Windowseat Weblog by Laurel Krahn

The Flash Girls will be performing at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival on Saturday, September 8th throughout the day. Quite a few times at the Mead booth, also probably at the Wood, Willow, & Whatnot booth and various other places. Will be playing on their own and with Bedlam.

And then they'll be playing a special album release concert at 8pm on Saturday, September 8th at Dreamhaven. Yay! With all sorts of special guests, as you might imagine (if you know the Flash Girls).

The new album, Play Each Morning, Wild Queen is fabulous (of course) and is available at Dreamhaven and from Fabulous Records. I recommend it.

Featuring songs by Emma Bull, Lorraine Garland, Neil Gaiman, Dorothy Parker, A.A. Milne, Todd Menton, Steve Brust, Adam Stemple . . . you get the idea.

I'm thinking about going to the MN State Fair tomorrow (later today, actually). Haven't gone yet this year and I feel obligated to go at least once, for at least a few hours, each year. Words don't really do the place justice, if you've never been to the Minnesota State Fair, it's just one of those places you have to visit to understand. Well, you can't really understand it, but you can certainly experience it.

A recent Backfence column by James Lileks reminded me of some of the more, unpleasant, aspects of fair going:

There's the people-watching. There's also, unfortunately, people-hearing, people-smelling and the astronomically high ewww-factor of people-touching, which is unavoidable on a hot, crowded day. But you can prepare yourself to this moment by desensitizing yourself at home: Get a large ham. Moisten. Rub against shoulder.
Do this until you're no longer surprised that the ham doesn't apologize.

Oh yeah-- there's a ton of Fair coverage at startribune.com

Okay, I'm not talking about anyone named "Monty Palooza," I'm talking about Monty Ashley, who has a spiff website at montykins.com. He posts cool funny stuff there almost every weekday.

(Yes, I'm thinking of changing my own middle name to "Palooza" because I've been saying "palooza" so much of late. But I'm weird. And I'm horrible at coming up with subject lines for weblog entries and I know I can stop using them via greymatter, but early entries somewhat depend on the subject lines so losing them entirely would make the archives confusing and boy am I digressing here . . . ).

Where was I?

Oh yeah. That Monty guy. He's funny. I visit his site daily. If you read Teevee.org regularly you already know his work. Or if you read my TV Picks, you know him as that Cool Guy Who Filled In When I Was On Vacation. Not To Be Confused With The Cool Chick Who Filled In When I Was On Vacation That Other Time.

Monty's recent piece re book proposals cracks me up. I think I need the "Getting Comfortable" book, though I blush to admit it.

Remember me?

Sorry I up and disappeared there, folks.

Being laid off is painful, even the fourth (!) time around. (How many layoffs must I endure before I get a merit badge of some sort?)

I've been busy being unemployed. Filing for unemployment. Updating my resume. Doing job searches online. Cleaning my apartment. Plus the usual TV Picks. Excessive worrying about financial matters. At first there was a lot of not-sleeping and not-eating and still more worrying. Now I take a lot of long naps.

Today's a cool day for reruns of my fave episodes of my fave shows so that's making me happy.

Or made me happy as I pulled together today's TV Picks.

Now if only I were paid to do TV picks. Lord knows I've managed to do 'em almost daily for almost two years (or more by now) while still holding down a day job and having way too many other hobbies. Just imagine how much cooler they'd be if I had more time and resources. Ahhhhhh. I could do a lot more. And my writing would be better if I actually took the time to think (and, you know, rewrite things) when I did the picks (heh).

Ach well, it's only TV.

I'm hanging in there. Thanks to everyone who's emailed or posted comments. I'll get around to replies sometime, honest.

I've been laid off from my job.

Will post a link to my resume once I have a current one available.

I've many years of online experience, with writing, with web design, with moderating forums, with writing about TV, with PCs and Macs and UNIX systems, with administering mailing lists, with configuring mail servers (to some degree), with configuring web servers, with administering a complex archive system for a graphic prepress shop, with . . . well, all sorts of stuff. I type fast. I'm loyal and true. I, basically rock and any company would be lucky to have me.

Though right now I'm feeling as if I've been crushed beneath a large boulder.

And oh, by the way, I put Paypal and amazon reward links up over on tvpicks.net. I never got around to doing it here and of course you don't need to donate any funds as thanks for the work I do on this website and elsewhere. But if you ever felt inspired, now's a good time to give.

I mean, I hope I find a new cool job right away, but . . . sigh.

