Four Day Geekend: Bad Manors

For my last night in Toronto, I decided to visit the local branch of the Storm Crow.  Since the opening of its Commercial Drive location in 2012, the Storm Crow geek-and-gamer-bar franchise has been a complete success in Vancouver, with the popular Broadway outlet opening its doors in 2015.  Having had the pleasure of spending time at both those locations, I was eager to complete the hat trick by visiting the Storm Crow Manor on Church Street.

 

Surprisingly, and a bit sadly, I didn't love it.

It’s difficult to say exactly why I was left cold by my experience. On paper, all the same elements were there:  I was seated in their Victorian hunting room, which featured a large bone hatchet right beside me, a large mounted rancor head in front of me and an equally large Beholder head behind, but somehow it still didn't work for me in terms of atmosphere.

 

As its name would indicate, the Toronto venue is a large converted manor house, and they’ve chosen to keep the basic room divisions, which may take away some of the communal feel that I'm used to from the Vancouver locations.  It's certainly busy enough - there's a steady flow of traffic through the foyer, in spite of the fact that it's Sunday night and it's freezing cold outside.

The menu is very similar, with a couple of unexpected differences:  apparently Eastern Canada rates garlic bread, steak, and french onion soup, all of which I think would be welcome in Vancouver (in case anyone from the company is reading this).

My server gave me none of the geek vibe that the Vancouver contingent has, but then neither did the waitress during my first visit to the original Tavern. She also managed to get my order a bit wrong - twice - but that’s a thing that can happen anywhere.

I can’t help but think they could have done more with the blank canvas of this building. Perhaps something that was more ostensibly 19th century in its approach, more Lovecraft than Lucas, more steampunk than science fiction - there are hints of that in the decor where I'm sitting, but really, only hints.

I finished my food, I finished my beer, I settled up my bill, and I left, feeling a bit like I'd wasted my night out, and without even getting a comment on my Doctor Who "The Angels have the phone box" t-shirt.

But, let's be fair - I only saw a bit of the space, and I might have left with a completely different impression if I'd been sitting on the second floor, or in a different room.  I'd like to think that the same sense of geek community that's made the Vancouver Storm Crows so popular is there in Toronto as well, and I just need to come back at the right time to find it there.

- Sid

Four Day Geekend: Hunting for Books, Fit the Second

While I'm visiting Toronto, it seems sensible to take advantage of the opportunity to check around for some of the books flagged for replacement as part of my New Year's resolution to catalogue my library. (Although I can't let myself get too carried away, I only have one piece of carry on luggage and a computer bag.)

The area around the University of Toronto used to be a haven for used book stores, and I'm pleased to discover that part of Toronto has managed to avoid the wave of construction that has rebuilt a lot of the downtown core since the start of the new millennium. 
 
Here's the map for my expedition: starting at College and University*, I'll head west, turn north at about Bathurst, go a bit further west on Bloor, then jump on the subway and go someplace to get warm, it's a cold winter's day and the wind chill factor is taking the temperature down to about -15 C.

The Beguiling

 

My first stop on College isn't actually a used book store as such - I wanted to take a look at The Beguiling Books and Art, which is dedicated to the full range of graphic storytelling. It's been around since 1987, but I'm reasonably certain that this will be the first time that I've ever been through the door, I had a lot of brand loyalty towards The Silver Snail when I lived in Toronto.

The ambient music is some kind of forceful acid jazz as I walk through the door, which gives my visit an unexpected cinematic feel as I make my way around the store.  It's a reasonably large space, split into two storefront areas and directly connected on the west side to Little Island Comics, aimed at comics for kids up to the age of 12.  There's also a basement section dedicated to back issues of comics, which I don't take the time to visit.

Marvel and DC graphic novels are well represented on the shelves, but the balance is more toward independent or non-superhero content, and the Staff Picks/New and Notable displays at the front are completely indie in their offerings.

I'm a little tempted by a collection of H. P. Lovecraft comic adaptations, but it's a big book to haul back to Vancouver with me - see my previous comments regarding luggage -  so I put it back on the shelf and head back out into the cold to start the hunt for books.

She Said Boom!

 

She Said Boom! is what I think of as the template for a used book-and-music store:  narrow storefront space, some original plank flooring, books around the edges, vinyl in the middle.  Like The Beguiling, they're also featuring an aggressive jazz soundtrack - is that the thing for bookstores right now?

