Shineanthology’s Weblog
An anthology of optimistic, near future SFArchive for Twitter
The Week in Tweet, Week 47
But when the climate changed
They tried their best to stay
But @outshine blew them all away…
Monday November 16:
[Quote for the Monday] “Democracy is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.”
[Source] Plato (428? BC – 347? BC) / Greek philosopher.
Tuesday November 17:
Like a street-theatre play by a busload of post-hardcore kids and your uncle’s classic prog rock records. Music to smile (or maybe gurn) to.
[#SoundBytes] THE MYTH ABOUT REAL LIFE (EP) by Aficionado — http://www.myspace.com/aficionado (self-released).
Wednesday November 18:
Avatar children gliding like thistle in the electron sky. A garden replenished by their light hands.
[Bio] Deborah Walker thinks: least said, soonest mended.
Thursday November 19:
Lots of walking, more walking, unrelieved trudgery. Makes two hours feel as dreary as a weekend in post-apocalyptic Preoria, then it ends.
[#Spitballs] The Road / Directed by John Hillcoat /http://www.theroad-movie.com/.
Friday November 20:
[Quote for the Friday] “Human nature won’t flourish, any more than a potato, if planted and replanted, for too many generations, in the same worn-out soil.”
[Source, paraphrased] Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 – 1864) / U.S. novelist & short-story writer / The Scarlet Letter, “The Custom House”.
Saturday November 21:
News from CERN: smallest subatomic particles found, massless, information only. + & –: binary code. Neat. I yawned, returned to my Sims game.
[Bio] William Clunie can be read at www.pemmicanpress.com.
Sunday November 22:
Novelist Huston’s attempt to reboot the rebel military cyborg returns to the future, but recasts it as a labored satire of corporate media.
[#ShineComics] DEATHLOK THE DEMOLISHER #1 (of 7) by Charlie Huston (script), Lan Medina (art); Marvel Knights, 2009, $3.99.
The Week in Tweet, Week 46
Stand inside the temple as @outshine is opening
The priestess stands before you, offering her handout, rising…
Monday November 9:
[Quote for the Monday] “Democracy is the superior form of government, because it is based on a respect for man as a reasonable being.”
[Source] John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917 – 1963) / U.S. president / Why England Slept.
Tuesday November 10:
All the dumb excessive clichés of dope ‘n’ devil-worshippin’ thrash metal laid end to end without any dull bits in between. Simply glorious.
[#SoundBytes] ACCELERATED LIVING by Saviours —http://www.myspace.com/saviours666 / Kemado Records –http://www.kemado.com/.
Wednesday November 11:
She wakes to the gentle vibration of the roof changing angle to catch the sun, to the smell of hands-free cappuccino, to a doable Monday.
[Bio] Ben White edits @nanoism and writes @midnightstories.
Thursday November 12:
The James Michener of disaster flicks does a predictably banal apocalypse with an Arks-worth of characters and a cute dog.
[#Spitballs] 2012 / Directed by Roland Emmerich /http://www.whowillsurvive2012.com/.
Friday November 13:
[Quote for the Friday] “I am a woman who enjoys herself very much; sometimes I lose, sometimes I win.”
[Source] Mata Hari (1876 – 1917) / Dutch spy and dancer.
Saturday November 14:
I’d never felt so close to a pet, never felt the need to boast about a pet, and I’m not even fully dilated yet… can you see her head?
[Bio] Engineerish writer lost near Austin.
Sunday November 15:
Set a few years in the future, this inconsequential miniseries tosses aside Grant Morrison’s work with the character in favour of…nothing.
[#ShineComics] THE LAST DAYS OF ANIMAL MAN #1-#6 by Gerry Conway (script), Chris Batista (art); DC, 2009, $2.99 each.
The Week in Tweet, Week 45
Inside of me, is a man that I knew
Who could rattle these chains — who could shake these cages
Inside of you, is a dream that I see
And the echoes of @outshine are calling…
Monday November 2:
[Quote for the Monday] “If necessity is the mother of invention, then resourcefulness is the father.”
