Archive for March, 2014
Tuesday, March 18th, 2014
Well, we only had to wait a decade, but Disney has finally announced that Brad Bird is starting to write the script for the sequel to The Incredibles. You know, it was only the best film Pixar ever did. No need to rush or anything.
Now let’s hope they don’t screw it up…
Tags:Animation, Brad Bird, Disney, Movies, Pixar, superheroes, The Incredibles
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Tuesday, March 18th, 2014
I also pick up science fiction-related reference works, especially when I see them cheap.
(Ballard, J. G.) Baxter, John. The Inner Man: the life of J. G. Ballard. Weidenfield & Nicolson, 2011. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Critical biography.
(Gilliam, Terry) McCabe, Bob. Terry Gilliam, The Brothers Grimm, and other cautionary tales of Hollywood. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with what appears to be “delamination” of otherwise shiny area at base of the spine, in decorated boards, sans dust jacket, as issued. Book on the making of the Terry Gilliam film The Brothers Grimm.
Lovecraft, H.P. (S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, editors. O Fortunate Floridian: H.P. Lovecraft’s Letters to R. H. Barlow. University of Tampa Press, 2007. First edition hardback (stated), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread.
Barlow was an interesting fellow in his own right. He was studying ancient Mexican writings at Mexico City College (at the same time William S. Burroughs was there) when he committed suicide in January of 1951.
Now I have the perfect thing to lay the envelope from Lovecraft to Barlow into.
(Moskowitz, Sam) The Sam Moskowitz Collection of Science Fiction b/w Comic Books and Comic Art. Southbys, 1999. First edition oversized trade paperback original, Fine. Auction catalog for the Sam Moskowitz’s science fiction collection held June 29, 1999 (plus a collection of rare comics sold the next day).
Stephenson, Neal. In the Beginning was the Command Line. Avon Books, 1999. First edition trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Long essay on the history of computing the Internet, and cyber culture.
Tags:Books, H. P. Lovecraft, J. G. Ballard, John Baxter, Movies, Neal Stephenson, R. H. Barlow, reference works, S. T. Joshi, Sam Moskowitz, Terry Gilliam
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Movies, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Monday, March 17th, 2014
Because a lot of people have been searching for this on St. Patrick’s day, and the old video appears to have died, here’s a new version.
Tags:funny, John Belushi, Saturday Night Live, St. Patrick's Day, TV, video
Posted in TV, video | No Comments »
Monday, March 17th, 2014
Someone was selling off a numbered of signed editions of books on eBay; three of those are here, and the fourth (Farmer’s River of Time) was from Lloyd Currey.
Farmer, Philip Jose. River of Eternity. Phantasia Press, 1983. First edition hardback, #81 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and slipcase, new and unread.
Lansdale, Joe R. The Drive-In: The Bus Tour. Subterranean Press, 2005. First edition hardback, #223 of 350 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and slipcase, new and unread. Supplements a signed trade edition.
Leiber, Fritz. Gummitch and Friends. Donald M. Grant, 1992. First edition hardback, #237 of 1000 signed, numbered copies (though not signed by Leiber, who died before the book was finished), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and slipcase, new and unread. Contains both Leiber’s cat stories, as well as memorial appreciations of Leiber by Stephen King, Robert Bloch, etc. bound at the front of the volume. Also, for some reason, an unsigned limitation number plate for the Grant edition of Stephen King and Peter Straub’s The Black House is also laid in.
Straub, Peter. Mrs. God. Donald M. Grant, 1990. First edition hardback, #179 of 600 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy, sans dust jacket (as issued) in a Fine slipcase, new and unread.
I didn’t pay more than $40 for any of these…
Tags:Books, Donald M. Grant, Fantasy, First Edition, Fritz Leiber, Horror, Joe R. Lansdale, Peter Straub, Phantasia Press, Philip Jose Farmer, Science Fiction, Subterranean Press
Posted in Books, Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Sunday, March 16th, 2014
All These Fallen Trees sounds a bit more post-rock than Shoegaze, but “God Created Earth, We Created Heaven” hits a sweet mellow spot between Midsummer and Explosions in the Sky.
