Si, and I like potatoes.

Putin is a war criminal

yendi — Sun, 26 Feb 2023 15:32:55 GMT

So a year into the war, a reminder on this Russian-owned site that Putin is a war criminal.

Putin is a war criminal

yendi — Sat, 02 Apr 2022 20:13:53 GMT

I figure if it should be said anywhere, it's on this Russian-owned site:

Putin is a war criminal.
Putin is also a full-fledged fascist.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is evil.

Yeah, fuck Russia

yendi — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 14:27:46 GMT

Logging into LJ to note solely that I won't be posting here in the foreseeable future, not because of my usual lazy-ass forgetting about it, but because Russia's fucking invasion of Ukraine is immoral and appalling (and I have strong doubts about whether they'll let this post be). Anyway, also posting this to DW for posterity, where any lack of posting is just because I'm lazy and never get around to posting, and not because of war.

One small feature request

yendi — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 00:53:47 GMT

You know what one small feature I'd love to have in LJ? A filter/block for LJ posts that are just user's Twitter updates compiled. It was a fine thing when it first launched, but now, if I want to see someone's Tweets, I can go to Twitter, and most of those feeds are from folks who have otherwise abandoned their LJs. Yes, I can filter/unfollow, but I live in hope that I'll still see real updates from longtime friends (even as I'm crappy about it myself).

gegenschein

yendi — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 21:06:33 GMT

It sucks to only remember to update LJ when someone passes, but yeah, the world lost gegenschein. We met ages ago in person, when we were visiting South FL. She moved to GA not long after we moved away, but we'd continued to keep in touch via LJ and then FB (she was literally the first person to post on my wall). Watching her grow as a human -- giving birth, shifting relationships, finding a career path -- was always a delight, and this feels sudden and fucking wrong. I've got eight LJ friends in common with her, and if any of you are still reading, figured you'd want to know.

The Lost Ludlum

yendi — Sat, 24 Apr 2021 22:01:27 GMT

Robert Ludlum's novels were mostly titled as "The X Y," with the X generally being a proper noun used as a modifier and the Y being a more traditional noun. So, "The Bourne Identity," "The Scarlatti Inheritance," "The Gemini Contenders," The Holcroft Covenant," etc.

All of which is to say, "The Lament Configuration" would have made for a hell of a Ludlum novel.

Reading the great mystery/crime writers

yendi — Sun, 17 Jan 2021 21:34:50 GMT

I realized something recently:

I’ve read exactly half of the 72 people* who have been or will be given Edgar Grandmaster Awards (counting the folks already announced for 2021). That’s pretty good, but it also gives me a goal: Read the other 36 authors. I’m going to try to knock that off this year, although there are all the usual things that could get in the way (ranging from the end of the world to other books distracting me). I’m also trying to read only novels here; reading short stories seems like a bit of a cop-out, although I still put Edward Hoch on my “have read” list (but I’ve also read a few dozen of his stories, possibly hundreds). And I’m counting Hitchcock as one of the ones I’ve read, since his award was based really on his movies.

The ones I’ve read:

Charlaine Harris
Jeffery Deaver
Max Allan Collins
Walter Mosley
Lois Duncan
Margaret Maron
Sara Paretsky
James Lee Burke
Sue Grafton
Bill Pronzini
Stephen King
Marcia Muller
Ira Levin
Robert B. Parker
Edward D. Hoch
Mary Higgins Clark
P.D. James
Mickey Spillane
Lawrence Block
Donald E. Westlake
Elmore Leonard
Ed McBain
John le Carre
Margaret Millar
Daphne du Maurier
Dorothy B. Hughes
Graham Greene
Ross Macdonald
Alfred Hitchcock
John D. MacDonald
James M. Cain
Georges Simenon
John Dickson Carr
Erle Stanley Gardner
Ellery Queen
Agatha Christie

The ones I need to read:

