(1) ANOTHER HARTWELL-WORTHY GARB-MENT. [Item by Daniel Dern.] From the David-Hartwell-worthy wardrobe catalog: the PAC-MAN Jacket/suit (from Opposuits).

I first saw it posted by Mitch Wagner, a fellow sf/f fan (and telecom and enterprise industry analyst, technology writer/editor, which is how/where I’ve known him).

(And here’s a related photo of from my 2017 Helsinki WorldCon coverage, as seen in a department store.)

(2) GET CRACKING. “Federal Judge Denies Effort to Slow-Walk IMLS Restoration” reports Publishers Weekly.

A federal judge on June 5 denied defendants’ request for a stay pending appeal on his May 13 preliminary injunction in Rhode Island v. Trump, a case in which 21 states’ attorneys general sued to halt the dismantling of three federal agencies, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services, in response to a White House executive order. Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island observed that the defendants appear to be complying with the court order “without any apparent harm—irreparable or otherwise.”

In addition to the IMLS, the Minority Business and Development Agency and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service are implicated in the suit. Defendants in the case include the agencies and their acting directors, President Donald Trump, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought….

(3) DAILY “TIGHTROPE” TRIVIA GAME — OOPS! [Item by David Goldfarb.] Among my quizzes nowadays is one on the Britannica website called “Tightrope”. Today’s quiz featured this question:

In 1953 Ray Bradbury published what anti-censorship book following firefighter Guy Montag?

Ummm….no. Try that again.

(4) DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY – BUT HIS APPRENTICE DOESN’T. Christopher Lockett continues his Pratchett series with “Discworld Reread #3: Mort”.

…Why Death wants an apprentice is unclear at first, but it turns out Mort isn’t the first mortal he’s taken on. Mort soon meets Albert, a former wizard of some note who now acts as Death’s manservant, and Death’s adopted daughter Ysabell—with whom Mort forms a prickly and combative relationship of the entirely predictable variety.

Why does Death, who self-identifies as an anthropomorphic personification, want or need an apprentice? As it turns out, he wants to take some personal time; he wants to satisfy his curiosity about these weird and feckless mortals for whom he acts as psychopomp² by spending time among them….

…To be clear, we’re still a ways off from actually mapping Discworld. The Discworld Mapp, a collaboration between Sir Terry and Stephen Briggs, came out in 1995, the same year as Maskerade (#18).⁵ As he explains in the introduction to the Mapp, Sir Terry never intended to create one—but by that point, eighteen novels set in the Discworld had effectively created a geography that could be surveyed.

And while we’re far from any sort of definitive sense of geography in Mort, there is a definite sense of the world’s shape—and more importantly, a sense of inhabited places, cities, countries, kingdoms, and so forth, that exist in spatial and political relation to one another. This sensibility is a departure from The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, which—as is appropriate to the kind of fantasy they parody—have a far more nebulous understanding of space and place that corresponds to the conventions of romance. Medieval romance, like many fairy tales, tends to operate on a hic sunt dracones (Here Be Dragons) logic, in which the spaces outside enclaves of safety is unmapped and lawless, spaces in which anything is possible and doesn’t operate according to the rules or laws of reality. So, should you venture out of your village or beyond the castle walls, all bets are off: monsters, gingerbread cottages, wandering enchanters, magical temples, mysterious knights guarding river crossings, homicidal bunnies … all are possible and indeed likely encounters, whether you’re a questing hero or cowardly failed wizard.⁶…

(5) EVERGREEN ADVICE. Kermit the Frog delivers commencement speech at University of Maryland. Originally streamed on May 22.

(6) MARA CORDAY (1930-2025) Actress Mara Corday died February 9 at the age of 95. The New York Times profile says her death was not widely reported until now.

In the 1950s, Mara Corday, a nightclub showgirl and popular pinup model, was a star of three science-fiction movie thrillers, including “Tarantula” (1955), in which she fled from a 100-foot-tall spider that had escaped from a laboratory.

“The whole world is after him,” Ms. Corday told the gossip columnist Hedda Hopper that year, about the terrifying arachnid. “He’s a pretty unhappy spider, I can tell you. I’m a lady scientist, and Leo Carroll and John Agar are playing two top roles.”

At a time when sci-fi cinema was focused on subjects like alien invasions, space exploration and nuclear paranoia, Ms. Corday was cast in B-movie tales about nasty, gigantic creatures.

In 1957, she played a mathematician in “The Giant Claw,” in which a gigantic bird (first thought to be a U.F.O.) tears down buildings and foments panic. She returned that year to outsize insects, as a rancher in “The Black Scorpion,” about giant scorpions threatening the countryside after rising out of a volcanic eruption in Mexico.

