/* ** ************************************************************************ ** ************************************************************************ ** The Non-Sequitur Express ** Published at random intervals by Phillip Thorne ** Volume 3, Issue 12: Wednesday, 10 October 2001 ** http://nsx.underbase.org/ ** ** There was a young lady named Bright, ** Whose speed was far faster than light, ** She set out one day, ** In a relative way ** And returned on the previous night. [*] ** ************************************************************************ ** ************************************************************************ */ OBSERVATIONS & C: Planetary Society, Orbitz vs. Orbitz, underwear vs. Snapple. ERRATA & O+A+A: TV listings. CONVENTION REVIEW: Worldcon panel: How has cover art changed? TECH ON THE WEB: Electroluminescent wire. UPCOMING: UPN, WB, synd 17 29 48, SFC, TCN., encore times. plus Legalese, acknowledgements and opt-in/out instructions. http://nsx.underbase.org/ - back issues http://nsx.underbase.org/index_plus.htm - synopses, reviews, analyses, etc. http://nsx.underbase.org/tv/ - Philadelphia and network TV listings mailto://nsx-discuss-l@underbase.org - post on this issue (if subscribed) http://www.underbase.org/ - additional databases /* *************************************************************************** ** OBSERVATIONS & COGITATIONS ** The Planetary Society and targeted investing. ** Orbitz (the drink) vs. Orbitz (the .com). ** The horrifying connection between underwear and Snapple. ** ************************************************************************ */ I'm a member of the Planetary Society, a space exploration advocacy group, and last night I received a personal phone call from a volunteer (in CA/Pasadena) thanking me for my recent donations, and asking for any opinions I might have. Here's one that was too complicated for the phone. First, a pile of premises: * The government that governs least, governs best. * Essential activities that can't make profits shouldn't be run by private companies. * Space exploration is not currently a profit-making activity. * Space exploration is not an essential activity. * Individual taxpayers can't control how their tax dollars are allocated. * Individuals can control how their charity dollars are allocated. * Some charity dollars are tax-deductible. Conclusion: If I want space exploration and development to be conducted in certain directions, I shouldn't wait for government agencies (ie NASA and private NASA contractors) to do it. I should instead vote with my dollars, promoting private organizations that will do so. Current Society projects include: Two classroom projects: "Red Rover, Red Rover", in which kids build camera-equipped LEGO Mindstorms-based rovers and teleoperate them over the Internet (with LEGO Dacta); and "Red Rover Goes to Mars", in which winners get to choose targets for the Mars Global Surveyor camera and teleoperate a prototype Mars rover at JPL. (JPL, LEGO Systems International, Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS), Utah State Univ, Visionary Products Inc.) The "Cosmos 1" solar sail proof of concept, an international collaboration funded by Cosmos Studios (a science-entertainment venture by A&E and the widow of Carl Sagan); spacecraft built by the Babakin Space Center and Russian Academy of Sciences, with a camera by MSSS, and launched on a Russian rocket (a converted SS-N-18 SLBM called the Volna). (The first vehicle was lost when its launcher failed to deploy it, on 20-jul-2001.) The "Mars Microphone" payload on the upcoming NetLander mission run by CNES (the French space agency), launching in sep-2007 to arrive aug- 2008. The eight devices will be mounted as human-scale stereo pairs aboard the four networked landers. (The first Mars Microphone was lost with NASA's Mars Polar Lander, which crashed on 3-dec-1999.) [ planetary.org/rrgtm/ - Red Rover Goes to Mars ] [ planetary.org/rrrr/ - Red Rover, Red Rover ] [ pitsco-legodacta.com - Pitsco LEGO Dacta educational solutions ] [ lego.com/dacta/ ] [ msss.com - Malin Space Science Systems, operators of Mars Global Surveyor ] [ planetary.org/solarsail/ - Cosmos 1 solar sail