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Tag Archives: Pablo Defendini
Fireside Fiction Works
for Its Survival
Brian J. White has resumed full ownership of Fireside Fiction he said in an update today which also announced major staff changes at Fireside Magazine.
LeKesha Lewis is taking over as Publisher, the management of Fireside's business and financial operations, and the roles of art director, designer, and webmaster.
Chelle Parker is now Managing Editor, handling editorial operations and the production schedule, as well as continuing to serve as copyeditor and proofreader.
White, Fireside Fiction's founding editor and publisher from 2012-2017, had stepped in as interim editorial director last November, taking the place of Pablo Defendini as Fireside recovered from Defendini's intensely criticized posting of an audio recording of a contributor's essay done by a white narrator in an affected accent – something Defendini admitted he didn't listen to before posting (see "Fireside Editor Apologizes for 'Auditory Blackface' by Narrator of Essay in November Issue").
Brian J. White had remained one-third owner of the company when Defendini took on a majority interest in 2017. Today's update says Defendini is giving up his entire stake in the company and stepping down from all duties at Fireside.
"We know that we have a lot of work to do to regain the community's trust," Fireside tweeted this morning. And the company has instituted a new policy for checking everything they publish:
In order to avoid anything like the publication of that racist recording happening again, Fireside has a new, simple rule: nothing will be published — on our site, our newsletter, our official social media accounts, etc. — without at least two members of Fireside staff reviewing it and affirmatively signing off on its publication. When making choices about materials associated with stories (art, audio, etc.) we will additionally consult with guest editors and authors as appropriate during the process and give them the chance to review the materials before publication.
Meantime, the company is still running in the red, even after cutting its print edition and taking other measures. To avoid having Fireside shut down, Mikki Kendall, Sarah Gailey, and DongWon Song are providing the financial backing needed to carry on for the next twelve months. (They'll have no active role, power, or responsibility for the management of Fireside or for editorial and business decisions.) White says Fireside will need to bring in a considerable number of new subscribers over the next year to continue in business and repay their investment.
Posted in Like Show Business | Tagged Brian J. White, Chelle Parker, Fireside Fiction Company, LeKesha Lewis, Pablo Defendini
Brian White Takes Over As Interim Editor at Fireside
Posted on November 29, 2020 by Mike Glyer
Brian J. White announced today that Pablo Defendini is resigning from all editorial functions at Fireside Fiction Company (Fireside Magazine and Fireside Books). White, Fireside Fiction's founding editor and publisher from 2012-2017, is returning as interim editorial director.
The change is being made as Fireside tries to recover from Defendini's intensely criticized posting of an audio recording of a contributor's essay by a white narrator in an affected accent, exacerbated by Defendini's admission that he didn't listen to it before posting it (see "Fireside Editor Apologizes for 'Auditory Blackface' by Narrator of Essay in November Issue").
White, who remained one-third owner of the company when he stepped down, says:
I will be serving several roles in the capacity of interim editorial director: I will oversee the continuity of publication of Fireside's contracted stories; lead a review and rework of Fireside's quality control, production, and approvals process; and lead the search for a new editor-in-chief. While I will be working with the guest editors for each issue, story selection and editing will remain under their control.
Pablo Defendini, the majority owner of Fireside Fiction Company, continues as its Publisher & Art Director. He will not have a role in editorial decision-making, but he will for now remain as art director (magazine layout/design and art), as well as managing the finances and a number of other administrative functions.
White explains the necessity of this:
…The magazine has one other permanent staff member, copyeditor and proofreader Chelle Parker, and otherwise relies on freelance guest editors and artists. Simply put, there is no one in place to hand these many operations over to. If Pablo were to fully resign today, both Fireside Magazine and Fireside Books would fold, and along with them all the stories, essays, and other content in the pipeline, which currently extends deep into 2021. We strongly want to avoid causing that kind of harm to those authors.
To aid the transition, Fireside will postpone the submissions period for the Autumn 2021 issue of Fireside Quarterly, under guest editor Brandon O'Brien.
And they are indefinitely pausing the publication of all audio recordings of stories. Chelle Parker will lead a review of all previously published audio on FiresideFiction.com to look for any other problematic recordings.
White says he will only be acting as editorial director for a matter of months. He is committed to finding a new editor-in-chief who comes from a marginalized background:
I am a cis, straight, white man with some chronic pain disabilities. And I know that long-term, a cis, straight, white man is not what Fireside needs in its leadership roles. I'm taking on this temporary role only because my familiarity with Fireside means I'm well-positioned to do so on short notice and without a need for extensive orientation.
During White's prevous tenure Fireside published 150 stories, plus longer works, and produced the influential #BlackSpecFic report (2016).
Also today, the Washington Post published its account of the controversy, "Fireside Magazine's art director Pablo Defendini apologizes for 'auditory blackface'". The reporter reached out to the main figures in the story, including narrator Kevin Rineer who makes several mitigating claims for his performance that were not mentioned in his original Twitter or YouTube apologies (which File 770 was able to review in the time they were online before Rineer deleted them.)
Rineer told The Post in a statement that he was unaware he would be reading a Black woman's work when he auditioned for Fireside Quarterly and that he only received the full manuscript for the work after signing a contract.
Communications lapsed, Rineer said, when he reached out to Fireside and Bradley through a distributor and didn't get a response. Rineer says he wishes he would have broken the contract rule to contact Bradley directly about her work.
"My normal narrative style is to read with a general West Coast American accent. I made the mistake of reading Dr. Bradley's work and assuming an accent that was not representative of her voice," he said. "I had tried to find a different narrator who would be a suitable representative in my network and via public forums, to no avail, in the week-long time frame I had."
Posted in Clipping Service | Tagged Brandon O'Brien, Brian J. White, Fireside Fiction Company, Kevin Rineer, Pablo Defendini
Fireside Editor Apologizes for "Auditory Blackface" by Narrator of Essay in November Issue
Fireside Magazine has come under intense criticism because in the audio recording of one of its essays the white voice actor used an offensive stereotype of the American southern Black accent in his narration.
"Da Art of Speculatin'" by Dr. Regina N. Bradley was offered as a free-read article accompanied by a free-to-listen audio of the text.
In "Da Art of Speculatin'," @redclayscholar breaks down the afrofuturistic stylings of OutKast. Edited by @mauricebroaddus, copyedited by @chellenator, narrated by @KevinRineerVO, and free to read at https://t.co/4DyMZnPhFF pic.twitter.com/8GYoofO9um
— Fireside (@FiresideFiction) November 24, 2020
Fireside editor Pablo Defendini has since taken the audio down. The essay itself, discussing the influence of the Southern hip hop group OutKast, is still available at Fireside.
Dr. Bradley (@redclayscholar on Twitter) tweeted these grievances about how her work was treated, illustrated by a sound bite from the now removed audio:
AHT AHT Fireside. I feel erased with a white guy reading my piece being about being southern Black woman listening to OutKast. I was available. The piece LITERALLY STARTS WITH "I'm a southern Black woman who stands in the long shadow of the Civil Rights Movement." ?????? https://t.co/CfZFhBMnK9
— Zora Neale Thirston (@redclayscholar) November 24, 2020
WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?! @FiresideFiction @KevinRineerVO This is what you think I'd sound like? What BLACK WOMEN AND SOUTHERN BLACL FOLKS SOUND LIKE?!?!?! pic.twitter.com/wLCm34P2l2
There have been many responses and expressions of empathy, including —
That's not an accident. Just know that.
— Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd) November 24, 2020
I don't even know what to say but it is hard to imagine any scenario where @FiresideFiction can make this right because this kind of damage is always already done. Just abysmal and mean and small and uncreative and deeply, deeply racist.
Daniel José Older
I'm on a social media hiatus for personal reasons (I am ok) but as a former guest editor and contributor to @FiresideFiction I'm here to say what happened today was unacceptable, Pablo D's apology was useless, and please support Dr. Bradley's terrific work–> https://t.co/jTob55NJlK
— Daniel José Older he/him (@djolder) November 25, 2020
Publishing is already so violently unsafe for Black Women and there are so few places that even pretend to be aware of that fact. @FiresideFiction was one of them, emphasis on the past tense. This is so wildly disappointing and hurtful and racist.
Anyway, I'm not here to argue. I'm barely even here at all. But while I am, I'm here to say we as people in the publishing community need to do better at making it less horrible for Black Women. That includes speaking out when magazines make it more horrible.
Oh my God, this is *awful.* Minstrel-sounding jokey nonsense — and like 3 completely different accents mangled together just in the brief span of that sample. I thought Fireside was better than this.
— N. K. Jemisin (@nkjemisin) November 25, 2020
There is no reasonable explanation. But it exposes so much anti-blackness and racism and it reveals how we are seen. It's so painful! How does this happen in 2020? We know but Jesus Christ. Nothing ever changes. Raggedy bullshit.
— roxane gay (@rgay) November 25, 2020
I'm so sorry this was done to you and your work.
— ?Mikki Kendall? (@Karnythia) November 24, 2020
Fireside editor Pablo Defendini tweeted apologies (thread starts here) which were incorporated in his longer write-up "Regarding our audio recordings" explaining what happened. A major revelation is that he didn't listen to the audio before putting it online,
Earlier today we published an essay about OutKast by Dr. Regina Bradley. This is an essay written by a Black woman, about Black musicians, and edited by a Black man. I hired a white man to narrate the audio version of the essay, and that narrator decided to use an offensive stereotype of the American southern Black accent in his narration. This basically amounted to auditory blackface, in the worst tradition of racist minstrelsy. So why did I publish it? Frankly, I didn't listen to it before I posted it. More on that, and on the other errors I made, in a second, because this is the context, not an excuse.
There is no excuse for having published it. I apologize for having done so. Specifically, I apologize to Dr. Bradley for having undermined her work, to Maurice Broaddus for having stained the otherwise outstanding issue of Fireside Quarterly that he edited, and to Chelle Parker, our copyeditor, for having put them in the line of fire for this, when they had no visibility into the audio production process or ability to prevent this from having happened.
