| The coming TVpocalypse |
[Dec. 31st, 2009|12:20 am] |
Pop Quiz, folks. It's January 10th, 2010. Your DVR can only record two simultaneously airing shows. Chuck, How I Met Your Mother, and House are all on at the same time.
So what do you do, huh? What. Do. You. Do? |
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| iPhone 3G overheats after OS 3.1 firmware |
[Sep. 12th, 2009|11:10 pm] |
So I updated my iPhone 3G's firmware to OS 3.1 yesterday. Since then it has overheated twice in my pocket, on which occasions it stays dead until it burns its battery out and then it will start up and be apparently fine after a recharge.
This is, how you say...suboptimal. And because of the damn crack in the screen, if this bricks the damn thing, I doubt I can get them to give me a new one.
If I restore to the backup I made before the firmware upgrade will that revert to the previous version?
ETA: For anyone still curious, the 3.1.2 update fixed this problem, although they refer to it as simply "failure to wake from sleep." My phone has stopped doing this every time I leave it in my pocket, hooray! |
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| Worldcon Panels: Wrapup '09 |
[Aug. 19th, 2009|12:50 am] |
Well, everyone, that's all the panels I have notes from. I do have two panels I took pictures of but didn't take notes of:
The Philosophy of Science (which was well recorded by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kate_nepveu on her journal)
and
SF and Economics (which sadly did not have a plug in the room with which I could revive my finally drained battery. Any pointers to a report of that would be lovely!)
I really, really enjoyed the hell out of this con; my thanks to the participants and panelists and all the volunteers who helped make that happen!
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| Worldcon Panels: Martial Arts Primer for Writers |
[Aug. 19th, 2009|12:07 am] |
Erick R. Buchanan, Sean McMullen, Walter Jon Williams
"A martial arts primer for writers and anyone else; demonstrations of styles and movement; introduction to words and terminology"
( Chi is good, but adrenaline is better! )
This was kind of fun, although I kind of wished WJW would have spoken up more. Erick and Sean clearly had much more experience with lecture-type environments on this topic, though, and seemed to be having a lot of fun with each other. |
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| Worldcon Panels: The Singularity: O RLY? |
[Aug. 18th, 2009|11:43 pm] |
Gregory A. Wilson, Jody Lynn Nye, Paul Chafe, Walter H. Hunt, Peter Watts
“Vernor Vinge first proposed the idea of the Singularity in 1988: more than two decades on, are we measurably closer to it happening? Have the intervening years provided any evidence for or against its likelihood?
[Again, with the picture fail. ETA: Found a great picture from jmcdaid]
( You can't outsource stupidity! )
This was a fun topic and a good panel for it, but it was only an hour and probably would have been better as a full one-and-a-half. Also, the moment where all of these very tech-knowledgeable and tech-capable panelists held up their pens and paper was a little surreal. I seriously avoid the stuff anywhere I can. |
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| Worldcon Panels: “Our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is over.” |
[Aug. 18th, 2009|05:57 pm] |
Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Kij Johnson, John Joseph Adams, Liz Gorinsky, Julie Andrijeski (m)*
“That was The Onion’s headline when George W. Bush took office, and, in many respects, it was an accurate piece of SF-nal prediction. What use has sf made of the George W. Bush presidency, and the War on Terror in particular?”
( Our Time is Coming )
The panelists were quite good, here, but suffered from a dearth of material, I think. There just hasn't been enough time for literary response to the Bush tragedies yet. I was also hoping for something a bit more humorous, given the Onion quote. Ah, well.
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| Worldcon Panels: Writing Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Geographic Terms |
[Aug. 15th, 2009|09:56 am] |
Jenny Rae Rappaport, Kate Nepveu, L. Jagi Lamplighter, Phoebe Wray, Jamie Nesbitt Golden, Tobias Buckell, Michelle Kendall*
“What should writers know when writing about geographic distribution of racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. or other countries? How have discrimination, segregation, migrations, and class contributed to the geographic patterns seen today? If doing near-future or future worldbuilding, what factors should writers consider in their extrapolations?”
