It's difficult to blog in days like these

I've been planning to blog about several things these last few days. Things like movies I watched (Collateral and House of Daggers), or Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell being named Time Magazine's Book Of The Year. Maybe even Suprnova.org's mysterious announcement (which probably has to do with eXeem, the non centralized BT alternative they've apparently been working on). I certainly would have whined about losing in the nfl fantasy league semi-finals.

But everything is dwarfed in comparison with the horror in South East Asia. The death toll is growing everyday. Amazon has dedicated its front page to collecting donations for the American Red Cross. The blogging community has been incredible in providing information, first hand reports, a center to find missing loved ones, and ways to help.

And I find myself mostly speechless. With some exceptions, this blog has always been concerned with escapist topics - literature, sports, films, tv, comics. Even when I've talked about politics, it usually wasn't about Israeli politics. Right now, I'm not sure if I can blog about the things that usually concern me. They seem so small, whereas the horror of nature gone mad seems so big.

A Short Film About John Bolton

A Short Film About John Bolton, the DVD of Neil Gaiman's first foray into directing, arrived in the mail today, as part of the first parcel bought with the Amazon gift certificate I got from my friends. The DVD contains a LOT more than the film, and it is the extra material that makes it a must buy for any Gaiman fan. A performance/reading by Gaiman, a "making of" featurette, an interview with The Neil, an audio recordign by Neil. It's a whole bunch of Gaiman related goodness.

The film itself was quite good, funny and creepy. However, I can't really talk about it without spoiling it. There's more to it than appears at first, when it seems to be a fairly run-of-mill documentary about fantasy/horror artist John Bolton and his latest gallery show. It's certainly a recommended short movie, which I hope will be shown at one of the annual Israeli cons. I'm fairly sure Neil will give permission for such a showing, as he's always been very generous with permissions of such sort in the past.

Sin City trailer redux

As expected, it looks even better with a decently sized file from apple's trailer site. Visually, this certainly looks to be the most faithful adaptation of any comic book ever. And as the comics had amazing visuals, this is a very good thing. Hope this gets an Israeli release date soon, as this is definitely one to watch on the big screen.

What suprnova.org's demise may mean

As many of you know, suprnova.org got taken down a few days ago, along with torrentbits.com and tvtorrents.net. I've been a happy user of all three sites for quite some time, as they provided me with the tv shows the Israeli cable and satellite companies haven't bothered to purchase. I have no moral qualms about using bittorrent to download tv shows. We have a full cable subscriptions, with all the trimmings. But Lost, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and Veronica Mars aren't ON any of their stations. And Angel, which is on, is several years behind (obviously, as it got cancelled last year...).

So it was quite distressing to discover that my favorite downloading sources were gone. However, the internet waits for no man, and I found replacements for these sites quite easily. And this thing is FAR from over. Mark Pesce wrote a very good article about what may happen next, in response to RIAA's moronic decision to go after the major BT sites, and exactly how much they may live to regret it.

Link via Napsterization.

The Sin City trailer is out and it is AWESOME

Check it out.

Via every other site.

Some Autistics say: Don't Cure Us

Kathryn Cramer points to a fascinating article in the NY Times about Austistic advocacy groups fighting against attempts to cure Autism. Certainly reminds me of the point I made just the other day about ADHD having both drawbacks and advantages.

One more statement about Chris Weitz...

This time, from someone who has a bigger stake than anyone in the integrity of the film - Philip Pullman. Pullman is much more optimistic about the film than one would expect, and seems to have a great deal of respect for Weitz. While the possibilty (raised by Cheryl Morgan) that he'll end up as dissapointed as Ursula K. Le Guin was about Earthsea is a very real one, at least Pullman has seen script drafts and the like.

China Mieville's Christmass SF story

Mieville's fiction doesn't usually wear it's socialist heart on its sleeve, but I guess when you're writing a Christmass story for the Socialist Review, you kinda have.

Any way, it's a funny, clever story, which pokes fun at all sides of the equation. And it's quite short.

Link via The Mumpsimus.

Smeagol gets diagnosed

In what appears to be a medical journal.

Link via Boing Boing.

Ursula K. Le Guin is NOT happy

After hearing nothing but negative things about it, I haven't watched SciFi channel's production which goes under the name Legend of Earthsea. Now, after reading Le Guin's story about the production, I'm happier than ever that I didn't.

Edit: I've changed the link to the Locus version of the same article.

The Madness of Fantasy Sports

Earlier today, I was reading a post from the Walla Fantasy Sports and Gambling forum to Tammy. Upon hearing it, she quickly pronounced: "he's crazy. This is a married man with a child, why does he behave as if Fantasy sports is that important? Has he no perspective?"

And it's a valid question. In September, during the evening of the first day of Icon, I was at dinner with Guy Gavriel Kay. GGK is one of my favorite authors, a man I was thrilled about meeting. And yet, every ten minutes, I used the internet browser in my cellphone to check how my players were doing in the Fantasy NFL. To my mind, this was justified. My team was 0-3, and a loss would mean kissing hopes of the playoffs goodbye. But looking back, isn't it a bit silly? Here I am, in a restaurant with a great writer, the man who wrote Tigana, and all I can think about is Fantasy NFL? Why do Fantasy sports matter as much as they do?

I think the answer is a combination of factors. It all starts with love of the sport. One gets into fantasy in order to enjoy watching games more. When you have something at stake, you're automatically more interested in games which otherwise might be meaningless. A big part of it is bragging rights. Winning in fantasy means you have outwitted and outlucked your fellow players, and it is a great source of satisfaction. Beyond bragging rights is the desire to test yourself, your savvy, your knowledge, your research skills. Finding a site that has detailed stats other sites just don't have gives one an edge. Reading articles about teams and players allows one to have more insight. The element of luck also draws one in. It's a bit like gambling that way. You can have great players, but an injury or two will destroy your chances. This year, I've had to scramble after losing THREE top receivers in my NFL Fantasy league. Both of my top running backs were slowed down by injuries, and one of them missed several games. Overcoming odds makes one care even more. And even one's downfalls can add to the passion. Last year, my first draft pick in Fantasy NBA, Tracy McGrady, lost some games and was slowed down in others due to injury. My team did not go far without him. So this year, I built what I believe to be a stronger team. Now I want to show the others that I can win in Basketball just as well as I can in Football.

In our leagues, we have another bit of incentive - both leagues have weekly recaps and predictions written by league members, and the NBA league even has power rankings. So, added to everything else is the desire to read on Tuesday or Wednesday that my team demolished the opposition, or overcame odds to win. And winning when the prognosticators predicted a loss is as sweet in fantasy sports as it is in real sports.

So that's why I answered Tammy the way I did: "He has perspective. Fantasy NFL is IMPORTANT." It may be a little bit crazy, but I guess it's my kind of crazy.

Chris Kaman

ESPN Magazine has a fascinating article (paid registration required) about Chris Kaman, who plays center for the LA Clippers, is deeply religious, and suffers from ADHD. Naturally, it's the ADHD part that particularly interested me, as the article talks about both sides of the condition that has plagued me as well. ADHD is a blessing and a curse. In my case, it often makes it very difficult for me to "get into" a book I'm translating. But once I'm "in," the same brain wiring allows me to work extremely fast. And when I'm working super fast, I'm also at my best. Because then I'm in sync with the work, with the book, with its characters and language and world.

This quote, from Kaman's brother Mike, hit particularly close to home: "He was getting in trouble because he couldn't sit still. Working with hyperactive and ADD kids, I know that's their biggest problem. If you overcome that, they're like guided missiles. They chase their dreams with all the passion in the world."

Also of interest was talk of Ritalin killing Kaman's appetite. I've had some rather large weight shifts in my life. I was a fat baby, and at some point in my life, I became very slender. As an adult, I've been overweight, underwight, and overweight again. Could my five years taking Ritalin daily have had something to do with it? I'd guess the answer is yes, but I also know I have a tendency of blaming Ritalin, a drug I KNOW caused me more harm than good.

Kaman sounds a lot more hyperactive than I ever was. The AD (attention deficit) part has always been a bigger problem for me than hyperactivity (combined with the fact that I'm a lazy bastard, which negates a great deal of the hyperactivity). But I'm always happy to read about people who manage to leverage ADHD to their own advantage. Now I only need to find a way to make positive use of my Dyscalculia

108-103

108-103. Chris Cooley, the little known tight end, had 75 yards and gave me 7 fantasy points. The mighty Terrel Owens had 46 yards and a fumble and gave his fantasy owner 2 points.

Fantasy Football can make you crazy, but it can also make you deliriously happy.

Fantasy Football was created to drive people nuts!

So it's the last week of my league's regular season. After an up and down season, my team has finished strong. However, due to the "down" part of the season, I need to have several things fall into place to win.

