Today is C.S. Lewis' birthday.
For those of you who don't know him, C.S. Lewis wrote <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=fantasistnet%26link_code…; title="View product details at Amazon">The Chronicles of Narnia</a>, which has been made into movies and mini-series several times. In fact, just recently The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe has been made into yet another movie. Lewis was a contemporary of J.R.R. Tolkien and, in fact, was part of the same writing group, the Inklings. It was there that the two became fast friends, until their falling out. Lewis, or "Jack", as he preferred his friends call him, was a convert to Catholicism and became a prolific Christian apologist, penning such gems as <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=fantasistnet%26link_code…; title="View product details at Amazon">The Screwtape Letters</a>, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=fantasistnet%26link_code…; title="View product details at Amazon">The Problem of Pain</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=fantasistnet%26link_code…; title="View product details at Amazon">Mere Christianity</a>. He was a remarkable author and an interesting man.
You can read more about Clive Staples Lewis at the website endorsed by his step-son, Douglas Gresham, called <a target="_blank" href="http://cslewis.drzeus.net/">Into the Wardrobe</a>.
That's "Godzilla" to all us non-Japanese.
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9993914/">Scientists have found the remains of what seems to be a Godzilla-like creature</a>. Basically, this sucker is a cross between T. Rex and an ancient crocodile that lived in the sea. Not content to eat fish, like most crocodillians of his age, this bad-boy ate other dinos. He didn't just fish, but he <em>hunted</em>. No radioactive fire-breath, but, otherwise, pretty much like Godzilla.
Now, freeze that and mix in a little radioactive waste and.... Suddenly, that movie doesn't seem quite so bad!
Yes, apparently even airplane geeks dream.
And, when they do, they dream of fantastic, frightening, freaky planes. Some even dream them into existance. Mostly, though, they just exist as fantasies. Still, someone has collected a bunch of them together into one easy-to-use webpage: <a target="_blank" href="http://home.att.net/~dannysoar/FantasySectionIntro.htm">Fantasy Planes</a>.
Perfect for a Friday Fun Link!
Hey, it's Friday, dream big and click the link!
<a target="_blank" href='http://www.fantasist.net/scroll/wp-content/images/oceanside.png' alt='Oceanside'><img class="floatleft" src='http://www.fantasist.net/scroll/wp-content/images/thumb-oceanside.png&#…; alt='Oceanside' /></a>
Here's a little bit I did with fish.
The classic beginning image for 3d artists is something underwater, with fish. Usually, with dolphins, but I managed to refrain from that bit. Still, this is a look at shore from the underside of a mythical tropic paradise. A "fish eye's view", if you will. I hope it's different enough to warrant its inclusion here.
Well, anyway, it's art. Of a sort.
<a target="_blank" href='http://www.fantasist.net/scroll/wp-content/images/goldenrivervalley.png…; alt='Golden River Valley' ><img class="floatright" src='http://www.fantasist.net/scroll/wp-content/images/thumb-goldenrivervall…; alt='Golden River Valley'/></a>
It's been a long time since I posted any of my digital art.
That's partly because I've been so busy getting divorced, changing jobs and just generally trying to maintain my life. Still, as things stabilize, I plan to do more of this art stuff. And, of course, I'll show it here. I suppose I should start putting copyright information on these things, but I don't really care if anyone steals them. They're not good enough to get money out of anyone, or I would have tried already! So, just enjoy them.
This one is a nice, little river valley with gold veins in it and a freaky plane.
Yes, seeking inspiration from SPAM.
The other day, I got a junk e-mail with some interesting words in it. And, an interesting, obviously random, title. That's when it hit me: Use that "junk" as a writing exercise. Too goofy for words, right? Well, try it. Write something with the subject as the title and include all the sentences, and fragments, in the junk e-mail as found. Fragments may be worked into full sentences. Feel up to it? Try this one:
<blockquote><strong>My study of unguent</strong>
but it was like the marriage of a reduced old noble to a plebeian eyes, when I formed the resolution of being godmother to your
natural in one who was making entirely new arrangements in life. humbly to me and begs for my forgiveness. This is my right. This
calling an Italian-iron, a bedstead. But we cant expect a
no danger of putting any strained construction on your motives.
