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Friday, July 17th, 2009
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2:08 pm - 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11
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It's the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Be sure to check out We Choose the Moon, which is re-creating the Apollo 11 mission in real time.
My new icon also shows a just-released photo from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which shows the Descent Stage of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module. I'd say "Take that Moon Hoax losers!", but they'll just say it's Photoshop. They're still losers.
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| Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
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5:37 pm - Polaris
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Better late then never...
I thought Polaris went well this year. It really was the Michael Hogan con, as both his Guest of Honor speeches were great (and he closed off the Sunday afternoon with a rousing "So Say We All!!"), and he was the first person ever to accept a Constellation Award in person (Claudia Black almost was, but she had to fly out Saturday afternoon and left a taped acceptance). Apparently he joined everyone in the parking lot Saturday evening for stargazing as well, which I'm so sorry I missed. He really rocked.
Claudia only had one GoH speech, but it was good, and Matt Frewer was just great. David Hewlett was just there for the day as well, but he was a lot more fun then I expected him to be. He was up for the same award Michael Hogan was, and when Michael won David ran up there first to try and get it, only to be thrown off the stage by Michael. (Seriously! There was hang time when David was in the air! I was worried about the con insurance.)
The new hotel this year was very linear compared to the Doubletree, it was weird not being in a hotel I knew by heart and I spent about an hour Friday on a recon figuring out where everything was. Overall, I think the space was quite good for Polaris, with the exception that the Dealer's Room was a little small for them, and some tables had to go into the hall, but they didn't interfere with traffic too much. The guest rooms were quite nice (with microwaves) and the hotel directly connect to a mall with a food court with great cheap chinese food. And the hotel cash-and-carry was about 30% cheaper than the Doubletree as well.
I had a problem Friday with panelists just not showing up at two of the panels I attended (audience participation saved the day), but panels Saturday and Sunday went better. Nine or ten panels were cancelled outright at the start of the con as no one had signed up for them (they were kept on the schedule as it was thought that someone would). At the programming feedback session, it was a common answer to hear "We didn't to this, that, or the other thing because we didn't have enough panelists", but there was no discussion on why that was, or what Polaris could do about it in the future. I didn't do any panels this year because I was taking a year off, but I was never even contacted about the possibility of doing any even though I've done them at Polaris for years. I do think this is something the con has to seriously address.
But the Masquerade and dance were fun. The Constellation Awards went very well indeed, thanks to the very hard work of ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) gurudata, Janet, and others. I think they are really starting to get some traction now, let's hope the rest of the media start waking up to the fact they exist (the toughest thing to make happen).
Our Anime North suite went ok. It was more cramped then anticipated, and there was only one other room party going on on that floor, which cut down on the traffic we had expected, but I think we'll likely do it again next year. But we and the Rochester party got warned from the hotel at 8 PM about "noise", which apparently amounted to people talking.
Star Trek panels about the new movie pretty much amounted to "The new Star Trek is young and hip! But we're old and grouchy! Star Trek should be old and grouchy too!" Believe me, that's not much of an exaggeration. Yes the new movie is a special-effects blockbuster full of plots holes and if shoots continuity comletely dead, but the point of it is to put bums in seats for the next 4-5 years while they crank them out, and get people interested and excited about Star Trek again, which people were absolutely not before. Maybe at the end of the movie cycle we can talk TV series again, but not for a while.
And the Viva bus has it all over the TCC. The stops all come with automated ticket sellers, and GPS hookups to the next buses coming, so you actually get accurate information on how long you'll have to wait. Now that's science fiction!
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| Friday, July 10th, 2009
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3:38 pm - Company Sold!
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We found out this weekend that my company has been sold to a group of private investors. What this means for everyone's job nobody seems to have any idea yet, or if they do they're not telling us. It may well be a few months before things really shake down so I'm not planning on spending high amounts of money between now and then.
