Off to Shore Leave 31 within the hour. My schedule is here. Hope to see some of you there! The rest of you, keep the blog neat and tidy and don't upset the cats.....

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: "Empty Café" by Jethro Tull

In New York, the Declaration of Independence was read aloud to George Washington's troops (1776)

ON JUGGLERS

The profession of the juggler, with that of the minstrel, had fallen so low in the public estimation at the close of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, performers were ranked, by the moral writers of the time, not only with "ruffians, blasphemers, thieves, and vagabonds"; but also with "Heretics, Jews, Pagans, and sorcerers." In more modern times, by way of derision, the juggler was called a hocus-pocus, a term applicable to a pick-pocket or a common cheat.

---Joseph Strutt, Sports & Pastimes of the People of England, 1801


The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: "Solo le Pido a Dios" by the Mammals

So after karate class, Shihan tells me that there's going to be a black-belt promotion in October, and he wants me to be ready for it.

Yeah.

Honestly, I didn't think I'd be even considered until next year. There are two black-belt promotions per year, one in March, one in October. I didn't think I'd even get consideration until the March 2010 one.

But Shihan thinks I'm ready now. Or, rather, that I will be in October. There's a bunch of training to go through above and beyond class, including building my endurance and running a lot, and I have to get even more serious about fighting class now.

Wibble.

I did see this coming. For the past week, Shihan has been quizzing me on tons of things, plus at the end of class, he'll have everyone but me sit down, and then have me do a kata or three alone in the center of class. Last Thursday, Shihan had me do Tensho kata, a deep-breathing form in a stable stance. Five black belts surrounded me and hit me with pads, kicked me, tried to destabilize me, and so on. That was just a taste of what I'll be going through in October. But usually when folks go through that sort of thing, it's a prelude to prepping for the black-belt promotion.

And, sure enough....

This has been such an amazing journey. But, I hasten to add, that this is just one milestone of many. Becoming a black belt was never the destination, just one of the many many stops on it.

And, it should be added loudly, I ain't there yet. Being told to get ready for it is not the same thing as doing it. I haven't been formally invited for promotion yet, I'm just preparing in the hopes that I am ready.

Damn....

Current Mood: scared
Current Music: "You Angel You" by Bob Dylan & The Band

Got up earlier than usual to drive the Forebearance to the airport as they hie to Chicago for the American Library Association conference. Then home to nap for a bit, then to the shrink for the weekly appointment (she thinks me and terri_osborne living in different apartments is a good idea for us both), then down to the dentist for the first time in about five years. Got a cleaning, a lecture on Why I Should Floss And Use Mouthwash, and made three appointments for deep-scale cleanings and followups and stuff.

I've been watching Torchwood: Children of Earth -- I'll try to do a detailed review after all five parts are done.

The muse has been stuck in the mud. This needs to change and fast, as I've got a fuckload of writing to do.

When E-Z Pass says they're going to e-mail you your password (because the password that used to work doesn't anymore), it would help if they actually, y'know, e-mailed it! Sigh.

Current Mood: blah
Current Music: "Chest Fever" by The Band

John D. Rockefeller born (1839)

WOMEN & THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT

Although the Olympic movement likes to present itself as inclusive and meritocratic, this was not always the case. The "father" of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, had opposed the inclusion of females at the games, stating "Olympics with women would be incorrect, unpractical, uninteresting, and unesthetic." An early IOC statement on the question declared, "We feel that the Olympic Games must be reserved for the solemn and periodic exaltation of male athleticism with internationalism as a base, loyalty as a means, arts for its setting, and female applause as its reward." In 1900, the floodgates opened, and 11 women (against 1,319 men) were permitted to compete at tennis and golf.


There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror.
Orson Welles (1915-85)

Current Mood: curious
Current Music: "Birthday Card at Christmas" by Jethro Tull

It's pretty much official at this point: I'll be writing a third Supernatural novel. I can't say much about it, except that it'll be out in 2010, the current working title is Heart of the Dragon, and it'll take place in San Francisco in three different time periods.

More details when I'm allowed to give 'em....

