Denizens of the BarTuesday, July 14, 20093:05AM - Stuff of interest1) Vino Fino tastings Cuisine Shiraz and SyrahI'll be skipping the syrah tasting, but definitely going to the Neudorf one -- they do sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, riesling, pinot gris and pinot noir. 2) Science Fiction Club trivia quiz The 3rd ever SciFi Soc Quiz night is coming up so get your team of 4 to 5 ready for a night of awesome questions and prizes. If you can't wrangle four or five interested friends then just send us an email and we'll set you up with some other like-situationed people. It'll be a standard pub quiz style with some club specific rounds. Cost is $5 for members and $7 for non-members ($5 plus $2 membership fee).I expect to be taking a team of five (composition as yet undetermined), and there's plenty of scope for other people to head along. 3) Looking for Dominion Has anyone perchance got a copy of Dominion I can borrow for Winter Weekend? No one attending seems to own it. Current music: H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society - Tentacles 12:31AM - Dodgy as hellJim Anderton has uncovered some dodgy dealings between WaterCare Services and the various Auckland councils which seem to be aimed at preventing any public scrutiny under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act of the new Auckland water monopoly. As part of the Auckland reorganisation, local councils' water assets will be transferred to WaterCare, the new monopoly provider. But WaterCare is forcing the councils to sign a confidentiality agreement purporting to prevent them from disclosing any information to the public under the LGOIMA - meaning that there will be no oversight of and accountability for what goes on. The kicker? WaterCare is owned by the very councils it is signing these agreements with. In other words, they're effectively (via a few legal cutouts) signing a contract with themselves to insulate themselves from public oversight in a particular area. This simply stinks. But it's National's "SuperAuckland" down to a "T": secretive and unaccountable. As Anderton says, first they've taken away Aucklanders' democracy; now they're taking away their right to know.  Monday, July 13, 200911:48PM - Other news from the weekend.My brother in Sydney is now engaged to be married in February. No idea yet if the wedding is planned for New Zealand, Australia, or Sweden, but a good chance that I'm not going to be able to attend Canterbury Faire. 2:00AM - From Twitter 07-12-2009( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. ) 1:31AM - obon festival / san josethe weather here has been wonderful since i've been back 9:26PM - Kiwi PyCon 2009Originally published at coffee.geek.nz. Please leave any comments there. Kiwi PyCon 2009 http://nz.pycon.org/ is an independent, community-run, community-controlled and not-for-profit conference dedicated to the Python Kiwi PyCon 2009 will be taking place at the Canterbury Innovation Incubator in Christchurch on the week end from the 7th through 8th November 2009. We are looking for Talks, Tutorials, Lightning Talks, Demos, Open Spaces and lots of hall way interaction. To submit a talk, please visit our submissions page at Important Dates * Submission deadline of proposals: * Acceptance notification: * Deadline for handouts and camera ready paper: * The Event: 6:06PM - And in other newsI spilt tea on my computer last night and the delete key and two of the arrow keys no longer work. Sigh. 4:12PM - CoalbitingSaturday was very pleasantly spent with 4:00PM - Just a Random Comment - Part IIIAs I mentioned earlier, I am currently planning on running my wife through a Dragon Warriors campaign. Over the last week or so I've been reading through the various rules and books to get myself up to speed with the system, as well as taking the time to 'absorb' the style and spirit of the game. I have to say that the 'old-school' and archaic approach of the game has really rubbed me the wrong way at certain points, especially in regards to character abilities and balance, as well as the structure and re-editing of the new 1.1 edition. But... Dragon Warriors is an absolute pleasure when compared to AD&D 2nd edition - another game I have recently been reading. How the hell was this mess of mechanics and morose rulings ever seen as the 'flag-ship' of our hobby? Now don't get me wrong, I did play and really enjoyed 2nd edition in the early 90s. In fact, one of the longest campaigns I ever played used these rules. However, it is such an abomination that it doesn't surprise me that 3.5 was the success it once was... Of course, just my opinion... and that doesn't stop me wanting to make DW a little more 'modern'... :P 3:44PM - Screwed Rubber Commando Unit.Or - I am the proud owner of new boots that are made in New Zealand. 