Tom Smith

Oh my.

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Geek Pride Day! And Towel Day! And the Glorious 25th!

To celebrate, some of us (including me) are going to World Steam Expo. Some are going to Media West. Some are going to BaltiCon (hi, jannyblue and gorgeousgary and the_sheryl and Jody Lynn Nye and Heather Dale and Ben Deschamps and everybody else out there). Some will even head to Toronto for Anime North. And I know there are other cons out there, and many other gatherings. Wherever you go, even if you have a staycation, be safe, beat the heat, and have fun.

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Written by three schoolgirls. Here's the ep itself:



And here's the ep with a behind-the-scenes look at it:



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Right here. Note in particular #4 (the Hercules is spectacular), #9 (Wouldn't Samuel L. Jackson and Will Smith go together just great in Men In Black Of S.H.I.E.L.D.?), and #10 (Lego/Minimates/Minecraft Avengers cosplay FTW). And, if you read the descriptions, the captioner actually knows his/her comics lore, which is pretty damn rare for the Lamestream media.

Any good Avengers cosplay or fan art you'd like to share?

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Sorry for the self-aggrandizing subject line, but this has only been nailed down last-second and I wanted to make sure those who might be interested actually saw my name.

Ahem! This weekend, I have three-plus performances at the World Steam Expo, taking place at the Hyatt Regency Dearborn. I have three concerts, at TEN IN THE FREAKIN' MORNING Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, as well as a convention-staff-only concert at 11:30 p.m. on Friday night.

There will be many other exciting bands, panels, and activities of interest there -- everything from panels on Victorian Flirting and an audience-participation performance of Shoggoth On The Roof to concerts by The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing and the Confabulation of Gentry (the steampunk evil-twin personalities of the Consortium of Genius, who suspiciously also have a concert slot). It should be an exemplary time for all!

It happens, of course, to also be Memorial Day Weekend. Apart from remembrance for the fallen, what are your plans for the four-day?

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Yesterday Blackout was released, the third in Mira Grant's zombie trilogy that began with Feed and continued with Deadline. Get it. Get it now, so it affects the first-week sales.

And... Seanan reports that the film rights have been optioned.

WAHOOOOOOO!

Oh, my dear, so many congratulations. You kick ass on every level.

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Have at it.

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We knew it was coming, but that doesn't make it any easier. Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees has passed away at the age of 62. People make fun of the Bee Gees, including me on occasion, but they were stellar musicians with amazing harmonies, and if there are two better angsty songs than "I Started A Joke" and "I've Got To Get A Message To You" I don't know 'em.

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• Sat, 12:47: Daily Kos: Obama campaign “goes there” again, calls Karl Rove out on his “BS” – VIDEO http://t.co/HrikMOhC via @dailykos
• Sat, 12:58: Daily Kos: Barack Obama: Human Capitalist http://t.co/HFBhblGA via @dailykos
• Sat, 17:14: AUROR'S TALE Teaser Trailer http://t.co/ICvZ0jQX
• Sun, 00:41: 2012 Dancing With The Star Wars Stars http://t.co/DLvTjZlm

Note that they have it at night now, with a much more elaborate stage -- video screen, a second level with stairs, and pyro. This is getting pretty darn popular.



(And the Slave Leia and Amidala are gorgeous, but I simply cannot believe how hot the tall bone-white woman is. Every year, her Jedi mind tricks work on me juuuuuust fine.)


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Much more info at their Facebook page.

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D'awwwwwwwwww.

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Sadness. Singer Donna Summer has passed away at the age of 63. She had a great voice, and she was a gorgeous and gracious lady, and she will be missed.

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ETA: Removed the second one, which vanished. Sigh.

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From egoldberg:

Hi everyone --

For the past 4 years, producer Kristoph Klover has been dedicating sweat, passion and countless hundreds of hours of late-night studio time on a quest to deliver Leslie Fish's most evocative and crafted recording yet, capturing Leslie's personality and her guitar wizardry at its best.

Titled Avalon is Risen, this project features newly crafted recordings of Leslie's best-known and most powerful Pagan and bardic songs. Songs that are thoroughly enjoyable by Pagans and non-Pagans alike.

