So after looking at all the DragonCon literature online, I could still not find out what time the DragonCon Store opened. I wanted to buy a streaming membership, only sold at the Store this year and not at registration as last year, and see if they had any stuffed baby dragons or T-shirts left for James. Finally poked around the website, which said the Store at the Marriott opened at eight, so I headed downtown early. A call of nature sent me rushing from the garage to the Marriott, and the first ladies' room was closed for cleaning. Took the escalator up to the next floor. Same here!!! Argh! Trotted past the DragonCon Store, which was not open at well after eight (so much for the website; bad webmaster!) and found that the much-discussed gender-neutral bathrooms were thankfully not being cleaned. A guy started to walk in next to me, saw me, started to turn away, and I said cheerfully, "It's gender-neutral! Come on in!"

(These bathrooms are not the usual awful type of American toilet stalls that have wide gaps on either side of the door, so that by careful posing you could be a creepy peeping tom and see people "doing their business," but are individual little stalls with walls between them and good solid wooden doors with louvers for air. I had no problem using them with guys wandering around. I really appreciate the European-style toilet stall, which they have at Lidl, which are quite gap-free, although rather coffin-like. I did hear one objection to them, from a guy using the other gender-neutral bathroom which was originally a men's room; he didn't want women staring at him using the urinal! Dude, women aren't interested in your dangly bits as much as you seem to think they are. However, a screen there would probably be nice.)

So the store wasn't open, so I trudged over to the Sheraton, picked up two memberships for next year, and stopped at the info booth to see what time the Store did open. Ten. Sigh. So I went back to the Marriott and got in line. They opened pretty promptly and during the wait I chatted with people in line. Alas, the cute sleeping baby dragons were sold out, as well as the T-shirts with the dragon looking remarkably like the Batman logo. I got the streaming membership, and picked up a DragonCon magnet for James' truck, then beat feet to the Hilton so I could at least see the rest of the Elementary vs. Sherlock panel.

This was very egalitarian; at most of these I've been to everyone loves Sherlock and if Elementary isn't sneered at, it's at least given short shrift and a shrug (unless Louis Robinson is on the panel, and then you get a run for your money). This panel had a couple of people who loved both series equally and talked about the pros and cons of each, so when it ended and they proposed to take a vote, I said, "Why? They both stand on their own merits." And so we didn't vote—hurrah!

So this is what I did on my final day at DragonCon: spent all of it at BritTrack, in the basement of the Hilton, with my "peeps." Now, I'd thought about going to the final Orville panel, but only J. Lee and Mark Jackson were left, and I would  have had to hike to the Hyatt. Not today. I stayed instead for "Doctor Who: Mind the Gaps," about all the gap years there have been in the series (the one during Colin Baker, the long long gap after the classic series was cancelled and when the new series appeared, etc.). Alan Siler and the two Robs were on this panel, and we chatted about how we survived during the gaps, including during the big one when Virgin Books "New Adventures" and "Missing Adventures" books kept the series alive. Ah, I remember those days, perusing the new ones at the Science Fiction and Mystery Bookstore (otherwise known to old Atlanta fandom as "Mark's store), and at the late and so lamented Oxford Books.

The third panel of the day was a history geek's (me! me!) dream: "Just Another Monarch Monday." They had a slide presentation of English kings and queens by era (Angevin, Plantagenet, Stuart, etc.) and what movies or television series you might find them in (for instance, in the Plantagenet era you would range from Robin Hood films like Prince of Thieves (and Men in Tights) and Robin and Marian, to Braveheart (Edward Longshanks), the Tudors everything from Charles Laughton's Henry VIII to things like Shakespeare in Love, with the Georges you get into everything from the comic prince in Blackadder III to Queen Victoria, and thus to modern day and The Crown. Really informative and fun panel. Didn't know there was a new movie out about Queen Anne's court.

And then finally, inevitably, what's always traditionally been my last DragonCon panel: the wrap-up, "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish." The trackrunners and volunteers are dead tired, they don't want to take things home, so there are snacks for all while everyone talks about what worked and what didn't. Some of the night stuff sounds like a blast, but we simply can't afford to stay at the con hotels (even the overflow hotels) and take a rest before the nightly revelry. (We stayed at the hotel twice for Timegate/WHOlanta so we could participate in the late-night programming, only to wearily climb up to our room both times after the cabaret/masquerade was over and go to sleep instead, and that was over five years ago!) I snacked on ranch Doritos and plain Fritos, brought crunchy Cheetos and a Coke Zero home for James, tried ham and mustard flavored British "crisps," chatted with folks, and simply enjoyed one more hour with friends until it was time for Butch and I to make tracks for home.

So, no visit to the Dealer's Room for me this year at all. Couldn't really afford it, but regret that I didn't get to go to Artist's Alley (also in the same building; liked it better when they were near the art show) and say hi to Andy Runton and see if there was a new "Owly" book or print out. Heck, never even made it to the art show. As my retirement has proved, even with what seems like all the time in the world, you can't do everything.

Maybe next year...

Doctor Who Gap Years panel: Alan Siler, Robert Alsopp, ?

Doctor Who Gap Years panel: Robert Bowen at right

"So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish..." Rob Bowen in the hat, Caro M. Tidwell (Brittrack director) at his left

And as the Marriott Carpet TARDIS prepares to dematerialize...

Labels: books, conventions, Doctor Who, friends, history, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:57:00 PM

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James wanted to see a panel at nine; I was hoping to get some extra sleep this morning. This is his only other day at con, so how could I say no? So we got up at six fifteen and left at seven.

Now, when I got the garage reservations a month ago I couldn't find a space available at the Courtland Street garage on Saturday. The garage off Andrew Young Boulevard still had spaces, but Andrew Young goes uphill (or downhill depending on your POV 😀 ) and the entrance is on a slope. We have to watch out where we go due to the chair lift on the back of the truck; I was afraid it would bottom out if we entered or exited on that slope. So I consulted Google Earth photos and then got reservations at the Sun Trust Plaza garage because the entrance looked flat. Since I didn't know where this garage was, we plugged in the address to Waze and we followed directions exactly. But it took us to the wrong garage! (Not Waze's fault! Google Maps gave me the same result when I ran the directions later.) We had to back out (!!!!) and find the correct garage, which was three blocks down!...and the street was indeed flat, but the ramp into the garage was steep and the chair lift bottomed out anyway. Grrrrrrr! You should have heard the scrape!

To top it off the scanner at the entrance would not scan the QR code on my Parking Panda receipt! We went in anyway.

Then we had no way of getting into Peachtree Center for breakfast without going through a hotel elevator (nearly impossible to get in on Saturday). We had to dodge around those ridiculous scooters that are causing so much trouble in downtown Atlanta; three of them were blocking the ramp onto the sidewalk for handicapped access, so James had to ride in the street, and he had to swing once into traffic because another scooter had fallen sideways into the street. We walked all the way back down from the Marriott to the Courtland Garage so we could use their elevator and the skywalk to Peachtree Center. By the time I ate breakfast I was so aggravated everything went down like a rock.

Anyway, I escorted him, so I know James did make it to the Westin for his panel before the police shut the street down for the parade, and, picking my way through the crowd and the lines of fallen scooters around the curbs where people were trying to cross the street, I ended up in the Hilton where it was blessedly cool while I attended the BritTrack crime drama panel. This was mostly about the gritty crime dramas like Luther, which I'm not really into (well, except for Broadchurch and Waking the Dead), but it's nice to know what's out there and any new things that might be interesting.

This is the third year BritTrack has been in the downstairs level of the Hilton and previously I've loved it because it's so nice and cool down there. It was cold today but there was a dreadful stench all over the whole level that almost smelled like gunpowder or something chemical. I was told it's from Trader Vic's, which is set into the side of the hotel. It's their grill. Someone told me they thought it smelled like barbecue, but frankly if I walked up to a barbecue place that smelled like that, I'd hightail it out of there. Ew.

Next I made my way over to the Sheraton for one of the alternate history panels, "Bandits & Leapers: Time Travelers in the Media." There was no love for Voyagers! on this panel; it seemed all the panelists hated it and most of the audience. Well, sorry, I don't understand the love for Time Bandits, either, one of my least favorite movies of all time. However, we all could come together on Quantum Leap, mentioning favorite episodes and talking about the alternate ending in which Al would have leaped in search of Sam. There was a man in the audience dressed up as Al, with a wonderful hand-crafted handlink with all the candy-colored buttons. It made noises if you pushed the buttons and even squealed when you whacked it like Al used to. Too cool. (Also talked about Time Tunnel, Sliders, The Tomorrow People, etc.)