2:13PM - Must readOver on Public Address, Emma points to some very good OIA work by Thomas Beagle about the Department of Internal Affairs' plans for internet filtering. The short version: DIA are about to implement an internet filtering system in secret. It will be voluntary for ISPs and aimed only at child pornography - but we know from experiences elsewhere that such schemes never stay that way, and inevitably suffer from mission creep (up to and including covering criticism of the scheme itself). And naturally, they are refusing to release the blacklist, on the basis that it is a shopping list for paedophiles. The fact that it means they never have to admit to, let alone answer for, the inevitable mistakes and abuses of course has nothing to do with it. (Fortunately, we have an answer to secretive, unaccountable bureaucrats: the Ombudsmen. And if that fails, there's always WikiLeaks...) I am dubious enough about internet filtering - it is IMHO simply a pointless waste of time (in that such measures can be trivially circumvented), while being ripe for abuse. But the fact that this is being done in secret with no publicity, consultation or debate is beyond the pale. That is not how things are supposed to be done in a democratic society. If the government wants to do this, it should own its policy and say so openly so they can be held democratically accountable for it. Of course, that is the last thing any government wants to do...  1:07PM - Climate change: we are not helplessFaced with a problem like climate change, it is easy to give up and adopt an attitude of helplessness. The problem is so big, we are so small, emissions keep on rising, and there seems to be little we can do about it. That attitude is wrong. We already have many of the solutions we need to reduce our emissions to a sustainable level: wind, hydro, geothermal and solar-thermal power, hybrid vehicles, biofuels (if grown sustainably), even planting trees. Others we can see are just around the corner: wave power, cellulose ethanol, hot rock geothermal. In an effort to find more, the Guardian convened a think tank at the Manchester International Festival, getting people to pitch their ideas to save the world. Some of them were things seen before - biochar (turning trees into charcoal to lock away the carbon and then burying it), using the Sahara to generate solar power (something which is already happening), and increasing the planet's albedo with a fleet of cloud-making ships (which does nothing about the real problem, but does buy us a bit of time). Others, such as liming the oceans (absorbing carbon and reducing acidity) or using CCS with biomass (effectively removing carbon from the atmosphere) aren't really a go-er at present, as they rely on the coal industry's imaginary carbon capture and sequestration technology, which won't be around for 25 years, but they might be doable then. But even so, there are still plenty of solutions there. The problem isn't one of technology - it is purely one of political will; politicians in hock to established and unsustainable economic interests being unwilling to enact the policies which would push us down those technological pathways. Which in turn suggests the solution: de-election of anyone who refuses to act.  1:47PM - Free stuffRight I need some more room on some book cases so am getting rid of some stuff. it is free to a good home unless you want to buy me a beer sometime 10:10AM - Conscription - New Zealand Natcon Report 2009
Conscription - New Zealand Natcon
Report 2009
I'm glad I didn't start this convention report last week while I was still in New Zealand; I got pulled up on a couple of aspects of the convention which hadn't made sence at the time. Like the fact there were different grades of “guest”. Authors Julie E. Czerneda & Nalini Sing were the principle guests while Russel Kirkpatrick, and Helen Lowe were guests also but with less obligations.
Traditionally, New Zealand's National Science Fiction Convention is held on either the Easter Long Weekend or the (gazetted) Queens Birthday Weekend. (the former's dates changing radically through the earlier part of the year while the latter (the Queens Birthday Public Holiday, which causes there to be a long week end) is the first Monday in June).
