Pixel Scroll 6/1/16 This Scroll Will Self-Pixelate In Five Seconds

(1) HOAX OF THRONES. From Entertainment Weekly, Game of Thrones producers reveal 4 of their epic cast pranks”.

  1. John Bradley’s Ridiculous New Costume.

During the making of season 6, Kit Harington (Jon Snow) and Hannah Murray (Gilly) asked the producers to help them play a wicked trick on their costar and friend, John Bradley (Samwell Tarley). Explains Weiss: “Hannah has long had the sh–tiest costumes on Game of Thrones; she’s been in a burlap sack for five years. She was so happy that she finally gets into a real piece of clothing this year. So Kit and Hannah thought it would be funny to play a joke on John and let him think he’s going to get a new costume too.”

The producers wrangled the show’s costume department to stage a mock fitting for Bradley in a fake costume before shooting began. “We thought it would be great to make the costume ludicrous, but just believable enough to not know it was a gag – so he’d think he would be wearing this on screen,” Weiss says. The result, as you can see in the exclusive photo above, “was all rental stuff, very Henry the VIII, with Tudor bloomers and a massive codpiece that wasn’t even the same color as the rest of the costume.”

(2) CAST PHOTOS. At Pottermore, “A first look at Ron, Hermione and Rose Granger-Weasley as they will appear in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two. Noma Dumezweni ‘gets Hermione inside out,’ according to J.K. Rowling”.

Yesterday, we got a sneak peek at Harry, Ginny and Albus Potter in full Cursed Child costume and make-up. Now, let’s meet the Granger-Weasleys.

Here we see Harry’s two best friends Ron Weasley (Paul Thornley) and Hermione Granger (Noma Dumezweni) in full costume with their daughter Rose Granger-Weasley, who will be played by actress Cherrelle Skeete.

‘It’s 19 years later when the play begins,’ Paul explained. ‘Ron is married to Hermione Granger and they’re now the Granger-Weasleys. Our magnificent daughter Rose Granger-Weasley is about to start at Hogwarts, which is obviously a big day for everyone.’

 

(3) EARLY GRRM. It’s not a hoax, but it may be a hallucination. Dangerous Minds, an underground music and culture site, discusses “’The Armageddon Rag,’ George R.R. Martin’s Rock-and-Roll Occult Fantasy Novel”,

In 1983 Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin published a standalone novel drenched in classic rock that featured the following: a sorceress marshaling a menacing army of loyal warriors, a faithful direwolf cut down in the act of protecting its master, and a scary henchman of well-nigh mountain-ous stature.

The book is called The Armageddon Rag, and a perusal of the synopses of his other pre-Song of Ice and Fire output leads me to the conclusion that the book is Martin’s most realistic novel and surely represents his most sustained homage to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien—unless, of course, the still-uncompleted Westeros/Essos series qualifies.

It also doesn’t really work.

According to the author, The Armageddon Rag nearly sank Martin’s career—and also (HBO subscribers, rejoice) prompted the writer to investigate the possibilities of writing for television….

(4) CELEBRATING WOMEN SF/F ARTISTS. The Society of Illustrators exhibit “Points of Vision – Celebrating Women Artists in Fantasy and Science Fiction” runs June 8-August 20 in New York.

When people think of the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre they often think of it as a male-dominated field, both in authorship and art. However, women have always been a critical part of the genre, and have often brought a slightly different point of view to the way that they create around the themes of myth, heroism, science, and futurism. Mary Shelley wrote one of the first, if not the first science fiction books in Frankenstein. For every Tolkien there was an Ursula K. Le Guin. For every Frank Herbert an Octavia Butler. When we think of Science Fiction and Fantasy Art, it is often the names like Frazetta and Hildebrandt that come first to mind. However, all along through the art history of the genre you have women such as Kinuko Craft, Mary Blair, Julie Bell, and many more who have been creating their own visual worlds and illustrating the worlds of authors, filmmakers, and game designers. For the first time, the work of women in this genre will be exhibited together in Point of Vision: Celebrating Women Artists in Fantasy and Science Fiction at the Museum of Illustration at the Society of Illustrators.

