you are measuring things in decades.
Just some snaps for heading into CON's 20th anniversary. There so much more I could add, but I'm tired and these are just for me anyway.
Fire Mama's Spring Bizarre Bazaar
I have been working on getting ready for an event that is very unique. Something I have not yet done as a creator. It is a night market that is a part of a fire arts event. Just crazy fun stuff. Fire spinning, fashion show, bands, djs, and artist market.
You can find the information here and I'll share some photos of some of the things I'll have for sale! You should come!
Party Pictures
A second Featured Album I have on Facebook is party snaps. These are from parties I've helped plan and host as well as decorate through the years. You can sure tell when our(mine) photography skills got better and I got a better camera. These are from NYE, a cute one at my house 8 years ago, from a science fiction convention and my book release parties.
Measuring CONvergence in Decades, Part 2
The second time I attended CONvergence, which was the third year of the event, was a strange affair for me. Very strange indeed. I was ill. 104 degree fever type of ill.
But I was not going to miss the convention. I double-checked with my doctor that I was not contagious and, since what I was diagnosed with was meningitis, after a week I was given the ok to head back out in public. It wasn’t a great idea - I actually stayed sick for well over a month and experienced migraines from the spinal tap I had to have. I wouldn’t say I am overly gifted with common sense. (It also turned out that my diagnosis was probably wrong since the spinal fluid tests are pretty much inconclusive for several of these mosquito-borne illnesses. They just treat your symptoms as best as they can.)
I didn’t have a hotel room, but at one point I had to go get one before I passed out from my fever as I was trying to watch masquerade from the tech table and almost fell off. This particular CON passed in a bit of a haze, as my headache meds kept me from thinking too clearly. I do recall that I went to several panels about prop-making that were just awesome, and kept walking around and around the parties trying to decide if I wanted to host one. By the end of the convention I was sure that I did and had the only semi-ok idea of a villains party. I ended up dismissing the idea quickly because as I threw out the idea to people they kept bringing up Disney villains and I was pretty much sick of Disney at this point in my life. (They have been slowly winning back my love with the female relationship focused movies now.)
I did spend time in the main foyer of the hotel talking with different people throughout the night after my fever broke and I couldn’t sleep.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do or who I was going to do it with, but I definitely decided to have a party.
When the convention was over I was spending a lot of time collecting comic books that I wanted. It suddenly occurred to me that my favorite one, The Sandman, was filled with party themes. Plus, a lot of my new friends were Sandman freaks the way I was, so it made sense.
Welp, it didn’t work out for a lot of random personal reasons… some serious, some not.
So go to the convention, wander the parties and finally get someone who genuinely wants to try hosting a room party. Little did we know what we were getting into…
We settled on trying to put together some sort of Library of Lost Dreams. Books, as many of you will know, feature prominently in the Sandman series. Creating a bit of the atmosphere became the goal. The first big decorating project ever attempted for CON became bookshelves. It seemed like we should just carry in shelves and fill them with books but seriously, who wants to haul around boxes of books in the heat? No one. Plus there was nothing about that idea that seems particularly wonderful. It was too literal - not the impression of an illusion which parties should possess. The big catch with these things is also the amount of money you have to spend. Because, especially at this point, we were on a budget. (I might add I can’t even begin to describe what I would do with a giant budget… just know it would be spectacular, spectacular*.)
Brainstorm. When you are stuck, get everyone you can around you and just start throwing ideas out, no matter how dumb they may seem. We had already decided that we wanted one big project to center the decorating around and we knew we wanted it to be book related. I had collected dollar reprints of Sandman comics to make a collage wall (which was both met with adoration and horror during the CON “How could you cut up comics?” ). We cut giant, foil paper butterflies for the ceiling, had a project from a co-host's previous event, and some smaller details. It just took time to figure out the book part.
Cut to the idea of seeing if used bookstores had books they didn’t sell.
Turns out that they often do. In fact, the bookstore we went to I ended up working at for many years, and long before that they gave us many, many old books which were not fit for selling that we could reuse.
We sat for more hours than I can possibly count, taking the spines off of old, sometimes rotting books. We had to cut through ancient glues, papers and dried up leathers. Sometimes finding highly unpleasant things in them. In addition, in order to recycle them we had to take them completely apart, which took somewhere near the end of time.
