Tag Archives: Taral Wayne

Radical Reform Of The Faned Awards

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R. Graeme Cameron, Founder and sole member of the non-registered and non-existent Canadian Fanzine Fanac Society and administrator of his self-invented Faned Awards has decreed all the world should enroll and vote in this year’s awards – a radical change from the Canadian-only rule of prior years. He explains:

Last year 19 people voted. Considering the size of Canada compared to the United States, this compares rather favourably with the FAAn Awards (roughly ten times as many voted for the latter).

However, 19 votes is rather meagre. Canadian fanzine fandom hasn’t exactly been expanding at an exponential rate of late. What to do?

Since most of the fan artists active in Canadian zines are American, many of the letter of comments coming from outside Canada, some of writing content likewise, and there’s a distinct possibility most of the readership resides in other lands, I have decided to throw open the Faned voting process to ANYONE who reads Canadian zines. The emphasis will still be focused on Canadian zines exclusively, but the vote will be open to any and all loyal readers of those zines, no matter which county they live in.

I will distribute ballot information in an upcoming issue of The Fanactical Fanactivist within a week, along with instructions on how to vote (email) and who can vote (certified fanzine fans who read Canadian zines).

My goal, this year, is to DOUBLE the number of votes. Staggering concept, what?

Unboundaried ambition, I’d say!

Fanac_Awards_2011_-_Unknown_Faned small

Lou Scarborough, Animator (1953-2013)

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Lou in May 1999.

Lou in May 1999.

By Taral Wayne: Upon returning home to LA from a business trip to New York, Louis Scarborough Jr. learned that he had cancer. It had not even been suspected when he left the West Coast, but had metastasized to a very advanced state in an appallingly short period of time. Lou was hospitalized for surgery to remove a tumor that was causing an immediately life-threatening blockage of his colon. The surgery was a success, but … as a result of it, Lou was far too weak to withstand the necessary chemotherapy. He could only wait and hope to get stronger.

Unfortunately, Lou died on August 5, 2013. He was a too-young 60.

Lou worked in the animation business all his life. He did storyboards as well as actual animation, and hoped one day to direct a property of his own.

Lou was born in North Carolina, but his father moved the family to New York City, where he became a successful businessman and raised Lou, a brother, Cecil, and three sisters. Lou didn’t like New York much, and one of his earliest jobs in animation helped him escape to Toronto, where he worked on Rock & Rule for Nelvanna. From Toronto he went to Los Angeles, spent some time in Seattle next, and finally settled down in “Hollywood” for good.  Even a partial list of Lou’s credits is impressive. Among the television cartoons and animated features he worked on were, Bravestar, Quest for Camelot, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Smurfs, Camp Candy, Taz-Mania, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas, Tiny Toons – How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Batman, Rock & Rule, Muppet Babies, Alvin and the Chipmunks and others. He worked for Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, Bagdasarian, Warner Bros. and Disney Merchandising.

In recent years, however, Lou had fallen on harder times. Work in animation had been more difficult to find since CGI swept most other forms of animation from the field, and Lou was often unemployed during the last few years. For the last few months of his life, he had been compelled to share living space with a friend while dealing with intense family issues.

Lou was a fairly private man, but one with a number of good friends that anyone could be proud of. He counted among his closest associates Marc Schirmeister, Mike Kazaleh, Wendell Washer, Robert Guthrie and others whom he grew to know and respect through his career. Marc seemed to be his especial friend, however. Not only did Lou and Marc spend good times together, Lou turned to Marc in hard times as well, even sharing cramped quarters for almost a year. He trusted Marc to give good advice, and to be the custodian of his worldly goods. Marc was at Lou’s side in his last moments, and it is currently Marc who looks after the art and other personal belongings that Lou left behind.

Some years ago, when he was a member of Rowrbrazzle and dabbling in the “indies,” Lou announced a new comic book, Dance of the Radio Men, to be published by MU Press. Advance glimpses revealed a tribute to the luscious curves, elegant shapes and freedom of space of the classic 1940s cartoons. Alas, the project failed in the face of Lou’s own unremitting perfectionism. He simply could not satisfy himself that the pages were absolutely as good as they possibly could be … and withdrew the book from the publisher, much to the dismay of waiting readers and MU Press owner Edd Vick.

Perhaps that’s as good a note as any to end an obituary. Not on sad memories of unhappy times, but of a time when the world was a little younger and Lou’s art gave everyone the hope that there was something marvelous like Radio Men waiting for us all, just around the corner.

megan

Taral: Touch Down!