Barbara Neely
Martin Cruz Smith
Jane Langton
William Link
Peter Lovesey
Ellen Hart
James Ellroy
Robert Crais
Carolyn Hart
Ken Follett
Martha Grimes
Dorothy Gilman
Stuart M. Kaminsky
Joseph Wambaugh
Barbara Mertz (aka Elizabeth Peters & Barbara Michaels)
Ruth Rendell
Dick Francis
Tony Hillerman
Helen McCloy
Hillary Waugh
Phyllis A. Whitney
Michael Gilbert
Dorothy Salisbury Davis
Julian Symons
Stanley Ellin
W.R. Burnett
Aaron Marc Stein
Ngaio Marsh
Eric Ambler
Judson Philips
Mignon C. Eberhart
John Creasey
Baynard Kendrick
George Harmon Coxe
Rex Stout
Vincent Starrett

Obviously, some of the folks I haven't read are easy to find (Stout, Francis, Rendell), while others are ones I'll have to track down, but I've got a good library system, so I have faith I can do it.

Anyway, this is basically an accountability post. My reading's been about 80% mystery/crime/thriller/espionage these days, because that seems to be where my brain's comfortable right now.

*73, technically, but I’m counting “Ellery Queen” as one person here, and also not even getting into the EQ books written by folks other than Dannay and Lee.

A few thoughts on Picard

yendi — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 19:02:09 GMT

We binged the series the other day. A few thoughts:

1. In many ways, this was as much a show from the '90s as a current show; we not only had Picard and Seven, we also had Riker and Troi, and then folks like Hugh, Maddox, and even poor Icheb.

2. I do feel the ending was an utter cop-out, and I couldn't get invested in the grief of the characters knowing (just from story beats, not spoilers) that the person they were mourning was going to live. And holy shit was that hand-wavy. "You're now a synth, but you're exactly like your old human self minus the one brain tumor, and we'll never discuss this again."

3. The Seven/Raffi thing borders on being the sort of throwaway "we care about gay people" stuff we got with Dumbledore, with barely more screen time (literally a second) of anything. They need to work on this during S2.

4. I love everything about the ship's five AIs. And Will and Deanna's daughter.

5. So a Romulan infiltrated Starfleet, became head of security, and almost committed genocide, and it's cool that she's just flying off? Seems like a bad thing.

6. Allison Pill has come a long way since her time as Kim Pine.

7. Speaking of hand-wavy, dragging eight stars into one system? That seems a little high-tech even by Trek standards.

8. I think I'd have liked this series a little more if I hadn't been in the middle of Discovery, which is, on every level, a better show (well, every level other than Patrick Stewart). That's not this show's fault, but the plot just rolled out slower, had less going on, and honestly, we all kind of knew where it was going, for the most part.

PhotoGnome

yendi — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 13:47:14 GMT

Woke up to some utterly awful news on FB, that photognome had died suddenly last night. I'll repeat what I posted on FB here:

It's been zero days since I've woken up to the news that a friend died. Joe (AKA PhotoGnome) was one of those people who just made everyone around him so much happier, and was a wonderful part of my life online long before and long after we were neighbors in Atlanta. I still have fond memories of sushi at Ru San's, conversations at DragonCon, and just plain hanging out and chatting about comics. The world's a lesser place without him in it.

Just an awful loss. I know many LJ/DW folks have migrated to FB and Twitter, but folks here should know, and frankly, Joe's one of those people who should be memorialized wherever we can.

Doomsday Clock

yendi — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 14:12:10 GMT

So I read Doomsday Clock last night, and honestly? Kind of liked it. A few random and largely unspoilery thoughts:

- Unlike Watchmen, which stands alone if you have literally no knowledge of comics (even if it gains layers when you do), DC (heh) requires not only knowledge of Watchmen (reasonable for a sequel), but of the DCU, both in the general sense, and in some very specific ones (notably the fact that the golden age of superheroes had only recently been once again shunted to a separate earth). Not a criticism, but it speaks volumes about the intended audience.
- After years of crap like Death Metal and Final Crisis, it is so fucking refreshing to get an event book that A) stands on its own without reading a zillion tie-ins, and B) doesn't fetishize Batman as the Most Important Guy Ever.
- Mime is possibly only the second character ever from the Watchmen universe to have superpowers (unless there's a technological explanation for what he does -- it's left unsaid). I do find it interesting how little power there is in that universe compared to the DCU.
- The end result of the book and its take on multiverses is one I'm pretty damned happy with. It's extremely Superman-focused, but I'm okay with that because A) it makes sense and B) it's never about Superman being So Damned Cool that the writer clearly wishes he were him (see Morrison and Snyder again).
- If I have a major criticism here, it's around the handling of Firestorm, but honestly, other than Conway and Ostrander, I've generally hated any writer's handing of him.

