[  Mood: Angelic ]
[  Currently: Listening to my laundry. ]
OK, I’m just randomly choosing Moods now, because the Moods list never has what I need. I’m not actually feeling angelic; I’m feeling tired, but not sleepy, but there is no "tired." But I’m also feeling pretty mellow and satisfied. Those also do not exist on the moods list. I wonder if I have to power to add to the Moods list…I need to check that out. If so, I promise to add some truly weird moods for the use of our bloggers. Maybe some alien ones.

And I am currently listening to my laundry tumble in the hotel dryer. Yes, I was running out of underwear.

OK, quick rundown. Yesterday was the first full day of WorldCon. I attended some panels, FINALLY got to the dealers room and the members’ lounge, where I could put the RevSF Scavenger Hunt fliers on the tables. Then I met James Haughton, a delightful young fellow from Canberra who works in Indigenous Affairs, another Delta Green Mailing List member. James flew down to WorldCon just for a couple days.

After a day of panels and talking with scholars and authors (Kim Stanley Robinson again, Robert Silverberg, George R.R. Martin, and others…I’m going to have to consult my notes and write up a proper report), James and I linked up with some other folks and we all went out to Melbourne’s Chinatown, where we ate a big Korean bulgogi barbecue. Then it was back for the Australian Horror Writers Association’s Nightmare Ball. I was very snaky. Pictures later.

Today was more of the same: early start, plenary speeches and panels. I spent some more time in the dealers room and bought KSR’s latest, Galileo’s Ghost, and got him to sign it later. Did I mention yet how much I really like KSR? We’re on a first-name basis now. Well, second name, for him–he goes by Stan. I have to grind my teeth together to prevent the nerd-squee from bursting out.

I got my picture taken with him, and another pic taken with Charles Stross after a panel on cyberpunk. I listened to John Scalzi be quite funny, though not terribly deep, onstage.

I left all my snakes on the table with the RevSF Scavenger Game sheets. All except the nice one that I got in the magic shop. That one is my souvenir.

Just came back from the Masquerade, the costume contest. Despite taking an hour and a half, there were less than a dozen contestants…it really dragged… But the big fuzzy Cthulhu was awesome. Again, pics later. They’re on my camera now, and my laundry still has about 10 minutes to go.

And as soon as that’s done, I’m off to the George R.R. Martin fan party, to see if I can crash it.

***EDIT: At "the Revel at the Red Keep," I only stayed long enough to buy a drink (Bowmore, neat) and circulate while drinking it slowly. The party was at the Crown, which is a casino across the street from the Melbourne Convention Centre. So the venue was big thumping repeat-ad-infinitum "music" and smoke and blue lights in one room, and an overheated, overcrowded room for us geeks next door. Didn’t see GRR Martin, or any of the acquaintances and friends who said they might be there, so once I finished my scotch, I headed out to make room for people who actually wanted to be there. I was immediately lost in the twisting innards of the Crown, and finally had to ask one of the beefy security guys how to get out. But at least I got a "I kept my head at the Red Keep" sticker on my con pass.***

Tomorrow will by my last real day of the con. I’ll probably go there for a little while on Monday, but I have to leave for the airport around noon. And I still need to buy presents for home.

[  Mood: Hypnotized ]
[  Currently: Listening to \ ]
OK, have to cover the past two days in one post. No wait, two and a half days.

Right, Tuesday I got to the utopias conference nice and early for the morning keynote from Tom Moylan, one of the big names in utopian scholarship. After that, I chaired a panel of three excellent young scholars (I’m going to do a whole post summarizing from my notes for the various presentations, so I’ll talk more about that later), and then after a lunch during which I finally spoke to Kim Stanley Robinson, it was time for my presentation.

Unfortunately, there were some really interesting presentations going on next door–bad luck, that–so attendance was light. I think our panel didn’t have as much appeal because there were only two of us rather than the standard three, and maybe because the authors we were talking about (me: Lovecraft and Octavia Butler; Ellen: Lovecraft, Heinlein, Dick, and Herbert) were kind of old-fashioned, maybe? Well, not Butler–she’s pretty popular. Anyway, their loss.

