# 2136

Written by Fred Patten, and intended for Apa L, 2136^th Distribution, LASFS Meeting No. 3584, April 20, 2006.
Golden State Colonial Convalescent Hospital, 10830 Oxnard Street, North Hollywood, California 91606-5098.
Telephone: hospital(818) 763-8247; personal (818) 506-3159 * eMail:fredpatten@earthlink.net

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Michael Burlake drove me to last week's LASFS meeting. While parking in the Alderson parking spot that Burlake had bought for April, we noticed a lot of LASFen's cars at the dentist's next door. We were told that the parking feud had been resolved some time ago, and that fans could use the dentist's empty parking spaces in the evening now without worrying about being towed for unauthorized parking. Good!

Marc Schirmeister stopped us on our way into Freehafer Hall to say that he had started collecting money to hire a professional nurse to be my caregiver throughout L.A.con IV, since it looked like I was having a hard time finding any fans who would volunteer. (This is true.) He had priced the services of a full-time nurse from an Orange County nursing service at $1,000 -- $200 a day for five days - and had received donations of $300 so far. I gave Schirm my approval, and told him that I would advise those who wanted to help me get to L.A.con IV to coordinate with him. The LASFS cannot officially be a part of any such fund because of its legal status, so donations have to be on an individual, personal basis. Thanks very much for your initiative on my behalf, Schirm!

The meeting had lots of tasty pastries, which I took advantage of although I did not find out the occasion for them. The April 2006 Locus had arrived, with my Furry! anthology included in its "Books Received - February" listing: "Patten, Fred, ed. Furry! The Best Anthropomorphic Fiction Ever (ibooks 1-59687-319-1, $12.95, 445pp, tp) Reprint (Sofawolf 2003 as Best in Show: Fifteen Years of Outstanding Furry Fiction) anthology of 26 stories about humanoid animals. This drops the illustrations of the Sofawolf edition and adds a foreword by the editor." (pg. 42) I was afraid that Locus might miss this since iBooks apparently marketed Furry! as General Fiction/Literature rather than as genre s-f, so I was very pleased to find it in Locus' listing of s-f books published during February, after all. It makes a s-f book seem "more real" when Locus reports that it has definitely been published, and when. The same issue has a Main Story report, "iBooks Files for Bankruptcy" on pg. 12. I still feel very lucky that iBooks went out of business just after, rather than just before, publishing Furry! At the meeting I announced that the voting for the 2005 Ursa Major Awards was now open, with the ballot online. Since anthropomorphics are by their basic nature all s-f or fantasy, it is appropriate for LASFen to vote on the Awards whether they are active in Furry fandom or not. Rob Powell had one of the book nominees with him, which he allowed to be shown around.

When Burlake brought me back to the hospital after the meeting, there was a "sproing" and tinkle as my new $300 brake extension lever started falling apart. Burlake picked up the pieces and put it back together manually. We hoped that it would stay together long enough for him to bring the appropriate tools to tighten all the screws & bushings.

On Saturday, Rob Powell took me to the April Cartoon/Fantasy Organization meeting. He also tightened the parts on my wheelchair brake extension lever with his toolkit so I would not have to trust it to last until Michael Burlake could return with his toolkit. The C/FO program was the next episodes of the titles shown last month: Eden's Bowy #6 & #7, Mai Hime #15 & #16, Wild Arms: Twilight Venom #3 & #4 (with such "Western" character names as Sheyenne [sic.] Rainstorm, Kiel Aronnax, Loretta Oratorio, and Mirabelle Graceland; and Isaac is the grumpy Pikachu-lookalike (except he is pale blue with a snaggly tooth and wears a bow tie) in the Gabby Hayes role), and Samurai Deeper Kyo #3 through #5. The Business Meeting discussed plans for our 29^th anniversary celebrations at next month's meeting. We voted for an anniversary cake of chocolate with raspberry filling; which will have a frosting design by Mitch Beiro, as usual. Since Freehafer Hall will be unavailable on the third Saturday in August due to Worldcon preparations, the C/FO will move its August meeting to the fourth Saturday when all the s-f fans will be at the Worldcon. (This means that I will either miss the C/FO'S August meeting if I am at L.A.con IV, or I can attend the meeting as a consolation prize if I cannot get to the Worldcon.) Bob Miller said that he had salvaged one of the bookcases from my apartment, and he would return it to me if someone would transport it from his house to my hospital. Rob Powell promised to. The feature was a King of Bandit Jing marathon (episodes #8 through #13, the end of the TV series), to make up for the two episodes that we missed last month when the power went out. The last three episodes were a serial set in the surrealistic city of Zaza (imagine a cross between Tim Burton & Dr. Seuss), ruled by the widow of Earl Dubonnet with the aid of Majordomo Angostura. Her children are Stir and Lemon. Jing must fight a dance of death with bull-like villain Crush de Ice at the MasCorrida Ball. (All puns are in the original Japanese, with the distinction between "mas-querade" and "-corrida" explained visually; but I noticed that the American DVD translated "beginning part", "middle part", and "final part" as "episode 1", "episode 2", and "episode 3".)

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ˇZANAHORIAS ELECTRóNICAS!

-- Comments on Last Week's Distribution:

Vanamonde #673 - (Hertz) "Who could not love this man?" Dickens or Carker? ## Marc Schirmeister's art may have appeared widely over the years, but it unfortunately does not seem to be well-known by today's Hugo nominators.