It's not a large selection of science fiction and fantasy, just a couple of bookcases,** but I manage to find a couple of things from my replacement shopping list: an excellent trade paperback version of Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon, the first post-apocalyptic novel that I ever read; Nova, by Samuel R. Delaney, and Downbelow Station, by C. J. Cherryh, an excellent space opera which is long overdue for some kind of streaming service adaptation - it's not exactly Game of Thrones in space, but it has a lot of the same intensity.

The woman who is behind the counter vanishes at some point while I'm browsing, and is missing in action for close to ten minutes while I stand patiently at the till.  I fight the urge to take my three books and just leave, that seems like the wrong approach to take, given that she's obviously decided to trust me.

In the fullness of time, she comes back up from the basement and coyly suggests that she needs to dry her hands before dealing with my purchases, which at least indicates that she washed them after whatever activity was taking place down there.  I gingerly accept a bag and a receipt, and I'm off to the next destination on my list.

Balfour Books

 

I can tell that Balfour Books is a classic old-school bookstore just by the distinctive smell of old paper that wafts into my face as I walk through the door.  However, to misquote Obi Wan Kenobi, this is not the book store I'm looking for - in fact, for most of my visit, I'm reasonably certain that they don't actually have any science fiction. 

Eventually I do discover their SF section, cleverly concealed in a wire rack at floor level, and even though Balfour only seems to have about 50 science fiction paperbacks in stock, I don't leave empty handed. They've got a copy of The Deathworms of Kratos, second in the wonderfully bad Expendables series by Richard Avery that I originally received as a Christmas gift in 1979 - it's one of the books from my replacements list that I thought I'd have a lot of trouble locating, so I'm quite happy to have persevered in my search.

While I'm paying for my book, I notice that there's a Buck Rogers pop-up book on display behind the counter.  Given that I own a classic Buck Rogers ray gun, I'm a bit interested, but it's a little too rich for my blood - I tap out well before single book purchases hit the $250 mark.  Perhaps if I win the lottery...but not today.

I trudge away through the cold and snow, up to Bloor Street and Doug Miller Books.

Doug Miller Books

 

Doug Miller Books appears to be one of those bookstores where, like Raven Books near 29 Palms, you get the feeling that it's gotten away from them. The aisles are crammed with boxes that presumably hold books, and there's a second row of books shelved behind the front row - a classic response to limited shelf space, but not one that really lends itself to casual browsing.

As I ponder the selection, I'm surprised by the holes in the science fiction and fantasy section - no Harlan Ellison, no Philip K. Dick, no Ursula K. LeGuin.  Perhaps behind the books I can see?  Deciding that discretion is the better part of valour, I select a Gordon R. Dickson book, Naked to the Stars, and a just barely acceptable copy of Peregrine: Secundus, by Avram Davidson from the books that are actually visible.  (Yes, Peregrine: Primus is on the list as well, but sadly, the copy I bought on Friday didn't survive an attempt to remove the price tag.)

As I head toward what is apparently the only the Lego book store counter in captivity with my meagre selection, I'm surprised to see another bookcase of science fiction paperbacks, not in any particular order (other than perhaps by colour or publisher, it’s that abstract), which, regardless of oddities of cataloguing, features quite a good selection of the books that I'm looking for, and, as per my choice at Balfour, books that I wasn't expecting to find easily.

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, I quickly add The Tower of Zanid, by L. Sprague de Camp; Dancers in the Afterglow, an early Jack L. Chalker book; The Regiments of Night, by Brian N. Ball, not one of the better known names in the field, but it's a book that I've always liked; John W. Campbell's The Ultimate Weapon (I'd rather have an earlier printing, but beggars, choosers, etc.); The Thurb Revolution, the final book in the Anthony Villiers series, cleverly written by Alexei Panshin; and an early Neil Jones book, Doomsday on Ajiat, one of the Professor Jameson novels - this last selection isn't on my replacement list, but it's a good addition to the rest of the series that I already have. 

And then, on my way back, I pass BMV Books on Bloor Street - and don't go in. It appears to have a large footprint and lots of stock, I can even see the Graphic Novels table through the window, but this point, I'm looking at about 20 books altogether that I need to cram into my carry-on, and it seems ill-advised to add anything else to that list - not to mention my fervent desire to take a break and warm up.  Regardless, I'm pleased, it's been a much more rewarding day than my last attempt to start updating my library.  Who knows, maybe at some point I'll actually start looking in Vancouver.

- Sid

* I've been away from Toronto for too long, that address sounds like it's made up, like the corner of Yonge and Restless, or Binthere and Dundas.

