A modest Scroll, but mine own.
(1) WORLD FANTASY CON EVOLVES. Meg Turville-Heitz posted a statement about potential changes in World Fantasy Con on Facebook on August 26.
Apologies for the length of the following, but it is in response to a lengthy letter to the board from Andy Duncan and thus requires some length in return…..
Since we are in the process of agreeing on a new structure for the board, issues of board make up and authorities will be discussed as part of our larger conversation about what we will look like in the wake of David’s passing, and thus will be addressed when that is finalized.
We’ve heard, as well, a number of concerns that we as a board have been non-responsive. This is a product of time scales. We approve conventions two to three years out and thus requirements that we put in place in a given year required already seated conventions to react, which can appear like disorder, when it is not. In 2012, a series of incidents regarding harassment, beginning at other conventions, led us to add a harassment policy to our guidelines and a requirement that upcoming conventions draft one. The word, harassment, however, became a problem. Some of the jurisdictions require anything that can be called harassment be reported to the police for incidents that, in convention culture, wouldn’t be appropriate. We modified this to a requirement for a code of conduct and have been building upon the code of conduct language from DC in 2014. We’ve shared this language with upcoming committees as we work through what we want in place. We are limited, again, by local jurisdictions that could supersede our policy regarding something such as, for example, concealed weapons.
Additionally, concerns about the hotel setup in Saratoga Springs in 2015 (board members were participants on panels where the issues were evident, and were also highly dissatisfied with the hotel’s response to an inaccessible dining room) led the board to add the requirement for accessibility guidelines be provided by incoming conventions and as part of upcoming bids. Board members were working on drafting an acceptable guidance document when David died.
Our difficulty with that document comes from the fact that as a mobile convention, we are landing in places where other laws again supersede our guidelines. We have guidance that we will be looking at that suggests language and kinds of policies, but it must remain flexible.
Regarding Columbus’ program, we have looked at the guerilla site and agree that there are great ideas there. Some topics are not relevant to WFC (e.g. science fiction); others clarify topics we have and we plan to steal from it liberally. Darrell’s role in programming is far advanced, and the timing in the convention planning process does not allow for Columbus to seek a replacement. Ellen Datlow has worked with him to vet and build a better and more diverse program. Critical errors were a draft, unvetted program being published.That’s partly due to disrupted leadership as David had always assumed final authority on the program. We aren’t flush with volunteers who know how to program. If we were, some of these issues wouldn’t even need to be debated
And continues at great length.
(2) SNAIL MAIL SALUTES STAR TREK. Classic Trek went on the air 50 years ago today, and the US Postal Service has issued a sheet of stamps in commemoration.
On September 8, 1966, Star Trek premiered. Centered on the interstellar voyages of the U.S.S. Enterprise, the prime-time television program’s mission was to boldly go where no man has gone before.With an intricate futuristic setting, multicultural cast, and story lines that touched on social issues, Star Trek pushed past the boundaries of popular science fiction and became a worldwide phenomenon. Each of the 20 self-adhesive Star Trek stamps showcases one of four digital illustrations inspired by elements of the classic TV show…
(3) PLANETARY POST. Robert Picardo’s latest Planetary Post for the Planetary Society.
In this issue, I share my journey to San Diego Comic-Con, where I quiz Trekkies and NASA scientists with trivia to celebrate Star Trek’s 50th anniversary. Engage:
(4) A TRIBE THAT FITS THE DESCRIPTION. Meir Soloveichik makes a Tolkien-endorsed case in “The Secret Jews of The Hobbit” for Commentary Magazine,
…The dwarves of Middle Earth, the central characters of one of the most beloved books of all time, are indeed based on the Jews. This was confirmed by Tolkien himself in a 1971 interview on the BBC: “The dwarves of course are quite obviously, [sic] couldn’t you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews?” he asked. “Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic.” Similarly, in a letter to his daughter, Tolkien reflected, “I do think of the ‘Dwarves’ like Jews: at once native and alien in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue.” …
(5) NO CHILLS. The Guardian reports on a study that found “One third of parents avoid reading children scary stories”.
