What do you know, I still had some drool left.

Last weekend was the spring edition of Horrorfind weekend. You might remember me mentioning it last year at about this time and it's still awesome. How awesome? Three words:

George. Fucking. Romero.

The right thinking portion of the audience understands. The rest of you are in serious danger of being dead to me. Either way I am pleased to say that I have touched and talked to George Romero (who is WAY taller than I thought he was). Not only that but there were cast reunions for all five of his Dead movies. The front of my NotLD DVD is covered with writing. I can neither confirm nor deny that I've done disturbing things with it since the mass signing. I'd wash my hands after handling it if I were you though.

Anyway, day 1 was all about George and company and spending what amounted to an entire week's pay in the dealer's room. This time out it was heavily loaded toward the movie end of it though I did score a few good books. The highlight of day 1 was stopping by the Borderlands Press table. They're always there and I always buy something. BP is run by Thomas Monteleone who is also a writer I like quite a bit. As I was browsing we struck up a conversation. Not me drooling on him but a real conversation. We talked about books and movies and similar. We agreed on virtually everything and he suggested some things for me to track down that he thought I should be aware of. Bonus: he also hates a lot of the same people I do. Some of you know who public enemy number 1 is and he doesn't like him either. I was filled with joy. We spent a few minutes mocking him in particular. We chatted for almost an hour all together. He's a really nice and interesting guy on top of being a good writer. He also gave me some writing advice free of charge and that's never a bad thing considering the source.

Day 2 started with a screening of NotLD. I'd never seen it on a screen bigger than a TV so this was grabtacular indeed. As usual it made me want to find and destroy zombies but in a much bigger way. The big screen makes a great thing even better. If you ever have the chance, jump on it.

This was followed by another lap around the dealer's room then back over to the theater for some sneak previews and panels with indie film makers. Always fun. This led me into the readings. I love the readings. Hearing a writer read his story aloud, if he is a good storyteller, is a real treat for me. Plus the Q & A's are usually good for at least a little nugget or two.

Ah sweet Horrorfind. Where else can you meet Chainsaw Sally, dressed in the full get up including the Oh Shit I'm Trying And Failing To Hold These Things In shirt and find that she's awesome and very happy indeed to sign your DVD? Of course, being born the day after me in the same year means she's the appropriate sign to contain the awesome but still.

Between this and meeting James Morrow my weekend was packed with awesome. I feel obligated to report that I smiled. Apparently numerous times and for fairly lengthy stretches at a time. I'm given to understand it was something worth seeing.

Idol worship? Don't mind if I do!

As some of you may know, I am a voracious reader. I read more than anyone I know or have ever known. When asked to describe myself using only one word the word I pick most often is bookworm. I love books quite a lot. If my ability to read were ever taken from me I would likely throw myself in front of a train or off a very tall building. I tell you this to give you some idea of how great my night was.

I got to meet my favorite living writer tonight. This is equivalent to a religious zealot getting to meet, at the very least, St. Peter/Moses/Mohammed/you get the point.

The writer in question is James Morrow. As I said he is my favorite living writer. This puts him at the top of a very long list. To say I love his books is understating it. When I hear a new one of coming out I ride a wave of bliss for several days. You can imagine what it's like when I actually lay hands on them. Of course I buy them immediately but I don't start reading them right away. Having a James Morrow book I haven't read for the first time yet is an event and has to be savored. This last time I lasted almost a week. It was a lovely kind of agony while it lasted.

Anyway, I was sniffing around online and found that he was doing some signings in support of the new book. The closest stop was over 100 miles away. I instantly put in for that day off work and planned to attend.

You know how sometimes you might wonder what famous types are like in person? You might get nervous about meeting them in case they're raging assholes and you lose all respect for them. No such problem this night. I was the first one there and when he arrived I was still sitting in the reading area by myself. He walked right up and shook my hand and introduced himself. I am pleased to report that I neither fainted nor soiled myself. Huzzah! Throughout the event he was witty, warm, highly intelligent and quick to smile, basically exactly the way I hoped he would be except for the part where we become lifelong friends and he puts me in his next book.

There was a reading and then a Q & A. I managed to ask a question that I think wasn't too annoying or stupid and have him give an answer that was far better than the question deserved. It was, in a word, awesome.