In the past when New Zealanders held conventions on both Islands, the pretext of starting the convention late on Friday and finishing by about midday on the Monday was to enable attendees from other centres to race up/down Island to get to the host cityi. Nowadays attendees will finish work on Friday, catch a plane and just miss the opening ceremony in time to prop up the Bar and sing a few filks.
One of the difficulties of running a convention so far away from the rest of the world (read USA/Canada & the UK) is both the cost of airfare and appearance fees. For many years conventions in New Zealand (and here in Australia) have managed to get guests to waive their appearance fees. In exchange for this key cost saver (with an emphasis that any profit from a convention going to a registered charity) a guest and their spouse will be shown the sights. Some of the guests will also spend a week either side of the convention in New Zealand and thoroughly enjoy themselves.
Blogger Tee Morris added a fresh dimension with a number of panels on Blogging, Podcasting & (shudder) Tweeting. I had a fair idea about Tweeting and now that I've attended a panel I'm certain I don't want to “tweet” non stop all day nore be 'tweeted at' either. Yes, I'm on Facebook, I can upload photos from my trip, I can be invited to functions & I can chat when others are on (cheeper than phoning them long distance) and I can do other thing on Facebook, but choose not to. I'm also on Livejournal, but my posts there have been reprints of my Lasfapa contributions (and given how spartin these are...). I've requested to be added to the other Lasfapans on Livejournal, but the requests have gone unanswered. (Facebook with more success).
(As an aside, I've added two Lasfapan's on Facebook, Christopher Garcia and Vanessa Schnatmeier)
Robbie Matthews was Fan Guest of Honour – it was no secret that he is an old friend of the principle convention organiser and curiously kept a low profile – so much so that most attendees didn't even know that he had a Fan Guest of Honour speech! Which leeds into the list of things that successive NZ Natcons have done wrong (I'd like to call them Fatal Flaws, but they're more like preventable mistakes)
A few of us had gone to the restaurant next door (a wonderful Indian venue) and took a little too long and hence missed the extraordinary costumes that were presented this year.
Julie E. Czerneda & Nalini Sing were good value guests – they are both quite lively & tell wonderful yearns of the traumas they went through to get published (and follow up publishings). The wonderful thing about NZ Conventions is that the literary guests are usually people I've never heard of before and so when I buy their books I am treated to refreshingly different writing styles. (And they're from Commonwealth Countries
There was a concerted effort to have three streams of programming on the Sunday, however, for the Friday & Saturday the third stream was role playing / board games (every time I wandered past, there was no-one there). A couple of years ago, some roleplayers / board gamers took over a conference room when it wasn't being used and played games, but didn't take part in the actual convention programs, this year although time was set aside for them, no one turned up.
A masterstroke of programming however was a three hour demonstration by a number of re- creationists groups; there were Romans from the time of the Emperors and a frantic display of sword fighting from the 1500's through to the end of the 1800's. However, this would have been a better time to program the off site excursion which took place the following day.
Next years convention is being held in late August to coincide with the impending World Con in Melbourne. At this years convention, a progress report was given by Au Contraire's ConCom with the venue, costs and anticipated programing items being announced. As with last year when Au Contrair's bid was placed there was a lot of boo-hooing from people wanting programming on the Monday. Au Contrair has made it quite clear from the outset that their programming will run from Friday afternoon and close Sunday night.ii
I myself agree with their stance - if you look at the Monday programming for quite a few years now, all that has occurred on the Monday is the SFFANZ business meeting, the bid to ratify a future NatCon & the closing ceremony. In the past, there has been a full program on the Monday morning with the SFFANZ Business Session starting after lunch. There's no reason nowadays why there can't be a full program on the Monday with a closing ceremony coinciding with the Banquet???
As to the choice of guests, all were Litterary Guests with a full week writers workshop which had been well attended from what I gather.
