(1) BEAR NECESSITY. “Paddington Bear given UK passport by Home Office” reports the Guardian.

He has been one of the UK’s favourite and most prominent refugees for two-thirds of a century. Now Paddington Bear – official name Paddington Brown – has been granted a British passport.

The co-producer of the latest Paddington film said the Home Office had issued the specimen document to the fictional Peruvian-born character – listing for completeness the official observation that he is, in fact, a bear.

“We wrote to the Home Office asking if we could get a replica, and they actually issued Paddington with an official passport – there’s only one of these,” Rob Silva told Radio Times….

(2) TIANWEN AWARDS CEREMONY. Ersatz Culture reported the winners of the Tianwen Awards 2024 in a File 770 post today.

And last week the award’s official website promoted the forthcoming ceremony with an article that quoted many sf figures including Ben Yalow: “Nebulae are twinkling! More than 100 science fiction celebrities gathered in Chengdu, and the countdown to the release of the “Tianwen” results has begun”

…Ben Yalow , a senior American science fiction activist who served as co-chair of the 2023 Chengdu World Science Fiction Convention, will come to Chengdu again as vice chairman of the “Tianwen” judging committee. This is the first time that Ben Yalow has served as a judge for the Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition. “Although the judging schedule is relatively tight, in addition to focusing on browsing, this process also brings me a lot of enjoyment.” He said, “The Tianwen Chinese Science Fiction Literature Competition has set up a number of creative awards, hoping to further broaden the breadth of China’s science fiction field. At the same time, I also hope that this competition will allow more readers to understand and fall in love with science fiction-this is a literary genre that is very helpful for readers to think about the possibilities of the future. No matter how far technology goes, its charm will not disappear.”…

(3) HIS LIFE IN COMICS. Scott Edelman has launched a new podcast, “Why Not Say What Happened?” in which he talks about his early experiences in comics and writing. The fourth episode just went live.

It’s time for another trip back to when teen me strode through the Marvel Bullpen like, well, a big teenager, as I share what I remember (and what I’ve forgotten) about writing the Avengers, what Marvel’s paying Assistant Editors these days vs. what I was paid in 1975, why Steve Gerber called me the most violent man on Earth, the way Conan caused me to write my first short story, the embarrassing cover letter I wrote at age 16 to accompany my first short story submission, how I unwittingly destroyed my comic book collection, what Dennis Etchison wrote in an acceptance letter which made me cry, and more.

(4) AS TOLD BY JIM BROADBENT. [Item by Steven French.] In 1976, Ken Campbell, who had a career-long involvement with science fiction (subsequently putting on the first stage version of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) decided to launch a theatrical production of The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, in the form of a nine hour cycle of five plays (the production eventually transferred from Liverpool to London’s National Theatre). Here Jim Broadbent, who’s appeared in everything from the Harry Potter series to Game of Thrones (and more!) described how Campbell’s play changed his life: “The play that changed my life: Jim Broadbent on Ken Campbell’s electrifying epic Illuminatus!” in the Guardian.

…The Illuminatus! Trilogy [by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson] is a sort of science fiction piece, drawing together an awful lot of the then current conspiracy theories. It’s a huge thing that spreads over lots of different stories and characters.

It was the hot summer of 76, and the play was going to start in Liverpool. There was a character in the books of Illuminatus! called Fission Chips. I think he was sort of based on James Bond, And so I went along and quoted from the book in my Sean Connery accent.

If you wanted to be in it, you could be. I mean I don’t think he turned anyone away….

(5) A ROOMBA WITH THEOLOGY. Muse from the Orb wants to know: “Are We Ready for a Robot Pope?”

Awhile ago, I made a Note in which I quipped about the dearth of robot pope stories these days. I included a panel from a comic I was reading — a looming robot crowned with the triregnum, draped in gem-encrusted robes. Reaction was positive, so I figured that I’d devote a post to the extended lore behind the Robot Pope….

