(Image credit)

Slap on the party hats and pull out the kazoos! Today marks the eighth year since I suddenly found myself the proud papa of a shiny new blog. In my ignorance at the time I was under the mistaken impression that I had to have a blog in order to comment on my friend Nick’s blog and after a quick and painless labor I brought forth Stainless Steel Droppings, the name a combination of the quality of programming I assumed I would be creating and a popular science fiction character written by author Harry Harrison.

If you go back to the beginning you’ll see a post on January 1st of 2005 but that is a post I moved to that location for a specific reason (which escapes me all these years later). No, my inaugural post was my January 18th, 2005 lamentation of the beginning of the end for my favorite television show at the time, NYPD Blue. Dang, I still miss Sipowicz. Eight years ago I wrote a brief post about a television show that made me cry. Yesterday I posted a book review about a book that, you guessed it, made me cry. So what have I learned after eight years of blogging? That I am still every bit the sap that I always have been, if not more so.

These past eight years have been a gift to me in the friends I have made and the opportunities I have had to discuss a wide variety of topics with a bunch of interesting people. I miss some who have gone their own way, have had the unpleasant experience of seeing a dear friend pass away before her life had really begun, and have made some lasting relationships that enrich my life in ways I cannot quantify or explain. And every year I meet new, awesome people.

Since the internet has brought so many gifts to me over the years, I’m giving eight gifts to you! Before you go getting all excited let me tell you that these gifts are, on the surface, quite shallow and perhaps silly but they are a current indication of how much fun the internet can be. Their creativity makes me smile as does yours. And if your opinion of these gifts is that they truly are poo, well the word “droppings” remains a part of my blog title after all these years. 🙂

Continue reading “They say its your (blog’s) birthday…” →

(Image credit)

Whether it be a group read discussion or sharing our thoughts on a movie we’ve just seen or simply shooting the breeze over the things we are passionate about, I see these online interactions as the equivalent of the coffee klatch. Let’s face it, we are readers and movie/tv buffs. If we were all to converge on the cantina in Mos Eisley Spaceport we wouldn’t be on the lookout for a couple of wanted droids nor would be be dodging bounty hunters. We would start talking about the latest thing we read or watched and off we would go.

So here we are. It is the weekend and we are meeting up. Pull up a chair, order an Antakarian Fire Dancer or a Synthale…or perhaps just a steaming hot cuppa joe and let’s chat (no blasters please). At some point in that conversation I will ask this question:

What technology/innovation from science fiction books, television or film do you wish was a reality today?

In putting in my own two credits worth I would go about answering three wishes style, only I would cheat (we are at a wretched hive of scum and villainy after all). I would offer three wishes based on things I believe are already in various stages of development and are in some ways already a reality and three that are dreams unfettered by rational thinking.

Remember, we are sitting around chatting, so be sure to put your two credits in too.

Continue reading Cantina Klatch: Sci-Fi Wishes and Caviar Dreams →

(Image Credit)

Or in other words, my New Years resolutions, done with reckless abandon, wild dreaming and unbridled imagination.

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? That place where we feel full to bursting with desires to accomplish myriad impossible things. For readers in particular I believe this time of year is one fraught with heady aspirations of all the worlds we just might be able to explore. Whether we put voice to them or not, readers (and book bloggers in particular), are thinking of all the challenges we can set for ourselves or take part in and accomplish. We are thinking of the hundreds of books we could get through if we could just get rid of some of those annoying obligations…like sleeping, for example. We are full of optimism knowing that this will be an amazing reading year.

But this is true in many areas, not just reading. We have these admittedly false hopes of untold changes we fully expect to make in the new year in our finances, relationships, health, career paths, spirituality as well as those pleasure areas like reading. It is intoxicating to dream these dreams, more so to write them down and generate conversation regarding them.

And I believe that is healthy, to a point anyway–that point being that it is all fun and games until someone gets hurt. I believe it is important to set goals and that it is a worthwhile exercise to embrace tradition and set resolutions, for lack of a more effective word, for ourselves at the start of the new year, provided these giddy, emotionally charged moments don’t turn into depression-inducing shame spirals later on.

It doesn’t break my heart when reality sets in and I cannot accomplish all the goals I set for myself. Such is the stuff of life.

And so in the spirit of having fun I am going to do this differently this year and just give into the bliss of imagining the truly impossible.

Continue reading The crazily optimistic, if I had all the time in the world, “Come on, you will never get half of this done you starry-eyed dreamer” list of Resolutions, Challenges, Hopes and Pipe Dreams for 2013 →

Every year for the past several years Kelly and I have come together on Christmas Eve to share something festive with you to close out the annual Virtual Advent Tour. It is something I look forward to doing with her every year. We generally try to do something fun and this year we decided to create crossword puzzles. This way you can have something seasonally appropriate to occupy a few minutes of your time while also working the little gray cells. The answers to all of my crossword puzzle questions have to do with Christmas movies, or films (like Die Hard) that I consider Christmas films because the holiday is featured in the movie. When I felt it was needed I have given you the name of the movie in parentheses after the related question. You can access the puzzle online here or if you want to utilize it for a family activity you can download it in PDF format to print here. Please be sure to visit Kelly’s site for hers. If you need answers to any of my questions, feel free to leave me a comment and I’ll shoot an email your way. Hopefully the easier ones will give you enough letters to help you get the more obscure ones.

Before I let you go off to your own celebrations, please let me offer you the very merriest Christmas. May you have time over the next few days to hug the necks of people you love and may all the stress that can come along with the day disappear in the warmth of get-togethers with family and friends. I am so thankful for another year in which I can sit here at my computer to send out virtual hugs and well wishes to all of you in this community. It is a privilege and a pleasure. Be safe, have fun, and have a very, Merry Christmas.

Tune in on Christmas Day for a special gift: the official announcement for the 2013 Sci-Fi Experience (or 2013 Science Fiction Experience if you are so inclined) with amazing art that one of my favorite illustrators has generously allowed me to use for the event this year.