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"It is the very error of the moon." |
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Producing
this issue of the newsletter has been made easier by
having TAFF delegate Sue Mason on hand. As soon as we
come up with an interesting idea, Sue dashes off an
appropriate fillo for us. Of course, she is a bit
expensive to run, requiring a diet of Cuban rum and
chocolate cookies. Fortunately, we have a goodly supply
to hand of both of these staples.
A Heartfelt Plea from the Chair As you know from issue 7, our beloved chair, Tom Veal, is upset that you guys aren’t complaining enough. Only one person turned up to Friday’s gripe session. Where’s the feuding spirit that made Fandom great (or at least, all-pervasive)? Let’s see some really creative gripes at the remaining sessions. Now, personally, I’m inconsolably grief-stricken at the total absence of personalized near-naked hand-maidens to minister to my every whim. Under normal circumstances, I’d bear this intolerable slight gracefully and just bitch about the committee’s incompetence at room parties However, now I know it’s acceptable to complain, I’ll be right down there demanding something be done (preferably by someone else). Incidentally, if anyone has any complaints about the newsletter, nobody is stopping you from printing your own damn newsletter. See the other side for hints how to get your story printed. It can hardly have escaped your noticed that the Hyatt has some very strange and restrictive rules. Their marshalling of the nightly elevator queues, their refusal to allow more than 83 people in the Newsroom at any time, their completely unwarranted and discriminatory restrictions on keeping farm animals in hotel bedrooms... Anyway, they don’t let you have any heating devices, which makes it a bit difficult to produce innovative party catering. Where are the fondues of yesteryear? The tea parties? The vats of chili? On the other hand, every room is supplied with a hotel-approved heating device in the form of an iron. Surely it’s not beyond the ingenuity of fandom to devise a cuisine that can be easily prepared using only a domestic iron? Incidentally, if the hotel makes a fuss, it wasn’t us, we don’t even like ketchup and we don’t know where the hell the cow came from in the first place.
Overheard: "My wife has major lust bunnies for David Brin..." Fay Curr’s Urban Kitchen is nearby on the concourse (going east) and was rumoured to be "slow but good" by fans leaving the place, but two hungry late risers (well, 10am) gave up after waiting some time without getting any attention from the staff. Alas, nearby Christie’s, that had proved good the day before, only opened again at 11:30... Note that Christie’s also provides quick service (especially for small groups) and good quality for dinner without frills. Jan van’t Ent "You need a timesheet for restaurant visits – with recommendations to reserve five days ahead or more." On those occasions when I’ve got into the Urban Kitchen, it’s been very good (though one member of our party was brought a diet coke instead of leaded – causing a bit of annoyance) however they do seem to be terribly over-stressed with the number of people trying to eat there at the moment. Also stressed at the moment is Houlihans down the other end of the passageways. I’ve eaten breakfast there twice now, and both times the cash register crashed leaving a long line of people trying to pay for their under-cooked pancakes. As a Brit who only comes to the States every other year or so, I keep having these weird moments of cultural dissonance. Okay, I can cope with the traffic driving on the right and the lemming-like behaviour of the pedestrians. I even managed, after they brought me a strange fluorescent orange gelatinous substance on my salad in place of the vinaigrette I was expecting, to mumble "oh yes, French dressing, I remember now, how could I ever forget?" Of course there’s all the usual things like the money, actually getting decent sized portions of food in the restaurants and wait staff who are friendly instead of throwing your meal at you. However, what really threw me was going into a record shop and finding that my usual Celtic Folk-Rock listening fodder was filed under International instead of Folk. Yup, it really is a different country We’ve seen Bucconeer raffling, and weren’t that surprised when almost everybody left after one such session. Then Toronto’s suite seemed suddenly rather empty, not long after we arrived... curious. Alright, on to Boston then, but even there, after buying the usual, people started to disappear while we were amiably chatting. Surely that couldn’t have been us? Finally Charlotte – we even warned them, and left maybe a little earlier, only to find them closing down while we were wandering down the corridor. Wonder whether they’d like us to come back (and whether Elisa may have learned not to be too trusty of strangers offering a sip)? Jan
van’t Ent Meanwhile, in the Real World Residents of the Sicilian capital, Palermo, say mice, which leap from rooftop to rooftop in the run-down city centre, have grown too fat to jump and are plummeting into the streets, often hitting passers-by below. Pictures of the area, where a United Nations conference on crime is due to start soon, showed horrified citizens looking in disbelief at streets littered with dead rodents. Angry residents erected barricades Wednesday night to protest city officials’ failure to tackle the problem, disrupting traffic for several hours, the news agency ANSA reported. The barricades were later taken down. (Chicago Tribune)
The Hugo ceremony itself is going to be full. Very full. Rush hour on the subway full. Why not watch it in on TV in the comfort of your own hotel room? That’s Ch.4 (Hyatt), Ch.12 (Fairmont) or Ch.26 (Swissotel). Tune in from 8pm (and at 8:30pm on Sunday for the Masquerade). If you really really have to come and see the Hugos in person, then you should turn up about 45 minutes before and expect to stand in line for quite a bit. If you have special needs, turn up an hour before (that’s 7pm Sat for the Hugos and 7:30pm Sun for the Masquerade). Remember, there isn’t going to be enough room for everybody. Some people will get turned away. Either get there early or stay at home and watch it on TV. We’d rather you watched in comfort. Awards, Get Them While They’re Hot Among the innumerable awards handed out at Chicon has been this year’s Prometheus Award for Libertarian fiction, which goes to Vernor Vinge for A Deepness In The Sky. Vernor wins the chance to be exposed naked on a mountaintop, having his liver eaten. Chianti and fava beans will be provided for anyone who wants to participate. How (not) to get in the newsletter 1. Push a hand-written note under the door of the newsroom. Ensure that every word is unreadable except for the word URGENT!!! 2. Give us a very long list of stuff (for instance, say, trivia questions) with a note insisting that we run it in every issue. 3. Come and demand we run the whole of a long, complicated and entirely unreadable schedule for a program track that hardly anybody is interested in. 4. Give us a scrawled note with a joke that’s very amusing to three people and is completely incomprehensible to the other 4997 fans reading the newsletter. The only ones who are allowed to be cryptic and un-funny are the newsletter staff, and we’re in a privileged position because we control the means of production. But seriously, we get an awful lot of material here in the newsletter. We type in about 10 pages of material for each issue and we’ve only got 2 pages to squeeze it into. If we don’t understand it, or if it’s badly written or if it’s missing essential information, it’s just going to end up being pushed to the bottom of the stack when we start doing layout. If it’s interesting, amusing or has a suitable bribe attached (rum’s good, chocolate chip cookies are better), we’ll probably run the story. However, when it comes down to it, we only have a limited amount of time, paper and people. We’re going to use those in the most efficient way we can. Party quote:
Instant Massage Tired? Aching feet? Get a free massage in the Wrigley Room (Concourse Level, West Tower). You have to make an appointment and you have to have washed beforehand. The masseurs are from the Chicago School of Massage and are available Sat (10-2), Sun (2-6) and Mon (10-3). |
This is the web version of the daily newsletter of the Chicago World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon). Editor : Chaz Boston Baden Other Editors: Colleen Crosby, Shawn Crosby, Steve Davies Editor-in-training Michael Nelson