Blogging Around: The "Discovery" Edition

Well, I'll be jiggered. So much new stuff and so much of it interesting ...

"But I did you all a big favor. I have successfully privatized world peace."
Will Iron Man 2 be as good as that line? I don't know. All I know is this ... Robert Downey Jr. have never looked better. Never.



Why we like fizz

As they rise, the bubbles swell to slightly less than a millimeter or so in diameter, absorbing other chemicals from the champagne. At the surface, they burst in a piquant froth.

Each exploding bubble sprays hundreds of droplets of concentrated compounds into the air, wreathing anyone drinking it in a fragrant mist, mass spectroscopy studies show. "These tiny droplets are highly concentrated, and this makes you feel directly through your nostrils all those aromatic molecules," Dr. Liger-Belair says. ...

Fizz, they found, seems to please the palette. Carbonated bubbles in sparkling wine, beer or soda actually activate our taste buds, researchers at Columbia University and University of California, San Diego recently reported.

Read the article here.

Good News Film Reviews is Officially Back
After launching his Top 50 Movies of the Decade, Scott Nehring has flung himself back into blogging about movies and trailers with his usual energy and opinion. That is to say in-your-face, no-holds-barred. Which is why we often are grappling about movies as that is my style too and our opinions often clash. I was afraid that the Top 50 list was a momentary come back but since he's all the way back, do go check Good News Film Reviews on a regular basis.

Top 2009 Lists
The Wall Street Journal has their top lists in books, movies, music, and all that jazz in the paper today. I guess they're leaving room for their Top of the Decade lists to show up next week. It's worth taking a whirl at their lifestyle page to see their picks.

Tea at Trianon
Had I discovered this blog before and then just forgotten it? (That sort of thing does happen to me in this age with so many, many interesting bloggers out there.) Elena Maria Vidal is an author who presents an eclectic assortment of subjects for us to peruse. Recent posts include, but are not limited to: A Christmas Carol, Catholic Marquis de Lescure during the French Revolution, our modern lack of civility, A.A. Milne's poem King John, the lack of culture in "new Britain", book reviews, and more. Think of it as a salon or possibly a good magazine.

Redecorating Middle-Earth in Early Lovecraft: Always Halloween and Never Thanksgiving
Amy H. Sturgis's blog which celebrates all things in science fiction and fantasy, as well it should since she is a scholar and educator with a distinct emphasis on those genres. Ok, she's also many other things including a frequent participant and favorite at StarShipSofa which is where I first encountered her. She graciously commented on my delighted discovery of Wild Wild West as steampunk in her column ... and I tracked her back to her blog. Tons of interesting information is there, which reflects her interests which we often share as I can see from scrolling around. For instance I was thrilled to learn that Connie Willis's next book is set in one of my favorite of her universes, that of The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog.

Connie Willis's 1992 Doomsday Book is one of my absolute favorite novels of all time - definitely "Top Ten List" material - and so I am thrilled to see that her long-awaited next work set in its universe, Blackout, will be out in less than two months.

The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton - free audiobook coming
I have tried numerous times but never been able to scale that mountain. Perhaps with James Campanella's upcoming podcast I will be able to make the journey all the way this time. He is one of my absolutely favorite narrators, as well as having written one of my favorite audio books that combines science fiction and faith. If you are a StarShipSofa fan then you'll also be familiar with his terrific monthly science columns as he is a scientist. Just when he has time to do all this I have no idea but am grateful nonetheless.

His reading premieres on Christmas Day. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the adult book page for the announcement. Subscribe to his podcast feed (which you can drop into iTunes if you like; that's what I do) to have it show up automatically. Don't ignore his children's books feed either which will have a new Doc Savage adventure (or is that two of them?) coming soon as well.

Ruth Golding
What. a. fantastic. narrator. I discovered her in trying the first few episodes of Librivox's recent release of Cleek: The Man of Forty Faces (free, it's always free at Librivox, people!). As is my way, I went to check out her other recordings and discovered her website where she has some commentary about the stories as well as complete downloads available, cover art, and much more. This is a resource to treasure and explore.

Update: I meant to mention also that Ruth reads a great take on the Christmas Eve ghost story by Jerome K. Jerome that I listened to last night. Told After Supper is fairly short and uses everything we know of the traditional English ghost story to both make us laugh and tell a ghost story.