As small gifts at Christmas, I made homemade Balsamic dark chocolate truffles. This was my first foray into truffle making, so I was surprised by how easy they were to make. They were so easy that I decided to try another recipe from the same site that several reviewers recommended.

Tasty, yes. However, it prompted me to post to twitter, “I am hoping that wrapping the homemade truffles in gold foil will keep them from looking quite so much like turds.”

Why am I writing about it now? Because I need to make another series of small gifts and am strongly considering the truffles. My only problem is that I don’t know where to go for the gold foil in NYC.

Any suggestions?

Wow! Puppeteers Unite just uncovered a bit of early Muppets which I never knew existed.

The Orson Welles Show was an unsold television talk show pilot. It has never been broadcast or released. Filming began in September 1978 and the project was completed around February 1979. It ran 74 minutes and was intended for a 90 minute commercial time slot.

Shot partly before a live audience, Welles interviewed Burt Reynolds (taking several questions from the audience,) Jim Henson and Frank Oz performed Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear.

Part of what makes this totally fascinating is that the puppeteers are in full view of the audience and only masked by shadows.

This week at AMC I take a look at the utterly bone-headed things that fantasy heroes do. Like, why does Peter take his helmet off while fighting? Actually, I don’t cover that one, because I could only pick one item from the list of stupid moves in Prince Caspian. But that film is hardly the only offender. I mean, really, what is it about being heroic that causes people to turn in their common sense card?

Swing by and let me know some other bone-headed moves heroes do.

Having clerks in electronic stores treat me like I don’t know what I’m talking about is particularly annoying after Wiscon. There are times when it’s amusing to go into a hardware store in a dress and ask for a replacement blade for my bandsaw while the clerk’s head spins with reevaluation.  Today, I just needed a cord and was in a hurry.

I went in and the clerk asked me if I was looking for something in particular.

“Yes, thanks. I need a usb to mini-usb retractable cord. One of the little travel jobbies.”

He looked at me with a perfectly neutral expression, but said, “What are you using it for?”

Now, let’s be clear. That’s a good question when someone comes in and doesn’t know what they want.  It’s also one I get from clerks who think I’ve asked for the wrong thing.  I sighed and said, “It’s to connect my phone to my computer. I had one, it got a short. I need a new one.”

He now looked openly skeptical.  “What kind of phone? Let me see it.”

“It’s a G1.” I refrained from rolling my eyes, because, you know, maybe he was covering for not knowing what a mini-usb plug looked like. By this point we’ve stopped in front of a display of cords so I pulled the phone out and flashed the port at him.

He fingered a retractable cord that was regular USB.  “We don’t have that.”

Fortunately, right next to that is exactly what I wanted, so I picked one up.  “Here. This is it.”

“No, ma’am. That’s the wrong size.”

I looked at the package again, just in case, and showed him the words “USB to mini-USB,”  which is what I’d asked for.

He looked at it and then back at the wrong one.  “Oh.  I thought you wanted something else. This is the wrong size.”

Now see.  I’m glad I didn’t hand him his head for assuming that a woman wouldn’t know what she’s asking.  Clearly the problem was just that his primary qualification is that he’s not a zombie.

I got home from WisCon last night to a wonderful review of  Clockwork Phoenix 2: More Tales of Beauty and Strangeness, edited by Mike Allen.

Allen finds his groove for this second annual anthology of weird stories, selecting 16 wonderfully evocative, well-written tales. Marie Brennan’s thought-provoking “Once a Goddess” considers the fate of a goddess abruptly returned to mortality. Tanith Lee puts a stunning twist in the story of a morose prince in “The Pain of Glass.” Mary Robinette Kowal’s “At the Edge of Dying” describes a world where magic comes only to those at death’s door. In “Hooves and the Hovelof Abdel Jameela,” Saladin Ahmed tellsof a small village on the edge of a desert, a hermit and a woman who may be a witch. Each story fits neatly alongside the next, and the diversity of topics, perspectives and authors makes this cosmopolitan anthology a winner. (July)

via Fiction – 5/25/2009 – Publishers Weekly. (Scroll to the bottom)

Yesterday I woke spontaneously at 9:00 a.m., which I did not approve of. I’d had so little sleep the night before, that it just seemed unfair and yet I was wide, wide awake. So fine. I got up, took a shower and eventually wandered out to the farmer’s market with my roomie Heather Lindsley. We acquired breakfast and discussed the relative merits of a theater career track versus a literary one as well as wondering why everyone in Madison ambles instead of actually walking.