And it was their loss, because while my presentation went fine, the one after mine, Ellen Greenham’s presentation, was wonderful. Although it was a fully researched and cited academic essay, it was told in the form of a short story, with an almost fairytale style. I enjoyed it thoroughly. And afterward, because there were so few attendees, we just pulled chairs up in a circle and had a discussion, which went very well.

After another panel and Kim Stanley Robinson’s excellent keynote, I headed back to my hotel to change, and then through the cold rain to Flinder’s Street Station, to negotiate the train system. I had a nice conversation on the train with a German couple, here to visit their son. Then after some trouble with the payphones, I got hold of Tim Betz, a friend from the DGML, who picked me up and took me to his house for a game of Trail of Cthulhu with Rob Shankley (another DGMLer) and new acquaintances Chris and John.

I slept in a bit the next day, missing the morning keynote. Several nights of not enough sleep had caught up with me. That and no longer having that presentation hanging over my head. But that was the only time slot that I missed during the whole conference, so I’m proud of that. There were only two panel periods, and between them was a book launch for two books in Tom Moylan’s Rahaline Utopian Studies series, including one by Andrew Milner.

That was when I got to talk with Kim Stanley Robinson about my (probably weird) ideas of the utopian nature of the overlapping points of view he employed in the Mars Trilogy. Amazingly, he did not seem to think I was insane or annoying. I’m still walking on air.

After a final keynote by SF critic extraordinaire John Clute, we had drinks to celebrate the end of the conference, and then a nijikai a couple blocks away. It had been a good, intense three days of learning and exchange, and it was hard to say goodbye. These are some good folks, people who are earnestly concerned about the serious climate shifts that are ahead of us and who want to do something to lessen the huge and terrible changes that we are all going to experience in the coming years.

And now, today: Another late sleep-in, and then out on the town to find me some snakes. I needed more snakes, rubber, plastic, wooden, whatever, for my Nightmare Ball costume. With directions from one of the utopias conference scholars, I managed to find the Reject Shop, and I also came across a magic shop where I bought one larger snake to drape around my neck. I also briefly stopped in the Minotaur, just to remind myself what a proper comics/games/SF bookstore is like. Back down to the Yarra area, where my hotel and WorldCon are, and then into the Melbourne Convention Centre. Registration took awhile because the lines were divided up by alphabet, so naturally the E-J line was the longest because a lot more people’s names start with those letters–doy! Finally got my tag and bag, and then realized I’d left the RevSF Scavenger Hunt fliers in my room! But I attended the first of the academic-stream panels before heading back to my hotel to retrieve the fliers, and then a panel on SF and the environment with KSR, John Clute, and a couple others, with Tom Moylan presiding. I made sure they got fliers afterward. (Stan remembered my name! Can you tell I am hero-struck?)

To round out the day, Zac and Evie Kendall, Monash students and a delightful couple I met at the last utopias conference, took me out to see Scott Pilgrim. Deanna, you’re right. It’s awesome.

Now back in my room, after a couple of conversations with Junko via the mysterious powers of Skype, and it’s time for bed. Tomorrow is the first full day of WorldCon, aka Aussiecon4. I’m looking forward to it.

[  Mood: Distorted ]
Sorry no updates for a couple days. Much has happened, actually. Today, for example, I presented my paper, chaired a panel, heard the most delightful academic presentation in my life, and attended an alternately terrifying and hopeful keynote address by author Kim Stanley Robinson.

I couldn’t post due to very unreliable WiFi in Room 13, here at the Pensione Hotel. So when I came in after a fun game of Trail of Cthulhu (I played Anatoly, using rridiculous Russian accent, da) with Tim and Rob and some new friends, I asked again if there was anything to be done, and they offered me a move down the hallway. Room 18’s WiFi seems much stronger.

So, here is yesterday’s post, that I saved when it looked like I wouldn’t be able to post it:

Meant to post yesterday, but the internet in my room is pretty unpredictable. Room 13 (no kidding) is off in the corner, and I guess it’s right at the edge of wifi reception. In fact, I’ve just gone to zero bars, so I’d better copypaste this to TextEdit and save it before I try to post it.

