Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Proposed Trek--The High Tatras

Yes, that's right. I'm planning yet another trek.

Where? In Poland and Slovakia.

When? Hopefully, Sun 19 Aug - Sun 26 Aug 2012

We plan to visit and meet up with friends in London a few days before while we aclimatize. And perhaps I will finally be able to see St. Paul's Cathedral inside and out. Every time I have been to London, the cathedral has been closed.





From there, it will be a short flight to Krakow, Poland. We will drive to our hotel in Tatranska Lomnica, and begin trekking from there.

This will be a center based trek, meaning that we will sleep in the same place each night, but will drive out to our trail head each day, complete the trail, meet up with transportation, and head back to the hotel for dinner, revelry, and much needed sleep.

On the last day of the trek we will end in Krakow, where we intend to spend a few days touring the city and local area before flying back to the US.

Will we come straight home to the LA area? We are still debating that. It seems that the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) is in Chicago this year. Conveniently at about the same time we would be flying back to the States. Soooo, we just might make a stop there to join in the festivities and visit with friends.

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Saturday, August 20, 2011

And the Hugo winners are...

Hello from Renovation, the World Science Fiction convention in Reno Nevada.

It's 10:38pm and the Hugo Award ceremony has just ended. I am typing this message from the Tuscany ballroom at the Peppermill hotel.

And the winners are...

Forrest J. Ackerman Big Heart Award. -- Gaye Haldeman

John W. Campbell Award -- Lev Grossman

And the Hugo winners are...

Best Fan Artist. -- Brad W. Foster

Best Fan Writer. -- Claire Briarley

Best Fanzine. -- The Drink Tank, edited by Christopher Garcia and James Bacon

Best Professional Artist. -- Shaun Tan

Best Related Work. -- Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration or Dr. who by the Women Who Love It, edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O'Shea

Best Short Story -- For Want of a Nail, by Mary Robinette Kowal

Best Novelette. -- The Emperor of Mars, by Allen M. Steele

Best Novella. -- The Lifecycle of Software Objects, by Ted Chiang

Best Novel. -- Blackout/All Clear, by Connie Willis

Best Semiprozine -- Clarkesworld, edited by Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan, and Sean Wallace. Pod Cast directed by Kate Baker

Best Graphic Story. -- Girl Genious, Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse, written by Phil and Kaja Foglio, colors by Cheyenne Wright, art by Phil Foglio

Best Editor, Short Form. -- Sheila Williams

Best Editor, Long Form. -- Lou Anders

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. -- Doctor Who: The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang, written by Steven Moffat, directed by Toby Haynes

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. -- Inception, written and directed by Christopher Nolan

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Where am I?

Well, today, I am at Renovation, the world science fiction convention.

Currently I am waiting for my parents to arrive. They should be here soon.

So far I haven't seen much of the convention or of the hotel or the people I know. Hopefully, that will change soon.

We were supposed to arrive early yesterday, butour flight got bumped, so we finally arrived at the hotel around midnight last night.

I'm hoping my parents will find something interesting once they arrive.

We arrived at the hotel only to find that the room we had rechecked into, complete with refrigerator and microvwave had been given away to someone else, because they wanted adjoining rooms with another party. So, with no refrigerators or microwaves officially left we had to do some wrangling to get them. And in the process we were upgraded to a suite in the Tuscan tower of the Peppermill hotel.

With luck, my parents will also have been upgraded, since I booked both rooms in my name. My guess is they will still be in the standard Peppermill room.


Wednesday, February 23, 2011

SFWA announces the 2010 Nebula Award Nominees

And an impressive list it is.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Fermilab Holometer

What the heck is this? Read and find out.

If you are a particle physicist, astrophysicist, or both, or just like unusual puzzles that need solving, you might find this interesting. I know I do.

Today I spoke with Dr. Aaron Chou, who is one of the Project Scientists on the Holometer, and a very nice gentleman. As a result, I intend to do further detailed reading into the experiment.

Yes, my geekiness is showing again.

Fermilab Holometer

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

2010 Hugo Awards

By now surely everyone has heard the results, but for those of you who haven't, here they are.

* Best Novel: TIE: The City & The City, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan UK);
The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (Night Shade)

* Best Novella: “Palimpsest”, Charles Stross (Wireless; Ace, Orbit)

* Best Novelette: “The Island”, Peter Watts (The New Space Opera 2; Eos)

* Best Short Story: “Bridesicle”, Will McIntosh (Asimov’s 1/09)

* Best Related Book: This is Me, Jack Vance! (Or, More Properly, This is “I”),
Jack Vance (Subterranean)

* Best Graphic Story: Girl Genius, Volume 9: Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of
the Storm Written by Kaja and Phil Foglio; Art by Phil
Foglio; Colours by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)

* Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Moon Screenplay by Nathan Parker; Story
by Duncan Jones; Directed by Duncan Jones (Liberty Films)

* Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Who: “The Waters of Mars”
Written by Russell T Davies & Phil Ford; Directed by
Graeme Harper (BBC Wales)

* Best Editor Long Form: Patrick Nielsen Hayden

* Best Editor Short Form: Ellen Datlow

* Best Professional Artist: Shaun Tan

* Best Semiprozine: Clarkesworld edited by Neil Clarke, Sean Wallace, & Cheryl
Morgan

* Best Fan Writer: Frederik Pohl

* Best Fanzine: StarShipSofa edited by Tony C. Smith

* Best Fan Artist: Brad W. Foster

And the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (presented by Dell Magazines): Seanan McGuire

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Nebula Award Winners

And the winners are...

Solstice Award--- Tom Doherty (Tor), Terri Windling, Donald A. Wollheim
SFWA Service Award--- Vonda N. McIntyre and Keith Stokes
Author Emeritus--- Neal Barrett, Jr.
Grand Master--- Joe Haldeman
Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy--- The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland by Catherynne M. Valente
Ray Bradbury Award--- District 9 directed by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell

Nebula Awards

Short Story--- Spar by Kij Johnson
Novelette--- Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Priest by Eugie Foster
Novella--- The Women of Nell Gwynne's by Kage Baker
Novel--- The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi


The live feed was not perfect, but it was wonderful to be able to attend virtually.

David Levine did give a very interesting presentation on his two week adventure in the Mars station simulation in Utah.

Nebula Awards webcast

For those of you who might be interessted, the premiere award for the science fiction and fantasy authors will be webcast live for the first time ever tonight at 7pm eastern time (4pm pacific).

I will be watching. How about you?

http://sfwa.org/nebula-awards-live-broadcast/