Owl Pellets: My Undigested Internets.

• • Gatochy’s Blog: The Cat and the Moon – The animated story of a cat that’s in love with the moon. It’s not in English but it doesn’t need to be.
  • Of Mutts and Men – Attempting to trace the migration of humans by figuring out the migrations of dogs.
  • Have you seen this robot? – A little robot is being seen from coast to coast.
  • evolution – Just an amusing little comic.
  • Crofton specialist uses robot to help children with developmental disorders • – Good robots deserve good press. You know, every single problem, fear and hang up we have about robots says nothing about them and everything about us. They’re not going to build themselves to kill humans. We do that. Good news is, when they’re doing good work, that’s also us.

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Owl Pellets: My Undigested Internets.

• Welcome To The American Patriot’s Bible – The Bible gets remastered so that it's all about America.
• The American Conservative — God’s Country – TAC reviews the American Patriot Bible and has some harsh words for it. Also some interesting info about the founding fathers and their beliefs in God: For example: "And yes, Thomas Jefferson did in fact more than once praise Jesus’ “moral precepts” for their “purity.” But he also edited an infamous version of the gospels that removed all references to Jesus’ miracles and ended not with the resurrection but simply with his death and burial in the tomb. It is true that Jefferson valued the social utility of Jesus’ ethical teachings, but he compared the effort to uncover them in the gospel accounts to finding “diamonds in a dunghill.” "
• BBC – Earth News – Chimps born to appreciate music – It's a really cute video. Or it would be if the devil had not invented apes to mock God's greatest creation: Americans.
• Scientists fear a revolt by killer robots – Times Online – Scientists have a conference about stopping the robot uprising. Look folks – it's GENETIC DESTINY that mankind either destroys itself or creates the lifeforms that will inherit the planet from us or both. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but it's coming one day. Has to. Resistance is futile. This news story should be called: "The Wet Blanket Association Meets to Discuss Cold Feet."
• When It Comes to Robots, We’re Brainless – Columns by PC Magazine – Some fellow is a bit pissed off about that whole anti-intelligent-robot conference. He makes some good points. These guys are a bit ahead of themselves. They're trying to ban something that doesn't even exist yet.
• Black Dandyism – A book on the subject is out. I really want to read it.
• 

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Owl Pellets: My Undigested Internets.

• • The spy who billed me twice – Wikileaks – The torture business is corrupt?
  • How Nanotechnology Can Make Food Work (and Smell) Better – Health Blog – WSJ – I want nano bacon flavoured broccoli.
  • Chimpanzees Die From Primate Version of HIV – US News and World Report – If the comments are any indication, apparently this is a disease for gay chimps who got it from fucking humans. Or something. I blame the CIA.
  • Are women getting better looking? – I don’t know. Are you drinking?
  • 73 Ways to Become a Better Writer | Copyblogger – Lists like this and the people who listen to them are the reason I hate “writers” and “writing.”39. Tell everyone: “I’m a writer.” That won’t get annoying. That will never get annoying.

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Owl Pellets: My Undigested Internets.

• Fermi’s Paradox – The Last Challenge for Copernicanism? – I haven’t read this yet (going to save this baby for a relaxing day off — yes, I’m a nerd, or I would be if I was smarter) but it deals with Fermi’s Paradox. For those you who don’t know what that is, it’s basically like this — If there’s other intelligent life in the universe, we should know by now. That we haven’t been encountered by any proves there is not and that we truly are alone. It’s fun stuff and, though I have brush up on my Fermi before reading this, I remember his argument being pretty damn solid.
• Esmerel: Are You Gruntled Yet? – I have a long-standing fascination with orphaned words. It all started with some afternoon acid and some people watching. It’s surprising easy to tell the difference between people who are nonchalant and those who are chalant.
• Robots for Romantic Old Maids (1928) – The future of robotic gigolos as 1928 saw it.
• wheres-my-magazine-or-wheres-my-refund. – Just in case print magazines weren’t having enough trouble, now subscribing to them seems like playing an expensive lottery where you can only win what you already paid for.

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Owl Pellets: My Undigested Internets.

