Denver was notably smaller than any other I’ve seen. Some think that WorldCon is slowly being cannibalized by ComiCon, and that’s definitely a possibility. Perhaps the saddest thing was how few of the Hugo nominees and winners came. The ceremony was dominated by other people reading acceptance speeches of little slips of paper.

What saddens me about all this isn’t so much that Denvention wasn’t the nonstop party that WorldCon usually is, though that too was a bummer. It’s hard to watch the community dissipating. One of the most interesting things about SF, that I learned coming out of Clarion West, was how interconnected everyone was. I.e. Connie Willis tells a story about turning down an offer to cowrite with David Brin, getting chocolates from him, losing said chocolates, and having Bruce Sterling help her find them again. Connie Willis, David Brin, and Bruce Sterling write in rather different styles, yet they all knew each other socially and artistically.

Best Novel nominees Sawyer, Scalzi and Stross all attended — if the voters wanted a winner to accept in person they only had to back one of them. Truly, I’d say the combination of (1) major sf/fantasy writers coming from all the largest English-language countries, and (2) Worldcons happening around the globe in places they can’t all afford to go, practically guarantees there will always be several proxies accepting others’ Hugos.

But Mah’s observation about the diminishing focus on the Worldcon for a closely-connected community of sf writers sounds like it may hold some truth. I don’t feel that way because Denvention wasn’t a large Worldcon, that may just coincide with the fading of the Boomer generation, which may be the real cause.

Update 8/21/2008: Cheryl Morgan points out that Ian McDonald (Brasyl) was at Denvention, too, so the only absent Best Novel nominee was the winner…

Sohus Family Background Probed

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The Pasadena Star News for August 19 reports details of John Sohus’ family situation, and also, that after his disappearance he was disinherited by his mother:

Ruth “Didi” Sohus, whose son, John, and daughter-in-law, Linda, vanished in February 1985, put explicit instructions in her will that stripped John of any claim to an estate valued at $180,000, according to court records.

“I intentionally and with full knowledge of any consequences specifically disinherit and omit any provisions for John Robert Sohus,” Didi wrote.