Had a great time, really. Tired.
We were quite done in having conned from Friday til Sunday afternoon, and we could have stayed for Monday, and had planned to, but we have so much work to do, and we were quite tuckered out. It’s one of our favorite motels, Ruby’s Inn; very pet-friendly, and though it has neither bar nor food service, they’re liberal with what you’re allowed to bring in and set up, plus it’s right next to a Diamond Lil’s, which is a casino/cafe, and across from Rowdy’s Steakhouse and a Taco Time, and down from The Stone of Accord, a somewhat pricier Irish Pub, so you takes your pick. We ate mostly from the con suite, which was hot dogs. Sans bun.
Jim Butcher was GOH, and Patty and Mike Briggs were there…any con where they are is going to be fun.
Jane and I were very, very, very good on our diets, ate just exactly the same things, didn’t drink, didn’t cheat, not once, and Jane came back having gained no weight, and I gained 3 pounds. Go figure.
Ah, well, it came on fast, it’ll go off fast.
Sigh.
Been through Missoula one summer. My sister and I were on our way from Ashland, OR, to Lethbridge, AB, to visit our stepmother, overnighted north of Boise, and went up the Lochsa River route. I thought Missoula looked like a nicely sited town, not too large, not too small, green but not too damp. Came away well disposed to Missoula.
Nice place. Business streets make kind of a huge U. There’s Reserve on one end and Orange on the other, and if you have to stop for food or gas, this is a good spot. Ruby’s Inn and the Orange Street Motel 6 are pet-friendly.
36 spammers this weekend. Sigh. It’s a wonder the internet doesn’t completely crash, except for the individuals who really want suits from Hong Kong or puppies from Nigeria.
Change in topic – but there’s a movie poster out at the moment that caused me to double take. The poster for Behind the Candelabra made me think it was a picture of Bren from one of the less successful book covers! Matt Damon looks perfect to play Bren 🙂
http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/behind-the-candelabra-trailer-quad-poster/behind-the-candelabra-uk-quad-poster/
Matt Damon lookin’ good…
I would not toss him off the set for a Foreigner movie, nor the Gate one. He’s kind of (physically) an understated fellow, in many ways average, which is kind of nice for both parts.
Suits from Hong Kong I can sort of understand…..although why anyone would buy a suit on line is beyond me. But puppies from Nigeria? I thought puppies were food over there!
My brother came back from a month long cruise to find that em had close to 4000 emails…..90% spam!
One supposes poetic license in the what and where.
One has had some very off-target, laughably bad spam lately.
Loans or deposits instantly? Offers from, let us say, very “public spirited” and apparently overheated young ladies? Or the most distasteful, “Married But Lonely”? …Or the “Adriane” who claims (“HEY YOU!”) we are Facebook associates. It’s entirely spam…and off-target in a large number of ways.
I’ve saved you from knockoff Nikes, various purses, men’s suits, no recent puppies, but two I suspect would have flowered into lawyers from Dubai or Hong Kong…. Hmmm. “Married but Lonely?” That’s rather tacky! Even people with English names get looked up on Google, if they trip other triggers, and some of them are quite funny. There are many languishing ladies looking for love, planefare, and your safe deposit keys…there are business opportunities galore: I would be so much more impressed if they could spell. “You are present great opportunties for advnace.”
Y’all HAVE to catch Jane’s slide show.THE LINK She got pix from a guy who never competes in ‘hall costume,’ for one thing because it’s ‘working clothes…’ Dragon Dronet, martial artist and all around great guy. He and his crew are amazing. I love watching them go at it. If you haven’t run into them before…movie industry. Professional. And great people!
BTW, the recipe for 12-string-proof manicures, without paying 30.00…how not to have fractured nails, and I’d been breaking about 1 every two days, thanks to so much time with my hands in salt water…
1. Sally Hanson nails…makes a primer/sealer combination, ie, it’s clear stuff, and you use it to prime the surface, then use it to seal the job after the polish.
a) coat 1, primer, dry. b) coat 2, primer, dry. c) coat 3 nail polish: color or no-color of your choice d) coat 4 more nail polish. e) coat 5, sealing coat, same as a) and b)…at this point, a prolonged session with a hairdryer set on low, until it does not feel tacky to the touch. This would probably be good to do between each coat rather than trying to get it all at once. I know there are chemical dryers, but I’ve not had such good luck with them. This managed to seal two somewhat broken nails into useability, and if I’m lucky, that side-break on the thumbnail may not give way until it’s grown out past the quick.
