Here it is, the final installment of the convention reports I wrote at OzCon International. This one was sent out moments before my husband and I left the hotel.
===
Sunday morning, as usual at any convention, came far too early. Oz fans peeked out of their rooms like chipmunks watching for late owls, then zombied their way to breakfast, car-packing and check-out. The movement in the hotel of Oz fans was considerably slower than previous days, as the programming didn't start on Sunday until 10 a.m., giving everyone an extra hour for the last morning of the con.
At 10 a.m., panelists Eric Gjovaag, Gina Wickwar, Lee Speth and John Bell started an open and energetic discussion of the later L. Frank Baum books, with an emphasis on The Lost Princess of Oz. The audience was engaged and there was a lot of feedback on favorite parts of the books along with magic words and manuscripts. Opinions flew like arrows and every one seemed to hit a pertinent point. Serious discussion about which of Baum's four final books was the best triggered a lot of thoughtful commentary on specific scenes and memories from people of when they first read each book.
After an hour of scintillating conversation, the convention had a short break before the annual business meeting. A number of people left to head home or check out of the hotel. Jay Davis, Lee Speth and Colin Ayres started the business meeting with a discussion of next year's venue, the Kellogg West Conference Center and Hotel at Cal Poly in Pomona, California. The convention will be held Aug 10-12, 2018.
Discussion included a request for the return of the treasure hunt, a warning that Pomona will be hot in August, and the comment that Disneyland is fairly near to the location. People also were concerned about how publicity and information will be spread on next year's convention. Publicity was also discussed heavily. As the people who were going on the cruise prepared to depart, Jay showed off the promotional image for next year's convention on his t-shirt.
The folks going on the cruise gathered in the lobby and rafted off together to the event, while those left behind got lunch and gathered in the lobby to discuss a variety of topics, with a lot of planning and thoughts on next year's event.
After a pleasant hour and change, John Fricke started the next program: a retrospective about the history of the radio show the group saw last night. Also on the panel were Travis Ashmore and Jean Paul Archambeault, who directed and performed the radio play. Fricke explained that NBC has all the scripts and even the negotiations with the book publishers in its archives. He was unable to make copies of any of the material, but was able to go back several times and take notes, writing two articles about it for the Baum Bugle. Later, Chris Sterling wanted to perform some of the plays, and got permission to print the scripts from NBC. These same scripts were the ones performed at this year's convention, many years after their first convention debut.
Fricke also talked about where the play was heard - and noted that it was never aired on the west coast. Ashmore talked about the work involved in putting on the show, how he hunted down the actors and auditioned people via phone, "I didn't need to see them, just hear them," he said. Timing and cadence were crucial, and he found people he thought were the best for each character. The most challenging part was finding the "On the Air" lights and vintage microphones, along with the items used to create sound effects by the foley artists.
He said the assistance of David Ian and Sam A. Mowry was vital in getting the sound effects put together, including the loan of a number of materials from Mowry. Eric Shanower also assisted by helping Ashmore make contacts with Portland groups who could help out.
Fricke asked Archambeault about his opinions, being an Oz outsider who was unaware of the radio play or even most of the Oz books before getting involved in this. He'd done some work on radio and doing voices for Anime, so he jumped at the chance to try something new. He had seen the MGM Movie and Return to Oz, and said the event was a bit of a culture shock, but he enjoyed the passion of the attendees and plans on starting to read the Oz books.
Archambeault played Jim the Horse, the Braided Man and the Dragon, and during the play when he switched from Jim to the Braided Man he removed his hat to reveal braided hair with ribbons in it, which got a big response from the audience. He said the idea to do the "costume" that way came early in the process. Ashmore said he wanted the actors to look like they might have come into a studio dressed that way in 1934, while still reflecting their character's nature. If you see a photo of the staff as they were performing, there is a good chance you can identify each of the characters by how they are dressed.
A short break allowed many of the handful of remaining attendees to wander off, leaving a sparsely populated room for the 2 p.m. panel about next year's convention. With maybe a dozen people in the room, Jay Davis started discussing plans for guests/events for next year and potential fundraising to help secure those guests/events. Jay also discussed the places of Oz history that are close to Pomona that Oz fans may want to visit, and whether or not a group bus tour might be a fun way to accomplish the visits.
The classic discussion on whether or not meals should be included in the cost of registration was again brought up. Also discussed was whether or not the banquet should be included as part of the standard cost.
The convention ended as Lee Speth announced he is no longer the Chair, and handed the figurative baton to Jay Davis. Jay told everyone that he hopes to include upcoming convention information on his podcast, if people want to subscribe to the Royal Podcast of Oz.
Reminder: OzCon 2018 will be held Aug 10-12, 2018, at Kellogg West Conference Center and Hotel in Pomona, California. The theme is Tin Woodman of Oz, which will be celebrating the centennial of its publication next year.
Some final notes:
* Another group in the hotel over the weekend were the Jehovah's Witnesses, but as they were on the other side of the hotel we hardly ran into them at all.
* The banquet room was just across the main lobby from the OzCon area - but the main lobby was cut off thanks to the construction. People had to detour all the way around the construction to get to the banquet.
* This year's convention was also the 53rd Winkie Convention.
* The heavy construction that plagued the group with noise on Friday was not happening on Saturday and Sunday - although workers were still laying carpet in some areas.
* After listening to the radio play, some people were wondering exactly how to make Jell-O flakes.
* These newsletters have been posted online at ye ol' editor's blog under the tag OzCon2017, so you can direct other people to them if you want folks to read them.
Quote of the Day:
"Here there be Skeezers" - during a discussion of maps of Oz
The reviews are in (responses to these reports):
"Have a great time!!!" -Diana
"Thank you for these summaries - the next best thing to being actually able to attend!" - Gili
"that was a fun read, Laura! thanks!" -Glenn
"Pomona! That's great news. I will be there with my family." - Lorin
"Making plans for Pomona convention." - Micki
Showing posts with label Oz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oz. Show all posts
Monday, July 03, 2017
OzCon International - Day 3
Sunday, July 02, 2017
OzCon International - Day 2
Once again, my newsletter report on Winkie Con 53/OzCon International 2017
===
Saturday at OzCon featured a cloudy morning by the Portland airport. Fans stumbled down from their rooms to get breakfast at the hotel restaurant or find another nearby place to break their fasts. Bleary-eyed fans greeted each other, including a few people who enjoyed too much of Ozma's Enchantment last night.
About 9 a.m. the dealers room opened, as did the silent auction in the main room, the Emerald City room. The quizzes started in the Winkie room, overseen by Quizzard Eric Gjovaag. As is the tradition, last year's winners created and presented the quiz this year along with providing the prizes. There were four levels of quizzes: a quiz on just the movie, the novice quiz, the standard quiz and the master's quiz.
After the quizzes were done, Oz Show and Tell was held in the Winkie Room. Another tradition, the show and tell allows people to bring their favorite Oz treasures to show off to other fans. As that started, Eric Shanower started a presentation on Nomes and the Nome King in the Emerald City room. Show and Tell finished quickly, and the majority of the fans joined Shanower's presentation.
Meanwhile, in the lobby, the children's programming started with a couple of young men making slime and using it to create strange and fantastic shapes. They were joined by a few adults who cannot resist such things. There were also coloring books, beads and other activities available - but the slime was the number one most popular thing.
The dealers room was also hosting a couple of signings, with Robin Hess kicking off the fun with a Friday signing of his books and Gina Wickwar signing at 10 a.m. As is usual at this convention, groups of people congregated in other areas to chat about Oz and other topics.
At 11 a.m. two panels competed for people's attention. Eric Gjovaag hosted a fantasy casting of the Wicked movie in the Winkie room, and the Emerald City room had Jay Davis interviewing Doug Aberle about filming and discovering Oz. Ye ol' newsletter editor got a moment to tell Aberle about the nightmares she had after seeing the Mysterious Stranger segment of The Adventures of Mark Twain - at which he laughed and said he was known for supplying nightmare fuel.
Lunch was a scattered affair, with people coming and going as programming ended at noon but the break was only a half hour before the auction started with the ever amazing Bill Thompson and Susan Hall at 12:30. The auction finished shortly after 3 p.m. One participant noted that even when she didn't bid on an item, she usually learned something thanks to Thompson's descriptions. Bidding was vigorous, with some items going for unexpected prices.
A half hour later Eric Gjovaag started a presentation on upcoming Oz television and movie projects, followed in the same room by a presentation on The Rundelstone of Oz by David Maxine.
At 2:30 a line formed in the dealers room to get autographs from Inanna McGraw, while people were encouraged to prepare and register for the costume contest.
