tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-367523902024-03-13T17:10:07.006-04:00warm fuzzy freudian slippersDonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comBlogger833125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-47344549843623088542016-11-24T21:37:00.002-05:002016-11-24T21:37:44.127-05:00This Is My ThanksgivingIn the immortal words of Don Henley...<br />
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And I don't mind saying that I still love it all<br />I wallowed in the springtime<br />Now I'm welcoming the fall<br />For every moment of joy<br />Every hour of fear<br />For every winding road that brought me here<br />For every breath, for every day of living<br />This is my Thanksgiving</blockquote>
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<br />Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-21320521833476672762016-11-20T12:01:00.001-05:002016-11-20T12:16:46.163-05:00Missing the Magnetic Je Ne Sais Quoi<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2011</td></tr>
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I’ll forever know 2016 as The Year of Silenced Voices. The year we lost Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, not to mention all manner of actors, writers, is broadcasters, will be the year we lost <a href="https://youtu.be/t7eNSgCQzCI">Miss Sharon Jones</a>. <br />
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I know the whole <a href="http://daptonerecords.com/">Daptone Records</a> thing is sometimes seen as retro at best and white hipster appropriation at worst. I heard the some of the same criticisms of the so-called “Young Lions” of jazz back in the ’80s, who made music that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/jan/25/artsfeatures.popandrock">Miles called “warmed-over turkey</a>.” But I always appreciated the <a href="http://www.soundonsound.com/people/gabriel-roth-recording-daptone-records">Daptone vibe and the aesthetic</a>, and Sharon Jones will always be at the forefront of that in my mind. <br />
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I watched – more importantly, <em>heard</em> – that vibe in action in 2011, when Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings came to my neck of the woods. And after the show, I got to exchange words with Sharon and some of the other members of the band. I got to see firsthand what a true artistic collective looks like; how a group can make a single member’s voice shine and how that single member highlights the rest of the group. Sharon herself, of course, is one of the best examples I’ll ever encounter of someone who succeeds by fighting to do what she does, whether it’s ANR people’s perceptions or cancer. That, to me, was her magnetic <i>je ne sais quoi</i>.<br />
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Today's playlist: the whole SJDK catalog. Probably for the rest of the week too, I think.Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-73962996454594580642016-11-15T12:41:00.001-05:002016-11-16T08:18:43.122-05:00A Voice MissedIn this age of media distrust and echo chambering, <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/pressrelease/pbs-newshour-co-anchor-gwen-ifill-dies-61/">the loss of Gwen Ifill’s voice</a> in the news landscape saddens me. <br />
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I’m a regular <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/">PBS Newshour</a> viewer, going back to when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PBS_NewsHour#The_NewsHour_.281983.E2.80.932009.29">Jim Lehrer was still running the show</a>. I remember noticing near the end of his tenure, the growing prominence of Ifill, Judy Woodruff, and a few others. From my perspective, it was done quietly, almost subversively. I remember thinking for sure it’d be Margaret Warner at the desk after Lehrer left, but seeing Ifill and Woodruff center stage gave me real hope for the future of good reporting. Reporting that really sought to deliver us the news from as many different perspectives as possible.<br />
<br />
People point to institutions (every institution, really) all the time with justified criticism, but most folks can point to individuals in those institutions who represent the ideal. The ones about whom even reasonable detractors can say, “If everyone in that instituion had the professional skills and personal integrity as X, I’d have no problem.” <br />
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Gwen Ifill was one of those folks. I’ll miss her presence and her voice, especially during these trying times.Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-52896162347455224352016-11-13T14:08:00.001-05:002016-11-13T14:22:45.985-05:00A New Old Writing ManifestoI was reading the latest issue of Warren Ellis’s <a href="http://orbitaloperations.com/">ORBITAL OPERATIONS newsletter</a> this morning and while I myself didn't expect a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmetropolitan">Spider Jerusalem</a> rant, this shouldn’t have surprised me: <br />
<blockquote>
I’m sure some of you tuned in today expecting a Spider Jerusalem-scale political rant. Some of you may even have been wincing in expectation of it. But I’m not Spider Jerusalem. He was my Id from twenty years ago. Going off here would be empty virtue-signalling from someone with no serious skin in this particular game. Whatever I say next, it’ll be through the work. </blockquote>
And so it immediately brings to mind how I resolve that conflict as I write. How do I make whatever I say come through the work? <a href="http://www.warmfuzzyfreudianslippers.com/2016/11/viable-paradise-xx-or-career-rebooted.html">As always</a>, I've had the answer all along...<br />
<blockquote>
What are you dealing with now in terms of plot points, themes, concerns now? The world and everything in it: Hunger, poverty, the anguish of the human race, the desperate sense of self destruction that we entertain all the time, the deep pervading gloom that comes with our inability to cope. Of <em>course</em>, you’re going to over-concern yourself with issues. It’s right that you <em>should</em> do so, and it’s expected… this year. Next year. But not three years from now. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Leave that soapbox behind. Carry with you, at all times, your sense of caring and your concern. But put it into the mouths of flesh and blood people. If not, write tracts.</blockquote>
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Now, not to be critical, but I think it’s fair to say there’s a certain privilege in being allowed three years before transforming your soapbox feelings to good fiction writing. But that part of the prescription isn't important, really. And I don’t want to dismiss tract and pamphlet writing, either; lots of folks do both. But the principle is sound.<br />
<br />
As for <a href="http://www.warmfuzzyfreudianslippers.com/2016/11/suddenly-some-old-familiar-music.html">me and my writing though</a>, I have the motive, and now I have the means. And now I have some writing to get back to. <br />
