More than 99% of melancholia fans are now dead.
Christine has the details.
…and breathe.
I’ve just spent twenty minutes restoring a script from its backup.
Which is really good, because for an hour or so there I thought I was going to have to type the whole thing in again. Which would not have made me a happy bunny.
If you don’t have a backup system in place, get one now. The moment of sheer heartstopping terror is bad enough when you do have copies somewhere else.
Robin has lots of useful information on this.
I use one of these.
Worth sixty quid of anyone’s money.
Well-read. And not at all competitive.
John August got 38, while the delightful Helen Smith clocks in at sixty-odd (I can’t remember the exact number) of the 1,001 books you should read before you die.
I was pleasantly surprised to find I come in somewhere between 99 and 103. The extra four being books I remember starting, but can’t recall actually getting to the end of.
So I guess they couldn’t have been all that.
High Concept
Genius.
Single? Male? Thirties?
You should go to the cinema tonight, and then pop out to a local bar afterwards.
Seriously.
It’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Indiana Jones and the Crushing Disappointment
Well. That was a waste of money.
When you’re watching a film and keep thinking: “Wow. That’s a great bit of production design,” then there’s something seriously wrong.
Go see Iron Man instead. It has an actual honest-to-god story, that makes sense, that shows and doesn’t tell, has a subtext, and just as many things go boom.
Also, Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow. So you’re covered whichever way you incline.
Ye Canna Change The Laws O’ Physics
Due to some sort of alien sabotage, my server has exploded with a resulting loss of website and email.
Mr Scott is hard at work in the depths of the engine room trying to get it fixed even as we speak, but I don’t know how long it’ll take. Or how long the artificial gravity and air will hold.
I’ll be in my quarters comforting the beautiful alien princess. If you want to get in touch with me over the next couple of days, use this email address: piers.beckley@gmail.com.
Bow before my science-fictional knowledge
Suddenly, I feel strangely professional
The first time I’ve ever been interviewed, and it’s out now.
You can read my witterings about how the state of modern SF is affected by the times in which we live in this month’s issue of SciFiNow, available from all good newsagents.
Every time I think about it, I still get slightly surprised.
Tell your grandchildren you were there…
Jonathan Coulton is playing his first ever UK gig at Dingwalls in Camden this coming Thursday.
If you don’t know JoCo, he’s behind some classic tunes including Re: Your Brains, a rather fine cover of Sir Mix-a-lot’s Baby Got Back and the, frankly, heartbreaking love song Code Monkey.
Not to mention the fact that he did the magnificent closing song for Portal.
A lot of people on the Internet right now are talking about the 1,000 true fans that, when you have them, enable you to give up the day job and make a living from your art. Well, JoCo is living proof.
If you hurry, there are still a few tickets left.