However, the last time this happen it didn't work out well for me (got laid off, although I was eventually re-hired after doing some contract work for them). I'd really hate to have to leave here, because the position suits me in so many ways and working anywhere else is almost certain to be less convenient and fun. Still, it's not like I have a family or mortgage to look after like the other guys here. I could afford to just ride my bike and watch anime for a while, which does have appeal.
That evening I went to see Tokyo Sonata, a Japanese movie that's been getting a lot of buzz. While it was very good, it opened with an executive type getting downsized from the company he's worked for for years, which didn't help my mood any.
Saw Le Mans in Yonge-Dundas Square with Regina Tuesday, and I can see why racing fans call it the greatest racing movie ever. Le Mans is a 24-hour endurance car race, and the film ("starring" Steve McQueen, who was a racing fanatic) is practically a documentary, focused almost entirely on the race itself and the intensity of it. It's 37 minutes into the movie before there's an audible conversation between two characters, and I'd say there's maybe 10 minutes of dialogue in the whole thing. Not that there isn't acting, but it's mostly done just thru facial expressions.
In sad news, Pages Books on Queen Street is officially closing down in August after 30 years, victim of constantly increasing rent. Fortunately, This is Not A Reading Series, one of my favourite, well, reading series', which was started by the owner of Pages, will continue in its own, spun-off, not for profit.
Sigh. Every time a bookstore closes down, an angel gets SHOT IN THE FACE!
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| Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
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10:15 am - Anime North at Polaris
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This coming weekend is the SF media con Polaris. Anime North is going to be running an informal anime suite there all day Saturday (suite 661 in the Sheridan). If you're around the con drop by and say hi!
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| Monday, July 6th, 2009
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11:29 pm - Weekend Update
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Friday I stopped by the Center for Inquiry to hear the Canadian Cynic speak. He's a very outspoken liberal commentator, who used to blog anonymously but was recently outed by some critics of his, a development he now sees as positive as it frees him to give talks, and it's actually gotten him more work (he's a freelancer Linux guy). Anyway he was talking about a debate he was involved in several years back on if "Creation Science" should be taught in the schools as science. Despite the many attempts by the other side to rig the debate (heavily slanted advertising, bringing in several busloads of supporters, the moderator being a friend of the other side, etc.) our guy pretty much cleaned their clocks, thanks to his being familiar with the other speaker, and preparing in advance to tear apart all his specific points.
The Cynic thinks that there currently isn't much danger of Intelligent Design making it into the schools as science in Ontario, but he is ever vigilant. We owe him our support.
Saturday started off really well, as it was clear and sunny without being really hot. I set off on my bike for a very pleasant ride down to Oakville, stopping at a Tim Horton's for lunch. While locking up my bike w\I chatted with these two guys who were unlocking their, and it turned out they had just biked up from Hamilton, they were now on their way back, and this Timmy's was also their turning around point.
However, about five km out of Oakville on the ride back home, I got a flat, my first in two years. I had been lulled into such a sense of complacency that I didn't have a spare or even a pump with me. After much swearing, I started walking my bike back along Lakeshore towards a distant motel, from which I called a cab to get back to Oakville and then to find a bike shop and a replacement inner tube. By the time I finished all this I was so far behind schedule I ended up taking the GO train back to Toronto, so I could take in a bit of the Jazz Festival that evening (Tyler Yarema down at the Reservoir Lounge). I was crowded and I was pooped, so I only stayed for the first set, but he performed my favourite song of his, so I got my money's worth.
Sunday I got up, made it to Yoga class, then caught up with a new cycling group in town for a ride out to the end of the Leslie St. Spit (with my ride the previous day cut short I needed to put on some distance). Later I caught a performance at the Music Garden, a children's opera call The Golden Harp that was pretty funny, and they could sing too.
