- Worked all week on symposium thingum and finished up the paper for Peshawar Lancers at SPWF.

- Symposium went well. Vinh, Jesse and Kasim came out to see the first two panels, which was pretty awesome of them. It was really cool hearing what the rest of my cohort was up to, which makes me all the more mad that I had to miss them!! =((

- So, I was told I had to take a bus to Square One, and from there to Pearson. Turns out the airport bus doesn't go to Square One anymore, but the next stop over (Meadowlea? Something-lea). But I got there on time. My flight wasn't even delayed! But I still had to go do the body scan. Sigh.

- Got into Newark at 7.30, and took a taxi into Somerset with a flirtily sketchy taxi dude. It cost me $100 (sigh) but I was so tired I was way too cranky to deal with getting a train into New Brunswick and then to Somerset. Pick Ay-Leen up from Crowne Plaza into DoubleTree where we were staying, with the Comiku Girls on sleeping bags and all. Ay-Leen and I went upstairs to meet the Texan steampunk crew the Airship Isabelle, and Mr. Saturday and Sixpence, who were neat people and let me bum off a couple of pizza slices. Then I crashed.

- Saturday was a whirlwind of activity. Apparently this year's Fair was just.............. full of administrative drama. Our presentation was too short, because somehow the programming director didn't learn from last year that we need more than one hour. Lunch was in the con suite. I remember very little. I know I had a nap. That night Lucretia read one of moniquill's short stories.

- Sunday was more even hectic since we had to check out and throw our bags in, and both Ay-Leen and I had back-to-back programming - she had to run off to do a fashion show after our roundtable, and I continued to moderate the roundtable until it was definitely time to have the academic panel. And at the very last comment, I had to yell at everyone to shut up and siddown and let the woman of colour have the last comment on the topic of race goddammit.

- People seemed to really enjoy my paper. I'm sorry I didn't get to hear Catherine's, but Leah Richardson's paper, connecting steampunk to Marxist critique, was terrific, just the sort of masterful theorizin' I want to do when I grow up someday.

- Also, I met Magpie Killjoy, who founded Steampunk Magazine! He plays the accordion wonderfully and is pretty hot. And just so soft-spoken and lovely and I wish I got to talk to him more. I also wish I got to talk to Jake von Slatt more. Oh cripes, I wish I got to talk to a lot more people more but didn't get a chance to. Sigh.

- Ay-Leen's friend was sick, so Jonathan Grimm, one of the event coordinators, spent a lot of time running around trying to help me, Lucretia and Ay-Leen get a room. At the end of the day, by a complete fluke, we found a couple of girls who had a room for the night, but were leaving, and had the room for one more night because they needed a nap before the drive home and didn't want the hassle of checking out that day by 12pm, so they essentially... gave us the room. For free. Ridiculous. Amazing. Then we got free Indian food. Again, ridiculous. Amazing. And free wine. (Jon Grimm ended up crashing with us later that night, too)

- Lucretia also agreed to give Professor Elemental a ride into NYC! We met up on Monday morning, repacked the car and everything, squeezed in, and went to the International House of Pancakes for breakfast. Paul (Elemental's real name) was absolutely lovely to hang out with, and I explained more indepth my postcolonial squirrel peeing on the book. He was very frank about his work (he's a special needs teacher) and about how terrible things happened in history and it was just a very lively conversation.

- In order: hanging out at Ay-Leen's, wandering downtown to meet up with Pablo and couple other Texan steampunks, meeting up with melissagrey, dinner with Lucretia, Ay-Leen, Melissa, and OMGrey (who I ran into a lot but never quite had a sit-down conversation with), ice-cream with all of them and Paul (who spent his day with comics and a desolate Coney Island).

- NYC people. It is ridiculous. I WOULD NEVER WANT TO LIVE HERE OMG. I came in during rush hour with Melissa, and as we were walking up to the exit at Grand Central, I looked at the drab gray surroundings and at the drab uniform horde of people and I felt SO FILLED WITH DESPAIR. I mean, Times Square? Seriously? What is this shit? Buncha flashing advertisements? I can find this in Malaysia, kthx. And I was told, NYC is so exciting! So much to see and do! But the museums are expensive and there aren't a whole lotta street musicians out on weekdays, so blah. Would like to see Central park again though.

- I sat in Union Square Park eating cake and drinking hot chocolate, watching the local wildlife. Then I went to the Strand, and got so exhausted within fifteen minutes (pretty much the only compelling book was a comic about a john). Then I had my interview with Don Spiro (a documentarian on the steampunk phenomenon as it's happening now) and lunch at a nearby Japanese place, and we talked for a long time more. Then I wandered around Union Square a while more before getting totally bored and heading to Melissa's workplace. She was stressed, I was exhausted just walking around doing nothing, we got home, and did a mini-celebration of her dad's birthday. Good times.

- Tomorrow, I'm going to meet a photographer dude I've been in contact with for two years now, and then it's to the Way Station to check it out like any good steampunk tourist. Thursday, I pack my shit again and head to Ay-Leen's to sleep all day before the Steampunk Bible signing and the resultant all-nighter. THEN WISCON. SO EXCITED.

Remember ukelele boy who busted on the Internetz with his super adorable cover of I'm Yours? I WANT TO SCHNORGLE HIM!!!!

