Signs Taken for Wonders

10:06PM - Tall Ship update

I don't recall posting this, so for the record: I passed. I am now officially CREW. 

What does this mean? In practical terms, it means that on two concurrent days I have been required -- required, please note -- to dress up like a pirate and say "ARR!" very loudly while setting sails. Also, I have been ordered to swab decks, which I have then swabbed. 

Childhood dream #117: accomplished.

10:02PM - The Nebulas

The Nebulas were in DC this year. I dutifully trooped over to view them with the intrepid oktober_ghost and the ever-chipper Fran Wilde. Beth and I even managed to catch a glimpse of that ever elusive species of CW alumni, William T. Vandermark. Barring one CW alum, I have now managed to collect the whole set!

I hadn't been to the Nebulas before, and it was an interesting mix of familiar and new faces. I managed to sit down with the fabulous Mike and Rachel Swirksy, the engaging E. Lily Yu, the somewhat suspicious Andy Duncan and the always troublesome James Patrick Kelly. I learned interesting things about radio from jfreund and Meagen Voss. I admired the thin orange tie of the ever-stylish John Kessel and the clattery shoes of death worn by the brave prom-goers sharing our hotel. And, as always, I left with a long list of Yet More Things to Read.

But in the meantime: the very deserving winners of the Nebulas have been announced. Good reads all. I'm particularly fond of Jo Walton's amazing Among Others, which seems poised to sweep many of the SF awards this year, but I'm thoroughly fond of all the nominated works I read. I have to make special mention of Genevieve Valentine's astonishing debut, Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, which I thought was just beautiful.

10:27PM

So I found out about Fabio Fernandes's new anthology project, Future Fire, via the Locus discussion group. Here’s a description of his project:

We are still at war in many places around the world, but something is a-changing: the socialist Second World has ended almost 25 years ago, and the First World and the Third World are, if not changing places, suffering major alterations in their structure. I think it’s past time we discuss that in our fiction, and what fiction suits best the discussion of the zeitgeist, our times and the times to come, than science fiction?

We are raising funds to publish a special issue/anthology of colonialism-themed speculative fiction from outside the first-world viewpoint, co-edited by Fabio Fernandes and published by The Future Fire.

If you'd like to donate to make this anthology a reality you can do so through Peerbacker. It's a great cause and has the makings of a great anthology.

11:54AM - Further Adventures of a Cowardly Climber

So, my tall ship training course is now over and I PASSED MY FINAL! Which means I get to call myself "crew." It's a long way from being an "able-bodied seaman," but it's something.

The ship, alas, is still in dock, so I'm planning to get my volunteer hours up such that I can actually go sailing. When I do, I'll fill you in.

Yesterday had other milestones too. I took and passed my upper-climb test, which allows me now to venture into the tippy-top of the ship. And I crossed the cat-harpings for the first time - twice! - which is something I've been nerving myself up to do for a while.

(Note: tried to find an image of cat harpings. Do you know how many illustrations of kittens playing musical instruments there are on the web? This is not that.)

(Also, I forgot I had the cheap-ass version of lj. Never mind. If you're on my facebook list you can see an image of the mast here https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151386662565131&set=a.10151386661460131.824894.503960130&type=1&theater. The woman in the red shirt standing in the "crucified" position is crossing the cat harpings.)

The cat harpings are two thick ropes that act as a bridge between the starboard and port (right and left) sides of the lower yard. To cross from the left part of the mast "t" to the right side you swing your feet onto these two thick ropes, stand on them, and leeean sideways until your hand catches a shroud on the right side. This is a the "crucified" position. Then you swing yourself onto the shrouds of the right side. When crossing the cat harpings, you are standing on two ropes that separate you from a long fall, and you are not clipped in. This and the climb into the fighting top are arguably the two scariest climbing positions on the ship.

But climbing these in good weather wasn't actually that bad.  The cat harpings were surprisingly solid to stand on, and I'm learning, yet again, that my body knows more about climbing than I think it does. I even managed to do part of the upside-down climb into the fighting-top without difficulty, so... we'll see. Upper climbing has terrors of its own.

Fun fact of the day: because so much of the ship is made from tropical hardwood, if we get a splinter, we are supposed to immediately report it. Tropical hardwoods excrete nasty insecticidal chemicals that can exacerbate a simple splinter wound and turn it into something Very Unpleasant.  