First of all, I have to win. I'm playing against the team that has been the second best in the league this year. So I knew winning would be tough.

Next, at least one of three different teams had to lose. Any one would do.

As of now, it seems all three are losing. One, in fact, has already lost (all players from both teams played in the noon and afternoon games, so it's a done deal).

In my game, it's a tie. 101-101. After a nerve racking evening and night of following four different fantasy games, it's down to 3 players. 1 on my opponent's team, 2 on mine. That sound pretty good. However, the one player my opponent has left is Terrel Owens, the best wide receiver in football this year. I have Chris Cooley, a tight end I only picked up from free agency a few days ago, and Drew Bennet, a nice, dependable, middle-of-the-road receiver. Bennet has had a couple of monster games this year, and Owens hasn't racked up the stats in every single game, so a win is certainly possible. But with Owens and Cooley playing the Sunday night game, and Bennet playing on Monday night, the fate of my season is up in the air.

If I advance, I have a shot (and as the defending champ, and winner of two of the last three seasons, this is quite important to me). If I lose, the season's over, and it's time to concentrate on Fantasy Basketball...

This is beyond pathetic

When Chris Weitz (co-director of American Pie, and writer of Nutty Professor 2) was named director of the film adaptation of His Dark Materials, not many were thrilled. When he announced that he's scrapping the existing script, written by Tom Freakin' Stoppard, and writing his own, many were horrified. Now, he's announced that he will be cutting away all referrences to the Church and God. The reason? The studio's fear of the American Christian Right.

His Dark Materials was written, consciously, as the "Anti-Narnia," a fantasy series to counter C.S Lewis' thinly veiled ode to Christ and the Church. The Church is, in many respects, the true villain of the series.

New Line, a company which earned miles and miles of credit with the LoTR trilogy, is quickly burning that credit away.

As Cheryl Morgan noted, with referrences to the Church cut out, what will be left? A bunch of kids with pet animals?

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, midnight has come and gone, so I'm officially 33. I love birthdays, usually. Love the gifts, love the attention, love the whole thing.

But 33 is a bit of an awkward age, isn't it? I'm probably out of my early thirties and onto my mid thirties, and I can't say I'm happy about that. Maybe that's why we got a new drier and I got a new desk.

If I were a Christian, being the same age Jesus was when he died would have probably been meaningful. But I'm not. So... not so much

In any case, Happy Birthday To ME!

Warning: Desks in the shop may be larger than they appear...

So Tammy and I went to Ace yesterday to get my birthday gift (the day itself is on the 7th, but we couldn't get away during the week). There was one desk we both liked before. It was big, but the whole point was to get me a bigger desk, as I spend half my life at the desk.

Getting it home was a hassle, and we had to call in Tammy's brother in law, with his larger car (and larger muscles), but I figured putting it in place wouldn't be so hard. I've assembled cabinets and desks and chairs before, and I'm pretty good at it.

But we didn't figure on one thing - a desk that looks large in a huge store will look a LOT bigger at home. The damn thing is a monstrosity. It seems to take up most of the room, and I haven't even installed the shelves yet. It's not a bad desk. Heavy MDF, lots of space. But it makes out fairly home small office space look tiny.

I'm not sorry yet we bought the thing. I need to install the rest of it and use it for a while. Maybe it will make life better and more organized (and the gods know I need the help). But I do know that if we'd had an inkling of how huge it would be at home, we would have gone for a smaller desk.

Handling The Neil

Anne Murphy has been Neil Gaiman's handler at several conventions, and provides a guide for Neil-handling. As I've done author handling for the last two Icons (OSC and GGK), and certainly hope to do it on 2006, when Gaiman is due to be in Israel, I found this extremely useful. A lot of it is useful for handling most popular authors, and we've learned a lot of the general stuff in the last two cons, but the specifics are useful. And it's good to have them in one place.

As some of you know, Tim Powers will be Icon's GoH next year. I hope to be one of his handlers for that (we use multiple handlers, for several reasons, including complementary skill sets, and the fact that some of us - myself included - are also on the schedule as speakers and panelists), so the I'll keep everything Anne wrote in mind for that as well (while making the appropriate adjustments for the fact that Neil is Neil and Tim is Tim).

This, by the way, is also your first bit of really early Icon 2005 promo work. It'll be great. Tim Powers is The Nicest Man On Earth, as well as an excellent author. He's also got a reputation (endorsed by both Card and Kay) as a great con GoH. Icon has been growing every year for several years now. It's a great con, with lots of stuff to see, lots of people to meet, and lots of swag to buy.

And speaking of Israeli cons, Fantasy.Con 2005 is getting closer. This year, after running simultaneously for a few years, Fantasy.Con and Stardust are merging into one convention, which should become our second BIG con.

Six minute promo for LoTR: RoTK Extended dvd

I was going to buy the extended version dvd anyway. I have the extended versions of the first two movies. But if I wasn't going to buy it, this would have probably swayed me. I feel the extended cuts of FoTR and TTT are far better movies than the theatrical cuts, especially TTT. It looks like this will also be the case with RoTK. Only two weeks to go now. Can't wait.

China Mieville tells The Guardian what he knows

I was going to go with another quote for the teaser, but this one seems appropriate for some of the Israeli readers: "I don't judge fiction writers by their politics. Jeffrey Archer is scum, he is also a shit writer, Louis-Ferdinand Céline was scum, but a superb writer."

Again, link via Bookslut. I sure am glad I added her rss feed to my reader.

Nick Hornby interviews Sarah Vowell

Sarah Vowell, who I've never heard of before, is a non-fiction author and radio personality. She also plays Violet in the new Pixar film, The Incredibles.

This is a delightful interview, which makes me think I should read some of her stuff. Favorite quote: "The nice thing about President Garfield is that people are over his death."

Link via bookslut

Superman: Secret Identity

Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen's 's Superman: Secret Identity is coming out in trade paperback. The premise is simple: In our world, a young man named Clark Kent (his parents thought it would be funny) suddenly gains Superman's powers.

It's a beautiful story. Stuart Immonen's art is terrific, and Kurt Busiek's writing is sharp, smart, funny, touching. It is a truly fresh take on a subject that often seems to have beaten to death.

Even if you don't read comics. Even if you do read comics but don't usually read Superhero comics. Even if you hate Superman. Buy it.(the link is to Amazon.uk, where it's significantly cheaper. If you're already getting something from Amazon.com, you can use this link) Read it. Come back and thank me. I'll be here.

Disfunctional relationships on Amazing Race

The TV Gal rightly smacks down The Amazing Race for putting obnoxiously disfunctional relationships on the screen. This could have been a great season of TAR. There's some strong competitors, some decent people, some connivers. The usual mix. But Jonathan and Victoria are just painful to watch. This is an abusive relationship. If I had friends like these (well, a friend like Victoria, who may be a decent human being somewhere under the fatigue of dealing with her asshole of a husband), I'd try to avoid social gatherings with both of them, just so I wouldn't have to see a relationship like that play out. Why do I need to see it on TV? And on a show that, historically, has not been a festering puddle of evil like most of the reality tv shows on Fox?

Last year, Colin was annoying. But at least he was a terrific competitor. I would complain about him regularly to Tammy, but he wasn't painful to watch.

I also agree with TV Gal that what makes it more painful to watch is knowing these people are actually married. These aren't two people randomly thrown together for a tv show. When the game ends, they actually have to go home together (hopefully, to a divorce lawyer).

This has been a very weak season for competition-type reality shows. Apprentice is much weaker than the first season. Survivor is having a weak season, which only really came alive this week (maybe predictable, after last season's tour de force). Benefactor was a flop. Amazing Race will suffer until Jonathan and Victoria are eliminated.

Speaking of Survivor... does anyone from this show make it to the next All Stars? Maybe Amy. Maybe. That's not a testament to a strong season.

Fun new Cory Doctorow story online

Cory Doctorow, co-editor of Boing Boing, Electronic rights advocate, and, of course, SF writer, has a really cool new story in Salon called Anda's Game. Clever, socially conscious SF about gaming, with a nod and a wink to Ender's Game. Doctorow is one of my favorite writers online, and his fiction is as sharp as his non-fiction.

Worldcon reminder

Next Tuesday is the last day before prices go up. A look at the current membership at Interaction's website reveals that no new Israelis have signed up since the five who registered months ago. Next Wednesday, prices go up by $25. Interaction has an installment plan, so that if you register in the next six days, you pay $45 now, followed by two quarterly payments of $75 and $50.

I wouldn't be harping on about this if it weren't for the fact that several Israeli fans have said they were planning to go. Now is the time to register people. If you need an incentive, I'll mention that amongst the regsitered, one can find the following attending members: David Brin, George RR Martin, Terry Pratchett, Robin Hobb, Larry Niven, Connie Willis, Michael Swanwick, Alastair Reynolds, CJ Cherryh... You can check the current membership list and see if your favorite author is attending. And, of course, more will join. Most of the Hugo noms usually attend, as well.

