I think he signed it "Joshua Woodwright."

Fafblog! places the upcoming holiday into its proper religious context. What, and you thought it was about taxation on tea and self-evident truths?

Readers of Grant Morrison's work will be familiar with the theory that life as we know it ends in 2012, based on the work of Terrance McKenna and Philip K. Dick. There's also Vernor Vinge's work on the Singularity—where everything breaks down (he's written a bit about it and the last short story of his that I read is all about a post-Singularity life).

I have further proof of this, in that our kickball team, Piehorse, won its first game tonight. And not only were we victorious on the field of battle, the Cheaters won.

So what, you say? The Cheaters never win. This is the first game they've won in four years of play.

Clearly the wheels of the universe are turning. Their destination? None can say.

Pointing at Science Fiction, part II

From Kung Fu Monkey:

For optional Category B: We can all agree on the classics. but what's your little obsession? The book/work you live which you can't honestly say has reached classic status quite yet, but it knocked you on your ass. Who's your favorite underrated dark horse or up-and-comer?

I probably have a few of those, too. Let's see...

Alan E. Nourse

One of my favorite authors as a kid, right up there with Andre Norton and Robert Heinlein. A surgeon by training, he wrote books like Raiders from the Rings and Star Surgeon. The former involves a variation on the "Mars needs women" theme, where space causes women to be sterile, but not men. (OK, so a doctor should have known better.) Anyway, there's a whole lot about kidnapping young women, aliens who live in the asteroid belt, anti-missile missiles, etc. Great fun. Nourse also wrote a book called Blade Runner—a title borrowed later for a PKD novel. The Nourse book is about illegal medicine, not replicants.

The works of Cordwainer Smith

Sure, many people have read the simply bizarre "Scanners Live in Vain," which gave us the verb "to cranch." Total mindfuck of a story, actually. There's also "The Game of Rat and Dragon," a short story about fighting the monsters of space with psychic cats. Taken as a whole, Smith (aka Dr. Paul M.A. Linebarger, author of a book on interrogation techniques and adviser to Sun Yat-Sen) wrote a series of interconnected stories about the Instrumentality of Man. There are hints at a larger structure, and the NEFSA press anthology attempts to put them in the correct order. Worth a look.

Revelation Space -- Alastair Reynolds

One of the bigger New Space Opera writers, Reynolds has written some gripping short stories and novels. I strongly recommend his first and second novels, though I was less satisfied with the resolution in the last pair of books. Sooner or later they will collect his short fiction into a larger trade, but for now you can get a sample of them in Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days.

Under the Eye of God -- David Gerrold

This is Gerrold's reworking of a failed TV script into a pair of novels. Vampires, talking puppies, double- and triple-crosses, loads of fun for the whole family. OK, the sequel, Covenant of Justice, is depressing in spots. But this is one of the few books I started rereading again as soon as I finished it. Of course, that could be that I was in Nebraska at the time and there wasn't much else to do...

Marrow -- Robert Reed

Like Beggars in Spain, this is a short story expanded into novel length. Unlike the Nancy Kress novel, it does a good job of building on the source material. (I was sorely disappointed by Beggars in Spain. It made Kornbluth's story "The Marching Morons" look chipper and optimistic. Plus, the main character that is the focus of the short story gets turned into a cipher very quickly in the novel.) Reed is a prolific writer with a huge body of work. His stories about the Ship—sort of a cruiseliner for immortals—are my favorites, though I also like his story from a few years ago about a guy who makes a virus that makes every pregnant woman on earth pregnant with... him. You should also check out his short story collection, The Dragons of Springplace.

Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand -- Samuel R. Delany

My copy of this reads as "part 1 of 2." It's been over a decade, where is my part 2? Seriously, though, this book really messed with my head, in a good way.

Coming soon! Parts III and IV! Same robot time, same robot channel!

Horoscopes of the future

Last week's Onion (from the FUTURE! where they have hover-coffee and robot dogs!) was hilarious, if a bit pokey to load on anything but the fastest connection.

I finally found my horoscope for this week:

Kirbii (Oct. 14—Nov. 20)
You will be unable to shake the feeling that society at large would be improved by even more chunky, quasi-cubist levitating machinery of mystic origin, as well as the increased use of triple exclamation points by the general populace.

It's like they read my mind or something.

In space, no one can hear you chew...

In space, no one can hear you chew...
Originally uploaded by GiantFightingBot.

I vaguely remember getting this comic as a kid, and the planet that ate pilots scared the pants of me.

