Esperanto and Klingon and Quenya...Oh, my!!

This summer, at the Cleveland Public Library:

Running May through August 2008, Cleveland Public Library will present an exhibit entitled 'Esperanto, Elvish, and Beyond: The World of Constructed Languages' on the second floor of the Main Library.

What are 'constructed languages?' Quite simply, they are languages that have been intentionally constructed. Languages like English, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Swahili, and Guguyimidjir (a nearly-extinct native language of Australia) all evolved naturally, arising organically within a group of people through various natural forces. No single person defined their vocabularies, designed their syntaxes, or deliberately decided to create them.

Constructed languages, or 'conlangs' for short, stand at the other end of the spectrum: a single person (or a small group) defines the vocabulary, designs the syntax, and deliberately decides to create a language. Why would someone want to do this when there are so many 'real' languages to learn? The reasons are legion: from the simple artistic desire to play with linguistic concepts to the obsession to provide the world with a universal language. 'Conlangers' (those who construct languages) bring a myriad of skills, tastes, and goals to the art and craft of conlanging. Conlangs have been used in fiction (like The Lord of the Rings) and movies (like Star Trek) to add a sense of realism but have also been purely personal projects intended to stand on their own. Conlanging is a worldwide phenomenon practiced by people of all ages. It is hoped that this exhibit will provide a glimpse into the fascinating world of conlangs and those who take part in this art. As J.R.R. Tolkien may have said in Quenya: Á harya alassë! Enjoy!

Cleveland's Summer of Superman

CLEVELAND, OH – A group of Cleveland leaders met in New York City with executives at DC Comics, the owners of all Superman property rights, on Monday, April 28, 2008. The purpose was to launch collaboration on a series of events and legacy projects to celebrate Cleveland as the birthplace of Superman. The Man of Steel was created in 1933 by writer Jerome “Jerry” Siegel (1914-1996) and artist Joe Shuster (1914-1992), who both lived in Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood. Superman’s first appearance in a comic book was in 1938 in Action Comics #1.

The organizing committee determined that the best course to follow would be to form a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization to work with DC Comics in planning events for the summer of 2009 and, if successful, for many years to follow. Mr. Richard Pace, the principal of Cumberland Development LLC, was selected to lead the organizing efforts, and he will be supported by staff at Positively Cleveland. His primary charge in these early stages is to consult with DC Comics about every aspect of the planned festivals and to assure compliance with all legal and creative requirements for the use of images of the legendary super hero.

'The only way this effort can succeed to the greatest benefit for our committee is to apply the demanding standards prescribed by DC Comics – the very standards that made Superman the best known comic superhero of them all', Pace said. 'We will do this right, or we will not do this at all!'

Other geeky/Superman somewhat related events in Cleveland this summer:

May 11 is the North Coast Comic Con, located just a wee bit south of Cleveland at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Middleburg Heights with, among others, Sean McKeever, (Teen Titans); Marc Sumerak, (Marvel Adventures); Eddy Newell, (Black Lightning); Sean McArdle and me (Phantom Jack and Tales of the Starlight Drive-In.) Relatives of Jerry and Joe will be there, ready to share stories about those wonderful, creative days.

Jamie Reigel, (http://www.supermansouvenirs.com/) huge collector of all things Superman, will have an exhibit of his rare and wonderful toys. Comic dealers and collector John Haines will show off his Superman comics collection. http://www.northcoastcomiccon.com/ for more details.

Anyone in the Cleveland area is invited to a casual, free, party Saturday evening, May 10, at the hotel.

In July, the artists celebration called Ingenuity Festival of Art and Technology July 25 - 27 will have several cool Superman components. Visit http://www.ingenuitycleveland.com/ for details.

Beginning in September and running though through January, the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood, near Cleveland, will host a superheroes exhibit. That’s in addition to the fine Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster exhibit the museum already has.

