Last of my panels: Fermi/Drake, which, despite its Disneyfied title— and despite being held at 11am on the last bloody day of the con— was so jam-packed we had to move to a larger room halfway through the session. It was the panel on which I talked the least, and learned the most. I’m trying […]
“You Can Never Be Cynical Enough”
Category: On the Road, public interface…being one of my favorite quotes of the con so far, courtesy of Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman during an 80-minute Q&A on how science fiction led him into economics. The night before, a couple thousand of us got to be flies on the wall for another hour-and-a-half free-form conversation between Krugman and Charlie Stross. You […]
Way to break out of the ghetto there, folks…
Category: On the Road, public interfacePeople of Colour Meet & Greet. Do you identify as a person of colour (racial minority, nonwhite, not of European ancestry, mixed race, etc.)? Come meet other fans of colour on Friday at 11:00 by the Programme area near Registration; we’ll leave at 11:15 and go someplace to eat, talk, and just hang out. All […]
Lift Off
Category: On the Road, public interfaceOkay. Valve and Tull t-shirts packed, technical pdf’s lined up for reading en route, computers synched. Next time you hear from me, it’ll either be from Worldcon or after (depending on whether I can find some spare bandwidth— am I the only person who finds it outrageous that every cheap-ass Motel 6 on the planet […]
Worldcon Reading Poll
Category: On the Road, public interfaceQuick informal survey here. I’m a bit undecided about what to choose for my Worldcon reading, and since I’ve only got twenty minutes in the spotlight I don’t want to spend a chunk of it polling those attended (especially since the majority of them probably aren’t there for me anyway). So I thought I might […]
Torchica Syndrome
Category: ink on artI recently watched the new season of Torchwood: “Children of Earth”, a five-hour single-thread miniseries, as opposed to the more numerous standalone eps of previous years. I’ve never been a huge Torchwood fan. Creator Russ Davies notoriously refered to it as “Doctor Who for grown-ups”, but it wasn’t, not really; it was just Doctor Who […]
Anticipating Worldcon
Category: On the Road, public interfaceSo. Montreal. Next week. Worldcon. That thing where you spend some of your time on panels; more of your time feeling guilty about all the other panels you should be attending if you could just get your ass off the barstool; and hardly any of your time sleeping (well, except in your panels). I guess […]
Chicagoans, Rise Up. You have Nothing to Lose But…
Category: public interface… well, I guess, a few hours of your life that you’ll never get back. And the price of a bus ticket if you don’t live within walking distance of the Oak Park Public Library. Oh, and parking if you drive. And gas. However much all that costs. You have that to lose as well. […]
Odds and Ends from Exotic Environs
Category: writing newsYou may remember a while back that Blindflug was on the final ballot for some prestigious German Award. Turns out I didn’t get it (I keep getting beat out by some guy named Charlie Stross, whoever he is) but Sara Riffel— the lady who translated Blindsight into Blindflug— did, for “Best Translation”. And let’s face […]
Prisoners of Gravity
Category: rantRick Green said it best, during an episode of the eponymous and innovative Canadian spec-fic documentary series. And on this 40th anniversary, this celebration of the voyage of an ancient diving bell — amidst all the back-patting and self-congratulations (especially the CBC’s desperate Me Too! efforts to convince this nation of low-self-esteem self-professed underachievers that […]