A Friday Random Ten

Please ignore the fact that it is the early hours of Saturday...

1) Distant Early Warning, by Rush
2) Silver and Gold, by U2
3) Trinco Dog, by Bedouin Soundclash
4) Big Egos, by Dr. Dre
5) 5 Days in May, by Blue Rodeo
6) Stick To Your Guns, by Bon Jovi
7) Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, by Josh Groban and Lili Haydn
8) Heartland, by U2
9) Sleepless, by King Crimson
10) Quando, Quando, Quando, by Michael Bublé

Happy Weekend!

Friday Random Ten

Been a while since I did one of these: here are the first ten songs selected at random by iTunes when I pressed 'play.'

1) Bruce Cockburn - Vagabondage
2) Genesis - Squonk
3) Bobby Day - Rockin' Robin
4) Triumph - Fingertalking
5) The Devil Wears Prada - Swords, Dragons, and Diet Coke
6) Sting - Desert Rose
7) Sloan - Underwhelmed
8) Our Lady Peace - Under Zenith
9) Led Zeppelin - Dazed and Confused
10) Colin James - Train Kept a Rollin'

Ask an Atheist anything...

Apparently, today is "National Ask an Atheist Day." Who knew? Now, most people I know are not under any illusions about my beliefs, and for the most part, they play no part in my day to day life. But, if you happen to have a question about atheists or atheism that you'd like answered, hey, now's the time. Ask away, and I will do my best to provide reasonable, considered answers.

In fact, I don't even care if the question is about or relating to atheism at all. Let's make this one of those "Ask Me Anything" memes that Jaquandor likes to do over at Byzantium's Shores.

Let's play a game

Apparently, this blog is the first result in a Google search for the phrase, "npr penguin poem mary poppins asks do you like kids and the penguin says yes in a red wine sauce."

Ima let that sink in for a little bit. According to my stat package, someone actually visited AWV from a Google results page for that combination of words. I cannot image why someone would Google that combination of words. That's where you come in.

Please feel free to speculate in the comments what you think the person who typed in that search criteria was really looking for.

Ogle my bookshelf

I came across this at Byzantium's Shores. Jaquandor picked it up from someone else and passed it on, so I shall do the same. It's called, "Ogle my shelves!" (I don't know how mandatory the exclamation point is). Forthwith, to follow, numerous pictures of my bookshelves, close up. No hiding here; it's all out in plain view, embarrassing or not. Feel free to peruse. If you'd like a closer look, click on a pic to see it larger at Flickr.

Here is our bookshelf. Pat and I are book buyers. We both love books, and would rather own them than borrow them, great resource though the local library is. Pat is also, however, a rather organized person, who keeps a fine house. Left unchecked our book obsession would easily lead to a house with every horizontal surface piled high with reading material. So we check...and balance. We keep one set of bookshelves, and we allow ourselves to keep only the books that will fit on it. Once a year we hold a garage sale, and we thin out our books rather mercilessly each time, in order to preserve space on the shelf for valuable personal favourites, and new acquisitions.

Below is the bookshelf in its entirety. If it ain't on that, or stacked on a bedside table, it's in a box in the crawl space, ready to be sold off cheap at the next yard sale.




Mostly big books below: hardcovers and trade paperbacks. You can see the notable presence of at least 9 volumes by Guy Kay here. In fact, the only one of his novels missing here is A Song For Arbonne, which, for some reason that escapes me right now, I do not seem to have in hardcover. Also, I see a book I borrowed from Brent and never gave back. And the DaVinci Code, that's kinda embarrassing.

The cats are not mine.




Look, it's a scene from Tigana (another Kay novel) immortalized in paint. If you look closely you can see the red hair, that identifies this as Catriana. The hands are out of frame through the window, so you cannot see the single matching glove. This was painted by a friend and sent to me as part of a Secret Santa gift exchange.

Also, there's some books that Pat read.




Bottom shelf is populated by Calvin and Hobbes, and The Far Side, and Bloom County, oh and a whole bunch of high school yearbooks.




Below are some of the books I've owned the longest, including Gulliver's Travels. I can't find a date in it, so I'm not sure exactly when this edition was published, but it was given to my Father on the occasion of his eighth birthday, in 1945. He gave it to me when I was studying it in University. Also, a King James Bible, presented to my Father, by my Mother, in 1959. They passed it on to me in 1975. I've read most of it. (I kinda skimmed the begets).

The big, black thing isn't a book. It's a speaker.




Wow! That's a few National Geographics. They span January, 1988, to April, 2001. The bottom shelf is all photo albums.




Here's the start of the paperbacks. The corner section of the bookshelf used to be all knick-knacks and pretties, but you can see it has been somewhat taken over. You can just see the Twilight books sticking out of there. They'll be in the next garage sale for sure. Also, a couple of my antique cameras are on display there.




A Daily Mail Tobacco tin. And a piece of wood off an old crate of HighLiner Jumbo Fillets. Oh, and some books.