That evening my brother and I went down to dwinghy and davemerrill place to watch Anime Hell, a collection of video insanity thatdavemerrill puts on at Anime North each year, and which of course I missed at the con itself. They actually cooked a turkey and were looking for some people to help them eat it, which was no problem for Dave and myself (we both got enough leftover for a couple of days worth of sandwiches). We also some some episodes of Round Vernian Vifam, a kick-ass anime from the 80s I've never heard of but now have to get. It's a pretty typical set-up (it's the future, there's a war going on between humans and aliens on colony worlds, a bunch of kids are trying to find their parents...) but the execution is first-rate. The science makes a lot of sense, the battle sequences are well-thought out, plenty of people on both sides think the war is stupid and are trying to end it. Now I have something else I need to watch.
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| Saturday, July 4th, 2009
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11:23 am - Update
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Spent last weekend visiting Shirley and then Karen with my brother up in Muskoka. The big news up there is that the G8 will be meeting at the resort Deerhurst next year, and preparations are ramping up. There's a lot of money being pumped in to build up the infrastructure in the area, and according to Karen everyone within 50 km is plotting how to a) how to get their hands on some of it, and b) how to meet Obama. Karen also attended one of the public meetings concerning the security restrictions, where one of the security reps said outright that if your home was in the high security zone you really should think about just taking a vacation.
Shirley unfortunately wasn't feeling great on the weekend, and ultimately went into the clinic to be checked out (turned out to be nothing serious). Karen was recently finally laid her hands on the ultimate Puzz-3D, their New York Skyline. Over 3000 pieces (by far the biggest Puzz-3D ever made), and as it was made in 1999, it includes the WTC towers. She and I have often put together an entire Puzz-3D on a weekend, but this one is going to take a long time.
Finished off the third season of Maria-sama ga Miteru. Thank Newton Right Stuf already has announced they have the rights for the fourth (and final) season now showing in Japan.
Saw The Man Who knew Too Much Tuesday with Regina in Yonge-Dundas Square, the first movie in their Free Movies in the Summer season. The weather looked iffy, but the rain held off. This was the 1958 Jimmy Stewart version (Hitchcock originally made the film in 1934), which I don't think I've ever seen completely thru from beginning to end. Aside from the odd drunk in the crowd, it was a good night out. But I was reminded why I never eat at the Pickle Barrel, the service takes forever.
The weather also held up on Canada Day. I went out on my bike and did a big circuit around the city, getting lost a few times (I have no sense of direction whatsoever). Got back to my place to meet up with Janet and watch this year's Anime North Music Video Contest (which I missed at the con as usual). Janet noted that there was five different Linkin Park songs used in the contest this year, something she puts down to most Linkin Park songs being about identify, a popular theme with late teens and twenty-somethings. We went down to the waterfront to check out the fireworks, but as there was no wind at all, the smoke just formed a single stationary column, and the fireworks got more and more obscured as the event went on. Janet found it intriguing however, interpreting it as a battle being waged between Earth and Heaven.
And Thursday Robert Charles Wilson launched his latest book, Julian Comstock, at the Merril Collection. Great turnout.
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| Friday, July 3rd, 2009
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12:45 pm - Looking for an Anticipation Membership?
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If you're still in the market for a membership to Anticipation, posts about people selling memberships are appearing thick and fast in the "anticipation_09" LiveJournal group.
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| Monday, June 22nd, 2009
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8:05 pm - Recently...
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Saw the final episodes of Pushing Daisies. So pissed they cancelled a show this good when there's so much crap still on.
Started watching Law and Order: UK, which is kind of fun, especially considering both Apollo and Martha are on it, and Apollo gets to use his actual accent. I love the use of "Crown Prosecutors" in the opening. I also love that it's an actual British show, completely with slang and the occasional near-incomprehensible accent. You know, showing already produced British shows (see also Merlin) has to be a lot cheaper for American networks then making their own.
Thank Newton we have a compost bin in the back of the house, so I can deal with my Green Bin contents at least.
