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Posts for August 2007
On any given weekend, there's a science fiction convention happening somewhere in the world. Many focus on specific fandoms (TimeGate, Botcon) or media (Ohio Valley Filk Fest, Fanime Con), or have expanded beyond mere science fiction (Anthrocon, Dragonflight). But the granddaddy of all cons, Worldcon, invades Yokohama, Japan, this weekend. The annual gathering of the World Science Fiction Society, Worldcon dates back to the Golden Age of Science Fiction, though it's not quite the oldest convention out there. The first Worldcon was held in conjunction with the 1939 World's Fair in New York City, and each year since then it has moved to a new city around the world. While it boasts many of the traditional events fans have come to expect at genre conventions -- guests of honor, panels, exhibits, costume contests -- Worldcon may be most notable for its prestigious Hugo Awards. This year's winners will be announced on Saturday, September 1, in a lively -- and we hope heavily costumed -- ceremony.
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
Science Fiction Conventions, Horror Conventions, Star Trek Conventions, Science Fiction |
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Archived under: Conventions, Costumes, Entertainment, Fan Fiction, Fanatics, Literature, Science Fiction |
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In the desert of Nevada a community is growing. We're not talking about the booming suburbs surrounding Las Vegas, but the temporary Utopian experiment known as Burning Man. It started in 1986 at San Francisco's Baker Beach when a small group of friends burned an eight-foot wooden man in celebration of the summer solstice. Since then, the gathering has morphed into a vast experiment in self expression. This year 45,000 hearty folks are expected to invade the playa for a week of cutting-edge art, communal living, and desert survival.
But despite (or maybe because of) the success of the annual event, things aren't as Utopian as they seem. This week an artsy arsonist decided to take matters into his own hands and attempted to burn the man a few days ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, back at the head office (Black Rock City LLC), there is a growing brouhaha over money, with the two founders bickering over cash and copyright. Regardless of all these concerns, this year's Burning Man festival should be a blast for the residents of the ephemeral desert town. Just be prepared for anything, and don't forget the sunscreen and goggles.
Suggested Sites...
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Directory categories:
Burning Man Project, Survival Guides, Testimonials, Camps and Projects, Larry Harvey |
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Archived under: Arts, Burning Man, Counterculture, Festivals, Fire, Performing Arts |
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Bugs Bunny gets the bull in the
1952 short Bully For Bugs |
Musical satirist Tom Lehrer once said of bullfighting, "There is surely nothing more beautiful in this world than the sight of a lone man facing single-handedly a half a ton of angry pot roast." Unfortunately for Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez, better known as Manolete, he was facing the wrong pot roast on August 28, 1947. Considered the greatest bullfighter of all time, Manolete had actually retired from the bull ring, but was unable to stay away. On that day, he had already killed four bulls, but toro numero cinco, Islero, got posthumous revenge. Before dying, he gored Manolete in the thigh, an injury that led to the torero's own death the next day -- an event that sent Spain into three days of mourning. Tauromachy has been criticized for being nothing but a blood sport, and while most of the time the matador gets the bull, sometimes, as Manolete discovered to his misfortune, the bull gets you.
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Directory categories:
Bullfighting, Matadors, Opposing Views of Bullfighting, Spain, Ernest Hemingway |
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Archived under: Animal Rights, Animals, Anniversaries, Dead Celebrities, Death, Spain, Sports |
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Not content with clogging up our airwaves with the minutiae of their somewhat insignificant lives, many modern (and often too young) celebrities also cash in on their fame by writing about themselves in autobiographies. With titles like "Save Me from Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story" by Brian Welch and Paris Hilton's "Confessions of an Heiress" hitting the shelves, it's no wonder that the celebrated literary art form of memoir writing has gotten just a teensy bit discredited.
Of course, it hasn't always been that way. Looking back over the decades, there have been some culturally important celebrity autobiographies, like Sammy Davis, Jr.'s "Yes I Can," and its portrayal of racism in the 1950s entertainment industry, or Michael J. Fox's "Lucky Man," which describes the actor's battle with Parkinson's Disease. Steely-eyed German actor Klaus Kinski shocked us with "Kinski Uncut" and the great lengths he went to describe his voracious and violent sexual appetite. More recently, autobiographies like "The Kid Stays in the Picture" by noted Hollywood producer Robert Evans have demonstrated that amid much gossip and scandal, there's always room for self-deprecation and humility. We wonder if Paris took notes.
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Directory categories:
Celebrities, Autobiographies, Literature, Nonfiction Authors |
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Archived under: Authors, Biographies, Books, Celebrities, Entertainment, Literature, Marketing |
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Weekly World News cover
The famous "Bat Boy" issue |
I come to praise the Weekly World News and to bury it. My name is Edgar, but you may know me by my nickname, "Bat Boy." The WWN had a long run starting in 1979, and was an invaluable source for the news you couldn't get anywhere else, whether it was the sordid details of P'lod the alien's affair with Hillary Clinton or up-to-the-minute dispatches on Elvis's frequent returns from the dead. And while not all the paper was that newsworthy, just as informative were the opinions of Lester the Typing Horse and the fulminating Ed Anger. Now, I don't claim to be the most famous creation to spring forth from the pages of Weekly World News, but I can't think of another who's had a musical written about them. It all comes to an end today, though, when the WWN stops its newsstand sales and goes online exclusively. Those who demand stories about Santa's labor woes or robot Dick Cheneys will still be able to get them, but bathrooms across America will never be the same.
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Directory categories:
Tabloids, News and Media, Magazines, Newspapers, Gossip |
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Archived under: Aliens, Entertainment, Humor, In Character, Journalism, Media, Mythology and Folklore, News |
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