Hovercars

Heard about this on the radio the other night. Anybody want to buy me one? There is one model which only travels at an altitude 10m, thus negating the need of a pilot’s licence, but I reckon I could still beat the rush hour commute in it. However perhaps all is not what it seems.

Sukiyaki Western Django

Spaghetti western, Takashi Miike style.

No Bruce in Bubba 2

Bruce Campbell has announced that he won’t be in the sequel to Bubba Ho-Tep, Bubba Nosferatu, so director Don Coscarelli now has to find somebody else to play Elvis. Considering how perfect Bruce was for the role in the first film, it’ll be interesting to see who gets cast this time. Full story here.

(Link via SF Signal)

Run your car on beer

Well, not quite. As spotted by Paul Raven of the Velcro City Tourist Board blog, researchers in Dundee, Scotland are to investigate the possibility of using the by-products of beer and whisky production to create bio-ethanol. Full story here. Drink beer, save the environment.

The Day The Earth Stood Still…again

Hollywood, in it’s continual quest to find films left to “re-imagine”, is having a go at the 1951 classic The Day Earth Stood Still, and it was revealed over the weekend that the part of the alien visitor Klaatu will be played by Keanu Reeves.

In common with most of the recent spate of remakes I’m not expecting much from this, but in today’s climate of aggressive over discussive solutions to world problems perhaps the original film’s message is one that needs reminding.

(Link via SF Signal)

LoveFilm

This is a UK-based online DVD rental service with over 65,000 titles in their library, virtually every DVD released in the UK. I’ve been with them for a few years now, back when it was Screen Select, before they merged with LoveFilm and adopted the latter name for it’s clearer identity in the international market.

The premise is very straightforward. You pay a monthly subscription depending on the number of discs you want at any one time and put together a list of the titles you want. I have the 3 disc option at £14.99 but utilise the pay up front option so it works out at about 7 months for the price of 6. This is a competitive price for the service they offer. Others, such as Amazon, have cheaper options but they have a limit on the total number of discs you can receive each month. With LoveFilm the only restriction is on how many discs you can have at a time, and how quickly you can watch them and send them back. Return one disc, get the next one a few days later. No need to return them all at the same time. No due back date to worry about, keep a title as long as you like. I average 12 a month.

The main advantage I find with this service is I get to choose what I watch, so am able to see loads of films from all over world which neither my local rental emporium, nor Sky movies, bother with. I also buy less DVDs, as I usually have a couple of rentals in the house when I want to watch a movie. The turn around is generally very quick. I tend to watch my 3 discs over the weekend, stick them in the post in Belfast on Monday on the way into work, and my next 3 arrive on the Wednesday or Thursday. Considering they handle about 500,000 discs a month that’s very efficient.

The only disadvantage is you don’t really have control over when you get a particular title. You can prioritise the titles on your list but you can’t specify a date, so it can sometimes be a while before you get a popular new release.

If you want to investigate further follow this link for a free 30 day trial (credit card details required), and if you sign up and pay for at least 3 months I get free credits. Enjoy.

Postscripts 11

The new Summer 2007 issue of PS Publishing’s quarterly anthology Postscripts arrived in the post today, a collection I look forward to receiving.

I decided to check out this publication last year as the publisher keeps winning awards and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. The first couple of issues impressed me enough that I bought the rest of the back catalogue and took out a subscription. Each issue contains a good mix of genres over it’s 140+ pages, with writers I’ve heard of but not read, unknown-to-me names and those whose work I’m familiar with. It introduced me to Eric Brown and Garry Kilworth, to name but two, and looking at the line-up for forthcoming issues I see several more from Robert Jeschonik, whose Fear of Rain was a highlight of issue 8.

Life in 10 Dimensions

One to get the brain cells working, or hurting, depending on your grasp of maths and physics -

Imagining the tenth dimension 

(Link via SF Signal)

The Signal

do you have the crazy?

Don’t ask me, I’ve no idea what it’s all about.

Bluefinger

The musical genius that is Frank Black has a new album coming out next month. However, he has reverted back to his Pixies name of Black Francis, and it sounds like this is a return to more raucous material rather than the more mellow alt-country stuff he has been releasing the last couple of years. 

The album is released in the UK on 3rd September and you can listen to the first couple of tracks over on the dedicated Bluefinger website, where Frank/Black/Charles explains the origins of his Pixies stage name, what made him revert back to it and the inspiration for the album.