'Smile Time': the comic.

The link to the dark cabal, an anonymous group blog devoted to reviewing short sf, has been bouncing around all over the sf blogosphere. I think nwhyte was the first to spot it, as part of his Hugo round-up; after I posted about it to shortform, Gwenda Bond picked it up, and subsequent commentary seen includes, but is not limited to: Justine Larbalestier here, Ben Peek here, Matt Cheney here (and more recently here), and this discussion at the Night Shade message boards.

If Molesworth went to Hogwarts [via dyddgu]

The Third Alternative is truly no more; from now on, the magazine will be known as Black Static. [via douglain]

A fantastic reinterpretation of Star Wars in the light of the prequels; and what happens when a 7-year old watches the old films after the new ones. [via swisstone and snowking]

Chance blogs about The Sparrow. And again. And again. And. Again. And then once more for luck.

Pretty pictures I'm nominating for the BSFA best artwork award: one, two, three.

Veronica Mars stuff: vonnie_k talks about the pilot, and inigo has transcripts. Transcripts make me happy.

On the subject of the Global Frequency pilot: it turns out that Producer John Rogers has a blog, where he's made a couple of interesting posts about the show. One after the show got leaked; another about how the format of the comic would have been adapted for tv; and on the subject of a potential grassroots movement to get GF back on-screen somehow, this:

The odds of this working are way, way too small to take seriously.
[...]
On the other hand, the entire idea of Global Frequency is of ordinary people subverting the establishment and getting things done. The concept of a fan base for the show subverting the establishment and getting things done ... frankly that's a little irresistible.

And finally: Batman trained to be the best at everything, right? [via mattia]