Interesting article on Alice Cooper and how he was where punk started. Actually, he kind of loses that point halfway through. I think he's right though. Alice had an immense effect on punk (just ask Johnny Rotten (you know, the guy from PiL) who wrote the liner notes to the Alice Cooper box set). I think the writer is way too hard on Alice's solo efforts though. His late '70s albums are some of the weirdest and most entertaining albums of his career.
I also like that he mentions "Easy Action" in some detail, Alice's most underrated album, I think.

Don't go anywhere without your Vampire Killing Kit. Now only $12,000! (By the way, that story has possibly my favorite headline ever.)

Here's an article trying to spoil our fun in believing that lemmings band together and jump off cliffs in an annual mass suicide. Another great legend lost.

According to Pravda, Noah's Ark may have been a submarine. Pravda is about the most untrustworthy news organization in the world, so don't hold your breath waiting for this to be confirmed. Still, it's awful entertaining.

It's Halloween, so what better time to look at Zombie Pinups.

Here's an interview with Stephen Bissette focusing on horror. Bissette is always interesting on the subject. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of horror movies and comics, and probably better than most knowledge of horror literature.
I'm hoping the article goes at least a little into why he quit comics.
I've always thought it was a damn shame that Bissette quit and gave up working on his masterpiece, "Tyrant," a comic book taken from the perspective of a baby T-Rex. The book explored the dinosaur's world with exacting detail. The only thing like it is Robert Bakker's Raptor Red (an excellent book for dinosaur lovers, like myself.)
I'm hoping Bissette someday returns to the independent comic book fold.

The members of the Gnome Liberation Front were right all along, people don't care about their garden gnomes. Won't someone think of the gnomes?

The CIA is just weird. Not only did they create a dragonfly "insectothopter," they also created, "a 24-inch-long rubber robot catfish named "Charlie" capable of swimming inconspicuously among other fish and whose mission remains secret."
Remember, this is the same agency that tried to kill Castro with an exploding cigar. Really, I think they have an overdeveloped sense of humor.

Wow. An environmental group released these pictures of a dolphin massacre that turns the sea blood red. Also Underwater Times has a link to a video of the dolphins being loaded into the boat. This is pretty brutal stuff, so if you have a special attachment to Flipper, don't look at those links.

Interesting article on the growing number of singles in the country.

According to Fangoria, "Godzilla-Mothra-King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack" (which may well be the world's longest movie title) and "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus" will be out on DVD on January 6. Woohoo!
Which reminds me, I have to get to a record store and see if the "Destroy All Monsters" soundtrack is available. It was supposed to come out today.

ABC News reconstructs Kennedy assassination, confirms Warren Commission conclusion. This would be something I'd be interested in watching. The sticking point for me is, can an average gunman (not a sharpshooter) make the shot from that book depository window.
Oliver Stone's movie made a lot of the "back and to the left" of Kennedy's head, but a person's head isn't like a watermelon. There's muscles in the neck, there is good reason to argue that his head could push back after being shot forward.
Whatever.
No one will ever come up with a clear enough answer that everyone will be satisfied. Still, I would like to see a well done documentary that really tries to come up with the simplest, most likely answer -- be it a guy on the grassy knoll or Oswald himself.

Random House has a nice animation of Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" using the comic adaption by Peter Kuper. It mostly reminded me that I should reread the story. Also, the music is cool.

There are so many good links at Fortean Times today that I'm just going to refer you to them. Just listen to these headlines: "Unexplained Boulders Found In Treetops", "Perfectly formed egg found inside egg", "Living on Butt Hole Road not as much fun as it sounds." And those are just the top ones. The Times is on its game today. Check it out.

