Harry Potter spoilers

First off, let me say that I haven't read anything but the first chapter of the first Harry Potter novel. (I've seen all the movies except Prisoner of Azkeban).

I'm 40, not 15, so I could care less who dies in the final book, whether it be Harry or anyone else. But, I can remember what it felt like to be 15, and how outraged I was when the second Star Wars movie ended in a cliffhanger and we had to wait a couople of years to see how Han Solo was rescued. (But then, I always preferred Han to Luke. I think everybody did.)

But, the publishers and JK Rowling have been fighting so hard to keep the details of the final book secret... and I just find myself wondering... why tell everyone that someone is going to "die" in this book, thus touching off a firestorm of curiosity and setting the spies in motion? Surely the series is so popular that it doesn't need this extra impetus?

And how profitable is this book going to be, considering that, from what I've read, every bookstore is being forced to sell it at a major discount to compete with online stores such as Amazon.

Again, not being a kid - and not even knowing any kids (goodness I love where I live!) - how hard can it be to not hear any spoilers until you've actually read the book. Are gangs of girls going around shouting out who dies at the top of their lungs? Or sending out text messages to all and sundry? (I really, really regret the invention of text messaging for high school kids - bad idea, and I hate to think of the parents' phone bills.)

Anyway, I predict a lot of lawsuits from the publishers over all the people who are posting "spoilers" and pirated copies of the book... indeed the intrigue behind all this is worthy of a book in itself.... I wonder if that's the idea?

A vent about unprofessionalism...

A few weeks ago, I learned that some fanzine work by a Golden Age writer was going to be published in book form for the first time by a small press (one too small to even have its offerings on Amazon). I decided to ask for a review copy. I usually don't have any luck with review copies from these very small places, but I figured I'd just ask.

And as I expected, they said no. The book had been too expensive to produce to send out review copies. But, they told me, they'd sell it to me for 20 percent off.

Well, that was a start, but I decided to ask for 30 percent off, because after all, they would be getting free publicity out of it, and since it was an expensive book, it'd cost me more to buy it than I'd get back in advertising revenue from the page. But apart from wanting to review it, I also wanted to read it.

So, when they said no, sorry, 20 percent is as low as we can go, I said, okay, fine. I decided to let them do the math, and asked them what the total was that I should send them. THe email I got back said $29.

Well, I went to their website to try to figure out how to pay them - and it is one of the most amateurish publisher's sites I've ever seen. I hadn't been too impressed with the grammar and spelling abilities of the person I'd been dealing with (the wife of the owner, I believe) and the website reflected more of the same. And I was unable to find a Paypal address to send my discounted money to, as opposed to their shopping cart.

So, somewhat turned off by this, I let things slide for a week. Then I got an email from them saying they'd never received my payment, did I still want the book? I thought to myself... yes I want this book.... so I responded asking for their paypal email address.

And then I sent them the $29 which they had told me it would cost.

I got a rather brusque email back from them, giving the calculation and saying that I owed them $4 more.

I forwarded back to them the email I'd been sent saying that it would cost me $29.

Now, at this point, if they'd responded saying, "Yes, you were sent that, but it was an error by our clerical staff, and the total really is $32, sorry for the inconvenience" - I more than likely would have just sent the extra $4.

But that's not what they did. Instead I got a one sentence reply. "No problem, we'll refund your money."

And at that point they lost me. They obviously didn't want my business, let alone my review. So I sent back a one sentence email: "Please do."

And they did refund the money promptly, I'll say that for them.

But I find myself wondering why anyone who goes to their website and looks around, would even order anything from them...and if anyone has to deal with them...ditto.

Lesson in all this, if you want to be a publishing firm and you're not very good at English, make sure you surround yourself with people who are.

And don't annoy publishers of media - albeit ezines - that can help promote your books!

The News Stalker added to The Thunder Child

I get a lot of press releases, from CD companies promoting their new releases, to authors their new books, to conventions their latest gathering times.

