|
|
Thursday, February 10th, 2011
| |
2:35 pm - Crowd Sourcing Our Errors
|
At this time, I would like to harness The Mighty Power of The Internet!!!!
Sales of the hardcover continue to do well (see below). Now I have been trolling the online reviews of the novel (because we can always use pull quotes and Kaja refuses to read reviews, which is why she still has her girlish good looks) and one of the things that irks me are the people who mention the misspellings and the accidental word substitutions, the things my beloved Spellcheck doesn't catch. So I talked to our editor and asked if we could make corrections for the paperback edition. He said "Yes, but they have to be in by the end of this month."
We here at Airship Entertainment have always relied on Crowd-sourced Editing. Often people have spotted stuff quickly enough that we can correct it within an hour of it being posted, so we're not used to vast numbers of people seeing our mistakes. Thus, we're asking for corrections. And it doesn't have to be simple word substitutions. We've already got a few chronological mistakes, point-of-view mix-ups, and one annoying instance where we forgot to use the metric system.
Please feel free to be as nit-picky and anal retentive as you can be. When you find an error, or something you think might be an error, give the page number the paragraph number and the sentence number as well as an explanation. This will do a lot to make this a better book. No really, I'm asking to tell us where we made mistakes. How often do you get an opportunity like that?
So the latest word from Night Shade Books is that they are going back to press on the hardcover of Agatha H and the Airship City at the end of February. They upped the print run numbers twice because of the orders that were rolling in, and at this time, they are planning on printing 5500 copies against 4500 orders. We will have to order at least 200 copies to fill our projected pre-orders, so with a little effort on our part, I'm betting we can get them to have to do a 3rd printing. When I mentioned this, the editor replied, "You go right ahead."
current mood:  chipper
|
|
(16 comments | comment on this)
|
| Sunday, January 23rd, 2011
| |
12:06 pm - Working
|
So. Things have calmed down a bit, believe it or not.
We did four signings in a row, which some people thought was a Bad Thing, since they were all in the same town, but since different people showed up (for the most part) and bought books, I don't think there is any serious cause for complaint.
The big news is that the first edition of Agatha H and the Airship City is sold out. Whereas you might be able to find a copy at your local book or comic shop, the distributors and wholesalers and the publisher have sold everything they had. This is kind of frustrating, as we had this momentum going on Amazon, and had just got a great review from the Library Journal. (Do not belittle the library market. There are thousands of libraries out there, and if only half of them only buy one copy, we're still talking thousands of books. Do the math.). However the publisher said, "If you have to have a problem with a book, this is the problem you want to have."
Said beloved publisher, Night Shade, said that they are getting enough back orders, that they are committing to a second printing. The thing everyone in publishing fears are "late returns". This is where a store orders hundreds of copies, and then returns them expecting full credit 6 months later. Then they "generously" offer to take the same books at Remainder rates. This is a "deal", as the publisher doesn't have to pay for all that extra shipping. There is a reason a lot of small publishers have really mixed emotions about big chains like Borders dying. So back orders are a really good sign. If a store is making back orders, they probably won't hit you with late returns.
Apparently, these days, doing a hardcover reprint is pretty rare. Yay us. It is also good because now we can actually sell it on our website. We sold so many at our various signings, that we didn't have enough books left to feel comfortable offering them for sale. The publisher gave us a concrete print date of February 28, so we're offering the books for pre-sale, and we'll have them shipped directly from the printer. Thus we'll be able to guarantee having copies for our customers.
If we have a goal at this point, it is to pre-sell so many copies that the publisher has to do a third printing. Yes, yes, I know, but I can dream, yes? The paperback doesn't come out until August.
current mood:  busy
|
|
(3 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, January 13th, 2011
| |
5:32 pm - Enough is Enough
|
Goddammit.
Personally, I believe that as a comic book creator, there really isn't a lot I can do about the larger issues of the day. Especially as we create a rather "fluffy" bit of entertainment. Also, we are not really a big deal, so who cares what we think? I am used to this.
However occasionally there is something that is right in my damn back yard and I can at least say something.
There is this guy, named Travis Corcoran. He is the owner of an online comic book store called Heavy Ink.
Well he made a blog post, where he talks about how the shooting of congresswoman Giffords was a good start. He urges people to get out there and shoot more congressmen.
This whack-job sells Girl Genius. I cannot stop him from doing this, but I can beg that anyone who enjoys our work - please don't buy from this guy. If there is any justice, the Secret Service is already reading him his rights, but the last thing I want is one dime brought in from my books paying for his lawyers.
Thanks.
current mood:  cold
|
|
(40 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
12:56 pm - A Report From The Field
|
So. Girl Genius Day was January 12! We tried to make a "thing" out of it, with the stated goal of (briefly) becoming the # 1 seller on Amazon, as well as give a boost to brick & mortar stores around The World.
Well, today is January 13th. So how did we do?
First off, we got a lot of love from a lot of people. A lot of friends mentioned it, as did a number of news sites and people we do not actually know. Mentions were made on Facebook and Twitter, and our local alternative newspaper, The Stranger, gave us a nice chunk of ink.
Despite this, we never managed to get above # 17 on the general bestseller list. FAIL! FAIL! FAAAAIIILLL!!!!
However, Amazon doesn't just stop there. To be "helpful" (I guess), they have generated a whole bunch of sub-lists. Thus if you want to know what's hot that day in 'Cookbooks' or 'Animal Husbandry' (not as interesting as you'd think) or 'Nazi Atrocities', there's a list! We did very well on these.
We cracked the top 5 on 'Science Fiction', 'Fantasy', 'Comics', 'Satire' (those darn Jagermonsters– Swiftian as hell. I guess.), and 'Movers and Shakers' (though we're not religious). (Thankfully, we didn't even get mentioned on 'Nazi Atrocities'.)
We also did very well with Kindle sales. We do not how we we did with e-book sales, because Webscritions is currently down. In our dark little hearts, we can dream because an overwhelming flood of Girl Genius readers swamped them. BWAHAHAHAHA!
So, it also appears that Amazon has actually Sold Out. (Being Amazon, of course, they will never admit this, they just say that it will take "1 to 3 weeks" to fill the order. We shall see.)
On the Personal Front, we had a reading/signing at Ravenna Third Place Books. This is a great little bookstore that has an attached restaurant, so theoretically, you never have to leave.
