Dreams Of Noise

So many things we celebrate on Geek Pride Day!

First, of course, it's the Glorious 25th of May, for all you Discworld fans.

It's also the 36th anniversary of the release of the original, non-Episode IV Star Wars. We weren't completely unprepared -- technically, Jaws was the first "blockbuster" -- but, besides being the coolest thing most of us had ever seen up to that point, Star Wars was absolutely transformative in how films were both created and marketed. Along with Star Trek, it can be considered one of the foundations of modern mythology.

And, celebrating another of those foundations, it's Towel Day, celebrating the life and writings of author Douglas Adams, creator of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Here's hoping that, someday, we'll all have a proper edition of that mind-bogglingly useful book.

And, on top of all that, it's the birthday of such geek legends as Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803), Sir Ian McKellen (1939), Frank Oz (1944), Barry Windsor-Smith (1949), and Stan Sakai (1953).

How are you celebrating Geek Pride Day? I'm at Up In The Aether Con in Dearborn, MI, where the place has already been going crazy since yesterday morning. Wonderful folks, superb cosplay, Victorian mad science, gorgeous women in corsets, fun fun fun.

People forget there's another bridge in the San Francisco Bay area. For the past two years, artist Leo Villereal has been creating an art project that will run for the next two years:



And, yes, he's technically turned the Bay Bridge into a simulated lava lamp.

But a two mile long lava lamp.

If all you gaming geeks and art collectors want a bad-ass hardcover collection of the art of Larry Elmore, you have less than three hours to kick in. Stretch goals have already expanded the package quite a lot (the basic $49 Fan Package now includes the 336-page hardcover book [up from the original 256], a 64-page softcover sketchbook, six 8x10" prints of Larry's D&D and Dragonlance box covers, and a ticket for a motorcycle ride with him down in Kentucky), so it's a hell of a deal.

Gorgeous.

More later -- I need to spend at least today and likely tomorrow catching up with, oh, everything, especially sleep -- but GenCon was tremendous fun, and I got to spend (way too little) time with Howard Tayler and Lar DeSouza and Ryan Sohmer and Randy Milholland and Diana Harlan Stein and Rob Balder and Luke Ski and the lovely Sara Trice and Ken Sherlock and his daughter Erin and the ever-amazing Marc Gunn.  And I ran into Michael and Terry and CJ Biro and just a whole bunch of folks, and I met and was quite impressed with Mikey Mason and Dan the Bard (and his lovely wife Kerry), and didn't spend nearly enough time with the fabulous Damsels of Dorkington.

And I learned about some of the very coolest games and artwork I've ever seen.

And I got a bunch of deep-discount rulebooks and sourcebooks and a metric buttload of pretty dice and a whole bunch of cool web sites to share with you. I think doling them out over the week will be lots of fun, and GAMES GAMES GAMES!

How's your week looking?

If you read the 1970s Pyramid paperback editions of Harlan Ellison, not to mention a whole lot of other books and record albums over most of the past fifty years, you knew the art of Leo and Diane Dillon.

Great sadness, as Leo Dillon passed away earlier this week at the age of 79. Our condolences to his companion and collaborator, Diane, and their family and friends.

For a reminder of how astounding and beautiful their work was, check out this blog archive.

Who are your favorite fantasy illustrators? (To differentiate from 19th- and early-20th-century illustrators such as Arthur Rackham, John Tenniel, and John R. Neill, and from graphic novels.) I'll never get tired of Bob Eggleton, Michael Whelan, and Olivia de Berardinis, but I have soft spots in my heart for Don Maitz, Stephen Hickman, and of course our darlings dhstein, hbruton, and ursulav. (And I know there are others who hang out here, and my brain SIMPLY ISN'T WORKING today, so remind me and send links our way so we can oooh and ahhh.)

Great sadness. Author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, best known for Where The Wild Things Are, has passed away at the age of 83.

Sendak's work is like a cross between that of Dr. Seuss and Edward Gorey: whimsical, detailed, unnerving, scary, and most of all engaging. I am shamed to say I am not as familiar with it as I should be, but WTWTA is fortunately damn near universal. (And, as an aside, you can get the fairly well received movie on DVD at Target on their five-buck-movies-for-kids endcap.)

Farewell, sir, and thank you.

Great sadness -- one of the visionaries has died. Ralph McQuarrie, best known as the production illustrator for Star Wars, has passed away at the age of 82.

Consider how much of modern science fiction's visual currency is based on his work: Darth Vader, C3PO, R2D2, the Death Star, X-Wings, Y-Wings, TIE Fighters, Leia's hair buns, Boba Fett, Jabba the Hutt, Cylons, the Galactica, Colonial Vipers, the Mothership in Close Encounters, the look and feel of the Indiana Jones movies, Jurassic Park....

Rest well, sir, and thank you for your dreams.

Geeks Are Sexy calls our attention to the works of Coran "kizer180" Stone, who takes beloved characters from TV, movies, comics, anime, video games, etc., and tweaks them in dark, wonderful ways. The Mario pictures are excellent, the Lupin III vs. Inspector Gadget makes me want to see the movie that goes with that poster, and the Return Of Oz is just frickin' creepy.

And how can you not love Shaggy as a Ghostbuster?

Of course, GAS also aims us to Doctorama, a whole bunch of SF/F Doctors done up as Futurama heads-in-jars.

Any cool reimaginings of favorite characters that have caught your eye lately? Link 'em up.

Chances are decent that you've at least heard of DC Comics' very recent reboot of their entire universe, many aspects of which are not going over very well. Fortunately, it is the nature of fans to come up with pretty nifty Alternate Universes (or in this case, I guess Unauthorized Elseworlds).

By way of io9, we learn how Aaron Diaz, creator of the web comic Dresden Codak*, has come up with his own new visions for the DC Universe -- specifically, the Justice League, the Legion of Doom, and Batman. (Though sadly no Batman villians -- I want to see his version of the Joker and Two-Face!)

I want fanfic in this universe, and I might write some of it.

Those of you who read comics: What are your favorite AUs? I'm thinking actual alternate versions of Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, etc.  Things like Squadron Supreme and Watchmen don't count; they are indeed their own little closed universes. Although Tom Strong is borderline. But I'm specifically thinking of Elseworlds and What Ifs, as well as movie adaptations (e.g., the Tobey MacGuire Spider-Man flicks) that take a substantial liberty with the character (e.g., organic web-shooters rather than mechanical ones).

I have a tropism for Batman AUs.  Batman meeting Captain America in WW2, Batman defeating Dracula but being turned into a vampire himself, Superman/Batman Generations I, Speeding Bullets (where Thomas and Martha Kent find Kal-El)... amazing stuff.  I also have a huge fondness for one of the first and best Elektra spinoffs, "What If Elektra Had Lived?" by Frank Miller.  Unfortunately, not long after that, she <i>did</i> live, and things kinda went sideways....


*I had never heard of this comic. My loss. Holy frak, this is gorgeous.