Easter Lemming Live Journal

"I won't always be this way
When the things that make me weak and strange get engineered away"

Keep Me Where The Light Is... by ~JamesFlynn23 on deviantART

Never drink and derive.

I see the first con report. I will just say the venue was terrific and huge and nearly ideal but the convention was lost in it. Other Houston organizations should look at the UHCLC campus for future conventions.

How much am I going to be disappointed?

Now, with the release of “Watchmen” imminent, the anticipation and tension among fans is at its peak. Unlike, say, the Batman or Superman franchises, whose titular heroes can be reinvented every 10 or 15 years, “Watchmen” has only one story to tell. If Mr. Snyder bungles it, no director will have a second chance at it.

Even Mr. Snyder’s friends in the entertainment industry say he faces widespread skepticism from the book’s passionate loyalists. “I think fans are going to see ‘Watchmen’ in the spirit of ‘What did he leave out?’ as opposed to ‘What did he put in?’ ” said Damon Lindelof, a creator and executive producer of “Lost” and one of a few people to whom Mr. Snyder has shown “Watchmen.”

The challenges of selling the film to moviegoers who have no familiarity with the graphic novel would seem to be even greater, as the comics tales have no clear central protagonist and no characters with worldwide recognition. Yet Warner Brothers has tried to create early buzz for the movie among the uninitiated, using a campaign built largely around sleek, moody trailers. DC Comics said that it has published an additional 900,000 copies of the graphic novel since the first “Watchmen” trailer was released last summer.

Cross-posted on elemming.blogspot.com.

I rarely watch network TV lately. Somehow in working with all of our TVs that need reconnected I watched Fringe.

A computer virus that turns your brain to sludge. I think that TV series provide a glimpse into America's psyche, and science education.

At my Civilization blog.

http://elemming3.blogspot.com/2009/01/updates-meet-new-lara-croft.html

I have some problems with NPR. "Nice Polite Republicans" is a phrase I use due to the 2/3rd's ratio of conservative to liberal guests and the usual corporate slant on the news. But they usually have good taste in music. Here are lists and shows of the best CD's of 2008. The close out with best songs of the year was good as was their listener top 25 music of the year. And the links have previews.

The Cake is a Lie.

I got a little USB dingle to use my bluetooth stereo headphones with my notebook PC.

I posted brief instructions for connecting here.



The headsets are inexpensive now as better bluetooth protocols are due soon.

Now to plug in Bob River's Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire.

And I seem to be stuck in the 80's.

A bit about Carol's and Peter's get together and my troubles posting after the cut.
( Read more... )

I heard this on Houston Public Radio the other day and Tom Manoff is right - reissues of critically acclaimed and popular CDs at lower prices is a way to get timeless music on a budget. I also like his taste on these.

Classical CDs For Budget Shoppers


You can also listen to an over five minute section before buying.

The top fifty SF books.

Bold the ones you've read, strike the ones you hated, italicize the ones you couldn't get through. Asterisks for the ones you loved - more asterisks, more love.


1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien *
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov *
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein *
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Leguin *
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson *
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke *
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick *
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.*
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett (Get his later books)
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison *
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester *
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card *, I no longer recommend him.
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman *
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl *
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson *
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin *
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny *
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon *
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith *
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven *
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut *
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson *
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner *
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester *
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein *
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer *

I may have read all but Dhalgren but have forgotten them.

True Blood - The Books

The author - Charlaine Harris. Charlaine, or Charlene or various other spellings, is a very Southern name that my sister shares.

I've been watching the series and decided I want to try the first book.

I am still undecided between attending a Halloween Party or going to see Jason Mraz in Houston. It is getting awfully late to be deciding this. I really like both options. I guess I have to decide this weekend....