I'd learned my lesson. As soon as I was out of there I went directly to the Marriott to get in line for David Tennant, whose panel was at 2:30 p.m. It was now 12:35. DS folks are asked to get to a panel as quickly as possible, at least thirty minutes early.

The chairs for Disability Services were already filled up. WTF?

So, despite the pain in everything from the waist down, I waited, crowded in with a bunch of other people who also weren't supposed to be standing, but were waiting (I was talking to the couple next to me; she has a knee injury and a bad back). I ate my lunch while I was waiting. I started to have my juice, then realized that if I did, I'd have to pee during the panel, so I put the juice back in the backpack. More people showed up. We waited. People pushed in the crowd. I pulled out my tablet and read my book. Every joint started to scream. People pushed in so close I was getting claustrophobic. Out in the rest of the atrium, someone started playing loud music. Then, finally, the previous panel finished. People spilled out, then the crowd lessened. The call came for wheelchairs. The young mother in front of me started passing down the messages because you could absolutely not hear much of anything with all those hundreds of people milling around. The wheelchairs rolled up, including one with five people following after (you are only allowed one "minion"). Then they called sightline (people who could not see well) and hearing impaired. (Some of the hearing impaired who'd been there for over two hours didn't hear the call due to the cacaphony and didn't get in. They need megaphones and signs.) Folks in wheelchairs who showed up at the last minute got in.

Everyone four people ahead of me and all those in back of me did not. They shut down the disability line to load the folks who had been (patiently) waiting outside.

Usually I just sigh and give up, but this was the one panel at con I truly wanted to see. So I argued with the guy in the wheelchair guarding the door. I didn't shout or swear; I just expressed my frustration at not getting in after waiting two hours despite pain and seeing people who showed up at the last minute getting in. I finally said desperately, "Can I at least sit on the floor?"

He let me in. I take no pride in talking him into it, although I apparently absorbed something about negotiations while working as a purchasing agent, as I seemed to be the only one who managed this. He was really harassed by the crowd. Why they did not have an overflow room with "Jumbotrons" like they have had for previous popular panels I have no idea. Did DragonCon really not understand how popular David Tennant would be? He's still one of the rock stars of television.

Anyway, I got shunted off into a corner about halfway down the room, but I didn't care. I would have sat in the back.

It was a fun panel. I came in just as Tennant was being asked about what he and his father-in-law (Peter Davison, alias the Doctor #5) gave each other for Christmas (electronics, mostly). Then, apparently in a trend that started yesterday, he and the panel moderator (Rob Levy) raced their wheeled office chairs across the stage. (David has longer legs; he won.) Then it settled down to questions. The story I remember most is his talking about working on a Shakespeare play where the understudy in one of the roles did not learn his lines, thinking he would never be needed. Well, he was, and it was immediately apparent that he did not know his lines. Tennant said wryly that you couldn't exactly improvise in Shakespeare! He also discussed being Scrooge McDuck (that is was nice to know that there was a Scot in the Disney universe!) (evidently he's forgotten about Merida 😉 ), playing the pitiless Kilgrave in Jessica Jones, the bromance with Michael Sheen in Good Omens, if he wanted his children to go into acting or if he would discourage them (his son Ty is already an actor, having appeared on Casualty).

I had no panels next and knew James would be at the Tor panel in the Hyatt, so I slogged across the street (it was the most direct route) and found him in Regency V as expected. James loves to go to the various science-fiction publishers' panels, although he has to admit Tor is the most boring. We just sort of sat back there chilling out for an hour while the panelists talked about new books coming out.

Finally I went off to the Call the Midwife panel while James went to the Pern panel. This was just pleasantly low key, discussing plotlines we liked in the latest season, our favorite characters (and characters we'd like to see go away, Mother Mildred being the most popular), and how things are going to work out for various characters. Everyone seems to think Valerie is going to be shut out by the women of Poplar because of her exposure of the abortionist.

I met James back at the Hyatt, as he wanted to see one last panel, "Planning Space Battles," with some of his favorite writers, including David Weber. I don't read hard SF, so most of them were unfamiliar to me, but it was an entertaining panel nevertheless. Everyone on the panel was warned if they didn't talk David and Chuck Gannon would take over the meeting. 😀 But everyone did manage to get a good word in edgewise.

So when we got back to the garage, there was an attendant there. I explained about the Parking Panda code not scanning this morning and showed him the ticket and the reservation and he let us out. I was afraid the wheelchair lift was going to bottom out again on the drive out, so I drove the chair out of the garage myself and James followed behind me in the truck. There was a little ramp just to the right of the exit of the garage. James parked perpendicular to it so we were as far to the right on Peachtree Center Avenue as we could get, threw the flashers on, and then I lowered the ramp, drove the chair on it, lifted it up, fastened on all the straps, lowered the arms and the back, and off we went.

Next stop, pit crew! 😀

And thus ended James' two days at DragonCon.

This Observer made his own Handlink.

David Tennant (Doctor Who, Broadchurch, Good Omens...you name it)

Just us

Labels: books, conventions, Doctor Who, health, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:55:00 PM

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Alan Siler at Opening Ceremonies

Marc Scott Zicree and one of his most famous creations.

Janet Fielding once more.

Jon Davey, who played Cybermen and other costumed denizens of Doctor Who.

Edward Russell, who did marketing for Doctor Who.

Jason Haigh-Ellery from Big Finish Productions, who continue to do Doctor Who audio drama.

Louis Robinson, late of the BBC.

Robert Allsop, who did costuming and props on Doctor Who.

Kelly Yates, comic book artist, who has done several Who graphic novels.

Labels: conventions, Doctor Who

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:19:00 PM

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I see we are back to Not Sleeping Well 101. And then upon rising, I lost my badge.

I didn't really lose it. At night when we get home the first thing I do is put the backpack in a dining room chair to have access for reloading, and then clip the badge to the backpack. I swear I did it last night, especially since when James went to the kitchen I asked, "James, is my badge clipped to my backpack?" and he said yes. But there was my backpack, with no badge clipped to it, when I got down to the truck. I raced upstairs and for twenty frantic minutes searched everywhere for it. Did I drop it coming upstairs? Leave it in the bathroom? Drop it in the bedroom? But James had said it was clipped to my backpack! Finally, after resigning myself to buying a two-day pass, I came downstairs. There was the badge, clipped to James' backpack. But he'd slept so badly he didn't even notice it.

So we were hellishly late, because I wanted to see Matt Smith, but I did make it. I think I was the penultimate person allowed in that room (the big Marriott Atrium Ballroom; why John Barrowman hadn't been here I'll never  understand). He was sweet and personable, but people persisted in asking him "Can you tell us some memories of how you felt when you and Karen and Arthur wouldn't be working together again?" Guys, it's not marriage or a love affair. It's a job. Of course, they had a good working relationship, but now it's over. And all the questions were Doctor Who-oriented. No one asked him about The Crown or the Sally Lockhart films he did. (Yes, I should have asked myself, but I was feeling very uncomfortable health-wise after my panic this morning and did not want to stand in line. My ankles have been stone-cold bitches this weekend.)

Then trudged to the Hilton for my next panel; found myself (literally) chilling in the new BritTrack panel room until I realized it was the wrong panel room. The Moffat-to-Chibnall panel was upstairs! 😀 This was a lively discussion about what we might expect for next season with not only a new Doctor, but a new "showrunner." The consensus was that Chibnall could do right by a woman as the Doctor. We are just hoping they will be all regular Doctor Who stories and not "the Doctor is female now so we have to comment about it again" stories.

Then back in BritTrack for "Classic Series Doctor Who" and everyone got to tell their stories of how they originally began watching the series. Some folks actually did see it when it premiered in 1972 (I didn't see it until February 1974). Some interesting stories from the younger folks who saw the new series and then went back to watch the old. Several people mentioned buying videotapes at Media Play and I was homesick for them all over again (and concurrently for playing trivia at Rockford's, as we always stopped at Media Play before hitting the restaurant).

