SF Signal

Are online and can be downloaded from LATZ.org.

Looks like all of the original Infocom text adventures are here and you can download the interpreter to play them. Sweet. This saves me the trouble of trying to find a 5 1/4″ drive so I can play my copies.

On a related note, here’s a Wired article discussing the fusion of AIM, an AIMbot, and the Infocom Z files to allow playing these files using AIM. Cool. Now there needs to be an MSN bot to do the same thing.

Filed under: Web Sites

Comcast is set to acquire cable channel Tech TV. Comcast stated that it will merge Tech TV with the G4 Game channel. I haven’t seen Tech TV in a while. Has anyone seen G4?

Filed under: TV

I mean really. What kids wants to play with a PLAYMOBIL Portajohn (looks to be exclusive to Germany). The rest of us have to make do with the Hazmat Crew (and isn’t that the nastiest looking URL you’ve ever seen?)…

Filed under: Games

One of my favorite games ever is now entering the world of 3D. Which is a good thing because now, in RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, you can actually ride the rollercoasters you design! Yay! The sim also seems to be much more oriented on keeping the people in the park happy, even going so far as to break them down by age groups. After the letdown of RCT2, I hope this one rocks (and rolls).

Filed under: Games

Here’s a collection of Science Fiction Fonts, perfect for when you are photoshopping with a space theme.

Filed under: Web Sites

Last week I saw William Shatner in a Wendy’s commercial. [Insert fast food Trek joke here.] Tonight I saw Shatner in a funny commercial for Priceline. Apparently he returned as spokesman even after his highly publicized loss as his stock payment tumbled and, as was previously reported, he doesn’t use the service because he flies first class.

Filed under: TV

of life! That’s right, Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’ is set for a re-release this year. To capitalize on the buzz generated by ‘The Passion’. Having never seen it on the big screen, I may have to go watch it. And I can’t wait for the crack suicide squad…

Filed under: Movies

Sfsignal is now listed on Locus Magazine‘s links portal. In case you’ve never been there, it’s an excellent refrence site for news, reviews, new releases and awards. And their index is the ultimate resource for finding that short story you’ve heard about..

Filed under: Web Sites

REVIEW SUMMARY: Mediocre book that failed to draw me in.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: The anti-technological New Republic tries to stop the invasion of backwater Rochard?s World by the Festival, aliens who trade anything for information.

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Inventive

CONS: Story did not draw me in; misplaced humor; weak plot.

BOTTOM LINE: In light of all the positive reviews – disappointing.

Read the rest of this entry

Filed under: Book Review

Walmart now offers music downloads at 88 cents per song. Load up on all your favorite songs!

Filed under: Music

As reported by Sci Fi Wire, Starship Troopers 2 is a straight-to-video release with an all-new cast (surprise!). I, for one, will miss Doogie.

Filed under: Movies

The third issue of The Internet Review of Science Fiction is up.

Filed under: Web Sites

Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine has posted F&SF stories that are up for this year’s Nebula Award.

Filed under: Books

REVIEW SUMMARY: Another great one from the master

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: An alien hive mind tries to conquer Earth

MY REVIEW:

PROS: Superb writing style; lean, descriptive prose.

CONS: A smidgen more esoteric than his other stuff

BOTTOM LINE: A great quick read and a fantastic classic

Read the rest of this entry

Filed under: Book Review

Busy editor Gardner Dozois has posted the Tables of Contents for this year’s batch of Best of 2003 anthologies which should soon be available.

Filed under: Books

For the truly geeky, here’s a handy MS Word add-in that allows you to convert MS Word documents into Microsoft Reader format eBooks. Quite handy for when you want to, say, bring this year’s Nebula Award nominees on the road.

Filed under: Books • Computers

The latest issue of Locus Magazine has an interview with newly crowned Grandmaster Robert Silverberg. What I found interesting in the excerpts are his assessments of the short story and novella forms. Particularly the comments about the novella being the perfect length of a science fiction story:

I have said the novella is the perfect form for science fiction in the introduction to practically every collection of my novellas, and I do believe it. The novella allows the detailed working out of a complex science-fictional idea, the portrayal of a culture, the complexities of the character who is enmeshed within that culture. The exploration that I think is at the heart of a good science-fiction story can be done in great detail. At the same time, you don’t have the exhausting and sometimes stultifying process of spinning the thing out to book length. In modern science-fiction publishing, very big novels are expected — for that matter, whole trilogies are expected. In the novella, you can move around within the 80 or 90 manuscript pages and achieve quite a lot. I believe Edgar Allan Poe’s old dictum: one thing happens in a short story. Everything that happens in a short story should depend on that one thing. In a novella, two or three things can happen (or five or six sometimes).

I, too, am tired of the inevitable sequel of an overly drawn out story. Theodore Sturgeon, who I consider to be an absolute master of his craft, writes books that are around 200 pages in length. Short and sweet. At the hands of a more modern writer/publishing team, they would be 500-600 pages and the start of the latest must-have trilogy or, even-worse, series. Bah! Books are best when writers focus on the story, not on the market and the demands of some newbie publisher.

Filed under: Web Sites

Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise are teaming up for a remake of H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. This would be the second time the two have worked together on a science fiction story adaptation, the first being Minority Report.

Filed under: Movies

Yet another asteroid fly-by is due tonight. This one is 100 feet in diameter and is expected to pass within 26,500 miles of the Earth. All I know is that when the big one hits, I hope it lands on this guy‘s computer.

Filed under: Space

So say you’re in the market for a new watch. There lots of them out there after all, so sorting through them would seem to be important. There are $2 watches from China in the bargain bin at CVS. They work, by the way, just fine – they tell you the same time that every other watch does. Of sure, they might not hold up to much punishment, but my $2 watch worked just great for the 2 weeks I was in Africa (I didn’t want to risk losing my current one.) It might not have a long battery life, but I noticed it’s still going fine over a year later.

I saw there were plenty of watches in the $50 range. They have a good appearance and work fine – I’m sure many of you have a watch of this ilk. There are some, like the ones I pointed out previously on this blog, that can act as a pager and even a PDA (of sorts.) Oh they cost more though.

I myself wear a watch that cost about $200 – it’s solor powered, analog, has a nice band and keeps great time and includes a perpetual calendar (that even handles leap-year right.) Of course, the $2 watch has this too – but it just doesn’t look as nice. At least, I tell myself that anyway.

I saw somebody that had a wristwatch cell phone – just like Dick Tracy.

Then there are the luxury items – you know the ones I’m talking about, with names like Rolex, Cartier, Movado, and others. These are really jewelry items – but generally also have great timepieces and price tags from $500 to $20,000.

But then there is this one. It is the gold standard by which call other watches are measured. It’s the Star Caliber 2000. It costs $2.5 million. And no, you can’t have one – they only made 4, and they are spoken for.

Filed under: Science and Technology