The Year in Review
Jan. 1st, 2009 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
randy_byersWell, 2008 was relatively eventful, looking back. This time last year I was waiting for Sharee at the Vancouver airport. We spent a couple of days together in Vancouver, and then several more days in February on Vancouver Island in both Ladysmith and Victoria, where we stayed one night at the Empress.
In March my parents took the family to the Yucatan. We spent five days at a resort on Cozumel, but we also spent a few days before that birding in the jungle around Puerto Morelos and Felipe Carillo Puerto, and after the resort we drove to Merida via Piste and Chichen Itza. (I am sneakily working in the meme about other cities where you stayed the night during the year.) This was a wonderful introduction to a beautiful area, and I'd love to spend more time there, or elsewhere in Mexico. Wish I'd been able to join my parents, sister, and niece on their tour of the Copper Canyon in October.
In April, Denys had his hip replaced, which thankfully went very well. At the end of the month I went to Las Vegas for Corflu Silver, and somehow in the meantime I had managed to talk![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
akirlu into talking me into bidding to hold the next Corflu in Seattle. Preparations for that are ongoing. I have never worked on a convention before, and it has been edumacational.
I believe Corflu Silver was my last major bit of traveling for the year. There were also several trips to my parents' place on the Crooked River Ranch in Central Oregon.
I continued to read and write about early science fiction. A piece I wrote for Rich Coad's fanzine, Sense of Wonder Stories, interested a German SF fan, who asked if his club's small press could translate it and use it as an appendix for the German translation of Garrett P. Serviss' Edison's Conquest of Mars that they plan to publish next year.
Andy, carl, and I published two more issues of Chunga after going through a year and a half of doldrums. Lots of great stuff in both, and I particularly loved the covers by Dan Steffan andbohemiancoast. Issue 15 was our first sekrit projekt full-color issue, the guts of which were printed on my laserjet and then collated and stapled at Andy's house, reminding me of the epic adventure that was the printing and collation of Science-Fiction Five-Yearly #12 with gerisullivan in 2006. It felt very old school, even with the new tech. It took me two full days to do all the printing.
I watched approximately 200 feature and short films last year, mostly on DVD. Most of the movies I saw in the theater were in the welcome company ofholyoutlaw, who also frequently drove, for which many thanks. My absolute favorite of the first run movies that I saw in the theater was The Fall: "It's Julie Taymor does The Princess Bride!" On DVD I explored a lot of new areas, from Ernst Lubitsch to Busby Berkeley to Carmen Miranda to Georges Melies to Budd Boetticher. Many thanks again to smofbabe and voidampersand for relaying the Australian DVD of the sublime Desert Fury to me via Worldcon.
Well, that's enough review. Looking forward, there's Corflu Zed in March, a family trip to the Dominican Republic after that, and Worldcon in Montreal with Sharee in August. There's the next issue of Chunga to wrangle, and a couple of pieces I've promised to write for others. Should be enough to keep me out of trouble, alas.
Happy New Year, y'all.
In March my parents took the family to the Yucatan. We spent five days at a resort on Cozumel, but we also spent a few days before that birding in the jungle around Puerto Morelos and Felipe Carillo Puerto, and after the resort we drove to Merida via Piste and Chichen Itza. (I am sneakily working in the meme about other cities where you stayed the night during the year.) This was a wonderful introduction to a beautiful area, and I'd love to spend more time there, or elsewhere in Mexico. Wish I'd been able to join my parents, sister, and niece on their tour of the Copper Canyon in October.
In April, Denys had his hip replaced, which thankfully went very well. At the end of the month I went to Las Vegas for Corflu Silver, and somehow in the meantime I had managed to talk
akirlu into talking me into bidding to hold the next Corflu in Seattle. Preparations for that are ongoing. I have never worked on a convention before, and it has been edumacational. I believe Corflu Silver was my last major bit of traveling for the year. There were also several trips to my parents' place on the Crooked River Ranch in Central Oregon.
I continued to read and write about early science fiction. A piece I wrote for Rich Coad's fanzine, Sense of Wonder Stories, interested a German SF fan, who asked if his club's small press could translate it and use it as an appendix for the German translation of Garrett P. Serviss' Edison's Conquest of Mars that they plan to publish next year.
Andy, carl, and I published two more issues of Chunga after going through a year and a half of doldrums. Lots of great stuff in both, and I particularly loved the covers by Dan Steffan and
bohemiancoast. Issue 15 was our first gerisullivan in 2006. It felt very old school, even with the new tech. It took me two full days to do all the printing.I watched approximately 200 feature and short films last year, mostly on DVD. Most of the movies I saw in the theater were in the welcome company of
holyoutlaw, who also frequently drove, for which many thanks. My absolute favorite of the first run movies that I saw in the theater was The Fall: "It's Julie Taymor does The Princess Bride!" On DVD I explored a lot of new areas, from Ernst Lubitsch to Busby Berkeley to Carmen Miranda to Georges Melies to Budd Boetticher. Many thanks again to smofbabe and voidampersand for relaying the Australian DVD of the sublime Desert Fury to me via Worldcon.Well, that's enough review. Looking forward, there's Corflu Zed in March, a family trip to the Dominican Republic after that, and Worldcon in Montreal with Sharee in August. There's the next issue of Chunga to wrangle, and a couple of pieces I've promised to write for others. Should be enough to keep me out of trouble, alas.
Happy New Year, y'all.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 12:15 am (UTC)You make me feel very old.
couple of pieces I've promised to write for others
That includes us, yes...?
I find myself thinking, after a New Year's Day evening in The Claret, that you would probably be one of the people interested in me saying: Dark Star Sussex Stout! Hog's Back Santa's Wobble! And ohmigod another chance to have Dark Star Imperial Russian Stout on draught! If I were a good person I would know how to provide links to all of those. But you have Google. And if I were a good person I would not have drunk them all (actually I blame
Happy New Year! We look forward very much to Corflu and to seeing you there.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-02 01:44 am (UTC)Ahahahahahaha. No, you just work harder than I do.
For example, I promised to write something for you pretty much exactly a year ago, and I didn't do so well, did I? Well, I think I wrote a LOC or two, at least. And yes, I still intend to write something more article-like for you guys.
Hope you'll find room in your luggage to bring more Dark Star over. I really liked the bottle you gave me in Vegas. I have several bottles of porter and stout set aside for possible consumption at Corflu. Looking forward to showing off Seattle to you guys, too.