This morning James had said he really wanted to see Alton Brown's panel, and, since he had several nonscheduled hours this morning and afternoon, I said "Why not? Just get there early." I decided I wanted to go myself, and since I had a free schedule at this time as well, I went to the Marriott to line up (I have a seat-in-line sticker because of my stupid knees and ankles). It was already a mob scene at 2:30; at least fifty people were already lined up just for handicapped access. James messaged me that he was coming over and I held a space for him as other folks showed up. He showed up having just been to the dealer's room. He had bought himself a t-shirt and a gift for me and a satchel to carry his phone and diabetes kit in, having tired of having a pouch bouncing on his waist and getting in the way of the arm of the power chair. Some people came by and asked why Alton Brown—with his interest in cooking—was at an SF convention! Well, because he's local? And because his show features scientific principles of cooking and there is a science track at DragonCon? How about just because he is FUN? (Really, people, we have wrestlers here, and Celtic performers. Why not a rock-star cook?) Anyway, the Marriott Atrium Ballroom (which holds at least 2,500 people) was SRO at 3:06 for a 4 p.m. panel. That is why Alton Brown is at this convention.

And, yes, truly this was a fun panel!!!! Not only was Brown here, but he brought "W" and some of the other cast members from Good Eats to tell us behind-the-scenes stories of building strange sets, maneuvering the camera and people through same, and accidents on the set (Alton Brown is actually bleeding on one side of his face during the Ghiradelli chocolate factory interview after being hit by machinery). Best of all, Good Eats is coming back! The new series will be called Return of the Eats, and, sadly (Brown said sarcastically) this means Food Network will have to cut down Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives to only 7 1/2 hours per day. LOL.

Some nice folks helped us with the elevator (James said he had no problems with the elevators today at all, and people were all very kind), so we went downstairs to "RetroBlasting Presents Indiana Jones: the Hilarious History." The hosts pointed out funny things and trivia about each movie (like the guy in modern-dress in the bazaar scene and the "really excited monkey," or the fact that Sallah was supposed to be killed off in Raiders and that the raft scene from Temple of Doom was supposed to be in Raiders originally). Apparently the Indian government took one look at Temple of Doom and wouldn't let them film there; it was done in Sri Lanka instead, and the tribal chieftain learned his lines phonetically, as he spoke no English at all. Oh, and Willie Scott screams thirty times in the film!

Supposedly there is an Indy 5 coming out, too, with Harrison Ford.

James wanted to see one last panel, so we went to the Westin for "Surviving an Apocalypse." He was a little disappointed. The description made it sound as if they were going to riff on stupid actions in apocalyptic films and it would be humorous, but instead it was a more serious discussion about the mistakes people make in these films—like letting the children get out of sight and then having to search for them—and how you could deal in a real-life situation.

Finally down the long length of John Portman Street to the garage and then home. That stupid panic attack over my badge had done me no favors; my heat rash was starting to heal—I even showed James last night—and now because I perspired so much and got aggravated it is worse than ever.

Labels: conventions, Doctor Who, food, friends, movies, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:19:00 PM

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This morning was the same as yesterday: up early, prep, and out the door. We told the fids we'd be home earlier. Not much, but we were.

I'd popped in the dealer's room for several short periods, but this morning had a chance to peruse more slowly. There is a nice variety of vendors this year, including The Corner Shop from downtown Marietta, and lots of CDs from Big Finish. I did buy James some Thunderbirds pins and he bought himself a SHADO one, and he bought me a Prydonian pendant. James also got a Starfury patch for his backpack and I bought Twilight a magnet that says "bigger on the inside."

I sure could have used something to split me into parts today. I missed "Literary Comfort Food" and "Ask a British Person!" and "How to Ruin Your Franchise," plus panels on Indiana Jones and Gerry Anderson, among others, to see the panels I did. That's the trouble with Timegate—[sarcasm alert!] just too many things going on!

Anyway, I went once more to the Big Finish Q&A because I just like listening to Nick Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery. Briggs is excited to be able to do an audio season of The Prisoner to add new stories to the canon, although I wonder if Patrick McGoohan would feel the same way, as that was always his baby.

Next, James was moderating (along with Scott Vigiue) a panel on Time Travel. We discussed time travel methods (machines, magic, disassociation with modern times) and the problems of traveling in time, where changing one tiny thing (as in the Bradbury story) changes the entire course of history. Not to mention what happens if you meet yourself in the past, or why you would want to time travel. (I don't want to change anything; I just want to see what it looked like really: the Library at Alexandria, ancient Rome and Greece, if there truly was a King Arthur, Washington crossing the Delaware, real pioneers crossing the plains, Perry in Japan, etc.)

Then it was on to see Paul McGann once more. On this panel he talked about some of the movies he had done, including one about the Irish potato famine in which he appeared with all three of his brothers. He said they all love each other, get along, and work well together, but by the time the shoot was over, they were no longer living close to each other! Also, his brother Mark was the first of the brothers to act, although he was going to RADA at the time. (His father knew nothing about acting, and when his mother told him "Paul's is going to RADA," Dad thought he had some sort of disease!) He also talked about being from Liverpool at the time of the Beatles, and how his mother would dress the brothers up as the Beatles and people would get a big kick out of it.

Terry Molloy came on next, and I got the opportunity to ask him about The Scarifyers, which most of the audience had never heard of. He talked about the episode that followed Nicholas Courtney's death and how they made the changeover to David Warner, with the help of an actor who sounded so much like Courtney that it made his eyes fill with tears.

I had a free hour, so I first went back to the restaurant where James was having a late lunch with Clay and Maggi, and Sue Phillips had joined them. Sat down to talk (but was a little pissed that the waitress came by several times and never once asked me if I wanted anything—I think if she had asked I would have ordered some potstickers, but she never did, so they lost that sale). Then Sue went back "on duty" for the Lit track and Clay and Maggi hit the road (they are planning to be back next weekend, so we might get to do dinner or something). I bought memberships for next year as well.

The final big panel was "The Worlds of Doctor Who" with all the guests (except for Louis Robinson, who left early). The panel was "thrown open" to any question, so there were some funny ones as well as serious ones about what types of stories they'd like to do on CD in the future. An unexpected guest turned up as well: a young man named John Moore who has done prosthetics and makeup on the new series and who is here in Atlanta working on Guardians of the Galaxy II. He'd seen the notice of the convention and called Alan to see if he could appear as it will help him get a green card to work here in the US.

We thought about seeing the wrapup panel in the British Pub track, but instead we stayed behind to see the Felt Nerdy Puppet Show, just for a lark. These are puppets in the Muppet sense, and the scenes alternated between Daleks telling bad jokes and a humorous continuing sequence where "Rose" wished for the Doctor to be more serious, only to have him turn into Mr. Spock and driving her crazy with his logic and sobriety. She was much happier with her good old Doctor in the end! After the show, the puppeteers came out and showed us how they worked and what they were made of, and introduced the puppets to the children.

Finally, it was time for the wrap-up panel, talking more about the change of name to WHOlanta and the change of weekend before "giving credit where it was due," to the track organizers, the con suite people, the panelists, and the guests, and then asking questions about how things went. We did complain about the restaurant rates!

And then it was seven o'clock and time to leave Paradise and go back to the world. On the way home we stopped for supper at Panera: I just had soup, but James had a pick two and fell in love with their new Chinese Cashew salad. It looks really good.

Then a dog walk and finally a chance to rest! Can't wait to sleep late tomorrow!

Labels: conventions, Doctor Who, dogs, food, pets

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:44:00 PM

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Let's say 7:45 came too quickly, but at least I slept well. Good thing, because it was a flurry of a morning: dog walking, backpack stocking, and then zipping off on the freeway to get to the hotel in time for breakfast. It's a great buffet, but oi, the price! $41 for the two of us. So we eat as much as we can and tuck away some for later.

My first panel was "The Wonderful and Ever Expanding World of Disney." I was delighted to find Zootopia fans here, including author Debbie Viguie (I ran into her later near the dealer's room and we talked Judy and Nick for five minutes)! We also talked about the "sequelitis" that plagued Disney for a while and if any of them were any good (personally, I liked Bambi II and Patch's London Adventure). There was a bit of chat of how beautifully Brave was animated, but how the plot vacillated. Surprised no one mentioned Jungle Book.

The following panel was about the current season of Doctor Who, with much discussion about Peter Capaldi's tour-de-force in "Heaven Sent." Like others on the panel, I'd been skeptical of 40 minutes of nothing but the Doctor, and remember how astonished I was that the 40 minutes were over so quickly.

I returned to James (and Clay and Maggi) in "Remembering the Classics" in the literature track. As well as speaking about Heinlein and Asimov and all the rest, going back to H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, we tried to define a classic and what made it classic, and what made it worth reading vs. "required reading." What works for one, we all know, doesn't work for others, and mention was made of Asimov's Foundation series. My best friend read this in high school and loved it, and gave me a set for Christmas. I read three pages and never could manage the rest.

