Month: August 2007

So here’s my mix for August:

  1. “Good Technology” by Red Guitars
  2. “Hologram World” by Tiny Masters of Today
  3. “I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair)” by Sandi Thom
  4. “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me” by Richard Thompson
  5. “Bring a Little Water, Sylvie” by Lonnie Donegan
  6. “Shame” by Randy Newman
  7. “The Crane Wife 3” by the Decemberists
  8. “The Rainbow Connection” by Sarah McLachlan
  9. “Stay on the Ride” by Patty Griffin
  10. “Radio Nowhere” by Bruce Springsteen
  11. “Until We Burn In the Sun (The Kids Just Want a Love Song)” by Bedouin Soundclash
  12. “I Lost You But I Found Country Music” by Ballboy

Same rules as always. One-on-one swaps if you’re interested.

Video via the Mitchell Blog. That’s not Randy Newman, by the way, but it’s a pretty terrific homemade video, no?

The Friday Random Guess Ten, the “Am I really going to try to write a whole novel this weekend?” edition:

  1. “Goodbye to You” by Scandal, guessed by Kim
    Those times I waited for you seem so long ago
  2. “‘Til The Real Thing Comes Along” by Judy Henske, guessed by Chris
    I’d work my body to the grave for you
  3. “Deep” by Danzig
    Hope is not my name
  4. “Blue Bayou” by Linda Ronstadt, guessed by Kim
    I feel so bad, I got a worried mind
  5. “Fight Test” by the Flaming Lips
    I thought there was a virtue in always being cool
  6. “I Want to Be With You” by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
    The two of us are one, mother of my son
  7. “Six String Music” by Jimmy Buffett, guessed by Betty
    They didn’t know me from Adam’s cat
  8. “The Pretender” by Jackson Browne
    And we’ll make love until our strength is gone
  9. “Things that Scare Me” by Neko Case
    Same birds that followed me to school when I was young
  10. “David Duchovny” by Bree Sharp
    The TV light fills my heart like a balloon

They’re lyrics. You guess what songs they’re from, and I tell you if you’re right. Here’s what happened last week, if you’re feeling nostalgic. Good luck!

Science fiction is dead! So says Ridley Scott. Sounds to me like he just hasn’t been paying attention. There’s been plenty of science fiction as good as, if not better than, 2001: A Space Odyssey in the nearly forty years since that film was made. Every time someone says this or that genre is dead, there are usually half a dozen easy examples to prove them wrong. The half dozen that spring to my mind of interesting, challenging, unique, enjoyable and, more importantly, recent science fiction? How about:

Gattaca
Primer
12 Monkeys
Solaris
Donnie Darko
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

And I can think of more. Is there a lot of terrible and derivative science fiction being produced? Of course there is. But when wasn’t there? When in the history of human culture has Sturgeon’s Law not applied?