jasonfranks

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• 16:13 Watching the ceremony retiring Luc Robitaille's #20. We went to King's games in his rookie season. The Carson-Nichols-Robitaiile line ruled #
• 16:17 It was a lot of fun watching King's games in the Fabulous Forum during the pre-Gretzky days. It was way easy to get tickets back then. ;-) #
• 16:18 Which reminds me... Hockey Night in Canada tonight! Thank you NHL Network. #

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Yeah... yeah...

People hear this all the time and it's usually BS.

But today I did do something I've never done before; something that normally goes against everything I believe in (OK at this time of year).

I'm one of those people that moans, whines, bitches, complains and downright rants over how early Christmas items get set up in the stores.

Today, a full three weeks early, I decorated for the holidays.

Historically, I put up my tree and decorate my place the day after Thanksgiving because that's when I do my Thanksgiving dinner/open house; (that way more people can come) It's (Thanksgiving) when I feel that the holiday season officially (and should) start.

It's been gray, dark, stormy and I could feel myself becoming unmotivated and lethargic.

There's something to be said for the last few line of Dar William's “The Christians and the Pagans”

”So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table
Finding faith and common ground the best that they were able
Lighting trees in darkness, learning new ways from the old, and
Making sense of history and drawing warmth out of the cold.”

In the dark half of the year, it's natural to want to bring light and warmth into our homes, especially up here in the North.

Even though it's three weeks earlier than I normally believe this should be done, I had an overwhelming urge to put bright pretty lights in my apartment and fill it with cheer.

It's not even true (astronomical; our ancestors did not have an October 31st) Samhain yet; not until tomorrow. Perhaps in addition to the rapid passage into darkness and the need for lights and shiny things, I'm just not ready to face the first Samhain after my mother's death. It's too fresh.

With the whole obsessive-compulsive-type A-anal retentive “true” cross quarter holiday said, I feel that the actual date doesn't really matter and that one should celebrate when they feel the seasonal shift.

I can haz bright lights and shiny thingz in my home now pleeze?

I'm keeping a photo log of the winter holidays; it will be added to regularly...

And I even created a video tour of teh shiny



Here are a few photos of today's shiny installation:

LED snowflakes in the window



LED star lights



Snowflake lights



Pretty new tree topper



Lights in the darkness




Here's the slideshow of the photolog....



Now I need to clean my kitchen, so that the next time I do a video, I don't have to shut the door

Mood: Oooh! Shiny!

~L







~

I get email.

Sometimes it has photos like this in it.



"She can light my saber any day, hur hur hur."

Which of course is why John Ostrander and Jan Duursema wrote her that way.

I know what boys like,

This is dF

And now, the wonder of the InterTubes brings you vintage cheesecake set to Oscar Aleman.

With special guest star Bettie Page.



Not exactly as cool as Bettie Page dancing to The Seeds. But no less fun.

PARENTAL GUIDANCE: Contains titties at the end.

The age of innocence,

This is dF

So I womaned the CBLDF table today at the Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival.

With 5 minutes to go, the MOFO arrived.

1) Asked me *my* position on the Danish cartoon controversy. I said there was a right to publish those cartoons. So he asked me where was the CBLDF when these cartoonists needed help! Why didn't we step up to defend them?

I explained that the CBLDF is a United States First Amendment organization and that the First Amendment doesn't exist in other countries.

2) Asked me why the CBLDF didn't step up to defend two English Holocaust Deniers who did a webcomic about how the Holocaust was a fake and sought Asylum in the US and were extradited back to England where they are now serving sentences.

ETA: Because how can we think it's okay to publish comics that make fun of Mohammad, the Pope, and Jesus, but not okay to defend Holocaust Deniers? One is more popular than the other and clearly the CBLDF doesn't defend the unpopular free speech.

So I explained that (a) I don't even know if the CBLDF was asked to help (b) the CBLDF deals in US First Amendment cases, not extradition/immigration/Asylum cases (c) and that unless there was an obscenity case brought in the US, there wasn't much for them to do.

3) MOFO goes on a screed about the International Jewish conspiracy and how the CBLDF is a fake free speech organization in league with the JDL and Ba'ni Barith (sp?) B'nai B'rith and ....

I finally said as calmly as I could, "Look, I'm a volunteer. I am not on the CBLDF board. You can go to the website and see what they've done. You can also contact them about the case of those two guys, but the festival is over now, so I need to pack up."

I really should have explained from step one that I was just a volunteer and he *might* have left sooner. ~sigh~

---

"Networking Dave" Siegel who is one of the gentlest, sweetest men I know, overheard most of the exchange and after the MOFO Loony stormed off, told me that he was "getting ready to punch that asshole."

Parris will soon be on her way home to take care of the cats, before they start rioting and have wild parties. So I'm pressing on by myself. Arrived in London a few hours ago. Signing at Forbidden Planet on the 11th.

Obviously I don’t have much to say about the Ft Hood shootings. I could say something like “I disapprove”. But that is (I hope) a given.

About the media coverage of said shootings, however, I have much to say.

