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The article mentioned that the battle with Shelob was one of the two fights requiring a lot of CGI, which is...interesting. And reminded me of two things:

1. At my next-to-last job, we had a server named Shelob, complete with a little name sticker on the outside. Now, instead of outside the server, Shelob's going to be inside it. ;-)

2. When I talked to Sauron (aka Sala Baker after he accepted the Hugo for The Fellowship of the Rings at last year's worldcon, I asked about Shelob and he assured me that Shelob was going to be "really cool."

3. Of course, I didn't realize at that point that Shelob had been pushed back into The Return of the King; if it hadn't, 2002 would have been a banner year for giant spider films, since Eight Legged Freaks also came out that year. I understand why they moved the scene, but it makes me think that The Return of the King will probably show very little, if any, of the scourging of the Shire. Which is something of a shame, because I rather like John Clute's theory that the scourging of the Shire represents a diminished recapitulation of Sauron's fall, in the same way Sauron's own fall is a diminished recapitulation of Morgoth's. Oh well...

Is there anywhere I can get popular audiobooks in mp3 format? I go to the gym every day, and it'd be handy to be able to load a book into an mp3-portable and listen to book while on the elliptical machines.

I hesitate to deal with audiobooks on CD, but only because I don't want to pay CD-prices for a book that I'll probably only "read" once. As a corollary, I have no problem with paying for an mp3-audiobook, just as long as its priced such that could still be affordable even if I only listen to it once through.

PS: Yes, I'd normally ask "where can I find books in Ogg format?", except that I know of no portable players that can play Oggs :(.

Thankfully, there is the Association of Science-fiction and Fantasy Artists which gives an annual award (The Chesley Award).

The Chesley awards are presented each year at the World Science Fiction Convention, which this year (later this month, in fact) is in San Jose.

The convention has an extensive art show, with many artists exhibiting their work.

There is even a 'real-world' gallery devoted to space art.

So, although the 'serious' art world looks down on this type of art, there are venues, and a market, for this work.

Thankfully, there is the Association of Science-fiction and Fantasy Artists which gives an annual award (The Chesley Award).

The Chesley awards are presented each year at the World Science Fiction Convention, which this year (later this month, in fact) is in San Jose.

The convention has an extensive art show, with many artists exhibiting their work.

There is even a 'real-world' gallery devoted to space art.

So, although the 'serious' art world looks down on this type of art, there are venues, and a market, for this work.

It's not just short fiction. Note that it took only 44 votes to get on the ballot in the novel category, and only 486 people nominated novels. Only 626 people cast nominating ballots in any category, and that's an unusually high number of nominators; for the past few years, it's been more like 500 nominators total.

A supporting membership in ConJose currently costs $35 (it was cheaper a few months ago), and entitles you to vote on the final Hugo ballot (but you don't get to go to the con). Usually about 2 to 3 times as many people vote on the final ballot as nominate, but that still means only about a thousand people decide which works get Hugos.

So if anyone here thinks the Hugo ballot doesn't represent what they'd like to see winning awards, consider buying a supporting membership in ConJose and voting in this year's Hugos. Even better, consider buying a supporting membership in next year's WorldCon (TorCon), so that you can nominate next year.

The more people participate in the process, the more accurate the results.

Fans of Vinge (or the merely curious) may be interested to know that he will be the Pro Guest of Honor at ConJosé, the 60th annual World Science Fiction Convention, to be held this August (Aug 29 - Sep 2) in San José, CA, USA.

Memberships are a bit pricey at this point ($180 US), but include the right to nominate and vote for the Hugo awards (for those who were upset over Harry Potter's Hugo last year, this is your chance to help prevent a similar occurance this year).

Maybe I'll see some of you there. Cheers.

It doesn't cost very much to buy an advance supporting membership. I wish this page for the current Worldcon still had the prices for advance membership posted, but that info was probably removed when the deadlines passed. The prices were probably not too much different than next year's Worldcon. Act now; for just $35 USD, you too will be able to nominate and vote the Hugo for works first published in 2001.

*** Ponderoid