Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Jeremy lassen's LiveJournal:

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Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
4:36 pm	its a tired grey day Hope life is going well for folks. I'm kind of tired and overwhelmed. Bought a copy of pearlsons Nixonland to cheer me up. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
12:07 pm	eclipse 3 -- 10 best on amazon! So Eclipse 3 was named one of the 10 best SF books of the year on amazon.  But it has no reviews!? First one to review it on amazon WINS! (Comment on this)
8:05 am	republicans are all a bunch of scardy cats Mohammed ain't Magneto, nemesis of the X-men. He's not going to use his mutant Islamic powers to melt the chains and blow up the heads of the dozens of snipers around him, all while ululating some sinister shout that'll bring back the dead of the Crusades to liberate him. In other words, this ain't a movie. He's beaten man who'll be spouting crazy blather in hand and ankle cuffs while shitting his diaper who wouldn't even be coming to trial if his case wasn't a done deal, who will be sentenced to death. And if anything happens that could lead to acquittal, he will be taken right back into indefinite detention. In other words, we're not doing this for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He'd over. We're doing it for us. (Comment on this)
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
2:01 pm	Paul Krugman Layeth the smack down Growth in per capita real GDP from 1950 to 1980: 2.2 percent per year Growth in per capita real GDP from 1980 to 2007: 2.0 percent per year Oh, and if we look at real median family income instead, we get: Growth from 1950 to 1980: 2.3 percent per year Growth from 1980 to 2007: 0.7 percent per year Sorry: there’s no measure I can think of by which the U.S. economy has done better since 1980 than it did over an equivalent time span before 1980. It may be something you’ve heard, it may be something you’d like to believe, but it just didn’t happen. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
11:43 am	DEA agents killed in Afganistan helicopter crash: "It seems that our two abstract, endless Orwellian wars --- the War on Drugs and the War on Terror --- have officially merged. And the complications stemming from that decision are going to be immense. What are we fighting for again?" (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 25th, 2009
2:29 pm	Travelling with me.. While I don't know it for a fact, I think my wife, and my business partner both feel that air travel with me is sort of like this: (4 Comments |Comment on this)
12:26 pm	John Berkey and Pixar's WALL-E movie Just had a used paperback of John Brunner's A maze of Stars come through the store. Cover shows a "generation ship" from the novel, on the surface of a moon or something. Irene Gallo had previously pointed out how similar the ship designs of Wall-E were to John Berkey's work. But is it just me, or could this cover be a storyboard from PIxar? Obviously, there is some similarities in subject matter here. But... I'm just saying. And its not like Themes and ideas from John Brunners work weren't running through WALL-E already -- This book, Stand on Zanzibar, and The Sheep Look up are all obviously spiritual godfathers, if not inspirations for Wall-E. (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
11:04 am	21:06 Theodore Stugeon had testicals the size of sea lions??!!! # (Comment on this)
9:51 am	Fox New's war on America (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
10:01 am	Global warming deniers get punked US Chamber of Commerce (notorious global warming deniers) get punked... Details here (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
9:50 am	Is it just me? Where the Wild THings are Movie The Where the Wild Things are Movie seemed to be filled with classic images and scenes of a family troubled by alcholism. Yes yes yes... I know that carol is a stand in for Maxes own impusles to act out, and be destructive.... But WHERE did max learn to be destructive and act out? The two clues are the inscribed globe from his dad, and his divorced mother. Dad was an alchoholic. When in the fantasy world with the monsthers, there was a constant rush of adrenaline and excitement, a feeling of being free from the phyiscal consequences --- except the exctement and fun constantly threatened to turn dark and ugly... Carol reminded me way too much of my alchoholic father. Carol was at once Max, and Maxes father. The sense of physical giantness, and sense of both physical security, and physcial intimidation are classic childhood views of parents. KW was the sister of course (not wanting to spend time with max, but KW was also maxes mother, who left Carol's abusiveness. There's lots of doubling going on in this film, and the easy surface reading.... of carol being max, KW being the sister, ignores some of the earlier clues and darker tones that run throughout. I haven't heard Jones or Eggers talk about any of their intentions or themes, but it would not surprise me to find out that one or both was the child of an alchoholic. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 19th, 2009
2:37 pm	Night Shade Imperial Stout Thanks to the awesome folks at  Eraserhead press, We will be having some custom Night Shade brews at The Night Shade World Fantasy party (we are co-hosting with said awesome folks). Stop buy, have a brew, and say high, if you are at the convention.  These beers are sure to be the most collectible Night Shade item ever.  :) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, October 18th, 2009
7:17 pm	The weeks assignment This weeks assignment in professor Jeremy Fucking Lassen's "Film Theory and Popular Culture" Upper division course*. Write an essay comparing the themes of social marginalization, and violence in the The film Heathers, and Fight Club. Possible points of discussion: How does the high school "heathers" clique compare "operation mayhem." How do the Veronica/Jason Dean characters compare to the Jack/Tyler Duran characters. How do the films world view of romantic love differ? From a New Historicism perspective, explain how the films representations of marginalization and violence reflect the Regan era 80s versus the Clinton era 90's, and offer possible Bush Era analogs(Hostel, Saw, etc) to these films *Credits for this course are non-transferable to any accredited institutions, but are can be used towards both undergraduate and graduate work at Night Shade University (Comment on this)
