Synova

I just got home from Bubonicon. Bubonicon is the Science Fiction convention held in Albuquerque this weekend. I just get one day of it this year and for the most part had a great time. Hopefully next year I'll make the whole weekend. What I want to talk about now that I'm not at the Con is... politics. And you know, I did this same post last year. I really did. The same exact post. I have simply had it with Connie Willis. I have had it. If anyone has been to a science fiction convention anywhere they know that diversity is the norm. Lots of people seem to really love going to conventions because it's one place where they can really feel comfortable when they normally feel that they don't fit in. But somehow some people seem to think that in the area of religion and politics, the two really big social pit falls, that there is no diversity at a Con and no tolerance required. Sure, there are a lot of people who are politically liberal at a Con. ...

Actually, what happened was that someone in an Althouse thread said something about Hitler not having anything to do with health care. I pointed out that we often don't hear about what was happening in hospitals in Germany at the time, the euthanasia and sterilizations of those entirely Aryan persons with mental disabilities or genetic illnesses and what not. Apparently Glenn Beck made a similar point very recently because I got accused of repeating what he had said nearly verbatim. Go figure. "Glenn Beck!" ;-)

HE: We need to cross this river. We must build a bridge. SHE: We don't need a bridge to get across the river. Boats or a ferry, perhaps. HE: Of course we need a bridge! Only rich people have boats and it hasn't gotten everyone over there. We have to cross this river. SHE: A bridge is too expensive and will probably wash out during the spring floods. A bridge is a bad idea. HE: The only reason you don't think we need to cross this river is because you hate the people on the other side, you hater! SHE: I'm not a hater. I love those people as much as you do, but we do not need a bridge to cross the river. There are other ways to cross the river! HE: Oh, and what about people who can't swim, you hateful moron, just let those people drown, huh? And you claim you aren't a hater. SHE: I never said swim! HE: Glenn Beck! Glenn Beck! Glenn Beck!

The “right” to free health care is the right to own the labor of other people without their consent. Any time you’ve got a right TO something like that you take the rights of other people to their own selves and their own freedom away. The libertarian idea, as I understand it, is that your rights end where they intersect another person. I have a right to “pursue happiness” to make my way in the world, to worship my own God, to feed myself, to supply my physical and other needs, rights to my own body and self-determination, rights to my own property, rights to employ violence to defend my rights (which is pretty much a good way to define what is a right and what is *not*)… just up *until* I intersect another human being. I may not take someone else’s food nor compel their labor nor sacrifice them to my God nor otherwise violate *their* rights in the pursuit of my own. Read the rest at A Second Hand Conjecture.

I just finished reading the latest paperback from Suzanne Brockmann. _Dark of Night_. I'm disappointed and that's a sad thing because I've absolutely loved her series of romances about SEAL team 16 and the Troubleshooters. Aparently I'm not alone. My complaint isn't the same as most of the others... I'm great with Sophia and Dave. I even am okay with Tracey being people smart. She and Decker did seem to come out of left field. I thought Decker was great even if I thought his overwhelming conflict was pretty lame. What I didn't care for was the politics. I read for escapism, for studly dangerous men acting like men, for sex, and adventure with guns, where our military are the good guys and the SEALs are supermen and military contractor's are heroes, too. (I wonder if Ms. Brockmann realizes that the Troubleshooters ARE Blackwater?) I do not read sexy action adventure to be presented with a *cause*. It's small things but they don...

Three dimensional, totally unique, hand painted, sturdy paper mache and gesso, felt lined, ribbons are attached with rivets. This is meant to be worn or displayed. What do you think?

Every now and then I like reading one of those thin, naughty, category romances. Partly, it's to analyze what works and doesn't work craft-wise... though that's sort of an excuse since I can't read anything without paying that sort of attention. This time I grabbed two... both paranormal... it seems like that's all of them these days. The fad will pass, I'm sure. One had a fortune teller who could see futures. I actually liked that one fairly well. The fortune teller aspect wasn't spooky, just matter-of-fact, and it worked for me. The other was a time-travel romance. This is a sub-genre of paranormal that involves one party traveling forward or backward in time and meeting his or her true love. They can be fun. And this one was fun... but it was also so very wrong. The whole time I was reading it my back-brain was hollering at me that any sane modern person, sent back in time, would conclude that she was insane. One way or the other. ...

Okay, I know what they were thinking... spin-off. I haven't watched season 6 episode 10 because I simply can not bear to watch it. The last three episodes, including this one, have been job interviews. Unfortunately it was all archetype and no soul. I expect more of the same. What happened to the fabulous writing? I think it died sometime mid season 5. I realize it's too late. I realize these are old shows and it's way too late. Breaks my heart. It's not as though it would be impossible to do "immortal female crime fighter" and do it well. But didn't they have the first clue what made Highlander so great? What made Highlander great is that the immortals are tragic figures. The episode where Mary Shelly conceives of Frankenstein got it right... so who ever wrote *that* episode understood it. The immortals are tragic. Either they suffer and endure loss after loss after loss... or they become monsters. It wasn't *just* that Adri...