We used 4’ x 8’ sheets of wood to be the backdrops of the shelves and became very familiar with the use of a glue gun, and thus the Library of Lost Dreams came together (and after many years of party decor, it is now a permanent resident at the Saloon as a Goth Prom decoration).
The party went off pretty well. However, I immediately took note of the fact that, despite seeming like we had too much decor, I didn’t think we had enough. When all was said and done that CON, the room was still a hotel room, and that wasn’t good enough for me, so for the next year leading up to CONvergence the ideas got some water in order to grow.
We also managed to not have enough alcohol to serve people and ran out at one point. I had baked 400 chocolate chip cookies and those disappeared very quickly. Getting comfortable with greeting the most awkward of people, trying not to put your foot in your mouth, and trying to make sure all the rules (which sometimes are not always clear) were heeded - the first year was a learning experience. And many, many notes were taken…
*Five points for Gryffindor if you caught my Moulin Rouge reference.
Part one is here, if you missed it.
Measuring Convergence in Decades, Part 1
You reach a point when you suddenly realize you are starting to measure things in decades. You are generally surprised by such revelations, and as you awake to this startling bit of information it occurs to you that perhaps you may be living in another dimension of time that normal people do not exist in because it doesn’t feel like the years are dragging by without magic or anything remarkable happening, that you are in fact, not headed for the dreaded mid-life crisis. (Of course, there is also the possibility that you’ve just been living your life in mid-life crisis mode all along and as such you don’t have to acknowledge or deal with any sort of grown up activity short of showing up to work and keeping the minimum amount of bills paid so you can throw parties on a semi-regular basis).
I am at this point where I am looking around noticing that I’ve been doing certain things for a while. My blog just went past 500 posts, I am well on my way to having sold 600 individual, unique pieces of handmade jewelry, I’ve produced hundreds of thousands of words of creative writing, I’ve hosted hundreds of social gatherings, large and small, and I’ve been attending Convergence for 18 years (or as I recently heard someone describe it -- Burning Man for nerds).
Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the convention and I was genuinely surprised to learn this fact. It has me reflecting on the many years that have passed, how each one has been a singular experience, and coming to the evolving conclusion that I’ve actually learned things about myself and others from attending this Sci-Fi/Fantasy hoedown.
I only missed the first year of the convention. I didn’t know the cities well yet, nor did I know any people here really. The handful of acquaintances that I did have thought such things were beneath them and as such I would often keep my preferences to myself, just going along with whatever they wanted to do (never a good idea as you spend countless hours bored out of your mind at baseball games and mediocre concerts) (remember: I’m a geek and a darksider-sports bore the crap out of me). I enter the “dating scene” (for you kids this is when you go out into the world to bars, clubs and various public places to awkwardly meet people and on occasion make the dubious decision to give someone your phone number-which they would then call you. On the phone. To Talk. I know-weird-and likely the way humans do it now by app is a better use of your time). I had been out of it for a while and was only really deciding what I was looking for and one of those things I made up my mind about was that I was not going to date anyone who didn’t at least respect my love for Sci-fi/Fantasy. I was done being shamed and made to feel like an idiot because of my tastes and quite frankly, realizing that my self-esteem was so low at the time that I let people manipulate me into pretending to enjoy things I didn’t was getting frustrating. You spend a lot of your young adult life recovering from trauma that you don’t even realize that you are suffering from, so giving up the things that made life better just gets to a point where it is not worth it anymore.
One fateful afternoon as I was dipping my toe into the shallow end of the pool of things I liked by using the internet to look up stuff I could buy on eBay that I was quite sure I needed to collect, I stumbled upon an advertisement for an event in which the Guest of Honor was going to be Neil Gaiman.
Now, I had read his work a few years before that and had adored it, but never in my young, wildest dreams had it occurred to me that at the time he was working and living around Minnesota/Wisconsin.
So I put the event on the calendar.
I showed up to this hotel in St. Paul on a particularly sweaty afternoon and bought a badge that had some sort of image of Trinity from the Matrix on it. I had no real idea what to make of what was happening around me as the very first thing I encountered was people in costumes. And I don’t mean your ordinary run-of-the-mill Halloween costume. I mean a full-on -I doubt I could tell if you were in the movie or just pretending to be- handmade piece of artistic craft. I was beyond impressed. I meandered about the hotel a bit having no real clue what to do and went to sit in a room where Neil would be reading and talking.
