By
JP Frantz | Thursday, April 15th, 2004 at
2:31 pm
Neal Stephenson talks about his latest book, The Confusion, in this Wired interview. In it, Stephenson states flat-out that he didn’t write another cyberpunk novel because CP is dead (ie – assimilated into the science fictional milieu (come on Lix!)). Anyway, Stephenson focused on a period of time that interested him and, he hopes, will interest readers. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t abhor Quicksilver as some SFSignal Irregulars did. I won’t mention any names (Scott)… I like history and there was enough of that in Quicksilver to make it interesting, along with Stephenson’s typical humor. Is that enough to cause me to rush out and buy this book today? No. I will be perusing the Bookcloseouts site though….
Filed under:
Books
The Seattle Weekly ran a story on the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (pronounced “Siffumhoff” by local sf geeks…er…”insiders”) which is opening this June.
Filed under:
Meta
Amazon launches and independent search engine called A9.
CNET describes it as such:
A9.com, an independent unit of the Internet retailer, unveiled its Web site on Wednesday after nearly seven months of development. The search site touts a novel design that lets people sift through Web search results, store and view their own search history, and find book information from Amazon related to query terms. It also promotes a search toolbar that blocks pop-up ads.
Filed under:
Web Sites
By
Peter | Wednesday, April 14th, 2004 at
11:00 am
Supposedly, IT recruiters are having a tough time getting quality people despite all the lay-offs. Maybe companies did do it right by getting rid of the deadwood after all. You can read all about it here.
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Filed under:
Science and Technology
A “friend”* sent me this. Why post it here? Because of the spinoff trailer for LOTR.
*[I quote "friend" because, thanks to him, I cannot seem to get the badger song out of my head. Thanks, Ray!]
Filed under:
Web Sites
By
JP Frantz | Tuesday, April 13th, 2004 at
10:54 pm
Review Summary: Slow moving tale set in an alternate, ‘Industrial Age’ England, where magic has replaced technology.
My Rating: 
Brief Synopsis: The story of Robert Borrow’s life, set against the last years of the Third Age. Robert is connected to various people and events which conspire to bring about the dawning of a new Age. The revelations of these connections play out over the course of the novel, and of Borrow’s life.
Pros: Richly imagined world. The scenes of people’s everyday lives and the cities in which they live give a nice depth to the story. The characters are fairly sympathetic, but interesting, and are enough to keep you going for more.
Cons: The book drags a bit everywhere. Things happen very slowly and major events happen offstage.
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Filed under:
Book Review
By
JP Frantz | Tuesday, April 13th, 2004 at
8:58 pm
Well, I think we are most of the way back from the inadvertant ‘lose half of the sidebar code’ mishap from earlier today. I do see the both John and Tim seem to be reading ‘Farmer in the Sky’. John I can belive. I’m not so sure about Tim. Tim, let me know what the real book you’re reading is.
In other news, I’ve removed the foums link since they were just taking up space. In its placed, I’ve created a link to a new, spiffy About Us page! Yay! All you ever wanted to know about the people behind SFSignal, and more…
Filed under:
Meta
Star Wars actor Ewan McGregor (yeah, like I bet that’s how he wants to be remembered) is getting ready to travel the galaxy…er…I mean the world. By motorcycle. Yep. By motorcycle.
Filed under:
Star Wars
By
Kevin | Monday, April 12th, 2004 at
3:43 pm
REVIEW SUMMARY: Austen loved it. Austen is 8 years old.
MY RATING: 
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A demon superhero from another dimension fights an ancient evil.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Great special effects; One interesting bad guy character.
CONS: Really boring story; only one interesting character, a bad guy who unfortunately isn’t the main bad guy and therefore doesn’t make it to the end of the film (why is it that bad guys always die off in reverse order of badness?)
BOTTOM LINE: Not much there for adults.
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Filed under:
Movies
A humorous article written by Dilbert creator Scott Adams (published in The Dilbert Future).
Filed under:
Meta
REVIEW SUMMARY: Excellent story told through superb animation.
MY RATING: 
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A boy befriends a giant robot in the bomb paranoid 1950′s.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Excellent story and animation
CONS: Some strong language for the younger kiddies.
BOTTOM LINE: An immensely enjoyable film.
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Filed under:
Movies
So it’s about 1 AM last night, I can’t sleep, I’m in front of the TV channel-surfing. A few minutes later, I notice that I’m stuck between 2 channels, both vying for my half-lucid state of attention…
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Tagged with: Electra Woman & Dyna Girl
Filed under:
TV
A brief article on JP’s favorite browser, Firefox. They also tout a new browser in the fray…IE2. IE2 looks like it has some cool features as well. Mouse gestures seem like they might be useful.
Filed under:
Computers
By
Peter | Saturday, April 10th, 2004 at
9:21 pm
We’ve all learned about that famous hobbit from the immortal renditioning of the indomitable Leonard Nimoy (aka Mr. Spock). But what do you know of Sir Elton John’s Rocketman? Well, our dear Captain Kirk, William Shatner, is here to tell you all about it.
In fact, this website has more of Mr. Shatner’s singing.
Filed under:
Music
REVIEW SUMMARY: Stiffly-written but richly-detailed space opera.
MY RATING: 
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A search for answers about an extinct alien race leads to monumental discoveries about their fate.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Detailed plot and back story; manageable number of storylines; plot twists and revelations and intrigue, oh my!
CONS: Stiff and slow-to-read writing style.
BOTTOM LINE: Decent space opera that’s worth a look.
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Filed under:
Book Review
The final ballot for the Hugo and Retro-Hugo awards is available.
Filed under:
Awards
By
JP Frantz | Friday, April 9th, 2004 at
6:14 pm
Battlefield 1942 is a popular online FPS set in WW II. Its a very fun game which allows you to pilot airplanes, drive tanks and jeeps and even aircraft carriers, battleships and subs. As with most FPS games released nowadays, BF1942 can be customized (or modded) by anyone with enough time and energy.
WW II was 50 years ago, but this mos I ran across is set a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Yup, Galactic Conquest is set in the Star Wars universe (that is, until Lucas realizes they exist) and it looks like you get drive all sorts of cool things, including AT-ATs and Snowspeeders. If only Star Wars Galaxies had this. Sweet! It also looks decent. I haven’t played it since I don’t have BF1942, but this mod looks really good.
Filed under:
Games
According to Mulder, X-Files series creator Chris Carter has signed off of a second X-Files movie.
Filed under:
Movies