** I have a really simple yardstick for this - do I own more science fiction and fantasy books than the store has for sale? In this case, I have a huge lead.

Four Day Geekend: Star Trek Lives!

It's Saturday morning, and I'm off to the wilds of Scarborough in order to spend some time with my friend Colin - AKA Cloin, the pretty Campbell brother.*

He picks me up at the subway, I get a tour of the new apartment and a cup of tea (served in a Star Trek mug, which turns out to be exactly on theme), we socialize for a bit, and then we head for the Pickering Flea Market along with his charming partner Jennifer, in bold defiance of the blizzard that is sweeping across the GTA.

The greater part of the Pickering Flea Market doesn't hold a lot of interest for me in terms of actual buying rather than browsing - you have to really want a cheap pet hair vacuum cleaner or affordable broadsword (both of which are available) if you're going to have to fly it across Canada to get it home.  There are other stalls that offer more manageable items, such as wallets and Blu-ray discs, but I'm really just looking rather than looking to buy.

However, one end of the cavernous warehouse space houses the Antiques and Collectibles section, which is of somewhat more interest to me.  The last time we were here, I unexpectedly discovered some vintage 1950s science fiction magazines,  so I'm curious to see what hidden treasures I might find this time.

The selection of items is certainly comprehensive:  furniture, books, albums, hardware, lamps, paintings, prints, photos, wall sconces, statuettes, and anything else that might be of interest to a collector.  (And, of course, miniature bagpipes - this is the kind of thing that you find when you shop with a guy named Campbell.)

However, other than a comic book or two, nothing really catches my eye until we pass down a row of locked glass cabinets, one of which contains a selection of Star Trek convention programmes and souvenir photo books from the 70s.

The eight pieces, covering the years from 1973 to 1976, are affordably (and surprisingly) priced at $5.00 each, so I clean out the shelf. The staff member who unlocked the cabinet cheerfully attempts to upsell me by suggesting a few of the other Star Trek items in the cabinet, but discretion is the better part of valour:  I'm far more likely to get the programmes home in one piece than a boxed Star Trek Fan Kit.

In the fullness of time, after a harrowing drive through the blowing snow and a satisfying Italian dinner, I'm back at the hotel and can take a look at my new acquisitions, which turn out to be a fascinating window into the early years of Star Trek fandom.

Those early fans are a testament to perseverance.  The original series ended in 1969 after only three seasons, and the animated series managed just two seasons and 22 episodes from 1973 to 1974.  This is long before home computers are a factor, let alone the internet, so the fans relied on newsletters, amateur fan-made magazines (aka fanzines), local clubs, and, of course, conventions, in order to maintain the Star Trek connection.

Although these programmes represent the very early days of Star Trek conventions, it's obvious that they're already viewed as significant events, attracting a wide range of guests in addition to those from the show itself.

As an example, the schedule for the first day of the 1976 convention features some heavy hitters from the world of science fiction: authors Hal Clement, Gordon R. Dickson, Ben Bova, and Harry Harrison, along with legendary illustrator Kelly Freas, and Gemini/Apollo astronaut James McDivvit - not to mention "What is Science Fiction?", a seminar featuring Harlan Ellison and science fiction legend Isaac Asimov which I would certainly have paid good money to attend.

In addition to schedules of convention events and so on, the books are predominantly composed of black and white promo photos - again, it's before the internet, so fans looking for pictures from the show would have been very pleased to receive 15 or 20 good quality prints from the show.  (That being said, I envision people taking these programs home after the convention ends and then carefully and thoughtfully cutting them up into individual pages, which, as somewhat of a collector, makes me wince a little.)

The programs also feature a Star Trek parody comic, Star Truckin, which I'm astonished to see was created and drawn in part by Matt Howarth, who went on to a noteworthy career as a prolific and successful underground indie comics creator and illustrator.

It's interesting to note that he's already collaborating with fellow artists Tony Sciarra, Mark Kernes and W. E. Rittenhouse, who would assist in the creation of Changes, Howarth's exceptional graphic novel that was serialized in Heavy Metal magazine in the 1980s - my first introduction to his work.  In fact, the comic in the 1975 program features characters who appear to be the original (if unnamed) versions of Ron and Russ Post, the distinctive primary characters from Changes, who went on to star in their own comic book, Those Annoying Post Brothers.**

All in all, I consider this to be a bit of a score in terms of value for money, although now, I'm wondering how much programs from the very first Star Trek convention in 1972 would cost.  Well, who knows, maybe the next time I'm in Pickering...