Anyway, 7am on the second day of the Utopias Conference. Day 1 went fine. After a pleasantly rootless day and evening of checking into my room, taking a nap, and wandering Melbourne (fish & chips and local beer in a pub with two old codgers for conversation), yesterday was cool and crisp. Breakfast on the way to the Monash Conference Centre. Met Zac and Evie, Prof. Milner and Prof. Rigby, and some other familiar faces and several new ones.

I came within touching distance of Kim Stanley Robinson several times, but he was always in conversation with someone. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to talk with him today.

Very interesting presentations. A bit terrifying, all the evidence for upcoming climatic catastrophe. But as I need to get back there soon–I’m chairing a panel during the first session, and making my own presentation during the second–I’ll save my notes for later. I did confirm, however, that all (or nearly all) of the presentations are being recorded and will be available for download afterward. Excellent–there are some presentations that I really want to attend but that I can’t because there’s another one at the same time that I want to attend just a bit more. So yes, you’ll get to hear me stumbling over my own words.

Uh, anything else quickly? Oh yes: When traveling to Australia, do not buy traveler’s checks. They are an enormous ripoff. As usual, you have to pay the bank the fee for currency conversion and for the checks themselves. Then you get to Australia, you find that no Australian shops accept traveler’s checks! To cash them, you have to take them to money exchange kiosks, which charge 4%! Grr…not sure what the answer is, other than bring a little Australian cash and a couple of credit cards. Everyone takes credit cards. Well, not that scruffy guy outside the train station asking "Hey mate, y’got some change?" But everyone else.

PS: Yep, wifi died. I’ll post this when I can.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
Hurray! My Australian plug adapter works, and my Mac power cord is smart enough to regulate the current and not allow my computer to explode! Isn’t modern technology wonderful?

Melbourne is indeed pretty chilly. According to some weather widget, it’s 10C now, and should climb up to 17C later. Not bad, and actually wonderfully refreshing after spending most of August in Fukuoka. Still, falling asleep in the closed, unheated bar of the Pensione Hotel, waiting for my room to be readied for check-in, means waking up shivering. I’ll type this entry and then go out for another walk, find another cafe and have another hot coffee.

OK, so boarded my next flight last night. First time on an A380, so that was cool. Luckily I was sitting nowhere near the VERY grumpy man who threw a big temper tantrum over something while going through security. Eh, maybe he had a good reason, but I kinda doubt it. Instead my neighbor was Tuan, a nice, chatty Vietnamese guy who works for Ericsson and is on a business trip. We talked quite a bit, especially near the end of the trip.

I discovered that our entertainment center had Kick-Ass! Whoa, definitely been wanting to see that–and yes, very fun movie. Now I want to read the comics.

I couldn’t sleep during the overnight flight. Note to young woman sitting behind me: The back of the seat in front of you is not for kicking, propping your feet against and then suddenly shifting and causing the person in front of you to jerk backwards, or for grabbing onto when you stand up and then suddenly letting go so the guy in front of you is flung forward like some cartoon character.

I got a bit worried about those 100-yen wooden snakes in my luggage when it came time for Quarantine Inspection. Would they be declared possible harborers of insect eggs? Would they be summarily tossed into a fire? Poor little snakies! No problem–the Customs agent said "Oh yeah, those are fine." Or rather "foine." Ah yes, I’m in Australia!

I was going to take the bus into town, but ended up sharing a taxi with Tuan. He’s staying in the Central Business District, which kind of borders on the area I’m in (north of the Yarra River, near the Convention Centre). We said we’d try to meet up for dinner or something at some point.

The plane arrived at 6am, and check-in time is 1pm or so, so I have plenty of time to kill. The eggs benedict at the hotel cafe are pretty good, but it’s looking like this is a small-breakfast-big-dinner town. I’m a big-breakfast-small-dinner guy.

I managed to get a A$10/day price on hotel wifi for the week. Very overpriced, but then hotel wifi always is, isn’t it? By perching my Macbook Pro on my lap, I can stay warm!

[  Mood: Neutral ]
Morning flight out of Fukuoka on Singapore Airlines to their home hub. Singapore Airlines is my new favorite way to fly. The rows are a reasonable distance apart, even in Economy. On other (usually American…usually United) lines, my knees are digging into the back of the seat in front of me the whole way; today, even slouching with my seat all the way back (a LOT farther back than on the aforementioned less-than-satisfactory airlines), there are centimeters to spare.