It should be a great worldcon, and it'll be several years before a worldcon is this close to Israel. So if you're free next August, why not go?

American Gods for highschool kids

Matthew Cheney, one of the finest bloggers on fantastic fiction, teaches 11th graders Literature. This year, he decided to make them read Neil Gaiman's American Gods. He blogs about the (mostly positive) results.

I was pretty surprised to read that American Gods is considered difficult reading for 17 year olds. Much of the literature I read in lit class was considerably harder, and I think it would be harder even if I wasn't used to reading fantastic fiction. Are Israeli readers reading matreial that's so far advanced compared to what Americans do, or is that the case with Israeli highschools as well nowadays? I wonder.

Fallen Angel TPB - second printing

Peter David reports that the first (and, thus far, only) collection of his ongoing series Fallen Angel is going back to press for a second printing. This is great news for a terrific title that's has been fighting off cancellation since the first issue, and was recently approved for issues 19 and 20. If you like good, smart comics, on the border of superhero fiction, but not quite there, and with a strong female protagonist, this book is highly recommended. Also, by buying it, you help keep it alive, so I can have more issues.

Terrific article about creative property in New Yorker

Malcolm Gladwell writes about plagiarism, copyright, art, and ethics, in a terrific and thought provoking piece. Read it.

Link via Will Shetterly, at it's all one thing. And in the above paragraph I stole some of his words and changed the order.

Farewell, Winamp (for now?)

For a while now, it has seemed that Winamp, the extremely popular and much beloved mp3 player, is close to it's last days. AOL has been firing people in Nullsoft, and others have quit. Now, Nullsoft release Winamp 5.06, calling it the "Final Edition (for now)".

I've been using Winamp less and less. ITunes and the vast improvements in Windows Media Player 10 have made it less attractive. Still, it may be the death of winamp, and it joines Netscape on the pile of things that used to be major parts of my computer experience before AOL bought them.

Fafblog Review of Books

Fafblog (which you should all be reading, btw) makes fun of Tom Wolfe for his recent book, which is almost too easy a target these days. But at the end, he recommends the book which currently ranks as the top novel-I-wish-another-publisher-hadn't-purchased-for-publication-in-Hebrew-so -I-could-do-it, even thoush I haven't read it yet - Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell.

BugMeNot plugin update

A few days ago, in the comments to my post about Firefox 1.0, I mentioned that on of my favorite Firefox plugins is BugMeNot, which uses BugMeNot's terrific (and ever updating) databased of sites that require annoying free registration, and allows the user to login nearly automatically. Now, it's got a new version that works with Firefox 1.0. Go get it.

Disney buys Crossgen

Heidi McDonald's The Beat has all the details about Disney's purchase of Crossgen, the little comics company that couldn't.

I'm especially thrilled about the prospects of Abadazad making a comeback. Not only is it extremely Disney friendly (all ages, no "adult" language) it's also a terrific book, telling a timeless fantasy story with humor, action, and emotion.

A bit more about Tammy's blog

Tammy wrote several posts in her new blog. Two of which relate to major issues in our relationship. The issues are marriage and and children. Interestingly, the post about marriage, in which she explained why she's opposed to the institution, received mostly positive feedback, whereas the post about not wanting to have children aroused mounds of anger and bile.

I say "interestingly" because in our household, it's the marriage thing that's controversial. I want to get married. I believe in the institution of marriage, and I love weddings. It's not a deal breaker, or we wouldn't still be together, but it's an issue.

Children, however, is something we agree on. Our reasons are different, but the bottom line is the same - while we both adore children, and love our nephews dearly, we are not interested in having any. While I have received some negative comments about this, most of our friends and family understand our decision. Apart from the occasional "but you'd make such great parents," this isn't a point of contention in our enviorment. That's why I was surprised to see Tammy's post, which certainly did not call for a ban on having children, or criticize those who choose to do so, receive such a negative response.

Tammy's blog

My beloved girlfriend and life partner, Tammy Ninyo, loves to rant. She does it at length, and she does it eloquently, and she does it on a variety of topics. She's also frequently funny (in the intentional humor category) when she rants. Until now, she mostly ranted at me and at a few of her close friends. Now, she has a blog in the distinguished Notes blog portal, where she rants in public. If you read Hebrew, you should check it out.

REALLY short interview

I know I just posted a link to an interview with Nick Mamatas last week, but this one is very short, and quite funny in an unintentional way (unintentional by the interviewer, and I think Mamatas was going more for snarky than for the funny.)

Gmail for your desktop client

This is good news. Blogger will be adding POP3 access to Gmail within the next 2 weeks. Frankly, I'm not sure I'd use it, or if I will, I'll probably leave copies of the messages in the server. After my last two HD crashes, I've grown quite fond of the idea of having Gmail hold some of my more important emails. But it'll be nice to be able to get the gmail emails in my inbox alongside emails sent to my other three adresses.

Firefox hits 1.0

A few years ago, I switched from Netscape to Internet Explorer. I wasn't thrilled about doing it, because I disliked a lot of things about IE, and knew that a single browser world will not lead to better browsing. But Netscape's browser had become a bloated piece of software, and IE boasted much better support for Hebrew.

A few months back, when IE was giving me some trouble, I tried Mozilla Firefox, which was in beta at the time. And it was a whole new world. Hebrew support was fine, it was a much lighter software, and I completely fell in love with tabbed browsing. Some Israeli sites don't support it well at all, so I still have Explorer for those. But overall, it's been a major improvement in my browsing experience. Some of the third party extensions for Firefox are absolutely brilliant as well.

And today, Firefox officially grows up. It's out of beta and in official release. If you like surfing the web, you should try it. It's a safer browser, a lighter browser, and a better browser.

Strongbad on DVD

A little something for my friends who are huge fans of Homestarrunner's Strongbad and his email replies. The first 100 email replies, all in viciously funny animation, are coming out on DVD.

Mark Cuban - fined for blogging

Well, this would be funny if it wasn't pathetic. Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, wrote a blog post criticizing the league for having the league's opening night on election night. And got fined.

I know Cuban can afford this fine. The NBA can fine him every day and he'd still be able to afford it. But reacting to legitimate criticism (with which I agree, btw), expressed in what is essentially a private forum, with a fine, is just silly. And as Cuban suggests, it makes the NBA seem weaker, not stronger.

There's a political rant waiting to be written about this, about how the administration's unwillingness to see criticism as legitimate fosters this kind of behavior in corporate America. I just don't have the stomach to write it right now.

Mamatas justifies himself to VanderMeer

Nick Mamatas is one of my favorite bloggers (or livejournalists as the case may be), and he's written one of the most intriguing genre books in recent memory, Move Under Ground. Jeff VanerMeer is one of the best and most interesting writers of fantastic fiction in recent years, and a fine blogger in his own right. Now, VanderMeer hosts Mamatas in a short, but extremely entertaining interview about his book.

Tomorrow is November 4th

Nine years ago, on November 4th 1995, I wasn't at the big peace rally at the square. I was standing behind the bar in The Smoking Dog, the bar I worked at, which was also my favorite bar. It was the Dog's closing night. The place had been bought about a year previously by two partners who managed to bungle things up so much that they lost a sizable portion of the clientele, so they decided to close the place with a big blow out party, which would help recoup some of their losses. They thought the night of the big rally would be an excellent choice, as masses of people would be in a great mood and up for one last drink fest at the Dog.

Obviously, that plan didn't really pan out. I remember someone walking in and shouting "they shot Rabin" and walking out. Quickly, more sources confimred it, and the big bash became a small wake. I was numb. I never liked Rabin. I had protested some of his previous actions, such as the deportation of 400 Hamas leaders to Lebanon. But in recent months, I had began to appreciate that the man was overgoing a profound change. He had realized that it was time for peace. I was at the rally before that last one, and it was a joyous occasion. It was strange to finally be in a rally FOR something, rather than against, and it was wonderful. There was an optimism which this country had not experienced for decades, and hasn't really experienced since.

Sure, some people were protesting against Rabin and his moves for peace with Syria and the Palestinians, but they were clearly in the minority. They were calling Rabin a traitor and a Nazi and many other things, but that didn't really scare us. They were just proving themselves to be the lunatic fringe we've always known they were.

And then came the rally I didn't attend, and we learned what history has already proven many times before - that the lunatic fringe can and will change history with a gun, or a sword or a knife. And Peres lost the next elections, and optimism was lost. For my generation, November 4th is the most infamous of dates, the most bitter of reminders, and as long as the job Rabin started isn't finished, it shall remain so.

