Herewith, a bunch of things that I have been meaning to post about.
– If you are in the UK, and have the bandwidth, please download Paul Cornell’s Pulse from the BBC iPlayer. The BBC will be counting downloads when deciding whether to commission a series.
– If I’d been more alert yesterday I would have posted about this and got there before The Guardian, but I’m glad they picked up the story. A woman in New York is suing Citibank because, she alleges, they fired her for being too attractive. Apparently her male colleagues were unable to concentrate on their work with her around. For the benefit of those straight male and lesbian readers who would like to check out Ms. Debrahlee Lorenzana’s alleged hotness, here’s The Village Voice with some photos.
– Subterranean is offering a free story, “Elegy for a Young Elk”, by Hannu Rajaniemi. (Yes, he’s one of my Finnish friends. He’s also very good. Just ask Charlie Stross.)
– The New Yorker has published a list of 20 hot new writers under the age of 40. It includes Karen Russell, who featured prominently in the article I bought for last month’s Clarkesworld. Some of the other writers listed have written weird stuff as well. Two of them have been in Best American Fantasy. Of course this didn’t stop people around the blogosphere complaining that the list didn’t include any SF&F writers. Matt Cheney is suitably scathing.
– Meanwhile in The Guardian top Spanish writer, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, has been picking his favorite Gothic novels. The man has excellent taste. Now I’m annoyed with myself for missing his appearance on Sky’s The Book Show.
– Talking of The Book Show, also at Hay this week there was discussion amongst historians about the propriety of fictionalizing historical characters. The Guardian summarizes. I mention this for the benefit for Guy Gavriel Kay, who trots out this argument regularly when asked why he writes fantasy rather than (presumably more acceptable) historical novels.
– My congratulations to everyone at SpaceX for the successful launch of Falcon 9.
– And finally, an amateur astronomer in Australia has shot film of a bright flash on Jupiter. The prevailing theory is that the planet was struck by a large meteor, and the flash was the result of it burning up in Jupiter’s atmosphere. However, we remember how dismissive Ogilvy the astronomer was when he first saw those flashes on the surface of Mars. Who knows what might be coming.
Downloads but not streams? (Streamed it earlier this evening. Oops.)
Streaming it is fine. Anything that allows the BBC to count that people have watched it.
Er… I assume bisexual and other queer people are also permitted to admire Ms. Lorenzana, as are non-gynophiles who simply find her esthetically pleasing.
Oh be my guest! She is rather decorative. Great fashion sense too, though I doubt that would prevent me getting any work done if I shared an office with her.
I’m straight, and I find her most esthetically pleasing. It would be a pleasure to work opposite her!