Notes so far:

• Costuming is awesome. Multiple Iron Man costumes, many of them magnificent. Lots of Jokers. Several efforts at Nolanverse Harley. A lot of cross-dressing this year, particularly from women; the men who do are mostly Joker in his nurse outfit. The women dressing as male characters seem to have delivered some of the best costumes; the translations are effective and imaginative. Standouts: a couple of feminized Fourth Doctors, one very good; Evil Dead's Girl!Ash, complete with chainsaw hand; and my favorite, Freddy Kreuger in a sweater-dress.



• I shook hands with Joel Hodgson.
  
  Repeat: I shook hands with Joel Hodgson.
  
  As I get older, I'm more and more removed from pure fannish joy. I know a lot more about life, and how entertainment works, than I did when I as a neofan. I don't look at entertainment as magic anymore. I don't freak out over interactng with the objects of my fandom: be polite, keep it brief, enjoy the brief exchange for what it's worth.
  
  But as I made my way up past Frank, past Trace (both of them very nice, very professional), I found myself getting nervous, because Joel was next. And when I got up to him, he said, "Oh, hi," and shook my hand -- and for a second, I felt like a little kid again.



• John Ringo is a very nice man and does not wish to kill me. More anon.

The NEW YORK TIMES magazine story on whether or not Obama represents the end of black politics contains one of the most heartfelt, heartbreaking quotes I've ever run across.

Elijah Cummings, the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and an early Obama supporter, told me a story about watching his father, a South Carolina sharecropper with a fourth-grade education, weep uncontrollably when Cummings was sworn in as a representative in 1996. Afterward, Cummings asked his dad if he had been crying tears of joy. "Oh, you know, I’m happy," his father replied. "But now I realize, had I been given the opportunity, what I could have been. And I’m about to die."

The disadvantaged suffer something that the dead don't: if you live long and get lucky, you get to see people do things that you never dreamed were possible, and now only know you'll never do. And -- this is the killer -- *they think it's normal.*

Maybe it's part of being young: I only thought that people would take joy in that. Until I'd read the story about Elijah Cummings's father, I didn't think about how much it'd hurt.

(This reaction to an undreamed future seems like something science fiction should have explored, but I'm racking my brain a bit on this one. From Edward Bellamy's LOOKING BACKWARD on, folks from the benighted past have been portrayed as reacting to future utopias with delight and eager acceptance. Vernor Vinge's RAINBOW'S END takes the other view, where the rejuvenated, formerly incomprehending protagonist is deeply uncomfortable and alienated by the technological and social developments that the people of his new present take for granted or think are really nifty, but that's not the same thing at all.)

An estimated 125,000 Western lowland gorillas are living in a swamp in equatorial Africa, researchers reported Tuesday, double the number of the endangered primates thought to survive worldwide.

"It's pretty astonishing," Hugo Rainey, one of the researchers who conducted the survey for the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society, told CNN Tuesday.

The last census on the species, carried out during the 1980s, estimated that there were only 100,000 of the gorillas left worldwide. Since then, the researchers estimated, the numbers had been cut in half.

WCS survey teams conducted the research in 2006 and 2007, traveling to the remote Lac Tele Community Reserve in northern Republic of Congo, a vast area of swamp forest.

Acting on a tip from hunters who indicated the presence of gorillas, Rainey said that the researchers trekked on foot through mud for three days to the outskirts of Lac Tele, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the nearest road.

Two thoughts on this:

1. Yay! Gorillas!

2. Was it really necessary to give out quite so much location detail?

Of course, the government knows and if the government knows some corrupt official knows, which means that poachers will know in pretty short order. In some ways, it's unfortunate that there's not much sporting interest in gorillas, and that their numbers aren't robust enough to support it: people will pay astounding amounts to shoot some critters, which is a fine source of conservation funds, and a great motivator for even corrupt or clumsy politicians to protect said beasties. Photo safaris are wonderful things, but nobody was ever damn fool enough to pay north of twenty grand plus six hundred bucks a day to the guide for the required number of days just to take a *picture* of a handsomely-maned lion.

