No Strings Attached

Rumblings in the Sky

I think the weather- gawds are trying to make up the most of our water deficit in one fell swoop. The rolling thunder and lighting has made for an interesting night and morning with no end really in sight right now. But I am not complaining, we need the rainfall and the lawn does look happier. We might even have to mow when it dries out. The power popping in and out I could do without.

Peter is seeing lots of cool things at San Diego. Apparently the Warner Brothers booth has the Nightowl ship from Watchman for all to see. He did his annual running of the fans which he said was much scarier than last year. The floor is already very crowded and that was only the preview night. It will probably be a zoo the entire weekend.

Here at home the traffic jam is due to the animal parade that Caroline constructed. I have set a time limit as to how long she can keep it and then we put it away. She is happily playing with it and the adventure of the circus animals is getting more and more elaborate.

Project Runaway had a couple of interesting twists. I'm going to be vague here for those of you who recorded it but feel free to comment in the comments with whatever you want to say. I will say that the person who got voted off should have not only for their design (there were ways to deal with the problems of the dress) but for their fashion sense. The ensemble they were wearing on the runway would have me vote them off in a heartbeat. Also I am hoping there is a leather challenge so a certain person will just shut up and get over themselves. How petty were their comments about the others last night? And yes I know they edit what is said to a fare-the-well but jeez why did they say that at all? Overall there are a couple of designers that have my interest and a bunch that if they are aufed I will not shed a tear.

I am grateful for the rain even with it screwing up some of my plans for today.

He's leaving on a Jet Plane

But I know when he'll be back again.

That would be Monday.

It is interesting that this is the first time that Caroline has complained that Peter is going away. Before this it was Ok Daddy. See you. And she would wait until he got home again. Today there has not been tears but she is not sanguine about her father going off for a long trip without her. We explain that we are doing a family trip later and then she is going to see my parents.

The next couple of days are going to be just us girls. There are some movies that we want to see and I think we are going to the aquarium for a visit with the sea lions.

Off to be a Mommy which is a title that at the age of 34 I thought I would never have but now at 44 here I am with that lovely title.

I am grateful that I hear the word "Mommy" every day.

San Diego Comic Con Looms

Peter will be jetting off to the west coast tomorrow to participate in that juggernaut known as ComicCon. For a lot of people in the industry, this convention is a must go to. In a few short days projects are announced, films are launched, and deals are made. Most of the professionals I know that go there are doing it for several reasons to promote their work or to promote themselves to find more work. Many pros I know work out what they are going to be doing for the next year at that convention. Connections are made. Projects are bandied about. Some of which will be promoted next ComicCon and others will just wither on the vine.

Most of the comic book websites have been posting numerous articles about the upcoming convention. Main Stream Media is involved too since Entertainment Weekly did a San Diego Comic Con preview this past week. G4 has been talking about it pretty much non-stop for almost a month. The full memberships are sold out and the daily ones are very limited. Then there is the talk about Vegas or LA trying to lure the convention out of San Diego and into their venues (which personally I don't think is a good idea).

This convention has become the bell weather for the entertainment industry. You just have to look at who is showing up to do a panel or two. If you like Doctor Who, boy are you in luck. Twilight? The entire cast is going to be there for a panel. Comics? Pick your poison and it will be there. Lots of interesting people with lots of interesting things to say.

And then there are the give away products and the exclusives. I can almost clock with an egg timer how quickly free stuff goes up on Ebay at absurd prices. I think the convention exclusives started at ComicCon. I know people who plot their entire time at the convention based on the exclusive toys they can get.

I hope everyone who goes has a safe and happy time.

I am grateful for the existence of this sort of convention.

Muggy but My Lawn is Happy

We had one heck of a thunderstorm through here last night. I was up watching it for a while before I could get back to sleep. The rain was pounding and the wind was very strong. This morning the lawn is soaked and there are puddles in the road which will probably dry up by the time I finish typing this. It is very muggy this morning. It feels like you are walking through water when you are outside. Fortunately I don't have much to do outside today.