So the people there e-mailed me to say that they'd "stocked up" on the book, but "had indications" that they might need more. To my astonishment, I learned that their idea of "stocking up" consisted of getting 11 copies. To my further astonishment, our in house bookstore expert, Alice Bentley, former proprietress of the sadly missed SF bookstore 'The Stars Our Destination' in Chicago, said that 11 copies is not only reasonable, but a great show of faith on the booksellers behalf. "I cannot tell you," she said, "how many times I'd get a really, good, well known author in the store, and we'd get no visitors at all." We, on the other hand, are brand new authors plugging our first novel. Yeek. My question now is how does anybody make a living doing this? The answer, of course, is; Don't Quit Your Day Job.
Well, I decided to bring a case of the novels, because it was raining, and I didn't want to bother breaking one down, and if I started with a case, then it would be easier to count up the remaining ones when the night was over. Oh yes, it was raining. While that's kind of a given in Seattle, it was still one more thing to worry about.
So we show up. Nice big store. Friendly staff. And a number of our friends who have come to support us and keep the number of empty seats to a minimum. We have terrific friends.
So it's time to start and holy cow– the place is packed. With people we don't even know! The reading went very well. They actually laughed in the right places, and clapped when we were done. Whew. Then we took questions, and then we signed books. Now we always have a policy that you don't have to buy something new to get a signature. We'll sign whatever you've taken the trouble to bring, because you had to buy it sometime.
But while we got some old stuff, mostly it was the novel. And there were a lot of them. The upshot was that they sold their 11 copies. They sold the entire case we brought, and there was a distressingly large number of people who wanted to buy copies, but couldn't.
Overall, a mighty big success. However I'm very glad that I scored 4 cases from the publisher, because we've got 3 more signings this week.
After that, we're in trouble. Beautiful, beautiful, trouble.
current mood: accomplished
|
|
(22 comments | comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, January 11th, 2011
| |
8:09 pm - Fretting
|
I believe I am anxious. This is a surprising emotion. You'd think I'd be used to it, having been a freelance comic book guy for close to 40 years now, but usually? Not so much.
Tomorrow is our self proclaimed 'Girl Genius Day'. (It is also Kaja's birthday, and while I usually stress out over that, this year I actually got her a nice present, on time and everything).
No, January 12th is the day when we've told people to go out and Buy The New Girl Genius Novel! In an attempt to make a bit of a splash in the jaded, cynical world of prose publishing.
Originally, we had been told that the book would be released on January 5th. Okay, we'd ask people to wait a week, but that would just guarantee that the book would have time to be delivered to wholesalers, who would get it to the shops. Well oh hey, guess what? It was actually released with absolutely no fanfare in late December. This was when we learned that hard and fast book release dates are only for books in the Harry Potter league. We are nowhere near this, obviously, and thus the operating procedure is to ship stuff out before the ink is dry and start selling. Okay, fine, but If you go to the Night Shade Books site, they show that the book is Sold Out.
PANIC!!
Well a quick e-mail to said publisher and the panic has abated a bit. Everybody thinks this book is going to do well, so everybody "ordered heavy", so they'll have a lot of books ready to meet demand. Great. Now there's performance anxiety. And the publisher is still sold out, but they fully expect that they will have to reprint. The question is when. Thus they are now waiting to see how quickly the shops and wholesalers "sell through' on the books they have in stock.
Okay, okay. So the book's been out for a while now, and we don't know how it'll do, because we, by our own actions, have artificially repressed sales. Or Have we? Maybe January 12th will speed past and there won't be a sales bump at all. See? There's all sorts of ways I can drive myself crazy. We are not used to this. Up until now, we were the publisher. We dealt with the distributor, and had a direct line as to how our books were selling before it even came out. Hells Belles, we won't even put it up on the Studio Foglio web store until January 13.
Luckily, we are doing signings for the rest of the week, and thus there will be something for me to do besides fret and constantly hit 'refresh' on the Amazon author tracking site. Hopefully we'll see you there.
current mood:  drained
|
|
(28 comments | comment on this)
|
| Monday, December 13th, 2010
| |
11:51 am - A Prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown.
|
Today we'll talk about local promotion.
We sell stuff all over the world, but when the local newspapers and magazines in Seattle talk about local publishers, or comic companies, or even steampunk, no one talks about us. HOW CAN THIS BE?!
Well, they're ignorant, but that's a given. Conversely, a celestial beam of light does not automatically shine down upon us whenever a writer is thinking about discussing the local scene. It's a damn shame, but the permits are a bitch.
We show up at local conventions, but that's no help, really. We help with local charities, but the newspaper that runs it never gives us any ink the rest of the year.
Of course, we never give them any reason to. We just keep our heads down, produce our stuff and don't say much, assuming that The Work Will Speak For Itself. Well maybe it does, but it doesn't seem to help much.
You need to reach out and communicate with people. The local comic company, Fantagraphics publishes comics with Great Artistic Merit, but is not known for great sales. However they must have a full-time publicist on staff, because if comics comes up anywhere in the local media and the writer doesn't shoehorn in a mention of "local comics publisher, Fantagraphics", a lollygoth shows up and shoots out one of their kneecaps.
We are slow, but are learning. We are looking for a publicist (send your resumes to customerservice@studiofoglio.com) . We are actually sending out press releases on Agatha H. We are arranging for a couple of local bookstore signings (details to follow). Hopefully, the publishers will pick up some the slack with their own gun-toting goth girls, but advertising budgets only go so far.
This is hard for us, as we're not used to doing this kind of stuff. It's actual work, damn it, and we still do have a webcomic to put out three times a week, as well as get the second novel ready for the publisher in just six months. But it's part of The Job.
current mood:  cranky
|
|
(9 comments | comment on this)
|
| Saturday, December 11th, 2010
| |
2:04 pm - Ars Gratis Pecunea
|
Today I'll talk about cover art.
I've been drawing Agatha and her pals for over ten years now.But when he novel gets published, not only will I not doing the cover, but I would have been astonished if the publisher had suggested I do so.
When they first contacted us about how they planned to package the book, the fellows at Night Shade felt that they had to explain all their decisions, which, while not really necessary, Kaja and I appreciated, especially since their line of reasoning co-incited with our own. I will paraphrase;
For good or ill, I have a unique art style. People who like it, really like it. People who don't like it, really don't like it. I can't even get upset about this, because when it comes to art, you either like it, or you don't. It's not like there's a "correct" response. The Night Shade people reasoned like this: "If we put Phil's art on the cover, we will sell to people who like Phil's art. However, most of the people who like Phil's art are already familiar with Girl Genius, and are inclined to buy this book anyway. Thus, if we use art by some other artist, we have a chance of catching the eye of all the people who don't like Phil's art, have never heard of Girl Genius, or just hate cartoons."
