weateallthepies.com

A free bit of fiction in the form of the slightly dodgily named ‘wovel’ or web novel.

Anyway it’s a nice idea, throwing up a short installment of fiction and then asking for the readers to vote on the direction before the next installment is published.

I’ve no idea what the story is about but Underland Press say they are into the macabre and darker side of fantasy so I may give it a try if the big pile of books I’ve just received isn’t too distracting.

Every week, the author posts an installment. Installment length hits the sweet-spot of online reading—long enough to get interested, short enough to read in the cubicle at work. At the end of every installment, the author writes in a plot branch point. Does the heroine kill her lover? Will the zombies catch the soldier? Is the box empty, or is it filled with bees?

THE READERS DECIDE.

On Monday, the post goes up. Voting is open through Thursday. The author writes Thursday and Friday. The editors edit Friday and Saturday. The post goes back up on Monday. Part literature, part exquisite corpse. The pace of print journalism, the imagination of fiction, the spark of reader participation.

Found this fascinating documentary recently whilst watching a few things. It can be watched in full at Babelgum but you can see a short trailer below.

Like modern-day explorers, the two academics featured in The Linguists travel to forgotten places around the globe to unearth rare treasures—in this case, endangered languages. On a shoestring budget, professors David Harrison and Gregory Anderson navigate difficult terrain, searching for speakers of these forgotten and mostly hidden languages. While more than 7,000 different languages are currently spoken around the world, many are rapidly disappearing. Language diversity is shrinking as colonialism and economic unrest destroy traditional tribal tongues. When young people abandon their ancestral language, the passive suppression of their culture begins, and soon those languages will cease to exist. Joining a traditional ceremony in a remote village in India, observing a Kallawaya healing ritual in Bolivia, and completing an arduous journey into Siberia are all part and parcel of heeding the urgent call. The word connoisseurs are well suited for the monumental task of researching and documenting native tongues; they speak 25 languages between them. These humble ethnographers are in a race against time to preserve the increasingly rare words, which are intricately linked to the vanishing traditions and heritage of Indigenous populations. Well-paced and laced with humor, The Linguists serves as an insightful, contemporary adventure film with a strong emphasis on cultural history.

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….Download Festival tomorrow, for much beer and metal.
Should be great if slightly damp.

Games don’t get much simpler than “Cat Gets 100 Stars” but it’s definitly a fun little one to play through. As the name suggests you need to control the cat in order to collect 100 stars.

It’s a little trickier than it looks though.

Don’t know much about this band but I like the sound from a quick listen.

Anyway head here for a free copy of their new album “thank you”.

The Backsliders (often capitalized as THe BAcksliders) is a rock and roll band from Dallas, Texas. Their third and newest full-length album, “Thank You”, is available for  free download on their website, www.thebacksliders.com as of May 2009.

Touring from coast to coast in the U.S. and winning both “Best Hard Rock” award in 2008 and “Best Blues” in 2007 from the Dallas Observer Music Awards, THe BAcksliders are fronted by:

Kim Bonner (formerly of Polygram recording artist, Vibrolux)
Chris Bonner (Sons of Sound) on guitar
Jason Bonner (The Vain) on bass, and
Taylor Young (The O’s, Young Heart Attack) on drums.

Probably the cutest animated robot I’ve seen since Wall-e.

Not sure about the new Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes, could be an entertaining film but it’s not really looking like Sherlock Holmes is it? Although I can see the need for changing it to get modern audiences interested.

Coldplay have jumped on the free album bandwagon and are providing a new live album “LeftRightLeftRightLeft” free of charge to download as a thank you to their fans.

I don’t have much more to say on this one, I’m not a huge Coldplay fan unlike most of the rest of the world it sometimes seems but they do what they do well and I’ve enjoyed the odd song.

So head here for your free download.