| Video Killed the Radio Star |
[08 Jul 2009|12:08pm] |
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mood |
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 accomplished |
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music |
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Ali Akbar Khan -- Mother Goddess (Bhairavi) |
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For a limited time, my reading this morning on KFJC is here.
Click on the MP3 after each of the following two time periods (optionally, right-click/control-click to actually download; each file is ca. 64mb):
Ann Arbor 8am to 9am Jul 8 2009 MP3
Ann Arbor 7am to 8am Jul 8 2009 MP3
I come on around halfway through the 7-8 am one.
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| Reading on the Radio |
[05 Jul 2009|12:10pm] |
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mood |
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 bouncy |
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music |
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Ed Miller -- Songs with Robert Burns lyrics |
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I'll be reading some of my fiction and chatting with DJ Ann Arbor on Wednesday morning. W00t!
Date: Wednesday, July 8th
Time: Around 7:20 AM Pacific through around 7:50 AM
Place: KFJC, Foothill College Radio with netcast here
Folks around the world should be able to connect to the netcast. Local Bay Area folks may also be able to tune into 89.7 FM. Space aliens not local on Wednesday morning will have to wait for the radio signal to reach them at the speed of light.
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| Life in the House of the Dead |
[20 Jun 2009|11:37pm] |
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mood |
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 peaceful |
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music |
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Various recordings of Ali Akbar Khan |
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Today I went to Baba's house to pay my respects. His family has been accepting visitors in a way similar to the Jewish custom of sitting shiva, so that part felt very much in keeping with my experience.
In the Indian Muslim tradition, Baba's body is lying shroud-covered, and I spent awhile in the room with him, meditating and reflecting. The room remains as it was while he lived, and it felt quite peaceful being there. It's a lovely room, at once airy and filled with memorabilia, very much in keeping with Baba's personality. In a weird way, his cane leaning by itself against the wall emphasized the fact of his death even more than the presence of his body did.
I also visited with the family for a bit. Over the last couple of days, I've had some great conversations about Khansahib with fellow students, in person and over the phone. Tomorrow I'll head back to Marin for the public memorial service, which I expect will be a very different vibe from the quiet atmosphere of the house.
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| Khansahib |
[19 Jun 2009|03:50pm] |
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mood |
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bereft |
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music |
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Silence |
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My guru-ji, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, has died.
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| LA-Area Reading! |
[16 Jun 2009|11:57am] |
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mood |
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bouncy |
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music |
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Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson -- "Hrothgar Taught You Nothing" |
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A launch party for Cinema Spec just got scheduled for Saturday, August 1st from 5-7 pm at Bookfellows/Mystery and Imagination bookstore in Glendale. Thanks to the generosity of ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ladytiamat, I have crash space and will therefore be one of the authors reading.
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| For Those Who Buy Local |
[11 Jun 2009|06:03pm] |
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mood |
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pleased |
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music |
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Terence McKenna/Stephen Kent -- "Alien Dreamtime" |
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Or for non-Bay-Area folks who like to buy from independent bookstores, Borderlands now has copies of Cinema Spec in stock. W00t! Naturally, I felt compelled to take a picture of it on the new arrivals shelves by the front door. It's keeping good company with Le Guin, Bradbury, and others.
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| Sex and Zombies |
[09 Jun 2009|10:33pm] |
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mood |
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amused |
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music |
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Trout Fishing in America -- "Mine" |
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I went with funcrunch to see the very amusing romp Sex Galaxy as part of the Another Hole in the Head film festival. Ryan Nagata's short film "Marooned?" -- which brilliantly yet lovingly spoofs LARPs -- was screened first. Then we swung by Borderlands in time to hear co-author Seth Grahame-Smith reading from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, as well as the story of how his Jane Austen collaboration came to be.
All that talk of zombies made me hungry, so we got yummy Indian at nearby Aslam's Rasoi.
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| Just Scheduled: A Reading in Berkeley in July! |
[05 Jun 2009|01:05pm] |
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mood |
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accomplished |
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music |
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Preston Reed -- "The Road Less Traveled" |
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In addition to my July 18 reading at Borderlands in the city, I'll be appearing at Dark Carnival in Berkeley on Monday, July 20th.
That evening will be slightly different: while it's another book-launch event for Footprints, it's also an event for the same pubisher's recent Return to Luna anthology. More distinctly, we'll be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing ... to the minute!
Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon at 7:56 pm PDT on July 20, 1969. The Dark Carnival event will run later than their usual readings -- probably 6 - 8 pm -- in order to include that moment's anniversary. I know the owner, Jack, has some cool stuff planned. While it won't be quite as cool as watching the landing live when I was three years old, it'll still be pretty darned cool. Also, I plan to give a small gift to anyone who comes to both events. :-)
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| Polybloggery |
[04 Jun 2009|11:45am] |
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mood |
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 determined |
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music |
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Devo -- "Going Under" |
] |
I've been deep in NRE with Twitter and Facebook of late: partly because nifty people I know have a presence at one or both sites, but also because the twitterzine @thaumatrope recently bought an extremely short story of mine, to be tweeted in November. Also, I've just figured out how to create Facebook events to invite people to my readings. Yay!
But fear not, beloved LJ! I have not left thee. Thou wilt always have a special place in my heart.
Right by the left ventricle, I think....
;-)
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| On California's Prop 8 Ruling (or I Wish, Part 2) |
[27 May 2009|07:03pm] |
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mood |
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disappointed but hopeful |
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music |
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The Byrds -- "Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There is a Season)" |
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Well, the first time a steam engine raced a horse-drawn vehicle, the horse won. Didn't stop the horse from becoming obsolete for transport purposes. (Or, in its time, the steam engine.) The only constant being change, after all.
This too shall pass.
Everything has an appointed season, and there is a time for every matter under heaven.
A time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot that which is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break and a time to build.
A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time of wailing and a time of dancing.
-- Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 3:1-4
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| Cinema Spec is Out & Other Writing News |
[27 May 2009|07:50am] |
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mood |
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ecstatic |
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music |
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Cool stuff this independent coffee house I'm in is playing |
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On Sunday, I had great fun reading from the forthcoming Footprints anthology as part of WisCon. While at WisCon, I got an email from the publisher of the other anthology I'm in this year, saying that Cinema Spec is now out!
You can get it right now from Amazon and Barnes and Noble, currently at 20% off cover price (for however long that lasts).
If you're local to the Bay Area, however, I'd encourage you to check it out at my Footprints reading at Borderlands in July. Borderlands plans to order a few copies in time for that event, and supporting independent bookstores -- like supporting small presses -- is inherently a Good Thing.
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| I Wish |
[06 May 2009|06:12pm] |
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mood |
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 envious |
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music |
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Brain Surgeons -- "Death Valley Nights" |
] |
Oh, to live in a progressive state, like Iowa or Maine!
Ah well. Perhaps someday California will catch up....
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| My First Two Readings |
[22 Apr 2009|05:50pm] |
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mood |
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excited |
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music |
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Queen -- Flash Gordon Soundtrack |
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I've gotten confirmation that I'll be one of the authors reading at WisCon on Sunday, May 24th at 10:00 am. I'll be reading from my story in Footprints as part of a panel of Hadley Rille Books authors. At WisCon I'll be reading from an advance reading copy (ARC), since the book doesn't come out until July.
On Saturday, July 18 at 6:00 pm, I'll be one of the Footprints authors reading from an actual copy at Borderlands in San Francisco, at one of the official book launch events. All the stories in the anthology involve relics of Soviet and/or American moon missions, so the release is timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing.
In early July I'll send out emails, Facebook invites, etc. for the SF reading. I'll also post another entry to LJ. If you want to be on an email list of future readings and musical performances, please drop me a line.
SoCal folks stay tuned for a possible reading of my story in Cinema Spec, currently scheduled for a fall '09 release. That'll depend on (1) a launch event happening, (2) an invitation to participate in same, and (3) my being able to get to LA at the right time. I try not to presume anything in general, but I'm hopeful.
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| Dave Arneson: Life, Death, and the Invention of the Roleplaying Game |
[09 Apr 2009|12:09pm] |
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mood |
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 nostalgic |
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music |
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Blue Öyster Cult -- "Black Blade" |
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I'd always wanted to play in Blackmoor.
Way back in the 1970s, the Judges Guild published a book by Dave Arneson called The First Fantasy Campaign, which detailed his fantasy gaming realm of Blackmoor. It included the original map from the Castle and Crusade Society, of which Arneson and E. Gary Gygax were both members. Gygax went on to center his Greyhawk campaign around one area of that map, but Arneson had already started running a roleplaying campaign in the Blackmoor area.
That's significant. While the pair had been active wargamers, they had yet to coauthor the original Dungeons & Dragons rules. They were running the first two roleplaying campaigns in the world, formulating as they went the rules that would eventually become D&D.
But Dave's campaign came first. He's the one who evolved things from a miniature wargame into a roleplaying game, where players controlled individual characters that could gain experience and grow in power.
Dave had invented the roleplaying game (RPG). The title The First Fantasy Campaign was actually too modest. Blackmoor was the first roleplaying world of any kind, anywhere.