Here's a great little article on Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (I found it after reading their article on Kill Bill, also worth a look.) It seems to me the author understands the appeal of the series very well. And he also doesn't fall for the "the movie is the perfect introduction to the series" thing that many other people have said. It's not. It's really just another episode (and not the best episode either.)
But the best thing about this article: there's a link to download the theme song "Tank!" Even if you have no interest in the show, download this song (you'll need WinZip). It's such a cool mix of big band jazz, '70s TV theme song and rock rhythms. It's awesome and I love that it's on my computer now.

A professor is researching earworms, those annoying ditties that get stuck in your head. You know, like the theme of the "Andy Griffith Show." Go ahead, start whistling it, I dare you.

Find out about how Google exploits animals. (Link via Neil Gaiman's journal.)

NASA has released documents about a crash in Kecksburg, Pa., that some believe was a UFO crash. The SciFi Channel put its weight behind the request, which actually got the documents to move, so it can a "documentary" called "The New Roswell."

Apparently Will Ferrell will play Ignatius in a film version of "Confederacy of Dunces." The dialogue from the event seems perfect for Ignatius, but Ferrell seems completely wrong physically for Ignatius. He's a fat, sloppy guy (I can't remember if he's tall though.) At the very least, Ferrell could capture the humor. I just think Philip Seymour Hoffman or Jack Black or Michael Knight or somebody would be a better physical match (and they're all good actors).

I saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre last night. It was good. It was gruesome without showing a lot of gore (like the original.) It was definitely created by people who had a lot of respect for the original movie, and they show it through various visual homages to the original.
They do some things better. You get to know these characters better than the original. You care about Jessica Biel's character. And when people are in pain, you feel it. They're not just hacked away like all those nameless slasher movie victims (not that there's anything wrong with that.)
And they retained the deep, black humor of the original, which is probably my favorite thing about that movie. R. Lee Ermey was fantastic. If you like horror movies, check it out.

There's a pretty common belief that what you write or post on the Internet can always come back to haunt you. (This is usually noted about naked pictures of people.) But, it also seems to be true of governmental bureacracy.
When I owned my last house, I was a slacker. I didn't pay bills on time -- or at all -- I let things go to pot. I was basically a bad owner. I've improved since then. I paid off those bills and moved out. But they keep coming back to haunt me.
A year or two ago, the IRS started bugging me about a quitclaim that said I'd made a gift of my house when I gave it to my sister. I hadn't. I'd sold my half. But it wasn't recorded that way. So we went back and forth for quite a while until I finally got it straightened out and ended up paying $600 in taxes. This took place 4 years after I was out of that house.
Here we are, 6 1/2 years since I lived there. And it's haunting me again. We're trying to remortgage my current house. Up pops something about me still having a $1,500 lien. 6 1/2 years later! This mysterious lien hasn't turned up on credit reports before this, the town's tax collector says I don't owe anything. What the hell?
Was I that bad a person that I need to pay for these previous sins over and over and over again? Nothing depresses you quicker than the fear you will have to pay money you don't have.

There's a Star Wars fan film called Art of the Saber that is really neat. It's just a light saber fight with some nice music and a monologue based on a Civil War letter. Considering the budget they must have had, it's very well done.

"The Iceman" kills a shark: "Peturrson, 55 and a muscle-packed 12st, grabbed the 14ft shark’s tail, pulled it to shore and killed it with a knife. " But another report says: "This sounds like a human attack on a shark, not the other way around," said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File. "The shark was coming in for a free meal, and this guy decided to kill it."
This is like the famed "man bites dog" journalism dictum amped up a few hundred notches.

Here is a great Web site: The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency. The Web site creates a whole history for an imaginary federal agency. It never lets up on the fiction. Make sure you check out the movie reviews where Dr. Hugo Pecos writes about films, detailing both their educational and entertainment value. He had me going for a second with a listing for "Vampires" by Ken Burns, which Pecos calls an excellent documentary and not boring in the least.

Look, somebody has created Giant Monster Monopoly! Don't how well it will work, but it sure looks cool. (Link found via As Above, which is the blog of the guy that created the Zombie Infection Simulator.)