…His official name is Sixtus the Seventh, and he’s the central focus of Robert Silverberg’s classic short story “Good News from the Vatican,” in which the Catholic Church elects its first — is this a spoiler? — robot pope. The story first appeared in Universe 1 (1971), an anthology commissioned by the influential Ace editor Terry Carr, and it won the Nebula Award that next year. In 1975, it was adapted into comics form in the magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction, which I purchased at Worldcon and whence I got the photo. Silverberg has called “Good News” a “lighthearted little item,” and it’s a fun approach to classic questions of humanity, technology, and religion….

(6) REMEMBER: MONEY SHOULD FLOW TO THE CREATOR. [Item by Steve Green.] I know there’s a Writers Beware website, but maybe there needs to one for artists? This publication sounds somewhat sketchy, as Ron signals. A warning about “Narrative Magazine” by Ron Coleman at Colemantoons.

I’m writing to discuss Narrative Magazine. This magazine pays $50 for cartoons, but there is a catch all cartoonists should be aware of. They request a submissions fee to review your cartoons and they don’t guarantee that they will buy anything.  I understand this submission fee does include a subscription to their magazine, however. One cartoonist told me they had to pay a $20 submission fee but the magazine did buy a cartoon from them for $50.  To test how this worked I tried to submit a few cartoons to them and they were asking me for a $60 fee.  I didn’t go for it….

…In my 60 years of cartooning this is the first time I’ve ever come across a publisher requiring a submission fee to consider cartoons….

(7) BREVITY, ALWAYS BREVITY. Or something like that. The Hollywood Reporter announces a “New Shorter Version of ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ on Broadway”.

A revised, shortened version of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will come to Broadway in November. 

The new version of the play clocks in at under three hours, including intermission, compared to the current running time of three-and-a-half hours. The new version will premiere on Broadway when new cast members take over and begin performances at Lyric Theatre on Nov. 12, 2024.

This marks the second time the play has been shortened while on Broadway. The original production, which opened on Broadway in April 2018, was shown in two parts which ran five hours and 15 minutes in total…. 

(8) IT’S FROM AN OLD FAMILIAR SCORE. Speaking of brevity, the amount of rollover Dune music to the sequel seems to have been too much. “Hans Zimmer’s ‘Dune 2’ Score Ruled Ineligible for Oscars”.

One of the year’s most anticipated and epic musical scores won’t be in the running for an Academy Award.

Warner Bros.’ “Dune: Part Two,” directed by Denis Villeneuve, was met with critical acclaim when it hit theaters in March. Both critics and audiences lauded the film’s visuals, storytelling, and, most notably, the music score by Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer. However, Zimmer’s powerful and evocative score for the sci-fi epic is not eligible to be submitted for this year’s Oscars due to surpassing the Academy’s limit on pre-existing music; therefore, it cannot be nominated in the best original score category.

The Academy’s rule states: “In cases such as sequels and franchises from any media, the score must not use more than 20% of pre-existing themes and music borrowed from previous scores in the franchise.” Since Zimmer’s composition for “Dune: Part Two” incorporates substantial elements from his work on 2021’s “Dune,” it falls outside of the eligibility criteria….

… However, Zimmer’s work on “Dune 2” remains in contention to be recognized by other awards bodies, including the Critics Choice Awards, Golden Globes, BAFTA, and even the Grammys….

(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY.

[Written by Cat Eldridge.]

Born October 22, 1938 — Derek Jacobi, 86. 

Remember I’m not covering everything here, just what I find find interesting.

I first fondly remember Derek Jacobi from the Cadfael series where he played Brother Cadfael, the monk mystery solver. He had an edge to him that belied his supposed monkness. 

 It lasted for a much shorter period than I thought as the series only went thirteen episodes. There were twenty-one novels, not all of which were filmed, and there are many differences between the plots and characters in the novels. 

(Neat note here: Sean Pertwee was Sheriff Hugh Beringar in four episodes (not all).)

