DotF Tournament Progress

Was too busy to enter this yesterday.
Here are the updated Duel of the Fates Tournament standings.
Go go Godzilla into the Finals!

Tomi can take consolation though in that her publishing date is in sight.
I'll make an official announcement in a few days, but unofficially, "Spherical Tomi" should be out on Monday, August 8. We're in the process of selecting a cover right now.

Tune in to Tuesday's Wingin' It! on the Dragon Page, hear Captain Kirk and Spider-Man compete for the opportunity to face Maixum Kermitus (Godzilla) in the Finals.

Who's eliminated - Godzilla or Tomi?!?!

Go download the latest Dragon Page Wingin' It! to find out. Also, find out which of these two would make a better 10th cast member on Firefly.

Speaking of Tomi. . . exciting, sudden release news coming - probably later today!

Top 25 songs in my iTunes player for July 25

Because you care, here's the list:

1. Vanity Fair ~ Mr. Bungle 35
2. Wine ~ Jack Mangan 25
3.Organ Donor ~ DJ Shadow 23
4. Dad and Dog ~ Fredo Viola 21
5. Saddam A Go-Go ~ GWAR 20
6. Is There Love In Space? ~ Joe Satriani 20
7. New Solid ~ Jack Mangan 17
8. Tears of Liquid Mercury ~ Jack Mangan 17
9. Did My Time ~ KoRn 17
10. THE SWARM ~ AT THE GATES 16
11. Slaughter of the Soul ~ At the Gates 16
12. Waltz #2 (XO) ~ Elliott Smith 16
13. Microphone Fiend ~ Eric B & Rakim 16
14. Hallowed Be Thy Name ~ Iron Maiden 16
15. Spirit Man ~ Mango 16
16. Red Right Hand ~ Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 16
17. U Can't Hold No Groove ~ Victor Wooten 16
18. I Am a Viking ~ Yngwie Malmsteen 16
19. The Enemy ~ Anthrax 15
20. Nuthin But a G Thang ~ Dr. Dre 15
21. Mountain Song ~ Joe Satriani 15
22. Head Out To The Highway ~ Judas Priest 15
23. Defender ~ Manowar 15
24. The Crown and the Ring ~ Manowar 15
25. Asteroid Speed Highway ~ Matt Mango 15

Here are the songs with 15 plays that got screwed out of the Top 25 because of alphabetical order:

playing with spiders-skullkrusher ~ Overkill
Fight the Power ~ Public Enemy
First Time Ever I Saw Your Face ~ Roberta Flack
Institutionalized (original Version) ~ Suicidal Tendencies

What's that new song at #7, "New Solid", by Jack Mangan? I've recently spent waaay too much time fooling with audio samples from other tunes, recompiling them into brand new compositions. I have 5 now, and countless lost hours.... I don't have the time for this hobby, so I'm gonna stop at 5. However, I do want to make these songs available for public download, if I can.... More on those 5 tracks in future posts.

Also - while compiling the list and writing this post, "Headin' Out to the Highway", "Nuthin But a G Thang", and "Hallowed By Thy Name" all came on, so the list is already slightly inaccurate.

Duel of the Fates first rounds results.

Check on the right there for the full results of the DotF first round.
Incidentally, the first episode of round 2, Tomi vs. Godzilla, is already in the can, and in the possession of the DP staff. You'll be able to hear it mid-next week. There will only be 2 more duels after that! And both are fully script complete (well, I'm going to ask for listener contributions for the Finals episode - so the Finals' script is complete, except for the rotating category -- more details on the listener contributions to come).

I hope you're enjoying! And if you haven't been listening, go to www.dragonpage.com. Scroll through the entries on the front page, download all of the "Wingin' It!" episodes listed there. As of today (7/22), the entire Duel of the Fates tournament is still available on the site, as well as one of the exhibition matches (Batman vs. Molly from Neuromancer). The Darth Vader vs. Gandalf episode is lost now to the archives, but I'm sure you'll have future opportunites to hear it again. Contact me if for some reason you must have it now.

And - this made me chuckle:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I websurfed, weak and weary,
...Over many a strange and spurious website of 'hot chicks galore',
...While I clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning,
...And my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour.
..."'Tis not possible," I muttered, "give me back my cheap hardcore!" -
Quoth the server, "404".

I spotted that at the "DARKMARKETS.COM" website. I hope they don't mind me quoting them.

New review posted at SFWatcher.com

Be advised.

My review of Predator 2 has been posted at SFWatcher.com.

Ash vs. Godzilla

It was released last night, but I was too lazy to post it here until today. Go download Wingin' It! to hear the latest Duel of the Fates: Ash Vs. Godzilla.

Enjoy it, Spinach Chin.

Duel of the Fates on CD?

So - would anyone out there be interested in a CD of all of the Duel of the Fates episodes, once the entire tourney is finished? If I put a CD together, it would contain all 7 or 8 tournament episodes, plus the 2 exhibition duels, plus the songs "Asteroid Speed Highway" (heard briefly during the DotF intro) and "Kool Katz" (heard during the post-duel wrap-up), and maybe even some other extras. That'd be at least 11 tracks! I'd have to make the CDs look nice... and mail them to you... so there'd have to be some small charge - but it would be minimal (a couple of bucks, max).

I'll probably post this question again at a later date over at the DP site (which gets much more traffic than this humble blog). But if you have an opinion, then leave a comment here - or e-mail me.

Duel of the Fates Standings for Jul 15

There on the right is the state of the tournament. Kirk and Spidey are a lock to meet in round 2 - but who will face Tomi? Ash or Godzilla? Tune in next week to DotF on Dragon Page Wingin' It! to find out.

