Weekend!
Jul. 26th, 2014 11:22 am![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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bitesizedcleaningWhat are everyone's plans for the weekend? Comment with plans, celebrate your and other's accomplishments.
yvi posting in bitesizedcleaning
Two instructive examples of cons Getting It Wrong
Jul. 26th, 2014 04:51 pmalias_sqbrChair of the Wiscon Harassment Policy Committee talks about how they ended up with such an unpopular decision about a serial harasser. Lots of discussion in the comments about how the committees ended up missing/losing important information and (badly) reinvented the wheel regarding con harssment.
A discussion at ffa of a Dashcon apology. This con was an UTTER TRAINWRECK and the woman in charge seems determined on shifting blame to everyone but herself.
A discussion at ffa of a Dashcon apology. This con was an UTTER TRAINWRECK and the woman in charge seems determined on shifting blame to everyone but herself.
forthcoming update
Jul. 26th, 2014 12:14 amwiscon_posts posting in wisconA few notes before the weekend:
1) This account will be used from now on for official WisCon announcements (as you've probably guessed).
2) The update I promised in our previous update will be posted tomorrow (Saturday late afternoon / early evening Seattle time). While I hate posting on a Friday or over the weekend, I didn't quite have all the information I needed to post yesterday. Apologies!
3) On a purely administrative note, social media postings are currently being handled by Chris /![[twitter.com profile]](http://twitter.com/favicon.ico)
wordnerdlabs.
1) This account will be used from now on for official WisCon announcements (as you've probably guessed).
2) The update I promised in our previous update will be posted tomorrow (Saturday late afternoon / early evening Seattle time). While I hate posting on a Friday or over the weekend, I didn't quite have all the information I needed to post yesterday. Apologies!
3) On a purely administrative note, social media postings are currently being handled by Chris /
(no subject)
Jul. 25th, 2014 06:09 amsynecdochicnow that I can mostly type again (ALL HAIL), I've updated synecdochic_decants with a bunch of info, including general policies. I've also created a poll to help me decide which general catalog collections to decant next -- I have my own that I want, definitely, but obviously would like to aim at the ones people are most interested in!
(Reminder: if you are interested in info on future decant circles, subscribe there; I'll announce new circles both here and there, but there is where all the details will go.)
synecdochic_decants with a bunch of info, including general policies. I've also created a poll to help me decide which general catalog collections to decant next -- I have my own that I want, definitely, but obviously would like to aim at the ones people are most interested in!(Reminder: if you are interested in info on future decant circles, subscribe there; I'll announce new circles both here and there, but there is where all the details will go.)
What I’ll be doing at Nine Worlds
Jul. 25th, 2014 09:00 amqianAugust is so soon now! :D: I am excited about the cons (ALL THE CONS), but omg need more time in the day to prep and be ready to say clever things and maybe hoard £5 notes so if people want to buy my book from me I can give them change! /o\
So here’s where I’ll be at Nine Worlds! My commentary is in italics.
FRIDAY
Voices From Other Worlds
5.00pm – 6.15pm
Readings from authors of colour on the theme of race and culture.
Guests: Taran Matharu, Zen Cho, Adam Lowe
I’ll be reading from my short story The Earth Spirit’s Favourite Anecdote, i.e. the story that makes editors advise me to improve my English. Oh editors! No.
The story isn’t about race and culture, but it is written in Manglish, so see la if anyone understands it!
School Stories: prefects, headmasters and tuckshops, oh my!
10.15pm – 11.30pm
County C&D
School stories: why are we so fascinated by them? From Harry Potter to Ender’s Game, from St. Trinian’s to the X-Men, will we ever really escape our school days? Oi, no talking in the back of the class, there.