• • Difference Between – This website is all about answering the question “What is the difference between . . .” It’s a common question so this site should be of some use.
  • Bandidos Trial: secret hand signals explained – I can’t imagine how they ever came up with these hand signals. Did you know that holding up eight fingers represents eight? And you’ll never guess what means killing someone. Here’s a hint: It has to do with the neck.
  • The Technium: Amish Hackers – The Amish are not as luddite as one might think. They have a fascinating relationship with technology that speaks more to their tastes, needs and values than to fear, greed and vanity. We could all do with a little bit more Amish in our philosophy.
  • The Technium: The Unabomber Was Right – I never really believed he was wrong. Just futile, unhappy and a bit crazy. To me, his manifesto always spoke to some important part of industrial man. It was intellectually wrong but emotionally right. Most guys, I think, would like to live in a cabin and fight a monster. Gets harder to do every day.
  • Quiet Babylon – Context. Nuance. Memory. Accuracy. Consequence. – This site is devoted to architects vs cyborgs. Architects being those who transform their environment and cyborgs being those who transform themselves. It’s good.

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pic nicked from here

Blogging about blogging is even worse than writing about writing.  It’s usually a sign that a blog is a dead or that the author has nothing to say.  (The mainstream media should think about that before they write another story about the struggles faced by the mainstream media.)

I often see posts about blogging on blogs that have about five posts.  One announcing the creation of the blog.  One that talks about a movie or some crap, then one talking about why the writer thought they should get a blog and what their blog is about.  Then silence.  After a few months of that, there’s another post that says the writer is really going to start blogging now.  Then a few months later, another one like that.  Then nothing.

So and So’s  “Random Musings” has died.

Having said all that — I’d like to do a quick post about this blog.  A lot of you were kind enough to follow me over here so I want to give you the low-down on what you can expect.  Rather, what I think you can expect.  I have no game-plan.  But I do know this — Things are going to be a bit different.

First of all — there’s going to be a slight shift in content.  This new-to-me blogging software allows me to post quicker and easier.  This means more short posts about things I find online.  More robot stories, more wacky pictures, more short link-based posts. The motto around here has always been “Quality, Oddity, Banality.” You can expect more of the oddities and the banalities.  You might have already noticed the shift.

Those of you that have been around since the blogger days will remember when The Grumpy Owl was that sort of blog.  There was very little of “me” in it and most of the posts were short links to interesting stories — back when a long post was the exception rather than the rule.  WordPress  made running that sort of blog  difficult.  So those quick and dirty posts that I so loved fell by the wayside.  This version of WordPress makes writing those much easier.  So they’ll be back.  You’ve already seen a  few.

But don’t panic.

If you’ve joined me since the WordPress days and happen to like the longer, more essayish type of posts, you have no reason to fret.   I’ll still be writing those and at about the same frequency.  It’s just that there’s going to be a lot of other stuff too.   Instead of three days of silence between them, there’ll be three days of other stuff between them.

I don’t know if you’ll like that stuff but that’s really more of your problem than mine.

And Owl Pellets has returned.  Turned out I was wrong about Twitter being a viable replacement to that.  But Delicious Social Bookmarking mixed with automated blogging software is.

When I bookmark at least five sites, an Owl Pellets will be automatically posted here.  It’ll even have my comments.  Different Owl Pellets will be posted at least 24 hours apart.  That should keep the feature from overwhelming this site.  But we’ll see how it goes.  I might have to adjust my settings.   As for now, I’m extremely happy with how easy it is.

There’s also been a few changes to the sidebar.  I think most of those are pretty self-explanatory.  Most of what looks like it’s gone has moved or is being moved into the section marked “In My Salon.”  Just click on those little arrows and the list will drop down.  I’m sure you can figure it out from there.

And that’s about it.  You can look forward to more content here.  Some of it might not be what you expect, some of it might be more than you expect and some might be less.   If you have any problems with how something works or any suggestions on how to make something work better, feel free to email me or comment.  I can’t guarantee that I’ll follow your advice but I do listen.  I might be grumpy but I’m still an owl.

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Jeff Lemire at Toronto Comic Arts Festival on Vimeo on Vimeo

Because Jeff Lemire’s new Vertigo comic book, The Nobody, was released on July 8th and because my posts that were strictly video, no text, were lost during the switch, I’m reposting this.

It’s a short conversation we had about his upcoming work, Sweet Tooth, while at TCAF.

You can buy The Nobody at comic book stores.

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The Grumpy Owl has moved.

You can now find it here.

CLICK THROUGH

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To the Canadian election.  That’s right; we’re having one too.

This is an exciting time for a Canadian.  We get to go out and vote.  They let us do this every few years.  It’s good for morale.  It allows the people to feel like they have some sort of say in the governance of their lives.

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I haven’t been posting very much lately.  Been busy entertaining a friend from the states.

