Good morning! Happy Tuesday to you all, hope you SXSWers are finding ways to stay dry out there. I could almost feel sorry for you if I wasn’t blinded by raging jealousy. 
So far, the news today has been relatively interesting from a geeky perspective. Check these out:
The NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information, a division of the National Institute for Health) is testing the reactions of brown tree snakes to human blood using…wait for it…dirty tampons. (SPOILER: it eats them.)
Scott Snyder and Stephen King are making vampires scary again!! This blurb from Snyder sells it:
“So part of the point of American Vampire is to make (vampires) scary again. In the original ads for the series, we wanted to do pictures of Skinner standing on a heap of dead old-fashioned vampire bodies, grinning, all bloody with smoking guns in his hands. And the tagline was ‘I don’t fucking sparkle.’ We thought about using another that said: ‘This ain’t your little sister’s vampire.’ The idea was that American Vampire is not a pin-up. When (Skinner) changes into a vampire, he’s fucking scary. You don’t want to kiss him.” Good on you, boys. Looking forward to it.
Some new details about Universal’s The Thing prequel. Contrary to io9.com contributor/article author Meredith Woerner, I think the foreign language bit is a plus. I fear no subtitle. Although one must remember the difference between a film coming from a foreign house and one that comes from the US and makes poor use of a foreign language as a gimmick. Let’s hope that isn’t the case here. Also, CARPENTER RULES!
In astro-geek news, there may be a brown dwarf star floating around in the Oort Cloud and hurling comets at us. Freaky.
And from the Bad Astronomer himself, MAKE IT SO (TINY).
Did I tell you guys I’m reading a Star Wars novel? I almost don’t want to admit it; that’s a level of geek that I don’t normally get into. But it came up in conversation the other night as Mick and I were returning from a wander around Barnes & Noble. I believe it began when I proposed the question, “will people ever stop writing Star Wars novels?” To which he responded, “not if they keep selling!” But then he mentioned that he had read a few, specifically one written that chronicled events that happened between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Even a casual, non-obsessive SW fan like myself has wondered what happened in that gap. And since I had just finished Dune the night before (finally!), it was time for me to pick something else up anyways. And here we are. I’m reading a Star Wars novel.
So far (meaning “60 or so pages in”), it’s alright. The writing isn’t great, and the story is slow-going. A lot of the first few chapters are spent chronicling (through dreams, flashbacks, and other passe plot devices) important events in Empire. They’ve introduced a new main character, a Yakuza-style boss who’s the Emperor’s pet and equal with Vader. I’m guessing since he’s never heard from in Jedi that he probably dies at the end. But knowing the end and being interested in reading how it comes about are different, and I’m hoping it’s something befittingly grisly. Also, did I mention the author’s name is Steve Perry? Which I find fitting, because this might as well be the Journey of the literary world: not particularly awesome, but solid enough to find a lasting place with its loyal fan base; a guilty pleasure for most; entertaining enough however conventional and banal it may seem at times. It works.
Anywho, I’ll leave you with that for the morning. Mick goes in for more teeth work today, so I’ll be busy tonight nursing and hugging and being nice to him. Take care, my lovelies!
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