Archive for December, 2006

New DVD Releases?

Does anyone know of a good website that will help me find complete lists of new DVD releases, preferably sortable by category? You know, so I can take a look at what new SF/fantasy DVDs are coming out without having to spend hours browsing. Anyone? Bueller?

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Garage Sale

Matt Kressel, editor and publisher of Sybil’s Garage, tells me:

As part of a 2006 Holiday Special, Senses Five Press is offering a special deal for issues Two and Three of Sybil’s Garage. If you purchase a print version of Sybil’s Garage No. 3, which includes such authors as Lee Thomas, Paul Tremblay, Yoon Ha Lee and an interview with Kelly Link, you get a free PDF version of Sybil’s Garage No. 2, which includes the fiction of Bruce Boston, Marge Simon, Bruce Holland Rogers, Samantha Henderson, Mercurio D. Rivera, Lauren McLaughlin, Kris Dikeman and others.

More info is available here:

http://www.sensesfive.com/orders.php#sg2_3_holiday_2006

Go check it out!

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Camera Obscura: The Lost Room

Intergalactic Medicine Show just published my review of the upcoming SCI FI Channel miniseries, The Lost Room, which airs Dec. 11, 12, and 13.

[Excerpt:] The key to room 10 of the Sunshine Motel is highly unusual for a couple of reasons. One, there is no room 10. Two, it seems to fit into any standard doorknob with a tumbler lock. And three, when you use the key to open the door, it takes you into a motel room–room 10 of the Sunshine Motel, which doesn’t exist. The motel room is pretty strange, too; for quite a lot of reasons actually, but what you first learn about it is that when you leave the room, it takes you wherever you want go.

Watch the show. It’s pretty good. Let me know what you think!

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Why did you buy that book?

David Louis Edelman asks: “Why did you buy that book?”

I want to hear from science fiction and fantasy readers and consumers. Pick three recent SF/F titles that you’ve purchased, and add a comment telling the world how you heard about them, and what inspired you to buy them. “It was sitting on the bookshelf at Borders next to Robert Heinlein and I liked the cover” counts, as does “one of my friends told me about it” or “Amazon told me that I would like it because I recently purchased Paddy Chayefsky’s Altered States.” Extra points for the out-of-the-ordinary. You can tell me how you found/purchased Infoquake if you’d like, but it’s not necessary; any SF title will do.

Please make your comments over there so the conversation will all be in one place.
:

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IT IS CONFUSING THINKS SLUSHGOD

A couple weeks ago, as I was driving home from work, I noticed, by the entrance to the Pulaski Skyway, this odd message written in giant neon letters across the face of what appears to be an abandoned factory. It said:

IT IS GREEN THINKS NATURE EVEN

I pondered this for a while, trying to puzzle out its meaning. I scribbled it down, asked Gordon about it, who couldn’t make sense of it either. Eventually, I remembered to google it. Turns out, the phrase wraps around the building (which kind of makes it impossible to read the whole thing from any angle, I think), so I wasn’t seeing the whole thing. The entire phrase is:

IT IS GREEN THINKS NATURE EVEN IN THE DARK

Which doesn’t really make sense to me either. Apparently, this is a piece of conceptual art by Mary Ellen Carroll called “Indestructable Language.” I read her explanation of it here, but I still don’t understand the phrase or what this is supposed to accomplish, unless its goal is to perplex commuters and possibly cause accidents.

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F&SF Nov. 2006 Acquisitions

This month, we bought the following:

“Cold Comfort” by Ray Vukcevich

“Lázaro y Antonio” by Marta Randall

“Thrilling Wonder Tales” by Albert E. Cowdrey

“With Full Power” by Albert E. Cowdrey

“At These Prices” by Esther M. Friesner

“If Angels Fight” by Richard Bowes

“Urdumheim” by Michael Swanwick

“The Mole Cure” by Nancy Farmer

“The Star to Every Wandering Barque” by James Stoddard

“Fragrant Goddess” by Paul Park

“Sweet Trap” (reprint) by Matthew Hughes

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