The rest of the day seemed to consist of meeting very cool people for food or drinks, interspersed with a nap. I didn’t manage to make it to any panels at all which is a shame because Wiscon has really good ones. I’m going to try to remedy that today. Speaking of which, I should head out and hit the con.

The concom at ConQuest 40 were looking for a bio of John Scalzi but wanted something a little more detailed and accurate than the standard wikipedia one.  They asked me if I’d assist, given my long-standing friendship with him, and write one for them with some behind the scenes details for the program book.  In the interests of making this information available to the wider public, here is a brief biography with never before told facts.

Every word of it is completely true.

John Scalzi, Campbell-award winning author, has been thrilling fans with his writing since he began as is evidenced by his Hugo award for fan writing. This amazing victory can best be summed up in the reaction of his mother-in-law, who often weeps at the thought of his writing and what it means to her daughter.

But where did this phenomenal talent come from? Born in California on May 10, 1869, Professor Scalzi’s life followed normal patterns for a child of his time. Although he demonstrated an early facility for language in the forged notes he created to get out of the entirety of third year, his true skills did not become apparent until his parents sent him to an exclusive boarding school in the Catskills. This location would become ironically apt later in his life.

Brother Francis Gerard later commented in his memoirs that “Young Scalzi had the worst hand-writing we had ever seen. It was impossible to test him because no one could read his writing, and yet curiously, his forgeries were impeccable. So we set him to copying, hoping that he would learn to write his own words as well as he could write other’s.”

Taking the command to “copy the good book” rather more liberally than his instructors intended, Scalzi picked out what he called, “the only good book in the school library,” Starship Troopers. Not content with merely copying the original text, Scalzi began the project that led to his receiving the 1985 Hugo for Best Fan Art — The Complete Illuminated Works of Robert A. Heinlein. Rendered on vellum with ink ground from a mixture of boa-boa berry and dark coffee, these lovingly drawn works represent nearly a lifetime of work. The sheets of vellum measure on average 24″ by 17″ inches and have an estimated $5000 worth of gold leaf and powdered cobalt spanning the collection.  Exhibited at the Smithsonian, MOMA and the Vatican, they have brought universal acclaim from old fans and new alike.

In 2004, Scalzi was awarded a fellowship at Yale for his work on the Illuminated Manuscripts.  The pressure of teaching interfered with his continuing efforts so he moved with his wife Krissy, to rural Ohio.  There he began working with private students on the fine art of illumination.

While taking a break from his students, Professor Scalzi happened to witness one of his neighbors working on the neighboring ranch, herding his flock of cats. The job was overwhelming the man, so Scalzi stepped in and discovered that these highly trained animals were bored with their role.  He introduced them to the notion of illuminating manuscripts which they took to, as if they were born to it. He’s since begun work on a new illuminated manuscript collaborating with the cat, Ghlaghghee .  They selected the material together by the simple means of Professor Scalzi spreading his books around until Ghlaghghee chose one to sit on — The Collected Works of Francis Bacon.

• 01:06 You know… just once, I would like to go to a con without pulling an all-nighter at the theater. See you at Wiscon tomorrow? #
• 04:31 I’m waiting for the bus to the airport. Have I been to bed? Does a 20 minute nap count? #
• 04:38 Today’s shopping list consists of ginger ale, laser and napkins. #
• 06:02 Curses. My flight rescheduling means that I’ll arrive at Wiscon after the writer’s workshop session I’m supposed to be leading. #
• 06:54 On the plane and ready to fall asleep. #
• 14:39 Have arrived at my hotel for Wiscon. Very tempted by the nice soft bed but I’m going to head over to registration. #
• 18:03 Sitting around with Klages, Levine, Monette and Thomas. Wiscon is already fun. #
• 22:37 Just a gentle reminder: Robinette is my middle name, not my maiden name, not my surname. That’s Kowal. #

Sans, twitter. The con is great fun and I’m happy to see people. I’m also so tired I could weep, yet somehow I managed to moderate a 10:30 pm panel without any major mind melts. Thank heavens for the theater instinct which kicks adrenalin in to focus the mind just long enough to get through the “show.” 

And I’m even more thankful that I had very smart panelists in Carrie L. Ferguson, M. J. Hardman and Deepa D. so I didn’t have to do more than ask the occasional question. What was the panel?

Many of us can point to something which we read that changed our lives. Some of us view writing fiction as a political act. This panel will explore the relationship of SF/F to society and culture. Can SF/F change the world in a practical and political way? Is there any occasion when writers of SF/F can justifiably claim it is only entertainment and has no responsibility for commenting on popular culture.

