As I mentioned last week, ImagiCon was my first real convention.  The turnout was disappointing, with high estimates being around a thousand visitors.  The event suffered from disorganization,but while I was there, I got the scoop about the current Birmingham convention scene, and that shed some light on the situation.  Birmingham’s big convention last year, OmegaCon, had around 3000 visitors.  They also went around $60,000 in the red because they bit off more than they could chew.  Consequently, OmegaCon did not return this year.  Around 5 months ago, some people got together and decided that they would do what it took to make sure Birmingham still had a convention this year.

Despite having only 5 months to plan, the staff at Imagicon pulled off an event that I highly enjoyed.  The first thing Friday, I saw one of my old gaming buddies heading in the front door.  We hugged and headed in and were greeted by an impressive Captain Jack Sparrow, who invited us to give blood.  Our first order of business was to find out when Chris would be DMing.  The gaming room was empty, so we wandered around, getting a feel for the layout.  I was thrilled to see an old friend, J.F. Lewis, in the main hall.  He was eating Subway and preparing to sell his newly published vampire novels, Staked and Revamped.  Soon thereafter, Shadowhelm also found me.  I was thrilled, and immediately comfortable, being amongst my people.

There were movies being shown on two screens all day and night.  There were showings of Serenity, Dr. Horrible’s Sing A Long Blog, some MST3K, individual favorite episodes of shows, some horror movies, and some anime.   It was nice to go and just relax in the quiet rooms after running around in circles.  There was 24 hour gaming, too, in theory at least.  The poor turnout meant that the real gaming actually didn’t get going until around noon on Saturday. The dealer’s room was also a bit of a disappointment to me.  I had expectations of anything I could possibly want for a gamer, a SciFi geek, or an anime addict, but mostly there were tee shirts and Star Wars toys. I had been planning on supporting my dice habit, but no dice vendors were to be found. Alas, no cool new dice bag for the hubby, or nifty glittery new GameScience dice for me.

On Saturday, Chris finally did get his game up and running  and settled into some hours of gaming, even introducing a newby to GURPS.  Most of the tables in the gaming room that were filled had people playing 4.0 D&D.  Meanwhile, there were panels on multiple geeky issues, including writing, publishing, paranormal activity, costuming, and hard science.  This is where I personally had the most fun, and I intend to write later on about some of what I learned in various panels.  I won’t overdo my thoughts on those mini-seminars, but they made the whole convention in my opinion.  I definitely remembered how much I enjoy soaking up new information.  Armed with my pretty green journal, I flew from class to class, stopping only to make sure the kids (large and small) were having fun.

Actually, the children’s track was the most sorely lacking area.  My children had a lot of fun, but mostly because they made their own, and I had thought to pack them goody bags to entertain them.  The gaming room being half-populated was a blessing for us, as my two boys were set up in a table by themselves beside Daddy’s GURPS game.  The kids’ track wasn’t entirely neglected, but there were some glaring omissions.  In Atlanta, DragonCon offers daycare for the price of an extra ticket.  That would have been ideal. The McWane Center, just down the street, always makes a presence at any event there might be children in Birmingham, but had no representation at this convention. They would have fit in perfectly, too.  There was a magician who put on a few acts and strolled around the grounds handing out balloon hats and animals, but that was about it, except for a room filled with coloring books and a few tired looking teenagers trying to think of ways to entertain children by themselves.  Sunday was actually the best day for the kid’s track, with a Jedi Academy and jiu jitzu demonstrations, which were incorrectly labeled ninjitzu in the program.  Unfortunately, by Sunday, all the adult attractions had dried up, and only the vendors remained, trying to squeeze the dwindling crowds for every shiny penny they were worth.

All in all, this convention virgin had a wonderful time.  There were definite areas that needed improvements, but I’m willing to cut the staff of ImagiCon some slack.  They only had 5 months to prepare, and apparently a shoe-string budget.  Next year, they have so much to build on and learn from, that I would wholeheartedly recommend people look into attending next year’s ImagiCon.  I already have been brainstorming for ways they could improve, which shows that they sparked some passion in me. I saw so much potential that a little creativity, discipline and organization could have helped, that I’m seriously already looking into ways to participate myself next year.

Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are is my absolute favorite picture book of all time.  I loved it as a child, but as an adult, it’s even better.  Reading this outloud is so much fun!  The language is expressive and beautiful, and of course, nothing beats a story with a wild rumpus in the middle.   I love to get my audience jumping, whooping, hollering and basically on the brink of total bedlam, and then I suddenly become Max again and startle them still by yelling, “NOW STOP!”

