What’s dropping in May? The New Pornographers’ new album is what! To quote Home Movies, “Weee-ow!”
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gallery about rss archive| Saturday | February 13th | 2010 |
What’s dropping in May? The New Pornographers’ new album is what! To quote Home Movies, “Weee-ow!”
| Saturday | January 30th | 2010 |
Ian McDonald (River of Gods, Cyberabad Days, Brasyl) has made writing speculative fiction set in second and third world countries a house specialty. Coming down the pipe in June/July of this year will be “The Dervish House,” a new techno thriller that takes place in a country woven through with complex dichotomies and warring traditions: Turkey.
According to A Dribble of Ink,
“In the sleepy Istanbul district of Eskiköy stands the former whirling dervish house of Adem Dede. Over the space of five days of an Istanbul heatwave, six lives weave a story of corporate wheeling and dealing, Islamic mysticism, political and economic intrigue, ancient Ottoman mysteries, a terrifying new terrorist threat, and a nanotechnology with the potential to transform every human on the planet.”
Sounds like classic McDonald to me: seemingly disconnected character plots that eventually cinch close and tight, some sort of techy/bioware crisis that only they can prevent, and a fascinating, richly textured country in which to set his characters racing.
Load up your playlist with some Mercan Dede and get out your Turkish-to-English slang dictionary, because this will be a frolic through some amazing territory. Can’t wait.
Gosh, and what’s this little number below, which drops around the same time as “Dervish?”
Why, yes, yes it is.
| Wednesday | December 16th | 2009 |
Eeeheehee! It’s really coming! It’s like they’re real people, or something! Rumors in the intertubes say the Scott Pilgrim movie is now in post production, and is slated for release in 2010. Good thing, too, since the final volume of the comic is also slated for release at the very same time. Which will be first, hmm?
| Friday | October 16th | 2009 |
“The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” trailer.
Heath Ledger + Johnny Depp + Jude Law + Tom Waits + directed by Terry Gilliam.
It looks so completely and outrageously out of control, and I can’t wait to see it. (Though, as we know from every other Gilliam movie, it’ll probably have some huge gaping faults, but it ultimately won’t matter.)
| Wednesday | September 9th | 2009 |
The Cloudherders are gonna go see it sometime this weekend, and we’ll let you know what we thought. We’re all terribly excited, even if the reviews thus far are less than sparkling.
(Photo ganked from Rotten Tomatoes).
| Monday | June 22nd | 2009 |
Oh, baby. Tim Burton is taking a whack at Alice in Wonderland, and his two most reliable stand-bys—Johnny Depp (the Mad Hatter) and Helena Bonham-Carter (the Queen of Hearts)—are inch-deep in makeup and dooded up for the show. Also in the fray are Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar and Anne Hathaway as the White Queen.
From just these character photos I’m already on board and excited as all get out for this movie. The wonderful thing about Alice is that it hinges on the fantastical and the madcap, rather than on character development or a meticulous plot. The few weak Tim Burton movies are usually doomed by relying too heavily on spectacle, barely masking a weak or maudlin plot (I’m looking at you, Big Fish), but Alice is all about the spectacular.
Early stills are coming out, and they all look incredible. The film won’t be released til 2010ish, but expect lots of buzz around it as more shots are leaked. The story has apparently been updated a bit, and Burton’s Alice will be somewhat older than Carroll’s. I deem that a good decision, since there remains that creepy vibe lingering around the history of the real-life young Alice/old Carroll relationship. I can’t wait to see if there will be more heads rolling in this movie than there were in Burton’s Sweeney Todd!
Images copyright of Entertainment Weekly.
| Friday | June 5th | 2009 |
We saw Metric last night at the Market Showbox. I sweated in places I didn’t know I could sweat, and the front rows were intermittently doused with water bottle spray by kind Showbox bouncers who preferred that people didn’t burst spontaneously into flame.
Emily Haines, shimmering in a gold lame tube dress, spent an hour and a half singing and playing like a woman possessed. Dancing around the stage, doin’ high kicks, the pony, a version of the robot, breaking down and jumping up, posing for the crowd, she was a glittering goddess under the hot lights, and the entire first row never stopped reaching out to her for a single touch.