Who dares to fight the awful monster known as Brian? Hmm? Do you dare?

Well thank goodness someone has finally written it: The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. The book seems to sum up all your survival needs in case of a zombie plague. He even has a links page for finding out more about zombies (including another version of the Zombie infection simulator which gives the humans the ability to fight back, hurrah!). Also, the music on the sight is great and spooky. Check it out.

Scientists conduct first-ever fish census. It must be difficult counting all those fish with the way they move about and all. (Thanks Aimee for the link.)

And thanks to rockcritics daily, I've found The Rock and Roll Report, which immediately endeared itself to me by praising Rush. (Which all the critics are supposed to hate, it's required by law or something.)

At rockcritics daily, an article in Slate about "School of Rock" leads the writer to think about the punk/hard rock divide and if it still exists. He doesn't come to much of a conclusion, but the history of his high school years is fun.

We just passed "Summer of the Lake Monsters." Did you know that?

A publicly-displayed woodcut of a woman making love to an octopus has caused some controversy. Who woulda thunk it?

Times-Picayune has an interesting article about George Alec Effinger, a science fiction author who died recently. He's another author I've long wished to read, but haven't got around to. His "What Entropy Means to Me" is sitting on my shelf. He was regularly praised by Harlan Ellison and others.

What month is it? Oh, October. It must be time for newspapers to do articles on the horror genre. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel gets a few interesting quotes. Laura Miller writes a self-contradicting column on horror in the New York Times Book Review. And there has been a ton of reviews of Peter Straub's new book "Lost Boy, Lost Girl" and Tananarive Due's "The Good House."

Fantastic Metropolis is offering 10 excerpts from upcoming novels by some of my favorite writers. On the top of the list is The Shadow Year by Jeffrey Ford. But there's also Shrek: An Afterword by Jeff Vandermeer and The Dead of Night: Dusk by great new horror writer Tim Lebbon. There's also a story by Nick Mamatas, who I've been meaning to check out for a while. If you are at all interested in any of the things I am, then check out some of these.

Ooh, here's some fun, it's the Zombie Infection Simulation v2.3. The little pink dots are humans, the slow grey dots are zombies (you won't notice the gray dots at first until suddenly whole blocks seem to become gray.) Watch as the humans get infected and spread the disease. It's fun.

And while we're on the subject of jellyfish, here's the newest species of jellyfish, called Big Red.

Here you go, an excellent picture of a massive jellyfish. Imagine rubbing up against one of these suckers. Eww.

Giant jellyfish are turning up along the coast of Japan. Apparently this happened last year as well. I'm diligently searching for a picture, but have yet to find one. If you look at Underwater Times, they have a small picture up, but I have no idea where they got it from.

This is an interesting idea, Continuum - 33 1/3 is doing a series of small books about people's favorite albums. They have a great list of albums up, although I don't recognize most of the writers' names. I'm going to keep an eye on it.
Side note: The introduction says this "By turns obsessive, passionate, creative, and informed, the books in this series demonstrate many different ways of writing about music. (A task which can be, as Elvis Costello famously observed, as tricky as dancing about architecture.)"
That quote about "write about music is like dancing about architecture" has been attributed to every smart musician from the '30s to the present. I think it has been traced back to Thelonius Monk, but who knows. I was hoping Snopes would have something on it, but no such luck.