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Today's soundtrack: BLACKLISTED by Neko CaseDonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-40140623844091320152016-11-10T18:22:00.001-05:002016-11-11T12:30:50.884-05:00"Suddenly some old familiar music..."I’m still in shock over the election to come up with my own words. My Twitter feed has been mostly retweets. I don't feel too, too bad because signal boosting serves a purpose. But all my personal fears and hopes (in that order) are bubbling to the surface -- for my friends, my loved ones, all the friends of friends who are, even as of yesterday, are being directly intimidated, immediately faced with losing livelihoods. And for all those who are, just days after, <i>dying</i> as a result.<br />
<br />
The words are almost here. I hope. They have to come. Don't they? Because I can't keep living the way I have been living anymore...<br />
<blockquote>
We hide behind the veil of our own success <br />
While we’re following the rules <br />
Our eyes refuse to see past our little hands <br />
To the never changing truth <br />
Freedom needs to speak a little louder <br />
Justice needs to try her other arm <br />
Some of us could push a little harder <br />
To sound the alarm </blockquote>
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<br />Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-43823621914930066472016-11-06T00:05:00.001-04:002016-11-07T19:31:12.500-05:00World Fantasy Con 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It’s a shame there couldn’t be another <a href="http://worldfantasy2016.org/">World Fantasy Convention</a> <a href="http://file770.com/?p=30377">without</a> <a href="http://www.jimchines.com/2016/08/world-fantasy-con-programming-mess/">yet another</a> <a href="http://www.swantower.com/2016/08/14/world-fantasy-2016/">controversy</a>. Because of it, people either resold their memberships or failing that (or to even give them away), simply didn’t go. I had my doubts about going until the 11th hour, given the time, money, blood, sweat, and tears I’d put into Viable Paradise the week before. I wasn’t even that jazzed about continuing my streak of being a panelist at every WFC I’d attended. <br />
<br />
Nonetheless, I made the trip to Columbus, OH, my second adopted hometown. It’s a bittersweet place of personal demons I managed by and large to put to rest. I relived some good memories, like sitting for lunch at the North Market once a week eating stromboli from Serafino’s. I even sat in the same section; it really was like traveling back in time. I saw old hangouts, walked old downtown walks, and visited places I didn’t get to 15 years ago. And to add to the surrealism of it all, I sat at the hotel bar watching Cleveland in the World Series.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2016... or, was it 2001...?</td></tr>
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But in-between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_Distance">my trips on and off the carousel</a>, I was there for a purpose: to fulfill the commitment I'd made to be on the new and improved “Spicy Oriental Zeppelin Stories” panel, d.b.a. “A Golden Age of Contemporary Fantasy.” The panel – the revision for which I strongly suspect was influenced by <a href="http://guerrillawfc.com/">Guerilla WFC</a> – lived up to its new and improved name, in my opinion. I admit though, I'm still chewing over the audience reaction. (Rightly or wrongly, it bothered me a bit; haven't completely processed it yet, though.) And while I was still a zombie from the previous week and didn’t connect with as many people who were there as I’d wanted, I did manage to say hey to a couple old friends and maybe make a couple more. I even got to a some of the other panels. So between all of that, and helping to brighten up (at least, I hope I did) a corner of my field that needed it, it wasn't a bad way to spend a weekend.<br />
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And hey, congrats to all the <a href="http://www.tor.com/2016/10/30/announcing-the-2016-world-fantasy-award-winners/">World Fantasy Award winners</a>!Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-43634844720537612922016-11-05T22:32:00.001-04:002016-11-05T22:44:01.897-04:00Refilling the Life BarI’m still piecing my mind back together from the two wildest weeks in my writer life, with <a href="http://www.warmfuzzyfreudianslippers.com/2016/11/viable-paradise-xx-or-career-rebooted.html">Viable Paradise three weeks ago</a> followed by World Fantasy the next week (note to self: do that post soon), followed a week back at the dayjob during which I <em>still</em> wasn’t sleeping sensibly. It’s my own fault; it’s been 21 years since <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_World_Series">my hometown (racist mascot, and all) got to be in the World Series</a>. <br />
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This leaves me drinking coffee past when I should on a Saturday night, trying to do a little more catching up since I took most of last night and most of today hibernating and flushing my brain. I finally have a little bit of energy that I don’t immediately have to burn on another commitment, like the dayjob. But it’s a precarious state. The bed, the couch, <a href="http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/The_Commonwealth">The Commonwealth</a> are all calling to me. It’s okay, though. If rest is what I need and I can get it while picking away at my to-do lists and maybe a little bit of editing, I’m good.<br />
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<br />Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-77311540132013584362016-11-01T19:09:00.001-04:002016-11-02T16:12:35.179-04:00Viable Paradise XX (or, A Career Rebooted)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I haven’t fully processed my experience at the <a href="http://www.viableparadise.net/">2016 Viable Paradise Writing Workshop</a>, a.k.a "VP20" or "VPXX" (Like a <a href="http://www.chicagotheband.com/">Chicago</a> album!) as it was the workshop's twentieth year. I traveled to Martha’s Vineyard from my patch of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca,_New_York">“10 Square Miles Surrounded by Reality”</a>, survived the workshop including The Horror That Is Thursday, traveled back to NY and sat with a thousand-yard-stare on my face for about two days before heading to Columbus, OH (a place of bittersweet memories in my home state) for the <a href="http://www.worldfantasy2016.org/">World Fantasy Convention</a>.<br />
<br />
But I've pieced together some thoughts about my VP experience and here they are, in order of life-changing impact:<br />
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<b>CONNECTION</b>. The first face I saw when I disembarked from the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard was that of a VP staffer/alum who I’d met a few years prior at a Readercon and who remembered me. Seeing a familiar face, I thought, was an ideal way to head into the workshop. I'd figured that everyone I was going to meet that week was there for a single purpose so I'd have an instant in, socially. These were all thoughts borne out of anxiety. It was an unnecessary worry. I don’t think there’s another environment where I could’ve played “Thing” with total strangers by incorporating elements of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_the_Real_Martian_Please_Stand_Up%3F">my favorite episode of <i>The Twilight Zone</i></a>. These people got me, or got me enough that opening up was strangely easy. I can only hope I was the same way for some of them.<br />