That said, I would freaking *love* it if the first descriptors of the location that leaked were a carefully-designed trap. I rather enjoy the image of hordes of poachers eagerly descending on virgin territory only to find a surprising absence of gorillas and a downright *plethora* of heavily-armed Congolese soldiers with orders to, er, discourage anybody who shows up. Why, claymores could be a downright useful conservation tool!

(I've known guys who toted a gun for a living. The last time I heard from one, a couple of years ago, he was headed to Congo. Training people, he said. To do what? I said. To shoot poachers, he said. Cool, I said.)

via Terry Teachout, an audio recording of Ian Fleming and Raymond Chandler, talking about writing thrillers.

The creators of James Bond and Philip Marlowe, folks. According to Teachout, it's the only known recording of Chandler's voice. (Teachout is disappointed that Chandler doesn't sound more like he'd imagined Marlowe's voice.)

Here is one vignette from those years as it actually occurred. A district Party conference was under way in Moscow Province. It was presided over by a new secretary of the District Party Committee, replacing one recently arrested. At the conclusion of the conference, a tribute to Comrade Stalin was called for. Of course, everyone stood up (just as everyone had leaped to his feet during the conference at every mention of his name). The small hall echoed with "stormy applause, rising to an ovation." For three minutes, four minutes, five minutes, the "stormy applause, rising to an ovation," continued. But palms were getting sore and raised arms were already aching. And the older people were panting from exhaustion. It was becoming insufferably silly even to those who really adored Stalin. However, who would dare be the first to stop? The secretary of the District Party Committee could have done it. He was standing on the platform, and it was he who called for the ovation. But he was a newcomer. He had taken the place of a man who'd been arrested. He was afraid! After all, NKVD men were standing in the hall applauding and watching to see who quit first!

-- Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO, VOLUME I.

For the record, the director of the local paper factory quit first. That night, he was arrested and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.

As for Solzhenitsyn himself, he wrote a private letter to a friend criticizing the course of WWII. He used a couple of uncomplimentary nicknames for Stalin. He was sent to the gulag for eight years.

Information is still coming out on the shooting at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, TN. We've already seen information contradicted: the first word from the guy's neighbors was that he was vehemently anti-religious; a neighbor said that he got angry with her when she mentioned in conversation that she was a Christian. This made me scratch my head; if he was motivated by religious issues, you'd think he'd attack something other than a famously non-doctrinal sect.

Turns out he's a political fanatic with an intense hatred of liberals and homosexuals.

Also, radio station WNOX reported yesterday that his ex-wife, who had an order of protection against him, attended the church in question. Don't know if that's accurate. CNN says the order was granted in 2000, because he threatened to kill her. If the order was in effect, it raises questions about the legality of his gun ownership. We'll have to wait a few days to see how that all comes out.

I believe that people who commit these crimes are strongly influenced by previous attempts. It appears that, in most cases, they don't research them for the most effective methods -- thank God -- but they do seem to find some individual case that strikes a chord and emulate those. In this case, the shooter was probably strongly influenced by Steven Kazmierczak, the graduate student who walked into an auditorium at Northern Illinois University and started firing. Kazmierczak wounded eighteen, killed five, and then fatally shot himself. Like Jim Adkisson, the Knoxville perpetrator, he carried a shotgun in a guitar case. Kazmierczak also had at least three handguns (a Glock 9 mm and two that I haven't seen identified). His shotgun was a pump-action Remington, probably a model 870, and he fired six shots from it before it was empty and he went to the handguns. Adkisson had a semi-auto shotgun, make and model currently unknown. It turned out not to make a difference. According to one witness, Adkisson got off a grand total of three rounds. His first two shots killed two people, one of whom reportedly took the shot to protect other people. His third shot went wild, because the congregation was on him. Bravo to them.

A while back, I posted an after-action report on Virginia Tech massacre. It included some recommendations on what to do if, God forbid, you find yourself in this sort of situation. One of them was "be prepared to respond aggressively:"

Attack fast, attack hard, and do not stop attacking while you are physically capable of doing so. Attack in a group if at all possible. You do not have to kill the shooter outright. You do have to render the shooter incapable of further action. Take the shooter down, keep the shooter down, and yell for people to help you. Get a pile of people going, get the gun away, keep the shooter from getting the gun back or resisting.