Well, I don't have much time at the computer today. I have to wait for a utility man to show up anytime between noon and 4 p.m. There doesn't seem to be any giant squid news of import today anyway.
I'm finally starting to get excited about Nanowrimo again. I feel like writing. I still don't have many more ideas for my story than I had on Oct. 1. But that's all right. Flying by the seat of one's pants is what Nanowrimo is all about. Last year, I had a plot that completely changed by Nov. 2, so it's not like I haven't done it before.
The Connecticut wrimos are holding a get-together on Sunday. I've said I'll be there. It's probably one of the only events I'll be able to attend. My wonky schedule doesn't allow for many night events.
We have a municipal liaison this year and she really seems to be on top of things. She's already got a whole list of events for November. I half-heartedly started that kind of thing last year, but gave up rather quickly. It's a lot of work and I wish her the best.
***
I saw Kill Bill Vol. 1 Friday. It was exactly as I expected, a good ride with lots of blood. There's almost no dialogue, but when they do speak (as in Lucy Liu's marvelous speech), it's pure Tarantino. I think there's more depth to be found in this movie, but we won't know until the second "volume" is released. I'm probably going to see it again in another week, so we'll see if my impressions change.
This week I hope to see Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Which reminds me. This Slate review of the original Massacre annoys me. It's written by somebody who obviously is written by somebody who knows nothing about horror and decided to write about Texas Chainsaw Massacre as a way to show how hip they are. The writer says: "But the new film is a cynical exercise in fright and disgust, where the original had a deep resonance to it."
Yeah, maybe so, I don't know. But I bet if it was 1974, this writer would be telling us how horrible Massacre is and pointing out what a magnificent movie "The Wolf Man" is.
The writer also doesn't what they're talking about. "Chainsaw gave birth to the multipart horror franchises that have filled multiplexes for the last two decades and may have convinced Hollywood that good money lay in bloodwork" Um, no. Chainsaw was an inspiration many, many films. However, Chainsaw followed in the path of other multipart franchises. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 didn't come out until after Halloween 2 and 3 and well into the Friday the 13th series.
I like that the article praises Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but I just feel it's kind of hollow.

Prozac is found in Texas fish: "'It's very early, but the implications are potentially serious.'" No kidding. Who knew they suffered from depression too?

Giant squid news is becoming more and more rare lately. I don't think I can resort to San Matias' record catch for squid news. It's just not interesting. I'm sorry. I'll endeavor to do better in the future.

This is not a political blog and will never be. However, this story, Senate Turns Half of Iraq Aid Into Loans, disturbs me. I don't care whether you're against the war or for it, who really thinks making Iraq a debtor nation before they even get on their feet is a good idea? Let's bomb the crap out of a country, invade, take over, replace the government and then ask that government to pay for half of what you did to it. This isn't moral or well-thought-out lawmaking no matter what side of the fence you're on.

The idea of a space elevator is now being taken seriously by NASA. This would be such a technological achievement, it boggles the mind. Skyscrapers twist and shake in the wind, how is this miles-high creation going to hold up? It's bizarre, but I'd really like to see it. With this and the Chinese space flight, there seems to be a renewed space race going on, globally.

Also in that article, the writer makes the comment: "In journalism since the mid-ninetheenth century, barriers to entry have been high." I just don't see that. Nearly every town in this country has a weekly newspaper. Weekly newspapers are always looking for stringers (if they have a budget). You need to be able to do very few things to become a stringer: 1. Be able to write. 2. Know the basic journalism form (the inverted pyramid style). 3. Not be crazy, at least outwardly so. That's really it. Whether you move up in the field, well that depends on your abilities, but becoming a journalist is not so hard. If there are barriers, they're pretty low.

Interesting article about PressThink: What's Radical About the Weblog Form in Journalism? A "Bryant" in the comments section makes a good point that is missed by the article: "Weblogs are a technology. Journalism is a process. As the sidebar here demonstrates, the process of journalism can use the technology of weblogs to good effect."
I've yet to see much journalism done on blogs. I see two things: essays and commentary. I guess that's journalism in a sense, but it's not all that you look for in a newspaper or a television news show.
The blog has unlimited possibilities in journalism. For instance, some person in West Haven, upset about the administration, could start attending meetings and reporting on what he sees in his blog. This would be journalism (although, most likely tinged with commentary, but that's no different than say The New Haven Advocate.) Actually, I'm hoping to see more of that kind of thing.

Scientists have discovered a prehistoric frog that is still living. And, man, is it ugly.