I've been quoted

Look, look, look!
Cory Doctorow (or someone involved with Cory) has pasted an excerpt of my review for his brilliant new book, "Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town", on the book's official website.
I wonder how long that's been up there?

Wow, what a sublime joy was this discovery. Thanks Cory!

Bruce Campbell

So I met Bruce Campbell last night.

It wasn't exactly rubbing shoulders with one of my peers; I waited on line for 2 hours with the rest of the fanboys for him to sign my copy of "Make Love: The Bruce Campbell Way", after driving for 2 hours to try to find the place (it should only have taken 25 minutes. Don't ask.)
After lousy sleep the previous night, a full day of work, a gruesome ride through traffic, 111-degrees, no AC in the almost-overheated car, searching for the Harkins Theater near ASU in Tempe, and then waiting for 2 hours for my number to be called, I was pretty damn dazed and fatigued when it was finally my turn. I must have looked as tired as a Deadite; he said, "Are you gonna make it?" (jokingly) as I apporoached.
"I'm hanging in there."
Anyway, the guy had been signing autographs for as long as I'd been trying to get to his table, and he was still polite and conversational with every person who approached, even the sleepy-looking long-haired guy - - and he still had the movie screening to do afterwords.
But - he now has a copy of Amityville House of Pancakes, vol. 1! woo hoo.
Bruce, I hope you enjoy it.

Duel of the Fates Continues!

Wingin' It! is back - - http://www.dragonpage.com/archives/wingin_it_show_018.html - - which means that the long-awaited duel between Kirk and Dirk Benedict's Starbuck is now available for your audio pleasure. The winner will face Spider-Man in round 2 - tune in to find out who it will be!

Incidentally, if you have any comments to make about DotF: duelofthefates [at] gmail [dot] com is the new official e-mail addy for the segment.

When hockey returns

I know you're probably here for "Duel of the Fates" or other Sci-Fi/writing stuff - but I need to use this space to promote an idea for the re-packaged NHL, when it makes its embarrassed return this fall.

Two things to address: First of all: Bring back the division names. Let's return some integrity and distinctiveness to this league. I'm not a Bettman basher (though he needs step down on the same day as Goodenow, once this mess is all finished), but one of the most distasteful things he ever did was to rename the divisions to the bland "Northeast, Central, etc." regional names, stating that the classic divison and conference names were too confusing to the casual fan.
Maybe we should have renamed the Stanley Cup to "Hockey Trophy". Maybe the Conn Smythe should be "Best Playoff Player". I say bring back some class and some style to this once-respectable league. Restore the Patrick, the Adams, and add the Howe divisions to the Prince of Wales Conference. Put the Norris, the Smythe, and the Gretzky(?), Brooks(?), Bowman(?), Zelepukin(?), Fetisov(?), Twist(?) divisions back into the Clarence Campbell Conference. If you're worried about Rangers fans' heads exploding with confusion when they try to figure out where their team is, add the regional explanation in parentheses, eg: Patrick Division (Atlantic).

This is the optional reading section: I hear all of the plans and proposals to strap leg-irons on the goalies and to make the nets as big as soccer nets to increase scoring and excitement, rather than just forcing the referees to call the games according to the rules - consistently.
Here's how I stand on the big issues: Don't change the nets - yet. John Buccigross argues that human beings are evolving into a larger and larger creature, and that we've outgrown the nets at their current size. Someday he'll be exactly right. Not yet. Don't change their size or shape. Also, don't limit the goalies' movement or ability to handle the puck. How is a whistle or a penalty(!?) for Martin Brodeur handling the puck going to speed up the game? That's just self-defeating.
Shoot-out. For regular season games - yes! In fact, don't make people sit through five or ten more minutes of OT play (really, another 15-30 minutes, usually on a weeknight) - go right to the shootout at the end of regulation. It's only the regular season. Should the fate of an entire season be decided in an 82nd game shootout? Well actually, that 4-2 loss last Movember in Carolina is just as relevant to your shaky standings as any tied regulation game late in the season.
I used to be strongly against the shootout, until I went to a Trenton Titans ECHL home game, and found myself extremely disappointed when the Titans won in the 5-minute OT. To my surprise, I'd been eagerly anticipating the shootout! This is also why I say to the NHL, scratch the OT period and go right to the shootout. Only for regular season though, of course.

For those of you wondering why there's no "Duel of the Fates" this week...

Michael and Evo went to WesterCon in Calgary last weekend, and therefore didn't record their usual Wingin' It! episode.

Fear not! DotF will return next week in Wingin' It! -- presumably along with Geek Fu, A Diff'rent Point of View, and the other nerdy Sci-Fi stuff.

You'd think that after 35,000-some years of senseless killings, this kind of shit would stop.

Islands in the Net at SFReader.com

My review of Bruce Sterling's classic Cyberpunk novel, "Islands in the Net", is here now at SFReader.com.

Forget those bonehead, closed-minded, unenlightened negative or lukewarm comments at Amazon.com. My review is where it's really at.

This just had to be blogged

Hit this link

Intentional and unintentional backward messages in music - - the Britney Spears one is the most amazing of all.

http://www3.telus.net/jefmil/stairwaybackwards.htm

Duel of the Fates Updated Tourney Tree

Here's the updated tournament tree! Spidey beat HP to advance to round 2.

He'll now prepare to face the winner of the duel between Captain Kirk and Starbuck.
Meanwhile, Tomi awaits the outcome of the Ash-Godzilla duel to determine her next opponent.
Oh the excitement!!