Saturday I hosting this month's Space-Time Continuum meeting, talking about some stories from this year's Gardner Dozois' Year's Best SF. I'm always nervous, even after all these year's, that people won't find anything to talk about my choice of books (or stories) but we had a really good discussion, and I'm very pleased about it. Had Joel over in the evening to introduce him to Cowboy Bebop.
Lots of cycling on the weekend. Friday evening I went out with the bike club, and ended up riding right past my place on the way to Taste of Little Italy for sandwiches. Sunday after yoga class, dim sum with my brother, Dave and Louise, Karen and Shirley, and assorted kids I rode out to Oshawa, a 70 km ride as the trail winds. I took the GO train back and was really beat last night, but feeling quite good today. I'm going to ride into work tomorrow which should put me over 1000 km for the year to date.
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| Friday, June 19th, 2009
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1:44 pm - Jazz Festival
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10:58 am - Ebikes
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Attended the general meeting for the Toronto Cyclists Union. One of the things that came up was the organization's stand on ebikes, which they had recently sent out a survey form about.
For those of you you haven't heard about this, ebikes are fairly new. They are smaller-sized scooters with a set of pedals, and there's been a really push among the companies that make them and the people that use them to have them classified as bicycles so they can use bike lanes and bike paths. A typical one is shown below:
As you can see, they do have a little set of pedals, and the idea is that people pedal them on the flat and use the electric motor on hills. And they are speed-limited to something like 30 kph. And they are not expensive and don't require licences so their supporter say they are more likely to get people out of cars and just zip around the city on errands.
And yet... they just don't look like bikes. AT ALL. And every time I've seen one in Toronto it's always being used as a scooter, not a bike (including once ON THE SIDEWALK). I'm just really uncomfortable with letting them use the bike lanes, and especially the bike paths. It's been such a struggle to get bikes taken seriously in this city that now that it's finally started to happen something in me rebels at the thought of letting what is really a motorized vehicle share what space we've managed to carve out.
The Bike Union poll is going pretty heavily against them, I guess we'll have to see how it shakes out.
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| Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
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5:07 pm - Brief Catch-Up
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Did the Ride for Heart again this year and it was great as always. I spent the preceding week worried as rain was predicted, but while it was gloomy to start with I only experienced three drops (although when I got to York Mills it had clearly just rained there). Less wind than in any previous year as well. I was finished the 50 km in record time for me and will plot and plan about doing the 75 km next year. The only real problem with that is you have to start at 6:45 AM.
My friend Heather Wood has a very successful launch for her first book Fortune Cookie, published thru Tightrope Books. Capacity crowd (and then some) at the restaurant.
Last Saturday was Who Party 14, a one-day Doctor Who event, and I tip my hat to all concerned. Their attendance was pretty near their hotel cap (300 people). Their main guests were James Strong (who directed Impossible Planet and Satan Pit, and who offered live commentary to the first), and Colin Teague, who directed and offered live commentary to Fires of Pompeii. Fun Fact: The caves they shot Fires of Pompeii in were actually so cold David Tennant had to keep ice cubes in his mouth to keep his breath from steaming. In the evening was actor Toby Hadoke's one-man show Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf, about his life as a Doctor Who fan and how it's helped him bond with his young son, which had a sold-out run in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year. Funny as hell and worth the price of admission all by itself. Plus Dealer's Room, some panels and videos, and the knitted Dalek!
Had to duck out for an hour in the afternoon that day to make an appearance at the Small Press Book Fair at the Toronto Reference Library and say hi to handful_ofdust and kelpqueen, among others.
The Anime North wrap-up meeting went very well, with department reports generally being "Things were awesome this year!". And they were. Nearly got a hand cramp writing cheques for people to reimburse their con expenses. I set out that morning to ride my bike to the Doubletree for the meeting, and got halfway there before realizing I had forgotten the chequebook. Had to rush back home, and then took the subway and a bus (with my bike) up to the hotel so I do some more riding after the meeting. I've never used the bike rack at the front of the bus before, and as Martin Grove is really bumpy in places I spent the ride in fear that my bike would go flying, but it arrived intact.
