It's difficult to blog in days like these

I've been planning to blog about several things these last few days. Things like movies I watched (Collateral and House of Daggers), or Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell being named Time Magazine's Book Of The Year. Maybe even Suprnova.org's mysterious announcement (which probably has to do with eXeem, the non centralized BT alternative they've apparently been working on). I certainly would have whined about losing in the nfl fantasy league semi-finals.

But everything is dwarfed in comparison with the horror in South East Asia. The death toll is growing everyday. Amazon has dedicated its front page to collecting donations for the American Red Cross. The blogging community has been incredible in providing information, first hand reports, a center to find missing loved ones, and ways to help.

And I find myself mostly speechless. With some exceptions, this blog has always been concerned with escapist topics - literature, sports, films, tv, comics. Even when I've talked about politics, it usually wasn't about Israeli politics. Right now, I'm not sure if I can blog about the things that usually concern me. They seem so small, whereas the horror of nature gone mad seems so big.

A Short Film About John Bolton

A Short Film About John Bolton, the DVD of Neil Gaiman's first foray into directing, arrived in the mail today, as part of the first parcel bought with the Amazon gift certificate I got from my friends. The DVD contains a LOT more than the film, and it is the extra material that makes it a must buy for any Gaiman fan. A performance/reading by Gaiman, a "making of" featurette, an interview with The Neil, an audio recordign by Neil. It's a whole bunch of Gaiman related goodness.

The film itself was quite good, funny and creepy. However, I can't really talk about it without spoiling it. There's more to it than appears at first, when it seems to be a fairly run-of-mill documentary about fantasy/horror artist John Bolton and his latest gallery show. It's certainly a recommended short movie, which I hope will be shown at one of the annual Israeli cons. I'm fairly sure Neil will give permission for such a showing, as he's always been very generous with permissions of such sort in the past.

Sin City trailer redux

As expected, it looks even better with a decently sized file from apple's trailer site. Visually, this certainly looks to be the most faithful adaptation of any comic book ever. And as the comics had amazing visuals, this is a very good thing. Hope this gets an Israeli release date soon, as this is definitely one to watch on the big screen.

What suprnova.org's demise may mean

As many of you know, suprnova.org got taken down a few days ago, along with torrentbits.com and tvtorrents.net. I've been a happy user of all three sites for quite some time, as they provided me with the tv shows the Israeli cable and satellite companies haven't bothered to purchase. I have no moral qualms about using bittorrent to download tv shows. We have a full cable subscriptions, with all the trimmings. But Lost, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and Veronica Mars aren't ON any of their stations. And Angel, which is on, is several years behind (obviously, as it got cancelled last year...).

So it was quite distressing to discover that my favorite downloading sources were gone. However, the internet waits for no man, and I found replacements for these sites quite easily. And this thing is FAR from over. Mark Pesce wrote a very good article about what may happen next, in response to RIAA's moronic decision to go after the major BT sites, and exactly how much they may live to regret it.

Link via Napsterization.

The Sin City trailer is out and it is AWESOME

Check it out.

Via every other site.

Some Autistics say: Don't Cure Us

Kathryn Cramer points to a fascinating article in the NY Times about Austistic advocacy groups fighting against attempts to cure Autism. Certainly reminds me of the point I made just the other day about ADHD having both drawbacks and advantages.

One more statement about Chris Weitz...

This time, from someone who has a bigger stake than anyone in the integrity of the film - Philip Pullman. Pullman is much more optimistic about the film than one would expect, and seems to have a great deal of respect for Weitz. While the possibilty (raised by Cheryl Morgan) that he'll end up as dissapointed as Ursula K. Le Guin was about Earthsea is a very real one, at least Pullman has seen script drafts and the like.

China Mieville's Christmass SF story

Mieville's fiction doesn't usually wear it's socialist heart on its sleeve, but I guess when you're writing a Christmass story for the Socialist Review, you kinda have.

Any way, it's a funny, clever story, which pokes fun at all sides of the equation. And it's quite short.

Link via The Mumpsimus.

Smeagol gets diagnosed

In what appears to be a medical journal.

Link via Boing Boing.

Ursula K. Le Guin is NOT happy

After hearing nothing but negative things about it, I haven't watched SciFi channel's production which goes under the name Legend of Earthsea. Now, after reading Le Guin's story about the production, I'm happier than ever that I didn't.

Edit: I've changed the link to the Locus version of the same article.

The Madness of Fantasy Sports

Earlier today, I was reading a post from the Walla Fantasy Sports and Gambling forum to Tammy. Upon hearing it, she quickly pronounced: "he's crazy. This is a married man with a child, why does he behave as if Fantasy sports is that important? Has he no perspective?"