Inpromptu discussion groups continued to pop up in the St. Helens lobby, and two young locals, Alysia and Linden, began to play Oz songs on violin to the joy of those in the area. A discussion group with Doug Aberle that ye ol' newsletter editor was involved in ranged from Betty MacDonald's autobiographical books to medical school to the Raveled trailer to the Aroma of Tacoma and beyond, proving that Oz and Oz Fandom is far more than the sum of its parts.
At some point, ye ol' newsletter editor was plied with chocolate, making her very happy.
Many strange Ozian creatures started to filter through the crowds into the lobby, including Polychrome, a Big Lavender Bear, Cayke the Cookie Cook, General Jinjur, a couple of Frogmen, Button Bright and a member of the Lollipop Guild.
In order of appearance, the entrants were:
- Rylan Andrews as a Lollipop Guild Member
- Karyl Carlson as Dorothy with critters
- Dee Masters as the Frogman
- Lea Thorin as Polychrome
- Caitlin Masters as General Jinjur
- Katrina Marier as Mrs. Sew-and-Sew
- Lynn Beltz's hand as Ugu the dove
- Karyl Carlson as Dorothy with the Magic Belt
- Susan Hall as the Big Lavender Bear
- David Hall as the Frogman
- Gina Wickwar as the Peach Pit
- Marilyn Carlson as Cayke the Cookie Cook
- Eric Gjovaag as the Wizard
- Brian Russell as Button Bright
- Susan Johnson as Corporal Waddle
- Lacey Carlson as Glinda
- Alysia Gaylord as Scraps
- Linden Hosack as Ozma
- Movie Quiz: Kevin Thomas - Prize: Judy Garland photos
- Novice Quiz: Dee Masters - Prize: Wicked Witch Mug
- Standard Quiz: Gina Wickwar - Prize: Oz Coloring Book
- Master's Quiz: Susan Hall
The adult costume was a tie, with both Lea Thorin and Caitlin Masters sharing the top prize.
A special Theme Prize for a costume that most embodied the convention theme of searching for the Lost Princess was awarded to David Hall.
The Winkie Award was given to John Fricke, who has made a big impact on Oz fandom and even turned Oz into a career. The Winkie Award is presented annually to a person who has contributed to Oz fandom and to the Winkie Convention (OzCon International). It is voted on each year by the attendees of the previous convention. Fricke gave a brief thank you speech, noting he's been involved in Oz since he was the age of Rylan (who is five).
Chairman Lee Speth finished the announcements by thanking the convention's special guests, Doug Aberle, Inanna McGraw, Peter McGraw, and John Fricke. He also thanked the many fans and volunteers who assisted in putting on the convention. Speth then turned the podium over to John Fricke again for a more somber moment.
Fricke gave a memorium speech for Robin Merle Olderman, a longtime convention attendee. He said that last year, Robin was at the convention but only was able to come down for the Saturday night program because she felt so ill, but was still determined to attend to give out awards. Fricke told the crowd how Robin was a big fan of the books - so much so that when she was taken to see the MGM Movie she protested that Dorothy was too old and had the wrong color hair, then when Dorothy got to Oz she had to be removed from the theater because she complained too loudly that the wrong witch showed up. Fricke told the crowd how she got into Oz fandom and first started attending conventions. He ended the speech by saying that while Robin is no longer at this con, she is in Oz, where we all want to go.
Next up was the Wizard of Oz radio show from 1934, re-created live on the stage by a number of talented actors. The show is indescribable to folks who didn't attend... I'll just say the actors dressed as if they were in 1934 and the crew had an "On The Air" light and vintage inspired microphones. The crew also read all the commercials for Jell-O that were scattered throughout the program. I wish I could tell you just how great they were, but I don't believe I have the words. It truly felt like we were sitting in a studio listening to the people actually working on the program on air. It was truly excellent.
Intermission music was supplied by Alysia and Linden on violins, who delighted the milling crowds with various songs, including a healthy selection of Oz works. Fricke referred to them as the Merry Munchkin Musical Maids.
The radio production was highly appreciated by the audience. The first act took place in the Vegetable Kingdom of the Mangaboos. The second act featured the Pyramid Mountain, the Land of the Gargoyles, the Den of the Dragonettes and the Land Where Wishes Come True. Jim the horse had a lovely habit of mixing up his words, which had to have been difficult to keep up. Amusingly, the characters kept allowing Jim to use the magic belt, and he kept messing up the words - and thus the magic spells. I also adored the adverts for The Little Wizard Stories, that children could get by sending the package front from one box of Jell-O. And I almost want to try "Jell-O flakes" thanks to the ads.
The cast featured John Fricke as the Announcer, Allie Mgrublian as Dorothy/Mushroom, Ben Caldwell as Scarecrow/Gargoyle, Evan Wollam as Cowardly Lion/Gwig, Jean Paul Archambeault as Jim the Horse, Braided Man/Dragon, Travis Ashmore as Tin Woodman/Capt. String Bean, Doug Mitchell as The Wizard of Oz and Laura McCulloch as Pig/Lead Ensemble. The play was directed by Travis Ashmore, music director was K.J. McElrath, David Ian was the sound effect director, Sean Carlson was the sound tech. Costumes were provided by Karyl Carlson and Pamela Miller. The script was adapted by Chris Sterling and John Fricke. The program was designed by Eric Gjovaag with Rob Roy MacVeigh illustrations.
Travis Ashmore, who directed the program and also was responsible for Thursday night's screening of the MGM Movie, was given a gift by the cast. They somehow found a copy of the Jell-O Little Wizard Stories send away book and presented it to him at the end of the play.
The after party was announced as the last item before the crowd broke into separate islands of chatting people. Ye ol' newsletter editor again made an appearance at the party, which had a bit of chocolate to keep her happy. The crowd of more than 30 people was, alas, a bit too much, so the editor retired without spending too much time chatting and eating. However, the party was only starting when I left, and the cups of Ozma's Enchantment were flowing freely, indicating plenty of people would be lost princesses overnight.
Reminder: OzCon 2018 will be held Aug 10-12, 2018, at Kellogg West Conference Center and Hotel in Pomona, California. Start planning now for a fun-filled weekend with fellow Oz fans!
Quotes of the day:
"I'm gonna show mama my slime!" - one of the younger fans walking away from the children's activity area with his father.
"Don't give it to your parents, keep it! It must be very valuable if she wants it so badly!" - David Maxine channeling the good witch after giving Rylan his $50 prize for the costume contest.
Saturday, July 01, 2017
Oz Con International
I'm at Oz Con International (Winkie Con) in Portland, and here's some fun moments from the first couple of days... in the form of the newsletter that I send out daily during the convention.
Winkie Newsletter OzCon 2017 - Day 0 Report
Oz fans gathered at Cinema21 in Portland last night to watch the classic MGM movie and enjoy commentary and a trivia contest hosted by John Fricke, the preeminent Judy Garland and MGM Wizard of Oz historian.
Fricke asked if anyone had never seen the movie, and a couple of hands went up. Then he asked how many people had never seen the movie in a theater, and many hands went up. He said we were about to enjoy the movie as it was originally intended and gave some hints at what to look for - including the length of Dorothy's hair in the Scarecrow introduction scenes and the horse of a different color attempting to eat itself.
The movie itself was glorious on the large screen, with details rarely noticed suddenly apparent. The loving work that went into the production was obvious with the screen so much larger than life. While some fans sang along and even quoted the movie, others watched and laughed at the Lion's antics.
As the movie ended and the lights came up, a number of people left the theater. However, quite a few stayed for the trivia session. Everyone had been given tickets as they entered the theater, and as numbers were drawn, members of the audience were invited to answer questions posed by Fricke and sometimes other members of the audience.
Among the prizes were an original doll of the Scarecrow by Karyl Carlson, 2005 DVD Wizard of Oz collection, a Wizard of Oz Monopoly game, the Munchkin Oz game, a three-day pass for OzCon, a $25 gift certificate for the dealers room at OzCon, John Fricke's 70th anniversary book, and Eric Shanower/Skottie Young's comic book adaptation.
Two young fans came dressed for the occasion, one as a member of the Lollipop Guild and one as Dorothy. The gentleman dressed as a guild member won the monopoly game while Dorothy was given the comic book hardcover by another winner (and she got the book signed by Eric Shanower, who was in attendance).
Both before and after the movie, John Fricke and Eric Shanower were available for autographs and questions, and had good crowds.
Now it's Friday morning and the convention is setting up... look for the next update tonight if ye ol' newsletter editor is awake enough to write it.
Winkie Newsletter OzCon 2017 - Day 1 Report
Follow or contribute to discussion of OzCon 2017 on Twitter with the hashtag #OzCon17 or #OzConInternational.