The band stuck mostly to material from Fantasies, with a couple of bombshells from Old World Underground and Live It Out thrown in for good measure. They started off the set not with a bombastic rendition of a favorite, but by building a wall of sound heightening in intensity, until under the cool blue lights the crowd suddenly recognized the distorted strains of “Twilight Galaxy” and went wild. (They used a theremin! You guys! A THEREMIN!)
The last time we went to see Metric, I was able to see exactly nothing of the band, and at times, the top of Emily’s head. I spent the concert really annoyed at the hulking giants standing in front of me, who would occasionally start dancing by swinging their arms spastically back and forth. Eventually, of course, they clocked my friend, but even that didn’t stop them. When I was informed—after the concert ended—the Emily Haines had spent the entire time dancing around in nothing but a long Hendrix t-shirt, I nearly passed out. I couldn’t see any of it.
But not this time. Every band member, every expression, every chord and guitar change and dance move, I could see it all. A lot of Emily butt, and a lot of her hilarious interaction with the band. And, best of all, nobody was threatening to step on me. A+
| Friday | March 27th | 2009 |
Ever since I stumbled on the Seattle Edible Book Festival, Leif and Nick and I have been brainstorming what punny book-themed dish would be best. Some of our favorites are below, though my entry will hopefully be unveiled at the Festival proper!
| Monday | March 16th | 2009 |
As I have mentioned in the past, I am oddly fascinated by food that is also art. That is a frickin’ cake, up there. A life-size Barbie chocolate mud cake to be precise, made by Jean Michel Raynaud. The head, arms, torso and the flared skirt are, of course, not edible, but the incredibly realistic and detailed skirt piece sure is. The rucking and rouches at the bottom—not to mention the two thousand Swarovski crystals embedded in it the icing and bodice—are simply incredible.
This cake was made to celebrate Barbie Doll’s 50th anniversary. Do I get something like this if I hit 50?
| Sunday | March 8th | 2009 |
I spend a lot of time trying to convince people to read certain comics both online and off. If I think you’ll enjoy it, you’ll receive emails on it, calls about it and even get hit in the face with the trade if you’re in proximity. I’m successful in varying degrees (:coughQCcough:) but there are some comics onto whose bandwagon some folks still need to clamber.
One of these is Rice Boy, by Evan Dahm, which I’ve hyped consistently for a few years now, especially since it is complete and available both online for free and in a lovely trade for monies. However, I have neglected to pester about Dahm’s new opus, Order of Tales.
Tales began in July 2008, and updates in spurts of six-or-so pages each Sunday. Taking place in the same fantastical world where Rice Boy played out, Tales introduces a new age, wildly different species and civilizations, and even a familiar face. Thus far, his small band of characters have many secrets to uncover and dire destinies placed upon them, and the locales described in Tales are fabulous and strange in a way Dahm’s readers have come to love.
Interspersed with the intrigue and adventure are short calligraphed mythologies about the world, beautiful little interludes that enliven and vivify this fictive place. Our main protagonist is of an Order of storytellers, and hints of prophecy or doom are couched in mellifluous language or parchments throughout.
In detailed monochrome that is reminiscent of careful woodcuts, Dahm’s sure-to-be-sprawling epic has really ramped up in the past six weeks or so, goading me to urge everyone to grab a seat now and ride this rollercoaster.
If Rice Boy was his warm-up (and what a warm-up!) then Tales promises a most grand main course. Join the mystery and adventure at the link above, and grab yourself some kick-ass stickers at his store while you’re at it! You’ll be sorry you missed out when my gallumphingly huge trade paperback hits you in the face in a year or two…
| Friday | February 27th | 2009 |
I’m no great basketball fan (especially considering the demise of the Seattle SuperSonics Oklahoma City Whatevers) but when March rolls around, I nevertheless get the fever. Not to bet in office pools and to count brackets, but a different kind of obsession: to vote in Go Fug Yourself’s March Fug Madness event.
