Cheerfully Demented

Funny Story! Eve of Crashstruction

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:18:06 GMT

What our house looks like from the outside, thanks to Crash:

Yesterday, our cute little guy was all mellow and unhappy - sick from eating too much Christmas faux bone. He made up for that inactivity today, hunting his natural prey: the wild toilet rolls of the Serengeti. Here's how today went:

Frank (working at computer, notices Crash behind him on futon, chewing up a roll of toilet paper): Ahhhhh!!!! Crash!!!!!

Crash (dropping toilet paper, looking innocently): What's up?

Frank: AhhhhhhhHH!!!!!!

Frank picks up debris after Crash has t.p.'d the inside of our apartment.

Frank puts toilet paper in cabinet.

Five minutes later:

Frank: Ahhhhhhh!!!!!

Crash has opened cabinet, retrieved toilet paper, closed cabinet and dragged t.p. debris up and down the hallway.

Frank cleans up t.p. debris, puts a hairband to secure the door of cabinet.

Five minutes later:

Frank: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Crash has chewed through hairband, retrieved t.p. from cabinet, closed cabinet to hide the crime, and recovered the floor with t.p. debris.

Frank picks up t.p. debris, puts t.p. rolls on top of table in kitchen. Vacuums up entire apartment.

Five minutes later:

Brianna (who was listening to loud dance music and didn't hear vacuum cleaner): I thought I asked you to vacuum.

Frank: I did vac---- AHHHHHHHH!!!!

Crash has jumped on table, grabbed toilet paper and ripped it to shreds and coated floor with t.p. debris. In minutes.

Frank: I'm going to lock up Crash in his cage.

Brianna: No, that's not necessary. We can just put up the babygate and lock him in the kitchen. He won't get out.

Frank: Uh, yeah...

Five minutes later:

Crash (strolling into living room with t.p. in his mouth): What's up?

Frank: Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

Brianna scores over 1000 in Scrabble!!!!

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:43:41 GMT

I gave Frank a good Scrabble butt-kicking for Christmas! Check out our game of Super Scrabble! It has 200 tiles instead on 100, and 441 spaces instead 225.

I scored 1016, Frank scored 720. That's a little something I like to call a "murk." The game took almost two hours.

Merry Christmas,
Bri

Attention Everyone

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:01:25 GMT

We didn't win TAFF.

So, screw England. Frank and I are escaping Boston and going to warm, sunny Florida instead for a week. It will be 72 there by the end of January.

No science fiction convention, no pimping art, no pirana puppy. Just a fun trip with just the two of us.

It will be full of win!

Bri

Congrats, Anne and Brian!

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:58:18 GMT

Anne KG Murphy and Brian Gray have won this year's TAFF auction. The voting totals are here: http://taff.org.uk/taffhist.html (scroll to the bottom).

It was a fun race, of course. Anne [ http://netmouse.livejournal.com/ ] and Brian will make great TAFF delegates, and will publish a fine fanzine about their trip. Congrats, Anne and Brian!

Still waiting for Obama to stand up and peel that orange

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:07:52 GMT

True story: A couple years ago, at a law firm, the summer associates were doing a scavenger hunt. The summers were technically still job candidates - at the end of the semester, most, but probably not all, would be offered lucrative attorney jobs (this was a couple years when the economy was still good). They were divvied up into three teams. In one challenge, they were given a choice: (1) buy a desk at Ikea and assemble it; or (2) select one champion from the team who could peel an orange in one peel without a knife. The advantage of the orange test was that it was much, much quicker, the disadvantage was that it put one person at risk of failure and embarrassment. Or triumph and accolades. Not one champion arose from any of the teams. Wimps. Will there be no one to save us? No one to stand up for potential greatness? And so... today's random poll:

View Poll: Orange test

Addendum: As I understood the rules, the firm paid for the desk, but also got to keep it. I think it also bought the orange.

We moved from California for this?

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:33:26 GMT

Our first real snow of the season! Yippeee!!!!!

Yeah!!!!

Crash loved it - he was little a tiny little white furry snowplow, burrowing through the snow with his face!

He was leaping, prancing around in the snow, didn't seem like a Crashcicle at all. And then he started jumping into the air, making weird swallowing sounds and snapping with his jaws. I thought he was choking then - and then I realized, he was catching snowflakes on his tongue!

Crash destroys US Currency

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 06:01:01 GMT

TAFF voting deadline coming up shortly!