Visit http://www.maltzjewishmuseum.org/ for more details closer to the event. No comic fan’s visit to Cleveland is complete without a visit to the Maltz.

And even though it’s a little further away from Cleveland, the Screaming Tiki Pop Kulture Convention in Niles, Ohio, falls under the very broad Summer of Superman umbrella.

On Oct. 17 to 19, the convention welcomes Margot Kidder (Lois Lane, of course) and Sarah Douglas (Ursa in “Superman II.”) The convention will have a 70th birthday cake for Superman and host an auction to benefit the Christopher Reeve. Other featured guests include the original Batman TV show cast: Adam West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar and the original Batmobile.

For more info, visit http://www.screamingtikicon.com

All of this via Michael San Giacomo and Newsarama.

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He Wrote 200,000 Books (but Computers Did Some of the Work)

A bit more than some, perhaps...

It’s not easy to write a book. First you have to pick a title. And then there is the table of contents. If you want the book to be categorized, either by a bookseller or a library, it has to be assigned a unique numerical code, like an ISBN, for International Standard Book Number. There have to be proper margins. Finally, there’s the back cover.

Oh, and there is all that stuff in the middle, too. The writing.

Philip M. Parker seems to have licked that problem. Mr. Parker has generated more than 200,000 books, as an advanced search on Amazon.com under his publishing company shows, making him, in his own words, "the most published author in the history of the planet." And he makes money doing it.

The World's Greatest Music Collection - eBay (item

Organized and cataloged, the collection is meticulously maintained and housed in a climate-controlled warehouse. Every recording in this amazing collection has been personally acquired by the collection’s owner over the past fifty years and represents a lifetime of work and his desire to see the music preserved for future generations. Deteriorating health and related financial concerns are forcing the owner to sell the collection at far less than its true value. The estimated value of the collection, on a per-item basis, is in excess of $50 million.

Writer Arthur C. Clarke Dies at 90

Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, an aide said. He was 90.

Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, died at 1:30 a.m. after suffering breathing problems, aide Rohan De Silva said.

Co-author with Stanley Kubrick of Kubrick's film '2001: A Space Odyssey,' Clarke was regarded as far more than a science fiction writer.

X-Factor Week: Larry Stroman Returns - Marvel.com News

Speak of the devil. GEO and I were just talking about him regarding the recent blowup from the Bonehead from Boneyard. Only tangentially related topics.

Come July, a familiar face returns to X-FACTOR as artist Larry Stroman reunites with Peter David with issue #33!

The two first collaborated in 1991 on X-FACTOR v1 #71, an issue which re-imagined the team for the 90's and beyond and kicked off a brief but fondly-remembered run by the duo. Stroman recently made his return to Marvel with WHAT IF? X-MEN: RISE AND FALL OF THE SHI'AR, and X-FACTOR marks his first regular gig at the House of Ideas in over 15 years.

Dave Stevens Passes Away

From Mark Evanier's webpage:

Illustrator Dave Stevens, best known for his 'good girl' art and The Rocketeer, died yesterday following a long, wrenching battle with Leukemia. Dave was born July 29, 1955 in Lynwood, California. He was raised in Portland, Oregon, then his family relocated to San Diego, where he attended San Diego City College and became involved in the early days of the San Diego Comic Book Convention, now known as the Comic-Con International. His skills as an artist were instantly evident to all, and he was encouraged by darn near every professional artist who attended the early cons, but especially by Jack Kirby and Russ Manning. In 1975, when Manning began editing a line of Tarzan comic books to be published in Europe, Dave got his first professional assignment, working on those comics and also assisting Russ with the Tarzan newspaper strip. Soon after, he worked on a few projects for Marvel (including the Star Wars comic book) and a number of underground comics. Later, he also worked with Russ on the Star Wars newspaper strip.