- Sid

*With no offense to Ralph, after all, someone had to be the smart one, although to be honest, when you're talking about the Campbell Brothers, the ideas of "pretty" and "smart" are really just relative to each other, rather than any sort of universally held standard for either concept. 

** I realize that most people will read this and shrug, but trust me, from a fan perspective, this is amazing deep dive forensic background stuff.  Interestingly, I can't find anything online that indicates Matt Howarth's age, I was trying to determine how old he would have been when he was doing Star Trek fan comics.

Four Day Geekend: Re-Moving.

If, as per my previous posting, the paperback is in fact dead, I know where it went to die.

After my visit to Bakka, I hopped on the subway and headed over to Pape and Danforth, and Re:Reading*, a used book and DVD store, with the emphasis on books. Re:Reading - which is in desperate need of a new awning - had an impressively wide selection of used science fiction, and to my intense pleasure, I was able to purchase eight of the books from my inventory list that were due to be replaced. 

However, to my equally intense frustration, when I returned to the hotel and attempted to remove their two-layered price tags, I ended up ruining four of the books that I'd bought, as the glue on the stickers peeled up the cover material rather than just peeling off.  Now, just for the record, I've removed a lot of price tags from books over the years, and these particular examples were particularly evil in their persistence and adherence - how can a used book store not be using easily removed price tags, for heaven's sake???

- Sid

 
* We walked past Re:Reading during my last visit to Toronto in 2016 and admired their signage.

  

Four Day Geekend: Memory Lane

 

To start my four-day weekend in Toronto, today I visited two stores that used to be the focal points of my life as a fan:  Silver Snail Comics and Bakka Books, officially Bakka-Phoenix since 2003.

My experience with both stores started when I was still in high school, although, in retrospect, I find myself wondering how I even knew that they existed, in the long-lost dark ages before the internet.  The Toronto Star newspaper, perhaps? Probably some kind of review in the Arts and Entertainment section, I can't imagine that either store actually advertised in the Star.

Regardless, my desire to shop at Bakka and the Silver Snail was the start of a series of semi-annual Saturday bus trips to Toronto in the later years of my high school career - and probably also the start of my interest in travel, at that point in my life visiting Toronto was certainly an adventure, equally intimidating and invigorating.

A round trip bus ticket on the Ontario Northlander was under twenty dollars back then - I looked it up, it's a hundred and eight now - and you had to catch an early bus, 6:00 or 7:00 AM, to get the most out of the day before catching a late afternoon bus back.  Generally I'd start the day with a hundred dollars, and earnestly do my very best to come back with nothing but loose change and a couple of bags filled with comic books and paperbacks.

When I moved to Toronto in the 80s to attend Ryerson Polytechnic, I visited the two stores almost every Saturday or Sunday.  At that point in time, they were conveniently located almost across the street from each other on Queen Street, and it made for a pleasant little ritual on the weekend to take the subway downtown and do a little shopping.

That tradition continued for about twenty years - in case you've ever wondered how my library reached its current size - but finally came to an end when I relocated to Vancouver in 2004.

It saddens me to think of all the pre-internet ephemera from the two stores which has vanished over the years, lost to water damage, spring cleaning, or sheer lack of forethought - the Silver Snail newsletters, the commemorative posters that they used to hand out for free, copies of the Bakka Bookie Sheet with reviews, recommendations and new arrivals, their distinctive bookmarks, and all the other little bits and pieces of promotion and branding.  It's not all gone - I still have most of my celebratory Bakka birthday buttons, although it looks like I've misplaced the B12 button that I think started the run, and my Silver Snail Club button is battered but still with me - but as far as I know, that's all that I still have, unless there's a bookmark or two hidden away in storage.

My hotel is conveniently only a block or so away from the Silver Snail's second-story Yonge Street location, so that's the first destination of the day. 

The Silver Snail has stayed true to its roots over the years.  Although there's a small selection of toys, action figures and statuettes, along with a token gaming section, the Snail is still predominately aimed at the reader and collector, with bins of back issues, a wide selection of new comics, and a full range of graphic novels.   

I'm a bit bemused by the addition of the Black Canary coffee shop to the layout - I've previously encountered a couple of book stores that combined the two, but I do wonder if that space might be better used for retail purposes.  On the other hand, I'm not a coffee drinker, for all I know it's quite popular, although there are only a couple of patrons during my visit to the store. 