And speaking of cycling, my friend Paul Reinis was in a nasty bike crash today which cycling thru Europe with his girlfriend. According to his Facebook update he's broken his collarbone in three places, which really sucks. Not just for ruined vacation, but this is going to screw up his riding for months (which is the real tragedy here).
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| Saturday, May 30th, 2009
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12:24 pm - Anime North
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Still very glad AN is over for another year.
I'd like to thank everyone who put in so much work at AN this year. As I've said, this year went really well overall. Our paid attendance is tentatively at 14,800 (!), which is over a thousand more than last year. I wasn't really expecting any real increase, so I'm not sure where all these extra people came from.
Al our major events (and most of the minor ones) went off with hardly a hitch. There were fewer security and medical incidents than last year, and we once again had three days of perfect weather (which really matters for us, as we often have several hundred people just hanging around outside the TCC. At one point I counted FIVE ice cream trucks parked around the con, along with a cotton candy guy and a hot dog guy. I bet they cleaned up.
We start on Wednesday morning now assembling the con office at the Doubletree, and taking shipments of the Program Books and Pocket Programs (which is now 12 pages double sided). It was a lot easier when Irwin could just toss these in the trunk of his car, now we have to have pallet loads shipped. Incidentally, I'm again really pleased with how they turned out this year, Noreen did a fabulous job with the layout of each.
And thanks too to Eileen, Head of Programming, who had to supervise laying out I don't know how many tracks of programming (you can see the whole schedule here.
Thursday evening is our pre-reg check-in at the Doubletree, where anyone who's pre-registered can come in early and pick up their badges so not to stand in line Friday. We processed just about 2500 people that evening. In the past we've tried doing some programming that night, but people aren't really interested in doing anything then but hanging out with their friends, which is strange considering how busy the rest of the con is.
And I'd like here to thank my brother, who runs registration, and USS Hudson's Bay, an SF club who form the backbone the reg staff at the con. They processed in more than a thousand more people than last year, and did it in a shorter period of time, which is just astonishing. Dave kept talking about how he had implemented a "flying wedge" at registration this year. I still have no idea what he's talking about.
On Friday and Saturday mornings I arrange for a pack of volunteers to stuff registration packets. To date, we've offered double volunteer hours for this in order to make sure we get enough, because it's so necessary and we need people early for it. This year I got nearly 35 people showing up Friday morning, and considering we had less stuff to stuff this year (the anime companies are cutting back on the free stuff) I had to end things earlier than usual Friday to make sure the Saturday people still had something to do. As problems go that's a good one to have.
There's so much pre-con set-up work now (making sure the dealers are getting in, that the set-up at the Toronto Congress Center is correct), that by the time 5 PM Friday (the official start) comes around, it's such a huge relief. Once things get rolling the con takes on a momentum, and if things go wrong then, you just have to make the best of it.
But very little did. Our Skit Contest Friday ended a few minutes early (it ran nearly an hour late last year, due to the unprecedented happening of all the acts that signed up for it actually showing up), Masquerade started on time, and even the Moonlight Ball started only 30 minutes late (a new record). Our Rave and J-Pop dances at the TCC went off well (having two paid-duty Toronto police officers on hand scared off the yahoos who made trouble last year). We had an official outdoor dance at the TCC this year (by the guys who did the unofficial one last year) that run all evening Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday.
Dave Merril's Anime Hell and Totally Lame Anime were packed as always. The Maid Cafe (have tea and snacks with cute Japanese girls in maid outfits) and Butler Cafe ((have tea and snacks with cute Japanese girls in butler outfits) had full seatings. Gaming was a little chaotic at the start from what I hear but was busy all weekend, especially the video gaming. The Nomonichi (Flea Market) event was packed. Guest of Honor talks and Concert all went well, as did the Anime Music Video Awards, game show, the Wrestling events, etc, etc.
