gwynnega

My poem "Champagne Ivy" has been accepted by Mythic Delirium. The poem was inspired by the 1931 film of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, directed by Rouben Mamoulian.

We finally have achieved autumn in Los Angeles. It pleases me no end that it's only supposed to get to 65 degrees F today (and temperatures are supposed to stay below 80 in the extended forecast). I may make pumpkin bread to celebrate.

It is Henna Day, and I am bracing for the heat wave we're supposed to have this week. I am heartily tired of heat waves, and if I could make autumn happen in LA before late October, I would.

I'm relieved that the Puppies were shut out of the Hugo Awards, but frustrated that so many good authors were shut out as a result of their shenanigans (especially the authors in their second year of Campbell eligibility). I was pleased to see a novel in translation winning for Best Novel.

I really hope the Puppy shenanigans don't happen again next year.

It is Henna Day, on a summer afternoon in Los Angeles. I'm not thrilled with the hot weather, but oh well.

Readercon is less than two weeks away, and here is my schedule!

Friday July 11

1:00 PM
The Works of Joanna Russ.
Gwynne Garfinkle, David G. Hartwell, Barbara Krasnoff (moderator), Scott Lynch.

Joanna Russ (1937–2011) was, arguably, the most influential writer of feminist science fiction the field has ever seen. In addition to her classic The Female Man (1975), her novels include Picnic on Paradise (1968), We Who are About to… (1977), and The Two Of Them (1978). Her short fiction is collected in The Adventures of Alyx (1976), The Zanzibar Cat (1983), (Extra)Ordinary People (1984), and The Hidden Side of the Moon (1987). She was also a distinguished critic of science fiction; her books include The Country You Have Never Seen: Essays and Reviews (2007). Of her works outside the SF field, she is perhaps best known for How to Suppress Women’s Writing (1983). Join us to discuss her works.

4:00 PM
Joanna Russ: Critical Importance Then and Now.
Gwynne Garfinkle, Lila Garrott (leader), David G. Hartwell, Barbara Krasnoff.

How has the importance of Joanna Russ's critical work changed over time, and in what ways? Younger writers and readers are still discovering How to Supress Women's Writing and finding that it resonates, but what of her other work? We'll discuss the writers she's influenced, the availability of her nonfiction, and the resonance of her work today.

7:00 PM Reading: Gwynne Garfinkle. Gwynne Garfinkle reads from an ongoing series of poems inspired by classic films, TV, and pop culture.

Sunday July 13

1:00 PM
A Visit from the Context Fairy.
Kythryne Aisling, Stacey Friedberg, Gwynne Garfinkle, Kate Nepveu, Sonya Taaffe.

In a blog post at Book View Café, Sherwood Smith writes about the opposite of visits from the "Suck Fairy": going back to a book you disliked and finding that the "Win Fairy" (to coin a term) improved it when you weren't looking. Are the Suck Fairy and the Win Fairy really two faces of a unified Context Fairy? If context is so crucial to loving or hating a work, how does acknowledging that affect the way a reader approaches reading, or a writer approaches writing? How does one's hope for or dread of the Context Fairy influence decisions to reread, rewrite, revise or otherwise revisit a written work?

It is Henna Day, and I am drinking hot cocoa on what passes for a winter day in Los Angeles (high temperature in the low 60s). We had a massive storm the other night, and my power went out for about seven hours--but the power stayed off a lot longer in nearby Los Feliz, so I was lucky. We needed the rain, of course. We're supposed to have more this week, but not in such a dramatic form.