And it's a valid question. In September, during the evening of the first day of Icon, I was at dinner with Guy Gavriel Kay. GGK is one of my favorite authors, a man I was thrilled about meeting. And yet, every ten minutes, I used the internet browser in my cellphone to check how my players were doing in the Fantasy NFL. To my mind, this was justified. My team was 0-3, and a loss would mean kissing hopes of the playoffs goodbye. But looking back, isn't it a bit silly? Here I am, in a restaurant with a great writer, the man who wrote Tigana, and all I can think about is Fantasy NFL? Why do Fantasy sports matter as much as they do?

I think the answer is a combination of factors. It all starts with love of the sport. One gets into fantasy in order to enjoy watching games more. When you have something at stake, you're automatically more interested in games which otherwise might be meaningless. A big part of it is bragging rights. Winning in fantasy means you have outwitted and outlucked your fellow players, and it is a great source of satisfaction. Beyond bragging rights is the desire to test yourself, your savvy, your knowledge, your research skills. Finding a site that has detailed stats other sites just don't have gives one an edge. Reading articles about teams and players allows one to have more insight. The element of luck also draws one in. It's a bit like gambling that way. You can have great players, but an injury or two will destroy your chances. This year, I've had to scramble after losing THREE top receivers in my NFL Fantasy league. Both of my top running backs were slowed down by injuries, and one of them missed several games. Overcoming odds makes one care even more. And even one's downfalls can add to the passion. Last year, my first draft pick in Fantasy NBA, Tracy McGrady, lost some games and was slowed down in others due to injury. My team did not go far without him. So this year, I built what I believe to be a stronger team. Now I want to show the others that I can win in Basketball just as well as I can in Football.

In our leagues, we have another bit of incentive - both leagues have weekly recaps and predictions written by league members, and the NBA league even has power rankings. So, added to everything else is the desire to read on Tuesday or Wednesday that my team demolished the opposition, or overcame odds to win. And winning when the prognosticators predicted a loss is as sweet in fantasy sports as it is in real sports.

So that's why I answered Tammy the way I did: "He has perspective. Fantasy NFL is IMPORTANT." It may be a little bit crazy, but I guess it's my kind of crazy.

Chris Kaman

ESPN Magazine has a fascinating article (paid registration required) about Chris Kaman, who plays center for the LA Clippers, is deeply religious, and suffers from ADHD. Naturally, it's the ADHD part that particularly interested me, as the article talks about both sides of the condition that has plagued me as well. ADHD is a blessing and a curse. In my case, it often makes it very difficult for me to "get into" a book I'm translating. But once I'm "in," the same brain wiring allows me to work extremely fast. And when I'm working super fast, I'm also at my best. Because then I'm in sync with the work, with the book, with its characters and language and world.

This quote, from Kaman's brother Mike, hit particularly close to home: "He was getting in trouble because he couldn't sit still. Working with hyperactive and ADD kids, I know that's their biggest problem. If you overcome that, they're like guided missiles. They chase their dreams with all the passion in the world."

Also of interest was talk of Ritalin killing Kaman's appetite. I've had some rather large weight shifts in my life. I was a fat baby, and at some point in my life, I became very slender. As an adult, I've been overweight, underwight, and overweight again. Could my five years taking Ritalin daily have had something to do with it? I'd guess the answer is yes, but I also know I have a tendency of blaming Ritalin, a drug I KNOW caused me more harm than good.

Kaman sounds a lot more hyperactive than I ever was. The AD (attention deficit) part has always been a bigger problem for me than hyperactivity (combined with the fact that I'm a lazy bastard, which negates a great deal of the hyperactivity). But I'm always happy to read about people who manage to leverage ADHD to their own advantage. Now I only need to find a way to make positive use of my Dyscalculia

108-103

108-103. Chris Cooley, the little known tight end, had 75 yards and gave me 7 fantasy points. The mighty Terrel Owens had 46 yards and a fumble and gave his fantasy owner 2 points.

Fantasy Football can make you crazy, but it can also make you deliriously happy.

Fantasy Football was created to drive people nuts!

So it's the last week of my league's regular season. After an up and down season, my team has finished strong. However, due to the "down" part of the season, I need to have several things fall into place to win.

First of all, I have to win. I'm playing against the team that has been the second best in the league this year. So I knew winning would be tough.

Next, at least one of three different teams had to lose. Any one would do.

As of now, it seems all three are losing. One, in fact, has already lost (all players from both teams played in the noon and afternoon games, so it's a done deal).