Obladi Oblada by the Beatles:


While My Guitar Gently Weeps:


I have no idea what this is about, but it is way too cute for words, so I had to post it:

I have been pointed out to this amazing technology called "Adaptive Eyewear" which aims to provide corrective lenses to as many people as possible, especially in the African countries where over a billion people live without perfect vision.

Having worn glasses since I was 9, I cannot imagine what life would be like without my glasses (though I wear contact lenses for modeling and acting), and everytime I wear my glasses, it is a sign of my privilege that I can afford to have perfect vision. Hell, I even get to nitpick over my frames.

The glasses work by way of fluid-filled lenses, which can be adjusted by the turn of a dial! Users adjusted the amount of fluid in the lenses, which changes the shape of the lenses until the user can see properly, then the adjuster is taken off. If that's not steampunked, what is? Adaptive Eyewear is a non-profit organization dedicated to making these glasses available at low cost (10 pounds / 15 dollars a pair!). Not only that, but these glasses are made so low-cost specifically for these 1 billion people on the developing world to be able to see clearly.

This means they can read, write, and therefore learn, in order to better their lives!

Here is a video that talks about how these glasses improve lives in Ghana:



We steampunks likely are very blessed, being able to buy brass buttons, and goggles (which may or may not even have prescription lenses), and snappy clothing. If you can, spare a few dollars to Adaptive Eyewear so others, too, can see the world as it is!

Heart-shaped watermelons in Japan:



Clerks at Fukuoka's Iwataya Department Store show off heart-shaped watermelons produced just in time for Mother's Day on Sunday. The unusual fruit is the invention of Hiroichi Kimura, a farmer from Kumamoto, and his wife. The couple said they had tried for three years to create the perfectly heart-shaped fruit, which they say symbolizes their passion for farming and their affection for each other. The Kimuras shipped 20 of the special fruit for the first time this year, of which five were for sale at Iwataya priced at 15,750 yen each.(IHT/Asahi: May 9,2009)

How fucking cute is that????

h/t Disgrasian

Because nosidagi was there in his Klingon costume, so I want to make sure his time was worthwhile:

www.Hal-Con.com, ya'll.

I am so there.

I loved her from the start. She was so cheeky, down-to-earth, and adorable ("I'm forty-seven. And that's just one part of me! *wiggles hips*") and then she belted out like a stage queen. Even her stage presence is palpable. And there were people laughing at her (possibly some laughing with her, but mostly sneering at her) and she showed them all, showed them all. You can tell the judges were absolutely blown away (Simon looking enchanted? OMG) and the only thing that could possibly make this video better would be to see those sneering faces drop when Ms. Boyle shows her chops.

I usually despise reality shows like American Idol because usually the talent bit is only part of what the judges are looking for - they're generally looking for someone they can commercially market to the lowest-common denominator. Also, the whole show seems to run on being mean to people. But Britain's Got Talent has been pretty good, with Signature (video post a few days ago) and Paul Potts (large-ish, nervous cellphone salesman who looked completely unassuming. He ended up winning and last I saw while encountering a vid of his audition on Youtube he is now on his second album.)

Ms. Boyle, having wow-ed the audience tries to leave the stage quickly, and her reactions to the judges are so cute, and her little victory dance before leaving the stage like she's been there all her life is just so fantastic.

Good luck to Ms. Boyle!! I hope she wins this year's BGT!

Of whom I know there are quite a few. pernishus, castusalbuscor, nolan_ash and the_afterlight come to mind.

A Baconfest Menu

Pre-dinner hors d’oeuvres

Brie stuffed with brown sugar, walnuts and bacon in puff pastry

Scallion peanut butter canapés with bacon

Deep fried bacon with chipotle-lime aioli


Dinner

Course 1 – Almond stuff dates wrapped in bacon with a garlic-butter sauce

Course 2 – Celery root soup with bacon, Granny Smith apples and celery

Course 3 – Grilled pear salad with bacon, walnuts, Gorgonzola and ruby port vinaigrette with crackers wrapped in bacon

Course 4 – Cantaloupe sorbet with candied bacon

Course 5 – Chicken breasts stuffed with caramelized shallots, bacon, sage and Parmesan, topped with fried sage

Course 6 – Pan seared sea scallops over bacon lentils with a cider reduction and Mascarpone cream sauce

Course 7 – Peanut butter and bacon chocolate truffles


I can already feel my arteries clanging shut as my belly wiggles for joy. I don't even like some of the dishes described in here, but that IS a lot of bacon.

And castusalbuscor -- BACON IS A VEGETABLE!

Let's just say you won't regret a second of it:



I'm gonna wipe my tears away now.

This is, according to Liss from Shakesville, a PSA from the White House's Fatherhood initiative.

I like it because the dad is so totally into what he's doing with his daughter and it doesn't mock him for it.

Lots of people in the Shakesville post are talking about stuff they did with their dads which was stereotypically "girly".

My dad taught my brother how to cook, who in turn taught me. Cooking was never women's work in my household (although my mom can rise to the occasion, she knows my dad has more energy for that, but she was the first one who taught me how to mix eggs into my instant noogles). My dad was also the kind to be more visibly enthusiastic, going "YEEEAAAAAAAA!" unabashedly when I accomplished something.

h/t Shakesville

Just.

I have no words.

*blub*