And I'm thrilled to announce that it's finally at the duplicators, and ready for your pre-order!

By pre-ordering, you'll be first in line to receive the first CDs on June 15th. And thanks to the Internet, you'll also receive a full MP3 album download instantaneously.

Honoring the bardic tradition of these songs, we commissioned Celtic illustrator Bradley Schenck to create a 32-page, fully-illustrated color lyric booklet that's as beautifully crafted as the CD, designed in the tradition of finely ornamented Celtic books. (And did we mention an introduction by author Diana Paxson herself?! ;-)

As an extra bonus, your pre-order entitles you a 25% limited-time discount off any of CDs or digital downloads of our other albums (featuring Julia Ecklar and friends) -- and our gratitude for your support in making this independent music possible.

-- HOW TO LISTEN & PRE-ORDER --

If you'd like to receive the the special 25% discount pricing on our other CDs, please make pre-order from this page:
http://www.prometheus-music.com/avalonpreorder.html

You can preview the entire Avalon is Risen album (and download 3 full MP3s at no charge):
http://www.prometheus-music.com/avalon.html

(If you prefer to pay check, please mail $18.75 (including domestic U.S. shipping) with your mailing address to: Eli Goldberg, 4337 15th Ave NE #412, Seattle WA. Add $11.97 for any additional CDs.)

Enjoy,
Eli

P.S. Please feel free to share this announcement with your local filk lists, friends, and anyone else who you think may be interested in this album!

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Cover for Ozymandius #2.

At least Len, JMS, and the Kuberts are getting paychecks.

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Korra keeps getting better and better. I'll see GoT tomorrow, as usual. Go wild.

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(h/t io9)

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Behold FIBIAC.

What's your favorite site for stuff like this? I'm just starting to poke around into it, and Thingiverse is very cool but it can't be the only one.

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(Inspired by this pic.)

( Put behind a cut for possible spoiler protection.... )

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Phenomenal.

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Finally.

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Recently, I got a copy of Cakewalk's Sonar X1 LE Starter Kit. Let me show you why:



If you're interested, that very same LE Starter Kit is on sale for $19.99 for the next two weeks. Also on sale is the upgrade from that to Sonar X1 Studio, only $79.99.

(Just leapfrog Essential, the version between LE and Studio; the power/utility difference isn't worth the savings. The Producer edition has a few nice tools and extra instruments, but I don't really think they're worth the extra few hundred bucks for our level of sound work. On the other hand, even just the LE edition is amazing, and Studio includes some excellent tools and instruments and lets you use 64-bit plugins.)

Any other great, cheap software we need to know about?

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A longstanding member of the filk community, archiver_tim, is in a very bad way financially. He's about to lose his house to foreclosure, and he needs a place for him and for his stuff. Quite a bit of the stuff, he is willing to sell or even give away. Click here for more info.

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Starring Kate Beckinsale, Judy Greer, and Andrea Savage.

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Great sadness. Author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, best known for Where The Wild Things Are, has passed away at the age of 83.

Sendak's work is like a cross between that of Dr. Seuss and Edward Gorey: whimsical, detailed, unnerving, scary, and most of all engaging. I am shamed to say I am not as familiar with it as I should be, but WTWTA is fortunately damn near universal. (And, as an aside, you can get the fairly well received movie on DVD at Target on their five-buck-movies-for-kids endcap.)

Farewell, sir, and thank you.

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• I have acquired a Crudde. Throat hurts, sometimes sharply; chest much tighter than I like; some nasal congestion; not able to sing, except softly. Not happy.
• I am seeing a doctor today. Fortunately for my Crudde, it's my new urologist. The old urologist, a gifted young surgeon who gave me the ability to pee in a minute or two like a regular person... well, her I haven't seen for a couple of years because I didn't have insurance. So, when I called in to make an appointment, turns out she's moved -- voluntarily, mind you -- to Alaska. What the fuck.
• I have insurance. Did I mention I have insurance? This is the big, big news of the spring: I got the Social Security Disability. Got the "fully favorable" ruling, which means I am on Medicare, no more waiting and hoping, I'm there baby as of April 1, and later this month I'll get my first supplemental income payment, which I think and hope will help me catch up with every damn thing. The difference this has made in my attitude the past few weeks has been phenomenal. I am once more filled with hope that things will work out all right.

