HOLY SH**! Who wants to go to Atlanta this weekend? IT IS _GAMEDAY_!!!!!!!!
Furries vs Klingons bowling tournament this Sat in Atlanta
via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow on 9/25/07
This Saturday, Atlanta's Midtown Bowl will see the second annual Klingons vs Furries bowling tournament, in a mighty subcultural clash. It's like Quadrophenia with furrs and trekkers instead of mods and rockers. Link (via Global Nerdy)
Yes, I know him and yes he's a pal, but I wouldn't kiss his ass if the book wasn't spectacular. So do yourself a favor and go buy a copy of AJ Jacobs's new non-fiction book, The Year of Living Biblically.
He spends one year trying to observe all the laws of the Bible. Yes, it sounds like a bad movie (and I'm sure it'll be a bad movie), but AJ and the book are tops.
As an aside, I read this (real) headline today (really): "'Ninjas' Suspected In Two Orlando Jewelry Store Robberies".
PS here's a good Newsweek interview with AJ.
I rarely blog sports stories. Except for the ones that make me tear up in the end. And father-son references always help.
From The Austinist
Austin Accountant Does the Right Thing with Historic Homer
When Will Stewart of Austin bought a ticket in the outfield seats for the Chicago White Sox-LA Angels game on Sunday, he had no idea he was about to become a part of history.
But he was in the right place at the right time as Jim Thome's game-winning home run bounced off the rows behind Stewart and into his hands. It was Thome's 500th career home run, a mark that only 23 players in baseball history have reached.
Memorabilia like that home-run ball can fetch thousands of dollars at an auction, but Stewart, 28, chose to return the ball to Thome. In return, the White Sox offered Stewart two season tickets for the 2008 season and an autographed ball and bat.
Stewart, however, chose to donate the two season tickets to the charity of Thome's choice. The tickets will be auctioned off during the Joyce Thome Benefit for the Children's Hospital of Illinois, an event named in honor of Thome's late mother.
The team said they will fly Stewart out from Texas with a group of his friends to sit in Thome's box during one of the White Sox-Cubs games next season.
In the days leading up to the record homer, Thome said he wanted the ball back and planned to drive with his father to deliver it to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.
I hate being the guy who bitches when his favorite obscure band gets big, but I have to say, this just saddens me. Do I love the "geek as cool" thing in culture? Of course (means less of us get beat up). Do I love seeing comics and sci-fi and all the other goodies we love being embraced by the mainstream? Of course. But labels like the below just make me feel like we're a flavor of ice cream that ain't gonna be around in a few months.
NBC: "Geeks are the new cool" for Fall TV
via Digg on 9/24/07
And, "We are all gravitating towards the underdog." So, geek TV shows like The Big Bang Theory, The Sarah Connor Chronicles and a retooled Bionic Woman make up roughly 20 percent of the major networks' new prime-time programming for the 2007-08 season.
Heard this a little bit ago and was very excited. Please let this be the thing that opens up DC's movie vault.
George Miller to direct Justice League movie
via Blog@Newsarama by Kevin Melrose on 9/20/07
Warner Bros. has confirmed that George Miller will direct the big-screen adaptation of Justice League of America.
Variety reports the movie is a priority for the studio, which is rushing the project into production before a potential talent strike effectively shuts down Hollywood next summer. To make matters more complicated, Warner Bros. has to juggle its other superhero projects.
According to the trade paper, the next installment of the Superman franchise "has taken a backseat to Justice League in part because Warners is so keen on the Justice League script by Kieran and Michele Mulroney." That would seem to answer the question that's been dogging the planned sequel to last year's Superman Returns.
Despite earlier rumors that Justice League would be made primarily with motion capture, it looks as if it'll be a special effects-driven live-action film.
In addition to the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel, Variety says Justice League likely will feature at least Aquaman, Wonder Woman and The Flash. It's being viewed as a launch pad for movies starring the latter two.
Miller, who most recently helmed the hit Happy Feet, also directed the Mad Max franchise.
Starting this week, my book publisher is putting The Book of Fate on eMusic.com as an audio book.
All the novels are already on audio CD and tape, but this is their first toe in the water in the battle to compete with iTunes (which is why eMusic is priced so much cheaper), and as The New York Times says, this is only 1 of 15 books they're playing with there.
So if you want a deal, download away...
