The Yellow Handkerchief     HD480p 38MB   HD720p 93MB    European 14MB
Well photographed, intense road trip drama through post Katrina Louisiana, in which three strangers of two generations bound by loneliness reach out to one another, leading to the possibility of second chances. Brett (William Hurt) dealing with a painful past, crosses paths with a lonely and troubled teenager Martine (Kristen Stewart) and her new 'ride' Gordy (Eddie Redmayne). The trio head out together, each motivated by reasons of their own. Martine yearns to escape her family, Gordy hopes to get closer to Martine and Brett must decide whether he wants to return to the uncertainty of the life and the woman he left behind, his ex-wife (Maria Bello).
You can choose between the US and the European trailer version.

It's Complicated     HD480p 43MB   HD720p 128MB    UK 27MB
A second US and a UK trailer version for this romantic comedy about a successful woman (Meryl Streep) and mother of three grown kids who has an amicable relationship with her ex-husband (Alec Baldwin) who's now married to a much younger woman (Lake Bell). But one day the ex-couple is starting to have an affair. Things get complicated when the man (Steve Martin) hired to re-model her kitchen also starts to fall in love with her. John Krasinski and Rita Wilson are also part of the cast. Written and directed by Nancy Meyers (Something's Gotta Give, The Holiday, What Women Want).
If you only want to watch one, then I recommend the UK version, it's in my view the most compact and the timing seems better.
I'm glad that the movie already gets released in most countries before the Oscar ceremony, otherwise it would've smelled even more of a promo stunt. But in general I like the idea of Baldwin and Martin hosting together.

That Evening Sun     HD480p 40MB   HD720p 96MB
Intense drama about an aging Tennessee farmer (Hal Holbrook) who instead of living in a nursing facility flees and returns to his country farm to live out his days in peace. There he discovers that his son has leased the farm to his old enemy and his white trash family. Not one to suffer fools or go down easy, he moves into the old tenant shack on the property and declares that he won't leave until the farm is returned to his possession. But the new tenant, has no intention to move out or give in to the old man's demands. Mia Wasikowska, Tim Burton's upcoming Alice, plays one of the daughters.
Holbrook, who got an Oscar nomination for his supporting role in Into the Wild, again gets rave reviews, so another nomination isn't entirely out of the question. Movie is now in limited release in the US.

Shutter Island     HD480p 45MB   HD720p 104MB
A second, slightly less hectic trailer version that came out a while ago for the delayed until February mystery-thriller directed by Martin Scorsese (The Departed, Goodfellas, Taxi Driver), based on a novel by Dennis Lehane (Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River). Set in 1954 that tells the story of two U.S. marshals (Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo), who are summoned to a remote and barren island off the cost of Massachusetts to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a murderess from the island's fortress-like hospital for the criminally insane. Also part of the cast are Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Patricia Clarkson, Max von Sydow, Emily Mortimer, Jackie Earle Haley and John Carroll Lynch.
I wonder if actors with names consisting of three words indicate they're one of the bad guys.

The Men Who Stare at Goats     TV Spot    Clooney   McGregor   Bridges   Spacey
Funny 30-second TV spot that's a parody of the marketing campaign for Paranormal Activity, as well as four, one minute character trailers for the lead actors George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges of this absurd comedy.

Sideways - Saidoweizu     Japanese 11 MB
More of a curiosity value, after years of Hollywood remaking Asian (mostly horror) movies, Asia has begun to strike back. This is a Japanese trailer for a pretty faithful looking remake of Alexander Payne's movie of the same name. The best known actor of the four leads is Rinko Kikuchi.
Allegedly, Zhang Yimou is also working on a Chinese remake of the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple. But it's really hard to tell from that trailer.

Status Malfunction

  • Nov. 7th, 2009 at 12:00 AM

When your chat client's status "now playing" function announces to the world you're watching porn.