 

It's been years since I bought a single-issue comic book (although graphic novels are still part of my Christmas list) but in a fit of nostalgia, I pick out a couple of comics, one new, one used.

My used selection is issue 7 of OMAC, the One Man Army Corps, a character created by Jack Kirby* for DC in 1974 - I find it surprisingly affordable at $6.00.**  (Like so many of the Kirby characters, OMAC has periodically been revived by Kirby fans who went on to work in the comics industry - the black-and-white John Byrne miniseries from 1991 standing out as a particularly well done example, although I'm not as sure about the blue-skinned 2011 version by Keith Giffen.)

 

My new comic of choice is the first issue of an alternative reality comic, Tales From the Dark Multiverse. In its first storyline, it takes a look at what might have happened when villain-turned hero Azrael took over the Dark Knight's mantle after Bane broke the Batman's back in the 1993-1994 Knightfall saga.  Given that I'm unlikely to start buying comic books again, especially with my Marvel Unlimited subscription, it seems prudent to not engage with an ongoing series.  (As a sidebar, both Marvel and DC have produced a wide range of alternate history/timeline/dimension versions of their characters, I suspect that it demonstrates a degree of franchise fatigue on the part of the comic book creative community.  After all, some of the DC characters date back to the 1930s, and most of the Marvel universe has been in existence for close to 60 years, that's a long time to keep tilling the same ground, so to speak.)

From the Snail, I proceed to lunch at the Rivoli, a Queen Street institution since 1982, which is located just one block away from the original locations of both Bakka and the Snail.  I'm a bit saddened to see that the previous Silver Snail location is now just an empty lot, there isn't even a building left.

After lunch - I strongly recommend the Riv's pad thai - I head up Spadina Avenue towards the University of Toronto and nearby Harbord Street, the latest location of Bakka Phoenix Books.

 

Even after a sustained absence, it still feels a bit like coming home to walk into Bakka.  The new books are still racked up to the right of the entrance, they still use little hand-written notes to indicate authors and recommended books, and the selection remains comprehensive and well curated - Bakka has always enjoyed staff members who were both knowledgeable and dedicated in their interest, which is probably why the store's alumni includes so many science fiction authors.

This is my first visit to this location, and I'm pleased by the spacious layout and the general setup of the store.  To an even greater extent than the Silver Snail, Bakka isn't interested in t-shirts or toys or other ancillary merchandise - it's a bookstore, plain and simple.

As I browse the shelves, I'm a bit astonished by the high percentage of trade paperbacks*** - it's like I wasn’t paying attention and the mass market paperback died while I was looking the other way. That being said, they might as well be hardcovers, I was a little offended by the opportunity to replace my battered old first edition of Again, Dangerous Visions with a $19.99 trade version.

I pick out four books (needless to say that three of them are trade editions): Made Things, one of the unpurchased books from my 2019 Geekmas list, by Adrian Tchaikovsky; Wasteland, by W. Scott Poole, a scholarly examination of the origins of modern horror in World War One, which struck me as an intriguing idea; The Long and Short of It, a collection of time travel stories by Jodi Taylor;  and a replacement paperback copy of The Atrocity Archives, the first book in the outstanding Lovecraftian Laundry series by Charles Stross.  I haven't catalogued the S part of my library yet, but I'm reasonably confident that my current copy is more than a bit the worse for wear.  To finish my shopping, I take a fifth book from the SALE table - Wild Fell, a horror novel by Michael Rowe. I'm not a big fan of horror, but I always liked to make a random selection when shopping at Bakka, just to avoid getting stuck in a rut.

Sadly, after I pay for my books, not only do I not receive a bookmark, but my purchases go into a plain blue bag.  Apparently the days of the branded bag and bookmark have come and gone at Bakka Books, along with so many other things from years gone by.

- Sid

* I really have to do a posting on Jack Kirby.

** It turns out to be a bit rumpled, but still in good shape.  But how do you rumple a comic book?

*** In case you don't speak printing, trade paperbacks are paperbacks more or less the size of hardcovers, whereas mass market paperbacks are 4x7 inches, give or take.

Four Day Geekend: Itinerary

 

As I type this, I'm in a departure lounge at YVR, waiting to board a flight for a solo four-day weekend trip to Toronto. In addition to getting together with my friend Colin (aka Cloin – you know, the pretty Campbell Brother) I've also put together a bit of a geek itinerary for my four day trip: a visit to the Yonge Street location of Silver Snail Comics, which apparently now also has a coffee shop; some shopping at Toronto science fiction and fantasy mainstay Bakka-Phoenix Books, currently located on Harbord Street near the University of Toronto; and a comparative dinner (or perhaps lunch) at the Toronto branch of Vancouver's geek and gaming franchise, the Storm Crow Manor on Church north of Wellesley. If time (and weather*) permits, I’ll also be doing a bit of a used bookstore crawl along College and Bloor Streets - after all, I have books to replace.