This year we had a Japanese Cultural Festival for the first time, with Douglas Tong, a Japanese Sword Master (who taught four workshops, all full up), some traditional Japanese Dancers, and Nagata Shachu, a totally kick ass taiko drumming troupe (who I see whenever they have an event in Toronto). There was really good attendance for this, which I'm very happy about. We also re-staged the Steampunk Fashion Show from this year's Ad Astra which got a good crowd.
I didn't get to see much of it, what free time I had I spent sitting down getting something to eat, but 99% of the feed back we've been getting back from this year has been excellent. The most common emails I've been getting are from people who wanted to know the dates for next year so they could book their rooms in advance.
And thanks to the Memorial Day weekend moving to the end of the month next year (May28-30), we have a whole extra week to prepare for the con!
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| Sunday, May 24th, 2009
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9:15 pm - Back from Anime North
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I'm completely fried, but the con was a BIG success this year. So much stuff went off without a hitch, turnout was great, and the weather was perfect. Thanks to everyone involved, and I'll talk about the details later.
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| Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
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9:04 pm - And here we go...
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Tomorrow night is the pre-reg check-in for Anime North at the Doubletree. Spent the day at the hotels double-checking the set-up instructions. The Program Books and Pocket Programs have started arriving (and look great), the storage lockers have been emptied out, and Eileen and Cathy will spend the evening at the Doubletree setting up the con office.
Things have been going really smoothly this year. Pre-reg is excellent, higher than last year. There haven't been any crisis and not even much drama. I've taken the whole week off of work and I found the time to spend all of yesterday afternoon out on my bike. My email inbox has about eight messages in it right now. And we're suppose to have great weather all weekend.
Stuff will happen on the weekend because it always does, but I think we'll have a really great Anime North this year.
And when it's over I'll have my whole summer free.
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| Thursday, May 14th, 2009
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11:27 am - Good day in Space Science
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Not only is the Hubble servicing mission under way (which should extend the life of the telescope another five years and hopefully more), but down in French Guiana an Ariane 5 successfully launched a double science payload: the Herschel infra-red observatory (which has a telescope bigger than the Hubble's) to study star and galaxy formation, and the Planck cosmology mission, which will map the Cosmic Microwave Background in the best detail ever. The CMB is radiation left over from about 380,000 years after the Big Bang, when the Universe cooled enough for matter and light to become separate things. Knowing it in detail will help us figure out how the Universe evolved from its origins to the present day. Both spacecraft are functioning normally and are on their way to Earth's L2 point, a region of gravitional stability about 1.6 million km away. It's a popular location for astronomy missions as it requires very little station-keeping to keep spacecrafts there, it's far enough away from Earth that the heat our planet puts out doesn't mess with the instruments, and it's close enough so you don't need a massive antenna on the spacecraft to maintain communications, especially when you expect to get a lot of data back.
When I first heard that both Herschel and Planck were going up on the same rocket, I thought that was really putting all your eggs in one basket, although the Ariane 5 has an excellent record with no failures since 2002. I'll bet a lot of people are breathing a lot easier today.
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| Thursday, May 7th, 2009
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5:01 pm - Not Dead
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Geez, haven't posted in ages. Just been busy and a little stressed.
Anime North is only two weeks away but (fingers crossed) everything seems to be going well. Had a staff meeting on the weekend which pretty much consisted of people saying everything is on track. Pre-reg has bumped up a few hundred over last year, so we'll see how many we end up getting. Just hoping for three days of clear skies.