Doesn’t that look absolutely magical?  The Wild Things and Max look perfect.  Unlike so many recent kiddy movies, it’s not overloaded with creepy CGI effects to distract from the tale.  The sounds work, too.  Arcade Fire rerecorded that version of “Wake Up” just for the movie.   Most importantly, though, that last little bit of howling sounds exactly like our wild rumpus at home.

Dave Eggers and Spike Jonze cowrote the screenplay.  I’m not familiar with Dave Eggers’ work.  He did write an adult novelization of Sendak’s book, intended to be released at a time coordinated with the film’s opening, to tie in to the hype.  Maurice Sendak himself suggested Eggers write it, after growing close to him while working on the film.  That endorsement satisfies me, and I’ll be looking for the book.

If anyone has the imagination and honesty to do this one right, it’ll be Spike Jonze.  His filmography includes Being John Malkovich.  He’s directed the absolute best music videos ever.   If you can’t remember who he is, he directed the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” and Weezer’s “Buddy Holly.”  Remember Christopher Walkin in Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice”? My personal favorite, though, is Björk’s “It’s Oh So Quiet.”  (Shhhh… shhhh…)   It helps that artists I like tend to gravitate towards Jonze, but on those rare occasions I didn’t like the song, I’d still have to stop and watch a Spike Jonze joint.  He even managed to make a cool Gap ad!

Despite being very leery of any great children’s books being made into film, I’m expecting nothing short of pure genius.  It comes out October 16, 2009.  Let the Wild Rumpus start!

This weekend is Imagicon. I’ve never been to any SciFi (not to be confused with SyFy), Gaming, or Fantasy conventions before. Imagicon is all three.

I was concerned that I wouldn’t find anything to do while Chris plays Dungeon Master to total strangers, but it looks like I’ll actually be strapped for time if I want to see everything.  Happily, there’s even going to be attractions for the kids. They’ll love the Jedi Academy and the Ninjitsu demonstrations.  The Barony of Iron Mountain, which is the local SCA chapter will be doing Drum Circles. There will be Pro Wrestling, Raves and Costume Balls, 24 hour gaming, a blood drive, hard science lectures, music, and an art show.  I don’t recognize the names of any of the “celebrities” on the list, with the exception of The Addam’s Family‘s Cousin Itt. Personally, I’m interested in seeing the goth belly dancing. Call it morbid curiosity. Oh, speaking of that, there’s even a blood drive scheduled!

I’ll be consumed with that for the next few days. I’ve got to get myself in the mindframe for all this much Geek Love. No, I won’t be the one in the gold bikini. I’d still love to know if anyone else is going.

It has been a very busy day, and nearly everything has gone differently than I expected.   Rolling with it really worked out for me today.  A nearby framing store was going out of business, and everything was 90% off.  I got frames for things that have been waiting for over a year to be mounted for super cheap, and a couple of new works to break up the bare walls in my house.  The Feng Shui is all off, but it’s still better than it was.

The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse now overlooks my living room.  Actually, it’s only a nicely matted print, but it warms my heart.  The painting was inspired by Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poem of the same name.  The Lady of Shalott was cursed and imprisoned in her home.  Not even allowed to look out the window, she relied on a mirror for her connection to the outside world and her inspiration for her tapestry.  While she was weaving, the mere reflection of Lancelot tempted her to look directly at the outside world, bringing about her curse.  To read the whole poem, with commentary and an even earlier 1832 version, go here.

But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror’s magic sights,
For often through the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights
And music, went to Camelot;
Or when the Moon was overhead,
Came two young lovers lately wed.
“I am half sick of shadows,” said
The Lady of Shalott.

Springtime has me craving some real dirt time, and I’ve been spending a lot of online time looking at plants and agriculture and gardening news. I’m a city dweller, living in apartments.  Happily, I live right across from the city’s Botanical Gardens, so I have more green in my life than many cityfolk. The Gardens are free, with a donation box out front if you want to contribute.  In the Japanese Garden, the cherry trees are in full lacy, frilly bloom beside the tranquil rock garden and koi pond.  This is my favorite place to do morning yoga or quiet contemplation.

Our legislators have gardening on their agenda, too.  HR 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, was brought to my attention via TennZen’s  informative article about the legislation.  (She also recently wrote a cool post stating eastern redbud pods are edible.  They apparently are very similar to snow peas!)   If this bill passes, federal government would establish a food safety administration that would supercede state authority.  Minimum standards would be enforced for “food establishments,” and violations would cost $1 million per violation, per day.  Washingtonwatch.com has a discussion going, with people pointing out Monsanto’s influence and the implications for organic farmers.   “Food establishment” is actually such vague wording that it could extend all the way to family gardens.   Attacking the backyard garden is hitting below the belt any day, but especially in times of economic hardship.  Here’s hoping this legislation languishes in committee.