And up until now I've been a bit remiss in sharing this vital info with my readers.

But all that's going to change.

I'm adding a new feature to The Thunder Child called The News Stalker (named in honor of Darren McGavin and his iconic reporter creation, Karl Kolchak) which will be an index page leading to all the press releases I receive.

So , in a sense, a bit lazy on my part, but actually it makes sense. I simply don't have the time to write an article about each press release I receive, so I will simply let the press releases themselves do the job - after all, that's what they're for!

I'll give the URL here when the section is ready.

Cold Blood returns to BBC Radio 7

BBC Radio 7 is an "oldies but goodies" digital radio station, and if you miss a program you only have to wait about 3 months before they run it again. Case in point, Simon Bovey's Cold Blood, starting Monday:

Cold Blood
Freezerville: It is 2015 and an Antarctic research station is settling down for another winter - but this will be a winter like no other. Episode 1 of 5.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/monday/

As far as Radio Spirits, the American website that plays American OTR, the Superman serial Red Widow will be playing each Wednesday for 3 more weeks. In August there are two X Minus One episodes scheduled:

Friday 8-3-07
Dimension X
Report on the Barnhouse Effect
Original Air Date - 4/22/1950

Tuesday 8-7-07
X Minus One
Lulu starring Jan Miner
Original Air Date - 10/31/1957


And a new Siperman serial, Superman vs Atom Man - on which the Kirk Alyn movie serial was based.

Wednesday, 8-8-07
Adventures of Superman
Chapter 1: Superman vs Atom Man
Original Air Date - 10/11/1945

Wednesday, 8-15-07
Adventures of Superman
Chapter 2: Superman versus Atom Man
Original Air Date - 10/12/1945

Marketing this blog

I've just joined a site called MyLot, which will present a feed of this blog to people there (if all works as I expect it to) and in order to do so I need to post the following:

myLot User Profile

And I have done so!

We'll see how this works...

Heinlein Centenary Continues at BBC Radio 7

Heinlein Centenary
Ordeal in Space: To mark the centenary of Robert A Heinlein's birth, a thrilling tale that delves into the psyche of a traumatised spaceman.

This starts today and will be online for the next 7 days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/saturday/

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I've never read a Harry Potter book, but I've seen all the movies except Prisoner of Askaban (never saw it in a theater, saw a few snippets of it on TV once, enough to know the general plot, but not all the finer details, character interactions, etc.).

So, today I went to see the latest Potter movie, Order of the Phoenix.

The Potter series, more than any other series of movies, I think, requires that you see them in order, because otherwise you simply will not know what's going on. The cast of characters is so huge and only a few scenes are devoted to each one, and there's several references to prior events. (For example, the death of Digory - mentioned quite a bit in this movie but if you haven't seen Goblet of Fire, you won't know who they're talking about).

One thing also you'll see in these movies is that they are peopled with British stars who are not given a lot to do. They are in essence, cameos. [I soooo wanted to see much more of Jason Isaacs and Alan Rickman!) This is somethign you will never see in American movies.

The movie is very dark - there is very little comedy relief. Harry Potter continues to be treated poorly by his family, and because of rumors put about by Cornelius Fudge of the Ministry of Magic, most of the students of Hogwarts also look on him with distrust. Harry is angry... all the time... and initially spurns the help of friends Ron and Hermione, before realizing that everyone has to wokr together to defeat Voldemort.

One of the things I've always disliked in the Potter movies is that it is always the kids who save the day. The teachers - whether Maggie Smith or whoever - rarely contribute anything helpful to the problem, and usually dismiss it, so that the kids have had to band together in each movie to accomplish things *despite* the adults.

And that is the "indoctrination" that I think is bad, not the complaints of religious types that they're urging children to get involved in magic.