[Source] Beulah Louise Henry / U.S. inventor / Feminine Ingenuity (Anne L. MacDonald).
Tuesday November 3:
Third album from this Motor City two/three piece pushes post-metal to new limits of subtlety, depth and scale. Listen with the lights off.
[#SoundBytes] GENEVA by Russian Circles –http://www.russiancircles.net/ / Suicide Squeeze Records –http://www.suicidesqueeze.net/.
Wednesday November 4:
The immigrants come, weary, uncertain of their welcome
people make room for them
the immigrants’ culture infuses their own with new spice.
[Bio] Daniel Ausema’s a stay-at-home dad whose stories and poems have appeared in many places. Find him athttp://danielausema.blogspot.com/.
Thursday November 5:
Absolute truth or BS, you’ve got to wonder what kind of bet Milly Jovovich lost that made her accept the lead role in this godawful mess.
[#Spitballs] The Fourth Kind / Directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi /http://www.thefourthkind.net/.
Friday November 6:
[Quote for the Friday] “A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him.”
[Source] Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918 – 2008) / Russian novelist / Cancer Ward.
Saturday November 7:
It was spring and his basement was drying up. Last night, just two feet of water on the floor. A man can’t even stay wet in his own home…
[Bio] Marlo Dianne is a writer/artist of more than fifty published works. This wondergeek is found @http://www.forbiddendragon.blogspot.com.
Sunday November 8:
Fast, violent, and blessed with a great voice cast, this is still a rather rote SF take on movies about corrupt cops and the plucky rookie.
[#ShineComics Extra] GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT by Alan Burnett (script), Lauren Montgomery (dir.); Warner Premiere, 2009, $19.98/$24.98.
The Week in Tweet, Week 44
@outshine slowly rises in the night
The people softly lit by restless moonlight
And as the jackal preys upon the Netherworld
You can hear as she surprises and sings … RISE!
Monday October 26:
[Quote for the Monday] “If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.”
[Source] Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882) / British naturalist and writer.
Tuesday October 27:
Desert rock’s most reliable practitioners show no signs of weathering away. Fuzzy riffs, sleazy solos, weird lyrics – what more d’you want?
[#SoundBytes] SIGNS OF INFINITE POWER by Fu Manchu – http://www.fu-manchu.com/ / Century Media – http://www.centurymedia.com/.
Wednesday October 28:
dry earth holds wee tracks
lightly they imprint the earth
quail, raccoon, skunk, thrush
[Bio] Jodi: I don’t know who she is except lost in her thoughts and found in her writing.
Thursday October 29:
With its lovely camera work, misogyny, pretension and gruesome torture, this may be the first real horror film. But who wants to watch it?
[#Spitballs] Antichrist / Directed by Lars von Trier / http://bit.ly/kENGz.
Friday October 30:
[Quote for the Friday] “Happiness is not an ideal of reason but of imagination.”
[Source] Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804) / German philosopher / Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Ethics.
Saturday October 31:
The climbing guide could tell Harper’s arm was flagging. The whisper at camp was: could he pull it off and grow a good one by morning?
[Bio] @jeremylewit enjoys the conceit that his focus problem is early-onset time travel. http://jeremylewit.blogspot.com/.
Sunday November 1:
David ties up the long-running story with as much tell as show, and a disappointing resolution for mysterious, fascinating Layla Miller.
[#ShineComics] X-FACTOR #50 by Peter David (script) and Valentine De Landro (art); Marvel, 2009, $3.99.
The Week in Tweet, Week 43
[Lyrics quote] @outshine
Monday October 19:
[Quote for the Monday] “Since my release, I have become more convinced than ever that the real makers of history are the ordinary men and women of our country; their participation in every decision about the future is the only guarantee of true democracy and freedom.”
[Source] Nelson Mandela (1918 – ) / South African president and lawyer / The Struggle is My Life.