I want to spend more time looking at The High Hat, which has a special Sam Peckinpah edition. It also has interesting reviews and interviews. Looks good.

Pterosaurs (you know, pteranadons, pteradactyls, Rodan) are stranger than scientists believed in the past. Apparently they walked on four legs and had big crests. Apparently a University of Bridgeport professor is jealous:
"'I know if I had one of those, women would be throwing themselves at me, convinced of my sexual prowess and reproductive fitness, and men would shrink from me, sure that my strength greatly exceeded theirs.'"

You should all be reading one of the funniest blogs out there: dong resin's joint. Here's part of his entry on fake bullet holes:
"Guess what Capone, I come across a car with fake bullet hole stickers on it, I'm throwing a rock through the motherfucking window with a note on it that says 'soon.' "

It's the coffee, baby, I'm telling ya.

M. Night Shyamalan is in talks to direct "Life of Pi", which has been the "it" book for the last year or so. I was thinking about picking it up, now I might have to.
I hated "Signs," but Shyamalan fascinates me and I want to see him do something good again. Either way, I'm keeping an eye on him.

A dam in a South African town dried up, then started smoking and now sparks are showing up. The experts have been called in.

Interesting survey on people's beliefs in heaven, god, UFOs, etc.
I'm always amused by these surveys that ask if people believe in witches. Yes, in fairy tales, witches are malignant spirits. But just about everyone knows a wiccan, who are most often called witches. Isn't it about time they removed this question from the surveys?
Also, this is a very monotheistic survey. They ask if people believe in God. But they don't ask if people believe in gods. There are thousands of people in this country who follow Hinduism, Jainism, Shintoism and many other polytheist and pantheist religions. Isn't about time we start acknowledging that?

A major political and religious figure suggests blowing up the United States' State Department with a nuclear bomb. Osama Bin Laden? No. It's Pat Robertson.

This set of articles, Rastafari: The Life of Bob Marley, is a fascinating explanation of Rastafarianism. I was always interested in what the religion was about (besides reggae and marijuana). I don't think I could believe in any religion that believes marijuana leads to wisdom, however, it seems to be a peaceful and thoughtful religion otherwise.

People are looking into a possible UFO crash in Shag Harbour in 1967. Apparently, it's well documented. It's a good article, although they quote a Fate Magazine guy as saying he "is also convinced the sighting in 1967 was that of a UFO." That's like quoting a Cat Fancy journalist saying "everybody loves cats." (Link via The Anomalist.)

Remember the story about the kid who snapped a picture of a fiery object in the sky? Well, it turns out not to be a meteorite. At least that's what scientists are saying. They claim it was the Concorde and some really unusual reflections of the sun. Sounds suspect to me. Still, it is a cool picture, whatever it turns out to be.

"So I hate it when rock is used as a responsible tool. Rock 'n' roll should be very irresponsible." Alice Cooper is out promoting his new album, "The Eyes of Alice Cooper," and its stripped down sound. I gotta getta listen to this.

Lou Reed is apparently learning tai chi from a master. Check out the cool pics of Reed in his martial artist get-up. Especially check out the cover of the magazine with Lou wielding a sword.

Toy Vault is making plush Godzilla figures! And they've already come up with a Mothra doll. I must get these -- my wallet cringes in fear. They are also planning Godzilla bobble-heads.

Russian TV reports say the leg of a yeti has been found. They have a picture too. Meanwhile, in Japan a mountaineer says he has disproved the yeti, pointing out that it is a brown bear. Now Reinhold Messner is upset because he said the same thing in his book "My Quest for the Yeti" five years ago. Those crazy mountaineers.
No comment from Bigfoot yet.

Locus Online reviews (well, sorta) Jack Vance's "The Dragon Masters" and "The Last Castle." I have the original Ace Double version of these stories I bought at a tag sale years ago. They are great. Vance always created great, exotic locales and truly alien happenings. Anyway looking for good science fiction adventure, Vance is your man.