Registration was open bright and early at OzCon 2017, with people trickling down through the construction-filled hotel to the convention's lobby. The convention was located in the St. Helens wing of the hotel like last year, but thanks to a remodel currently in progress, the main lobby was blocked off and people had to weave past the restaurant, main desk and gift shop to get to the area.
Ye ol' newsletter editor settled down at a table to write the day 0 report while various people ran around setting up the audio/visual equipment in the two presentation rooms and the dealers set up in Baum's Bazaar. At 10 a.m., the first panel kicked off, featuring Eric Gjovaag, Lynn Beltz and Jay Davis talking about the Emerald City television show and other versions of Oz.
At 11 a.m., Jay presented a number of animated Oz shorts by Ted Eshbaugh and the Oz cartoons continued after lunch with a presentation by Colin Ayres and Sam Milazzo on Cinar's version of Oz.
A lunch buffet was ready at the restaurant for con-goers, who congregated in the lobby to chat and catch up with each other. Although the construction was, at times, a little loud, it didn't affect the presentations and rarely did more than slightly annoy the people in the lobby. During lunch, a large group of attendees got into an involved discussion of the history of Oz fandom and how it is changing.
Just before lunch a news crew arrived from KGW8 Portland to interview Peter Hanff, John Fricke, Eric Shanower and young fan Rylan (who was dressed as the Cowardly Lion and gave a mighty roar to the cameras on live television). The video are available at http://www.kgw.com.
Ashley of KGW interviews Peter Hanff and Colin Ayres:
Ashley of KGW interviews Rylan the Cowardly Lion and Eric Shanower (be sure to watch until the end to see Eric roar):
At 1 p.m. a panel moderated by Jay Davis talked about Oz Conventions and how to get the most out of them. It was basically Oz Conventions 101, and attendees reported it to be useful and interesting.
The Cinar presentation in the main room (The Emerald City Room) ran a little late, but after it finished, Karyl Carlson led a discussion on costuming while the smaller conference room (The Winkie Room) held a discussion by Lee Speth, Lynn Beltz and Rick Wiegand on Ozma of Oz. Live coverage of the panel was provided on Twitter by J.L. Bell at https://twitter.com/jlbellwriter
At 3 p.m. the Emerald City room featured a presentation by Peter Hanff, Lynn Beltz and John Fricke on the 60th birthday of the International Wizard of Oz Club. Meanwhile, in the Winkie room, Eric Gjovaag led people in a rousing edition of the British game show "Just a Minute" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_a_Minute) adapted to an Ozian audience. Both events ran a little late due to some set up issues.
Erica Olivera won "Just a Minute" against Colin Ayres, Rick Wiegand, and David Maxine.
A little after 4 p.m., the programs let out and everyone gathered in the lobby and dealers room for meetings and greetings. People slowly drifted away to dinner, with the main program scheduled to resume at 7 p.m. The bar created a new drink for this year, called the "Emerald City", and some fans were seen trying it out as the dinner hour progressed.
At seven, the Oz fans gathered in The Emerald City room for the evening programs. The festivities started with Peter Hanff giving an overview of the history of Oz books leading up to The Lost Princess of Oz along with a slideshow of images from the first edition of the book. He then summarized the book for the crowd, while showing slides of images from the book.
After a short break, Colin Ayres was next up with a presentation on Oz animation, starting with a 1933 short by Ted Eshbaugh and covering a number of other pieces in mostly chronological order, including Tales of the Wizard of Oz. Yes, a significant portion of the audience sang along to the theme song. Ayres included everything from full length films to a short by the American Heart Association featuring the Tin Man. The featured works included traditional animation, stop-motion and CGI. He also included Ozzy moments in other animated works, including the Superfriend's "Planet of Oz". Colin ended his presentation with a promotion of OzCon 2018, which will be celebrating the Tin Woodman of Oz. The convention will be in Pomona, California, which is fairly close to Los Angeles, Aug 10-12, 2018.
As the clock ticked past 9:15 p.m., another break allowed people to move around and get water. The final presenter of the night was Doug Aberle, who did Claymation work on Return to Oz and was there to tell the crowd how to make our own nomes. Aberle, sporting a brown Hawaiian shirt and a well-trimmed beard, started his presentation with a film about how he killed the Nome King. Aberle explains in the film that he was never on the set, but instead was working in Portland on the claymation parts of the film. The film also included an interview with Will Vinton worked into the narrative.
Aberle was the animator on the famous Mysterious Stranger segment of The Adventures of Mark Twain at Will Vinton studios, making the people the Stranger creates and doing "a really cool destruction sequence". He then started to work on the Nome King for Return to Oz with Will Vinton's team. The film told us which animators worked on which segments. The Nome King goes through three phases of claymation evolution before becoming a live actor in a costume for a short time. Aberle got the assignment to kill off the Nome King and explained why he had to do it four times. He also visited the Deadly Desert, which is just south of Tillamok, Oregon.
After the film, Aberle took questions from the audience. He was asked how many takes are usual, and Aberle said most of his shots are first take. Having to do four takes of killing the Nome King was very unusual. He also answered questions about the type of clay they used and how long the entire process took. He said he worked at Will Vinton Studios for 18 years total, and worked on a lot of different projects. He also talked a little about his current work, including a space adventure starring sock puppets. Convention Chair Lee had a hard time getting people to stop asking questions, but finally told the group that Doug will be available for more questions on Saturday. Aberle's son said the video seen by the attendees will be put on the AberleFilms YouTube channel after a few more tweaks.
The location of the after-party was announced by David Maxine, who asked the crowd to give them a head start for set-up. The attendees wandered off into the halls - though a good number found their way to the party, where David and Eric Shanower were serving "Ozma's Enchantment", a peachy drink that will turn you into a lost princess. Ye ol' newsletter editor noted the lack of chocolate and left almost immediately.
More Media Coverage:
Auntie Em! There's no place like OzCon
5 Things To Do and See In Portland Today, Thursday, June 29
Quotes of the con so far:
"It's an Oz con, there's always a technical glitch" - Colin Ayres, right after a video he was showing crashed.
"ROOOAAAARRRRR!" - Eric Shanower
Sunday, February 19, 2017
A Sunday Review
- Jul 6th
- Future Quest #2 - My lack of detailed familiarity with the characters makes this book oddly more interesting. I know there is backstory, but I don't know it. So what I'm reading is fascinating - but I'm not emotionally connected yet. I'm looking forward to finding out more. Great book.
- Peanuts: Friends Forever 2016 Special - A solid little collection. I feel for Peppermint Patty, having to wear a dress. I despise dresses and hate wearing them for even a little while. The ending of that story was a beautiful moment for me.
- Doctor Who Supremacy of the Cybermen #1 - Four Doctors, four storylines, lots of companions and a visit to Karn. It's a promising start... but a bit confusing as to how the storylines will converge. And, for that matter, when certain events happen in relation to the tv series. I'll just wait and see, shall I?
- Jul 13th
- Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps Rebirth #1 - Hal's hard-traveling villain schtick is finally over? Good. I was getting a bit bored with it. As for the rest - well, it's interesting that he decided to do what couldn't be done. Very Hal Jordan-y. But I'm guessing there will be consequences. I'll find out when I get to the new series, I guess.
- Earth 2 Society #14 - A possible solution, but if it fails, everyone dies. That really does make for a compelling bit of tension. Add in the personal reasons behind Batman's interest combined with the current villain's unwitting use of a very important person - and wow, a pretty good tale with a nice punch at the end.
- DC Comics Bombshells #15 - Now *THAT'S* a cover. Whew. Oooh-la-la! Arthur and Mera. The story picks up with the two romancing as Mera continues to heal. But all is not well, and she's reminded of duty even while she tries to enjoy her time with Arthur. One thing I really liked about this issue was the idea of Arthur singing to her. She seemed to enjoy it, so we have an Aquaman with a nice voice? Lovely. In any case, we get a little more of Mera's history in this one, which was also nice. Oh yeah, and the rest of the issue had some Harley and Ivy and Batwomen and stuff.
- Doctor Who 4th #4 - With Sarah Jane out of the picture, the Doctor has a new companion to run around with for the extent of the story. As usual, the Doctor tries to take the high road, but it's also an uphill battle. And, as usual, there's a wrinkle. But then there's the cliffhanger. Oh Nellie, that's going to be interesting.
- Doctor Who 10th #2.12 - Wow, that was a depressing end. Lots of creative problem-solving, but in the end the one person who needed to be saved wasn't. I thought the bit with Gabby figuring out that the Doctor had already left and come back was a particularly interesting moment between the two. She's developed into quite a companion.
- Back To The Future #10 - A wonderful catch-up issue, in which we find out what happened to Doc Brown and why he lost his memories. All while an outside threat slowly becomes more threatening. I'm not seeing much of anything wrong with this book.