"Now boarding Zone 1 for Air Canada flight AC120...Zone 1, passengers for Zone 1...."

- Sid

* They're calling for a substantial winter storm on Saturday, which feels a bit unfair given that I just experienced a substantial winter storm in Vancouver.

"Endlessly entertaining."

“I think one reason people like hearing about these sorts of things is that it helps them see the world slightly differently, perhaps even with a sense of wonder. On Earth, it's just a given that if you put a fork on the table, it will stay there. But remove that one variable, gravity, and everything changes. Forks waft away; people sleep on air. Eating, jumping, drinking from a cup – things you've known how to do since you were a toddler suddenly become magical or tricky or endlessly entertaining, and sometimes all three at once. People like being reminded that the impossible really is possible, I think, and I was happy to be able to remind them.”

Chris Hadfield, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

Okay, full disclosure - my workplace lost about 30 minutes of my time this morning:  off task, mission abandoned, KRIs ignored, complete dereliction of duty.  Now, admittedly, there was almost no one in the office, Vancouver got hit by a substantial winter storm last night, most of the city was shut down, the only deadline-specific item on my desk was the bi-weekly newsletter, but even so, I feel an apology of some sort is in order.

But you have to understand the circumstances.  As part of the process of building our newsletter, I spend a certain amount of time every morning doing research online: looking for articles of interest, checking in on professional news, and watching for upcoming events.

Part of this process involves sifting through Twitter for useful links - I follow a wide range of industry accounts, with only two personal exceptions:  the Canadian Space Agency and Chris Hadfield.  And that's where the train left the tracks...

Normally I just glance at those accounts as I scroll through the latest tweets  - Chris Hadfield's wry wit makes for a nice break - but today, the CSA was retweeting a live feed from NASA featuring two astronauts doing a spacewalk in order to do some upgrades to the International Space Station.  Astronauts Christina Koch and and Jessica Meir were replacing nickel-hydrogen batteries with new lithium-ion batteries, taking the new batteries from a pallet attached to the Canadarm2.

 

It was a struggle to close the low-res video window and return to work.  Which is funny, because it was admittedly the most mundane thing in the world, I might as well have been watching a mechanic change tires, except for the fact that it was two people in spacesuits, working in zero gravity on a space station orbiting the planet at 7.66 kilometers a second.  To make it even better, part of the feed involved POV from helmet-mounted cameras, so we could see exactly what the astronaut saw.

 

I was simply fascinated. The process itself was a clumsy one, but then, imagine doing something as simple as changing a light bulb while wearing heavy gauntlets, a helmet, and 280 lbs of airtight insulated fabric and associated mechanisms.  Admittedly, a spacesuit weighs nothing in zero gravity, but it's still a restrictive and cumbersome barrier to easy movement.

That being said, they have to take those factors into account when designing the access points, fasteners, required tools and operating procedures for work on the surface of the ISS.  For example, I had no idea that the ISS was equipped with a system of safety bars to which the astronauts attached themselves with snap locks when working or moving from place to place - certainly a good idea, at least based on my recollection of countless science fiction stories where astronauts lose their tethers and come to a bad end.

 

After doing a handful of screen grabs, I finally closed the video window and returned to Earth, reminded, as Mr. Hadfield points out, that the impossible really is possible - a good lesson to take with me for the rest of the day.

- Sid

Great Quotes From Lunch.

I can't decide between the thunder and the storm.

KT, January 11, 2020

Admittedly, it's only about burger choices at the Storm Crow, but gosh, it certainly sounds epic.

- Sid

"It's a Christmas miracle!"

On Thursday, I joined Karli's family in celebrating her mother's birthday at Hy's Steak House. (Which I found to be an unexpected choice of venue, given that both Karli's mother and stepfather are vegetarians, but apparently they have some good options for the no-meat crowd.)

While we were waiting for our drinks to arrive, Karli's sister Lisa presented us with a surprise gift, which she had picked up at The Flame, a monthly storytelling series based around true personal stories that she had attended the day before.

