We were so busy celebrating her birthday yesterday that I didn't have time to post this until today!
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Happy Birthday + 1, Amy!!
We were so busy celebrating her birthday yesterday that I didn't have time to post this until today!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Birthday and Books
Blogging was light this weekend, because I soaked up the beautiful SoCal sunshine (minus the heat last weekend at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. You can see details of the Festival (and photos) on my cousin Lee's blog.
I spent Saturday at a birthday picnic for myself on the lawn of the UCLA campus, with the Festival going on around me. (I didn't leave the picnic to go to any festival activities; that would seem rude when people are there to celebrate my birthday). Several folks, known and unknown, showed up for cake and Junior's sandwiches. Among them were Lee's brother, Tod, and Tod's wife Wendy. Lee himself didn't show up (a busy schedule and back pain); but oddly enough, Lee and Tod's friend Sarah Weinman spent some time with us -- totally independent of Lee or Tod. She was a friend of a friend of a friend . . . .
Today we hit a couple of panels (one on humor, featuring Tod and two other writers whose last names begin with "G"; and another on Victorian Age fiction, vintage and modern); dropped some bucks on books; and ate a fairly subpar orange-chicken bowl.
The ranks of the booksellers were thinned somewhat (no Borders or Barnes & Noble), but the crowds seemed as large as ever. I chalk both up to the economy. After all, the Festival was free.
I spent Saturday at a birthday picnic for myself on the lawn of the UCLA campus, with the Festival going on around me. (I didn't leave the picnic to go to any festival activities; that would seem rude when people are there to celebrate my birthday). Several folks, known and unknown, showed up for cake and Junior's sandwiches. Among them were Lee's brother, Tod, and Tod's wife Wendy. Lee himself didn't show up (a busy schedule and back pain); but oddly enough, Lee and Tod's friend Sarah Weinman spent some time with us -- totally independent of Lee or Tod. She was a friend of a friend of a friend . . . .
Today we hit a couple of panels (one on humor, featuring Tod and two other writers whose last names begin with "G"; and another on Victorian Age fiction, vintage and modern); dropped some bucks on books; and ate a fairly subpar orange-chicken bowl.
The ranks of the booksellers were thinned somewhat (no Borders or Barnes & Noble), but the crowds seemed as large as ever. I chalk both up to the economy. After all, the Festival was free.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Don't Panic
Don Burr and Pam Gross, two of the friends who came to my birthday party, have posted party reports on their respective blogs. Both blog about the movie I showed at the party, THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY -- a must, since the party celebrated my 42nd birthday.
Watching a 2005 HHGG movie was definitely an odd experience. Back in the early '80's, HHGG was initially a British radio show, then a series of books that everyone was reading (my sister, who was definitely not an SF fan, was reading the first book, if that gives you a clue), then a BBC TV miniseries. The miniseries was the first way I enjoyed the story; the books and radio show came later.
So a couple decades after the radio show, the books, the TV show, and even the comic book series, we have a movie that reiterates a lot of the punchlines and bits from the other media. Of course, punchlines that convulsed me with laughter 25 years ago now merely provoke a pleasant glow of nostalgia.
Apart from the recycled bits, the story has changed every time it's been told in a different medium -- even though the same writer, Douglas Adams, was behind every iteration. That's what amuses me about the folks who despised the movie, on the ground that it's not faithful to "the story." To which story should it have been faithful?
Watching a 2005 HHGG movie was definitely an odd experience. Back in the early '80's, HHGG was initially a British radio show, then a series of books that everyone was reading (my sister, who was definitely not an SF fan, was reading the first book, if that gives you a clue), then a BBC TV miniseries. The miniseries was the first way I enjoyed the story; the books and radio show came later.
So a couple decades after the radio show, the books, the TV show, and even the comic book series, we have a movie that reiterates a lot of the punchlines and bits from the other media. Of course, punchlines that convulsed me with laughter 25 years ago now merely provoke a pleasant glow of nostalgia.
Apart from the recycled bits, the story has changed every time it's been told in a different medium -- even though the same writer, Douglas Adams, was behind every iteration. That's what amuses me about the folks who despised the movie, on the ground that it's not faithful to "the story." To which story should it have been faithful?
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