Caroline got to play most of yesterday with her best friend. They played over at her friend's house and then over here until her friend had to go back home for dinner. Caroline got upset when her friend had to go home and reminded me about her behavior when she was two again. We haven't had a temper tantrum like that in a while. Caroline acts older than her age and she is very independent that I am a bit surprised when she does this but then I remember that she is five and five year olds do have melt-downs. Heck, teenagers have melt-downs still too.

Mini rant: If you are going to take personally everything that is said about something you said on the Internet, maybe you should take a break from the Internet. No one was attacking you, just asking for a break from the sort of news you seem eager to post since that is just about all you have been posting and others might be tired of it.

If you are going to ComicCon Red Fraggle is going to be performing and if there is a give away, I would love whatever it is. Y'all know how big a Muppet-head I am. I think Peter has a panel at the same time if I am recalling his schedule correctly.

Speaking of ComicCon, Be sure to tell Peter Hi if you see him. You can tell him that I sent you.

Off to finish up some stuff and then I go to the post office and a few other errands I need to run.

I am grateful for the rain last night even though it does feel like a swamp today.

The DARK Knight lives up to its title

I ended up blinking like an owl just coming out of the movie theater because we were basically in darkness for almost the entire movie.

Peter and I went to a showing on Friday and enjoyed most of what we saw. Ledger's Joker really does take it up to another level (think Killing Joke kind of madness). It was nothing like Nicholson other than that Nicholson took the Joker to a whole new place that had everyone talking about as has Ledger. It would have been interesting to see what they would have done with the Joker in the next film.

I am hoping for rain today. It sure looks like it and feels like it. Maybe if I watered the lawn, it will start.

Off to take care of some stuff that needs to be taken care of.

I am grateful for few pieces of junk mail.

New Who Review for "Turn Left"

This one is the beginning of the rollercoaster that leads to the end of the 4th season. I have to yet again say that some of what I might be commenting on might not have been in the SciFi airing but in the BBC version which will be (fingers crossed) the DVD version.

And Bad SciFi! No biscuit for you with those previews of the next episode. You would have been much better served by using what the Beeb used for the preview which worked very well and didn't give away so many large plot points and one whopping surprise.

Overall it is a very interesting episode that is hard to quantify without spoilers really. I can say that it is Donna-centric. Catherine Tate, Bernard Cribbins, and especially Jacqueline King gave such wonderful performances. Ms. King's is often overlooked but just watching happening to her through out the episode and how she act, reacts, or doesn't react is just amazing.

Onto the fuller discussion behind the cut. Remember that we are only talking to Turn Left. Please hold discussion of the Stolen Earth and Journey's End until the appropriate time. Thank you.

I am grateful for the wealth of stuff that RTD mined in this episode.

]]> Firefly fans probably felt right at home at the opening to this one. I half expected to see Mal and Kaylee walking around the corner.

It is one of those "what if" episodes. What if Donna had turned right instead of left? How would this have affected the world much less the universe? Well there were others to step in like Torchwood (since the creation of Jack was before Donna I expect he was there), Sarah Jane, and others. But they could only do so much and needed the Doctor not to die. The Adipose in the US was a bit of a twist and probably did put the US into a downward spiral. The Titanic crashing into the palace and blowing up London.

Having Rose there to warn Donna was a bit of a stretch but I was willing to suspend disbelief on that one. And Donna's confusion as to why her and what was on her back was very well played. Any guesses to how many Donnas we are going to see at D'Con with insect backpacks?

And having Donna figuring out the solution to the problem. What she has to do to make herself turn left. It works better than the argument she would have had with herself and her mother.

Overall a very powerful episode that can be watched more than once since there are a lot of subtle stuff going on.

Then there is the return of "Bad Wolf" which I am lukewarm on but it does set up for the next two episodes.