We have chosen to exhibit these women artists together to propose that although both men and women have always created art in the worlds of Science Fiction and Fantasy, women inherently have a slightly different point of view, a unique way of internalizing the themes and stories and then creating visuals imbued with their perspective. However it would be a mistake to say that art created by women is automatically “feminine” — in this exhibit the viewer will see that there are as many different definitions of “woman artist” as there are women creating art.

This exhibit is curated by Irene Gallo and Lauren Panepinto.

(5) PROPHECY REDEEMED. “It’s 2016 — where’s my reusable spacecraft?” demands Chip Hitchcock, setting up the BBC’s reply in “One thing spacecraft have never achieved – until now”.

So a short explanation for why reusable rockets haven’t arrived earlier is simply the technical difficulty. However, the idea of reusable spaceplanes dates back to before World War Two.

Before the Apollo programme, spaceplanes were thought to be the future of reusable spacecraft, says Roger Launius at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC. “The idea has been out there since the Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon science fiction comic strips in the 1920s and 1930s. Every single one of the spacecraft in those strips was a reusable spaceplane. So since before World War Two we always thought spaceflight would be like airplane activity.”

After 1945, captured German rocket scientists revealed they had planned – but never built – a suborbital spaceplane, the Silverbird, with which the Nazis had hoped to bomb the US. A novel design feature was that it was shaped like a wing, so its shape helped add aerodynamic lift. This ‘lifting body’ idea was harnessed by the US Air Force in 1958 when it started work on a reusable winged spaceplane, the X-20 Dyna-Soar – but the Moon program saw that canned in 1963.

(6) SIXTIES BATMAN ACTORS COLLABORATING. CinemaBlend says when they’re not busy collecting Medicare, “Batman’s Adam West And Burt Ward Are Working On A New Project”. (Okay, I made up the Medicare part.)

Although Adam West’s information was sparse, we may already have a clue about what this thing is. Last year, he and Burt Ward mentioned that they would be voicing their versions of Batman and Robin in a 90-minute animated project. It seems unlikely that this would be a movie released in theaters. Instead, it seems like a much better fit as a direct-to-DVD movie, something streamed on an online platform or even as a TV special. However, there’s been no official announcements concerning that particular project, and it’s unclear whether what West is currently talking about is the same project or something entirely different. Either way, having the old guard together again is intriguing.

(7) DEVIL IN A BLUE RAY. The other day Guillermo del Toro praised director John Carpenter in a long series of tweets that included this story:

(8) BIRTHDAY DEITY

  • Born June 1, 1936 – Morgan Freeman, who in addition to playing God in two movies, has performed as a leader of all three branches of the US government, the President, the Chief Justice, and the Speaker. (And you can throw in the Director of Central Intelligence for good measure.)

(9) BIRTHDAY MUPPET

  • Born June 1, 2000 — Oscar the Grouch. [Updated. Oscar has been on Sesame Street since 1969. But the birthday is official.]

(10) STRETCH GOALS. Diana Pavlac Glyer’s Bandersnatch audiobook Kickstarter not only funded, but hit three stretch goals.

And for unlocking the last goal, backers will soon learn if illustrator James A. Owen can really draw a bandersnatch blindfolded.

(11) THE DOORS OF HIS MOUTH. David Brin will speak in Washington DC to Caltech alumni on June 14. Tickets are $10.

Knocking on Doors

What Caltech Taught Me about Self-Education

Join us for a special conversation with Hugo award winning and New York Times bestselling science fiction author David Brin (BS ’73). Brin will speak about how his experience at Caltech prepared him for a three decade career at the intersection of science and imagination.

(12) ONLINE PAYMENT OPENS. MACII opened Site Selection voting the other day, however, today they made it possible to pay the Advance Supporting Membership fee online.