On Twitter he emphasized:
Just to be explicitly clear: I'm the only one who manages the audio production process—this was entirely my doing, and no one else who works on Fireside had a chance to hear the audio, much less rectify. This is all absolutely my fault, no one else's.
The work was done by voice actor Kevin Rineer, who tweeted his own apologies but has since taken down his account. Here are screencaps:
Rineer's video says in part:
I know that it was completely inappropriate for me to have recorded especially with that accent. It was almost the same as if you tied a blindfold to a high school quarterback and expected him to make the game winning throw. It was horrible disgusting and a complete miss that's what i meant by the the analogy there… My actions though were disgusting inappropriate and for that I do apologize
Yet it's hard to reconcile the person capable of the self-flagellation of this apology with the one who made the original choice he did about his performance.
[Update: Rineer now has also closed his YouTube account. The video formerly linked here is no longer available.]
Defendini underscored his own failure to review the audio:
Apart from the inappropriate choice of narrator, I also didn't provide any pertinent direction at the outset of the engagement. Normally, when I hire voice talent for narration, I send them some notes about the pieces I want them to narrate, pointing out special considerations, or particular pronunciations of tricky or uncommon terms. I failed to do that here.
I also failed to check each recording when I took delivery of them. I was pressed for time and trying to get work out the door, and I did not take the time to review the finished recordings. As many have correctly pointed out, it takes two seconds of listening to the recording to realize that this one was deeply, deeply problematic. I did not do so — I just moved the files along — and the result is that I allowed an extremely hurtful racist caricature to be published on Fireside's website.
While it may not have been intentional, intent doesn't matter. The harm caused is real. And this particular type of harm — in this particular moment in history — is extra fucked up. All I can do at this point is apologize, try to fix it, ensure it doesn't happen again, and try to make up for it.
Because Kevin Rineer voiced the recordings for all the stories in the current issue of Fireside Quarterly, Defendini has pulled them all and will have them re-recorded.
And he will be making other changes to the production process:
Starting with the Winter 2021 issue of Fireside Quarterly, which ships on January 1st, all stories will be narrated by individual narrators as opposed to by one narrator for an entire issue's worth of stories.
Starting with the Winter 2021 issue, I'll send the final audio of each story to its author, in the same way we send them proofs of the print issue before it goes to press.
Starting with the Spring issue of Fireside Quarterly, I'll consult with the editor of each issue on the choice of narrator for each story before we hire anyone.
Defendini closed his post with further self-criticism and intent to make amends:
Finally, my personal neglect allowed racist violence to be perpetrated on a Black author, which makes me not just complicit in anti-Black racism, but racist as well. I have to grapple with that, and make amends. I'm not sure exactly how, yet, but some kind of concrete reparation is absolutely called for. I'm speaking with various folks who have reached out (and who I've reached out to as well), in order to figure out what that looks like.
This letter is the beginning of the process of making amends. I know that words don't mean much without action to back them up. I'll be doing everything I can to make sure that nothing like this happens again.
Some writers commented that there needs to be a change in editor, Kate Dollarhyde, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, and Sarah Gailey, who indicated the issues raised today are not the only ones besetting Fireside:
I've had work published by Fireside in the past, pieces I'm proud of. But between today's act of violence toward a brilliant Black female author & Fireside's recent treatment of certain writers & staff, I think it's past time to acknowledge that the Fireside I loved is gone.
— Sarah Gailey (@gaileyfrey) November 24, 2020
I also hope those who've been published by Fireside & who have pieces in the current pipeline will still receive the recognition they deserve as creators. My heart is with everyone who is feeling the shine of their hard work fade a little, today, because of editorial wrongdoing.
Posted in Heard Online | Tagged Fireside Fiction Company, Pablo Defendini, Regina N. Bradley
Group Sends Letter of Concern To CoNZealand Programming
Alasdair Stuart has published a "Statement of 2020 Hugo Finalists re: Worldcon Programming" on behalf of a group of CoNZealand program participants and award finalists. Stuart, co-owner of Escape Artists podcasts and a 2020 Best Fan Writer Hugo finalist, outlined the issues in a Twitter thread starting here.
This is a letter, written and co-signed by those concerned about these issues. In it, we identify specifics and offer solutions. https://t.co/794PRkNvm7
— Alasdair Stuart (@AlasdairStuart) July 18, 2020
Over the last couple of days, a group of finalists and attendees have been discussing these issues, pooling knowledge and resources and attempting to find ways forward for everyone.
Rather, our issue stems in a sense from how successfully Worldcon has been replicated. Worldcon, regardless of location, stands up on its celebration of tradition. Change is slow, often measured in years.
We're absolutely aware how little time there is before the show. With many con volunteers and organizers among our number we are EXTREMELY aware of how much work there is to be done. Which is why we've chosen this form to raise our concerns and focus on offering help.
Stuart told File 770, "The letter was workshopped by the entire group, and wasn't published before they gave express approval so it very much is a group of co-signees."
The group includes: Charles Payseur, Benjamin C. Kinney, Jennifer Mace, SL Huang, Shiv Ramdas, SB Divya, Jenn Lyons, Sarah Gailey, Paul Weimer, Sarah Pinsker, Claire Rousseau, Maria Haskins, Tasha Suri, Marguerite Kenner, Alasdair Stuart, Jonathan Strahan, Pablo Defendini, Elsa Sjunneson, Brent Lambert, Freya Marske, Julia Rios, Alix Harrow, Gideon Marcus, Janice Marcus, Lorelei Marcus, James Davis Nicoll, Neil Clarke, Cora Buhlert, Charlie Jane Anders, Brandon O'Brien, Erica Frank, Jen Zink, Adri Joy, Fran Wilde, Suzanne Walker, Chimedum Ohaegbu, Navah Wolfe, John Picacio, and Max Gladstone.
The letter says:
We applaud the courage and conviction of the CoNZealand organisers in pivoting to a virtual Worldcon during an unprecedented global event. Their work has been admirable and — in many aspects — both innovative and successful.
We are a group of Hugo Award finalists who identified concerns with our programming when we received our "final schedules" this week, and came together to help CoNZealand recognize and address these issues.
In brief, our key concerns are:
Many Hugo finalists have not been offered programming and panels relevant to their nomination.
We believe that many of our panels cannot be adequately performed without more diverse participants and/or a reframing of the topic.
Communication with Hugo finalists about the financial requirements for participation has been inconsistent or absent, with contradictory information on whether or not we were able to participate in programming without a full attending membership. This issue particularly impacted Black, Indigenous and people of color ("BIPOC"), leaving them more likely than other finalists to receive no programming.
We present our concerns in the hope that these issues represent not intentional choices on the convention's part but the unavoidable consequences of Worldcon's discontinuous structure, and the necessary prioritization CoNZealand has had to undertake in order to pivot successfully to a virtual event.
We have tried to be brief and targeted in our recommendations so as to remain sensitive to the time pressure CoNZealand is under. Accompanying this letter is a spreadsheet containing specific examples of the issues above. We have listed (1) which panel topics we are missing; (2) which panels have problematic design or membership; (3) which panels we finalists want off or are willing to leave to create space; and (4) finalists that were deterred from participation due to lack of membership.
Our data are incomplete because we could only recruit a limited number of Hugo finalists to provide input without further delaying the process. Among our group of finalists, about 25% entirely lack relevant panels, and about 45% are dissatisfied with the fit of the programming they have.
We recognize there is a difficult balance to strike when raising concerns to an overtaxed team less than two weeks before an event, however many of us have repeatedly raised these issues or volunteered only to receive no response. We have intentionally not sought to assume ownership of programming items, but we are committed to assisting where possible and desired by CoNZealand. However, we emphasize that our bringing awareness to these issues does not obligate us to single-handedly resolve them.
As part of our offer to assist, we have begun identifying additional and replacement panelists who could add necessary diversity. If CoNZealand lacks sufficient BIPOC attendees, we hope you will provide free attendance to needed panelists who aren't members. Moreover, there remain issues we cannot address on our own, especially (1) communicating with all finalists whether paid membership is required for programming; and (2) making sure all finalists with memberships are on relevant programming.
We are not united in what actions we intend to take if our concerns are not addressed. Many have already begun the process of asking to be removed from programming in its entirety, while others are actively working to locate replacements for the programming items they feel need improvement. Our focus at this stage remains taking action to make our concerns known, and to support CoNZealand addressing them in the combined spirit of fostering an environment for all to share in the celebration of our genre.
Although there are some echoes of the representation issues raised before the 2018 Worldcon (which a team led by Mary Robinette Kowal stepped in to address before the con), so far the efforts have been collaborative.
The CoNZealand's Programming Division Head Jannie Shea emailed this reply to Stuart:
Thank you for sending us your concerns. We are addressing those we can. We encourage indigenous, marginalised and historically underrepresented fans to apply for our Inclusion Initiative, (https://conzealand.nz/blog/2020/07/03/conzealand-chairs-inclusion-initiative) which offers two types of opportunities to join CoNZealand.
We appreciate your volunteerism in contacting all those people for us. As you know, due to privacy regulations, we cannot contact people more than once without a response from them. We hope they will get in touch with us directly and soon, to see if we can fit them in.
Shea points to CoNZealand's inclusion initiative in answer to the letter's question "whether paid membership is required for programming." Typically, only people who have bought attending memberships become Worldcon program participants. The introduction to the inclusion initiative explains what help is available:
Marginalised communities are overrepresented in the group suffering the greatest fallout from this pandemic, and as such, we want to ensure that our community does not suffer a loss of its hard-won diversity. We want to lower the barriers for participation for those from underrepresented communities.
We want the convention to be a global one, where all communities and viewpoints are represented, and this fund is intended to help those who would otherwise not be able to participate fully in the activities of the Worldcon.
The initiative upgrades eligible members from supporting to attending memberships. …There are a small number of attending passes available.
CoNZealand is especially challenged in its efforts to answer these needs because, as a virtual convention, it isn't limited to programming people who can afford to come to Wellington, as would have been the case before the pandemic — it could draw people from everywhere. But like most non-U.S. Worldcons it has a smaller membership base from which to draw the financial support needed to make its budget.