Now, another Prime Minister is trying to do something that should have been done long ago - pull this country out of Gaza. 9 years ago, he was a leader of those who called Rabin a traitor. Now, the lunatic fringe is calling him a traitor. And it may yet end behind the barrel of a gun.

But for me, despite its bitterness, November 4th is a also sweet. Five years ago, on November 4th, I met Tammy, who has been my girlfriend, and is now my partnet in life.

It's been a hard five years. We've had the kind of trials and tribulations most couples have, plus some trials most people are fortunate enough not to experience. But we've overcome those. We live in our own apartment, and we pay the mortgage, and we work (and both continue to make strides in our work) and meet our friends. We live, and we still have hope. And that's a victory in and of itself.

And it's been a hard decade. for this country. But the most notorious figure in the country's right wing may be leading the country out of Gaza. There's still hope. And that, too, is a victory.

As I read blogs on the web today, many staunch Democrats are despairing. I can understand that, and I can empathize with that. But I say to them: Don't. The American nation has rebounded from reelecting Nixon and Reagen. It will rebound from reelecting your current piss-poor excuse for a president.

ps. I wrote this 4 hours ago, but Blogger has been frelled today.

Byron Leftwich redux

Inbetween checking out the exit polls that are leaking all over the web (and look quite positive for Kerry suporters), I should note that Byron Leftwich, my fantasy team's starting QB, about whom I raved just last week, is injured, possibly out for the season. I'm trying to trade for a QB to replace him, but this is a serious hurdle for my team's chances at a repeat as fantasy champs.

Scratch proof CDs!

Earlier today, I was talking with my sister's husband about digital vs. non digital cameras. One of his points in favor of non digital was that the CDs you store the digital pictures on get scratched and degrade.

Wish I'd seen this Endagdet post earlier, so I could tell him all about the new polymer coating for LCD screens and CDs and DVDs. Apparently, the thing protects the surface against just about anything. Hope this thing is in mass use soon.

Daily Show Election blog

If you're an Israeli staying up for election results (because you're a political junkie like me who NEEDS to know), you can entertain yourself throughout the night by periodically checking The Daily Show's Election Day Blog.

Giblets wins!

All hail President Giblets!

I've got my family to feed

I've been a Latrell Sprewell fan for years, ever since he came to the Knicks. He's always been the kind of player who lays it all on the line, and while his mouth (not to mention his hands around his coach's throat, though that was years ago, in a very different situation) has gotten him in trouble, I've always thought his heart was in the right place.

But in a recent interview with the St. Paul Pioneer Press, he said something that really, really, really annoyed me. When talking about his reason for refusing to sign the contract extension he's been offered, he said: "I've got my family to feed."

Sprewell's current team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, offered him a 3 year extension for $27 million. Spree is 34, and his abilities are not what they once were. Also, he's on the last year of a huge contract. He's going to make over $14 million this year, and he's been making this kind of money for years. The guy is a millionaire many times over. He'll make more money this year than most people make in their entire lives. And he's talking about feeding his family? Man, you're family's taken care of. They're good.

On top of this, Spree has always struck me as the kind of guy who cares about winning more than anything. In the last game of the 1999 finals, he was the only Knick who really came to play, and at one point, it looked like he may win the game on his own. Now, in the twilight of his career, he's playing on a team with a legitimate chance at a championship. He's playing with Kevin Garnett, the best player in the league. And he's being offered what looks to me like a fair deal. And this man, in this situation, says: "Why would I want to help them win a title? They're not doing anything for me." Aren't YOU supposed to want a title? Isn't that why you play the damn games? To get a shot at the title?

I've been a Sprewell defender and a Sprewell apologist. I've gone to great lengths to explain to friends that he has been misrepresented in the press, misunderstood, vilified. But now, I only have this to say:

Fuck you, Spree. Fuck you for spitting on the sport that made you a millionaire. I hope you get traded to the Clippers.

Well, ok, if you say so...

Frankly, the result may have been different is there were better/more questions and possible answers. Still, it's nice, I guess (even though "pundit" and "blogger" add up to a certain blog I don't read unless another blogger I trust links to it with an interesting teaser.)

Also... "appreciated by many"? Dudes, I read my traffic data, and a few dozen people a day ain't "many."

You Are a Pundit Blogger!

Your blog is smart, insightful, and always a quality read. Truly appreciated by many, surpassed by only a few.

What kind of blogger are you?

The real Slim Shady stands up

I know every other blogger has blogged about Eminem's Mosh, but it looks like a nice bandwagon, so I'll hop on.

A few years ago, Eminem released "The Real Slim Shady", in which he described himself in the following lines:

"And there's a million of us just like me
who cuss like me; who just don't give a fuck like me"

and

"And every single person is a Slim Shady lurkin
He could be workin at Burger King, spittin on your onion rings
Or in the parkin lot, circling
Screaming "I don't give a fuck!"
with his windows down and his system up"

And now, thanks to George W. Bush, the REAL Slim Shady stands up. He stands up on SNL holding a sign that says "VOTE", and he stands up to deliver these lines:

"Imagine it pouring, it's raining down on us
Mosh pits outside the oval office
Someone's tryina tell us something,
Maybe this is god just sayin' we're responsible
For this monster, this coward,
That we have empowered"

This is no longer the guy who didn't give a fuck, the guy who expressed his anger by rolling the windows up and turning on the volume. This is a guy who stars in a video in which a revolutonary army is assembled by the disenfranchised, and goes to war in the voting booth. Eminem is one of the most popular artists in America today, and by his decision to participate in the civic discourse, he becomes one of the most important artists in America.

If you don't like your media streamed, here's a direct link to the video on GNN, and here's a torrent link.

My prediction

I haven't blogged a lot about the American elections, but I have been following the campaigns VERY closely. So here's my prediction:

Popular Vote:
Kerry: 53
Bush: 46
Nader: 1

Electoral Vote:
Kerry: 300
Bush: 238

I'll throw in a much less informed prediction about the Senate and House races: Democrats take the Senate, while the Republicans retain control of the House, but by a smaller margin.

I'm an optimist, and this prediction certainly reflects that. But I believe the undecided will break for Kerry, and I believe there will be a very large turnout, with many new voters, most of whom will vote for Kerry. I think Kerry is going to win both Florida AND Ohio.

As I've said, I'm an optimist. But I also thought I was optimistic when I predicted the Pistons will in 6 games in the NBA finals, when most analists thought the Lakers will win in either 6 or 5. As you'll recall, the Pistons won it in 5.

My NBA Fantasy league draft

Well, the NBA season is about to begin, so we had our annual fantasy league draft this Saturday. This our first year as a keeper league, meaning we'll be able to keep 2 or 3 players from our lineups next season. So younger guys are more valueable than guys in the twilight of their career, even if they still produce well right now.

I was drafting 8th, so I figured I'd be able to land Andrei Kirilenko in the first round. I was rather shocked to see Tracy McGrady go undrafted, and quickly grabbed him instead. T-Mac is one the league's two best guards, so I'm elated with this pick. I think the move to Houston, an actual good team (something T-Mac hasn't experienced yet in the L), will be very good for him, as defenses won't be able to focus on him nearly as much. T-Mac was very good for my team last year, and getting him was a great start. AK dropped all the way to 13, where he was snapped up by my good friend G.

Next round, I was even more surprised to see Shawn Marion available at the 21st overall pick. Marion was ranked in the top 10 in many predraft rankings, and top 15 in just about all of them. Phoenix is a team with many scorers, so some thought his value will be diluted. I think he's the MAN there, and will remain the leading scorer and a top rebounder.

By the time my pick in the third round arrived, I was in shock to see Peja Stojakovic still around at the 36st pick. Peja was a top 20 player last year, and with new scoring rules in our league favoring scorers and passers more than ever, he'll be a great player this year. Despite the return to active duty of Chris Webber at Sacramento, I figure he'll still be the leading scorer, and may have better shooting percentage. So I had 3 of the league's top 20 players with my first three picks, which made me a very happy camper.

Round 4 was my first big gamble, as I picked second year player Chris Bosh. Bosh was a very nice player as a rookie, and I believe he'll get better this year. He's also a center, and good centers are VERY rare. So I gambled.

In the 5th round, I picked up Tony Parker, a super talented player, who tends to have ups and downs. I think this will be a good year for young Parker, and that he'll be a very good second guard for me. Some disagree and call this a gamble as well.

In round 6, I really started to roll the dice, when I picked Shareef Abdur-Raheem. Shareef is a very talented player who usually has great stats, but he was traded to Portland, where he plays behind Zach Randolph, and gets less minutes. If he stays in Portland, this wasn't a very good pick. However, there are very strong rumors that he's getting traded to the Nets, who have NO power forward. If that happens, he becomes a 2nd-3rd round type player, and my team becomes a monster and a top contender.

I went conservative in round 7, and picked the best available player in Michael Finley. Not as good as he used to be, but still a very solid player, who rounds up my top seven (we start 7 players every week).