All Adult Attending, Young Adult Attending, and Supporting members of MidAmeriCon II are eligible to take part in the site selection process. Ballots may be submitted by postal mail or in person at the convention, up to the close of voting at 6 p.m. on Friday, August 19, 2016. All ballots must be accompanied by an Advance Supporting Membership fee, which will automatically be converted to a Supporting Membership of the respective convention, regardless of which convention the member voted for. This fee has been set at $40 for the 2018 Worldcon selection and $35 for the 2017 NASFiC.

Full information on the site selection process, including a printable ballot form, can be found on the MidAmeriCon II website at www.midamericon2.org/home/hugo-awards-and-wsfs/wsfs/site-selection/. A copy of the ballot form will also be included in MidAmeriCon II’s Progress Report 3, which will be mailed to convention members in the coming weeks.

In accordance with the requirements of the World Science Fiction Society, each bidder has submitted an official bid filing package. This documentation can also be found on the MidAmeriCon II website at www.midamericon2.org/home/hugo-awards-and-wsfs/wsfs/site-selection/.

(13) 2017 WISCON. The WisCon 41 guests of honor have been named.

  • Amal El-Mohtar – Nebula-nominated Canadian poet and writer of speculative fiction
  • Kelly Sue DeConnick – American comic book writer and editor and English-language adapter of manga

(14) ONE THUMB UP FOR GHOSTBUSTERS. Executive producer Dan Aykroyd praised the new Ghostbusters. Is he an objective critic? You decide!

Dan Aykroyd, who played Ray Stantz in the original Ghostbusters film, has praised the upcoming reboot.

Aykroyd is listed as an executive producer on the movie, which features a female-led cast including Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig.

He commended the “brilliant, genuine performances from the cast both female and male”.

The actor made the comments after seeing a test screening of Paul Feig’s new film.

“It has more laughs and more scares than the first two films, plus Bill Murray is in it!” Aykroyd wrote on Facebook.

(15) FLEXIBLE FLYERS. This picture of posable dragons comes from Patricia Briggs fans FB page.

posable dragons

(16) TIME AND AGAIN. Details about the 2017 season of Doctor Who continue to leak: “Doctor Who Season 10 Is Bringing A Major Character Back”.

Actress Michelle Gomez actually dropped the news herself at this weekend’s MegaCon in Orlando, confirming that she would definitely be bringing Missy back into the Doctor’s life for Season 10, according to Doctor Who News. And it doesn’t appear that she was in character while making the admission, so we don’t have to worry about this being a trick of some kind that she’s playing on humanity. Or do we?

The latest incarnation of the Doctor’s arch nemesis The Master, Missy first appeared in “Deep Breath,” after already being introduced by name in a previous episode. She is more of a trickster than earlier Masters when it comes to playing mind games with the Doctor, and has appeared in a handful of episodes since her introduction. She was last seen in Season 9’s “The Witch’s Familiar,” where she was left on Skaro amidst a huge group of Daleks, remarking on a clever idea she’d just had. Was that idea to show up in Season 10? It fits.

(17) FORGED PROPERTY. Suvudu knows how few can resist a headline like “King Tut’s Dagger Has an Extraterrestrial Origin”.

Conspiracy theorists are fond of pointing to things like the pyramids as proof that the Egyptians were in communication with an extraterrestrial civilization. While that’s very, very, very unlikely, a recent scientific discovery has revealed a surprising connection between Egyptian royalty and outer space. According to the Guardian, Italian and Egyptian scientists have concluded that a dagger found in the tomb of King Tutankhamen was forged from iron extracted from a meteorite.

(18) JUST SAY NO. Steven Harper Piziks shares his social media strategy at Book View Café.

Links I don’t click on:

–Anything that uses the phrase “mind blown”…

–Or “90% of readers won’t share this” (Now we just need to work on the other 10%.)