(Oh, and no, I don't believe that Only Alan Moore Is Allowed to Write These Characters. Which is not to say that less isn't more - Before Watchmen was largely pointless and rancid -- but that's a bullshit argument.)

Gloomhaven!

yendi — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 12:54:06 GMT

Okay, hadn't really had time to follow or prepare for Black Friday Amazon Deals, but holy crap, Gloomhaven for $85 (including shipping) is about as ridiculously low as it gets.

Two tweets, repackaged here

yendi — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 01:25:19 GMT

Posted both of these to Twitter over the last couple of days. Both kind of sum up my thoughts on things going on right now.

1. So yeah, violence only begets more violence. Sure. But why are you criticizing the violence that was begotten, instead of the violence that did the begetting? The riots are a natural and inevitable outcome of George Floyd's murder by the police.

2. You know, I hate the notion of looking to Reagan for anything, but while firing all the air traffic controllers was vile, I'm not sure what the downside of doing that for the police is. The baby/bathwater ratio seems to justify it.

Assorted COVID-19 thoughts

yendi — Thu, 28 May 2020 00:57:39 GMT

Random thoughts on COVID-19:

1. Current tally of folks I know who've died from the virus is three: My middle school music teacher, the father of a childhood friend, and liamstliam. I really hope that's where the tally ends, but suspect that won't happen. If we count internet friends I haven't met (and Liam was someone I had), there's probably folks I'm not aware of, nor ever will be. I know more who've gotten it and come through (including my mom's best friend, who's nearly 80 and is a cancer survivor), of course.

2. I consider myself lucky to be able to work from home, but the money drain all colleges are feeling right now scares the shit out of me, and I dread the thought of someone deciding that cutting middle managers is a great way to save money. And I'm hugely worried about the entire industry, of course. We're a reasonably specialized school, which is great on a lot of fronts, but a lot of our specialites require some degree of hands-on or experiential learning. I worry a lot about smaller and more general liberal arts schools, too, especially with the spate of closings we've seen already over the last few years.

3. I'm a lot more worried for other industries, of course. I know too many folks who make a living from restaurants, and that industry is likely to change forever. Ditto singers/bands, actors, burlesque performers, and pretty much any other performing artist.

4. But worried as I am for all of them, I so much more worried about the folks who have decided that the "economy" is worth human lives. Even here, there are tons of folks who do not give a rat's ass about social distancing. Out in AZ, where my mom lives, she just told me that there are stories about crowded clubs already, and I don't doubt that'll be followed by a huge spike in cases (and deaths). Same with my former home state of GA. There are plenty of good alternatives - the $2K a month one the Dems floated, for example -- but the rat motherfucker in the White House and his allies like McConnell have no interest in helping people.

4.5 See all the USPS and what the Republicans are doing to it (even though it's literally a lifeline for their own constituents).

5. We have not, thankfully, had issues on the shopping front, other than occasionally not finding chicken breasts or pork chops (and even then, we still find 'em). Even toilet paper, once scarce, has been in stock at our Star Market the last few times. The only thing that seems impossible to find is Prego Marinara sauce, which is my daughter's favorite (and a good one for 'song, too, since it's gf). I have no idea why that one's gone missing.

6. While money's tight in general (a lot less income than years ago, stuff is more expensive, etc), I still try to order food once every week or two, focusing ideally on local Chinese restaurants, which were hit even harder than a lot of places. And yes, I know about the issues around Grubhub and other delivery vendors. Ours uses BeyondMenu, which is supposedly better, and also has the best damned hand-pulled noodles I've had (so if you're local, try them. It's also the chance to have something resembling a little normalcy.