Tags:Music, Shoegazer, video
Posted in Music, video | No Comments »
Friday, March 14th, 2014
I saw this on John Skipp’s Facebook page, and it came up at the SDC, so despite it already having 3 million hits, here’s two guys in a pizza parlor doing the best cover of Toto’s “Africa” you’ll hear, well, probably ever.
Mike Massie seems to have done a lot of other impressive covers, like this one of U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”:
Or this one of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”:
And even Genesis’ “Home By The Sea”:
Indeed, it’s hard to go through this guy’s YouTube list and not find a great cover version.
Want to feel old? “Africa” came out in 1982, or 32 years ago. Go back 32 years before “Africa” and “Rock Around the Clock” was still 5 years away…
Tags:Genesis, Jeff Hall, Mike Masse, Music, U2, video
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Thursday, March 13th, 2014
I haven’t gone to Aggiecon for about a quarter century for reasons too detailed and annoying to get into here. But I have watched from a distance as serial administrative blunders have reduced the con to a shadow of its former self.
With that in mind, I thought you might be interested to know that Aggiecon has announced its guest lineup this year.
Both of them.
That’s right, a convention that used to boast such guests as Jack Williamson, Fred Pohl, Harlan Ellison, Roger Zelazny, Greg Bear, Joe R. Lansdale and George R. R. Martin now has a guest list of two: a guy who co-writes a podcast and an anime voice actor. I’ve had better guest lists in my living room. Hell, I’ve had better guest lists in my living room when it was just me and Howard Waldrop.
I think I’ll be missing it again this year…
Updated to add: Someone has alerted me that Aggiecon has announced more guests on their Facebook page. Still no names to conjure with, but at least there are more of them. It also suggests that they’re so organizationally dysfunctional they can’t update their own website less than a month before the con…
Tags:Aggiecon, Conventions, Science Fiction, Texas, Texas A&M
Posted in Science Fiction | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 12th, 2014
My habit of picking up signed Ray Bradbury first editions when I see them cheap continues apace:
Bradbury, Ray. Bradbury Speaks: Too Soon from the Cave, Too Far From the Stars. William Morrow, 2005. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a tiny bit of spine-join haze rubbing. Signed by Bradbury: “MARK!/Ray/Bradbury”. Collection of essays.
(Bradbury, Ray). Nolan, William F. and Martin H. Greenberg, editors. The Bradbury Chronicles: Stores in Honor of Ray Bradbury. Roc, 1991. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with a tiny bit of wrinkling at head. Signed by Bradbury. Anthology.
Tags:Books, Fantasy, Ray Bradbury, Science Fiction, signed
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Monday, March 10th, 2014
I recently got in some imperfect copies the Centipede Press limited edition of The Anubis Gates, and it’s completely off the hook:
Powers, Tim. The Anubis Gates. Centipede Press, 2014. First edition hardback thus, a Fine copy save two flaws (the slipcase keyhole cutout is about 1/4″ misaligned between the two halves, and it lacks the signature page) bound in decorated red and black velvet with a lenticular image embedded in the front cover, in a Fine slipcase. The thing is ginormous, resting in a two-part red velvet slipcase which houses the book and an accordion portfolio of the color art plates in the book, and includes an appendix of deleted scenes from the original manuscript and a fold-out map of 1810 London.
The entire assemblage is only a hair thinner than the traycased edition of George R. R. Martin’s GRRM.
I didn’t think I needed another Anubis Gates, since I have the PBO, the UK first, the Ziesing hardback, and the facsimile manuscript included with the ultralimited edition of the Berlyene bibliography. Plus I’m not a big fan of post-first limiteds in general. But this edition is so over-the-top I couldn’t pass up a chance to pick up copies at a bargain price. In fact, I still have a couple left at $75 a pop (first come first serve), which is a hefty discount over the $295 offering price on pristine copies…
Tags:Books, Centipede Press, pics, The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers
Posted in Books, Fantasy, pics, Science Fiction | 5 Comments »