–Or “This major event in space is happening any second! Click here to learn more about how fake it is!”

[Thanks to Chip Hitchcock, John King Tarpinian, JJ, Rob Thornton, Andrew Porter, and Craig Miller for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day katster.]

114 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 6/1/16 This Scroll Will Self-Pixelate In Five Seconds

  1. In what sense was Oscar the Grouch “born” at all, let alone born in a year three decades or more after his first television appearance?

  2. I read Armaggedon Rag when it came out. I remembered the general premise and the name of the band, but nothing about the protagonist. Bad sign. It is a memento of the era when SF authors would try to write “crossover” novels, though.

  3. That social media strategy blew my mind, but I bet 90% of Filers won’t share it with their friends.

  4. Hey, I’m pretty excited about getting contributing editor! It brings a small bit of happiness as I try to write reviews of certain Best Related works.

    An odd question. I just bought my supporting membership to MAC II, and I’m wondering how long it might be before it processes my membership so that I can be let in the Hugo area?

  5. (3) And yet it’s still a lot of people’s favorite GRRM book (along with Fevre Dream). I also thank whatever deities there be that my copy doesn’t have either of the shitty covers pictured.

    (9) No wonder Oscar was so grouchy when I was a young’un back when Sesame Street started. He was bummed out about being stuck in the past with no internet, cell phones, various new snack products. no unleaded gas, too much polyester…

    (16) Excellent. Love to hate Missy, she just seems so much more dangerous than several of her predecessors in the role. She’s been mysteriously evil and evilly mysterious this year on “Gotham”.

  6. (18) the depressing fact is, those viral phrases wouldn’t be around if they didn’t work at some level… it’s just not “our” level. I’m always surprised at what works really well in online marketing, and I do it for a job.

  7. (2) Oh, and of course Hermione insisted on the hyphenated last name. Good for her. Should’ve made Ron change his instead. Just think how much shorter the books would have been if she was the Chosen One — one average sized book, tops.

  8. @Oneiros Ten viral phrases that always work, number eight will blow your mind.

  9. @Iphinome: I’ve used that exact phrasing myself, in all seriousness. And also to take the piss out of the guys who take it seriously.

    I’m also a big fan of “one [weird/strange/crazy] tip to …”

  10. They all scrolled when I told them about pixel. Well, guess who’s scrolling now!

  11. If you’re only going to scroll one pixel today, this is the one!

  12. What? I want a posable dragon!

    And for being far, far out of it’s target demo, I really did love the Armageddon Rag.

  13. He tries to godstalk. At first you’ll be amazed, then you’ll be inspired!

  14. @Hampus

    Unfortunately I do not yet have a 3D printer.

    Someday, I would love to have one. Even more than that, I’d like to find a way to print myself a copy of the Statue of Atlas that resides in Rockefeller Center in NYC. I love that damn statue, and have been trying for years to find a scale copy of it.

  15. Armageddon Rag has been a long-time favorite of mine. GRRM did a great job with the Nazgul and he evoked the Sixties ably, though his protagonist fit a little too comfortably into the Baby Boomer stereotype.

    The only other SF works that have done rock/pop as well as GRRM were Howard Waldrop in the short story “Flying Saucer Rock & Roll” and Norman Spinrad in Little Heroes. Honorable mention goes to Lew Shiner’s Glimpses.

  16. Alternatively, have a dragon made for you by the artist that came up with the idea first. Kind of expensive for my budget, but definitely very cool.

    ETA – Also, sorry alexvdl….my Google-fu was not strong enough to find a 3D model of Atlas that you could have printed. I found some interesting things, but not that thing.


    Regards,
    Dann

  17. @Rob Thornton: No love for Edward Bryant’s “Stone” or Stephen Burns’ “Songs From A Broken Instrument” or Samuel Delany’s “Corona”? The Burns story in particular just rips me apart whenever I can bring myself to read it, but they’re all worthy in their way.