When the Green Isn't Greener

I know there are places with worse water problems and lack of rain but we seem to be in a bubble here on Long Island since the past couple of rainstorms have passed either south or North of us after dumping on Queens. We got back from Shoreleave to a lawn that looked rather parched. Simple solution was to give it some water or at least the front so that we looked more like the other houses around us. Should be an easy task right?

We hooked up the system and had two major leaks at two joints. I cleaned the screen that fits into the sprinkler which solved one problem but the other lead was due to one of the couplings being bent just enough that it couldn't make a good seal. This was an old hose anyway so Peter went and bought another hose. We hooked up the new hose to the spigot out side the house and got all kinds of back spray. We needed a different type of hook-up so we could get the water where we wanted it to go. I went to the hardware store and picked up the parts we needed for the spigot. Yesterday afternoon I hooked everything up and checked down the line. There were no leaks but the sprinkler stopped moving back and forth. I tried every trick I knew to get it to work but it would only work from a fixed position. This morning I tried moving the sprinkler by hand to see if it was caught and I felt something give. I started everything up and this time the whole system worked and I watered the front lawn. Now let's see if everything works this evening when we get to another part of the lawn and Caroline can play in the sprinkler. Unless it rains.

I have two tasks I need to get done today. I'll fit in all the other things that just are part of living at Casa David entail. The nice thing is that if I get stuck on one, I can go to the other and work on it until I get unstuck. Both are on my "just bloody get it done people are waiting on you" list which is rather lengthy at this point but I think in a day or so I can cut it down to something manageable.

So off to start Task 1 and then Task 2 and see Hancock this afternoon while the girls see Kit Kitterage which was our plan about two weeks ago when Caroline and her bug bites put the kibosh on that.

I am grateful that we did get the front lawn mostly watered this morning.

Conventional Wisdom

But first a little housekeeping on some of my previous blogs.

I did see my oral surgeon again and he said it looked 1000 times better than last time. The weird feeling along the tendon that attached the tooth is normal and he doesn't need to see me for six months. Which is a big sigh of relief for me because the next step was to pull the offending tooth.

Caroline is working on her letters and writing out words. I now can spell things for her slowly and she can write out what I am spelling with very little confusion. She is writing in all caps but I am told that is not unusual. She is so ready for Kindergarten. She was bitten by something outside again but it didn't swell up as badly as last time.

OK onto the topic at hand

Some of you know about the FedCon USA disaster. Well now JumpCon has cancelled a number if not all of its events and is leaving another trail of not great will on both the talent and the fans side. JumpCon is an idea that might have worked back in the 80s or early 90s ala CreationCon or some other for profit conventions like Chiller in New Jersey.

JumpCon billed itself as an autograph convention with the additional bonus of being able, if you were willing to pay, to have a meal with the guest that you wanted to meet and spend more than an autograph with. This has been done at other conventions in a broader sense like United Fan Con's various get togethers with the guests. And there are fans that would pay the prices being ask for the opportunity to get closer to the people they admire.

Personally I thought JumpCon bit off more than it could chew by having an autograph convention the week after DragonCon and I was dubious about some of the guests that they were using in promotions. I asked a couple of agents I know if these lists were legit and at the time they were. They started canceling or, as they put it, postponing conventions for one reason or another. This set off red flags for me and I checked back with the agents to find out what was going on. At that point I pretty much figured JumpCon was done due to the responses I got.

The question becomes can a new convention make it these days? I think the answer is yes. We have seen it with the Harry Potter conventions...sorry conferences. Specific forms of fandom have had conventions devoted to their interest that have worked and gone more than one year. Yes, I know there are exceptions including the Flanvention which crashed and burned in a rather spectacular fashion. But it is getting harder and harder to do. There are a number of very establishing conventions that are still going strong for example, Shoreleave which just produced the 30th edition of their convention or DragonCon which can legally drink this year having been around 21 years. The talent knows what to expect from those conventions and have people to ask what their experience was at the convention which a start up does not have.

Peter has a rule that, with rare exceptions, he doesn't attend the first of any convention. He gives them that first year to sort out the bugs and glitches that always happen with a start up. After that he does consider it but we have a very limited number of spots open for him to go to a new convention because of long standing commitments to older conventions that we have been going to for years.