mission ] [ planetary.org/html/learn/MarsMic/MarsMic.html - Mars Microphone ] [ www-projet.cst.cnes.fr:8060/NETLANDER/ - NetLander mission ] *** First there was Orbitz, Clearly Canadian's fruitish beverage in the pear-shaped bottle (not disquieting) with the colored gelatin spheroids floating in it (very disquieting, to drinkers, and to lava lamps). Now there's Orbitz.com, the airlines-owned online travel search engine (very disquieting to travel agencies). [ acs.org/portal/Chemistry?PID=acsdisplay.html&DOC=vc2%5C1rp%5Crp1_orbitz.html - transparent gellan gum suspends the spheroids ] [ epsrc.ac.uk/documents/about_epsrc/corporate_publications/newsline_journal/newslin16/hardsci.htm - shear-thinning drops its viscosity by 10^8 ] [ clearly.ca - alternative beverage maker Clearly Canadian ] [ kibo.com/exegesis/index.shtml#ORBITZ - jun-1996, Kibo's first mention... ] [ kibo.com/kibofood/index.html#ORBITZ - ...and his review ] [ wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/89/158/21_2_m.html - jul-1996 review ] [ augustachronicle.com/headlines/101696/bizzare_beverages.html - oct-1996 review ] [ students.rhodes.edu/sw/10~02~96/opinion/gandy.html - oct-1996 overview ] [ joelavin.com/orbitz.html - aug-1997 review ] [ bevnet.com/reviews/orbitz/ - mar-1998 review of five flavors ] [ dailyprincetonian.com/Content/1998/04/16/arts/sirota.html - apr-1998 overview ] [ sankey.ca/d/blog/2001_07_08_archive.shtml - jul-2001 meta-review ] [ lanceandeskimo.com/chefelf/bev_orbitz.shtml - will need Google cache ] [ plastic.com/altculture/01/04/10/1747240.shtml - the bottle won awards ] [ gpi.org/1996.html - 1996 Clear Choice Awards for glass containers ] [ orbitz.com - flight, vacation, cruise search ] *** Years ago, Fruit of the Loom brand underwear advertised with talking fruit. Snapple brand beverages currently advertise with mute fruit. The "Futurama" episode "A Fishful of Dollars" featured Lightspeed brand underwear. Huggies brand diapers advertise with a talking diaper. Fruit of the Loom has changed its logo to the letters "FTL". FTL in the SF namespace means "faster than light". In Douglas Adams' _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_, the FTL drive of the starship _Heart of Gold_ is based on a device often used for the party trick of making all the hostess's undergarments jump one foot to the right. The inescapable conclusion is... the inevitable existence of fruit- flavored edible talking underwear that travels faster than light and hence, back in time! It's a plot by the future to inundate the past with stupid stuff! (Today's masthead quote is a limerick composed c.1923 by A.H.Reginald Buller (1874-1944) in response to Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity.) [ snapple.com Snapple Beverage Group ] [ fox.com/futurama/ ] [ library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/buller1.html ] /* *************************************************************************** ** ERRATA & OMISSIONS, ADDENDA & ADMISSIONS ** TV listings. ** ************************************************************************ */ Missed TV: "Crusade" on the Sci Fi Channel on mon-8-oct-19:00 was not replacing "Babylon 5" on Mondays; it was merely the last episode in a day-long marathon. Missed TV: "Tama and Friends" on KidsWB every sat-07:00 is an anime import. Missed TV: "Mutant X" premiered in syndication on wphl-17 on sat-6-oct- 17:00. Mangled TV: some listings for "Transformers: Robots in Disguise" have located it at 16:00; it's at 14:30. /* *************************************************************************** ** CONVENTION REVIEW ** Millenium Philcon: 59th Annual World Science Fiction Convention ** PUBLISHING IN THE 21ST CENTURY: HOW HAS COVER ART CHANGED? ** Friday 13:00 ** Bob Eggleton, Jamie S. Warren Youll, Michael Whelan, Peter Youll, Stephen Youll ** ************************************************************************ */ 1. PARTICIPANTS BOB EGGLETON has 20 years of experience in SF, producing covers for New York and other publishers, conceptual art for films, etc. His art book _Dragonhenge_ comes out next year. Recently spent twelve weeks designing monsters for the Nickelodeon CGI film "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius". He would think like a kid, fax sketches to the production company, and get back the response "cool". This makes up for many bad experiences, such as conceptuals for "Star Trek: The Experience" at the Las Vegas Hilton - - where the Hollywood types let him *know* he was a scab. [ bobeggleton.com ] JAMIE S. WARREN YOULL is art director (AD) for Spectra (the SFF imprint of Bantam Books), and has worked with all four artists. If you object to the policy that publishers sell to corporate buyers, not end-readers in stores, write to them! MICHAEL WHELAN has worked in SF for 25 years, mostly in book covers, but for the past several years has been producing more for the gallery market. Recently, he has returned to covers. He agrees with Stephen that the gallery market feels weird after publishing; a painting is sold and then POOF! vanishes into a private collector's home. Nowadays, he periodically sends samples (transparencies) of work-in-progress to ADs, but none have yet been relevant. [ glassonion.com - Glass Onion Graphics ] PETER YOULL, Stephen's twin brother, used to collaborate with him on paintings, but now works independently. He lives in the UK but his style is preferred by US publishers. He notes that the book cover market is changing, such that an increasing number of AD are picking up the "second rights" on art done by an artist for his own amusement. STEPHEN YOULL (Artist Guest of Honor) has worked as an SF artist for 16 years in the UK, doing covers for books by Asimov, Bear, Cherryh, etc., and art for Lucasfilm, etc. He used to collaborate with his twin brother PETER YOULL. He has gotten hooked on seeing his covers on bookstore shelves, and is depressed if they're not; it's one of the few ways today for a fine artist to be in public view. He loathes the stress and deadlines of the market, but would equally hate not to continue contributing. 2. DIGITAL INVASION Stephen: since the point of a cover is to sell the book, any new technique that can get it noticed is adopted. Computers are the newest such trend, but has not yet been widely adopted in SF. Michael: however, CG art (ie Photoshop) has swept the romance genre, and many of his traditionally-trained acquaintances have been pushed out, their work replaced by digital simulations of oil brushstrokes. A digital artist can produce three covers a week, triple the output of even a fast painter. Bob: he notes with disdain that some executives think a copy of Bryce [a 3D program for producing realistic landscapes] makes them artists. Stephen: Warner Books still wants real art, not digital; but he works in the latter medium for mystery titles. Once a new crop of ADs (familiar with Photoshop and Quark) replaces the old, demands will change. Michael: notes that in the 1960s, a fad erupted in the use of photographic covers; then the pendulum swung back. He asks Jamie if she thinks digital art will undergo a similar cycle. Jamie: because hardback publishers have limited resources, they've adopted digital art with a vengeance. Stephen: isn't opposed to CG when it's appropriate. Scenes by some authors (Tad Williams, George Martin) are so surreal and layered that they'd take forever to depict in traditional media. Others, however -- readers just won't buy a CG-rendered girl on a unicorn; it's been *tried*. Michael: thanks computers for freeing him from montages, which he considers a cop-out for ADs who can't decide on a single scene from the book. However, he loves what some people do with the technique. Stephen: has been asked on occasion to do montages, just because the artist of the prior volume did so. 3. THE DEADLINE ONSLAUGHT Jamie: She explains that deadlines have shrunk, and more people are involved: the editor, publisher and president all insist on input. Her sketches and roughs (intended for the cover artist) must be more refined for their consumption, and they hence expect *her* to do the complete cover. This disturbing trend has already overtaken mystery and is creeping up on SF. There's the time pressure (in the hardcover and trade markets) to be the first catalog onto the desks of corporate buyers. Stephen: ADs, artists, and the entire