I haven’t actually seen the CNN/Fox coverage. But I do read blogs. And I’ve seen CNN and Fox cover enough similar incidents to know the drill – i.e. jabber senselessly and, in the absence of facts, report rumors and speculate like mad under the weird impression that it still counts as journalism if you let people know that you haven’t actually verified anything yr saying.

Which I bring up mainly to contrast against this interesting item from (of all places) BoingBoing: a quick interview with Amanda Kim Stairrett, the military editor at the Killeen Daily Herald newspaper. Her beat is Ft Hood,and if this Q&A is anything to go by, she has a far better understanding of how to cover a story like this than anyone at CNN or Fox.


Too bad no one reads newspapers and most people got their coverage on Ft Hood from Fox News. Guess which detail of the shooting interests them the most?

I heard a rumor,

This is dF

Please feel free to comment on the Twittering.

• 12:15 Oh, great. Abandon updated today so I bought some PW ads. Naturally the site has been down all morning. Thanks Dreamhost! You so funny! #
• 12:16 Guess I'll cancel the ads so the site will come back. #
• 12:53 Looks like ABANDON: FIRST VAMPIRE is back up. New page at www.abandoncomic.com - please to enjoy. #
• 17:30 Getting a ton of traffic for today's new ABANDON: FIRST VAMPIRE page at www.abandoncomic.com - Too bad the site's been mostly down. #
• 20:11 Always impressed by Letters to Cleo playing on top of that building at the end of 10 Things I Hate About You. Very impressed. #
• 20:12 They'd have to green-screen my ass into into that scene. I hate heights. #
• 20:13 Finally watching Iron Man. #
• 20:14 I already want to watch Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. #
• 22:51 Iron Man was awesome. #
• 22:52 Next up - the live action Blood: The Last Vampire movie #

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No, I'm not going all emo on anyone, it's just that the turning of the wheel of the year to the dark side has hit the Pacific Northwest with a vengeance.

Even without the stupid “fall back” time change (don't get me started again) November has blown in with dark angry skies, gale force winds, lighting, horizontal wet, frozen and semi-frozen snot and even a funnel cloud.



Today it hit me, overwhelming exhaustion. It didn't make much senses because I actually got eight hours of good quality sleep last night.

I've had a crazy week and I haven't spent a quiet evening at home until some time last week.

Don't get me wrong, I've had fun: dinners, parties, mixers, meetings, happy hours and even got to do a good deed or two.

Today I spent most of the morning on the phone with real estate folks, a loan guy and a credit bureau)(TransUnion is a pain in the ass to get your free credit report from) and am getting debts paid off. I also pulled a shift at Speakeasy and helped Christie program the cash register. The “fun” will be trying to train non-retail experienced artists to use it.

Oh, and we've split our financial management duties, I'm the “retail manager” and she's the “membership manager”. It's less daunting for both of us to split the job than take on all of it (we both have day jobs and that fund our creative jobs). The only thing left to do is get the bank account open.

As I was leaving. I ran into Bart from the Puyallup River Watershed Council (I used to be the chair, but had to step down when I changed jobs/schedules/locations) and we chatted a bit. I had promised Allen that I'd consider a position on the foundation (the actual 501 C (3) non-profit)( board, but we put that on hold when my Mom died. I really should step back up. He was coming out of the Puget Creek Restoration Society office which is a few doors down from Speakeasy (I'm on one of their technical advisory committees) so I stopped in there to say “Hi”.

I really have been working on not volunteering for too much...

Why does this song keep running through my head?



I'm having a slug night; no socializing, no work (day job, photography/web stuff, speakeasy or volunteer stuff) no cooking no cleaning.

I did a quick grocery run on the way home. I've been wanting a Christmas Cactus for several years now and they were on sale at Fred Meyer. Not only do I just think they are cool, but they are a houseplant I don't kill (I can grow anything outside, but I'm a notorious killer of houseplants) I got two, one for my office and one for home.



Tomorrow, I'll be up bright and early paying of debt, working on inventory sheets, updating my web page and cleaning house. I also need to go for a run. I need to get out and move now that I'm not sick anymore and I'm field testing some waterproof breatheable fabric.

I think I may start decorating for the Winter Solstice. Normally, I roll my eyes when holiday decorations go up too early, but there is a natural inclination to bring lights and shiny things into the home when the winter gets dark and cold. Normally, I do it at Thanksgiving, just in time for my big open house/dinner (I do it the day after Thanksgiving so more people can show up), but I think I'll do it early this year. I got some cute little LED lights; some look like snowflakes, some look like stars.

I'm up for creating some holiday cheer! (oh, I've got to get invitations ready to go)

But now, I think I'm going to have another cup of tea

~L

Mood: Exhausted

~L







~

Another school thing. I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Bit late, perhaps, but still interesting...Jonathan Mayberry holds a round robin interview with, among others, Joe Lansdale, Ramsey Campbell and Ellen Datlow. Go give it a look-see.

Ol' Groove has one of my favorite issue of Marvel Two-in-One up for perusal by fans of that sort of thing. Either click the pretty picture, or click here to go visit Diversions of the Groovy Kind for an awesome read!

Back in Hong Kong. And glad to be here.