While filming on location in Mexico, Ms. Corday discovered a coral snake of normal size in her hotel room. Her screams brought a bellboy to her rescue.

“After working with scorpions all day,” she was quoted as saying in Valley Times of North Hollywood, “I’m in no condition to combat snakes at night.”

Ms. Corday — whose movie career stretched from sci-fi and western films in the 1950s to four of her friend Clint Eastwood’s movies decades later — died on Feb. 9 at her home in Valencia, Calif. She was 95….

(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

June 6, 1959 — Gary Graham. (Died 2024.)

I was trying to remember where first saw Gary Graham as a genre performer. What I remember him most for is in the recurring role of Soval, the Vulcan ambassador to Earth, in the Enterprise series. It was a most excellent performance by him. 

So it turns out that it was the Alien Nation franchise in which he played Detective Matthew Sikes, which aired from the late Eighties until mid-Nineties, where I first saw him. Great role by him it was indeed. 

He had the recurring role of Captain Ken Hetrick on what I think was the underappreciated M.A.N.T.I.S. series. Yes, it was a slightly awkward merging of a police procedural and a SF superhero story but I liked it a lot. 

He was the lead in, well, Robot Jox,  post-apocalyptic mecha film; the mechas being giant robots pilots by soldiers. Joe Haldeman wrote the innumerable screenplays as he and Stuart Gordon who wrote the story never agreed on anything. As near as I can tell from IMDb and other sources, it cost at least ten million and according to them made the studio nothing.

Finally he got involved in one of those fanfic Trek videos that CBS decided to ignore as long as they didn’t attempt to make them a commercial property, e.g. sell them as DVDs.  (Yes, this one asked CBS to sell them for them. You can guess the answer.) 

In Star Trek: Of Gods and Men and the web series that came off it he was Ragnar, a shape-shifter, who led a rebellion against the Federation.  Bet that didn’t end well.

They claim CBS authorized them to write it as a script for a new series. Of course neither CBS or Paramount ever publicly said anything about this. 

(8) COMICS SECTION.

• Bliss makes the catch of a lifetime. 
• Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee has another awful pun. Which is why you’ll want to read it, right?
• Free Range has a safety record. 
• Rhymes with Orange has a special deal for those who understand it. 
• Tom the Dancing Bug shows airports are busy thanks to the White House. 

(9) IT’S HUUUGE! “AMC Unveils Galactus-Themed Popcorn Bucket For The Fantastic Four: First Steps — and It’s Huge” says IGN.

Ever wanted to eat your popcorn directly out of Galactus’ head? Well, if you plan on seeing The Fantastic Four: First Steps in theaters, you’ll be able to do just that. The Galactus popcorn bucket for the upcoming film has been revealed — and needless to say, it’s probably going to be a major collectors item.

The “Giant Galactus Popcorn Vessel,” as it’s being called by AMC Theatres, stands a whopping 17 inches tall and features the film’s antagonist, who will be played by The Witch and Nosferatu’s Ralph Ineson, from the neck up. The bucket is a replica of the character’s head, which dons bright blue eyes, and helmet, which is finished in a shimmery purple hue. The popcorn itself is eaten out of the open top of Galactus’ helmet and, according to the chain, a large popcorn comes with each limited edition bucket….

(10) SETH SINGS SINATRA. [Item by John A Arkansawyer.] I just heard the story—he sounds pretty good. I did not know he was a singer or that he had five Grammy nominations. I guess he contains multitudes: “Seth MacFarlane of ‘Family Guy’ releases previously unrecorded Sinatra arrangements” at NPR.

Seth MacFarlane is best known for creating and starring in American Dad! and Family Guy, as well as co-creating and starring in the Ted film and TV franchise. But off screen, he has another passion: singing. In fact, he’s a five-time Grammy nominee.

MacFarlane has interpreted tunes from the Great American Songbook, big-band style with a classic, baritone voice. He’s long been an admirer of Frank Sinatra. So he was overjoyed when the late crooner’s daughter Tina approached him about purchasing a trove of long-lost musical arrangements written for her father…

Martínez: Whenever I hear someone try Frank Sinatra songs in karaoke, it’s like they’re trying the vocal mannerisms of Frank. So, how do you try to be you, but also give the essence and sense of Frank?

MacFarlane: I had the luxury of training with Lee and Sally Sweetland, who were two contemporaries of Sinatra who worked with him, worked with Dean Martin, worked with Streisand. They just taught you how to sing the way these songs are supposed to be sung. The best of Sinatra to me are his ballad albums. He’s singing like he’s at a concert hall; he’s singing like he’s singing an opera. There’s nothing about it that evokes any of those kinds of gimmicky mannerisms that people sometimes do….