Tuesday October 20:
Hard rock funsters, still very Spinal Jap; but this crowd-funded new album has a more modern tone and (slightly) more serious demeanour.
[#SoundBytes] SUGOI INDEED by Electric Eel Shock — http://is.gd/4sSD2 / Double Peace Records (self-funded) — http://is.gd/4sSD2.
Wednesday October 21:
Trillions of nanoparticles cross the blood-brain barrier, each pairing off with a brain cell. They perform a truly modern dance—science.
[Bio] @MattAlbertson is a Seattle geek who enjoys splicing his fiction with cutting edge technology. http://MattAlbertson.com.
Thursday October 22:
Cameron Diaz delivers the worst Southern accent evuh in a dull, badly edited film that offers more evidence that Donnie Darko was a fluke.
[#Spitballs] The Box / Directed by Richard Kelly / http://thebox-movie.warnerbros.com/.
Friday October 23:
[Quote for the Friday, slightly paraphrased] “Instead of dirt & poison we’ve chosen to fill our hives w\honey & wax—thus furnishing mankind w\the two noblest of things: sweetness & light.”
[Source] Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745) / Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman / The Battle of the Books.
Saturday October 24:
It’s a strange week when you’re thinking, ‘trenchcoats or atomic insects? Wait, is that trenchcoats ON atomic insects?’ I love my job.
[Bio] Marlo Dianne is a writer/artist of more than fifty published works. This wondergeek is found @ http://www.forbiddendragon.blogspot.com.
Sunday October 25:
Fast, violent, and blessed with a great voice cast, this is still a rather rote SF take on movies about corrupt cops and the plucky rookie.
[#ShineComics Extra] GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT by Alan Burnett (script), Lauren Montgomery (dir.); Warner Premiere, 2009, $19.98/$24.98 ..
The Week in Tweet, Week 42
[Lyrics quote] @outshine
Monday October 12:
[Quote for the Monday] “Invention is the process by which a new idea is discovered or created. In contrast, innovation occurs when that new idea is adopted.”
[Source] Attributed to Everett Rogers (1931 – ) / U.S. sociologist.
Tuesday October 13:
It’s like someone cloned Page Hamilton — furious angular alt-metal-hardcore that drips with contempt for its fellow man. Angrily excellent.
[#SoundBytes] PIG CHARMER by Throttlerod – http://www.throttlerod.com/ / Small Stone Records – http://www.smallstone.com/ .
Wednesday October 14:
Optimized and burned clean,
our nightmares you learn.
Holograms able to love
are your successors.
~The Cosmist Worm.
[Bio] James Dye — @JamesJDye — is a writer and college student from Dubuque Iowa.
Thursday October 15:
A Halloween treat, this homage to 80s horror cinema—Satanists, spooky houses, pretty girls—is played straight to excellent creepy effect.
[#Spitballs] House of the Devil / Directed by Ti West / http://is.gd/4lhFn.
Friday October 16:
[Quote for the Friday] “That action is best, which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.”
[Source] Francis Hutcheson (1694 – 1746) / Irish-born English philosopher / Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue.
Saturday October 17:
Engine’s protesting, sir. Says it wants a pony. Shall I tell the passengers to wait, or…?
[Bio] Carolyn Elizabeth Lamb can fold into a portable cube, for your convenience.
Sunday October 18:
IDW gives Bloom County a gorgeous deluxe treatment in a book that includes strips not seen since their original appearances. A must-have.
[#ShineComics] BLOOM COUNTY COMPLETE LIBRARY VOLUME 1 by Berkeley Breathed; IDW, 2009, $39.95 (hardcover).
The Week in Tweet, Week 41
@outshine’s already gone, already been
we’re free, so free
to secede…
Monday October 5:
[Quote for the Monday] “Wars come because not enough people are sufficiently afraid.”
[Source] Hugh Joseph Schonfield (1901 – 1988) / British writer and editor / News Review (London).