Ooh, the Mythic Tarot (insert spooky dramatic music here). Also, Kurt Vonnegut, who is another one of my favourite authors. And, tucked in the back there, yeah, Harry Potter.




But, what, you may ask, about the bottom section of the shelves? What's hidden behind closed doors, you might well demand. Oh, that's not books.




And didn't I see a bunch of stuff on top of the shelves, you ask? Well, here are my Sinners' Brier Mugs.... Yeah, don't ask. The explanation would be long, and not really all that interesting.




So, there you have it, my bookshelf. I hope you had fun ogling.

What do your bookshelves look like?

Animation fan? Prove it!

Complements of Byzantium's Shores, here is a quiz similar to the books and music ones I've found before at Kelly's blog. This one's about animated movies. I've modified the rules he quoted a bit. I removed the words "loved" and "hated" from the descriptions, as I think that someone who hates a movie has difficulty judging the importance of things in life (not you, Kelly - I know you were just copying and pasting). I've also removed the "seen part of/haven't finished" category. Really, why would anyone be interested in hearing about movies of which I've seen only bits and pieces?

Also: commentary...

The Rules:

- X what you have seen
- Bold what you liked
- Italicize what you disliked
- Leave unchanged if neutral

CLASSIC DISNEY
-------------------------------
[X] 101 Dalmatians (1961)
[X] Alice in Wonderland (1951)
[X] Bambi (1942) Even as a little kid, I found the depictions of the various animals to be too cutsie. Never turned my crank. Also, I never got that Bambi's mother died.
[X] Cinderella (1950)
[X] Dumbo (1941) This one was alright, I guess. I always found the Pink Elephants on Parade number to be overlong, and practically incomprehensible.
[X] Fantasia (1940) Saw this one in the theater with my parents when it was rereleased in the seventies and was frankly bored silly by it. Watched it years later on video and loved it, although I have always found the Fantasia 2000 version to be a more enjoyable film.
[X] Lady and the Tramp (1955) We are Siame-ese if you ple-ease.
[X] Mary Poppins (1964)
[X] Peter Pan (1953)
[X] Pinocchio (1940)
[X] Sleeping Beauty (1959) Although I know I've seen this one multiple times, I can't really remember much about it. It clearly did not make much of an impression on me.
[X] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) Fun.
[ ] Song of the South (1946)


DISNEY'S DARK AGE
-------------------------------
[X] The Aristocats (1970) Everybody wants to be a cat!
[X] The Black Cauldron (1985)
[X] The Fox and the Hound (1981)
[X] The Great Mouse Detective (1986) This marked an interesting departure from Disney's former offerings based on traditional children's literature. The Great Mouse Detective was their first feature film adapted from adult literature.
[X] The Jungle Book (1967)
[X] The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
[X] Oliver and Company (1986)
[ ] Pete's Dragon (1977)
[X] The Rescuers (1977)
[X] Robin Hood (1973) When I was a kid, I had this movie in the form of a book and LP record combination. I used to listen to the album over and over again, until I could recite the dialogue from the entire movie from memory.
[X] The Sword In The Stone (1963)


THE DISNEY RENAISSANCE
-------------------------------
[X] Aladdin (1992) A huge coup for Disney, this film marked the return to glory for the company.
[X] Beauty and the Beast (1991)
[X] A Goofy Movie (1995) Huyuck!
[X] Hercules (1997) This was an interesting experiment in a more stylized from of animation, based upon traditional Greek artwork. They would continue to play with this idea in films like The Lion King, Mulan, and The Emperor's New Groove.
[X] The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) This was one of the less popular Disney movies, but I enjoyed it.
[X] The Lion King (1994) The pinnacle of Disney's second golden age.
[X] The Little Mermaid (1989)
[X] Mulan (1998) The last good thing Eddie Murphy ever did.
[X] Pocahontas (1995)
[X] The Rescuers Down Under (1990) This one's a ton of fun. The cinematography of the opening scene is brilliant.
[X] Tarzan (1999)

DISNEY'S MODERN AGE
-------------------------------
[X] Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) I always thought this one was a great idea that was never really fully fleshed out. At 95 minutes, it isn't really all that short, but it feels like it is. The whole thing seemed rushed to me.
[X] Bolt (2008) Another ton of fun.
[ ] Brother Bear (2003)
[X] Chicken Little (2005)
[ ] Dinosaur (2000)
[X] The Emperor's New Groove (2000) I like David Spade. He and John Goodman really clicked on this film.
[X] Fantasia 2000 (2000) Excellent.
[ ] Home on the Range (2004)
[X] Lilo & Stitch (2002)
[ ] Meet the Robinsons (2007)
[X] Treasure Planet (2002)

PIXAR
-------------------------------
[X] A Bug's Life (1998)
[X] Cars (2006)
[X] Finding Nemo (2003)
[X] The Incredibles (2004)
[X] Monsters Inc. (2001)
[ ] Ratatouille (2007) Need to see this one.
[X] Toy Story (1995)
[X] Toy Story 2 (1999)
[ ] Toy Story 3 (2010) And this one
[X] Wall-E (2008)
[X] Up (2009) Meh.