  18. [ticky]

    I’ve never read The Armageddon Rag, but I can’t be too sorry that it supposedly failed. If I’m reading the timeline right, that’s what led Martin to write for Beauty and the Beast, long before Westeros was a gleam in HBO’s eye.

  19. @John A Arkensawyer and Hampus Eckerman:

    I’ve been looking for SF/F involving music for years but unfortunately I haven’t read those works yet. Well, the ocean is wide, right? I’ll definitely give them a try.

  20. Bonnie; If I recall correctly, it sent him to the Twilight Zone remake for a solid few episodes first, he bounced from that to Beauty and the Beast, and after that ended, his inability to get his ‘Doorways‘ (like Sliders, but two years earlier and with multi-episode arcs so they could actually do different different Earths) made sent him back to writing novels, so he could do something with the kind of scale that meant it would never be managable on TV, and that something was Game of Thrones.

    Rob Thornton; if you want SF involving music, some chunks of Spider Robinson’s stuff might be for you?

  21. @Rob Thornton

    Adding to the pile: Spider Kiss by Harlan Ellison. Not really my cup of tea (Generally not a fan of Mr. Ellison’s writing, this was no exception) and also really not SFF other than Harlan Ellison wrote it. I’ve heard a few people praise it up in their top Rock novels though (along with Armageddon Rag).

  22. (15) – thanks for posting the link Dann! Oh I had an instant covetous reaction to the dark dragon with green sparkles, me want!

    I’m glad the artist is still making them, I remember some drama a few years ago with people buying a dragon and then making casts of the parts to make their own cheap version to sell so if anyone sees them for sale cheaper elsewhere, buyer beware. Don’t support art theft, plus who knows if the copies actually are posable, most of these types of dolls are not meant to be pulled apart so I am doubtful the fakes don’t have some wonky bits.

  23. I found the article on Armageddon Rag interesting because the reviewer didn’t seem to have a clue; he offered as an example of clunky writing the maunderings of a burnout who IIRC isn’t supposed to be an articulate speaker. I’d love to see the reviews from an alternate universe where aSoIaF never happened; would they think better of the work?

  24. I really enjoyed Armaggedon Rag but remembered neither the title nor the author, so I’m glad to be reminded of those details. I don’t recall much about the POV character but at the time he struck me as being a camera through which to view the story, not the story itself.

    I love those dragons. Thought of as a toy that’s a lot of money, thought of as a work of art, it seems more reasonable. Not necessarily going to buy one–I can’t afford many works of art–but I would certainly frame it that way if I were thinking of getting one.

  25. The pixel scroll titles just kind of write themselves when you frame them as clickbait. (I started coming up with a few and then scrolled down and saw they’d already been posted.)

  26. Can the Vitruvian Action Figure be used as a rider for the posable dragon?

    Consumer alert: Tim Pratt’s BLOOD ENGINES, first in the Marla Mason series, is on sale for 0.99 today at Amazon & B&N. The character caught my interest when one of Pratt’s short stories got podcasted at, iirc, Pseudopod a while back. There are some free-to-read stories and prequel novel available at marlamason.net.

  27. On the linked Balticon 50 con report —

    in re “Hotel Behaviour:” it sounds like the hotel being used for Balticon does not want to be the hotel being used for Balticon, but want to have Balticon pay for breaking the contract, rather than the hotel pay for breaking the contract.

    Scheduling snafus: I would imagine that there should have been some already-established software (even in something as simple minded as an MS-ACCESS database) to handle scheduling and collision avoidance

    Function space usage: could be the First Year In The House blues, or new people handling the allocations, or simply that they didn’t think it through (it happens)

    Seriously, Shoe police?

    Sounds like the people aspect was fun, with good panel content.

    But doesn’t sound like I would want to go to the con (among other things, I would get itchy fingers by not trying to Fix Things)(

  28. @SciFiMike:

    Thanks for the heads up on the new addition to the Hugo Packet. I was hoping that would happen.

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