Tuesday October 6:
Goth-metal stalwarts complete their slow return from the synth-rock hinterlands. Muscular, epic, gloomy… and surprisingly contemporary.
[#SoundBytes] Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us by Paradise Lost—http://www.paradiselost.co.uk/ / Century Media—http://www.centurymedia.com/.
Wednesday October 7:
No money, no problem. Without scarcity, need is a pipe dream; we work because we want to. My music, your novel—only fodder for dreams.
[Bio] Ben White — http://benwhite.com — is the editor of @nanoismand writer of @midnightstories. He needs a few more hours of moonlight.
Thursday October 8:
A little preachy, but the film gives that ol’ time religion a few brand new twists, and James Gandolfini gives great voice. Take the kids.
[#Spitballs] Where the Wild Things Are / Directed by Spike Jonze /http://is.gd/45vlG.
Friday October 9:
[Quote for the Friday] “The hell with it. Who never knew the price of happiness will not be happy.”
[Source] Yevgeny Yevtushenko (1933 – ) / Russian poet / Babi Yar.
Saturday October 10:
The Martians were beat by germs
They left the world on talking terms
A Christmas card from Leader Zirth?
At least it didn’t cost the Earth!
[Bio] I’m 40, married and live in Plymouth, England. Writing is my main hobby. Quite a number of my poems/stories have been published.
Sunday October 11:
Based on a clunker comics story, this animated adaptation injects raucous humor and a breakneck pace to deliver rollicking entertainment.
[#ShineComics Extra] SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES, script: Stan Berkowitz, dir. Sam Liu, Warner Premiere, 2009, $19.98/$24.98.
The Week in Tweet, Week 40
maybe @outshine is elusive
but you know just what the truth is
and maybe @outshine’s intrusive
but you know you’ve got to do it!
Monday September 28:
[Quote for the Monday] “Man is not merely the sum of his masks. Behind the shifting face of personality is a hard nugget of self, a genetic gift.”
[Source] Camille Paglia (1947 – ) / U.S. academic and author / Sex, Art, and American Culture.
Tuesday September 29:
Cutting-edge shitgaze retro-noise-pop or smug and cynical hipster-trend cash-in? Jury’s still out, though some of the tunes are pretty good.
[#SoundBytes] EVERYTHING GOES WRONG by Vivian Girls —http://www.viviangirls.net/ / In The Red Records —http://www.intheredrecords.com/.
Wednesday September 30:
People-faces are scary, but eKitty is simple, safe. Joe pets it and giggles. Stroking him back via the remote, his mother meows with joy.
[Bio] Finale believes happiness is a choice.
Thursday October 1:
By-the-numbers filmmaking and scripting, a bored-looking Bruce Willis—like seeing an awful movie about Second Life in a Second Life theater.
[#Spitballs] Surrogates / Directed by Jonathan Mostow /http://chooseyoursurrogate.com/.
Friday October 2:
[Quote for the Friday] “We are never so happy nor so unhappy as we imagine.”
[Source] François La Rochefoucauld (1613 – 1680) / French epigrammatist and moralist / Reflections, or Sentences and Moral Maxims.
Saturday October 3:
It’s 2034: Brian’s nanocure, immortality, and ecosystem resurrection stories keep getting rejected from Asimov’s for lacking SFnal elements.
[Bio] Jen Waverly wants an ecosystem resurrector, and posts about pub trivia, marriage rights, and books here http://is.gd/3lVBE.
Sunday October 4:
An engrossing start to a thriller that plays on themes of conservation, need, and greed when Park Rangers stumble on an active conspiracy.
[#ShineComics] UNDERGROUND #1 (of 5) by Jeff Parker (script), Steve Lieber (art), Ron Chan (colors); Image, 2009, $3.50.
The Week in Tweet, Week 39
Blind windows, flat eyes
stitched tight into time
til @outshine rises unbound…
Monday September 21:
[Quote for the Monday] “Much of what we ascribe to human nature is no more than a reaction to the restraints put upon us by our civilization.”
