"...time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the earth."   |    7:00 p.m.

If someone has forwarded you a copy of Gordon Sinclair's The Americans, please be aware that it may have been edited so that the casual reader will assume that Mr. Sinclair said these words within the last 36 hours. And although some of the deleted references are dated, the fact that Mr. Sinclair said these words more than 28 years ago makes the message behind them no less powerful.

The Americans was first heard on the June 5, 1973 broadcast of Sinclair's "Let's Be Personal" series for CFRB Radio in Toronto. The complete transcript, as well as the original audio and additional information on Gordon Sinclair and the events surrounding the broadcast, are available here and here.

"Welcome to the 21st Century"   |    6:52 p.m.

Words of reason--and wisdom--from Jon Carroll.

9/11/01   |    10:42 p.m.

There's nothing to say tonight. No political insights, except for speculation that Maryland's Fort Detrick might have been the intended target of the fourth plane because of USMARIID. No words of comfort as I listen to Bush play at being presidential. Or to the Blame Game that has already begun among "experts," who are quick to assign that blame (inadequacies of the intelligence-gathering agencies) but less forthcoming about some of the reasons behind it (end of the Cold War).

I'm going to bed, and I know that when I wake up tomorrow morning I'll have a few minutes before I remember this. I'll be grateful for those minutes.

DragonCon, Day One   |    7:50 p.m.

..Friday, August 31..

-Indy at 20
The Star Wars track--aka Matters of the Force, or MOTF--offered up the first Indiana Jones panel at DC, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the original release of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.' John Rhys-Davies was supposed to attend, but as usual for those first-day, early afternoon panels he hadn't yet arrived. We watched an Entertainment Tonight special on the film and some fan-made trailers for the anticipated re-release of Raiders, which actually would've done better than some of the action films that did come out this summer.

-Dealers Room: Trip #1
This year it was moved to the Marriott Marquis--a definite improvement from the Apparel/Merchandise Mart of the past DC's. It was split into two rooms with most of the showier vendors on one floor and the good shopping (comics, posters, videos) on another. At this point I ran into Jan and Karilyn, cool library people and perennial DC visitors from Florida. It's at least the second time I've seen Karilyn, and fourth time for Jan. A Highlander devotee and avid fanfiction reader, she was the ideal person for me to meet since at the time I was still relatively new to both. I was two weeks into my first library school classes when we first met, so it was great telling her about finishing school and having the new job. Since I knew I'd see them again before the weekend was over we just talked for a few minutes before going our separate ways in the Dealers room.

-MOTF Fan Films
This was the first of several presentations of fan-made films. The funniest was 'Womb Wars,' a computer-animated short that used the Rebel attack on the Death Star in Star Wars, including the dialogue, to tell the story of human reproduction. The Death Star was the egg, the A-, X- and Y-wing fighters were the sperm, and the TIE fighters were the spermcide. The saddest was a full-length documentary about the people who waited in line at various LA movie theaters weeks before the opening of 'The Phantom Menace' to ensure they would get tickets for that first midnight screening. One mother even let her son take his high-school equivalency exam so he could have The First Spot in Line instead of going to school. It was all the more pathetic because I saw the stupid movie nearly two weeks before they did, and all I needed was a Blockbuster co-worker who worked for a movie theater company executive. I left before the end so I don't know if any of them were willing to admit on-camera that the film was in no way worth the sheer amount of time they had wasted in waiting for it. I waited for 10 years, so I'd know.

-Art Show
Also moved to the Marriott, and the best show I've seen to date. Made two purchases: a fused glass pendant, and a small dragon made out of blue beads. The body is wire, but the webbing for the wings is string so they're flexible.

-MST3K Live: Battlefield Earth (American Sci-Fi Track)
I'm sending a letter to the track director with the plea they make this a permanent part of the program. They could even do Battlefield Earth again, and I would be there in a minute. It was one of the goddamn funniest things I've witnessed, and I'm so glad that I could be part of it. I came in a little late and they'd already begun showing the shorts: a calf-judging contest at a state fair, one of the dreadful hygiene films, and the infamous "B Natural" short that I think preceded one of the Colossal Man movies. This frightfully cheerful sprite name Mr. B (who is really a she and more of a B-flat or an A) helps children find the spirit of music within themselves by convincing them to join the band--because we all know that being in the band was the absolute pinnacle of high school society. Then we saw a blooper reel from the show that was pretty good: flubbed lines, set and equipment mishaps. And then the movie. Oh, my god.