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:50:03 GMT

The voting deadline for TAFF is midnight Pacific time on the night of Dec. 22 (Tues. night)! You can see the ballot here: http://taff.org.uk/ballots/taff2010.html.

It's probably too late to cast your vote by snail mail, but you can vote electronically. Since voting requires a small donation ($3 or 2 euros), you can paypal the fee to garcia [at] computerhistory.org and include in the message all the info on the ballot, e.g., whom you're voting for, and your name and address.

Please vote!

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:32:23 GMT

I did this art for Anne Murphy, our ~~TAFF Competition~~ good friend. It's a werewolf gal in a roller derby outfit!

Don't forget there is still time to vote for TAFF! I'm not going to suggest who you should vote for, but I will say that Ronald Reagan, our ~~greatest~~ former president, told Frank on his deathbed to, "Win TAFF for the old Gipper!"

Bri

Ps - Did you know there's an iPhone app for worshiping Reagan? Scary.

Crash has a new best friend!

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:50:59 GMT

Discuss?

Hello Kitty art

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:21:41 GMT

I can't tell you who (yet), and I can't tell you why, or when, or what, but...

I've been asked to ask the great lj overmind:

Any artists out there who have done any Hello Kitty art?

If you have, send me an email at FWu@frankwu.com or Qarlo999@hotmail.com

We got a Festivus pole!

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:17:36 GMT

Here's a foto of (1) our brand new Festivus pole and (2) the reason we can't have a Christmas tree or other nice things.

Obama's score

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:05:10 GMT

Today's random poll.

Barack Obama gave himself a grade of "a good, solid B+" for his time so far in office. Seems to me that a lot of stuff is in the works - efforts to save the economy and generate jobs, efforts to reform health care, efforts to close Guantanamo, efforts to talk about talking about global warming, efforts to end the wars, but not much fruit yet. If any. What grade would you give him?

View Poll: What grade would you give Obama?

Science Fiction Hall of Fame

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:30:08 GMT

Since people are already emailing and contacting me about who they think ought to be in the SF Hall of Fame, I figured I'd open this up a little. As in (almost) all things, transparency here is a good thing. How do people get into the SF HOF?

I hope to open this up to discussion for everyone - though I, of course, will be mostly on the receiving rather dispensing end of information and please don't ask me to tell you who's going to get in before they make the final announcement. I also can't tell you what's going on behind closed doors, of course. In the light of propriety, I can tell you, I think, what's publically available knowledge and obvious conclusions from such knowledge.

The way the process works is that members of the SF Museum get to nominate whoever they want; we the executive selection committee paw through the nominations and debate amongst ourselves (this will happen with a flurry of emails within the next month). Some of the rest is based on my reading of the recent history of the HOF elections (we haven't been told yet if the "rules" this year are different). Generally, four people get in every year. There are four general categories: author, artist, filmmaker/TV, and other. But: we don't need to nominate 1 person per category (last year there were 2 artists). As I look over what's happened in the past, I see that usually two of the inductees are living, and two are dead (I'm not sure if that's a hard and fast rule).

I've gone through the list of everybody in the HOF and broke it down, listing them by the year their first work appeared (first published story, first illustration, etc.):

Mary W. Shelley Author 1818
Jules Verne Author 1863
H. G. Wells Author 1884
Frank R. Paul Artist 1911
Edgar Rice Burroughs Author 1912
Hugo Gernsback Editor 1913
Abraham Merritt Author 1917
E. E. Smith Author 1928
Jack Williamson Author 1928
John W. Campbell, Jr. Author/Editor 1930
C.L. Moore Author 1933
Andre Norton Author 1934
Donald Allen Wollheim Editor 1934
Frederik Pohl Author 1937
Eric Frank Russell Author 1937
Ray Bradbury Author 1938
Theodore Sturgeon Author 1938
Isaac Asimov Author 1939
Alfred Bester Author 1939
Chesley Bonestell Artist 1939
Robert A. Heinlein Author 1939
Fritz Leiber Author 1939
A. E. van Vogt Author 1939
James Blish Author 1940
Damon Knight Author/Editor 1941
Wilson Tucker Author 1941
Hal Clement Author 1942
Betty Ballantine Editor 1945
Ian Ballantine Editor 1945
Jack Vance Author 1945
Sir Arthur C. Clarke Author 1946
Poul Anderson Author 1947
Frank Herbert Author 1947
Richard M. Powers Artist 1948?
Ray Harryhausen Filmmaker 1949
Frank Kelly Freas Artist 1950
Philip K. Dick Author 1951
Gordon R. Dickson Author 1951
Ed Emshwiller Artist 1951
Gene Wolfe Author 1951
Brian W. Aldiss Author 1955
Robert Silverberg Author 1955
Michael Moorcock Author 1957
Harry Harrison Author 1958
Ursula K. Le Guin Author 1959
Rod Serling Filmmaker 1959
Samuel R. Delany Author 1962
Kate Wilhelm Author 1962
Edward L. Ferman Editor 1965
Gene Roddenberry Filmmaker 1966
George Lucas Filmmaker 1967
Anne McCaffrey Author 1967
Steven Spielberg Filmmaker 1969
Michael Whelan Artist 1975
William Gibson Author 1977
Connie Willis Author 1978
Ridley Scott Filmmaker 1979