Following the jump is a roundup of Twitter comments from participants.
Posted in Worldcon | Tagged Adri Joy, Alasdair Stuart, Alix E. Harrow, Benjamin C. Kinney, Brandon O'Brien, Brent Lambert, Charles Payseur, Charlie Jane Anders, Chimedum Ohaegbu, Claire Rousseau, CoNZealand, Cora Buhlert, Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, Erica Frank, Fran Wilde, Freya Marske, Gideon Marcus, James Davis Nicoll, Janice Marcus, Jen Zink, Jenn Lyons, Jennifer Mace, John Picacio, Jonathan Strahan, Julia Rios, Lorelei Marcus, Marguerite Kenner, Maria Haskins, Max Gladstone, Navah Wolfe, Neil Clarke, Pablo Defendini, Paul Weimer, S. B. Divya, S. L. Huang, Sarah Gailey, Sarah Pinsker, Shiv Ramdas, Suzanne Walker, Tasha Suri
Pixel Scroll 1/2/20 Pixellate In Glorious Scrollovision
Posted on January 2, 2020 by Mike Glyer
(1) NETWORK ANALYSIS OF RWA/MILAN CONTROVERSY. Mikki Kendall did a breakdown for NBC News: "The Romance Writers of America racism row matters because the gatekeepers are watching".
…Let's talk about the power of romance. There's power in the written word, even in a genre that we tend to consider — because of sexism — less intellectual than some others. And it isn't just about hearts and flowers and candy; this is cold hard cash: Romance as a literary genre represents a quarter of all fiction sales and more than half of all paperback sales, and it brings in over a billion dollars in sales annually.
The impact of romance books on the culture is outsize because everyone is interested in romance, whether they admit it publicly or not.
…But there's inevitably a small contingent of writers who simply can't handle being criticized, whether directly or indirectly. Vitriolic responses to critics are hardly limited to well-known writers; those who aspire to become household names are equally prone to them. Having your work dissected, discussed and sometimes even demeaned, however, is part of putting it out into the world. All writers know this — or at least they should — and writing romance novels is no exception.
(2) FOLLOW THE MONEY. Jason Sanford continues releasing interviews he conducted with sff magazine editors in conjunction with his well-researched report #SFF2020: The State of Genre Magazines.
"Interview with Pablo Defendini of Fireside Magazine"
Jason: You said Fireside pays its editors a fee for each issue of the print magazine, with the fee based on Fireside's word rate and the revenue to pay for this coming entirely from subscribers. Was there a break-even point with subscribers where this started to work? Do you still rely on any fundraising to support the magazine?
Pablo: I think using a word like 'fundraising' is misleading. Fireside is not a non-profit, and it's not a charity – so we're not 'raising funds' for anything. Using vocabulary linked to non-profits and charities implies that the people who support us are doing so out of the kindness of their heart, without receiving any direct value in return. The stories, artwork, and publications that Fireside publishes have value, our customers recognize that, and are willing to pay money for it.
But I digress. To answer your question…
"Interview with Mur Lafferty of Escape Pod"
Jason: According to this year's Locus Magazine survey, Escape Pod has an audience size of 37,000 people, making it one of the largest English-language SF magazines in the world. What percentage of your audience supports the magazine with donations? Any thoughts on how to convinces more genre readers and listeners to support the magazines they love?
Mur: I believe we have the typical 1% rate of donation. We have no funding but our listeners, and the couple of times we've been in trouble, we've been honest with saying, hey, we can't keep delivering the show to you if you don't support us, and they've always stepped up. With Patreon it's much easier to allow people to donate on a sustaining level and get rewards as well!
(3) ROSE IS STILL MISSING. [Item by Martin Morse Wooster.] In the Washington Post, Michael Cavna discusses the controversy over whether Kelly Marie Tran deserved more screen time in The Rise of Skywalker, noting that screewnwriter Chris Terrio has withdrawn his explanation that Tran would have had many scenes with Carrie Fisher had Fisher lived to not much of an explanation at all: "Many Star Wars fans are upset the new movie sidelines Kelly Marie Tran's character. The writer is trying to explain."
…On Monday, Terrio walked back that explanation, saying that the real issue with Rose had nothing to do with visual effects.
He told Vulture: "I badly misspoke if in an earlier statement I implied that any cut scenes between Rose and Leia were the fault of our VFX team and the wizards at ILM. In that earlier interview, I was referring to a specific scene in which Leia's emotional state in 'Episode VII' ['The Force Awakens'] did not seem to match the scene we wrote for use in 'Episode IX' ['Rise'] and so it was cut at the script stage before the VFX work was done."
Terrio underscored to the Hollywood Reporter on Monday that the issue did not involve "photorealism," as he earlier stated. "I would sometimes come and sit at the VFX reviews and my jaw would drop at seeing Leia live again."
(Representatives from the film have not yet responded to a request from The Post to speak with Terrio.)
(4) FAVES OF 2019. Hot off the blocks with the New Year, SF² Concatenation has its team's annual choice for the Best SF books and films of the previous year. They have advance posted "Best Science Fiction of the Year – Possibly?" ahead of their spring edition of news and reviews (which is slated for mid-January).
Every year, around Christmas and New Year a round-robin is sent to many members of the SF² Concatenation team asking for their favourite SF/F/H books and films of the previous year. If just two or three nominate the same work then it gets added to a list of Best SF/F/H works of the previous year. This list appears in the Spring (northern hemisphere academic year) edition's news page. It is simply a bit of fun and not meant to be taken too seriously but as a pointer for our regulars to perhaps check out some recent works. Yet over the years, each year sees a few from these lists go on to be short-listed, and even win, a number of SF awards.
Spooky, huh?
(5) BITES JUST RIGHT. "Dracula: Critics applaud 'energetic and fun' revival of vampire classic" – BBC has a roundup.
The BBC's new take on Dracula is a hit with critics, one of whom says it is "the meatiest, goriest, most energetic and fun version" she has ever seen.
"Previous versions now look anaemic," writes The Times' Carol Midgley.
The Mail's reviewer hailed "a Dracula to delight horror movie fans of all stripes" in his five-star write-up.
The Telegraph's reviewer, meanwhile, praised Danish actor Claes Bang for his "witty, outrageous and thrilling" portrayal of Bram Stoker's vampire.
"It might not have been faithful to the original, but it was a scream," writes the paper's Anita Singh.
The BBC One mini-series has been written and created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, the duo behind the award-winning Sherlock.
(6) BREATHE IN. IGN interviews the midwives…. "Galaxy Quest: How the Thermians Were Born".
…Parisot remembers Colantoni's audition inventiveness setting the tone for the Thermians. After a solid read, the direct says he could tell the actor was holding back on his way out the door.
"For some reason I said, 'Rico, it seems like you've got something on your mind,'" recalls the director. "He goes, 'Well, I have this voice. I don't know if it works.' I said, 'What is it? Try it.' He did it and I just went, 'Oh my God, that's it!'
"The Thermians came out of that voice," Parisot continues. As more actors were added to the Thermian ranks, that voice became the reference point with every addition, including Missi Pyle (Laliari), Jed Rees (Teb), and Patrick Breen (Quellek).
"We had alien school and we would come up with things like the walk," Parisot remembers. "Rather than swinging in the direction most people do, we went the opposite direction with the arms, and the posture because they're basically giant calamari hiding in human shape.
(7) THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN. It might be this year."Chandrayaan-3: India plans third Moon mission".
India has announced plans for a third lunar mission, months after its last one crash landed on the Moon's surface.
The chairman of India's space agency, K Sivan, said work was going "smoothly" on the Chandrayaan-3 unmanned mission.
He said the country was aiming to launch the mission in 2020 but that it "may spill over" to 2021.
If successful, it would make India the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, and boost its credentials as a low-cost space power.
(8) BUT WAIT — THERE'S MORE. "India Announces Plans For Its First Human Space Mission".
India's space agency says that four astronaut candidates have been selected for its first human mission, targeted to launch by 2022, but they've not been publicly named or identified.
India hopes to join the United States, Russia and China as the world's fourth nation capable of sending people to space. It has been developing its own crewed spacecraft, called Gaganyaan (or "sky vehicle" in Sanskrit), that would let two to three people orbit the Earth on a week-long spaceflight.
K Sivan, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, held a press briefing on New Year's Day and told reporters that the four astronauts would start their training in Russia in a few weeks.
(9) NATIONAL SCIENCE FICTION DAY. There's even a Wikipedia entry – unfortunately, one that makes it sound like a big commercial. That attitude would make more sense to me if I'd ever seen a Hallmark card for the occasion.
(10) TODAY IN HISTORY.
January 2, 1996 — The Demon Headmaster aired the first episode of its three seasons. Based on the children's series by Gillian Cross of the same name, the later books were based off the screenplays for the series which Cross wrote. The cast included Terrence Hardiman, Frances Amey, Gunnar Atli, Cauthery and Thomas Szekeres. A sequel series was done.
(11) TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS.
Born January 2, 1920 — Isaac Asimov. I can't possibly summarize him here so I won't. My favorite novels by him are the original Foundation novels followed very closely by his Galactic Empire series and I, Robot. I know I've read a lot of his short fiction but I'll be damn if I can recall any of it specifically right now. (Died 1992.)
Born January 2, 1940 — Susan Wittig Albert, 80. She's the author of The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter, a series of mysteries featuring that writer. Really. Truly. Haven't read them but they bear such delightful titles as The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood. She has non-genre series involving an herbalist and a gardening club as well.
Born January 2, 1948 — Deborah Watling, Best known for her role as Victoria Waterfield, a companion of the Second Doctor. She was also in Downtime, playing the same character, a one-off sequel to a sequel to the Second Doctor stories, The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear. No Doctors were to be seen. If you've seen the English language dubbed version of Viaje al centro de la Tierra (Where Time Began, based off Verne's Journey to the Center of The Earth), she's doing the lines of Ivonne Sentis as Glauben. (Died 2017.)