About 25-30 people joined me at some point and then the writers showed up. It was delightful to say the least. Neil was engaging and afterwards sat at the table to sign books and that weekend I went to every panel he was on and they also included writers Emma Bull and Will Shetterly talking to and speaking with some of the most nervous, geeky, flustered and shy nerds (including a girl who informed Neil she didn’t find him especially creative and he was just a total sweetheart to her and rather agreed that she was right) I have encountered and I was so, so very happy.
I was taken underwing by a few people and shown around parties that included Klingons and futuristic cityscapes, a concert by the Flash Girls and having my first real conversation with writers I truly admired. And under the non-stop lightning and unrelenting thunder of a Minnesota summer storm-I made the plan to attend the next year……more to come….including how Convergence helped me deal with the death of my mother….
CONvergence 2017 Playlist
My original set though I had to drop a couple of songs due to time constraints. Includes source material. Pretty awesome and looking forward to doing it again.
Yellow Flicker Beat performed by Lorde from the movie Mockingjay Part. 1 based on the novel Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
#1 Crush -Garbage from the movie Romeo & Juliet, story by William Shakespeare
In Your Grave -Jaymes Bullet from the movie Vampire Academy based on the books in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead
I Want You to Want Me performed by Letters to Cleo from the movie 10 Things I Hate About You adapted from The Taming of The Shrew by Shakespeare
Kids in America- The Muffs from the movie Clueless an adaptation of the book Emma by Jane Austen (also recently featured in Riverdale)
Hush performed by Kula Shaker from the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer based on the book by Lois Duncan
Let’s Do It-Joan Jett & Paul Westerberg from the movie Tank Girl based on the comics series Tank Girl by Jamie Hewlett & Alan Martin
It’s On Again by Alicia Keys (featuring Kendrick Lamar) from the movie The Amazing Spiderman 2 based on the comic series created by Stan Lee
Backdoor Lover performed by “Du Jour” from the movie Josie and the Pussycats based on the comics created by Dan DeCarlo
Poker Face performed by Lady Gaga from the movie the Lightening Thief from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan
Obsession performed by Sky Ferreira from the show The Vampire Diaries based on the book series created by L. J. Smith
Choosing Dauntless by Junkie XL featuring Ellie Goulding from the movie Divergent based on the book series by Veronica Roth
Into the Lair performed by Zedd from the movie The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones based on the book series by Cassandra Clare
Tea Party performed by Kerli from the movie Through the Looking Glass based on the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Brand New Day performed by Diana Ross and Micheal Jackson from the movie The Wiz based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz book series by L. Frank Baum
Be Our Guest performed by Ewan McGregor, Emma Thompson, Ian McKellen, Gugu Mbatha-Raw from the movie Beauty and the Beast based on the book La Belle et la Bête by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont
Other Father Song performed by They Might Be Giants from the movie Coraline based on the book by Neil Gaiman
Kings and Queens and Vagabonds performed by Ellem from the show Reign inspired by the Young Royals Series by Carolyn Meyer
Breath of Life performed by Florence and the Machine from the movie Snow White and the Huntsman based on the fairy tale by The Brothers Grimm
Once Upon a Dream performed by Lana Del Rey from the movie Maleficent based on the stories La Belle au bois Dormant by Charles Perrault and Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm
For my 500th post-Vampires-obviously.
We’ve covered some heavy stuff in the last few days and Young Adult books are not all doom and gloom, so let’s talk about…HAHA Just Kidding-Yes they are! It just isn’t always nuclear war doom and gloom. Sometimes it’s dramatic, sexy, and yes everyone lives in a nice house and drives a nice car somehow even though nobody actually works doom and gloom-VAMPIRES! I generally think in the supernatural world you pick a side-zombies or vampires-and I most assuredly fall into vampires. In fact, it got to the point that I was reading so many vampire books I asked my friends and co-workers to stage an intervention if they saw me pick up one more.
What can you do? You read Lost Souls (Poppy Z. Brite) when you’re 15 and that’s that. And no one show or movie over the last twenty years can fill the role of drama and sexy quite like the Vampire Diaries.