Panel: Aishwarya Subramanian, Zen Cho, Emma Vieceli, Tiffani Angus
The panel I persuaded Aisha to come to Nine Worlds for! (I wanted her for the Race & Culture track really. But I tempted her with school stories!) This is actually only one of two school stories panels I am on this summer, yay \o/
SATURDAY
Rule 63: Gender and subversion in history, popular culture and fandom
10:00am – 11:15am
“Rule 63: an internet adage which states that for every fictional character, there exists an opposite gender counterpart.” (knowyourmeme.com)
This popular rule has an obvious power for subverting male-dominated media and an equally obvious (if less discussed) potential for introducing trans narratives. In its positioning of ‘opposite’ genders, it is also potentially troubling from trans and non-binary perspectives. This panel will discuss Rule 63, from real historical examples of people inhabiting ‘opposite’ genders to contemporary fanworks, through queer and feminist lenses.
With Tab Kimpton, Zen Cho, Alex Dally MacFarlane, more TBC
I am kind of nervous about this — Rule 63 is a really meaty trope to think about, but I am not sure I am remotely qualified to talk about it! But it should be very interesting.
This Will Always Be Your Home: Race, Culture, and Fannish Life
1.30pm – 2.45pm
Western media fandom, from zines to Tumblr, has been something special to so many people: a community and a home. We live here too – so what does it mean to be a fan of colour?
Guests: Iona Sharma, Frank Voss, Koel Mukherjee and Kelly Kanayama
I’ll be modding this! It’s not something that has a lot of emotional relevance to me anymore — I went from Western media fandom to anime/manga, where being a fan of colour is different from being a fan of colour in Western media fandom, because you are so not the only one in anime/manga fandom. Then I basically moved out of fandom because even those stories weren’t quite satisfying me anymore. (To be clear, I still read manga and follow fannish trends, more or less, but I’m not really actively fannish in the sense of writing meta or fanfic and stuff like that.) But fandom really shaped me, probably Western media fandom more than any other (it got me at a younger age than anime/manga did), and I can see how it was both a good and a bad space for me as a non-white/non-American/&c. person.
SUNDAY
Spock vs the Sorcerers: F or SF? The Genre Deathmatch Smackdown!
11.45am – 1.00pm
County C&D
The vicious genrepocalypse that we’ve all been waiting for. There can be only one.
Debate: Anne Perry (Moderator), Daniel Polansky (Fantasy), Liz Bourke (Fantasy), Zen Cho (SF) , Geoffrey Ryman (SF)
- omg I am arguing for SF even though I write almost exclusively fantasy, and don’t read that much SF because not all SF is feminist SF interested in people
- omg I am on a panel with Geoff Ryman
- wait what
- … OMG
Mirrored from Zen Cho.
a realization from a conversation else-DW
Jul. 25th, 2014 02:31 amsynecdochicIf I had to pick one thing as the "lesson i have learned that has had the most far-reaching benefit in my adult life", it would be this: that my own time, effort, comfort, energy level, and physical ability/pain levels are a resource that I must account for in my calculations of utility/benefit, and that it is eminently logical to trade other resources (money, most specifically, but other things of value as well) to safeguard/benefit those things.
This goes all the way back to the days when I first moved out into my own apartment and "doing laundry" was either a) spending all day in the dank and miserable (and creeeeeepy) apartment complex laundry room with 2 washer/dryers that only took (a lot of) quarters and had no change machine, b) hauling everything to the laundromat and spending all day babysitting the laundry, or c) hauling everything to the laundromat, dropping it there, and paying $.85/lb for them to wash, dry, and fold it, then coming back a few days later and picking up a sack of clean clothes. (I chose C. A lot.) Today, that equation is made manifest in things like paying the fees to sit in the airport lounge whenever I have a layover of more than an hour or so (peace and quiet, better snacks, power strips, fewer screaming children, etc) and decisions like "if it's going to take more than X amount of time to fix the thing, get rid of it and get a new one".
Sarah often says that the lesson that time has value is one of the things she's learned from me that she finds most valuable. A while back, I found a calculator that tries to put a dollar value on your time. It's a really interesting exercise, for all that it doesn't map onto my life exactly. (I value my free time a lot more than my current hourly wage, but that's partially because it's really freaking hard to calculate my current hourly wage.)