Authors: 40
Editors: 7
Artists: 6
Filmmakers: 6
Actors: 0
Filkers: 0
Composers/Musicians: 0
Game designers: 0
Women: 8
Men: 49

We see some interesting things. The vast majority of folks in the HOF are writers. There are no actors, filkers, musicians, or game designers. (Any other major categories missing?) Also, the vast majority are men. (Connie Willis, who entered last year, is one of only 8 women enshrined.) The median year in which SF HOFers started their careers is 1945.

I will leave it at that, and open the floor for comments and suggestions. (Also, I collected the "year" data rather quickly and roughly, and I wouldn't be surprised if a couple were off.)

Stunned!

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:36:56 GMT

I just got an email from Brooks Peck at the SF Hall of Fame. He has invited me to be part of the 2010 Hall of Fame selection committee. I am literally and figuratively stunned. Stunned!

The Hall of Fame is one of those lifetime honors that... just overwhelm me with their awesomeness. I got to induct Frank R. Paul into the Hall of Fame last year, and it was a thrilling, incredible experience.

I keep wanting to say to myself, This is like the Science Fiction version of the Baseball Hall of Fame. And in some ways it is - the baseball hall of fame is where you go, if you can get elected, after people who know and breathe and love baseball examine your career, your life, your stats, your integrity, years after the fact. Baseball fans debate who's a surefire, first-ballot hall-of-famer, who's a borderline case, who will never get into the crowd of greats among greats.

To win a Nebula is one thing, to win a Hugo another, but to achieve enshrinement in the Hall of Fame? Wow.

And I get to have a small role in who gets this honor. That's a very humbling, humbling experience.

Brianna's New Drink Tank Cover

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:39:50 GMT

Brianna's done new artwork, which has now appeared on the cover of the current issue of The Drink Tank, issue 233! http://www.efanzines.com

Could the choice of background have sometime to do with the fact that we just saw the stawesome "Ninja Assassin" and loved it? Maybe, maybe not!

Awesome new tech review website! GeekGalReviews!

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:03:01 GMT

I'm a little biased, but I think it's cool.

Bri has a new website, http://www.geekgalreviews.com - where she's reviewing Apple computer gear and related sundries. It's aimed at grrls, because she's a very techno-savvy grrl, and it seems like grrls are underrepresented in cyberspace. This is unfair and wrong, of course, and perpetuates stereotypes. For example, she often goes into computer stores with me and the sales dude will start talking to me, ignoring her, because they assume since I'm the dude, I'm the guy who understands all the technobabble, when really it's the other way around.

She's also going to be reviewing more girly computer accessories - e.g., the L.A.M.B. clutch purse for the iPhone, designed by Gwen Stefani. Things not likely to be reviewed at the IGN message board.

Grrls rule! And now they have another place of their own in cyberspace.

So please lend her some support - post some comments! Send her a message! Cybergrrls rule!

Do you know what this is?

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 05:43:11 GMT

Frank saw this today at the store and bought it right away.

Bri

Harlan Ellison punches a dude in the face

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:30:42 GMT

I'm looking for a source (website, story, diatribe in a book, etc.) about this story about Harlan Ellison:

Harlan was on the phone with some Hollywood-type - on separate coasts. The guy yelled at Harlan over the phone, and said, basically, "Whatcha goin' do about it? I'm over here and you're all the way over there." So Harlan hopped on a plane, flew across the country, showed up in the guy's office before the close of the business day and punched him in the face.