Here is a list of our regular conventions that we have attended as a family. I think I have it in order of the year but I might be off about which is before the other.
Farpoint
ICon
New York Comic Con
Shoreleave
DragonCon

Peter also attends the San Diego Comic Con and recently the various WizardCons.

This year we are going to the Toronto Expo which Peter and I have done before and had a great time.

There might be one or two that Peter has committed to that I am forgetting because I don't have my calendar in front of me.

Conventions that don't happen just make it that much harder for those who want to start a convention. Right now my rule of thumb is that if the guest list looks entirely too good to be true, it probably is. I hope someone does a convention that proves me wrong and they succeed but right now I am sticking to what I know.

I am grateful for conventions that work and are well run.

RTBTCKI The Cats are Glad to See Us Edition

The Home Run Derby makes a lot more sense when you know the rules to the game. And how about Josh Hamilton? Boy, when he gets into a groove there is no stopping him. I think it was more about his pitcher's arm getting tired rather than his hitting. That will be a mark that will stand the test of time for a while.

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog has its first webisode up and running. I really enjoyed it. It made me smile and it make me laugh. I am looking forward to the next two installments. I recommend that if you are a Whedon fan, a Neil Patrick Harris fan or a Nathan Fillion fan, you must check this out. Even if you don't fit in the above category, it is still a lot of fun for those of us who like good 50s style action hero TV with a serious twist.

I understand what the New Yorker was trying to do with the cover, but I think they needed to think it a little further through. Peter's idea was to have a conservative radio host (pick your favorite or least favorite) at the mic and that cover in the thought or word balloon so that there is the element of where this sort of thing is coming from. I have to agree that image would have brought the point home without making yet another headline that can be misinterpreted and just lead to more people believing that Obama is a Muslim (which he isn't).

Today is about putting things away from the convention. Getting the house back to normal. Ariel is dealing with sinus issues that I don't think are allergies. Caroline is off with Peter running some errands. So I have a window here to get stuff done uninterrupted which I am going to do now.

I am grateful for getting home in a decent amount of time yesterday.

Shoreleave 2008

Well it is Sunday Morning and we are heading into the last day of this convention. A lot has happened in the past two days (well three if you count the drive to bowling camp.) [UPDATE: It is now Monday Morning and I am going to finish this up and getting the packing done so we can get home]

Friday started early with getting Ariel checked out of her camp room and the like. Peter wrote an issue of She-Hulk between Friday evening and Saturday morning. I did laundry so that Ariel would have clean clothes and Caroline made new friends among the kids who were the brothers and sisters of the other camp attendees. About noon we piled into the car and headed for the Hunt Valley Inn and Shoreleave. Overall we made pretty good time. Since we were coming straight down rather than over and down, the time was about the same if we had come from our house.

We hit the ground running when we got here. We did take the time to go out to dinner with Glenn and do a brief catch up on stuff. I had to go to the Art Show and explain that I was not showing this year but I would like to next year. They were very understanding. We started to run into people we hadn't seen in a while and did a very brief catch-up on life, the universe, and everything. Much to our surprise, Gwen showed up having gotten a ride from DC to the convention. She spent time with her sisters while Peter and I went to the Meet the Pros.

At 10 we sat down and I signed some copies of "Qualities of Leadership" and watched Peter sign a lot of different stuff. We had on my computer a couple of Space Cases episodes and some fans who loved the series as kids found out that Peter created it with Bill Mumy. At Midnight I went and collapsed in the room and Peter went to rehearsal. He got in at 2 AM.