This goes all the way back to the days when I first moved out into my own apartment and "doing laundry" was either a) spending all day in the dank and miserable (and creeeeeepy) apartment complex laundry room with 2 washer/dryers that only took (a lot of) quarters and had no change machine, b) hauling everything to the laundromat and spending all day babysitting the laundry, or c) hauling everything to the laundromat, dropping it there, and paying $.85/lb for them to wash, dry, and fold it, then coming back a few days later and picking up a sack of clean clothes. (I chose C. A lot.) Today, that equation is made manifest in things like paying the fees to sit in the airport lounge whenever I have a layover of more than an hour or so (peace and quiet, better snacks, power strips, fewer screaming children, etc) and decisions like "if it's going to take more than X amount of time to fix the thing, get rid of it and get a new one".
Sarah often says that the lesson that time has value is one of the things she's learned from me that she finds most valuable. A while back, I found a calculator that tries to put a dollar value on your time. It's a really interesting exercise, for all that it doesn't map onto my life exactly. (I value my free time a lot more than my current hourly wage, but that's partially because it's really freaking hard to calculate my current hourly wage.)
Still Missing Summer Break
Jul. 24th, 2014 05:13 pmyasamanMy thoughts on the week thus far can be described as: UUUUGGGHHHHHH. Also, we've reached the point of summer where I desperately long for the halcyon days of my youth when summer break was a thing that existed for me. :(
I watched some movies last weekend! I periodically raid Redbox and then spend the better part of a weekend watching movies, and last weekend was one such weekend.
I'd been vaguely meaning to see The Lego Movie ever since I saw its almost implausibly good reviews, so I grabbed it when I saw it was available on Redbox. Maybe not as good as some of the reviews led me to believe, but still fun and witty, and totally enjoyable even as an adult. Lego Batman was particularly hilarious, and I was totally charmed by the astronaut lego, because I totally had the set with that little dude. I wouldn't have seen this in theaters, but it was definitely worth a rental!
I also finally saw The Book Thief movie, and it was...competent. A competently made movie, well-acted, and a reasonable enough adaptation of the book in terms of plot. I was still disappointed by it, not just because of plot changes (which are inevitable and frequently desirable), but because I think the book demanded a more riskily directed movie than it got. ( Read more... )
And I also watched Under the Skin, which...I still don't know how I feel about it yet. Tremendous performance from Scarlet Johansson, who plays an alien seducing men to their dooms for reasons unknown, but this is definitely a weird, artsy movie that is not particularly easy to watch. There were parts that were intensely disquieting and parts that were totally compelling, and I have no idea what exactly I was meant to take away from the movie as a whole. I thought the last act was kind of a mess, but the first hour and twenty minutes or so were totally hypnotic.
I watched some movies last weekend! I periodically raid Redbox and then spend the better part of a weekend watching movies, and last weekend was one such weekend.
I'd been vaguely meaning to see The Lego Movie ever since I saw its almost implausibly good reviews, so I grabbed it when I saw it was available on Redbox. Maybe not as good as some of the reviews led me to believe, but still fun and witty, and totally enjoyable even as an adult. Lego Batman was particularly hilarious, and I was totally charmed by the astronaut lego, because I totally had the set with that little dude. I wouldn't have seen this in theaters, but it was definitely worth a rental!
I also finally saw The Book Thief movie, and it was...competent. A competently made movie, well-acted, and a reasonable enough adaptation of the book in terms of plot. I was still disappointed by it, not just because of plot changes (which are inevitable and frequently desirable), but because I think the book demanded a more riskily directed movie than it got. ( Read more... )
And I also watched Under the Skin, which...I still don't know how I feel about it yet. Tremendous performance from Scarlet Johansson, who plays an alien seducing men to their dooms for reasons unknown, but this is definitely a weird, artsy movie that is not particularly easy to watch. There were parts that were intensely disquieting and parts that were totally compelling, and I have no idea what exactly I was meant to take away from the movie as a whole. I thought the last act was kind of a mess, but the first hour and twenty minutes or so were totally hypnotic.
