So, I’ve created a Squidoo lens. You can find it here (or in the sidebar there). I’m new to Squidoo, so if you have any suggestions as to how to improve my little lens, that would be great (especially if you happen to have a lens and have magical, intimate knowledge of how to make a lens look super cool). Feel free to have a look and make suggestions! Thanks! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
It might seem like an insignificant detail, but when people screw up characters with asthma it really ticks me off. Why? Because I have yet to see a movie in which someone uses an inhaler correctly and it’s not that bloody hard to do it right. Trust me, I know because I use an inhaler. The problem with Hollywood is that they either just don’t give a flying fig about getting health problems such as asthma–which is kind of a big deal, by the way, considering that about 31 million Americans have it (about 1/10th of us)–or they haven’t clue how to do it because by some stroke of luck there are absolutely no actors, directors, set workers, etc. who have the condition. I find the latter part hard to believe, but at the same time it may very well be true because I think after seeing a scene done incorrectly ten, twenty, maybe thirty times in the same day, someone like me might raise a hand and go, “Excuse me, sir, but that’s not right.”How exactly do they screw up asthma? Well, every time you see someone use an inhaler (whether or actual asthma, or a disease of some sort that would need an inhaler) they always take a puff, suck in for a brief second, and immediately let it out, usually the instant after removing the inhaler. I’m sorry to report, but this NOT how it is done. Not even close. It’s so blatantly wrong it actually hurts, and Hollywood has been at this for a long time. When you use an inhaler the object is to get the medicine deep into the longs, hold it there for a suitable amount of time so it can get into all the little cells and what not. This produces the maximum amount of relief. Think of it this way: you wouldn’t take an aspirin, lick it, and expect it to work the same as swallowing the whole pill, right? Exactly.Hollywood has NEVER got this right (at least, not that I have seen) and it’s disturbing and annoying. Stop it. Seriously. It’s not that hard to say “Mr. Actor (because for some reason almost all asthmatics on film are male, because there are absolutely no women with asthma at all right?), could you please suck in and hold your breath for five seconds after pretending to take a puff? Thank you.”What prompted this rant? The Goonies. Don’t get me wrong, I love the film too. It’s fantastic, a wonderful 1980s children’s adventure movie with a little family drama and a little fantasy thrown into the mix. But the main character, Mikey (played by Sean Astin, who is a good actor), is supposed to have asthma, yet never uses his inhaler correctly. Not once. It’s always “put it to his lips, push, breath, release, done”. No holding of breath, nothing. This happens in Signs, Casino Royal, and Superman Returns (it’s in I, Robot as well, but because that film is a futuristic film it sort of gets away with it). There are likely dozens of other films that screw it up (you can search IMDB for “asthma” and see a list of some seventy titles, in fact).The point is, Hollywood has been screwing up and some of us actually notice. So stop it! Something seemingly so simple should be easy to do right. Or am I asking too much?
Well, everyone else is talking about the books they have received, and I figure I might as well too. I have a LOT of books, as you can tell. These are all for review. Perhaps if you want to see everything else (a.k.a. my disorganized, but lovely library) I could take some pictures for your perusal. Just ask. Now, to the books I have for review. There are currently forty-three books in my review library. That’s, well, a LOT of books. I am currently reading Marsegury by Edward Willett, which isn’t pictured.So, here we go (reading from left to right, top to bottom): The Books of Pellinor (The Naming, The Riddle, and The Crow) by Alison Croggon (Candlewick Press) White Chapel Gods by S. M. Peters (ROC) Sentinels: When Strikes the Warlord by Van Allen Plexico w/ Chris Kohler on Illustration The People of the Pole by Charles Derennes (translated by Brian Stableford of Black Coat Press) Sly Mongoose by Tobias S. Buckell (who deserves a hug for giving me a print copy) Saint-Germain: Memoirs (Tales of the Vampire Saint-German) by Quinn Yarbro (ESP Press) Turnskin by Nicole Kimberling (Blind Eye Books) Tangle (Edition XY: Fiction With a Twist) edited by Nicole Kimberling (Blind Eye Books) Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale (Blind Eye Books) Blue Moon by Cindy Lynn Speer (Zumaya Publications) The Strange Cases of Rudolph Pearson by William Jones (Chaosium Inc.) Horrors Beyond: Tales of Terrifying Realities edited by William Jones (ESP Press) Hardboiled Cthulu: Two-fisted Tales of Tentacled Terror edited by James Ambuehl (ESP Press) High Seas Cthulu edited by William Jones (ESP Press) Horrors Beyond 2: Stories of Strange Creations edited by William Jones (ESP Press) Napoleon’s Gambit by Eric Goldman (the author is sending me an updated version of this) Valor’s Trial by Tanya Huff (DAW) The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds (ACE) Galaxy Blues by Allen Steele (ACE) Astropolis: Earth Ascendant by Sean Williams (ACE) Grimspace by Ann Aguirre (ACE) Empress by Karen Miller (Orbit) Mech Warrior–Dark Age: To Ride the Chimera by Kevin Killiany (ROC) Future Americas edited by John Helfers & Martin H. Greenberg (DAW) The Sacred Book of the Werewolf by Victor Pelevin (Viking) Saga: A Novel of Medieval Iceland by Jeff Janoda (Academy