You are probably aware of Jack Chick, even if you don't know the name. You've probably read at one time or another one of his scores of fundamentalist comic tracts. What I didn't know was that somebody had turned nine of them into a film.

Posted by ironic1 at 8:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So, Barry Bonds' career homerun record breaking baseball is heading to the hall of fame with an asterisk on it... literally. Marc Ecko, who purchased the baseball for over $750,000, had an on-line poll as to what to do with the questionable baseball and the overwhelming winner was - stamp it with an asterisk.

To me this is less of a sports story and more of an arts story. This is a creative and whimsical response to what many people find to be a ethically ambiguous situation. I salute Mr. Ecko for this foray into public art.

Posted by ironic1 at 7:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ever try to have a serious conversation with your dying father and he decides now would be a good time for a harmonica solo?

Man, Sith Lords just have no sense of dignity.

Thanks again to fanboy.com for this.

Posted by ironic1 at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, how about a government job? NASA is hiring 10 to 15 new astronauts. You may be required you to wear adult diapers, though.

I have to admit, since the Apollo missions when I was a kid I wanted to be an astronaut. And why not? Neil Armstrong, a boy from my own hometown, was the first man on the moon. If he could do it, why not me?

So, seeing this, I'm kinda wistful that my life has taken me in such a different direction. But I can't be sad. My life is good.

Houston Chronicle article

Thanks to fanyboy.com and Adam from perfectduluthday.com for pointing this out.

Posted by ironic1 at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I first read Wrinkle in Time when I was in 4th grade and it was probably the first science fiction novel I ever read. It was a good choice for the first time out.

Madeleine L'Engle intertwined science and mysticism and made it entertaining. She taught me new big words, like kairos and chronos and tesseract, and led me by the hand into even newer bigger worlds.

Bless you in your passing, Madeleine. May light perpetual shine upon you.

Posted by ironic1 at 8:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So I just finished Season 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on my Netflix queue and I've come to appreciate how much has changed in teen culture in the last 8 years, specifically technologically. Nobody in Buffy has cell phones, let alone text messages, and boy would that have saved lives a few times.

"Oh no! Where's Willow?"

"I'll call her house... no one's answering! It rang so that means she's not on her computer."

It really seems like I'm watching something from an entirely different era, and it was only 8 years ago!

Which got me to thinking how technology influences the process of writing and telling stories. Technology gives a sense of place, gives familiar landmarks, and creates handy plot devices for the writers to use. I'm interested to see how the series will progress from this point of view and how the writers will incorporate the completely changing communications landscape into their stories.

Posted by ironic1 at 7:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Norm Magnusson is making this series of "historical" markers in rest stops along I-75 which stretches from Michigan to Florida. I also happened to grow up in a town which happened to be Exit 111 on I-75 in Ohio.

Thanks to in.dog.neato over on perfectduluthday for showing me this.

Posted by ironic1 at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)