DON BLUTH
-------------------------------
[X] All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
[X] An American Tail (1986)
[ ] An American Tail: Fieval Goes West (1991)
[X] Anastasia (1997)
[X] The Land Before Time (1988)
[X] The Pebble and the Penguin (1995)
[ ] Rock-a-Doodle (1991)
[X] The Secret of NIMH (1982)
[ ] Thumbelina (1994)
[X] Titan AE (2000)
[ ] A Troll in Central Park (1994)

CLAYMATION AND STOP-MOTION
-------------------------------
[ ] The Adventures of Mark Twain (1986)
[X] Chicken Run (2000)
[X] Corpse Bride (2005)
[X] James and the Giant Peach (1996)
[X] The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) I thought this was considerably better than the aforementioned Corpse Bride.
[X] Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
[X] Coraline (2009) I can't understand why everyone raved about this. It wasn't any better than just so-so, and I couldn't really discern a plot, a climax, or a resolution. Did not like.


CGI GLUT
-------------------------------
[X] Antz (1998)
[ ] Bee Movie (2007)
[ ] Happy Feet (2006)
[X] Ice Age (2002)
[X] Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
[ ] Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
[X] Kung Fu Panda (2008)
[ ] Madagascar (2005)
[X] Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) Bad, just bad.
[X] Monster House (2006)
[X] Over the Hedge (2006)
[ ] The Polar Express (2004)
[X] Robots (2005)
[ ] A Shark's Tale (2004)
[X] Shrek (2001)
[X] Shrek 2 (2004)
[ ] Shrek The Third (2007)
[ ] Shrek Forever After (2010)
[ ] Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)

IMPORTS
-------------------------------
[ ] Arabian Knight (aka The Thief and the Cobbler) (1995)
[ ] The Last Unicorn (1982)
[ ] Light Years (1988)
[ ] The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
[ ] Persepolis (2007)
[ ] Waltz With Bashir (2008)
[ ] Watership Down (1978)
[ ] When the Wind Blows (1988)
[ ] Wonderful Days (2003)
[X] Yellow Submarine (1968) How can you not like the cartoon Beatles?


STUDIO GHIBLI/MIYAZAKI
-------------------------------
[ ] The Cat Returns (2002)
[ ] Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
[X] Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
[ ] Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
[ ] Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986)
[ ] Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
[ ] My Neighbors The Yamadas (1999)
[ ] My Neighbor Totoro (1993)
[ ] Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
[ ] Only Yesterday (1991)
[ ] Pom Poko (Tanuki War) (1994)
[ ] Porco Rosso (1992)
[ ] Princess Mononoke (1999)
[X] Spirited Away (2002)
[ ] Whisper of the Heart (1995)
[ ] Ponyo (2009)


SATOSHI KON
-------------------------------
[ ] Millennium Actress (2001)
[ ] Paprika (2006)
[ ] Perfect Blue (1999)
[ ] Tokyo Godfathers (2003)


SHINKAI MAKOTO
-------------------------------
[ ] She and Her Cat (1999)
[ ] Voices of a Distant Star (2001)
[ ] The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)
[ ] 5 Centimeters per Second (2007)


OTHER ANIME FILMS
-------------------------------
[ ] Akira (1989)
[ ] Angel's Egg (1985)
[ ] Appleseed (2004)
[ ] Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007)
[ ] Arcadia of My Youth (U.S. Title - Vengeance of the Space Pirate) (1982)
[ ] Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2003)
[ ] The Dagger of Kamui (U.S. Title - Revenge of the Ninja Warrior) (1985)
[ ] Dirty Pair: Project Eden (1987)
[ ] End of Evangelion (1997)
[ ] Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone (2007)
[ ] Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance (2009)
[ ] Fist of the North Star (1986)
[ ] Galaxy Express 999 (1979)
[ ] Ghost in the Shell (1996)
[ ] Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)
[ ] The Girl Who Lept Through Time (2006)
[ ] Lensman (1984)
[ ] Macross: Do You Remember Love (U.S. Title - Clash of the Bionoids) (1984)
[ ] Memories (1995)
[ ] Metropolis (2001)
[ ] Neo-Tokyo (1986)
[ ] Night on the Galactic Railroad (1985)
[ ] Ninja Scroll (1993)
[ ] Patlabor the Movie (1989)
[ ] The Professional: Golgo 13 (1983)
[ ] Project A-ko (1986)
[ ] Robot Carnival (1987)
[ ] Robotech: The Shadow Chronicle (2006)
[ ] Silent Möbius (1991)
[ ] The Sky Crawlers (2008)
[ ] Space Adventure Cobra (1982)
[ ] Steamboy (2004)
[ ] Sword of the Stranger (2007)
[ ] Unico and the Island of Magic (1983)
[ ] Urotsukidoji: The Movie (1987)
[ ] Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer (1984)
[ ] Urusei Yatsura: Only You (1982)
[ ] Vampire Hunter D (1985)
[ ] Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust (2000)
[ ] Wings of Honneamise: Royal Space Force (1987)

Not being a fan of animation per-se, I haven't gone out of my way to watch any Japanese animated fare. I'm not a fan of the Japanese Anime style animation at all - I particularly find thier depictions of women distasteful. People seem to rave about Miyazaki, but I found the two of his films I saw to be merely so-so.