When this gets gappy at the top, rather than sand and fill, I’ll use a remover and just redo the whole job.
I used to have good nails. I’m starting to care again, now that it looks as if we can take up the guitars again.
Saw a guitarist on TV once that cut open ping-pong balls, trimmed ’em and glued ’em over his nails for picking.
Good evening,
I have never had the chance to thank you. You and my son Jason did a book signing together for your books, last year at a store there in Spokane. You signed an edition of Betrayer, and a very nice bookmark. I have been a fan for many years, in fact I wrote you a letter years ago, (we will not say how long ago for both of our sakes), and you sent back a personalized letter with your actual signature. I always thought that was very courteous to do for a fan, I still have that letter. Anyway when you found out, you gave Jason those items for me, so I am finally getting around to logging in and thanking you personally. I was excited to see some of your books in our audible book club and have downloaded some of them.
Welcome! I’m very glad to have been able to do that.
You can get picks that fit your fingers, but they wiggle too much to feel right. Best put on some gel nails and lacquer the daylights out of them if you break a critical one. Just call it stylin’.
I will add a shameless plug for my guitar teacher who has patented a set of picks suitable for banjo, guitar, mandolin, and if you play dobro or pedal steel guitar, they’ll work for those, too.
http://www.thegregallenmethod.com/catalog/index.html
Don Ross (twice finger picking champion) glues acrylic nails on his right hand. Of course guitar picking is his business, and he does it more than most of the rest of us. And he sings, too. Wonderful fellow, better known in Germany than in Canada or the US – don’t know why. He calls his style ‘percussive guitar’. Spider Robinson once said “I heard a couple of guys playing guitar around the corner, so I went to listen – and there was Don Ross.”
I thought of going after a pro manicure, until I saw the 30.00 cost. I did wonder if they could do one hand for 15 (the other hand has nails cut very short,) but even that seemed much.
I am one that considers a ‘spa day’ to be about as much fun as a dentist appointment. Maybe less. At least for the dentist you get numbed-up. I hate sitting still, I hate having my hair done because I don’t like it messed with; I really hate manicures on the same grounds. A massage? No bloody way. And sitting around in a stupid towel pretending the day is going well is just ridiculous.
Excuse me being nosey, but how do conventions work? Do the organisers invite you and pay you to attend, or do you just hire a stall and then maybe get a percentage of the entrance fees? Who supplies the merchandise (books, photos etc for signing) – third parties or do you have to take your own? Are there lectures and forums, which presumably you get paid for, or is it all just a marketing venture on your part?
PS While I’m being nosey, what’s your take on fan fiction?
A sf club, usually, gets together some funds, signs a contract with a hotel, promotes the weekend event, collects membership fees to pay their deal with the hotel and pay the writer-guests’ room, meals, and transport, does other fundraisers, and hopes they escape without debts. Usually, but not always, they get enough the first year to fund the startup for the next year.
As a writer guest, I don’t bring much: I don’t compete with booksellers (who have hired a table) and I will sign their stock, and anything else that doesn’t move. I don’t often bring books, though I will hand out flyers that tell people how to get them from me online.
We’re not paid anything. There are panels, discussions, occasionally inventive new things. We do it for the fun, the exposure, and just because we like parties.
I don’t officially encourage fan fic, and don’t read it if it turns up: there’ve been instances with other writers having fans howl the writer ‘stole their ideas’ or ‘violated their copyright’ —crazy as it may sound. Yep. So I don’t go there. Besides, I have my own plans, and it’s a delicate stack of china I don’t disturb by outside input into my notions of what to do next.
I’ve heard composers have had a similar problem. They’d heard a tune sometime when they aren’t really paying attention, not thinking of composing. Later they compose something based on the tune that resurfaced, thinking it original, but another musician see’s the score or hears it and immediately responds, “Oh, that’s a variation on …,” or is told “It’s almost like …”, because everybody uses the same general rules for what follows what. Heard about it happening to a well-known classical composer but I forget who, and also one composer saying he lives in fear of doing it–asks his composing buddies specifically if a tune he wants to use has been “done” before.
Pachebel’s Canon has been beaten to death by modern songwriters and composers; the chord progression is practically genetically ingrained 😀 Both The Piano Guys and comedian Rob Paravonian, among others, spoof it. I think one of them has threatened to slit their throat with a guitar pick if they have to play it again.
