Magician Chris Lesinski shows you how to do the coin though a table magic trick. It’s incredibly simple, but requires a delicate touch to fool the eye. This comes from Wired.com’s How-To Wiki.
Magic: How to Push a Coin Through a Table
Category Archives: Web
The Hunt for Gollum: Lord of the Rings Fan Film
The Hunt for Gollum is a 40-minute fan-made film that will be available for free downloading on May 3, 2009. The film was made through open collaboration of enthusiastic fans working under the leadership of director Chris Bouchard. The all-volunteer production looks so much like a Peter Jackson LOTR movie that it’s almost scary. One wonders why all the big budget money was spent if the films could have been produced by this crew of hard-working talented volunteers! This film looks like it’s going to be a serious lot of fun and will be a great addition to the LOTR world for its fans.
Poetry Through the Ages
Poetry Through the Ages is an excellent site that offers clear and concise explanations of different poetic forms, a general history of poetry and a simple guide to reading and appreciating difficult poems.
“When a poem arises, it feels like the bosom of the poet lifts up and births the spoken or written moment. The point of origin lies at the furthest depths of the poet, often calling into play ancestral memories, divine or universal inspiration, and insights or truths that “magically” resonate with the reader.”
Heliotrope: Online Speculative Fiction Magazine
Heliotrope is a free quarterly magazine of speculative fiction that publishes stories, poetry and articles. This issue features a story by Neil Gaiman called One Life, Furnished in Early Moorcock. There are also several articles about writer Michael Moorcock’s profound influence on the science fiction and fantasy genres. His most popular works are the Elric of Melniboné stories.
Amazon Appears to Censor Books Related to Homosexuality
In what appears to be one of the worst cases of literary censorship in modern United States history, Amazon.com has listed a wide range of books as what the company calls ‘adult material.’ It would appear that they have included any title that contains any material related in any way to homosexuality. By being placed on this ‘adult material list’, the books were essentially stripped away from any search results and made very difficult to find by browsing.
The following is from Amazon:
In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude “adult” material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.
Candlelight Stories thinks that this represents one of the single most moronic statements ever delivered to the public by a prominent book seller.
The company has announced that this was due to a ‘technical glitch’ but there are very few bloggers who seem to believe that explanation. It would seem that plenty of ‘adult material’ was left available and that this effort was focused largely on non-heterosexual material. This is a terrible thing for a major bookseller to do. It’s a form of book banning. It reeks of ultra-conservative fear of ideas or differing lifestyles. Amazon says it was engaged in an initiative to protect its wide customer base by listing certain books as ‘adult material’ so that they would not appear at the top of search results and possibly offend someone. The complaints of someone who is offended by a book for adults showing up in a list of search results should not be listened to for even a moment. It is a very short step from this kind of censorship to a book burning. This is truly indicative of the danger in primarily relying upon a single online source for books.
It would be advisable to immediately move away from Amazon as a source for books. This kind of behavior, though given a flimsy explanation by the company, tends to indicate a general direction or pattern of behavior in a company. Candlelight Stories is looking into fully disengaging from our relationship with Amazon and will not be offering their products through our site. This blog stands fully opposed to discrimination, censorship or book banning of any kind whatsoever.
Once again, we cannot over-emphasize the importance of moving away from Amazon for book purchases. This is a very serious problem and the company’s explanation is insultingly false.
Here are links to several of the best book sellers on the internet:
The Pothole: Audio Horror Story from Well Told Tales
Mature Content
The Pothole is the latest offering from Well Told Tales, a blog specializing in the production of pulp fiction podcasts. They have recently transitioned from offering only their own audio productions to allowing users to upload their own audio stories, films and written stories. It’s an excellent idea.
I had a blast listening to The Pothole a few evenings ago. It’s genuinely disturbing and offers a unique perspective on its genre. I won’t tell you which genre it is because I don’t want to spoil the suspense for you. The writing by Kris Ashton hooks you immediately. His characters are vivid. The story is pulp fiction at its best. The narrator is John Wooley, actor, author, film teacher and columnist. His reading is superb, with a relaxed and gravelly voice that lets the story unwind with just the right touch of dread.
These guys are very accomplished and are making some of the best audio stories I’ve heard anywhere. Give Well Told Tales a visit.