I'm not dead, but Facebook's algorithm should be

yendi — Sun, 24 May 2020 21:35:58 GMT

Still alive, which meant less two months ago than now, but was still meaningful.

Like so many people, I've relied too heavily on FB. It's actually fine in a lot of ways (speaking from an end-user POV, not any ethical issues surrounding the company), and some of its evil is on the second half of a double-edged blade (like how it's become genuinely useful for organizing events and inviting people in a way that no other tool managed).

But it also has the fucking algorithm that decides to bury posts because they link to youtube, or have more than ten words, or because you posted too often, or because someone there got drunk. And there's something fundamentally wrong about not letting people read posts in fucking order, like god intended. Twitter's moving that way, but at least lets you override it in a meaningful way.

So I figure I'll post a few things here, where they'll get no engagement because 95% of DW/LJ has stopped reading, instead of getting no engagement because a computer decided the contents didn't matter.

I actually haven't updated since I got a job again, so I figure I should mention that, too. Started after Thanksgiving 2018, at a local college that pays way less, but which has one thing my previous job had -- a boss who's competent (my last one, to be fair, had one for years until the uberboss, who's from the Tr*mp school of management, axed him). Like anyone working in higher ed these days, I'm working from home and dealing with all the usual uncertainties.

Also of note (especially for longtime readers, which I guess is everyone, seeing as I can't recall adding a new LJ/DW sub in ages), our daughter is twenty-five, out of college for a year now, and working a fulltime job as a QA tester at a local software company. She loves it and it seems like a great fit for her. Of course, she's also working from home these days.

Anyway, based on the lack of engagement, some things FB has decided the world shouldn't know about.

1. Goldfinger's fantastic quarantine videos. These are new performances of some of their classic songs, done from 5-8 houses at once. Often featuring many doggos. They're up to seven songs so far, and I love watching them all.

2. Bad Cop/Bad Cop's new song, Pursuit of Liberty. So good. I'm listening to a LOT of punk these days, and we need more contemporary and angry feminist punk bands. I've preordered the new CD, and you should, too.

3. Will Leitch has a great piece about Terry Pendleton and the nature of the MLB MVP compared to other sports. FB doesn't like MLB links if they're not getting money for them, just like with Youtube.

4. I'm reading a TON of mystery/crime these days. The Stranger Diaries, by Elly Griffiths, won the Edgar, and while it wasn't my choice (Fake Like Me was sooo good), it's very solid, and has her taking a shot at her own misdeeds from her debut novel, calling out authors who call animals in crime books. The dog in this one, does, in fact, live (which shouldn't be a spoiler to anyone with an understanding of narrative). I've also enjoyed Peter Swanson's slight meta (but really not) Eight Perfect Murders and Elizabeth Little's Pretty as a Picture. I'm reading less SF/F (which has just gotten weaker as a field in recent years), but Jemisin's The City We Became is fantastic, triply so if you're a New Yorker of a fan of Lovecraft who also recognized the problems with his works. And I feel like everyone already knows about Gideon the Ninth, but if you don't, you should. Yes, it's lesbian necromancers in space (dayenu!), but it's also so much more.

Incidentally, FB buries book recs no matter what I do. Links? Dead. Long paragraph with no links? Dead? One sentence? Dead. Three sentences plus a picture of the cover (since they supposedly like pics)? Dead. It's almost impressive.

5. The piece from Outside Magazine (which produces a ton of really good articles and podcasts) on python hunting in Florida is well worth the read.

Will probably post a more life-updatey kind of post later, with the intent of making LJ/DW a real part of my routine. Of course, I may read these words in two years and rue them. Hope everyone -- whoever remains -- is well.