Chicago) The New Mars: A Family Vacation by John L. Manning, Jr. (Authorhouse) The New Mars by John L. Manning, Jr. (Authorhouse) Into This Mind by Lisa Nevin (Unlimited Publishing) Paradise Island by John L. Manning, Jr. (Authorhouse) Where Angels Fear by Ken Rand (Fairwood Press) Foundling by D. M. Cornish (Speak/Penguin)(SQT also has this book, but I told her since I bought it I’d review it too) Ignore that Whitechapel Gods is in there again. Not sure why I took two pictures with that book in it. Honeycomb by Israel Del Rio Witness (Book One of All Prophets Are Liars) by Bill Blais (iUniverse) An Idle King by J. W. Benford (Lulu) The Cleansing by John D. Harvey (Arkham House) The Soulstealer War (Book One: The First Mother’s Fire) by W. L. Hoffman (Dog Ear Publishing) The Far Side of Nowhere by Nelson Bond (Arkham House) Evermore edited by James Robert Smith & Stephen Mark Rainey (Arkham House) And this one just came in Wednesday:Quills and Kings by Joel Reeves (Leucrota Press) And this one came in yesterday:The Viper of Portello by James C. Glass (Fairwood Press) I am extremely excited about a great deal of these titles, which makes it very hard to figure out what order to go in. I’m also please that quite a few small presses were willing to send me review copies of their books (ESP sent me SIX books!). I know you guys don’t have a whole lot of money as it is (neither do I, to be honest), but if my reviews help bring awareness to you, then great! I’ve already read works from Aio, Fairwood, and Edge, and I have to say that any negative associations with small, legit presses are unfounded. Aio has published some exceptional work on a highly literary quality (which is a treat for me, because you don’t find a lot of literary style speculative fiction). Fairwood has done well to bring an amazing collection of stories by Paul Melko together (one of my favorite books this year, by the way), and Edge has proven to be an excellent small Canadian press producing good commercial fiction (I don’t mean commercial as in popcorn fiction that shows up in all the grocery stores everywhere, though it would be nice if they had that kind of exposure, but commercial in the sense of highly entertaining speculative fiction that still tackles the tough issues!). So I look forward to being involved with other presses as well. Thanks to everyone who has sent me books and thanks in advance to any books someone else sends me or wants to send me. If any of you know any small presses looking for reviewers, feel free to mention my name. My genre wants/likes are very open as you can see from looking to the top left column (click the link and it’ll take you to my wants, etc.). Alright, no more babbling from me!
An appropriate subtitle would be: Why I Don’t Drink.Apparently the couple that lives in the room next to mine were out drinking tonight and as a result came home at 11:30 PM drunk and making quite a bit of noise. One of the other housemates came out in protest (something to do with working at 2 AM) and the husband went on a rampage. From the security of my room I had made the assumption that it was mostly just screaming, stomping around, and drunken threats (all of which, in my opinion, deserved the same result as what happened in reality). When I went out to get water some time after the altercations had ended I found out that not only had there been yelling, but Mr. Husband had become physical with the person who first protested, with the landlord (or I think so, since he had a huge bump on his arm), and one of the other housemates. The sick fellow in the house was accidentally injured when Mr. Husband threw open a door. The result? The neighbors called the police and Mr. Husband was arrested.Yeah, this is my life. Fun, ain’t it? (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
I was using StumbleUpon earlier and I came across this fascinating video that explains what happened in the last six minutes before the Spirit Rover landed on Mars (which translates to how all our probes end up getting to the Red Planet’s surface). Think of it this way: how do you get a big metal bucket to slow down from 12,000 MPH to 1 MPH in the few minutes after it hits the atmosphere of another planet?Enjoy! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
Okay, I didn’t meet Wintermute exactly. I met his creator: William Gibson. He was at the Capitola Book Cafe last night doing a reading and signing and I was fortunate to be there for it! It was fantastic. Mr. Gibson read the second chapter from his recent novel, Spook Country. It was fantastic to hear him read. His prose is simply stunning in this book!Afterwards he took questions, which resulted in a few clever jokes being said, and then he signed books. There was a huge line and I got a copy of Neuromancer and of Spook Country signed!My friend Jennifer showed up later on and we hung out and talked. Mostly I stood there in complete awe, my two signed books clasped in my hands like tomes of mystical knowledge about the universe. At some point I got the courage to ask Mr. Gibson if I could get a picture with him, and being the cool guy that he is, he said yes!It was fantastic seeing Gibson in person. He’s quite legendary, as you probably know.Gibson wasn’t the only famous person there, by the way. Rick Kleffel of the Agony Column was there as well! If you don’t know who he is you need to get out more. He works for NPR and his column is a fantastic resource of intellectual interviews with authors of all sorts of books, from regular fiction to speculative fiction. And I got a lovely picture with him too! It was a great night indeed!Afterwards, Jennifer and I got something drink, shared a cookie, and generally enjoyed ourselves. Good times indeed!