My day started rather early with Caroline jumping on me about 6:15 and declaring it morning. From there we had breakfast with George and Brad which is always delightful. I had a couple of panels both on fiber arts and Doctor Who. I took Caroline for a long swim in the pool which she loved. She played with her cousins for another 2 1/2 hours after that. And about 15 minutes before we were going to leave to watch the Masquerade, she fell asleep. Sort of what I expected since she had been running around all day at full tilt. Peter and Ariel went to the Masquerade and I worked on some stuff that needed to be done. Peter came back and I went to 10 forward and the like but wrapped it up a bit before midnight because I was so tired. I did get one good line in before my brain shut down. Keith, who was my editor on the Doctor Who short story, bought me a drink. I told some of my fellow authors that now I felt like a real professional author since my editor was buying me alcohol.

Sunday I woke up and didn't feel as mind wiped as I had the day before. I had a panel at 10:00 which went very well on Dr. Who; Torchwood; Sarah Jane Adventures that I moderated. The rest of the day was taking care of this and that for Mystery Trekkie Theater which went over very well. George was a good sport and participated in the opening sketch. We then got together with various friends and went to Fuddruckers for dinner. After that we went to the dead dog party and then settled in to watch the Mets beat the Rockies.

Today we pack and go home, It will be nice to get back home. I love this convention and all the people who produce it. They make it home for a couple of days with a bunch of other likeminded people. We look forward to coming back next year.

I am grateful for all the experiences we had here.

This is one of those scripts that you know that the writer was told that he had a buck twenty-five for the budget (or about 75p). But RTD did an admirable job with his budget and the cast was up for the challenge that reminded me of a Hitchcock film. This was a case that without the right cast it just would crash and burn. But the casting director did an excellent job of finding a group of actors that played very well with each other. And this was not an easy script to do. (more on that after the cut).

I am grateful for good friends who are really understanding at this convention (more on that later)

]]> Peter and I did analyze from the budget point of view. It's a one room drama which allowed them to funnel more money to the end of the season. But it does not hurt from the lack of budget.

Lesley Sharp was nothing less than brilliant as Sky Silvestry. Both her performance and then David's when things switch is amazing to watch. The director did a fine job with the script too.

And we had another child of the Doctor (kinda sorta) in the mix with David Troughton playing Professor Hobbes. He did a good job too.

I think that is the thing that I keep going back to in my mind, how good the actors were. There was not a weak one in the bunch. Each did their job to add to the tension of the scene that was at a totally frenzy when they are trying to toss the Doctor out to save themselves or so they think. The tension is broken at Sky and that poor nameless hostess go out the airlock. Then guilt and blame abound as they wait for rescue.

And what about Tennant? Considering how frenetic his Doctor is, being reduced to being unable to move and the Doctor trying to figure a way out of his rather dire situation. I think it is one of his best performances to date.

This is one of those rare episodes that I would recommend for someone who has never seen Doctor Who and want an episode that gives them an idea of the characters and the series.

Bravo to all who participated in this.

Doing Laundry

I figure I'll post this later today after we get to the Hunt Valley Inn and get every thing sorted out.

Right now I am in a Laundromat just down the street from the Bowling Alley where Ariel has been at camp all week. This way she will have clean clothes for the convention and a couple of days there after.

It took a bit longer getting up here than we expected but we had to work our way around some serious accidents and some really monstrous road construction that takes 3 or 4 lanes of traffic down to one very narrow lane. All in all, it was not a bad trip.

Ariel has had a lot of fun this week and learned various things that will improve her game. Caroline had a sleepover with her big sister last night and Peter wrote an entire issue of She-Hulk. Between that and finishing the next New Frontiers novel, he has been a very busy boy this week.

We leave around noon and if the traffic gawds are with us, we will be down at Shoreleave around 5. Which is about the same amount of time it takes us from the house so it is pretty even all things considered.

Not much else going on. I am looking forward to Shoreleave. I am not going to be in either the art show or the Masquerade this year. Just not enough room in the car for all of Ariel's bowling equipment and everything else.

Also I am not doing Masquerade until I have Robbie again. And that kind of blew up the other day in a rather spectacular fashion.

Robbie was doing so well but apparently the cancer is back and meaner than ever. I haven't talked about Robbie much since his initial diagnosis. I didn't want to jinx anything for him. It looked pretty good for him at that time. But now his body has turned on him again and he is basically back to square one much to the surprise of his doctors and just about everyone on that floor of the hospital.