[Source] Franz Boas (1858 – 1942) / German-born U.S. anthropologist.
Tuesday September 22:
Southern metal meets clenched-fist hardcore; like going thirteen rounds with the entire Samoan Olympic boxing team, only with more guitars.
[#SoundBytes] NEW JUNK AESTHETIC by Every Time I Die —http://www.everytimeidie.com/ / Epitaph Records —http://www.epitaph.com/.
Wednesday September 23:
They died, each species, one by one. Cats then owls; owls then ants. They died
But now look
They rise, each species, one by one. They rise.
[Bio] Penelope Friday – penelopefriday.livejournal.com .
Thursday September 24:
A one-joke romcom that flirts with brilliance but never quite settles in, maybe because Ricky Gervais’s schtick has gotten a little stale.
[#Spitballs] The Invention of Lying / Directed by Ricky Gervais & Matthew Robinson / http://is.gd/3DEz7.
Friday September 25:
[Quote for the Friday] “It is by losing himself in the objective, in inquiry, creation, and craft, that a man becomes something.”
[Source] Paul Goodman (1911 – 1972) / U.S. writer, teacher, and psychotherapist / The Community of Scholars.
Saturday September 26:
Sand crunches beneath their feet, and the sun warms their gray skin. They gawk at the pyramids. “Looks like someone was here first.”
[Bio] Aurelio Rico Lopez III hails from the Philippines. He is an avid fan of all things weird.
Sunday September 27:
A handsome prince and a magical quest are the basis of great humor and fun in this enjoyable English translation of a beloved French series.
[#ShineComics] THE LEGEND OF PERCEVAN, VOLUME 1 by Fauche, Léturgie, and Luguy; Fantasy Flight Games, 2009, $17.95 (hardcover).
The Week in Tweet, Week 38
Sprawling on the fringes of the city
in geometric order
@outshine’s insulated border
in between the bright lights and the far unlit unknown
Monday September 14:
[Quote for the Monday] “Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead.”
[Source] Aldous Huxley (1894 – 1963) / British novelist and essayist / Do What you Will, “Wordsworth in the Tropics”.
Tuesday September 15:
One part metal, one part big-band swing showtunes, one part Eastern European circus sideshow. More substance than the average gimmick album.
[#SoundBytes] SING ALONG SONGS FOR THE DAMNED & DELIRIOUS by Diablo Swing Orchestra — http://is.gd/3uDCv /Ascendance Records — http://is.gd/3uDJP.
Wednesday September 16:
black sea and sky.
ships: sailing white, leave the flood plain.
safest harbor: needing none.
clustering lights, another long dusk.
[Bio] Andy Kelly @a_m_kelly lives in a room full of books, mostly unread.
Thursday September 17:
Two astronauts wake to find their cargo, 60 thousand human beings, transformed into messed-up versions of Peter Dinklage. Now that’s scary!
[#Spitballs] Pandorum / Directed by Christian Alvart /http://www.pandorummovie.com/.
Friday September 18:
[Quote for the Friday] “Men cannot live without seeking to describe and explain the universe to themselves.”
[Source] Isaiah Berlin (1909 – 1997) / Latvian-born British philosopher and historian of ideas / Concepts and Categories.
Saturday September 19:
Definition of futility: chasing ruby-goldfish that burst out of a waterfall, sail across the greenhouse, enter another. Damn microgravity.
[Bio] Paula R. Stiles, at: http://is.gd/kLAu, has sold SF, fantasy and horror stories to Strange Horizons, Jim Baen’s, Futures and others.
Sunday September 20:
I like Van Lente’s writing, but this? Peter Parker has blackout drunk sex with his drunk roomie? Rape played for laughs? And why the racism?
[#ShineComics] AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #601-604 by Fred Van Lente (script), Barry Kitson (art); Marvel, 2009, $2.99 each.
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