Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Random Linkage

The Sound of Imaginary Islands

World's Fastest Museum - a beautiful modern train

Discourse Markers - Like, you know, filler words in French and other languages.

Victory Display - Some gestures are hardwired into our brains, not learned.

The Great Wallpaper Rebellion - We're talking about the stuff you glue to your walls that everyone thinks is tacky. I like wallpaper but, sadly, I won't be putting any of this on my walls.

Overheard in Walmart - I must live in a really boring part of the country. Not only do I rarely see anything People of Walmart worthy, I don't even hear any interesting bits of conversation.

Secret Rooms

Mini-Truck Garden Contest - One more example of the Japanese being awesome

Kitschatron - A Tumblr that I must take time to explore soon.

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Clouds

This is a really old picture. For a while I was really into taking pictures of clouds so I have a couple of hundred of them at least and I thought I would start posting some of them here once in a while.

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Been Reading

I have been reading a lot, actually, but I'm only going to mention a couple of the more recent ones I've read.

Catherynne Valente's Space Opera is not the kind of book I'm normally into. A lot of people have compared it to Douglas Adams' novels. I can understand the comparison; there's a similar kind of irreverence and silliness but Space Opera is in no way a copycat. I first read the first chapter on Tor.com and I was charmed by the extreme wordiness and clever metaphors so I bought it. (Kindle) After the next couple of chapters I started to get impatient with it and considered quitting but it was still interesting enough that I wanted to see what happened. Would the entire Earth be destroyed all because one guy couldn't sing well enough? Well, if you care, you'll have to read it and find out for yourself. I won't spoil it.

There is going to be a movie, which surprises me a little. It wouldn't be my first choice of book to be made into a movie but I'm sure it will be entertaining if it's done well.

Oh! I almost forgot. There's what you might call a catchphrase in Space Opera which is one of the most true and profound bits of wisdom I have ever read: "Life is beautiful and life is stupid." Isn't it though!

Another, more exciting, book I finished recently was Gareth Powell's Embers of War. This is so my kind of book. Pure space opera like I thought no one was writing anymore - starships, weird planets, aliens, action, politics, drama. I finished it in what was for me record time. Unfortunately the sequel won't be out until next year.

One of my favorite things about Twitter is all the authors I'm discovering. At first I was following only two authors, then authors started following me. Obviously just to get my attention so I would buy their books and it is working. That's how I discovered both of these books and there are a lot more that I want to read soon.

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Morning Walk

I was walking through the woods behind my house a few days ago and saw this little "guy".

And a little farther on...

They were both small, about three inches across, I think.