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<b>CRAFT</b>. By a certain instructor’s own admission, you don’t get anything at Viable Paradise that you couldn’t get elsewhere. Anyone who’s even half-serious about the writing game can find small-scale professional workshops and critique groups just about anywhere, face-to-face and online. But what you get at Viable Paradise is <i>all</i> of that stuff, a <i>lot</i> faster. You know how once in a great while, as you plod along looking for writing wisdom on your own, you randomly come across a piece of advice that surges your writing forward, sort of like finding a needle of gold in a haystack full of bullshit? At VP, (a) there is no bullshit and (b) I personally found no less than three of those needles. I think everyone in my class got something. Some got what they wanted; some got what they needed.<br />
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<b>PERSONAL CHALLENGE</b>. There are classes, colloquia, group and one-on-one critiques, and Mandatory Fun. While those things alone are enough to wear anyone out, you can do these bare essentials and not lose a lot of sleep or (more importantly to me) <a href="https://medium.com/@Jillianne/the-introvert-points-system-a4b0a1ea6fd1#.2cxn7lxh4">introvert points</a>. I decided, Fuck all that.<br />
<br />
It may have been unwise of me to get four hours of sleep the night I got there just to go on the first of Uncle Jim's 6 am walks to watch the sunrise. I went to one of the many off-book lunchtime sessions with a bowl of spaghetti in my hands. I made myself walk to see a harvest moon, luminescent jellyfish, and Methodist Munchkin Land when my mind and body begged me to just take some time and curl up under a blanket. I stayed up too late, and maybe drank more than I do in an average month. In fact, I don't think I got more than 4.5 hours of sleep per night except the night before I left the island. No regrets.<br />
<br />
Now, I am <i>not</i> telling anyone to disregard what they need for their mental, emotional, and physical health -- there was even an off-book lecture on writer self-care (which I didn't make). I <i>am</i> saying, with the usual YMMV caveats, that Viable Paradise is an opportunity to stretch yourself a little bit beyond your comfort levels in relative safety, and not just with writing. Taking advantage of as much as I could outside the workshop proper was a life lesson in deciding, in a calculated manner, to push myself just a little bit further. Something at which I've become a little rusty.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Motto of Room 48</td></tr>
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<br />
<b>THE HORROR THAT IS THURSDAY</b>. If you’re looking into Viable Paradise, you’ve no doubt come across this phrase by now. The legends are true. It’s a crucible. And when you come out the other side, you’ll sincerely believe you've created an abomination against literature. You’ll want to hide it. You might even consider killing it to spare it the pain of living what's surely to be a short, bleak existence in a cruel, uncaring world.<br />
<br />
But those options will be taken out of your hands. And when you and your classmates are forced to reckon with what you (and they) have produced, you’ll feel an odd sense of pride. It won’t make any sense. You won’t care that it doesn’t.<br />
<br />
<b>A PERSONAL TRUTH</b>. My classmates will have their own individual takeaways. I speculate that some of those takeaways will be very personal. Mine definitely are. It’s been two weeks now and I’m still unraveling them.<br />
<br />
But one thing became abundantly clear to me: My entire Viable Paradise experience -- my one-on-one critiques, my group critique, the Horror That Is Thursday, every lost hour of sleep, every lost introvert point -- and everything I got out of it is perfectly and unironically summed up by the ending of the film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_Iron">CIRCLE OF IRON</a>:<br />
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And once I recovered from this realization, I was left with one thing...<br />
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<b>A CAREER REBOOTED</b>. I won’t give my litany of excuses for my stalled writing career. And I'm not saying that in a “Boo-hoo, poor me” kind of way. But it’s accurate to say, I lost some things along my path before losing the path altogether.<br />
<br />
But after the general lessons I’ve learned about writing, some personal lessons about <i>my</i> writing in particular, and all the people I met (<i>every</i> classmate, <i>every</i> instructor, <i>every</i> staff member, no matter how many or how few words I spoke with each of them), I feel my writing career is back on track. I've looked my core problems in the face as well as some core solutions. From this point forward it’s “Put up or shut up,” with literally nothing standing in my way.Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-40822865817545743492016-10-31T17:13:00.001-04:002016-10-31T18:21:12.340-04:00A Little Ghost StoryIt's Halloween and while I feel dead, I’m not quite there (yet). The past two weeks of “vacation” from the dayjob consisted of the <a href="http://www.viableparadise.net/">Viable Paradise Writing Workshop</a> (<strong>VPXX represent!</strong>) followed almost immediately by the <a href="http://worldfantasy2016.org/">World Fantasy Convention</a>, to say nothing about all the requisite travel. So given the holiday and my current state, how about I share an old ghost story...<br />
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***</div>
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Sitting in the kitchen, staring out the patio door into the darkness past the deck, I’m reminded of the story of my grandmother, one of many things my mother handed down to me:<br />
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At midnight, every night for months, my Lola dressed in her finest Spanish gown, went out on to her front porch, and screamed for her husband to come home. No one tried to stop her. See, her generation wasn’t unfamiliar with visits from the dead. A young woman calling out into the humid, Philippine night, was pitiable, but not beyond the bounds of reason. My grandmother’s family and townmates shrugged it off, until the night the screaming stopped after only a few moments. They rushed outside, afraid she’d hurt herself, or worse. Instead, they found her standing on the porch, smiling. <br />
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“He heard me,” Lola told them. “He came home.” <br />
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***</div>
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bxw3Ju4JjEJDczBycG9WLUZ0WGlWTEV0U1lJelhrZ2x4dTZR">Download a free pdf of the rest of “Life After Wartime” here!</a></div>
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/4.0/88x31.png" /></a> </div>
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<span href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dct:type"><br /></span></div>
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<span href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dct:type">“Life After Wartime”</span> by <a href="http://www.warmfuzzyfreudianslippers.com/" rel="cc:attributionURL">Don Pizarro</a> is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a></div>
Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-28301809126855869862016-07-04T23:55:00.000-04:002016-07-04T23:55:00.365-04:00Chapter XLIIISorry I’m getting to this a day late, but it’s been a hectic couple of weeks. Chapter XLIII of my life began yesterday, and I’m hoping for some big things. I ended Chapter XLII with two major accomplishments: a promotion at the dayjob to a managerial position which not only gives me an office with a door I can close, but also the funds to attend the 2016 <a href="http://viableparadise.net/">Viable Paradise</a> writing workshop. That’s VP20, everyone! Or, is it VPXX? I’m partial to the latter myself, because it reminds me of a Chicago album.<br />
<br />
Speaking of which, the song below is from Chicago XXXVI. With things to look forward to, I've been wondering if a new year requires a new attitude...<br />
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<blockquote>
I think it’s time for you to lose that cynical suit, now. <br />
You've worn it out and man, the jacket don’t fit you no more. <br />
–Chicago, “Something’s Coming, I Know”</blockquote>
Let's give it a shot...Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-35035712646291369482016-06-07T14:00:00.000-04:002016-06-07T14:00:07.322-04:00"Agony in the Garden" in THE CLEVELAND NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDEBOOKI mentioned this was coming, but now it’s here: <a href="http://beltmag.com/the-cleveland-neighborhood-guidebook/">THE CLEVELAND NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDEBOOK</a> from Belt Publishing, which has a bit in it by me called “Agony in the Garden.” I got a kick from reading it out of my contributor’s copy. I have to say, these are really nice books!<br />
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<br />
If you're in the 216, you have several options for getting yours: The folks at Belt will have a booth at the <a href="http://www.theclevelandflea.com/">Cleveland Flea</a> on June 11 and will be holding a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1694474417457688/">launch party at the Market Garden Brewery</a> on June 22. (Alas, the dayjob prevents me from making the trip from NY.) I'm also told the books should be available now at <a href="http://www.macsbacks.com/">Mac's Backs</a>, <a href="http://www.loganberrybooks.com/">Loganberry Books</a>, <a href="http://www.cleclothingco.com/">CLE Clothing</a>, <a href="http://www.cosmicbobbins.com/">Cosmic Bobbins</a>, and <a href="http://nativecleveland.com/">Native Cleveland</a>.<br />
<br />
If you're not, or are just anxious to get your hands on "The Least Practical, Most Literary Guide to Cleveland," <a href="http://beltmag.com/product/cleveland-neighborhood-guidebook/">get yours now</a>!Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-25463031667752950202016-03-25T08:02:00.000-04:002016-06-06T00:05:07.848-04:00For Belgium, the Philippines, and a Better Job...Time for my Good Friday ritual... showcasing the land of my ancestors!<br />
<br />
Ruben Enaje has done this for the 30th year in a row now. This was the guy who lamented a bit having to do this last year (his 29th) for lack of a successor. But now, he's doing this for Belgium. And, because he's Filipino (and you know how we are), he has other reasons...<br />
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<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
Enaje, a sign painter, says he also prayed for peaceful Philippine presidential elections this year and a better job.</blockquote>
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Mabuhay ng Pilipinas, muh'fuckers!</div>
<br />(<a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/776210/filipino-nailed-to-cross-prays-for-belgium-philippines">via</a>)Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-86999243954330681462016-03-15T18:40:00.000-04:002016-03-15T18:40:54.809-04:00Rise! (Again.)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pXi_TH5tOR0/VuWjiitG7lI/AAAAAAAAaEM/bB6TjBpLvpoP0-ac1ONDqeKbM8UJXN-fQ/s1600/IMG_20160310_153646.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pXi_TH5tOR0/VuWjiitG7lI/AAAAAAAAaEM/bB6TjBpLvpoP0-ac1ONDqeKbM8UJXN-fQ/s400/IMG_20160310_153646.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you look closely, you can see my energy level.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Let me start by saying this isn't a "Poor Me" post. But sometimes a little whining is therapeutic.<br />
<br />
I was knocked out for a week with laboratory confirmed Flu A. One of the clinicians I work with told me that people who've said they've had the flu and miss work for a couple of days really haven't had the flu. I'm starting to think that's true because as I think back, it seems to me that I haven't been sick like that in a long, long time. I'm pretty sure I was delirious the first night.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I got better but damn if it wasn't the exact wrong week to miss work. It was a week of project deliverables, most of which made it in. But some didn't, and still haven't. So the week I came back (last week) was catch-up week, and I don't mind telling you it was a harder fight than surviving the flu. I'm still chipping away at it, even as I'm processing this week's work.<br />
<br />
Thing is, all this happened about a week after <a href="http://www.warmfuzzyfreudianslippers.com/2016/02/boskone-53-quickie-recap.html">Boskone</a>, at a time when I just felt I'd recaptured a sense of urgency about my writing. I'm not talking "inspiration to write." I'm talking about a feeling of something I could harness, aside from my own willpower, to leverage myself out of the writing slump I've been in for a couple of years. (Yes, I'm in a slump, despite an <a href="http://www.warmfuzzyfreudianslippers.com/2016/02/icymi-con-and-publication.html">upcoming publication</a>.)<br />
<br />
But it's hard having to constantly climb out of a pit, and that's kind of where I am right now. Not ready to give up or anything, not by a damn sight. Not even as I still feel some lingering effects of something-or-other (shortness of breath, a cough that still hasn't gone away, near constant malaise and fatigue). My boss (who's a registered nurse by training) finally chided me enough to give my doctor a call tomorrow.<br />
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And, so begins yet another climb back up.<br />
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<br />Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-46682643010987879532016-03-01T21:42:00.000-05:002016-03-01T21:42:01.485-05:00Quickie Review: HENERAL LUNA (2015)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R8TrSGf0nGY/VtZOKgmrZdI/AAAAAAAAZ64/KW-7DilBoGw/s1600/Heneral_Luna_film_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R8TrSGf0nGY/VtZOKgmrZdI/AAAAAAAAZ64/KW-7DilBoGw/s320/Heneral_Luna_film_poster.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
I don't know enough about the history to have a good picture of what the real <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Luna">Antonio Luna</a> was like. I do know that the Luna depicted in the film is every hard-ass Filipino I've ever known from the generation before mine. Jovial one minute, borderline abusive the next, before going right back to jovial. I suppose in a lot of ways, HENERAL LUNA is more about the Filipino mindset in general, with the way it portrays the good, bad, and ugly of just about every Filipino peccadillo I've ever known. Take "the ties that bind" for instance, and all the ways that loyalty to family, the barangay, the province interfered with things like nation-building. "It's easier for the earth to meet the sky," Luna says in the film, "than for two Filipinos to agree on anything!"<br />