A few Thanksgiving deals: Book coupon, Venom, The Martian, X-Box

yendi — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 14:59:10 GMT

Thanks to unemployment and other stuff, not really putting together the daily deals this year (as you've probably noticed), but a few ones worth pointing out today before gorging:

Amazon's annual $5 off $20 book coupon is live! Use NOVBOOK18 as your code (it'll be at the link, too). This runs through Sunday.

The limited-edition pre-order blu-ray of Venom is $12.11 (69% off, nice!).

The Martian on Blu-Ray is $3.99 (77% off).

And in video games, the X-Box One 1GB with Minecraft is $199.00 (34% off), if anyone still is looking for one.

On convention staffing and lacking "benches"

yendi — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 15:06:10 GMT

As some of you may know, I've resigned from my position as Assistant Division Head of Programming at Arisia, and I also won't be on panels or attending the convention at all. I won't go into why here, as I've already talked about it and I suspect that anyone following fandom knows. I want to discuss a side-topic.

A lot of the public and semi-public handwringing has been over the subject of having "benches." When there's no one else capable of doing, say, Program AV for the con, do you hire the rapist (Arisia's answer three years running, it turns out, has been "yes")? When no one else is running for President of the corporation (or when the person running against the problematic person has values you don't agree with), what happens? Long-term, obviously, the con needs to build a bench, train new people, etc. This part's generally obvious and agreed on by everyone, and there are good proposals about how to do it (mentoring, apprenticeships, etc) in lots of places. But that's the long-term solution.

Short-term, though, there are four choices if you lack a bench and don't have someone who can replace the person you need to get rid of:

Choice one is to actually run the con with the dangerous person on board. This is the decision Arisia chose to make (without making the actual danger itself known to members or most staff), and that other cons have done in previous years (see Wiscon/Frenkel). I do not consider it the right one, and it's clear that almost no one else does. Note that as a general rule, only a handful of people on staff at a cone actually will know this is happening (so while I use the blanket terms "Arisia" and "Wiscon," it's likely a small subset of folks near the top of the boards).

Choice two is to suck it up and deal without them. Yes, that means someone else is going to have to do more work, and work they're not qualified for and have to learn quickly. It means some aspect of the con will be weaker than intended. It might even mean that something doesn't take place (if only one person can run the masquerade or a certain special event, that event might not happen). It sucks, but it also ensures that the dangerous person isn't a part of the con. It's NOT, to be clear, sustainable; asking folks to work beyond their means is something that can be justified in an emergency, but not as a regular event. It's also something that some cons can handle better than others (bigger ones usually have more staff to spread around; smaller ones might have a looser structure or fewer technical requirements that require skillsets).

Choice three is to recruit a replacement. If the only person qualified and willing to handle tax issues for the dealers at the con is also someone so toxic that they're on the "do not hire" list for your con, you probably can't ask a Green Room staffer to pick up that ball. So you have to start looking at who has the skillset elsewhere. Look at the org charts of other cons, local and otherwise. Ping the people who do the jobs there and at places like Worldcon to see if A) it's something they can do, and B) if they know others who might be capable of the job. Shockingly, skilled people often know other skilled people. And if you have to, see if money can help. You may not be able to pay someone, per se, but if you can offer a comp, or even a room comp for a night or two, or something, it's money well-spent (that said, also set expectations; this is money being spent to deal with an emergency, and not something that should be expected every time).

And choice four is the nuclear one: If you genuinely can't run the con without a rapist on staff, maybe you shouldn't run the con. That can mean any of A) You personally should not run the con (because maybe someone else can find a replacement), B) the con itself should skip a year to give you more time to find a replacement, or C) the con should end. Really. It's not an ideal choice, but if you find yourself incapable of finding a replacement, or running the event without the person, your choices come down to either letting a known predator have power within the con, or not running. If you really think that the running the con with the dangerous person on staff is the better choice, you're part of the problem.

