First Book - that got you hooked

What got you hooked into reading as a child?

A.M.G. Schmidt? Captain Biggles? Roald Dahl, Koning van Katoren, Suske & Wiske, De Rode Ridder, Snoecks? Into the wild, Oosterschelde Windkracht 10, Tiny? Thea Beckmann? DoReMi?

In the States, they're setting up serious programmes to provide free books to the people who need them most.
Back in my own primary school, a ranking of the class was established at the beginning of the summer and you'd receive straight from the Mayor himself a PILE of literature that you could take home, proud as a monkey with a fresh banana? thankfully I hear that those taxeuros are still at work! Also, in our Jesuit College, there used to be bookfairs every trimester, which enabled you to buy whole series of trashliterature at almost no costs...

Mr. Anciaux would be well advised to keep some of our own precious literature under control (remember Gruuthuyze anyone?) and... to stimulate library visits all over the place. One of the reasons I loved going to public libraries in Dilbeek, Brussels, Namur or Leuven, was the access you got to hug amounts of (almost-nothing-to-rent) CDs! that was a huge stimulus for my reading habits!

Science fiction as a literature genre? lecture by Neal Stephenson

Xeno-ethnologist, confusion of genres, the standard model, post-cypberpunk.
Neal Stephenson has it all, in his ex cathedra "seminar" at Gresham College.
-> The top-10 Movies of all times are SF!

Migrating toilets?

Duncan's sanitation blog is really insightful: a cool example of migratory toilets to induce trees to grow strong lateral roots!

Cult Post-Apocalyptic SF feature films of 2007-2008

It seems as if post-apocalyptic movies are en vogue again.
After the hugely succesfull 28DaysLater, Danny Boyle issued 28WeeksLater and is preparing for the 2009 release of 28MonthsLater!



Earlier this month, the release of the Matheson-inspired cult classic SF thriller "I am Legend", starring Will Smith will bring us back to desolate and vampire-invested cityscapes...



And last but not least: CLOVERFIELD... the viral video