Friends

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Forty years after Apollo 11, debate rages over who can control the moon. Meanwhile, the president of the "Galactic Government"—a Nevada entrepreneur—continues to sell lunar real estate.

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Developing ultrasound blasts to disrupt enemy sonar may sound more like a submarine arms race than animal evolution. But some moths seem to have done just that.

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7572

Okay. Things are going to be a bit patchy here for the next seven days, due to work and travel. So no more Station Idents, I’m just going to post when I can.

FAQs for San Diego, then:

* PLANETARY #27 comes out in October, I’m told.

* FELL #10 is underway right now on this end, so don’t bug Ben. We’re on it. It’ll be a while before it’s ready.

* DESOLATION JONES remains in temporary limbo for various reasons. Wildstorm and I are working on it, is all you need to know.

* NEWUNIVERSAL remains on pause while Steve and I do an IRON MAN thing, and we’ll return to finish it once we’re done. Scheduling was the enemy — after the loss of the computer, there were only so many scripts and stories I could reconstitute simultaneously, and ASTONISHING X-MEN trumped it on the scheduling.

* Phil Jiminez just turned in his first ASTONISHING X-MEN issue. I love working with Phil.

* I arrive at San Diego a hair before midnight on Thursday and leave first thing Saturday morning. I’m there exclusive to the Marvel Anime zaibatsu, and my time is scheduled tightly all through Friday. I start at 9.30am, for god’s sake. I normally never even see 9.30am.

* My only public appearances there are:

* The Marvel Animation Panel, 4.30pm - 5.30pm. I think I don’t actually go on stage until 5.10.

* Signing at the Marvel booth, which is #2429, from 6pm to 7pm. There will probably be a limit on number of items to be signed, and if you turn up with a handtruck stacked full of comics I will have Security rape you with a Wolverine toy behind the booth.

* This is a weird one, but… a lot of people ask if they can bring me whisky. Which is incredibly kind and not at all required. If you bought a comic I wrote and liked it, then that’s really all I needed. And this time, in fact, it’s really not necessary, as I’m travelling very light and won’t be able to take it home with me. I feel weird even mentioning this.

* And, yes, I will shake hands with you. The reason I don’t shake hands at other shows is that I’m signing for six or seven hours a day, for a minimum of three days, and everyone sticks their hand out, and the lesson I learned at Heroes Con is that shaking hands with everyone who sticks their hand out means that by the end of the second day my hand is pulp. Poor old Steve Saffel shook hands with me when I was on my way out of the building after my second or third long signing and I yelped. I’m not a professional politician, I’m a writer, I already type for at least 12 hours a day, and I kind of need the hand. One hour at a signing table is a different thing. People get unusually stroppy about this. So I mention it now. And, really, if my not being able to shake hands with you at San Diego or Chicago really did ruin your week, enough for you to keep complaining about it online years later? You’re mentally ill. Seek help before you ruin the lives of your friends and families.

* Also? I am not scary. I mean, I am completely not scary. Do not approach in fear.

* These are, internet snark mongoloid reading this, NOT rules. It says FAQ at the top there.

* Also, I won’t have sex with you unless you pay me.

There. Done. Tom Spurgeon has a proper guide to surviving San Diego, a must-read.

Okay. Things are going to be a bit patchy here for the next seven days, due to work and travel. So no more Station Idents, I’m just going to post when I can.

FAQs for San Diego, then:

* PLANETARY #27 comes out in October, I’m told.

* FELL #10 is underway right now on this end, so don’t bug Ben. We’re on it. It’ll be a while before it’s ready.

* DESOLATION JONES remains in temporary limbo for various reasons. Wildstorm and I are working on it, is all you need to know.

* NEWUNIVERSAL remains on pause while Steve and I do an IRON MAN thing, and we’ll return to finish it once we’re done. Scheduling was the enemy — after the loss of the computer, there were only so many scripts and stories I could reconstitute simultaneously, and ASTONISHING X-MEN trumped it on the scheduling.

* Phil Jiminez just turned in his first ASTONISHING X-MEN issue. I love working with Phil.

* I arrive at San Diego a hair before midnight on Thursday and leave first thing Saturday morning. I’m there exclusive to the Marvel Anime zaibatsu, and my time is scheduled tightly all through Friday. I start at 9.30am, for god’s sake. I normally never even see 9.30am.

* My only public appearances there are:

* The Marvel Animation Panel, 4.30pm - 5.30pm. I think I don’t actually go on stage until 5.10.

* Signing at the Marvel booth, which is #2429, from 6pm to 7pm. There will probably be a limit on number of items to be signed, and if you turn up with a handtruck stacked full of comics I will have Security rape you with a Wolverine toy behind the booth.

* This is a weird one, but… a lot of people ask if they can bring me whisky. Which is incredibly kind and not at all required. If you bought a comic I wrote and liked it, then that’s really all I needed. And this time, in fact, it’s really not necessary, as I’m travelling very light and won’t be able to take it home with me. I feel weird even mentioning this.

