Geeks are Sexy + Neatorama’s Big Giveaway Contest

Last month, in partnership with Neatorama, we held a caption contest offering two $50 gift certificates to two lucky readers. This month, we’ll do things a little differently. We’re giving away one FREE item on the Neatorama shop (valued at under $20) to 10 random readers! Here’s how to participate.

  1. Head over to the neatorama shop
  2. Browse around and find something you’d like to have (valued at under $20)
  3. Come back here and let us know about the item you picked (in the comments section below.) Oh, and be sure to use your correct email address in the email field and to include the link to the item in your comment. (comments moderation is enabled, so don’t double post if yours doesn’t appear right away)
  4. Wait until we announce the grand winners (we’ll update this post early next week)

Good luck everyone!

Edit: All the winners have been contacted and given their prices. Thanks to everyone who participated!


5 Epic Fantasy Book Series to Read This Summer

If you didn’t get enough ideas for summer reading from our list of science fiction series, take a crack at fantasy instead. Though before anyone starts to quibble over terminology, I’ll note that though “epic fantasy” is sometimes interchangeable with “high fantasy,” my definition here has more to do with scope than genre. These book series are epic in the sense that they’ll take you a while to read, and probably suck you right into the world while you’re doing it. Though rather than being too obvious by singing the praises of Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, here are some other book series to eat away at some of your summer free time.

The Chronicles of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

It’s been ages since I read these books, and I think it might be time for me to enjoy them again. This is one of the ultimate stories of parallel worlds, and you’ll find that it’s full of philosophical concepts – the nature of existence, and even more obviously, the tension between order and chaos. Oh, and if you’ve got a thing for Tarot cards or Shakespeare, you’ll probably find these particularly enjoyable. There are 10 books that were originally released over a period of 20 years, but in the grand tradition of the omnibus, you can just get the whole kit and kaboodle in one really really big paperback.Though the first book is Nine Princes in Amber, if you can find a copy of it.

The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King

These books are really Stephen King’s magnum opus, and I really did read all of them over a single summer a few years ago – which I highly recommend. From a magical world vaguely reminiscent of the Old West to modern day New York and a bunch of stuff in between, these books are apparently what you get when an author is simultaneously inspired by Lord of the Rings and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The first book is The Gunslinger, and there are seven altogether (though there may soon be an eighth).  Even if you’re not a fan of King’s other works, this saga is worth picking up entirely on its own merits.

A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. Martin

This is one of the most loved high fantasy series that is still ongoing, and definitely fits into the “epic” category. It’s just what you would think for these kinds of books – kingdoms and politics, swords and dragons. But they have also been considered the forerunners of a “grittier” sort of fantasy – Tolkien with an edge, so to speak. The first book in the series is A Game of Thrones, followed by three others. The upcoming installment does not yet have a release date. Also, keep in mind that now would be a great time to read these books, since HBO is making a much-anticipated television series based on them.

The Sword of Truth Series, by Terry Goodkind

I’ve found that this series of books tends to polarize people – either you love it or you hate it. I think I’m actually somewhere in between, but when I sat down and tried to decide whether I wanted to recommend these or Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, I came down on Goodkind’s side of the fence. 11 novels in, these books are a long run of good-versus-evil and fantastic world building. I admit that I haven’t read all of them yet, but hey, something to look forward to. For those of you who might be picking them up because of the Legend of the Seeker TV series, be aware that like most adaptations there are differences – but I still think that if you like one you might like the other. The first book in the series is Wizard’s First Rule.

The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher

Some of you might argue that “urban fantasy” is out of place on this list, but hey, I’m just telling you what you should read this summer, and I put these near the top of the list. Over the course of 12 books, Butcher’s tales of a smart-ass wizard private investigator indulge in some serious world building even if it’s based on our world. Plus if you’re a tabletop geek, there’s a roleplaying game coming out this summer. Something I like about these books is that you can tell that Butcher is a big geek himself; something about the way he writes the system of magic makes me think he’s rolling a D20 next to his keyboard. Also there was a short-lived by really very good TV series that’s worth picking up on DVD. As for the books – to get started, pick up Storm Front. (I’d also highly recommend the audio, which are read spectacularly by Buffy’s James Marsters.)

Again, five is a small number for this kind of list, especially since I can glance over at my bookshelf and see a number of series right now looking sadly neglected – like Wheel of Time and Kushiel’s Legacy and even Jim Butcher’s more traditional fantasy fare, Codex Alera. So what would you guys recommend? Leave your suggestions for fantasy series in the comments! And let us know what you plan to read this summer.

Pirates Sail Across Baltic Sea

This may be the only time you’ll ever read this sentence: Politicians have come to the rescue of filesharers.

Sweden’s Pirate Party, which has one elected member in the European Parliament, has become the internet service provider of The Pirate Bay, the site at the center of much legal controversy in recent years.

The deal came about after six major Hollywood studios successfully applied for an injunction against CyberBunker, the German ISP which previously housed the site. The injunction blocked it from connecting any Pirate Bay site to the Internet, noting that it housed links to torrents to at least one recent release from each studios.

