Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Library Addition: Michael Swanwick’s Phases Of The Sun/Phases of the Moon

Wednesday, March 6th, 2024

Another short-run Dragonstairs chapbook I managed to grab:

Swanwick, Michael. Phases of the Sun/Phases of the Moon. Dragonstairs Press, 2020 (not offered for sale until 2024). First edition accordion-fold chapbook original (Phases of the Sun goes one way, and then you flip it over and Phases of the Moon goes the other), a Fine copy. Bought for $60 from Dragonstairs and sold out within two minutes.

Library Additions: Two Thomas Disch Firsts

Monday, March 4th, 2024

These were part of an auction lot:

  • Disch, Thomas M. The Brave Little Toaster Goes To Mars. Doubleday, 1988. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with previous owner’s name on front free endpaper, in a Fine, Mylar-protected dust jacket. Sequel to The Brave Little Toaster (which I have an inscribed copy of).

  • Disch, Thomas M. The Silver Pillow: A Tale of Witchcraft. Mark V. Ziesing, 1987. First edition hardback, #37 of 250 numbered copies signed by Disch and artist Harry O. Morris, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Chalker/Owings, page 490. Replaces a slightly less attractive copy.

  • MST3K’s 14th Season Fundraiser Going Slow

    Monday, November 20th, 2023

    You may have noticed that Joel Hodgson and MST3K gang are having a new kickstarter for the next season (for values of “kickstarter” that include “not on the Kickstarter platform”). There are five days left and they are only 38% of the way to the first goal of $4.8 million, which will be six features and six shorts.

    The last two Kickstarters they had blew past their goals.

    This one? Not so much. Despite announcing that Plan 9 from Outer Space will be among the riffed films.

    Donor fatigue? The Biden Recession? Not doing enough promotion? Not enough boost from a non-Kickstarter platform? Disgruntlement over how long it took people to get their promised rewards from the last campaign?

    I think it may be some combination of all the above.

    Maybe the usual Turkey Day festivities will kick it into higher gear. But if they don’t, this may be the first MST3K fundraising effort to fail.

    A Tale of Two Halloween Lights

    Thursday, November 9th, 2023

    See this?

    This is a two-pack of Hompavo LED Flame Light Bulbs. It simulates having a flickering firelight instead of your outdoor lights for the Halloween season. I’ve been using them since 2021 and they still work fine. If you like that sort of thing for Halloween, I recommend them.

    See this?

    It’s “Red Light Bulb 9W (60W Equivalent) E26 Base, LED Colored Light Bulbs for Halloween Christmas Party Holiday Lighting 2-Pack.” They’re absolute worthless garbage. Both bulbs stopped working within minutes of screwing them in and turning them on. No wonder there’s page after page of one-star reviews.

    Avoid

    Halloween Horrors: Strange Sky Sounds

    Monday, October 30th, 2023

    All around the world, people hear strange things from the sky. Here’s a roundup of the various “sky trumpets,” booming noises, hums and other things people have no explanation for.

    Halloween Horrors: Creepy Spider Light

    Sunday, October 29th, 2023

    Who wouldn’t like a lamp in the shape of a spider wandering around your house at night?

    I Saw Peter Gabriel in Austin Last Night

    Thursday, October 19th, 2023

    I saw the Peter Gabriel concert at the Moody Center in Austin on October 18. It was the third time I’d seen Gabriel perform live, and he put on a good show. We had tickets facing center stage in the mezzanine section, and they were quite pricey.

    About half the songs are off the forthcoming I/O album, while the other half are from other parts of his career (“Sledgehammer,” “Solsbury Hill,” etc.). His tour ensemble was a mixture of old familiar faces (the always excellent Tony Levin, Manu Katche and David Rhodes) and new (cellist/vocalist Ayanna Witter-Johnson, who was very good).

    They had an interesting multimedia setup with projection surfaces on different stage elements that they could move, as well as close-up cameras for projecting on either wing (and occasionally the giant circular moveable hanging surface that was the centerpiece of the set).

    I think the best song of the concert was an absolutely killer version of “Digging in the Dirt,” which had a nasty, funky, bass-heavy sound to it. There’s not a version with great sound on YouTube, so this will have to do:

    They also did an extremely good version of “Biko” as the final encore.

    Here’s the set list, which seems to be constant across venues.

    I think the last two shows of the tour are in Dallas tonight and Houston Saturday, and overall prices are a bit cheaper than the Austin show. It’s well worth catching if you’re a Gabriel fan.

    As for the Moody Center, the sightlines are very good, the concession prices are exorbitant, and the seats are too small and not particularly comfortable.

    Halloween Horrors: Steamed Hams as Terrifying Soviet Animation

    Thursday, October 12th, 2023

    Once again, The Simpsons “Steamed Hams” segment has inspired the Internet to produce an alternate version, this one in terrifying Soviet-style animation.

    The juggling Crusty is pure nightmare fuel.

    (Previously.)

    Halloween Horrors: Mel’s Hole

    Tuesday, October 10th, 2023

    Here’s a nicely creepy borderlands of science/urban legend/conspiracy theory video about a hole that has no bottom.

    80,000 feet worth of fishing line found no bottom. Plus animals avoided it, and radios went crazy, when they weren’t picking up signals from 30 years before.

    Then the government took it over.

    Much more paranormal weirdness ensues

    Was it real? Well, as real as anything else with a Wikipedia entry featured on Art Bell.

    Good luck finding it on map…

    Halloween Horrors: Play-through of Cosmic Horror Game Isle of Eras

    Sunday, October 1st, 2023

    The Halloween season is upon us again!

    This video features a complete play-through of Isle of Eras, which starts out as a search for a missing brother and quickly morphs into a weird cosmic horror/time travel game with giant monsters and nods to everything from Donnie Darko to 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s amazingly elaborate for an indie game put together by a tiny team. The monster design is particularly impressive.

    Available for PS4/5 and PC (but not, alas, Mac).