-"Mista Kotta, I'm an alien!"
They had someone in the front of the room with models of Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot, and we were initially told to let them do the talking and that we should only chime in if we had something very, very funny to say so that the room wouldn't become a confusion of jumbled voices. Problem was, the 200 or so of us all had very funny things to say, and unfortunately that wasn't enough to drown out the dialogue completely. We made 'Welcome Back Kotter' jokes. We ridiculed the film's technical incompetence: the slow-motion camera work during the action scenes; the switching between yellow, purple and blue filters that was about as subtle as the day/night switches in 'Plan 9 from Outer Space'; the fact that at least 75% of the film looks off by about 15° ("Straighten the camera!"). We trashed what dialogue we could hear, along with shouting titles and lines from every great-to-terrible science fiction film that was harmed in the making of this movie, down to the Star Wars-style scene changes, which made those "Meanwhile, back on the forest moon of Endor" lines way too easy. The prison sequence alone elicited references to 'Planet of the Apes,' 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome,' 'Fight Club' (and everyone yelling "The first rule of Fight Club is…" all at once), the Zest soap commercial, and even I threw in "Oz" and "You Can't Do That on Television" because the prison food looked like the green slime they used to dump on Alanis Morrisette and company. When that alien hologram thing spoke to Barry Pepper before he was hit with the beam of all-knowing light, someone suggested it was the founder of Scientology himself. I wondered aloud if John Travolta was running a price check on the gold bars. We cheered when characters died ("he escaped the movie"), and cheered on others to follow suit. When an explosion sent debris flying--in slow motion of course--someone had the presence of mind to say that she'd warned us that this movie would blow chunks. A joyous time was had by all, and it leaves wondering if my dream of writing the definite MST3K script for "Battlefield Earth" maybe isn't so far-fetched after all.

On my way to NerdFest   |    7:51 p.m.

or as people other than my sister call it, DragonCon.

It doesn't really start until tomorrow, but I'm heading over to the hotel in a few minutes to get through registration and check out one of the pre-DC concerts. Since I work in downtown Atlanta now, the hotel where the convention's being held is only one subway stop away. So I can do the registration thing tonight and have time in the morning to get my nails done in a very nice purple-blue, stop by to visit my friends at the old job, and get back down here tomorrow about 2pm-ish. In time for the first panel of the day: John Rhys-Davies talking about the (holy shit) 20th anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

My love affair with all things Canadian...   |    7:12 p.m.

...including actors, film, television and music, ends here.

I finally watched a movie on my new DVD player that I hadn't seen: David Cronenberg's Crash. I liked it about as much as I've liked any other Cronenberg film--which means I didn't like it. If he was trying to make the least erotic film about sex in the history of cinema, he succeeded admirably. It's back at Netflix for the next unusupecting soul. Next up are Brazil, the Moby/Play videos, and Felicia's Journey.

Existenz is the only one his movies I can tolerate, and that's only because I get to watch Callum Keith Rennie and Don McKellar (two reasons to bow down and thank Canada) play those goofy virtual reality game characters.

Adios, Senator Helms   |    8:14 a.m.

...and don't let the door hit your racist, homophobic, champion-of-the-religious-right ass on the way out.

link

You will not be missed by this Congressional observer and Independent.

Happy Birthday!   |    8:09 a.m.

My little sister turns twenty-fucking-eight today. I'd post her e-mail address so anyone reading this can send her an e-card, but as she is in one of those professions that doesn't depend on the daily reading of e-mail (elementary school teacher) any e-cards would probably expire before she got to them.

She's obsessive over her birthdays that matches my avoidance of mine. When we were younger our parents had the strange tendency to move on her birthday, and she took it personally. Lisa usually begins reminding you of her birthday by mid-July in case you could possibly forget. Let's see...it's a month with no other holidays, she's my only sibling, and the only other thing I have going on this month is DragonCon over Labor Day weekend (which usually 4th of July weekend anyway). It's not as if I have anything else going on in August.

Last year Mom and I got her back. We sent her 31 cards, and mailed one each day. Birthday cards, birthday cards for someone who wasn't a sister or daughter, holiday cards, etc. In most of them we would put in silly things like stickers and $5 Blockbuster Giftcards. It was fun, but this year we sent her a packages of things purchased/made/found.

Since Lisa is an elementary school teacher (4th grade this year), I thought I would add this since so many kids are returning to school this month. If any parents are reading this, before you start complaining about the supply list that was most certainly sent home with your children, check with the school first to find out how much your teacher's supply budget was. It's often so small that it may be gone even before classes begin, and if you don't chip in for those supplies then your child's underpaid teacher will have to pay for them out-of-pocket. Now multiply that by 30.

Send in the Clones (or Killer Clones from Outer Space)   |    8:16 a.m.

Episode Two: Attack of the Clones.

WTF is George Lucas smoking?? Did he learn nothing from the Jar-Jar backlash? Isn't it about time that Lucasfilm spring for the measly $30-40,000 to hire someone who would have the authority to say no to Lucas once in a while, like the President having veto power over Congress? Someone who will not blindly follow along with anything he says like he's God, but will have the courage and common sense to say "George, this is a really fucking stupid idea."