Potpourri II: The Menagerie Strikes Back (Alatriste, Hit Counters, Munch, Ellison & Irwin)--
Alatriste/Sharpe, OMG!
From here via TORn:
Swashbuckling Spanish hero Alatriste, as played by a Danish-American heartthrob, is ready to conquer the box office just as the best-selling novels where he first appeared have won the public's affection.
[...]
Mortensen's performance so impressed novelist Arturo Perez-Reverte, who created Alatriste, that he has incorporated his gestures into his latest novel.
Am I the only person who read that last bit and went, "Hello, Bernard Cornwell!"?
I am now rubbing my hands together in glee, waiting for the obvious Sharpe/Sean parallels, the fertile ground for VigBean plotbunnies, and/or the, um, "slight" historical tweaking required to give me fandom Sharpe/Alatriste. (I mean, come on, what's a hundred years or so between friends?)
Hit Counter Recs, Please?
Does anyone have any recs for reliable invisible webpage hit counters that aggregate and organize data so it's reasonably comprehensive? I'm looking for a free service that won't then spam me or sell my email addy to spammers.
Edvard Munch:
Strangely, the fact that Norwegian police have finally recovered Munch's missing The Scream and Madonna (stolen in 2004) fills me with a great sense of relief. I saw an exhibit of his works here once, and found it fascinating as all get out.
Harlan Ellison and the Stupid Move of DOOOOOM:
Just FYI, while I've been pretty quiet here about it, the whole Harlan-breast-grabbing-incident makes me sad/angry on a variety of levels, from personal experiences with male privilege to what it really says about the state of women in spec fic/academia/old boys' clubs to the fact that the need for feminism still exists regardless of what the media, etc. says.
However, before I break out in a rant about it, what I really wanted to say is that HypaSpace Weekly, Space: The Imagination Station's weekly genre news show, covered it this weekend in the gossip/rumour segment, "The Scoop." The video's not up on the site just yet, but basically John Lyr recounted the incident in brief and tacked on Willis' quote at the end where she was reported as saying, "If anyone wants to start a petition to get Harlan to keep his fucking hands off me, I'll sign it."
(They've also got the rumours about The Hobbit being on New Line's schedule listed, which makes me smile. This, indeed, is my type of news show.)
Oh. One other thing I'll say right now -- I know Ellison is/was supposed to be a big supporter of the ERA (although recent actions and general knowledge tell me that his motives were perhaps not so pure), but other than the one time he went to a con in his trailer, what else has he openly and publically done? I can't find any other records of his claimed activism.
I read I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream the other day, which is the first Ellison story I have read to my memory, and while it was interesting and all, it would seem to me that the racism, sexism and homophobia embedded in it is pretty clear cut. Yes, it's a 1967 short story, but still...
Steve Irwin:
I'm sorry he's gone, I feel bad for his family, and I'm very impressed with his environmental activism, but honestly, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. (And secretly believe that Terri and Steve were probably prepared for this sort of thing to happen.)
I was always baffled as to how poking at animals actually helped do anything other than make his TV shows more exciting, and that just never seemed right. Also, hearing about how he disturbed whales, seals and penguins in his visit to Antarctica puts me in mind of the McCartneys in the Arctic. Seriously. Learn the line between help and harm, and stay firmly on the help side, regardless of how boring that makes your photoshoot.
Regardless, RIP, Steve. I may not have appreciated your public face, but still... A real shame, and a bit of an amazing fluke.
From here via TORn:
Swashbuckling Spanish hero Alatriste, as played by a Danish-American heartthrob, is ready to conquer the box office just as the best-selling novels where he first appeared have won the public's affection.
[...]
Mortensen's performance so impressed novelist Arturo Perez-Reverte, who created Alatriste, that he has incorporated his gestures into his latest novel.
Am I the only person who read that last bit and went, "Hello, Bernard Cornwell!"?
I am now rubbing my hands together in glee, waiting for the obvious Sharpe/Sean parallels, the fertile ground for VigBean plotbunnies, and/or the, um, "slight" historical tweaking required to give me fandom Sharpe/Alatriste. (I mean, come on, what's a hundred years or so between friends?)
Hit Counter Recs, Please?
Does anyone have any recs for reliable invisible webpage hit counters that aggregate and organize data so it's reasonably comprehensive? I'm looking for a free service that won't then spam me or sell my email addy to spammers.
Edvard Munch:
Strangely, the fact that Norwegian police have finally recovered Munch's missing The Scream and Madonna (stolen in 2004) fills me with a great sense of relief. I saw an exhibit of his works here once, and found it fascinating as all get out.
Harlan Ellison and the Stupid Move of DOOOOOM:
Just FYI, while I've been pretty quiet here about it, the whole Harlan-breast-grabbing-incident makes me sad/angry on a variety of levels, from personal experiences with male privilege to what it really says about the state of women in spec fic/academia/old boys' clubs to the fact that the need for feminism still exists regardless of what the media, etc. says.
However, before I break out in a rant about it, what I really wanted to say is that HypaSpace Weekly, Space: The Imagination Station's weekly genre news show, covered it this weekend in the gossip/rumour segment, "The Scoop." The video's not up on the site just yet, but basically John Lyr recounted the incident in brief and tacked on Willis' quote at the end where she was reported as saying, "If anyone wants to start a petition to get Harlan to keep his fucking hands off me, I'll sign it."
(They've also got the rumours about The Hobbit being on New Line's schedule listed, which makes me smile. This, indeed, is my type of news show.)
Oh. One other thing I'll say right now -- I know Ellison is/was supposed to be a big supporter of the ERA (although recent actions and general knowledge tell me that his motives were perhaps not so pure), but other than the one time he went to a con in his trailer, what else has he openly and publically done? I can't find any other records of his claimed activism.
I read I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream the other day, which is the first Ellison story I have read to my memory, and while it was interesting and all, it would seem to me that the racism, sexism and homophobia embedded in it is pretty clear cut. Yes, it's a 1967 short story, but still...
Steve Irwin:
I'm sorry he's gone, I feel bad for his family, and I'm very impressed with his environmental activism, but honestly, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. (And secretly believe that Terri and Steve were probably prepared for this sort of thing to happen.)
I was always baffled as to how poking at animals actually helped do anything other than make his TV shows more exciting, and that just never seemed right. Also, hearing about how he disturbed whales, seals and penguins in his visit to Antarctica puts me in mind of the McCartneys in the Arctic. Seriously. Learn the line between help and harm, and stay firmly on the help side, regardless of how boring that makes your photoshoot.
Regardless, RIP, Steve. I may not have appreciated your public face, but still... A real shame, and a bit of an amazing fluke.