Ducks and Bass Fiddles in the Park

This is a little late, but I had a pleasant time in a park in Bellevue for the 4^th of July. (Bellevue is a suburb of Seattle.)

First, there is a nice artificial waterfall which is quite popular. Here are some ducks in the top part. One duck is so comfortable, it’s standing on one leg at the lip of the fall.

Then a bunch of them get the same idea.

In the background are the typical inflatable play areas for children.

A nice moment was the presentation of the colors—the U.S. flag and the Washington flag. It was a very casual crowd, but most people stood for the flags.

I was pleasantly surprised that most people would still do that.

As usual, the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra was to play. I noticed some bass fiddles being unpacked beside the stage. Among the players were a couple of slim young women.

They each hauled a bass fiddle up the steps to the stage.

The Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra was phenomenal. They play modern pieces in a stirring manner. And as usual, I took a picture from the back, since the park was too jammed to get a picture from the front.

Note the bass fiddles on the right.

So the news is out that some people vandalized the Cloud Gate in Chicago, more affectionately known as “The Bean,” by spraying graffiti on it. Since this is not a negative blog, I won’t spend time telling those idiots what chuckleheads they are.

Instead, here’s a reposting from my time at the 2012 Worldcon. 

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Worldcon, the world’s largest science fiction convention, was held in Chicago this year.  The convention hadn’t started yet, so I did some sightseeing on Wednesday.  This bas relief was just outside my hotel: 

I don’t normally see art like this casually on display. 

Further on, their Magnificent Mile featured Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate sculpture, often nicknamed “The Bean.” 

The Cloud Gate was featured in the movie Source Code, and you can see my review here.  Notice how the buildings are clearly reflected in the surface: 

People can easily walk beneath its curved surface: 

Beneath the center of it, the reflection seems much farther away than it really is. 

I became nervous there, because loud street noises reflected around inside. 

On the other side of the Chicago River is the NBC tower: 

I had spotted the peacock while walking from my hotel, and you can barely see it at the top of the picture. 

So here’s the Chicago River itself, looking towards downtown: 

Batman – Robert Pattinson

Word is officially out. There’s a new Batman! The dark knight will be played by Robert Pattinson. Uh, Robert Pattinson?

photo by Nicolas Genin 

Do not get me wrong: Whether you like the first Twilight movie or not, it is a model for inciting incidents, try/fail cycles, and of course, the climactic moment when the hero desperately has to perform a forbidden act to save the day.

But it seems to me he lacks the gravitas to play Batman. He’ll have to bulk up a lot to play the part. I’m not sure millions of people will pay a lot of money to see him as the caped crusader.

What next, Kristen Stewart as Wonder Woman?

public domain 

That might attract a few people.

But who would play Superman?

photo by Eva Rinaldi

Book Review - Erebus: One Ship, Two Epic Voyages, and the Greatest Naval Mystery of All Time by Michael Palin

Michael Palin’s chief fame comes from his being a performer and lead writer for the comedy group Monty Python. Since then, he’s served as the president of the Royal Geographical Society and has produced travel documentaries such as Pole to Pole.

In Erebus: One Ship, Two Epic Voyages, and the Greatest Naval Mystery of All Time, Palin chronicles the work of the HMS Erebus and her sister ship the HMS Terror as they explore the “Southern Ocean” and encounter the forbidding continent of Antarctica.

The Erebus and the Terror head down to Antarctica no less than two times, stopping back in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) and New Zealand to renew supplies. One of their first sights was of a wholly unexpected active volcano, which they named after their ship—Mount Erebus. To quote from one of the logs, “It would Shew first with a volume of Smoke, as dark as Pitch which would gradually become of a lighter hue and then the Flame would burst forth with great fury for some time.” Then there was the eerie wall of ice two hundred feet high, that seemed to have no end. “McCormick clambered up to the crow’s nest, ‘but could see no termination to the great ice-wall, which we have named the Great Southern Barrier.’” That was just the edge of what is now called the Ross Ice Shelf, named after James Clark Ross, captain of the Erebus.

At one point, both of these wooden sailing ships were completely locked in by ice. They made the best of it by going out onto the ice and performing plays to maintain morale! It is hard to believe these ships survived the ice, the waves, the lightning, and other perils.

