Thursday, February 23, 2012

Open Thread


Okay, let's have another open thread. 

12 comments:

vaudeviewgalor raandisisraisins said...

guess my pics didnt win the competition. is it still open for more submissions?
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could see this happening in Hull or Brighton, but now it's pure America:
http://www.trueamericandog.com/2012/01/wi-fi-dog-teaches-class-on-alternative.html

good stuff:
http://www.trueamericandog.com/
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my pals write for Adult Swim in the US doing a show called "The Heart She Holler" and were picking my brain for great underrated SF comedies that they could turn into a movie. i went thru some Fredrick Brown & R. Sheckley and sorta stopped. anyhow, opinions would be appreciated. dont say D. Adams or Pratchett please. (dunno if you all saw the Pratchett abortion DISCWORLD, its a stinker, avoid.)

i thought of Ellison's "Santa Claus vs S.P.I.D.E.R." but the thought of them dealing with that guy upsets me. i've heard horror stories of direct contact: nothing can go wrong or the entire universe will shit on you thru him without logic or mercy even if it's implied snafu.

Bob Lock said...

Mother, please don't cry for me, for I have gone
My pain's embrace has left, though you feel it still
Turn your anguish to joy, for I am at peace
In our trench's arms I lie; a sweet release

And softly the tender rain falls like blood
Upon our upturned faces that see no more
Lovingly sweeps the red mud from sightless eye
With purest tears wrought from God's own summer sky

And our trench fills with a profuse torrent then
Carries remains of its hopeless protection
Earthen walls, sandbags and bodies, everyone
Seeks to escape the carnage we have become

We're but empty vessels of our former selves
The flow that seeks to wash away our remains
Blushes as it turns an even redder hue
Shamed witness of those, who know not what they do

Mother, the foe were like us; all someone's child
No malice in their hearts; there was none in ours
Around their feet I beg you let no blame pool
Cheap were our brief lives; sent here by those who rule

We were as but leaves on a great tree grown old
But as the leaves fall, so shall the strong oak too
Weakened, helpless to stand against folly wind
Roots consumed from within by men who have sinned

Leaders who knew the cost in our blood and lives
At their spotless boots must all blame be now piled
Vain, they called the piper, but bade us pay the tune
In granite should their shame be forever hewn

So... to grave we go; I hope for the best cause
As symbols of the imprudence of conflict
Peacefully safe with our friends, our enemies, men, brave and true
War, that took so many...

... Begun, by so few...

Neal Asher said...

There wasn't really a competition, Vaude. I made a suggestion that there might be one but, since you were the only one to respond in any way... Anyway, your pictures are just too chaotic. I want something simple - not too 'busy' - that illustrates the same idea as the one I'm presently using.

Frankly I can't think of much in the way of SF comedy. It's not generally what I read SF for.

Been to see Warhorse, Bob?

Fader209 said...

What was the picture thing about? I must have missed that :(

Neal Asher said...

Fader, I want to put up a picture, like the one here, every time I start an open thread. Something of a similar nature, just as I said to Vaude.

zoltan said...

Why is it that on the cover of The Voyage of the Sable Keech we don't see the Sable Keech but some different ship. I've seen two covers. On one of them there was a big metal ship from the 2. WW, it had nothing to do with any of the ships in the book. The other cover was much better, but there were too many sails. It's as if the artist hadn't known the story, only that there were ships. What happened?

Neal Asher said...

Zoltan, the first one was a cut and paste job (masts and sails tacked onto an aircraft carrier). I remember having to insist that they put in portals! The second cover is typical Sullivan: very good, captures the spirit of the thing, but not necessarily factually correct. I tend now to just go yes that's fine if the cover is sufficiently gorgeous. Being highly nit-pickety with publishers and being a 'problem author' is never a great idea. And anyway, being completely honest, I'm normally so wrapped up in the next book I begrudge the time involved.

vaudeviewgalor raandisisraisins said...

Henrietta's ancestry?

http://io9.com/5888263/paleontological-pin+up-girls-have-dinosaur-skulls-for-heads

Bob Lock said...

Nah, haven't seen The War Horse and doubt I will, I'm guessing it will be too weepy to watch. I wrote that poem a few years before the War Horse film came out.

Neal Asher said...

Heh, dinoporn, Vaude.

Very Wilfred Owen, Bob. And always 'begun by so few'.

Thezzphai said...

Just wondering, is it Asselis Mika or Isselis? Because there seem to be inconsistencies, as pointed out in the "Errors in the books" thread.

Grim's Reality said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83ULlgpT1UQ

Cheeta Darpa Robot