Next was a great panel given in the British Pub track: "British History, the World Wars." Mark Heffernan said he originally wanted the panel to be about the Battle of the Somme, since it is the hundredth anniversary, but this was a more general chat about both wars, and how the first led to the second. We even talked about things that were kept secret about World War II for many years, like the facts about Bletchley Park. Louis Robinson revealed he once met Albert Speer in the BBC studios!

And finally, time for Paul McGann! After seeing people like Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, McGann seems quite reserved. He does talk with his hands, though! [girly reaction warning!] Goodness, his eyes are so blue! [that's it :-) ] It turns out he appeared in a film called Withnail and I, in which he played opposite Richard E. Grant, who has also played the Doctor. The majority of the discussion was about the television movie, but not many details "behind the scenes" were revealed. He did love working with Sylvester McCoy and loved the TARDIS design: that was a real set, and not CGI as it would have been today.

Next, a panel devoted to this year's NewYear's Sherlock special, "The Abominable Bride." Some folks wished it had been an actual, standalone Victorian mystery as opposed to a fantasy happening in Sherlock's mind as he tried to solve a mystery. Most of what everyone liked was the in jokes, and the homages to the Holmes canon.

Nicholas Briggs, Jason Haigh-Ellery, Terry Molloy, and Paul McGann joined forces for "The BIG Big Finish Panel," in which all things audio drama were on topic. McGann's lengthy tenure as the Doctor in audio was discussed, of course, and how thrilling it was to have all his audio companions mentioned in the seven-minute video "The Night of the Doctor," but the different alternative adventures were also in evidence: the use of classic Doctors in new adventures, the companion stories, the tales set on Gallifrey. (Colin Baker, whose tenure was cut by a strike and then dismissal, also has had his sixth Doctor career extended via Big Finish, and the seventh Doctor and Ace had more adventures as well.) I only have a few of their CDs; I just can't afford them. And I never will catch up now! But I'd love to hear more. Their 50th anniversay special, "The Light at the End" was fabulous.

James had a panel at five, which I went to, a Book Club discussion based on the novel Ready Player One. He bought it just to read for this panel, but he said he enjoyed it because of the videogame theme. It sounds like it's sort of a Hunger Games riff, with an evil corporation and people trying to win a big prize by playing 1980s video games. The many 80s references in the story are due to the fact that the author is a 1980s junkie. Sue Phillips, who was conducting the panel, liked the story less, but admitted she was not fond of video games and could not relate to the character. However, at least once person in the audience said he identified with the protagonist and really loved the book.

"I Feel...Young: Star Trek at 50" was the next port of call, where Alice was in the front row. She has been a Trek fan since the series began. But we didn't discuss just the original series; we talked about Next Generation and the rest of the spinoffs (and how Enterprise was just getting good when they cancelled it). They clued us in to a interesting-looking set of books: These Are the Voyages, one book for each season! (Just FYI: they're cheaper at Barnes & Noble.)

Our final panel was "Why Fandom?" Well, because people of like interests have always gotten together. But, if because of those interests, people were thought of as outcasts, why then do fans fight against fans? So part of the discussion was about tribalism and exclusivity. Basically, even in fandom there are people who wish to be exclusive, but each fan should just accept everyone's interests so long as they do not hurt others or interfere with others' enjoyment.

I'd slipped out to use the bathroom about 7:45 and discovered the cabaret line forming outside the door. There was quite a long line for the cabaret, and people buying tickets up to the last minute, and soon we joined the queue.

The cabaret was hosted, as always, by the flamboyant Lt. Moxie Magnus, "Chief Cosmetology Officer on the USS Enterprise. The first performance was a very funny skit by the folks at GeekVs.com, wherein a writer had been asked to come up with a play for the convention. But she "didn't know" it was a Doctor Who convention, so Who characters suggested by the audience, Davros and Amy, were substituted for the author's "original characters, the Terminator and Keanu Reeves." There followed hilarious hijinks as Davros and Amy followed a plot made for someone else.

Next Louis Robinson sang two songs, followed by him joining Courtland Lewis and Alan Siler to do two David Bowie tribute songs, including "Ground Control to Major Tom." (Louis also played a duet with Moxie and her ukelele.) Finally Terry Molloy came on with his ukelele and played a very funny folk song about typical 1950s housewives attending satanic services while their husbands are shooting snooker at the pub! He also took a turn with Moxie.

Finally the traditional cabaret ending, a raffle giveaway, commenced. James won a spiffy poster and others received Who figurines, a stuffed TARDIS, a Who Yahtzee game, etc.

There was a "Gallifrey Game Night" and a Prince/Bowie singalong following, but we had to head home to our puppy, and pretty much straight to bed one more time. I miss the "pet friendly" hotel.

Labels: conventions, Doctor Who, friends

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:58:00 PM

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Why, that's funny. If I look upwards, the sky is an odd color, like a pale bluebird. And there is a fiery round brand in the sky. What a strange sight. I don't think it's because we didn't sleep, because we slept late, after watching part of a Fallon rerun.

When we were finished with breakfast and Tucker had been walked, we loaded up the power chair and went off to the Buford Highway Farmers Market. We hadn't been in a while and there were several specific things we wanted to look for there. Unfortunately, we only found about half of them. They had no lamb steaks, just very thinly cut lamb for some type of holiday dish (I guess), and none of the Litehouse "Salad" greens blend we like to put on poultry and pork. We wandered the aisles and gathered other goodies: buckwheat noodles, potstickers, Ukrainian lamb dumplings, frisee, Ritter peppermint bars (we like them for desserts), dumpling sauce, French bread, lupini beans, etc. We double-bagged this in insulated bags and went off to have a little fun trolling the clearance tables at Barnes & Noble, both the one at Peachtree Corners and the one near Perimeter Mall. I found three gifts on the clearance table at Peachtree, a Cat-in-the-Hat ornament for the library tree, the Entertainment book at half price, a Jill Oxon's cross-stitch magazine that was really too expensive but it had a pattern for someone I wanted, and the December "The Simple Things." James got a weather calendar for his desk wall and a desk calendar of World War II facts. Perimeter was less fruitful, but I did find another gift, perfect for relating to a place where this person likes to go.

By then it was going on rush hour, so we headed home and had what was left of our Costco soup for supper (yes, we still had enough for another meal; it was a lot of soup!). James actually had to thin it out a little with some Trader Joe's chicken broth and vegetable stock, and it was still chock-full of chicken pieces, carrots, onions, and celery. We were wayyyyyyyyy behind on Doctor Who, so binge-watched "Face the Raven, Heaven Sent," and "Hell Bent." I still love Peter Capaldi, but, really, must we continue to have these long, lachrymose companion farewells? Can't they just quit traveling with the Doctor like the old companions used to and go back to their lives? Capaldi was brilliant in "Heaven Sent"—I didn't glance once at a clock, it mesmerized me so much—but I was amused at how much part of the premise matched a story on The Librarians a couple of weeks ago. Similarly, "Hell Bent" reminded me of the final episode of Quantum Leap.

More rain tomorrow...but this is bringing the cold back with it. Thank God. We have noticed several people commenting on Facebook, from all different places, that it just hasn't felt like Christmas. For my part I think it's all the morons running for office. They certainly have soured my holiday season. It should be illegal for candidates to start campaigning for office until the actual election year. (I'd say the Democratic and Republican conventions, but they still have to do that stupid New Hampshire thing...)

Labels: Doctor Who, politics, shopping, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:03:00 PM

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Wow, what a weekend!

It began inauspiciously on Friday, with James at the doctor and me at Kroger doing the weekly shopping. He was already home when I got back. The doctor says there was no use taking another X-ray because his lungs won't be well for ages yet. He needs to go back in a couple of weeks for it. So I made some sandwiches for lunch for Saturday and Sunday and pulled out snacks to put into our backpacks, let Tucker have his fill of the deck, talked to Snowy, and did some other chores. We left the house at three and still got caught in traffic heading down to "the House of Mouse" on I-75 south (but all the other routes were even longer; Fridays of a holiday are deadly anywhere). Happily, we got an excellent parking space, and ended up being first in line for check-in.

Had supper at the hotel restaurant. I wish it wasn't so expensive! But I have to admit the food is good. Had a steak dip sandwich and James had chicken and waffle (sounds odd but apparently is a traditional Marriott dish from their Hot Shoppe days). Saw Anne and Clay in the registration line and they came over and talked and had some key lime pie.