We did an event with the Toronto Public Library two weeks back now (geez, I'm really behind) that went quite well. They wanted to get in on "this anime thing", so we arranged for a well-known costumer to come in and talk, and for a screeing of the film "The Girl Who Leapt Thru Time", which is a completely fabulous film. About 120-140 kids showed up, many in costume, and TPL is really pleased with how it went. We'll likely do some more with them in the future.
Managed to find the time to attend Hot Docs. One of the best was Paris 1919, which is based on the Margaret MacMillan book of the same name about the Paris Peace talks. Which was kind of a misnomer as only Wilson was really interested in peace, everyone else either wanted to crush Germany or grab their piece of the pie. Great doc, and the only problem was the director rambling about not much for ten minutes at the start. Also great was Action Boys, about several Korean guys who went to a stuntman school in 2004 and what they are up to now. Funny as hell in many places, but also oddly touching as these guys try to figure out their lives.
Haven't been cycling as much as I would like. It looks like we're getting a repeat of last year when it rained on the weekends a lot. Argh.
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| Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
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6:15 pm - More weekend update
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Completely forgot to mention that I got together with Melanie and Joel Sunday evening to celebrate Melanie's birthday. Happy birthday Mel!
And I sat down and got my taxes done. I'm getting almost exactly the same refund as last year, which I am not complaining about.
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| Monday, April 13th, 2009
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10:02 pm - Weekend Update
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Had my bike out for the first time this year, a couple of 30 km rides on Friday and Sunday, which were great. But I'm really out of shape, as they left me pretty tired. If I want to set a new distance record this year I'm going to have to work on it.
I spent a half-hour on Sunday careful installing a new speedometer on my bike, a wired one (with a wire connecting the sensor on the front fork to the mounting bracket on the handlebars) to replace the wireless one that was just too erratic to be much use. After carefully aligning everything and checking to make sure it was working properly, I went to trim the plastic zip ties that secure the mounting bracket on the handlebars, and CUT RIGHT THROUGH THE CONNECTING WIRE!!!! After a lot of cursing, I tried to splice the wire together, but it's not working well. I know that I can get a replacement bracket from Mountain Equipment Co-op for $5, but it's the bother of going down and and installing it again that's driving me nuts.
Speaking of Mountain Equipment Co-op, I was down there Saturday (picking up the speedometer) looking for a new knapsack, as my trusty old U of T one is developing a hole in the bottom. But after looking over every knapsack in the place, I couldn't find the right one. They were all lacking a single feature I wanted to have (not waterproof, lacked a mesh pocket on the outside for a water bottle or umbrella, too few pockets, damned ugly, etc.) Might go back to the U of T bookstore and get the same model again (not perfect, but I'm used to it).
Saturday got together at the Dumpling House with my brother, davemerrill and dwinghy, and David Cotterill, who runs the English anime con Minamicon (three Dave's out of five people, it got confusing). It was interesting to talk shop with him as English cons have to run some things rather differently then we do. For instance, hotels don't offer discounted function space if you fill up hotel rooms, you have to pay for all your space, which explains why English cons tend to be smaller and more expensive that North American ones. They actually caps their con at 450, and sell out on one day when they open pre-reg. It would help knowing exactly how many people were coming to your con in advance.
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| Thursday, April 9th, 2009
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3:40 pm - Stuff
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benet was in town last weekend and it was really good to see him at Diners. This summerIi am going to head down to Madison for a long weekend so we can do some cycling.
Speaking of, I dropped by my local bike shop to see if I could bring my bike in for a tune-up, and had to make an appointment for April 20th. The guy said all the bike stores are backed up that badly now. Still, it's supposed to be sunny all the long weekend and I'm getting out cycling no matter what!
Director Edgar Wright (Shawn of the Dead) has been in town for a while now working on the Scott Pilgrim movie, and he's been presenting movies at the Bloor. Last weekend he was doing a Jackie Chan double bill so I went to see Police Story. I haven't seen it in a while and I'd forgotten just how batshit insane the opening shanty-town and closing shopping mall sequences were, as well as practically everything else in the film. Wright said he'd just seen an advance release of Fast & Furious and that it was shit compared to this film. Colin Geddes (of Kung Fu Friday fame) was there too and he provided some of his gonzo trailers to the evening.