Love all you guys. How's your week starting out?

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Busy busy busy:

• The past several days have been filled with Real Life (my sister has a Master's Degree -- IN SCIENCE!), and I've been delayed on finishing up some music. Ideally, I should have a ton of stuff -- literally, two or three new concert sets and at least four new tracks -- by the end of the week. Thanks for your patience, subscribers.
• Thanks, too, for everyone waiting for me to update the main web site. That's also coming this week.
• And I've got a couple of commission songs going. 'Sfunny, but this time just four months ago I would've been -- was -- emotionally paralyzed, unable to do jack on anything. Now, I'm just warming up.
• The extra-spiffy free Piano One VST/AU for PC and Mac has been updated to version 1.2. They've improved CPU usage, and added a preset system.
• If you want a hit of instant nostalgia, and have nine or ten hours (or days) to spare, check out the online archive of Radio Shack catalogs. I used to go through those like I go through the Micro Center and Sweetwater catalog nowadays, and it's wonderful remembering all that stuff. It's a fantastic resource. And you will look at the prices for computers and parts -- especially hard drives -- and laugh and laugh and laugh until you cry as you remember that you paid those prices back then.
• Last but no way least, Steve Jackson's Ogre Kickstarter has four days to go. The original $20,000 goal has been smashed to jelly; they're currently well over $600K. If they get to $700K, SJ Games will launch another Kickstarter for a new edition of Car Wars. They've added donation levels for people to get cool T-shirts for this.

Anything else? Open thread.

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• I'll be watching GoT tonight.
• Korra, on Saturday, was frickin' amazing -- if The Avengers hadn't been so perfect, I'd be going on and on about it. This episode was pretty much all (a) sports and (b) relationships, and it was note-perfect, top to bottom, upending every cliche and moving the show along beautifully.
• And I still have to catch up with OUAT, but I hope to do that by Memorial Day Weekend.

Your thoughts on my Big Three? And what are you watching?

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Spoiler Thread.

ETA: Just saw the Sunday 12:15 IMAX 3D show with Anne, Leslie, and Mark.

This is the movie that will get me to buy a Blu-Ray player.

Puny god.

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May the Fourth be with you. (Of course, for us purists, the real Star Wars Day is May 25th. But it's not much of a pun.)

Tomorrow, I go to my sister's graduation -- yay! Then I head off to Novi: I'll be performing at Comic City for a Free Comic Book Day event. The address is 43538 W. Oaks Drive, Novi, MI -- basically, in the far back corner of the shopping center on the west side of Novi Road (Twelve Oaks Mall is on the east side), back by the Kohl's and Big Lots. Roughly. Not having been in that center in a dozen years, I'll have to go hunting for it myself.

Then, Avengers on Sunday morning with Anne, Les, and Mark, and a podcast interview for Sunday afternoon. :)

How's your weekend looking?

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But when he's right, he's right.

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Sadness. Adam Yauch (MCA) of the Beastie Boys has passed away at the age of 48. He'd been battling cancer for a few years.

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Elder Scrolls MMO coming next year.

God dammit, I've barely scratched the surface of Skyrim. I've been deliberately avoiding Guild Wars and World of Warcraft for years because I know me, and if I ever start playing 'em I'll vanish into the damn aether.

And now Bethesda is gonna MMO Tamriel.

I'm doomed.

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All about the newest Koch Bros. ad, and the Obama team's response.

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At $425,000, Evil Stevie promised everyone I'd do a half-hour of Ogre music. We passed that within minutes of announcing it, and the current support level is $439,764. Next stretch goal: the rambunctious return of Ogre miniatures. YEAH!



It's a good day to pimp your stuff or that of your friends -- what kinda crowdfunding projects do we still need to know about?

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If you haven't seen it, warning: Possibly triggery stuff, e.g., attempted suicide, but it all works out at the end.