Pirate Party leader Rick Falkvinge (pictured) said (in a press release translated via Google Translate): ” We got tired of Hollywood’s cat and mouse game with the Pirate Bay… it is time to take the bull by the horns and stand up for what we believe is a legitimate activity.”

Falkvinge stressed that his party was, in his opinion, acting entirely within the law; he pointed out that the Pirate Bay itself doesn’t contain any illegal material and simply contains links to torrent files.

The relocation follows further bad news for the filesharing world after a US court injunction made it likely LimeWire will be shutting its doors in the near future. Both LimeWire and its founder Mark Gorton are on the hook for as much as $450 million of damages after a copyright case brought by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The big difference between the LimeWire and Pirate Bay cases is that LimeWire was charging for a premium version of its software. It appears that profiting so directly (as opposed to the Pirate Bay, which makes money from advertising on its site) was enough for LimeWire to be held responsible simply because it knew the software was predominantly used for illegal purposes.

What content or web sites do you check out most on your phone?

As I noted a few days ago, I’m kind of lost without my smart phone, largely because I feel like I need to be connected to my email constantly. Of course, it also means that I’ve got access to all kinds of content – the whole web at my fingertips, so to speak.

In my post about apps, I mentioned Wikipanion, which is a way to access Wikipedia on my phone – definitely one of the things I check out most often. And even without an app, Wikipedia is great for phone browsing since the interface streamlines when you open it up on your phone.

Of course, my mobile web surfing habits tend to vary based on the specific situations – like last week when I was stuck in a doctor’s waiting room for an hour without a book. I spent most of the time browsing through Amazon on my phone, looking for a Mother’s Day gift.

I find my phone pretty easy to read on as well, and so sometimes I’ll read the news sites in the morning while I’m waiting for the bus.

What about you guys? What content or web sites do you check out most on your phone?

Did Lost Pull a Reverse George Lucas?

I loved Lost. When I first started watching, I couldn’t get enough. My husband and I blasted through the first season and then had to wait in anticipation for every single episode as it came on television. I don’t think I’d ever seen such a show before, having never watched Twin Peaks or other similar premises. I was hooked. I even dreamed of Lost.

Part of the thrill was watching the stories unfold, piecing together the story that just got more and more bizarre as time went on. Polar bears! Nuclear bombs! A time-traveling Scot! I mean, what wasn’t there to love?

So why am I not watching Lost right now? Why am I not glued to the screen awaiting every final clue, every last detail? Well, it comes down to the fact that I believe Lost pulled a George Lucas. But a reverse one. Which probably makes no sense to you at this moment, but let me explain.

When I watched the original Star Wars films, I was filled with hope (far beyond A New Hope) and wonder. My brain worked overtime to fill in the gaps: who Leia and Luke’s mother was, what the Clone Wars were like, what it must have been in the heyday of the Jedi. The mystery of it was overwhelmingly tantalizing. I devoured every piece of information I could get to try and make sense of the events leading up to Luke and Leia’s birth —I just knew it had to be spectacular.

And then came the prequels, and part of me died. Maybe I can’t really blame George Lucas for not living up to my imagination, but I could have dealt if the story fell a little short. The truth was it fell so short it turned me off to the entire prequel series. I just couldn’t cope. It ruined everything that I had imagined and turned it into a soap opera with Jar-Jar Binks.

No, I don’t think Lost went as far as Lucas did. But on the other hand, the disappointment I started to feel at the beginning of this season (and intermittently throughout the show’s run) is that the reveals just don’t justify the mysteries. And the worst culprit isn’t the devil in the details—my biggest disappointment with Lost has nothing to do with the actual nuts and bolts, the more science-fiction and fantasy related aspects.

Nope, it’s about character.

I will admit to my bias. I watch shows because I become attached to the characters. A good death or two is fine, don’t get me wrong. I’m not still bitter about Charlie. I swear I’m not. *cough* But I feel that Lost continually has re-invented characters all throughout the series (i.e. John Locke) or just rehashed the same old, same old over and over again (i.e. Kate and Jack). Either the characters develop so much that they are no longer recognizable (and therefore really hard to care about) or they refuse to change and get boring. Or, I suppose, their story gets so weird and wacky or soap-opera sappy that it’s just uncomfortable.

In the end, I find that the characters’ developments are just nowhere near what I’d hoped. What I’d hoped for never happened. When the mysteries lifted, the characters just couldn’t hold it up. It has nothing to do with acting and everything to do with the writing. I realize not everyone watches shows for the same reason I do, but I think that–since my approach is directly derived from fandom in general–there might be some readers out there who agree with me.

Now, I’m not saying Lost isn’t a good show. On the contrary, it’s done a whole lot for television—considerably raised the bar—and introduced audiences to speculative elements in a very mainstream way. I can’t complain about that. It’s better TV than a whole lot of crap that’s out there. Heck, I’d say it’s far better than many films, even. But as far as suspension of disbelief, I think the show left that in the dust a few seasons back. When the characters fall away at the expense of the plot, I think everyone loses. As a result, I’m not worried about spoilers and I won’t be up late watching the finale. In this case I really think I’d prefer to leave it all to the imagination.

What do you think? Am I off my rocker? Feel free to sound off in the comments.

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