5:26 pm	In search of The Demolished Man... I've just read a review of The Demolished Man, over at IO9*. I felt like some of the criticisms were off base, but remembered that it has been almost 20 years since I read this one, and am more familiar with people WRITING about their views of it, then I am with my own reactions to the book. So I figure now is as good a time as any for me to kick off my own "Read every damn hugo winning novel" project, if only so I can comment along side of Moff's project of the same purpose, and be contrary. I suspect me and MOFF will have very different views on things. So I start searching the shelves and piles of books in my apartment.... THis is what I found... Virtual Unrealities by Alfred Bester (Vintage, 1997) The computer Connection by Alfred Bester (Ibooks, 2000) Redemolished by Alfred Bester (Ibooks, 2000 -- 2 copies!?!?) related non-fiction: Hell's cartagraphers (Weidenfeld And Nicolson, 1975) The Science fiction Novel: Imagination and social criticism (Advent, 1959) But no copy of the Demolished man, even though I'm SURE I have a copy around here SOMEWHERE. Time to head over to my business partners abode, and steal his copy. EDIT: Fucking SCORE! A Science Fiction Argosy, Edited by Damon Knight (Simon and Schuster, 1972), Contains the full novel of The Demolished Man! Hah! Gods of Entropy and book disappearance!, my obsessive anthology collecting defeats you!! I'll try and provide both Criticism and context (contemporaneous reviews, Other Books Nominated, etc) as I read and review the list of Hugo winners. I like to pretend that I'm some kind of expert in the field of SF. I'd like to try and Measure up to my own standards. Keep watching the skies. *Does anyone else care to comment here on MOFF's criticisms of The Demolished Man (2 Comments |Comment on this)
11:03 am	rick Kleffel talks about zombies great audio article on zombie fiction for NPR, by my favorite radio reporter/book guru, Rick Kleffel (Comment on this)
Friday, October 16th, 2009
12:59 am	Eclipse 3 just arrived in our local warehouse! So, I just got a pallet of Eclipse 3 today, and the book is super sexy!! Most of you probably don't know who Richard Powers is... but I love his artwork. He died in 1996 (Two years before Night Shade put out its first book.)... He hasn't been doing any new covers for anybody, for a long time. But.... The book I just published... The book I was the art director for... It has an original Richard Powers piece of cover art. It was a commissioned piece of work that was never used. The estate doesn't know who or what it was intended for. But... It fits the Eclipse series perfectly. It's been waiting for me, and for this book all these years. More then once, I sat on the deck at the Locus house in the oakland hills... talking publishing with Charles Brown, and Jonathan Strahan... talking about my love for the look-and-feel of the paperback covers of '60s and '70s era SF. I remember telling Charles that someday I would love to publish a book that looked like those books... Those books that inspired my life-long lover affair with the Science Fiction genre. Charles never got a chance to see my Richard Powers cover... but I got to put it on a Jonathan Strahan anthology. I did this cover for me. It's not a terribly comercial cover. It probably won't generate any impulse buys. It will speak to me, and maybe a few dozen other people who fetishize those SF covers the way I do. But I GOT TO DO IT. This is THE REASON to slog through all the bad parts of any job... to get to those parts that absolutely charge you up and thrill you, and make you feel like a child, and like god, all at the same time. I GOT TO PUBLISH A BOOK WITH A RICHARD POWERS COVER! I am a gangster-pimp-publisher, and I am a 12 year old child, filled with wonder. All at the same time! THIS is why I chose to spend the last 12 years of my life publishing sceince fiction. I hope some of you out there enjoy the cover*, and perhaps the fine anthology that Jonathan edited. But whether you do or not, I will go to bed happy tonight. I got my Richard Powers cover. It doesn't say it anywhere in the book. But as the publisher I'd like to dedicate the book to three men. To Richard Powers, who I never met. To Charles Brown, who I didn't get to spend enough time with, and to Jonathan Strahan, a man who's passions continue to inspire me, in much the same way Richard Powers' covers did, oh-so-many years ago. *The jpg image on the web site doesn't do a very good job of conveying just how vibrant, sharp and impressive the actual printed book is. If you get a chance, look for it in a store, or library, or stop by our table at a convention. This is a cover that really needs to be seen in person. (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
10:18 am	wtf? why did the San Francisco Emergancy sirens go off at 10:16? EDIT. NEVERMIND. It's part of a statewide earthquake drill thingy. A giant tsunami is NOT inbound, ready to destroy us all. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, October 9th, 2009
11:48 am	Grayson kicks some ass AGAIN (5 Comments |Comment on this)
10:16 am	Keith Olbermann special segment on health care reform Here's Keith Olbermann's special segment on health care freform, in its entirety. It's pretty powerfull. Pass this link around. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
9:24 am	Nobel Peace Prize? So the Nobel Committee just sent a big "fuck you" to Bush, Cheney, and all of the neocons who helped fuck up the world for 8 years. One might think that the award to Al Gore was a big fuck you to Bush, but Obama's award, coming less then a year into his presidency is bascially an award for winning the election, and defeating the war mongering John McCain. I mean... seriously... this is an award for resting control of the american millitary might from fucking crazy people. And Obama deserves credit for that. I just hope he can deliver on some of his inspiring rhetoric, and deliver some CHANGE. (Comment on this)