Lileks:

Your summer so far:
June. Average temperature: 12 degrees. Amount of daily rain: 39 gallons per square inch per second. You can't go outside, or you'll freeze, drown, drown freezing or freeze while drowning. Basic mood of most Twin Citians: the murderous icy rage of Lenin combined with the devil-may-care spirit of Sylvia Plath.
July. Average temperature: 193 degrees. Amount of rain in entire month: insufficient to moisten a mite's eye.
August. Average temperature: the planet Mercury, at noon, on the equator, wearing a parka and woolen underwear over a layer of herring-flecked lard paste. Amount of water that's fallen so far: 300 pounds. Really! Well, that was when Uncle Frank fell out of the window attempting to get the air conditioner in. He's 97 percent water, right? So 300 pounds, then.

The rest of this particular Backfence column by James Lileks is also funny, there's a bit that made me laugh out loud which I didn't quote. So go forth and read the rest, sez I.

By the way-- a cold front arrived yesterday. So it's only in the '70s today. Yay! It's wonderful.

The Onion A.V. Club interviews Samuel R. Delany.

OMG! My friend Al sent me this link to a 'l33t' version of Romeo and Juliet. It's "Tales of the L33t". Be afraid, be very afraid.

(Actually, be warned that it's 11 minutes long and there's some music and of course animation and some profanity and whatnot since it's spoofing the idiotic way some folks talk on irc and like that).

(But some bits made me laugh out loud, they did. Too funny).

(There's also a downloadable version available from this page if you don't want to watch it right there in yer web browser or if you have difficulties).

The Lost Nose: A Programmed Book by John Sladek. The first choose your own adventure? Mayhaps.

Found on the excellent Ansible Links Page.

Ansible a Hugo award-winning fanzine by David Langford and is a fun read (especially if you're a science fiction fan, it may not be terribly interesting if you aren't). I used to get it via email and then I got off the list figuring it'd be better to read Ansible on the web and then I sortof forgot to pay attention as each issue came out. So I had a fun time the other day catching up with a few past issues.

"I send U this file in order 2 have your advice." (Actually, the "I" would be a picture of an eye . . . )

I keep getting junk email that begins "We were referred to you by a friend and understand that you may be interested in securing your very own domain name."

hahahahahahahahahaha

Oh, sorry.

Any friend of mine knows that I already have more domain names than I have time to use. And that I've been registering domain names for many, many years (since before it cost money).

I'm reading Wizard of the Pigeons by Megan Lindholm. I would've sworn that I read the book many years ago, but I'm halfway through it now and I've read some things that aren't at all familiar. Maybe I never finished it way-back-when?

Anyway, it's wonderful so far. An urban fantasy set in Seattle. The book is presently very hard to find, but I'm pleased to find out from Lindholm's official website that almost all of her books are due to be come back into print in the UK.

Lindholm also writes under the name Robin Hobb and those books seem to remain in print (I've never tried any of them).

. . . there is a new (and updated) website for Diane Duane and Peter Morwood (I linked to their old site a few days ago). Including info on what cons they'll be at and what they're working on.

Also a new, shorter URL for The Eye of Argon, too. In case you've a yen for a really, really bad read. (It's best as a party game late at night at a sf con. People usually take turns reading until they can read no more either because they're laughing or sobbing).

In a bad mood? Having a bad day? You could watch this clip from Bringing Up Baby and that should make you feel better. Well, it works for me.

Neil Gaiman was interviewed during the second hour of the Minnesota Public Radio show Midmorning yesterday. Was a good, hour-long interview. And they even played part of a Flash Girls song!

You can listen to it now (through, presumably, next Wednesday) if you go to the Midmorning page and in the sidebar where it says "Archives" select "Thur Hour 2".

Forgive me, I'm gonna post links to everything I can get my hands on. Help me out! If you see an especially cool article about Puck's induction into the Hall that I don't have here, send it my way.

A fabulous new interview with Puckett and Winfield at startribune.com. It's fun! It's funny! It's interesting! Go read it! :)

MLB Hall of Fame webpage has lots of good stuff (with more to come, I hope).

Twins site has info re the ceremony including links to the press conferences and other interviews that are really really wonderful and worth hearing.

CNN-SI Hall page

The Hall of Fame site has finally been updated to include a list of Hall of Famers expected to attend and the schedule of events.

CNN-SI article about Puckett and Winfield

Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield are on limited edition boxes of Wheaties. They each got their own cover on each side (what? no back of the box? Oh that's alright just this once . . . ). Their reaction.

Expect coverage at the sites linked to in my Twins sidebar, too.

. . . when I said I wasn't as moved by Korey Stringer's death. I've seen too many clips, read too many interviews and stories. And it's haunting seeing the "Korey's corner" icon in the sidebar on every Vikings page at startribune.com.

This article about Stringer for Esquire got to me. The quotes from librarians and schoolteachers and kids do, too. The statement from the family. Sigh.

A searchable Ramen Noodle cookbook [via Footprints].