Still in Asian Film mode, the U of T East Asian Film Club had a screening of John Woo's latest film Red Cliff - Part II (they showed Part I last fall). It's abut an epic battle that helped bring about the fall of the decrepit Han dynasty and usher in the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history. Part I was good, but being mostly set-up definitely wasn't completely satisfying alone. Part II was the real pay-off with plans, cunning, trickery, deceit, giggle-inducing scenes of manly brotherhood, huge battles, and of course white pigeons (which actually play a plot point for once in a John Woo film).
Went shopping for new glasses with the help of my friend Myna. I think I've got a really nice new set of frames picked out, so expect to see a new me in another two weeks or so.
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| Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
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10:45 pm - A Week in the States
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Last week I was off to Connecticut to teach a training course for work, and an odyssey it was.
I had to leave Ad Astra early Sunday in order to make my flight (and I think AA went very well). I was flying into Bradley-Hartford in CT, and I was flying Delta with a connection thru JFK. When I booked the flight on the company website, there was a direct flight with Air Canada, but it was almost $400 more so I decided to be a good employee and take the cheaper flight. Big mistake.
I got to Pearson to find that my flight had just been cancelled due to bad weather (not in Toronto or Connecticut, but wherever the flight was coming from). And the best Delta could do was fly me the next day so I'd get in at 4:30 PM Monday, effectively throwing away the entire first day of my course. So I ran in a little circle for a minute, then called my boss and then the company emergency travel number, and got on the previously mentioned Air Canada flight, which actually got me in earlier than I would have otherwise made it. Since the course was supposed to start at 7:30 AM each morning, I was glad for the extra chance to sleep that night.
The course was for Sikorsky Helicopter, and my hotel was actually almost across the street from them. Unfortunately again, the training rooms there were all under renovation, so they got a small room at a nearby company they worked with. And I mean small. There were 12 people from Sikorsky taking the course, and the room could fit maybe 8 comfortably, everyone was in there hunched over laptops with no elbow room, and the room was stifling in next to no time. Also, there are apparently no sidewalks in Connecticut. My hotel was on the top of a hill, the road lead down to an interchange, and there was nowhere and no way to take a stroll at all. I had counted on walking back from the training center to my hotel in the afternoon for some exercise, but it was just impossible.
Fortunately, Vanna, one of the engineers taking the class, very graciously gave me a lift to and from my hotel each day, as she was passing that way. She also one afternoon got me into Sikorsky to take a quick tour. We got on the factory floor where they assemble the Black Hawks, and it was extremely cool. There were about 50 of them in this huge space (which was cleaner than my apartment to be honest) in various stages of assembly. Vanna said that the US military was buying them as fast as they could assemble them, as they are wearing our a lot faster than anticipated overseas. I had to show my passport and Vanna had to clear it with her boss to get me in, security is pretty tight.
The course itself I think went well. I spent a couple of days preparing for it, and I managed to answer nearly all of the questions that came my way. There were a couple I had to figure out Monday when I got back to work as they were errors I'd never seen in five years of working with the software.
On my way back, Delta cancelled my flight AGAIN, Delta apparently standing for "Doesn't Ever Leave The Airport". I had actually made it on the place at Bradley-Hartford, we sat there for a hour, and then got off thanks to weather at JFK. It was early evening Thursday, and they said they could fly me out at 6:30 AM the next day. So I just got a room at the hotel attached to the airport. At least I got to see the ER finale "live". Had to get up at about 5 AM in order to make the plane, we sat there for another hour while they rebooted some computers, and then we finally got off, to JFK, and back to Toronto. Next time I'm taking the Air Canada flight, price be damned.
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