Literary Interlude: Bearded Mentor Figures in the Literature of the Fantastic

It’s time now to talk about two of the greatest mentor figures in the literature of the fantastic. You know their stories well, I’m sure, but the parallels between them are eerie: Both are gruff but kindly mentor figures who provide crucial guidance for the young and naive protagonist of the story as he moves… Continue reading Literary Interlude: Bearded Mentor Figures in the Literature of the Fantastic

Fredette-apalooza

SteelyKid is off spending the weekend with her grandparents, so Kate and I went out to a nice restaurant last night (we love SteelyKid dearly, but miss eating in restaurants without a kids menu). I was kicking myself for forgetting to set the DVR to record a basketball game, though. Not the Duke or Kentucky… Continue reading Fredette-apalooza

Now THAT’S a Noble Cause: Restoring Truthiness

Via Tom, the folks pushing for a Stephen Colbert rally on the Mall in DC (because if a clown like Glen Beck can do it, why not an actual comedian?) have found a uniquely useful way to try to boost their signal: encouraging charitable donations: See, anyone can join a reddit or Facebook group or… Continue reading Now THAT’S a Noble Cause: Restoring Truthiness

Bad Universe, No Biscuit

Sunday was a really long day around Chateau Steelypips, and I couldn’t see staying awake to watch the premiere of Phil Plait’s Bad Universe on the Discovery Channel, so I’m way late in writing about it. I DVRed it, though, and watched it last night. The theme of the premiere/ pilot was killer rocks from… Continue reading Bad Universe, No Biscuit