A psychologist has stressed the importance of scary children’s literature, after new research revealed that a third of parents would avoid reading their children a story containing a frightening character. A survey of 1,003 UK parents by online bookseller The Book People found that 33% would steer clear of books for their children containing frightening characters. Asked about the fictional creations they found scariest as children, a fifth of parents cited the Wicked Witch of the West from L Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with the Child Catcher from Ian Fleming’s Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang in second place. Third was the Big Bad Wolf, in his grandmother-swallowing Little Red Riding Hood incarnation, fourth the Grand High Witch from Roald Dahl’s The Witches, and fifth Cruella de Vil, from Dodie Smith’s The Hundred and One Dalmatians…
(6) DROPPED IN THE PUNCHBOWL. Don’t let the birthday party stop you. Cheat Sheet fights another round in a timeless culture war: “’Star Wars’ vs. ‘Star Trek’: Why ‘Star Trek’ is Losing”
Star Wars versus Star Trek. The classic debate continues to rage on. But while Star Trek has gained popularity in recent years with both Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) achieving mainstream appeal and box office success, it’s still nothing compared to what The Force Awakens (2015) did this past December both at the box office and when it came to popular culture. In fact, to date the Star Wars series has made $2.8 billion with eight films compared to Star Trek’s $1.2 billion through 12 films. So why has Star Wars continued to be such a juggernaut in the cultural landscape compared to its sci-fi foe? Here are six reasons why Star Wars might be winning the long battle with Star Trek.
(7) MARTINSON OBIT. Leslie H. Martinson, a ubiquitous TV director who was active for decades, has died at the age of 101 reports the New York Times.
Just a partial list includes, from the 1950s, the live drama series “General Electric Theater” and “Chevron Theater,” the sitcom “Topper,” the drama “The Millionaire” and the westerns “The Roy Rogers Show” and “Tales of Wells Fargo.” In the ’60s, he directed episodes of “Surfside 6,” “Maverick,” “Hawaiian Eye,” “The Roaring Twenties,” “77 Sunset Strip,” “No Time for Sergeants,” “Run for Your Life,” “Batman,” “Mister Roberts,” “Mission: Impossible” and “The Green Hornet.” His output in the ’70s included “Ironside,” “Love, American Style,” “The Brady Bunch,” “Room 222,” “Mannix,” “The Six Million Dollar Man,” “Barnaby Jones,” “Wonder Woman” and “Dallas.” He wound up his television career in the ’80s with, among others, “Eight Is Enough,” “Quincy, M.E.,” “CHiPs,” “Fantasy Island” and “Diff’rent Strokes.”
[Thanks to Andrew Porter and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to contributing editor of the day OGH.]
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The Wicked Witch?!?? Have they read the book, or just seen the movie?!??
First to celebrate MIKE’S BACK!
Return of the Scroll! Hooray!
Happiness is a new Scroll (click, click, scroll, scroll)
Houston, WE HAVE PIXEL SCROLL!!!
Pixel Stalk!
Yay Pixel Scroll! Also, second Fifth.
My dear wife was at the first Trek con in NYC. She even performed as one of a trio, The Android Sisters, singing (what else?) the series theme song by Alexander Courage and Gene Roddenberry. Meanwhile, in Colorado, I read about the convention in a short-lived Rolling Stone-like publication and thought, wow, what a great idea!
Oh, it’s write all day
On the seven-seven-tay
Double-yous for Social J
And scroll, ye pixelers, scroll!
Hurray, the pixel scrolls are back!
Welcome home, Mike.
Five huzzahs for Pixel Scroll!
Good to see you back in the saddle, Mike!
It’s nice to see you scrolling around, Mike. May you continue to regain health!
For out of File 770 shall come forth the Scroll, and the word of the Mike from Los Angeles.
(PS: Regarding that Commentary article, do we still have to use circumlocutions like “Dead Sea Pedestrians” to avoid provoking the auto-moderator?)