I’m aware that pesticides make it possible for farmers to supply the world with nutritious food more efficiently. Without modern crop management, many more people would be starving worldwide.  Still, there are health issues with consuming pesticides, and some produce is more susceptible to contaminated by pesticides than others.  For a general rule of thumb, thick protective skins keep pesticides from absorbing into the vegetable.  For those items that do carry more pesticide exposure risk, I buy organic when I can afford it.

Although some will tell you there is little difference, organic food usually tastes better to my family. Organic produce is often more local, and closer suppliers means that food is not harvested too early and allowed to mature on the shelves. A strawberry picked out of the garden tastes so much more vibrant than a California grown strawberry that has been sitting on a truck for a week. Recently, I’ve been looking at Grow Alabama to supply my family’s veggies, though I haven’t taken the plunge.   Does anyone have any experience with them?  They seem reasonably priced, but it really depends on how much food each plan truly provides.  Foregoing the opportunity to hand select my produce is another drawback.   I’ve been intending to visit the Alabama Farmer’s Market for a while, so that option is open to me as well.

When I do have the opportunity to garden, I try to go organic. I’ve learned all sorts of tricks, like how to avoid hornworms in tomatoes simply by planting marigolds and sage in with them. These tricks also add some variety to the garden’s appeal.  Right now,  I’m limited to the the tiny plot in my front yard, or in pots on the walkways leading into the apartments.  I usually like to plant herbs, but my mint disappeared recently.  I’ve had trouble with my basil disappearing in the past, too, so I’ve got to figure out the safest place for that barest minimum of greenery.  My mint will need to grow strong and healthy now, to last through the summer months.  Mint tea is a requirement for an Alabama summer.

This week, the House of Representatives shocked me. Admittedly, I’m pretty jaded. The whole scandal over AIG bonuses being handed out despite the fact that the government taxpayers were bailing them out didn’t phase me in the least.  In fact, I was amused that people wanted to run the AIG scoundrels out of town on rails, when any parent could tell you that rewarding bad behavior only encourages more bad behavior.

But then, when Congress decided to respond to public outcry, and the bill for a 90% tax on the bonuses recieved by AIG and other bailout companies passed, I was stunned.  My first thought was, Can we be any more corrupt? Obviously we can, and we’re getting there fast. My second thought was remembering that kind of action is forbidden pretty early on in the Constitution, right?

Easy enough to find. From Article 1, Section 9: No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

For a while there, I was having trouble finding other people similarly outraged.  Instead the masses seemed in approval of this, and my head kept spinning. I just KNEW I hadn’t lit up my crackpipe Thursday.  Now, it seems that awareness (and disapproval) is catching up as the ramifications of punitive after-the-fact taxation suddenly dawn on the public.  Jay Leno even mentioned it when he interviewed President Obama, but of course, the President’s comment that his bowling was “like the Special Olympics or something” caught much more attention.

Yesterday, MSNBC asked, “Is that AIG tax constitutional?” Apparently some people think it is, but thankfully the bill has the Senate to travel through first. Let’s hope our Senate behaves more responsibly than the House did.

Update: First thing this morning, I read that President Obama agrees with me about the nature of the bill that passed the House.   I’ll be interested to see the Senate version.

As I’ve already established, Friday is game night at my house, and has been for nearly a decade now. Looking back, I realized that last week’s Friday post wasn’t translated for the non-gamers.  We’re playing Dungeons and Dragons, 3.5 edition (3.5E D&D), though at times we have branched out into other rulesets and systems.  D&D is basically playing pretend with lots of rules, so that everyone can play pretend fairly without spoiling anyone else’s fun.  It’s the boundaries around a game meant to allow a group of people to meet and allow their imaginations to run wild. This also holds true for all pen and paper roleplaying games, like GURPS, Paranoia, or World of Darkness.  The storyteller and arbiter of the game is either called the Dungeon Master (DM), or Games Master (GM).  I tend to use GM, as it’s not specific to one game system.  Player characters are often referred to as PCs.

Today I was gearing up for game night, and read that Wil Wheaton is DMing his son and some friends for the first time in 4E.   4th Edition is the new system, and it has some issues that our group have decided make it a poor choice for us.  I’d really be playing GURPS or 2nd Edition if I had my druthers, but the system should be secondary in a truly good campaign.  When everyone gets all hung up on the rules, I think that’s a sign of either a bad GM or a terrible system.  In this article, Wil explores some thoughts after the first week of the new game. He has a lot of good advice to GMs and players alike.