That's what the brave-as-hell congregants at the Unitarian Universalist church did.

Way to go.

Tony Jaa is missing.

I have been wondering WTF is up with ONG BAK 2, Jaa's directorial debut. It's been in the works for two years. A promo reel came out a little while ago, but while it looked bad-ass it made no sense whatsoever. The promo reel didn't convey much of a sense of what the film is actually about, only that there's a lot of brutality and the flick is balls-out insane.

Jaa is the greatest action star in the world today. He's often compared to Jackie Chan (at his brilliant peak) and Bruce Lee; I'd go back farther and call him the inheritor of Douglas Fairbanks. He's that good. He makes movies about himself looking for stuff: in ONG BAK he's looking for the head of a sacred statue; in TOM YUM GOONG (THE PROTECTOR), he's looking for kidnapped elephants. His most frequently uttered bit of dialogue is, "Where is [X]?!!"

Then he jumps across the room and knees some poor bastard in the chest. As you do.

Twitch Film, which pays attention to foreign films, gives a little more detail. Apparently, Jaa may not be entirely missing so much as laying low:

Some reports say that Jaa has retreated to some remote caves in northern Thailand to meditate and / or practice black magic and claim that his mentor Panna Rittikrai was sent to find Jaa and bring him back some time ago with no success. These reports also seem to be of the opinion that Jaa has gone about three times over budget and that the production funds have dried up. Other reports say that Jaa hasn’t actually disappeared - that he’s actually been seen with his family and that colleagues have been in touch with zero signs of black magic. Another report from Thailand’s biggest daily paper says that they had a reporter meet with Jaa at a ‘safe house’ - and why on earth does he need to use a safe house? - where he denied running over budget, claiming instead that Sahamongkol Films only ever provided him with half of the budgeted production funds, leaving him to make up the shortfall out of his own pocket and claiming that he is now personally bankrupt as a result - unable to pay his mortgage and with his electricity disconnected.

Prachya Pinkaew, who directed Jaa's previous films but fell out with him a while back, is being hired to come in and finish the picture. Presuming they can find Tony Jaa.

Wrapping up a (far too brief) visit at Ma's. For those who've been following me a while, you'll know one of the high points:

DOG. "...boss? Boss?!! OMG BOSS I MISSED YOU."
HINES. "I know, honey. I missed you too."

That is not to say there were not low points. We are, after all, talking about a Very Special Dog.

DOG. "Hi, Boss!"
HINES. "Hi, honey. What're you licking your belly for?"
DOG. "Oh, no reason. I KISS YOU, BOSS!"
HINES. "Aww! Thank you, honey... hey, what're these red bumps on your belly?"
DOG. "Poison ivy! I LOVE YOU, BOSS."
HINES. "...crap."

(It's clearing up nicely, thanks.)

As you may or may not have heard, there's a new edition of Dungeons & Dragons out -- the fourth. As ever, fans hate and fear change, and the new D&D edition has been the subject of a fair amount of fannish controversy. Some people like the new rules. Some hate 'em. One of the biggest controversies is the lack of Vancian magic -- in the classic rules, as in some of Jack Vance's stuff, your character had to learn a spell anew after every time you used it. You got X number of spells a day, depending on your level, and if you cast everything you had in the first encounter then encounter #2 found you shit out of luck. In the new rules, which seem to be heavily inspired by MMORPGs (and probably would translate really easily to one), you have at-will, encounter, and daily powers/prayers/spells/what have you. The at-will ones you can use over and over again, any time you want; the encounter ones you get one, maybe two uses per encounter (i.e., per roleplaying scene or combat); the daily ones you get to use once per day. You recharge by resting, so if you have a short rest after a battle your powers all pop up again; a long rest, about six hours, gets your daily powers back. This makes intuitive sense, and I actually like it. It certainly makes things more fun at first level, said this dwarf cleric who cast the ever-loving *shit* out of Lance of Faith.

