Mortaine’s Blog

This is an archive of my shorter book reviews and notes, which historically have been posted over at the 50 Book Challenge on LiveJournal, but which I’m starting to move over here. I’m posting them with altered date-stamps, but they might show up in my LiveJournal cross-post anyway. Bear with me, please.

Note: Many of these books also have full reviews available in the book review podcast (RSS).
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All but one of my female bettas is dead. The last one is dying, probably be gone by the time I get home tonight. The fry look good, though.

I bought a stuffed dragon at the con. And a mask. And Chris named the dragon for me (Rita). We had many nice conversations about the prevalence of obesity and neuroses in fandom, which I think it what I was getting at with my previous post. The “not quite right” vibe was definitely there. There was one guy Sunday morning who I spoke to while he was setting up. He kept coming closer and closer, and every time he invaded my space, I took a little step back, which only made him come closer. One theme of his rant was how nobody was buying anything this year– um, perhaps because you creep the hell out of everyone who comes to your booth?

*sigh* Anyway. The rest of the con was good, of course, but I’m glad to be home.

Oh, and the big book recommendation of the weekend, the series that everyone is reading is Naomi Novik’s His Majesty’s Dragon (and others in the series), which is supposed to be very good. Of course all the booksellers at the con were sold out, so I have just ordered the whole series from Amazon. I also picked up several books this weekend, including my newest read, Elantris by Brandon Sanderson.

The con is fine. A lot of fun. I got to interview some amazing people today. It’s been awesome.

I also got some review copies of books and movies, which also rocked. I’m enjoying myself. I’m enjoying my role here, doing the interviews and talking to people about cool things.

I participated/vlogged in a poetry thing this morning, did interviews all day, played in a Zendo tournament which, from what I could tell, was not scheduled for the amount of time it would take (first round took us over an hour, in a 2-hour slot, and we started late). I played a couple of pick-up games of Fluxx, which was also awesome. I wandered all over the place, but did not end up dancing, having arrived in the dancing area in between the costume contest and the dancing.

It’s midnight, and I’m a little tired. I was up at 6 AM this morning, and will likely be up around that time tomorrow. Hopefully not, though.

There are many parts of fandom that I Just Don’t Understand. I understand costuming. I understand a six year old wanting to marry Spiderman. I understand a ten year old naming their stuffed dragon. I do not really understand a thirty year old naming their stuffed dragons and then talking to the creator/seller at the Dealer’s Room, calling the dragons by name, and having to explain which one they mean, as if the dealer will remember.

In a way, I understand it in the sense that I know I do it, too. But in another way, it seems… odd to me. Like when you meet someone who’s responses to your cues is just a little bit off from what you expect, either because they don’t make eye contact, or they are not as fast at responding to you as you’re used to, rhythm-wise, or whatever.

I’m heading over the hill for BayCon in about 3 hours. I have a meeting beforehand, then it’s off to the con for me!

For the record, I am supposed to be covering BayCon for a totally awesome new videoblog, Galacticast, which is produced by the former Ms. Kitka (of the sex vlog/podcast “The Kitkast”). Anyway, I really hope my press pass is there for me– I really want to actually “cover” the event, not just show up with a camera and make people nervous.

Anyway, I’m off to run down to Capitola for a weigh-in (ugh!) and pick up a block of crafting foam.

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, 21 MB)

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This was a poorly-planned speech I did last week on the fiber arts. I had “speaker’s block” until the morning of the speech, so I wasn’t as well-prepared as I normally am (as evidenced by the fact that I don’t have a practice video to show here). The goal of Speech #4 is to use body language and gesture. I didn’t take advantage of the opportunity this topic gave me for doing so, and more to the point, I failed to get the heck out from behind the lectern! My next speech is scheduled for sometime after June 14. Expect more vlogs between now and then, though– summer’s here!

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