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Taral Wayne and Jim Mowatt.

Taral Wayne and Jim Mowatt.

By Taral Wayne: Jim Mowatt’s whirlwind tour of North America as the TAFF winner began Thursday when he touched down at Pearson International airport in Toronto and was whisked away to The Only Café to meet a contingent of fans. I was unable to attend, but Jim emailed me this: “The ‘pub’ was really nice although didn’t feel like a pub in any way.  It was what I think of as a bar. Interesting design in that it is half coffee house and half bar with the two halves being separated by a black curtain. Of course we didn’t follow direction and sat in the coffee bit and drank beer.”

I met the Jim on Sunday, however, at the party organized at Catherine Crockett’s and Colin Hinz’s place –  a bit of a tight squeeze, what with the Mechano Ferris wheel, and the drum kit and stacks of old player piano tubes – but everyone made it in.

Catherine prides herself on providing good quality party foods … consequently, there were plenty of carrot sticks, mushrooms, green pepper slices and other veggies on the table. As a conciliatory gesture to slobs like me, there was a bowl of pretzels in the dining room and a bowl of some sort of corn chips in the sitting room. I had no complaints about the cherries, soft cheese or the sliced sausages, though. There was an abundance of beverage choices as well, from dry wine to raspberry Chambord, soft drinks and beer. Of course. A British visitor and all…

I thought I may have come on a little strong at first, aggressively describing the English part of my coin collection, without ever taking stock of whether Jim’s eyes were glazing over. But after a bit, I relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed the conversations over the course of the evening. Things were surprisingly fanzine oriented. But then, apart from Jim and myself, Keith Soltys and his wife were present. Keith published a fanzine named Torus in the 1980s and apparently still remembers how it was done. Both Penneys were here as well. It should be pointed out that the evening’s hosts, Catherine and Colin had also published at one time or another. The only conspicuous omission from the local fanzine clan was Murray Moore.

At one point Jim asked if he could take a photo. If I had been more vain, I would have said “No,” because the naked filaments in the overhead chandelier were beginning to bother my eyes, and the left one had begun an alarming droop. I took my pills, but it would be a while before the effect hauled the delinquent eye open again. Jim roped in a third party to take a picture of both of us – the grumpy looking one is me and the reasonable looking bloke on the right is Jim. I really must get out more, because I think I’ve forgotten how to smile again. Also, my right eye looked almost entirely closed. Fortunately, when Jim emailed me the shot this morning, I was able to fix the eye with Photoshop. Nobody will ever know … oh, wait … I just told everyone. What I need now is a distraction… As you can see, Hope Leibowitz and Catherine were photographed unknowingly as well, caught in the background.

By this time, Shirley Meier was feeling her drinks and holding forth in one corner. We had a nice talk about mutual hopeless acquaintances. The SFContario people – Alex von Thorn, Marah Searle-Kovacevic, Diane Lacy – seemed to prefer to sit in the front room where perhaps they laid schemes for their next con in November.

The party began relatively late – around 9 p.m. – and people were already leaving relatively early. It was midnight before I knew it. Hope was squirming in her seat because she didn’t want to leave but neither did she want to miss the last subway train north to get home. She left rather too late, but was fortunate enough to get a ride to the subway station with someone. I was lucky myself, and hitched a ride with Alex and Marah down to Queen Street. The streetcar runs 24-hours, and I avoided making two other connections. Nevertheless, I still wasn’t home until well past two.

The party must have ground on, however, and on and on. Jim had a very early flight on Monday, so the plan was to stay up all night and see him off to the airport next morning.

Where is our intrepid TAFF winner now? It’s probably best Jim tell us…when he next touches down.

Chambord

Chambord

Update 08/11/2013: Corrected a name, per comment.

 

A Century of Taral Celebrated in Drink Tank

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By Taral Wayne: So many issues of The Drink Tank, so little time to fill them.  However, as of this issue, I’ve filled 100 of them!  To commemorate the event, Chris Garcia and I collaborated on a Special Issue!  I began my appearances in DT way back in 2007, with a two part interview conducted by Frank Wu.  I was a little slow reappearing, but once I got into the habit, it was a hard one to break.  In the 187 issues since, I’ve added to the pages somewhat more often than once every other DT.  Most of the pieces I contributed were moderately short, but that’s still a lot of writing any way you slice it.  Somebody should have told me it was habit forming.