- Legends of Oz Tik-Tok And Kalidah #3 - Well, the door led the trio into Ix, which is a well-known place from the Oz books. The strange girl is safe, but what will happen to her protectors? This one left me sad, but I hope that someday we'll find out why this was an important little chapter in this version of Oz.
- Rough Riders #4 - Aliens, Teddy Roosevelt, and a bunch of history that isn't what we learned in school. I love it. This book has great art, a ripping tale of a story and some fun moments in history to cover. Can't wait to see more.
- Spongebob Comics #58 - No Mermaid Man, but some truly surreal moments with Patrick. This book is entirely what you bring to it.
Sunday, October 02, 2016
A Sunday Review
- Free Comic Book Day
- Doctor Who - Four short stories, featuring the ninth through twelfth Doctors. Each one is a solid little stand-alone, although for the tenth and eleventh stories some knowledge of the comic would help to understand, since they use companions introduced in the comic. Otherwise, a good little package.
- Dark Horse FCBD 2016 - The Serenity story is a bit on the sad side, with River telling a bedtime story. The Hellboy story was typically dark with a hint of silly. The Aliens tale was ok. Overall, a decent book for Free Comic Book Day.
- SpongeBob Freestyle Funnies 2016 - The usual - if you enjoy SpongeBob, you'll enjoy this. The Mermaid Man story was at the usual level of humor, but the Ramona Fradon artwork was spectacular and made it very readable.
- Bongo Comics Free-For-All 2016 - The usual Simpsons humor. I thought the dentist story was slightly better than the superhero one, but they weren't anything spectacular.
- DC Superhero Girls - A cute intro to a cute version of the DC Universe. And that's about all I really have to say about it.
- Jun 1st
- Green Lanterns Rebirth #1 - Two complete rookie Lanterns who immediately don't like each other being forced to work together by Hal Jordan. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, and here come the Red Lanterns. Lovely. This is a promising start, but I'm not really sure about it yet.
- DC Comics Bombshells #14 - Yeah, now THIS is more like it. The entire first half of the book is devoted to what happened to Mera after the battle. Fished out of the ocean by an Irish cutie... I almost envy her. The rest of the book is devoted to some of the magic users in this universe, and it's a bit grim and disturbing on several levels. I, obviously, love the Mera bits of this book more than any other, so this issue gets high marks from me.
- Batman Beyond #13 - Well now, Rewire isn't who I expected him to be and this isn't going to play out in a pleasant way, I'm sure. Of course, this has to have something to do with time travel, but what exactly happened to make this a reality is a big question I hope gets answered.
- Teen Titans Go #16 - A mixed-up body story followed by a jaunt in the Batmobile. Funny. I tend to think of this book as what the Titans are like with no inhibitions - basically if they were drunk all the time. It *almost* makes sense that way.
- Spider-Man 2099 #11 - So, the future's not what it used to be. And this book just gets more complicated at every turn. I'm not entirely sure I'm enjoying the twists. I want to like it, but I'm finding it hard to track all the differences, even with the helpful recaps at the beginning of each issue.
- Doctor Who 4th #3 - Oh, poor Sarah Jane. This is a story that probably couldn't have been done justice on the TV screen, but it is fantastic here in the comic. I'm really liking it, and the new characters.
- Legends of Oz Tik-Tok And Kalidah #2 - An exiled Kalidah? That explains a few things about this pair. But the trouble they are carrying is pretty intense. The cliffhanger leaves them in a very bad spot (between a door and a raging mob?).
- Rough Riders #3 - The team goes into action and... well, spoilers, but I think one of them is in pretty bad shape. The rest? Who knows. I like the idea of using historical figures this way, giving them tall tales to share. It reminds me of Young Indiana Jones. It's hard to see what might be coming up next, but I'm sure it's going to be trouble.
- Jun 8th
- Aquaman: Rebirth #1 - Well, here we go. New Aquaman? Hardly. It's Aquaman fighting terrorists off the coast of Boston. Pretty tame and normal stuff. Beautiful artwork, nice set up for a Manta story, but not much else. Good, not great.
- Green Lantern Corps: The Edge of Oblivion #6 - The corps goes through a crack in the universe and vanishes. Again. I'm just not sure what is happening here or why I should care.
- Earth 2 Society #13 - The Amazons reveal themselves and add a new layer of terror to the world, while a hidden threat prepares to attack. The new layer of terror is yet another ancient artifact that can change everything. I don't know where this book is going, but it raises some interesting philosophical questions about superpowers and how such things ought to be used in extreme cases.
- Adventures of Supergirl #3 - I never saw the first two issues of this book solicited, so we join the action in progress as Supergirl gets trapped in a series of dreams. It's ok, but I would have liked the first couple of issues so I didn't jump in late.
- Doctor Who 11th #2.10 - Pretty intense, with Alice taking the Doctor's bait and going back to the Time War (it's a little like the Seventh Doctor destroying Ace's faith in order to save the world in The Curse of Fenric). I wasn't expecting him to be upset at Daak not going with her, but there it was. And the Squire, one of the best new characters in ages - um, I'll gloss over that final splash page for a moment and just say this was one intense issue.
- Spongebob Comics #57 - A "Noir" issue, all in Black and White and Yellow. Some fun stuff, including a tale of Mermaid Man's lost cape. Amusing, as usual.
- Xena Warrior Princess #3 - And Ares shows up. I'm just not liking this book much anymore. The continuity is a little too convoluted for me, and I still can't quite figure out what's going on.
- Baker Street Peculiars #4 - The game is won! The children use cunning, intelligence and a little logic to finish the battle in the best way possible, saving the day and then, just for kicks, learning the truth behind Sherlock Holmes. A fun little series. I wonder if we'll get more?
Sunday, April 03, 2016
A Sunday Review
TV this week:
- Gotham: "Prisoners" - The title of this episode refers to both plotlines, one involving Oswald and the other involving Jim. The prison-break plot was more exciting, but the Penguin plot was much more terrifying in its implications. I liked it.
- The Flash: "Flash Back" - Wow. The time wraith was pretty scary, and reminds me of the image of Flash as he ran himself out of existence in the Crisis. Which I'm sure is intentional. The change in history is interesting... so how did Barry's interference lead Hartley to make up with his parents, I wonder?
- Supergirl: "World's Finest" - Hubby-Eric had us watch The Flash before watching this, because he'd heard there was something in The Flash that led into this story. Well, it wasn't immediately obvious from watching The Flash, but as soon as we got our first look at Barry in Supergirl's world, I realized it was a particular device. This was a fun episode thanks to amusing villains and a lovely team-up between superheroes of different worlds. The finale and the cliffhanger also worked nicely. Good stuff all around.
- Feb 24th
- Aquaman #49 - Let me just get this out there right now: I absolutely despise the outfit Mera is wearing on the final page. I don't particularly care about the reasoning, but frankly, it's awful and the quicker it's dumped, the better. As for the remainder of the issue... a nice, relaxing tale of introducing Atlanteans to surfacer culture with a drumbeat of terror in the background. Not bad, but there's really very little plot.
- Justice League #48 - Isn't this stupid storyline done yet?
- Spider-Man 2099 #7 - Person gets superpowers, person decides she is God, person tries to get people to worship her... and all the while superheroes are trying to stop her. Meh. Not horrid, but could be better.
- Back to the Future #5 - Ah, the history of Clara and how she came into Emmett's life. It's a pretty good little story that gives some depth to Clara. This has been a really fun book, each issue a standalone story, and most of the stories have been solid. If you like the original movies, go grab any issue and take a read.
- Dirk Gently: A Spoon Too Short #1 - Well, it's slightly better than the first mini-series so far, which really isn't saying that much. Watch and wait, I guess.
- Grimm Fairy Tales: Oz: No Place Like Home #1 - Um. Right. I get that I'm supposed to suspend my disbelief, but this book. Nope. Sorry.
- Peanuts vol 2 #31 - As usual, the classic strips are better than the modern ones. I wasn't really all that interested in the first story, but the second one made me roll my eyes in amusement. Still good, just never as great.
The second feature article is about the Kibbo Kift. I was alternately amused and horrified by the story. The organization seems ok, if a bit on the far side of wacky, but some of the connections it made seem a little less-than-helpful for the average person. Still, I've been sitting around a campfire and if anything pulls the mysticism out of you, it's roughing it for a week.
An article about Alan Garner prompted the response of "Who?" from me, which I gather is not the proper response at all, judging from the names dropped of people influenced by his books. As when the magazine covered M.R. James, it appears I have some reading to do to catch up.
The last feature is about the coco-de-mer Lodoicea maldivica which is a coconut with a rude physical appearance and fun history. The article is also about General Charles Gordon and his belief that the coco-de-mer was the forbidden fruit, and that Eden (at least what remained of it) was in the Seychelles.