I don't know if it's worth mentioning or not but it occurs to me that my last post was about the very sad death of Arthur C. Clarke and this one is about James Morrow. I bought my first James Morrow book because of a great blurb on it from Arthur C. Clarke.

Several things jumped out at me and will stick with me but the one thing that has now made me respect the man himself at the same level that I respect his work, and something that would make any right thinking person switch from religion to scientific humanism, was this quote about people, children in particular:

"I believe in original virtue as opposed to original sin."

That alone was worth the trip.

Against the laws of nature, there is no appeal.

It makes me incredibly sad to have to say that Sir Arthur C. Clarke has passed away after giving the world a mere 90 years. Would that he could have had 90 more.

When asked who my favorite sf writer is, the answer is invariably Arthur C. Clarke but he was much more than that. He wasn't just a good sf writer, he was a damn fine writer, period. As far as sf goes he wasn't a giant of the field, he was a titan. The fact that he wanted to be remember as a writer in spite of his many other accomplishments says all I would ever need to know about him.

I could go on at great length about all the things that make him great but you either already know or probably never will. If the former then I grieve with you, if the latter then I pity you.

Mr. Clarke, for all of the many hours of joy and wonder you have given me I can only say thank you and as long as I live you will never be forgotten.

You gotta keep the devil way down in the hole.

And just like that, it's over. The Wire is gone for good. David Simon wanted five seasons to tell his story and after five, it is no more. I'm having some difficulty with it.

The Wire wasn't just a show. It was too big to ever think of it as merely a show. It was powerful and riveting. It was a force of nature. It came down like the hand of God and said, "Here. Look at this. This is the world and this is how it really works. No bullshit."

From the lowest of the low to the highest halls of power you saw everything and everything you saw was truth. An entire city was deconstructed from the sewers up and you were shown how it all fit together from the hard light of day on the streets to the man behind the curtain during the darkest time of night. No one was safe and the only thing held sacred was the truth.

This wasn't some same old same old cop show that was mostly about great cops, with maybe one sort of flawed guy in there for flavor, that always got their man and taught you a valuable lesson and everything was tidy before the credits rolled. Not all the cops were that great and most of them were deeply flawed. The criminals got equal time and equal development and some of them actually made you give a damn about them. Then there were the lawyers, judges, teachers, school kids, union workers both dirty and clean, wise guys, reporters and politicians of all makes and models. You've never seen so many characters in one show and they were ALL great.

I was drawn to it because I recognized the streets where they filmed. That was my city they were showing and they better not fuck it up. I stayed because having seen it I couldn't look away. This was, without exception, the best series to ever air on TV. Ever.

So to the entire cast and crew and to Mr. Simon I say thank you. It was my honor to have experienced this wonderful and amazing thing that you created.

Wait...what?

So there I was over at another carbon based being's home and there had been a recent trip to the video store. Never one to pass up an opportunity to watch a movie I ask what they are and when the watching is going to commence. Let's see what we have here...Michael Clayton, 30 Days of Night and Beowulf and the watching will commence...now!

I'd just seen Michael Clayton so they put in 30 Days first. They asked if I had seen it already (I had) and I asked if they'd ever seen the comic it's based on (they hadn't) then I made a point to say how the guy that drew it had left a comment on my blog recently (because when famous people leave comments on your blog, you fucking tell people) and we enjoyed the carnage and bloodshed and making fun of Josh Hartnett who looks like a Cro Magnon.

Next up came Beowulf. It's that motion capture animated one that was out last year. When asked if I'd seen this I said no, I avoided it because I didn't want to spend money on it. They asked why and I explained, again, my general hatred of adaptations combined with the fact that I could see that some pretty huge changes had been made to the source material just from the trailers and some shit you just shouldn't fuck with at all let alone in a big way and Beowulf is one of those things.

Now, I told you all of this to get to this bit, so pay close attention.

They then said, "What, is this a remake of some other movie or something?"

"Sorry, what?"

"This. Was it out before?"

"Uh...yeah, man. It's over a thousand years old and is one of the most famous poems in the world. It's, y'know, Beowulf."

"I never heard of it before."

"..."

"What?"

"Nothing. I...it...nothing."

So yeah, I had that conversation.