There has been a lot of careless talk about the zine’s “golden touch,” as though to be a regular contributor was a punched ticket to the Hugo Ceremonies, right up front where the other nominees sit.  It has won Chris the Rocket for Best Fanzine, along with his co-editor, James Bacon.  It has also won DT’s frequent cover artist, Mo Starkey a Hugo for Best Fanartist.  But I recommend caution before throwing around irresponsible theories like that.  If it were so … where’s my Hugo?  I am the living proof that Chris and Mo earned their Hugo some other way than by merely appearing in Drink Tank.  Bribery perhaps?

Drink Tank 340 was finished a couple of days ago, and ought to be posted on eFanzines just before this issue of Broken Toys.  Oh … and by the way.  As a Special Celebration of the Special Issue, I have ceased writing for Drink Tank.

It is said that the best way to create a demand is to limit supply, you see.  Now that my writing in Drink Tank will be in very short supply, perhaps it will stimulate voter interest, so that I may someday – finally – have my very own silver rocket to cradle in my arms!

Amateur Martian Photo Analysis

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Years ago someone claimed the Viking mission had taken pictures of a Face on Mars, proving with geometric logic it was a monument created by sentient beings. NASA eventually got a new batch of photos that showed it was merely a natural formation. But now we have a new body part to speculate about – the robotic finger of Mars!

And is there anyone left who believes there were canals on Mars? Then you should talk to Taral. He knows where all the water went —

Did I mention that I’ve discovered a bath drain on Mars? There’s the plug, over on the right. Somebody must have taken the chain.

Taral’s Martian Ice

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By Taral Wayne: Here’s something odd for you. While downloading photos from NASA’s Curiosity site (some 200 from Sol 137), my eye was caught by a strange white patch deep in the shadow of one overhang. I’ve seen some other whitish rock or glaze in other photos, but this looked completely different. It looked, in fact, like snow or ice. There’s even a dark area beneath it as though it was slowly melting. I suppose it could be ice — why not? So far we’ve discovered ice in a number of places. This particular overhang might just be cool enough to sustain a patch, at least temporarily.

I immediatey emailed the website and identified the photo. One other also shows the patch, though it’s much harder to see it — so it doesn’t appear to be a glitch in the first photo. No word from NASA, naturally…

Do you think it possible nobody had spotted it? If they have, they’ve been rather close mouthed … or could they deem it something of no interest, I wonder?

I’ve dubbed it “Saara’s Icebox,” somewhat whimsically. I’d love it to stick, but I don’t imagine there’s much chance of it.

Although, oddly some names I suggested to NASA by e-mail for highlands on Titan have appeared on one NASA map. Nobody mentioned adopting my suggestion … so it might be a coincidence.

Brittanum, Gaul and Hispania

Great Britain

Great Britain and Gaul

Postscript: Another photo of the overhanging rock formation has turned up in Sol 170’s photo cache. The white stuff, whatever it was, doesn’t seem visible. The view is distant, though, so it’s hard to see if there might be just a little left. Perhaps significantly, the dark stain that had been below the white stuff is also gone or going. Seems that it’s too late to investigate anything now. Good one, NASA!

Going, going… gone! (Sol 170)

Taral: Three’s A Charm

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By Taral Wayne: It had gotten so difficult for me to get to SFContario that, when November rolled around and it was time for the third year’s con, I had decided not to attend. My plans were thwarted, however, by the announcement that Chris Garcia was the Fan Guest of Honour in 2012. I had always wanted an opportunity to spend some time with Chris, since both times I’ve met him it was impossible to make him sit still long enough to talk to. So, I went to SFC anyway, despite expecting to have a thoroughly miserable time.

In fact, I did have a thoroughly miserable time … but it was the travel to and from the convention that was the source of it. Two hours each way, with three connections. By day the traffic getting downtown was impossible. The driver actually warned the passengers, still quite some distance from the subway entrance, that progress would be so slow and that we might prefer to get out and walk the rest of the way!

All in all, I spent one hour in transit for every one I was at the con.

Under the circumstances, I think you’ll understand why I skipped Sunday. Anyway, people customarily leave early Sunday, and all I was likely to miss was the dead dog. Compared to the prospect of a long sleep, and no public transit, there was no doubt in my mind I made the right decision.