The existence of this Pixel Scroll makes even my cold dead heart happy.
This place isn’t the same without you, Mike.
It’s a scroll!!
4) this had never occurred to me.
Nothing to add except — WELCOME BACK! So glad you’re feeling up to it!
Welcome Back Pixels 😀
Yay!
Glad to see you scrolling again, but take it easy, Mike. Don’t rush.
Oh hey OT update on personal stuffs, if anyone is interested…
Dad is doing better and staying with family for a bit while he recovers. This is a huge load off my mind.
Remember that EEG I had? Well I saw the neurologist and…he’s scheduled another type of EEG test. Apparently the morphology of some of of my brain waves were odd enough to prompt this, but not odd enough to be flagged as “abnormal”. (??!? Empirical evidence that I’m an oddball?) The funny part is that I was slightly worried after the first test that having “Bus Stop” by the Hollies stuck in my head the morning of the EEG might influence the readings. So OH BOY more testing and wait-and-see. Or not-see. *shrug*
Back to reading! With anime as needed for decompression.
Seth Gordon:
No. I think I undid that filter awhile ago.
Callooh! Callay!
In honor of the day, Revelist has a surprisingly well-researched article about early Star Trek fandom.
Celebrating 50 years of Trek: in a slightly different direction, this image.
We’re all home again!
Just don’t open any of the closets, and everything will be fine.
Woohoo, Pixel Scroll: The Motion Picture!
In honour of the (yester)day, Scroll long and Pixel
Yay, Welcome back, Mike!
Speaking of the Trek anniversary, Facebook changed their like/love/hate/etc. icons in honor. The love icon (“I love this post”) was changed to the Live Long & Prosper hand, the anger icon was a frowny Klingon with head-bumps, the sad was Geordie LaForge with his visor, etc. Even the plain old “like” icon (a thumbs up) got stars added to its background.
So, in case we didn’t realize that FB has nerds working there, now we know.
Welcome home, Mike! A fresh File is a fine thing to behold.
WE HAVE PIXELS!!!!!!
Clicky.
Miiiiiiiike!
Kate Paulk, not satisfied with utterly embarrassing herself with her SciFi4Me Worldcon interview, has made another massively embarrassing, ill-informed post trying to convince herself and the other Puppies that Worldcon is dying. 🙄
I swear, if she put half the effort into her book-writing as she does in attempting to smear the Hugo Awards and Worldcon members, she’d be a Bestselling Author.
Or, perhaps since the Bestselling Author part has failed, she has opted for lame attempts to smear the Hugo Awards and Worldcon members as Plan B.
Were those supposed to be scary? I thought most of them were kind of cool. The scary stuff was mostly from more traditional horror and ghost stories. The good stuff that is.
Also…
A REAL PIXEL SCROLL!!!
#6 – The answer to both why ST is losing and SW is winning – at least in recent years – is the same: JJ Abrams. Long term – well, I’ve never met anyone who got into science/tech because of Star Wars.
Oh Pixel Scroll*, how I’ve missed you!
(5) NO CHILLS – I’m with the other two thirds of the parents. My children loved frightening things, as I did at their age. I swear, they used to ask for Enter Sandman as they went to sleep.
*By “Pixel Scroll,” I obviously mean Mike and all his works, but I don’t like getting all emotional in public.
On Star Trek, there was a short interview on the BBC Radio flagship morning news show with DC Fontana. Who sounded incredibly young and vibrant for a person of her age. May she remain so.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0475mhc?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_radio_4&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=radio_and_music
New Pixel Scroll!!!
(1) I still remain dubious and unimpressed.
WFC is smaller and less mobile than Worldcon, and there’s just as much lead time between awarding of con and holding of it. Yet somehow even with Worldcon’s unwieldy insistence on
herding catsparliamentary democracy (as opposed to the WFC’s permanent board of oligarchs), Worldcon has managed to overcome all of these problems. And also not given all the programming unto one person. One person who doesn’t listen to input/suggestions. Considering every con in the world (pro or am) says that programming is subject to change without notice, they could have easily tweaked it already.Mike hasn’t looked in the closet in the spare room, right? The one with all the German pulp novels spilling out of it? Good, good.
