Ubalblog

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
So Sunday PM found me finally in the main room. Actually, I made it there at 11:30 for the tail end of Gareth David-Llyod’s presention. He was in North America to see if Hollywood would want him. Apparently he also tried to visit John Barrowman, who is in Toronto right now taping How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria. He went to the theatre where they tape, to find out that they were taping the next day. Too bad. He could have brought John back to the con.

Also before lunch, I went and got a book signed by the lovely Tanya Huff. I noticed that there is a new Confederation novel and got a little overstimulated.

After lunch I attended Jim Butcher’s talk in the main room. Some of you will understand that Sneey and I could sit in the back of the room and chant "One of us!" during a Jim Butcher talk. Jim is a self-professed geek. He LARPs. He has taught his son to swordfight so he could LARP with him. His first agent was got because Laurel K. Hamilton invited him to lunch with a bunch of agents and authors and they got to talking Buffy, B5 and RPG game systems.

The chat was amazing. I asked Jim if he could reboot or restart the Dresden Files, what would he change. His answer, after much thinking he stated that he would have given Harry more family so he could threaten them. Jim also explained that the Dresden Files is planned to be a 20 book (or so) series with an apocalyptic trilogy planned for the end.

Perhaps the most interesting tidbit was the fact that the Codex Alera, Jim’s new series, came out of an on-line debate. Jim was arguing with another person what made stories good, the ideas or the characters. The guy Jim was arguing with challeged Jim to write a good story with a bad idea that would be given to him. Jim respoinded with "I’ll do it with two ideas!"

The ideas: The lost Roman legion and Pokemon

So Jim took these ideas and thought about them and came up with the Codex. The Roman legion dissapeared into a void and ended up in another world. Two thosand years have now passed. How did Pokemon get there? According to Jim (Butcher not the situation comedy) Pokemon is based on the Shinto belief that there are spirits in everything. Jim took this idea and created the furies.

He had, in fact, just finished the latest one at 5:00 am that very morning. Jim figured he didn’t have to be anywhere until noon so he could stay up and finish the book. We all laughed, cause we thought the same thing too. And then the fire alarms went off.

I then stayed around for Jason Dohring. He is most famous for his role as Logan on Veronica Mars. He was also Josef Kostan on Moonlight. Jason is a very introspective, serious young man. He spoke a great deal about the injustices of the world. I emjoyed his talk immensly.

That was it for my Polaris experience this year. I have already bought my membership for next year.

Next time: My thoughts on the drop in attendance.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
Sunday started at 6:00 am with a fire alarm. Given that we had a baby in the room, we took it seriously and got up and got dressed. Just as we were about to evacuate, the alarm stopped. The Artisan called the front desk and was told that everything was A-OK! We went back to bed.

Since we were up, we had breakfast and watched us some TV. The con channel once again

At 8:30 the alarm went off again. This time the alarm went to the "Get the hell out of the building, people!" sound. So we complied. Husband Unit had the child, The Artisan got the car-seat and I got the stroller. Luckily we were on the third floor, so evacuation was easy.

We milled around the base of the hotel with other con goers and the tai kwan do teams of the world. Eventually the guests joined us. It’s nice to know that Hollywood stars and famous authors all look as bleary eyed as I do during an early morning evacuation. Although they are still much prettier than me. Especially Jason Dohring. And Ellen Muth’s hair is fabulous at any time.

Con security let us know it was safe to return. While we waited, someone went by and announced that it was some kids pulling the fire alarm. He then looked at Geeklet. Yeah, buddy, my three-month-old pulled the alarm.

Then, not fifteen minutes later it happened again. Repeat the descent downstairs. Subtract Jason Dohring in his PJs. On our way back in we overheard the firechief, the hotel manager, the con chair and an electrician discussing the cause of the confusion. It was a faulty smoke detector. Not my three month-old.

The best part? At 11 am I was in the dealers room queing up for a signature from Tanya Huff, when I noticed that the button seller had a new button that said "I survived the Polaris 22 inferno . . . three times." It was selling very well.

Next time: Jim Butcher and Jason Dohring on the main stage.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
Saturday proved to be a full and exciting day here at Polaris. More baby stuff than con stuff, but still exciting.

I spent a significant chunk of the day in autograph lines. Here at Polaris, they have an interesting policy regarding mobility access. I have flat feet and suffer from a condition called Plantar fasciitis, which makes standing for long periods of time difficult. Especially on hotel floors where the carpet underpadding is gone. Or is long gone.