The flight attendants are polite, friendly, and not on the verge of lashing out. Thus, much like Japanese flight attendants…much unlike American flight attendants. Their uniforms are particularly distinctive. Well, the men just wear simple dark suits. They kind of look like CIA agents or doo-wop singers or something. The women of course have the iconic Singapore Airlines uniforms, which are, let’s face it, awesome. They’re not even revealing or anything. Well, OK, they are a bit close-fitting. But they’re so cool compared to the usual drab, solid colors.

Hey, free English-language newspapers! I’ve been missing those on Japanese flights! The top story on the Straits Times is "Hail YOG Singapore Spirit." WTF? Here I am on my way to Melbourne to deliver a presentation on HP Lovecraft, Octavia Butler, and interspecies breeding, and all Singapore is hailing Yog-Sothoth?? Oh wait, it’s about the Youth Olympic Games, which just finished up.

I almost never read newspapers, but when I’m traveling, I love to read the local news. Reading on the internet really doesn’t give you as good an idea of what’s on the public mind (or at least, what the newspaper editors think is on the public’s mind). So Singapore appears to be celebrating a successful conclusion to the first Youth Olympic Games–good for them. Let’s see, "Disgraced Buddhist Monk…"–seems the guy embezzled some money…hmm, crimes in Singaporean news always list the possible punishments in terms of time behind bars AND the potential number of caning strokes. Yes, caning–not just for the spoiled sons of US diplomats. OK, so the international section focuses pretty strongly on the SE Asian region, as one might expect.

"Character amnesia": Young people are forgetting how to write their Chinese characters now that their PCs and mobile phones will call up the characters for them when they key them in phonetically using the Roman alphabet. Whoo! Western civilization wins! No, of course I don’t mean that. I mean, yeah, having to learn THOUSANDS of ideograms, the vast majority of which look NOTHING like what they represent, is kind of insane. BUt it’s an insanity I’m beginning to appreciate, now that I’ve learned a couple hundred of them. It really is something…precious. And I hope it doesn’t disappear, even if pinyin/romaji/etc. is way, way more efficient.

The entertainment section features ex-K(orean)Pop-boy-band members who’ve gone solo. OK…actually, I do like how the Singaporean news reports on cheesey pop idols from Japan, Korea, China, Malaysia, Singapore, and on and on. In Japan, it’s Japanese pop stars, some American ones, and once in awhile a Korean or Taiwanese pop star who’ll come to the public’s attention.

There are some incredibly shallow former models in their 40s who are trying to stay youthful-looking. One of them had an existential crisis when some guy on the bus asked her for the time…and he really wanted to know the time. He wasn’t making a pass at her! NOOOO!!! Needless to say, all these women look totally hot, so their worries seem particularly silly.

On the weather page, there’s a block in the corner that says exactly what time Muslims can break their Ramadan fast, and reminds them not to become dehydrated during the day.

Just scanning the bylines, I see names like Singh, Yee, Gosh, Ng, Matthews, Khan (KHAAAAAAANNNNN! Damn, you, WIlliam Shatner…I can’t read that name without hearing your cry of rage), Rahmat, Sargent, Choy, Skadian, Ibrahim, Kwang, Tan… Makes me wish I had more time in Singapore. Sounds like an interesting place.

The seat-back entertainment system is excellent: dozens of movies and TV shows to choose from, lots of radio stations, the ability to make a playlist of hundreds of songs, games, info on destination cities, plugs that allow you to hook up and recharge your iPhone while watching the videos on the phone up on the seat-back screen. I watched Predators and a Family Guy episode. I kept worrying that the Japanese woman next to me might see all the vomiting and lap-dancing on Family Guy and think I’m some kind of freak.

Smooth touchdown in Singapore–will Changi Airport live up to expectations. Yes! Quiet, uncrowded, cool, clean, beautiful, and very stress-free. I have flashbacks to Chicago and Orlando last spring…shudder! What kind of evil bastard comes up with the idea of placing a crucial reception desk under a huge skylight so that the connecting passengers whose flight has been canceled will have to broil there in line because the 10-seat reception desk is staffed by two people, one of whom is joking with the other one and ignoring the people in line?