Round 8 was my round to gamble again, as I picked Jeff McInnis. McInnis is a bit of a headcase, and has been very unstable in his production. But now he's the starting point guard for Cleveland, where he gets to rack up assists passing to LeBron James. I think he'll be solid.

In round 9, I finally got another of my guys from last year, the solid if unspectacular Jim Jackson, who this year will be T-Mac's teammate in Houston as well as on my team. It's considered advisable to have as few players as possible from the same team on your fantasy team, but I made an exception for Jackson, who I really like.

The last three rounds were all about gambling. Melvin Ely, my pick in round 10, is playing in the expansion team, Bobcats, and someone has to grab rebounds on that talent depraved team. Plus, he's a center, and I needed another one. Luol Deng, who I picked up in round 11 is an extremely athletic rookie in Chicago, where he'll be starting. And Eric Williams seems like a nice guy, and the Nets don't have that many players this year. Frankly, he isn't likely to stay on my roster long, and will probably be replaced by some undrafted player or by someone else's castoff.

This draft was often frustrating, as some players drafted very well, and were constantly drafting the guys I was going to get. But overall, I'm happy. My top guys are great and my gambles have potential. This is going to be a fun year.

Farscape

I was forced to watch Farscape.

A couple of years ago, I decided to give Farscape a try. After four episodes, I stopped. It just didn't seem to be very good. The production values were crappy, the latex makeup was annoying, and the guy who appeared to be the lead villain... well, he sucked.

Fast forward two years later, and one of my best friends got hooked on the show when it was aired over the summer. Now this is a friend who has read books, watched television shows, and used software, all based on my recommendations. If I said "you have to try this," she did. So when she said I had to watch Farscape, I resisted, but eventually relented. I promised to watch until the seventh episode of the second season. If I wasn't hooked by then, she said, I could stop.

I've just finished watching Farscape: The Peacekeepers War mini-series, which follows the regular series. I was hooked long before episode seven of year two.

Farscape follows in the grand tradition of Babylon 5 and Buffy, in that it has a fairly crappy first season, with some bright spots, and then takes off in the second, and suddenly you're watching a really, really good show. In fact, Farscape takes off before the end of Season 1.

Farscape is probably the funniest SF show which isn't an outright comedy (heck, I though it was way funnier than Red Dwarf, but I know some would consider that blasphemy.) It's as dramatic as B5, and while it doesn't have the acting genius of Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas, it does have a much more rounded cast. Also, it has Claudia Black, who is very, very good.

While Farscape does have an overall story, it isn't the work of genius that B5's story was. But, again, the actual scripts are better. Particularly the dialogues.

It's a show about aliens, but it's a show about people, friendship, and love. It is, very much, a show about ambition, obsession, and betrayal, but it is an optimistic show. It is a show about madness, but it is a show about making the right decisions. It is a show about man's folly, but it is a show about man's genius and greatness.

So what I'm saying is... it's a really good show. You should all watch it. Just make it through the first 20 episodes or so. It gets better. Trust me.

Some more about Extreme Makeover Home Edition

I love reality TV as much as the next person. I watch Survivor, The Amazing Race, Big Brother, The Apprentice, The Benefactor (yes, it sucks, but I really like Cuban). But we all know most American reality tv shows are all about exploiting people's desire for a reward or a TV appearance, and putting them through the ringer to get to stay on TV and get closer to the reward.

UK reality TV shows have, for the most part, been different. Changing Rooms, Life Laundry, What Not To Wear, and the wonderful Would Like To Meet are shows that are all about helping people. It's basically a reverse proposition - instead of "we'll put you on TV, and in exchange we'll do nasty things to you", it's "you'll let us put you on TV and in exchange we'll help you out". Most of the British shows I mentioned have American counterparts, but they're not very successful or prominent. Queer Eye, which is successful, does help people, but every episode also includes putting the Straight Guy down in a multitude of ways.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition is the exception. It is very much an American show. It's garish, loud, all out. But it genuinely helps people, and genuinely RESPECTS the people it helps. It displays a very strong attitude of "you deserve it, you need it, so we'll help, because we CAN." And it is compelling television viewing. It is a show about goodness, and it seems goodness doesn't have to be boring or preachy. Goodness can be "good television" just as much as evil, and backstabbing can.

Byron Leftwich

In the fourth round of this year's NFL fantasy draft, I picked Byron Leftwich, a young Quarterback entering his second year as a starter. He's not the QB I would have picked, but having the second pick in the draft means your picks on even rounds are very late picks, and all the QBs I really wanted weren't available.

In the first two games of the year, Leftwich was good for his NFL team, but very bad for me. The Jaguars defense would keep the team in games, and then the newly christened Lord Byron would get them to a scoring position and they would win. Great for them, crap for me, and I lost my first three games.

Then came week 4. I had grown tired of Leftwich's performances, and benched him in favor of newly acquired (and newly starting) Kerry Collins. Collins was terrible, but my team still managed its first win of the season. On my bench, Byron exploded for 20 fantasy points (after scoring 8, 10, and 12 in the first three weeks). So I put him back in the lineup. Since then, he's scored 23, 33, and 24. He's currently ranked 6th among QBs in fantasy points, and threatens to move two spots up if he keeps this up (the top three are pretty much unassailable). I've won my last four games, I'm up to second place in my division, one game behind first place. And Byron Leftwich just led his team to victory against the Indianapolis Colts (whose superlative QB, Peyton Manning, led my fantasy team to a championship last year).

Sometimes, the choices you are forced to make are the best ones. And this year, my new team is the Jacksonville Jaguars (I need a second team to follow, as following my beloved 49ers has become depressing, and they are nowhere NEAR playoff contention).

Veronica Mars

Four episodes in, Veronica Mars is the most unlikely good show on TV. I mean, how can a show about a high school kid who playes detective possibly be good, right?

Well, apparently, it can. It seems clever writing, an overall story arc, and especially good casting can take a stupid premise and make something good out of it.

At the top of the things that make Veronica Mars a good, occasionally excellent, show, is Kristen Bell, who may be a little old to play a high school kid, but seems to carry it off extremely well. She's bright, funny, charming, and engaging. In fact, she would make a better Buffy than SMG ever was. But that's water under the bridge, and this blonde has a show built to fit her. The supporting cast is uneven. Kyle Secor and Enrico Colantoni are always good, and it's nice to see Colantoni can do the drama as well the funny (though he's still better at the funny). Some of the younger members of the cast aren't as good, and the less said about Paris Hilton's guest appearance in the second episode, the better.

I've always had a soft spot for teen shows that show high school as the hell it really is, and VM does that quite well. High school is a crappy time in many people's lives, and shows about high school need to reflect that. But VM isn't really a show about high school, nor is it as light hearted as it may seem. Much like another succeful new show, Desperate Housewives, all of the events in the series, and most of the relationships, are impacted by a death, in this case, a murder.

One of my favorite things about the show is that it takes place months after the cataclysmic event that overshadows it - the murder of Lilly Kane, VM's best friend, and her boyfriend (at the time)'s sister. The actions taken by VM's father, who was the town sheriff, and everything that followed, are what set things in motion and put events on the path to where it is when the show starts - with Veronica as a formerly popular girl whose dad used to be the Sheriff.

Veronica Mars is a teen show, but it's a smart teen show. It's also a pretty decent detective show, but mostly for the mystery of Lilly Kane's murder, that is clearly the story, and less so for Veronica's weekly cases, that occasionally have large logic shaped holes in them. For right now, I'll keep watching.

So I wrote a long post about how my HDs crashed...

And Blogger promptly are it and gave me an error message. Poetic, I guess.

So I'll make it brief - both HDs crashed. Getdataback got some of my data back. And I'm still standing.

In every four-year term there is a chosen one...

He alone will face the American public, the United Nations, and the forces of darkness. He is the President.

Joss Whedon supports John Kerry. Link via Atrios.

Brief Interaction notes

Quite a few Israelis have said they want to go to Interaction, the Glasgow Worldcon, next year. However, looking at the Interaction website, I see that only five Israelis have signed up. Several of my friends and I have signed up, and gotten reservations for the con's main hotel. Looking at the reservations website, I see that all three of the hotels that are adjacent to the convention center are fully booked. The main party hotel, the Hilton, still seems to have room. If you're an Israeli looking for a place to stay, and you're not looking for someplace *quiet*, the Hilton would definitely be my choice. As you can book your hotel rooms now without a deposit, I would recommend registering while some of the more desirable hotels are still available.

Also of note for fans - prices are going to go up on December 1st. Currently, prices for an attending membership are £95 / $170 / €145. Come December 1st, prices will be £110 / $195 / €165. This is, obviously, a significant difference, and I strongly suggest that fans who know they're going to attend register before prices go up.

