Hey all! I would like to expand my selection of Music For Writing Time. My taste is eclectic.

Here’s what I am looking for:
–Instrumental. No lyrics. OK if there’s a couple stray scattered words in it, although it’s better if they’re not English.
–More upbeat/dance style. I like calm and relaxing stuff too, but I am currently heavily loaded with that and I don’t have enough high-energy stuff.
–Actually musical and not just noise. That’s a tough line for sure, but basically it needs to have some notes, and not just percussion.
–Complete albums (rather than single songs).
–Bonus points if it has a “world beat” music sound.
–Also bonus points if I can listen to samples at Amazon before buying.

Cirque du Soleil is just about perfect. I also like Uman, Lisa Gerrard, Tya, James Asher, David Arkenstone, Cusco, Juno Reactor, Osamu Kitajima, Dead Can Dance, Salaryman, Amethystium, Midnight Syndicate, and Explosions in the Sky.

Any new suggestions? Thank you!

I’ll be at SkeptiCal this weekend, a conference for science and skepticism. It takes place at the Berkeley Doubletree Hotel. Here’s the schedule. There’s talks about vaccination, global warming, homeopathy, and the neurobiology of religious experience. It sounds cool. I haven’t been to the conference before.

Anyone else going? Let me know!

We don’t get a lot of lightning storms in the Bay Area. Photographer Phil McGrew took this amazing picture from the window of his apartment. Eight bolts struck the Bay Bridge. Linked from here.

Just sold “Skin Deep” to Redstone SF. It’ll be great to be back there again.

Whew.

A report from my perspective is somewhat nonsensical to most con-goers, I think, but I can offer a few thoughts. FOGcon 2 was amazing. Most of the things that went sideways were almost invisible to congoers, which is exactly what you hope for as a con chair. (I assure you, things go sideways at every con that has ever happened. It’s part of the experience.) And overall, the hard work and effort the concom put into running the convention paid off. I’m enormously grateful to them. The concom team is the reason FOGcon works so well overall, from great programming to spiffy badges, and a _lot_ of time goes into making sure that congoers have a fabulous experience.

Highlights for me included delicious sushi with good friends, seeing so many people have a great time, wearing my Nebula gown again, and singing my heart out at karaoke. I got two massages (total of 60 minutes) to keep myself sane and healthy.

I spent yesterday doing laundry, eating chocolate coconut ice cream, and not doing much else. It was lovely. I’ve had full nights of sleep on Sunday and Monday night, and I still could barely drag myself out of bed this morning. It was all worth it.

Thanks to everyone who attended FOGcon and helped make it possible!

I can’t wait to see you guys! It will be wonderful.

Some of you may be wondering if I’ll have time to talk to you. (I’m the con chair.) The answer is–yes, if you’re patient!

The best way to explain it is this. I am busy, but the activity comes and goes and is unpredictable. I might well have an hour or two where I’m entirely free. But the thing is, I might be called away at any minute. Also, it’s hard for me to make commitments in advance, because I may have to do something for the con on short notice.

So catch me when you can, and please understand that we may have interruptions. Sometimes I have to end a conversation early. It’s not personal. 🙂

See you there!

This Japanese animation video is the weirdest thing I have seen on the internet in a long time. And that’s saying something, because I see a lot of things on the internet.

It’s a… racing game video. I guess. It is awesome and WEIRD.

NSFW. Don’t watch this at work! If you want to know what you’re getting into, there’s two drawings of in their underwear, but no actual sex.

Just signed a contract for “Lion Dance” to appear in Asimov’s. Woot!

Mur Lafferty interviews me at World Fantasy. The interview starts around minute 22.

This story made my day. Jessamyn Smith, an open-source programmer in Portland, was tired of seeing a particular joke on her IRC channel (the familiar “that’s what she said!” joke). She wrote a bot to follow up every “that’s what she said!” joke with an actual quote from a notable woman, just to get people thinking. The reaction from coworkers was surprisingly good. You can see more at: Fighting sexist jokes the geeky way.