production chain are under increasing time pressure; covers are used to sell titles (to corporate buyers at the big sales conferences) even before the text is complete. Jamie does some covers herself, because her superiors demand cost savings. Stephen: prefers to spend two to three weeks on one painting, but sometimes does a rush job in four to seven days; then takes a week to recover. The most expensive books always get the shortest deadline, and *those* are the ones on which problems inevitably arise. Bob: admits he once did a painting, a small one of a skull for the cover of _Necroscope_, in three hours. Stephen: Traditional artists are forcing themselves to match the speed of CG competition. The audience suggests a solution to the problem of short deadlines: go direct to the author, collaborate, and get a head start on the process before the AD calls. Jamie: two problems with that. First, what if the president doesn't like it? And second, since it's pre-existing art, it has to be bought under second rights. Stephen: is actually following that process for Kevin Anderson's _Seven Suns_ series. Michael: sometimes the book isn't complete, you get only a synopsis, use your imagination -- and then the author writes *your* details into the text. Stephen: that happened with _Exile's Children_: a scene based on the cover. The book was first released in the US. When the manuscript was sent to the UK, the UK artist happened to choose that highly detailed scene, and coincidentally produced almost an exact copy of my painting. 4. PRICES IN STASIS Jamie: most publishers are now big business, and are run by bean counters. At corporate meetings poor last-quarter performance is cited, then budget limits imposed. Michael: price depends on the rights you sell for the piece: US, international, paperback, movie, tie-ins. Jamie: cover art is bought at a flat fee; there are never royalties. They go for $1800-$4000, with an average of $3000 -- but that average has been unchanged for twenty years. Payments haven't kept pace with inflation, and are starting to push artists out of the market. Stephen: only love will keep artists at this. CG artists are taking over becaue $3000 just doesn't justify the effort involved in a traditional painting. Bob: foresees a return to 1930s-'40s-style small press publishers who do it for love. He tells of one cover he did for Arkham House, for fair but not great pay; but he was allowed to do what he wanted. Then Del Rey picked up the title, and paid him twice as much. Then he got the European rights. Then a wealthy anonymous collector bought the original. 5. INFILTRATING THE MARKET Exposure in a convention artshow can be useful, but be sure to have a supply of business cards accopanying the display. (The SFF market is unique in having this venue.) The key cons are Worldcon, Lunacon, and a few other big east coast regionals, because they'rre more likely to have ADs in attendance. (Michael knows of three people who got started this way.) Jamie: however, awards at juried shows (such as the Society of Illustrators) are of no help. ("That's gonna save me $400 a year," Michael jokes.) Jamie and Michael: send hardcopy samples to the AD, not floppies; they want something they can discard or file, and will not interrupt their work to launch the appropriate viewer. Websites are good, so long as they're not overdesigned. (Membership in ASFA, the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists, gets you a directory with contact information for all the major ADs.) Jamie: Do *not* send samples to the AD's home net account. Stephen: ADs are very busy, so do *not* phone them to ask "how did you like it?". This merely antagonizes them. Don't try to convince them of your worthiness; let the work speak for itself. Michael: notes that the fine art market is the total opposite: there is no correlation between price and quality, and the artist's self- marketing counts as much as the work itself. /* *************************************************************************** ** TECH ON THE WEB ** Electroluminescent wire ** ************************************************************************ */ You first saw the technology in wristwatches (as