Friday Night Videos

Shawn Colvin's been knocking around Austin for years, and is a talented singer-songwriter. It's a little bittersweet that her breathrough hit, "Sunny Came Home," was also pretty much her only national success on a commercial scale, although she continues to garner critical acclaim and does quite well for herself with live shows. If you haven't checked out her music before, you might want to give her a listen.



Previously on Friday Night Videos... Autograph.

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Chicken Ranch Central

SFWA announces 2010 Nebula Awards final ballot

CHESTERTOWN, Md. -- Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Inc., has announced the final Nebula Awards® ballot for 2011.

The Nebula Awards are voted on, and presented by, active members of SFWA. The awards will be announced at the Nebula Awards Banquet the evening of May 21 at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. Other awards to be presented are the Andre Norton Award for Excellence in Science Fiction or Fantasy for Young Adults, the Bradbury Award for excellence in screenwriting and the Solstice Award for outstanding contribution to the field.

Short Story
“Arvies,” Adam-Troy Castro (Lightspeed Magazine, Aug. 2010)
“How Interesting: A Tiny Man,” Harlan Ellison (Realms of Fantasy, Feb. 2010)
“Ponies,” Kij Johnson (Tor.com, Jan. 17, 2010)
“I’m Alive, I Love You, I’ll See You in Reno,” Vylar Kaftan (Lightspeed Magazine, June 2010)
“The Green Book,” Amal El-Mohtar (Apex Magazine, Nov. 1, 2010)
“Ghosts of New York,” Jennifer Pelland (Dark Faith, Dec. 2010)
“Conditional Love,” Felicity Shoulders (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Jan. 2010)

Novelette
“Map of Seventeen,” Christopher Barzak (The Beastly Bride, April 2010)
“The Jaguar House, in Shadow,” Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, July 2010)
“The Fortuitous Meeting of Gerard van Oost and Oludara,” Christopher Kastensmidt
(Realms of Fantasy, April 2010)
“Plus or Minus,” James Patrick Kelly (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Dec. 2010)
“Pishaach,” Shweta Narayan (The Beastly Bride, April 2010)
“That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made,” Eric James Stone (Analog Science Fiction
and Fact, Sept. 2010)
“Stone Wall Truth,” Caroline M. Yoachim (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Feb. 2010)

Novella
The Alchemist, Paolo Bacigalupi (Audible; Subterranean, July 2010)
“Iron Shoes,” J. Kathleen Cheney (Alembical 2, June 2010)
The Lifecycle of Software Objects, Ted Chiang (Subterranean, Fall 2010)
“The Sultan of the Clouds,” Geoffrey A. Landis (Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Sept. 2010)
“Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance,” Paul Park (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science
Fiction, Jan.-Feb. 2010)
“The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window,” Rachel Swirsky
(Subterranean Magazine, Summer 2010)

Novel
The Native Star, M.K. Hobson (Spectra, Aug. 2010)
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit UK; Orbit US, Feb. 2010)
Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor, Aug. 2010)
Echo, Jack McDevitt (Ace, Nov. 2010)
Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor (DAW, June 2010)
Blackout/All Clear, Connie Willis (Spectra, Feb.-Oct. 2010)

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
Despicable Me, Ken Daurio & Cinco Paul, screenplay, Sergio Pablos, story, Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud, directors, (Illumination Entertainment, July 2010)
Doctor Who: “Vincent and the Doctor,” Richard Curtis, screenplay, Jonny Campbell, director, (BBC, June 2010)
How to Train Your Dragon, William Davies, Dean DeBlois, & Chris Sanders, screenplay, Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders, directors, (DreamWorks Animation, March 2010)
Inception, Christopher Nolan, screenplay, director, (Warner, July 2010)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright, screenplay, Edgar Wright, director, (Universal, Aug. 2010)
Toy Story 3, Michael Arndt, screenplay, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, & Lee
Unkrich, story, Lee Unkrich, director, (Pixar/Disney)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy
Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown, May 2010)
White Cat, Holly Black (McElderry, May 2010)
Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press; Scholastic UK, Aug. 2010)
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, Barry Deutsch (Amulet, Nov. 2010)
The Boy from Ilysies, Pearl North (Tor Teen, Nov. 2010)
I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett (Gollancz; Harper, Sept. 2010)
A Conspiracy of Kings, Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow, March 2010)
Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld (Simon Pulse; Simon & Schuster UK, Oct. 2010)


The Nebula Awards Weekend will be held Thursday, May 19-Sunday, May 22. Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award-winning author Michael Swanwick will serves as toastmaster.