As you can see, this decision is based purely upon a desire to sell as many books as possible. Yes, Girl Genius is "our baby" and surely no one could possible understand the visual nuances of the character as well as I.
So what.
I've had ten years to develop my characterization of Agatha, it's not going anywhere, and even if this book tanks, Kaja and I will still be producing the Girl Genius comics. I am not "threatened" by someone else doing the cover. Night Shade is in the business of selling prose books to a market I don't really know a lot about. Therefore, I am going to defer to them, since they are the ones putting up the money to do it.
Now, that said, the artist they got was exactly the artist we would have tried to get; Tom Kidd. Tom is an excellent artist, who lurves him the airships, and has an excellent eye for baroque machinery. We were also good friends twenty five years ago when I lived in New York, and while we no longer get together for dinner every month, still enjoy talking on those rare occasions when we see each other at conventions.
Tom has been producing wonderful book covers for decades now, and I have ample proof that he knows what he's doing.
current mood:  artistic
|
|
(23 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, December 9th, 2010
| |
10:27 pm - A Gift For Kaja
|
After you sell a book, you have to sell it again.
In traditional publishing, a very good argument has been made that an author (or artist, cartoonist, musician, etc.) did not in fact sell his book to the public. All he had to do was sell his book (or whatever) to a Gatekeeper. Once convinced of the worthiness of said book, the Gatekeeper would allow the work to be disseminated to the public, who would then decide if they liked it.
One of the exciting things about this current period in history, is that at the moment, a person working on the internet does not have to appease a Gatekeeper figure, but can throw their work out directly to the public (or at least that segment of the public that has access to a computer and the internet). This has been a tremendous boon to Kaja and myself. For the last thirty years, our work has been ignored or marginalized by editors and publishers because it was 'different'. Once we experimented by posting it online where anyone could decide upon the merits of our work for themselves, we had more readers than ever before. A LOT more readers.
We would once again like to run an experiment with our readers. Relax, it won't hurt. This January, Night Shade Press will be releasing the first Girl Genius novel; Agatha H and The Airship City. Now, as I'm sure you are aware, thousands of new, excellent books are released out into the world. Some of them will catch the attention of the public and flourish. Many more will languish in obscurity, eventually winding up in dusty boxes in the author's garage, where they will be used as Christmas gifts for the mailman. We would prefer that this not happen, if only because we are fond of our mailman, and I have a lot of stuff in my garage already.
Thus, we are launching a campaign that I'm calling 'A Gift For Kaja'. If you are planning on buying Agatha H and the Airship City from Amazon.com, we ask that you hold off from pre-ordering, and buy it on January 12, 2011. The idea is that if enough people buy a book on a particular day, it will rise in the sales ranks. The higher we can get it, the better. Yes, it's just for the one day, but if we get it high enough, then other people, people not already Girl Genius aficionados, will notice, and we hope, check it out. We will be posting ads and links to facilitate this on our site, as well as wherever else we can get them.
We are very much aware that there are those who do not like Amazon.com for various reasons. We have always urged our readers to buy our books from their local book or comic shop. Independent booksellers are a treasure to be cultivated. However, in today's world, sometimes this is just not possible. There are numerous places where there isn't a bookstore, or where the owners won't order our books. In these circumstances, Amazon is a viable alternative, and if a book does well enough on Amazon, more traditional stores will take note, and consider ordering it themselves.
You might be wondering why the name 'A Gift For Kaja'? Simple. January 12 is Kaja's birthday, and I'm hoping to make it an interesting one. You can help.
current mood: busy
|
|
(36 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, December 8th, 2010
| |
1:07 pm - Explainig The Process- Part 1
|
Hello all.
I plan to work on this journal a bit more regularly, if only because I actually have something to talk about that people may find interesting.
THE BIG NEWS; Kaja and I have written a Girl Genius novel. Now I know that many people consider that we are already in the midst of writing a Girl Genius novel, albeit in comic form. When it is done it will no doubt match Gasoline Alley in length, but with more dirigibles.
But no, I am talking about an actual, traditional prose-style novel brought out by a publisher who isn't us or anything. It is a re-tellling of the main Girl Genius story, in non-comic form. So in the coming months, I intend to talk about this. How we produced it, how we'll market it, why we made certain changes to the story, our dealings with the traditional publishing establishment, and anything else we think might be of interest.
Now there are cynical, jaded readers of this journal who are no doubt thinking, "There is a big difference between writing a novel and actually getting it published." This is absolutely true, and thus, in a moment, I will provide an elegant and finely crafted link that will be of some relevance.
However, if I may beg your indulgence, even if you are seized by a sense of overwhelming excitement and a burning desire to possess this book when you follow the link, Please, DO NOT pre-order it! An odd request, yes?
Tomorrow I shall explain why.
Behold!
current mood:  excited
|
|
(32 comments | comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
| |
10:00 pm - The Foglios Down Under- Day 18
|
DAY 18
It's the final day of the convention. We sit at our table and let people look at the Hugos. A lot of people say they've never actually touched one before, despite the fact that the Worldcon always has them on display. Well fair enough, most people would think it inappropriate to just pick one up. However we encourage people to pick up ours, and they always marvel at how Heavy they are. You young kids don't understand just how tough old Oldsmobiles were.
We get a steady stream of well wishers, as well as people wishing us a safe trip, and promising to "put us up" if we ever come back. To the guy who promised to shoot and roast a wallaby from his own private herd if we ever come back, keep the grill warm, mate, it sounds great.
Apparently, in these posts, I have mentioned the food of Australia to no small extent. Thus, all through the weekend we were getting small gifts of locally produced food and drink. We want to encourage this. I cannot speak highly enough of Tim Tams, you guys make amazing mead, and I have not yet dared to try the Musk flavored Lifesavers, but I swear, we will.
Writer, world traveler and all around fabulous person Cory Doctorow stops by, and we explain how we make a living off of a webcomic. We get along pretty well, and when he has to leave, he says, "If you're ever in London, let me know. Not that it'll do you any good, as I'm hardly ever there." Well, it's the thought that counts.