The original books were first published in the early 90’s when Vampire stories were having something of a renaissance. Author LJ Smith created the series, which is set in a little place called Fell’s Church. When the rights were picked up for the show they decided to change the name of the town to Mystic Falls because the producers did not like the religious implications of the first name. (Mystic Falls is actually Covington, Georgia, where the series is filmed. That almost changed a few years ago when anti-gay rights legislation was set to be signed by the governor, but enough companies threatened to leave that the bill was dropped). Not too far into the show being filmed, author LJ Smith was fired from writing her own series after two decades because the television producers did not like the direction she was taking the story. This took a strange turn of events when the author turned to fan fiction to finish the storyline, and fans started to boycott her previous publishers and made her stories best sellers on Kindle Words. Fast forward 8 seasons and the Vampire Diaries has turned into one of the most successful vampire franchises out there, and includes another very popular spinoff: The Originals. (I somewhat prefer this one because I have a soft spot for stories set in New Orleans, because of course.)
The Vampire Diaries has all the trappings of escapist, young adult fantasy. Attractive 20-somethings playing teenagers, a mysterious small town steeped in folklore, what little evidence there is of parents of any kind is evidenced by their children discovering their long-hidden secrets of the supernatural and shenanigans from eras past, real life co-stars caught up in love triangles, being able to get up to anything at any time all while looking dashing, and last but certainly not least, a song attached to it that is instantly recognizable if you have even accidentally seen an advertisement for the show.
Forever undecided between who to spend eternity with (which is something we all seem pretty determined to figure out at the wise old-age of 18) this song mirrors rather perfectly the story’s ability to go round and round again the sordid love affairs of the Salvatore Brothers, Elena, and later on Caroline (and occasionally throw a bone to the other people in the group of friends and cohorts) (but only dangerously flirting with outsiders never to be taken *too seriously*). Obsession is most assuredly the theme of this particular mythology. Reincarnations, prophecies, destiny, and the inescapable ill-fated love-
Sky Ferreira’s song sums it all up quite perfectly. I give you one of the *many, many* fan made videos-
(As a side note one of the things that genuinely cracks me up about the Vampire Diaries: characters are beheading one another, drinking blood, performing witchcraft rituals, drinking, smoking pot, engaging in illustrious sexual relationships-but if anyone smokes a cigarette everyone has an absolute meltdown). Enjoy! And remember-*especially* when it comes to Vampires-age is just a number.
The 100 (but really only like 20 or something)
Nuclear War. Fanatical religion. Tribalism. Treacherous A.I. Ecological Disaster. Making our children fight wars for us. Just to name a few of the elements that fuel the storylines of the show "The 100". Based on a book series by Kass Morgan, the television show "The 100" sits on a lot of lists with titles “Best Shows You’ve Never Seen” and “Most Underrated Sci-Fi Shows.” The overwhelming majority of the time I do not agree about what shows are on these lists, but in this case they are correct.
Set a little less than 100 years after nuclear war has wiped out most of mankind, "The 100" tells the story of 4,000 survivors sent to live in a space station above the planet to ensure the continuation of the human race. Resources are scarce and they are supposed to last far beyond what they realistically can, so any crime, no matter how small, is punished by death-unless you are under the age of 18. These crimes include stealing needed meds or food, and having more than one child.
But best laid plans really are the road to hell. The ark (as the station is called) does not have what it takes to ensure the survival of anyone, much less 4,000 people, so they send 100 “prisoners” to see if Earth is in any way habitable. Here they find radioactive storms, toxic soil, warring clans, and societies that shun anyone not genetically attractive (not unlike leper colonies from history).
Merciless in killing off of characters, somewhere near the end of episode 3 The 100 is already down to less than half. (At this point into season 3 I am surprised if anyone makes it through an episode, much less a season).
"The 100" brings with it some of the more realistically theorized behavior of humanity after a nuclear war than I would say most shows do. In the sci-fi writing world there are genuinely only a handful of things writers seem to agree on. Humankind’s annihilation at their own hand, be it through nuclear war or ecological disaster, definitely is one of those things. And really, when you have a look around, I don’t think anyone (reasonable) would disagree that this is a possibility beyond measure these days. It also establishes once again that here on Earth we seem to have a pretty hard time learning any lessons.
The books had not yet been published when the CW picked up the rights for the story. I didn’t know much about it when it was being filmed, but I decided to avoid watching it for some time because what little I knew about it I didn’t want spilling over into my own writing as I was rounding out completing my first sci-fi novel at the time. (This ended up being unnecessary as the stories are pretty different).