* And, yes, I will shake hands with you. The reason I don’t shake hands at other shows is that I’m signing for six or seven hours a day, for a minimum of three days, and everyone sticks their hand out, and the lesson I learned at Heroes Con is that shaking hands with everyone who sticks their hand out means that by the end of the second day my hand is pulp. Poor old Steve Saffel shook hands with me when I was on my way out of the building after my second or third long signing and I yelped. I’m not a professional politician, I’m a writer, I already type for at least 12 hours a day, and I kind of need the hand. One hour at a signing table is a different thing. People get unusually stroppy about this. So I mention it now. And, really, if my not being able to shake hands with you at San Diego or Chicago really did ruin your week, enough for you to keep complaining about it online years later? You’re mentally ill. Seek help before you ruin the lives of your friends and families.

* Also? I am not scary. I mean, I am completely not scary. Do not approach in fear.

* These are, internet snark mongoloid reading this, NOT rules. It says FAQ at the top there.

* Also, I won’t have sex with you unless you pay me.

There. Done. Tom Spurgeon has a proper guide to surviving San Diego, a must-read.

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7571

(Simon Bisson)

(Simon Bisson)

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7570

Giant Carnivorous Squid off the San Diego coast.

You wait. They’ll grow fucking legs.

Giant Carnivorous Squid off the San Diego coast.

You wait. They’ll grow fucking legs.

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7569

By my friend John Cassaday, taking us out in magnificent style.  Click.

By my friend John Cassaday, taking us out in magnificent style.  Click.

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7568

"A relaxing cigarette."

(Actually, this is quite interesting.)

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7567

This is kind of sad. Ten years ago, David Shayler blew the whistle on sinister goings-on in the British intelligence services. (Wonderfully, when he fled the country, the French refused to extradite him back to Britain.) Sadly, he appears to have gone completely mad.

His former girlfriend, Annie Machon, who also worked for MI5, believes his long
fight with the intelligence services has led him to suffer a breakdown.

It’s an interesting read. Terrible black humour in the fact that he’s now so crazy that even crazy people are shunning him.

…he joined the 9/11 Truth Movement, falling out with them when he said he believed the 2001 attacks were the work of the American government and that the planes which crashed into the Twin Towers were missiles disguised by holograms…

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7566

It’s Friday, it’s free, it’s here: FREAKANGELS 0062.

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7565

Warren Ellis Dot Com. Good morning, sinners.

(info)

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7564

And the ladies of COILHOUSE provide a full tour of the contents, even.

I’m delighted to see the marvellous Jess Nevins in there:

And Xeni:

And there’s an interview with Ron Moore that I’m interested in, and what looks like an excellent photo essay about Kowloon, and, hell, go and look, just a shitload of stuff, buy a copy and leave me alone…

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7563

I wrote the back-page "Epiphanies" essay for this issue of the fine music magazine, out this week:

Graphic novelist Warren Ellis on musical communion with a sense of place with Sigur Rós and Julian Cope

It’s really kind of nice to be asked to write something for a magazine you’ve been reading for years. Especially when it’s a music magazine and you’re no kind of music journalist.

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7562

1. fireworks, 2. keep your eyes on the road, 3. do something for me., 4. I don’t say it enough

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7561

Jamaica Dyer’s wonderful new graphic novel is almost here. Pre-order it at this link direct from the publisher. Read a bunch of her work here. I wrote a quote for it:

The only explanation for Jamaica Dyer is that she was built by aliens and dropped here to show us all how crap we are compared to her.

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7560

I’ve now seen the complete lettered book. I’m told it’s scheduled for release in October.

I’ve mentioned that there’s extra pages in this one, right? It’s a longer-than-normal episode?

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7559

A new Kemper Norton EP, available for free download. Probably best classified as Night Music, so grab it down and play it later (unless you’re on the other side of the world, of course, in which case, download the bugger).

Massively, spooktronically atmospheric. Very good.

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7558

And that’s my longtime friend, translator/writer/model Cristina, whom I owe about three emails to, so I’m doing this instead. Good morning. I’m off to the pub.

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7557

Okay, the word got out a while ago, and I’m being drowned in emails tonight, so let’s get this done. By the power of contractual obligation, I am appearing at the San Diego Comic-Con 2009 under the exclusive aegis of Sony, Madhouse and Marvel Anime. I am in San Diego for something less than 36 hours. This is my only appearance at San Diego. Here’s the press release.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Marvel Entertainment Inc. and Madhouse Present an Exclusive Sneak Peek at the Re-imagining of Marvel’s Legendary Super Heroes

MARVEL ANIME TV SERIES

AT COMIC-CON

Get an Exciting First-Look at the All New Anime Iron Man and Wolverine

At the Marvel Animation Panel on Friday, July 24 at 4:30 PM

Culver City, CA (7/15/09) – Marvel Entertainment Inc., has partnered with renowned Japanese animation studio Madhouse (Paprika, Tokyo Godfathers) to create four all new anime versions of classic Marvel Super Heroes. Get an exciting first glimpse of two of the planned four series at this year’s Comic-Con International, the country’s leading comics and popular arts convention. The Marvel Animation Panel will be held on Friday, July 24, and will include an exclusive first look at official teaser trailers for two of these new series, hosted by writer and multiple-Eagle Award winner Warren Ellis, who will appear to discuss writing the all new adventures of these re-imagined Super Heroes.