Everything is important to the PCs. Don’t mention it, don’t put it on the map, don’t even bring it into their minds unless you’re ready for them to do something with it. Think about this from their point of view: they’re trying to build the world in their heads, and you never know what’s going to grab their attention. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s this: they will ignore bookcase you’ve spent a ton of effort stocking with cleverly-titled tomes of great knowledge and a hidden lever that activates the secret door, so they can focus with laser precision on the box you put in the corner, because you had a cool tile with a box on it or something. Of course, it’s not the end of the world when they do that; you can either nudge them toward the bookcase, or simply move the lever next to the box.

Really good, imaginative players will find a way to break out of everything the GM has planned.  They’ll answer a multiple choice question with an essay.  At the same time, clues that should be glaringly obvious will sometimes elude the players.  This does not mean the game is broken.  No one should be penalized simply for taking an unconventional approach.  I really like Wil’s note to either nudge the characters in the right direction or move the clue.  Many times I’ve been in campaigns that have hinged on one clue, with no other way of discovering the secret.  That’s no fun.

Wil also reminds GMs:

Listen to your players, and they will tell you what they want to do. Even if they don’t come out and say it directly, they will reveal a lot to you with their actions, and you can tailor the game a little bit to make them happy.

So many GMs and players don’t effectively do this.  The same roleplaying game can be different things to different people, and everyone involved needs to realize that.  The story needs to include everyone somehow or another.  If the GM sees that half of the group is bored with the storyline, but one is following all the clues and captivated, there’s a  tough balancing act.  A great GM will read his audience and realize when the mystery is just not intriguing, or fight after fight after fight is just unfulfilling when there’s a crucial bit of story development left languishing.   Similarly, players need to be understanding of how difficult that is, and remember that their turn will come around if they’re not actively engaged.

And now, the hordes are starting to arrive.  After reading Wil’s notes, I’m actually considering writing up the campaign to date for my Saturday posts. I’ll talk to the boys tonight and see what they think.   I think it’d be entertaining to read.  It also could serve as a reference for everyone to know what happened after the sugar crash caused the dwarven cleric to fall asleep.  Yeah, I’m looking at you, A.

Most of my friends are gamers, with the majority playing World of Warcraft as their main computer game. Lately, many of them are abandoning the game, bored and unimpressed with the expansion packs, and frustrated at the option of Player vs. Player (PvP) as the only “new” thing to do, since they’ve managed to do all they can think to in Player vs. Environment (PvE). I’ve seen enough to know I’d probably really enjoy WoW for a while, at least. I loved the original Warcraft game (WarCraft: Orcs and Humans), playing it to the point that I swore off of computer games for a few years. I see the appeal of playing the evolution of that game online with hundreds of other people, but I also sympathize with the burnout.

RuneScape is my online game fix. It’s the internet’s biggest free MMO, but amazingly few people have heard of my main time drain, so I thought I’d introduce it.  I play for $5 a month, which is a grandfathered rate from when I started my membership. The monthly subscription has now risen to $5.95 a month.  That price is nice, but free is even cheaper, and Jagex wisely offers a free version of the game.  People can easily try the game out with no obligation. There are an estimated 2000 hours of game play on the free game alone, so it’s not like the typical demo game where you play until you hit a time limit scenario and the marketing for the paid version pops up.  Running around on a Runescape free server is fun, but is admittedly frustrating, as of course much of the expansion of the members world makes the game infinitely more enjoyable.  I became a member within a month after I was introduced to the game in November 2006.

The game is Java based, and runs right from your internet browser.  There is an option to download a client if you are having issues with either your computer or your internet connection slowing you down or lagging you out of the game. Character creation is simple and quick, teaching you the basics of interacting with the world. Characters learn to smith their own weapons and armor, how to fish and chop trees, and other fundamentals of the game. Even having played for this long, I  have yet to run out of goals in any skill.  If I’m in the mood to bash something, I can suit up and go fight monsters, or even go into a PvP world and get my butt handed to me in short order.  I can pit myself against other players in versions of capture the flag, or plant a magic tree.  If I’m bored, there is something new to do.  There are areas of the world I still haven’t explored, and mini-games (games within the game) I haven’t played more than once or twice.

This week Jagex released the 150th quest, and the storyline was entertaining and tied up loose ends in the story of the underground goblins and their struggles against the Humans Against Monsters movement.  In fact, I often wish I had a notebook with the details of the many quests I’ve completed.  There’s an extensive Lores and Histories section on the website where I can read about the rich backstory to the game world.  With a new CEO for Jagex, the direction of the game is more positive by the day.  The Jagex teams are constantly adding new content, and tweaking what already exists.