Please think good thoughts and pray both for Robbie Greenburger and his entire family. This kid had been through heck and is about to go through round two of it.

(Moving the laundry from the washers to the dryers)

I have a wacky idea for some Torchwood Hand puppets. Good idea or Bad idea?

I also have a couple of monsters that want to be made into puppets and dolls. I have some very grumpy Gawblins in my brain pan right now. And I have time to do them. After this trip Peter has San Diego and then next trip is the end of August up to Toronto and then to DragonCon. So I have about 7 weeks to build for DragonCon.

I do have to figure out what I am bringing to DragonCon by the 15th, which I am sorting out now. I also have to go through Bev's document and see what panels I want to be on for YA track. Then I have to check in with Star Wars since I want to do the kids hour again this year and costuming and my dance card should be pretty full.

So that is pretty much what has been happening to me.

What's up with you?

I am grateful for clean Laundromats with really good costumer service.

A Day for Me

Peter took point on Caroline yesterday and let me go off and get some errands done that needed doing. I had a relaxing time doing such girly things as getting my hair cut and buying a new battery for the iBook (the old battery wasn't holding a charge.) It was nice to just have some time without having to rush.

Today is all about getting ready for Shoreleave. Our cat/house sitter is arriving tomorrow morning and I have to get the house ready for her. I have to get the clothing in order along with all the other stuff that we take with us to Shoreleave. This involves making a few lists. I also have to find Ralph or Picard for Mystery Trekkie. I think we have all the other props we need. I know we have enough Sharpies.

I installed the newest version of Leopard on my Mac (Thanks Da) and it is pretty nifty. It gives me a number of features that I really like including the quicklook feature. It is taking a little getting use to on a couple of programs. The buttons have moved a bit so rather than checking mail I keep trying to create a new message but this can be adjusted to.

I am grateful for some time to do things for me.

Proud Whovian

Or whatever we are calling ourselves these days.

I have been a Doctor Who fan since I was a teenager so close to 30 years now if I am calculating correctly.

And after the end of this season, I am still glad to be a fan.

I am also glad that we have spin-offs of the original show to sustain us between seasons.

Recently many pockets of Doctor Who fandom have been down on RTD for various reasons most of which conflict with each other. (like More Rose vs. No More Rose factions).

Remember without RTD, we would still be telling our friends and children about this TV series that we grew up with and forcing them to watch Classic Who (which is not a bad thing in itself but still).

We have a whole new set of fans of the series and I welcome them to the fandom.

This year I have added another achievement to my list of things I have done in the realm of Who by having a short story published in a Big Finish anthology which makes me now a published Doctor Who author. Feels kind of funny to say still but I'm enjoying it.

I am grateful for all the wonderful things that have happened because I am a Whovian

Happy Birthday Patrick!

My baby brother, well not a baby for a very long time, has a birthday today.

I have to sort out his age by going backwards from mine since there are 4 years between me and Sean, 3 years between Sean and Sheila, and 2 years between Sheila and Patrick. So if I use that formula, he is 36 today. My mother was rather organized with her chidren.

Patrick is my go-to person when I want to find a new video game to play. He knows that I am all thumbs when it comes to first person shooters and do much better with turn-based games. He is up on what is out and coming out.

He is an excellent tabletop gamer. I will admit to introducing him to Warhammer but the rest he did and found on his own. He is quite good with them. I can remember some of the mech games that he and his friends set up with complicated settings and a lot of measuring with little measuring tapes. He has the right kind of mind for those sorts of games.

I can remember when I first heard the phrase "brain the size of a planet" and immediately thought of Patrick. He has also been referred to as the brain on legs. He is bright and has an uncanny ability to be able to look at a problem from more than one direction at the same time while quickly discarding the solutions that won't work.

So Happy Birthday Mr. P! I hope it is a good one for you.

I am grateful for my baby brother in my life.