In 1977, Dave went to work for Hanna-Barbera where he drew storyboards and layouts, many of them for the Super Friends and Godzilla cartoon shows and bonded with veteran artist Doug Wildey, who produced the latter. Wildey and Stevens became close friends and in 1982, when Dave created his popular character, The Rocketeer, he modelled the character's sidekick, Peevy, on photos of Doug. Dave himself was Cliff Secord, who donned the mask of The Rocketeer, and other friends appeared in other guises.

The Rocketeer made Dave's reputation and also spawned a resurgence of interest in fifties' figure model Bettie Page, whose likeness Dave used for the strip's heroine. But the strip was not profitable for Dave, who was among the least prolific talents to ever attempt comic books. It wasn't so much that he was slow, as his friends joked, but that he was almost obsessively meticulous, doing days of study and sketching to create one panel, and doing many of them over and over. Even then, he was usually dissatisfied with what he produced and fiercely critical of the reproduction. Friends occasionally pitched in to help with the coloring but some begged off because they knew it was humanly impossible for anyone, including Dave himself, to produce coloring that he'd like. Eventually, he sold most of the rights to Disney for a Rocketeer movie that was produced in 1991. Dave served as a co-producer of the film and did a brief cameo, but the endeavor was not as lucrative for him as he'd hoped, and it pretty much ended Dave's interest in continuing the character.

Most of what Dave did after that fell into the general category of "glamour art," including portfolios and private commissions. Many of these were illustrations of Bettie Page who, though once thought deceased, turned out to be alive and living not all that far from Dave. They met and Dave became her friend and, though he was not wealthy, benefactor. Deciding that too many others had callously exploited her likeness, Dave voluntarily aided Ms. Page financially and even took to helping her in neighborly ways. One time, he told me — and without the slightest hint of resentment — 'It's amazing. After years of fantasizing about this woman, I'm now driving her to cash her Social Security checks.'

Dave Stevens was an incredibly talented artist who didn't have the fastest production schedule but he put out some incredible work. Plus he brought us back Bettie Page. :) Those two things alone are an accomplishment.

RIP: The Original Dungeon Master

Thank you, Gary, for nearly thirty years of fun and enjoyment. I wouldn't be doing any of this today without you.

I remember the first time that I received an email from Gary Gygax. It wasn't even directly to me, but instead to an industry mailing list that I am a member of. It felt like receiving a letter from a president.

All that I can say is that Gary had been sick for a while and that he is in a much, much better place now than he had been. To paraphrase my business partner, Aren, "I hope that he is received by the gods of his people in the manner that he deserves." It is both ironic and probably deeply appropriate that Gary passed away on GM's Day.

Gary Gygax is gone. You've probably never heard of the guy, but he changed how we play, every one of us, and he brought dwarves and goblins into the mainstream of pop culture. He was co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, author of classics such as The Monster Manual and Dungeon Masters Guide, and a legitimate 20th-level Nerd God.

He died this morning, at the age of 69, in his Lake Geneva, Wisconsin home, and nobody should turn on their XBOX or PS3 today without thinking of him, and thanking him.

Without Gary Gygax, we wouldn't have role playing games, period. Not just D&D, which has been played by more than 20 million people, but the bloated universe of questing elves and ravenous minotaurs that so many of us dwell in, everything from Zelda to World of Warcraft.

In 1974, Gygax and partner Dave Arneson took the fantasy realm best described by J.R.R. Tolkien, and unleashed it in a form that has proved immortal: a game. A game first played with graph paper, dice and most of all, friends and imagination.

What Gritty No Nonsense Comic Book Character are You?

via Jonny

I am wondering if I should be shocked.

What Gritty No Nonsense Comic Book Character are You?

You are Spider Jerusalem.Spider is THE journalist of the future. He smokes, he does drugs, and he kicks ass. The drugs are going to eventually kill him but not before he gets his way. And his way is the demise of the failed American dream. Although full of hate, he cares about his city. All he wants to bring the world is truth. Spider Jerusalem, conscience of the City. Frightening thought, but he's the only one we've got.
Take this quiz!








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