WWWednesday: November 18, 2020

Paradox Bound by Peter Clines

Books and Writing:

Peter Clines offers some of his books as gifts to those who can’t afford to buy many gifts this year.

SFWA has collected a packet of information and sample documents for writers who need to protect their intellectual property in their trusts or wills.  Thanks to File 770 for this link.

Writers are unhappy with Audible because its “return and replace” policy cheats writers out of royalties.

Earlier this month The Mary Sue highlighted some books to read in November. It’s not too late to start!

I did not know that “gimmick” sprang from an anagram of “magic.” (This article may be behind a paywall.)

Nerds of a Feather reviewed Prime Deceptions by Valerie Valdes.

If you are  interested in the phenomenon of election irregularities (or just wildly bored) you may find Isaac Saul’s well-researched take on it worthwhile.

The USA is not the only country with election controversies. After a contested election, New Zealand has declared the kakapo its national bird, for the second year in a row.

The neighborhood black cat sees something interesting.

Internet:

A beloved statue of Sasquatch, which had gone missing, was discovered on a coastal California highway.

I had to include this because it contains both robot wolves and bears. Everything will be fine until the robot wolves become sapient.

There is a Paul Robeson tomato. That name may be new to some of you.

There’s a new dance, called the Tik-Tok Limbo, because that’s where the app and the company that invented it is right now. (There’s no dance, I just made that up.)

Movies, Streaming, TV:

I’ll avoid any obvious political remarks about “horror-comedy” and just provide the link to an article about Freaky, a horror comedy starring Vince Vaughn, which opened in theaters. (Weird!) Here’s a review.

From September (probably old news to everyone but me): Netflix cut a deal with award-winning Chinese SFF author Cixin Liu to adapt The Three-Body Problem to video. GOP senators complained, citing the author’s comments about the Uighurs in mainland China as problematic.

Netflix replied.

And… a Darkwing Duck reboot?

In this Mary Sue interview, Kate Mara talks about her experiences on 2015’s remake of The Fantastic Four, but doesn’t say very much.

The Mary Sue had a wealth of articles this week. In this one, they profile Wentworth Miller, who came to stardom via the not-SFF but literally escapist Fox show Prison Break. Miller says he has no interest in playing heterosexual characters anymore because their stories have been told. On the CW’s Legends of Tomorrow, he played a gay character, one half of a romantic crime couple, who sacrificed himself so the rest of the Legends could live. In comic-book based stories, that leaves the door wide open for his character or a version of it to come back.

Gaming:

At appears that Swatting (hoax calls to emergency lines or 911) may have started a frightening series of events at Ubisoft in Montreal last Friday.

Ars Technica likes 2020’s version of Demon Souls.

Video:

James Corden, Emily Blunt and Lin Manuel Miranda perform from 22 musicals in 12 minutes.

And I’m giving Kermit the Frog the final word.