Using the mind to send email and change the channel...

People (most notably, Tammy) often tell me I'm way too optimistic in my belief in science's ability to overcome the obstacles that face mankind.

When scientists implant a chip in a quadriplegic man's brain, that enables him to use the computer and control the television, I know I'm right.

Link via Boing Boing.

Two things about the fourth ep of Lost

It is SO the best show on TV. It's not even a contest. And it is SO a genre show.

And if you love spoilers, you can read Cleolinda Jones' recap of the terrific ep. I'll just quote one sentence: WATCH THE SHOW.

Fantasy football update

Well, it's been a while since I updated about my exploits in fantasy football (not that anyone cares). There was good reason for that - after boasting about my "excellent" draft, my team started the season 0-3, and my #1 receiver, Steve Smith, broke his leg. Not the best start. One of my promising young quarterbacks, Rex Grossman, soon joined him on the injured list, as he's out for the season. Things were not looking good for the Dark Establishment team.

However, my guys have turned it around a bit, so I can finally talk about the team without wincing. On week 4, my refurbished team didn't play very well, but monster performances by Tomlinson and Caldwell managed to overcome a poor performance by my opponent. This week, I finally saw the team I thought I drafted, as my defense exploded for 33 points, and the team racked up 112 points total, doubling up my opponent, who only scored 56.

So now I'm 2-3, still last in my four player division. But the two guys I need to pass by season's end to get to the playoffs are 3-2, so I'm only a game behind.

The coming week is a scary one, as the Baltimore D is on a bye week, and I'm playing my very good friend (and top fantasy player) Guy Sever. I usually root for G's teams, but this week it's him or me, and I certainly hope to come away with a victory. It isn't going to be easy, but at least his top guy (Shaun Alexander) is playing against the spectacular New England defense.

In other news from my fantasy league, the crazy guy who built his team around wide receivers (league comish Dave Rosenthal) is currently 5-0. Unbelievable.

Tell me we don't live in a Science Fiction world...

Sometimes it's cool. Sometimes, like right now, it's pretty scary. The US airforce is trying to create freaking Anti-matter weapons.

RIP Christopher Reeve

You made us believe a man can fly.

Lost

Three episodes in, Lost is the best show on TV. Not the best genre show (and make no mistake, it IS a genre show), the best show. The premise is simple - a plane from Australia to the US crashes after losing radio contact, and changing course. It's at least a thousand miles from where it was supposed to be when it crashed. 48 passengers survive the crash, and end up on an island where huge, unseen creatures move in the jungle.

The show has several strenghs, starting with my main quibble with most current tv dramas - writing. JJ Abrams, creator of Alias, is much better in a format which makes it more difficult for him to indulge in his lust for cliffhangers, which is what turned me off Alias. Future episodes will features a couple of writers who are well known to genre fans - David Fury, better known to Buffy fans as "The Mustard Man", and the brilliant Paul Dini, creator of Batman Beyond, Batman: The Animated series, and others. Strong writing is the single most important ingredient in TV drama, and the episodes I've seen display it, while the writers' lineup promises more of the same.

But strong writing can fall flat without strong acting, and the cast of Lost seems to be one of the strongest I've seen on TV. Some are well known, such as Matthew Fox (Charlie, from A Party of Five), Harold Perrineau (Augustus Hill, from Oz, possibly the best cast tv show ever), Dominic Monaghan (Merry from the LoTR movies), and Daniel Dae Kim (Gavin Park from Angel, and he apparently played some character in the second season of 24). Others are relatively new faces, such as the lovely Evangeline Lilly (who will be a star soon, as she is both very good and very beautiful) and Jorge Garcia. It's a huge cast, and I've only mentioned some of the important players. And it is extremely solid. Fox and Lilly carry the first few episodes, but this seems to be set up as a true ensemble piece.

I've been turned off in the past by series with strong acting and writing, due to bad production values. Sometimes, this has been a mistake (look for a post in the next few weeks about how I learned to love Farscape), but usually, I just can't get over it when a series doesn't look good. Lost looks very, very good.

So there you have it. The total package. It's a mystery (well, a bunch of mysteries), it's character driven drama, it's got a great setup, and it is very well done. And I do believe it will have monsters soon, so what more can you ask for?

Mirrormask trailer

Just watched the first Mirrormask trailer, and it is awesome. It really does look like a particularly Dave McKeanish piece of Dave McKean art that has come to life. The combination of McKean and Henson on visuals, with Gaiman on story, is really one I'm looking forward to.

Icon 2004: Day 3 (plus thanks and kudos)

Day 3 started late for me, as I got held up at home due to computer problems. I did manage to get to Icon in time to get GGK to his meeting at the Eshkol with the various media outlets of the sf, roleplaying and star trek media outlets. having left GGK safely in the hands of the likes of Vered Tochterman, Nir Yaniv, Mike Fiedler, and Dotan Dimet (ok, maybe "safely" is a bit of a stretch), I met some friends for a quick lunch at Odeon, which despite the previous night's ordeal has become a sort of home base for GGK and the entourage.

Two beers and some conversation later, I went back to the eshkol building, as the meeting was followed by a second signing sessions, this one for the volunteers who couldn't get free to wait in line the previous day. Not finding the time for the volunteers to meet OSC and get their books signed last year was a major issue, and I was happy to have the opportunity to do it this time. Last year, OSC arrived in Israel the night before the con, and left the night it ended. Therefore, he had to see everything he wanted to see in Israel on the mornings of the days of the con itself. This lead to us having a very, very, very tight schedule. But lessions were learned, and the fact that GGK had the weekend before the con to go to Jerusalem, meant he arrived at around noon every day, and we were pretty much able to schedule whatever we wanted.

After the signing, I went back to the con, and then joined GGK and company at Odeon. After drinks, GGK and several others went to have dinner, while I spent the time at and around the Cinemateque, talking with older and newer friends, as per usual. As has been the case with most Icons, I got to know some new people, and got to know others better. This aspect of the con is always my favorite, which is a good thing, as I didn't manage to find the time to go to any of the programmed events I wanted to. Except for the opening ceremony, if I wasn't on stage, I wasn't in it. This means I missed things such as Ilan Eshkoli's lecture, which is a shame, as he is an extremely entertaining and erudite speaker.

GGK et al made it back in time for him to make an appearance at the volunteers' meetup, where he thanked them, and they thanked him by way of the wave.

GGK went to prepare for his reading by going over the passage he had selected from Lions of El-Rassan.

Then it was off to the double header event - the Geffen awards and GGK's reading. The winners of the Geffen were:
Best Translated SF Book: Warchild by Katherine Lowachee
Best Translated Fantasy Book: Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
Best Original Short Story: Dragon Checkpoint by Rami Shalhevet

I've already stated my opinions about the nominees, so needless to say I was dissapointed by the results.

This was followed by the reading, which I thought was excellent. It was interesting to see which turns of phrase and passages GGK is clearly still very fond of. The scene read was De Rada's raid on Rovigo's farm, an excellent stand-alone scene. I then got back to the stage, and did my usual (by now) bit of repeating, and sometimes translating, the questions. It was another lively session. I then called to the stage Itay Horev and Hadas Ferber, two of the three coordinators of the con, who presented GGK with a present from the con.

I next had to do some fast thinking - GGK wanted to go for drinks and invited me and Rani Graff to come along. But we also wanted to vote for the new board of the ISSFF, at the meeting that was taking place at the same time in Eshkol. My solution was simple - I got GGK and company a table at Tapeo, a tapas bar in Haarbaa street, right across from the eshkol. I then went to the eshkol with Rani, where we got Shmuel Shmuel to call us when voting started, and went back to our table. I was sorry to miss the actual debate at the ISSFF general assembly, and hope to be brought up to speed about it soon (I was too busy recouping today to talk society politics), but a last chance to sit down with one of my favorite authors for a drink was not something I could pass up. Everything went well. We voted, we ate, we drank, we got the results (the predictable nominees were selected). We then drank some more, talked some more, and eventually all went to sleep.

Rani Graff had offerred to take GGK to the airport, an offer GGK was happy to accept. So all too short a time after going to sleep, I woke up and was collected by Rani, with GGK already in the car. We proceeded to the airport. Longtime readers of this blog may remember how I was fortunately able to spare OSC a very long wait at the airport last year. Well, it seems I'm making a habit out of it. GGK was in no danger of missing his flight, but I managed to convince the security personnel to forego the x-ray, and just do the security interview. This left GGK with quite a bit of time before his flight, and so we sat down over some soft drinks and talked some more. While we were sitting down, we mentioned how small a country Israel is, in the sense that you always run into people you know. Right then, a young woman who was at the con appeared, and came over to say hello. GGK accused us of having arranged that, of course. When we took him to the escalator, right after we said our goodbyes, three MORE con goers appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and thanked GGK for a great con. Obviously, we immediately took credit for arranging that as well.