In my game, it's a tie. 101-101. After a nerve racking evening and night of following four different fantasy games, it's down to 3 players. 1 on my opponent's team, 2 on mine. That sound pretty good. However, the one player my opponent has left is Terrel Owens, the best wide receiver in football this year. I have Chris Cooley, a tight end I only picked up from free agency a few days ago, and Drew Bennet, a nice, dependable, middle-of-the-road receiver. Bennet has had a couple of monster games this year, and Owens hasn't racked up the stats in every single game, so a win is certainly possible. But with Owens and Cooley playing the Sunday night game, and Bennet playing on Monday night, the fate of my season is up in the air.

If I advance, I have a shot (and as the defending champ, and winner of two of the last three seasons, this is quite important to me). If I lose, the season's over, and it's time to concentrate on Fantasy Basketball...

This is beyond pathetic

When Chris Weitz (co-director of American Pie, and writer of Nutty Professor 2) was named director of the film adaptation of His Dark Materials, not many were thrilled. When he announced that he's scrapping the existing script, written by Tom Freakin' Stoppard, and writing his own, many were horrified. Now, he's announced that he will be cutting away all referrences to the Church and God. The reason? The studio's fear of the American Christian Right.

His Dark Materials was written, consciously, as the "Anti-Narnia," a fantasy series to counter C.S Lewis' thinly veiled ode to Christ and the Church. The Church is, in many respects, the true villain of the series.

New Line, a company which earned miles and miles of credit with the LoTR trilogy, is quickly burning that credit away.

As Cheryl Morgan noted, with referrences to the Church cut out, what will be left? A bunch of kids with pet animals?

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, midnight has come and gone, so I'm officially 33. I love birthdays, usually. Love the gifts, love the attention, love the whole thing.

But 33 is a bit of an awkward age, isn't it? I'm probably out of my early thirties and onto my mid thirties, and I can't say I'm happy about that. Maybe that's why we got a new drier and I got a new desk.

If I were a Christian, being the same age Jesus was when he died would have probably been meaningful. But I'm not. So... not so much

In any case, Happy Birthday To ME!

Warning: Desks in the shop may be larger than they appear...

So Tammy and I went to Ace yesterday to get my birthday gift (the day itself is on the 7th, but we couldn't get away during the week). There was one desk we both liked before. It was big, but the whole point was to get me a bigger desk, as I spend half my life at the desk.

Getting it home was a hassle, and we had to call in Tammy's brother in law, with his larger car (and larger muscles), but I figured putting it in place wouldn't be so hard. I've assembled cabinets and desks and chairs before, and I'm pretty good at it.

But we didn't figure on one thing - a desk that looks large in a huge store will look a LOT bigger at home. The damn thing is a monstrosity. It seems to take up most of the room, and I haven't even installed the shelves yet. It's not a bad desk. Heavy MDF, lots of space. But it makes out fairly home small office space look tiny.

I'm not sorry yet we bought the thing. I need to install the rest of it and use it for a while. Maybe it will make life better and more organized (and the gods know I need the help). But I do know that if we'd had an inkling of how huge it would be at home, we would have gone for a smaller desk.

Handling The Neil

Anne Murphy has been Neil Gaiman's handler at several conventions, and provides a guide for Neil-handling. As I've done author handling for the last two Icons (OSC and GGK), and certainly hope to do it on 2006, when Gaiman is due to be in Israel, I found this extremely useful. A lot of it is useful for handling most popular authors, and we've learned a lot of the general stuff in the last two cons, but the specifics are useful. And it's good to have them in one place.

As some of you know, Tim Powers will be Icon's GoH next year. I hope to be one of his handlers for that (we use multiple handlers, for several reasons, including complementary skill sets, and the fact that some of us - myself included - are also on the schedule as speakers and panelists), so the I'll keep everything Anne wrote in mind for that as well (while making the appropriate adjustments for the fact that Neil is Neil and Tim is Tim).

This, by the way, is also your first bit of really early Icon 2005 promo work. It'll be great. Tim Powers is The Nicest Man On Earth, as well as an excellent author. He's also got a reputation (endorsed by both Card and Kay) as a great con GoH. Icon has been growing every year for several years now. It's a great con, with lots of stuff to see, lots of people to meet, and lots of swag to buy.

And speaking of Israeli cons, Fantasy.Con 2005 is getting closer. This year, after running simultaneously for a few years, Fantasy.Con and Stardust are merging into one convention, which should become our second BIG con.

Six minute promo for LoTR: RoTK Extended dvd

I was going to buy the extended version dvd anyway. I have the extended versions of the first two movies. But if I wasn't going to buy it, this would have probably swayed me. I feel the extended cuts of FoTR and TTT are far better movies than the theatrical cuts, especially TTT. It looks like this will also be the case with RoTK. Only two weeks to go now. Can't wait.