Strangedays starts with a tomb time machine, odd new year traditions, micro-nations, people who hide from civilization, animal die-offs and miracles involving inanimate objects bleeding.
The Conspirasphere looks at ... wow, I'm not even sure how to describe it. A Romanian sphinx, Bilderberg and an alien stargate. One thing that the truly goofy conspiracies have in common is a complicated plotline. Ghostwatch is about spectrophiliacs, which is just what the root words imply. Murdie, the author, is practically rolling his eyes throughout the article, while still attempting to give the notion as much respect as any idea.
Archaeology goes back to where the stones in Stonehenge are from, and updates us on new theory and thought. There is also yet another ancient earthworks discovered that has a regular form from the air (concentric circles, in the Golan Heights). Classical Corner looks at Hannurabi's Law Code, which is enough to make Daesh look downright tame.
Alien Zoo looks at a mysterious monkey... maybe. And the beavers in Devon continue to thrive. Mythconceptions asks about London Bridge being sold and moved to Arizona. Fortean Follow-ups looks at a recent cattle mutilation case, fish being frozen while swimming, spontaneous human combustion and even more on yew trees.
Fairies, Folklore and Forteana examines cases of missing children being discovered far from where they vanished from, and how the paranormal is invoked in some such cases. The UFO Files starts a detailed look at the Rendlesham Forest Case. Building a Fortean Library is about the work of William James, with what is suddenly one of my favorite quotes in the world:
"A Beethoven string-quartet is truly, as some one has said, a scraping of horses' tails on cats' bowels, and may be exhaustively described in such terms; but the application of this description in no way precludes the simultaneous applicability of an entirely different description." - William JamesStrange Statesmen looks at Papa Doc Duvalier, and even has a theory as to how he got to be so cruel and disgusting after having been a much-loved doctor for years: Namely a terrible heart attack after which his entire personality appeared to have changed. The piece is a great read, but disturbing.
Forum starts with an article by a teacher who uses an optional class he is allowed to hold every year to teach children about the paranormal and how to test paranormal ideas with science. A second piece is about the Ummites, an alien event/hoax in Spain in thr 1960s, and the question of whether or not the hoaxers were British.
Reviews were great as usual, with some a little more interesting than others. The opening review, of The Strange Case of Ermine de Reims: A Medieval Woman Between Demons and Saints by Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, made me want to check it out. The story is about a woman whose nightmares are recorded by a priest, but there are overtones of abuse on an emotional level, if not worse. Truly fascinating, but wow it looks expensive. The reviews also look at the recent Star Wars movie and find the same problems as most reviewers.
The letters are fun, lots of following up from previous stories, and a good photo of a striped apple. Two letters tackle the EmDrive with theories on why it might actually work, one of which seems to me to make a lot of sense... but then, I'm not a scientist so I won't argue the point. It Happened to Me is properly frightening. Overall, another great issue of my favorite magazine.
Sunday, March 13, 2016
A Sunday Review
- Feb 3rd
- Green Lantern #49 - I'm really not entirely sure what's going on in this book, but as a stand-alone, it works ok. Green Lantern comes to the rescue with some quick thinking, the day is saved, and there's some touching family scenes.
- Batman Beyond #9 - I really don't know what to think about this book, and those last couple of pages just confuse me more. If they are alive, then how did all that happen? If they aren't, then what are those? Huh.
- Doctor Strange #5 - So, that's the price paid for his recoveries. Wong is right that Strange would put an end to it if he knew. As for the rest... well, let's see what happens next.
- Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #5 - And we reach the Emerald City and meet the Wizard. It all seems more abrupt than I remember from the first time I read this through. I'm liking the backup feature with the four witches, but I feel like the story needed another draft to make it right.
The first issue I'm looking at is #30, which was published when I was about seven years old. At that point in time I was fascinated by the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot, but really didn't have much comprehension that there was a whole universe of things that science ignored or laughed at - that nevertheless contained information on human nature and possibly better understanding of the real world as well. In fact, at that point in time I also had no sense of history. The first time I truly understood that "history" was still happening was when Mt St Helens erupted, and that was a few months after this issue was published. Anyway, enough about me... into the book itself.
I love the painted cover. At first I looked at it and thought it was just a nice nature scene. It's not until you look a bit that you start to see all the faces. These are illustrating the cover article on simulacra by John Michell. The article is about the tendency to see faces, in particular, in all kinds of natural phenomena, but it also looks at a few other types of simulacra. I'm unsteady as to how Michell felt about it... the implication of the article is that observation changes something, and the mere fact that we are seeing a person/face/hand has meaning, but that meaning is not made clear. This is Fortean at its purest. He presents the facts, with some opinions, then leaves it to the reader to make their own judgement. Of particular interest to me in this piece is a throwaway comment on photography: "What is it that distinguishes a good photographer from a bad one when both have steady hands and the same equipment?" The implication is that the photographer involuntarily projects something into the photo. As a person who has to take photos every day, I wish this were true, because then all my photos would be fantastic. *sigh*
A second feature article is about Clemente Dominguez, who I'd never heard about, no surprise. It's quite the story, and much better told in the article by Bob Rickard than on Wikipedia. In short, while the shenanigans are of slight interest to Forteans, it's the apparent stigmata that put this tale into the basket of needing a closer look. Good stuff.
The third feature is on the Fish Fall of 1859. Instead of trying to draw any conclusions, the piece gathers up the known facts from as many sources as possible to try to determine what facts are correct, or most likely to be correct. No attempt is made to explain it, which is good, because it doesn't really seem to have a good explanation. Not the best piece, but interesting, especially to a small-town reporter who can see how the facts might have so easily gotten confused.
The last feature is about the Son of Sam, and argues that the man who was captured and jailed did not do it alone, and names another suspect. I'm mostly unfamiliar with the case, knowing the name and the fearsome reputation, but little else, so I can't speak to the accuracy of the claim in the feature. The writing style is bizarre and uncomfortable, so I'm not impressed with this one overall.
There are several columns, and the first one in this issue was "Enigma Variations" by Nigel Watson, which was a nice round-up of UFO beliefs. I liked his conclusion to the column, which asked what is driving the beliefs. I cringed at the name of Steve Moore's column, "Tales from the Yellow Emporium", but the column itself isn't bad. This particular column is about a mao hai, a hairy child who was born covered in hair, and other such people. It seems to me to harken forward to FT274, which has two such individuals on the cover.
Loren Coleman contributed a column called "On the Trail" in which he details cryptozoological events. This one is about a road trip in the US. Coleman makes the observation that people who live in trailers tend to live on the fringe/frontier of American society, because as towns are established, they tend to zone out trailer parks. So the stories he tells concentrate on people who live in trailers. He starts with panthers then moves on to thunderbirds, with a revisit to Marlon Lowe, who suffered endless taunts after his story about being picked up by a giant bird went public. From Coleman's report, the poor kid suffered immensely, and his family had dead birds left on their front porch by nasty neighbors apparently upset at the publicity. Makes me want to go smack some sense into them, but that's 37 years ago.
The last column is "Under the Eye" by Steve Burgess and concerns itself with the rock group Klaatu, which was apparently still a mystery at the time.
Unlike the modern Strangedays, this issue has section headings (with art by Hunt Emerson) that introduce specific topics. The first one is "Out of Place" and mainly talks about big cats, which are not native to the British Isles, being seen in the British Isles. There's a bit of snark at an "expert opinion" that determined cast paw prints were from a dog, not a cat, and plenty of witness descriptions. There were also two cartoons, thought I'm not sure who drew them. One features a "Young Turk" at the Natural History Museum studying a live chicken instead of various stuffed animals. This is a callback to the article, in which the experts were from the Natural History Museum. The second cartoon is at the end of the article and shows two bigfoot hunters finding a very small bigfoot with enormous feet.
The next section is "Strange Deaths", which I usually read in the modern version but generally do not comment on. I'm going to observe the same standard with this issue.
Next up is "Plants", and it starts with the question of whether or not plants are conscious... I hear the screams of the vegetables? The section starts out with glowing plants, including potatoes later used to make "super chips" and referred to by locals as Identified Frying Objects. Then we learn about plants that spent time in space and seeds preserved in time and later grown. Giant mushrooms are next on the menu, but the finish of the article is an "ugly sort of rubber plant gone wrong" that was growing next to a television set and reportedly grew away from the light and, when watered, uttered moans. Yikes? Of slight interest, one of the cases mentioned is about Harry Potter, a keen gardener who discovered a wooden clothes peg he was using to mark a row of seeds took root.