And then Guy Kay went up the escalator, and Icon 2004 was officially DONE.

And now, my thanks:
To my fellow members of the content committee, for a mostly harmonious process which produced a terrific program.
To Uri Aviv, Hadas Ferber, and Itay Horev (and Dubi Zolti, who replaced Uri for a short while prior to the con) for an excellent job running the con. This was the smoothest con experience I've ever had. Both before and during the con, everything I needed as GGK events coordinator was supplied quickly and well. Plus, no one seemed to want to take my head off this time, which was nice.
To Nomi and Tamar. The level of competence you two display at each con, coupled with your good cheer, is a constant wonder.
To the logistics staff and technical staff. Everything looked awesome. Everything seemed to work. In a con of this scale (and the number of people seemed be even bigger than last year), this is amazing.
To the volunteers. What a huge, terrific bunch of people.
To Dora. What an incredible job publicizing the con.
To Noa. If it weren't for your wonderful suggested questions for the panel, I would have had to think of more questions, and my brain was hurting at that point.
To Mike, Nir, Vered, Ilan, Rani, Tzippi, Lavie, Both Yael A's and everyone else I spent time with during the con, including people mentioned in the previous thanks. If Icon served no purpose but allowing me the pleasure of your company every year, and meeting more of you, it would still be worth it.
To Asaf and Deborah, who were my partnets in escorting GGK. Asaf, especially, took time out to do this on a week when he literally had NO time to spare.
And finally, to Guy Gavriel Kay. If you read this site in Hebrew, or know me at all, you know that Tigana is my favorite novel in the world. Meeting Guy, talking to him about sports and politics and books and writers, doing a panel with him, assisting him during lectures, hearing him read the words he wrote, and having drinks with him, has been an amazing experience, and one I will never, ever forget. Thank you, Guy.

Tired now. Icon Day 3 report tomorrow...

I will say this - it was an awesome con, and today was a truly fine day.

GGK, about to go to the panel. (remember, click on the pics for larger, much nicer versions) 

Vered is making a face while putting the squeeze on Dora, Icon's incomparable publicist. 

The Boojie and the Maple seem to be just the sort of fans the Embassy is looking for - those who were bitten by the makeup artists who were demonstrating their skills at the con. 

Dubi is in a good mood. The whole "not having a real job during the convention and being able to enjoy it for once" thing seems to agree with him. Hagit is probably on her way to doing something vital to the continued existence of the con. 

The Sunnydale Embassy is looking for a few good fans.

Fans still surround GGK. 

Author Lavie Tidhar, publisher Rani Graf, and editor (and GGK escort) Asaf Asheri are deep in conversation. 

Yossi from Comikaza seemed to be both tired and pleased 

While some people were getting ready for a round of three-player chess... 

GGK with some of his fans at the Cinemateque cafe.  

And here's Raz, about to get his copy of the new edition of Tigana signed. 

Here's Dana getting her picture signed by GGK. 

And here it is from a different angle (click on each of the pictures for a much bigger and better looking version) 

This is what the line for the signing looked like from GGK's pov. 

Icon 2004: Day 2

Got to Icon at around noon. About thirty minutes later, GGK arrived after a tour of Jaffa, along with Deborah. We did some of the traditional sitting in the cafe, talking to people routine until it was time for the signing. This wasn't the monstrous event the Card signing was, but we had a nice line, and the signing went on for over an hour and a half, with everyone getting a chance for a nice chat, as well as getting all the books they wanted signed. One of the people who got his books signed was me. Kay signed my copy of Tigana in English, my copy of the new, single volume, edition of Tigana in Hebrew, and my copy of The Summer Tree in Hebrew. These were all important books for me - Tigana is my favorite book, as well as the first Kay book I read, and I fell in love with it in English. The new edition is a correction of an egregious wrong: the original edition was not proofread sufficiently, was in two volumes, and had a cover I hated with a passion. The new one is re-edited and proofread, in a single volume, and has the same lovely cover as the new Canadian edition. And The Summer Tree was the first GGK novel I published.

GGK, Deborah, and I then proceeded to lunch at Pasha, where we were joined by Asaf Asheri. We then went back to the cafe, where GGK was quickly surrounded. Seeing that the guest is well occupied, I did what I usually do at cons: sat around, talked to friends, made arrangements for GGK's events of the next day. We managed to schedule a second signing for volunteers at the con and people who couldn't make it to the first signing, to be held on day 3 at 15:30. I also walked around the con a bit, talked to some people, and resisted attempts by the Sunnydale Embassy To Israel and Okay (Collectors and Readers of Comics in Israel) to get me to join. I love comics, and I love Buffy, but right now, I still prefer to direct my efforts and money towards the ISSFF (this link is actually in English, unlike the previous two and the next one.) Got my copy of the latest issue of the 10th Dimension (the newsletter/magazine of the ISSFF).

After all the vigorous milling about, looking in on the (quite content) GoH, and drinking coffee and 7up, GGK, Deb, Asaf, and myself went upstairs for our panel on GGK's work. The panel was not as well attended as I'd hoped, but it was a very good discussion, with interesting topics, nice points made by my fellow panelists, and good questions from the crowd.

Following the panel, GGK went off to Odeon, across the street, with Deborah and some of her friends, for drinks. Some time later, a significant portion of the con's senior staff joined him there for the Official Senior Staff and GoH Dinner. Dinner was excellent. Asaf and I spent it sitting opposite volunteer chief Nomi Wiener and her boyfriend, logistical wizard (he was Icon's head of logistics last year) Oren Carmi.

The end of the dinner left a bit of a sour note, as some people left insufficient amounts of money and departed, and those of us who remained behind had to add quite a bit in order to reach even a 10 percent tip. But a sour end does not spoil and otherwise great day of Icon going. Those of you who aren't coming are missing a terrific con, which has a g program and is run extremely well.

Icon 2004: Day 1

Day 1 is done, and I am already tired. Got up at 9:30, which may seem like a reasonable hour for most of you, but when you usually wake up at 12:00-13:00, 9:30 is super early. By 10:40, Tammy and myself were at Kay's hotel, all set to take him to Zomet Sfarim at Azrieli for the first booksigning of the week.

Things were quiet at Azrieli, as the event wasn't really promoted. But GGK did get to do an interview for a piece about Icon that is due to appear in Haaretz. I went off to Icon, leaving GGK with my fellow members of the Kay Patrol, Asaf and Deborah, who took him to lunch.

Icon was packed. It's never been this packed during screenings. Not even last year. I found some friends to sit with, and eventually went to get some lunch with Nir Yaniv and Lavie Tidhar. The early afternoon hours were spent in regular Icon fashion - milling about, sitting at the cafe with friends, talking to other friends, and watching Tamar, Nomi, Uri, Hadas, and the rest of the really critical Icon staff zooming by, as they rush from one thing to another.

I also voted for the Geffen, and got my "I voted for the Geffen" sticker from super-efficient Yael Abadi, my former partner in Bydion 2004.

Around 15:20, GGK et al arrived at the con, looking quite refreshed after a nice lunch. Not long after that, I had to go upstairs and give my lecture, which was Kay 101, an overview of his books, his themes, and his career. The lecture, in front of a semi-full (but not embarrasingly empty) hall, went quite well. One woman was upset that I wasn't delving into Kay's work deeply enough, and talking about it in reference to the theme. But this was Kay 101, not Kay 300, so I stayed my course, and suffered some nasty looks from her in return. Oh, well. Can't please everyone. The q&a after my overview was quite lively, and for the most part went quite well.

After that, I went downstairs and took Mike Fiedler to join GGK and company, who were having a dring at Odeon, in an effort to stay away from the incredibly loud sounds of the videogames set up in the Cinemateque lobby.

After drinks, it was back to the con for the opening ceremony, which featured speeches, skits, songs, trailers, and a few short, funny words from GGK. This was followed by GGK's excellent speech, In Defense Of Fantasy, a version of which can be found here. I then got up on stage, and served as translator and repeater of audience questions. This was a bit of fun, and I got to be involved in GGK's speech. I even got applause for successfully repeating a really long question.
The Q&A session itself was excellent. We asked the audience to try and focus their questions on topics related to the speech, which they mostly did. And both questions and answers were mostly terrific.

After that, at around 21:30PM, it was off to dinner at Lilith, a wonderful vegetarian restaurant. Then Kay was driven to the hotel, while I went to wait for the bus, where I posted the previous post from my phone.

Tomorrow will be highlighted by GGK's booksigning and our panel, which will basically feature the entire Kay entourage. Should be fun. Tune in tomorrow for all the details.

Mobile blogging

Got a 5 day demo of an app called picoblogger to do some moblogging during icon. Currently waiting for the bus home. Will blog about day 1 from home later tonight

It's funny because it's true...

