Wizards Of The Coast To Open Art Vaults To Public For First Time

AUGUST 15, 2005 (Renton, Wash.) - The eyes of the art world will be on Seattle this fall as a portion of one of the largest privately held collections of fantasy-themed art in existence is made available to the public for the first time in a Limited Edition art collection. Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS) and publisher of the famed MAGIC: THE GATHERING Trading Card Game (TCG) and DUNGEONS & DRAGONS roleplaying game (RPG), announced today that it will sell Limited Edition art pieces from its expansive archives in the fall of 2005.

"The acclaimed work of some of the world’s top fantasy artists has long been available for public enjoyment in the form of 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inch trading cards and as ancillary illustrations in game manuals. The debut of the Limited Edition Collection will provide a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for connoisseurs of fantasy art to acquire several celebrated pieces in full-size, collection quality format.

"'For over thirty years the fantastical, otherworldly art of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and MAGIC: THE GATHERING has inspired the creative energies of millions,' said Laura Tommervik, Brand Manager for the Limited Edition Collection at Wizards of the Coast. 'Our archives are filled with more than 15,000 pieces of completely original, fantasy art commissioned for our games and novel lines during the last three decades. This limited sale of ten iconic pieces is a first of its kind for Wizards.'

"Ten select pieces of MAGIC: THE GATHERING and DUNGEONS & DRAGONS art will go on sale in early fall of 2005 with 250 artist signed and numbered canvases and 1,000 artist signed and numbered prints for each selection. Available exclusively via online sale through wizards.com, prices will range from approximately fifty to three hundred dollars each."

Old Comics Reborn

I remember Saint Germaine from the good old days of Caliber Comics (which would be from before the crappy later days of the company). The company put out some really good stuff once upon a time, and it is good to see that some of that stuff hasn't disappeared along with the company.

Hugo Awards for 2005 Announced

Hugo Awards for 2005 Announced

"The winners of the 2005 Hugo Awards were announced tonight at Interaction, the 2005 World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon). Around 2000 people including many of the nominees attended this major event. Full voting figures for both the nominating and final ballots were released simultaneously and are available from Interaction's Web Site."

Best Novel: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Best Novella: "The Concrete Jungle" by Charles Stross

Best Novelette: "The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link

Best Short Story: "Travels with My Cats" by Mike Resnick

Best Related Book: The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction
Edited by Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: The Incredibles
Written & Directed by Brad Bird

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: "33" - Battlestar Galactica
Written by Ronald D. Moore and Directed by Michael Rymer.

Best Professional Editor: Ellen Datlow

Best Professional Artist: Jim Burns

Best Semiprozine: Ansible
Edited by David Langford

Best Fanzine: Plokta
Edited by Alison Scott, Steve Davies and Mike Scott

Best Fan Writer: David Langford

Best Fan Artist: Sue Mason

Best Web Site: SciFiction (www.scifi.com/scifiction)
Edited by Ellen Datlow. Craig Engler, general manager

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (not a Hugo Award): Elizabeth Bear

Special Interaction Committee Award (not a Hugo Award): David Pringle

Things to do in SF when you're dead: Zombie Flashmob today

Things to do in SF when you're dead: Zombie Flashmob today

From the Boing Boing site:

"I received a message from the brain eating master today: 'We're trying to create a self perpetuating Zombie Mob in the streets of San Francisco on Saturday (Saturday, July 30th). A seed group of zombies will start at St. Mary's square, and as we march up Market St. we'll attack Willing bystanders, converting them and giving them ingredients to make more zombies.'"

see the linked site for more information, if you happen to be in the San Fransico area.

I challenge anyone to tell me that isn't geeky.

Voltron Zooms To Theaters

Voltron Zooms To Theaters

"Producer Mark Gordon (The Day After Tomorrow) is developing a big-budget feature based on Voltron: Defender of the Universe, a 1980s Japanese animated series about a team of pilots whose individual ships combine to form a giant robot, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"The film will follow the team as they travel to the planet Arus to learn how to operate Voltron, the last hope against the evil Drule Empire that has subjugated Earth and taken control of the universe, the trade paper reported. The film will be produced by New Line Cinema's Mark Costa and Ford Oelman, who secured the rights from Voltron owner World Events. Pharrell Williams, a partner in the producing duo the Neptunes, will score the film and produce the soundtrack.