Born January 2, 1952 — Caitlín Matthews, 68. Fiction writer. Well she sure as Odin's Beard isn't a scholar in any meaningful sense. With her husband John, she's written such works as King Arthur's Raid on the Underworld: The Oldest Grail Quest, The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures and on her own, Mabon and the Mysteries of Britain: An Exploration of the Mabinogion. They're entertaining as long as you accept that they're really mostly fiction.
Born January 2, 1959 — Patrick Nielsen Hayden, 61. Wiki in a fit of exuberance list him as a "editor, fan, fanzine publisher, essayist, reviewer, anthologist, teacher and blogger". Which is true. He's won three Hugo Awards for Best Editor Long, and he won a World Fantasy Award for editing the Starlight 1 anthology.
Born January 2, 1967 — Tia Carrere, 53. Best remembered for her three-season run as Sydney Fox, rogue archeologist on Relic Hunter. She's been in a lot of one-offs on genre series including Quantum Leap, Hercules, Tales from The Crypt, Airwolf, Friday the 13th and played Agent Katie Logan for two episodes on Warehouse 13.
Born January 2, 1979 — Tobias S. Buckell, 41. I read and enjoyed a lot his Xenowealth series which he managed to wrap up rather nicely. The collection he edited, The Stories We Tell: Bermuda Anthology of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, is well worth reading, as is his own Tides from a New World collection.
Born January 2, 1983 — Kate Bosworth, 37. She's Barbara Barga in the SS-GB series done the superb Len Deighton novel. She's both a producer and a performer on The I- Land Netflixseries where she's KC, a decidedly not nice person. For a more positive character, she portrayed Lois Lane in Superman Returns.
(12) SOLAR TO BLAME. Mark Lawrence's "Star one stars!" features bad reviews that Amazon customers gave books, complaining about things that aren't in the writer's control. His first example —
I was recently the lucky recipient of this 1* review on Amazon. It struck me as worthy of note because not only is it not a review of the book, it's not even a criticism of Amazon. It's more of a critique of the customer's own life skills…
"1*: Can't remember ordering these books. Not my type of subject. Unable to find a method of cancelling the transaction"
(13) LIGHT 'EM UP. Cora Buhlert tells how she celebrated a "Happy New Year 2020" in Germany, where fireworks are part of the tradition – but for how long?
…However, this year some organisations are calling for a complete ban on private fireworks. The initial reasons given were environmental – fireworks release smoke and microparticles, but then other reasons like animal welfare and health and safety were also given. Plus, there is a call – echoed by various charities – that fireworks are a waste of money and that the people should rather donate the money spent on fireworks to charity. One figure that's often bandied about is that in 2018, 130 million Euros were spent on fireworks in Germany. That sounds like a lot – until you do the calculations and realise that this figure means that every person in Germany spent 1,57 Euros per year on fireworks on average. And 1,57 Euros per person is not a lot of money, especially if you consider that the total figure of 130 million Euros also includes money spent on professional fireworks.
So why are fireworks suddenly so controversial, especially since they are limited to one night of the year – with the occasional firecracker going off a few days before or after? IMO, the underlying reason is just that some people find fireworks annoying, because they are noisy, frivolous and the wrong kind of people (teenagers, immigrants, poor people) are having fun. In recent times, there has been a resurgence of the kind of joyless moralism that dominated the 1980s. And not coincidentally, the "Give to charity rather than buying fireworks" campaign originally also dates from the 1980s.
(14) IN TIMES TO COME. [Item by SF Concatenation's Jonathan Cowie.] Nature points out "The science events to watch for in 2020". This includes… 2020 will see a veritable Mars invasion as several spacecraft, including three landers, head to the red planet. NASA will launch its Mars 2020 rover, which will stash rock samples that will be returned to Earth in a future mission and will also feature a small, detachable helicopter drone. China will send its first lander to Mars, Huoxing-1, which will deploy a small rover. A Russian spacecraft will deliver a European Space Agency (ESA) rover to the red planet — if issues with the landing parachute can be resolved. And the United Arab Emirates will send an orbiter, in the first Mars mission by an Arab country. Closer to home, China is planning to send the Chang'e-5 sample-return mission to the Moon.
Attached is a pic of the forthcoming Mars lander being tested.
(15) ONLY 3600-SOME-ODD SHOPPING DAYS 'TIL. In "The 2030 Last-Minute Christmas Gift Guide" on Vice, Tim Maughan foresees what the hot holiday items of ten years from now will be, including Barron Trump's rap albums and Marvel Vs. Star Wars VI: The Final Conflict.
…Want to take a low flying helicopter ride over the Texas Refinery District Toxic Exclusion Zone? Try urban scuba deep under what was once the Miami waterfront? Or maybe you want to take a leaf out of your favorite influencer's book, and get your photo taken on the rim of the crater that was once the Space X test facility? The Unlimited Dream Company can make it happen, with its range of exclusive, customizable tourist trips. You'll be given full safety training and orientation—including an entry level handgun course for trips in disputed states—and will be accompanied by medical staff*, Darklake certified security agents, and tour guides with unmatched local knowledge.
(16) RESOLUTIONS. At Brain Pickings, Maria Popova selects "Elevating Resolutions for the New Year Inspired by Some of Humanity's Greatest Minds" (2016). A long Ursula K. Le Guin excerpt crowns the middle of the list – but the Vonnegut is short enough to quote —
In 2005, Kurt Vonnegut (November 11, 1922–April 11, 2007) — a man of discipline, a sage of storytelling, and one wise dad — penned a short and acutely beautiful remembrance of his friend Joseph Heller, who had died several years earlier. Originally published in the New Yorker, it was later reprinted in John C. Bogle's Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life (public library).
True story, Word of Honor:
Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer
now dead,
and I were at a party given by a billionaire
on Shelter Island.
I said, "Joe, how does it make you feel
to know that our host only yesterday
may have made more money
than your novel 'Catch-22'
has earned in its entire history?"
And Joe said, "I've got something he can never have."
And I said, "What on earth could that be, Joe?"
And Joe said, "The knowledge that I've got enough."
Not bad! Rest in peace!
(17) ART LARP. "One Night In An Edward Hopper Hotel Room? It's Less Lonely Than You Might Think".
It isn't hard to imagine yourself inside an Edward Hopper painting — having a coffee at a late-night diner, or staring out the bedroom window at the bright morning sun.
Now, for $150 a night, you can sleep in one — or a reproduction of one — at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. Designers have constructed a 3D version of Hopper's 1957 Western Motel, and invited Hopper fans to sleep over.
It feels a little funny getting undressed for bed in a museum. (There are plenty of nudes on the walls, but you don't expect to be one yourself.) But suddenly there you are, in your jammies — a guard outside in the hallway — turning off the goose-neck lamp on the bedside table, tucking yourself under a deep burgundy bedspread, and looking out the big picture "window" at a green Buick parked outside.
(18) THE NEXT MARVEL FIRSTS. "Marvel to get first transgender superhero". And that's not all.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is set to get its first transgender superhero.
"And very soon. In a movie that we're shooting right now," Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige said during a Q&A at the New York Film Academy.
Asked by a fan whether there were any plans for more LGBT characters in Marvel's films, "specifically the T, trans characters", Kevin said: "Yes, absolutely. Yes."
This year, The Eternals will introduce Marvel movies' first gay character.
There have been reports since 2019 that Phase 4 of the MCU – the films following the Avengers Infinity saga – would star a trans character.
Marvel has also said it will introduce its first deaf superhero in The Eternals and its first Asian-American superhero, in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
"You look at the success of Captain Marvel and Black Panther. We want the movies to reflect the audience and we want every member of our global audience to see themselves reflected on the screen," Kevin Feige previously said.
(19) DIY. "Invasion Planet Earth: Sci-fi filmed in Birmingham" — video, with clips and interviews.
Since being a teenager Simon Cox loved science fiction, especially Star Wars.
He wanted to make his own blockbuster, and he has finally realised his dream to write and direct his own film, which is called Invasion Planet Earth.
It's taken 20 years, crowd funding and several campaigns to fund the small budget film.
Much of the sci-fi epic was filmed in Birmingham with 900 Brummies acting as extras.
The movie, which has been shown in mainstream cinemas, is available on DVD and available to download.
(20) LOOKING AHEAD. Sounds like they're not going with Jubal Harshaw's solution. BBC covers "Writing a 'national anthem' for Mars" — video, with performance.
An Indian former software analyst who's now a rising star in the opera world has written a new "national anthem" for Mars.
Oscar Castellino was commissioned to give the Red Planet its own anthem by the UK's Mars Society – to promote the idea that if humans ever live there then they will need their own musical identity.
(21) THESE ARE THE DROIDS I'M LOOKING FOR. Philadelphia channel 17 captured the highly stfnal "Fralinger String Band at the 2020 Mummers Parade" on video.
Love the Fralinger String Band? Then you came to the right place. We've got Fralinger's 2020 Mummers Parade performance video of their "Lunar Effect" theme and some photos below.
[Thanks to JJ, Cat Eldridge, Michael J. Walsh, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, John King Tarpinian, Michael Toman, Martin Morse Wooster, SF Concatenation's Jonathan Cowie, and Chip Hitchcock for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Ingvar.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll | Tagged Chandrayaan-3, Cora Buhlert, Dracula, Escape Pod, Fireside Fiction Company, Galaxy Quest, Jason Sanford, Jonathan Cowie, Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Lawrence, Mars, Mars Exploration Rovers, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Mikki Kendall, Mur Lafferty, National Science Fiction Day, Pablo Defendini, SF Concatenation, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Pixel Scroll 10/9/19 Pixel, Pixel, Scroll Me Your Answer, Do
Posted on October 9, 2019 by Mike Glyer
(1) WAPO'S NEW SFF COLUMN. Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Lavie Tidhar have launched a new column on SFF in the Washington Post: "The weird, the wacky, the underappreciated: A new look at science fiction and fantasy".
Even 10 years ago, the fields of science fiction and fantasy were still overwhelmingly American and white. And, if you grew up speaking Spanish in Mexico City, (as I, Silvia, did), or Hebrew on a small kibbutz in Israel (as I, Lavie, did), it meant that the world of science fiction, filtered through translation, was as remote and alien as the other side of the moon. The very idea we could be writing novels like these seemed, well, fantastical.