<br />
Really though, it's pretty even-handed and definitely far from self-hating, from the way we romanticize memories of home and hearth, to the way a loving mother starts a conversation with her grown son with a smack to the mouth, to the universal Filipino response to someone with a competing interest, no matter how compelling: "Who do you think you are?"<br />
<br />
The dramatis personae is huge and the film did its best to keep the characters straight, and to highlight and summarize historical events with small text blocks, almost like a graphic novel. But I think its still struggled with its scope. Still, HENERAL LUNA'S strength is in its depiction of the people. You may not like everyone in the film, but it's very possible to feel sympathy for all of them. Well, except for maybe <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilio_Aguinaldo">Emilio Aguinaldo</a> -- but then, that's always been the case with ol' Magdalo.Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-64363260678912981662016-02-25T00:00:00.000-05:002016-02-25T00:00:20.176-05:00Boskone 53 Quickie Recap<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oQXcexcZ2ks/Vs5IRCDguuI/AAAAAAAAZ44/sYiXuRHtlZY/s1600/11053920_10153227586546986_5459715574166141318_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oQXcexcZ2ks/Vs5IRCDguuI/AAAAAAAAZ44/sYiXuRHtlZY/s200/11053920_10153227586546986_5459715574166141318_o.jpg" width="131" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo credit: Brenda Noiseux</td></tr>
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I'll always remember Boskone 53 as "The one where the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Nix">Guest of Honor</a> bought <i>me</i> drinks, to say nothing about all the other connections and, more importantly, the <i>re-connections</i> I made with folks. I don't think I knew just how much I needed that.<br />
<br />
Between that and <a href="http://www.warmfuzzyfreudianslippers.com/2016/02/where-ill-be-at-boskone.html">participating <i>lots</i> in the program</a>, I had a great time! If nothing else, the mask I wore to the Superhero Open Mic (where I did a monologue from a Cleveland hero) helped me purge decades of negative feelings about never having a decent Halloween costume that would accommodate eyeglasses!<br />
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God willing and the creeks don't rise, see you next year!<br />
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Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-92181423668191142082016-02-16T17:38:00.001-05:002016-02-24T21:21:06.402-05:00ICYMI: a Con and a Publication<strong>BOSKONE 53</strong>. In case you missed it, I’ll be in Boston this weekend, doing the panel/reading/drinking thing. <a href="http://www.warmfuzzyfreudianslippers.com/2016/02/where-ill-be-at-boskone.html">I won’t be hard to find</a>, so come say hi! <br />
<br />
<strong>COMING SOON</strong>. A short essay of mine will appear in <a href="http://beltmag.com/cleveland-neighborhood-guidebook/">THE CLEVELAND NEIGHBORHOOD GUIDEBOOK</a> by Belt Publishing, which drops in May. <a href="http://beltmag.com/the-cleveland-neighborhood-guidebook-call-for-proposals/">It aims to be</a> “… the most useful, least authorized resource for Clevelanders, Cleveland ex-pats, visitors, and potential new residents.” And to that end, I plugged a small corner of my former patch of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Cleveland">Greater Cleveland</a>.Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-38656983954184933022016-02-01T23:00:00.000-05:002016-02-24T21:21:06.399-05:00Where I'll Be at #BoskoneGonna be at <a href="http://www.boskone.org/">Boskone 53</a> the weekend of February 19? I am. Here’s my <a href="http://boskoneblog.com/2016/01/30/mini-interviews-cooney-mahmud-pizarro-and-c-s-e-cooney/">mini-interview</a> with those fine folks, and here’s where I’ll be… <br />
<br />
<strong>What’s New In Comics?</strong> <br />
Friday 17:00 - 17:50, Burroughs (Westin) <br />
<em>Accessing information about DC and Marvel releases is pretty straightforward. But what are the other must-read comics that might be flying under your radar? Whom should you keep your eye on? The comics universe is always expanding; which are the new voices you mustn’t miss?</em> <br />
James Moore (M), A.C.E. Bauer, Robert Howard, Don Pizarro<br />
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<strong>Reading: Don Pizarro</strong> <br />
Friday 19:00 - 19:25, Independence (Westin) <br />
<em>(…wait, wut?)</em> <br />
<em><br /></em>
<strong>Hidden Heroes</strong> <br />
Saturday 10:00 - 10:50, Harbor III (Westin) <br />
<em>Sometimes the hero of a story isn’t its true protagonist. A commonly accepted example is Sam Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings, who more and more centers the action as the story concludes. What other examples occur to us? Why might an author choose to focus on someone other than the hero? Can the hero ever be the antagonist?</em> <br />
Michael Swanwick (M), Chris Irvin, Mary Kay Kare, Don Pizarro, Beth Meacham <br />
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<strong>How You Get the Word Out: Starting and Running a Successful Podcast</strong> <br />
Saturday 14:00 - 14:50, Harbor III (Westin) <br />
<em>Podcasting gives us an outlet to share our thoughts and ideas with the world, and everyone seems to have something (perhaps a lot) to say. But is podcasting right for everyone? How do you go about “bootstrapping” a podcast? What do you need and what do you need to know? How do you attract and keep an audience? Where do you find a place to host your site? Successful ‘casters pass on their secrets.</em> <br />
Steve Miller (M), Kate Baker, C.S.E. Cooney, Don Pizarro, Brianna Spacekat Wu <br />
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<strong>How Binge-Watching Could Change TV</strong> <br />
Saturday 16:00 - 16:50, Marina 4 (Westin) <br />
<em>The binge-watching phenomena has clearly changed the way we watch television, in-genre or out. Is it also altering the way they create it? Marathon viewers are a mindful audience, who retain more information and understand longer story arcs. Is this leading to more complex characters, more complicated plots — more compelling shows?</em> <br />
Ginjer Buchanan (M), Garen Daly, Daniel M. Kimmel, Don Pizarro, Steven Sawicki <br />
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<strong>Superhero Open Mic</strong> <br />
Saturday 21:00 - 22:20, Marina 1 (Westin) <br />
<em>Kapow! Live from Boskone … enjoy the knock-out stylings of our program participants and audience members who share their open mic skills in the first-ever Superhero Open Mic. Each person gives his/her best 5-minute superhero performance – story, poem, song, skit, interpretive dance, or whatever! OPTIONAL: For extra appeal, feel free to come dressed as a superhero!</em><br />
Walter H. Hunt (M), Kenneth Schneyer (M), C.S.E. Cooney, Carrie Cuinn, E.C. Myers, Garth Nix, Don Pizarro, Lauren Roy, Mary Ellen Wessels <br />