Roger Ebert heaps praise on KILL BILL: VOLUME 1 , despite noting "The movie is all storytelling and no story. The motivations have no psychological depth or resonance, but are simply plot markers. The characters consist of their characteristics."
It seems to me that when you go into this film, you have to keep in mind what Tarantino has said about it. He said he has two types of films. The first is his more serious films "Pulp Fiction," "Reservoir Dogs," "Jackie Brown" and "True Romance." Then he has films that the characters from the serious films would watch and enjoy. (Think about the movies the producer in "True Romance" makes or "From Dusk till Dawn.") This is the first time Tarantino has directed one of the second type of films.
This is Tarantino doing huge, operatic, B-movie, comic book action film. I wish I wasn't working tonight so I could go see it.

And while we're at it, this squid story from CNN: "The squid axon is so useful in the general study of nerves that some joke the squid deserves a Nobel Prize for its contributions to science."
Making your life better, with squid.

Finally, more giant squid news. Apparently, they're cannibals. And, really, that just makes them cooler.

Dear God,

What did the 20 young pregnant cows do that so pissed you off? We're all just curious.

Yours truly,
Brian.

Scientists discover what you already knew: "'When someone hurts your feelings, it really hurts you,' said Matt Lieberman, a social psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who worked on the study."

Weird news of the day. Odd rock carvings found in UK.

If I blog myself will I cause a feedback loop?
Figured I'd try it now while blog*spot seems to be taking an hour to load a page. Hopefully this will be cleared up soon and people can get back to my blog-a-liciousness.

The Onion A.V. Club interviews Randy Newman. I love Newman's stuff. The interview is nothing special, no big revelations. But now I have to find out more about this "The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1" that's coming out.

Here is an interesting article on Peter Straub from Publishers Weekly. The writer talks to Straub, his publisher and his editor about his position and how he is going to be marketed. Makes for interesting reading, not your usual profile.
Straub is one of those writers I always want to read more of, but rarely do. I have "Koko" sitting on my shelf, I should probably get to that. He had a terrific novella a few years ago, I think it was called "Mr. Chubb and Mr. Cuff." It made it into all the year's best horror anthologies. It was very good and very creepy.

Can't... stop ... blogging hand.
Wizard Entertainment has comic book babe archives, the latest in creepy geekiness. (But you know you love it.)

Bookslut has a new issue up. Check it out. It's one of the best book sites out there. It's also got a great blog.

This live journal post, nihilistic_kid: Letters To (And From) A Young Dipshit, is cynical and absolutely correct. The more of Nick Mamatas's stuff I read on the Web, the more I want to buy his books. About time I did, I guess.

"Everywhere in the lights from the Enterprise were hundreds of the aggressive, cannibalistic cephalopods that can grow to 6 feet in length and weigh up to 100 pounds. Surrounding the boat was a sea of writhing tentacles from opalescent squid aglow with chemical luminescence, a living light show."
It's not giant squid, but it's an exciting story. (And by the way, it's good to see Henry Miller is still writing.)

Look kids, it's Halle Berry as Catwoman! Why exactly does Hollywood keep pushing the superhero-sadomasochism connection? (As if that picture doesn't answer the question.)

According to the most famous Dr. Who, Eddie Izzard will playthe new Dr. Who. At first I was taken a back. But now I like the idea. Dr. Who was always funny and quirky. He was never a transvestite. But then, he's a Time Lord, what can't he do?