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: "The Song is Over" by The Who

The Chronic Rift has just released a quick promo of "HG World: Heroes of the Zombie War," the audio drama produced by Jay Smith (dr_p_venkman) that I provide one of the voices for. drewshi and popfiend interview Jay about the series, and then you can hear one of the promo pieces. So check it out -- and then go to the official HG World web site, www.GoodMorningSurvivors.com, for more stuff....

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: the podcast in question

Italian-born Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini became the first American saint when she was canonized (1946)

PILATES

German-born Joseph Hubertus Pilates (1880-1967) pioneered a system of exercises, which he called "contrology," to develop and enhance strength, posture, and flexibility. Pilates was a sickly child who from an early age studied anatomy to build up his body. He traveled to England in 1912 (apparently to work as a circus performer), but two years later, at the start of World War I, was interned as an enemy alien. While in the camps, Pilates found work as a nurse and experimented with a range of techniques and makeshift equipment to rehabilitate the immobile. On his release, he used these skills to help train the German police force before emigrating to New York in 1925 and setting up a gym. Since then, the techniques of Pilates have been adopted across the world and are used by a host of athletes, dancers, actors, and sportsmen and -women, as well as the infirm.


War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading.
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: "Nil S'en La" by Clannad

For some inexplicable reason, the apartment has suddenly become a dead zone for my iPhone. No matter where I go, I get "No Service."

The hell????

So if you've wanted to call me and left voicemail that I haven't returned, or expected to hear from me, this is why......

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: "Standin' Tall" by the Subdudes

Two Michigan librarians have started a blog called "Awful Library Books."

According to the "about this site" section of the blog:

Awfullibrarybooks.wordpress.com is a collection of the worst library holdings. The items featured here are so old, obsolete, awful or just plain stupid that we are horrified that people might be actually checking these items out and depending on the information.

This blog contains actual library holdings. No specific libraries or librarians are named to protect the guilty. Check your shelves, it could be you.

Do check it out -- it's both amusing and appalling (my favorite are the pre-1969 books on space travel and the 1980s books on computers).

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "One Brown Mouse" by Jethro Tull

I've mentioned this before, but thought I'd repeat it: six of the fifteen songs in the Boogie Knights' set at 11am Saturday morning at Shore Leave 31 this weekend will be audience requests. Friday night, and Saturday morning before the show, there'll be a fishbowl and a pad of paper outside the Valley ballroom, and people can write down songs they want to hear, and we will do our damndest to perform them. (We reserve the right to refuse to do a song for whatever reason.)

Here are the remaining nine songs (so don't bother requesting these, as we're already doin' 'em):

"Earth Magic Girls" (parody of Queen's "Fat-Bottomed Girls")
"Outlaw Band of Thieves" (Cher's "Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves")
"Wanted: Harem Guard" (Billy Ray Cyrus's "Achy-Breaky Heart" -- yes, really)
"Works Like a Charm" (Kansas's "Dust in the Wind")
"I'm Gonna Wreck the Shrine" ("This Little Light of Mine," trad.)
"Thank You, Scotland" (Mac Davis's "It's Hard to be Humble")
"I'll Rock Your World" (Modern English's "I Melt with You")
"Claxon Bells" ("Jingle Bells," trad.)
"Dragon's Lure" (Buster Poindexter's "Hot Hot Hot")

Several of these are songs that have debuted since the last Shore Leave, and one -- "I'm Gonna Wreck the Shrine," which is the first Boogie song written and performed by self -- that will have its debut this weekend. Edited to add: Make that two -- as boogiebabe_smap pointed out in comments, Shore Leave will also be the debut of "Claxon Bells."

So come check us out Saturday at 11am at Shore Leave!

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: "The Body of an American" by the Pogues

I've adjusted the Shore Leave 31 schedule post slightly to add the live Chronic Rift podcast we'll be doing.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: "Amazing Grace" by Arlo Guthrie

Dean Wesley Smith examines what life would be like if all copyrights ceased to exist, in the style of the History Channel's Life After People.

Really fascinating stuff about things we take for granted. Check it out.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: "Done with Bonaparte" by Mark Knopfler

This week's installment of "The Summer of the Rift" is an interview with TV writer Rockne S. O'Bannon, the creative force behind Farscape, seaQuest DSV, Alien Nation, and more (as well as my writing partner on the post-finale Farscape comics). The interview is conducted by drewshi and popfiend, two self-described fanboys, who actually conduct an excellent interview in which Rockne talks about all the above-mentioned projects, as well as The New Twilight Zone, Warehouse 13, and more....