Then the Dealer's Room closes. As everyone else is packing boxes and dismantling displays, I pick up the piece of paper that tells people we're sold out and off we go. Aussiecon 4, which I will rate as one of the best over-all world cons I have attended, is done. Whew.
Then The Family Foglio heads out to dinner. We go to Melbourne's Chinatown, though like Seattle, it's a harmonious blend of all of Asia. We wind up in this small place where they have great dumplings, and these Amazing little fried sweet pumpkin stuffed pastries. Then it was a slow stroll back to the hotel, and Kaja has us all sit somewhere out of the way while she packs everyone's bag. The most difficult objects are the Hugos. They are so heavy that no one suitcase can contain more than one of them or else it becomes too heavy, and what with the one for Cheyenne, we have 3 of them. Yes, I know, boo hoo.
Then we sleep for a bit, and then it's on to a very big plane where I hope to traverse a significant pat of the planet before I bother to sleep again.
Hmm. I guess this trip is over.
current mood: satisfied
|
|
(12 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
9:51 pm - The Foglios Down Under- Day 17
|
DAY 17
It's the Day of The Hugos. We're pretty blase about it this year, as everyone is predicting that Neil Gaiman will win. Takes some of the pressure off. The best encouragement we can find is from John Grace, who says, "Maybe they all forgot to vote for Neil".
Before we stroll over to the convention, we take some time and go see the Tim Burton exhibit that the local film institute was running. People at the convention had seen it and recommended it, and on the whole, I've liked Burton's films. Though some, not so much. But at least his ideas regarding set design are cool. So it was a very good exhibition. There were lots of drawings, a lot of short films, some sculpture, and a lot of movie props. There were a couple of drawings that Kaja and I wanted as prints, and we had great hopes for the exhibit catalog (These were doomed to disappointment, as the catalog went out of its way to select naught but boring stuff) and the museum shop (sadly, ditto).
Back at the con we've been sitting at our empty Dealers table all weekend. Usually this is fine, as we have a slowly diminishing pile of books to monitor, but this time we've been chatting with people, and signing stuff, and getting some writing and drawing done. We haven't seen as much of The Experiments as they'd like, but they are conditioned to a perpetual low level of neglect, , which, if this were a Kung-Fu movie or something, would toughen them up. This is probably not something to encourage, as to do it properly, Kaja and I would have to be gunned down by Yakuza thugs led by a man with a jade nose or something. Pass. As it is, they're both good readers, and I guess that'll have to do. Victor has spent a lot of time in the game room, and Alex has spent quality time with the other kids in the creche maintained by the convention. The people in charge of this have done a great job, according to my mother-in-law, who although she has a membership, is strangely disinclined to sit in on panels that argue the merits of Heinlein vs. Stross. (There's something wrong with that woman, but she's great with the kids.)
Around 2, they want all the nominees, presenters and various Hugo functionaries to show up for a rehearsal. It's so that when the time comes, if you win, you don't accidentally pitch yourself off the stage, or freak out and accidentally thank your drug dealer or something. They take us up one by one, and to make sure we know to go where we're supposed to, they use one of the sample Hugos. The person who gets to make the Hugos doesn't get an order for a the number of nominees. They actually have to make close to 30 Hugos. This is in case there's breakage, or a tie, or they have to give awards to a team (The first time the award was given for a motion picture, the horrified committee discovered that they were legally obligated to run off 687 awards. Luckily, most of the film crew settled for a six-pack of Lone Star Beer and a McDonald's coupon), and some of those awards are used in display capacities. Now no one had actually seen what the base design looked like this year (it's usually revealed with great pomp at the award ceremony), we naturally wanted to see it NOW. Kaja said it was actually pretty funny, because our handler would keep leading me on with the thing, I'd reach for it and he'd sucker-slap me to get me to pay attention. We finally did get to see it, it's a beautiful art nouveau design, which is a first.
Soon enough it was time to begin. First there's a pre-award ceremony for the nominees. They give us some drinks, so we don't throw up from sheer stress, though not too many drinks, because that would be Bad. They also give us some cocktail party type food on sticks, because almost everyone is so wound up they forgot to eat. This does not apply to Kaja and myself, who try to maintain our fine Hobbiton physiques at all times, and thus we had a hearty lunch with our kids after we saw the monsters and dead people at the Tim Burton show. For not the first time, I wonder how my children will be regarded by their peers as they go out into the world. The wine does its job and everyone is chatty and happy and amiable all over the place.
Then we troop into the auditorium. I have sat through many a Hugo Award ceremony, and am thus prepared. To the initial astonishment, and later envy of Howard, who has sat with us, I work on some sketches I have due. This allows me to while away the time until they get to the category of Best Fan Artist, which is half the reason we're there. If Dave Howell wins, we're to accept for him, and perform this little kabuki-style play he has written for us. Sadly, Dave does not win, though subsequent analysis will show that he came in second.
Then we just relax and let the rest of the evening roll on to its conclusion, and the fabled Hugo Loser's party, which is a lot more crowded and louder than the Hugo Winner's party, and usually has a lot more alcohol and a lot more sincerity per square foot.
However my calm is shattered when The Graphic Story Category is announced and we win. A Hugo. We reprise our famous San Diego Inkpot Award performance by screaming "What?!" when they announce our name, and we stumble onto the stage. They let me hold the Hugo and no one slaps me. We actually manage to thank almost all the right people and then it's back to our seats.
Damn.
current mood: shocked
|
|
(14 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
9:39 pm - The Foglios Down Under- Day 15/16
|
DAY 15 and 16
Now that we're actually at the convention, things have gotten pretty quiet. Of course, not having books to sell certainly helps.
There seems to be a dearth of bid parties. A combination of every existing bid running unopposed, and apparently the Crowne Point Hotel, which is the main con hotel, shut down all the parties because someone neglected to get he correct permits or something. Awkward.
Chicago wins for 2014, which is nice, I'm getting tired of ordering my pizza by mail.
Melbourne is a very nice city, architecturally. There is a marvelous blend of new, interesting looking buildings, along with fabulous old remnants of the last century. A beautiful old train station dominates the local area, and it is fully functional, as evidenced by the people and trains that flow through it. Everywhere we go in the city, you never know when you'll encounter a Victorian edifice of mystery. There is also a healthy use of ornamental ironwork on private homes. The last time I saw stuff this riotously ornate was in the French Quarter of New Orleans. But I see beautiful stuff all over the place whenever we leave the main city core. Some of it attached to old mansions with exquisite underlying brick and stonework. I must see if there is a book chronicling these old buildings. Something to look for next time, I guess. And there definitely will be a next time.
