Random Bits

Ursula Le Guin reviews Margaret Atwood's new novel The Year of the Flood. Included in the review is a wonderful discussion of Atwood's claim that her books are not science fiction. See the discussion at io9, to which I owe a tip of the hat.

Nnedi Okorafor provides an interestingly different take on District 9. Found this at SF Signal.

John Scalzi, author of Old Man's War and others, entertains us with his discussion of epic design FAILS in both the Star Wars and Star Trek. Also amusing are the various fan attempts to show Scalzi he is mistaken.

Check out the 9 most questionable Batman toys at Topless Robot. Especially the water pistol.

You just couldn't let me go, could you?

says the Joker to Batman in The Dark Knight. Rather than let the Joker fall to his death, Batman nabs him with a cable and hoists him back up. Why?

In Batman Begins, in his final fight with Ra's al Ghul, Batman famously says "I won't kill you. But I don't have to save you." So why did he save the Joker? Is there a difference between the two situations?

And is there a moral difference between killing someone and refusing to save someone? Either way, somebody's dead--and it could have turned out otherwise, if a difference choice had been made. How we answer this more general question has lots of serious repercussions for how we think about all kinds of moral issues.

See here for an editorial on whether Batman should just kill the Joker already.