Quantum Vibe

An interesting online comic with a variety of important themes: http://www.quantumvibe.com/strip?page=507

From A Princess of Mars

A wonderfully-written section of Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars, which details the appearance of the pseudo-bipedal Martains:

"Five or six had already hatched and the grotesque caricatures which sat blinking in the sunlight were enough to cause me to doubt my sanity. They seemed mostly head, with little scrawny bodies, long necks and six legs, or, as I afterward learned, two legs and two arms, with an intermediary pair of limbs which could be used at will either as arms or legs. Their eyes were set at the extreme sides of their heads a trifle above the center and protruded in such a manner that they could be directed either forward or back and also independently of each other, thus permitting this queer animal to look in any direction, or in two directions at once, without the necessity of turning the head.
The ears, which were slightly above the eyes and closer together, were small, cup-shaped antennae, protruding not more than an inch on these young specimens. Their noses were but longitudinal slits in the center of their faces, midway between their mouths and ears.
There was no hair on their bodies, which were of a very light yellowish-green color. In the adults, as I was to learn quite soon, this color deepens to an olive green and is darker in the male than in the female. Further, the heads of the adults are not so out of proportion to their bodies as in the case of the young.
The iris of the eyes is blood red, as in Albinos, while the pupil is dark. The eyeball itself is very white, as are the teeth. These latter add a most ferocious appearance to an otherwise fearsome and terrible countenance, as the lower tusks curve upward to sharp points which end about where the eyes of earthly human beings are located. The whiteness of the teeth is not that of ivory, but of the snowiest and most gleaming of china. Against the dark background of their olive skins their tusks stand out in a most striking manner, making these weapons present a singularly formidable appearance."

Doctor Who Ketchup

"What respectable man doesn't carry a trowel?"

From the BBC: An unmanned spaceship hurtles towards certain destruction - unless the Doctor can save it, and its impossible cargo... of dinosaurs! By his side a ragtag gang of adventurers; a big game hunter, an Egyptian Queen and a surprised member of the Pond family. But little does the Doctor know there is someone else onboard who will stop at nothing to keep hold of his precious, prehistoric cargo:

I've let the Doctor slip ahead of me a bit, so now I'm having to try to catch up. And what better way to play catch-up?

An unmanned spaceship hurtles towards certain destruction, unless the Doctor can save it, along with its impossible cargo... of dinosaurs! By his side are a ragtag gang of adventurers: a big game hunter, an Egyptian queen and a surprised member of the Pond family. But little does the Doctor know that there is someone else onboard who will stop at nothing to keep hold of his precious, prehistoric cargo.

A Princess of Mars...

I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape. I knew that I was on Mars; not once did I question either my sanity or my wakefulness. I was not asleep, no need for pinching here; my inner consciousness told me as plainly that I was upon Mars as your conscious mind tells you that you are upon Earth. You do not question the fact; neither did I.
I found myself lying prone upon a bed of yellowish, mosslike vegetation which stretched around me in all directions for interminable miles. I seemed to be lying in a deep, circular basin, along the outer verge of which I could distinguish the irregularities of low hills.

...from Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic series.

I have found that my desire to read to my children and my desire to read for myself has culminated in reading them a chapter each at their respective bedtimes from a book of my choosing. I have started working on Burroughs' first in the Barsoom series, hoping to instill in them a fusion of their existing adventurist spirits with the amazement of science fiction. With the voluminous size of this collection, I'll have many years of nightly reading before we explore Asimov's Foundation (and the submissions of later authors to the seminal classic in the genre).

Gundam Style

Watching some anime with my kids, I guess I'd missed the voluntaryist themes underlying the Gundam series. The state works toward a peaceful society, but through force and oppression of resistance, with the Celestial Beings fighting back against the oppressive state in order to bring about a peaceful society free of the inherent violence of the state. I've thought for years that the best way to change the world is through children, and if propaganda can be used against the state to deliver a message of peace and hope to the youth through a medium to which they relate, then maybe a peaceful future can come to fruition. 

Gundam 00

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Why had I not watched this before? What a wonderful holiday film.
http://hulu.com/w/d8no

Happy Birthday Philip K Dick

Happy birthday to me (oh, and Philip K Dick too). Today seems like as good an excuse as any to pick up one of his short stories, one of the films based on his work, or one of the documentaries about his life and work like A Day in the Afterlife.

Prophets of Science Fiction, Philip K Dick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Hvj3eKwCY&list=PLE483713B8E2C598E&in...
TOTAL RECALL 2070 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB1e90Bg4QI

"The Penultimate Truth about Philip K. Dick"
another link: http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/watch_this_philip_k._dick_-_the_penult...

In 2007 I produced this documentary about the mystical experiences of sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick.

Philip K. Dick is considered by many to be one the world's greatest science fiction writers ever; as a sufferer from mental illness himself he had the ability to turn his hallucinations about the universe into an extraordinary writing career.
During his lifetime, Dick produced an astonishing amount of prize winning novels and short stories, which were translated into more than 25 languages. Three of his literary works were transformed into blockbuster movies: Blade Runner, Minority Report and Total Recall.
Several years before his death, Philip started having mystical experiences that affected his everyday life. As a result, he started to wonder if what he had imagined for his stories was real and if life was just an illusion or the creation of each person's subjectivity.
This in-depth program explores Philip K. Dick`s world, a universe full of mysteries and intrigues.

Mike Hodel In Conversation With Philip K. Dick, Which Aired On The Science Fiction Themed Radio Show Hour 25. Recorded In 1977, Just Before The Release Of A Scanner Darkly. For More Infomation Plz Check Out http://www.philipkdick.com/