Jay's status was changed to "Backyard Sluts 9 - Japanese School Girls Get Taught A Lesson - iTunes"
Maya Patel: O______O
Jas Wong: WTF!!
Tiffany : I don't think we should be friends anymore.
Charles Cow: Dude, status malfunction...

bastion

  • Nov. 7th, 2009 at 1:15 AM

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 07, 2009 is:

bastion • \BAS-chun\  • noun
1 : a projecting part of a fortification 2 : a fortified area or position 3 a : a place of security or survival* b : a place dominated by a particular group or marked by a particular characteristic

Example sentence:
The university's economics department was considered the last bastion of political conservatism within an otherwise liberal campus.

Did you know?
"Bastion" is constructed of etymological building blocks that are very similar to those of "bastille" (a word now used as a general term for a prison, but probably best known as the name of the Parisian fortress-turned-prison stormed by an angry mob at the start of the French Revolution). The history of "bastion" can be traced through Middle French to the Old Italian verb "bastire," which means "to build." "Bastille" descends from the Old Occitan verb "bastir," which also means "to build." "Bastir" and "bastire" are themselves of Germanic origin and akin to the Old High German word "besten," meaning "to patch."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

Ring Nebula Deep Field

  • Nov. 7th, 2009 at 5:20 AM

A familiar sight to sky enthusiasts with even a small telescope, A familiar sight to sky enthusiasts with even a small telescope,


HEY NERDS

  • Nov. 7th, 2009 at 2:59 AM

Okay, so I enjoy RPGs from time to time, but “sandbox” style play has limited appeal for me: I hated Oblivion, for example, because I kept getting lost and could never figure out where the story goals were. (Fallout 3 was much better in this regard.) For the same reason, I didn’t really enjoy Mass Effect that much; it was a lot more widespread than most of BioWare’s RPG games (which I usually like) and my gaming time is limited so I don’t want to spend it running my character all over the damn place.

I’m asking because I want to know how big the sandbox factor is for Dragon Age. Will I grow old and die before I advance my character halfway through the frigging game? These are important questions if I am gonna play the game. Otherwise I’ll just go buy Left 4 Dead 2 and shoot zombies. Actually, why don’t I just go buy Left 4 Dead 2 and shoot zombies?

ArtLog: Beads of the Month gobsmackery

  • Nov. 6th, 2009 at 9:57 PM
Uh, we're sold out of April MOAMs and November MOAMs.

Still got other sizes left for those months, though. But wow: we sold out of two months of MOAMs in twenty-two hours.

Edited to add:
We are now also sold out of October MOAMs.

Post-Communist Postcards

  • Nov. 6th, 2009 at 5:36 PM

Looming Palace of the People.JPG
Nicolae Ceausescu's "Palace of the People," now the Romanian parliament building, Bucharest

Bucharest in the Rain.JPG
Bucharest, Romania, in the rain

Bucharest Skyline and Power Plants.JPG
Bucharest, Romania

Bucharest Old City.JPG
Old City, Bucharest, Romania

Bucharest Old City Bank.JPG
Old City, Bucharest, Romania

Atmospheric Transylvania 2.JPG
Transylvania, Romania

Clock Tower Sigishoara.JPG
Medieval clock tower, Sighisoara, Romania – birthplace of Vlad the Impaler

Brashov Square.JPG
Brashov, Romania

Globe and Square Kiev at Night.JPG
Kiev, Ukraine

Well lit Kiev at Night.JPG
Kiev, Ukraine

Kiev from Hotel Window.jpg
Kiev, Ukraine

Inside Orthodox Church Kiev.jpg
Orthodox Church, Kiev, Ukraine

Lada on Ukraine Highway.JPG
A Soviet-built Lada, Ukraine

Gently Sloping Crimean Countryside.JPG
Crimea, Ukraine

Yalta and Black Sea at Night.JPG
Yalta on the Black Sea, Crimea, Ukraine

Lenin in Yalta.JPG
A statue of Lenin angrily stares at a McDonald's across the square in Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine

Tank and Goats.JPG
A babushka, her two goats, and a Soviet tank, Ukraine

Communist blocks Ukraine.JPG
Communist housing blocks, Odessa, Ukraine

Robbie Williams: You Know Me

  • Nov. 6th, 2009 at 6:41 PM
There comes a point in the life of every international superstar performer when life gets boring. And you have to make a video. A video that hits the zeitgiest, that matches or tops the high concept weirdness of your previous work. Because you have already been a race car driver, a cult leader, an animated runner, a disolute party boy, a Nicole Kidman sexing Frank Sinatra, a gay cowboy, and very famously, a dancing creature with no skin.