From grades 5 on up, I mostly skipped school lunch (it was all so gross) and I'd make ramen noodles when I got home from school. Nothing like a little soup with your reruns of Magnum, P.I. or Batman or whatever.

And of course, later on, when money was tight. I lived for a goodly while on ramen and/or mac & cheese. Honestly? I don't tire of ramen noodles.

Yay! The Sci-Fi Channel has picked up the rights to air reruns of Now and Again.

Cool. It was one of my favorite series of the 1999-2000 tv season. Eric Close, Margaret Colin, Dennis Haysbert, Gerrit Graham, and Heather Matarazzo starred in the fabulous series. John Goodman guest starred in the pilot episode (and one other episode). Created by Glenn Gordon Caron (of Moonlighting) fame.

It was a unique blend of elements of science fiction and romantic comedy and action and drama. Good (sometimes great) writing, fabulous acting, it had a unique look and feel. I loved it. So I'm happy it'll air again so that maybe some new people will find it. And so that I can tape episodes I didn't record the first time around. And who knows? Maybe there are a couple of episodes I haven't seen yet? I'm looking at a list of episodes and I think it might be possible.

John Wesley Harding has released another MPfreeEP, that is some songs available only online for download as mp3s, free of charge.

Somehow I'd missed hearing the bizarre rumor that Aaron Sorkin writes Gilmore Girls. I suppose it's flattering to Girls and I can dream that maybe some of the people who watch The West Wing will make a point of checking out Girls (the best new show of last season).

Gilmore Girls sites: Official Site | gilmore-girls.net | gilmoregirls.org | MBTV recaps (and discussions, too)

This article by Jim Caple says it all (or comes darn close). I mean, I could gush more. There are even more impressive stats and stories he didn't include. But it says it like it is.

Alas, I'm not going to Cooperstown for the ceremony-- I gave up on the idea when I heard about how many fans descend on the place and feared it'd all be too crowded and too much. I hope I can watch the ceremony on TV, get a good videotape of it, get my hands on any and all articles and interviews and tributes and whatnot.

Really. It's just that kindof day, I guess.

The death of Minnesota Vikings player Korey Stringer has the state of Minnesota in mourning or so it seems. All sorts of details at startribune.com and pioneerplanet.com and ESPN and WCCO.

(Obviously, I'm more upset by the events of the previous two entries. I'd never met Stringer and I haven't been following the Vikings much in recent years. But Stringer was one of the good guys. I'm rather cranky that he's the Viking that had to die tragically. And that Malik Sealey was the Timberwolve who did. Why must it be the players who were kind and did a lot for the community. Who were married with small children? Not that I wish this kindof thing on anyone, but it'd be easier to take if it happened to the players who seem like complete a-holes if you know what I mean and I think you do).

(I can't imagine holding football practice in the heat we had yesterday. With full pads! Geez . . . )

(and/or sad or something).

This news story about the death of a five-month-old baby is just awful. Well, it's about the woman who killed the child and the charges that are being filed against her.

I work with the child's grandmother and went to church and school with the mother of the baby. I'd known the baby was in the hospital (and wasn't going to survive) since my return from Winnipeg, but hadn't had any details re what happened. Terrible, terrible stuff.

It is with great sadness I report the death of science fiction writer (and legend) Poul Anderson. He'd been in the hospital for a month before his death, yesterday a note from Greg Bear had circulated on the net that he'd returned home and wasn't expected to live more than a week.

Greg Bear (sf writer who happens to be Anderson's son-in-law) posted the following today (I forget where I grabbed it, I've seen it a bunch of places):

Friends,
Poul Anderson passed away last night, July 31-August 1, around midnight.During the afternoon, he received hundreds of emails and messages from friends and readers and fellow writers, which Astrid and Karen printed out and read to him. He died knowing (and how!) that he was loved and valued, and hearing how much his work had entertained and moved so many. Though he was weak at the end, there was no loss of mental capacity, and my last conversation with him was slow but sparkling with the curiosity and deep-seated gentlemanliness that Poul always had, and which was, I think, built into his whole body and being.
He is survived by his wife and writing partner, Karen, his daughter Astrid, brother John, grandchildren Erik and Alexandra, nieces Janet and Cathy, and by millions of readers.

I'm sure lots of tributes and obituaries are forthcoming. It's hard to express how big of a gap he leaves with his passing. I'll add links to obits and tributes here as they begin to show up online.

Obit / Rememberences at SFWA site

Locus Magazine / A 1997 interview with Anderson in Locus

Sci Fi Wire / SFF.net

One might also stop by rec.arts.sf.fandom and rec.arts.sf.written where I'm sure some people will be posting their thoughts. Or visit DejaGoogle and search on "Poul Anderson" in "rec.arts.sf.*"

Here's the New York Times obit (requires free login).

AP Obit (at startribune)

Reuters Obit