The Price You Pay and pseudonyms

yendi — Sun, 26 Aug 2018 23:21:03 GMT

The Price You Pay by "Aidan Truhen" was fantastic, and is highly recommended for folks who like their thrillers full-bore ludicrous (think Duane Swierczynski's "The Blonde" or "Severance Package). I'm also fascinated by the whole "this author is actually another author using a pseudonym" thing, since I've never understood that marketing. I do understand an established author using a fake name to try something new, but that's not usually known at the time (Bachman, Galbraith, etc). Ditto for someone using multiple names to separate subgenres for their readers (Jayne Ann Krentz). But this feels similar to the KJ Parker/Tom Holt thing, which was just kind of BS.

Oh, and while I certainly don't disbelieve the theory -- put forth in the NYTimes review -- that the author is really Nick Harkaway, I'd love to know why folks seem to think that; I could see Harkway doing this, but I could also see Charlie Huston or Adam Sternbergh or a bunch of others doing it, too.

(Yes, I posted this to FB, but while no one may be around on LJ/DW anymore, at least posts still make it here in order and won't be buried by an algorithm if anyone shows up.)

On the Titans trailer

yendi — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 23:12:55 GMT

So for everyone complaining about how dark and moody the trailer for the new Titans series is, do y'all remember The Judas Contract (generally considered the apotheosis of silver age Titans stories)? The storyline in which A) middle-aged Slade Wilson sends his 14-year-old girlfriend (and yes, we see them in bed together) to infiltrate the team (including seducing Beast Boy), and B) tiny Joseph Wilson -- aged roughly 4 -- gets his throat slit open with a sword? Titans during any period when people actually read and cared about the book always had some serious darkness going on (see also literally everything about Raven and Starfire's backstories). Dick Grayson cussing is hardly that big a deal.

Instead, maybe complain about DC wanting $75 bucks a year for their streaming service. That's too dark and gritty for me.

Books read on vacation

yendi — Sun, 24 Jun 2018 15:29:07 GMT

Books read either in airports, in planes to and from San Juan, or on the cruise. All are recommended (other than the unnamed one, but it's not horrible, either):

1. The Parking Lot Attendant, by Nafkote Tamirat. This is a ludicrously beautiful and witty novel, even if it fails to quite stick the landing. It's the story of the daughter of Ethiopian immigrants living in Boston, and the weird and titular not-quite-cult-leader she encounters in the local community who draws her into a conspiracy involving a potential utopia. It's hard to describe, but absolutely worth grabbing, and works on multiple levels if you're familiar with the "joys" of trying to get places around metro Boston using public transit.

2. (Unnamed novel reviewed for PW)

3. What is Real: The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics, by Adam Becker. I mean, doesn't "particle physics" sound like a perfect topic for travel reading? Seriously, this is an excellent book, much more a science history book than a pure science one (I'm someone who hasn't taken a physics course since the seventh grade, so trust me when I say this is aimed at the general public). It's a great dive into the battle over quantum origins and the battle over the Copenhagen Interpretation, featuring all of the major players -- Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, Pauli, Bell, Everett, Bohm, de Broglie, etc. -- with as much biography of them thrown in along with their conflicts and discussion of theory. Really recommended for anyone with an interest in science.

4. The Keeper of Lost Causes, by Jussi Adler-Olsen. I try to read a few mysteries-in-translation every year, and having spent the last few years on French and Japanese authors, am finally swinging back to Nordic crime authors (which may be redundant, as it seems like every author from the Nordic countries who gets translated today writes crime -- see also Alvtegen, Nesbo, Larsson, etc). This book is the first in the "Department Q" series, a story of a cold case unit started for political reasons. It's much wittier than a lot of the generally-grim Nordic Noir stuff, with a solid and flawed hero and some nice twists. I'll definitely be grabbing more books from the series.

5. The Ensemble, by Aja Gabel. This is kind of a perfect little summer beach read (although I read it on the plane ride back). It's the story of the members of a string quartet over the course of fifteen years, complete with their romantic entanglements, health issues, and professional crises. It's a fun and sweet novel about love (in many forms), and probably has extra appeal for musically-inclined folks.

ETA: 6. Florida, by Lauren Groff. A fascinating and melancholy collection of stories. There are themes and repeated symbols (storms, unnamed spouses and children, dogs) running throughout, and it's the sort of collection you want to sit and let marinate in your head for a bit. Also recommended, although maybe not as cruise reading.

