The SyFy Channel has announced its intentions to adapt the movie The Adjustment Bureau into a series. The movie was based on Philip K. Dick’s “Adjustment Team”
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Stretching, Breaking a Genre
Loren reviews Falling Glass
Excerpt from 'Injustice' Exposé
J. Christian Adams, formerly of the Department of Justice, has a book on his experience there, arguing that the current administration has refused to enforce laws they do not agree with. Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department
Lowell's "The Shepherd of King Admetus"
Here are few verses to sooth your soul this afternoon. Put down that third martini and read this from James Russell Lowell:
There came a youth upon the earth,
Some thousand years ago,
Whose slender hands were nothing worth,
Whether to plow, to reap, or sow.
Upon an empty tortoise-shell
He stretched some chords, and drew
Music that made men’s bosoms swell
Fearless, or brimmed their eyes with dew.
Then King Admetus, one who had
Pure taste by right divine,
Decreed his singing not too bad
To hear between the cups of wine
And so, well-pleased with being soothed
Into a sweet half-sleep,
Three times his kingly beard he smoothed,
And made him viceroy o’er his sheep.
"And Now Page Two"
Here’s a troll quote in honor of Andy Rooney, who retired from 60 Minutes, his last essay being broadcast yesterday. Here’s an unflattering take on his career by Judy Bachrach of Obit Magazine.
A Guide of Scifi and Fantasy Recommendations
NPR listeners picked 100 Scifi and Fantasy novels this summer, and SFSIGNAL has produced a helpful chart for this list. On it, you’ll see a strong logical flow of questions and answers like this:
Where should I start: Fantasy or SciFi?
No, I’d rather not be seen in that area of the bookstore.
We won’t tell. Prefer a drama?
No. I just watched The Notebook last night?
Postmodern mind-bender?
No.
Interested in Dystopian fiction?
Yes. I’m a sucker for worst case scenarios.
Totalitarian or world gone mad?
Madness
Do manufactured humans interest you?
No.
Which question most frightens you?
Who needs Free Will?
Recommended: A Clockwork Orange
Or take this example:
Where should I start: Fantasy or SciFi?
No. Can’t I have both?
You can have it all. Into the future or the past?
Future
Math Geek?
Yes.
Recommended: Anathem
Bell to Co-Write Spiritual TV Drama
“Rob Bell is reportedly working on a television drama called Stronger with Carlton Cuse, executive producer and screenwriter for the show Lost,” according to Christianity Today. The report suggests Stronger will touch on the spiritual side of people’s lives, but not be supernatural. So no angels, but maybe vampires like corporate execs. Bell says he will leave his church in Grand Rapids and move to Los Angeles for this work.
Dueling in Russia
About a century ago, a revival of dueling in Russia ended with a this duel by
Nikolay Gumilyov and Maximilian Voloshin. “The offense seems cliché at first,” Nick Moran writes. “Gumilyov had—like many of his peers—become enamored with the female poet Cherubina de Gabriak, and Voloshin stood in his way. It was soon discovered, however, that de Gabriak did not actually exist in corpus, and was instead a pseudonym manufactured by Voloshin and a then-unknown schoolteacher named Elisaveta Dmitrievna. The two had concocted the exotic alias in order to get two dozen poems published. Gumilyov, publisher of some of these poems, wound up penning amorous letters to de Gabriak, and he began receiving equally amorous responses. The offense could not go unpunished. This time, both duelists survived unscathed.”
Nick describes this period and the literature that sprang up with it on The Millions.
Kindle the Fire, Baby. I'll Get the Marshmallows
I confess I learned about the new Kindle from TOP10 Kindle Fan and friend of BwB Hunter Baker on Twitter. He and the world have been excited over the news. The Kindle Fire
- MSN Money: Amazon stock is up 3%. “Maybe the Kindle isn’t an iPad killer but a rest-of-the-field killer.”
- Newsfactor: Amazon Silk, a “‘split browser’ architecture that makes the hardware move faster” is a big difference in favor of the Kindle Fire.
- Amazon’s is probably losing money on its tablet, whereas Apple makes money.
- Gizmodo describes the product in full.
Say Nothing
Nine tips for how not to say nothing in 500 words: e.g. avoid the obvious, go straight to the unique argument, and slip out of abstraction.