"The Voltron series debuted in 1984, about the same time as Hasbro's Transformers toy line, igniting a morphing robot phenomenon. Voltron has generated $750 million in worldwide licensing and nearly $200 million in toys and merchandising since 1984, the trade paper reported. A Transformers film is also in development at DreamWorks."

Uproar grows over GTA sex scenes

Uproar grows over GTA sex scenes

"US politicians have stepped into the storm over secret sex scenes in the best-selling Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas game."

Jim Aparo, 1932-2005

Jim Aparo also had the distinction of having been the longest running artist to ever work on the character of Batman. He brought a very distinct style and identity to the characters of the Batman Family.

Jim Aparo, 1932-2005


"Jim Aparo, a respected Silver Age artist perhaps best known for his work on the Batman character, has passed away, according to a press release offered to reporters on the family's behalf. In addition to work with the big-name character that made his dramatic style one of the most recognizable of the 1970s and 1980s, Aparo enjoyed significant runs with the Aquaman and Phantom Stranger characters, was the co-creator of the Batman and the Outsiders title, and was the penciler on the infamous 'Death in the Family' storyline. He worked at Charlton before heading to DC in the late 1960s."

James Doohan, 'Star Trek's' Scotty, dead - Jul 20, 2005

James Doohan, 'Star Trek's' Scotty, dead - Jul 20, 2005

"James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original 'Star Trek' TV series and motion pictures who responded to the apocryphal command 'Beam me up, Scotty,' died early Wednesday. He was 85.

"Doohan died at 5:30 a.m. (1330 GMT) at his Redmond, Washington, home with his wife of 28 years, Wende, at his side, Los Angeles agent and longtime friend Steve Stevens said. The cause of death was pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease, he said."

Creative Commons Humbug

An interesting take on the Creative Commons license.

Creative Commons Humbug

"Will someone explain to me the benefits of a trendy system developed by Professor Lawrence Lessig of Stanford? Dubbed Creative Commons, this system is some sort of secondary copyright license that, as far as I can tell, does absolutely nothing but threaten the already tenuous "fair use" provisos of existing copyright law. This is one of the dumbest initiatives ever put forth by the tech community. I mean seriously dumb. Eye-rolling dumb on the same scale as believing the Emperor is wearing fabulous new clothes.

"If you are unfamiliar with this thing, be sure to go to the Web site and see if you can figure it out. Creative Commons actually seems to be a dangerous system with almost zero benefits to the public, copyright holders, or those of us who would like a return to a shorter-length copyright law.

"I have sent notes to this operation and never received a reply, in case you're wondering. Meanwhile, according to its Web site, the Creative Commons organization has money from the Hewlett Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. For what?"

Jeff's Gameblog: The Wraeththu Report

Well, Jeff bite the bullet and wrote a review. Enjoy....and hope that the man survived his encounter.

Jeff's Gameblog: The Wraeththu Report

"Colin Chapman started it. It's all his fault.Way back in August 2003 he posted a little item to the RPGnet forums entitled Most Pretentious and Artsy RPG Ever Created?: Wraeththu, starting a thread that exceeded 500 posts. Quickly on the heels of that thread, Wraeththu author Gabriel Strange (posting as gabby2600) ineptly responded with a thread of his own called Wraeththu: Bring on the Clowns. This was also a 500-response monster of a thread. Initially I joined in the guffawing dogpile upon Gabby and his antics, but somewhere along the way I became obsessed with finding out more about the actual game hidden under all the internet gibbering. I started routinely checking up on the official Wraeththu rpg website, stopping by the official messageboards occasionally, sometimes reading the blog of the primary author, and scouring Google for more information. I used the Illinois interlibrary loan system to get a copy of the novels upon which the game is based. (I only made it about 75 pages in before I had to return the book.) Eventually I was so fascinated with the development of the Wraeththu rpg that I started several RPGnet threads of my own: A Wreaththu Thread, Wraeththu: more sample pages (featuring Andy Kitowski's Spulturatorah! rpg), A Brief Wraeththu Update, and Wraeththu RPG on eBay. Once I even edited the Wraeththu entry at Wikipedia to include a missing piece of information.

"Worst of all, I just couldn't stop blogging about this game."