Frankly, I found the movie boring. But then, I'm not a young girl with a crush on Radcliffe, or a young boy wiht a crush on Hermione.

There's some interesting scenes for an Alan Rickman fan...although not nearly enough, and Jason Isaacs is sooo devastatingly ice-cold handsome...but again, not enough scenes!

And, I can't give away the end, but it's good. I bet the actors we're laughing as they were filming it as it looks silly without the special effects, but with the special effects.... looks good.

Discovery Stores closing

I'm about 2 months late with this news, but the Discovery Channel is closing is 103 stores and firing the 1,000 people who worked there.

Stores Closing

According to the article, the Discovery Channel is going to go public, so they have to "position themselves" to make a profit.

I think it's a revolting development, and shame on their CEO for the movie.

"Hatshepsut was a fatty"

That's the scientific opinion of Egyptologist and paleopathologist Bob Brier, "one of the world's foremost experts on mummies."

The article doesn't show a photo of him, but I wonder if he's a Greek god himself, or if he sports a paunch?

The appearance of women - and men - of antiquity can't be judged by modern day standards. Japanese men had a bald fetish, for example (ever see paintings of samurai?) and Japanese women deliberately blacked their teeth. Then there's sumo wrestlers!

Being overweight in Egypt during the time of the pharoahs may well have been a sign of riches and opulence, for all that their monuments show them as slender.

Hathshepsut's Mummy reveals obesity

Ladybird Johnson and NASA

Marshall Space Flight Center Director Dr. Wernher von Braun presents Lady Bird Johnson with an inscribed hard hat during the First Lady's March 24, 1964, visit. While at the Marshall Center, Mrs. Johnson addressed the center' employees, toured facilities and witnessed test firings of a Saturn I first stage and an F-1 engine. Dr. von Braun is wearing a cowboy hat presented to him months earlier by Lyndon Johnson during a visit to the Johnson ranch in Texas.

(This photo is from NASA, and as a goverment organization is copyright free)

Sharks keep seagrass tidy!

I subscribe to several news headline fees for my google desktop, and one of them comes from Discover.

Today a headline read:

"Sharks keep seagrass tidy"

So I read it... and, no, sharks do NOT keep sea grass tidy. They pray on the dugong - which eat the seagrass. Because the dugong move around a great deal to avoid predation, they end up "mowing the lawn," keeping the seagrass tidy.

Sharks "indirectly" keep the seagrass tidy, but that's not the same thing.

The reason why I'm making such a big deal about this is that I really, really dislike misleading headlines. Misleading headlines are misinforming headlines. Someone reads the headline and doesn't have the time to read the article will still think to themselves, "sharks keep sea grass tidy. Who knew?"

So as regards sharks t hat's not a "bad" piece of information, but it's part of a trend of news distortion that could have far reaching implications.

Just as headlines that say, "90% of Americans think the President's an idiot." Then when you get to the fine print you see that they're talking about the views of 1000 Americans from a Democratic stronghold...

(And don't get me wrong. I'm not Republican or Democrat...I'm in despair over both parties. All politicians are crooks, and because *we* keep electing politicians who are crooks, and don't do anything to take them out of power, the USA is in big trouble...)

The Mars Underground

http://www.themarsunderground.com/

This could be an interesting website, if it wasn't designed so weirdly - the navbar is at the bottom of the page.

Anyway, it's a DVD of a documentary chronicling Dr. Robert Zubrin (a maverick aerospace-engineer and author known as the "Christopher Columbus of Mars".) attempts to get a manned expedition to Mars under way.

Space News headlines at The Thunder Child

New feature, headlines about space news:

Space Chronology

New at The Thunder Child: Oceanography Headlines

Oceanography Headlines

Here I'll be collecting links to oceanography news as of July 9, 2007 and beyond, consisting of oceans, global warming stories, aquaculture, hurricane and weather forecasting, etc.

Tomorrow I hope to have the same thing started for space news.