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It must be because I wear a suit. People often jump to the erroneous conclusion that I like to socialize. They think I’m dressed to impress someone other than me. And I very occasionally end up in the place to be seen with the people to be seen with. I don’t care less about any of this.

I put no effort in.

So, if you want to learn how to socialize, there are better people than I to teach you. I have been called “a social retard” and people often present me with lists of things I should never again say in mixed company.  And I just keep saying them anyway.  But this theme week isn’t about being successful, it’s about being me.

And here’s how you can socialize like me:

If you actually decide to leave the house,  sit by yourself and ignore everyone. People will believe you think you’re better than they are or that you’re miserable.  Being weak-minded, they may believe that their ideas are right.  They’re not.  And that’s not why you do this.

You do it because, insofar as you even bother to think about other people, you believe them to be totally irrelevant.  Should they come up and speak to you, try not to bite.  Try hard.

Remember, you’re thirty years old and you work in a bar/restaurant. You’ve heard everything that people say at social functions about ten times. They have opinions on things and some sort of creative pursuit. They like stuff and dislike other stuff.  They want you to like and dislike the same things.  They try to convince you that they are somehow special. They’re not. That they’re worth knowing. They aren’t. They’re asking the questions they wish you’d ask them.  They’re waiting for you to shut up so they can propagandize you a little bit more. You’ve heard it all before. You’ve done it all before.  It bores you.

And if you know anything about yourself, it’s this:  You have talons.  You can go right to the center of a person and tear their guts out.  This is impolite.  You’ve always seen weakness.  You do not attack it.

There is something in your character that makes this an effort.  This effort is worthwhile.  We are all weak.  We all have sensitivities.  At least try to respect that.  Try harder; You probably just fucked up!

And you don’t believe in social will never be so enamored of another human being that I will become part of their entourage. If you have an entourage, I don’t even want to speak to them. Frankly, it is beneath me. My Nan always said: “Talk to the organ grinder, not the monkey.” Your monkeys are weak. I will not be one. And I probably don’t like the song you’re grinding out. I don’t dance; Not to that shit.

People tend to view other people as tools. They become disappointing means to dubious ends. Then they’re judged on their ability to help or hinder each other. “What can so and so do for me?” “Who can get me into what party?” It’s about influence and quantity. I do not view other humans as tools. They’re people.

Unfortunately.

I regard all of this with nothing but haughty contempt.

I view the social world as a picnic.  Everyone is invited and everyone brings something.  They can bring something tasty, they can bring poison and they can bring anything in between.  If I had to say what I bring, I’d say I’m bring the food that tastes like shit but might be good for you.  It really has no place at a picnic and everyone is wondering what it’s doing there.

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Every artist should look down the barrel of a gun named failure and ask themselves: If no one ever reads or looks at any of this and I never make a cent doing it, is it still worthwhile?  If the answer is no, they should pull the trigger.  Just quit.  If the answer is yes, then they should point the gun at someone else before pulling the trigger.

Either way, triggers have a nasty way of getting pulled.

Someone has shoved a pistol into my mouth.

I received an email from a publisher about a book that I care deeply about; one that I’m actually proud of and submitted about three years ago.  For those of you who don’t know what the submission process is like, it goes something like this:  Submit the first three chapters and a synopsis.  Never hear from them again.  Or get a rejection letter.

In this case, I submitted the first three chapters and the synopsis.  A while later, they asked for the next three chapters.  Then, a while after that, they asked for the rest of the book.  They wanted to pass it along to one of their best readers.

I sent them the whole thing and didn’t think too much about it.  I expected to eventually receive a reply along these lines:  “We like _____ and _____  about your book but it’s too violent.  Please try somewhere else.”  I’ve been through this before.  A few times.

So, when I received another email from this house, I went off and did a few things before I even bothered opening it.  Frankly, I didn’t want to hear it all again.  When I finally did open it, I was surprised to learn that I received a favorable review from the reader.

And that there’s another step . . .  One more.

My book is on the publisher’s desk.  Not only do I now have another wait in front of me, I also have this goddamn gun in my mouth.  I have to answer that old question all over again:  If no one ever reads or looks at any of this and I never make a cent doing it, is it still worthwhile?

Of course it is.

I never thought anyone would ever even think about publishing this book.  (I did write it.  I am aware of how violent it is.)  I wrote it thinking that it was unpublishable.  I wrote it anyway and I would spend another year writing it again.   The only reason I submitted it anywhere in the first place is because I happen to think that it’s a pretty damn good book; that it deserves to be published and that I owed it an attempt.