To our surprise, it was a copy of the Epic Yarns version of A New Hope, which Karli had originally wanted to give me for Christmas, but had been unable to locate, and ended up substituting The Empire Strikes Back in its place.  It turned out that Lisa had attended The Authors Edition of The Flame, and Epic Yarns co-creator Holman Wang had been among the local authors who spoke that night.  Lisa, who was completely unaware that A New Hope had been on Karli's shopping list*, or that I had attended Holman's talk at the Vancouver Writers Fest*, spontaneously decided to buy us a copy of the first Star Wars book from Mr. Wang, thereby providing an unexpectedly happy postscript to the holiday season.

Now that I have the first two, I decided that it made sense to get the third book in the Epic Yarns series - after all, it's a trilogy - and just out of curiousity, checked on A New Hope while I was on Amazon.ca.  Not only was it out of stock, but third-party sellers had apparently decided that if Amazon™ didn't have it, they could charge as much as they wanted, with prices for new copies set at an oddly consistent $69.61.

 

Fortunately, Amazon™ did have the Wang brothers' take on The Return of the Jedi in stock, and I ordered a copy, thereby completing the set.  Oh, and other book sellers?  List price is $14.95 - just sayin'.

- Sid

* Sadly, it would appear that Lisa is not part of The Infinite Revolution's readership.

Hunting for Books: Fit the First

"For the Snark's a peculiar creature, that won't
Be caught in a commonplace way.
Do all that you know, and try all that you don't:
Not a chance must be wasted to-day!"

Lewis Caroll, The Hunting of the Snark

I started my hunt for replacement books on a rainy December 31st in downtown Victoria with a visit to Russell Books, a large new and used bookstore which had just recently moved to a new location on Fort Street.  I'd made a reasonable start on my book cataloguing project and part of the result was a list of almost a hundred timeworn books that I wanted to update with less damaged copies, some of which I hoped to find at Russell.

In my mind, I imagined toting an armful or two of books to the checkout, and had already mentally budgeted for a first installment of purchases, but to my mild surprise, I was only able to find two books out of my list of 95.  Feeling a bit disappointed, I didn't even buy those two texts, thinking that I would rather buy in bulk than take a piecemeal approach to the hunt.

My next stop was Bastion Books, a used book shop which specializes more in rare books, and has a substantially smaller science fiction and fantasy collection as a result.  In spite of which, I was able to find three or four of the books on my list, but their condition was only marginally better than the ones I was replacing.

However, although I hadn't made a start on listing my Ace Doubles yet, I selected one that I was certain was in better shape than the copy on my shelves, and spotted two that I was confident I didn't already own.  I also picked up a book by Lloyd Biggle Jr. - because why would you not want to buy a book by someone named Biggle?

The young woman on the checkout desk smiled when she saw my selections, and as she began to log their titles*, mentioned that she’d just watched a movie the night before in which the credits had been done with classic SF covers as backgrounds.

Realizing that my carry bag was not waterproof, I cautiously asked if she might have a plastic bag - a bit of a hot button question in Victoria, which banned single use plastic bags in 2018.  To my relief, she was able to dig out a small contraband bag that perfectly matched my purchases, and taped it closed as well - full points to Bastion for customer service.

In conversation while she was doing this, I mentioned my mostly unsuccessful quest and commented that I wasn’t looking for anything particularly esoteric, at least by my standards, and was surprised that I didn't see more matches for my well-worn existing copies.

She made a bit of a moue with her mouth and shrugged, then delivered the epitaph of the science fiction paperback.

"They really weren’t terribly well made in the first place.”

She suggested that I pay a visit to the Cavity Curiousity Shop, which she said had an excellent selection of science fiction, in spite of the fact that they don’t list themselves as a book store, which kept most casual shoppers from going there.

After a brief look at Google Maps™, I hopefully hiked the kilometer and a half to Cavity's location, only to discover that they were closed for the holiday season - although they certainly had an intriguing window display.  Thwarted on all fronts and wet to the knee, I trudged back to our borrowed apartment to seek solace in hot tea, a sausage roll, and dry jeans.

On paper, my day looked like a failure, but I have to say that in practise, I rather enjoyed it.  It gave direction to my shopping, took me to a couple of new locations, and made me really look at the books on display.  Apparently you can have a good day of fishing even if you don't get anything on the hook.

- Sid

* This is a thing that old school book shops traditionally do to record their sales.

"Let the final battle...begin."

"Taking one last look, sir, at my friends."  

C-3PO, The Rise of Skywalker 

"This will be the final word in the story of Skywalker."  

