Klaatu barada nikto . . .

[stusegal]

. . . which, we all know from the great sci-fi film The Day The Earth Stood Still, means something like “Cancel the attack; don’t wreak havoc on the puny earthlings”, we have more important things to do.  It’s almost time for Steve and I to head to the 65^th World Sci Fi Convention, this year in Yokohama!  (BTW, who else is going?)

We need to renew old friendships, and make some new ones – which shouldn’t be hard as this is Japan’s first ever WorldCon, and has been combined with the Japanese National Convention.  Japan should be interesting - beyond the potential language barrier, I suppose we run the risk of looking like idiots, or “Ugly Americans”, but I’ve read/heard the Japanese are very polite, so it’ll probably be just fine.

Stuff I`m particularly interested in this year:

• Art Show – In Glasgow we saw European artists who never get to North America; I just loved the work of Chris Baker.  But I’m hoping we meet fresh, new (to us) artists.  (That is not to say we don’t meet terrific new talent in the US; last year we met Julia Koller, who since has done some illustration for Weird Tales.)
• Future Worldcons
• The 2009 vote is between Montreal & Kansas City.  I always favor the sites out of the US for 2 reasons: 1) Meet new authors, artists, fans who never get to a US con, and 2) seems like all the US Worldcons are in major cities, at big convention centers, and there’s a "sameness" to the venues and cities.
• The only candidate right now for 2010 is Melbourne, and I hope it stays that way.  Seems like everyone in the family, including me, could get excited about visiting "down under".
• Hugo, Movie – There’s no blockbuster or Harry Potter (thank goodness), but there are at least 3 excellent films: 1) Pan`s Labyrinth, 2) Children of Men and 3) V for Vendetta. I especially liked V - creative story, good acting & cinematography - but it seems to be an underdog.
• I have noticed that the multi-talented Stephen H. Segal is one of the Program Participants, and is hosting a Kaffeeklatsche  -  I wouldn’t miss it for the world.  (but can he juggle?)

So for now, the focus is on Nippon, with open minds, our phrase book, and lots of mosquito spray.

If I can get pc access, I’ll post from Yokohama.