In short: There's not much left to do.



You Know Me - Robbie Williams (Official full-length video)

Robbie Williams | MySpace Video


Robbie Williams goes to Wonderland. Bonus points for the women riding carrots, the inexplicable and clearly not Robbie ballet parts. And the singing cabbage. I'm going to be iconing the singing cabbage. All accompanied by the awful sensation that this is gonna be some furries wet dream for decades.

Double bonus points: How long until some enterprising RPS writer produces some Rabbit Robbie/Mr. Tumunus of Naria? Hint.

poop, n.1: OED Word of the Day

  • Nov. 7th, 2009 at 12:31 AM
Today's word from the OED has the following earliest quotation: 1489 CAXTON tr. C. de Pisan Bk. Fayttes of Armes II. ii. 93 The pouppe whiche is the hindermost partye of the shippe.

Final Reminder for Bookshops

  • Nov. 6th, 2009 at 10:37 PM
posted by Neil
A quick reminder (as I was just asked) that today is the day that the bookshop Graveyard Book party reports have to be in to Harper Collins. By 9 pm PST.

http://files.harpercollins.com/Mktg/HarperChildrens/PDF/GraveyardContest_rules.pdf are the rules and info for those who lost them.

Hi Mr. Gaiman,

I was disappointed today to read you won't be part of the judging for The Graveyard Book contests. My not-wealthy, middle-of-nowhere bookstore just sent in its entry, and something we're concerned about is the fairness of judging.

For example, independent bookstores like Powell's (I'm sure you know) easily have enough money and are in a convenient enough location to ask you to come at one time or another. Against stores like that, who were able to put more money into their parties, we stand little chance.

I don't think that it's a lost cause for us; we were very creative. I'm just nervous to know you won't be judging. Can you tell me whether you think the judges will take things like size and location of bookstores into account? It would make me sleep a little easier until the results are announced.

Tusen takk,
Allison


Well, per the rules, the judging is based on:

(i) Overall creativity of the Party, as demonstrated by the invitations, signage, decorations, activities, entertainment, and refreshments.
(ii) Customer attendance and response (i.e., enthusiasm, costumes, participation).
(iii) Ability to capture and represent the spirit of The Graveyard Book.

...specifically to reward creativity, and not the ability to outspend other shops. (That was also why the party had to actually be at the bookshop, and not at another location.)

I asked my editor, Elise Howard, and she said,

Gosh, yes. Here's what we think is happening. We are looking at all the entries. On Monday, we'll send you the best 11, from which you will choose the Grand Prize Winner. The rest will get the first-prize package. So the short answer is that you ARE helping to choose.

The longer answer is that we will be very fair and will consider creativity, which includes work done with available resources, along with pure execution. (Don't you think? We haven't done anything yet; still waiting for more entries to come in.)


...which means that

a) I was wrong and will be the ultimate judge, from the shortlist. (Damn.)

and

b) everyone's on a level playing field.

Does that help reassure you?

PS -- Widgett's Graveyard Book Dessert competition winners have been announced over at http://www.needcoffee.com/2009/11/06/graveyard-book-dessert-challenge-winners/.

This one had NOTHING to do with me at all. But lor' the winning desserts look tasty...

Home from the East

  • Nov. 6th, 2009 at 1:10 PM

I'm home again from an absolutely fascinating tour of post-communist Eastern Europe and can start writing about it as soon as I get my interviews transcribed.