In the first season of the show the soundtrack was comprised of popular, recognizable hit songs and it did not work. It was one the few elements keeping it from being a serious sci-fi epic, but season 2 came and that changed.
As the kids go out into the world and discover not only do they not necessarily have any idea what morality is or what that could even possibly mean in this world they now live in, the music gets more complex and immersive. And one way this is demonstrated is by the discovery of relics of the past. And it is UNSETTLING. It’s in these moments that the nature of the story really hits home. A very good example of this is a scene when a group is headed once again to find if there is any safe passage across a stretch of land and in a moment of seemingly carefree jubilance they sing along to "Add It Up" by the Violent Femmes-a pretty familiar song in the indy rock world. It’s only then you realize how eerie the lyrics to this piece of music really are, and that 100 years from now is not much time.
*as a side note, the linguist who worked on Game of Thrones has also worked in developing the Grounder language on "The 100"
*I also appreciate that sexuality is a non-issue. It just is.
Katniss Everdeen
Miserable, misanthropic, reluctant, trying to do the right thing even though you don’t always want to or even know what it might be-
Of all the Young Adult books I’ve read (which numbers into the hundreds the last 10 years) and of all the movies made in the genre, no one embodies these qualities more in my mind than Katniss Everdeen.
In the world of the Hunger Games, where the differences of status and authoritarianism is the rule, the most vulnerable of people paying the highest of price-one can’t help but notice the correlation to reality in our world where the wealthiest of us take more and more and the gap between economic classes continues to grow. The overwhelming anger this can cause is enough to make anyone want to hide away and not deal with it because who ever knows what to do to change anything? We seemingly often end up back in the same place. And Katniss Everdeen gets to live through all of this cycle. Her anger drives her and her detachment keeps her alive and her emotional reactions inspire a world.
Unsurprisingly, due to it’s “unsatisfactory religious content”, sexual implications, and seemingly violent political messages, this book has become one of the most challenged pieces of writing out there. In 2013 it hit the #5 spot on the list of books people tried to ban. As such, I think one of my most joyous moments as a reader was helping buy an entire classroom full of kids a copy of the first book.
These books are important. Our society tries very hard to stomp the rebellious spirit out of us as we grow older, and never more so than when we are teenagers. In a lot of ways the Hunger Games trilogy is not a new set of stories but simply a retelling of a world that has a very difficult time learning its lessons.
Reality television dominates the world that Katniss inhabits-sound familiar?
Suzanne Collins used as reference many of her father’s own hunting and foraging books as well as his knowledge he acquired growing up in the Great Depression. He also served in the Vietnam war and this had a big impact on her family growing up.
Not all that long ago I was talking with someone who felt uncomfortable saying they didn’t like the movie “since it was so popular.” I countered with explaining that it’s not the type of movie you like. Kids are killing kids to survive, it’s not a story to entertain you, it’s a story to make you think.
So as you have your celebrations today, with all the things that people enjoy on this day: hot dogs & hamburgers (created in Germany), apple pie and soda (created in England), cold beer (so old-think Mesopotamia, read: Ancient Iraq) and of course fireworks (invented where else but China?) consider what it means that we have an administration with implications of an election having been influenced by a foreign government and a president demanding to see the most sacred of documents in a democracy-the voter rolls- and recall what author Suzanne Collins hoped to accomplish with the Hunger Games which was, "questions about how elements of the book might be relevant in their own lives," like not taking your next meal for granted and being politically aware.
It’s not really a secret where the ideas for these stories come from. With that I give you Lorde’s excellent cover of Everybody Wants to Rule the World from the movie Catching Fire in the Hunger Games series.
(If you need something a little lighter to do with the Hunger Games I recommend looking up the Onion’s review of Catching Fire)
White Rabbit
In continuing with giving a glimpse of my upcoming dj set at Convergence.
If you know me even a little bit it would be no surprise to know this post is about Alice in Wonderland. At this point in my life I own over 50 different editions of the book everything from a replica of the original manuscript (which does not leave England) to the challenging interpretation(and often banned) version written By Alan Moore, Lost Girls.
White Rabbit most assuredly sits amongst my favorite all time songs. Although, I would suspect not for the reasons one might assume.
