John Sundman, writer and frequent K5 diarist, has released PDF versions of both Acts of the Apostles and Cheap Complex Devices under the Creative Commons license. The books are available on his site.

Hell, it's free reading, but if you need further convincing, check out rusty's reviews here and here.

I read the self-published Acts of the Apostles about a year ago, bought another copy for my dad and have loaned mine out several times. It's a fun summer read, a techno-thriller that actually gets the techno part right.

Lost under a pile of books, I'd forgotten about my copy of Cheap Complex Devices until recently. I'm reading it now and at this point can say it's a hell of a read. If you're gonna read both novels, read them in order. CCD is an entirely different beast than AotA, telling its own story(in its own style) while still being connected to the first.

Anyway, check them out, spread the word, and pick up the dead tree versions if you like em.

02:18 AM | 0

Due to influences of The Girlfriend, I watched the American Idol finale tonight, and it left me with one comment. Clay Aiken is the love child of Martin Short and Anne Heche.

11:32 PM | 3

Joss Whedon speaks about Buffy. Also, a load of Buffy farewells. [via fury]

Several years ago, the daughter of a co-worker left a box of VHS tapes for me. I'd never seen this Buffy the Vampire Slayer show, but she was enthusiatic about the strong writing and clever dialog and convinced me to give it a try. I took the box home, sat down with my roommate and popped Welcome to the Hellmouth into the VCR. Two weeks later, we'd finished two seasons and were current with the show. I'd never watched so much TV in such a short period of time. We were hooked.

Tuesday nights are Buffy night. Friends come over, we eat pizza and watch the show. Tonight is the final episode of Buffy, but we'll probably continue the tradition in some way. Bad/good Armageddon movies might be a fitting way to fill the gap for a bit. Films like A Boy and His Dog and Hardware. Maybe Halo on the LAN. Either way, I'll bet we still call it Buffy night.

Barring a few lapses, it's been a good seven years. Thanks, Joss.

So anyway. What'd your BTVS story? How were you introduced to the show?

02:04 AM | 5

Anyone else catch Matrix Reloaded tonight?

Okay, spoiler-free review: I dug it.

Anything goes in the comments, tho. Oh, and when you see it, stay through the credits, never-ending as they may feel.

02:05 AM | 8

It's movie time!

For a Good Time. Ryan and crew made a movie.

Ah Lamour! A bitter film. More random videos here. [thanks Josh!]

02:46 PM | 0

The all-time greatest and dumbest American comic book covers. [via Justin]

Also, there's a new single out by Lord of the Rhymes.

12:16 PM | 2

Atari is back, kind of.

A slew of new updates from Salam Pax. Good to know he's still alive.

01:06 PM | 0

Saw X2 this weekend. Better than I thought it was going to be. I was never much of an X-Men fan growing up, but I did read a bit of Excalibur which had some crossover. I've gotta say, Alan Cumming played a hell of a Nightcrawler. Lots of little homages throughout the film for the comic book geeks, but accessible enough for anyone to enjoy.

Anyway, the purpose of that paragraph was to introduce a new film by Danny Boyle called 28 Days Later. Caught a trailer before X2, seems to be part Night of the Comet, part The Omega Man. Neat. I'm a big fan of post-apocolyptic films, but they seem to have gone out of style recently. I'll take what I can get.

12:58 PM | 0

Okay, so adding a games section to Slashdot isn't a bad idea. But c'mon, purple with a gradient?

04:51 AM | 2

Er yeah, sorry bout the downtime there. Hey look, it's May!

01:18 PM | 0