Anywhoo, for mobility access you identify yourself when you register and when it comes time to get an autograph you get into a special line with chairs. They let you go for an autograph every five to fifty other patrons. So it’s not any faster, but it means that I don’t spend the rest of the con in pain.

So I got autographs from Ellen Muth, Terry Farrell, Gareth David-Lloyd, Rachel Luttrell and Jason Dohring.

I was particularly excited by Jason as he played the role of Logan in Veronica Mars. I loved Logan. He managed to play the psychotic jackasss/love interest so well. I had a fangirl moment when I met him. And then I gathered my senses and made a restaurant recommendation for him and his wife.

Jason actually had the biggest following at the con. Most of these were women. Possibly fans of Veronica Mars, or maybe Moonlight, but most definately for him.

Normally, I wait for Sunday for autographs as the line-ups are less crazy, but Terry and Rachel are here for Saturday only. Sunday brings Rainbow Sun Francks for his one day appearance. So I braved the lines. I have a problem with Sawturday only guests (or Sunday only) but I will put that in another post.

I also sat on my first panel. The "What Do I Read Now?" The panel was about what to read for the younger set. I wore my RevSF shirt, brought handouts and pimped the site and my column. The Artisan got to moderate. Panel went well, except for the usual hijacker who wanted to talk about why Harry Turtledove sucks. Leftover handouts went to the flyer table outside the Dealer’s Room.

I did make it to a second panel on contemporary supernatural detective fiction. Appropriately, Jim Butcher was on this panel. Inappropriately, this panel too was domimnated by someone who throught they new everything. Dude, Jim Butcher is on the panel. Shut up!

Mind you I got a bonus point from Jim. We were discussing the common themes in contemporary supernatural detective fiction. Jim brought up the fact that all of the main characters are alone. I raised my hand and pointed out that the characters may start alone, but they build surrogate families. Jim got very excited and said that indeed this was true, and this was where the series was going.

I also got Jim’s autograph in a line that was longer than some of the actor guest’s. I also got stuck behind someone who had brought their entire Jim Butcher collection, including comic books, for signatures. This lead to the guy making buttons beside Jim to announce "You’re the guy whose responsible for the Dresden Files!"

During the conversation that followed Jim revealed that he initially wrote a four issue story exclusively for the comic. They did so well that they are adapting the books for comics. Jim is skeptical that the novels will work as comics, but is willing to give it a go.

Finally, pictures. Geeklet got his moment in the sun. We were able to get pictures of him with Darth Vader and some Stormtroopers, as well as a pair of Klingons. But the best was a picture with Green Arrow. I have a life long fantasy of having Green Arrow hold my child.

I have a great husband.

Next time: Fire Alarms! Mainstage guests! Ubal makes it into the big room and sits in her reserved seat – finally!

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
One of the things I have learned about parenthood is that no matter how well you plan, no matter how early you leave, you are going to arrive late.

And so our travelling saga began. We arrived at the hotel about 4 pm. That is three hours later than normal for us. Of course we left about an hour later than expected, so it is only a two hour delay to lay on the geeklet.

Check-in was painless as there wasn’t a big line-up. It might be a sign of the economy, but the con has not sold out and is selling weekend registrations at the door. That might also be true of the people staying at the hotel. We got our room (two queen size beds – non-smoking in the fabulous Hilton Double Tree, settled in and ate the complementary cookies.

For those of you that have never heard of Polaris, it is Canada’s premier sci-fi/fantasy/horror con. Sure there are others that are bigger, but this one is fan run and not for profit. Prices are resonable and the con actually cares what you think. Are you listening Creation?

I did not make it to any panels tonight as I was on Geeklet watch while Husband Unit and the Artisan went to get groceries and dinner. Another thing I have learned about parenthood is that a baby requires three times as much stuff as two adults. Leaving no room in the car for groceries. Even when you borrow your mother’s SUV.

I did however make it to the Dealer’s Room. A smaller Dealer’s Room than last year given the size of the aisles. There was a remote controlled golden Dalek for sale again. They also have a Clasic Dalek.

I picked up pictures for Jason Dohring, Terry Farrell and Rachel Luttrel as they will not have photos to sell. It is a sign of the power of a baby when the big, burly dealer looks at your child as says in a squeeky voice "Hello, little toes!" I also realized I did not bring books for Jim Butcher and Tanya Huff to sign so I will be shelling out more money for that.