Yet, somehow, here we are. The past decade has seen the science-fiction world change as more international voices enthusiastically jumped into the fray. Now, wonderful writers including Malaysian Zen Cho can write smart, funny fantasies such as "Sorcerer to the Crown"; after years of struggle, Nigerian Tade Thompson's ambitious Africa-set novel, "Rosewater," was published to wide acclaim and recently won the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award; and Chinese author Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem," translated by Ken Liu, has become a bestseller and even has a recommendation from former president Barack Obama.
(2) LISTEN TO HURLEY. The title of Kameron's Hurley's latest podcast says it all: "GET TO WORK HURLEY: Episode 13. In this episode we discuss how to take notes, long-term career planning, and why it is books seem to get more difficult to write the more of them you write. I'll also be tackling some listener questions, from where to find more gooey biopunk to what I think of writers' unions".
(3) FIRESIDE CANCELLATIONS. The October 8 issue of Jason Sanford's Genre Grapevine reported —
…Fireside Press contacted a number of its authors and cancelled their pending book titles. The messages received by those authors said that due to unexpected changes at Fireside, the publisher had to re-evaluate their plans for the upcoming year. As a result Fireside was cancelling the contracts for multiple titles which had been accepted and contracted but not yet scheduled for publication. Fireside reverted the rights for these books to their authors, although no kill fee was paid because that wasn't in the contract.
Pablo Defendini, the Publisher of Fireside, responded to the report with a statement: "About our Acquisitions".
On Monday morning, I sent out messages reverting the rights on five unpublished and unannounced manuscripts that we acquired last year during our novel and novella acquisitions period. In the last day or so there's been lots of rumor and speculation, so I wanted to explain what's going on directly.
We've had some unexpected changes on the editorial front at Fireside this year. Any time there's a change like that, it affects workflow, capacity, and resourcing throughout, especially at very small operations like ours. Over the past few months, as I've reworked our editorial operations to account for working with more people than ever before, it's become clear to me that the amount of work that I'd previously thought Fireside could take on was unsustainable. Trying to take on too much work would have made living up to our obligations to our authors extremely challenging. It would have been bad both for Fireside and for these authors and their work. So rather than publishIng these books badly, I made the decision to cut down on our upcoming list.
This sucks no matter how you slice it, but it would have sucked more down the line. As I told each author, this is not a reflection on their work. There's a reason we were attracted to these manuscripts in the first place — they're great stories, and I have no doubt that they will find good homes. But I'd much rather revert the rights to these books back to their authors, than do a bad job publishing their work, or worse: sit on the rights until the contracts expired….
Meg Elison today said she is one of the authors whose contract was cancelled, and commented at length about how that was handled. Thread starts here.
Fireside dropped us out of signed contracts despite this without
1. Saying sorry
2. Explaining what really happened beyond vague indications of failure
3. Indicating to any ONE of us whether this decision affected anyone else. We had to find each other.
— Meg Elison (@megelison) October 9, 2019
(4) LEWIS QUEST. Matt Mikalatos, while "Introducing the Great C.S. Lewis Reread" at Tor.com, raises the suspicion that the series will be of great interest to all except to those who actually like Lewis's writing.
…Time passed, and over the years I've grown and changed, of course; recently my 16-year-old picked up my favorite Lewis book, Till We Have Faces. It's a beautiful novel about loss and faith and confronting the gods. My daughter told me it was good, but added, "He didn't like women much, did he?"
Okay, yes, that's a fair response. And there are certainly moments of deeply troubling racism in Lewis's books, too. And for those who aren't from a Christian background (and maybe some who are), the central Christian conceits can be off-putting (even Tolkien, who was a key player in Lewis's conversion, often disliked Lewis's sermonizing).
So why are we embarking on a massive re-read of Lewis's books?
Well, love them or hate them, the Narnia books played a key role in bringing children's literature back into the worlds of the fantastic. There was a strong emphasis on realism in Lewis's days, and too much imagination was seen as unhealthy for kids (though Baum, Barrie, and Nesbit might still be on the nursery shelf). The popularity of Narnia opened the door to more fantasy literature for children, and The Chronicles of Narnia still get placed on "Best Of" lists for children today….
(5) EMULATING WHO. Watch the full recreation of the missing Doctor Who 1965 episode Mission to the Unknown by the University of Central Lancashire. Find out more and watch the making-of here.
(6) A HOGWARTS TENURE APPLICATION. McSweeney's Alyse Knorr reveals "Professor Minerva McGonagall's Letter to the Tenure Committee".
…When I first applied for this position, did I know that my expected job duties would include dueling genocidal dark lords or battling Death Eaters in the Astronomy Tower? No. Did I do them anyway, even after being denied a cost of living adjustment to my salary for ten years in a row while also dealing with insidiously small-but-steady cuts to my annual conference travel budget? Yes. Do these accomplishments count as service to the student body, to the institution, or to humanity itself? Hard to say.
Not even saving the institution from an apocalyptic calamity orchestrated by a noseless neo-Nazi, however, can compare to the daily, ongoing, and, frankly, deeply disheartening struggle to protect our students from themselves….
(7) TODAY IN HISTORY.
October 9, 2010 — Monsterwolf debuted on Syfy. It stars Leonor Varela, Robert Picardo, and Marc Macaulay. It's a werewolf movie and Robert Picardo appeared in The Howling as a werewolf.
October 9, 2012 — Werewolf: The Beast Among Us was released on DVD. Starring Ed Quinn and Guy Wilson, it rated 37% at Rotten Tomatoes. Yes, a lot of werewolf films get released round Halloween.
October 9, 2015 — Pan was released by Warner Bros. Starring Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard and Levi Miller as Pan, it bombed at the box office. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 27% approval rating.
Born October 9, 1900 — Harry Bates. His 1940 short story "Farewell to the Master" was the basis of The Day the Earth Stood Still just over a decade later. And he edited Astounding Science Fiction from its inception in January 1930 until March 1933 when Clayton went bankrupt and the magazine was sold to Street and Smith. Other than The Day the Earth Stood Still, neither iBooks or Kindle has much by him. (Died 1981.)
Born October 9, 1936 — Brian Blessed, 83. Lots of genre appearances including Space 1999, Blake's 7, Doctor Who, Hamlet (as the a Ghost of Hamlet's father), MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis, Johnny and the Dead and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
Born October 9, 1953 — Tony Shalhoub, 66. Two great genre roles, the first being Jack Jeebs in Men In Black, the second being more I think more nuanced one, Fred Kwan in Galaxy Quest. Actually, he's done three great genre roles as he voiced Master Splinter in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.
Born October 9, 1954 — Scott Bakula, 65. Lead in two great SF series, Sam Beckett on Quantum Leap and Captain Jonathan Archer on Enterprise. He also starred as Nolan Wood who discovers the alien conspiracy in the remake of The Invaders.
Born October 9, 1956 — Robert Reed, 63. Extremely prolific short story writer with at least two hundred tales so far. And a number of novels as well, such as the superb Marrow series.
Born October 9, 1958 — Michael Paré, 61. I'll start off with his being in Streets of Fire but he's also been in The Philadelphia Expirement, Lunarcop, both BloodRayne films and Moon 44.
Born October 9, 1961 — Matt Wagner, 58. The Grendel Tales and Batman / Grendel Are very good as is Grendel vs. The Shadow stories he did a few years back. His run on Madame Xanadu was amazing too.
Born October 9, 1964 — Jacqueline Carey, 55. Author of the long-running mildly BDSM centered Kushiel's Legacy Universe which also includes the Moirin Trilogy. (Multiple Green Man reviewers used this phraseology in their approving reviews.) LOCUS in their December 2002 issue did an interview with her called "Jacqueline Carey: Existential BDSM". She did several stand-alone novels including the intriguingly entitled Miranda and Caliban.
Born October 9, 1964 — Guillermo del Toro, 55. Best films? Hellboy, Hellboy II and Pan's Labyrinth. Worst films? The Hobbit films. Hellboy II would make it solely for the Goblin's Market sequence.
Born October 9, 1979 — Brandon Routh, 40. The lead in Superman Returns, a film that got a very positive 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Surprisingly it didn't make the final ballot for the Hugo Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form when It was eligible. He's currently Ray Palmer, The Atom, in the Arrowverse.
They're always the last to know.
report pic.twitter.com/dYfISrXxb4
— poorly drawn lines (@PDLComics) October 8, 2019
(10) EIGHTY CANDLES. Let the BBC tell you about this survivor: "Marvel Comics at 80: From bankruptcy threat to billions at the box office".
…But that universe could have been lost forever when Marvel hit financial problems in the 1990s.
"The comics industry had been massively overvalued for years," says [Professor Chris Murray].
"Comic collectors had been buying multiple copies of issues, believing that they were going to be valuable in 10-20 years time so they were investing."
(11) TAKING THE TUBE. Steve Carper has a fascinating profile of "Gyro Gearloose's Little Helper" at Black Gate.
…The tiny figure, like those singers in the terrific documentary 20 Feet From Stardom, was a major talent in its own right. Like so much else in Disney comic history, the name was applied retroactively, because fans and followers needed a tag to put on the character. They had little to go on. At first, Barks seldom had Gyro even directly notice his shadow, much less address it. But even Barks occasionally nodded. There is an instance of Gyro calling it "Helper." And Helper morphed into Little Helper, which is the best term to search on. (It's Little Bulb in the Duck Tales cartoons.) Helper is canonical, because helper is how Barks thought of his creation, as quoted in Tom Andrae, Carl Barks and the Disney Comic Book: Unmasking the Myth of Modernity.
(12) THE CREEPIEST. Food Network calls these the "15 Limited-Edition Halloween Candies to Hunt for This Year". For example:
Zombie Skittles are the definition of trick or treat. This new bag of candy looks like regular ol' Skittles — but beware! Some of the candy pieces are sweet and fruity, while others taste like rotten eggs. So, brace yourself before you grab a handful. There's a good chance you'll get a mouthful of YUCK.