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Shepard Smith's reaction to Mitt Romney's reaction to Newt Gingrich dropping out of the presidential primaries:


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Some people are just twisted:

Sean Harris, the Senior Pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina, has some words of advice for parents of possibly LGBT children: Smack them around. Beat the gay out of them. Or, in his precise words, "Give [him] a good punch!"

I followed the link in the dKos story, and listened to the audio of this yokel, this hayseed, this fucking jerk, specifically say that not only should you smack around your kids if they don't conform to your vision of what a boy or a girl should be like, he gives you "special dispensation" to do so. I'm pretty damn certain Child Protective Services and the Police Department would be quite interested in his legal authority to do so.

He would, of course, claim some sort of "moral" authority.

Except nobody -- nobody -- has the "moral authority" to punch a child. Let alone the "moral authority" to authorize others to do it.

This guy is scum.

ETA: There's a new link at the dKos story. Pastor Sean has responded, saying -- can you guess? -- he was "taken out of context" and everyone is "misquoting" him. He goes on to say that he and his followers must be "tolerably intolerant" of the LBGT community, and then details what I presume is the Acceptable Level of Disciplining Children:

... At times this may include appropriate and reasonable physical means (Prov. 10:13) employed upon the fleshy portion of the child's buttocks (Prov. 22:15; 23:13); that this method is to be viewed as correction rather than punishment (Prov. 23:13); and that this correction will result in the child's physical and spiritual betterment (Prov. 23:14). We believe a parent should correct his child with other means as well, but that they should-as led by the Holy Spirit-model the chastening of God the Father (Prov. 3:11-12) Who corrects all of His children out of love (2 Sam 7:14; Prov. 3:12; Heb 12:6; Rev 3:19) and forgives them by virtue of His Son's redemptive work on the cross (1 Pet. 3:18). The Father does this to develop His child's reverence for Himself (Heb. 12:9) and likeness to His Son Jesus Christ (Rom 8:29; Heb 12:11)....

Don't you just love that phrasing? "Employed upon the fleshy portion of the child's buttocks". I'm goin' to Hell just for reading that.

I don't even want to get into the Scripture quoted here. Suffice it to say, I won't be attending Pastor Sean's church anytime in the remaining lifespan of this universe, and I really think someone from CPS should check him out.

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I must remember that the Washington Times is owned and operated by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, and he and his employees are fuckin' insane:

The Obama campaign apparently didn’t look backwards into history when selecting its new campaign slogan, “Forward” — a word with a long and rich association with European Marxism.

No, really. Tell me more.

Many Communist and radical publications and entities throughout the 19th and 20th centuries had the name “Forward!” or its foreign cognates. Wikipedia has an entire section called “Forward (generic name of socialist publications).”

“The name Forward carries a special meaning in socialist political terminology. It has been frequently used as a name for socialist, communist and other left-wing newspapers and publications,” the online encyclopedia explains.

The slogan “Forward!” reflected the conviction of European Marxists and radicals that their movements reflected the march of history, which would move forward past capitalism and into socialism and communism.

Get outa town.

Just read the rest of the excerpt that the Washington Monthly has on its site (at the link above, obviously). It's boggling. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll kiss our civilization goodbye.

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I mean, how can you not marvel at the audacious imagination to come up with this:

Medical examiners in Los Angeles are investigating the possible poisoning death of one of their own officials who may have worked on the case of Andrew Breitbart, the conservative firebrand who died March 1, the same day Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced probable cause for forgery in President Obama’s birth certificate.

I am in awe.

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I know it's for Viagra or Cialis or somethin', but there's something else goin' on with "If fantasizing is not enough for you... then try our drugs".

Seen any interesting subject lines lately?

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• Sat, 13:00: Superb perspective on getting involved with local politics -- Daily Kos: It seems so obvious, now. http://t.co/LgyD3a0z via @dailykos
• Sat, 13:07: Darrell Issa: Hold Hearings To "Expel" Ryan, Cantor & Other GOP Who Plotted To Undermine U.S Economy http://t.co/k0rgwUdx via @dailykos