Methuselah's Children by Robert Heinlein

Well, once again I can't enter a title for this blog entry. Weird. [I just went to the Blogger email group and everyone is having this problem. The fix is to put the mouse above the box...and it works. But totally weird...]

Anyway, for the next 6 days, Metheuselah's Children is being read at BBC 7.

They are also repeating Routemasters.


Paul Birchard reads Robert A Heinlein's sci-fi novel about a group of families who can live for several hundred years. Episode 1 of 6.

The Government begins a programme of mass arrests. Episode 2 of 6.

Lazarus Long leads the families into space. Episode 3 of 6.

The 100,000 members of the families settle into life on the New Frontiers. Episode 4 of 6.

A colonist enters the alien temple and returns a broken man. Episode 5 of 6.

Heinlein Centenary - The Green Hills of Earth

Well, the old blogger software seems to be acting weird...it won't let me give a title to this post...

We'll see what happens after I try to save it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/saturday/

Now playing for the next 7 days:

Heinlein Centenary
The Green Hills of Earth: To mark the centenary of Robert A Heinlein's birth, a fantastic tale about Rhysling, the blind singer of the spaceways.

Blob Fest next weekend

I live only about 6 hours away from the theater where this is going to take place. There's a re-enactment of the scene where all the movie patrons run out of the theater, as well as other events going on.

But, I can't really justify being away for two days...

Nevertheless, in honor of the Blobfest, Steve Vertlieb wrote an article about The Blob for The Thunder Child.

BlobFest

Volcano Seven

I've started a new website, Volcano Seven, dedicated to fictional organizations for world wide domination, such as SWORD from The Fiction Makers, THRUSH from Man from Uncle, SPECTRE from James Bond.

www.volcanoseven.com

I've got Google ads on the page, and I was horrified this morning to see all the ads were for "Blocking Child Porn" and "Preventing Sexual Abuse" and "Find a Date Here".

And I thought to myself, this site is about Volcanos, and secret agents, and battles to the death, why in the world am I getting such ads???

Then I went to my pages and looked at the header for eah page, which said: "dedicated to fictional organizations for world wide domination"

And it suddenly struck me that that word, "domination" might be triggering these kinky ads. (Not kinky in the sense that there was anything wrong with them, just in the fact that they didn't belong on my site!!)

So I've reworded the header for each page.

Now I have to wait four hours before the change goes into effect, to see if those ads disappear. I hope so, because they are NOT the kind of ads I want on what is to be a cheerful, nostalgia driven site!

Another problem that the name of one of the characters in the episode The Fiction Makers is called "Darling" and that might be triggering these ads to, I suppose. If I don't see a change in 4 hours I'll go in and substitute Amos Klein for Darling, but I hate having to censor my writing in this way...

(And I've also got to worry about the fact that since I've used those words in this blog entry, Google might pick them up and put these ads in my banner...which I don't want either! Ah, the perils of non-specific advertising...)

Ratatouille

I went to see this movie yesterday, and it was .... okay.

A rat named Remy who has a gift for tasting flavors of food, gets separated from his father, brother and the clan and is lost in Paris, until he finds the restaurant called Gusteau. There, he meets a hapless nebbish named Linguini, who can't cook - except with the help of Remy who hides under his hat and pulls his hair in order to control him like a puppet.

Various complications ensue from a jealous chef, and a malignant food critic, and family who expect to be fed for free.

The animation is marvelous, it's funny... but since my taste runs to more adventurous fare, I confess I was bored most of the time. I don't know what age group of children would like this... I would think it would be boring for kids under six or so...

But the animation is so good that it should be seen at least once - preferably at a matinee so you don't have to spend too much money on it.

Monday, Jul 3 on BBC7 - FATHERLAND (alternate history)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/monday/

A chilling adaptation of Robert Harris' novel set in an imaginary Hitler-led post-war Germany. Episode 1 of 5.