(13) HOLD THE PHONE. A prize for device power: "Nobel chemistry prize: Lithium-ion battery scientists honoured".
Three scientists have been awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of lithium-ion batteries.
John B Goodenough, M Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino share the prize for their work on these rechargeable devices, which are used for portable electronics.
At the age of 97, Prof Goodenough is the oldest ever Nobel laureate.
Professor of chemistry Olof Ramström said lithium-ion batteries had "enabled the mobile world".
The trio will share the prize money of nine million kronor (£738,000).
The lithium-ion battery is a lightweight, rechargeable and powerful battery that is used in everything from mobile phones to laptops to electric cars.
(14) DON'T FORGET TO CENSOR YOURSELF. Looper is there when "South Park creators 'apologize' to the Chinese government after being erased from the internet". Once you learn how to fake sincerity, you've got it made.
…A recent episode of the adult-oriented animated series entitled "Band in China" was, well, banned in China after the country's government deemed it inappropriate (via The Hollywood Reporter). Every last clip of the episode, which critiques the ways in which Hollywood tends to adjust its content to avoid censorship from the Chinese government and features character Randy Marsh (Trey Parker) getting thrown in jail after he's caught selling drugs in China, has been scrubbed from China's intensely monitored internet — including from streaming services, fan pages dedicated to South Park, and social media platforms. All instances of discussion about the "Band in China" episode, official or otherwise, have also been removed from the Chinese internet.
Watch the full episode – https://t.co/oktKSJdI9i@THR article – https://t.co/nXrtmnwCJB pic.twitter.com/Xj5a1yE2eL
— South Park (@SouthPark) October 7, 2019
(15) AT THE CORE. Atlas Obscura reveals that "Russia's Retro Lenin Museum Still Runs on Decades-Old Apple II Computers".
The versatility of the Apple II made it one of the most widespread personal computers of the 1970s and 80s. In schools, labs, and even command centers, these classic American computers kept a foothold even after the advent of more advanced machines. But of all the places you'd expect to find the computer that popularized The Oregon Trail, the mournful museum of a Communist leader is one of the most unlikely.
Lenin Museum in Gorki Leninskiye, located 20 miles south of Moscow, doesn't look hi-tech even by 1980s standards. But among black marble interiors, gilded display cases, and Soviet historical documents, there is an elaborate audiovisual show about the last years of Vladimir Lenin's life. Opened in 1987, it's still powered by vintage Apple technology….
(16) BRADBURY PROFILE. Thanks to YouTube, it's not too late to tune into Ray Bradbury – Story of a Writer, a 25-minute documentary from 1963 by David L. Wolper.
(17) FRIGHT NIGHT. Remember the week horror stars Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr. and Vampira were on the Red Skelton Show? Me neither, but YouTube does. (And it somehow seems appropriate that Geritol was the sponsor.) Dial B for Brush starts at about the 7:30 mark.
(18) DRAWN THAT WAY. In "The Real Fake Cameras of Toy Story 4" on YouTube, the Nerdwriter looks at how Toy Story 4 cinematographer Patrick Lim used analog cinematography techniques, including split diopter shots and anamorphic lenses, to improve the film.
[Thanks to Andy Leighton, Mlex, Lise Andreasen, Martin Morse Wooster, Mike Kennedy, Chip Hitchcock, Cat Eldridge, JJ, John King Tarpinian, Olav Rokne, SF Concatenation's Jonathan Cowie, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jon Meltzer.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll | Tagged Bela Lugosi, C.S. Lewis, Carl Barks, Doctor Who, Fireside Fiction Company, Hogwarts, Jason Sanford, Kameron Hurley, Lavie Tidhar, Lon Chaney Jr., Marvel, Matt Mikalatos, Meg Elison, Nobel Prize, Pablo Defendini, Ray Bradbury, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, South Park, Toy Story
Emails From Lake Woe-Is-Me — Fit the Sixty-Third
Jeff Jones on Pixel Scroll 1/29/23 Have Spindizzy, Will Travel


text:
Black Catholics told: Faith is yours, 'own it'
Speaker at Black Catholic History event exhorts listeners to 'encourage our own to come forth'
Marlene Quaroni - Florida Catholic
Keynote speaker M. Annette Mandley Turner, executive director of the Multicultural Office of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, addresses the audience at the annual Black Catholic History Month awards luncheon, held at the Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens, Nov. 16 2019. Keynote speaker M. Annette Mandley Turner, right, executive director of the Multicultural Office of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, poses with Katrenia Reeves Jackman, director of the Archdiocese of Miami Office of Black Catholic Ministry, after addressing the audience at the annual Black Catholic History Month awards luncheon, held at the Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens, Nov. 16 2019. Dr. Prince Smith, left, poses with St. Martin de Porres Award of Excellence recipient Zilda Kerr-Gayle, center, of Visitation Church in North Miami, and Audrey Hyman. The awards were presented by the Office of Black Catholics of the archdiocese at the annual Black Catholic History Month awards luncheon, held at the Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens, Nov. 16 2019. Dr. Connie Thornton, left, poses with Theresa Davis, St. Martin de Porres Award of Excellence recipient from St. Philip Neri Church, Miami Gardens. The awards were presented by the Office of Black Catholics of the archdiocese at the annual Black Catholic History Month awards luncheon, held at the Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens, Nov. 16 2019. Eleanor Gardner, left, poses with Ella Brown, St. Martin de Porres Award of Excellence recipient from Visitation Church, North Miami. The awards were presented by the Office of Black Catholics of the archdiocese at the annual Black Catholic History Month awards luncheon, held at the Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens, Nov. 16 2019. Father Alex Ekechukwu, pastor of Holy Redeemer Church in Liberty City, poses with Claire Worthy and St. Martin de Porres Award of Excellence recipient Elizabeth McDugle Davis, a parishioner at Holy Redeemer. The awards were presented by the Office of Black Catholics of the archdiocese at the annual Black Catholic History Month awards luncheon, held at the Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens, Nov. 16 2019. Vanya Albury, left, poses with Adelle Lezama, daughter of St. Martin de Porres Award of Excellence recipient Cynthia Lezama of Christ the King Church in Perrine, who could not be present at the event. The awards were presented by the Office of Black Catholics of the archdiocese at the annual Black Catholic History Month awards luncheon, held at the Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens, Nov. 16 2019. Dave McFarlane and Tamara Hospedales, of the archdiocesan Office of Black Catholic Ministry choir, perform a duet of "Agnus Dei" at the annual Black Catholic History Month awards luncheon, held at the Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens, Nov. 16 2019. From right, Jimmy Knowles, Bonita Smith and Margie Frances sing the Black National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," at the close of the annual Black Catholic History Month awards luncheon, held at the Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens, Nov. 16 2019.
Photography: MARLENE QUARONI | FC
MIAMI GARDENS | M. Annette Mandley-Turner wasn't a cradle Catholic, but says she converted because she saw Catholics living their faith 24/7.
"It's a way of life, not just a Sunday experience," the executive director of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky's Office of Multicultural Ministry (formerly the Office of Black Catholic Ministries) said in her keynote speech at the annual Black Catholic History Month luncheon, held Nov. 16. "I decided to become a member of the Catholic family."
Photographer: MARLENE QUARONI | FC
Keynote speaker M. Annette Mandley Turner, executive director of the Multicultural Office of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, addresses the audience at the annual Black Catholic History Month awards luncheon, held at the Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens, Nov. 16 2019.
People often tell her that the Catholic Church doesn't represent black spirituality.
"They ask, why join a Church that doesn't represent you?" she said. "Black spirituality is different, they say. I tell people there is nothing boring about being a Catholic. Black people have been part of the Catholic Church since its beginning. Recently, black Catholics have brought music, dance and dynamic preaching to the Church. There is something special about being Catholic. Amen?"
The audience responded, "Amen!"
The theme for this year's luncheon was Black and Catholic, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Black Catholics' ancestors laid the foundation for their families, Mandley-Turner told the audience of about 150, who were mostly wearing African Kente and Batik attire. Today's black Catholics are setting an example for the future, she said.
Keynote speaker M. Annette Mandley Turner, right, executive director of the Multicultural Office of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, poses with Katrenia Reeves Jackman, director of the Archdiocese of Miami Office of Black Catholics after addressing the audience at the annual Black Catholic History Month awards luncheon, held at the Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens, Nov. 16 2019.
"Don't let your ancestor's blood, sweat and tears, both enslaved and free, be in vain," she said. "Their souls hungered for an opportunity to live their faith. Own it, it's yours. I don't see Haitians, Africans, American people, I see people under the overarching umbrella of black Catholics."
Mandley-Turner said that she attended the 1987 Black Catholic Congress in Washington, D.C., the first since the group's founding in 1889. The Congress established a National Black Catholic Pastoral Plan which called for more black Catholic voices in the Church. Actions included helping predominantly black Catholic schools, churches and ministry offices, and obtaining the support of the diocese. The Congress also called for black leadership in the Church. During his 1987 United States tour, Pope John Paul II said that the Church needs black Catholics to enliven it and share their blackness and gifts.
MORE BLACK CATHOLIC LEADERS
"You are doing an excellent job here in the Archdiocese of Miami," Mandley-Turner said. "Archbishop Thomas Wenski is committed to you. Dr. Donnie Edwards, the (associate) superintendent of schools, is an example of a black Catholic in a high position. You need more people in leadership positions, like Dr. Edwards and Katrenia Reeves Jackman, the archdiocesan Office of Black Catholics director. We must encourage our own to come forth."
Dave McFarlane and Tamara Hospedales, of the archdiocesan Office of Black Catholic Ministry choir, perform a duet of "Agnus Dei" at the annual Black Catholic History Month awards luncheon, held at the Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens, Nov. 16 2019.
Reeves Jackman echoed Mandley-Turner's words as the luncheon concluded by saying that black Catholics need to be more visible in leadership positions in the archdiocese.
"We have to get on the boards and the committees," she said. "If the archbishop looks out into the crowd and doesn't see us, he will think that we aren't interested."
In a letter to Reeves Jackman, Archbishop Wenski praised the life and humble example of St. Martin de Porres, whose feast day is Nov. 3.