Oh, I also managed to catch up with Erin Cashier, who was in the writing workshop I didn’t get to this morning, and go over her story with her. A hearty thank you to K. Tempest Bradford who stepped in to cover the workshop for me.

• 09:51 Double-charging me is not cool. Double-charging me when the bill was $1050.00 is a serious problem. #
• 11:35 The company apologizes profusely for double-charging me & did a refund. Of course, it will take 24 hours for the refund to take effect. #
• 11:52 I think that a key reason novelists should write and submit short stories is so they can practice the art of accepting rejection gracefully. #
• 12:26 Sorting out my prop receipts is never, ever fun. #
• 13:52 Heading out to drop off receipts and pick up paint. I’ll be doing some faux finishes today. #
• 19:12 I thought I would take a break from doing faux wood grain, but this computer is so maddeningly slow, typing takes 1 sec. per letter. #

Sorry for another day of twitter only. It was long and it’s late and I’m tired.

• 01:04 I’m at home after a day running around at the theater. #
• 14:29 I think I’ve done the last of the paperwork props for this show. Now to make the music of the spheres device. #
• 18:11 I arrived at the theater and there was a fire alarm going off. The fire department just arrived looking bored. #

My dad said he thought a dull day for me was more interesting than most people’s day jobs.  As an experiment, I used twitter to record the minutia of today.  There are big silent stretches, unfortunately, where I’m in the theater without a signal to the outside world.

• 10:22 Picked up a zipcar at 10 and am going to get a table and chairs for Night Sky. #
• 10:40 Astonishing. Parking in front of the building. #
• 10:40 The very nice French student and her father helped me get the table & chairs into the car. Now, to the theater. #
• 11:16 I have arrived at the theater and am not dead. Again, there is parking in front of the building. This is not normal. #
• 11:36 Dropped off the furntiture, extended the Zipcar res. And heading out for next load. #
• 11:42 Also sending designer reference photos while stopped at traffic lights, of which there are many. #
• 12:06 Ah ha. Now is the driving in circles looking for a spot, as expected. #
• 12:16 I’ll be double-parking, now. #
• 12:25 Furniture loaded and back to the theater. #
• 12:58 At theater. Found parking. Dropping furniture. #
• 13:08 Furniture dropped and off to return the zip car. Fascinating day, I know. #
• 13:21 On the car radio, 89.9 is playing the complete discography of Benny Goodman in chronological order for the next 16 days. #
• 13:39 Whew. I’ve dropped off the car and now have a little room for a breather before heading on the next errand. #
• 14:20 For those folks who wanted to listen to the Benny Goodman complete discography. 89.9 is streaming online bit.ly/Hkmj #
• 15:03 I’m laying out some of the paper props used in the show. Brochures and forms. #
• 15:07 I’ve got the aphasia lesson plans printing now. #
• 15:37 I’m printing flashcards of actors. #
• 15:39 Ugh. A brand new color cartridge and it’s not printing yellow. This is the third one that’s happened to so I think it’s the printer. #
• 15:53 I’ve emailed the flashcards to the office which will print them for me. Now, off to the floral district to buy fake asters! #
• 16:55 Fake asters don’t exist in NYC. I need another flower with a connection to the word “star.” Any ideas? #
• 17:08 Thank you all! I have aquired star jasmine. #
• 17:39 At the theater to drop off star jasmine, jewelry box and put alka-seltzer in a champagne bottle. #
• 21:57 10 alkaseltzer have the right boost, but priming the bottle without losing liquid is hard. #
• 22:01 Back into the bowels now. #

I got home around 1:00 am.

I was at the theater today and one of the folks I’m working with commented on my website. He asked why it doesn’t say anything about props.

Truly? Because unless I’m building something interesting, the job is deadly boring. My posts would consist of, “Today I went shopping for paper, a box and a copy of King Lear.” At best. More likely they would say, “Today I went shopping and didn’t find anything on my list.”

The other reason is that when I’m really in full swing, as I’m about to be this week, I don’t have time to post at all. So it doesn’t say anything about the props ’cause I just don’t have time. Like, I’m heading into tech week starting tomorrow and I won’t surface again for another week.

And the last reason is that I don’t self-identify as a props master. I am one, but I identify as a puppeteer and more recently as an SF writer. The props thing feels like just a dayjob.

Jim Henson

September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990

Puppeteers Unite has a collection of clips from his memorial service.

Ooo! I just received this video promo of the previous Puppet Playlist at The Tank. This was the one focused on Tom Waits. We did a found object piece with dinnerware.