It is a story that has influenced everything from The Matrix to Guillermo Del Toro’s work and has numerous movie versions, the most recent ones being those produced by Tim Burton. Many people took issue with these movies and I can definitely see that point of view. And I do also fall into the category of people who feel at this point Tim Burton’s interpretations of others’ work is not particularly good.
However, there is some charm and merit to be found in the most recent movie Through the Looking Glass (and I might add a particularly enjoyable soundtrack). This film touches on the treatment women received throughout Victorian Times for not bowing to the conventions of society. Where anything out of the ordinary was an indication of mania or hysteria. In addition, Alice’s resolve to help her friend the Mad Hatter and making the impetuous decisions of a young person which often lead to unexpected consequences despite good intentions- a part of growing up that is very real.
At this point in my search for music I could likely play an entire evening of only Alice in Wonderland theme songs and none more so than covers of White Rabbit.
The original, of course, being that written and performed by one of my favorite vocalists, Grace Slick.
This was the first song written for Jefferson Airplane by Grace Slick. At the time she wasn’t officially a part of the band and had another job until a producer bought out her contract with another company for $750 so she could become a full member. The song was released in 1967, the height of counter-culture in the 60s, a time in our history most notable for protesting the Vietnam War. (People quickly took to the song as being an anthem for the use of drugs, most pertinently LSD.) She was brought on to be a part of Jefferson Airplane because the other members wanted someone who was outspoken and aggressive.
This, however, was not the point or the intention of why she wrote this song.
She maintained throughout her career that she wrote the song not to only encourage people to continue to expand their education (as noted by the lyric “Feed your head”) but to also point out the great hypocrisy she always felt came from parents reading kids stories like Alice in Wonderland that do reference drugs (Peter Pan, Wizard of Oz- being two other notable classics that do so as well) and then to punish them for experimentation and exploration as they grew older rather than educate them.
Despite being a song that has maintained a cult status since its release, the highest it ever reached on Billboard was #8.
Grace Slick is currently retired from music but still makes a living off of White Rabbit and runs a one-woman art show where her most popular series of paintings are based on Alice in Wonderland.
I came across this fan-made video of clips from the movie with Pink performing White Rabbit live at one of her shows. (She performs a different song on the soundtrack). I was surprised to find I liked her cover a great deal and read not all that long ago that so did Grace Slick. I might add, they nearly left it off the album altogether thinking it would never catch on…
In Which I am Going to Dj at Convergence
To be clear, I was never under any illusion that trying to dj was an easy task. As a party host/long time club-goer-if you put even a bit of effort into doing anything really- it’s a lot of work (and also money but that’s a conversation for another time).
However, now that I’ve been learning not just the gear but what it means to put together a specific idea for a set, I can tell you with certainty this is a wonderful but complicated and time-consuming craft. I was someone who liked to dig for music already, but getting into something that’s niche as is fantasy/sci-fi/horror music soundtracks specifically based on books for Young Adults -well, let’s just say my next book isn’t done yet because I decided to give this a try too. Yeah that’s it.
I wanted to share a little bit about what I’ll be attempting on Friday night by sharing videos and clips from movies in the theme. I decided for Sunday to start with something from The Wiz because as a kid growing up it was one of the few things I recall watching on TV from time to time, particularly on Sunday for family movie days. It was a pretty big deal because of course when we are honest we know that there there is not enough inclusiveness in the scifi/fantasy world -especially in movies. And really, when you know what you want to do and you know who is going to come I do not see the point in throwing a party if you are not even going to try to have something for everyone.
SO I start here.
A few things about the books and movies:
The Wiz is based on the 14-book series that started with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum in 1900.
The first Oz movie was not a commercial success even though the books were a smashing hit.
The Wiz also didn’t start as a box office success but did end with critical success including garnering 5 Oscar Nominations.
In the books Dorothy’s shoes are not red. They are silver. Diana Ross wore silver, Judy Garland wore the red ones.
L. Frank Baum worked for women’s suffrage.
The Wiz is when Michael Jackson started to learn choreography, which he took very seriously.
Quincy Jones, who put together the music for the film, never left the set.
There was backlash over this movie as people called it a movie “for black people” rather than a movie with “black stars” and it had a direct effect on the film’s original box office take and distribution.
Set in modern environments, the film pays tribute to the director’s home city by featuring landmarks like the Brooklyn Bridge and Coney Island.