The Nebula Awards Weekend is open to the general public. Event registration and hotel information may be found at www.sfwa.org. The discounted room rate of $129 (plus tax) per night single/double is available from May 16-26. Room reservations may be made directly through the Washington Hilton Hotel by calling (202) 483-3000 or fax (202) 232-0438 using the group code “SFWA.”

About SFWA
Founded in 1965 by the late Damon Knight, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America brings together the most successful and daring writers of speculative fiction throughout the world.

Since its inception, SFWA® has grown in numbers and influence until it is now widely recognized as one of the most effective non-profit writers' organizations in existence, boasting a membership of approximately 1,500 science fiction and fantasy writers as well as artists, editors and allied professionals. Each year the organization presents the prestigious Nebula Awards® for the year’s best literary and dramatic works of speculative fiction.



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Chicken Ranch Central

The exciting world of screw-type caliper piston tools

I'm not a gearhead. Never been a fan of NASCAR. I appreciate nice styling and clean design on vehicles, but most modern cars leave me cold--they're a monoculture of blandness, the only goal to be as inoffensive to the greatest number of potential buyers possible. So I don't tinker. Getting grease up to my elbows isn't my idea of fun.

Sometimes it can't be helped. The brakes on The Wife's minivan were in sore need of changing, and as I am pathologically averse to paying the extortion rates of a garage to have such a basic service performed, the only option was to do it myself. I've changed the front disc pads on countless cars, so this couldn't be much more difficult. Oh, have I mentioned that the brakes needing attention were the rear ones? This, I have since learned, makes a great deal of difference. Firstly, the 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan The Wife drives is not equipped with brake drums and shoes like normal vehicles are. No, the 2008 model sports rear disc pads. Which, I'm thinking, simplifies matters. Silly me. Changing the front disc pads is relatively straightforward, in that once you have the wheel off and the brake assembly detached, you simply replace the old pads with new ones and then use something like a C clamp to compress the caliper piston so you can reassembly the whole shebang. I found out right away that I couldn't do this with the rear brakes, because the rear caliper piston--for some unfathomable reason--is a screw-type assembly. Which means that not only do you have to press it in, you have to rotate it simultaneously to get it compressed enough for reassembly. I read online that some people have had success using needle nose pliers to affect this pressure/rotation trick. I am not one of those people.

Fortunately, there is a happy ending to this tale. Autozone will rent--for free!--a simple threaded caliper tool that makes the task a straightforward effort. They took a $50 deposit on my credit card, I took the tool home and finished the frustrating job, then took the tool back and my deposit was refunded, simple as that. And the minivan has brand-new brakes now. Yay!

Join us next month when I purchase a brake spoon with which to replace the brake shoes on my PT Cruiser...

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Chicken Ranch Central

Weekend bridal show recap, followed by a bit of a rant

This past weekend was one of rushing hither and yon, the highlight of which was spending Sunday in my hometown at the Columbus Bridal Expo. The Wife and I were there, of course, representing Lisa On Location photography. The Wife had a mighty impressive display set up, complete with gallery wraps and a flat-screen television playing a dazzling slideshow of her wedding-themed "Greatest Hits." As was not entirely unexpected, the parade of perspective brides "oohed" and "aahed" over The Wife's inventive and eye-catching trash the dress portraits. Those shots really stand out, and The Wife even blogged about it. She spoke with pretty much every bride that came through, the only exceptions being those who regretfully admitted they'd already book a photographer prior to the wedding show.

For me, however, there was added incentive in participating in this particular wedding fair. You see, despite growing up in Columbus, I'd never set foot inside the historic Stafford Opera House before--the venue of said expo. Hard to believe, I know, but all the years I was growing up in Columbus, the Opera House was always in a state of perpetual restoration, with fund raisers being the norm. It was until 1990 that the decades-long restoration was complete and the venue opened for performances. I was eager to see what the inside looked like, and I have to say I came away impressed. First of all, the second-floor theatre is much larger than it appears from the outside. Secondly, it's not anywhere near as ornate as, say, the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, but it's got a restrained elegance all its own. I can imagine photographing a wedding reception here would be quite fun.

