Sarah, now that your name is emblazened (love when I can use that word)upon the pointless sidebar title, do you feel that the mark has been raised for pointlessness? Whereas before, you could slip something meaningful into the sidebar -- now, anything of substance will appear to us (the readers, fans, and slackers extraordinairre) as pure grandstanding. Dylan has been near perfect in his attempts to keep all entries as pointless and without follow-through as humanly possible. He is the master of the Pointless Sidebar. I submit a few random dates for your consideration: 4/14/03, 5/5/03, 6/5/03, 8/6/03, 10/10/03, 12/18/03, 1/5/04, et al. I guess my point is, Sarah, we the people have high hopes for your entries. We know you can rise to the challenge -- but Dylan has managed in these past months to prove his worth as owner of the Pointless Sidebar. You will be expected to provide entries of that caliber. We have seen a few from you already. Just keep them coming.
Alas, I must go and wash my feet.
Respectfully yours, Rhetoric
Well said, Rhet.
<nag>And post more often you two!</nag>
The topic of dead zones in Russia might naturally remind one of the book _Roadside Picnic_, a Russian SF novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, which was eventually made into the movie "Stalker" by director Andrei Tarkovsky. They concern strange off-limits "Visitation Zones" where unknown aliens encountered Earth temporarily and left zones where the supernatural seems to happen. The movie is dated 1979, the book apparently 1976. Hmm.
Also, note the second trivium at this link, the IMDB page for "Stalker."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079944/trivia
Serendipity: I accidentally clicked on a link I didn't even see I had moused-over at bluesnews.com, a game-related news site, and found this:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/stalker/preview_6090367.html
A developer diary for "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl," a first-person shooter set in the Chernobyl zone, but taking thematic elements from, apparently, "Stalker" and _Picnic_.
hey kirk - have to say from the other day that the videogame porn link was hillarious!