Then it was time for Opening Ceremonies, and we got our first look at Katy Manning. Katy played Jo Grant, companion to the Third Doctor, a pint-sized waif who made up with gumption what she didn't have otherwise. According to Katy's bio, she's 68. You couldn't tell it by the way she moves! She came flying in, all smiles, fun, and hugs and proceeded to enchant the entire audience. I couldn't wait for her panels!

My first panel was a retrospective of the first season of the new series of Doctor Who. I think we all had the same reaction: when we saw the opening scenes and heard the theme song, it was as if we had gone home. Oh, there were some oddities, like the farting Slitheen, but the consensus was that Christopher Eccleston nailed it, and some of his episodes, like "Dalek" and "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" are some of the best.

Next was "A Sense of Wonder," a panel asking if British writers did "a sense of wonder" in the science fiction field more than Americans, and which Americans still had "the touch" and did British writers are still continuing to have it. It was decided that there were not as many modern authors with the "sense of wonder," British or American. All I know is I am flat sick of dystopia!

Our final panel on Friday was a tribute to the 50th anniversary of Lost in Space, which did turn into complaints about "The Great Vegetable Rebellion," as all Lost in Space panels eventually do. But despite that coloring everyone's opinion, we have to admit there were some fine episodes from first season, including the pilot and first few episodes, and later in the season "The Keeper" and my personal favorite, "My Friend, Mr. Nobody," which was about Penny, and that after a rather uneven second season, more good episodes appeared in third season: "Antimatter Man," "Hunter's Moon" (a takeoff of The Most Dangerous Game), "Condemned in Space," and "The Haunted Lightship." We also talked briefly about Bill Mumy's graphic novel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Soul, which brought a conclusion to the story.

We headed home to walk Tucker, and I was chagrined to find that, although I had had success hitching the digital converter to the DVD recorder, I'd forgotten to shut off the recorder for timer recording, so I missed the next two episodes of Doctor Simon Locke after having no success at recording the first one in the spare room because the signal had become so pissy after three days of perfect signals.

The hotel does a killer breakfast buffet, but to save money we had breakfast from Chick-Fil-A on Saturday morning: nice wholemeal oatmeal and a fruit cup and some milk for me. We were at the hotel in plenty of time for our first panels, which for me was "Mr. Selfridge Calls the Midwife from Paradise," otherwise the British track panel for costume dramas. Some were recommended, like the original Upstairs, Downstairs, and the period murder mysteries count, too! However, my heart belongs forever to Flambards. ♥ ☺

And then it was time for Michele Gomez' first panel. This was quite a coup for Timegate, since Michele has never been to a convention anywhere before, and "Missy" (the newest incarnation of Doctor Who's "Moriarty" to the Doctor's Holmes) and she's just here for Saturday. She's Glaswegian by birth and apparently of Mexican heritage, and has a lovely rolling "R" Scots accent. However, she has lived in the United States for the past eight years, four in Los Angeles and now in Brooklyn. She was charming and friendly and occasionally devilish as she talked about being the newest incarnation of the Master and working with Peter Capaldi, sitting cross-legged on her chair for most of the questions. She also talked about wanting to play some of the classic roles, like Medea.

I took the opportunity after that panel to have a stroll around the Dealer's Room for a few minutes. Thought about buying a TARDIS key from the Pertwee era, but didn't. Did see a gentleman outside the Room with some Supermarionation videos and a book that looked a treat for James. He had a Parker (Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward's chauffeur) marionette on the table; I wondered if it was an original! Anyway, it was lovely; Parker was always my favorite Thunderbirds character. Then I ducked into the panel about the evolution of female characters in science fiction and fantasy. Apparently even some of the new superhero movies aren't doing justice to their female characters. Much chat about The Bechdel Test (applied against a movie, it must contain just one thing——a scene in which two or more named female characters have a conversation——that is, back and forth dialogue——about anything at all besides men) and the Smurfette Principle.

James was doing three panels at this convention, including one at Saturday at one o'clock, but I went to the Retro TV panel instead. This was all about Doctor Who, so I wasn't expecting any Police Surgeon chatter, but I wish I'd had the guts to ask! Apparently Who has helped Retro expand its stations, and it sounded as if they are planning to move it to ten o'clock. Well, rats...what will happen when Locke rolls around again?

And then it was time for Katy Manning. Once again she came bursting on stage full of energy. This woman is the most difficult person ever to photograph; she just moves every single minute! With a bright scarf, lots of jewelry, and perpetual motion, she's like some brilliant bird come down from the sky to make friends. She bounced from subject to subject at joyful will: how sad it was to leave the series but how it was the right time, taking "the pointing picture" with Peter Capaldi, who asked to see her when he found out she was filming on the very next set, her terrible short-sightedness, her philosophy on aging, which is basically to enjoy every day and stop looking back. Near the end of the Q&A, a little girl got up to ask a question, and Katy had her come close and share her mike and answer her question about if she liked working on Doctor Who. Gosh, I wish I could bleed off some of this wonderful woman's energy.

At three o'clock I went to a panel reviewing the latest season of Doctor Who. I think the consensus appears to be that "Flatline" was the best episode. I agree! it was the closest new Who to a classic episodes that I've seen in the past ten years. Also discussion pro- and anti-Clara (Lee Martindale was definitely on the anti- side) and whether the Brigadier "rising again" was a good tribute or a travesty.

I went back to Michele Gomez' second panel because—well, who knows if I'll ever see her again? Besides, she was just as enjoyable the second time around. Someone asked how she would decorate the inside of her TARDIS if she had a choice. She held up a fancy leather purse and purred "Prada!" She also told the story of how she took her nearly six-year-old son on the Doctor Who set with her. She was afraid he'd be a bother, but she discovered the makeup artists covering him in tiger stripes and his only comment about her filming was "Mummy, there was a really big BANG!" Someone also asked her to deliver a Roger Delgado (the original Master) line, which she did with fine ruefulness.

At five I met James at the restaurant. I remembered having the chicken soup at Anachrocon, and when that was still the Saturday soup, we both got that, and an order of potstickers. It's a wonderful soup, thick with spaetzle-like noodles, carrots, celery, and onions. Much yum. And then, because Alan had talked about it so much at opening ceremonies, we shared the secret desert, fried pound cake. It comes with strawberry compote, real strawberries, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I had to admit, with the strawberries it was good (James can keep the vanilla ice cream; I despise vanilla), but I would have been just as happy with the nice light pound cake with the strawberries, and you can leave off the batter.

So it was back to the panel whirl for Saturday night. I attended the Sherlock panel with Louis Robinson, Kim Holec, Kathryn Sullivan, and a lady whose name I have completely forgotten. Well, it was tagged as a Sherlock panel, and we did discuss the BBC show, but we also talked about Jeremy Brett, and Benedict Cumberbatch's other projects, and why no one ever talks about Elementary, and the gentleman who was at 221B dressed as Jeremy Brett, and all sorts of other Holmes-related matters.

I had to go to the Good Reads panel: Alice, her daughter Aubrey, and Sue were all on it. So we talked about...what else? Good books to read, and how to find them (like Book Bub) and if bookstores are dying (not yet, but...they're running scared if all those Barnes & Noble coupons are any indication), and the one question we really couldn't answer: how do we turn children on to reading something besides their hated textbooks? (Oh, Aubrey, who's in college, had a surprising revelation: the classmates she knows do not read e-books. School textbooks as e-books, yes, but real books, ones to read for pleasure? They want them in traditional format. I wonder if the booksellers know that!)

Following this panel, it was time for the cabaret. Okay, I have to admit, I was a tiny bit disappointed by the cabaret this year because it didn't have the variety of performers that they usually have. Oh, it was good, but I missed Louis doing a piece and Professor Satyre. The show was opened by "Lt. Moxie Ann Magnus, chief cosmetologist on the USS Enterprise under James T. Kirk," a fixture at Timegate. In her tall blonde beehive hairdo and her tall, tall high heels, dressed in brilliant blue, Moxie had had an aborted visit to the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones and arrived on stage with her toaster gift, which she planned to recycle. She then introduced Courtland Lewis, who wrote Doctor Who and Philosophy, who did two rock Doctor Who-themed songs. Next, Moxie interviewed Katy Manning, who had a hilarious time on stage telling an it's-funny-now story about her nearsightedness, which involved lip gloss, no mirrors in a bathroom, a perplexed woman coming face-to-face with Katy while trying to eat her dinner, and finally a prawn up Katy's nose. Finally, Moxie had Jevocas Green, who plays "the Forgotten Doctor" in a series of online videos, play her straight man (he said with a serious face, "well, that will be a first," bringing down the house) for a vaudeville act involving every single science pun known to man (or woman, for that part). A raffle finished out the festivities, and, although Gallifrey Game Night sounded like fun, letting Tucker out of durance vile and giving him a walk sounded more humane. So endeth our Saturday night.