Overall, I was impressed by the quality and quantity of the vendors who turned out to this event. There were impressively upscale venues and caterers and florists and even a wow-your-socks-off destination wedding provider. But one element utterly baffled me--the number of photographers there selling wedding packages who had absolutely no wedding experience. Now don't get me wrong--there's plenty of weddings in this world to go around, and The Wife and I generally try to go out of our way to meet other wedding photographers, network, trade war stories and compare notes. But wedding photography isn't something you just jump into on a whim, because if you screw it up, you have botched someone's wedding day. There ain't no mulligans, folks. Consider that The Wife has 20 years of photographic experience, having cut her teeth on film and spent many, many hours in chemical-laden dark rooms prior to making the switch to digital imaging. And how, even then, she attended multiple weddings as a second shooter to learn the ropes before daring to book even a single wedding on her own. And invested considerable amounts of money into professional level equipment--including backup equipment--to ensure she could do the job right, and continue to do the job even if some disaster befell her primary camera. And how she continues to work to better herself as a photographer, studying and learning constantly (as evidenced by her recent ass-kickery during the PPA certification exam) and her memberships in Professional Photographers of America, Wedding and Portrait Photographers International and the Texas Professional Photographers Association. She's got her state business operating permit, pays her sales taxes quarterly and has insurance and indemnification.

Contrast this with one photographer who was proudly showing off their equipment, which consisted of a Canon Rebel, pop-up flash and a kit lens. Now I don't want to come off as a snob or anything, but I see a huge train wreck in someone's future, akin to this sad episode of Judge Joe Brown:



The first wedding The Wife ever shot as the primary photographer, the officiant came up before the ceremony and announced she wouldn't allow any photography. At all. The bride and groom had attended months of pre-marital counseling with this pastor, and not once did this little tidbit come up. Yet The Wife, with her years of photojournalism background and experience as a wedding second shooter, was able to calm down a livid bride and groom, recreate the "forbidden" shots after the fact, produce a stunning wedding album and save the day. Far more common is the officiant who allows photography, but not flash in poorly-lit church interiors. In these instances, The Wife's knowledge of ISO, aperture and shutter speed allows her to manually adjust the settings to capture the shot. Of course, she's using expensive "fast" glass with a wide aperture that allows the camera to take in more light, and also her beloved Canon 5D mark II, which has a full-frame sensor that captures gorgeous color as well as offering amazing low-light performance. Then for the reception she breaks out the shoe-mount speedlites for either off-camera lighting triggered by remotes, or on-camera bounce flash with an array of specialty diffusers to choose from. She's used my Canon Rebel as a backup body in the past, and while it is wholly capable of taking fine photographs, it has very clear limitations, even when coupled with fast, professional lenses (which an inexpensive kit lens is not). I am utterly and completely baffled as to why anyone would trust something as important as wedding photos to someone with little or no wedding experience, but moreso, how anyone so ill-equipped and inexperienced could offer themselves up as a professional to trusting brides. Honestly, it boggles the mind.

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About those greedy, money-grubbing teachers

My dad was a teacher for 22 years before he threw in the towel and went into private business. Ross Perot made his choice easier, but for nearly 20 of those years he worked his own business on weekends and the summer to make ends meet. He employed many high school and junior high teachers/coaches over the years who also needed to make ends meet. And I know two highly respected teachers quit to sell insurance during my school years because their salaries weren't enough to allow them to raise their families. So whenever I hear pundits and politicians and members of the general population (who've not set foot in a classroom since they departed high school) hold forth about "greedy teachers" I pretty much automatically hate them for the bald-faced liars they are.

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Chicken Ranch Central

In which NPR joins the mindless masses

For years now I've listened to NPR on the commute in to work. I like catching up on the news of the day, and often it sparks interesting conversations with Monkey Girl before I drop her off at middle school. In general, I find the reportage top-notch, their accuracy better and presentation of stories much more thorough than you'll ever find on television news, and even in print on some occasions. Except today. This morning's Marketwatch segment, a report from CBS Moneywatch specifically, utterly botched reportage of the ongoing protests up in Madison, Wisconsin. In a nutshell, the reporter said the state was facing a massive budget shortfall, and unions were protesting because they didn't want to pay a larger percentage of their retirement and healthcare costs. The overall tone was one of tsk tsking teachers for not recognizing the seriousness of the problem.

