Category: Uncategorized (Page 32 of 35)

Cheryl Morgan from Emerald City on the Cato Institute:

I am, of course, familiar with the Cato Institute from my “real” job as an energy economist. They are the loony extremist wing of the free market movement and generally argue that no market should have any regulation, ever. It was interesting to actually meet a bunch of Cato Institute supporters. As I suspected, they tended to be very rich, deeply conservative, and strongly interested in protecting what they see to be important American freedoms, such as the freedom to take what you want, the freedom to exploit and opress others, and the freedom to kill anyone who gets in your way.

Yes, indeed. That’s freedom, folks. I shake my head in wonder and amazement.

Via Reason’s Hit and Run pages, and interesting article about Dave Sim and his 6,000 page comic book epic, Cerebus. I think it might be daunting undertaking to read 6,000 words of a comic book, let alone imagine the monomanic effort that went into writing this work.

From Ain’t it Cool News, a script review of V for Vendetta, and it’s not a pretty result. Instead of the book, we probably will end up with “inspired by the title of the comic book” in the credits. All the excitement I felt upon hearing the original news about this movie has evaporated into this air. Not even Natalie Portman’s presence can save this movie. A quote:

There is nothing sinister about the government. It isn’t subtle and manipulative at all like the graphic novel presented it to be. It is Evil with a capital E, black bags over the head and everything. Pothrero is not the Voice of England, but a screaming voice, devoid of nuance and subtlety, a damning indication of elementary screenwriting by two hacks.

As reported by Comic Book Resources, noted writer Alan Moore sets the record straight on the movie adaptation of his graphic novel, V for Vendetta. I guess it was too much to ask when the producers spoke as if they had Moore’s complete approval. Directors and producers of major movies rarely treat writers with any respect. Now the game becomes a question of how many changes are made, how the changes affect the story, and whether the political statements get toned down.

This has nothing to do with culture, but everything to do with liberty. I hope Robert Mugabe ends up in front of a firing squad at dawn for destroying a country. This latest crackdown shows yet again how a government has gone mad.

A glimpse at the forthcoming Serenity comic books from Dark Horse Comics. Scroll down the page. Via Claire Wolfe. Additional info from Scifi.com. Comic books due out July 6.

Via Victor Milan’s website some news about a new novel, Deathlands. It’s a series adventure novel, published under a pseudonym, but might be of interest to any Milan fans out there.

Discovered an audio interview with James P. Hogan called Voices in Your Head, at IT Conversations. The interview can be downloaded or streamed (MP3 and MSWin). The site includes several other audio programs and interviews and seems well-worth some additional browser time.

Tom Knapp reports on his “Google Bomb” efforts to reclaim Sam Konkin III’s origin and meaning of new libertarian from some so-called neo-libs. An old interview with Konkin (who dies in 2004) can be found here. His “New Libertarian Manifesto” used to be available online, but now seems to have 404’d.

Claire Wolfe and Aaron Zelman’s new joint fictional effort appears interesting. Zelman collaborated on two novels with L. Neil Smith (The Mitzvah and Hope). Wolfe is more known for her non-fiction books. More info on Wolfe’s blog.