Sunday morning was hard. I did have a moment walking Tucker; we were passing Dave and Linda's grey-and-white house (with some black highlights) when I heard a "chip-chip-chip" and looked up. There, against the relative monochrome of the grey/white/black and flat pale blue of a summer sky, was a cardinal, flame red as he perched above. Lovely!

We ate at the restaurant this morning and my wallet merely screamed. Anne and Clay had breakfast with us, and I have to admit there's a good choice and there's even a omelet station. But the Marriott at Perimeter has just as good a breakfast without the omelet station and it's only $9 at 221B Con. Wishing for better prices...

First panel for Sunday was "Books We Would Like to See As Films." I'm starting to be cynical about this subject. Oh, every once in a while you get a film like To Kill a Mockingbird, and Gone With the Wind came out well, too, but mainly you get crap like the adaptation of A Ring of Endless Light. There are more bad movies made out of good books than good movies made from the same. But several books were mentioned as possibilities for either movies or television miniseries. Aubrey made a point for Cinder, a new book with a female cyborg protagonist. Some others mentioned were the Belgariad, the Retief books by Keith Laumer, Bester's The Stars My Destination, and the Harper Hall books. (The Dragonrider books were mentioned, but as Anne commented, the dragons would just be burning each other.) I'd like to see a nice retro version of Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, myself, but with my luck they'd give Kip a six-pack and a love interest. Yeeech.

Next it was take two for Katy Manning, and she was no less "up" than yesterday. Today she regaled us with stories of knowing Liza Minelli...except she had no idea who Judy Garland was. To her Liza was just her good friend and Judy was just Liza's nice mummy. She told a funny story of riding in the back seat of Judy and husband Sid Luft's car with Liza at fourteen and they were just giggling like mad and he asked crankily, "Why are they giggling?" and Judy snapped back, "Because they're 14 years old!" Years later, she was going somewhere with Liza, but this time they were traveling in a limo. Katy was wearing a skirt with an elastic waistband, and it got caught in the car seat as she slid to get out of the limo seat. So finally she ended up tripping into the street because the elastic let go and she and Liza sat there giggling madly and Liza said, "I can hear Momma now—"why are they laughing?" "because they're 45 years old!"

I went to the British history panel next. It was a little disorganized, but then it's a big subject! Maybe we should have discussed periods of history as they related to Doctor Who (although we did mention Blackadder Goes Forth and how it looked like it was making fun of the tragedy of World War I—until the last few minutes of the final episode). We chatted about Richard III, bad press, Shakespeare's play, and Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time, plus car parks of course, Henry VIII, the Reformation, the everlasting rivalry between England and France, Scottish independence, and even a slight trip back in time to the Celts.

Then there was a small but interested crowd at a tribute to Leonard Nimoy. Eric Watts had a very funny story about his inner reaction (all fanboy) vs. his outer reaction (calmly shaking hands) to meeting and introducing Leonard Nimoy to the audience some years ago at DragonCon. We also looked at a couple of clips from The Wrath of Khan.

It was back to Katy Manning one last time, and I was sitting with Caran Wilbanks again as I had during her earlier panel. This was Katy, Alan Siler, and Louis Robinson, who had done part of the film editing for the story, talking about the serial "The Daemons," which was infamous in Britain for talking about Satanism, and even worse Satanism happening in an Anglican parish, and a scene where the church is blown up—it was so real looking that some people protested them blowing up an actual church! They only showed the last part, which features the Brigadier uttering his most famous line, directing a rifleman toward a living gargoyle: "Chap with wings: five rounds rapid!" and Jo Grant defeating the Pan-like alien of the piece by offering to sacrifice her life for the Doctor's. Louis made everyone laugh when he told the story about the BBC calling him, saying they needed additional editors for that episode: would he like to do it? Oh, throw me in that briar patch, B'rer Fox!

Thought I'd bump into James at the history of geeks in pop culture panel, but sat with Matt and Kelley instead. Lots of dislike for Big Bang Theory here; we didn't like it at first, either, and, like Dawn commented, it's a sitcom: blondes are dumb, men are man-boys or stupid fathers, kids crack wise. And sorry to say, although I didn't say it in the panel, I have seen or read about a lot of fans who are like the guys on Big Bang. One panelist commented that her sister didn't want to be seen in public with her if she had fannish things on! What a sad, sad person.

And then it was time for the final panel, the future of science fiction in America. Thank you, so much—more people who are flat-out tired of dystopia. Let's get out of this rut and see more space opera and readable space epics.

That's it then, everything over but the shouting...and that was done at the Wrap-Up Panel, where kudos were passed around, thanks were given, and all were appreciated. People were quite complimentary about the restaurant, especially the servers. I guess next year we will have to conserve our pennies and just grin and bear it (but Saturday breakfast from Chick-Fil-A worked out just fine). We never did check out the con suite, either.

As we were walking out toward the car, I saw Lee Martindale sitting outside having a smoke. She has to use a power chair, and I wondered if she might give us some tips on air travel. I didn't even know how they did it. Did they seat you in your chair? Does it go as baggage? (Yes, to the latter.) She was quite nice and said if we were ever seriously considering a trip to e-mail her and she would send a checklist to help us. So maybe we can fly some time in the future after all.

Well, we were exhausted by the time we got home. I took Tucker for a walk and then barely had the energy to open up a can of soup. Bed felt very good tonight!

Labels: conventions, Doctor Who, fandom, food, friends, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:56:00 PM

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When a few moist prickles struck my face as I walked Tucker, I remembered the forecast for "showers." However, as we prepared to leave the house, the "showers" were more a steady rain. Not having a fitted cover for the power chair yet, and not being sure if the tarp we had would do the trick, we made the decision to take the Rollator instead of the chair. Today would be a light day—we have yet to figure out why so few panels were scheduled on Sunday; last year they went until three o'clock, but today the final panel ends at one p.m.—so there wouldn't be excessive movement for James.

It was a wet, chilly ride to Century Center and a relief to finally get inside and have a hot breakfast. I had oatmeal this morning along with the usual toast and fruit and cereal and pancakes (they were out of bacon), and tucked yet another bagel away for later before going to a panel devoted to The Addams Family and The Munsters. It was surprisingly full for a ten o'clock panel, and more than half of the crowd had not seen the series when it was first run. One of the nicest memories came from a panelist who used to watch The Addams Family reruns with his grandmother, who also had a complete collection of Charles Addams cartoons. She used to tell him which sequences in the series was inspired by which cartoon, and in this way he bonded with his grandmother.

I confess a preference for the Addamses. The Munster stories were more slapstick and I've never been fond of slapstick. And even at eight I love the relationship between Morticia and Gomez: delightfully daffy and so potty over each other. (Plus of course Uncle Fester and his lightbulb, and my favorite: Thing.)

The next panel was part of the history track: "What If?" with a Revolutionary War emphasis. What would have happened if Washington had not been able to evacuate at Long Island? or if Aaron Burr had won the election (decided by one vote) instead of Thomas Jefferson (Burr apparently wanted to march on and conquer Mexico)? if George Washington had been cashiered out of the army after his debacle during the French and Indian War? The panelists included the man who roleplays Thomas Jefferson (he did a play off Broadway) and another gentleman who roleplays the older Benjamin Franklin. And we did wander afield of the Revolution—if the colonies had not broken away from the British, would things have changed enough not to have either of the World Wars? or would adding what became the United States to the British empire have ended the first World War (had it happened)  earlier? (I never did get to add my question: if we hadn't broken with Britain, would westward expansion have happened? Or would the west have stayed Spanish and the Louisiana Purchase stayed with France?) The hour whizzed by! I love a good history chat!

I stayed in the room for "Civics 103—The Supremes' Greatest Hits...and Misses," given by "Mr. Jefferson." This was a quiz about the Supreme Court and afterward we discussed the answers and prizes were given. There were only four people in the room, so it made it cozy for friendly discussion. I have to admit my Supreme Court knowledge is not sterling, but I did manage to get the most points: some things I remembered, some things I could work out from the questions (multiple choice), and some things I did guess at. (By the way, most of my answers came via Alistair Cooke's America, so thank you, Mr. Cooke for keeping me educated!) The two prizes were the off-Broadway script, Twilight at Monticello, and his other presentation at the convention this year (done by someone else last year), My Master, My Slave, My Friend, which was about Jefferson's relationship with his personal slave. It was an excellent story and I would have gladly taken both, but I hadn't read or saw performed Twilight, and I did see the other last year, and the young man who got second place wanted Master, so it worked out.