Much earlier and certainly less gentle was I, Claudius in which he played Claudius who was considered rather sane after Caligula, who didn’t survive assassination, and before Nero who succeeded him. He plays the role brilliantly over the twelve episodes and I recommend it to anyone who hasn’t yet seen it. 

By no means a major character in it, but he is Probert, Sir William’s valet in Gosford Park. He, in his scenes, is spot on. And this film is of my favorite of the Manor House mysteries. 

He was in The Golden Compass film as Magisterial Emissary which according to the film wiki “was a man from Lyra’s world who worked for the Magisterium. He talked to Pavel Rasek about Bolvangar and how it should be protected. He said that Marisa Coulter was going to demonstrate the intercision process on Lyra Belacqua. His dæmon was a black panther.” Now if you read the series and don’t recognize him that’s because they invented his character for the film. 

I just discovered he was in Tolkien, a biography of, well, you can guess who. He played as Joseph Wright, Professor of Comparative Philology at the University of Oxford. Tolkien himself was played by Nicholas Hoult, with a younger one performed by Harry Gilby as he would been at eighteen, so presumably during the War. 

I’m going to finish off with his performance as Professor Yanna the Tenth Doctor’s “Utopia” episode. 

SPOILERS  FOLLOW. THERE’S A NICE CUP OF TEA IN THE TADRIS AS LONG YOU’RE POLITE TO HER. 

Derek Jacobi here plays the fifth version of the Master whom the Doctor will encounter on screen, and John Simm will the sixth of eight to be so far. This will be the first of three episodes that form a single story along with “The Sound of Drums” and “Last of the Time Lords”.

The episode serves to re-introduce the Master (John Simm), a Time Lord villain of the show’s original run who last appeared in the 1996 television movie Doctor Who.”

SPOLIERS ARE FINISHED. ENJOY THAT CUPOF TEA? SHE MAKES A GOOD ONE, DOESN’T SHE? 

Those are my choices. I’m sure yours might be different. 

P.S. Cadfael is available on BritBox;  I, Claudius is on Acorn; Gosford Park is available to rent on Amazon Prime, as is The Golden Compass; Tolkien’s on Hulu; the new Doctor Who is on Disney+.

(10) COMICS SECTION.

• Off the Mark follows directions.
• The Argyle Sweater presents an unmade movie.
• Jerry King updates a monster’s priorities.
• Loose Parts writes a Hollywood epitaph.
• Zack Hill makes an alarming culinary connection.

(11) STICK-TO-ITIVENESS. “At Comic Con, Emergency Tailors Keep Cosplayers in Character” – behind a New York Times paywall.

When cosplayers descend on New York Comic Con, they’re looking to meet their favorite creators and show off their outfits — but they often end up in need of costume triage. Armed with glue guns, zip ties, Popsicle sticks and safety pins, the Paladins of Cosplay come ready to fix wardrobe malfunctions — like a dangling shoulder pad, an imploding jetpack or any number of hazards that costumed fans face.

“I really love helping people,” said Law Asuncion, 46, who founded the Paladins in 2017. The group is named after the pilots of the robotic hero Voltron, and the term is also an olden-days word for champion. Asuncion and the repair team will be at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, home of New York Comic Con, through Sunday….

…The Paladins set up their first table in 2021, the year New York Comic Con returned to in-person attendance after going virtual in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

At that show, they came to the aid of Boba Fett, the “Star Wars” bounty hunter. “He looked immaculate,” Asuncion said. But his jetpack, which was created using 3-D printing, was problematic, he recalled.

When someone in the crowd bumped into Boba Fett, the jetpack shattered. Boba Pfft. “We were able to Humpty Dumpty, piece it back together and locate areas where it needed additional structure and support,” Asuncion said. On average, about 500 cosplayers visit the group daily at the convention, he said, and the amount doubles on Saturday, the most popular day of the event….