Timex Indiglo(tm)), and then backlit PDA screens, but it's now available for all your special- effects needs -- IN LICORICE FORM! Variously known as EL wire, glow wire, or (inaccurately) neon wire, ELECTROLUMINESCENT WIRE is now available from multiple resellers at a reasonable price; it's sold on spools or by the foot. The site elwire.com suggests $1.50 per foot for thin (2.3-mm) or $1.60 per thick (3.2-mm). Structurally, EL wire consists of a copper core sputter-coated with a phosphor, then helix-wrapped with two 39-gauge wires, then wrapped in two PVC sleeves. It's sold in two widths, 2.3- and 3.2-mm; the fatter one is intended for outdoor use. Electrically, it's a capacitor with a lossy dielectric; the loss translates into visible photons in the blue- green range. Optically, the wire's glow is visible even in a lit room, but in a dark room is insufficient to read by. Like an LED, an EL wire is cool because it's efficient, converting its miser's dose of current almost perfectly into light. The wire is driven by 120-volt AC at 60-Hz and up; increasing the driver frequency increases the phosphor's brightness, alters its color, and reduces its lifetime. (It won't burn out all at once, but does fade.) Making the wire *pulse* involves complex modulation of the input. You can splice a plug onto one end and use wall current ("the mains" if you're British), or use a DC-AC battery pack. Note that such a pack uses the wire as its capacitive load, and will burn out if one is not attached. They're rated by the length of wire you're driving. Multiple colors are available, but they simply involve a colored sleeve over the blue-green core. Because they're electrically identical, they can be spliced together (only the total length matters); jacketed speaker wire can be used to insert dark sections. (You combine the two outer helix wires onto one of the speaker leads.) Heat-shrunk plastic tubes are handy for sealing the joins. The wire can be bent into curves, but isn't meant for repeated flexing; the phosphor cracks, causing dark voids along the wire. Typical uses include costumes, safety vests, interior and exterior auto detailing, PC case customizing, and signage. Flat EL panels are also available, which can be cut into the shape of miniature "neon" signs for model train layouts. [ dxmarket.com/micromark/products/25010.html - EL panel 1.75x3.75-in ] [ scientificsonline.com/ - CR30824-88,89,90, 20-ft wire plus driver ] [ beingseen.com ] [ coolight.com ] [ coolneon.com = playafish.com/coolneon/ ] [ coolwireusa.com ] [ elwire.com - store currently inactive ] [ enlightenwire.com ] [ glowire.com ] [ itsrealstuff.com/html/glowirez1.html ] [ lightgod.com/neon.html ] [ pccasegear.com/glowire.html ] [ radeonic.com ] [ softneon.com ] [ thatscoolwire.com ] [ torche.com -> elwire.com ] [ lyteline.co.uk ] [ neonwire.co.uk ] [ surelight.com = olmec.co.uk ] /* *************************************************************************** ** UPCOMING ** UPN, WB, syndicated 17 29 48. ** Nick, SFC, TCN. ** Encore times for season premieres. ** ************************************************************************ */ ADVISORIES... UPN is now airing "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (s6), "Enterprise" (s1), and "Roswell" (s3). WB has "Angel" (s3) and "Charmed" (s4). Syndicated on wphl-17 are "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" (s2), "Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict" (s5) and "Mutant X" (s1); on wtxf-29 "StarGate SG- 1"; and on wgbh-48 "The Invisible Man" (s2) and "The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne" (s1). Many of these series have encore showings about one week later. fri-05-oct-20:00 60m 48, "Secret Adventures of Jules Verne" net prem sun-07-oct-18:00 60m 48, encore showing prem enc sat-06-oct-17:00 60m 17, "Mutant X" ser prem sat-06-oct-18:00 60m 17, "Andromeda" s2 prem sun-07-oct-11:00 60m 17, "Earth: Final Conflict" s5 prem sun-07-oct-22:00 60m UPN, "Enterprise" first encore #103 enc tue-09-oct-21:00 60m UPN, "Roswell" s3 prem sun-14-oct-01:30 60m 17, "Earth: Final Conflict" s5 prem enc sun-14-oct-12:00 60m 17, "Andromeda" s1 prem enc sun-14-oct-13:00 60m 17, "Mutant X" ser