Poltergeists is the next section, although it's just about ghosts in general. Well, ghosts with dishonorable intentions, in this case. Sexy spectres and randy wraiths are covered, with just a pinch of snarky commentary to keep it all PG-rated. Following that is a section on synchronicity, and in particular, twins. Loads of good stories in this one, including a bunch on twins separated at birth. More twins are in the "Freaks" section, which starts with sad stories of cojoined twins and other odd mysteries of birth, and finishes with some miracle babies before getting sad again with a story of an 83-year-old woman with a calcified foetus from when she was a young woman. Both sections have photos, including two very hard to see photos of two-faced kittens.
The next section, "Wild Talents", is about psi abilities and such. This one is about people able to see without their eyes. Moving on to "Lightnings", we get stories about lightning strikes, both fatal and not, and a listing of such strikes. The final section is "Trends" and starts with the story of Skylab. I vaguely remember it... I was thrilled with anything to do with space exploration, so I would have read anything I could have gotten my hands on about it. I remember it falling, and I remember the reports... this has a little more than I remember. There are other pieces, some fun, some depressing. There's a bit on Loch Ness, including an ill-advised attempt to search for the monster with trained dolphins (!). Another whole piece is about priests being attacked, including Pope John Paul nearly being hit by a large iron cross in Pompeii, Italy.
There are comics in this issue, called "Comix" in the table of contents. The first one is called "Telly Kinex" and has a skeptical reporter bothering a guy, presumably from the title, who happens to be using his telekinetic powers. As might be expected, the interruption of concentration has bad results for the reporter. This issue also has an installment of "Phenomenomix", which is still running in the modern version. I can't really say much about this, except it's about the progression of what happens when you mess with psychic powers, maybe? The final listed comic is "Facts You Might Forget" and seems to be about something called remote photography.
The reviews... oh, the reviews. Eight dense pages of pure reviews, with some truly amazing and scary stuff up for inspection. The reviews were as strong as they've always been, but lacking the numerical ratings. It still isn't hard to tell if something impressed the reviewer. There aren't many I'd actually be interested in getting, but some are truly funny and/or bizarre. With the advantage of time, I can look back at some of the works and see what history has said about the authors (sometimes not good at all), which put a slight damper on my amusement in at least one case. Still, it's a reminder to take everything with a grain/spoonful/cup/barrel of salt.
A size comparison shows that old Fortean Times were a bit smaller than the current issues.
Sunday, January 24, 2016
A Sunday Review
TV from a few weeks ago:
- Doctor Who: "The Husbands of River Song" - A surprisingly gentle Christmas episode from this show. Oh, there are moments, of course, but the whole episode felt like a nice relaxing rest after a series that was quite stressful. I think other reviewers have managed already to point out all the neat continuity moments, so I won't go into them. I will say that my favorite moment was jura Evire svanyyl svtherq bhg jub jnf fgnaqvat arkg gb ure. There were some very good quotable quotes, as well. Particular in the speech leading up to that moment. Overall, not the most exciting episode of Doctor Who, but a very nice addition to the universe.
- Nov 11th
- Rebels #8 - Two short stories in this one, both of them incomplete, in my opinion. Both try to say something and both don't say nearly enough. Perhaps the series will revisit the characters later, otherwise, this is a waste of an issue.
- Justice League United #15 - Wow, this story was a total mess. At least it finally resolved into something. I think it would have worked better as a single issue, but decompressed storytelling is the norm in comics these days.
- DC Comics Bombshells #4 - Three different stories, starting with a tale of Russia, then Harley Quinn goes nuts. The final story takes us back to Wonder Woman, minus Mera, and a moral quandry. I am enjoying this book.
- Batman Beyond #6 - Fun finale to a long story that I pretty much hated from the start, because I really didn't enjoy the plotline. Maybe the next one will be better? I can dream.
- Back to the Future #2 - Two stories, one an alternate history that shows what would happen if Doc Brown gave time travel to the government, and the other a story of Marty needing some help with a science project. Both of them are fun.
- Spider-Man 2099 #3 - Wow. Miguel has gone nutso. And those last few pages were... not a shock, but definitely nasty. Good stuff.
- Spongebob Comics #50 - Fifty issues already? Didn't this book just start? Well, there's a little bit of Mermaid Man, including a whole bunch of classic comics covers reimagined with Mermaid Man, so I enjoyed it.
- Nov 18th
- Earth 2 Society #6 - Everything good is bad again? Strange to have Jimmy Olsen as the ultimate bad guy. How, exactly, did he manage it?
- Titans Hunt #2 - What on earth was Dick thinking? I mean, talk about the worst possible way to attract Garth. Yikes. Still, I'm really curious to see what happens next.
- Green Lantern: The Lost Army #6 - Interesting. The rift had Relic on both sides of it, if I remember the Green Lantern issue correctly. So, if there's no escape, what's the plan?
- Star Trek/Green Lantern #5 - So Scotty reverse engineered power rings to rig up a thing to help the boys out in their upcoming battle? Fantastic!
- Batman '66 #29 - Ma Parker, Catwoman, Solomon Grundy, Killer Croc... Lots of great characters to appear in a single book. And, for the most part, the plot actually worked. Fun!
- Astro City #29 - How do the aliens who are innocent lives involved in their emperor's schemes feel about being pawns in a constant game of superheroic insanity? Well, this issue introduces us to some. I can't wait to read the next part of this one.
- Huck #1 - A secret superhero tries to do a good deed every day. But what happens when someone who isn't committed to keeping the secret moves into town and learns about him? I like the artwork, and the premise is good. This issue was definitely set-up, so it's hard to judge beyond the superficial, but I like it so far.
- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency #5 - I think this one is over? Maybe? I love Douglas Adam's work, but this character just never connected with me... and this mini series didn't either. It was ok, but I could certainly have passed on it.
- Usagi Yojimbo #150 - A nasty European wants to witness everything he can of Japanese culture, including seppuku. Of course, Usagi gets involved.
- Nov 25th
- Aquaman #46 - Wonder Woman visits Aquaman to find out if he's ok, and that leads to problems. So, same-old same-old? Actually, it's kind of nice that she offers the assistance of the Justice League. It is a pretty big threat for one hero to take on alone.
- Justice League of America #5 - It's entirely a Martian Manhunter story. I don't understand most of it. But it was ok.
- Sinestro #17 - Black Adam... yeah, ok, I buy it. I'm not sure I buy all the rest, but the yellow ring seems like it picks who it will pick. This is apparently Wonder Woman week, as she shows up in this book, as well as Aquaman.
- DC Comics Bombshells #5 - Another good issue, even if there's no Mera in it. I like Kortni and Kara particularly. A nice twist on Russian folktales.
- Grimm Fairy Tales: Oz: Reign of the Witch Queen #6 - Apparently it's over. And everyone lived happily ever after. Or something like that? Let's just hope they find some tailors who actually make practical clothing.
- Peanuts: Snoopy Special #1 - A lot of fun Snoopy stories in this one, no surprise. I still prefer the Schulz stories, but the new ones aren't bad at all.
Sunday, August 16, 2015
A Sunday Review
This book was recommended in the comment sections on File 770 and in Renay's Hugo Spreadsheet of Doom.
Like last week's book, I came to this one completely cold. I didn't even know it was steampunk until I got a few pages in. I haven't been in the habit of simply trying books without finding out it they are "my type", but with a desire to nominate for the 2016 Hugos, I feel like I just have to try some new stuff out. So far, I feel I'm doing ok taking other people's suggestions.
First up: the completely non-spoiler review. If you don't like steampunk, you may have some issues with this. I, personally, love well-done steampunk and found this to be a great read. In addition, if you have any hang-ups about sexual issues, you'll probably want to avoid this book, as it's set in a *ahem* seamstress's shop in a frontier town. A shop with a nice parlor downstairs and a lot of men who visit regularly. It took me some time to get into the book, as the first-person voice is idiosyncratic and the word usage is intentionally wrong in places to convey it. But I came to really enjoy the main character the more I read, although my writer instincts sometimes flinched at the use of language.
Ok, Spoilers ahead (use rot13 to read). Bx, gur svefg guvat V bhtug gb zragvba vf gung V irel zhpu rawbl fgbevrf frg va sebagvre Frnggyr. V qba'g xabj jul, V whfg qb. Naq juvyr Encvq Pvgl vf abg, grpuavpnyyl, Frnggyr, gurer vf ab bgure cynpr vg pna ernyvfgvpnyyl or. Vg'f tbg gur Nynfxna Tbyq Ehfu, vg'f tbg gur Fbhaq, vg'f tbg fxvq ebj, vg'f tbg gur envfvat bs qbjagbja naq vg'f whfg irel zhpu Frnggyr. Fb gur frggvat fhpxrq zr vg irel dhvpxyl, rira vs V unq n uneq gvzr trggvat vagb gur fgbel vgfrys. V'yy abgr gung Obarfunxre jnf nyfb frg va n fgrnzchax Frnggyr, juvpu znqr zr yvxr vg rira zber guna V zvtug unir bgurejvfr. Frnggyr naq fgrnzchax frrz gb jbex jryy gbtrgure, sbe zr. V erpbtavmr gung bgure crbcyr qba'g unir gur fnzr srgvfu, ohg guvf vf qrsvavgryl bar bs zvar.