While catching up on my blogs between finishing my latest translation and whole Icon madness, I ran into this brilliant example of Homer Simpson's first rule of humor, an open letter from the computer industry to the media industry over at The Butt Ugly Weblog, via Boing Boing. I'll just reprint the whole thing.

Dear Media Industry:

We lied to you. In the golden 80s and 90s we told you micropayments and content protection would work; that you would be able to charge minuscule amounts of money whenever someone listened to your music or watched your movie. We told you untruths which we well knew would never work - after all, we would've never used them ourselves. Instead, we wrote things like Kazaa and Gnutella, and all other evil P2P applications to get the stuff free.

We told you these things so that you would finance the things we really wanted to build, not the things that you wanted to be built. We knew all along that DRM schemes do not work, and we knew that whatever we create can be broken by us. We don't care anymore, because your money made us bigger than you.

Look at us: every year, we churn out more computer games than your entire industry is worth. You know how we do it? We like our customers. We don't treat them like potential criminals, and try to make our products do less. We invent new things like online role-playing -games, where the money does not come from duplication of bits (which cannot be stopped, regardless of your DRM scheme) but from providing experiences that the people want.

We saw that you were old and weak. So we took advantage of it: told you things that you wanted to hear so we could kick you in the head in twenty years. Some of us told you that the future is going to be interactive - what did you do? You started to think how to make interactive movies (CD-I, anyone?), which is not what it really means, while we wrote games and tried to understand the new mediums, not how to bolt it on onto old things.

We lied to you. And we apologize for that, but it was for the greater good. So we're not the least bit sorry.

Signed: The Computer Industry

The media industry, as represented by the the RIAA and MPAA and the Jack Valentis of this world, deserve this ridicule. When you routinely spit your costumers in the eye, you really shouldn't be surprised when they spit back.

Yes, GGK is in the country. I've got this digital camera on loan, and I haven't quite got the hang of it yet. I hope to snap some better pics during the con.  

Translating famous books, watching TV, and ICON!

Sorry I haven't been posting. I've been knee deep in a translation, which I am about to finish. This is my first time working on a major work of fiction which is neither science fiction nor fantasy. It's terribly exciting and daunting all at the same time. This is a famous novel, and justly so. It's also my first book for a fine, major publisher which I won't name at this time. So if it's well received, it could be a major breakthrough for me in many ways.

This isn't a very happy novel. I'm actually very glad that it's fairly short. When I translate a novel, I become immersed in its world. It becomes my biggest point of reference. And I sometimes view the world through the lens the author and the lead characters use. So translating this dark novel has not been an easy time for me emotionally, and I was very glad I took a break during the stretch run to watch a bit of TV, and that I picked the show I did. I'm referring to the season premier of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I haven't gotten to see the previous season, and now I am a bit sad for it. This was an hour and a half of television that I can only describe as joyful. Seeing a community band togther to help build a house for an exceptional family was genuinely uplifting, and truly gave me the boost I needed to finish the work. This episode had a clear religious bent to it, as the community banded together at the local church, and there were many refrences to "a higher power" being involved. But as a secular man, I saw something very different. I saw the power of community, of friendship, and of family. These were good people helping other good people, and they didn't do it because god told them to. They did it because of friendship, community, and family. They did it because they are clearly good people, and because the family they helped were good people.

Finishing this book when I do is well timed - just in time for one of my favorite times of the year: Icon. I've been invloved in Icon for nearly every year since 1999, when I was one half of the programming committee (those were simpler times, when the committee could have only two members. we had nine or so in this year's committee). This year, I'm involved in programming, and I'm also coordinating events with our guest of honor, Guy Gavriel Kay. I'm also giving a lecture on Kay 101, and moderating a panel with Kay about his work. It's a very Kay-centric Icon for me. But if, for some bizzare reason, you don't like Kay, or haven't read his work, Icon isn't only about the guy (or, as the case may be, Guy) who wrote Tigana. We've got lectures, movies, TV episodes, gaming, a rock show and a planetarium. This Icon will be supercool, and may rival last year's amazing experience. If you're in Israel during Sunday-Tuesday next week, and you're even vaguely interested in SF, Fantasy, gaming, comics, anime or manga, you have to come. Be sure to say hello, too. I'll be around for most of the con, except the early morning thingies.

Shana tova

Well, a new Hebrew year begins, and as usual, one can only hope it will be better than the last one...

This last year was actually quite good for me on the personal and professional levels. I've never had this much work, and for so many different publishers, working on different genres and formats. And personal life has also been good, with friends and love being in abundance, and better overall health than in recent years (even though I recently burned three fingers in a manner that would probably make this site popular with gore fans if I posted images).

But when I've reached the point where I actively avoid the local news because they're just too damn depressing, and have directed all of my news junkie tendencies to American politics, things are not good. I am, however, an optimist, and I can't help but believe next year will be better.

So Shana tova. May the next year be full of regime changes.

When did Drew Barrymore become smart?

So I'm watching the Daily Show, and Drew Barrymore is on, talking about her new movie... a documentary about voting? What? How did this happen?

Drew Barrymore used to be this silly person who made every kind of mistake in the book. She married Tom Green for god's sake. And that was her SECOND marriage. When she was producing Charlie's Angels, every entertainment rag was screaming that it was a bloated, over budgeted, collosal failure. Than it came out, and made huge stacks of cash. She then produced Donnie Darko, one of the best and most original films of the last few years. Now she's doing documentaries and teaching young people about the importance of voting. Is this like a comicbook thing? Was she zapped by gamma rays?

I mean, I'm glad it happened. I certainly like the new Drew better than the old Drew. I guess I'm just puzzled.

NFL Fantasy - week one

Well, since I shared thoughts about the draft, and my expectations of having a great season, it's only fair to report how said expectations are currently blowing up in my face...

My first week ended with a crushing 96-55 defeat, in which only one of my players played up to expectations. This was bad, but not horrible, as I have a young team, which should improve over the course of the season.

But then, on Monday Night Football, my best receiver, rock-solid Steve Smith, broke his freaking leg. Is my season sunk? No. But things do not look good right now.

Geffen award nominations

Ok, this is a much belated report, as the nominees have been known for over a week. But it's still noteworthy.

This year's list of nominees was completely and utterly dominated by Opus SF&F Editor Assaf Asheri, who had four out of five books in each of the novel categories, and two stories in the original short fiction category. That's beyond impressive, imo. And the nominees are:

Best Translated Fantasy Book:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling (Yediot Achronot books)
The Sarantine Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay (Opus Press)
The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials 2) By Philip Pullman (Opus Press)
The Monarchies of God 2-4: The Heretic Kings, The Iron Wars, The Second Empire By Paul Kearney (Opus Press)
Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman (Opus Press)

A terrific list, but I will play favorites. Much as I like Gaiman, his collection is woefully uneven, and the rest is clearly a rung beneath the Kay series, which I absolutely love. Still, a very nice list.

Best Translated SF Book
Dangerous Vision edited by Harlan Ellison (Opus Press)
Warchild by Karin Lowachee (Opus Press)
Stories of Your Life by Ted Chiang (Opus Press)
Book of the New Sun 1-2: The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe (Opus Press)
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (Modan Publishing)

Assaf Asheri took three huge risks this year, with a massive anthology that's decades old, the first half of a massively difficult to translate epic series, and a collection of stories by a virtual unknown. The success of these three in amazingly pleasing, as the anthology is the super-classic Dangerous Visions, which may well be the single most significant original anthology in the history of SF; the collection is by the young genius Chiang, and the epic series is the absolutely awesome Book of the New Sun. These were ambitious choices, dangerous choices. Each presented its own difficulties. And all three gambles paid off. I love The Eyre Affair, and think it is one of the most enjoyable novels, well, ever. But the courage and brilliance embodied in these three choices NEED to be rewarded. I urge everyone attending Icon, in three short weeks, to get a hold of them and read them. After you read them, I won't HAVE to tell you to vote for them.

Best Original Short Story:
Fast Internet by Nir Yaniv and Yael Sivan
Dragon Review by Rami Shalhevet
The Soul of the Mountain by Assaf Asheri
Letitbe by Assaf Asheri
kanekshein astableished, please enteir nevowk passvord by Shachar Or

I haven't read all of the nominated stories, and several of the nominees are friends, so I won't play favorites and recommend anything here. I will note the fact that Assaf Asheri published two new stories this year, and both received nominations. This truly is Assaf's year, and for the talent and courage he displayed this year, I truly hope he comes to the podium twice, and get to watch con GoH Guy Gavriel Kay (who will be presenting the Best Original Short Story winner) step up to receive the third award.

Next year, I fully expect and hope to kick Assaf's ass in the Geffen, but this was his year, and he deserves recognition for it.