For the first two years, I felt SFContario was a little too small and maybe a bit pokey, but this year I enjoyed myself virtually every moment. Whether that’s entirely because the con had reached critical mass or not, I’m not sure. Partly, I may just have been in a more receptive mood. But I felt welcomed from the start, recognized more faces and found more things to say to them. I ran into one of the guests, Jon Singer, almost immediately and caught up with many, many years since we had last seen each another. I had arrived late enough to miss all the programming, thankfully, and could ease into partying mode right away.

Saturday was much the same. I arrived late, in spite of trying to arrive earlier. But among other delays, that day there was a police incident on the streetcar. I barely walked into the con in time for my scheduled program event at 6.

The panel was on fanzines and fanzine writing, and the other participants were Chris Garcia (the moderator), Neil Jamieson-Williams and myself. Colin Hinz joined us late, after the panel began. The audience wasn’t large, but it was attentive and friendly, which is half the battle. When I posted photos on Facebook that night, I described Chris as “The Wild Man of Fandom” — which is too self-evident to need explanation. Neil I described as the “Punk Academic of Fandom,” which does need explanation. Neil is a sociologist who feels a duty to describe fandom to itself in ways that make anthropologists happy, using words like “matriliteral,” “polyfrenetic,” and “diverse etherealcentrism,” which mean little more than we already know about ourselves but are vastly more educated. But he also publishes a fanzine using a type font that literally cannot be read, and consciously rejecting any illustration or layout tricks that would make the experience of reading “Swill” more pleasurable – a “punk” attitude if ever there was. I captioned myself in the photo as “Supreme Being of Fandom,” a truism you need not question. Since Colin came late, he wasn’t in the shot and has no caption.

I thought the panel was more successful than most I’ve been on. We seemed to know what we wanted to say, said it, didn’t repeat each other, but avoided name-calling and fisticuffs throughout. Afterward, the audience had a few questions that we did our best to answer.

Someone else will have to write about the other programming. I believe there was some. Arriving as late as I did, I never saw the artshow or dealers room either, though the program book assures me that SFContario had one of each. For me, it was once again party time.

Highlights among the parties were the Detroit NASFiC bid, the Kansas City in 2016 and Spokane in 2015 Worldcon bids, the birthday bash for Yvonne Penney and the festivities in Robert J. Sawyer’s room (both nights). Also notable, but not for everyone, was the Mike Glicksohn Memorial poker game. I found Chris Garcia, David Clink (a poet), Carolyn Clink (rob Sawyer’s wife) and several others deeply immersed in their poker faces when I arrived to take a picture. Okay … in reality they were laughing and gesticulating like madmen, and I didn’t see a poker face among them.

For me, the highlight of the con was Saturday night, when I bought a funny hat from the Kansas City bid people. It was a dapper little number in black and pinstripes just like Sammy Davis Jr. used to wear, and was supposed to remind one of gangsters in the 1920s. It was too modern for that – real gangsters in the Roaring ‘20s wore snap-brimmed Fedoras, or even Derbies. I was able to convince myself I wouldn’t look too silly in one, though and since I had sold a small number of my CD-ROMs, I felt I could afford an extravagance that weekend.

Also, Diane Lacey had brought my Hugo pin to give me. At last, I had all eleven!

This year Geri Sullivan ran the con suite and was present almost around the clock. She did step out at least once, and when she returned I collapsed at her feet and whimpered something like “Where were you, I had to fill the coffee machine with water myself” … which she seemed to find excruciatingly funny for some reason. Geri had had bought about 6 flavours of gourmet potato chips and a Canadian cheese to put out. There was hot pulled pork, candies and soft drinks as well, keeping everyone well fed. Unlike some cons I remember, there didn’t seem to be a mass exodus of fans from the hotel around dinner time, leaving a few broke unfortunates or alienated loners behind. This was a good thing, as I am both kinds of fan.

I don’t want to appear wildly optimistic, but having had a surprisingly good time at SFContario 3, I may have to consider returning next year … The guests will be Seanan McGuire (author), Dave Kyle (fan) and Chandler Davis (science). Dates are November 29 to December first. http://sfcontario.ca

Friday photo montage: 1. Jon Singer (background Jo Walton); 2. Geri Sullivan; 3. Jo Walton; 4. Chis Garcia; 5. Cathy Specht, Ctein, and Jon Singer in the background, right; 6. Diane Lacey

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Saturday photo montage: 1. Chris Garcia, Neil Jamieson-Williams, Taral Wayne; 2. Hope Leibowitz & Chris Garcia; 3. Chandler Davis; 4. Mike Glicksohn Memorial Poker Game; 5. Penney Birthday Party; 6. Catherine Crockett (co-chair)