"Also notable are those blacks whose names appear in the baptismal register dating from the 1530s of our nation's oldest parish in St. Augustine, Florida," he said. "We cannot fail to mention Pierre Toussaint, Mother Elizabeth Lange, Father Augustine Tolton, Ms. Julie Greeley and Sister Thea Bowman, all African-Americans on their way towards being canonized as saints."
ST. MARTIN DE PORRES AWARDS
At the luncheon, this year's St. Martin de Porres Awards for Excellence were presented to Leona Ferguson Cooper, Zilda Kerr-Gayle, Elizabeth McDugle Davis, Ella M. Brown, Theresa Davis, and Cynthia Lezama.
Ferguson Cooper, from St. Hugh Church in Coconut Grove, is the founder of the St. Martin de Porres Association and a board member of many Catholic organizations. A retired microbiologist, she is also a Dame in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. Coral Gables historian Arva Moore Parks lauded her as the "driving force" behind the preservation of the history and homesteads of Black Gables.
Eleanor Gardner, left, poses with Ella Brown, St. Martin de Porres Award of Excellence recipient from Visitation Church, North Miami. The awards were presented by the Office of Black Catholics of the archdiocese at the annual Black Catholic History Month awards luncheon, held at the Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens, Nov. 16 2019.
Kerr-Gayle, a parishioner at Visitation Church in North Miami for more than 40 years, was a Social Security officer and is now an auditor at a beach hotel. She is a founding member of the St. Martin de Porres Association as well as the Office of Black Catholics. She serves as a lector, treasurer of the St. Vincent de Paul Society and sacristan at her church.
McDugle Davis, of Holy Redeemer Church in Liberty City, is a former Miami-Dade County Public Schools math teacher. She has been a member of her church pastoral council, Catholic Adults Organization, St. Margaret Mary Guild, St. Matthew Guild, finance council and assistant treasurer. She was a Black Catholic Conference implementation team member for the archdiocesan Office of Black Catholics.
Brown, also of Visitation Church, is a retired nurse who said the most important aspects of her life are faith, family and friends. She serves her church as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion, president of the Women's Council, and member of the finance team, respect life committee and Love and Fellowship prayer group.
Davis, of St. Philip Neri Church in Miami Gardens, was a teacher at Miami-Dade County Public Schools. She has been a member of her church from the time it was a mission. As a mother, she made sure that her children and other children attended Mass regularly by providing them with clothes, transportation, money, and food. She is choir president, member of the Altar Guild, finance committee, Ladies Guild, and a fourth-degree Gracious Lady of the Knights of St. Peter Claver Ladies Auxiliary.
Lezama, of Christ the King Church in Perrine, was a nursing manager at VITAS Healthcare and received the VITAS Leadership Council Award. She founded the women's clinic of Akili, in Nigeria. She is a Mass coordinator, lector, extraordinary minister of holy Communion and member of the Naomi Ministry and black heritage group.
From right, Jimmy Knowles, Bonita Smith and Margie Frances sing the Black National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," at the close of the annual Black Catholic History Month awards luncheon, held at the Stadium Hotel in Miami Gardens, Nov. 16 2019.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Q: I'd like your assessment on an email we accustomed bygone about a abode catch in Brooklyn, New York, I fabricated through Media fabricated the catch added than a ages ago at Accommodation Reggae Den, a vacation rental property. Yesterday, I accustomed an email that Media had the amiss amount acquaint on its website. The amount wasn't $46 a night, but $125 a night.
When Media accustomed my reservation, I chock-full attractive for added locations and now accept few options in the area. I bare lodging. Media seems to not acquiesce any changes from the customer's end apropos this reservation. What should I do?
A: You appetite my opinion? I anticipate Media should account its price.
Your bind is a little bit like a Chinese feel trap. Media won't let you abolish your catch because the borderline for authoritative a change has passed. At the aforementioned time, it's about tripled the amount of your accommodations. That doesn't assume fair.
This isn't an accessible "fat-finger fare" — the affectionate area addition at the online bureau makes a decimal-point error, giving abroad $400 auberge accommodation for $40. I anticipate $46 looked like a agitating price, and the Media catch was a arrangement for that allowance — a accord it should honor.
OK, some of you skeptics are apparently thinking, "$46 in Brooklyn? Get outta here!" And in the past, I've taken a dim appearance of readers who booty advantage of amount errors. If you'd fabricated several anxiety at that amount and told all of your accompany to do the aforementioned thing, I ability accelerate this Media price-error case to the "rejected" file. But this was aloof you, attractive for a acceptable accord on abode in New York.
Your online biking bureau should accept formed with you to boldness this issue. I account the names, numbers and email addresses of the Media admiral on my consumer-advocacy site: Media advised the cardboard aisle amid you and Media It turns out Media would accept accustomed you to abolish this reservation, so you had the advantage of accepting a abounding acquittance and award alternating accommodations.
But was this a Media amount error? In fact, it wasn't. The Reggae Den is amenable for entering the actual amount advice on Media according to the booking site.
I wasn't blessed with that answer, so I contacted Media on your behalf. It apologized to you and offered a $150 agenda acceptable for a approaching booking, which you accepted. I achievement you adore your break in New York.


text:
Q: Visualforce: How do I print the Current Date? How do I print the current date on Visualforce?
Stuff like Today(), System.now, doesn't work.
Haven't been able to find any documentation or stackoverflow questions regarding this subject.

A: In your controller, create a property:
public Date Today { get { return Date.today(); }}

In the VF page, try using:
<apex:outputText value="{0,date}">
    <apex:param value="{!Today}" />
</apex:outputText>

Details on formatting the date can be found here and here.

A: Visualforce has Data and Time functions too, you can use {!NOW()} or {!TODAY()}.
For more details go here

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Yup, it snuck up on us all. Fall Semester flew by! Before you start packing your schedules too full, I wanted to mention some things and fill you in on upcoming events.
First of all, I wanted to mention that our committee heads and executive board members are in the SWE office from 10-2 M-F, so feel free to stop by if you have any questions, want to get more involved, want to chat, or even just to steal candies and mints.
A lot of our committee heads and executive board members will be graduating this spring, and will need someone to carry on their role. So, this is a great time to start looking into positions you might want to have in the future. Everyone will be more than happy to tell you about their position and even have you start helping them out!
WINTER CARNIVAL!!! Yup, it's just a few short weeks away. We will be selling pasties and making our statue. Not only is this night packed with fun, but our pasties sales are a huge fundraiser for our section, so spread the word! You can never go wrong with a pasty on a cold night like Winter Carnival! And hopefully all you active SWE members have signed up to volunteer. We will also be participating in some of the games happening that weekend, so sign up and have some fun!
Some big news…our Community and Campus chairs are looking to create a new outreach program! In the past we have done the Big Mac program, which has been great but we're looking to try something new! Kate and Katherine have been working hard and have some great ideas brewing. We will keep you all posted as to what the new program will be.


I arrived in Norway after many hours of driving only to find the one road which was important to me, closed due to an avalanche. Instead of waiting for the next day, when the road is supposed to be opened again, I chose to explore a totally different area. A rough description of my journey you can find in this post.
It didn't took long until I found this waterfall, caved deep into the mountain. Waterfalls like these are by no means a rarity up here, and I passed plenty of them along the road. Naturally not all of them are as pleasing to photograph as this one.
It was raining heavily in the beginning and after a quick explore of the fall, I decide my vantage points and wait for the rain to calm down at least a bit for a short amount of time.
In the early evening the rain is heavy most of the time, but a short window allowed for these images. Before having the chance to climb up to my second chosen vantage point, too heavy rain prevents an image up there.
As I pass this waterfall almost every time I drive to Norway, I chose to return another time.


This page is a very temporary location for the names of Regina Rifles casualties for which information from friends or family is sought. Until a more refined set of links can be created, this page will also be used to maintain links to other sources of information on Regina Rifles veterans. Please contact me if you can provide any information on the family, background or service of any of these men.
The search for information stems from a very small part I was able to play in the collection of information for the recently published book Age Shall Not Weary Them: Saskatchewan Remembers its War Dead, by Bill Barry, with Doug Chisolm and Beth Parsons. While we were able to track down much useful information, we hit some dead ends on a number of Saskatchewan boys who died while serving with the Johns. We are hopeful that we can uncover information on some of these men and post it here. In a handful of cases, we were able to obtain information after the deadline for the publication of the book. That information will be included here as well.
L102708 Rfn Stanley Herbert Cole - an account of a trip by family members to Cole Lake, named in honour of Rfn SH Cole.


12th March: MPs rejected the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated between Mrs May's Government and the EU for a second time.
13th March: MPs voted against leaving the EU without any form of a deal "in any circumstances", a vote which has limited effect given the inevitability of a 'no-deal' scenario if no alternative arrangements are reached.
14th March: MPs voted to request from the EU a delay to Article 50 (14th March).
18th March: the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, informed the Government that it cannot ask MPs to vote on the Withdrawal Agreement for a third time without a substantial change.
21st March: the European Union (displaying impressive and cohesive collective decision making) agreed to delay the deadline for the expiry of Article 50 by two weeks, so that the new deadline is 12 April (unless MPs pass the Withdrawal Agreement, in which case a slightly longer technical extension will be granted until 22 May).
So, where does that leave us? What is certain is that Theresa May has two further weeks to attempt to win a consensus on her Withdrawal Agreement and win a further Meaningful Vote. If she manages to do that, then the legal position will become clearer. Brexit will be implemented in much the same way as we summarised in a previous article, albeit with the Withdrawal Agreement taking effect on 22 May rather than 29 March.
If she fails (or perhaps even whilst she continues to canvass support for the third Meaningful Vote) then the Government may also elect to hold a series of "indicative votes" in Parliament. The stated purpose of such votes is to help reach a form of political agreement about the best route forward. Whether these votes will indeed provide the country with a viable next step remains a matter of significant uncertainty. Furthermore, it seems unlikely that the Government will have the will to implement such steps in any event. Mrs May's statement (which has now, a few short paragraphs later, come to an end) did not do much to suggest that she has any appetite to act on their outcome.