Sadly, the benchmark for conventions was set very high a decade ago and has been on the decline since. I'm pleased to say that this years convention has reversed some of the recent decline and I hope that the organisers of this years con will put their hands up in the future and run another one. iThere have been some remarkable tales of car iiAnd if you've read above about why Monday's programming is sparse, you'll know why the boo-hooing is unwarranted... Current mood:  chipper11:33AM - Undermining democracy in SamoaLast week I blogged about the Samoan government's attempt to throw nine opposition MPs out of Parliament for daring to organise themselves into a new political party. The attempt failed after Samoa's Supreme Court ruled that the anti-"party hopping" sections of the Electoral Act could apply only to registered political parties, and that as Tautua Samoa was not even eligible to be registered, the members should retain their seats. The government's initial response was to threaten to amend the law to allow them to kick out the opposition - and now they seem set on moving ahead with this plan. The pretty heavy hints in the ruling that such bans violate the freedom of association affirmed in the Samoan constitution seem lost on them. Meanwhile, since the ruling, the opposition MPs have been forbidden to attend select committee meetings and are no longer being paid. In other words, the Speaker of the House is refusing to accept the court's decision. And that apparently is how democracy works in Samoa.  9:33AM - Vague and maybe relevant thoughts about hallucinogensLast night I dreamed about lambs. Not in the frolicking through daffodils kind of way, but in the pasture management of pregnant ewes kind of way. But I still insist that it's the first tiny sign of spring speaking from my cellular seasonal recognition sector, like a crocus sticking through the snow. Or it could just be wishful thinking optimism brought on by the return of Sunday, July 12, 20097:36PM - Day 2 of ALA, and reading things aloud.posted by Neil
Yesterday I had a breakfast with many librarians, then signed was interviewed in front of a crowd by Roger Sutton from Hornbook, signed for happy librarian-folk for three hours, then napped and went off to dinner with the Newbery Award Committee, the sort of dinner where you have each different course at a different table, and talk to everyone. Then I signed books for them (and for a few stray Printz Committee judges, who crept in).This morning was Dim Sum with Jill Thompson for breakfast (Here is Jill. People always want to know where she got that bag, and she made it herself. I told her she should take orders for them for a ridiculous amount of money.) Then with Elyse Marshall, ace HarperChildren's publicist, to a local studio where I was interviewed for Barnes and Noble, then recorded some paragraphs from Kipling's The Jungle Book, Ray Bradbury's story "Homecoming" and James Thurber's The 13 Clocks. I loved doing them -- B&N will pick one sequence and have it animated and put up online. Was fascinated by how different the voice of the narrator was in each case -- the voice of the book, and that reminded me that I had not yet answered this, and had meant to: Neil ~ Thank you for many hours of entertainment, whether I'm reading your works, or you are! My daughter is finding that chapter books are a good thing, and wants me to read them to her. I'm glad to do so, but I'm looking for some suggestions from a masterful book reader (you) to a very coarse book reader (me). How do you keep the character voices straight in your head? I suppose it helps that you know the words particularly well since you wrote them, but any tips or suggestions? Any other pointers for engaging the listener? I know my daughter doesn't mind (she still wants me to read, after all!), but I'd like to be better for her and for me. Thanks and keep up the superb work, both here on the blog and in the offline printed universe! BRIAN Let's see. Character voices are more or less easy: I sort of cast them in my head as I go. What's the person like? Who do they remind me of? I'm appalling at doing accents, but not bad at doing people. And mostly you're not even doing impressions, just general brush strokes. How does a person sound? Well, you hold them in your head and generally sound like that. When dealing with a larger than life story I'll sometimes go for a larger than life cast in my head: In (for example) The 13 Clocks, in my head, when I read it aloud, I tend to cast Marty Feldman as the Golux, and Peter Sellers (doing his Laurence Olivier in Richard the Third impression) as the evil Duke. It's hard though, in a big book with a lot of characters, some of whom may nip off-stage for seven or