(11) ANOTHER HEARTBREAK. “Private lunar lander from Japan crashes into moon in failed mission” reports NPR.

A private lunar lander from Japan crashed while attempting a touchdown Friday, the latest casualty in the commercial rush to the moon.

The Tokyo-based company ispace declared the mission a failure several hours after communication was lost with the lander. Flight controllers scrambled to gain contact, but were met with only silence and said they were concluding the mission.

Communications ceased less than two minutes before the spacecraft’s scheduled landing on the moon with a mini rover. Until then, the descent from lunar orbit seemed to be going well.

CEO and founder Takeshi Hakamada apologized to everyone who contributed to the mission, the second lunar strikeout for ispace….

(12) TINY ZAPPERS. [Item by Steven French.] Build-your-own proton blaster: “Tabletop particle blaster: How tiny nozzles and lasers could replace giant accelerators” – Phys.org has details.

Proton beams with giga-electron-volt (GeV) energies—once thought to be achievable only with massive particle accelerators—may soon be generated in compact setups thanks to a breakthrough by researchers at The University of Osaka.

A team led by Professor Masakatsu Murakami has developed a novel concept called micronozzle acceleration (MNA). By designing a microtarget with tiny nozzle-like features and irradiating it with ultraintense, ultrashort laser pulses, the team successfully demonstrated—through advanced numerical simulations—the generation of high-quality, GeV-class proton beams: a world-first achievement.

The article, “Generation of giga-electron-volt proton beams by micronozzle acceleration,” was published in Scientific Reports….

(13) MONTHLY ASTRONOMICAL NEWS. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Astrophysicist Dr Becky has a 30-minute monthly astronomy news.  A fair bit will be of interest to SF fans into science.  In the mix is the sad news that NASA’s 2026/7 space science budget had been halved (even if the humans returning to the Moon budgets have been increased by over half a billion dollars) Astrophysicists are really worried as there is talk that they may lose two-thirds of their budget… 

Elsewhere there is news on the hunt for ‘planet nine’, the supposed, and certainly elusive outermost planet of the Solar system. The big problem is that because it is so far away, it would be very faint and also move very slowly against the backdrop of distant stars.  But now we have the infra red observation data from over 23 years.  And, guess what? They have found an object that has moved the anticipated distance.  The bad news is that we will have to wait another couple of decades for another data point and that might give us a possible orbit.

Meanwhile, for Filers in the southern hemisphere, this is the month to see the main part of the Galaxy and its centre.  But for those of us here in the northern hemisphere, the 1st of June is the best time to see Venus as that is the date of its ‘greatest western elongation’. This in turn means it appears to us the furthest it gets from the Sun which means it is the furthest it gets from the Sunrise.  So, if you are an early bird, keep an eye out for it before dawn.  Conversely, if you are a bit of a night owl, we have Mars and Jupiter just after Sunset. Jupiter will be lower in the horizon below the (tiny sliver of the) Moon on the 28th May. Mars will be close to the Moon on the 31st May and 1st June. 

And there is news of the great dimethyl sulphide exoplanet detection which, sadly, increasingly looks like it is not a reliable biosignature (and indeed elsewhere the statistical analysis has been almost heatedly debated). Then there’s news of a number of world class telescopes in Chile coming under threat of light pollution from a proposed, major green energy project to be sited a few miles away.

The video rounds off with a look at what is happening to NASA.  This is even worrying some over here at ESA as there are a number of joint ESA-NASA missions under threat. Becky also opines that budget is not driven by science as the dots don’t join up. The budget supports a drive for humans on the Moon and Mars as if we do not sort out whether there is life on Mars before humans arrive as any subsequent detection might be human contamination. Sadly, because of the time it takes to get budgets sorted, it could be the end of this year or even early next, before we know NASA’s fate.

(14) WHY SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE IS A MASTERPIECE. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Half a decade on, Moid Moidelhoff over at Media Death Cult has been refreshing some of his old vids.  This time he has just re-posted his analysis of Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. He is forthright from the start telling anyone no to expect this video to give either a quick thumbs up or thumbs down. 

“Sorry, I’m not going to help you with that. You should piss off, and go and read the book yourselves.  Don’t ever let any some stupid YouTuber tell you what books to read!.  I mean that more than ever with the stone-cold classics…

You can see the 16-minute video below.

[Thanks to Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, Teddy Harvia, David Goldfarb, John A Arkansawyer, Daniel Dern, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie, and Mark Roth-Whitworth for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jayn.]