De Jueves #1474 - (Moffatt) Have any of the Oz novels by Aleksandr Volkov besides Urfin Djuz and His Wooden Soldiers (as The Wooden Soldiers of Oz) been translated into English? I found the Russian editions to be delightful for their full-color illustrations by Leonid Vladimirskov, even though I could not read them. I assume that the Eaton Collection now has my copy of the Oz novel (one of Volkov's; I forget which one) in a Siberian edition (published in Novosibirsk) that I bought for its original illustrations (black & white, but elaborate pen-&-ink drawings) at a Russian bookshop in Melbourne during one of the first two Aussiecons. ## I was present at the 1966 Westercon when the policeman explained to the Stardust's manager and a crowd of fans (including Harlan Ellison and Norman Spinrad, and con treasurer John Hull who had the Westercon's contract with the hotel with him) that he would have to arrest us if the manager insisted on it, but that if we could prove the charges were false (which we could with the contract, which apparently the manager had not expected the fans to be competent enough to have ready), we could then sue for false arrest. ## Bob Hoskins managed a Chicago accent so convincingly as detective Eddie Valiant in Who Framed Roger Rabbit that I was amazed to learn that his natural accent is Cockney British. Sean Connery comes from the same part of Scotland that Robert Newton did, but Connery reportedly took elocution lessons so that he could play upper-class Englishmen (like James Bond) instead of being limited to lower-class roles like Newton was with his own working-class "arrr, matey" accent.

Lee Gold's International Union of Flighty Aeroplane Attendants - (Cantor) Why are you commenting on Apa L #2124 in #2135? ## I cannot trim my fingernails, which is why I am glad that Kay Shapero will do them for me at LASFS meetings. The hospital has the services of a podiatrist who comes once a month to cut all the patients' toenails. There is one nurse who is sometimes willing to cut my fingernails even though he is not supposed to, but he does not do it as well or as frequently as Kay Shapero does.

Godzillla Verses #83 - (DeChancie) The trouble with paperback originals like I, Alien is that so few public libraries get them. There are lots of paperback s-f books that I would like to read, but the LASFS Library does not have them, and I do not want to read them enough to buy them. ## I have spent my whole life in & around Los Angeles, and I certainly heard of Clark bars, though I cannot recall whether I ever ate any. Probably, but I cannot remember the tastes of all the different candy I have eaten over the years. ## Barrilitos has its own webpage: http://www.barrilitos.com/ "Mexico's number one flavored soft drink has arrived! We can now offer our consumers a quality drink that has been known and loved in Mexico for more than 50 years. These drinks have the typical taste of an authentic Mexican drink. For many years this soft drink, Barrilitos, has been a delicious accompaniment to the original and authentic Mexican cuisine of our country: tacos, flautas, tamales, etc. Our unique glass bottle design gives Barrilitos the advantage of a better, more eyepopping presence on the shelf. Plus we offer as many as nine flavors, to satisfy the variety of tastes of our Mexican consumers." Etc.; see the website for more information. Jarrilitos is presumably an error for Jarritos, either a rival or an alternate name judging by the apparent same starting dates & number of flavors "Jarritos was Mexico's first national soft drink in 1950 and is now the best selling Mexican soft drink in the U.S. Jarritos is the best complement to Mexican food because of its nine great tasting and authentically Mexican fruit flavors. The Most Mexican Soft Drink!", according to http://www.mexgrocer.com/6270.html Both seem as though they ought to be available to L.A.con IV without much trouble.

I Know The Diagnosis - (Gold) I do have some storage space under my bed. Michael Burlake got me a sealable plastic bin several months ago that just fits under my bed, which the hospital's janitors can move easily. It is where I stored books & fanzines before I got my bookcase. ## No; the bookcase is fully assembled, but it came with only one shelf (not counting the bottom shelf) but with peg holes for more. The one shelf has been filled. I need one more shelf, and for someone to transfer the stuff from under my bed into it for me. Or maybe I should leave the stuff under the bed there, and leave the bookcase open for my new acquisitions. ## Mickey Mouse fighting gonorrhea in that 1944 Look magazine advertisement was presumably a researcher, although the way he was going about it made him look more like a Mad Scientist torturing lab rats. You can see the advertisement for yourself on the Cartoon Brew website whose link I cited. ## If the Stardust's staff was looking for money for themselves, I wonder if they rather than the hotel would have been personally liable for a false arrest lawsuit? That might have had a lot to do with the manager's immediate backdown.

Toodequirtle #7 - (Castora) Angela Lansbury's first film role was in 1944? This information sent me to IMDB to find that she was born in 1925. She would have made a realistic young maid in 1944. By The Court Jester in the mid-'50s, she was presumably playing a role (as the spoiled young princess) a few years younger than her real age. ## Oz more pleasant than Kansas? That would depend upon what part of Oz you landed in. Remember "Lions and tigers and bears; oh, my!"? And the flying monkeys? And the kalidahs? ## Aleksandr Volkov said in an article of his translation of Baum's original Oz novel (before he started writing his own sequels) that he "improved" it in several ways. He changed Kansas from Baum's bleak prairie to a happy, pleasant land because if he had left it as Baum described it, the Russian public would have thought he had changed it on Stalin's orders to make it anti-American propaganda. He changed the Gale's house to a house-trailer, because it was more plausible that a tornado could have picked up a trailer whole; a house would have fallen apart. Those were the only examples in the article of his changes. Has anyone translated his rewritten version into English so Americans can see his changes? (I guess that June Moffatt is the only one among us who might know that.)