CARTOONS FOR GROWN-UPS
-------------------------------
[ ] American Pop (1981)
[X] The Animatrix (2003)
[ ] Beavis & Butthead Do America (1996)
[X] Cool World (1992)
[X] Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
[ ] Final Fantasy: Advent Children (2005)
[ ] Fire & Ice (1983)
[ ] Fritz the Cat (1972)
[ ] Halo Legends (2009)
[X] Heavy Metal (1981)
[ ] Heavy Metal 2000 (2000)
[ ] Hey Good Lookin' (1982)
[ ] Lady Death (2004)
[ ] A Scanner Darkly (2006)
[ ] Sita Sings the Blues (2008)
[X] South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
[ ] Street Fight (Coonskin) (1975)
[ ] Waking Life (2001)

OTHER ANIMATED MOVIES
-------------------------------
[ ] The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
[ ] Animal Farm (1954)
[ ] Animalympics (1980)
[ ] Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon The Movie (2007)
[ ] Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000)
[ ] Batman: Gotham Knight (2008)
[ ] Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010)
[ ] The Brave Little Toaster (1988)
[ ] Bravestarr: The Movie (1988)
[ ] Cats Don't Dance (1997)
[ ] Care Bears: The Movie (1985)
[X] Charlotte's Web (1973)
[X] Fern Gully (1992)
[ ] G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987)
[ ] Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords (1986)
[ ] Green Lantern: First Flight (2009)
[ ] He-Man & She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword (1985)
[X] The Hobbit (1977)
[X] The Iron Giant (1999) I Superman! Great film!
[ ] Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010)
[ ] Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)
[X] Lord of the Rings (1978) I saw this one in the theater somehow. In 1978, I wasn't old enough to be interested in Tolkein, that I can remember, so it must have been rereleased at some point. It was pretty bad.
[ ] Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1992)
[ ] My Little Pony: The Movie (1986)
[X] Pink Floyd's The Wall (1982) Used to go downtown and see this with a group of buddies regularly. I own it on DVD, but the in-home viewing experience simply cannot match the big-screen, big-sound, in-theater experience.
[X] The Prince of Egypt (1998)
[ ] Powerpuff Girls: The Movie (2002)
[ ] Quest For Camelot (1999)
[ ] Ringing Bell (1978)
[X] The Road to El Dorado (2000)
[ ] Shinbone Alley (1971)
[X] Space Jam (1996) What? I liked it.
[ ] Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985)
[ ] Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009)
[ ] Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010)
[ ] Superman: Doomsday (2007)
[ ] The Swan Princess (1994)
[ ] Transformers: The Movie (1986)
[ ] Wizards (1977)
[X] Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
[ ] Wonder Woman (2009)
[ ] Balto (1995)
[ ] Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)

As Kelly pointed out, this is hardly a comprehensive list. There are many sequels to listed films that do not appear here, and I can think of at least a few stand-alone films I have seen that have been missed here. Still, for what it is (an interenet quiz), it's an interesting look at people's animation viewing experiences.

(not quite) 100 more SF books everybody should read!

Kelly has come across another list of somebody's opinion of indispensible science fiction novels. He called it 100 more SF books..., but I only count 84. This list overlaps the previous one only a small amount. Once again, I will boldinicize those titles I have read, and add commentary where the inclination strikes me.