Nothing against Kuala Lumpur, of course. But I saw very little of it anyway, apart from three hotels, the shopping mall between them, the elevated monorail and, of course the Towers.

Which I managed to get a closer look at.



Here’s some other highlights.

 

 

That Space Needle thing? That’s the KL Tower. Which looks kind of like a UFO when the weather's all misty in the morning. I like that.

Anyway, that’s all I got. I spent too much time in hotel ballrooms and suites taking notes or typing like a madman. And I’ve still got one more 2,000-word article to write by Monday morning. After that, I can sleep.

Probably.

Caffeinated,

This is dF

ITEM: Cocoa Krispies claims it "helps support your child's immunity" on the front of the box.



San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, suspects Kellog’s of appealing to fear of swine flu and writes a letter to the CEO demanding evidence:


A Kellogg's flack explains all to SF Weekly:


Oh. So that’s healthy then.

And I'm sure Kellog's doesn't get its peer-reviewed research from the same place Merck does.

Snap crackle pop,

This is dF

And here we are in Dublin. Ireland has been exciting but exhausting. We had a huge turnout last night for the signing at Eason's, with a queue that seemed to go on forever, but I finally scrawled everyone into submission, and afterwards I signed all the stock as well. If you missed the signing, or happen to live a thousand leagues away, you can still get an autographed copy of the SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH hardcover or any of the Ice & Fire paperbacks by phoning, emailing, or dropping by Eason's on O'Connell Street. They even have a few trade paperbacks of DREAMSONGS.

Afterwards we adjourned to a nearby pub for a lively evening of Guinness and conversation with the local fans. I met the good folk who will be running next year's Octocon, where I'll be GOH, and hoisted a few with the hardy survivors of the Eason's event. Didn't stagger back to the our hotel till after midnight, by which time Temple Bar was roaring. Ah, if only I were twenty years younger...

The Belfast event on Tuesday was also a hoot and a half. The crowd was much bigger at Dublin, but in Belfast some of the cast of the HBO pilot dropped by to sign books and meet the fans as well. My thanks to Ron Donachie, Richard Madden (Best Dressed Man in Scotland), Alfie Allen, Kit Harington, Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner (and their moms) for joining the festivities. And to the lovely Ros, Esme Bianco, who dropped by McHughes afterwards for the moot. Matthew Hughes, one of the authors who contributed to our Vance tribute anthology, also turned up at Eason's to help me sign SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH.

In between signing and mooting, I've been hanging round the shoot, trying not to get underfoot. "How is it going?" everyone wants to know. I think it's going great. Wednesday's location was amazing, so real I could hardly tell where the real castle ended and our fake castle began. I saw Bran and Tommen swatting at each other in the yard, Joffrey taunting Robb, the Hound growling at Ser Rodrik, while Arya displayed her wretched needlework to Jon above, and it all looked wonderful. Saw some of the footage from the crypts too, and that looked amazing as well. Yes, some things are not exactly as they were in the books, that's inevitable with any adaptation... but these are my characters and this is my story, and it's thrilling to see 'em come to life.

Last night in Belfast I got to meet two more of the cast, quite unexpectedly. Some of the Moroccan players were in Ireland for costume fittings. I ran into Ian McNeice for a brief moment outside the hotel, as we were waiting for our rides, and the night before we bumped into Dany -- the amazing Tamzin Merchant, who is even more beautiful in person than she is on screen -- into the dining room. What a terrific cast Nina Gold has assembled.

Also toured the Paint Hall, though we didn't do any shooting there while I was in Belfast. Some of our sets are going up, and look great. And in another part of the building the huge castle sets from the big budget (compared to us, anyway) feature YOUR HIGHNESS are still standing. Their great hall is pretty eye-popping and they built an impressive castle yard as well.

Tomorrow I'm off to London . Signing at Forbidden Planet on the 11th, Then it's off to Marrakech.

Life is magical and full of joy (but no, I have not been seeking out football scores, so don't tell me. TIVO is getting all my games).

Sorry, I know, I've been slacking this week. Rushing around trying to get book stuff done as well as get ready for Faeriecon. On top of that Mailing Mahem required me to meet my publisher Neal Levin at a midway point for a prisoner exchange...he had my books and I had his bribe ;)

Just joking, LSI sent my books for the con to his address, but all is well and I now has stock of at least ONE faerie book for Faeriecon! Sadly, the Bad-Ass Faeries anthologies did not make it in time. I'll be really pissed if they show up...like...today! I still have stock of the old ones, but I was really hoping to get a jump start on sales.

Oh well...two launches coming up, and they will be logical companion books, so maybe that will help.

Anyway, hope to see some of you this weekend. The con is in Hunt Valley Maryland instead of Philadelphia, the way it was the last two years (can you say "Union")

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, visit www.faeriecon.com, and if you're in Maryland, come say Hi! It's is ironically being held at the Hunt Valley Marriot, where Balticon is held :) With me will be Bernie Mojzes, author of The Evil Gazebo, and Elaine Corvidae, author of way to many friggin' books for me to list ;) you can see all her titles at www.onecrow.net, or www.mundania.com.

See you soon!

 

Danielle

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