LadyGlutter is my “main” character, even though I also have a free-to-play platinum blonde that I neglect.  LadyGlutter has red hair and I’ve created her to be an explorer.  Her main achievement is a quest cape, which symbolizes my completion of every quest.  If you ever make a character, look me up.

I was talking to the Spousal Unit about learning to blog today.  He challenged me to write something that really “put myself out there” and not be so safe.  I’ll try to not be so uptight this go round.

Every post I’ve made so far has been a learning process.  I didn’t expect there to be this steep a learning curve in just writing about stuff that interests me. I thought I’d just give myself writing assignments, put myself out there, and get used to writing again. My computer-fu isn’t what it was back when I was in high school, rocking it on my Amiga and looking down my nose at everyone else. Still, I’m not stumbling blindly forward.   If I mess up, there’s a whole web just waiting to help redirect me.  

Blog posting is an entirely different writing process than email or term papers or short stories. I don’t require myself to outline all of my thoughts, main sentence and supporting sentence, paragraph by paragraph. This actually slows me down. Even small posts are taking far more edits than I like, so consequently I’ve been posting in the evenings so that I’m not distracted by munchkins while I’m proofreading.

In these three weeks, I’ve changed how I look at the web.  The Blogosphere has a strange complex intellect of its own.  While I’ve read a few blogs consistently, I find myself surfing for more, commenting more, reading news aggregates, actually spending time on Twitter or Facebook, and suddenly spending a good half my day on the net.  My “Read It Later” bookmark folder is getting ridiculously fat.  I start to write a post and find myself checking a dozen blogs to make sure everyone in the world isn’t blogging it first. It’s similar to being at a party where people are mingling here and there. In those situations, I tend to try to keep my head down, getting my point across as succinctly as possible without drawing undue attention to myself, especially in a crowd. The internet is the largest crowd I’ve ever been in, but I want to share ideas and thoughts, and be a part of the consciousness that exists out here. It seems everywhere I turn, everyone has the same idea on their mind at the same time.  How do I be a unique part of the conversation without regurgitating what everyone else is saying? 

So far I’m having a crazy amount of fun, even if I haven’t figured out where I’m going yet. I’m trying like hell to figure out how to be myself and just say stuff, but sometimes it’s harder than others! I’ve got all manner of distractions in my daily life, and a lack of technical knowledge, and what the hell am I doing out here anyway? I feel all stiff and formal at times, and right now I’m second guessing myself that I’ve gotten too personal.  Can you do that on a blog?  I suppose if I break the boundaries I’ve set for myself, then I can, but I want the readers to know me for me.  Red Chief goes to kindergarten next year, and I want to make some directional changes in my life when that happens.  This was the beginning of that experiment.  Just using the blogging as an excuse to learn more in and of itself is already helping me.  Jumping from place to place, websurfing like I haven’t done since the net was a brand new toy, fiddling with ideas, writing, strengthening relationships, reinforcing who I am and what I’m interested in –it all feels very natural to me, that I’m stretching my boundaries in the right direction. 

How do other people find their rhythm, whether as a bloggers, or with similar hobbies? Does time work it out? Am I thinking too much?

They Might Be Giants has been a staple of mine since high school.  The Tiny Toon Adventures videos of “Istanbul” and “Particle Man” inspired one of my friends to buy the album, and of course he made me a copy.  My dubbed copy of Flood got stuck in the tape deck of my car my senior year, and I’ve never been the same.

The two Johns (Linnell and Flansburgh) have always had a strong work ethic, and have always been giving to their fans.  When the band hit hard times in 1983, rather than allow circumstances to discourage or stall them, they came up with a new way to keep creating music.  For 23 years, Dial-A-Song was an answering machine in Brooklyn that always had a song for the caller.  The slogan, written on the leaf notes of many of their albums, was “free when you call from work.”  I personally tried many times to get through over the years, but always hit a busy signal.   Last year, the band decided that it was time to retire the service.  “Dial-A-Song mainly just died a technological death,” John Linnell said.

The Dial-A-Song idea has evolved into their web presence today.  Instead of only being available to one listener at a time, people everywhere are able to simultaneously hear their free mp3s and podcasts.   I adore their adult music, but right now the real fun is introducing the kids to them, when the whole family watches their Friday Night Video Podcast for Families together.  Everyone can relate to this song in some way or another, right?  The littlest one learns the days of the week, and Dad gets to bitch about going to work.  Win!