On Friday, Kaja and I do our only panel, per se, which is called "From Print to Pixels". We share the table with Howard Taylor, of Schlock Mercenary fame. who once again demonstrates why he has a devoted podcast following, while we do not.
The ambiance of the convention is nice. Being a non-US worldcon, it's a bit smaller, it bit more relaxed. A lot of people seem very happy that we're here.
On Saturday, we perform the Girl Genius Radio Plays. I am happy to see that unlike other conventions, Aussiecon listened when I said we'd need a large room and a bunch of microphones, as they have supplied both. We had a superlative cast this year, and I have to admit, all the characters sound pretty good with Australian accents.
We have dinner with Gary, a guy who wants to make Girl Genius iPhone & iPad aps. Sounds like he knows what he's doing. The restaurant is a tiny Italian place about midway between our hotel and the con. Inexplicably, it is always empty. We've eaten there 2 or 3 times. Apparently there is a large segment of the population of Oz that claims Italian descent. However this restaurant appears to be run by east Indians, but they can whip up a great lasagna. They also make the best sticky date pudding we've had yet. This is a dessert that we've seen all over Australia, but had never encountered in any other country. Perhaps Australia has a superfluity of sticky dates. It's a kind of thick cake, usually with some sort of orange glaze or other sauce. I would kill to be able to have a slice with a nice big mug of good strong coffee, but apparently that art has been lost here in the south. Any attempt to describe what I want gets a blank look, a glazed smile, and eventually, a tiny cup of cappuccino. And you have to threaten to kill someone to get sugar free sweetener. Splenda™ is unknown in restaurants (although it is in the grocery stores) What is completely impossible to find is cream. Or even half and half. The best you can hope for is "full cream milk" (which I assume is whole milk). You can purchase cartons of "pouring custard", which is just what you think it is, and while decadent, does not really taste good in coffee. Trust me on this.
current mood:  enthralled
|
|
(6 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
| |
10:21 pm - The Foglios Down Under- Day 14
|
We got up, everyone ate a healthy and nutritious breakfast, over which we talked about last night's show. Our room faces the Yarra River, and all of a sudden these pylons along the river bank start spouting fireballs. Apparently they do this every hour. Pretty neat, especially if you weren't expecting it. and we wandered over to the convention center. Got into the Dealer's Room around 11:30. The Room opens to the public at 2. Our cases of books had arrived, and were sitting upon our table. I cracked them open and laid them out.
Paged through the convention schedule and found the stuff Kaja and I were on. Ah! They say they've scheduled the Girl Genius Radio Plays. That'll be fun. Oh wait, it's not actually listed in the pocket program book. I'm told this will be corrected in a subsequent hand out. Guess I'd better put up a sign on our table, but the actual details are still unclear. Sigh. Well, I'll put up a 'Call For Actors' sign tomorrow anyway.
Went through and found the panels I'm interested in seeing. There are a few I feel I Should have been on, where I am not. Perhaps I'll go heckle them.
Found a bunch of stuff the kids might be interested in attending. we shall see. Rose wants to take them to the Aquarium, and there's a Tim Burton retrospective at a local museum that might be interesting, if we have the time.
Took a turn around the room. Lots of Australian Publishers, A very nice steampunk jeweler with some terrific posters, some stalwart booksellers, a fellow webcomic artist named Jenner, and a little bit of this and a little bit of that. A small Room, really, but a nice one overall. As always, I'm slightly horrified by the prices. Paperback books cost close to $26 (That's Australian, but still!). I myself am pricing the Girl Genius collections at $40 each (as opposed to $23 American). The other dealers think that's reasonable. The nice people from Locus are there, and give us an advance copy of the latest issue, we're on the cover, because it contains an interview with Kaja and myself. Mighty nice.
I finally get a quiet moment, and open up the laptop to do some writing. Suddenly there's a change in the room's noise level. It's 2! The room is open. Well, here's hoping-The wave of fans crash into us with palatable force. They are enthusiastic, and very happy to see us. They talk about my blog, tell us about places we should come next time (and we're already in agreement that there most definitely will be a next time), like Tasmania, they wish us luck regarding the Hugos, and they buy books. They buy books like locusts devouring a field of wheat. They buy great huge handfuls of these insanely expensive books and laugh while they do it, and by my watch, we completely sell out of books in an hour and 45 minutes. All of them. Gone. I go around to the other dealers who have copies of our books. I bring them back to our table and sell them there for them. Fifteen minutes later- They are gone. People who stopped by to say hi, and then went on to make their initial circuit of the Dealer's Room return to the table with wads of beautiful colorful cash in hand, and their faces crumple like hopeful children who watch their puppy get flattened by a steamroller. We have no books. We will not have any more books tomorrow. We are completely sold out of books for the rest of the convention. I predict that by the end of the convention, I will have died a thousand deaths.
On the other hand, it's nice to be loved.
current mood: shocked
|
|
(17 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
| |
9:46 pm - The Foglios Down Under- Day 13
|
Huzzah, here we are in Melbourne. This morning Kaja and I left the Experiments under the care of their grandmama, and we went to do Convention Business. First off to the Crowne Point Hotel, where badges were being handed out. It was surprisingly dark inside, and we found the hotel was experiencing a localized black-out. The hotel functionary that was showing us to the Registration Area asked, "So, is this a science fiction convention?" We admitted it was. "Well then, I'll bet you've got an interesting theory as to why the power's out, eh?" I looked at him. "I expect you tripped a circuit breaker, possibly because you have a leak because of all this rain." He looked disappointed that I hadn't evoked aliens, or possibly angels. Science fiction, not scientology, dipshit.
We got our badges and assorted convention publications rather easily, and then strolled over to the Dealer's Area. Not because we had to set up, I brought too few books to have to worry about that, but because we wanted to check the area out and see who was there.
We found our spot (nice location), and sat around reading the program book. Some great stuff by Shaun Tan. I'm looking forward to getting a pile of his books here. Witnessed the triumphal arrival of fellow Hugo nominee Howard Taylor, along with a flock of minions. Unlike us, Howard brought enough books for everybody, and everyone should go buy some, if only so Howard can get home to his lovely wife and family.
