Wizardly Secrets
Speaking about her books at Carnegie Hall in New York, J.K. Rowling filled fan fiction writers everywhere with glee when she outed Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
Hapana.com and news.yahoo.com both report: Rowling said she “always thought Dumbledore was gay” and that he originally fell in love with the wizard Grindelwald.
Dumbledore’s orientation isn’t a factor in the plots of the books, so it doesn’t change much for me, though I’m pleased at the additional glimpse of his character. Anyone else have thoughts?
A VTSFFC Party, Day Two
I slept quite late Sunday morning; I’d not had enough rest in the last week, and a five-hour drive is still draining even when it’s pleasant.
shrewlet fixed a big breakfast for us. I was starving, I honestly ate too much. I spent a few minutes checking e-mail and trying to log onto WoW – I’m trying to earn enough quest tickets to win a prize in-game – but I couldn’t get a good connection. It wasn’t long before I had to give up and get dressed for yubbie and colleenk‘s wedding.
Wile dressing, I amused myself by considering the far greater number of times I’ve worn a Starfleet uniform than a suit, but it’s not as if I’d forgotten how to put it on. Dwight and I left the Arthur digs early, for we had stops to make – I picked up a cute card for the happy couple – and we arrived pretty much on time.
Listing the LJ and fan folk who were there would be quite tedious, so I shan’t try. The wedding was wonderful. Colleen was gorgeous and Ron looked great. I saw people there I hadn’t laid eyes on in years!
That sad part was that I couldn’t stay for the reception – we had a 5-hour drive back (6, really) and Dwight had to be home in time for an early work day. So I didn’t get to pass on my congratulations in person. But the pictures prove I was there!
Home now… I had a great time, and wish I could have spent more time at that end of the state. The Roanoke and New River valleys need to be brought at least 2/3 closer to Hampton Roads (or vice versa).
A VTSFFC Party, Day One
It turns out that a 5-hour drive in a Mini Cooper is a lot more comfortable than you’d think. In the front seat, anyway.
Dwight introduced me to a bunch of very good music. I’m going to have to look up some more material by the Dresden Dolls and the Supreme Beings of Leisure. The company was excellent and the scenery compelling (and the leaves haven’t even turned yet!)
We arrived in Blacksburg, picked up shrewlet, and wandered into Invisifest around 4, into a panel that tltrent was hosting. I was knocked over by my welcome; my VTSFFC family is one excellent bunch of folk, who really know how to make a guy feel like he’s where he belongs. I caught up with rattrap, nius, rainbowsaber, mephox, anterus, southernsinger, rubinpdf, Cathy, Ben, Jamie, and many other people. Around six, we had to shut down the panel, but we dragged most of the crowd to Macado’s, where Pat and I geeked out over Whovian matters while we waited for our food.
There was a brief attempt at handing Technicon 25 over to me, which I discuss a little more over in my lifestyle filter (if you want to be added to that and haven’t been, leave a comment here to that effect). Suffice it to say that their idea would have made for a quite memorable TCon, and that I turned down the kind offer. Rapidly. Possibly in nanoseconds 🙂
We went back to the ‘Fest for Keith’s White Plectrum concert, which was a small, laughter-filled performance. Keith paid me high compliments by telling the story of how “Red Pill” was written. For those who asked, the throwaway line which inspired “When They Shut Down The Fusion Plant (We’ll Pack Our Bags And Glow)” is found in Music From the Heart of Space, a Starfleet: Batron Eleven fanfic which includes elements of Doctor Who, Robotech: Macross, and Megazone 23. Despite that mashup, I’m still rather proud of the tale, which will always live on in some small manner thanks to Jerry’s twisted creative mind.
We had to leave shortly afterwards. I wish I’d had the energy to stay all night and party, but I have a wedding to attend tomorrow!
There’s a voice in my head that drives my heel
I got Guitar Hero 80s last week. First-ever five-star ratings – on “Radar Love” and “Turning Japanese”, naturally. This has an excellent song list as far as I’m concerned!
The weather down here lately has been incredible. Clear blue skies, sharp edges on all the polygons – err, objects nearby, and temperatures in the high 60s to mid 70s. On the other hand, It’s really dark when I get out of bed now, and the sunset is happening sooner and sooner. I don’t like this at all, no sir.
Still trying to figure out if I’ve got the money to do all the traveling I’d like to do in October. The pirate wedding was a reminder of how much I miss old friends.
I wish I was doing more interesting stuff to talk about. If I can do the traveling, that’ll help a bit 🙂
Robotech Live-Action?
On the “Robotech” movie Tobey Maguire’s producing:
I would love to see a good Robotech movie. I don’t even mind if Maguire plays Rick Hunter – they could do worse.
Last I heard the property was in Licensing Rights Hell. I will believe this is actually in production when reliable on-set reports start filtering out.
I’m not worried about whether the script will be more faithful to Robotech or Macross. When the studio suits are done with it, it will more resemble the Go-Bots. “Geez, you idiot fanboys, it’s just a cartoon.” Otaku who thought that Peter Jackson was spawn of Satan will be utterly enraged, burning down message boards across the ‘Tubes.
Minmei will no longer be Chinese, or ethnic in any way. (Claudia Grant, either.) She will be played by some losing American Idol finalist who will produce a soundtrack album of mildly grating, forgettable songs; this will put her ahead of poor Reba West but still behind Mari Iijima.
The iconic VF-1 Valkyrie, one of the most believable and good-looking transforming mecha in anime history, will no longer strongly resemble an F-14 Tomcat; but be based off of an F-22 Raptor or some Wing Commander refugee, whose transformation sequence only works if you look at something else for several seconds in the middle. (“Hey, where’d Optimus Prime’s trailer go, anyway?”) The SDF-1 Macross will probably fare little better.
Finally, I’m sure I’ll see it at least twice and buy the DVD.
So who would you cast for the main characters? (I just had this mental picture of The Rock as Breetai, which horrified me initially, but is slowly growing on me.)
Dispatch From the Friends List Network
Interview questions from gryphynkit can be found by clicking here
Set to “liquefy”
Me being “funny” at Technicon 24’s “Whose Con Is It Anyway”, courtesy of nius.
Improv really is harder than it looks. Also, I really really really need to start getting some exercise 🙁