Later, the Erebus sailed north in an ill-fated attempt to find the Northwest Passage. Palin has less to recount here, since he has to piece together what happened from scraps of information.

So some application for science fiction writers (if you’re not one, ignore this paragraph): If you’re writing about ships in space, you can profit greatly from reading this sort of non-fiction—especially of older ships. There are gripping scenes of near disaster from forces far mightier than these ships. The feel of awe from encountering a volcano or the wall of ice are essential for good adventure fiction. On long voyages, something like a hologram deck or live plays would be a must for crew morale. And of course, there is the friction among officers as to who will be chosen for the glorious attempt to find the Northwest Passage.

All in all, Erebus is a beautiful book. Palin does the Royal Geographical Society proud.

Norwescon III Supplemental

So as promised, here is the most beautiful cosplayer at Norwescon.

This is Torrey Stenmark. I’ve somehow become a fan along the way. Here she is as Captain Marvel.

[click to enlarge]

I was surprised she was able to make the costume so quickly after the Captain Marvel movie. She was on a panel in which she spoke quite conversationally about the Marvel Universe and costuming, despite being in such a heavy-duty outfit.

The next day, I saw a woman in an intriguing costume, complete with helmet. I asked if I could take a picture, and she immediately went into a pose.

Later, I realized they’re the SAME PERSON. It was Torrey again. This happened to me last year, when I took pictures of her as Power Girl, and I didn’t recognize her.

So I knew ahead of time she was going to appear as Galadriel this year. Still, I was stunned when she debuted.

She knows how to pose with gestures appropriate for the character.

This view from the back shows the elaborate work involved. Keep in mind, she makes the costumes herself.

Here she is, breaking character to show off her 1^st Place award. And no one can deny she earned it.

[Permission granted to use any photo on this post, so long as it is labeled “Photo by Mark Murata”]

Norwescon II Supplemental

As promised, here are some of the cosplayers from Norwescon.

We’ll start with a fairy.

[click to enlarge]

At least, that’s what she resembles. I assume she’s some sort of magical being.

Now we have someone who was all armored up.

Keep in mind, it’s not a real gun. Some attendees do bring edged weapons, and those are peace-bonded, using the same thick plastic used in plastic handcuffs.

Now we have a winged being.

I’m not going to assume this is a fairy. Use some imagination.

I’ll pause from the amusing narrative. Some of these folks work all year on their costumes. The attention to detail is impressive. If you attend a convention like this, the polite thing to do is ask permission to take a picture, then show it to the person after it’s snapped.           

I asked, but the I took this picture when her eyes were shut. (I actually kind of like it.)

Thanks to the miracle of smart phones, I could quickly see my error and take another one.

She was a good sport.

And here is the Star Trek couple.

They were as cute as they look.

Here we have an elegant woman.

I’m guessing such outfits are incredibly hot after a while.

This is a member of the sheriff’s office. For real. She was patrolling in the hotel.

They say they get mistaken for cosplayers.

She could always protect us from the Dalek.

It actually moved around at a good rate.

So tomorrow, I’ll have the most beautiful cosplayer.

[Permission granted to use any photo on this post, so long as it is labeled “Photo by Mark Murata”]

Norwescon I Supplemental

Norwescon is an annual science fiction and fantasy convention held in SeaTac (to the south of Seattle) each year. If you’ve never been to one, it’s a lot like other business conventions (except for cosplayers—more on that later).

For instance, there are many booths on the floor.

This one was for the Renaissance Faire.

And there are panels. This was one was on YA (young adult) writing. I don’t write that, but I like to go to such panels because the writers are so dynamic.

Fonda Lee, G.S. (Gabrielle) Prendergast, Marta Murvosh, and Brenna Clarke Gray. Marta Murvosh is asking aspiring writers to raise their hands. I couldn’t because, you know, camera. Apologies to Spencer Ellsworth, whom I couldn’t include in the shot.

Brenna Clarke Gray explained to me afterwards that YA has a maximum age of eighteen for protagonists. A protagonist age twenty to twenty-two would not work.

Novels with protagonists in their early to mid-twenties are called NA (new adult) by some. There is an expectation of a certain amount of sexuality, and if not, some discussion as to why there is no sexual activity.

Another panelist was Cat Rambo.

