BilmBlog500

Last year I chose to skip the US Open tennis qualifying, which I enjoy quite a bit, in order to go to Eurocon and see Dublin after the 2014 World Science Fiction Convention.  It was nice to be back after a year's absence. Some changes since two years ago.  It's the first time since the JABberwocky offices moved to Manhattan, so popping into the office for a few minutes now meant walking into Manhattan, visiting for a few minutes from 9-10am, and then taking the subway out to the tennis.  The mileage isn't much different, adding up the walk to the office, to the subway, and from the subway to the tennis, than if I just walked to the tennis, but it felt like I was walking way less. It's also the first time I got to see the qualifying with use of the new improved Courts 4/5/6 that opened last year, all of which offer excellent elevated seating on both ends.  Court 5 has a little shade in front of the TV booth, though it wasn't hot enough this year for shade options to ...

Hard to believe it's barely over a week until Sasquan, the 2015 World Science Fiction Convention. I still remember heading over from Back Bay Station to the Hines/Sheraton for the 1989 WorldCon in Boston, which was my first WorldCon as both a member and program participant, and it's still a thrill to me to be at WorldCon and to be there for you! Here are my official program items at Sasquan: Wed Aug 19, 1pm Understanding Contracts panel with Mike Resnick and Jim Fiscus Convention Center, Room 300D I'm not due into Spokane until around 9:30 which should be plenty of time for me to settle in and get to my 1pm panel, but if I'm delayed, I've asked my colleague Sam Morgan to be my DH. Thu Aug 20, 5pm Horror/Paranormal - What's New with Nick Mamatas, Christie Melerz and Laura Anne Gilman Convention Center, Room 300C Pitch Sessions Fri August 21, 9am Sat August 22, 3pm advance registration required - details Kaffee Klatche Sat August 22, noon advance registration requ...

I'm always excited to be going to Balticon. My first convention as an agent was the Balticon where Elizabeth Moon was presented with the Compton Crook Award for Sheepfarmer's Daughter, and taking things full circle this year, E. L. Tettensor was a finalist this year for her debut novel Darkwalker. Here's where you'll find me this weekend: Friday May 22, 17:00 5pm A Glimpse Behind the Curtain - The Business Side of Writing (Salon C) there's a lot of ground to cover in a panel like this, which will be a rich reward for people who can get to Balticon early in its run. Saturday May 23 17:00 5pm Beyond Creative Commons (Tack) the program book says this is a panel about moving from free pod-casting to selling your audios.  I hope I'm supposed to be the moderator, since I may have more questions than answers. Saturday May 23 20:00 8pm Tales From the Slush Pile (Tack) My iPad has lots of bad queries ready to be read!  Learn what not to do, so you can do it right yoursel...

I saw around 100 movies that opened in 2014, which is a pretty typical year for me.  Rarely less than 90, hard to see more than 120. Of those 100 movies. Boyhood is the best. Here are the next dozen or so movies that I consider to be my 90th percentile for the year: 2.  Whiplash This is the one other film from 2014 that I've seen twice, though it's possible there are one or two others I'd try to see again. JK Simmons won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and the film also won Oscars for editing and for sound mixing. Simmons is the leader of the top ensemble at a Juilliard-like performing arts school, and Miles Teller is a student who yearns to be playing drums in this ensemble.  And the two are both crazy.  Simmons might be an actual psychopath, or he might just take a little bit too seriously the idea that you've got to tear down in order to build up.  Which, just to say, is the entire premise behind boot camp for the US armed forces.  But what would dri...

The Oscars forced me to sit down with my print-out of the movies I'd seen that opened in 2014, and without further ado... 1.  Boyhood The very notion of the movie is crazy.  The challenges in making a film with a 12-year shooting schedule go far beyond anything.  You can't even compare it to the 7/14/21/etcUp documentary series by Michael Apted that has followed a group of kids from 7 until very close to today with films every 7 years.  It's one thing to just get together every seven years and see what's happened.  You don't have to worry about what happened in the intervening, you just have to report on it.  And in any event, Boyhood director Richard Linklater has already replicated that with his Before Sunrise/Before Sunset/Before Midnight series of films with Ethan Hawke and Juliette Delpy. Let's look at this: You can't sign a contract for longer than 7 years for an actor/actress, so for your primary cast members, there's the chance that you could be ...

12:23 AM: NY Times Oscar blog notes omissions of Roger Ebert and Joan Rivers from the in memoriam list. 12:09 AM: Or in the R-Rated words of @mattbilmes  GOD DAMN IT BIRDMAN WON BEST PICTURE GODDAMN IT SISOALEHFIWPALCKRKWKFNDGOOWOALNFNEOW 12:05 AM: AMPAS got it wrong.  Boyhood is Best! 11:49 PM:  Wait, wasn't that guy a seat filler? 11:47 PM:  And if you compare Graham Moore's speech to Patricia Arquette's you can understand why the editor in me gives Arquette's speech an A for content and a C- for organization. 11:45 PM: Sigh.  The highlight of Graham Moore's speech followed by my disappointment over Best Director. 11:43 PM: me not happy.  wrong director win Oscar. 11:35 PM:  Another mild surprise with Imitation Game winning for Adapted Screenplay.  It is based on a book represented by our friends at the Zeno Agency. 11:30 PM: So the Rivoli Theatre where The Sound of Music premiered.  It was located at 49th and Broadway, with a ornate facade...

Chuck Wendig just did a Terrible Minds post telling authors not to "pre-reject" their work, i.e., to finish their novel, say it's not good enough, and then dump it into the drawer or the trunk on top of all the other not good enough thing.  And maybe I'm reading too much into what Chuck says, or maybe I should understand that it should be implied that Chuck is taking a position really far on one side as a counterweight and not as an actual "position" position.  But as I'm reading his post, he doesn't say it's ever right to take a manuscript and put it into the pile inside the drawer inside the trunk. And that's wrong. I'm going to reject his thesis in two ways that are flip sides of the same coin, the you coming to me, and the me taking your manuscript to the world. In both instances, I note the old, true and wise saying "you've got one chance to make a first impression." If I as an agent look at three or four bad books by ...