Frpbaq, V qba'g zhpu pner nobhg gur frkhnyvgl bs punenpgref nf ybat nf gurl ner cbegenlrq nf erny crbcyr. Guvf obbx qbrfa'g, gb zr, znxr n ovt nqb nobhg gur punenpgref' cersreraprf, vg whfg gnyxf nobhg vg naq zbirf ba. Naq gur ybir orgjrra Xnera naq Cevln vf angheny naq, V gubhtug, jryy-qrirybcrq. Lrf, gurer'f ybir ng svefg fvtug, gur byq pyvpur, ohg Xnera jbexf cnfg vg. V yvxr gung.
Gurer'f fbzrguvat greevoyr naq terng nobhg n obbx gung pna znxr lbh srry fb fgebatyl sbe n zvabe punenpgre gung lbh trahvaryl uheg jura gung punenpgre qvrf. Guvf obbx znantrq gung. V jnf ebbgvat sbe gur tbbq thlf orsber gura, ohg nsgre gung? V jnf pynzbevat sbe n fbyvq cnlonpx jvgu xnezn gnxvat vgf gbyy.
Hagvy V tbg gb gur Nhgube'f Abgr ng gur raq, V jnf abg njner bs gur fgbel bs Zbgure Qnzanoyr, naq abj V'z tbvat gb or fcraqvat ragveryl gbb zhpu gvzr ybbxvat hc Znel Naa Pbaxyva gb svaq bhg jub fur jnf.
This book has a decent chance to make my Hugo nomination list. I feel it was a pretty slow read, which counts against it. However, it was nicely goofy, very well told and fun in a way that only steampunk is truly capable of being. I'll be thinking on it for awhile, I can tell.
A novella I read recently but haven't yet reviewed is "Penric's Demon" by Lois McMaster Bujold. I bought it as soon as it was available and read it as soon as I was able. Bujold is, at the moment, the only author I would buy a work from by the strength of her name alone. I learned about this novella from Bujold's Goodreads Blog.
Did I like it? Oh yeah. Penric is a good character who is, like many of Bujold's characters, hemmed in by other people's expectations. He's able to break out of it entirely by the unhappy/happy accident. In short, it's a typical Bujold story in a lot of ways. I found the story to be the perfect length, covering just what we need to know about both Penric and his new guest. The promise of potential untold stories is often the most frustrating part of Bujold's work... this is no different. I'd love to revist Penric in the future in some manner, but I know that this is the story the author chose to focus on, so it's probably the best one in Penric's life. This will be on my Hugo nomination form.
And here's a novelette I read:
- "Folding Beijing" by Hao Jingfang. It is in the nature of science fiction to be fantastical, but I really found this one hard to swallow. The world, as presented, just doesn't make physical sense to me. The whole "folding" of space just doesn't work for me. The rest... well, I have mixed feelings. The main character is a bit of a cipher until the end, while the others are all cardboard cutouts he's just dealing with. Yeah, it's a novelette, not a novel, and there's little time to develop characters - but I didn't feel much of a connection with any of them. And the political situation as described, which leads to the folding city, also doesn't seem realistic or believable to me. I can suspend my disbelief as well as anyone else, but this particular story did not work for me. No, it won't make my Hugo nomination form.
I've also read short stories:
- "Pocosin" by Ursula Vernon is a heartbreaking tale about death, second chances and people who know a lot about the world. Like "Jackalope Wives", it's told in a gentle, folksy way. And it has some deeper meaning in it, as well. I'd be lying if I didn't say I wish I could write half as well as Ursula does, but she writes about things I'd never think to write about, so I don't even stand in envy of her so much as happy awe. This one has a very good chance of being on my Hugo nomination list.
- "You Have Always Lived in the Castle" by Cat Rambo is a chilling little piece. Very short, and frightening in its implications. It's told in second person narrative. For some reason, it reminds me of Doctor Who: Warriors Gate. Part of me wants to learn more about this universe, most of me thinks of it as a horror tale. I'll think on it a lot more before deciding if it goes on my Hugo list.
- "The Parliment of Cheese and Curds" by Camestros Felapton is a parody based on one of the awful works nominated for the 2015 Hugos by the puppies. This short story is actually readable, unlike the original, and funny, also unlike the original (which was just a pathetic attempt to be pompous). No, I won't nominate this for a Hugo, but I did find it oddly refreshing, if a bit cheesy.
For my current list of Hugo 2016 readings, check out my Hugo 2016 Posts page.
- Jul 8th
- Earth 2 Society #2 - Ah, well, that's why Sloan crashed the ships. But I'm not sure I get all the nitty-gritty about it. I'm guessing we don't know who caused the attack that Sloan was reacting to? And I'm not sure what Sloan's "current" action is going to do to the planet. Ok, I'm interested.
- Justice League of America #2 - I'm not quite as cynical as Aquaman is portrayed here, but I'm kind of with him on the notion that powerful beings from other worlds who arrive and declare they are gods aren't really the kind of thing you can trust. And, looking at what happened to Wonder Woman, I think he may have dodged a massive bullet there with that cynicism.
- Justice League United #11 - That is one bizarre team-up. I found the collection of the team to be neat, with each one being pulled in by a different method. That has got to be the most muscular version of Mera I've ever seen. She's clearly been weightlifting. I'm a little confused by some of the other choices, but... well, I'll have to wait and see.
- Arrow: Season 2.5 #10 - Slade knows far too much. He's like Ollie's dark side. Overall, I'm happy this series is coming to a conclusion soon. With the season after it already over, there are bits that just don't work for me.
- Star Trek/Green Lantern #1 - The visuals of the crew of the Enterprise really threw me for a loop. I don't know if the regular series has switched to the movie version of the crew, but I sure wasn't ready for it. The rest? Good set up. I'll wait and see how it goes before judging the series.
- Secret Wars 2099 #3 - I really don't like this version of Miguel. In fact, I'm not sure I like anything about this version of the Marvel Universe, although Sub-Mariner and Hercules going at each other had its moments.
- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency #2 - Deadly ancient Egyptians, crazed serial killers and Dirk... I don't know which is the most frightening. It's nice to see an Oz reference.
- Doctor Who 11th #14 - Wait, so is this the end of the Arc arc? Also, nice cliffhanger.
- Grimm Fairy Tales: Oz: Reign of the Witch Queen #3 - Well, in this issue there's a fairly solid narrative of setting up the trap and battle plans, and some little jokes and call-backs to other events... not too bad. I still find this book hard to follow, but this issue holds together fairly well.
- Oddly Normal #8 - I want a closet that big. Heck, I think almost anyone wants a closet that big. Inkwell would sure enjoy it. Anyway, another good issue as Oddly learns just how much normal is appreciated.
- Rebels #4 - I feel like I need to go read the previous issues again because I felt like I'd lost the plot thread in this one. It's a good enough book, and the description of the battle and the famous "whites of their eyes" quote was lovely. But I also felt like I'd skipped an issue or something.
- Mage Inc. #1 - Keira is an intern at a mage's union and her first assignment is to go out with another mage to collect union dues. This was surprisingly good. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I liked how she handled the mundane tasks without fear and took the less mundane in stride. I'm looking forward to the next issue.
- Spongebob Comics #46 - Ooooh, a slightly educational issue! And more of the usual stuff. If you like Spongebob, you'll like it. If not, skip it.
- Extra Review
- Doctor Who: San Diego Comic Con Exclusive - A friend picked this up for Eric and I and I've finally had the chance to read it. Clara wants to go to Comic Con International, and so the Doctor takes her there... only to find out there's a nasty entity that appears in reflections and photos every 1021 years while trying to get back into reality. Fun stuff, and interesting to see what the Doctor was becoming as the entity affected him.
Sunday, May 31, 2015
A Sunday Review
- Apr 29th
- Multiversity #2 - Ok. Well. The Earth-11 Aquawoman kicking butt was nice, but overall, this was a disjointed mess of a story that made little sense without multiple re-readings. Oh, it's fun, but it's not really a good read except for the joy of seeing so many alternate heroes. Overall, the whole series, I'd say it was average. It had potential, but it kind of just fizzled.
- Justice League #40 - This isn't really a book about the Justice League, it's a prologue to the next big DC Universe event. As such, I find it minorly annoying. At least it has a funny variant cover.