She emphasized that all writers need agents to read and understand the publishers’ contracts. Publishing houses try to get all the rights they can from the writer—for instance, rights to audiobooks. But if that publishing house has no history of doing audiobooks, the author needs to retain those rights or have the publishing house spell out in detail how an audiobook of the novel is going to be made.

But writers need to learn about contracts. Also, writers need to understand the agents’ contracts. Ultimately, it is the writer who signs the contracts and is responsible.

Rhiannon Held was also there.

She’s a professional archaeologist known for urban fantasy. Now she’s starting to do space opera.

The Artist Guest of Honor was Tran Nguyen.

Look at her art and be astounded. 

So my next entry will have cosplayers.

Conan Meets the Wizard of Oz

I was watching the movie Conan the Destroyer (not the first one, the reprehensible Conan the Barbarian), when I realized it had strong similarities to The Wizard of Oz. This might sound insane at first, but as I watched it again, the similar plot points were astonishing. Note that characters slide around, e.g., sometimes Conan is Dorothy, sometimes the Princess is. See if you think this is just coincidental. (The first few comparisons may seem unremarkable, but the whole is greater than the parts. And obviously, these are spoilers.)  

The Wizard of Oz starts with Dorothy running on a road.

Conan the Destroyer starts with soldiers galloping on horseback.

Dorothy descends from a tornado.

Soldiers on horseback descend on Conan in a plain.

Dorothy sings of over the rainbow (out of sequence)

Witch-Queen promises Conan to bring back the dead Valeria.

Dorothy greeted enthusiastically by Munchkins.

Conan greeted enthusiastically by crowd.

Evil Witch threatens Dorothy.

Witch-Queen plots to sacrifice Princess.

Good Witch sends Dorothy on her way.

Witch-Queen sends Conan and Princess on their way.

Dorothy acquires three companions: Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion.

Conan acquires three companions: Thief = Cowardly Lion, Wizard = Scarecrow, Female Warrior = Tin Man.

Dorothy falls into a perilous sleep.

Princess falls asleep and is snatched away.

Confrontation with high gatekeeper of Oz.

Confrontation with wizard in high castle.

Dorothy and companions get spiffed up.

Princess and companions tend to each other’s wounds.

Dorothy meets the great big fiery head of the Wizard of Oz.

Princess walks into a great big mouth through blazing fire.

Attack of the flying monkeys.

Attack of the guardians of the horn.

Funny pratfall by Lion (out of sequence)

Funny battle of wizards.

Dorothy taken.

Princess taken.

Companions go after Dorothy.

Companions go after Princess.

Evil Witch prepares for Dorothy’s death using a red hourglass.

Witch-Queen prepares Princess for sacrifice using red wine.

Sneaking into the castle.

Sneaking into the palace.

Castle battle.

Palace battle.

Evil Witch killed abruptly.

Witch-Queen killed abruptly.

Dorothy brings Evil Witch’s broom to Wizard of Oz; confrontation with the Wizard.

Princess brings horn to evil god (out of sequence); Conan battles evil god.

Wizard gives gifts to each companion.

Princess invites each companion into her service.

Wizard tries to take Dorothy home by balloon; Dorothy steps out of carriage.

Princess asks Conan to rule with her; Conan goes off to find his own kingdom.

Dorothy returns home.

Conan eventually gains his own kingdom.

Obviously, Conan the Destroyer is its own story, with needless violence every so often. And the character of Bombaata, who betrays them, is unique to that movie. But do I think this proves the writers used The Wizard of Oz for their basic plot? Perhaps, perhaps not. At the least, it shows the lack of originality in Hollywood.

If you liked this analysis, see my posts on Predators vs The Princess Bride, or SourceCode and Happy Death Day, and Jupiter Ascending as The Wizard of Oz.

Astronaut Suit Does not Fit

Okay, March 29 was supposed to be a historic moment in space: the first all-female spacewalk. Astronauts Christina Koch and Anne McClain were scheduled to go out of the International Space Station—not as a stunt; it just so happened with the crew rotation that it would be two women and no man.

But Anne McClain decided to pass. She felt uncomfortable wearing the large spacesuit, and they only had one medium spacesuit, which Christina Koch would wear. See the account here.

Generic Spacesuit

photo by Adam Jones

One day they probably will have an all-female spacewalk—but not for the sake of being all-female. Whatever is practical.