David Prowse. Image by Starwars.Fandom.com
Obituary:
David Prowse, best known to me as the towering, menacing Darth Vader, passed away this week. He was 85. I knew the man was tall; I didn’t know he was that tall.
Books and Writing:
After Fireside Fiction’s editor Pablo Defendini selected a white male reader as the voice talent for a nonfiction piece by a black woman, Brian J. White has stepped in as the interim editor. Defendini, who is the majority owner of Fireside and Fireside Books, will remain in an administrative and fiscal capacity but will not be involved in editing.
Here’s a review of President Barack Obama’s memoir, The Promised Land.
Six books with Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya, from Nerds of a Feather.
Gift Guides:
No endorsements, just things I heard about or which caught my interest. I do shop at some of these stores.
How about “the only digital picture frame designed with seniors in mind?” Um, thanks.
To my surprise, Sharper Image is still around, and here’s their 2020 Gift guide page.
Elise Mathesen makes beautiful jewelry and has an Etsy store.
In this case, full disclosure: I know the proprietor of this Etsy tea-shop. And I like their tea selections.
Some gift-quality face masks with beautiful fabric.
This is one of my hometown chocolatiers, and I assume they ship. (My hometown has two chocolatiers. I am a lucky person.)
I’d like to keep this going throughout the month, and I’d like to hear from you about your favorite local store that sells online, or just your recommended gift site. Please put your recommendations and links in comments, or email me at Marion[at]fantasyliterature.com.
Internet:
This video is a little over six minutes long and it is amazing. Trigger warning (seriously): to my surprise, I was disturbed by the fire sequence that happens between one and three minutes in. If you’d had a close encounter with a wildfire, be prepared.
Wunmi Mosaku. Image by Amy Punt for Medium
Performance Art:
I love the first half of this: last week, a metal monolith appeared in a remote part of Utah. (Queue up Also Sprach Zarathustra.) This week, it disappeared. Unfortunately, one version of event surrounding the removal of the plinth implies vandalism or theft, which is disappointing. Otherwise, this would have been Burning Man-level performance art.
Streaming, TV, Movies:
A couple of months ago Ars Technica posted this review of HBO’s show Lovecraft Country. Since I finally saw Season One last weekend, I thought I’d post this.
Utopia has been cancelled. The Amazon show, not the imaginary place.
File 770 previewed the teaser for the Doctor Who New Year’s Day episode.
Gaming:
This interview with Charlie Cleveland, creator of Subnautica, is about one and a half hours long.
Earth:
The U.K. Telegraph has a story about a new, volunteer apple. And it’s a “very interesting” apple.
Not quite as cool, but still: A Romanian plinth was also put up and mysteriously disappeared.
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N2IH0QK