1. The Forever War – Joe Haldeman
2. I Am Legend – Richard Matheson
3. Cities in Flight – James Blish I have this book (got it for Christmas a couple of years ago from an online secret santa gift exchange). I haven't read it yet.
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick
5. The Stars My Destination – Alfred Bester
6. Babel-17 – Samuel R. Delany
7. Lord of Light – Roger Zelazny
8. The Fifth Head of Cerberus – Gene Wolfe
9. Gateway – Frederik Pohl
10. The Rediscovery of Man – Cordwainer Smith
11. Last and First Men – Olaf Stapledon
12. Earth Abides – George R. Stewart
13. Martian Time-Slip – Philip K. Dick
14. The Demolished Man – Alfred Bester
15. Stand on Zanzibar – John Brunner
16. The Dispossessed – Ursula K. Le Guin
17. The Drowned World – J. G. Ballard
18. The Sirens of Titan – Kurt Vonnegut
19. Emphyrio – Jack Vance
20. A Scanner Darkly – Philip K. Dick
21. Star Maker – Olaf Stapledon
22. Behold the Man – Michael Moorcock
23. The Book of Skulls – Robert Silverberg
24. The War of the Worlds – H. G. Wells
25. Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes I have not read the novel, but I have read the short story by the same author upon which the novel was based.
26. Ubik – Philip K. Dick
27. Timescape – Gregory Benford
28. More Than Human – Theodore Sturgeon
29. Man Plus – Frederik Pohl
30. A Case of Conscience – James Blish
31. The Centauri Device – M. John Harrison
32. Dr. Bloodmoney – Philip K. Dick
33. Non-Stop – Brian Aldiss
34. The Fountains of Paradise – Arthur C. Clarke
35. Pavane – Keith Roberts
36. Now Wait for Last Year – Philip K. Dick
37. Nova – Samuel R. Delany
38. The First Men in the Moon – H. G. Wells
39. The City and the Stars – Arthur C. Clarke
40. Blood Music – Greg Bear
41. Jem – Frederik Pohl
42. Bring the Jubilee – Ward Moore
43. VALIS – Philip K. Dick
44. The Lathe of Heaven – Ursula K. Le Guin
45. The Complete Roderick – John Sladek
46. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said – Philip K. Dick
47. The Invisible Man – H. G. Wells
48. Grass – Sheri S. Tepper
49. A Fall of Moondust – Arthur C. Clarke
50. Eon – Greg Bear
51. The Shrinking Man – Richard Matheson
52. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch – Philip K. Dick
53. The Dancers at the End of Time – Michael Moorcock
54. The Space Merchants – Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth
55. Time Out of Joint – Philip K. Dick
56. Downward to the Earth – Robert Silverberg
57. The Simulacra – Philip K. Dick
58. The Penultimate Truth – Philip K. Dick
59. Dying Inside – Robert Silverberg
60. Ringworld – Larry Niven
61. The Child Garden – Geoff Ryman
62. Mission of Gravity – Hal Clement
63. A Maze of Death – Philip K. Dick
64. Tau Zero – Poul Anderson
65. Rendezvous with Rama – Arthur C. Clarke
66. Life During Wartime – Lucius Shepard
67. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang – Kate Wilhelm
68. Roadside Picnic – Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
69. Dark Benediction – Walter M. Miller, Jr.
70. Mockingbird – Walter Tevis
71. Dune – Frank Herbert
72. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress – Robert A. Heinlein
73. The Man in the High Castle – Philip K. Dick
74. Inverted World – Christopher Priest
75. Cat’s Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
76. The Island of Dr. Moreau - H.G. Wells
77. Childhood’s End - Arthur C. Clarke
78. The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
79. Dhalgren - Samuel R. Delany
80. Helliconia - Brian Aldiss
81. Food of the Gods - H.G. Wells
82. The Body Snatchers - Jack Finney
83. The Female Man - Joanna Russ
84. Arslan - M.J. Engh


Like the previous list, this one seems Philipp K. Dick happy. In fact, there are more Dick books on this one than the last, and only a few of them are duplicates. How many books did this guy write? It seems that there are dozens of novels on this list by authors I have read other works by, but not the ones listed here. Also, there are a good number of books on this list that I've never even heard of before. I guess, between this list and the last, I won't have to look far for ideas when I need something new to read.

How did you fare on this list?

100 SF books everyone should read...

Kelly points out a list, at Bookstove.com, of 100 Science Fiction Novels Everyone Should Read. They don't give any commentary on these books at all. They just say, "hey, you should read these." As with all such lists, it is highly subjective. There are books on this one I'd probably leave off, and books I've read that I think should be here. What are your thoughts?

Taking a cue from Kelly, I've emboldenated the ones I've read, and added commentary here and there.

