A BBC article about how Tropic Thunder’s language is causing some concern teaches me that Alf Garnett is Archie Bunker.
Author Archives: Craig
Now and Forever Review
Now and Forever, Bradbury. No. Now and Forever comprises two novellas: “Somewhere a Band Is Playing” and “Leviathan ’99”. Both had been kicking around Bradbury’s head for a long time, and I don’t think the extended simmering did either of them any good. The former work is merely unremarkable; the latter was nearly too overwrought for me to finish (yes, I get that it’s a stylistic hommage, and maybe I’d enjoy it more if I had read the original, but I’ve read other sf treatments of the same source, and they didn’t hurt nearly this much).
Bad Monkeys Review
Bad Monkeys, Ruff. Yes. Reminiscent in some ways of Soon I Will Be Invincible, I enjoyed it similarly. It’s less obviously stunty, and I think its premise probably appeals strongly to some kinds of geeks. I found the writing and the story quite compelling, and burned through it fairly quickly.
Space Solartron Review
Tom Swift and His Space Solartron, Appleton. Yes. This was really more of an historical exercise than a book reading. I’m satisfied that I have now read as many Tom Swift books as I ever need to, and they’re really not very good. I was impressed with the accuracy of some of the scientific speculations, for a work from 1958.
Jhegaala Review
Jhegaala, Brust. Yes. I’m beginning to wonder whether Brust is really loving this series anymore. I imagine that he has the final few installments ready to go (at least in notes and in his head), but that he has about four more creatures in his mythology than he really wants to deal with. Nevertheless, he’s a solidly competent writer, and even if he is marking time, it’s still quite enough to keep me turning the pages. I’m just not feeling the love and joy in the work that I fancy I used to.
Soon I Will Be Invincible Review
Soon I Will Be Invincible, Grossman. Yes. Given its arguably stunt premise, I enjoyed this surprisingly much. It’s also arguably a continuation of my recent streak of familiar stories told from unfamiliar viewpoints, though the story is familiar only in a broad sense. The unfamiliarity of the viewpoints, and especially their contrasting views of the same situations, was quite fine.
Old friend found again
I loved the Bell Labs Text to Speech synthesizer demo ten years ago, but the bookmark got misrouted in the Lucent spin-out. Fortunately, Google works; so I was able to make synthesized voices say arbitrary things again, and you can, too.
Flu shot end in sight, maybe
Granted, it’s from the frequently flaky health section of the BBC website, but it looks like Flu shots that do the right thing are on the horizon.
Filthy words
It’s not every day that I get access to a list of prohibited words, but it occurs to me on reading the one in front of me that you can probably learn a lot about an outfit by what words are prohibited. For one, a section of the document specifically mentions (and I’m quoting directly here, not editing) “f-word, s-word and n-word” (can you spot the missing biggie? And I’m not talking about “crap”), but also refers to an appendix that lists those three (with a number of spelling variants) and quite a variety of others. For another, enforcement of the list would prohibit me from saying “I was there when the swallows returned to Capistrano,” or “My nephew graduated cum laude,” but not “Her shapely vulva excited me.”
It's not silent corduroy-walking, but still, important work
Finally, a somewhat scholarly examination of Bob Marley and the Banana Splits. The latter are returning, apparently.