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Come say hi!Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-55958784673752884742015-12-24T23:45:00.000-05:002015-12-24T23:45:02.047-05:00Offering This Simple Phrase; Nothing in the Dark; Writing<strong>OFFERING THIS SIMPLE PHRASE</strong>.<br />
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<strong>NOTHING IN THE DARK</strong>. Writer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Clayton_Johnson">George Clayton Johnson</a> (<em>Logan’s Run</em>, <em>Star Trek</em>, <em>The Twilight Zone</em>) passed away the other day. I had the honor of meeting him at my first <a href="http://www.ithaca.edu/rhp/serling/">Rod Serling Conference</a> in 2009, where he gave one of his legendary stream-of-consciousness rants about everything under the sun, much of which was repeated in <a href="https://archive.org/details/GeorgeClaytonJohnsonInterviewOctober2009">this interview</a>, which I watched being given. <br />
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<br />
<strong>WRITING</strong>. Got the acceptance email for PROJECT RUST last month! I’ll announce the details when the publisher does. Selling some writing always feels good; cracking a market you’ve targeted feels even better. And even as I cross this project off my list, another one comes on board, in addition to PROJECT FLOSS and PROJECT FIELD. Let’s call this… I dunno… PROJECT RICE. <br />
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I’ll be out in <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=216+area+code">the 216</a> until after the holidays. Catch you on the flip! Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-44390668088652851522015-11-23T12:00:00.000-05:002015-11-23T12:00:08.809-05:00The Mind of a Chef; Writing; Reading<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NVvkYEyL1SU/VlMZ5kp_92I/AAAAAAAAXx4/cQ3VF9C4WSc/s1600/Mind-of-Chef-Ep-Main-224x295.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NVvkYEyL1SU/VlMZ5kp_92I/AAAAAAAAXx4/cQ3VF9C4WSc/s200/Mind-of-Chef-Ep-Main-224x295.jpg" width="151" /></a></div>
<b>THE MIND OF A CHEF</b>. Been watching a lot of this show over the past few months, not on Netflix, but on my local PBS station. The thing I like about <a href="https://www.blogger.com/www.pbs.org/food/shows/the-mind-of-a-chef/"><i>The Mind of a Chef</i></a> is how the episodes – mini-documentaries, really – are generally so well done that I find myself investing in the lives of these various chefs, who I might not otherwise care that much about if they weren’t swaggering around the world on semi-drunken, binge-eating travelogue shows. <br />
<br />
<b>WRITING</b>. Taking a cue from <a href="http://orbitaloperations.com/">Warren Ellis’s newsletter</a>, I’m going to talk about my current works in progress by giving them code names. Not because of any contractual obligations about confidentiality, but because I’m superstitious. I’ve always felt that talking too much about what I’m writing takes away some of the urgency to write it. It's just possible that I'm just so lazy that I'll look for any excuse. Either way, I’m going to make more of an effort because I’ve been told lately that people like knowing what writers are working on. And so… <br />
<ul>
<li>PROJECT RUST: An essay for an anthology series I’m trying to crack into. It's about 800 words about a certain sanctuary in my hometown. Gonna give it another pass or two and send it in.</li>
<li>PROJECT FLOSS: Novel that’s currently in index cards, hidden under a blanket on a table in my lab. The toes, chest, and nose are poking through. Gonna have to suck it up, switch the Jacob's Ladder back on, and make it walk.</li>
<li>PROJECT FIELD: A short story I’m wrestling with from an idea that won’t go away. Just as well because my problem has always been follow-through. It’s been on the back burner, but I just saw a call for a story anthology for which this piece could work. </li>
</ul>
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<b>READING</b>. Just finished <i>Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology</i> from <a href="http://beltmag.com/belt_publishing/">Belt Publishing</a>, because <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM-IEMlJyak">Cleveland Rocks</a>. It's a little frustrating though that I'm going through about 10 books simultaneously, and this one I picked up and devoured this essay collection in three days flat. Will probably read <i>Car Bombs to Cookie Plates: The Youngstown Anthology</i> next because it has pieces from, among others, Ed “Al Bundy” O’Neill and Christopher Barzak. And then I really need to get back to my reading queue before I start Gabrielle Hamilton’s memoir <i>Blood, Bones & Butter: the Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef</i>, but it’s tempting, since it’s her episodes currently showing on <i>The Mind of a Chef</i>.<br />
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And so turns the circle…Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-45548044383771443812015-11-15T11:44:00.001-05:002016-02-16T16:05:21.614-05:00World Fantasy Convention 2015; Borgesian Philippines; What I'm Reading<strong>WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION 2015</strong>. Took a hop northeast from Ithaca to Saratoga Springs last weekend, despite the Piss Poor Harassment Policy kerfuffle. Managed to not only keep my running streak of being on WFC programming (3 for 3), but I actually appeared on two panels: “Real World Nomenclature, Taboos, and Cultural Meaning” (There’s a pretty good summary <a href="http://www.emilyrandolphepstein.com/world-fantasy-convention-forty-one-day-one/">here</a>.) and “Bibliofantasies.” Or, as I call it, “Bibliofantasies 2: Electric Bugaloo” since I was also on a panel of the same name at WFC 2012. After all, how the fuck else I could I sit on a panel with Michael Dirda, John Clute, Robert Eldridge, Paul Di Filippo, and Gary Wolfe? The socializing, always the best part of any con, was more targeted now that I’ve been at enough of these things not to fanboy over everybody in the room, and to instead spend the time with people – old and new friends – that I want to spend time with. Okay fine, I finally got to meet Jeffrey Ford and squee about what a big fan I am. Happy?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not a hoax. Not a dream sequence.</td></tr>
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<strong>BORGESIAN PHILIPPINES</strong>. Missed a <a href="http://www.cornell.edu/video/gina-apostol-filipino-american-war-novel">talk by Gina Apostol</a>, author of the upcoming novel <em>William McKinley’s World</em> on the Philippine-American War. In it, she makes the disturbing observation about how hard it was to find first-person Filipino voices in records of the period, and where she did find it “…occurring mainly in captured documents within military records, the Filipino voice being a text within a text, mediated, annotated, and translated by her enemy.” There's a bittersweet Romantic tragedy about how this mediated story of the Philippines casts it as a place that’s as fantastic as Borges' Tlön. This is relevant to a project in progress....<br />