1. The Postman – David Brin
2. The Uplift War – David Brin Of course, this is the third book of a trilogy, so if you want to pick up some Brin, I wouldn't start with this one.
3. Neuromancer – William Gibson Big fan of Gibson. Highly recommended.
4. Foundation – Isaac Asimov
5. Foundation and Empire – Isaac Asimov
6. Second Foundation – Isaac Asimov ...and the multitudinous sequels and prequels - I have seven Foundation Series novels.
7. I, Robot – Isaac Asimov
8. The Long Tomorrow – Leigh Brackett
9. Rogue Moon – Algis Budrys
10. The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury
11. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury I'm pretty sure I've read this one, but I don't really remember it at all.
12. Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury
13. Childhood’s End – Arthur C. Clarke My grade ten english teacher passed copies of this book out to the class, and told us to read it for an upcoming assignment. He never mentioned it again.
14. The City and the Stars – Arthur C. Clarke
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
16. Armor – John Steakley
17. Imperial Stars – E. E. Smith On this list? Perhaps as an example of Golden Age Science Fiction pulp novels, but important? Good? No, I wouldn't say so.
18. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley I've tried to read this several times, but have bounced off (as Kelly puts it) the antiquated writing style.
19. Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card
20. Speaker for the Dead – Orson Scott Card
21. Dune – Frank Herbert
22. The Dosadi Experiment – Frank Herbert I'm a fan of Herbert, but I think Dune is probably representative enough for this list. Not sure why such an obscure example of his work appears here.
23. Journey Beyond Tomorrow – Robert Sheckley
24. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
25. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick
26. Valis – Philip K. Dick
27. A Scanner Darkly – Philip K. Dick
28. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch – Philip K. Dick Hard to believe I've never read any P.K. Dick. I should do something about that. Having said that, is his work really important enough to rate five inclusions on this list?
29. 1984 – George Orwell
30. Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut
31. Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut
32. The War of the Worlds – H. G. Wells
33. The Time Machine – H. G. Wells
34. The Island of Doctor Moreau – H. G. Wells
35. The Invisible Man – H. G. Wells
36. A Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M. Miller, Jr.
37. Alas, Babylon – Pat Frank
38. A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
39. A Journey to the Center of the Earth – Jules Verne
40. From the Earth to the Moon – Jules Verne
41. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne
42. Old Man’s War – John Scalzi Again, not sure why this one's here. I mean, it was a pretty good book, but I wouldn't call it excellent, literary, or important.
43. Nova Express – William S. Burroughs
44. Ringworld – Larry Niven I've read just about everything Niven's written. Yep, a fan.
45. The Mote in God’s Eye – Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell
46. The Unreasoning Mask – Philip Jose Farmer
47. To Your Scattered Bodies Go – Philip Jose Farmer
48. Eon – Greg Bear
49. Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton
50. The Andromeda Strain – Michael Crichton
51. Lightning – Dean Koontz
52. The Stainless Steel Rat – Harry Harrison
53. The Fifth Head of Cerebus – Gene Wolfe
54. Nightside of the Long Sun – Gene Wolfe
55. A Princess of Mars – Edgar Rice Burroughs
56. Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
57. Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson Another author I really have to read.
58. The Stars My Destination – Alfred Bester
59. Solaris – Stanislaw Lem
60. Doomsday Book – Connie Wills And another.
61. Beserker – Fred Saberhagen
62. Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
63. The Word for World is Forest – Ursula K. LeGuin
64. The Dispossessed – Ursula K. LeGuin
65. Babel-17 – Samuel R. Delany
66. Dhalgren – Samuel R. Delany
67. Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes
68. The Forever War – Joe Haldeman
69. Star King – Jack Vance
70. The Killing Machine – Jack Vance
71. Trullion: Alastor 2262 – Jack Vance
72. Hyperion – Dan Simmons
73. Starship Troopers – Robert A. Heinlein
74. Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert A. Heinlein
75. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – Robert A. Heinlein
76. A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle
77. More Than Human – Theodore Sturgeon
78. A Time of Changes – Robert Silverberg
79. Gateway – Frederick Pohl
80. Man Plus - Frederick Pohl
81. The Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham Lots of people seem to have studied this book in high school. I didn't.
82. Mission of Gravity – Hal Clement
83. The Execution Channel – Ken Macleod
84. Last and First Men – W. Olaf Stapledon
85. Slan – A. E. van Vogt
86. Out of the Silent Planet – C. S. Lewis Here's a classic I should check out.
87. They Shall Have Stars – James Blish
88. Marooned in Realtime – Vernor Vinge
89. A Fire Upon the Deep – Vernor Vinge
90. The People Maker – Damon Knight
91. The Giver – Lois Lowry
92. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
93. Contact – Carl Sagan Saw the movie, but haven't read ths book.
94. Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand
95. The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand
96. Battlefield Earth – L. Ron Hubbard Yeah, I really did. Take my advice: don't.
97. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court – Mark Twain
98. Little Brother – Cory Doctorow I've read other Doctorow, but this one's pretty new.
99. Invasion of the Body Snatchers – Jack Finney
100. Planet of the Apes – Pierre Boulle There was a book?

Well, looks like I've read 40% of these titles. I was doing really well on the top half of the list, but fell off a bit on the bottom half. Author's I think probably should have made this list:

Cordwainer Smith
Roger Zelazny

What do you think?

Fionavar Tapestry Character Test

This has been sitting in my Test Journal since April 24, 2007. I never published it here before because I didn't think anyone would be interested. Activity here being what it is, however, I thought I'd dig out some old stuff just to let everyone know I'm not dead or something.


I'm Paul Schafer!
Take The Fionavar Tapestry Character Test today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Personality Test Generator.

You are Paul Schafer, the Twiceborn. You are a private person who values self-control but inspires loyalty in your friends. You expect much of yourself and are willing to push yourself to your limits, both physically and mentally. You may have a fondness for tree-houses.