Except that the reporter was wrong. Scratch that. She was so off-base, her commentary doesn't even count as wrong. As reported in the Washington Post, the protesting teachers aren't happy about benefit cuts and having to pay more, but that's not why they're protesting:

Walker tries to sell the change in collective bargaining as modest. "State and local employees could continue to bargain for base pay, they would not be able to bargain over other compensation measures." But that's not really true. Read down a bit further and you'll find that "total wage increases could not exceed a cap based on the consumer price index (CPI) unless approved by referendum." In other words, they couldn't bargain for wages to rise faster than inflation. So, in reality, they can't bargain for wages and they can't bargain over other forms of compensation. They just can't bargain.

The proposal doesn't stop there, though. "Contracts would be limited to one year and wages would be frozen until the new contract is settled. Collective bargaining units are required to take annual votes to maintain certification as a union. Employers would be prohibited from collecting union dues and members of collective bargaining units would not be required to pay dues." These rules have nothing to do with pension costs or even bargaining. They're just about weakening unions: They make it harder for unions to collect dues from members, to negotiate stable contracts or to survive a bad year.

I've said before I'm not a huge fan of unions. Like politics, concentrating that much power and money among a handful of officials invites abuse and corruption. But that's neither here nor there. Unions are necessary, a necessary evil if you will, to prevent far greater abuses. The fact that Governor Walker is being disingenuous with his true intentions is tremendously offensive. I despise hypocrisy above all else. The Wisconsin Legislative Financial Bureau actually predicts that the state will have a $56 million budget surplus this year, a significant difference from the $137 million deficit Walker is using as justification for his union-busting legislation. But even if Walker's worst-case scenario of a $137 million deficit accurate, it's one of his own making because of hastily-passed tax breaks in January totaling $140 million. To Wal Mart, among others. That hardly sounds like greedy teachers driving the state into bankruptcy, does it?

I'm the child of a long-time teacher. The salaries and benefits of teachers are hardly lavish even in the best of times. Almost every teacher I knew growing up worked summer or side jobs to make ends meet. I know of two, specifically, that quit teaching to sell insurance, because they couldn't afford to raise their family otherwise. So I have damn little sympathy for Rush Limbaugh or anyone else who starts attacking them for being arrogant, greedy or elite. And yes, I wrote to MarkeWatch, although I hold out little hope for a positive response:

I was very disappointed with the CBS Moneywatch report this morning on the situation in Wisconsin. The report cast the situation as Wisconsin facing a crushing budget deficit and greedy teachers refusing to make any salary and benefit concessions. The reality of the situation is far removed from that. The official state financial office has concluded that there *isn't* a budget crisis. Governor Walker *isn't* proposing emergency austerity measures, but actually engaging in ideologically-driven union busting by trying to strip away collective bargaining rights:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/wisconsin-gov-walker-ginned-up-budget-shortfall-to-undercut-worker-rights.php

This political overreach is already generating a backlash against the governor from the general popluation:

http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/BSW_POLL_PRESS_RELEASE_FEB_17___2011.pdf

I'm from Texas, a right-to-work state, and have no affinity for unions. But as a journalist, I strenuously object to the "dumbing down" of complex news stories. I certainly expect better from you.

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Chicken Ranch Central

Friday Night Videos

In the mid-to-late 1980s one of the biggest Russian rock bands during the Glastnost era was called "Autograph." This isn't them. This is the American proto-hairmetal group by the same name. I don't know which came first, and frankly, I haven't ever heard a single tune by the Russian band. To be perfectly honest, this video for Turn Up the Radio is the only thing I've ever heard from the U.S. group, so career-wise, it's pretty much a wash. Still, I always thought that robot hand at the beginning was nifty, and the beat and admittedly simplistic lyrics make this one the quintessential teen anthem--at least for the summer it was popular, anyway.



Previously on Friday Night Videos... Jim Croce

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