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<strong>WHAT I’M READING</strong>. My personally inscribed copy of <a href="http://www.mrickert.net/">Mary Rickert</a>’s collection <em>You Have Never Been Here</em>, <a href="http://smallbeerpress.com/forthcoming/2015/07/21/you-have-never-been-here/">worth the cover price</a> for the single previously unpublished story “The Shipbuilder.” Pieces of <em>The Best American Travel Writing 2015</em> edited by Andrew McCarthy, for another project in progress, Laszlo Bock’s <em>Work Rules!</em>, and when I can, Felicia Day’s <em>You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)</em>. Yes, that’s an awful lot of nonfiction, I know. What's your point?Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-41761196039311153852015-11-05T09:53:00.001-05:002016-02-16T16:05:21.610-05:00Where I'll Be at the World Fantasy Convention<div dir="ltr">
Gonna be at the <a href="http://www.wfc2015.org/">2015 World Fantasy Convention</a>? I am, and here's where I'll be...<br />
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Thursday, November 5, 3:00, City Center 2A<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Real World Nomenclature, Taboos, and Cultural Meaning<br />
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<i>The panel discusses the thorny issue of real world terms that often bear loaded meanings and concepts being transported wholesale into Fantasy worlds. Swearing, cursing, and racial epithets can cause controversy and out-cry. Commonly accepted terms change meaning over time and become taboo. As the politics of the real world change, is there a concurrent transposition into Fantasy worlds? </i><br />
A.M. Dellamonica (mod.), Didi Chanoch, Steve Erikson, Don Pizarro, Mark van Name<br />
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Saturday, 5:00, City Center 2A<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Bibliofantasies<br />
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<i>Unaccountably, there is no entry for Bibliofantasies in the Encyclopedia of Fantasy by John Clute and John Grant [Orbit 1997]. Your intrepid panel will attempt to remedy that lacuna by discussing bibliofantasies with a view to creating an entry. </i><br />
Michael Dirda (mod.), John Clute, Robert Eldridge, Paul Di Filippo, Don Pizarro, Gary Wolfe<br />
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Come say hi!</div>
Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-9005683807146680112015-08-21T14:00:00.000-04:002015-08-22T15:04:10.192-04:00Quickie Review: INFINITELY POLAR BEAR (2014)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Slices of director Maya Forbes’ life growing up with a mentally ill father. Thankfully, Forbes does without with the typical “Act II breakdown” you see in most other films with mentally ill character. And it dispenses with the idea that mental illness is something delightfully quirky up until the point where everything collapses beyond repair. In POLAR BEAR, Mark Ruffalo’s bipolar disorder is pervasive, with good moments and bad moments, often occurring in the course of a single day. By the end of the film we get, as we sometimes do in life if we’re lucky, a brief respite from those ups and downs even as we know the next set will inevitably come. <br />
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We also get to see how privilege can mitigate some of the worst social and economical circumstances. The Blue blood background of Ruffalo’s character absolutely is NOT his family’s salvation from its problems, something that we might see in a different film. It’s not particularly the cause of his problems either, even if it exacerbates them in a couple of instances. But it is shown (uncritically, which I think is okay since it’s not really the point of this movie) as the safety net that it is. <br />
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I’m used to films and TV shows where mixed race families always seem to be fixed in a certain specifically defined socioeconomic status (usually one extreme or the other), and dealing with (or not) a certain set of racial issues – that is to say, families of caricatures. Here, we see a mixed race family in the ’70s presented in a very complex way, i.e. like real people. Forbes gives us the sense that if this particular White trust fund kid marrying Zoe Zaldana was ever an issue to the elderly Blue blood matriarch holding the purse strings, it'd been resolved enough that it needn't have been brought up in this particular story. Which, even in the pre-Post-Racial 1970s, was something not entirely unheard of. Okay granted, maybe in the same way it was "not unheard of" for <a href="https://youtu.be/gQJAYVbslIE">campers to encounter something big and hairy in the woods in the ’70s</a> but still. I like the fact that Forbes doesn't lazily caricature Blue bloods, either.<br />
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What DOES matter to the Blue blood matriarch is Zaldana’s plan to advance herself to become a better breadwinner by temporarily abandoning her family to go to Columbia. Forbes never glosses over the fact that we’re talking about a Black woman here, but she does focus more on the problems of the traditional gender role. And while you might not like that choice – much like you can theoretically take filmmaker <a href="http://www.warmfuzzyfreudianslippers.com/2014/10/quickie-review-ilo-ilo-2013.html">Anthony Chen to task for not being all that critical of the treatment of Overseas Filipino Workers in his 2013 work ILO ILO</a> – you can only fault this filmmaker to the extent that you don't buy that she's painted an accurate picture of her life, more or less as she lived it.Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-14049149845362081052015-08-17T18:10:00.000-04:002015-08-17T18:10:35.936-04:00Markdown, Model Hit Pieces, Black Power Tarot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Trying something new this time around by throwing <a href="http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax">Markdown</a>, <a href="https://stackedit.io/">StackEdit</a>, and <a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Blogger</a>. Had to cram stuff into the HTML of this template and take a crash course in <a href="http://jekyllrb.com/docs/frontmatter/">YAML</a>, so this will either look perfect or weird. Apologies in advance if you get this via RSS and it looks funny. Though supposedly, <a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/rss-dead-look-numbers/">no one uses RSS anymore</a> so maybe no one’ll notice.<br />
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<b>MARKDOWN:</b> I’ve cobbled together a good number of my last few posts in Markdown format, in one text editor or another (<a href="https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Gedit">gedit</a>, right now). Actually over the past few months, I’ve been using Markdown for drafts of damn near everything–dayjob reports, short story notes, project lists–everything! What I love most is how the raw output is human readable, so for the most part I leave it as is. This post will be the first time my Markdown text will be run through an editor instead of formatted the hard way. If you’re reading this, I guess it works…(?)<br />