I picked this particular clip because I never recalled seeing it in the times that I watched The Wiz on TV as a child. I came to learn that it was, in fact, edited out because it was “too sexy.”
Considering this is a scene about opioid flowers I’m not sure the hot ass ladies are the problem but you can decide for yourself. I present “The Poppy Girls”.
Adventures in Science Fiction Reality...CONvergence 2016
It's that time of year again. When CONvergence has come and gone, all that remains is memories. But, like 16 years worth in my case. In the past I have hosted parties at CONvergence. They are huge, expensive, amazing undertakings. I took the year off this time around and tried to just enjoy being an attendee. The last couple of years of parties had coincided with the release of my Sci-Fi Novels. I didn't release a full length novel this year but I did put out a little short ebook about some of my previous CON adventures which you can find here: Adventures in Science Fiction Reality
It's the story of a girl who without meaning to be so, is sort of an idiot. By accident.
Please have a read, laugh at my misery.
There are so many things to see and do at CON, I can never keep up. I visited all the parties, attended some panels, art show, dealer's room, Vilification Tennis (always amazing), went to the dance, visited the Space Lounge. And I get nowhere near doing everything.
Here are some of my snaps this year!
Snaps From a Vegan/Vegetarian Pizza Party
Pie day is a big deal these days. I have a friend who has been celebrating it for some time.
He is amazing and makes tons of handmade tossed crust veg pizzas for all his guests.
This weekend was the party and it was aces.
The St. Paul Hotel
There is a beautiful, historical place in St. Paul, Minnesota by the name of the Saint Paul Hotel. It is a lovely place to stay and I've been lucky enough to be able to stay twice in the Park Suite. The most recent time was for New Year's Eve in which there was a small celebration and bubbly all through the night. The staff is very kind and the space is so gorgeous. It's in a great location for visiting famous spots in the city as well.
2015
2015 was a very mixed year for me. I cannot say that everything went super great by any means. I know that blogs are supposed to be fantasy filled things but the truth of a fairy tale is there are plenty of challenging tasks before you get to the balls, pretty dresses and parties. You can walk through the magic garden but get stung by a bee or pricked by a rose. The fae forest is beautiful but treacherous and filled with your tasks you need to survive to get to your happy ending for that chapter. That is what a real fairy tale is: filled with gorgeous gowns and difficult days.
I lost both my cats in 2015. That had a big impact on me as they were both sick and one especially was unexpected.
I did complete writing two novels including one during the November NaNoWriMo Challenge.
I got to see the Grand Canyon for the first time and hike the Gunflint Trail in Northern Minnesota. I also visited the Wisconsin Dells which is a place I’ve always been curious about. We went close to the end of the season so it was not quite as lively as it gets but it sure was surrealistic while I was there. I spent a week living in non-reality in Las Vegas where I got to see three Cirque Du Soleil shows in one week and eat amazing food everyday.
There were a lot of house projects. They were tiring and trying but now my kitchen is beautifully updated and it was not planned for it to be for some time yet. It’s such a pleasure to look at it now. All the exhaustive weeks of dealing with it have yielded a rich, warm place.
I went out to a pizza farm in Northfield, MN. I liked doing that as well as visited a few more wineries around the state.
A handsome black kitty broke into my house which was funny.
There were foxes overtaking the neighborhood much to my delight.
I spent 30 days in a row giving something away every day. I ended up giving a way quite a lot of stuff this last year and starting in on my Wear What You Own project (more on that later). Car loads of things were given away. I don’t even know half the time where all this stuff comes from but it was nice to recycle and find good homes for things.
I did start a couple of clothing consignment accounts as well. I gave away half my wardrobe before it occurred to me I would probably need things in the future so getting a little money back here and there wouldn’t be a bad thing.
I had my first garden on my deck this year. It started off really well and then I left someone else to tend it. Well, it ended up ruined and I was pretty frustrated but I am going to try again this year with a bit of a better plan. I did see lots of bees, birds and butterflies out there so it succeeded for a while.
I got in one round of snow tubing with friends. That is always fun plus, I adore my friend’s 9 year old daughter. She cracks me up and is quite the daredevil.
I took lots of walks in the fall and attended NerdCon here in town with the Green brothers, Maureen Johnson, Stephanie Perkins and a lot of other great writers. It was so inspiring it got me to do the NaNoWriMo challenge.