Early January Longreads

yendi — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 18:42:32 GMT

Allison Glock's The Eight Truths I Learned From Humping Athletes, reprinted at Deadspin after appearing in GQ twenty years ago, is fantastic

At Vox, Anna North writes, Historically, men translated the Odyssey. Here’s what happened when a woman took the job.

Outside Magazine's been quietly doing some damned fine journalism over the last few years, and Ryan Zinke is Trump's Attack Dog on the Environment is a great profile of a terrible Secretary of the Interior.

Remember Jen Hatmaker, the Evangelical Christian who spoke out against Trump last year? Not surprisingly, she's taken a lot of grief from a religious movement still dominated by racist and sexist men, reports Tiffany Stanley in Politico.

In Deadspin, Emma Baccelleri's Major League Baseball's Statcast Can Break Sabermetrics is a great look at the way stats in MLB continue to evolve.

I've been following the sexual harassment situation at WNYC for a while (On The Media did a podcast on it as well), but the Splinter's David Uberti covers it as well as anyone in his piece, How New York Public Radio is Dodging Accountability for its Sexual Harassment Problem.

At Kotaku, Maddy Myers says that Tier Lists Are Full of Shit, and I can't disagree. I don't do competitive fighting games because I'm terrible at them, but the argument that people should play weird and interesting characters instead of whatever strategy guides tell you is effective but boring resonates (witness the low rank Ghost Rider, who I find nearly essential, gets in Marvel Puzzle Quest).

There's been a LOT written about Star Wars: The Last Jedi (which I loved, incidentally). Todd VanDerWoof, over at Vox, offers The “backlash” Against Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Explained, a good (but FILLED WITH SPOILERS) piece talking about the different kinds of fan reactions.

Back at Deadspin, Eoin Higgins asks Why Won't The FCC Let Orphan Counties Watch Their Local NFL Teams? The answer, of course, is more complicated than sports, as are the implications for local news.

And finally, if you're a fan at all of Serious Eats (and if you like food, you should be, as it's the best site out there), Jonah Weiner at Grubstreet has a fantastic profile of J. Kenji López-Alt called Kenji Dreams of Sausage that's a must-read.

Final Amazon Deals of the year: magazine subscriptions, kindle books

yendi — Sun, 31 Dec 2017 18:29:16 GMT

Two quick deals to close out the year:

The Kindle Daily Deal is on "Best of December" deals, but actually just has a bunch of random books, including Ann Leckie's Provenance for $2.99, Styron's Sophie's Choice for $1.13, and a bunch of others.

And there's a deal on magazine subscriptions, including Entertainment Weekly for $15 for digital only, and Popular Science, Taste of Home, Reader's Digest, Popular Science, or Saveur (as well as a bunch of others) for $3.99 for regular subscriptions.

Amazon Digital Deal Day: Marvel comics, HBO Now, Overwatch, Kindle books, more!

yendi — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 17:53:02 GMT

Amazon's got their "Digital Day" going, with a lot of great deals across various media. A few highlights:

There's a huge Marvel Digital Comics Sale, with graphic novels like Star Wars, Ms. Marvel, Daredevil, Infinity Gauntlet, Hawkeye, and more for under $2.20 each. There are some larger collections like Punisher Max for as much as $5.

If you subscribe to HBO Now, you get a $10 Amazon Credit.

The Kindle Daily Deals include a Aziz Ansari's Modern Romance, Marie Lu's Legend, and Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise for $2.99 each.

In digital games, the GotY edition of Overwatch is $29.99 (50% off), while Fallout 4 with the Season Pass is $24.99 (50% off). Sid Meier’s Civilization VI Digital Deluxe is $39.99 (50% off), which is the same price for the non-deluxe version, so hey, free DLC.

And if you have an Amazon Fire, you can snag Monument Valley 2 for $2.49 (50% off), which is a great deal on a great game. If you've got younger kids, all Toca games for the Fire are $.99 (66% off). And Teeny Titans -- which is essentially an old-school Pokemon game with the Titans, and is genuinely great -- is $.99 (75% off) on the Fire.