More than three decades later, in late 2006, I finally had an opportunity to play in Blackmoor with Dave Arneson as dungeon master. I played a mage, and we fought against a horde of giant bugs. ( Some details of the event. )
I'm happy to say my mage survived the adventure and grew with her experience. Dave signed my character sheet and added "+1" -- any future time I played in Blackmoor, I would be up a level. Sadly, I would never have another opportunity.
Late Tuesday night, Dave Arneson died of cancer. He was too young, but it can safely be said that he did something extraordinary during the span of his life. He numbers among the few people in the history of civilization who changed the world. He didn't create or destroy an empire. He didn't discover a cure for a deadly disease. He simply invented a new kind of pastime. The thing about this particular pastime is this: I expect it'll be around for the rest of human history in one form or another (tabletop with dice, or online/virtual).
Probably the RPG would have been invented soon anyway; the time was right. But he's the one who did it.
Also, he was a damn fine game master.
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| Once Every 28 Years, Like Clockwork |
[08 Apr 2009|09:07am] |
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mood |
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energetic |
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music |
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The Beatles -- "Here Comes the Sun" |
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This morning, a bunch of South Peninsula congregations got together to celebrate the rarest of Jewish rituals, Birkat Hachamah, the blessing of the sun. I brought my siddur, tefillin, and tallit -- not to mention a towel to protect these things and keep them dry -- but I didn't think to bring a camera. I did, however, bring my iPhone, so some low-light, not-too-terribly-high-resolution pictures are now here. It misted, but it didn't rain, and the sun did eventually come out.
Afterwards, we had bagels and coffee! (The former being the last hurrah before Passover begins at sunset tonight....)
Next time this ritual occurs, it'll be 2037!
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| Remodeling the Kitchen ... Before |
[06 Apr 2009|12:01pm] |
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mood |
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 resigned |
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music |
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Electric Light Orchestra -- "So Serious" |
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We're having our kitchen remodeled. It's the first time I've ever gone through this, and to be fair it's proving minimally disruptive as these things go. We've still got most of the house, access to the microwave, and a working fridge. In theory they'll be done in a week. We're expecting more like two, but who knows? Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised.
The contractors have done remodeling work for Debby's parents twice, and everyone we've talked to who knows them say they're good. So it's a bit a less scary than it might be.
Before they started, I took a few iPhone photos of the "before" look.
I wanted the contractors to install a secret door, preferably one that involved either a rotating fireplace or sliding bookcase, but Debby said it wasn't in the budget.
(At least, that's what I'm saying here....)
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| On Living in California |
[01 Apr 2009|05:18pm] |
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mood |
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amused |
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music |
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KFJC playing operas |
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A few days prior to this week's 4.3-magnitude earthquake, Debby and I were talking about the Big One.
I looked around the kitchen and said, "Nothing helps a house settle like an earthquake."
:-)
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| Some Thoughts on Cross-Cultural Art |
[10 Mar 2009|07:09pm] |
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mood |
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thoughtful |
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music |
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Peter Gabriel -- "Biko" |
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Way back in the early 1990s, I was a graduate student in ethnomusicology. One of the best classes I took was called the Anthropology of World Beat, taught by Steven Feld and then-doctoral student Louise Meintjes. Feld had spent time studying tribal music in Papua New Guinea, and Meintjes had written her master's thesis on Paul Simon's Graceland.
A major focus of the course was on the power dynamic in the world music industry, and how it played out. The course raised many questions that I still think about and try to apply to my own artistic endeavors.
( Some thoughts and questions. )
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| Another Sale |
[22 Feb 2009|07:22pm] |
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mood |
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ebullient |
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music |
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The Beatles -- "Magical Mystery Tour" |
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Last month I wrote about having six stories in circulation. Well, one of them has sold!
For the numerically inclined, that makes it my second sale in the last five months. :-) I got married 5 1/2 months ago, so I'm thinking Debby's been a good influence on me. She's certainly been supportive of my writing.
My story "The Celestial Sea" will be published by Hadley Rille Books in their forthcoming Footprints anthology, edited by Jay Lake and Eric T. Reynolds.
That means I'll be appearing in two small-press anthologies planned for '09. I'll definitely let folks know when they become available.
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| Hug a Galápagos Tortoise Today |
[12 Feb 2009|05:59pm] |
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mood |
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 mischievous |
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music |
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Alistair Lock -- "Theme from the Reimagined Blake's 7" |
] |
Apparently, Charles Darwin was just a few days younger than Poe, having been born 200 years ago today.
Which makes him eligible, I'm sure, for some sort of...
...wait for it...
...Darwin award!
:-D
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