Gentle Readers: catch them, Rimeq
Jul. 24th, 2014 11:43 pmmarnanelGentle Readers
a newsletter made for sharing
volume 1, number 15
24th July 2014: catch them, Rimeq
What I’ve been up to 24th July 2014: catch them, Rimeq
I read a choose-your-own-adventure science fiction book when I was little. It concerned the efforts of an alien named Rimeq to take over the world, and the hero's efforts to stop him. This was made more difficult because Rimeq possessed the ability to move objects around with his mind (telekinesis). The only part which has stayed in my head is towards the end, when the hero has reached Rimeq's room but Rimeq has paralysed him by telekinesis, the police have been stopped similarly, and so have the spaceships bringing help, and the stress is showing on Rimeq's face. Finally the hero manages to take some rings off his fingers and throw them at Rimeq, shouting, "Catch them, Rimeq, they're grenades!" This is the final straw; the stress on Rimeq's mind is too much, and he is taken away catatonic.
So as I mentioned earlier, we have been moving house, and several moments have made me think, "Catch them, Rimeq"-- in particular, I meant to put out an edition of Gentle Readers on Monday as usual, but exhaustion won. Sorry for the interruption in service; meanwhile, I've been very encouraged by the messages I've had telling me how much you enjoy reading Gentle Readers.
Many people are due public thanks for helping us get through the last week. In particular, I want to thank the people of St John's church, Egham; as the obstacles to getting moved grew more and more formidable, so more and more people from St John's turned up unasked to help. We couldn't have managed without you. Thanks also go to the Gentle Reader who offered a garage when the movers needed to deliver before the landlord could give us the key. And thanks to the people from the Runnymede Besom, who turned up to take away some furniture we'd donated, but then came back later to help clean up. That's what love in action looks like, and I'll do my best to pay it forward. Thank you all.
A poem of mine
THE ECHOES OF AN AMBER GOD
(T54)
Electric sparkles in your touch,
the echoes of an amber god.
You fill my batteries with such
electric sparkles in your touch,
that Tesla would have charged too much
and Franklin dropped his lightning-rod:
electric sparkles in your touch,
the echoes of an amber god.
A picture
I was going to draw you a cartoon as usual, but my tablet is still packed away. Instead, here are some photos I took when I was working in London earlier this year.
Trains in the sidings at Clapham Junction, the busiest railway station in Britain.
More than a hundred trains an hour come through.
The tombstone of Jason Binder:
"He respected all living things. His inspiration lives on."
And it lives on with me, too, even though his epitaph is all I know about him.
Something from someone else
Does this one really need an introduction? Well, if you've never seen it before, then you have the joy of seeing it for the first time; the Guardian has a decent analysis if you're interested in digging into it. "Baggonets" is an archaic form of the word "bayonets", and Kensal Green is a large London cemetery, one of the magnificent seven. There is a pub called "Paradise" near there now; it was named for the poem.
THE ROLLING ENGLISH ROAD
by G K Chesterton
Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode,
The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
A reeling road, a rolling road, that rambles round the shire,
And after him the parson ran, the sexton and the squire;
A merry road, a mazy road, and such as we did tread
The night we went to Birmingham by way of Beachy Head.
I knew no harm of Bonaparte and plenty of the Squire,
And for to fight the Frenchman I did not much desire;
But I did bash their baggonets because they came arrayed
To straighten out the crooked road an English drunkard made,
Where you and I went down the lane with ale-mugs in our hands,
The night we went to Glastonbury by way of Goodwin Sands.
His sins they were forgiven him; or why do flowers run
Behind him; and the hedges all strengthening in the sun?
The wild thing went from left to right and knew not which was which,
But the wild rose was above him when they found him in the ditch.
God pardon us, nor harden us; we did not see so clear
The night we went to Bannockburn by way of Brighton Pier.
My friends, we will not go again or ape an ancient rage,
Or stretch the folly of our youth to be the shame of age,
But walk with clearer eyes and ears this path that wandereth,
And see undrugged in evening light the decent inn of death;
For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen,
Before we go to Paradise by way of Kensal Green.
The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
A reeling road, a rolling road, that rambles round the shire,
And after him the parson ran, the sexton and the squire;
A merry road, a mazy road, and such as we did tread
The night we went to Birmingham by way of Beachy Head.