( Light, not White )
So, this panel has had something of an aftermath, to understate things rather dramatically. Because of its topicality (and its close relation to the last panel posted doesn't hurt), I posted these notes out of sequence; they otherwise would have been posted on Sunday. For those interested, most of the controversy can be found on the journals of kate_nepveu, karnythia (Michelle, above), arhyalon (Jagi, above), and johncwright (Jagi's husband, apparently).
My comments (in brief, because I'm running late): I am a privileged White* heterosexual male, and I'm well aware that there are advantages to that just walking around that I will never even have a chance to perceive. I kind of hate that, but I know it's real, because I listen to my friends who are POCs, I hear what they say, and I believe them. Even more than that, I listen to my friends of all color and hear the accidentally and incidentally stereotyped and racist things they say without ever meaning to or thinking of themselves as having racist assumptions. I can't judge them, because I know I do it too, and although I try not to I expect I will continue to do so as I find new ones and re-weed pernicious old ones that pop up again. That's the best I know how to do, and it's what I want to encourage others to do, so: look at your assumptions and defaults, think about what you say and do...and then think about it again. And good luck to you.
* Yeah, OK, 1/16th Native American, or something like that; I'm proud of it, but I don't think it's relevant to this discussion
P.S.: This went up originally yesterday evening, but LJ totally munged my concluding words, and I wasn't about to leave it out there without them. |
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| Worldcon Panels: Writing the Other and Other Assumptions |
[Aug. 14th, 2009|05:48 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Samba Chair | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | busy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Beat Oracle | ] |
David Anthony Durham (m), Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Kate Nepveu, Wendy Gay Pearson, Jamie Nesbitt Golden
“Do discussions of Writing the Other reinforce the power dynamics of a genre structured by racial hierarchies? Is the assumption that the Other is 'of colour' coded into all our discussions?”
( Can we make it better here? )
A very interesting panel, touching on a lot of what are current issues with the race discussion today in an approachable way, and yet never feeling like it stumbled into the pitfalls that such discussions often do. For an example of such...see my next post.
Oh, and do check kate_nepveu 's post for links to the things she recommended and quoted. |
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| Worldcon Panels: We are the Knights Who Say f***! |
[Aug. 13th, 2009|05:47 pm] |
David Anthony Durham, Guy Gavriel Kay (m), Marc Gascoigne, Pat Rothfuss, Ellen Kushner*
“Diction in fantasy used to be pretty formal, and, indeed, this can be a problem for the contemporary reader in getting on with The Lord of the Rings. But more recent epic fantasies have had their characters speaking more demotic language (and with a fair bit of Anglo-Saxon thrown in). What are the costs of doing this? Does it really make things easier for readers?"
[Again, with the picture fail! I promise there are more...]
( The Equivalent of Milk-fed Veal )
This panel was excellent. Really first-rate. And it very much made me want to pick up Durham's Acacia.
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| Worldcon Panels: Are We Conscious and Does it Matter? |
[Aug. 12th, 2009|08:28 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Couch of Sloth | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
| [ | music |
| | I Burn - The Toadies | ] |
Daryl Gregory, James Morrow, Kathryn Cramer (m), Peter Watts
“What do we mean by consciousness? Has it become as much of a distraction as wondering whether there is a heaven? Would we act any differently if we didn’t think we were conscious? How important is the concept to fantasy and science fiction?”
[Sorry folks, no picture here, either]
( ANTS, ANTS, ANTS, ANTS... ) ETA: Check out Avram's fantastic sketch notes for this panel! |
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| Worldcon Panels: Just how does Creationist Science Work? |
[Aug. 10th, 2009|06:44 pm] |
Edward James (m), Jay Lake, Leigh Ann, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Paul Chafe, Rev. Randy Smith
“What stories are told in creationist science to explain things like fossils, dinosaurs, astronomy, geology and genetics?” [No picture of this one, sorry!]
( I can turn wine into water...takes about 4 hours! )
No one in this room seems capable of asking a question...giving speeches seems quite within their grasp, though. I wish Teresa had been here, we really could have used her expertise on the creationist movement. |
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| Hugos: How'd I do? |
[Aug. 9th, 2009|11:31 pm] |
Well...better than last year, but not by much.
