Blast from the past

June 15, 2008 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comment 

The band Atrina lives again! Here is their new website, where you can still download a bunch of their mp3s.

Marina Bychkova, who makes the most beautiful porcelain dolls in the world, has re-done her website. And her fans have started a forum for discussing her dolls and posting their own photos of dolls that they’ve bought. There’s also a Flickr group.

The fantasy webcomic Juathuur has a sequel, Gatecrash.

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The great backlog post of 2008

June 12, 2008 · Posted in Reviews · 2 Comments 

Cool stuff I have recently read or seen:

Books:
Glasshouse by Charles Stross — sf novel set in a world where human identities can easily be backed up and restored, psychosurgery can alter memories and identities, and the world is recovering from a war over identity-editing — the precise circumstances of which are unknown, because they have been edited out of the consciousness of the survivors.
A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham (through Tor’s free e-book offer) — fantasy novel; pseudo-oriental setting; very cool worldbuilding, characterisation and magic system. The cities of a coastal empire are kept in power by their andat — ideas made flesh which are created and enslaved by Poets. Each andat has a power tied to the concept that it represents, and since andat disappear when their Poets die and it is very difficult to re-bind them, all the obvious ideas have been used up, and the existing andat have rather specific abilities. The book opens with a young man receiving a somewhat cliched harsh monastic education which is supposed to lead to Poethood after the appropriate trials by fire. In a pleasant break from the way this story usually goes, he rapidly rejects this as a cruel and misguided way of life, and runs away to find his fortune elsewhere. And then interesting things happen. There is an ensemble cast of interconnected protagonists, one of whom is an old lady. The best Tor e-book so far, I think.

Manga:
Naoki Urasawa! He is awesome! I have now read all of his manga that I have been able to get my hands on:

Monster — psychological horror mystery set in 90s Germany. A young surgeon saves the life of a little boy who has been shot in the head under mysterious circumstances. Many years later, he discovers that the boy is a psychopathic serial killer — and is framed for some of his murders. He sets out to track him down.
20th Century Boys (last chapter here) — sci-fi mystery set in Japan and other Asian countries during the 60s, the modern day and the future. In the modern day, a mysterious cult is gaining political power, and seems to be behind a number of sinister events. A young man realises that Friend, the mysterious leader of the cult, must have been in his close-knit group of friends in the 60s. But who is it?
Pluto — sci-fi murder mystery with robots, based on an Astroboy story. Very reminiscent of Asimov. Ongoing.

Later I found some other manga which are almost as good:

Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura — it’s about Vikings! A young Danish boy has joined the mercenary band of the ruthless, cunning man who killed his father — and performs dangerous missions for his nemesis in exchange for opportunities to duel him to the death. This all happens against the backdrop of various historical Viking invasions of Britain. Ongoing.
Ressentiment by Kengo Hanazawa — it’s about an unattractive loser who gives up on real women and immerses himself in a virtual dating sim. Then weird things start to happen. This doesn’t sound very good, but it actually is — it’s played completely straight, and for every scene which could be construed as cute girl fanservice, there’s a hairy, flabby man showing way too much skin as a counterbalance. There’s a crunchy cyberpunk-y plot, which has so far not made me want to stab myself with a fork, and I normally dislike cyberpunk. Ongoing.

Movies:
Children of Men — dystopia done very well.
Survive Style 5+ — this movie is bizarre and awesome, and has a really good soundtrack.

Series:
The Lost Room — a miniseries which has frequently been described to me as “very Unknown Armies”. It’s quite good, although major things are left unresolved at the end, probably in anticipation of a TV series extension. I thought the second episode had a few really creepy moments (subtle Lovecraftian horror; the kind with unnatural geometry, not the kind with tentacles).
ETA: Rome (season 1) — Backstabbing! Togas! Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo! Colourful expletives! Equal-opportunity nudity! Ciarán Hinds is hawt; it’s a pity that Caesar’s demise at the end of the season is historically inevitable. Best semi-historical series evar!

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