And then there’s PDQ Bach who’ll copy anything and never get it quite right. 😉 I’ve been waiting a long time for him to render (pun intended) Sigurd Jorsalfar in his own inimitable style as Sigrid, You’re so Fine with quotes from The Girl from Ipanema, and The Stripper. Can’t ye just hear that? 🙂
BTW, along this line let the anniversary of The Rite of Spring today be recognized! 🙂
The first theme of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony is the same as in Mozart’s Overture to Bastien und Bastienne. Of course, there are lots of cases where musical quotation is intentional, but this does not seem to be one of them.
Thank you.
Carole, if you get a chance, attend a scifi con near you. Ticket prices for a day or the whole con are not generally too expensive. You’ll meet fellow fans, all sorts of folks, and there are generally writers, artists, sometimes scientists, actors, and most fans are casually dressed, while others are in detailed costumes. One evening, there will be a costume showing and judging, and often a ball / dance for fans, costumed or not. There’s a “dealer’s room” for books, arts and crafts to interest fans, and more. There’s an art room showing paintings, prints, and so on. You can also meet guests of honor such as authors, and you’ll find other authors there to meet fans and enjoy (and promote gently). As a fan, you never know who you might see. The last con I attended, I met two authors I didn’t know and was very glad I did. You’ll find all ages too. Fans tend to be 18 to 45, but you’ll find plenty of folks younger and older. 🙂 Whether it’s a statuesque silver-haired lady, or a twenty-something couple with their four year old (all in Endangered Wolf tee shirts), or teen or tween friends oohing and aahing over all the coolness ( :biggrin: ) there are nice people. Oh, there are also screening rooms, anime and manga, sometimes a room for bloggers and online gamers, and for tabletop gamers (old school). In addition to the panel discussions (don’t miss these, they vary in quality, but the good ones are *very* good), there may be smaller spaces that local clubs may reserve to meet people. — Fans who want to attend more than a day may want to look at reserving a room at the hotel. If cost is an issue there, ask other fans in your area (contact a club if you don’t know people). Fans will often share a room, two or four per room… sort of like visiting your college buddies or a sleepover / pajama party, only as a grownup. 😉 That way, you minimize your costs. — And if it all sounds very strange, go with a friend so you’re not alone. There’s someone else near you who likes science fiction, fantasy, and related stuff. — Larger towns as well as universities tend to have cons.
One of my favs was hearing Jerry Pournelle trying to argue celestial navigation with Annapolis grad, naval officer, Robert A Heinlein. Jerry was “two sheets to the wind” which didn’t help his cause. 😉 🙂
Longtime friends, they. I only had a couple of cons with Robert Heinlein, but a number of years of correspondence. I haven’t been to the same cons as Jerry Pournelle in years, but we used to do a lot of them. I have seen Larry Niven (third of that trio) a year or so ago, but Jerry doesn’t seem to travel much outside California these days.
Had sad news just now. Jack Vance passed away. The field has lost another great one.
“I only had a couple of cons with Robert Heinlein, but a number of years of correspondence.”
I believe that. I’ll bet he liked you. That makes me think your writing is not so very different than his in many ways. Emphasis on getting the science right, yet not averse to touring psychology, or politics, strong rationalists. I believe I probably should not have written any of that, but IMNSHO any author who can carry part of his mantle is very good indeed! 🙂
I’m also sure you’re smart enough, on your worst days, to not argue celestial navigation with him! 😉 🙂 🙂 🙂
You guys talking about cons have me wanting to re-read Bimbos of the Death Sun, by Sharyn McCrumb. If anyone isn’t familiar with it, it’s a mystery that takes place at a small SciFi convention and is truly hilarious. She pretty much shows all the different types of fan, and her descriptions of their antics/fannish pursuits are all very real, but not mean spirited. she has said that various scifi actors have told her that they were given copies in order to prepare them for what they would encounter when attending a con.
Oh! and in looking it up I see it’s now avaialble as an ebook.
“various scifi actors…were given copies to prepare them for what they would encounter”
Hopefully without the murder!
Very fen-ny book. 😉
You should also look for Now You See It/Him/Them by Gene De Weese and Robert Coulson, if you can find a copy. Also set at an SF convention.
The sequel (not at a convention as I recall) is Charles Fort Never Mentioned Wombats.
I’ve been told that at least some of the scenes in those are based on actual incidents.
that was for Seaboe. @#$%^&* software.
Cons get the hotel meeting space at a discount, depending on how many room-nights con attendees buy. If you can afford it, you support the con by staying in their official hotel(s).