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<b>MODEL HIT PIECES:</b> I agree in principle with <a href="http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/i-dont-think-david-brooks-is-okay-you-guys-1702674607">this piece on The Concourse</a> that some of David Brooks’ recent writing seems indicative of someone having a lot of trouble adapting to the way things are enough to WRITE about how they are, and choosing instead to stay fixated on how things “should” be” or, worse, “used to be.” I’ve noticed that trend in his work too, which I’ve followed semi-regularly since BOBOS IN PARADISE. It’s more evident in his columns than it is in his weekly stints on the PBS NEWSHOUR which I DO follow regularly, but it’s crept in there a bit, too. And yes, when I read <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/07/17/david_brooks_scolds_ta_nehisi_coates_i_think_you_distort_history/">what he said about Te-Nehisi Coates and his book</a>, I threw up in my mouth a little. But the thing is, I read this Concourse article and was a bit awestruck that such a mean-spirited hit piece could be so relatively well researched. I mean, I’m ALL for critical takedowns of, well, just about anybody. And I’m not above kicking to the testicles to win a fight. But I like to think even I’d have the decency to move on to the joints, the face, maybe the throat, or other soft targets while my opponent’s down, rather than continually <a href="https://youtu.be/BY7qOwaZEqw">stomping him in the nuts</a>.<br />
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<b>BLACK POWER TAROT:</b> Say what you want about Alejandro Jodorowsky, but he does keep involving himself in some interesting shit like this…<br />
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It’s hard to resist any project that involves a tarot Tina Turner and surrealist filmmaking legend Alejandro Jodorowsky. And so we present the Black Power Tarot, a deck of tarot cards illustrated by Belfast-based graphic designer Michael Eaton. The deck is based on the Tarot De Marseille but is made up of black musicians, comedians, activists and people of note, and was created by the musician King Khan. In a rather incredible twist, the project was overseen by Alejandro Jodorowsky, whose son is friends with King Khan. Big names aside, the pack is a triumph, showing an illustration sensibility that works superbly for its purpose with striking colours and defined line work. And of course, there’s Tina Turner prizing open a lion’s mouth – an image we had no idea we needed to see, but one that’s made our day infinitely more enjoyable.</blockquote>
(<a href="http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/michael-eaton-black-tarot-jodorowsky">via</a>, h/t <a href="http://tinyletter.com/Technoccult/letters/a-requisite-show-of-strength">Damien Williams</a>)<br />
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ETA: Markdown/StackEdit/Blogger experiment result: I'd call this first trial a success, with a couple of bugs to work out.Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-6428049930188196142015-07-20T20:14:00.001-04:002015-07-21T08:00:36.727-04:00Quickie Review: AMY (2015)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Whenever I watch films about artists with issues or peccadilloes (cf. JODOROWSKY'S DUNE, AMERICAN SPLENDOR, LOVE & MERCY, et al.), I get this naive idea in my head that, "Of course, I don't want to be as fucked up as that artist, but if I could just dip my toe into that pool of mad genius...." I think, "I have my dysfunctions too. But if I can somehow learn to leverage them somehow while keeping them dialed back just enough so I don't implode, well then I can be brilliant without the train wreck, right?" Of course, the difference is that if I try, and then inevitably crash and burn, it would just be a clear case of pride going before a fall. When it comes to real artists and truly troubled artists, it's not a strategy. It's a very precarious way of life.<br>
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I only knew the basic facts about Amy Winehouse before I saw this documentary. First was that Voice. I'd heard it back in the day, and knew instantly what Tony Bennett knew instantly. I wasn't surprised that it came to endear her to fans and musicians alike, from the up-and-coming-at-the-time Daptone Records stable to Bennett himself. She was brilliant and I never questioned that. And of course, I knew about the spiral. Not the details, you understand. You see enough star meltdowns, and its easy to think we've seen it all before. "[So-and-So] found dead after a long period of [insert issue here], wash, rinse, repeat, next case."<br>
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This documentary doesn't really provide much in the way of missing pieces that lead us to a better understanding of Winehouse's trials and tribulations, or even necessarily to increased sympathy. I don't see AMY changing anyone's opinions, for better or for worse. But I did learn a few new things. I learned how well documented life was in her circle. Because that's just how the kids do things nowadays. I learned how soulful and penetrating her lyrics are. I had no idea. Luckily, the film literally spells them out for you. If Bennett likens her vocal chops to Billie Holliday's, then her songwriting rates at least as highly as Cole Porter's. And I definitely didn't realize -- if one accepts the film's narrative, and I have no reason not to -- how many times Winehouse came so close to pulling herself up out of the spiral. That's the saddest part, to me.<br>
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Not that she didn't make her bad choices. But trapped as she was in the petri dish that is the music business, constantly under a media microscope, having started out with a life that came close to being as tortured as that of any other troubled artist you could name, what choices did she really have?Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36752390.post-44807616815248962342015-07-18T14:47:00.001-04:002015-07-18T14:47:27.739-04:00Quickie Review: SEVEN GOOD YEARS by Etgar Keret<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23399025-the-seven-good-years" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Seven Good Years: A Memoir" border="0" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1429627900m/23399025.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23399025-the-seven-good-years">The Seven Good Years: A Memoir</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/34065.Etgar_Keret">Etgar Keret</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1317458366">5 of 5 stars</a><br />
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I used to read essay collections for facts, details, or wit. And if I stumbled across the occasional bit of truth or wisdom, so much the better. Now this could be my bias towoard Etgar Keret (#2 on my I'll Read Anything They Write List), but this collection is brimming with both. Okay, maybe more of the former than the latter... but I think even Keret would say that.<br />
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Remove the surrealist and speculative elements from Keret's writing and you're still left with his sense of the absurd, with keen observations of (by way of projections onto) other characters, and not surprisingly, his friend Uzi who, just like in the stories, offers advice such as...<br />
<blockquote>
What you need isn't a bunch of lies from a PhD in clinical psych. You need a real solution: a nest egg in a foreign bank account. Everybody's doing it.</blockquote>
Not every essay reached me; there were a couple that left me scratching my head. But I'm used to that experience reading Keret's short stories, so I'm okay with it.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/99020-don">View all my reviews</a>
Donhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12083303360408617228noreply@blogger.com