Hey, give me a break, I was like six or seven. "The Cat From Outer Space" blew my mind.

Today's pie fixation brought to you by my kickball team, Piehorse. Because we'll do anything for pie. Even remix old comics.

What I point to when I say Science Fiction

Dave is a man after my own heart, writing about an issue of the Avengers with a giant robot as the villian. I am sorely tempted to leave work on my lunch hour and go track this bad boy down!

On the other hand, I have to really think about Geek Texts 101, thanks to the work of John Rogers at Kung Fu Monkey.

The challenge then, geek brethren -- what is this basic syllabus of sci fi? Category A: submit ten novels/pieces of writing giving a new reader a great general overview of where sci fi came from how it progressed, or what it means. Even single suggestions will be considered, all submissions will be judged on a completely unscientific basis, and the final list posted here on Kung Fu Monkey.

I've done a lot of SF reading, which will come as a surprise to nobody. This is a fascinating topic for me, since at one point I was going to be a teacher and this was the subject area I was aiming for.

I posted a bit in the comments, but I have to extrapolate on my own list.

Starting with short stories is definitely a good way to get a handle on the genre and its history. Comparing the Science Fiction Hall of Fame set (mostly stories before 1964 or so) with the latest Dozois Year's Best Science Fiction collection is always interesting.

The SF Hall of Fame has stuff like "There Will Come Soft Rains," "Microcosmic God," and "Fondly Fahrenheit." Recent volumes of the Year's Best SF anthology have included "Beggars in Spain," "Even the Queen," or "Bears Discover Fire."

(The Dozois anthology is worth getting, if only for the "here is the state of SF as I see it" essay at the front, which is usually interesting and has hard numbers on sales.)

Another short story I love is The Men Who Murdered Mohammed by Alfred Bester, which can be found an anthology I forget the name of at the moment but will look up real soon now.

My own personal SF history would include the following 10 books, in addition to those mentioned above:

Frankenstein -- Mary Shelley

One of the earliest SF novels, hugely popular in our culture, and a decent springboard into any of a number of topics. (Genetic engineering, science, women in the 19th century, Bacon, Shelley, feminism, etc.) Plus, most people have never read it. Note: you will hate all of the films after reading this, since most of them get it horribly wrong. Except Young Frankenstein.

War With the Newts -- Karl Capek

Capek gave us the term "robot" with R.U.R. This novel impressed the hell out of me with its treatment of the exploitation of a race of intelligent newts, Hollywood shallowness, and the effects of a global war. Capek was ahead of his time.

I, Robot -- Issac Asimov

(Avoid the movie tie-in cover, if you can. Or better yet, get the Ellison screenplay for the film they should have made. Asimov gave us the Three Laws of Robotics, and while his dialogue was never his strong suit, his ideas are still with us. If you hate his robot novels, you could always substitute some of his other books; the man wrote like 300+.

Have Spacesuit, Will Travel -- Robert Heinlein

One of the more accessible of his "juvenile" novels (written with young people in mind, like Time for the Stars or Starman Jones), this book is a fairly fun adventure when a boy wins a spacesuit after making up a jingle for a soap competition. It avoids the fascist baggage of Starship Troopers and Heinlein's later works. And on a personal note, this is one of the first novels in the genre that I read, along with John Chrisopher's Tripod series, starting with The White Mountains.

Dune -- Frank Herbert

Though I am not as fond of later novels in this series, the world he created with this series is intricate and works on your brain long after finishing the book. A good place to introduce some of the more political and philosophic work that started appearing in the 60s. Could be easily followed by the Dangerous Visions anthology, if you wanted to expand the readings in this era.

Stand on Zanzibar -- John Brunner

Brunner's prophetic work of life in the future, with overpopluation, supercomputers, and loads of fashion and drugs. This and Shockwave Rider make Brunner one of the writers with the best batting average for predicting the future.

Neuromancer -- William Gibson

He invented "cyberspace," and never let him forget it. The first major cyberpunk novel, which inspired countless knockoffs and imitations. Fun fact: written on a typewriter. Though Gibson didn't work on computers, he pioneered a lot of how we think about them.

Rendezvous With Rama -- Arthur C. Clarke

Rama is coming. It is big. We don't know anything about it, other than it's got a weird orbit. Let's go take a look. Clarke's story about the ineffable object known as Rama is a fun read, though you should probably ignore the sequels written decades after.