eight chapters at a time. Do your best, and have a picture in your head. Borrow from your life. Steal voices shamelessly. Most important, just do the voices (including the voice of the Book, which may not be your voice exactly, but should be close enough to it that it won't be a strain), and do not be shy. Even at your worst, you're doing better than you would if you didn't do the voices, and kids are a mostly uncritical audience, especially if you do it with confidence. Read it as if you're telling a story. Read it as if you're interested and you care. And, the biggest and most important one, vary the tune. I heard a young writer reading some of his own work in public a few weeks ago, and every sentence had exactly the same tune, the sime rising and falling cadences. They all ended on the same note. The beat that ran through the whole passage did not change from first to last. It was hypnotically dull. Listen to people read who are good at it. BBC Radio 7 and BBC Radio 4 (here's the Radio 4 Readings website)are a great source of an ever-changing series of books and stories, fiction and non-fiction, all read aloud and read aloud well. Listen to the tune, where voices go up or down. Listen to what makes a reader speed up or slow down -- listen to what keeps you interested and where you lose interest. And do it as they do -- change the tune, change the pace, keep interested and it will keep interesting. But mostly my advice is this: just do it. Enthusiasm and willingness to do it counts for most of it, and you learn by doing it and get better from doing it. I've been reading in front of audiences now for almost 20 years. I've got significantly better in that time, mostly because I've done it so much. You learn as you go. You get better as you go. Practice makes if not perfect then at least pretty decent. And that's all. Except to wish Roz Kaveney happy birthday.  Labels: audio books, reading things aloud
Monday, July 13, 20098:25AM - Lose Books, Drink WineA great idea that you should steal. I went to a party chez Jack and Heather. They had provided a big table of books. You could take any of the books you liked. You could bring your own books and...Sunday, July 12, 20096:47PM - Stroke of Genius: Abilities Borne of Brain Damage
Imagine having a stroke, a severe brain injury or a tumor and suddenly waking up one day to find you’ve developed artistic talents to rival Picasso. It sounds impossible, but the brain is a mysterious organ, and sometimes, damage causes it to rewire itself in ways that reveal new talents even in people who could barely doodle a stick figure. From the engineer on disability who became a sought-after digital artist after a stroke to a woman whose dementia spurred remarkable creative output, these 10 artists were all transformed by neurological trauma or disorders. Ken Walters
(images via: The Daily Mail)Ken Walters was hardly the artistic type before suffering a stroke in 2005. The former engineer had been severely injured in a car accident and was left wheelchair-bound and dependent on benefits to get by. But the cerebral hemorrhage that could have made Walters’ life much more difficult came with an unexpected gift in the form of newfound artistic ability and creative drive. Walters began developing digital art, which led to starting his own software company and a lucrative job with EA games at the age of 51. Jim Chambliss
(images via: Sparks of Creativity)In 1998, Jim Chambliss suffered a traumatic brain injury that caused temporolimbic epilepsy (TLE), migraines and temporary cognitive damage. Unable to continue practicing law because of these new challenges, Chambliss became a substitute teacher and one day, while playing with a block of styrofoam, carved a salamander that earned him praise from students and faculty at the high school. Chambliss, who never displayed artistic talents before, discovered that he suddenly had a knack for three dimensional art and went on to earn a Masters in Visual Art from the University of Louisville. He now studies the connections between art, epilepsy and migraines. Alison Silva
(images via: The Daily Mail)Alison Silva has been a painter since childhood, but her work never stood out until after a tumor began affecting her brain. Suddenly Silva’s work was darker, deeper and up to 20 times more valuable. The New Jersey artist found herself faced with an incredibly difficult decision: have the tumor removed, or keep her newfound abilities despite the risk of a serious hemorrhage. Her doctor says that Alison’s condition is dangerous, but not life-threatening, so in spite of migraines, insomnia, hallucinations and distorted vision, Silva chose her art. Alan Brown