After leaving Romania, I was supposed to visit Chernobyl and the apocalyptic ghost city of Pripyat outside Kiev, Ukraine, but the trip was cancelled at the last minute. The Chernobyl Administration wasn't letting anyone into the area for reasons that aren't clear to me and may never be – perhaps because of a radiation leak, or maybe for more mundane reasons.

So I went to Crimea instead, the part of Ukraine that may be lopped off and reattached to Russia if Vladimir Putin decides to go on another Georgian-style adventure.

Traveling from the eastern edge of the European Union into Ukraine is educational, to say the least. Romania, Hungary, Poland, and other formerly Eastern bloc countries have largely recovered from communism, but much of Ukraine outside Kiev is still ruined. It still hasn't fully recovered from Soviet collectivization, the genocidal terror-famine, the Stalinist purges, and dekulakization. Kiev is a magnificent city and Crimea is a jewel, but large parts of the countryside feel haunted and doomed.

Stand by for photos and stories.

Here Ya Go

  • Nov. 6th, 2009 at 3:11 PM
Please leave a comment when you grab one. Thanks.

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Oh, Long Awaited

  • Nov. 6th, 2009 at 1:55 PM
So, back a while ago I sold a story to Realms of Fantasy. And then, before my story could be published, Realms folded.

I bided my time. I knew that either I'd be notified that my story was released or else the reversion clause would kick in. It was only a matter of which came first. I'd already been paid, which was a plus, but really what I had wanted was that publication! Ah, well, that's life.

Then, much to my delighted surprise, Realms was resurrected! So my time-biding became much more satisfying.

And now the end of my wait is in sight!

My story "The Unknown God" will be in the February issue of Realms of Fantasy, available in fine bookstores starting, Mr. Cohen says, sometime in December.

Norton screws up again…

  • Nov. 6th, 2009 at 6:26 PM

I have a love-hate relationship with this product. It seems to target my computers for problems, while leaving everybody else in the house just fine. After the disaster of AVG, the worst program I have ever used, Norton 360 began to look better…

BUT it turned out not to have spam filters. I had to get that elsewhere. AND now it’s endangering my computer, overheating the CPU and generally annoying the daylights out of me. I tracked the problem to a file named ccsvchst, which enables Norton to talk to Norton…so you can’t be rid of it. It’s an old problem, a known problem, and it doesn’t play nice with Microsoft Outlook or Office. Isn’t that nice? They swear up and down they fixed it in the last issue of Norton, but nay! not so. It keeps your cpu churning and churning and the fan going and going, and the only way to stop it is to reboot—I know that now. Not only that, the program won’t shut down at the request of the Taskmaster, so you have to abort it, and occasionally to shut your computer down cold.

There is a possible interface with this and some registry relic (did I mention this has a registry cleaner? doesn’t work on itself—go figure) of a prior Norton installation, so I have spent what would have been a productive writing morning wrestling with this beast, and now will have to completely uninstall Norton clean, then reinstall, reconfigure…

Quel pain! You’d think a company whose whole business is reaching into computer processes could get it right the first time!

All right, that's a first for me.

  • Nov. 6th, 2009 at 4:11 PM
I do not think I have ever felt jealous of a secondary-creation-world's scientific/philosophical/religious history before, but now I am jealous. Thanks, Neal Stephenson.

(At around page 100, where the main character is giving "tourists" a tour of their history-museum-bits of the convent and doing one of the best infodumps ever.)

(I have been jealous of a creation myth before, though; Tolkien's universe has the best creation myth, hands-down, accept no substitutes.)


I need to read several books on chemistry and electrochemistry; I need to read several papers; I need to go do some analysis on this, and some more analysis on that, and some more analysis on that other thing.

I feel strangely happy about this situation. Hope it stays that way.

My recent Tor.com posts

  • Nov. 6th, 2009 at 12:03 PM
Piper's Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, Stevermer's When the King Comes Home, Brust's Agyar, Chiang's Stories of Your Life.

In other news, doing research for ILE2, starting a roleplaying game, cooking a lot of gnocchi.