Sentential Links

Links, for those wanting for linkage.

:: God, yes! If there’s one thing fantasy is just crawling with these days it’s widowed black middle-aged pirate moms. (Salty language alert...and interesting ruminations on race in fantasy. Race is a small factor in Princesses In SPACE!!!, as luck would have it. Or design, since I wrote it.)

:: So how do the Foundation novels look to me now that I have, as my immigrant grandmother used to say, grown to mature adultery? Better than ever. The trilogy really is a unique masterpiece; there has never been anything quite like it. (Not a blog post, but a wonderful article by Paul Krugman about the Foundation Trilogy. Via.)

:: John Milius's The Wind and the Lion is a truly wonderful film, and one I have a great deal of affection for. This film embodies everything I love about movies: great action scenes, an intriguing story (based VERY loosely on historical fact) and setting, well-drawn characters, and a wonderful sense of intelligence both cynical and insightful. When one is in the right mood, a movie like this just hits the spot. (It is a wonderful film, one which I'm overdue to rewatch. I also must mention that it boasts what might well be the best score Jerry Goldsmith ever wrote. Via.)

:: Roger Green, founder and president the organization Christmas Or Other Labels (COOL), has declared the war on Christmas in the United States to be officially over. People celebrating the holiday religiously, those celebrating it socially, and those not celebrating it at all were all declared victors in emotional celebrations across the country. (Huh. One wonders what Roger was waiting for, then, if he had the power to declare that conflict officially over!)

:: When times get tough, I usually start reading books about war. Maybe it satisfies my need for carnage and revenge.

:: Yes, I had that moment. The atheist at the end of his rope, totally desperate, confronting his beliefs and not sticking by them because, damn it, if there was a chance that the inevitable could be avoided, I would have recanted everything I'd ever said. And then finding his beliefs cemented and reaffirmed in the worst way possible.

:: ROM’s been in the news lately; Hasbro filed once again for the trademark on the property, prompting speculation that we may be in for a revival of the character. Personally, I don’t care so much about seeing future adventures as I do about getting reprints; if Marvel does get the rights back, the smart thing to do would be to pump out ‘Essential ROM’ Volumes 1 through However Many It Takes to Reprint His Every Appearance as fast as they can get the ink on the paper. Because ROM…ROM was freaking epic. (Wow...come to think of it, I have been seeing a lot of mentions of ROM in Blogistan of late....)

:: If this is your cue to complain about how this makes me an asshole, ask me if I care. Go on, ask! (John Scalzi gets angry. Justifiably. Which is fun. Oh, salty language, too! Yay, salty language!)

More next week!