Last night I saw The Ghost of Frankenstein for the first time in about forty years. The first of the not-so-good Universal Frankenstein films, it still has a lot to recommend it, especially Bela Lugosi reprising the role of Igor (by far my favorite role of his). Also, Dwight Frye pops up uncredited in one scene as an Angry Villager and demands that the other Angry Villagers bomb the castle (which they do). Lon Chaney Jr. is not good as the monster, and Cedric Hardwicke is not particularly great as Dr. Frankenstein's other son (i.e., the one who isn't Basil Rathbone). Weirdly, they throw in some clips of Colin Clive and Dwight Frye from the original Frankenstein (1931)--but splice in footage of Lon Chaney as the monster on the table. Then a few scenes later, Cedric Hardwicke plays the titular ghost of Frankenstein, but of course he looks nothing like the already-dead Colin Clive. Towards the end of the film, Igor's brain gets transplanted into the monster's body, so Bela Lugosi can (badly) play the monster in the next movie.

Late last night TCM showed The Beast With Five Fingers, which I'd been wanting to see since sovay wrote it up, so I DVR'd it and will watch it tonight.

It is Henna Day, on a gorgeous weekend in Los Angeles. The weather isn't quite autumnal, but at least we're no longer having a heat wave. (For now.) To celebrate the lack of sweltering weather, I've been buying pumpkin products at Trader Joe's. (I love their pumpkin butter.)

I'm nearly done reading Patty Templeton's There Is No Lovely End. It is turning out to be one my favorite books of 2014.

Today is Henna Day. We've been having summer heat, but this morning was overcast. It even rained in other parts of town, but not here in Silver Lake, alas.

Yesterday I drove to broiling Glendale for another trip to Brand Bookshop (which is supposed to close in about a month). Their stock is now selling for 70% off, with no tax. I browsed while Clara Schumann and Mozart played on the radio, and bought books by Sylvia Townsend Warner (the Virago edition of Summer Will Show), Madeleine L'Engle and Karen Joy Fowler. I really wish the store weren't closing. Also, I wish it were autumn already.

It is Henna Day, and I am slightly discombobulated, because I usually henna my hair on a Sunday and it's Saturday. This is also apparently my first LJ entry of the new year. The weather has been weirdly vacillating between unseasonably warm and--well, I can't really say unseasonably cold when most of the country has been Polar Vortex-ville, so I'll just say less warm. The weather shifts have been making my allergies go to town.

I was going to go to the Story Tavern tonight to meet up with friends, but C. has a cold, so we've rescheduled. Thus, tonight will probably consist of Jo book revision and poetry writing, plus watching old movies and reading. And possibly some hot and sour soup. All of which sounds pretty good.

It is Henna Day, on a wonderfully non-sweltering day in Los Angeles. We're even supposed to have some actual autumnal weather later this week.

Last night I met up with friends at the Story Tavern in Burbank to see the Johnny Come Latelys play Irish music. I ate shepherd's pie and sang along with "The Wild Rover."

Then when I got home I discovered my friend Lyman Chaffee (Listing Ship) had posted a video of himself singing my friend Carolyn Edwards' beautiful song "Lazy." So here it is.

It is Henna Day, on a warmish day (while a Gilmore Girls rerun airs on SOAPnet and I mourn the cancellation of Bunheads). Though the weather hasn't been too broiling, we're having un-LA-like humidity, which I hate. I'm dreaming of autumn, though autumn weather doesn't usually show up in LA until the end of October.

I've been working on the Jo book and other writing projects, and tackling a massive weekend to-do list. Also I've been rewatching the Dark Shadows Ghost of Quentin Collins storyline, in which David and Amy become creepy possessed children à la The Turn of the Screw. Good times.

As usual, the weekend is just too darn short.

Today is Henna Day, on a pleasant cool afternoon following a spate of broiling weather complete with wildfires. I have a big list of things to do after I rinse out my hair, but I'm moving a bit slowly after an action-packed Saturday: getting my hair cut, going to Secret Headquarters for Free Comic Book Day and to the lovely Story Tavern to see my friends play Irish music.

Oh, and I loved last night's Doctor Who. May have to watch it again tonight.

I'm still rereading Scott Miller's Music: What Happened?, which I can't recommend highly enough. Still nowhere near getting past his death, which seems to be true for many people who, like me, knew him slightly but know his music well.