Now that all the panels were over, I did a last turn around the dealer's room and bought some bumper stickers, a grammar one for me, a "Police Public Call Box" for Twilight since we've always said the car is a TARDIS since our 2005 trip to Rhode Island, a funny one for James from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and another as a gift. I was reluctant to leave, and checked out more costumes walking back down the long corridor that the meeting rooms lined to meet James. He'd already bought our memberships for next year (the theme is "the Weird Wild West" and I'm going to lobby for an Artemus Gordon panel!) and we were debating on what to do when we went to say hi to Bill and Caran and ended up sitting down with them and Teri Sears and talking for nearly two straight hours about all sorts of things: our pets, financing homes, the old days at Terminus TARDIS meetings, etc. A friend of Caran's came up with a Downton Abbey-type outfit that she had made from thrift store and Ross purchases, the Rays strolled by, we said hi to a few others, and Ken Spivey and some friends came out to another lobby seat and started playing a combination of Doctor Who music and Celtic ballads. We finally left a bit after three.

Well, we were going to go by Kroger and grab another gallon of milk, some baby aspirin for James, the Sunday paper, and a couple of other things while I retrieved my prescriptions that I put in on Friday, but the place looked like it did last Wednesday before the snowfall forecast that turned out to be a big bust. It was as if they were giving away prizes! We just picked up the scrips and went to Publix instead, where James got some soup for supper.

I'd left Doctor Who running for Snowy and we arrived home to find out "Blink" started in fifteen minutes, so I gave Tucker a quick walk, changed clothes, and then enjoyed this episode all over again. What a great story! I loved the convoluted storytelling, and of course this is where the "wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey" catchphrase came from. This was followed by "Silence in the Library" and its sequel (the first River Song story), to which we ate supper, and then for the rest of the night we watched season 6 of Murdoch Mysteries from Netflix (we don't have to worry about them not having season 7; I've already recorded that off the Ovation channel). And now the weekend's over, and it's time for bed and work tomorrow.

You know, I always get the feeling when I leave a convention that it's reality I'm leaving behind. It's going to work that's the fiction...

Labels: conventions, Doctor Who, food, friends, history, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:57:00 PM

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It had stopped snowing by the time we went to bed last night (about one o'clock), but big fluffy flakes were coming down this morning when we got up around nine. They weren't really sticking all that much, but were a constant delight when I took Tucker outside, because they were all almost textbook snowflakes, with beautiful six sides in different patterns, sometimes clumped together in a clot of six or seven, all perfectly formed. Walked Tucker up the road and back, frequently resorting to sticking my nose in my pashmina just to get it warm, and then we went to breakfast at Trish's. There were more people there this morning than last, and I was amused when one guy, yakking on his cell phone, mentioned he would be, that day, up "on the mountain cutting wood." I thought I was watching The Waltons.

The snow was light enough to just be a frosting on the grass and look pretty, and the road was well-traveled and quite clear, but it was so cold and the East Parkway is so curvy at points that we decided to stay in today in case there was ice between us and Gatlinburg; we even had lunch planned just in case.

I don't know how people go on vacation and loll around lying on a beach or getting massages at a resort all day. Doing nothing is about as interesting as doing makework at work. I pretty much read magazines all day, plus about half of Inside the TARDIS, and we listened to Christmas music until even I got bored and put on the radio drama "Paul Temple and the Spencer Mystery." Later we just put on Mike Holmes for the rest of the night.

I did take Tucker out about 1:30 and that was fun: we walked all the way up the gravel road and then crossed to the paved road that runs in the back of the cabins. This leads to some small houses on the east side and the businesses on the west side of the creek (behind our cabin is Jack's Market, a small grocery). I took photos of Tucker in the snow, the creek, and finally a picture of the sky, which was now clear (by that time, even though it was still only 22 degrees with the wind chill bringing it down to 10, the snow was melting, especially on the car) and bright blue.

I took the container of potato soup we bought at Kroger, split it in half, added some milk and bacon bits, and we had that for lunch along with toast. For supper we had Hormel beef tips over egg noodles and a chocolate chocolate-chip and walnut cookie each for dessert.

That's it. Like "Sounds of the Season," a Christmas music channel I've heard about for years that only runs on cable. It plays a lot of songs I haven't heard in years, like "Donde Este Santa Claus," and blows all of SiriusXM's Christmas playlists out of the water.

Labels: books, Christmas, Doctor Who, food, magazines, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:29:00 PM

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So we slept the night away to the beating of rain on the roof, listening to it patter through unavoidable delay and turning over in bed. It was still gloomy and raining when we got up at 9:30, and colder than a witch's you-know-what when I took Tucker for his morning airing.

This morning we had breakfast at Trish's Place. The crowd was sparse, and we talked to Trish herself, an older lady who told us the restaurant is moving in February, a little closer to town, where she can run the place as she did here in Cosby, but get a salary. She'll also be doing catering for a Christian conference center. She sounds pleased with it. Good to know all this good food won't be going away. Anyway, I had a hugh bowl of oatmeal, toast, bacon, and baked apple with milk.

Since it was supposed to get colder as the day went on, we did some things with our eyes on the thermometer built into my car dashboard. To start out, we drove to Sevierville via our favorite back road so that we could go to the Tanger Outlet. I needed some things from the Hanes store, and also got a couple pair of fuzzy socks to wear when I telework (can't wear slippers; it makes sparks--I've killed at least one computer mouse and don't want to kill the computer proper). Checked at the Reebok store, but they didn't have classic black in my size; alas, will have to buy online. Also stopped at the Yankee Candle outlet and got more cafe au lait and christmas wreath tea candles. Picked up some cookies for dessert at the cookie store, and looked around the Disney Store.

Nipped over to Books-a-Million to have a hot cocoa and check out the magazines. Found a lovely "Crazy" (British cross-stitch magazine) with cute Christmas designs. I also found a new Doctor Who book, Inside the TARDIS: The Worlds of Doctor Who and Rudolph!, a very strange looking fantasy that starts out with Santa hacking into the Vatican's website. And, because James simply left me alone too long, I got the two Melody Carlson Christmas compilations that were on remainder.

Now we headed back to the cabin via "Glitter Gulch." Did find a parking space at The Incredible Christmas Place, but James stayed in the car, so I just did a half-hour of Christmas immersion. They had a live singer and there was the coolest Christmas tree with fiber optics making it turn into a rainbow. I wanted to see the new Department 56 Downtown Abbey building. It is huge; you would have to have a big table to put it on. It comes with a stone wall and gate with a Maggie Smith figure out front. There is also a gazebo with two figures.

I bought two car magnets and a gift for Nicki; they had the handsomest cashmere scarves and I bought a plaid one for James because his other wool scarf died an ignominous death in the dryer.

Stopped briefly at Dixie Darling, the cross-stitch store (too many beading kits!), and at Cracker Barrel to see the Christmas things, but only bought two adorable Pilgrim sparrows, and James bought me a light-up maple tree for my birthday which will go perfectly with the light-up turkey we bought there in 2009.

As we drove, the temps were still dropping; it was about 35 as we headed up the East Parkway and little ice pellets started appearing. We made one last stop, at a combo convenience store/deli to get a cigarette lighter so I could burn a candle tonight, and James found a lined hat.

By the time we pulled into the cabin five minutes later, the pellets were snowflakes.

James warmed up the soup while I took Tucker for his walk. It was that silent it gets before it snows, one where there's almost a faint ringing in the air, and we walked up the gravel road to the last cabin. I had barely registered that there was a road behind the cabins when in the failing light I saw a big canine shape, pricked ears, greyish, long-legged. It was standing staring at us, but, unlike a dog, it did not bark. In my dark blue hooded jacket, I wheeled Tucker around and booked it out of there just as animal began to lope. I suppose it could have been a dog, but it didn't lope like one, either.

Well, that was exciting.

Had hot chicken soup with oyster crackers for supper with a chocolate cookie dessert. We watched the news and the usual games (Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy) and an hour of TVLand before switching to tonight's Sleepy Hollow (looks like Tom Mison took the episode off) and finally Castle and Beckett "honeymooning" at a Western reinactment town. A bit lightweight, next week looks better.