Best Novel:
I voted for: Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Won: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Which I voted as: 3rd
This, as far as I can tell, is all about accessibility. Stephenson's book is just plain better, but it's not an easy read, especially its beginning. That's a tough pill. Very few people I've talked to here actually read it.
Best Novella:
I voted for: The Tear by Ian MacDonald
Won: The Erdmann Nexus by Nancy Kress
Which I voted as: 2nd
...to be fair, those are the only two I read. But they were both good, really.
Best Novellette:
I voted for: Shoggoths In Bloom by Elizabeth Bear
Won: Shoggoths in Bloom
Yay! Although I probably would have been just as happy for The Gambler to win, frankly, I liked them both very much.
Best Short Story:
I voted for: 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss by Kij Johnson
Won: Exhalation by Ted Chiang
Which I voted as: 2nd
Again, this was a really tough decision for me, but in the end I felt that Johnson was just a bit more original and modern, and that gave it the edge with me.
Best Dramatic Presentation, long form:
I voted for: The Dark Knight
Won: WALL-E
Which I voted as: 3rd
WALL-E had me...for the first half of the movie. Oh well. Can't say this is a surprise...
Best Dramatic Presentation, short form:
I voted for: "Revelations," (Battlestar Galactica)
Won: Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Which I voted as: 4th
I still haven't seen Doc Horrible, actually. I was frankly surprised that the Dr. Who episode "Silence In the Library" didn't win it. The presenter really toyed with the audience, saying "And the winner is...Doctor...
...
Horrible!"
Oh well. They got one right! Yay!
I am eager to get home tomorrow!
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| Worldcon Panels: Let the Guy Scream: Women in Current Media SF/F |
[Aug. 9th, 2009|12:16 pm] |
Heather Urbanski, Odellia Firebird, Trisha Wooldridge, Lenny Bailes
“It’s more than 75 years since Fay Wray screamed her way through “King Kong.” Today’s media SF features tough women who may rescue the guy without sacrificing their own sensibilities. Who are the current heroines and role models? Is there more to be done?” 
( RUBY ROD! )I was starving and had to leave early before my stomache collapsed into a singularity...but also, this panel wasn't really what I was hoping it would be. I can make my own serviceable list of strong female characters, thanks...I'd like some discussion on the topic!
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| Worldcon Panels: Re-reading |
[Aug. 9th, 2009|10:47 am] |
Jo Walton, Kate Nepveu (m), Naomi Libiki, Anne Wynn, Ron Drummond
“There is a school of thought that re-reading is a juvenile habit, something children demand as a way to gain comfort. Yet most fans re-read. All critics do. What is it we gain from re-reading, do some texts bear more re-reading than others? And does this notion of comfort reading have any validity?”
( Storytelling is the only kind of magic there is. )I enjoyed this very much, and Kate did a truly excellent job with the moderation, but right as the panel was ending I realized that the room was about 90% filled with women, and I really wished I'd noticed in time to ask the panelists if they thought there was a gender disparity in re-reading behaviors! Dammit!
See, also, Kate's notes from the panel.
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| Worldcon Panels: What is Consciousness? |
[Aug. 8th, 2009|06:07 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Montreal, Canada | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | chipper | ] |
| [ | music |
| | You Wish - Nightmares on Wax | ] |
Pat Cadigan (m), Kim Binsted, Peter Watts
“Studies of complex chemical systems, AI, neuroscience and MRI are beginning to find answers to this question. What are
the results and what do they mean for our sense of self?” 
( Body Swap Boxing! )
I was concerned at the start of this panel that with just two participants it might seem a bit thin, but they were both excellent speakers and highly knowledgeable and opinionated. This wound up one of the most compelling and interesting panels I've ever attended.
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| Worldcon Panels: I Read The News Today |
[Aug. 8th, 2009|05:53 pm] |
Brad Templeton, Julie C. Andrijeski (m), John Joseph Adams
“How has the war on terror been reflected in onscreen SF? Do those aliens represent al-Qaeda or us? Does SF provide a means to discuss these matters indirectly?” 
( Space Nazis...I mean lizards! )
I felt like this panel just sort of petered out and eventually I stopped taking notes, but it was interesting at the start.
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