The Diamond Age -- Neal Stephenson

Attempts to do for nanotech what Gibson did for cyberpunk. The typical Stephenson non-ending is in full effect here, so don't expect much in the way of resolution, but a spectacular vision of a possible future. Plus, it's really, really funny in a couple of places.

A Fire Upon the Deep -- Vernor Vinge

Probably the best of the New Space Opera, Vinge combines USENET flamewars, discussion group trolls, FTL travel, spam, networking, universal armegeddon, mutiple-body consciousness, and some great characters into a complicated, can't-put-it-down whirlwind. I'd probably end up gushing about it the entire time, were I teaching a class. One could also discuss his short story "True Names" at the same time.

Coming up with just 10 books is hard—heck I've cheated and named a dozen. There is a ton of good stuff, even with Sturgeon's Law. (90% of science fiction is crap.) So what did I miss? I'll think about this some more for later. Look for more installments. I haven't even covered part B of the Kung Fu Monkey challenge.

On location: the Oregon coast

Random out-of-the-window shot.
Originally uploaded by BeaucoupKevin.

Kevin has been visiting this week, and today we took a visit to Cannon Beach and Tillamook. Check out his photostream for some of the other shots, including a few of my ugly mug on the beach in front of Haystack Rock.

Finally saw Batman Begins, and it was most righteous. I keep thinking that Lindsey Lohan is in it instead of pre-clear Katie Holmes, so that's probably not a good thing. Not sure who could have done that role better, but I know there's somebody who could have brought some... gravitas to the role. And would wear a coat at the end, if you know what I mean.

One thing I particularly liked about the new film is the way they don't cut right to the money shot of Batman at the beginning—the pacing is deliberate and you anticipate the appearance almost as much as Bruce does. The hints of the sequel were also a fantastic touch. I was grinning like a little boy throughout a lot of movie.

Finally managed to get to the shop, too. (How I love time off.) Reviews when I've finished reading, but when two comics—Hellboy: The Island and Powers—can be read in under five minutes, it's not a good sign. OK, so I know I read faster than most people, but still. Powers is on really thin ice with me right now. Come back to the light, Bendis! We can work this out! Remember the good times? Like that time when you swore a lot?

I'm so very, very sorry

Since Dick Durbin is apologizing for telling the truth, I thought I'd whip up a list of things I will need to apologize for in the coming months.

• Earlier I said that I was on vacation this week, when it turns out that I am, in fact, trapped under something heavy. I reget implying that my leave would be taken for leisure when instead I am waiting to expire from either starvation or dehydration.
• Earlier comments by me that the sky is a shade known as "blue" were a misstatement. The sky, as we all know, is gray. To say otherwise is to hate our freedom. I regret the error.
• Just this week I mentioned to a friend how I haven't followed baseball since the Cubs lost in 1984. Surely what I meant to say is that I haven't stopped following baseball over the last 21 years. This means I know for a fact that the Hartford Whalers are going to win the pennant. For reals.
• My current belief that eating less and exercising more as a way of losing weight is hurtful people who pay $153 for sugar pills, or thousands for drastic, body-altering surgery. Saying this was wrong and caused several small kittens in the area to expire instantly. I apologize.
• Muttered statements from my personage about tobacco being bad for you and possibly causing cancer? Those were ill-informed and I regret the damage it did to our friends in tobacco-growing states. Likewise, comments about Enron, Tyco, KBR, Halliburton, Arbusto Oil, FoxNews, and other multinational companies being giant, destructive leeches on human society? I regret the misstatement.
• I have, on several occasions, implied that our President, one George W. Bush, is a shitty excuse for a human being, let alone leader of this country. I should have known better. That is a vicious lie. As we all know, President Bush is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.

I'm crazy and always losing things

Watching Gaslight with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. And a very, very young Angela Lansbury, who is all of 17 in this picture.

Hey, I'm on vacation this week so posting will be light. I'll have movie and comic and other updates later, but I will note with some delight that Bolton's nomination was blocked again. So we're looking at the recess appointment, always the last refuge of scoundrels.

Oh, one more thing—the nice folks at LEGO better not be lying with the "To be continued..." tagline at the end of LEGO Star Wars. The secret level is a hoot, and I definitely want to see more like that.

We need to talk about Kevin

Kevin memed me after being memed by Sterling. I'm sure this is payback for... something.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be and why? (Assume you also get baseline superhero enhancements like moderately increased strength, endurance and agility.)

I already have a very minor superpower, in that I can get Mrs. GFR to think about burritos if I concentrate hard enough. "What do you want for dinner tonight?" (Burritos burritos burritos... No offense to the taco blog, of course.)