(12) MORE LIKE FROM THE HEAD OF ZEUS. It’s hard to think of Miss Marple as a baby – which is just as well, since this article doesn’t mean it that way: “The Birth of Miss Marple—the Perpetual Spinster Detective at the Heart of Agatha Christie’s Works” at CrimeReads.

…However, by the time that Miss Marple made her debut in December 1927, Christie’s life had been turned upside down. In 1926, she had a breakdown following the death of her mother and [her husband] Archie’s decision to leave her for another woman. Both this breakdown and the subsequent well-publicised disappearance took some time to recover from, and yet these difficult events also coincided with the publication of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, a novel that has since taken pride of place as one of Christie’s masterpieces….

…Agatha Christie’s career was flourishing just as her life seemed to be falling apart. So it is notable that it was shortly after these events that she created a new character, whose entire raison d’être was to be a calm point in a stormy sea. Miss Jane Marple is an unmarried older lady who has spent most of her life in the small village of St Mary Mead, and her quiet observations of people and relationships give her great insight into character….

(13) IN YOUR EYE. [Item by Chris Barkley.] File Under “I Think We’ve Seen This Movie Already… NO Thanks!” “Sam Altman’s Worldcoin becomes World and shows new iris-scanning Orb to prove your humanity” at TeleCrunch.

Worldcoin, the Sam Altman co-founded “proof of personhood” crypto project that scans people’s eyeballs, announced on Thursday that it dropped the “coin” from its name and is now just “World.” The startup behind the World project, Tools for Humanity, also unveiled its next generation of iris-scanning “Orbs” and other tools at a live event in San Francisco….

…The World project is predicated on the idea that advanced AI systems — like the one Altman’s OpenAI is trying to build — will one day make it impossible to tell whether you are talking to a human online. Its solution is “human verification services” based around blockchain…

(14) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISNEY STUDIES CALL FOR NEW CO-EDITORS. “The International Journal of Disney Studies is looking for new co-editors! IJDS examines the Walt Disney Company, an international media conglomerate that impacts our global culture.” They will begin reviewing applications on December 1.

This international, peer-reviewed journal draws from a variety of academic and industrial lenses, perspectives, methods and fields, while providing a space for scholars to present new research, review current research and comment on wider Disney commodities. IJDS currently publishes two issues a year (with issues due to the publisher approximately in March and September) with a special issue every other year (for more information, see our webpage: https://www.intellectbooks.com/ijds). Join current co-editor Rebecca Rowe and the rest of our associate editor team to help IJDS keep moving forward!

Co-editor responsibilities include (and can take 2-10 hours a week):
● Timely and professional communication with contributors during different stages of the publishing process, including but not limited to legal document signing, editing and proofreading;
● Coordinating peer reviews for all submissions, including recruiting subject matter experts as peer reviewers;
● Recruitment and training of members of the editorial team and board;
● Preparing and implementing a style guide specific to the study of Disney across many disciplines and countries;
● Soliciting contributions (articles, book reviews, and commentaries) and special issues, including reaching out to organizations and/or specific authors;
● Relaying communication between the publisher (Intellect), the editorial team and board, and contributors;
● Delegating additional duties and responsibilities as necessary.
Financial compensation: co-editors split 10% of the royalty based on Intellect’s net receipts from sales of the journal.

We are recruiting two new co-editors who will serve for three years, with an option for renewal.

We are looking for:
● Ideally, one person from within our current editorial team or board who already knows how the journal works and one person currently unassociated with the journal who can bring new ideas and perspectives to the journal.
● We hope to hear from scholars from a variety of perspectives, positionalities, and backgrounds in order to reflect the global, multivocal engagement with the journal’s stated scope. We are especially looking to support leadership opportunities from historically institutionally marginalized scholars.
● People with a terminal graduate degree in their field (e.g., PhD, EdD, MLS, MBA, MFA, etc.), preferably with previous experience with journal management/editorship. We do not require that you be in a tenure-track position nor even directly involved with academia as long as you regularly engage with research.
● People who are:

