have a dose of happy news

Do you like Neil Gaiman? Do you live near Decatur? Then clear your calendar for December 14th.

people to discover

The ever brilliant Damien, who has done me many a good turn by promoting my films and connecting me with people (including most recently Savannah Murphy, star of Wakeup Call), seeks to continue the turning by spreading word of others. With work returning and a half dozen films in the works, I’ve not had time to look over all of the people, so while I cannot vouch directly for them, I can vouch for him. Anyone he wants you to know about is worth knowing about, if not also following slavishly and drowning in heaps of money.

That being said, of those on his list I can offer up a quick recommendation for artist Kirsten Brown as I own some of her work myself, the site grinding as it is among the top feeds I check, the game work of Zachary Anderson who I fortunately know in real life, albeit not as well as I’d like, and the also wonderful art of Ben Templesmith (the 21st century’s answer to Bill Sienkiewicz, not that Mr. Sienkiewicz is not still producing great work, but if you like the latter, you’ll probably like the former and vice versa).

i’m gonna need a bigger shelf

Partially to satisfy my curiosity and partially to quiet the “everything must be organized” voice in my head, I signed up on Shelfari, an online book cataloging site, today. So far I’ve only gotten through the bookshelf in my living room (plus a few other scattered items), but somehow I’ve already got over 150 books entered. Of course said bookshelf contains mostly graphic novels due to its tall shelves so as of now the list is not all that indicative of my collection (though admittedly I probably do have as many graphic novels as regular books). Still it’ll be interesting once I’m done to see them all together and to see just how many books I do have.

Oh man. I just remembered all of the old Hardy Boys books and others that I still have in boxes too. Now I know what I’ll be doing over winter break. Well, that and finally doing my “six degrees” DVD re-organization (any offers of help on that front will be gladly accepted).

a time for war and peace

About a year ago or so I put out a call asking for a recommendation on a War and Peace translation. I was told then to wait for a new translation being written by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky that, I was told, would be available soon. I checked at the time and the only mention I could find of it was in an interview with Pevear. The recommendation came from a trusted source (though I only met him once three years ago through a mutual friend), so I decided to wait.

Every couple of months I’d check Amazon to see if they had a listing yet. Finally, last night, as I was looking up the new Douglas Coupland novel (to, in a very geeky & digital way, confirm it’s existence, even though I had it physically in hand), I did a quick search for “Pevear” and there it was. Not only was it there, but it’s coming out in just 10 days. So October will apparently be the month where I buy a lot of books because goodness knows I don’t have enough.

the planet continues to tilt swiftly

Madeleine L’Engle has passed away.

I still remember reading “A Wrinkle in Time” for the first time and being enthralled (and certain that I must have gotten ahold of an adult’s book instead).

Years later when I delved into quantum theory, I realized that I had already delved into it thanks to L’Engle’s books. Truly a loss, but one mitigated by all the wonderful works with which she has left us.

(via mech_angel)