But I think the power I want most of all would be teleportation through time and space. Since I'm all about freeing myself from the tyranny of geography.

Which, if any, 'existing' superhero(es) do you fancy, and why?

(I am assuming these quotes are since we're talking comics and not, say, MLK or Gandhi...) To take out to a beer, it would have to be Jenny Sparks. Or really, most any member of StormWatch or the Authority. Note I said most any member, not Bendix or the Doctor, for example.

Then there's Tesla Strong, though I think she fancies the molten guy more. And then Promethea or Girl One or... (I have a thing for smart women, so Moore's characters are usually right up my alley.)

Which, if any, 'existing' superhero(es) do you hate?

I'm not a huge fan of most of the "gritty" violent superheroes peddled for the last 20 years. I really wanted to like The Monarchy, but man was it ever awful. And then there's Strangers in Paradise, which isn't a superhero title but I just cannot stand in any way, shape, or form. I wanted to like it, really, I did, but I just did not.

OK, here’s the tough one. What would your superhero name be? (No prefab porn-name formulas here, you have to make up the name you think you’d be proud to mask under.)

During an Marvel RPG session, I was playing an electronics-powered superhero, and I think the name I came up with was Capaci-Tor, which seemed very 60s Marvel to me.

For me, personally, I think I am torn between The Electric Moose (all the powers of a moose, all the electricity of the Hoover Dam), or Ubiquitous Avenger. He's everywhere!

For extra credit: Is there an ‘existing’ superhero with whom you identify/whom you would like to be?

I think one of the reasons Spider-Man has been so popular through the years is that we all feel awkward and weird. Watching Peter Parker deal with his life is pretty true to what I remember of my own teen years, minus the mutants trying to kill me. "With great power comes great responsibility" is something I try to incorporate into my own life. Plus, who doesn't want a red-headed girlfriend who calls you "Tiger"?

Then there's the Alan Moore Supreme, who gets to edit comics, has multiple love interests, a robot army, AND has the best dog superhero pal ever.

Pass it on. Three people please, and why they’re the wind beneath your wings.

Rick - Because he hates Coldplay, too.
Philip - A distraction from the impending move!
and Lyle - Who reminds me that I need to cook more, and write about same.

Staying up late is fun!

Kevin and I really need to stop staying up so late.

BeaucoupKevin: I'd love to write a good drunk manic-depressive Batman series.
GiantFightingBot: Batman would have a utility belt full of booze.
BeaucoupKevin:"Joker...just take the fuckign city. I don't give a shit anymore."
GiantFightingBot: "There are 15 working drinks from this ingredient list."
GiantFightingBot: "Seven cause hangovers."
GiantFightingBot: "One... hurts."

I'm close to finishing Lego Star Wars, which I highly recommend to anyone who likes LEGO or Star Wars or both. Damn, I still have to find enough blocks on the 4th level of Episode III before I can play the s3kr1t level. Grrr.

Stand back! I might be dangerous!

There's a new Reno 911! season started, dealing with the aftermath of the team being in prison. It's as close to The State being released as we'll see in the near future, so that's pretty good. (Seeing an ad for a Dukes of Hazzard movie? That's maybe not so good. This one doesn't have Cynthia Rothrock in it, so why bother?)

Fox continues to confuse me—they won't release The Tick on DVD, but they will give it to Toon Disney, where I am now watching the battle of The Tick vs. Chairface Chippendale. Featuring American Maid!

Good times, man. Good times.

We now return you to our regular programming, already in progress

I've been pretty busy again, so I haven't had the chance to post much.

Last week it was meetings, the weekend was a visit from some dear friends, and then yesterday was a combination of meetings, putting out fires, and ennui (I always did sympathize with Nevil).

Watched Appleseed the other evening, and it is a smorgasboard of eye candy. The animation is beautiful and remarkably detailed, full of giant robots, medium robots (but no tiny robots), and explosions, gunfire, etc. Everything one needs. Except, perhaps, a coherent story. The visuals drive the plot, which doesn't always work out for the best.

I may have to pick up the soundtrack at some point, too.

Finally managed to Ascend in Kingdom of Loathing, which was slightly more difficult than I thought it would be. Just getting to the end of the game involves figuring out some devious puzzles, and I am gathering one of the cultural references went way over the heads of most of the players.

New content in the freshly-ascended world, and I have to give props to the crew involved for inventing the concept of a poutine ooze.

