Life, a series of memorials and signals

[sovay]

My plans to sleep out a recovery from Arisia were somewhat complicated by the move-in of the new upstairs neighbors and the resonating chamber of feet and furniture our bedroom immediately downstairs of this process necessarily turned into, but the snow remains beautifully fallen and is not even supposed to rain back into immediate slush or, worse, spring.

I am re-reading Kathryn M. Drennan's To Dream in the City of Sorrows (1997) for the first time since it came out and had completely forgotten the introduction by J. Michael Straczynski in which he designates it the first fully canonical novel in the Babylon 5 tie-in line. Despite the volumes of Harlan Ellison I was tracking down in used book stores and reading at the time—his credit as creative consultant was a point in the show's favor—it was not until years later that I caught since how much of his nonfiction voice had been adopted by JMS. "How difficult a task was this? Job would've packed it in, Hercules would've retired, and Orpheus would've decided that his days spent in Hades weren't really that bad."

The Post-Meridian Radio Players have now opened auditions for their spring show: Jeeves & Wooster: Hijinks and Shenanigans. I am seriously considering throwing myself on a slot for the genderswapped adaptation. It would be something of an exercise if I went for it; most of my performance skills do not translate into straight acting and I am frankly missing the facility with accents specified in the sides or I'd be able to code-switch out of being asked all the time where mine's really from. There was an intrusion here from Tiny Wittgenstein which has since been deleted. But even if it's just the hangover from Arisia, I have not auditioned for anything since 2019 and so long as I could decouple the experience from actually landing a part, it suddenly looked as though it might be fun.

Indeed, I had never heard of hickory oil. I am not however thrilled by the prospect of trading off maple syrup.

Comments

[sholio]

On the topic of Harlan Ellison as B5's creative consultant - there are bits and pieces from the script books (which I need to get back to writing up) that talk about how that process worked, which was mostly that JMS would call him up whenever he was stuck and Harlan would give him ideas. IIRC, one of those things was the Shadow counterpart to the Vorlon planetkiller. JMS wanted something equally scary, that would be completely different, called up Harlan and explained the problem, and after Harlan thought about it for a minute, he came back with a perfect description of exactly what the scene needed.

[sovay]

the script books (which I need to get back to writing up)

(You totally should.)

IIRC, one of those things was the Shadow counterpart to the Vorlon planetkiller. JMS wanted something equally scary, that would be completely different, called up Harlan and explained the problem, and after Harlan thought about it for a minute, he came back with a perfect description of exactly what the scene needed.

I can't remember if I had heard that before, and if not, I am delighted to know it now. Thank you.

[moon_custafer]

We watched the short-lived B5 spinoff Crusade, and Andrew was pretty sure the grumpy, cynical archeologist character was directly based on Ellison.

[moon_custafer]

I am frankly missing the facility with accents specified in the sides or I'd be able to code-switch out of being asked all the time where mine's really from.

My own experience is similar, and I’ve never quite been able to put it into words—I’m fascinated by listening to accents, but completely unable to replicate them; partly because if I even think about trying, I completely freeze up in embarrassment (which is an improvement on child me, who’d shriek and flee the room if a friend or family member tried to do any sort of vocal impression).

[ashlyme]

Go for an audition if you feel up to it! Which character would you most like to play?

[tommx]

My plans to sleep out a recovery from Arisia were somewhat complicated by the move-in of the new upstairs neighbors and the resonating chamber of feet and furniture our bedroom immediately downstairs of this process necessarily turned into, but the snow remains beautifully fallen and is not even supposed to rain back into immediate slush or, worse, spring.

I'm sorry. Noisy upstairs neighbors can be a drag. Hope you managed to get the sleep you needed.

"How difficult a task was this? Job would've packed it in, Hercules would've retired, and Orpheus would've decided that his days spent in Hades weren't really that bad."

I love that quote. It reminds me of something I said recently in a work meeting: "This data structure is a labyrinth that would have given Ariadne a stroke." After seeing a bunch of blank stares, I then had to explain who Ariadne was which also let to who Theseus and the Minotaur were. I guess humanities aren't big priorities for CS degrees.

The Post-Meridian Radio Players have now opened auditions for their spring show: Jeeves & Wooster: Hijinks and Shenanigans. I am seriously considering throwing myself on a slot for the genderswapped adaptation.

If you do go out for it, break a leg!