I knew no harm of Bonaparte and plenty of the Squire,
And for to fight the Frenchman I did not much desire;
But I did bash their baggonets because they came arrayed
To straighten out the crooked road an English drunkard made,
Where you and I went down the lane with ale-mugs in our hands,
The night we went to Glastonbury by way of Goodwin Sands.
His sins they were forgiven him; or why do flowers run
Behind him; and the hedges all strengthening in the sun?
The wild thing went from left to right and knew not which was which,
But the wild rose was above him when they found him in the ditch.
God pardon us, nor harden us; we did not see so clear
The night we went to Bannockburn by way of Brighton Pier.
My friends, we will not go again or ape an ancient rage,
Or stretch the folly of our youth to be the shame of age,
But walk with clearer eyes and ears this path that wandereth,
And see undrugged in evening light the decent inn of death;
For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen,
Before we go to Paradise by way of Kensal Green.
Colophon
Gentle Readers is published on Mondays and Thursdays, and I want you to share it. The archives are at http://thomasthurman.org/gentle/ , and so is a form to get on the mailing list. If you have anything to say or reply, or you want to be added or removed from the mailing list, I’m at thomas@thurman.org.uk and I’d love to hear from you. The newsletter is reader-supported; please pledge something if you can afford to, and please don't if you can't. Love and peace to you all.
Zens at Loncon
Jul. 24th, 2014 08:40 pmqianThe Loncon programme is out! OMG it is so long it goes on FOREVER. I am so excited! And terrified. :D:
My final programme looks pretty much identical to my draft programme, which I posted earlier this month, but there are two new events!
Asians at Loncon meetup
Friday 19:30 – 21:30, at the fan space
Yay, it is happening! If any of your identities include “Asian” and you’d like to meet other Asians at Loncon, turn up at the fan space at 7.30 pm on Friday. (I’ve got a panel ending at 7 pm, and am hoping it’s not too far from the fan space ….) No food or drink, I’m afraid, but we are allowed to eat there, so tapau/bungkus/grab a takeaway and come along and make friends!
Because a couple of people expressed concerns about this — Asians of all kinds are very welcome, including the diaspora. (It would be a bit rich of a Chinese Malaysian to reject the diaspora!)
Kaffeeklatsch
Sunday 16:00 – 17:00, London Suite 4 (ExCeL)
Lawrence Watt Evans, Zen Cho
I have a kaffeeklatsch! That is terrifying thrilling. I’ve never actually been to a kaffeeklatsch. I am very good at drinking coffee and chatting, though, due to the training imparted by the ancient traditions of my culture. (OMG if there is ever a Malaysian SFF con we should have mamak sessions instead of kaffeeklatsches. How cool would that be?)
I hope someone will come. :D: I will be there with some of my own books, and a book that is not by me for me to read if nobody turns up to talk to me. Maybe I will try to steal Lawrence Watt Evans’ fans!
SPIRITS ABROAD at Loncon
Also, don’t forget SPIRITS ABROAD will be available at the Big Green Bookshop stall in the Dealers’ Zone. If you’ve pre-ordered a copy directly from me online, I’m about to email you about how I can get hold of you at the con.
And here’s the final list of my panels!
( Read the rest of this entry » )Mirrored from Zen Cho.
Karen Joy Fowler longlisted for the Booker Prize
Jul. 24th, 2014 01:20 pmdarth_snarky posting in wisconTiptree Founding Mother Karen Joy Fowler has made the longlist for the Booker Prize with her novel We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves.
She is one of the first four Americans to ever make the longlist for the award (until this year, writers from the US weren't eligible).
Congratulations to Karen Joy Fowler on her wonderful--and historic--acheivement!
She is one of the first four Americans to ever make the longlist for the award (until this year, writers from the US weren't eligible).
Congratulations to Karen Joy Fowler on her wonderful--and historic--acheivement!
Cleaning, Day 2!
Jul. 24th, 2014 08:28 amsid posting in bitesizedcleaningI don't know about you guys, but there's still plenty to clean around my house! I won't get started for a few more hours, because I have PT coming up, but feel free to start without me. :-)