○ Motivated, detail-oriented, and organized with experience with the moving parts of publication flows;

○ Strong and compassionate in their verbal and written communication skills in English (preferably in the professional context of editing for a peer-reviewed journal or academic book) and dealing with scholars, co-editors, and publishers;

○ Experienced with team management and working in collaborative settings across languages and time zones;

○ Effective at offering constructive (positive and helpful) feedback to writing projects and at suggesting informed workarounds or concrete alternatives during the revision process;

○ Knowledgeable about Disney (you don’t have to know everything, but a basic understanding helps in the editing process);

○ Practiced in interdisciplinary approaches to cinema and media studies, popular culture studies, and reception, including literacy and fan studies, along with awareness of globally situated scholarship and methodologies.

Selection Process:
● While we will continue accepting applications until the positions are filled, we will begin reviewing applications 1 December. If you are interested, email the following materials (or any questions) to [email protected] with the subject heading “IJoDS Co-Editor Application”:

○ 1-page single-spaced cover letter explaining what skills, knowledge, and experience you hope to bring to the editorial team

○ Curriculum Vitae or resume

● December: finalists will be notified and interviews will be scheduled for December/January with Rebecca, an associate editor, and a representative from the publisher
● Late January: decision will be communicated

(15) TOP SHOWRUNNER’S NEW PROJECT. “’God Of War’: Ronald D. Moore Boards Amazon Series As New Showrunner” reports Deadline.

With Ronald D. Moore back in the Sony Pictures TV Studios fold, the prolific creator/showrunner is taking on a high-profile IP for the studio. He has been tapped as writer, executive producer and showrunner of Sony TV and Amazon MGM Studios’ Prime Video series God Of War, based on PlayStation‘s hugely popular ancient mythology-themed video game.

Moore’s involvement with God Of War follows the recent exit of the project’s original creative team, showrunner/executive producer Rafe Judkins and exec producers Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus, who had been with the show since its inception two and a half years ago. As Deadline reported, they had completed multiple scripts prior to the changeover, which marks a shift in the creative direction of the series adaptation.

…Since its 2005 launch on the PlayStation 2, the God of War franchise from Sony’s Santa Monica Studio has spanned a total of seven games across four PlayStation consoles. At the center of the story is ex-Spartan warrior Kratos and his perilous journey to exact revenge on the Ares, the Greek God of War, after killing his loved ones under the deity’s influence. After becoming the ruthless God of War himself, Kratos finds himself constantly looking for a chance to change his fate…

(16) THIS SUCKS. Malwarebytes reports “Robot vacuum cleaners hacked to spy on, insult owners”.

Multiple robot vacuum cleaners in the US were hacked to yell obscenities and insults through the onboard speakers.

ABC news was able to confirm reports of this hack in robot vacuum cleaners of the type Ecovacs Deebot X2, which are manufactured in China. Ecovacs is considered the leading service robotics brand, and is a market leader in robot vacuums.

One of the victims, Minnesota lawyer Daniel Swenson, said he heard sound snippets that seemed similar to a voice coming from his vacuum cleaner. Through the Ecovacs app, he then saw someone not in his household accessing the live camera feed of the vacuum, as well as the remote control feature.

Thinking it was a glitch, he rebooted the vacuum cleaner and reset the password, just to be on the safe side. But that didn’t help for long. Almost instantly, the vacuum cleaner started to move again.

Only this time, the voice coming from the vacuum cleaner was loud and clear, and it was yelling racist obscenities at Swenson and his family. The voice sounded like a teenager according to Swenson.

Swenson said he turned off the vacuum and dumped it in the garage, never to be turned on again….

(17) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Ryan George takes us inside the “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Pitch Meeting”. Whether we want to be there or not….

[Thanks to Steven French, Kathy Sullivan, Teddy Harvia, N., Ersatz Culture, Scott Edelman, Steve Green, John A Arkansawyer, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Chris Barkley, Cat Eldridge, and SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jim Janney.]