jwz

DNA Lounge update, wherein the kiosks are on the chopping block.

skzbrust

I got to have dinner with The Amazing Mris and her Merry Band, and she cooked, and I discovered that one can make something with paprika and saffron and it is very, very good.  I had never even thought of combining paprika and saffron.

Yum.

Originally published at Words Words Words. Please leave any comments there.

drjon

minnesattva

Green Arrow or Green Lantern?

Does the word "Green" look strange to you now?

14theditch

I had a dream the other night.  I wasn't in it, but it was like I was observing it.  The scene was an old age home.  The patients were gathered in a room, sitting on folding chairs.  There was a younger man with a beard, sitting at the front of the room on a stool.  He started strumming an acoustic guitar and singing Neil Young's song, "Tell Me Why."  The old timers sang along.  

Sailing heart-ships
thru broken harbors
Out on the waves in the night
Still the searcher
must ride the dark horse
Racing alone in his fright.
Tell me why, tell me why

When I woke up, I thought about the dream and wondered what the music in old age homes would be like in another twenty years when I'm no longer just observing.  I pictured a crowd of old farts, leaning this way and that, some asleep, some hooked up to oxygen, some whispering to themselves, and half of them half crazy.  Up in front there will be a middle aged woman at the piano, playing a wobbly, slowed down, "Black Magic Woman," striking every note as if with a hammer. 

I told Lynn what I was thinking and said, "Imagine 'Layla.'" 

She said, "They'll be playing screwed up air guitar."

Other performances I'll probably pay good money to see:

"In-A-Gadda-Da-Vita" performed on the accordion. 

A barbershop quartet of guys with wigs, bad chompers, and cardigans doing "Ramblin Man."

They're already probably doing this one -- "A Walk On the Wild Side."  I perceive it as a piece performed by a middle school chorus.   

"Beast of Burden" with group hand clapping.

If we're lucky, they'll save "Us and Them" for when they hand out the meds. 

Everybody had to pay and pay

cherylmmorgan

Originally published at Cheryl's Mewsings. Please leave any comments there.

It has been a long day at the conference, and I have followed that with a couple of hours updating the Westercon 64 web site, as we (SFSFC) have won the bid and now have a convention to run. I am particularly pleased with us having Patricia McKillip as a Guest of Honor.

But I should be reporting on the panels. There were several, but basically only two overall themes. The first is that Diana’s books are very much concerned with how families treat children. In her life Diana has seen a significant change in this, from the Victorian system in which children were often kept in the dark, or fed a pack of lies, “for their own good”, to the modern practice in which we attempt to have a much more open and honest relationship with our children. Diana appears to prefer the latter approach, but fills her books with adults who treat children rather poorly at times.

The other major theme has been one of complexity, metafictionality and the like. Diana’s books are seldom what they appear at first sight, and generally reveal many levels of complexity and disguise as you read them. There is a definite project in evidence - Diana wants her readers to think for themselves, and ultimately take responsibility for themselves. This does make her books a more difficult read that those of other YA authors, but they are also more rewarding. And, as Sharyn November noted this evening, if you meet someone who loves Diana Wynne Jones books then that person will almost certainly be a very interesting person to talk to.

I also managed to bag a quick video interview with Andy Sawyer on the subject of the new John Wyndham novel published by Liverpool University Press. Why a book about Nazi clones, written by one of Britain’s best-loved SF writers, is having to be published by a small university press is beyond me. Someone should make an offer to do a mass market version.

I’ll try to write more about individual papers when I do the final con report. Right now I need sleep.

natalief

I too am Uncle Billy, although we all become him to one extent or another as we age. I, however, was Uncle Billy at age 30. My descent into Uncle Billy -ness began at age 18 or so. Yay MonSter! Then again, I do not remember ever seeing the film and so I can only base my definition UB-ness on this article. I may have seen the film but I do not remember doing so. This UB-ness does come in useful when watching reruns on the TV though - I can never remember what happens even if I have only just watched it - reruns are never boring to me because the plot often seems totally new to me (although I sometimes get a flash of recognition)! I am 42 in August and used to be a computer programmer but my brain may was well be that of a 99 year old with Alzheimer's on my bad days.

dmmaus

Lego Cantina Band.