9:21PM

What We Hunger For (warning: trigger issues)

Er. Wow. This essay begins in the "Team PEETA!" froth of Hunger Games fandom and then goes to much darker places. I'm both impressed by the pairing and ...not. I suppose I feel that the HG material comes across as a manipulative and superficial framing device. But I was moved by the essay. So there's that.

8:18PM - Huzzah!

I just delivered a talk on my research to a group of graduate students and faculty, and you know what? I nailed that sucker.

2:46PM

rcloenen_ruiz's post on Eastercon got me thinking about the lack of support for translated works in the N.A. publishing industry and in SF in particular.

I know that there are many hard-working translators out there who have a project on the back burner: an award-winning novel they really want to see get wider circulation, or a series of poems that they've fallen in love with. But (they tell me when we talk at conferences) they can't find publishers for these projects.

So on that front I wanted to mention Calypso Press, a new, artist-run co-operative dedicated to "publishing quality literary books of poetry and fiction with a global perspective." You can read about their projects on their website, and, if they strike you as worthwhile, contribute to their efforts.

12:28AM - You want dancing music...

Oh, Black Keys. Everything you play demands to be blasted out my car window.

2:45PM - A book update of a different sort

The amazing Susan Gubar's Memoir of a Debulked Woman: Enduring Ovarian Cancer is being released on April 30th. A brilliant feminist scholar and (full disclosure) one of the most inspirational teachers I've had, Susan was diagnosed in 2008 with ovarian cancer. In her latest book, she weaves a memoir of her illness together with a polemic on the state of women's health care in America.

From Publisher's Weekly:

Feminist author and scholar Gubar received a diagnosis of ovarian cancer in 2008, and the then 63-year-old author underwent the radical surgical procedure called debulking, which removes many of the organs in a woman’s lower abdomen. Gubar’s memoir is not easy reading. She recounts in detail the grotesque procedures and the horrendous pain and humiliation she endured. The author ponders why major advances have mounted up for the treatment of breast cancer, but little has changed in treating ovarian cancer. Gubar weaves her personal story into a discussion of art, literature, and statements from other cancer patients. The author recounts the strength and care she received from family and friends, especially her husband, from her diagnosis through treatment to remission. She then finds herself confronted with a choice. “Either I have a third abdominal surgery that comes with its own complications or I suffer from infections preventing future therapies that would extend my life.” Gubar wrote her memoir for one reason: “my central motive consists of a fierce belief that something must be done to rectify the miserable inadequacies of current medical responses to ovarian cancer.” Gubar’s passionate and brave polemic is critical reading for anyone concerned with the state of women’s health care in America. (Apr.)

12:46AM - Hunger Games: "I have a banjo!"

12:44AM - HG: "I'm writing a dystopian anthem!"

Once again Arcade Fire proves they fit songs to the album rather than vice versa.

12:41AM - From the Hunger Games "Dystopia" contingent

12:38AM - Hunger Games soundtrack

So the HG soundtrack is pretty good, if a bit bipolar. Roughly 50% of the singers heard "Hunger Games soundtrack" as, in Taylor Swift's words, ''Appalachian music 300 years from now.'' 45% heard  "DYSTOPIA! I GET TO WRITE AN ANTHEM FOR A DYSTOPIA!"  And a minority - say 5% - heard "This is your chance to write Hunger Games filk!" And then there's Taylor Swift, who also heard "write a generic pop song to play over the end credits!" But I'll forgive her, because her futuristic Appalachian music is pretty decent, and also, she was probably told to write a generic pop song for the end credits.

The upshot: this is a good soundtrack album. Even on shuffle, the songs flow into each other with surprising coherence. And it's a rich mine for writers looking for "I'M IN A DYSTOPIA! WITH A BANJO!" music to play in the background as they write. 

I'm also amused and rather touched to hear how many artists just really, really wanted to write HG filk. Rock on, nerdy dystopian banjo players. Rock on.

2:45PM - For you medical types

From the NYT: Think Like a Doctor: A Crooked Walk

The Medical Mystery: Can you solve the case of a young woman with an odd gait and slowly progressive weakness in her hips and legs?

The Presenting Problem:

A 27-year-old woman seeks medical attention after her mother notices the odd way she walks up the stairs.