There are a lot of movies on sale, but one notable one is Jack Reacher: Never Go Back for $4.99 to own digitally.

There's a ton more at the sale, if you've got the patience for the deep dive.

Three quick last-minute Amazon Deals: Book coupon, iTunes/Lyft Gift Cards, H is for Hawk!

yendi — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 14:59:21 GMT

1. Amazon's got yet another $5 off $15 Book Coupon! It officially expires today, so get cracking!

2. There are some great Gift Card Deals, including $15 off $100 worth of iTunes cards, $10 off $50 at JC Penny, and $5 off $50 at Lyft.

3. And one of my favorite Kindle Daily Deals is on H is For Hawk, a wonderful memoir, for $1.99 (even if the title sounds like a Kinsey Millhone/Spenser crossover book).

Oh, hey, an Amazon Board Game Sale!

yendi — Thu, 07 Dec 2017 15:07:33 GMT

As happens about once a year at this time, there's a one-day Board Game Sale at Amazon! Highlights include Ticket to Ride for $25.82 (48% off), Betrayal at Baldur's Gate Board Game (which happens to be on my wishlist) for $28.99 (42% off), Lost Cities for $19.40 (51% off), Bloodborne: The Card Game for $18.49 (47% off), and Dungeons & Dragons: Assault of the Giants Board Game Premium Edition for $67.99 (48% off). All are way below other vendors, and there's a ton of other games there, too.

Thursday Amazon Deals: Get Out, John Wick 2, Kitchen gadgets, PS4 games, Shopkins, K'Nex, more!

yendi — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 15:38:54 GMT

All of the Kindle Deals from yesterday are still active, including Scalzi, Grafton, Schwab, Older, and more.

In videogame remakes, Rogue Trooper: Redux for the PS4 is $19.99 (33% off), while Outcast: Second Contact for the PS4 is $22.99 (43% off). Not quite as huge a sale, but still nice, is the collection of the first three Uncharted remakes for $17.99 (10% off), also on PS4. If you want a non-remake for the PS4, there's Bloodborne for $16.16 (19% off).

In kitchen gadgets, the Taylor Precision Products Digital Cooking Thermometer with Probe and Timer is $9.98 (48% off). I cannot imagine not having a digital thermometer for cooking (it was the reason we knew how to take out the turkey last week). It's probably one of my favorite kitchen gadgets. Also on sale is the 8-Inch Multipurpose Stainless Steel Chef Knife with ABS Handle from Utopia for $10.99 (45% off).

In bigger gadgets, the Crock-Pot 6-Quart Cook & Carry Oval Manual Portable Slow Cooker is $19.99 (about $9 off other vendors).

In movies, the three Men in Black films on Blu-Ray will run you $5.99 (53% off), while the Blu-Ray of Blade Runner: The Final Cut is $7.88 (47% off).

For recent flicks, Saban's Power Rangers on a Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital combo pack is $10 (67% off); ditto John Wick 2 and the Blu-Ray/Digital combo pack of Lion. The fantastic (and Oscar-winning) Moonlight is $9.99 (60% off) for a Blu-Ray/Digital combo pack, and Hell or High Water is $9.99 (50% off) for a Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital combo pack. And Get Out is $9.96 (57% off) for a Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital combo, and belongs in everyone's library.

Oh, and Warcraft is $5.99 (70% off) for the Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital combo, but I suspect you're getting what you pay for there.

In toys, there's a one-day sale on Shopkins (which our niece is addicted to), Little Live Pets, and other toys. Some of the items are as high as 75% off!

There's also a sale on LEGO Classic items (there are the yellow boxes of bricks without themes or licenses).

And finally, the K'NEX Thrill Rides-Kraken's Revenge Roller Coaster is $29.99! That's 40% off, but most sellers offer it for more than the $49.99 list price. For folks looking for a more open-ended set, the K’NEX Imagine – Power and Play Motorized Building Set is $22.95 (62% off).