Of course just as The Tonight Show was starting, Tucker needed to go out (yes, we were back in time to see Benedict Cumberbatch!). The car was covered with a light blanket of snow, and Tucker trotted through the white stuff preoccupied with the cabin lights in the distance. Or maybe he just still smells the coyote (wolf?) that we saw. Because of the snow, I didn't need a flashlight at all as I did last night: the snow on the ground glowed, as did the white-grey sky, and I could see the driveway and the trees and everything very clearly. We even went out to the gravel road and it was all distinct.

After I finished with Tucker, I just tossed my pash back on, went out, started the car. My dad used to do this with his cars on very cold nights, start them up again before bed. I cleared the glass on the car, but left a "blanket" on the hood to keep the engine a bit warmer. The windows are already frozen shut.

Well, we have food in the cabin; if we need to stay in tomorrow, so be it.

Labels: Doctor Who, dogs, events, food, shopping, snow, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:57:00 PM

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...when you're at work?

Slept fifteen minutes through the alarm on Friday, then didn't stop going all day. I had to stay home anyway because TruGreen was supposed to be here today, and they never give you a specific time. So there was a dog walk, and breakfast, and I spent the rest of the day doing a bit of dusting, putting up the Thanksgiving decorations, clearing off the dining room table, tidying, sweeping the stairs and the foyer and the downstairs hall, and writing out Thanksgiving cards (I tried to mail them, too, but for once the mailman came early). I finished reading Carola Dunn's The Bloody Tower, had another walk with Tucker, and was happy that James came home early (he worked overtime earlier in the week).

Oh, and TruGreen never showed up. Thanks a lot for nothing, guys.

We mounted James' new purchase, the strap-on bike rack, on the back of my car with a minimum of cussing (mostly me because the sun was, as always, in my eyes) before going out to dinner. It worked really well with the Rollator, although we will have to use independent straps instead of the built-in ones because they are built to fit a bike, not a walker. We decided to have supper at the West Cobb Diner and grinned when we realized the Spiveys were just arriving ahead of us. We all had dinner together along with Ken's mom and Mrs. Medina (the mother of Jesse who is married to Ken's sister Deb). Following that we went to Barnes & Noble with our coupons. James got the new 1632 book and I bought Dallas 1963.

Since I was imprisoned by TruGreen on my day off, I decided to go out a little when James worked yesterday. I went to the Farmer's Market to get James some chicken salad and Tucker some dog biscuits. I didn't even bother trying to park out front on Cobb Parkway; just left the car in the public lot behind Johnnie McCracken's Irish pub. This was actually a good thing because they had the market in front of the old courthouse again this week and it was a shorter walk. I scored the dog biscuits (they have corporate sponsorship now: new bags and correspondingly higher prices) and two bacon, cheddar and chive scones for dinner tonight, but the place that makes the chicken salad lost their lease and they have to find somewhere else that has a USDA-approved kitchen before they can make it again. :-(

I mailed the Thanksgiving cards, then drove to the antique mall that's on Cobb Parkway, across the street from the Big Chicken. I love to go to antique stores before Christmas, when they scatter garlands and ornaments and old decorations among the booths to give it a festive look. There was a big lighted tree at the entranceway, and they were collecting toys for Egleston Children's Hospital. I hadn't had breakfast except for a couple of samples at the Farmer's Market, so was happy to nab a couple of free ginger cookies while I walked through the aisles of different booths. Found several dealers who had some Happy Hollister books, but didn't buy them, and enjoyed all the vintage goodies, including a tall Edison phonograph with two levels of storage for records below, an old Underwood and 1940s Smith Corona typewriters as well as an IBM Selectric II (yeah, sad: Selectrics are now antiques), 1950s metal kitchen tables with formica tops, old plows, seeders, a nice Hoosier cabinet despite the warped bottom door, old electric organs, vintage furniture, and even an old Bakelite Viewmaster like I had as a kid, plus lots and lots of china tchotchkes.

I was pretty peckish by the time I left, but I really didn't want to eat lunch out. What I did want to do was find something for supper tonight. I thought some of Publix's chicken and wild rice soup would go great with it. Yep, of course they didn't have any. At the first one I got some French bread for my sandwiches this week, paper towels, and donated $10 worth of food to the can bank and got another reusable shopping bag with the Pilgrims on it. I took the food home and then went to Costco, where I noshed on some samples, bought milk, a copy of Planes: Fire and Rescue for James, some crackers and some lobster spread, and what I really, really needed: omeprazole. With the milk in the back I now had to work fast, so I was happy to see there were not long lines at the gas station, where it was $2.75. Of course by the time I made my way around to the line, eight other cars had gotten in ahead of me. Thank goodness it didn't take so long.

The second Publix just had chicken noodle soup, and I gave up and bought it, then came home, put everything up, and watched Love Actually, which I'd heard a lot about. I could have lived without Kris Marshall's storyline of the young guy who just wanted to get laid, but was totally charmed by both Colin Firth's and Liam Neeson's storylines, and got a good giggle out of Martin Freeman's part of the story.

I was supposed to be warming up supper when Tucker abruptly decided he needed to go out, but supper was done pretty quickly by the time James got in. I had more noodles, chicken, and veggies than soup, so I thinned it with vegetable broth, added a little white wine and ginger, and warmed it up slowly. With the scones on the side, it was a nice treat. James needed it because they ran the air conditioning so high all day he was freezing.

And then it was time for the season finale of Doctor Who. I'm still waiting for a dangerous version of the Master rather than the full-crazy version they have had lately, and I wish they hadn't killed off Osgood, but...Kate! Danny! And that coda with the Brigadier! I'm still not satisfied with the stories they are giving him—my favorite this season was "Flatline" because I've been watching the old series on RetroTV and this was the closest I've seen to a classic episode in ages—but I absolutely love Peter Capaldi in the role and I wish they'd give him more to do; why is the companion always the salvation lately? I liked Matt Smith but his Doctor was getting too wired and the stories were like puzzle pieces. Can't we just have a simple straightforward adventure any longer?

Slept in this morning, and then it was rush, rush, rush all afternoon. First was the weekly run to Kroger. I needed yogurt. We ended up with a scooter cart basket full of all sorts of things, including sale meat, burritos, and popcorn. James forgot and left the newspaper on the "trunk" in the bed of the truck and we almost got it home, but it fell in the street when we turned onto Gray Road. Luckily it didn't scatter much and I was able to collect it. With the groceries put up, we went out to celebrate our anniversary one day early by having dinner at Longhorn. We shared a plate of ribs and had the shrimp and lobster dip appetizer. Between those two things, we were too full for dessert. James bought me a pretty sweatshirt at the Apple Festival and has something on order for me, but I was able to give him his gifts: the Planes DVD, of course; a gift for us both, all 44 of the Dave Allen shows that were broadcast here in the United States; and something he's been looking for for years, a copy of the series Our World with Linda Ellerbee and Ray Gandolf.

From there we went to Hallmark to use some coupons. Got a couple of ornaments and two additional Thanksgiving cards. We also stopped at Petsmart to get a few things for Tucker. Couldn't find what I needed to get for Snowy, though. Best part of this trip was the nice ride through Lower Roswell Road out to Merchant's Walk.

With only a little daylight left, we decided to take Tucker and Snowy out to the other Petsmart at the East-West Connector. I'm still getting Snowy used to the carry box and he is wide-eyed and a little nervous, but he did burble to his mirror quite a lot. Petsmart flat awed him: all the colors and the sounds. The one thing he didn't do was chirp back to the budgies! Maybe he thought they were television.

I was so filled up from lunch I didn't eat until eight, and then only a bowl of cereal. We watched Friday's Hawaii Five-0 (look, how many times are we going to see one of the team be tortured? it's really gross) and yesterday's This Old House, and the tribute to Robin Williams that PBS ran last night, and then missed the first seven minutes of Alaska: The Last Frontier because, while the DVD had it programmed into the schedule last night, it was completely gone from the programming today. Got to call Dish; half our music channels haven't worked since last Christmas, and last Saturday the signal dropped out on Doctor Who in the middle of recording. Both the DVR and the dish itself are slowly dying.

Oh, and we are dropping James' SiriusXM subscription. He hardly listens to it anymore, and when he does, it's always the same few songs. Tired to death of "Me and Bobby McGee."

Labels: birds, books, Christmas, Doctor Who, dogs, DVDs, electronics, friends, nostalgia, pets, radio, shopping, television, Thanksgiving

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:45:00 PM

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