Emperor Palpatine, The Rise of Skywalker

When Karli and I invited her sister Stefanie to join us on Boxing Day to see The Rise of Skywalker, she initially wasn't sure if she wanted to attend or not, but finally decided to come, commenting that, "...the upside of the movie is participating in a cultural phenomenon".

And she's completely correct in her description, not only in the case of this movie, but for Star Wars in general.  Fond though I am of Star Trek, it doesn't have anything close to the extreme depth of cultural penetration that Star Wars has achieved.  One of the characters in the movie talks about finishing the fight that their parents started, and it's pretty much the same for the audience - Star Wars has become a multi-generational tradition that parents share with their children.

 

On our way to the movie, Karli asked me if I thought that she would enjoy the movie more than I would because she had no expectations about the ending.  When I thought about it, I realized that, surprisingly, neither did I.

Because, really, how do you end a story which spans over 40 years, a story that has ended each chapter with a monumental struggle between good and evil, between the dark and light sides of the Force? How do you pull all of the strands of the Skywalker family's story together to create an ending worthy of a saga like this?

The Rise of Skywalker certainly does its best to answer that question by providing an epic conclusion to an epic story, a conclusion which is monumental in scope and presentation, while offering appropriate codas for the character arcs of Rey, Po, Finn and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo - as with C-3PO's quote, this movie takes a last look at the characters in order to say goodbye to them.  It also ties the story's past into its present, as symbolized by brilliantly using the wreckage of the Death Star on the ocean moon of Kef Bir as a setting, and by placing the final scene of the movie on Tatooine, where it all began.

However, there are some odd turns on the path that the movie takes to reach that final scene.  The Rise of Skywalker is full of plot points that we should have found out about sooner - in fact, there were times when it felt a bit like I was learning things that really should have been in the second film:* the power of the Force to heal (which could have easily been introduced at the end of The Force Awakens when Finn is wounded); Leia's Jedi training; Po Dameron's background as a spice smuggler - odd that he managed to make it to the third film without any sort of back story;   Finn's unexpected connection to the Force;  the true nature of the power behind Snoke and the First Order; and, in spite of her experience in the caverns of Ahch-To in The Last Jedi, the critical - and unexpected - importance of Rey's parentage.*

 

There are also some less than perfect decisions in the script.  The character of Rose Tico, who is so beautifully introduced in The Last Jedi, is completely pushed aside,* C-3PO's "sacrifice" really isn't, it's just a mechanism for some jokes, the presence of a spy in the First Order is used once to allow for an easy escape and then tossed away without any further development, and the focus of the final battle seems to jump around for no reason  - not to mention the ongoing convenience of easily destroyed critical failure points for the bad guys.  Oh, and in traditional Disney style, a supporting character is apparently killed but then miraculously turns out to be alive, thereby allowing them to have their emotional cake and eat it too.

I also would have liked to see some kind of interaction between Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren, who finally make an appearance in this movie, rather than just have them be silent, faceless opponents.**

After the movie, as we were walking to the car, Stefanie asked if that was really the end of Star Wars.  Karli laughed and said, "It's made a lot of money, and Disney owns it - of course it's not the end."  And she's completely correct too - it's impossible to imagine Disney turning their back on a cash cow of this magnitude, as evidenced by The Mandalorian and the planned Obi-Wan Kenobi series for Disney +.

Really, though, this isn't about the end of Star Wars - as the Emperor points out, it's about the end of the Skywalker saga, and ultimately, the movie does signify that ending, while still leaving the door open for a new beginning.

Now that the saga is over, I'd like to be able to change one thing in the final trilogy:  the end of Luke's story.  It would have made me very happy to see him make his last stand in the final conflict with the Dark Side, thereby allowing a Skywalker to finally bring balance to the Force as was foretold all those years gone by.

 

But at least Chewbacca finally gets a medal - that only took 42 years.

- Sid

* Logically, this is what happens when you alternate writers in the creation of a trilogy:  it would be interesting to contrast a Rian Johnson script for the third movie with the J. J. Abrams/Chris Terrio version that's on screen.

**For that matter, why does Ben Solo change his name to Kylo Ren in the first place?  Did I miss something in a movie where that was explained?  I understand why he changes his name, obviously he wants to turn his back on his original life as Ben Solo, but why Kylo Ren?  If you're a Sith, you take the title of "Darth", which apparently means Dark Lord in whatever ancient tongue is native to the Sith, but everyone treats Kylo Ren as a name rather than a title.