Ash and Denise had started a game previously, and I joined it. I had a great time. My backstory for joining the game was that I was Ash's character's cousin, which mostly meant that I made aggravated noises at his fighter a lot in-character. "Yes, just ignore the smell. My cousin accessorizes by strapping severed kobold heads to his waist. He claims it's the latest fashion, but I wouldn't look to him if you want a trendsetter." Other characters at the table: an eladrin wizard, a human warlock, and a halfling rogue. That last, Denise's character, turned out to be the surprise of the evening. When time came for battle, our fighter and cleric traded blows with annoyingly sturdy kobolds, with Ash's fighter missing most of the time, and our wizard and sorcerer causing minor injuries to the enemy from the periphery. Denise's rogue, meanwhile, would get behind enemies and backstab them, which in game terms played out as if she'd had a chainsaw. Most of our kills were due to her.

I like the new rules so far. They make combat pretty streamlined. The weirdest thing, to me, is the new saving throw system. Used to be you would make a saving throw for reflex, for will, what have you. Not any more. Now the attack roll targets your relevant defense, and if it hits you, you roll a saving throw every round, but your Fortitude or Will or whatever doesn't matter; you're just trying to get a ten or better to throw it off. That seems really odd to me.

I've been wanting to play D&D again for a while. Shamus Young's brilliant DM of the Rings, along with his accounts of D&D campaigns, got me thinking about it -- and hey, now there's a fresh new edition! If you haven't played D&D in a while, give it a look.

A European gaming site has a friendly little interview with Ernie Hudson, of whom I've always thought fondly. Best bit:

...the PR man is signalling I have one question left. Except I don't have any questions left, just a notepad full of scrawls about downloadable content and why movie tie-ins are rubbish and none of it seems relevant. So I scratch around in the depths of my brain, and somehow manage to come up with the worst interview question ever: "What's the best thing about being a Ghostbuster?"

"Hmm," says Hudson, while I attempt to pull my own head between my shoulderblades in shame. "I don't know if this is about being a Ghostbuster or an actor or whatever, but...

"Sometimes when I'm walking down the street, anywhere in the world, I see somebody on the other side of the street, and you can just tell his life sucks by the way he's walking. There's a cloud over his head. You see people who are homeless, who are having a hard time.

"They look up and see me, and they recognise me. And they go, 'Oh, sh**! Oh man! Oh wow!", and the cloud kind of disappears. They say, 'Wow, man, we're really happy to meet you.' Then they say - I get this all the time now - 'You're my mother's favourite actor. Can you sign this?'

"After that little exchange they walk away, but it's a different walk. That doesn't cost any money. And I think it's pretty cool."

Hudson seems to have a pretty good level of fame; he's well-known enough to be recognized, but not so well-known as to make it inconvenient for him to go to the corner deli. He's just famous enough that chance encounters with him make people happy, and that's not a bad thing at all. Underrated actor, too; he was excellent in HBO's prison soap, OZ.

My favorite Ernie Hudson bit, believe it or not, is his role in CONGO. If you have not seen CONGO, it is a *horrible* movie. Absolutely wretched. Even Tim Curry, who plays a bizarre European rich guy funding the expedition in question, is lousy in it; the movie just defeats him. But not Ernie Hudson. Hudson plays the professional explorer whose job is to get the cast where they're going and back again; the character describes himself, with relish, as "the great black hunter." It was at a point in Hudson's career where he wasn't much in demand, and I guess he figured that he probably wouldn't get a role like this again so he was going to take full advantage of the opportunity and chew scenery left and right. Which he does. To the point that he *out-Tim Currys Tim Curry.* There's a scene where Curry and Hudson are by a campfire, and Hudson is doing his thing, and Curry just gives him a *look* that I'd swear is the mask dropping. Like, "Where the hell are you getting this joy from, Ernie? Didn't you realize how much this movie is going to suck?" And Hudson just keeps on going.

Now they're paying him to be in and promote the GHOSTBUSTERS videogame. Good for him.