Anybody have a reference for this story? Or more details?

WTF?!?!?!

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:06:44 GMT

It's one thing when some random yahoo you've never heard of is roughed up by agents of the Law. But it's another thing when it's a colleague, someone you've met, whose work you admire.

WTF?

Writer Peter Watts, a Canadian, was roughed up and peppersprayed after he got out of his car at the US-Canada border. By our (the US') border agents.

WTF?

I met Peter once or twice, I think for the first time at TorontoTrek in 2003, when we were hanging out with Julie Czerneda. I didn't get to know him well, but he seemed like a good guy.

WTF?

More on boingboing.

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/dr-peter-watts-canad.html#more

He's home safe, for now, but the legal fees could bankrupt him. Shiiiiiiiite.

The Boys are Sleeping

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:18:30 GMT

It was 8 in the morning, and the Wu boys decided to go back to bed.

Bri

Frank needs your vote! VOTE FRANK FOR TAFF!

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:39:06 GMT

Frank is far too modest to ask you to vote for him for TAFF on his blog. But I’m not. Can you think of anyone who represents America better than Frank Wu? He loves baseball, freedom, and even voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Taral Wayne called him “the second nicest guy in fandom,” and I agree.

Here is a heartwarming story of how much Frank Wu loves America.

There Frank was, hitch hiking in Kentucky - when he was is picked up by the Sheriff and arrested for vagrancy. They charged with resisting arrest and sentenced him to 35 days in jail. Being trapped inside that cold, wet, stinking cell gave Frank flashbacks of his horrible days as a POW in Vietnam. Crazed with PTSD, Frank fought off the cops , fled from the jail, stole a motorcycle and hid in the nearby mountains. He became the focus of a bloody nationwide manhunt.

(This actually might be the plot of “Rambo: First Blood.” I can’t remember.)

Do you love freedom and liberty? Sure you do. That’s why you should vote for Frank for TAFF by clicking on this link.

http://taff.org.uk/ballots/taff2010.html

Even if you don’t vote for Frank, and are reading this blog because he is your bitter enemy please vote! All kidding aside, TAFF is a very worthy, important cause!

Bri

Brianna's art

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:07:40 GMT

Brianna's artwork has run on the cover of the most recent issue of the Mike Glyer's Hugo-winning fanzine File 770.

You can read this and a bunch of other fanzines at efanzines.com!

Brianna also almost, almost, almost won the Illustrators of the Future contest. Dang. She came in fourth, and the top 3 were winners. So so so very close, agonizingly close. I'm really proud of her as an artist. She'll enter again - and win, I'm sure!

Baseball Hall of Famer is a Space Alien

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:43:24 GMT

Steven Silver asked me to do a quick little drawing for the Chicago in 2012 Worldcon bid. It illustrates a story in which the Chicago Cubs have a shot at winning the World Series (for the first time since 1908), because all their players are space aliens! (I used as a model a foto of Baseball Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg.)

TAFF auctions ending around midnight Eastern Time!

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:57:45 GMT

The TAFF (Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund) auctions END IN A DAY!

(For those of you who don't know, TAFF sends - in alternating years - a delegate(s) from North America to Europe or from Europe to N. America, to attend a science fiction convention. The point of the auction is to raise funds to make this possible. The folks running for TAFF this year are the team of (1) Anne KG Murphy and her fiance Brian Gray and (2) me, Frank Wu.)

I've posted to eBay several Tuckerization auctions (in which you get to bid on the naming rights of a minor character in a novel or story by a famous author!). You or a loved one can get a character named after you (or your loved one)! Makes a great present (obviously).

The auctions for Tuckerizations from Cory Doctorow, Charlie Stross, Nalo Hopkinson, David Brin, Elizabeth Bear, Julie Czerneda and Mary Robinette Kowal are up - and ending around midnight Monday Eastern! (Ya know, for those who are counting these things, this is an awesome group of writers - between the 7 of them, they've won the Campbell Award for Best New Writer 4X, plus 6 Hugos, 1 Nebula, 13 Locus Awards, and a World Fantasy Award!!!!)

We also have auctions for first editions of Orwell's "1984" and John Hersey's "Hiroshima". These end Tuesday morning Eastern.

And, of course, don't forget to actually vote for TAFF! Vote for your favorite Taffinator.

Bid! Bid! Bid!