I want an iPad. It’s not because I’m a raving Apple fan boy or obsessed with the latest gadget – it’s because it fits the way I want to use technology, and addresses frustrations I’ve had with contemporary form factors. There are three specific products that I want to use with a tablet:

• Pen-and-paper role-playing game PDFs.
• Comic books and magazines
• Ebooks

They’re all print-based, and they share characteristics that don’t easily translate to a laptops, netbooks, or PDAs. I’ll preface all of this by saying these are my opinions; you may find reading an eBook on an iPod Touch to be liberating, love Marvel’s pan-and-scan tools for comic books on your Windows 7 desktop computer, and have no problem paging through PDFs on your netbook. If so, more power to you … but I find these options less than optimal.

The good folks at Miss(ed) Manners have done it again: they've recreated one of J.R.R. Tolkien's most epic scenes ... in candy. This time around, it's the conclusion to The Hobbit, featuring the Battle of the Five Armies and the assault on Lake Town by the dragon Smaug.

As with their previous creations -- The Battle of Helm’s Deep, The Battle of Pelennor Fields, The Mines of Moria, the diorama is truly a sight to behold. A red licorice Smaug rises from a frosted Lonely Mountain to ravage a gingerbread Lake Town. Gummi bear armies of goblins, orcs, humans, dwarves and elves battle for the treasure under the mountain, while overhead eagles and giant bats fight for ariel supremacy.

Every year at Christmas time I spend the better part of two weeks re-watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy in all of its extended glory. But I could be making far better use of my time, say rebuilding the Battle of Helm's Deep in candy. This post first made its round in 2007, but the glory of this sweet, sweet build is worth revisiting.

The walls of the great fortress are made from Jolly Ranchers and Smarties. The orc legions are comprised of Gummi Bears. Sour Patch Kids represent the corpses of the humans and elven defenders. There's licorice rope, Starburst stairs, Nerd gravel and much, much more. So much more that you really need to go and see it yourself.

My long-time friend Nathan E. Lilly's got a dissertation on the space western up on Strange Horizons entitled "The Emancipation of Bat Durston, or: 'I'm from Iowa, I Only Work in Outer Space'". He looks at the origins of the subgenre, its intersections with space opera, and its influence on the larger science fiction field.

It's a lengthy piece, so you roll yourself a smoke, pour a shot of whiskey, and kick back in your favorite share for a informative read.