I wish you would, said Mrs. Steerforth, with a smile. But, save her from this disgrace, and she shall never be disgraced </blockquote>
That's a real e-mail I got, by the way. Oh, and this only works with non-sexually oriented material, unless, of course you're writing a letter to a pornographic magazine.
This is common sense to anyone in the business.
Honest. When was the last time you tried to find a computer that used a floppy disk? Have you even touched a floppy in the past year? If so, I think you're in the minority. But, soon it may be true for something that IT Professionals (ie. professional geeks) have most likely dealt with: backup tapes. I've lost count of how many different kinds of backup systems I've used over the years and you know, most of them only would read tapes from one or two generations back. I wonder how many businesses have their archival data stored on tapes that they can't read anymore...
But, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/the-digital-dark-age/2005/09/22/1… article on smh.com.au regarding a coming digital Dark Age </a>might be news to some of my readers here. Or, at least, it might not be something that they've really considered. Imagine getting some really interesting, but obscure, documents on a system that you can't acess. Say, a CD-ROM in the far future. It's labelled and all, so the finders know what is supposed to be on the disk, but they don't have a system to read it. What do they do? Thaw out that crusty, old twenty-first century computer geek so he can tell them what to do? Build a new system to read the old storage media? Find an alien to do one of the above? The possibilites for story are almost endless.
Real or hoax?
While reading a story on Slashdot.org about an improper request for a non-existant version of the Linux kernel, someone made a joke about John Titor, time traveller. As per usual on Slashdot, a fellow commentor then posted a link to the <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor">John Titor entry on Wikipedia</a>. After reading the entry, I find myself wondering who was really behind it and why. Is it simply a Toynbee Convector? (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=fantasistnet%26link_code…; title="View product details at Amazon">The Toynbee Convector</a> is a book by Ray Bradbury which contains a story of the same name. In the story, someone fakes going to the future to get folks to develop things to create that near-utopian future.) Was it someone writing a bit of interactive fiction? Or, was it simply a hoax to sell a book? (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=fantasistnet%26link_code…; title="View product details at Amazon">John Titor A Time Traveler\'s Tale</a>)
Who knows? Who cares? It's fun to look at and contemplate the intricacy of the story.
And, of course, it's Friday, so click the link!
Well, pretty soon, maybe.
According to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,68683,00.html?tw=newsletter_to… article on WiredNews.com,</a> it's in the works! To be more specific, big makeup manufacturer L'Oreal is working cosmetics that mimic the structure of a butterfly's wing using only chemistry and light instead of the traditional pigments, waxes and oils in "normal" offerings. What's more, they can use these new techniques to create surreal effects that just aren't possible with traditional cosmetics. Freaky stuff, but kind of cool, too. I wonder how long before this develops into some kind of bizarre body-modification cult thing. I can envision chemicals that create scale and fur-like effects already, so I'm sure someone is working on it.
Once again, science is making science-fiction real.
This is National Novel Writing Month.
Or, if you're one of the cool kids, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo</a>. The idea, in a nutshell, is to write a book in thirty days or less. Or finish that monster that you've always meant to get around to again. Either way, the goal is a completed novel by the end of the month. Frankly, it seems impossible to me, but the guy who puts this on every year is also the author of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=fantasistnet%26link_code…; title="View product details at Amazon">No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days</a>, so, maybe, just maybe it's possible to accomlish.
Well, I won't find out this year because I'm just in the wrong place to do that, but I may just get the book and read it so I'm ready for next year.
In any case, if you're feeling up to it, it's still not too late for you to start. You are a little behind, but you can still make it up. Hit the website and start writing! (And, yes, I wrote about this yesterday at my other blog, Diary of a Network Geek.)