Another site I read regularly, Stainless Steel Droppings (yes, a stainless steel rat reference) has recently had a “book week”.

And one of the articles was pointing at an incredible set of book-made-art, the work of artists Sue Blackwell and Brian Dettmer. And it really is stunning.

It’s a great article, with many quotes and links and lots more images, go check it out

You’re an old or new friend and you come here now and then? Come on then, delurk! I want to get back in touch

It’s a universal fantasy, isn’t it?—that the animals learn to speak, and at last we learn what they’re thinking, our cats and dogs and horses: a new era in cross-species understanding. But nothing ever works out quite as we imagine. When the Change happened, it affected all the mammals we have shaped to meet our own needs. They all could talk a little, and they all could frame their thoughts well enough to talk. Cattle, horses, goats, llamas; rats, too. Pigs. Minks. And dogs and cats. And we found that, really, we prefer our slaves mute.

I seem to read online more, lately. Here’s short speculative story that takes a great premise and follows from it, based on the author’s ideas of human nature. Now this one is right up my alley, around science fiction and myth, and with a dash of my favorite mythical topic at that, the trickster idea (i own the anthology this is from).

It is also a story that really made me sad - because i totally bought into where she went. I fear people would be like that… It really made me pause.

It is a delightful story available for free - Enjoy! http://www.kijjohnson.com/evolution.html

From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/28/games.censorship?gusrc=rss&feed=technology

15 years from now, the prime minister of the day will have grown up playing computer games, just as 15 years ago we had the first prime minister to have grown up watching television, and 30 years ago to have grown up listening to the radio.

More about No Game

This coming week is catch up week, where I add things to the site that have been on my pile for too long - that is mostly traditional content which has been on this site.
Mostly this is a cleanup to prepare for a new spin off blog which will be more about my professional side, technology, web - get all that todo list down so I feel I have the energy and space to do it.

* games I watch (mostly indie at the moment)
* games reviews I earmarked in 2008 but never got around to put the link/quote in (have started adding some backdated, check the games sections)
* why i am off A list games at the moment (i.e. how great games like Oblivion, Bioshock and more just dont make me want to play more super realistic games) and a reflection as to what makes me tick in a game
* a new round of the 2 line movie reviews catchup
* a new round of the 2 line book review catchup
* great software, fiction, arts and photo sites

Of course it would be cool if some of my 30 readers would tell me if they even care about any of these anymore - have you missed it? Like the new stuff, hate the new stuff? Want the photo and art stuff to stay here or go back to the spinoff blog? Now clearly I write most of it for myself, to remember what I read, wanted etc. but now that I have 30 regular readers I start to care… how weird is that?

Today I chose a poem by Terry Windling, The Night Journey

I’m too lazy to triple check my facts tonight, so here it is from personal memory.
Now Terry Windling is an artist of multiple talents. First she writes, and she wrote one of my favorite books, The Wood Wife. She also writes poetry (obviously!), short stories and non fiction in blogs and magazines, drawing on her extensive knowledge of myth, folk lore and all related arts. She is also a visual artist. Then she is an editor of many successful anthologies, and last - but not least, to me, since this one influences me every week , via the Endicott studio, magazine and blog she also constantly finds delightful art around myth and folk lore, and writes fascinating reflections around all mythical topics. I have mentioned Endicott more than once on this blog so I will not bore my few readers away by going on.

This poem is very much a bit of an enumeration poem, but very musical and evocative… makes it hard to pick an bit out of… besides the page states not to reproduce it without permission in any form. So just go there, I’m too chicken to ask for permission to reproduce an excerpt. But I have had the poem bookmarked a while and it makes me want to go in a forest take pictures, or even draw…

The Night Journey

http://www.endicott-studio.com/cofhs/cofinvoc.html

This is another one that will challenge and sometimes make your brain hurt.

Over the last several decades, new research has changed science’s picture of how we succeed or fail to seek the truth.  The heuristics and biases program, in cognitive psychology, has exposed dozens of major flaws in human reasoning.  Microeconomics, through the power of statistics, has shown that many facets of society don’t work the way we thought.
Overcoming Bias aims to bring the implications home.

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From: http://www.rampantgames.com/blog/2008/05/frayed-knights-pilot-release-aftermath.html

Rampant coyote release a free pilot asking people to fill a questionnaire for feedback. Why not try it?

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