Space

I really miss science fiction.

Well, it’s still there, but it’s not.

Space is dead.

We don’t care about seeing the universe, having decided it’s just boring, we don’t dream of playing god and remaking worlds in our own image.  In the real world, the future is dead. Mankind doesn’t desire to escape this gravity well we have fallen down. Excuses like costs and danger.. stupid things.  It’s fucking space, 40 years ago we had men on the moon, and now it seems we are 10 years away from the moon? The fuck is that shit? It’s so sad in a way, that we are so focused on what is in front of us, we can’t look at the bigger picture, of having humanity across the cosmos.

I want to re-ignite that dream.

The Future Has Been Here

I have a T-shirt.

This is what is on it.

I was browsing the web, and it suddenly dawned on me, the future is here.  As I was browsing the internet on a cellphone that has a fucking keyboard and a touchscreen.  It’s better than the ones on Star Trek.  The future arrived and no one noticed, as the future looked like the past still.  No one tore down the old buildings to make way for new ones, nothing has changed that much in terms of looks, aside from cell-phones and the prevalence of laptops.

The future did come.

It’s just invisible, it’s here in radio-waves that we can’t see, but deliver all the information in the world, and can send anything.  I can be nearly anywhere in the world and talk to a person somewhere else on the world via video.  I can find out information on anything within seconds.  The future is here, and it’s mostly been about communication and thinking better.  I can solve a math problem using a website that it used to take hours for a mathematician hours to perform.  I can right click on words that my computer know are misspelled and fix them.  25 years ago that idea didn’t even exist.  I can play videogames with people in China.  The future of the past didn’t even have that as an idea.  Hell, Star Trek the Next Generation had Holodecks, which were local Multiplayer only.

Almost all the information of the world is at my fingertips, things my grandparents and parents never dreamed up are right here.  In my pants I have 2 small electronic devices roughly the same size as my wallet that each have better displays than fullsize TVs from 15 years ago, they have better CPUs than laptops from 12 years ago, smaller batteries and more RAM, and are less than 1/20th of the weight.

The future came, and it’s going to keep coming, and we can never be sure how it will look.

Comics I Think Are Awesome

Cassanova – by Matt “I now write major Marvel comics” Fraction with art from the Brazillian Wondertwins of Ba/Moon. And spies.

Phonogram – Music, Magic and More good shit for people of quality from a Videogame Journalist/Guy who writes Thor some and Some very nice art.

Mouse Guard – Mice with swords and heroics.

Nightly News – Grim, crazy and featuring a great art style by Johnathan Hickman who is now doing major shit over at Marvel.

Incognito – A super-mafia goon in Witness Protection. Damn good comic and also a stepping stone between regular Super-hero stuff and Brubaker’s Criminal.

Planetary – Every single issue. Possibly the most important comic series to ME, Warren Ellis at possibly his best and John Cassiddy doing amazing art.

Daredevil – Pretty much everything from the Kevin Smith Relaunch to the recent end of it has been great, the parts that SEEM bad are good and only look bad due to what’s around them.

All-Star Superman – Grant Morrison’s loveletter to the Man of Steel and manages to be true to the ‘Classic’ world of comics and also throughly modern with Frank Quitely throwing in some super-detailed art.

Ex-Machina – The Mayor of NYC has a super-power. Mostly about politics, but really more about trying to do the right thing and believe in something larger than yourself. Brian K. Vaughn writes it, Tony Harris draws it.

Starman – Also drawn by Tony Harris. A long 80 issue DC series that is unique in that is has a proper ending. Possibly the only good thing to come out of the early 90s comics.

Died That Day

3 years ago, I was on a squad in Detroit. We had an assignment to check an abandoned factory for para acts due to a police report citing regular findings of stangely murded john does. Spines removed, while alive, 20 found in various areas forming a pentagram around the building.
We doubted that it was a real risk, as pentagrams are not considered high risk, but you never know when stupid cultists can suddenly grow enough brains to make an xe threat, but not enough to keep it on a leesh.
Our team arrived at the empty building, there was a light rain going on. Our psi smelled suffering, we drew guns and made sure our ghostbusters were ready, we were rolling by the book. We entered the main hall and the door locked behind us. The smell of evil increased heavily to where I could smell.
Evil smells like blood, shit and tears. The psi started hemmoraging grey matter from his hears. We called it in as at least class theta-kill. Remaining team seeked alternate exit route.

Then the union worker showed up. They are the ghosts of the workers in the past. They died for profits, were crippled for the bottom line. Overworked to death. Dying in little bits for someone elses pay. It leaves heavy psychic scarring.

His eyes were piercing like high beams, his skin seeming chromed, his uniform tattered and stained. His mouth billowed smoke. His voice like rusty steel.
“Why do you cross the picket line scabs? Being spineless bastards taking american jobs!”

I saw Serah draw her gun, and I had her blood splash over me. I froze. The rest of my team had their spines out. His voice pierced into my head and my soul was laid bare to his eyes “you are a son of the unions, but you are just a government dog, and lacking in spine. You will be an example.”

That is when my backup came. From above. Fang and claw. Howls and blood. The agency logo on the torso. It tore the union apart while giggling. It licked me.

I went crazy for a bit.

I am no longer slow to react. I don’t care about my team, or others. They can all die without warning. It sucks.
I am here in Chicago to work the office, get some distance, not feel the loss of family.