No lines in Changi. But there is free WiFi–yes, that’s right, you don’t have to pay $15 for it–and free carts, and free movies, yes MOVIES, in a little theater! I watch the last half of Speed Racer, go off and have some dinner, then come back for the last half of Astro Boy. The next movie is the recent Sherlock Holmes, so I get the hell out of there. Hm, lots of nice restaurants and shopping. I wander around the Butterfly Garden, which is full of butterflies and carnivorous plants, which I assume eat the butterflies. The Singaporeans have an interesting sense of humor…

I could have a shower, work out in the gym, go swimming…I think all of these are free. Maybe on the way back; I am surprisingly not in need of a shower because we didn’t sit on the tarmac in a jet sauna on the way here; in fact it was kind of chilly on the plane, but the blanket was nice. Too bad I didn’t bring my swimsuit, though, but since it’s the middle of winter in Melbourne, I didn’t figure on needing it.

Oooh, it’s sunset! Equatorial sunset! Lovely. And my battery is getting low–I didn’t buy an adaptor for Singapore. Right, signing off.

Had a great time at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts. Then this morning a series of delays (some our fault, most the fault of the airline) caused us to miss our flight, throwing the whole process of getting home into stressville.

For now, it looks like we’ll be overnighting in Chicago and MAYBE getting home only 24 hours late. Depends on our Narita connection, which is not clear at this time. We might not get home until the next afternoon. And I have no idea about staying overnight in Narita Airport–it is hours away from anything, in the middle of nowhere.

Sigh. This sucks.

[  Mood: Confused ]
Made a couple of utopia-related blog entries here, and then posted a notification on my friends & family blog. So now I’ll post a notification here that I’m blogging my trip on that blog.

[  Mood: Happy ]
I just want to plug a website by a friend of mine. Shunya Susuki was my English student once upon a time, and I still run into him now and then. A couple of nights ago, it was one of those odd nights when I just kept running into people I hadn’t seen in awhile, and Susuki-san was one of them. He just emailed me with the URL for his website, Earth Friendly!

Susuki-san is an engineer who is currently the Director of the Earthquake Resistance & Safety Section of the Fukuoka City Housing & Urban Planning Bureau. Considering all the news about earthquakes recently, and considering the country I live in, I am very glad to know that they guy in charge of making sure that buildings are up to code is a super-nice, intellectually curious, and very conscientious guy like him.

Susuki-san reminds me of our own Matthew Bey. Like Matthew, Susuki-san is always trying new things and working with his hands. Check out the site, and you’ll see the electric cars and robots and kites that he’s designed and built himself.

[  Currently: Watching Nihon no Uta–enka, baby! ]
I recorded the live broadcast of the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver Games and finished watching it this morning, and to the Canadians I say "Good job!" The light effects were amazing, the dance and song and all the theater was just about perfect, and the tone managed to be an excellent balance of defining and expressing Candian-ness without crossing the line into jingoism.

Just a couple of misses: The singing of "Oh Canada" was all popped-up…it’s a personal-taste thing, but I’ve really gotten tired of people doing funky pop versions of national anthems. I’d rather hear them as they’re meant to be sung, especially in an event like this. (The only two exceptions are the Marvin Gaye and Jimmi Hendrix versions of the US national anthem.)

And then there was that big guy with his line of "A to Zed–and yes, we say Zed!" Come on, now, that was just cheap cheer-mongering, and recalled some of the silliest attempts to define Canada as different from its southern neighbor. When the whole rest of the ceremony did such an excellent job of defining Canada’s culture and justified pride, that line really seemed unworthy of inclusion.

And of course there was the technical failure during the torch ceremony. I was wondering why the supporting beams were asymmetrical! One of them didn’t rise out of the floor. Well, that’s too bad, but hey, these things can happen. Overall, the ceremony was technically amazing–I think we can ignore one problem.

By the way Canadians, y’all’s Governor General seems a very cool lady–cool enough that I looked her up. I was quite moved by her emotional appeal for Haiti. She has long list of accomplishments, and it doesn’t hurt that Her Excellency Michaëlle Jean is quite attractive as well. I know it’s mostly a ceremonial post, but I wonder what the Canadian on the street thinks of her.

I love this comic by Lore.