Web Wanderings and Fun Finds

Plenty of fun stuff on the web today. I'll go down the blog list. In this post, Neil Gaiman talks about an upcoming issue (April 2007) of Fantasy and Science Fiction that is somewhat of a tribute to Gene Wolfe. He wrote an article about Gene Wolfe as did two other authors and there is something (maybe a short story) called Memorare by Gene himself. In the same issue, Charles DeLint does book reviews. I used to subscribe to Fantasy and Science Fiction a couple of years ago and I'm not really sure why I didn't renew. I think I just may have to once again.

Next up is the second entry in Literacy Chic's Lenten Meals series. In this entry she gives a delicious recipe for Shrimp or Crawfish jambalaya. I know her from living here in New Orleans, so I can assure you that this is a great, authentic recipe. I highly recommend that you try this one out for a taste of real New Orleans cooking, and use Louisiana crawfish if you can find them (much better than Chinese crawfish. We had boiled crawfish for dinner tonight and they were deeeelicious.

Lisa Snellings-Clark writes about an interview she did for Fantasy Magazine which I'm looking forward to. She also talks about Poppet Planet and mentions that the gallery will be open again around St. Patrick's Day. Can't wait to see the poppets for that (assuming she makes them). Neil Gaiman has also changed the Magnificent Oracular Journal to hold a Lisa Snellings-Clark poppet.
In Carl's Friday Favorites, he introduces us to an artist by the name of Raymond Swanland. His images are breathtaking and he has the ability to capture so much life in his paintings. I especially like the second one down by the name of The Golden Hills of Westria. Great stuff!

Subterranean Press offers their edition of I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury which looks wonderful. But unfortunately at $150 for the cheaper version, I will not be buying this one. If you have the money, I'm sure it's worth it though. It's numbered and signed by Bradbury himself.

Finally (in web wanderings at least) in his latest Uncle Orson Reviews Everything column, Orson Scott Card reviews a new documentary called Done the Impossible: The Fans Tale Firefly and Serenity. It is a DVD that captures the huge underground fan base for Firefly, in my opinion, one of the best shows ever on tv that was unfortunately canceled after only 12 episodes to make way for reality shows. This DVD looks great and I can't wait to check it out.

Enter the fun finds. While not as numerous as the web wanderings, still great stuff.

I got in my car today and caught the tail end of an ad on XM Radio for some new show with Orson Scott Card! I knew there was a reason I loved XM so much, they love my favorite author! I'm not entirely sure what it is though, and their website and a Google search did nothing for me. Anyone know about this? What I do know is that he will apparently have a show on Sonic Theater, XM channel 163. I just discovered this channel today after hearing the ad. It's so great! It's like audio books 24/7 and every night they play sci-fi stuff. How cool. Alot of these are the great old time sci-fi radio shows. Can't wait to see what Orson Scott Card is doing with this channel.

Finally, I decided to make a stop by best buy tonight and picked up a couple of goodies. The first is the soundtrack for Children of Men, and what I've listened to so far is great and just as haunting as the movie. I've been wanting this since I saw the movie. The music was great. Glad I finally bought it. I also picked up The Prestige on DVD. I haven't seen this yet, but I'm sure I'll love it. First of all, it has something to do with magic. Anything related to fantasy in some way is ok by me. Second, the actors are great. Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, David Bowie, and the smoking hot and still talented Scarlett Johansen. Can't wait to see this. I'm sure my review will be posted later tonight.

the sacredness of life

I just got home from the movies. I went with my sister to see Children of Men tonight. It was an amazing film. I don't quite know how to describe it. I want to call it beautiful, but it was so disturbing at the same time. So we'll call it a beautifully disturbing film. There's plenty of social commentary to be had about this movie, but I'm not going to go to far into that. I'll suffice to say, it reiterates how beautiful life is, and how much of a treasure, a gift life is.

I think that in today's world we take life for granted. We forget about the complexity of a heart that beats, lungs that breathe, a voice to cry with, muscles to laugh with. Life becomes about material possessions, who has more of a right to live and where that right to live is, who's tougher, who's accomplished more, who has earned the right to live more. But when it comes down to that, none of it matters in the end. What matters is that we are given the gift of life and that we have the chance to experience what that means. Children of Men did an amazing job of showing what can happen when the gift of life is taken away and when we forget about what life has to offer. The sounds that life has to offer. The sound of children.

As good as this movie was, I think it will be the last time I watch it. It is highly disturbing, but well worth seeing. It was filmed beautifully. To me it seemed the perfect cross of 28 Days Later (sans the zombies) and The Pianist....set 20 years in the future. And I had the unexpected but pleasant surprise of seeing Michael Caine in this movie who does an amazing job as usual. All of the acting was great.

But for now, I will put my temporarily philosophical head to rest and await another day. Mindless ranting to resume tomorrow I'm sure :)