- Convergence #4 - Ooh, so we finally get Brainiac? Yay.
- Convergence: Justice Society of America #1 - That's an intense JSA there. This is a sad book about aging, but then the super-heroes jump forth and... one last time.
- Convergence: Shazam #1 - Ah, so much fun for the Marvel family. Not much else to say about this one, except I'm looking forward to seeing them battle the Gaslight team.
- Convergence: World's Finest Comics #1 - Scribbly is one of my favorite comic book characters, for all he represents and all he doesn't represent. This is a pretty good tribute to him.
- Hoax Hunters 2015 #2 - Ah, so we finally get to see the other side. Does this mean the team will eventually be reunited?
- Grimm Fairy Tales: Oz: Reign of the Witch Queen #1 - Well, the nice summary made some of what happened before make actual sense. It doesn't make a ton of sense, but more than it did to me before. I'm afraid this book just doesn't really grab me.
Hubby and I watched two movies this past week. One was Meredith Willson's The Music Man from 2003, starring Matthew Broderick in the title role and Kristin Chenoweth as the librarian. Overall, a very satisfying version. Chenoweth is amusing and amazing throughout and Broderick is born to play lovable rogues. Taken as its own movie and not in comparison to previous versions, this is a decent little flick. Of course, there seems to be a lot of hate out there for Broderick, so if you don't like his acting, then you'll probably want to avoid this. Personally, I've enjoyed him in most roles I've seen him in, so take that as a warning.
The other movie was Divergent, based on the book by Veronica Roth. I have read the book, and in fact have a few serious issues with how the series ends, although the series is actually pretty satisfying (if depressing) on the whole. The movie condenses the book nicely while keeping the key plot points, and in some cases even explains them better than the books did (which is really odd when I think about it). In short, this is a pretty good adaptation of a problematic book. I think I'm looking forward to seeing the next one, but I am really tired of young adult dystopias. Is society really so screwed up that the only way to imagine a good story is to imagine a major disaster that tears it all down?
Another main article in this issue is about "the most haunted house in England" which supposedly was a jail for a bit before it became a home. The woman who bought it in 2005 has had trouble renting it out... or rather, trouble keeping renters once they've lived in it for a bit. So she decided to "rent" it out to paranormal investigators to try to figure out what's wrong with it. Lots of interesting stories around the place, a bit of woo about the house choosing its owner, but not a bad article.
The third of four main articles is about early radio in English and the problem of "oscillation". Since radios people had in their homes were not simply receivers, they also broadcast as people tried to tune into a station, there was a common problem with heterodyning... causing interference on a station as you tuned to it. And humans being what they are, some people took advantage of the problem to intentionally interfere with broadcasts. Now, I don't understand the issue well enough to explain it, but I found the article to be both hilarious and informative about a problem I never knew existed. It's almost enough to make me want to take up radio as a hobby to figure it all out.
The final article is about strange rains, like fish and frogs and killer smogs. It's a good summary of strange rainfall throughout recorded history with a major emphasis on modern cases. The article is an extract from a book about rain by Cynthia Barnett, and ends with a reminder about how important the health of animals, particularly frogs, is in telling how healthy the planet is.
Going to the regular features, Strangedays has the usual line-up, starting with stories of people who hoard the dead bodies of their loved ones. There's also a section of follow-ups, which I always enjoy. The Conspirasphere presents an argument that Putin is a double, since the real Putin died during his recent 10-day disappearance. There's also an excellent photo of what looks like a skeleton in mud in the Thames, but was actually metal pipes and old rope. Science has more information on how electricity is being used to heal, with a grim reminder about electroshock therapy. Archaeology reports on a long-lasting embrace, Mongolian structures, a sunset that rolls down a hill and a misinterpreted DNA study. Classical Corner looks at ancient electioneering tricks.
Ghostwatch examines an apparently debunked case of a ghost channeled by a psychic, asking if what she did really was either a fraud or subconscious cues. I'm not really convinced either way. Alien Zoo looks at a recent online campaign that apparently showed dodos caught on a trail-cam in Costa Rica. The video attracted a lot of attention, as did the follow-up, which showed it was a conservation campaign. Fairies, Folklore and Forteana is about hurlers. Just go read it. The UFO files continues its look into the strange UFO sighting, part three of I don't know how many.
The Forum has three pieces. The first is about a sailor who drowned in 1850. After his death, it was discovered he was a woman. The article asks some questions about women dressing and living as men, and lists a couple of other examples before wondering how many cases there were that we don't even know about.
The second article is about Dresden and a survivor who went on to live a very long life marked by pain and tragedy. It's a good story, one I kind of feel honored to get to read.
The last article is about OOPARTS (Out of Place Artefacts), particularly metal that should not have been possible to make in the distant past that nevertheless exists despite being "impossible" for our ancestors to have made with the skills and tools they had. There happen to be a lot of them mentioned in the article, so many that the author wonders if we just have a huge gap in our understanding of the past, rather than these things being rare and strange.
The reviews are fun, as always, starting with a book about Bilderberg and another asking if dolphins are really as smart as we think they are. There's an absolutely bewildering review of a book that's apparently a companion to a spoof tv show along with a brutal review of a book on Christianity's origins and another brutal take-down of a book about Heaven's Gate. Nothing really jumped out enough to go on the wishlist this month. The letters were also good, with one even including an extensive bibliography. All-in-all, another solid issue of the best magazine in the world.
Sunday, January 04, 2015
A Sunday Review
- Nov 5th
- Aquaman and the Others #7 - Well, that's an awkward twist in the Operative's life. I'm still mixed feelings about this book, but overall I like it.
- Earth 2 #28 - A four-part origin story of characters that I'm still not sure I'm interested in. I find Darkseid in general to be a fairly boring character most of the time. And this... eh. Let's see how these characters are used.
- Green Lantern #36 - More of the massive crossover. In this one, Hal finally learns that Kyle is alive. Nifty. I love the variant cover... pity the insides weren't as good.
- Justice League 3000 #11 - Aside from finding the art sloppy and the characters mostly annoying, this isn't really *that* bad a book. I'm not loving it, but since we're still ordering it, I guess I'll try to enjoy the ride.
- Flash: Season Zero #2 - Creepy clowns! I'm kind of ... underwhelmed by the idea of this issue. It seems to be way too much, all at once. Definitely not the way the series is introducing things.
- Tiny Titans: Return to the Treehouse #6 - Ah yeah, treehouses! A slight dearth of Aqua-characters in this one, however. I'm not sure I want to count Aqua-orange as a sighting. At least both Aquaman and Aqualad are on the cover.
- Scooby-Doo Team-Up #7 - I really didn't think this would work. I'm still not entirely sure it did. But Scooby-Doo and the Flintstones? Well, it's something new, I guess. And I loved the joke about Barney and breakfasts.
- Fiction Squad #2 - This is getting a little more sensible and a little more fun. Witches vs Queens? Lovely. Dorothy is... irritating. But hey, a good murder mystery with decent cliffhangers, I like it.
- Doctor Who 10th #4 - I like Gabby, she's got some sass. I'm not sure I like the journal/letter style of her narrating, but I'll get used to it I guess. I'm amused by the title the apprentice gives to the Doctor... Heh. Good issue.
- Usagi Yojimbo: Senso #4 - Wow, there were some intense bits in this one. Hebi's actions were a surprise. And the regrets of Usagi and Tomoe, ouch. This one stops on a dreary note. I do wonder what will happen next and how closely it will follow the classic tale.
- Nov 12th
- Justice League United #6 - Mostly a big old fight sccene with a couple of quiet moments thrown in. I think I kind of like the switching between Adam and Alanna.
- Green Lantern Corps #36 - Ok... so, John? I'm not sure I understand how he could be one, but that's just the whole nonsense continuing on. This whole crossover is building little pieces of slightly interesting stuff mixed with a whole bunch of boring.
- World's Finest #28 - I'm not sure why this is relevant, as it seems like everyone dies before the book even started. So I'm getting confused by these flashbacks.
- Arrow Season 2.5 #2 - Brother Blood. I was kind of hoping that plotline would go away, but you never can get rid of something as insidious as that, I guess. Oh well.
- Smallville Chaos #4 - So, after all is said and done, it's not nearly said and done yet. In fact, there's a whole new series after this one to tell us what's going to happen next. Why not just have it all one series? Why the series of mini-series?
- Star Trek: Harlan Ellison's City on the Edge of Forever #5 - A strangely satisfying conclusion to the story. Yeah, it hurts, but it also had some very good bits, like the old soldier. Pity Harlan wasn't able to contribute the essay, but you can't control some circumstances.
- Spongebob Comics #38 - Someone is even worse than Squidward? Ha.
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