These Marvel Anime TV series are being created as a way of merging the beloved Marvel Super Heroes of western culture with the bold animation tradition of Japan. The resulting product will be four visually groundbreaking anime series featuring popular Super Heroes redesigned and repurposed as emerging from the fabric of Japanese culture. The series is expected to begin appearing on the Animax channel in Japan in spring of 2010.

The Marvel Animation Panel with run from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Friday, July 24, at the San Diego Convention Center. A one-hour autograph signing with Ellis will follow the panel at Marvel’s Comic-Con booth #2429.

Madhouse, Inc., established in 1972 with offices in Tokyo, Los Angeles and Beijing, is one of the top animation studios in the world working exclusively with some of Japan’s top anime directors. They have created many well-known titles such as worldwide hits Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D, Trigun, Tokyo Godfathers, and Metropolis, Japanese successful TV series such as “Death Note” and “Nana”, as well as Paprika (an Official Selection at the 2006 Venice Film Festival) and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2007 Japanese Academy Award for Best Film – Animation)

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 5,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in licensing, entertainment (via Marvel Studios and Marvel Animation) and publishing (via Marvel Comics). Marvel’s strategy is to leverage its franchises in a growing array of opportunities around the world, including feature films, consumer products, toys, video games, animated television, direct-to-DVD and online.

Contacts:

Mac McLean

Click Communications

818.392.8863

mac@click-comm.com

Ann Hinshaw

Dan Klores Communications

212.981.5160

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7556

As a coda to the previous post, Jamais Cascio notes how the touchscreen generation interacts with a Kindle:

They try to "turn the page" by flicking a finger across the screen. But the Kindle doesn’t have a touch screen….Which means that the second thing that people checking out my Kindle do is get a funny confused look — why doesn’t it work?…

I did exactly the same thing the first time I handled one, funnily enough. I’m not iPhone-entrained, I’m Palm-entrained…

http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7555

My poor ancient Archos Jukebox FM Receiver is old and suffering now, and is being retired from the field and given pride of place as desktop storage. Which put me in the market for a new mp3 player.

Amazingly, I find myself once again in possession of a Sony Walkman.

Of all the things to once again possess. I’ve just written something for The Wire music magazine about personal soundtracks, and the Sony Walkman is what started it. I don’t think, holding my original tape-playing Walkman in my hands, it even occurred to me that such a thing could or should hold a library of music and a day’s worth of TV shows. When I showed this tiny, heavy thing to Lili, I’m wondering now if she was thinking, "yeah, it plays music, but what else does it do?" She didn’t ask, but, knowing her, I wonder if that was going through her head. Whether that’s what goes through the heads of her Western generation, the third (?) internet generation. Where’s the controller? What else does it do?

Having only had the thing a few hours, I fat-fingered the slightly awkward mp3 slider bar while playing her a piece of music on it, watching her fingers twitching. A one-second slip, and she was in there, "give me that, old man," tapping the touchscreen (that she’s never used before). She’s the generation that listens to music on YouTube — and I was about to comment that she’s of the generation entirely used to overcompressed music, until I realised that I grew up listening to toppy medium-wave radio, where people specifically recorded for its quirks. Bass almost completely disappears in pop music until 1988, when it becomes a club and rave experience again. The Associates rigged an entire drum kit with nothing but snares so the sound popped on radio. The only real difference between YouTube and BBC Radio 1 is that she gets to search and choose exactly what she wants to listen to, circling outwards to associated links to find similar and new things. Control.

Clay Shirky’s line about how anything that ships without a mouse is broken — that’s her generation. (I still think he was just one foot behind the time — I understand he was working from an anecdote, but I can’t help thinking the word he should have used is "touchscreen.")

I found Lili crosslegged on her bed earlier, her guitar in her hands, earbuds in, watching something on her open laptop. I suspect it was either a guitar lesson, some tabs she’s been looking for, or listening to Theory Of A Dead Man and trying to detune her guitar to C-sharp to capture their tone. That’s how she treats the laptop — what else does it do? And the very conjuring of all those elements in the first line illustrates that her generation do not live with their heads in a laptop or a DS Lite or whatever. Less so, even, than the previous generation. It’s a fully integrated part of their lives, a Swiss army knife for the world. What else does it do?

If I tell her I have a YouTube app on the Sony Walkman I’ll never get the bloody thing back.

(I’m sure I was going to write about something else, but then I got off on a ramble. Oh well. File it under Brainjuice and move on.)

(Did I mention Lili won a Young Engineers award last week? She came home today with some weird mathematics award I don’t quite understand. I’m slightly afraid she’s going to operate on me in the night and I’ll wake up as a cyborg slave.)

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As records have resurfaced, enthusiasts working from an abandoned McDonald's have begun restoring famous images of the moon made by the 1960s Lunar Orbiter spacecraft in unprecedented detail.

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Men of the ancient civilization in Mexico carried ancestral thighbones as status symbols, new grave excavations suggest.