April 10th is when Dwarf returns with the Dave TV special; I am ready! And a Video Blogger tip…
All forms of audio/video/text storage
Those two are really a single concept, but for different worldviews. Broadband is a way to connect to the world, and Ars Technica has the best example of how the Broadband Recovery Bill will play out in Science Fiction terms. Cisco views it from the how to make it work perspective, and Gartner takes the how is it working aspect. Neither is right, or wrong; just looking at the reality through their own set of filters, for two very different conclusions. As I consider both viewpoints valid (if limited), I thought I should just link them here, so you can read and consider. How does that fit in with Riverworld? The Philip Jose Farmer Riverworld series is all about exploring our unlimited potential as human beings, with all the time in the world to do so. The new tech, with or without the federal grant money, is another step towards that same goal. If the new team at SyFy does half as much with the classic series as it deserves, it will also inspire us to create the future. Ad Astra!
I gave links to the pages that give you this years Hugo Award nominee writings yesterday. Today, I thought I should point out a classic; read Cordwainer Smith at this link. If you don’t know who he is, these stories will introduce you, as will Frederik Pohl’s Introduction to a truly great man, who also wrote some of the best science fiction of his era. The new Stargate Universe trailer is now online, as broadcast during the Battlestar Galactica finale Friday. It looks like it could re-energize the franchise.
A few blogs I like include The Way The Future Blogs, Frederik Pohl’s entry into the online world, and a bit of a play on his book title, The Way The Future Was. Another good one is Today in Astronomy, and both blogs give a historical perspective to the business of the future. Battlestar Galactica does its final episode tonight, and just a few days ago the cast spoke at the U.N. about human rights. Joss Whedon did a Q and A about Dollhouse, and Fancast covered it. For the 10th anniversary of Farscape, Season 1 is online on Fancast, so you can watch the whole thing. Finally for tonight, a friend passed me a link to an amazing video; this maniac creates an outer space painting using spray paint and random items from his kitchen… in 60 seconds! Enjoy…
A fan favorite for years, K-9 returns in his very own spin-off. The tin dog first appeared in 1977, on BBC’s Doctor Who, and more recently on the Sarah Jane Adventures. Slated for a half hour program for 26 episodes, K-9 gets a whole new look for the new show.
There are many good things to read online, or to download for reading offline, and Free SF has recently added a number of them, including works by Walter Jon Williams, James Patrick Kelly, and Felix Castor, to name a few. One of my favorite places to go are the online Ezines, like Flurb. Headed up by Rudy Ruker, Flurb concentrates on quality stories that for one reason or another would be very hard to get into a normal print magazine. Then there is Clarkesworld, currently with Herding Vegetable Sheep along with some other stories, at least one in audio format each month. Another good one is Raygun Revival, concentrating on golden-age space opera. Strange Horizons usually only has one story and one poem per edition, but it comes out once a week, so you still get a months worth of reading. There are many more, but that should get you started.