I had my second book release party in July at CONvergence and adopted three cats who are driving me nuts. So much so the kitten’s name has officially been changed to Trouble.
Those are a few of my notable moments. There was also lots of good food and books but those are separate posts!
New Year's Eve
For 7 years (at least) (maybe more) I have been putting on big (200-300 people) NYE events. This year it didn't work out to do so and I find that I am a little lost with what to do with my time. Anyway, as I miss it I also get to look back on some of our awesome events:
Scenes from an Open House
It took a lot of work to get an Open House together this year but I managed to pull it off. Here's some snap shots:
There's still time to have gifts shipped! Stop by my shop to have a look! Thank you!
CONvergence 2015
Every fourth of July weekend or the weekend nearest it, I should say...for 16 years I have been attending CONvergence. I honestly don't know what I would do if this convention ever ceased to exist, I adore it so much. Plus, I adore throwing parties and we did that again this year for the 7th time. This is the second time we've had a party based on a book I've written. The first five parties were based on the Sandman Comics because I've been a Neil Gaiman fan for a very long time now. But then we sort of took a break having hit an apex of awesome with our last Sandman themed party. I had been slowly putting together my book series and was being encouraged to do more with it. Well, now I am glad to say I have two books done and two parties thrown and my very own mailing list (yes, I find that exciting).
I have a bunch of pictures here. Some of them are from around the convention but the truth is when you have a party it takes away a lot of time of seeing the convention plus, to be totally honest, I had a very sick cat I was taking time away from the convention to spend time with and I am glad I did as she passed away shortly afterwards. So the weekend was great but it was marred by personal sadness.
A few notes about the pictures: The giant sun dial you'll see was created by my friends Dan and Cecci. The symbols on it are all symbols from my books and created by Matthew, my partner and me. The necklaces are designed and put together by both of us as well. We built a skyline of a mythical city that is in my story Armand El Dorado. It is made out of wood, paint, metal brackets, glitter and weighted with bricks. We created the golden back drop with taffeta and tension rods and lit it from behind with LED strands. There were wooden shapes through out the party based on ancient Colombian art. All of the candy we give away is vegan and gluten-free, so anyone can have it. We make and bottle all of the beer, cider, wine and champagne we serve. I may think of other things to add later but there's some good stuff to look at here!
Party History at CONvergence
It's that time of year again when several friends and I spend a whole lot of time plotting and building and preparing for our party at the CONvergence sci-fi/fantasy convention. As such I've been going through old photos from our very humble beginnings as a Dreaming themed party based on the Sandman graphic novels. These are pictures from 2003-2008 with themes ranging from Asia, Lost Library of Dreams, Midsummer Night's Tale, Nightmares to the love story of Dream falling in love with an Egyptian Princess. We built everything from faux bookshelves to pyramid walls. My friend brews homemade ciders, beer and wines. We make custom labels, cds, gifts and all sorts of giveaways so people have little things to remember us. It's a tremendous amount of work and money but we love it. It's really something when people come to oh and ah over what you can do with a hotel room(turns out it's a lot). Have a look!
Our first sign. Now we have fancy, custom designed and printed ones but everyone starts somewhere.
The Key to Hell is a symbol found in the story. We later designed and cut one out of wood that now hangs in my office.
Our faux library, to represent the Library of Lost Dreams.
We built an entire room within a room with sand painted walls and hieroglyphs for the Egyptian party in 2008.
The Key to Hell and Dragons hand cut and painted.
Nightmare themed party.
We cut "headstones" out of plywood and painted them with chalkboard paint so people could write on them. I still use these every year at Halloween.
We've since moved on from The Dreaming and now did one party with a second on the way based around the theme of my own book series. You can see a post about that here The Naturals. Have a great day!
In Which We Dada
So maybe it's not sophisticated music. I dunno. What I do know is that Dada Life is about as much fun as you can have both listening to them and seeing them live. I have seen their show twice now and I just love it. It is high energy and silly and all about fun. The first time I saw them I'd had a terrible day and I left with the biggest smile having danced for two hours straight and cracking up at the obsession they seem to have with bananas. This time around I took a few photos from my phone(I try not to take pics at shows because I find it very rude). I really couldn't resist. Especially when the giant banana appeared.
The lighting gear was most impressive at Myth Nightclub.
The aftermath of the giant pillow fight.