So, WTF? The Fionavar Tapestry is a fantasy trilogy by Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay of which I am very fond (the trilogy, I mean - OK, and the author, too). If you haven't read it, the quiz results will be somewhat meaningless to you. Also, if you haven't read it, I recommend you do so. It's rather good.

Monday Stealing

I ripped this off from Kelly, who, apparently, ripped it off from somewhere else (as it was meant to be ripped). I'm not a big quiz kinda guy, but this one fed right into my own personal sense of misanthropy and self-superiority. You probably shouldn't read it.

1. Lindsay Lohan was recently sentenced to 90 days in jail. What do you think her future has in store for her?

Who cares?


2. What is the biggest fashion "don't" that you would like to police?

Who cares?


3. How should we punish sites that lure us in with "read this" and take us somewhere where we are first greeted by a pop-up and then a series of click throughs to actually read the meat of the story?

Be smart enough to not click on the lure link in the first place. I mean, c'mon, they're pretty damn easy to spot, you know. Also, who cares?


4. What is the most you will do to post a comment on a site? At what point is it not worth posting a comment?

I usually balk at signing up for some proprietary commenting system that isn't widely used. I mean, I have a Blogger (Google) ID, an AOL ID, a Wordpress ID, a Yahoo! ID and a Typekey ID. If your blog uses some other sign-up required system that I've never even heard of before, I'm unlikely to make the effort, 'cause, you know, who cares? Unless, of course, I need to point out how stupid you are, or something.


5. If you purchase something online and you are charged for postage, is it still reasonable to charge for "shipping and handling"? What exactly does "shipping and handling" entail?

"Shipping and handling" is just another scam way of inflating the profit on your sale. I just add it to the purchase price in my head and then decide if I think it's still a good deal. Ebay users who charge it deserve to be shot. And, to carry on the theme, "who cares!"

That's all.

Everybody draw Mohammed day

This post is very important. Discuss.

Weekend Assignment #311: Cheese It!

via Outpost Mavarin

Karen says:

Weekend Assignment #311: What is your favorite kind of cheese and why? Do you have it often, or just occasionally?
Extra Credit: Is there a kind of cheese you hate?

Yeah, I'm a cheese fan. A big cheese fan. Last summer the wife and I went down to the St. Lawrence Market and bought rice and cheese. We bought nothing other than rice and cheese, and we spent about seventy five dollars. Mmmm, cheese.

Lessee, in the fridge right this instant we have: cheddar (of course - probably a couple of different varieties), mozzarella (for all that Italian cooking), provolone (goes good on cold cut sandwiches), swiss (no - wait, I just finished the swiss for my night time snack), roquefort (a form of blue cheese {although roquefort's marbling is more green} that I think I will use in an omelet this weekend), Kraft processed food-type cheese-flavoured slices (Matt won't eat a grilled cheese sandwich made with anything else), and Beemster.

I saved the best for last.

Mmmm, Beemster. We discovered Beemster several years ago, and enjoyed it so much we try to always have some in the house. It is a very versatile cheese, going well with crackers or by itself. It also melts well, making it great for cooking. I like to grate it over cauliflower, or put it on burgers. Then there's the onion, bacon, Beemster and lime omelet. Very yummy.

Is there a cheese I don't like? I haven't found one yet. But, you know, I haven't tried them all, so I guess anything's possible.

Another Friday random ten

Just cuz.

1) Slaughter In Robot Village - FM
2) Stick With Me Baby - Robert Plant & Alison Krause
3) Rock The Casbah - The Clash
4) Shame - Eurythmics
5) Hard To Handle - The Black Crowes
6) Jesse - Joan Baez
7) Dreams - The Laws
8) Little Red Rooster - Willie Dixon
9) Dance On A Volcano - Genesis
10) Long Way From Gone - The Laws

Interesting that, in choosing 125 songs at random from among over 6300, iTunes selected four songs from the same artist: The Laws - two in the first ten, and from the same album.


note: this has been sitting in my test journal since September. I can't even keep this blog updated regularly when I've got finished posts already in the pipe. Sad, really.

A Friday random ten

Here are the first ten songs randomly selected by iTunes to populate my iPod today:

1) See How I Miss You - Bruce Cockburn
2) Subculture - New Order
3) Children And All That Jazz - Joan Baez
4) Aranjuez - Robert Michaels
5) Practice What You Preach - Barry White
6) Someone That You're With - Nickelback
7) 4:39 AM (For The First Time Today - Part 2) - Roger Waters
8) Cum On Everybody - Eminem
9) Alien (Live Version) - Bush
10) Right Hand Man - Joan Osborne

An interesting collection of songs, I thought. Have an interesting weekend, everybody.

15 books

The rules, as passed to me by Jaquandor: This can be a quick one. Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag 15 friends, including me because I'm interested in seeing what books my friends choose. Only 15...

1) Lord of the Rings (Duh!)