prem enc tue-16-oct-21:00 60m WB, "Smallville" ser prem sun-04-nov-20:00 30m Fox, "Simpsons" (anim) s13 prem sun-04-nov-21:00 60m Fox, "The X-Files" s9 prem thu-08-nov-20:00 30m Fox, "Family Guy" (anim) s? prem thu-08-nov-20:30 30m Fox, "The Tick" ser prem sun-09-dec-19:00 30m Fox, "Futurama" (anim) s4 prem On cable, Nickelodeon has almost finished the second six-ep season of "Invader Zim". The Sci Fi Channel (SFC) is on hiatus until jan-2002 for "Farscape" (s3), "The Invisible Man" (s2), and "Lexx" (s4). Also on cable, the Cartoon Network's (TCN) three -- correction, four- sometimes-more -- hours per weekday of action animation are divided between the A.M., afternoon Toonami, and late-night/early-morn Midnight Run (MTWF)/Adult Swim (SR) blocks. The early-morn airings don't count as encores, because pre-emptions soon cause sync loss. mon-03-sep-00:00 M----- 60m TCN, "Cowboy Bebop" pair (Adult Swim) fri-07-sep-00:00 -----Z 60m TCN, "Cowboy Bebop" encore (Adult Swim) mon-01-oct-06:00 MTWRF- 30m TCN, "ReBoot" mon-01-oct-06:30 MTWRF- 30m TCN, "Max Steel" mon-01-oct-17:00 MTWRF- 30m TCN, "Gundam: 08th Mobile Suit Team" (Toonami) mon-01-oct-18:30 MTWRF- 30m TCN, "Batman Beyond" (Toonami) wed-10-oct-00:30 -TWR-Z 30m TCN, "Gundam: 08th Mobile Suit Team" (Midnight Run) Since 1998, the anime series aired by TCN include (in alphabetical order): "Big O", "Cowboy Bebop", "Dragonball" and "Dragonball Z", "Gundam" ("-Wing", "Mobile Suit-", "-08th Mobile Suit Team"), "Outlaw Star", "Robotech" ("Macross Saga" and "Southern Cross"), "Tenchi" ("- Muyo", "-Universe", "-in Tokyo"); and borrowed/cross-programmed from KidsWB, "Cardcaptors" and "Yu-gi-oh!" They've also aired "Blue Submarine #6" as a movie and "Starblazers" online (in the experimental "Generator" high-bandwidth-required subsite). The American superhero cartoons include the WB-DC triple of "Batman", "Batman Beyond", and "Superman", and the CGI series "ReBoot" and "Max Steel". (The problem with "Cowboy Bebop" is not only does the "Cartoon Network- Adult Swim" badge hover in the lower right corner, but the MPAA ratings badge (TV14) hangs in the upper left; and not just for the first required 30 seconds of each half-hour, but for the *entire episode*. At least they don't have the "upcoming program" popup or "fan comment" screen- squeeze used by FoxKids.) /* ************************************************************************ ** Legalese ** Acknowledgments ** Opt-in/out Instructions ** *********************************************************************** */ The set of creative works herein reviewed and analyzed, including the subset {books, movies, TV shows, toys}, are the property of their respective copyright holders. No infringement or endorsement is expressed, implied or intended. The original reviews and analyses are themselves copyright 2001 by Phillip Thorne. In this issue, certain data (possibly not otherwise acknowledged) have been obtained, aggregated and synthesized from: The Cartoon Network cartoonnetwork.com Tribune Media's Excite TV tv.excite.com The Planetary Society planetary.org The Sci-Fi Channel scifi.com TCN's Toonami toonami.com If you're receiving this newsletter, you've probably intentionally subscribed to it, or possibly you're interested in special topical coverage, or maybe I've sent you a teaser issue. To subscribe and unsubscribe, follow standard mailing list protocol with the addresses below: Publisher: nsx@underbase.org Newsletter: nsx-l@underbase.org nsx-l-subscribe (to subscribe; blank subject) nsx-l-unsubscribe (to unsubscribe) Discussion list: nsx-discuss-l@underbase.org nsx-discuss-l-subscribe (to subscribe; blank subject) nsx-discuss-l (to post) nsx-discuss-l-unsubscribe (to unsubscribe) /* *************************************************************************** ** *************************************************************************** ** The Non-Sequitur Express ** http://nsx.underbase.org/ ** Volume 3, Issue 12: Wednesday, 10 October 2001 ** Copyright 1999-2001 Phillip Thorne, nsx@underbase.org ** *************************************************************************** ** ************************************************************************ */