KRAD's Inaccurate Guide to Life

Still slogging through Chapter 4 of Spectres, but at least I broke 14,000 words. Or maybe they broke me. Wubble.

Bikers rescue stuck kittens.

Really! Check it out! It's a group of tattoo-covered bikers in New York who call themselves Rescue Ink. Thanks to ginmar for the link....

Sci-Fi Chick has posted a review of Star Trek: A Singular Destiny, the first such that I'm aware of.

Money quote:

Sonek Pran is an absorbing character, with a diverse background. As the central character in the story, he is the one to discover the great mystery and is integral in several negotiations. He is complex and is by far the most enjoyable new character to the Trek universe that I’ve read in a while.

But wait, there's more!

Bill Williams has reviewed Star Trek: A Singular Destiny for Trek Nation, giving it four out of five stars.

Money quote:

What I enjoy about A Singular Destiny is how DeCandido manages to span the events along the different worlds and cultures, and not just the Federation alone, who must face a difficult task after a brutal apocalypse. It’s interesting to read this novel and see the mirror held up to our own society to reflect its current events on the worldwide arena. It’s hard to put down the mirror and see the obvious real-world parallels that DeCandido has brilliantly portrayed in A Singular Destiny, everyone is affected by the same problems, and no matter what the solution may be, no one is happy with the results.

Just as effective is the way DeCandido intercuts between chapters to reveal the thoughts behind those affected by the Borg blitzkrieg through personal narratives, letters, and reports. Some are happy with moving forward, while others teeter on the brink of emotional breakdown. And the fate of one series’ more beloved characters is handled with such brevity and starkness that said fate is the literary equivalent of a sucker punch. Little moments like these add frighteningly realistic big pieces to a puzzle that must now be put back together with delicacy.

Arisia 2009 has put up what they say is the preliminary schedule. Here's my bit of it:

Saturday
3pm: autographing (Crow's Nest 1B)
4pm: "Media Tie-Ins: Dead End or Foot in the Door?" w/Vonnie Carts-Powell, Jeanne Cavelos, and Terri Osborne (Room 204)
9pm: "This is the War Room!: A Look Back at Dr. Strangelove," w/Garen Daly, Terry Franklin, David Larochelle, John McDaid, and James Zavaglia

Sunday
11.30am: reading (BU Suite--Regency Club) *
12pm: "Bad Contracts and Publishing Scams," w/Inanna Arthen, Sara M. Harvey, Michael Kabongo, and James D. Macdonald (Room 201)
2pm: "TV to Comics," w/Cynthia A. Shettle and Mark "Justin" Waks (William Dawes A)

* For reasons passing understanding, my reading isn't on the schedule on the web site. I have inquired about this oversight.....

From a user who goes by the handle of "sb" on TrekMovie, who said this amidst a discussion of the upcoming JJ Abrams Star Trek film:

A little bit of reminiscence from the Bygone Era of Fandom Past…

I can remember one — and *only* one — Star Trek film whose coming was not heralded by fannish screaming, whining, bitching, complaining, agita, baked beans and Spam. It was, if you take the strictest possible interpretation, the ONLY Star Trek project ever made since the Original Series that has never, as far as I know, been accused of the slightest bit of “non-canonicity” (which probably isn’t even a real word, but work with me here) and is, in fact, the only one of the series where every plot point, costume and set alteration, or character arc was scrupulously respectful of every previously established tenet of the Original Series.

That movie is also widely thought to be terrible, which indeed it was, and is. It was called STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE.

Put that in your canon cannon and fire it. :)

Bravo, sb, bravo!

(If you click on the link, it's post #53.)

Elvis Presley born (1935)

ACCOMPLISHED GIRLS

A girl should learn to make a bed
To bake good biscuit, cake and bread;
To handle deftly brush and broom,
And neatly tidy up a room.
A girl should learn to darn and mend,
To care for sick, the baby tend;
A girl should learn to value time,
A picture hang, a ladder climb,
And not to almost raise the house
At sight of a little harmless mouse.
A girl should learn to dress with speed.
And hold tight lacing 'gainst her creed;
A girl should learn to keep her word,
To spread no farther gossip heard,
Home or abroad to be at ease,
And try her best to cheer and please.
A girl should learn to sympathize,
To be reliant, strong and wise;
To ever patient, gentle be,
And always truly womanly.
A girl should learn to fondly hold
True worth of value more than gold;
Accomplished thus with tender mien,
Reign, crowned with love, home's cherished Queen.

---Anonymous, New Orleans Picayune, c.1899


We go to Europe to be Americanized.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82)

Shawn Hoffman breaks it down on the Baseball Prospectus web site.

The concluding paragraphs, quoted for truth:

The expanded postseason is key. More than any other sport, MLB's playoff system acts as an equalizer. Fair or not, in broad strokes, a team that wins 83 games in a bad division has as much chance of winning the World Series as the Yankees or the Red Sox. Seemingly, no matter how much those teams spend over the winter, that competitive advantage is neutralized come October.

So while the capped leagues all struggle to find the right balance between capitalism and socialism, baseball continues to prosper operating within a much more free-market system. Teams in big markets and small markets alike are making money, and everyone has a chance to win it all.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And right now, baseball is anything but broke.

...is going to the PO box and finding the largest of your five outstanding checks inside.

(Of course, all five would be better, but I'll take it....)

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More later....