You can get the episode off iTunes, or from the Rift web site or podOmatic's Rift page.

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: the podcast in question

Here's my likely schedule for Shore Leave 31 this coming weekend at the good ol' Hunt Valley Marriott:

Friday
7-8.30pm: "Charity Roast of Keith R.A. DeCandido," with MC Robert Greenberger, roasters Kirsten Beyer, Kevin Dilmore, Michael Jan Friedman, Glenn Hauman, David Mack, Marco Palmieri, Dayton Ward, and special guest Peter David (Hunt)
10pm-12am: "Meet the Pros," with all the author and editor guests signing whatever you throw in front of us, and I'll have some of my own books and comics for sale as well (Hunt/Valley Foyer)

Saturday
11am-12pm: Boogie Knights concert, where we'll be taking audience requests (made before the concert) and debuting several new songs including one I wrote and will sing (Valley)
1-2pm: "Ten Years Later, Farscape Continues," with Greg Cox and David Mack (Salon E)
3-4pm: "Star Trek: Corps of Engineers: Wounds," with Ilsa J. Bick and Terri Osborne (Salon A)
4-5.30pm: "Star Trek: Mere Anarchy," with Mike W. Barr, Christopher L. Bennett, Kevin Dilmore, Dave Galanter, Dayton Ward, and Howard Weinstein, where we'll each be reading from one of the chapters in the tale (Salon B)
5.30-6.30pm: "The Chronic Rift Live Podcast," with John S. Drew, and two others TBA, as we do an episode of the Rift live from Shore Leave (Tack)

Sunday
10-11am: "Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadows," with Margaret Clark, Peter David, Kevin Dilmore, Michael Jan Friedman, Jim Johnson, David Mack, Marco Palmieri, and Dayton Ward (Salon E)
11am-12pm: "Writing to Music: The Muse that Inspires," with Greg Cox, Allyn Gibson, Jim Johnson, William Leisner, David Mack, and Scott Pearson (Hunt)
2-3pm: "An Hour with Keith R.A. DeCandido" (Salon A)

I'm listed as being on the Star Trek XI SMACKDOWN!, but that conflicts with the Boogie Knights concert, and there are plenty of folks who can sound off on that one....

Also we're doing an episode of The Chronic Rift from Shore Leave, but as it's scheduled right now, it's opposite both the Wounds and Mere Anarchy panels, so as it stands now, I won't be able to participate....

Edited to add: They moved the Rift to 5.30 so I can be there. We'll be discussing the new Star Trek film.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: "Nobody's Got the Gun" by Mark Knopfler

Louis Pasteur successfully tested his vaccine for rabies on a boy bitten by a rabid dog (1885)

ON FOG

Fog on the hill
Brings water to the mill,
Fog on the moor
Brings the sun to the door.


COMESSATION--riotous banqueting
"Highgate is often the scene of comessation."

Current Mood: curious
Current Music: "Layla" by Eric Clapton

A shocking new form of bathing attire, the bikini, was first shown at a Paris fashion show (1946)

OSCAR MISCELLANY

First held: May 16, 1929 (tickets cost $10; 250 attended)
First televised: 1953 (25th Academy Awards, hosted by Bob Hope)
Most nominations, film: 14--All About Eve 1950) won 6; Titanic (1997) won 11
Most wins, film: 11--Ben Hur (1959); Titanic (1997); The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Most nominations, actor: 12--Jack Nicholson, won 3
Most nominations, actress: 13--Meryl Streep, won 2
Most nominations, director: 12--William Wyler, won 3
Most awards: 4--Katharine Hepburn
Oldest winner, actor: (76 years, 317 days) Henry Fonda, On Golden Pond 1981)
Youngest winner, actor: (29 years, 343 days) Adrien Brody, The Pianist (2002)
Oldest winner, actress: (80 years, 293 days) Jessica Tandy, Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
Youngest winner, actress: (21 years, 218 days) Marlee Matlin, Children of a Lesser God (1986)


A weed is no more than a flower in disguise.
James Russell Lowell (1819-91)

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: "Susie Rosen's Nose" by The Austin Lounge Lizards

Former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair was found dead of a gunshot wound.