(images via: The Daily Mail)When doctors performed brain surgery on Alan Brown after a stroke, they thought they were just saving his life. Little did they know that somehow, in the course of the operation, they did something that would turn Brown into an artist. Prior to the surgery, Brown could barely manage a stick figure, let alone a detailed painting. The father of three was handed a pencil, paper and a photograph of a dog by a nurse while recovering in the hospital and reproduced it down to the slightest detail. He’s now a professional artist with a degree in Fine Arts from Worcester University. Jon Sarkin
(images via: Vanity Fair, Decordova )Jon Sarkin was a chiropractor who liked golf. Then one day, while playing a round with a friend, he burst a blood vessel in his brain. Suddenly, the man whose life had been so socially proper and orderly became a passionate artist, loud and expressive, who has not stopped compulsively creating artwork since the first day he felt the relentless, insistent need to do it. His work blends painting, poetry and song lyrics with cut-out images to create collages that convey a sense of mystery and abandon. Sandy Allen
(images via: Seattle PI)Sandy Allen’s left brain guided her life, from her career in bookkeeping to her medical studies at the University of Washington. Then, part of Allen’s left brain had to be removed along with a golf-ball-sized tumor buried deep in her temporal lobe. That’s when her right brain took over, and art therapy sessions revealed her blooming talent. Allen jokes, “It’s like I’ve had my inhibitions surgically removed.” While she no longer has the language, math and science functions that once seemed to define her, she’s now an artist and has turned her entire home into a studio. Lester Eugene Potts, Jr.
(images via: The Brain Matters)Dr. Daniel C. Potts, a neurologist, witnessed a remarkable transformation in a man who had Alzheimer’s disease and suddenly bloomed into a remarkably talented, acclaimed artist. That man was his father, Lester Eugene Potts Jr. Prior to enrolling in a care facility, Lester Potts had stopped smiling and was unable to perform simple tasks. But an assortment of stimulating activities – including art – brought out a side of him that nobody in his family knew existed. Potts became a nationally recognized artist, creating 75 watercolor paintings – all after his diagnosis. He so inspired his son that the neurologist began writing poetry. Anne Adams
(images via: Now Public)A rare brain disease, Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), slowly transformed a scientist into a prolific artist who produced more than 1,000 paintings. Anne Adams of Vancouver became aware that something was wrong with her in 2000, when she suddenly lost her ability to speak properly or add simple numbers. After that, Anne spent every day from 9 to 5 in her studio. Her paintings are orderly and methodical, a seeming holdover of her former abilities as a scientist. She continued to paint until 2004 when she could no longer hold a brush, and passed away of FTD in 2007. Anton Räderscheidt
(images via: raederscheidt.com)Anton Räderscheidt was already an accomplished artist when he suffered a stroke at the age of 75, with a career spanning several different styles as he escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s, settled in Paris, moved to Switzerland and finally returned to Cologne in 1949. But after the stroke, Räderscheidt had to completely re-learn how to paint. The changes in Räderscheidt were dramatic; he had disturbances in spatial orientation and in his vision and left-sided hemineglect. He was unable to recognize faces – even those of close relatives. That led him on a quest to regain his abilities, and he painted more than 60 self-portraits. By 1974, five of these portraits indicated that his condition had improved, but his style had changed more dramatically than ever. Stephen Wiltshire
(images via: stephenwiltshire.co.uk)Stephen Wiltshire is another example of extraordinary artistic talent coming from abnormalities in the brain, but his neurological condition was present from birth rather than developing later in life. Wiltshire’s autism has been the source of many challenges in his life, but it also gave him an amazing gift: he can draw buildings and landscapes from memory after seeing them just once – he even drew all of central London after viewing it from a helicopter. Wiltshire was mute, communicating only through drawings, until the age of nine, when teachers encouraged him to begin speaking. He has been the subject of many documentaries and was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his services to art. He now has a permanent gallery in the Royal Opera Arcade in London.
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