PIXEL SCROOOOOOOOOOLL! 😀 Welcome home to the Pixel Scroll, @Mike Glyer. 😀 Welcome home. ::finally understanding why people repeat lines in movies::
(2) SNAIL MAIL SALUTES STAR TREK. Lovely. Okay, the red transporter effect one’s my favorite; I really don’t like the green one with the planet on the saucer section.
(4) A TRIBE THAT FITS THE DESCRIPTION. Jewish Dwarves? Uh, okay. (Sorry, too tired after a very long day at work to click & read more about this.)
@Dawn Incognito: I’m so glad your dad’s doing better! Very glad, and hoping for a continuation in that vein. Thanks for updating.
@P J Evans: LOL at that image. 🙂
Wow, I’m on the first page of the Pixel Scroll. That happens so seldom, that’s almost like a “Fifth!” for me, dontcha know.
lurkertype:
They have. A quite large difference. Many panels I would be interested in.
Pixel Trek: The Search for Scrolls
(Spoiler: we find the scrolls in the end, hurrah! Good to have you back writing again, Mike, but take it easy)
The Pixel scrolls back!
50 years of Chewbacca standing on the bridge of Babylon 5 is a great milestone to celebrate!
Happy memories of him throwing his arms in the air shouting “danger Will Robinson” while using his trusty sonic screwdriver
Mike and Pixel Scroll yay!
Wheeeeeee! Scroll again, like we did last summer!!
Not to mention his classic catchphrase, “Ducts. Why is it always ducts?”
amestros wrote: “Happy memories of him throwing his arms in the air shouting “danger Will Robinson” while using his trusty sonic screwdriver”
Wasn’t that sort of the plot of STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, where NASA had sent a sonic screwdriver into space and it came back a full-sized robot?
Everybody Sing!
Hi Mike, Hi Mike.
I’d like to say “Hi Mike”!
Hi Mike, Hi Mike,
I’m glad you’re doing well…
No I think that was the episode where he and Scully fought the Reavers back on Deneb.
I’ve been watching the World Masterpiece Theatre version of Heidi recently (fansubs available on a certain very well-known streaming site), and I’d recommend it for something sweet and gentle. Future Ghibli directors worked on it, and while it isn’t as personal or eccentric as their later work, a fair bit of their style is already present.
“Use the Force, Number One! Dial the DHD!”
(and welcome, back, Mike_)
Today’s read — Magisterium: The Bronze Key, by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
Fantasy, third in a series. There have been a number of books of late which can only be viewed as being in conversation with the Harry Potter series; Carry On by Rainbow Rowell and the Magisterium series leap immediately to mind. They are best viewed as being commentary on the tropes of the wizard’s-boarding-school subgenre rather than knockoffs. Judged in that light, the Magisterium series can be quite interesting — it takes the Harry Potter concepts and moves them in directions which are different and often surprising. That means the twist at the end of each book is a major reason for reading them, and this one delivers on that. The lead-up, however, felt a little short and truncated in this volume. There’s a reason for that, as the tropes are so well-established that there’s no need to dwell on them (Carry On, as another example, essentially just starts on the “eighth” book of an otherwise nonexistent series.) Nonetheless, it gave the story a somewhat slight feel here, lacking a bit of the emotional heft which would help get the concepts across. I’m going to continue to read the series. I wouldn’t recommend it to a general audience, but anyone with a taste for both YA adventure and genre thought experiments might enjoy these.
First pixel scroll on the right, and straight on ’til morning.
The answer to why Wars is beating Trek is contained in a single sentence in the article: “While Star Trek is firmly rooted in science fiction where the ideas and technology is extrapolated from our world, Star Wars is strictly sci-fi fantasy.”