The Art show asked if I'd be willing to act as an art show judge. I said, sure, I didn't have a horse in this race, and I love being judgmental. Plus, if anyone gets mad, I'll be thousands of miles away.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at City Hatters, an iconic hat shop (est. 1910) here in Melbourne. As anyone who knows me is aware, I am a great fan of good hats. Really good hat shops are hard to find these days, and I will go far to patronize a quality shop. While there, I got a snazzy fedora by Akubra, one of Australia's best known hat makers. I am pleased.
Then we went out to dinner with Howard. We wound up at a very nice Korean BBQ restaurant. For those unfamiliar with Korean BBQ, you select the meats and the staff barbecues the food right at your table. In more traditional establishments, you're expected to do it yourself, but wisely, they sensed that I cannot properly BBQ without my lucky 'LOOK OUT, HOT STUFF!" apron, and once they saw me start to put it on, they cheerfully took over. My son was thrilled to meet Howard, and declared that he was as funny in person as he was in print.
Tomorrow the convention officially begins.
current mood:  hopeful
|
|
(5 comments | comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
| |
9:10 pm - The Foglios Down Under- Day 12
|
Ocher thoughts.
Flying out of Alice Springs. You can see the land and it's red. Red for miles and miles and miles. A thousand years from now, hopefully less, I expect Mars to look like this. Red and arid, but with visible signs of vegetation and habitation. I look forward to seeing that. It's cut through by thin roads that go as straight as a ruler through green, grey, white and tan landscape features without hesitation. Things are far apart in Australia, and travelers want to transverse the distance as quickly as possible.
It's really an unthinkable amount of iron oxide loose in the environment, and I have to wonder; Do people around here suffer more from hemochromatosis? Do they have lower instances of iron-poor blood? Do magnets stick to them? Because that would be awesome.
We arrive in Melbourne. It seems like a nice, large city. The hotel we'll be staying for the next week seems pretty good as well. We have booked a small apartment type room for my mother-in-law and the kids, as well as another room for us next door. Some people might say we are taking advantage of my mother-in-law. They are people who did not get a free trip to Australia and they can lump it. In this apartment there are cooking & laundry facilities, so we started doing laundry, and went to a local grocery store and bought breakfast cereal, bread, milk, etc. By my rough estimate, eating at least one meal a day in our room will save us $500.
The weather here is cold and wet. I, however, am protected from the elements by my beautiful coat and hat (I purchased a hat in Alice Springs). The only down side is that the urbanites of Melbourne keep asking me where my horse is. I tell them I ate it.
Tomorrow we begin getting ready for the convention.
current mood: happy
|
|
(16 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
8:22 am - The Foglios Down Under- Day 11
|
Well here we are in Alice Springs. This is a small town in the middle of nowhere. In the morning, we walked over to the Olive Pink Botanical Gardens. I'm quite sure that at almost any other time of the year, they are quite interesting. This however, is not one of those times of year.
Then we went off and had brunch. Kaja had "The Best Burger she's ever had." Can't really say much more than that. The kids had these enormously dense puffy pancakes, which were also delicious. I had grilled camel with cheese on toast. Good, but I definitely came in third. Camel is rather flavorless, it turns out. Not bad, but not really good either. I will, as always reserve judgment until I've tried it again under the hand of another chef.
Afterward, we strolled down the only street in Alice Springs that had any grace, beauty, life or excitement. The shopping district. Once there, we bought some stuff and hopefully this money will go towards making Alice Springs a more exciting place.
From there we went to the Alice Springs Reptile Center, because reptiles are always exciting. The kids got to pet the tame monitor lizard, Frank, who is free to roam the establishment. The best thing there was the Thorny Devils, who look cool, and drink by sticking their foot into water, and the water flows through crevices on their body and into their mouth by the side.
Practically down the street is the National Pioneer Women's(sp) Hall Of Fame, which was just as grimly inspirational as you'd think it is. They had a plaque honoring the first woman to hitch-hike around Australia. Then she got married and had 12 kids. You go girl.
Then we went back to the hotel where Kaja removed her shoes, lay down on the bed and firmly declared, "I am all toured out and sufficiently culturally enriched. I am now ready for a science fiction convention."
current mood: indifferent
|
|
(12 comments | comment on this)
|
| Monday, August 30th, 2010
| |
8:56 am - The Foglios Down Under- Day 10
|
Got up early, and booked a quick dash out to Ayers Rock for Kaja and myself. We had about an hour and a half to wander about at the base of the rock and just soak up the vibes. It's very impressive close up. It's like 340 meters high. Because it's sedimentary, there's constant spalling and flaking, and evidence that occasionally great huge blocks have fallen off. There were some petroglyphs, and a few ponds filled with polliwogs. There is, in fact, a trail that you can climb to the top. There's no steps, just a chain hand rail. Now the natives don't like you to climb to the top, for a variety of reasons. People still do it, and there is much warnings against it and evoking of the 36 people who have died climbing it. Personally any major tourist attraction that only has 36 deaths in over 100 years is doing pretty good. The Mad Tea Cups have killed more people than that. It's supposed to be a hard climb. I don't know if I'd do it, but I may never get the opportunity to decide, as they close the trail at the drop of a hat for any number of reasons (rain, wind, feisty crows), so the chances of it being open and me being there at the same time are pretty slim. Plus, it looks pretty strenuous, and if I can claim some vague moral superiority by clinging to my spud-like ways, that's a pretty strong combination.
Anyway, Kaja really enjoyed the stroll, and stated that most of the bitterness had been washed from her soul. For today. We then returned to the hotel to catch a bus to Alice Springs. At the Hotel we meet Greg Ketter and family, who as I have said before, is following in our wake. Their saintly son, William had been entertaining our hellions. William is an only child, and no doubt, occasionally wishes that he had siblings. Being with my children no doubt allows him to reconsider certain aspects of his life, which never hurts anyone.
It's about a 6 hour drive to Alice Springs. We passed Mount Conner, which is this damned impressive mesa standing out in the middle of nowhere. I am at a loss to explain why it isn't as big a tourist destination as Ayers Rock or The Olgas, but I guess the public only has a limited appetite for isolated geological megalithic oddities. The Aborigines also don't have a lot of interest in Mt. Conner, they call it Attila, in a vain attempt to pull in that big Mongolian tourist market, I guess. Apparently the underlying rock is all limestone, which doesn't retain water, and thus, there's no water nearby. Explaining why they avoided it. They claimed that it was a Bad Place, the Home Of The Winter King, who, when he awoke and strolled around brought cold and hard living. I would think the Mongolians would love it.