Stand by to fire Mrs. Nesbitt

The Kingdom of Loathing really has become the Kingdom of Lag.

Note to programmers: don't mention how you think that there will be no downside to what you're doing and then bet cash money on it. That's just asking for trouble.

Busy day today, so not a whole lot to say at the moment. Our kickball team lost but we didn't get skunked. Our team has some good artists on it, and the logo they came up with is fantastic. The iron-on directions are less-than-helpful, though.

One day to kickball!

So far my day has consisted of:

• Getting up
• Driving to work
• Working on a Web site I haven't touched in two months
• Trying for an hour and a half to get a Palm device to recognize two years's worth of data
• Eating lunch while making phone calls
• Attending a meeting that was a repeat for the most part of a meeting I had yesterday
• Fighting traffic since the ships are coming in for the Rose Festival.

Speaking of roses, here's a picture I took last summer:



I don't really do the rides and stuff at the Rose Festival. Perhaps it's because the whole celebration is too damn big. The last few years have been a bit lean, but it used to be an entire month. And the rides and the hot air balloons and the air shows and the Rose Queens etc., etc., etc. Give me TrekFest in Riverside any day. How many towns can claim to be the future birthplace of Captain Kirk? JUST ONE. Plus, there is no little kid tractor pull at the Rose Festival.

OK, the Rosaria Queens are awesome. And if you go to the Rose Test Garden, each queen has her own inset tablet with her year of coronation and signature. It's a fun—if haphazard—way to see what names have been popular where.

(Total aside: Feel any safer now? I sure don't.)

Tomorrow is the first game of our kickball league. We will probably lose every game, but our team will be the most stylish of them all.

Two car gar rage

Given that KoL will soon have ascension, Jick has enabled the Spectral Pickle Factory in the Plains. So for the next few hours, your character in Kingdom of Loathing can get all the ingredients required to make a Ghost Pickle On A Stick.

(Regular ghost pickles are a pretty good food, I guess, but since they've been going for over 100,000 meat a pop in the past, they're beyond the range of most normal players.)

I've been really busy at work (two meetings today, barely had time for lunch), but I've seen some more speculation about Macs on Intel processors, including some guessing as to which processor they'll use. I am still not sure I've seen a definitive answer about running OS X on non-Apple PCs, or running Windows on Apple PCs. Either way, I'm sure the hacking community is interested.

Stumbling along like we always do

It's true—Apple is shaking off AltiVec and the PowerPC for a move to x86-based hardware. And listening to some people, you'd think that was the death of apple. So far the death knell is at 46 times in the last decade, according to MacObserver. (This is in the press, in regular life I'm sure it's much, much higher than that. By a million or so.)

John Rogers (of Kung Fu Monkey) pointed me to a very interesting blog called Clusterfuck Nation. A sample:

I was in Tallahassee, Florida, last week talking to a large room full of planning officials. My message was pretty straightforward: every new housing subdivision, every new strip mall, every parking lagoon and big box chain-store pod that you issue approvals for from this point on will lead your country deeper into tragedy.

The response was apathetic, as though I were giving a class in Chinese algebra.

Florida is one of the multiple epicenters of a hypertrophic suburban growth machine that has taken the place of the US economy. Reforming it is unimaginable because without the business generated by a cancer-like replication of car infrastructure, the economy would consist of little besides hair cutting, fried chicken, and open heart surgery. In places like Florida (and California, and northern Virginia, and Las Vegas, and Dallas), all citizens are complicit in the drive toward tragedy because all want business-as-usual to continue. The idea that any set of circumstances might put a stop to it is laughable to them. What can you do for such a people determined to commit civilizational suicide?

I live in a fairly liveable city, but I remember growing up in the sprawl of the Midwest. My family drives for half an hour or more just for shopping or work, which is insane. I don't even want to think of how most cars on the road are only slightly more fuel-efficient than the Battle Buick that I drove to work in high school.

We'll muddle along, but between this and the thought of avian flu and our complete lack of health infrastructure, it's the stuff of nightmares.

In other news... um... hang on... KITTENS!

Maybe Kevin has the right idea. What lurks in the heart of Namor? Time to fire up GIMPshop... I like the GIMP, but my fingers are so used to Photoshop key commands. Now it's the best of both worlds!

Thanks, Mister Scoops!

Lots of news leaking out before its time.

Computers
Macintouch and other sources are reporting that Apple is going to announce a switch to x86-based hardware over the next few years.