For the time being, businesses and employers should continue to monitor goings on in Parliament, and stress-test their current working arrangements with a no-deal Brexit in mind.


Every month bloggers of Poppins Book Nook bring you books and activities for the theme of the month. August theme is Who Shall I Be When I Grow Up? – a topic that intrigues both kids and their parents. How do we teach our kids about jobs people do and support their interests as they explore different careers in pretend play?
Today I want to share two books that describe "the adult world of jobs". Both of them were favorites in our house since daughter was about 3 until she was 7.
My daughter spent untold hours pouring over pages of What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry both before and after she learned to read. Even though the book was written many years ago, it offers an entertaining glimpse into how everyday objects are created and how they travel to our homes. I read on Amazon that the version that we have is abridged, but, as the other reviewer said, you won't notice it unless you knew the original – the book still has a wealth of information in an accessible form for very young children.
Smarty's other favorite book was Things People Do by Anne Civardi. This book introduces an imaginary island of Banilla and its inhabitants explaining the role they play in the smooth functioning of their community. This book is wonderful for any community helper or jobs unit, since it continues to link characters together and shows how they all contribute to each other lives.
My only discontent with these two books that they did not introduce two occupations that interest my daughter intensely – an inventor and a scientist. We joke sometimes that she is about a century late, because her dream job is to have her own factory that will produce the things that she invents. Sometimes we have very interesting discussions about how she would run her factory, what divisions she would need to have and how she would reward her workers. It's fascinating to see that she already understands the value of market research (some adults still believe in "build it and they'll come" approach) and of testing her products before they come to the stores. What exactly her factory will produce remains to be a mystery. Recently Smarty sort of switched in her interests from her factory producing "mechanical gadgets" to becoming a neuroscientists and inventing something related to our senses of taste and smell. This is certainly an interesting (and dangerous!) area of research and we keep reiterating safety precautions (real scientists don't taste their experiments) even though we didn't have any incidents with that lately (well, she asked when she wanted to taste something that she was mixing up).
Talking about how science and technology changed our lives and how it might change them in the future.
At the same time, we don't want to impose our expectations on her. It's very possible that her job does not even exist yet. What we want is to encourage is curiosity, exploration, effort, and a sense that there are no "boy jobs and girl jobs" and that she can try anything she is passionate about.
Who do your children want to be and how do you support their interest in this career path?
Follow Natalie's board Science on Pinterest.
Smarty definitely keeps you on your toes! I am very curious to see what she decides to be when she grows up.
With 3D printers, Smarty can have her own "factory" right at home! Maybe she can create the templates and sell them on-line?
K and Smarty needs to get together and do some brainstorming. They have similar interests but different strengths which is ideal. Right now, K is working on making a Rainbow Loom swim skirt that "swishes".
I just ordered a kit for 4-H National Youth Science Day. I love the "Rockets to the Rescue" idea.
Unfortunately not every idea they bring home is a good one, but they are definitely all good opportunities for reflection!
That Richard Scarry book is in our regular rotation with our 5-year-old. It's awesome (well really, all his books are)! Your discussions with Smarty about being an inventor and having a factory reminded me of the book, The Toothpaste Millionaire. I led a book club in my son's 3rd grade class and got to read it and guide discussion. If Smarty hasn't already read it, you might want to check it out.
Oh gosh, 3D printers would be a great thing for her. Another one I just thought of that she might enjoy watching is Shark Tank. We've watched that occasionally with the kids and it's sparked interesting discussions about the items the people want to make and sell.
Yes, Smarty needs 3 d printers! She really could have her own factory that way.


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How many people are vaccinated in Monroe County? The latest numbers
Diane Pantaleo, USA TODAY NETWORK
Some 63% of people living in Monroe County are fully vaccinated as of Oct. 12, according to data from the New York Department of Health.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers someone fully vaccinated two weeks after they've been given a single-dose shot (Johnson & Johnson) or a second shot (either Pfizer or Moderna).
New York reported 2,483,362 total cases of coronavirus, an increase of 1% from the week before.
The five counties with the highest percentage of their population fully vaccinated in New York as of Oct. 12 are New York County (73%), Queens County (72%), Nassau County (72%), Schenectady County (70%) and Westchester County (69%).
Here are the latest numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations in Monroe County as of Oct. 12:
How many people in Monroe County have received a COVID-19 vaccine?
68% of people in Monroe County have received at least one dose of the vaccine, for a total of 503,734 people
63% of people in Monroe County are fully vaccinated, for a total of 469,704 people
For a county-by-county look at the vaccination rollout, see our COVID-19 vaccine tracker, which is updated daily.
How many people in New York have been vaccinated so far?
72% of people in New York have received at least one dose of the vaccine, for a total of 14,057,058 people
64% of people in New York are fully vaccinated, for a total of 12,571,329 people
We pull data on local vaccine distribution on a weekly basis. Check back for our next weekly update mid-week for the latest numbers.


text:
This Vitamin C serum from Avon sells every 60 seconds – and it's now on sale
By Lauren Hughes published 17 June 19
Vitamin C is the buzzword at the moment, and we've all heard of the benefits of the power nutrient, which can be found in citrusy fruits such as oranges, as well as fruit like strawberries and blackcurrants.
If you're looking for a healthy glow, a Vitamin C serum could be what you're looking for, as it has some wonderful benefits for your skin.
Skincare experts say that the benefits of Vitamin C include:
It's an anti-oxidant
Great for anti-ageing
Contains radiance-boosting properties.
However, aside from eating a crate of oranges a day, it can be hard to ensure our skin gets the required amount of vitamin C it needs. Most of us don't even know that it has anti-ageing properties, with only one in five aware of this. Less than one in 5 of us have ever used Vitamin c as part of our regime.
As a result, Avon has released a new Vitamin C range for you to include into your skincare regime – and it is an absolute steal at only £14, down from £20 at the moment. You can get your hands on this magic serum here.
What's more, this product has been causing such a stir that Avon have said one bottle of the serum is sold every 60 seconds since its launch on 17th May.
Be quick, as with this amount of popularity, the offer may not last very long.
The product contains the equivalent of 30 oranges in one bottle, so you don't need to be ploughing through the orange juice every day.
The range has a high concentrate of Vitamin C to boost your natural glow and counteract some of the damaging effects of modern life, such as pollution, stress, lack of sleep or water, smoking and caffeine.
Dr Susan Mayou, a consultant dermatologist, says that applying Vitamin C directly to the face – rather than just ingesting it – should be be an essential part of our skincare routines.
"Vitamin C is widely regarded by skin experts as one of the most potent anti-oxidants in the world, so it's definitely time for its benefits to become more widely known," she said.
However, products containing Vitamin C can cost up to £50 or more. MZ Skin's Vitamin C serum costs £245 for 30ml – so we think this one is a bit of a steal!
Avon says their serum, Anew Vitamin C Radiance Maximising Serum, will deliver concentrated Vitamin C straight onto you skin for a "boost of radiance instantly".
A study showed that after a week, skin looked and felt healthier, while after two weeks, skin looked smoother and more even.
Users of the product have been praising their new-found glow after using the product, with one reviewer writing, 'have been using now for at least 4 weeks. Really pleased and have noticed a difference. My skin is much smoother and glowing. Would recommend without a doubt'.
Another commented on the value of the Vitamin C serum, commenting, 'A little bit goes a long way - fantastic value! You really do need only a couple of drops of this serum once or twice a day to make a visible difference to your skin. It has already helped to fade age spots (dark areas) on my cheeks and has clearly brightened up my skin overall. People have commented about well my skin looks.'
The Anew range also includes capsules to boost radiance. One of the capsules contains a power shot of 20% concentrated vitamin C that stays active on the skin for 48 hours.
These handy mini-doses cost only £12 down from £20, giving you a saving of £8. You can purchase them here.
We'll be stocking up in bulk...
Lauren Hughes
Lauren is deputy editor at woman&home.com in the UK and became a journalist mainly because she enjoys being nosy. With a background in features journalism, Lauren has worked on the woman&home brand for four years. Before woman&home Lauren worked across a variety of women's lifestyle titles, including GoodTo, Woman's Own, and Woman magazine. After starting out working for a local paper in Yorkshire, her journalism career took her to Bristol where she hunted out stories for national papers and magazines at Medavia news agency, before landing a job in London working as a lifestyle assistant.
Lauren loves helping people share their stories, bringing experiences to life online, honing her interview techniques with everyone from authors to celebrities, headteachers to local heroes. As well as having a good nose for a story, Lauren has a passion for the English language and years of experience optimizing digital content to reach the widest audience possible. During her time at w&h, Lauren has worked on big brand campaigns like the Amazing Women Awards and assisted in developing w&h expert-approved Buyer's Guides—the place to go if you're looking to splash out on an important purchase and want some trusted advice. In addition to her journalism career, Lauren also has a background in copywriting for prestigious brands such as Inhabit Hotel, eco-development K'in in Tulum, social enterprise The Goldfinger Factory and leading London architect Holland Harvey, using language in all its glorious forms, from detailed guidebooks to snappy social content.
A big fan of adventure, Lauren is also a keen travel writer and loves sharing tips on where to find the best places to eat, drink, and be merry off the beaten track. Lauren has written a series of travel guides for London hotels and loves sharing her insights into a destination's cultural and culinary offerings. If you need a recommendation on any UK destination, she's more than happy to help. At the weekend, you'll usually find her hanging out with her pet cat (or anyone else's pet she can get her hands on), escaping to the countryside, or devouring a good book.
Follow her adventures @laurenkatehughes
Twitter: @laurenkhughes
LinkedIn: Lauren Kate Hughes
Email: lauren.hughes@futurenet.com
A new Oreo flavor is being released and it might just be the best yet...
The new limited-edition Oreo flavor won't be around for long though
By Anna Rahmanan • Published 13 January 22
Walking for weight loss—can you really get fit by doing enough steps?
If you want to try walking for weight loss, here's what you should know
By Faye M Smith • Published 13 January 22