T
he Scale of the Universe is a remarkable “game” by apparent twins Cary and Michael Huang. With the use of a single slider, you view objects to scale from smaller-than-a-proton to bigger-than-a-galaxy. (Want to know what’s smaller than a proton or bigger than a galaxy? You have to play to find out, I’m not spoiling it for you!) Guaranteed to make you cry or stop breathing at least a little.
Herr Heurich is ready for Christmas! Image from heurichhouse.org
If you’re in the DC area, you might be interested in the Heurich House “Holiday Candlelight Tour.” Also known as the “Brewmaster’s Castle,” the house was built in the early 1890′s by a German brewer. The place is getting dressed up for Christmas, and there will be “German treats” and hot cider, as well as live music. DCist recently took some photos inside the home. Time for some steampunky Christmas cheer!
December 9 & 10; adults $15, children $5.
Small Demons is a (beta) site that doesn’t catalog stories – it micro-catalogs them. I’ll let this video explain. If this doesn’t make your breath catch a little, if it doesn’t send your mind spinning with possibilities – well, you’re probably a well-adjusted individual. Congratulations.
If it does, you’re probably a librarian.
At almost $1,300 this dress from Donna Karan’s new parachute-inspired line is a little steep for your average geek… But surely it must be perfect from some cosplay, somewhere! [Donna Karen New York via SheFinds]
I would wear this to work.
I don’t really know what’s going on with this show This Is Jinsy, and I think I don’t want to. Suffice it to say, this may be David Tennant’s first role in which he’s not even a little bit sexy.
I maintain that Davina was smoking hot.
[Sky Atlantic via Blogtor Who]
Help send sf blogger Charlie Tan to the World Fantasy Con
Want to go to Comic-Con or Dragon-Con next year? Live in the U.S.? Finding the cost of registration ($120+), travel ($300+), and hotels (first-born child) prohibitive? Yeah, now imagine you live in the Philippines. Not only are the cost of living and average income on a different scale than the U.S., but a flight from Manila to San Diego will run you at least $1000, maybe more.
The World SF Travel Fund has been created so that each year, one worthy genre fan can travel to a relevant convention. They need $6000 (two years’ worth of funding) to get started and send the first recipient – Charlie Tan from the Philippines – to the World Fantasy Convention. They’ve set up a project with Peerbackers to raise the money – only $5,054 to go at the moment.
If you donate $10 or more through Peerbackers, you get a reward if they meet their $6000 goal. (If not, you get your money back.) $10 gets you two unnamed e-books from unnamed publishers, but donate $1000 and you could receive a “a special Neil Gaiman item.” Let me know what it is when you get it!
In case you need more persuasion, Charlie Tan seems pretty awesome – read more at Charlie’s blog Bibliophile Stalker.
Via GenreVille.
Turns out they did have it all planned out from the beginning.
A convincing trailer for the teen comedy version of Harry Potter. They must have done some significant rewrites before release…!
[Via Salon]
This is a more challenging book than most I’ve read lately, and that’s a pity because I now remember that challenging books make a more satisfying experience.
The Broken Land is challenging in all the right ways. The prose is dense but beautifully packed with imagery, the sort of descriptions you read twice to fully understand and three times just because they’re so moving.
McDonald has created a politically, culturally and ethically complex world. Wikipedia will tell you he writes about the effect of technology and colonialism on developing countries and sure, that’s true, but The Broken Land does not read like a Novel With An Important Message About Colonialism. It’s a novel about characters, about fully believable individuals who make up fully believable townships that make up fully believable cultural groups and countries, and how they interact with each other to beautiful or tragic effect.