Well, Nanowrimo has started, so I should start writing a bit about it here. Last year, I wrote a 50,000 word horror novel (actually it was slightly over 50,000 words, but I can't remember by how much.) It was fun, difficult, agonizing and wonderful. After I was done, I had a very bad 50,000 word novel on my hands and a great feeling of accomplishment. I knew I could do it, I could write a whole plot, I could stick with something to the end, and there were even parts that weren't awful.
This year, I'm going to be more ambitious. I'm going to write a fantasy novel. I've loved fantasy since I was a kid reading "Wrinkle in Time," "Lord of the Rings" and all the Conan stories (plus movies like "Dark Crystal," "Krull" and "Conan.") As I've grown up, fantasy has remained a major force in my reading habits. My favorite current writers are all fantasy: Jeffrey Ford, Jeff Vandermeer, China Mieville. And even my favorite horror writers tend toward fantasy and the supernatural.
But I've never been able to really finish a fantasy story. I always stall. I love coming up with worlds and strange visions, but putting them to use has been tougher.
But that's what is great about National Novel Writing Month. You're free to experiment without feeling like something good or relevant has to come out of it. So this is the year I'll write a fantasy story. (Unless I change my mind by Nov. 1.)
My inspiration came from a dream I had a few days ago. It was about a guy (in the dream it was me, in the story it won't be) who lives on a secluded mountainous island. He has 20 wives, all of whom are trained assassins. In the dream, a giant monster attacked the island and the wives fought it back.
I don't think that exact scene will be in my story, but this character and his 20 assassin wives will be. I don't think they will be major characters, but they'll be important to the story.
So does that sound goofy enough? I'm hoping I can make it sound more serious in the narrative. The dream was a lot of fun though.

Holy crap! SBC is offering DSL for $26.95?!? I have to call my phone company and see if I can get in on this deal. I need DSL bad.

This British teenager took a really neat photo of a meteor burning out in the atmosphere. NASA was so impressed, they put it up on their Web site.

Gothic.Net is back online after nine months off. The site has had its problems, but it has always had good horror fiction (including work by Caitlin Kiernan, Tom Piccirilli and Ramsey Campbell among others) so check it out.

A book columnist has a crisis of faith. He stares at a 700+ page book and can't decide whether he will be able to read it. I always wondered if this kind of thing happened to reviewers (the good ones, who won't review if they haven't read the book). I would think it would take a lot of enjoyment out of reading. (Link via Bookslut.)

ScienceDaily: "'Scientists have wondered for a long time why madness and creativity seem linked,' says Carson. 'It appears likely that low levels of latent inhibition and exceptional flexibility in thought might predispose to mental illness under some conditions and to creative accomplishment under others.' "
Now I can understand why I would do something like Nanowrimo. I'm crazy.

The Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys are online! You can buy them, raise them etc. Almost everybody I know tried to raise Sea Monkeys at one point in their childhood. I know very few people who actually saw the little things grow to full size though. One kid I knew actually managed to do it. He showed me the creatures. God, they were awful, ugly little monsters. If most people knew this is what they looked like full grown, they'd never have bought them. The Sea Monkeys Web site actually includes a picture of the creatures grown, which I think is probably not a good idea. Stick with the cute pictures of underwater monkey creatures with a little crown. That's what sold everybody on it.

I won't pretend to really understand this article: Object big enough to see with microscope could be in two places at once. However, I find it fascinating. What if scientists were able to make humans do this? When you are in two places at once, is your consciousness duplicated? Or is one of you a mindless drone? It would be a way of showing whether the mind, the soul, whatever, was a physical part of our being or not (or exists at all). (Of course, even then it couldn't prove its existence or nonexistence.) I see a great science fiction story in these theories. Of course, Schrodinger's cat has been around for a long time and people have probably already explore this theme. But I can't remember a story about it.

Courtesy of The Fortean Times comes this article on the PANAWAVE. I tell you, Japan has the best cults. I mean, we Americans come up with some great, zany stuff, but the Japanese are just the masters. We can only hope to reach their level of weirdness.

There's an interesting profile of The Far Side's Gary Larson. He's basically made a lot of money and given up doing his cartoons. That seems to be the gist of it. Too bad. He was one of the funniest cartoonists out there. At least Berkley Breathed is coming back.