I have mixed feelings about this, as I was hoping that they'd start shipping Macs based on the STI Cell processor. The Cell is a joint venture between Sony, IBM, and Toshiba, and if memory serves, the PS3 will be using it in some capacity. On the other hand, this is really capitalizing on the success of the iPod and iTunes. Like software that is made by a company that gets user interface? Now your whole computer can be like that. (At least that's my theory on what they'll shoot for.)

Mostly I really want to see Macs running on hardware that doesn't suck. G5s and G4s are great, but they're overpriced and what happens when you want to upgrade? You're hosed. Apple's hardware stranglehold is both good and bad, mostly limiting options for people to a small range of third-party add-ons. Basically, the hardware options for OS X just got infinitely cooler.

Comics
A while back a little bird told me something about the DC Universe as it will be in a year, and they've finally made this announcement public. If DC does this right, it could be great. However, this is the same company that gives us Identity Crisis and still can't bring back Barry Allen. On the other hand, they've got Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely doing Superman, and they're going to start releasing Silver Age titles in an affordable format. So there is room for hope. I'm hoping (along with Kevin) for Darkseid: Master of Kung-Fu in the end.

Other comics news: I won free comics thanks to the Free Comic Book Month over at Yet Another Comics Blog. I am a very happy camper on this, and I applaud Dave for a month of generosity and hard work in comics advocacy.

Video Games
I see from E3 footage that Okami is going to come over to the States. I've had my eye on this one for quite a while now—it appears to be the child of Ico and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, with a touch of Grand Theft Auto thrown in. The art and direction on this game is jaw-dropping; just seeing it in action is enough to make one want to look into importing. Only now you don't have to!

Personal
I've spent some of this weekend kitten-sitting for a friend.

These cats just get bigger every time I see them!

I think at some point I'm off to play kickball today and then maybe watch some of the stuff on my Netflix queue.

The dead raccoon of the future

I'm beginning to wonder if Boing Boing has died in a round of shark bukkake.

Between the endless "Oooh! Look at Disney now!" shit and the "Guess which media event Xeni is attending today" stuff, it gets old. (As a side note, there's just a wee bit of irony for the copyright-is-evil people being obsessed with one of the worst copyright defenders ever, in addition to being a generally abusive, self-destructive company with delusions of godhood.)

Now they're evidently surprised by a short that was on MST3K years ago. Hell, Design for Dreaming was covered in Mental Hygiene, which was published six years ago. (Great book, by the same author of my favorite study guide, Ken's Guide to the Bible.)

I'm far too cranky for somebody who will be kitten-sitting all weekend. Perhaps a round of kittens and Eddie Izzard films will cheer me up.

Turning the corner

I wish I had a dollar for every time the Bush administration has said we're "turning the corner" in Iraq. Cheney said this the other day, and I guess when you have 70+ attacks a day (up from 30 in March) that is turning a corner of a sort.

Turn enough corners, you go around in circles, which describes what we're doing in pretty good detail.

I've been up since about 3:30 this morning. Updated QuickTime, messed about with disk permissions, and now I'm watching a raccoon get a drink out of the birdbath in the back yard. Not quite sure what's causing this insomnia, other than the usual suspects.

Now that I can watch QuickTime movies in a browser again, I've been poking around the Apple trailer site. The new Fantastic Four trailer looks... not so good. I had high hopes for this at one point, I may see it eventually, but it seems more like wasted potential than anything else. I wasn't terribly thrilled by most of the first X-Men movie, either, and the second one turned out OK. So for the nearly-inevitable FF 2, what should they do? Mole-Man? The Frightful Four? Galactus? The Inhumans? Blanking on who could possibly play Black Bolt, though. Clive Owen? Hell, they should do the Black Panther vs. Klaw, with Will Smith as the king of Wakanda.

"Aw, hell no! It's Klaw!"

(OK, the raccoon just managed to knock the basin off of the birdbath and is looking all confused. I'm just glad it didn't land on him.)

I am evidently the wrong audience for War of the Worlds. Tom Cruise playing dress-up in coveralls and a cute Spielberg-ian waif child? Plus lots of running crowds blah blah blah ooh scary press buttons scream "WHERE IS MY CHILD?!?!?" blah blah blah. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Howl's Moving Castle is going to be three or four times the movie War of the Worlds is.

(Looks like the wildlife has left the backyard now, or perhaps he's moved to the front judging by the angry calls of the robin outside my window.)

I appear to have ample time before I have to get ready for work—perhaps it is time to track down that last kinfusion in The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap.