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A few links of geek and pop culture import, starting with some items that caught my eye at AICN: :: A movie version of Philip Reeve’s novel Larklight is in the works. Hopefully this project goes well, because the book is one of the most entertaining reads I’ve had in recent memory. I just hope they don’t get Hans Zimmer to write the music. Nothing against Zimmer, but this will really need a pompous, Elgarian sound. :: Looking at NBC’s announced schedule for next season, I see that ER‘s next season will be its last. Longtime readers will know thatDown the rabbit hole….

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UPDATE: I’ll update this post with links to other blog posts on Clarke’s passing that strike my eye. Arthur C. Clarke is dead. This is really no surprise, as Clarke was very old, and though I haven’t read any of his new work since I was disappointed by 3001, I am saddened by his passing. Clarke was the first science fiction author whose work I really loved, going way back to when I was in high school and read 2001: A Space Odyssey. Clarke was just awfully good at capturing that good old “sense of wonder” without getting too wordy,Down the rabbit hole….

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The USS Enterprise under construction in JJ Abrams’s upcoming Star Trek movie: That’s a pretty cool image, even if shots of the Enterprise in drydock are getting a little passe, aren’t they? I mean, the various Enterprises are shown in drydock in eight of the existing movies already. If you look closely, you can make out the front of the warp nacelles, flanking the saucer section behind. Maybe it’s a trick of perspective, but those nacelles seem awfully close, don’t they? And big? I wonder what the actual Big E for the movie will look like. I suppose it’ll beDown the rabbit hole….

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In reading to The Daughter at night, we’ve recently started to read chapter books a bit at a time, each evening, as opposed to the single-volume storybooks that were the rule until then. This has opened up lots of new vistas for reading, and it’s really rejuvenated a time of night that had for a while felt more like a chore than a treasured portion of our daily routine. I’ve generally tried to choose books that are slightly above her reading level, so as to keep her challenged and exposed to new stuff, and I’ve tried to choose books thatDown the rabbit hole….

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A bunch of SF writers are asked to define SF; hilarity ensues. My favorite two definitions that I recall are: “SF is whatever I point at when I say SF”, and “SF is when you push a button to make something impossible happen, while fantasy is when you wave your have to make something impossible happen.” I think that Damon Knight said the former, but I don’t remember where I got the latter, so if anyone knows, feel free to give my memory a jog. Interestingly, that second definition still fails to classify Star Wars! Personally I consider Star WarsDown the rabbit hole….

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Some lazy linkage for a snowy Thursday evening: :: Lynn Sislo hasn’t posted in several days. As she lives in Oklahoma, I assume that this is due to the ice storm they had in those parts. I hope she’s back online soon. :: Do check out this wonderful article about visual injokes in Pixar’s movies. I love stuff like this. :: I suppose I should start reading Terry Pratchett sometime soon. He has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. :: When I become Supreme Ruler of Teh Universe, my first decree will be that all gas stations shall be one-way only, andDown the rabbit hole….

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part onepart two Continuing our re-imagining of The Phantom Menace, we are now at the droid invasion of Naboo and the rescue of the Queen. Before I begin, a couple of points that have occurred to me since I posted the first two installments of this series: :: The words “Roger Roger!” should never be uttered by a battle droid or anybody else. First, “Roger” as a response to a command is way too Earth-reminiscent for a Star Wars movie. Second, “Roger Roger!” makes me think of the classic scene in Airplane!. You know the scene I mean. All weDown the rabbit hole….

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This is turning out to be quite the Holiday Season for Geek Music Stuff: :: The Lord of the Rings Complete Recordings: The Return of the King is available as of tomorrow. Mine should arrive via UPS the day after tomorrow. I can’t wait to spend a big chunk of Thanksgiving Weekend journeying by music back to Minas Tirith, and through Mordor, and thence to the Grey Havens. :: Intrada Records has issued the complete score to Alien, music by Jerry Goldsmith, on a two-disc set. I don’t know if I’ll pick this up or not; I’m not that bigDown the rabbit hole….

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part one As we continue fixing The Phantom Menace, we have reached the point where Qui Gon and Obi Wan have escaped death on the Trade Federation ship and are sneaking down to the surface of Naboo. There’s a scene where Queen Amidala speaks to Nute Gunray, and this scene is followed by the Queen conferring with her highest counselors. I would change none of this. I like the mystery here as it’s unfolding: the Queen’s belief that the ambassadors have arrived and commanded the Federation to make settlement, while the Federation insists that the ambassadors have never arrived. Likewise,Down the rabbit hole….

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Time to catch up on some recent reading I’ve done: :: As research for a short story I finished drafting a few weeks ago, I read a fascinating book called Stradivari’s Genius: Five Violins, One Cello, and Three Centuries of Enduring Perfection by Toby Faber. This is exactly what the title suggests: an examination of the violin making of Antonio Stradivari, the great Cremonese master whose hand produced stringed instruments that have never been surpassed in quality despite the fact that Stradivari died in 1737. I was most interested in the early parts of the book, the ones that dealDown the rabbit hole….