The Artisan made it to a presentation of Larry Stewart Live. Larry Stewart is the MC of the con and one of its perrenial attractions. He usualy runs slide-rule workshops and his Harry Potter readings are packed full. I will always remember his reading of the first few pages of the Half-Blood Prince. When he go the part about the increase in fog and the dementors breeding, the link he made had us all rolling in the aisles. The Artisan informed me that Larry was hillarious.

Husband Unit made it to the Art Show. Our friend, Heather Bruton, is back this year. Chad Porter, another artist, is engaged and has used his art to poke fun at himself.

Some of you may remember that my Maternal Unit was supposed to join us. She had to cancel at the last minute due to some work related issues. This means that the Artisan, Husband Unit and I are coming up with a Geeklet supervision schedule. This will also cut back on what we see. It also doesn’t help that they are scheduling so many of the panels I want after 9 pm. I am the mother of a newborn. The only time I am up that late is when there is a child attached to my boob.

Still we plan to have a good time and enjoy ourselves here at Polaris. Tomorrow – actors, autographs, authors and Geeklet.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding my son ]
As a teacher, I have been accused of racism by a student who is frustrated and/or angry. Usually, I deal with this by informing the student that racism is a serious allegation, and if they are serious about it, they will submit it, in writing, to the prinicipal by the end of the day. So far no one has followed through.

So it was with great interest that I read The Race Card by Richard Thompson Ford. Ford looks at how the race card is "played" in situations where race has no bearing on what actually happened.

Ford does believe that racism exists, but not as much as some laywers would have you believe. His thesis is that the race card has been overused to the point that it raises cynisism and anger in the white community. In doing so, minorities lose a lot of good will from the white liberals whose support they need.

Not any easy book, as it points out everyone’s falicies and short=comings, but still a very good read.

This is a short story in the collection Dead and Loving It. It tells the tale of Antonia, a clairvoyant werewolf who can’t change into werewolf. She wants to find true love, but her own kind refuse to mate with her because she can’t shift. While wallowing in self-pity, she gets a clairvoyant message from her brain that said "If you help Quuen Betsy, you will get what you want."

So she arrives to help Queen Betsy, the reluctant vampire queen. There she finds out interpreting visions is a difficult job.

Cute short story. Lacks the depth (and that says a lot – cause the regular series is a wee bit shallow.) of one of the novels. Take it or leave it.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
Joanna Brady is celebrating her tenth wedding anniversary, or will be once her husband Andy, a local sherrif’s deputy, comes home. Unfortunately for her, Andy is shot and left for dead.

As Joanne tries to deal with what is happening, rumours begin to swirl around town that Andy is involved in drug smuggling and tried to kill himself. Joanne sets out to clear his name and find out what really happened. This immerses her in a world of crooked cops, hired killers and mysterious amounts of money in her bank account.

Desert Heat is the first of J.A. Jance’s Joanna Brady mysteries. Gripping and hard hitting, it is a page turner. I really enjoyed re-reading it after all these years. I plan to bug the local library to buy a copy, even though it was published more than two years ago.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Waiting for My Son to Fall Asleep – Here’s Hoping ]
Lauren Weisberger burst on the scene with her first novel The Devil Wears Prada in 2004. You may have heard of it.

Her second novel, Everyone Worth Knowing, follows pretty much the same formula. A young woman, who also has talent with writing, lands a dream job only to have it all go wrong. In this case, the young woman is named Bette and the dream job is working for a PR firm that plans celebrity filled events. She is also expected to party and get positive notice in the papers for the firm.

As Bette tries to learn the ropes of her new job, she is thrust into a fake romance, as well as deal with a gossip columnist who seems to have access to all the wrong info.

A fun read. Not going to change your life, but fun.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Breastfeeding my son ]
Sarah Dunant used to write trillers. Then she wanted to write a novel about Renaissance Florence. Birth of Venus was the result.

The book tells the story of Alessandra, the youngest daughter of a merchant family. Alessandra is smart, well educated and shar tongued. She is also an artist. The problem is that women are still only supposed to be mothers, wives or whores. Alessandra fights against these fetters, flaunting her knowledge and studying art.

Dunant has created a rich, textured world for her novel, with vivid characterizations. The novel starts slowly, but that is a good thing. Like unwrapping a present wrapped in exquisite wrapping paper, the story unfolds with care and love.

Worth the time and effort.

[  Mood: Happy ]
Geeklet will get to partake of his first celebrations later on today. We have bought him an outfit and everything.

(Not exactly as pictured)

Husband Unit is looking forward to the Great Canadian Chicken BBQ. I am looking forward to actually enjoying a Canada Day rather than having to do first aid.

Happy 141 Canada!