The Patient’s Story:

The young woman lived a couple of states away from her mother but visited every few months. During one visit, the mother was following her up the staircase and was struck by how odd her daughter’s version of this simple, everyday action looked. Her slender frame rocked from side to side as she moved up the steps. It was as if she had to lift her entire body to bring each leg up. Her mother wasn’t sure exactly what was wrong, but she was certain it wasn’t right.

At first her daughter refused to acknowledge that there was anything wrong. She felt fine. And if the stairs did seem a little tougher lately, she told her mother, it was because she hadn’t been working out. But she didn’t hold out for long. Her friends had made jokes about the way she walked up stairs. And she had noticed a few worrisome things herself. That winter she’d gone skiing, and on the slopes even the easiest moves — maneuvers she’d mastered as a child — seemed strangely difficult. She couldn’t turn; she couldn’t even snowplow. She went to her regular doctor, who promptly sent her to a neurologist.

Test results etc.

11:32AM - A Shaggy Horse Story

Glaswegian comedian Kevin Bridges on "Would I Lie To You?", a comedy show where teams have to decide whether the opposing team is telling the truth or is in fact lying.

12:47AM - Movie Plug of the Week: Carlos

This 6 hour, globetrotting biography of the infamous "Carlos the Jackal" picked up a lot of awards last year. Now that I've seen it, I'm duty-bound to recommend this miniseries to all the lovers of Cold-War espionage on my f-list. It comes with bombings, seedy backroom politics, and more nekkid terrorists than you can shake a stick at.

11:27PM - Hunger Games

On Friday night, me, the redoubtable Mike and rachel_swirsky, and the intrepid Rebecca Peters-Golden of the YA blog Crunchings & Munchings went to see The Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games is a film about a teenage girl struggling to negotiate relationships and gender roles in a hostile social environment. Along the way, trees explode, people die, and Lenny Kravitz proves the value of a good eyeliner.

You may have heard of it.

Anyway, the short version is: as an enthusiastic fan of the book, I thought the adaptation was awesome. As a film-goer I would give it a B+: it has strong acting and great direction in the opening 15 minutes, but suffers from the occasional bout of draggy pacing. It also wrestles with, and does not completely conquer, the challenge of transferring an intense first-person narrative into the 3rd person visuals of film.

But you know what? This is a very good adaptation of a rockin' novel. Hollywood seems to find that hard: for every Hunger Games there's twenty extremely annoying mutilations of The Dark is Rising (the horror! the horror!).

There was actually a moment about 50 minutes into the film - the first shot of the "Hunger Games studio" - when I thought, "In different hands, this is precisely the moment when things would start to suck." But the yawning pit of suckdom was avoided; goodness continued; and thus I could sleep peacefully at night and wake to face another day of ICFA with a soul lightened with the knowledge that Hunger Games had passed through the gates of film unscathed. Now:

( SPOILERAMA! )

10:13PM

I plan to do an ICFA update at some point.

Until then: if you have not yet seen the latest Britain's Got Talent clip and feel like getting your heartstrings tugged, check out this opera duo. The staging of this one irritates me a bit. But you know, at the end of the day these are nice kids with good voices, and BGT's "appearance does not equal talent" message is one we could stand to hear more often.

I'd feel better still about it if a) the BGT audience seemed to learn that message and b) the American talent shows would get behind it in the same way. But, you know. One internet clip at a time.

6:23PM - Made it to ICFA!

Today I committed one of the cardinal sins of conference going: flying in and presenting on the same day. This time it worked out, and although my presentation on Lacan and Mieville was still fuelled by airport adrenaline, I made it through okay.

Florida is lovely and warm, and I have many more people to meet and talk to before I sleep. More later.

3:37PM - Today's organization brought to you by THE MISSION

I admire those who are busy Unfucking Their Lives right now. Alas, I am still in the process of Fucking Over My Life: stacks of grading, stacks of packing, stacks of Things to Do.

I'm off to ICFA later this week, where I hope to deliver a paper on Mieville, moderate some panels and hang out with some lovely people by the pool. Also, Hunger Games!

My soundtrack to the busy is the beautiful score of THE MISSION. And if you've never watched THE MISSION or listened to its soundtrack - OH MY GOD UNDER WHAT ROCK DO YOU DWELL?????!!!!

Alas, youtube doesn't have footage from the movie, but this clip features its waterfalls, minus the doomed Jesuit drifting to his death.



You're welcome.