The landscape has slowly changed from clumps of Spinnet and scrub oak in a sea of red sand, to grass and brush completely covering red soil. This is cattle country. Everywhere you look there are enormous dry river beds. The bus driver assures us that in November, many of these are so full that they flood the highway. We cross the Finke River, which has the distinction of being the oldest river in the world, apparently. It's flowed in the same bed for millions of years. On hearing this, I was expecting us to traverse some version of the Grand Canyon, but it was a rather ordinary, lazy looking river. Huh.
We got into Alice Springs late enough that all we did was get dinner and crash. In fact Alex fell asleep at the dinner table between ordering and when the food actually arrived and had to be carried all the way back to the hotel.
current mood:  exanimate
|
|
(3 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
8:41 am - The Foglios Down Under- Day 9
|
Another busy day. Up before dawn! Climb into a bus! Drive through the dessert! Out! Out! Out! Stand over here! It is bloody cold. Look! Up comes the sun and splashes light across Ayers Rock. Ooooh. Got to see something that I'd really, really wanted to see, which was the Anti-Twilight Arch. So worth it.
Ayers Rock (now known as Ularu [rhymes with kangaroo], is an undeniably striking geological formation. After a breakfast with the most amazingly delicious Danish pastries I have ever had (and I am no fan of Danish pastries to begin with) coupled with some of the worst coffee, we were taken on an Aboriginal cultural walk. About 20 minutes of really interesting stuff about Aboriginal tools and food preparation crammed into 2 hours. Then, finally we get to the base of Ayers Rock, where we are told we have a total of 10 minutes. Kaja was furious. Ayers Rock is something she was really looking forward to, not yet another tedious demonstration about how to carry baskets around on your head. Can't say I blame her. There was also a long involved creation myth about how Ularu came to be, but since it's pretty tedious, I won't bore you with it. Especially since the geologic explanation is ever so much cooler.
We heard this on our second tour of the day, which was to the second large rock formation in the areas, The Olgas. In brief, millions of years ago, there were these two enormous holes in the land. 6 kilometers deep. As mountains rose and fell, and as the area was inundated several times by inland seas, these holes were filled in. In one hole, it was filled by larger chunks of rock, this became the Olgas. The second hole was filled by the remaining silt and smaller particles. This became Ularu. Then they got squeezed into sedimentary rock. Now tectonic forces are pushing them up to the surface, as our guide explained, like when an ice cube tray getting twisted, and the ice cubes pop up and out. Apparently when I go back in 15,000 years, the damn things will be even taller. I'm looking forward to it.
One of the most striking things about these big rocks, as well as the several million square miles of desert around them, is their red color. Astonishingly, this is not their natural color. Ayers Rock is a dark grey, actually, which you can see in the places where there is water runoff, or when a rock is split open, and you can see that the red is actually just a thin shell. Apparently there is a huge exposed vein of iron down south. It oxidizes, and the rust dust blows up north. There is enough of it, and it's been doing it for so long, that it has coated most of the rest of the continent in red oxide.
On this second tour, in addition to hearing the above, we went hiking up to various 'Viewing Points'. We were warned that these were"strenuous walks". Probably what made them strenuous was the rangers snapping along behind us like sheepdogs, determined to get us to various places on a set schedule. I was, naturally, the last person in the crowd, and this did not bother me. It drove my ranger insane, as I refused to try to catch up with the rest of the group by running down cliffs and such. I will say that the views were certainly magnificent, and I learned a lot (names & uses of plants and animals, a geological overview of the Australian continent, and a comparison of Seattle and Melbourne's climate) from the ranger, who pretty much had to stay by me the whole time, to make sure that I didn't have a heart attack or pitch over a cliff, or if I did, make sure that I was really dead. As she confided to me, "When someone dies on one of these treks, the paperwork is soul crushing". I sympathized. Saw a small herd of wild camels. That was pretty cool. I'll be kind of sorry when they're gone.
When we got back to base camp, we had some wine and some trail mix and watched the sunset. Or rather, faced away from the sunset and watched The Olgas flare through a number of different spectacular colors. Got to see the anti-twilight arch and the Belt of Venus, again (!) Then we were treated to another outdoor BBQ, with beef, fish, kangaroo and chicken. Yum. By now it was quite dark, and when we'd all finished eating, they turned out all the lights, and we saw the night sky. Breathtaking! Up until now, my best sky show had been back in 1978, when I was helping to push a piece-of-crap van up over the Rocky Mountains at night. Long story, beautiful view.
We were able to find the Southern Cross pretty easy, even before they pointed it out to us. Kaja got to check something off of her 'Things To Do Before I Die' list. Always satisfying. Venus glowed like a searchlight, and we were able to see Mars and Jupiter. Victor and Alex got to actually see the Milky Way, and were blown away by the sheer number of stars. Kaja had purchased a local star chart, and had a fine old time picking out the unfamiliar constellations, though she was pleased to see Scorpio. She's the astronomy buff, and confessed that seeing a sky full of unfamiliar stars was "a bizarre experience". The guides told us a few Aboriginal sky stories, which were actually interesting. To point stuff out, our guide had an industrial grade green laser that seemed to stretch out for miles into the sky. "I need a permit to own this, and I'm not allowed to point it at planes overhead." Both Kaja and myself must have one. And then we will fight!!! The guide very unwisely allowed Alex to try out the laser, and had to take it away when she pointed it at the bus, saying, "You'll scorch the paint!" Probably an exaggeration, but I still want one.
current mood: ecstatic
|
|
(9 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
8:19 am - The Foglios Down Under- Day 8
|
We flew in to Ayers Rock. There is a is an enclave of hotels,The Ayers Rock Resort, from swanky to camp grounds. All of the area amenities were pointed out by our bus driver, who made sure to mention to the "the ladies" that there was a hairdressing salon . I knew all "the ladies" on the bus were relieved.
Then Kaja and the kids and my mother-in-law rode camels out to Ayers Rock. I cannot ride the camels, because I am too fat. Despite the fact that camels can carry over 500 lbs., they insist that each camel has to carry 2 passengers, and each passenger cannot weigh more than 210 lbs. I'd thought I could easily go with Experiment #2, who, being 7 is still pretty lithe, but NOOOOOOOO. No camel for you, fat boy. Fine. I will have my revenge. Camels were introduced into Australia in the 1800s, to help build the railroads. When the railroads were finished, the drivers were told to shoot all their camels. This obviously didn't happen, and now there are over a million camels in Australia, the largest population of feral camels in the world, wrecking terrible damage on the fragile outback eco-systems that did not evolve with big, snorty camels as part of the plan. Thus, some time in the next few months, "As soon as the abattoirs are ready", according to our guide, the government will begin a cull, and try to shoot every camel they can find.