And I'm dreading it. I don't even want to watch. Spoilers, if you care.... For the end of season five. Duncan is crazy again, and killed Richie. Did we just do this? Didn't he just go nuts and kill his friends? Couldn't they think of something new? Worse, worse... last episode of season five and Duncan is thinking he might be crazy, and Methos and Joe think he's crazy, and Richie calls and says he saw Joe when Joe is standing right next to Duncan and it seems the most important thing would be that Richie was seeing things too... so why doesn't Duncan say so? Methos and Joe are standing right there. And Duncan runs off without saying anything. And kills Richie. This is about as dumb as, "Let's split up." "I think I'm going crazy, but rather than stay with people I trust, I'm going to run around alone and do who-knows-what." Ugh. And I was thinking that those writing Highlander were actually rather good.

So... this is sort of fun . Update: Oops! Yes, Hulu.com doesn't work outside the US. The link is to the season 5 episode 10 of Highlander, in which Duncan MacLeod and a beautiful female Immortal, along with a German who has an eye-patch but doesn't look all that much like Tom Cruise , attempt to blow up Adolf Hitler.

So. I'm watching the second season of Highlander, an episode creatively titled "Warmonger", and the reporter who is trying to get the story of an evil immortal who has played the power behind the throne, tosses off this explanation of why she is taking the opportunity to interview this very dangerous man: "Stalin is dead. Mao is dead. And Saddam Hussein hasn't been giving interviews lately." That's from memory so I'm sure it's not exact, but close enough. I just thought it was interesting that in 1994-ish Saddam Hussein rated an offhand popular cultural reference that paired him, as the then living member, of a very elite company. George Bush decides to do something about it ten years later and suddenly Saddam is just another guy, no worse than anyone else.

I am really enjoying watching the Highlander TV series on hulu.com. Not that there isn't an occasional annoying episode but... don't care. The best, of course, is when MacLeod does the flashbacks that involve barbarian outfits. *sigh*

I love The Mummy. I love Jet Li. I was sorry to miss The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor when it was in the theater. So I bought it on DVD. On the front it says, "The BEST in the SERIES!" - Roger Ebert. Cool beans, says I. But now I have to ask, what was the man smoking? It was horrible! Firstly, and I apologize to Maria Bello, but Evie was badly cast, badly written, and pathetically directed. Gone, gone, gone was the combination of vulnerability and stubbornness that made Evie so wonderful. The only thing Evie did well in this movie was the fight scenes. The Evie who gloriously proclaimed "I am a librarian!" was replaced by a woman who wrote sexy stories about their mummy adventures and wanted to write another one to read to adoring fans. It was so wrong. Evie was into serious inquiry. She'd be writing esoteric, fabulously intricate, scholarly works while not fitting into society much better than her husband Rick. She might have writ...

As the result of a discussion about web-publishing and the fact that few people have time to read what they aren't sure they'll enjoy, I've been thinking about what sort of web-publishing would actually work. Anyone can put a novel or story on a web-page. We might think that this will result in that novel finding an audience, but I don't think there is any reason to think anyone will find it at all. The web actually multiplies the problem of sorting through and finding that novel that is sure to satisfy. In the end I think that we will be able to do without a great deal of what traditional publishing relies on, even paper and ink, but I don't think we'll be able to do without the Gate Keepers. I tend to be a dreamer without follow through, and to be honest this isn't an idea without a pretty steep up-front price tag, but these are some of the elements I'm thinking might really work if given a chance: -First, assume for kicks and giggles that I know ...

Pleading the fifth... or something like that. I've had the worst time getting any writing done at all. I'm making forward progress though. I'm still really excited about this story. My son is ahead of my on word count. :-)

Because I am sooooo behind. Well, I better get to it!

August started to rise but a small hand pulled him down again. "Why are your eyes like that?" He glanced up at Lady Kirikyan who simply raised one arched brow. What harm in answering, then? "I had my eyes replaced. My new ones can see in the dark." They could also see infrared and in wavelengths beyond the visual. "They're supposed to look natural so that people aren't made nervous by them." Lark wrinkled his nose and peered very closely at one eye and then the other. "They look silvery," he announced. "They don't make me nervous. Seeing in the dark is fun." "He's got a pair of toy goggles," his mother explained. "Time to let the Enforcer go back to work, Lark."

Ava threw herself behind the rotted dumpster, pressed her back up against the slimy prefab extruded surface and tried to suck air into her lungs. She couldn't get enough oxygen, the pounding of her heart filled the spaces that were supposed to bring in air. It throbbed in her neck, her wrists, her gut. It was all she could hear. It fought in her brain with the need to run farther, to get away. Or hide. She reached up to wipe a drip that was making it's way down her chin but her sleeve was worse than her face, she glanced down at her arm and a sob pushed its way past her beating heart. She was soaked, not with blood, but with everything. Everything that had been her guardian and teacher, everything that had been Maklun Burr. His skin, his flesh, his bones. His brain... she thought his brain had gone the other direction. Yet somehow it was almost easier to look at what was, now, to focus on it, the bit of cloth stuck in the goo, the part that was a fragment of...