When I was researching The Zero Game, one senator had an old Olympic torch laying around on an old desk, like it was some crappy plaque some group gave him. Here's someone who would kill for the torch. Please vote for her if you have a sec. My pal says she deserves it, and Pansy doesn't lie.
Smallville DVD is out today, so whoever sees the Green Arrow commentary/flick, let me know how it came out or if they reduced us all to two-second snippets of "Ollie's cool" and "Comics are wicked."
Headed to Washington, DC today for a double event: first, a celebration of AmeriCorps, the national service program that was my first real legal job. The highlight was co-writing the oath of service that AmeriCorps members are sworn-in with -- and then seeing the President administer it.
Also speaking at Big Brothers/Big Sisters as we launch a beautiful initiative with them in Texas with The Zero Game. As a former Big Brother, well...the whole day and the going home brings a flood of mushy tears, especially as I think about Eli Segal, my mentor who got me into all this and passed away last year. These are for you, Eli.
I love magic. I really do. Because I so want to believe the impossible is possible. That's Velveeta cheesy but it's so darn true. And I so love magicians for being able to keep the secrets secret without the use of the law, courts, etc.
Magicians innovate without IP law
Posted by David Pescovitz, September 12, 2007 3:38 AM
Jacob Loshin, a law student at Yale, drafter a paper exploring how stage magicians protect the secrets behind their tricks, and continue to come up with great new ideas, without getting caught up in the insanity of intellectual property law. Basically, magicians police themselves based on a set of norms for treating secrets, presentation styles, and techniques of making magic. Violate the norms by, say, stealing a trick or not giving credit where it's due and you'll be shamed and shunned by your fellow magicians. From the abstract:
Intellectual property scholars have begun to explore the curious dynamics of IP's negative spaces, areas in which IP law offers scant protection for innovators, but where innovation nevertheless seems to thrive. Such negative spaces pose a puzzle for the traditional theory of IP, which holds that IP law is necessary to create incentives for innovation.
This paper presents a study of one such negative space which has so far garnered some curiosity but little sustained attention - the world of performing magicians. This paper argues that idiosyncratic dynamics among magicians make traditional copyright, patent, and trade secret law ill-suited to protecting magicians' most valuable intellectual property. Yet, the paper further argues that the magic community has developed its own set of unique IP norms which effectively operate in law's absence. The paper details the structure of these informal norms that protect the creation, dissemination, and performance of magic tricks. The paper also discusses broader implications for IP theory, suggesting that a norm-based approach may offer a promising explanation for the puzzling persistence of some of IP's negative spaces.
This is completely in sync with the best rule in soap operas/comics/and any movie ever: If there's no body, there's no death.
Though we all still know Cap is coming back. C'mon...
Pics or it didn't happen
via Digg on 9/9/07The top 10 stories from Digg when somebody commented, "Pics or it didn't happen"... and someone else came up with the goods for all to see...
I have to admit, I worry about all the different ways 9/11 gets used and sadly abused. But only a fool wouldn't stop and remember. For me, we were living in Washington, DC, and that morning, Cori was on her way to her job in the Capitol. When the first tower went down, she stopped and had a bad feeling about DC. Then decided to turn around and come home. But the worst part of the day was when we heard that our neighbor, a dear woman named Michele Heidenberger, was one of the flight attendants on the plane that hit the Pentagon. For me, that will always be one of 9/11's worst wounds.
So to all who lost -- and that's all of us -- we're thinking of you.
Haven't mentioned it in a bit, but we're still working hard to bring City Year to Miami. Had a big meeting last week and very excited to see all the local support. It's a wide view inside the nonprofit world, but Cori and I keep repeating the mantra. This is how you change the world...
If you don't know City Year, check out their site. One year. That's what they ask. Give one year to change the world.
Every day we need to remember where we're from. This email arrived this morning, after I recently spoke at a posh private school here in Miami. Thanks -- I so loved waking up to this:
i saw you today at greenfield. No offence but you didnt talk very excidingly, in other words you were BORING. next time talk more lively.
There are just so many great things to write back. Add you own here...
Yes, it's a blog link to a blog, but I love this one. And what I love is Moorcock admitting that he was a snob about comics -- how he saw them as lowbrow dreck.
Thanks to the Smoky Man for the link.
With the end of summer comes the beginning of work/school/or whatever it is you do. I'm back and working on the new book. And also can now say that it looks like Jerry Robinson and I will be doing an event together in Florida. Really hopes this works out.
Of course, you're invited.
Also, hope your own return to work/life brings good things. Missed you all.