Go Fug Yourself reports on the sartorial ouches and “what were they thinking?”s of celebrity fashion, and in March they create a competition that pits the worst dressed head to sequined headband. Stars I would never have heard of if not for their appearances on Fug will compete in rounds for the title of Worst Dressed Celeb, and the commentary and photo flashbacks make it worth checking in on every day of the competition.
Whose leggings/shirt-that-is-not-a-dress/giant handbag combo will reign supreme? Which Knowles sister will stumble her way through feathers, sequins, leather, gold lame and fishtail dresses to the final? How many Paris Hilton lookalikes and nipple slips will be eliminated? The action starts up in mid March.
| Wednesday | February 18th | 2009 |
As mentioned a while back, Felicia Day’s “The Guild” is a fabulously funny webseries that should be avidly watched by geeks, dorks and nerds everywhere. And what better time to get on the bandwagon than now, as Season 2 has officially ended? The season finale episode is chock full of stuntmen, fighting, sabotage, awkward kissing and even a shower scene—and what more could we ask for? Oh, right, Season 3.
See it streaming on MSN here.
| Tuesday | February 10th | 2009 |
Is it sad that I squeal every time I go past this sign?
This is a new ice cream store that’s opening where formerly a seedy as hell bong shop used to dwell. Could this actually be a good sign for the U District?
| Monday | February 9th | 2009 |
Pea-sized hail and lightning over most of North Seattle.
Level 3 is when animals of all kinds begin dropping out of the sky and speaking in tongues. Call me when that happens.
Edit: I’ve been informed (thanks, Mom!) that this was apparently not hail, but instead graupel. What the crapel is graupel? Read on, with text from the Glossary of Meteorology:
“graupel—Heavily rimed snow particles, often called snow pellets; often indistinguishable from very small soft hail except for the size convention that hail must have a diameter greater than 5 mm. Sometimes distinguished by shape into conical, hexagonal, and lump (irregular) graupel.”
Hunh.
| Monday | January 26th | 2009 |
Ayup, that’s right, the Miss America pageant was on Saturday. Did you miss it? Did you think you had something better to do, dammit? (You were right).
If so, you missed the sight of Miss Indiana Katie Stam (over on the left here) being crowned in her jaw-droppingly awful shredded 80’s bridal gown. I will repeat that: for her “evening gown” she voluntarily chose an off the shoulder, slit-to-the-upper-thigh white mini dress overlaid with a long lace layer that looked like it had been dragged through a horror movie swamp full of broken glass and down home Southern charm. She’s doomed herself to forever be that pageant winner whose crowning picture we see and say “hey, Miss 1987 was kind of hot, but why does she look so constipated?”
You also missed her response to host Mario Lopez’s question of “What does it feel like to be Miss America?” Answer: Panicked, choppy breathing and flailing hands, and not a word in sight over the horizon. Yes, folks, this is our elegant and articulate new Miss America. She’s done gonna git herself to cawledge!
I celebrated the event much as I have done over the past four years: by attending an official Miss America party where we place bets on the ladies, answer trivia questions, and—most importantly—dress up as our own Misses. This year we had quite the line up in attendance, and in through the door sauntered; Miss Conception, Miss Fire, Miss Fit, Miss Interpret, Miss Tletoe, Miss Carriage (with a jar full of…never mind), Miss Diagnosis, Miss Cegenation, Swing and a Miss and a host of other lovely ladies and boys with sashes. Highlights from past years include Miss Ogyny, Miss Cellaneous, Miss Ionary Position, Miss Ion to Mars and a representative from the State of Shock. Maybe that’s where Miss Indiana secretly hails from?
Leif writes words, music, code and bug reports; somehow he's still sane.
Nickherder is a science and engineering kind of guy, but we forgive him for it.
SaRRa is using her fancy university degree to blog.
Legal Drug makes the coffee, eats the food and drinks the booze.
Layout & design by Leif Chappelle.
Logo by Sam Lewontin.
Unless otherwise expressly stated, all text in this blog and any related pages, including the blog's archives, is licensed by the authors of Cloudherder under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Posted by SaRRa on Sat Feb 13th at 11:48PM