I am munching on a slice of camel jerky as I write this (It's really good), so I'm guessing all those camels will be put to good use. Anyway, all the lightweight members of our party had a great time. I'd been worried that the kids would freak out at the sight of the camels, but apparently they were enthralled, and had a great time.
They then came back to the hotel, which has a cook-it-yourself BBQ, where we were able to grill up shrimp, kangaroo, crocodile, beef, and corn on the cob. Unfortunately, the emu was off. The rest of the restaurant was more like a pub. It served drinks, had billiards and darts, and a small stage where a guy with a guitar belted out covers of songs from the eighties. This is not unusual. Everywhere you hear canned music; buses, airports, lobbies, & cafes, sooner or later you'll hear "I Been Through the Desert On A Horse With No Name." They LOVE that song over here. It was brought home to me by Victor (Experiment #1) remarking, "Geez Dad, everybody here has your taste in music." Great.
current mood: bouncy
|
|
(7 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, August 27th, 2010
| |
6:15 pm - The Foglios Down Under- Day 7
|
A busy day.
First we climb aboard the Kuranda Scenic Railway. This is a railroad that was carved out of the mountain rain forest to connect the two towns of Cairns and Kuranda. Apparently, in the late 1800s, Kuranda was a gold mining town. Like other gold mining towns, everyone was too damn busy mining gold to bother making sure they had enough to eat, and thus they were periodically subject to famine. There was no question about stopping people from digging out the gold, and the town of Cairns was experiencing its own depression because all the big ships were mooring at nearby Port Douglas, where they had a Hooters or something, so the government decided to kill two birds (and swarms of itinerant laborers) with one stone, and ordered up a railroad to connect the two.
The construction of the railroad was a magnificent feat of engineering, and the Chief engineer, John Robb, can safely be compared to Brunel in many respects. These days the rolling stock is at least 100 years old, and unlike Amtrack, is very well maintained. It's about a 45 minute climb up through jungle, with the occasional patch of breathtaking scenery as you look out over gorges and fjords that no doubt presented soul crushing obstacles to the guys who had to tackle them with shovels. Laborers were expected to provide their own tools by the way, and if it was lost or broken, you were out of work until you got a new one. This was considered enlightened labor management, at the time.
These days the town of Kuranda has a reputation as being an artist and old hippie refuge. Apparently a lot of Americans came here to avoid Vietnam and stayed on. There are a lot of art galleries that you'd find in any tourist town (wood carvers determined to take the beautiful native woods and turn them into boring, everyday crap like tie racks and cutting boards), some nice photography galleries (Australia does a lot of the work for them here. It's a magnificent place), as well as places selling Australian goods such as purses made out of cane toads, hats made out of kangaroos, and anything you could imagine and several you could not made from crocodiles. There were a couple of places selling opals, some tasteless t-shirt vendors, and a shop eagerly offering samples of the local mango wine (Tried it. Yuk.).
We were interested in getting some Aboriginal art. After looking at a fair amount, I can say that this falls into 4 categories;
1. Crap. Yes, it follows the design esthetic of Aboriginal art. It is obviously identifiable as aboriginal art, and it is also obvious to me that this was banged out on an assembly line somewhere by someone who wanted to be done with it and get back to the game on the telly. There was a lot of this. Pass.
2. ART, Dammit. Apparently a number of Aborigine artists have done quite well for themselves in the fine art world. The signs next to their work explain that they are internationally recognized, have designed great works for various Australian public buildings, have had wildly successful shows in galleries around the world, and are part of the permanent collection of museums in Europe and America. Good for them. Despite this fabulosity, a surprisingly large amount of their work is available for sale, here in this tourist trap town in Queensland. What luck! Yes, it looks like a dashed off series of poorly executed geometric shapes, but it really, really is worth $8000.00. Honest!
3. Whoh. Every now and then, you're sifting through a pile of Crap, when you come across something really good. Somebody had A Moment, and did something really amazing. The really amazing thing is that the people who determine the prices on these things seem to have the same taste we have, as you'd have a stack of crap for anywhere from $100 to $300, and the one thing stuck in there that was really sweet was $600 to $800. Most annoying.
4. Really Amazing, colorful stuff that is the perfect Aboriginal art piece- oh wait, it's on a shirt. Yeah, it's a on a shirt. So what? We bought a fair amount of this.
From Kuranda, we took The Skyrail, which is a flying cable car back down to Cairns. These are cable cars, just like you see at the state fair or something, but they stretch all they way over a few mountains, rivers and valleys, and fly you over the rain forest. This is apparently the third oldest rain forest on Earth. This area was a rain forest back when Australia was connected to Antarctica. Pretty cool. The towers are incredibly high, and spaced pretty far apart. Kaja and I had plenty of time to contemplate just how fucked we'd be if there was some sort of disaster that snapped the cables or just halted the system. That said, since we survived unscathed, I'll say that it was truly awe inspiring. The kids loved it.
At the end of the cable car ride, we were deposited next to the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park. There we saw Aboriginal dances, heard Aboriginal stories and myths, got lessons on how to play a diggereedoo, sampled some of the 'bush tucker' (various fruits and nuts that were in season), and got to use a boomerang and a spear thrower (both of which I was surprisingly good at). Then, after all that amazing, educational, and fun stuff, we got to watch an incredibly depressing movie about how the Aborigines had been fucked over for the last 200 years. Personally, I would have started with this, and spend the rest of the tour showing how It's No Longer Like That. But then I enjoy giving stories happy endings, which makes me a shallow writer.
The most amazing thing about the Tjapukai park is that they didn't give the visitors any time to browse the gift shop. No, really, I saw stuff I wanted to get, but the guides just hustled us along and we never got the time to go back before our tour bus arrived to take us back to the hotel. It just seemed wrong.
An incredibly busy day, and tomorrow we leave beautiful Cairns and head out for Ayers Rock. Kaja and I agree that this is a part of Australia that we could spend a lot more time in.
current mood: content
|
|
(12 comments | comment on this)
|
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2){kind=small}
philfoglio's journal