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This year, Toronto’s fashion bloggers are taking a starring role at L’Oreal Fashion Week.  Well, I suppose that explains the recent ethics hubbub.  It also explains why people kept asking me if I’m going to L’Oreal Fashion Week.  I didn’t really know that it was going on.  I should have but it just didn’t register with me.  Other things on my mind.

Fashion week: Who cares?

Well, I guess fashion bloggers do.  And I can’t begrudge them that.  I don’t expect them to care about Ad Astra, though they will when I’m done blogging it.     They should care. Science fiction conventions are kinda awesome.

I know a lot of the names mentioned in the article.  Some of them are known readers who leave the occasional comment.  Toronto fashion and Toronto fashion blogging is a small place.  If I didn’t have a venomous, battle-hardened hatred of brunch, I’d probably know all of these people.  And I’d probably be a member of the press by now.

Yet I’m still pissing up the science fiction rope.  I’m starting to wonder why.

It’s a strange time.   Fashion has, to my view, become more forward looking than science fiction.  It’s no great accomplishment.  SF is horribly conservative.  Not just in content but in style.  For all of its big talk, it just recently stopped being the almost exclusive province of straight white men.  It is now the almost exclusive province of old straight white men.

The major houses are just coming around to online publishing.  Almost every science fiction based blog I’ve ever read is dull as paint.  And, when SF writers, these forward thinkers, attempt to write a book meant for cyberspace, they basically try to retrofit the internet to meet the demands of their obsolete story structures.  Then they wonder why no one reads the shit except for other writers.

They just don’t get it.

But fashion gets it.

Just look at the recent project from Danielle Meder and Carolyn Rohaly.  Called “Rags and Mags” it’s an online fiction about Toronto fashion told in the form of a blog.  It’s perfectly executed, genuinely entertaining and full of links that are actually helpful for the interested reader.   This is innovative.  It’s smart, funny and cute.  It understands its subject, its audience and its style.  It condescends to no one.

It’s just plain good.
Science fiction on the other hand has gotten just plain bad.  When a deeply conventional book like “Perido Street Station” by China Meiville warrants a whole new genre –”The New Weird”– then there is something wrong.  It’s not weird.  You want weird?  Read Geoff Ryman, Matt Ruff or Minister Faust.  They’re weird.  And none of them quite fit into science fiction.  Like Vonnegut, Kafka or Burroughs, they’re just too good for it.

And fuck it.  So am I.

You know, I’m getting old.  I’ll be thirty in May.  I’ve been patiently waiting to hear back about a novel I submitted years ago.  Although I have the interest of a publisher, time does not stand still.  I’ve written other books since then.  I can’t sit on my hands forever, waiting for some sort of fucking validation from a business.

A  business of all things . . .  Me.  Waiting for that?

It’s not the money.  There’s no money in writing and I never even expected any.   It’s the legitimacy.  This is what publishers sell to writers: Legitimacy.  If you self-publish, you’re vain.  In every other artform — music, movies, comic books and design– being indie grants cred.  In literature, it destroys it.  Why is that?  Could it be a vested interest at work here?  And how the fuck did I end up falling for this bullshit?

only get about 350 to 450 unique visitors a day.  So I’m not the fellow who writes what the public reads.  But the people who do write what the public reads?  They read me.  I prefer that.

Shape

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I awoke at ten today.  Typically, this would be very early.  Today it was very late.

Shalome had a plane to catch and I had a wedding to attend.  The good news is that awaking two hours late made any sort of sentimental goodbye impossible.   We just ran about the house swearing and grabbing things until we ran out the door. I recommend this to anyone.

And then she was gone and I was on the GO TRAIN.

Before I knew it, I had arrived at my Nan’s house to meet the small portion of my family that I actually know and occasionally speak to.  I’ve never been very good with the whole family thing.  I don’t know why.

I can’t be the only person who has such difficulty keeping active relationships with their blood — though my sister, who I haven’t seen for two years, certainly makes it seem that way — and I have the same difficulty with friends.  Co-workers aside, I only see the people I like every two months or so.

This is something I often resolve to change but never quite get around to.  And you know what?  One day I’ll wake up and all these people will be dead.  .

But today wasn’t a day to think about my family dying.  (Tuesday is the day for that.)  Today was a day to celebrate one of them, who I haven’t seen in years, marrying a fellow I once met.  It was a happy day.

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