2) Dune et al. (There are so many layers to these)

3) Gulliver's Travels (the full book is so much more than what most of us are familiar with from the abridged children's versions)

4) Don Quixote (made me laugh out loud - several times)

5) Tigana (not my first Guy Kay book, but my favourite)

6) Tesseracts (a collection of Canadian science fiction, most notable to me for its inclusion of the story Hinterlands by William Gibson - by far the most powerful thing he has ever written)

7) The Bible (because, well, just because)

8) Slaughterhouse Five (so it goes)

9) Science Fiction Hall of Fame (a collection of classic short SF published in 1970 - my copy is falling apart it has been so regularly thumbed through)

10) Norstrilia (The residents of Old North Australia made their immense fortunes raising gigantic mutant sheep. Their planetary defence system is called Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons. You kinda gotta read it to get it.)

11) 1984 (instilled in me a healthy distrust of bureaucracy)

12) The Tree of Swords and Jewels (not sure why, but I've always remembered this C.J. Cherryh book fondly)

13) The various and sundry works comprising Larry Niven's 'Known Space' opus (which most notably includes Ringworld)

14) The Chosen (Ricardo Pinto has created one of the most detailed worlds I've ever come across)

15) A Wizard of Earthsea (probably one of the first fantasy novels I ever read)

I tagged people on facebook, from whence this came, so I'm not tagging here. But if you want to, by all means. Let me know you did, so I can come see.

A Fathers' Day random ten

It's not Friday, but here is a random, random ten for you. These are the first ten songs randomly selected by iTunes to populate my iPod on this fine Sunday afternoon:

1) Try Honesty - Billy Talent
2) Ripples - Genesis
3) Lily (My One And Only) - Smashing Pumpkins
4) Last Song - Edward Bear
5) Vogue - Madonna
6) Waiting On A Friend - The Rolling Stones
7) These Colours Don't Run - Protest The Hero
8) Bring Me To Life - Evanescence
9) Marche Funebre - Elliot Goldenthal (from the soundtrack to the movie Interview With The Vampire)
10) Flowers And Beads - Iron Butterfly

Friday random ten

Haven't done one of these for a while. Here are the first ten songs randomly loaded onto my iPod during my last update.

1) Security - Joss Stone
2) Lady Sings The Blues - Billie Holiday
3) The King Of The Golden Hall - London Philharmonic Orchestra (from the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers soundtrack)
4) Gone For A Long Time - The Johnstones
5) Fully Alive - Flyleaf
6) A Pillow Of Winds - Pink Floyd
7) Don't Damn Me - Guns 'N' Roses
8) Trust Me (This Is Love) - Amanda Marshall
9) Do What You Like - Blind Faith
10) My Imagination - Wide Mouth Mason

Do you have biblical morals?

So, does this mean I have no morals...?

Your morality is 0% in line with that of the bible.

Damn you heathen! Your book learnin' has done warped your mind. You shall not be invited next time I sacrifice a goat.

Do You Have Biblical Morals?
Take More Quizzes

Or does it just mean I got my morals from somewhere other than The Bible?

Hey, what did you score?

via Pharyngula

Monday Photo Shoot

   Back when this blog lived on AOL, the community blogfather, John Scalzi, used to run regular participation memes, like the Weekend Assignment and the Monday Photo Shoot. Since the demise of John's AOL blog, By The Way (indeed, the demise of all AOL blogs), those two memes have been taken over by other former members of what we used to call AOL J-land. Karen, at Outpost Mavarin original took them both on, but eventually passed the Monday Photo Shoot on to Carly, at Ellipsis.
   My participation in the Photo Shoot was always occasional, as I'm not very active as a photographer, but once in a while Carly comes up with a topic that allows me to troll my back catalogue for images, rather than take new ones. Such is this week's Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot: Hit me with your best shot. Carly invites us to consider what kind of photography is our personal specialty, and post our best example of that.
   I don't think I really have a certain specialty when it comes to photography. I'm lucky if the shot is properly exposed and in focus. The picture I consider my favourite all-time photo was a lucky grab shot:



   That said, in perusing my photo archives, it strikes me that I seem to take a lot of pictures of leaves. Like these ones:





   Why not visit Carly at Ellipsis and play along.

   At the bottom of that entry, Carly asks a question: What sort of camera was your very first? Do you still own it? I'm not sure if that question is attached to this week's meme, or to last week's, but what the heck, I'll answer it anyways.
   My first serious camera was originally my Dad's. It was a 35mm Kodak Signet 40 rangefinder. I used it to take many pictures, including this one:



   I do still have it, although I have not used it in many years.

OMG! WTF? im so 1337!!1

via Patrick's Place

You Are FAIL

You love the internet, but it sometimes gets on your nerves. How can so much of humanity be so stupid? Wait, you don't even want to know. While there are some good aspects to being online, you can't help but notice there's so much fail. You liked the internet so much more in the good old days... before all the idiots found out about it!

What Internet Slang Are You?