A very ChiZine weekend
Started off on Friday by attending the fall launch of ChiZine Publications, the dark fantasy/horror press run by kelpqueen and jack_yoniga down at the Augusta House. They've got nineteen books out now, with another seven in the pipeline, which is just amazing. That evening they had new books out by Tony Burgress and Halli Villegas, among others, with readings, a free ChiZineTini from the bar, and a raffle for a Kindle with all their books on it (which I lost but Caroline Clink won, drat her).
Couldn't stick around for the whole evening as I had to duck over to the Underground Cinema at 9:30 PM, ad Colin Geddes was doing a Son of Kung Fu Friday with Ip Man 2, starring Donnie Yen! Ip Man was the guy who taught Bruce Lee how to fight, and the two Ip Man movies are (very) loosely based on the guy's life during the Japanese occupation of China in WWII and his life in Hong Kong in the early 1950s. The first one was pretty good, but this one has Sammo Hung in it, which made it 100% cooler. Quick plug, the screening was arranged with the Reel Asian Film Festival, which open here in Toronto in about two weeks.
Saturday started out nice and sunny, so I jumped on my bike for a quick ride. Then in the afternoon I went up to visit with Charlene and Hayden for dinner (with Paul and Susan dropping by as well). Charlene is currently five months pregnant, but prone to early contractions (which happened to her with her first kid), so she's on bed rest and little moving around right now. I bought along the series Ouran High School Host Club, which is very silly but quite funny to lend to her for the duration.
After dinner (thanks guys!) it was back to ChiZine again. They had been putting on the Toronto SpecFic Colloquium that day in Hart House, a one-day writing/author event with talks by all sorts of SF/Horror/Fantasy authors, such as handful_ofdust and Guy Kay. The evening program was readings by a whole batch of people like Peter Watts and Karl Schroeder among others, with a pile of food we all had to try and eat (catering in lieu of room rental). The whole thing was a big success so congrats again to Sandra and Helen and everyone else who organized it!
Sunday was quieter. Despite the dull weather I was out on my bike, as after four years of riding my odometer stood at 9985.5 km, and I wanted to roll it over. I headed down to the lakeshore, as I need to do this on quiet trails, as I had to have my eyes glued to the odometer at the critical moment. When it hit 9999.9 I took a quick glance ahead and slowed right down. But then the display started flashing 9999.9 over and over, instead of going to 0000.0! I don't know if it was a bug or what, but it still counts, and my new goal is to do the next 10,000 km in only three years. Celebrated by taking the evening off and watching Tsui Hark's Seven Swords (also with Donnie Yen). The film is disjointed and has too many characters, but it's great spectacle.
Couldn't stick around for the whole evening as I had to duck over to the Underground Cinema at 9:30 PM, ad Colin Geddes was doing a Son of Kung Fu Friday with Ip Man 2, starring Donnie Yen! Ip Man was the guy who taught Bruce Lee how to fight, and the two Ip Man movies are (very) loosely based on the guy's life during the Japanese occupation of China in WWII and his life in Hong Kong in the early 1950s. The first one was pretty good, but this one has Sammo Hung in it, which made it 100% cooler. Quick plug, the screening was arranged with the Reel Asian Film Festival, which open here in Toronto in about two weeks.
Saturday started out nice and sunny, so I jumped on my bike for a quick ride. Then in the afternoon I went up to visit with Charlene and Hayden for dinner (with Paul and Susan dropping by as well). Charlene is currently five months pregnant, but prone to early contractions (which happened to her with her first kid), so she's on bed rest and little moving around right now. I bought along the series Ouran High School Host Club, which is very silly but quite funny to lend to her for the duration.
After dinner (thanks guys!) it was back to ChiZine again. They had been putting on the Toronto SpecFic Colloquium that day in Hart House, a one-day writing/author event with talks by all sorts of SF/Horror/Fantasy authors, such as handful_ofdust and Guy Kay. The evening program was readings by a whole batch of people like Peter Watts and Karl Schroeder among others, with a pile of food we all had to try and eat (catering in lieu of room rental). The whole thing was a big success so congrats again to Sandra and Helen and everyone else who organized it!
Sunday was quieter. Despite the dull weather I was out on my bike, as after four years of riding my odometer stood at 9985.5 km, and I wanted to roll it over. I headed down to the lakeshore, as I need to do this on quiet trails, as I had to have my eyes glued to the odometer at the critical moment. When it hit 9999.9 I took a quick glance ahead and slowed right down. But then the display started flashing 9999.9 over and over, instead of going to 0000.0! I don't know if it was a bug or what, but it still counts, and my new goal is to do the next 10,000 km in only three years. Celebrated by taking the evening off and watching Tsui Hark's Seven Swords (also with Donnie Yen). The film is disjointed and has too many characters, but it's great spectacle.