Bleah. I have no words....

Current Mood: sad
Current Music: "Classical Lady" by the Don't Quit Your Day Job Players

Heading out shortly to head down to the Scheeler residence down Maryland way in order to rehearse for Shore Leave. (Yes, the Boogie Knights do rehearse...) There will also be a cookout, and apparently a pool as well, so this looks to be fun.

I intend to spend the train time working on various and sundry things......

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: "Disorder in the House" by Warren Zevon & Bruce Springsteen

Independence Day

THE LURE OF BASEBALL

"IN COURT" says the card on the lawyer's door,
"BACK IN TEN MINUTES" on many more;
"GONE TO HOSPITAL" on the doctor's slate
On another, "SIT DOWN AND WAIT."
"GONE TO THE BANK" on the notary's sign;
"ARBITRATION" that young clerk of mine
"BACK SOON" on the broker's book;
"COLLECTING RENTS" on my agent's hook.
They were all too busy, a matter quite new.
Very sorry was I, I had nothing to do.
Then I hied me hands to the baseball ground,
And every man on the grand-stand found.

---Anonymous, The Official Baseball Record, 1886


Nothing prevents us from being natural so much as the desire to appear so.
Duc de la Rochefoucauld (1613-80)

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Under African Skies" by Paul Simon & Linda Ronstadt

I've been remiss in promoting the audio series that I'm part of: "HG World: Heroes of the Zombie War." I provide the voice of Todd Rage, an elderly, Vietnam-veteran, right-wing radio host who's one of the last bastions of hope when the zombies take over the world.

The story focuses on a small town in the Algonquin Valley in western Pennsylvania which has fallen on hard economic times. Then the zombies show up, and everything goes to hell. The episodes and promos and such are being made slowly available as podcasts on iTunes, or from the good folks at podOmatic. They're also being put on YouTube.

It's produced by Jay Smith (dr_p_venkman), and the other voice talent includes Stacey Dooks, John S. Drew (drewshi), Tracy Angelina Evans, M. Sieiro Garcia, Shane Harris, Orenthal V. Hawkins, D.T. Kelly, Ayoub Khote, Martha Linbo-Terhaar, Tanja Milojavic, Ken Peters, Becca Rinas, Lee Sands, Dustin Shanafelter, Jay Smith (dr_p_venkman), Ryan Smith, Carole Stokes, Michael Stokes, Ginny Swann, Romain Vimal, and Mark Zaricor.

Check it out!

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: a Comic Related podcast

Seventy years ago between games of a doubleheader, the Yankees held Lou Gehrig Day, in honor of their great first baseman, who had set a record for consecutive games played that was ended by illness with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, more commonly known nowadays as Lou Gehrig's Disease. He had stopped playing the previous April due to the illness, and on 4 July 1939, he was presented with a whole bunch of gifts he was too weak to hold. His number (4) was retired, and Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia gave a speech that was lost on the dustbin of history because of the speech that came next from the guest of honor.

( Here's the full text of the speech Gehrig gave that day.................. )

For today's game against the Blue Jays, the Yankees are wearing "4ALS" patches, and the number 4 will be on first base, where Gehrig played for 2,130 consecutive Yankee games.

Oh, and much as I despise the new Yankee Stadium and find it to be an abomination, I will give them this: inside Gate 4 is a tribute to Gehrig, including the above-quoted speech on a loop.

*raises glass to a great ballplayer*

Current Mood: sad
Current Music: "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day

Best Video EVER!!!!! The Muppets do "The Stars and Stripes Forever" for YouTube. Introduced by Sam the Eagle, and featuring the Swedish Chef, Beaker, Animal, and more performing, with fireworks by Crazy Harry, plus, natch, heckling at the end by Statler and Waldorf.

Thanks to deza for the link.

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Go Ahead and Die" by the Austin Lounge Lizards

A video of Fireworks by PES, combining two wonderful things: fireworks and candy!

Thanks to varkat for the link.

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "Boom, Like That" by Mark Knopfler

( Two hundred and thirty-three years ago, some folks felt the need to write this down.... )

Happy Independence Day to all you Amurricans out there....

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: "I am a Rock" by Simon & Garfunkel